#and i am very excited to experience disneyland for the first time. all signs point to it being crazy 👍

[carcarrot]

preparing for one (1) day at disneyland in september as if its a month long journey into the wilderness

[xbladekitkat85]

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Where’s Morgan?  An Irondad Oneshot

To say that everyone was excited to go to Disneyland was an understatement. It was a very big understatement.

Tony had planned every detail of the trip, making sure that they had bought the right amount of the correct passes to get everyone in and the hotels reservation, and rental car.

When he had finalized the plans, he gathered everyone in the living room.

"Ok, what is this about?" Harley asked suspiciously. "Is this a set up to a prank?"

Tony gasped in indignation.

"Why would you ever say that? Would I really do that to you?"

"You've been acting weird." Peter pointed out. "You keep on minimizing the internet tabs every time we would enter your lab."

"That doesn't mean anything. I could be trying to find you all your Christmas presents early." Tony replied immediately.

"But since when do you shop for us on the Disneyland website?" Morgan asked slyly.

Then there was a moment of silence.

"WAIT, WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND?!" The boys asked in disbelief.

Tony let out a laugh that only showed itself with his family.

"That's right. Oh, and I also invited Shuri because last time she was here in the states, she didn't get to go."

All of the kids smiled at each other in excitement.

"The fact that Shuri is coming too is amazing dad!" Harley said.

"This is going to be so fun. Oh I've been wanting to go to Batuu so bad!" Peter gushed.

"Make sure to buy me some shoes with inserts so I'm tall enough for all the rides, dad." Morgan said.

"Wait, when are we going?" Harley asked suddenly.

"Tomorrow. Mom already made a packing list of all the essential items we need to pack." Tony said with a thankful smile to Pepper. "You should be receiving the lists any second now."

Everyone's phones vibrated with the notification of a list. As soon as the kids felt it, they ran to their respective rooms to start packing.

*The next morning*

"All right, do we have everybody on the jet?" Tony asked.

Pepper looked around and thought for a moment.

"Okay, I'll give each of you a number and whenever we do a head count, when I say your number, wave or something. That way we know we're all here. Ok, Tony, you'll be 1, Rhodey, you'll be 2, Harley, 3, Shuri, 4, Peter, 5, and Morgan, you will be 6. Everybody got that?"

Everyone nodded.

"We'll try it a few times on the way so we can get the hang of it."

After a long flight, and a few practices of number counting, they arrived in Anaheim and made their way to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. They checked in, unpacked ate dinner and went to bed early to get enough rest for the next day.

*7:00 the next morning*

"All right, everybody up!" Morgan sang as she jumped from bed to bed, effectively waking everyone in the room.

"My love language is quality time together, but not like this, Morguna." Tony groaned as he finally sat up.

Peter was the next to get up.

"Ok, we have to get dressed and get our phones ready to reserve our boarding groups for Rise of The Resistance! I already have the app ready to go!"

"Hold on kiddo, we need breakfast before we go. What do you all want?" Tony asked.

Everyone listed off what they wanted from the room service booklet and soon everyone had eaten and were ready to start the day at Disneyland.

"Ok, let's do our headcount before getting in line. to enter" Pepper called out.

"One."

Tony flashed a peace sign.

"Two."

Rhodey waved.

"Three."

Harley casually dabbed as he sneezed.

"Four."

"FRE SHA VACA DO!" Shuri said gleefully, making Peter and Harley laugh.

"Five."

"It is Wednesday my dudes." Peter began.

Then all the kids joined in, "uuuuuuuUUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Kids, you can't do that kind of shit here." Tony interrupted. "Ok, six?"

"Watch yo profanity." Morgan said with a grin.

"We have taught her so well." Peter said, wiping away a fake tear.

"Well, we're all here, so lets go." Pepper said, beckoning everyone towards the gate.

As soon as the gates opened and everyone was inside, Peter reserved their boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.

"Sweet, we're boarding group 15, we can go on a couple of rides while we wait for our turn!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"All right, where do we find a map?" Pepper asked.

"We don't need one. I recruited someone to help us around the park." Tony said.

"Wait, who?" Harley asked.

"Well I did some research on who would be the best tour guide for our trip." Tony explained. "I had Fri do a background check before hiring her to help us. She's known for being a encyclopedia of knowledge on the parks and their history. She knows her stuff and was more than willing to help us. Also, she's the granddaughter of one of the original Imagineers, X Atencio, who did the script for the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as the music that plays through both rides."

"So, a legacy of the Imagineers is going to show us around? How cool is that?" Peter asked.

"So when is she coming?" Shuri asked.

"I'm here already." A new voice said.

Everybody turned to look at the new person who had entered the group. It was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She was dressed in the color scheme of Snow White's outfit but in the style of 1950's clothing. Her makeup was also reminiscent of the era of clothing she dressed in.

"Nice to meet you all in person!" She said with a smile. "The name's Sarah Atencio."

She shook everyone's hand and when she got to Morgan, she crouched down to her height so she was at eye level with the young girl.

"I like your outfit miss." Morgan said politely. "Is it supposed to look like Snow White?"

Sarah smiled at her question.

"It is indeed. The outfit I'm wearing is called a Disneybound. Do you know what that is?"

Morgan shook her head no, but still seemed to be interested in what it was.

"No, but it sounds cool." She replied.

"I can teach you all about it later while we wait in line. How does that sound?" She asked.

Morgan smiled shyly and nodded.

Sarah stood up straight and smoothed out her skirt.

"All right, let's get this trip started! Did anyone have a preference in where we go first?"

"Well, I know that Peter would be very interested to go to Batuu. I myself am curious to see what it looks like in person." Shuri piped up. "I also wanted to see the lightsabers they sell here and compare them to the ones I have at home."

"Are we all in agreement?" Sarah asked.

Everyone voiced their agreement or nodded their heads.

"All right, on to Batuu!" Sarah proclaimed.

*Time skip*

"Peter, since you wanted to go to Batuu, do you have your story planned out? Or are you going to improvise?" Sarah asked.

"I already have planned some aspects of my character but I'm still not sure about a couple of things. So I guess both?" He answered.

"Whoa, what do you mean, character? What story?" Harley asked.

Peter turned to look at Harley in disbelief.

"Do you not remember when we had this conversation?" He asked.

"No, why else would I ask?" Harley retorted.

"Ok, basically, Batuu is a trading post and a secret base for the Rebellion and the First Order is looking for them. Everybody who goes there has the possible chance of being stopped by Stormtroopers who are looking for Rebel spies. It's also possible to be stopped and interrogated by Kylo Ren. So if you wanted to be more immersed in the experience, you could come up with a backstory for why you are in Batuu and what side of the war you're on. As for my backstory, I'm a con artist born on Yavin-4 posing as a merchant looking for a place to trade my fake rare materials on the planet. I sell to the First Order and report to the Rebellion with what the First Order is interested in buying and how much of the item. But the thing is, my so called rare materials are so realistic looking, that they fool the First Order. What they are buying is useless and they won't know it until they try actually using it."

"That's more thought out than what I would come up with." Harley said. "I probably would have come up with some idiotic backstory like, 'Oh, I'm the secret child of Luke Skywalker and I have come to take down my cousin and his stupid army of bucket heads.' Something that wouldn't make sense."

"Well, I'll give you points for using SW slang." Peter remarked playfully.

"We're about to arrive at Rise of the Resistance since it is around the time your group should be called. Are we all here?"

"I'll check, we have a system." Pepper said. "One... Two... Three... Four... Five.... WHERE'S MORGAN?!"

Everyone in the group instantly looked around to see where she could have wandered off to.

"Oh no, Fri, please activate the 'Little Feetsies' protocol." Tony said tapping the side of his sun glasses.

"Activating 'Little Feetsies' protocol."She responded.

"Activating what now?" Harley asked.

Instantly, Tony could see the footprints of everyone in their group on the ground. The smallest pair of feet had diverted from the group way back towards the bazaar.

"Everyone follow me." Tony said.

"Is nobody else going to ask why there is a protocol with that name?" Harley asked as everyone else followed Tony.

Everyone in the group followed Tony as he walked the path of Morgan's shoe prints, making sure he didn't accidentally crash into a person in the process.

Eventually, Tony stopped and everyone saw why.

Morgan was standing with Kylo Ren and his Stormtroopers. And she was smiling as she talked with him.

"Well, I guess Morgan has connections to the First Order now." Shuri said, grinning at Peter, who looked slightly jealous. "How does your character feel after seeing a tiny 5 year old with the Supreme Leader wrapped around her little finger?"

Everyone laughed as they watched the duo, who seemed to be devising a way to end the Resistance once and for all.

"Ok, so that's a good way to help your troopers train and be better at ambushing the Resistance. And also try feeding them yummy food so they will be more hardworking. Give them something like, like.... Spaghetti! Or cheeseburgers!" Morgan told the tall and scary looking man.

"The First Order thanks you for your information and loyalty. You will be rewarded." One of the Stormtroopers told her.

"If only my military strategists had ideas as well thought out as yours." Kylo Ren said with interest. "How would you like to become my apprentice? Learn how to fight properly?"

Peter chose that moment to run to Morgan and scoop her up, making her squeal in surprise.

"AIIIIE, Peter, don't do that!" She giggled.

"I'm so sorry if she was bothering you Supreme Leader, she tends to run off and show off her intellect whenever she gets the chance to." Peter said with more confidence than he felt.

"I had hoped that she would become my apprentice. I could train her well, she would live a successful life as my right hand."

Peter laughed a bit nervously before replying.

"She's a bit too young right now. Maybe when she's at least 16 I would let her decide if she still wants to or not."

"How unfortunate. I insist you reconsider." The deep voice of Kylo Ren replied.

"I apologize Supreme Leader, but I must decline. Well, we have somewhere to be very soon, so I believe this is farewell for now."

Peter carried Morgan back to the rest of the group and Morgan waved goodbye to Kylo Ren.

“Morguna, why did you run off without telling us?” Tony asked the young girl.

“We were worried you might have gotten lost, honey.” Pepper added.

“I’m sorry mommy, Kylo Ren asked me to be his right hand!" Morgan said, right off the bat.

Pepper's facial expression was a mix of horrified amusement and Tony was trying very hard not to laugh. Shuri and Harley looked very proud of Morgan for charming Kylo Ren himself. Sarah was just laughing at the whole situation.

"And I told her no, because she is too young." Peter interjected "Besides, you are supposed to be with the Resistance Morgs, what happened to that?"

"She double crossed you is what happened."Harley replied "Betrayed her own brother, who is supposed to be a con artist."

Everyone burst out laughing at that comment and after it died down, they all went to Rise of the Resistance.

NOTE: This is my first fic on Tumblr, and I think I might do more? It depends on if I have time to write, hahaha! Also if you have seen this on Wattpad, don’t panic, this is the same person who has it on there, I am not stealing someone else’s work. I am taking my own writing and putting it on Tumblr. Also, I know that Disneyland is literally on the opposite side of the country for them, but for the sake of me never having gone to Disney World, I used Disneyland instead. Because I know nothing about the parks layout in Florida.

[the-tiva-og]

His Ninjas

Second chapter of my @talisbirthdaychallenge fic!

Chapter 2: New Heights

As always, Ziva woke up before the other two and went out for a walk around the area. By the time she returned, Tony and Tali were awake and getting ready for their first day of sightseeing. “Are you just immune to jetlag or something?” Tony yawned, buttoning his shirt. “I brought breakfast,” she said, rather than responding, and placed a box of doughnuts on the table, then handed her partner a paper cup. He opened the lid, closed his eyes, and inhaled the coffee scent deeply. “Have I told you how much I love you?” he practically moaned. “You have,” she said with a shrug, “but I can always stand to hear it again.” Tony pressed a kiss to her cheek and opened the box of doughnuts. “Hey, T-Bird,” he called to their daughter, “come get some breakfast.” “Ooh,” Tali cooed, climbing onto a chair to pick out a treat, “I love doughnuts.” “Daddy’s girl,” Ziva teased, swatting at Tony’s stomach. He rolled his eyes. “Should we tell her?” he asked Ziva. Tali’s ears perked up and she paused her perusal, “Me?”

“I do not know, Tony. Do you think we should tell her?” “Is it me?” Tali said, fully turning to face her parents. Tony shrugged, continuing the game, “Tough question. It might be too exciting. I mean, it’s such good news.” “Tell me!” Tali called. “Hmm, you are right,” Ziva replied, pretending to ignore their child, “She may not even want to know.” “I wanna know, I wanna know,” Tali begged. Tony pretended to think about it while Tali reached out her little hand and grabbed his arm. “Daaaaaaddyyyyy,” she pleaded.  “Oh!” he said, pretending to have just noticed the little girl, “Tali. Didn’t see you come in. Ima and I were just discussing if you would like to know about your super-special, extra-fantastic birthday present that we got for you.” Tali’s eyes grew wide and she nodded frantically. “Well, you know how your birthday is in a couple of days?” he began. “Yep. I’m gonna be six!” she said proudly. He nodded, “That’s right. And your Ima and I decided that we would take you on an extra special trip just for your birthday.” Tali narrowed her eyes, “But you said we were in Japan for your work.” Ziva nodded, “We are, but we are going somewhere special while we are here.” “Is it the Pokemon Cafe?” Tali gasped. Tony opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to think of the right words, “We are going to the Pokemon Cafe, but that’s not your special gift.” “So it’s even more special than the Pokemon Cafe?” Tali asked, thinking Tony nodded, “I think so, what do you think, Ima?” “Oh,” Ziva said, pretending to be taken aback, “yeah, I think so.” Tali leaned forward, conspiratorially, “Where is it?” Tony made a show of looking around, as if he were making sure that no one was around to hear his answer, before he and Ziva leaned forward so that the three of them were huddled together. “Disneyland,” he responded in a stage whisper. “What?!” Tali shouted so loudly that Ziva and Tony both became concerned that they would never regain hearing in the ears closest to their daughter, “Do you mean it?!” Tony sat back and smiled, “Of course, kiddo.” “I can’t believe it,” Tali said, backing away, “I can’t believe it. I’ve gotta go tell Pikachu.” As their daughter ran off, Ziva chuckled. Her partner looked up at her from where he was still sitting on the floor, “I think we did a pretty good job with this present.”

------------------------

Even as the morning faded, Tali continued walking on air, still in disbelief that she was going to Disneyland in a few days. However, this thought did not stop her from fully enjoying their other stops. Her fun at the drum museum did not do any favors to her parents’ ears that she had already damaged over breakfast. After leaving the gardens of the Imperial Palace, she held her father’s hand as they followed Ziva through the streets of Nihonbashi. The little girl looked up in awe at the unfamiliar sights around her while Tony looked at his partner in awe at the ease with which she could navigate an unfamiliar city. Tali was not really paying attention as they entered a building and took an elevator up, but as the doors slid open, her eyes landed on something and she gave a theatrical gasp. “Daddy!” she said, yanking on Tony’s arm, “It's Pikachu!”

“I can’t believe I got to get my picture taken with Chef Pikachu!” Tali said happily as they left the shopping center, new Chef Pikachu toy tucked away in her backpack for safekeeping, “Lily is going to be so jealous of me when I show her. I need to buy her a souvenir! Ima, we need to go back to the Pokemon store!” Ziva laughed at the girl’s verbalized thoughts, “Ahava, there will be many more places to get Lily a gift. Do not worry, we will find something.” Tali nodded, taking her mother’s hand this time, as they made their way back to the train station.

--------------------------------------

“Where are we going next?” Tali asked as they rode the train back from Mt. Takao. Ziva shrugged, “I am not sure. We’re going somewhere that your father chose.” “Ima,” Tali said leaning into her mother’s side, “wasn’t it funny when the monkey took all of Daddy’s food?” Ziva laughed and Tony looked up from his map and narrowed his eyes.  “Laugh it up, Zee-vah,” he teased, “see if I ever save you from hungry macaques.” 

“What the hell, DiNozzo?” Ziva hissed under her breath as they stood in front of a blank wall with only a small sign, a lamp, and a wooden door, “I thought we were going to have dinner ‘somewhere special.’” “Just wait,” he said with a wink, leading Tali up to the door and pushing it open to reveal a small room. As Ziva entered, the maître d' clapped his hands and a small door popped open, revealing a person dressed in all maroon with only their eyes showing. Tali’s eyes grew wide and she looked up at Tony, “Is that a real ninja?” The ninja-cum-waiter and Tali led the way through a narrow maze until they arrived at their table, at which time, he sent Tali on a mad search for the hidden ninja call button.  Tony grinned like the Cheshire Cat through the entire experience while Ziva tried to not show him how amused she was at his scheme.  Once their food had arrived and Tali was busy playing with her toy ninja sword, Ziva looked across the table at her partner. “Did you pick this restaurant just so that you could make more ninja jokes?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.  “Now, come on, Ziva, why would I do that?” he said, smiling into his soup.  “And you saw the prices on the menu before booking this?” she added. His grin turned into a full-on smirk, “I am very committed to my art.” She could only roll her eyes. 

After they left the ninja restaurant, snapping a picture of Tali in her ninja headband with their ninja waiter on the way out, they headed once more into the streets of Tokyo. They ended up in a Hello Kitty store and another Pokemon shop before they actually arrived at their intended destination. Tony was fairly certain that all the school supplies Tali would need between now and college were currently stuffed into his and Ziva’s backpacks as they rode an elevator to the 350th floor of the Tokyo Skytree. While Tali and Ziva looked out at the city, Tony purchased tickets for them to go even higher up, which required another elevator ride that Tali was all too happy to take. After they got off the elevator, the problem became keeping up with Tali as she dragged them along the ramp to the highest point. Just as her parents would start to get a good view, the little girl would spot something just ahead and insist that they keep going.  “What can I say, the kid’s very goal-oriented,” Tony joked, winking at Ziva as Tali urged him to hurry up.

Once they reached the top, Tali finally stopped for a moment. She all but pressed herself against the walls to look out over the lights of the city in awe. Tony stood beside her, “What do you think, kiddo? As good as the Eiffel Tower back home?” Tali’s eyes never left the window as she responded, “It’s better.” “Better?” Tony questioned, looking from Tali to Ziva who couldn’t tear her eyes from their daughter, “How is it better?” “It’s so much taller, Daddy,” Tali said, “And the lights go on forever.” Tony shrugged, “Yeah, the city is pretty big, isn’t it?” Ziva put an arm around Tony and leaned against him, “It is the largest metro in the world, you know?” “Mhm,” Tony responded, noncommittally, “I’m just happy that I found somewhere in the world where you and I are on the same level, linguistically.” “Ha!” Ziva barked, “My love, you and I will never be on the same level, linguistically.” Tony huffed, “Oh come on, Ziva, just because you’re not that great at English doesn’t mean you have to put yourself down like that.” She swatted his arm and chuckled.

Eventually, they tore Tali away from the windows and made their way down to the 340th floor, where she soon found a new favorite thing-- the deck’s glass floor. They watched their daughter walking around on the floor, looking down on the city below her, and talked. “You know, I’ve thought about proposing to you on top of the Eiffel Tower,” Tony said. Ziva didn’t look at him, but responded, “That is such a movie thing to do.” “Are you telling me that you’d say ‘No’?” “I’m telling you that you could do better.” “So if I proposed to you here?” “Are you?” “Well, I didn’t bring the ring with me.” She turned her head to look at him, “But you have a ring?” He scratched the side of her head, avoiding looking at her, “I’ve had a ring for eight years.” “Tony,” she said in a heavy voice barely above a whisper. Tony turned his head and looked at her shyly. She turned her hand to hold his, continuing to look at her.  “You didn’t really answer my question,” he said. She responded, “You didn’t answer mine either.” He cracked a smile, “Now that’s not fair, I did ask first.” “Remind me of what your question was,” she said with a small smile.  “Will you marry me?” Her smile grew, actually showing her white teeth now, “Yeah.” “That’s not quite the big, romantic answer I thought I would get,” he teased. “Well,” she said, smile turning to a smirk, “that wasn’t quite the big, romantic proposal I thought I would get.” “We’ve never done things the way people would expect,” Tony shrugged. “This is true,” she said, turning back to watch Tali. “Besides, there’s time for big, romantic gestures when I actually give you the ring, huh?” “Having two separate proposals would be far from the most unusual part of our relationship.” He laughed dryly, “That’s the truth.”

The return to their hotel was uneventful, with the exception of stopping to pick up crepes for an evening snack.  Tony smiled at Ziva’s subtle pressure on Tali to get her preferred flavor, knowing that she would end up eating the majority of the pastry once her daughter tired of it. Little moments like that helped Tony to know that Ziva was really settling into her position in their little family. Once they returned, she set to helping Tali get ready for bed while he checked their plans for the next day. 

“Everything looking alright?” she asked, sneaking up behind him as he worked. He jumped only a little this time, responding, “Looking good. Just needed to return a couple emails. Kiddo in bed?” Ziva nodded, “She was exhausted. We had a big day today.” He smiled warmly, “We’ve got another big day tomorrow.” “And you… meant what you asked me earlier?” Ziva asked, almost shyly. For a moment, he considered playing dumb and asking her to clarify her question, but seeing the way she was looking at her feet convinced him to do otherwise.  He reached out for her hand, holding it in his and tugging to draw her closer. She looked up at him, “I absolutely meant it, Ziva. All I want for the rest of my life is to make you and Tali happy. I want to protect you guys and… I mean, being a dad is the greatest thing to ever happen to me, but I’ve gotta admit that being your husband would be right up there with it.” She smiled again, the bashful, youthful smile from before. He tugged her down and pressed a kiss to her lips. 

[what-even-is-thiss]

I wrote a creative essay about my least favorite aunt. Yeet.

Read it if you’d like. I’m just happy to finally get the damage she caused me mostly dealt with to the point where I feel comfortable writing about it.

Language Barrier

Whenever I speak in German my expressions and hand gestures suddenly become ridiculously animated, like I’m trying to make up for my lack of vocabulary with a sign language that hasn’t been invented yet. One that only I know the meaning of. I flap my hands around like a maniac and point to things I don’t know the words for and make broken sentences that sound like a caveman made them as I misgender inanimate objects left and right.

Das. Das. That. That. This. This.

I can physically feel my brain rewiring itself. I speak like fool. Wrong order spoken are words. Sometimes anxiety make cry me. Social kind.

However, I speak much more German than my uncle’s mother and stepfather speak of English so I’m forced to use what I can and hope they can understand my thick American accent as we stay with them in Southern Germany. Everyone keeps trying to reassure me that my German is very good, but I can’t stop out of order speaking.

Kann ich habe Brot mehr bitte? Can I having bread more please?

I want to crawl into a hole and die.

My grandmother warned me that a person can grow tired of the amount of bread that Germans eat and according to that Bible thing that we both read man cannot live by bread alone. I’m starting to understand both of those things, eating bread and jam for breakfast yet again because I don’t like butter with marmalade and there’s no cheese left.

The weather, unlike my breakfast or Deutsche Grammatik, is perfect. Slightly cold, sunny and overcast at the same time. The neighborhood that my uncle’s parents live in is beautiful, suburban, on the edge of Schwartzwald, known in English as the Black Forest. I can’t remember the name of the town but I do know that we tried to get a brewery tour and my aunt, her twins, and I waited in the van as my uncle talked loudly at somebody in a local dialect until he got out of them that they don’t do tours anymore.

We went to a rope climbing course instead. My uncle, tall and skinny, balding, fit, took the twins, boy and girl, skinny like their dad, not taking after their mother, my mother’s sister, and went rope climbing in Schwartzwald.

I’m stuck talking with my aunt as we stand below the ropes course and I’m tired of speaking in German so we both take time to find comfort in each other’s distinctly Californian manner of speaking.

My aunt is a character. That’s a polite way to describe her if you don’t want to speak ill of someone that’s not in the room. She wears no makeup except for when she’s getting her picture taken or going somewhere important and she always looks stressed and tired with her eyes just a little too wide open. She’s maybe four inches shorter than me but she has the ability to make me feel like I only come up to her waist. In my mind she’s always wearing a knee length beige skirt and a green t-shirt even though she owns other articles of clothing than that, including more than 20 pairs of shoes. Her eyes are wide and her hands move in an animated fashion even when she speaks English. When she speaks German she becomes an exaggerated version of herself, perhaps to make up for her thick American accent and occasionally sketchy grammar. She has lived in Switzerland since the 90s and spoken German since the 80s. I once asked her how to tell what a noun’s grammatical gender is. She told me that she had no idea.

I didn’t know my mother for very long before she died but my grandmother tells me that when my mom was young, to describe her sister, she quoted a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The one about the little girl with the little curl who when she was good she was very good and when she was bad she was horrid.

My aunt’s hair is straight, but other than that the poem describes her very well. Today would be a day she was horrid.

I don’t claim to be a perfect human being. I can be a bitch sometimes just like anybody else. The thing is though, my aunt never let me know when I was doing something bitchy like a normal person would. Instead she let me keep on doing it until she was ready to explode. And then she exploded.

Or, no. Not exactly being bitchy. Just doing something that she didn’t understand or like. She’s a very animated person and her voice goes like

And

Up.

Down.

All the time.

She’s very expressive. I, on the other hand, am not that excitable. I smile, yes, I cry, yes, but I try to be stoic. I like being stoic. It feels natural. I don’t want to express to everyone around me every time I am excited or upset. In my opinion it’s none of their business. I also tend to express gratitude through actions and gift giving rather than hurting my face and voice smiling and screaming all of the time.

I had thought bringing gifts from America, delivering onto my aunt’s family the ever elusive box of grits and Bakersfield candy and trinkets from Disneyland Anaheim would show gratitude. I was under the impression that helping to cook dinner, pack the van, refill the ice trays, take care of the twins, carry the groceries, clean the house, would show how much I loved her. I learned though, in a firestorm under the canopy of dark trees and children riding on zip lines that our love languages didn’t translate properly and she thought that my lack of expressiveness meant that I hated her. She was hysterical about it. I then expressed myself by changing into a lovely shade of red and producing saltwater from my eyes.

Climbing hills is a thing you get used to when you spend time in Central Europe. Walking for three or four kilometers isn’t such a feat in a valley, where the ground is flat and rarely changes, but in hilly terrain you quickly learn just how long that distance is and how much walking can hurt. Locals take no pity on you because they expect that everyone has those muscles built up in their legs when you’ve never had to use your legs like that for long stretches of time before.

Navigating emotion and expectations at home is easy. There is one language being spoken and everyone uses it to tell each other what’s wrong. When staying with my aunt for long periods of time, however, you start to understand emotional exhaustion. Something that would take half a minute to communicate takes up ten minutes of screaming because she expected you to know everything. A flat crowded city turns into a hilly countryside with no help for miles. You quickly learn how to swear in German because she pushes her husband to screaming as well.

Scheiße.

Eventually my uncle finished with the ropes course and pulled me away from her. He gently explained to me in English what we were going to be doing for the next few days. I stopped leaking water from my eyes and tried to remember what had prompted her to start yelling at me but I couldn’t figure it out. Another talent she has. Distracting you from linear events.

While I was in Germany there was a terrorist attack in Münich. Brexit was fresh in everyone’s minds. My first presidential election would be happening in November. I only understood about half of what was said on the news. My little cousins and their dad took turns translating for me. I had the feeling that I still wasn’t getting the whole story.

My aunt and uncle have twins. Test Tube Babies. The girl is the older twin but strangely enough doesn’t hold it over her brother’s head, which would fit perfectly with her personality. The boy takes after his mother in some respects, namely her loud voice.

When we went to Prague we stayed in a campground because that’s a lot cheaper than a hotel and that family affords a second house because they’re stingy. Almost every morning it was a struggle to get the boy out of bed. He and his sister were almost ten and he screamed and refused to move. He cried. He was loud. No amount of discipline worked. His sister stood around quietly going about her business, as did I. We did the same thing when her parents got into screaming matches.

Prague is an old city. A busy city. I loved it, even with all of the pay toilets and Czech bluntness. Even when an angry Czech lady smoking a cigarette yelled at me in broken English for not knowing that I had to pay for the restroom. The old castles and cathedrals and statues and just the right amount of dirtiness in the subway more than made up for it.

My aunt payed for me to go look at a museum that she didn’t want to look at. She told me to take all the time I wanted as the rest of the family waited outside. I didn’t sense any passive aggressiveness that time, so I did. It was a complex that was part of the Prague art museum, a system spread out around the city. The section I walked through by myself was a collection of medieval Roman Catholic art. Stained glass windows, paintings, tapestries. I’m a Lutheran that lives with atheists, so my experience with Catholic art is mostly non existent. Atheists don’t have religious figures to draw and Lutherans are extremely stingy with their images, worried about crossing into the realm of idolatry.

One thing I noticed was that Mary appeared everywhere, even in stories I thought she didn’t belong. In some images she stood equal with Jesus, reminding me of a female God. She seemed mature, different from the outcasted teenage mother I had told children about in Sunday School classes. Different from the refugee that had been painted for me in sermons. I wondered what kind of mother this Mary was. I wondered what her Hebrew sounded like. Or, maybe this Mary spoke Czech and the Mary in Germany spoke German and the Mary in the Vatican spoke Latin and the Mary my Catholic friends at home looked to spoke Spanish. Maybe if I prayed to Mary she would speak English. Maybe she would turn out to speak German and would look down at the frantic dancing of my hands, trying to find meaning in it.

But I don’t pray to Mary, and neither do my aunt or uncle. I report to them what I saw and my observations about Mary. Namely that she seems to be everywhere. My aunt doesn’t quite pick up on the fact that I simply find it interesting and takes it as an invitation to rant about Catholics. I squint at her as we walk back to the subway. I’m trying to figure out if I’d somehow been speaking another language. She certainly seems to be. Maybe it’s a generational gap. Maybe it’s just her, but I try to turn the conversation back to a tone of tolerance rather than complaint. A battle I quickly lose.

Later, in a public park in that busy city, my aunt yelled at me and cried because I had been calling her by her first name rather than Aunt. I nearly start leaking again. I shake. I think she’s speaking English but I don’t understand it. I physically step away from her as she accuses me of not seeing her as family. At the bottom of the hill we’re standing on a dog plays fetch with his owner. Neither of them take notice of the screaming middle aged American woman throwing accusations her deceased sister’s child as her own children zone out and wait for it to be over. No help comes. Nobody translates for me and Google Translate doesn’t have a setting for this.

Twenty minutes later she jokes with me as we find a rare but welcome burrito shop. I buy a mango soda imported from Mexico and it softens my homesickness. We eat on the steps of a light rail station. I laugh. The twins laugh and bounce around, talking to each other in a mixture of English, Swiss-German, and high German. The boy takes a bite out of my burrito and thinks the fact I can eat something that spicy makes me the coolest person in the world. My aunt laughs with me. We make plans for when we go to Southern Germany and visit her husband's parents. That’s where his dentist is. He needs a bit of work done. We’ll have fun, she promises. We had a good time in Prague. I put the bad times in a shoebox for later and then agree with her.

After she yells at me in Schwartzwald for not showing emotion I go quiet. I put more things in the shoebox I’ve made in my mind to deal with later. I learn that all of them have been eavesdropping on the phone calls I’ve been making to my dad and friends back home. My aunt approaches me about how I complained about the yelling. I’m suddenly paranoid and wonder if she read some of the postcards I sent out. I watch my words now and put the ones that might set off her fuse in the box. The little house outside of Zurich has started to feel like home when I return to it and I’m slightly disgusted at that realization. The flowers all make my eyes water and I’m not given nearly enough allergy pills. I still don’t understand what language she’s speaking. Her words are in English or German, as are mine, but we still don’t understand each other.

Currants, especially the red ones, are beautiful fruit. Not easy to find in stores, even in Europe, so you’ve gotta pick them yourself. My aunt and uncle have a small city of currant bushes living in their backyard that hugs the bank of the stream that runs through the neighborhood. They’re beautiful and inviting, asking you to eat them please, but when you do your face scrunches up at the tartness. I never did care for sour tastes, so I found my own way to make the currants sweet by baking them into scones. At first my aunt was sceptical of my scones but after some reassurance from her kids that they didn’t taste like cinnamon she tried them and agreed that I did a good job. They were sweet and went really well with milk or tea. We all enjoyed them very much. Nobody had to translate anything.

Every member of that family gives excellent hugs when you can get them. They share drinks and food with each other, a concept that shocked me at first, but I quickly fell into the rhythm of it with them. They bought me my first beer and took me to Worms, Germany. I loved that place. I got to see one of the first print versions of Luther’s German translation of the bible. I ate pastries and tea with them at an outdoor cafe. It was cold and wet in the middle of the summer and the cobblestones made it even gloomier. The moving feet on the sidewalk seemed to have a language of its own and the new architecture standing by the old had no words to be translated but told a story nonetheless.

My experience in Europe was like Europe itself. Americans expect it to be shiny and beautiful, and it is, but you also have to pay to use the restroom which leads people to piss in the street. You will also find cigarette machines on almost every corner. There is one right outside my aunt and uncle’s second house. The packages of cigarettes have pictures of black lungs and diseased gums on them. The people smoke anyways. Europeans are people. They have drama, they worry about money, they cry, they abuse, they kick, they scream, they love. All the problems you had in America won’t disappear over there, and in fact you might find some new problems you didn’t expect. Like not finding salsa or not knowing how to deal with carnival rides that have no line and are boarded like a much more violent version of musical chairs. And don’t expect to practice your target language there either. The people will hear your accent and excitedly try and use you to practice English. And even if you do speak the language, don’t expect to understand with everyone. Hand gestures can only go so far.

When I got home I left the German language behind me for the most part. I also slowly cut off most contact with my aunt’s family. Six weeks spent putting things in a shoebox and not speaking whatever language my aunt was speaking with English and German words was enough for me. By the time I opened my shoebox a few months later it was rotten, smelly, and leaking. It took over a year to clean it out and it’s still warped and stained, containing whispers of my own desperate language that would never penetrate my aunt’s skull or jump over the barrier we had built together.

My rotten shoebox is revolting to look at, and while I was cleaning it parts of the mess got onto the happy memories but thankfully they’re still there. The cathedrals, the warm hugs, the new foods, and comforting rain are all there. Late nights and early mornings, potato pancakes and beer, museums and trees and the times I could honestly say; Ja, ich bin glücklich. Yes, I am happy. And thankfully that sentence is easy to translate.

[estelofimladris]

A lot has happened for me in 2019.

A year ago, I was prepping Medea, my final production of grad school at UCLA, living in a home under construction with an about-to-be-finished new bathroom and a still freshly complete kitchen, and preparing to dive fully into my thesis, Snowpiercer.

By the time it was done, Medea would be one of my most fulfilling productions of grad school. I continue to feel creatively fulfilled by both the finished production of (of which I am very proud) and the incredible collaborations I had with the incredible director Sylvia, the unstoppable other designers (Madie, Luz, and special guest star Grant), Costume Shop, my amazing assistants, and the unforgettable cast. I treasure this production so completely.

The house would be finished (mostly) by February. It now feels so right that I’ve largely forgotten what this place looked like before the remodel. I love it so much still.

WonderCon was a complete, wonderful blur this past year. I had 3 new costumes (2 of which were just purchased items, but still ones that I treasure) from The Magicians and The Umbrella Academy. More than normal, I felt that I needed the break that the convention afforded me.

Then there is the insanity that was my thesis. I am so proud of many accomplishments from my time at UCLA. One of my high points was definitely completing the costume, set, and lighting design for Snowpiercer. From the moment of its conception, I was excited for the process and the end result is one that I am extremely proud of. It also marks the culmination of my time at UCLA. With the final sign-off on my Thesis, I officially completed my journey to my Masters that shifted my whole life in four years.

In the last year of school, I designed Black Lightning, Man in the High Castle, Medea, Snowpiercer, and Pleasantville. Each of them marks a completely different, immersive experience in which I had the opportunity to interface with the industry I was about to emerge into as well as a project that I am proud of.

I presented my body of work at Design Showcase West, which felt very good to share what I can do as a designer with professionals as well as friends and family.

Then I was hooded for my Masters of Fine Arts. Me. A Master of Fine Arts. Unreal.

Like most major points of change in life, I felt a little uneasy for the month following grad school. I purposefully took some time to recover from the intense run up to the end of school, but it didn’t keep it from being a very nerve-wrecking time without the promise of another year of school ahead and no secured job. I spent the time prepping for San Diego Comic-Con International and consuming all sorts of media that had gotten away from me in the times that I was utterly unavailable.

SDCC was an absolute blast this year. I loved the freedom of being done with school and knowing that things were just about to get revved up. I completed my new Crowley costume from Good Omens for the convention and proceeded to find out how much I love wearing it. I especially enjoyed getting to spend time with some incredible people at SDCC and it was a much needed rejuvenation going into the next adventure.

After SDCC, I immediately got a few days on a TV show as a PA doing returns and the usual. I enjoyed getting back into the swing of things and it was excellent preparation for what was to come. The show and I clicked well enough and I continued to get days to the point where I could have easily had enough work to get by if I stayed with them for the remainder of the season.

But that all changed very suddenly when an excellent friend texted me for a gig that I dropped everything for.

Since August, I’ve been on a Marvel project and I will continue to be into the New Year. I’ve wanted to jump into working on the media that has inspired me since I was a kid to dream bigger, push harder, and be my best, but I didn’t think the opportunity would come so soon after graduation. Though it is my first full-time gig on a feature, I feel like I’ve been training up to it for the past decade between my many PA gigs and my time at Disneyland. I’ve worked with some of the most incredible, talented, and knowledgeable people on this project and it has given me the chance to prove my mettle in the real world. I can feel the next chapter fully opening up to me.

I look forward to the new decade with more adventures ahead. It’s finally time to go for everything and I can feel it. So, 2020, get ready because here I come.

[royvelasco]

Exploring Nami Island and More of South Korea in a Day with Klook!

Finally, the day has arrived for me to use my Korean visa! I immediately applied for it months ago when I found out that I’ll be exempted with the financial document requirements using my credit card (Click HERE to find out how). And it’s not just for a single entry; I can go back to South Korea anytime I want in a span of three years! It means that I can still experience more of Korea despite of this quick weekend getaway.

My trip to South Korea was very spontaneous. My brother messaged me on Facebook telling me that he was able to score cheap roundtrip tickets to Seoul for the two of us and asking me if I can accompany him to this trip. I was overseas that time and was about to go back to Manila after a week-long travel to Myanmar and Thailand so another travel plan for the coming months was surely a great idea. I excitingly approved to his plan. But for only 3 days, how can we maximize our stay?

Probably one of the most iconic destinations Korea has is this wonderful half-moon shaped island located about two hours away from Seoul. Nami Island is a must visit for tourists especially for K-Pop fans as it served as a shooting location for some well-known K-dramas such as Winter Sonata. I am not a fan and haven’t watch a single K-drama but seeing the beautiful pictures online of this island made me include this destination on our itinerary.

Since we were constraint in time (and unfortunately, it was continuously raining that day), booking an organized trip beforehand was a great decision. We went with Klook which we have been using for the longest time already. I actually have tried booking with them on their early years when I purchased our Hong Kong Disneyland ticket way back 2015. It was the cheapest I could find online and the process in redeeming the ticket onsite was hassle-free. Since then, Klook has been my “buddy” for most of my travels. ;)

Booking with Klook is just very easy. Just go to their site at www.klook.com, select the destination then choose your desired activities and items. Select the date and package quantity then you can go ahead with the payment. You can also download their mobile app for more convenience. Make sure to create an account so you can have access to amazing discounts they offer from time to time. As a welcoming gift, create your account HERE and get HK$25 off as soon as you sign up.

The tour that we booked was for a full day visit to four of South Korea’s most popular attractions outside the capital. We found it the most worthy as we could be able to visit a lot in just a matter of day. The included destinations are interesting as well and picturesque enough to make your Instagram feed flooded with loves.

Good thing our hostel was just around Myeongdong as the pickup point was on one of its subway exits. We easily found our driver and we were immediately escorted to the car that we’ll be using for the whole day. I was quite surprised as it turned out to be a semi-private tour with only four of us in the group, two being me and my brother and the other half If I’m not mistaken were a couple from Malaysia. It was indeed a comfortable ride with more than enough legroom you could expect from a car and it also came with a complimentary bottle of water.

  Garden of Morning Calm

Those who love nature will surely be amazed with our first destination for the day. The Garden of Morning Calm is a 30,000 square meter garden located at Gapyeong district, just east of Seoul. Considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in the country and has also been a K-drama site, the Garden of Morning Calm houses an array of flowers and plants beautifully landscaped to spread the concept of Korean beauty to the world.  

The Garden of Morning Calm has various themed gardens connected through scenic walkways. Beautifully maintained plant arrangements and flower beds can be seen all throughout the place. The garden has about 5,000 kinds of plants of which some are native to the Korean Peninsula.

For the picture-perfect shot bursting with colors, one must visit on their springtime when the flowers are in full bloom. The garden is busy though during that period so have patience to get that desired shot. Don’t worry if you can’t come on springtime as the Garden of Morning Calm is still beautiful and open for public whatever the season is. Various festivals and displays are also held throughout the year.

  Nami Island

We went to our second destination right after lunch (which by the way was already included on the package). I could say that Nami Island was definitely the highlight of the trip.

This beautiful small island in the middle of Han River is a famous destination for tourists as it offers that K-drama feels we just normally see on screen. With trees tall enough to occupy the lens of your camera and its orange leaves during autumn, it would surely be a magical shot screaming K-drama in every angle.

Unfortunately, we were there on springtime thus not seeing this picturesque scene. But nothing to depress about, as Nami Island is still as beautiful as it is whatever the season is. Trees were in full bloom that time with overly saturated greens everywhere. Colorful flowers can also be seen throughout the island. Delightfully, animals such as rabbits and squirrels were freely roaming around.

  Petite France

After a decent amount of hours of stay in Nami Island, off we went to our next destination which was Petite France. It is a French-style theme park with a small replica of Eiffel Tower. You’re hitting two birds in one stone by being here as you can be both in Korea and France. ;)

As projected, this theme park consists of French-style buildings painted with different colors connected through stairways and alleyways. This place seems to be dedicated as well to puppetry and the famous French novel “Le Petit Prince” internationally known as “The Little Prince”. Various images depicting these were scattered around the village-themed park.

Don’t worry if you get hungry as there are restaurants nearby. For cheaper options, a coffee shop and a convenience store are located just across the street.

  Gangchon Rail Park

We were already bound for our last destination for the day but our excitement was still soaring as we were about to make it a lil’ bit extreme. Our next destination was more than picture-taking; we need to muscle up and ready our tired feet (not complaining) as we will be biking along the countryside.

Gangchon Rail Park is also now considered a must visit if you’re here in South Korea. One needs to cycle along the old train track using a two or four-seat bike passing through tunnels and rocky roads while seeing the amazing scenery of the countryside.

Honestly, this activity exceeded my expectation. It might sound tiring but it’s actually fun. The cold breeze as you bike and the astounding view of the surroundings will ease the weary away. I’m glad that we took the package that includes Gangchon Rail Park.

  It was dark already when we’re done with the tour. We were able to get back to Seoul around 9PM. It was indeed a fun day full of exciting activities. The places we went to were all remarkable making me want to visit them all again on my next visit. I was so pleased as well with our tour and will still book through Klook on my next travels. For sure, I’ll be here longer the next time and will check out other exciting activities South Korea and Klook have to offer.

  Book your tours through Klook for quality experiences at the best price. If you want to try the same tour that we had, click HERE to book.

DISCLAIMER: Details like prices, contact information, etc. may change due to different factors. Feel free to comment down below for updates.

NOTE: I own all the images used on this blog post unless otherwise stated. Please don’t use these for any purposes, unless you acknowledge the owner. Thank you.

[kelseysmellison]

Passions and Promises

Hello you! I hope you’re good!

I don’t come on tumblr everyday as much anymore but when I do, I seem to get a bit personal, so I’m sorry. But I feel like I should document this as sometimes I will write these kind of entries at pivotal or difficult moments in my life, and then a few years later, I look back and reflect in awe of how things have changed! And I think that’s a good thing! I feel like you should know too, so if some things go down or some things change, you’re not like wtf is going on??? It’s long, it’s a big story time haha.

So, as some of you may know, when I first started having a more online presence, I was at a private musical theatre school, one of the top ones in the country. I got in with a scholarship. Usually to get one, you do a normal audition and then if they think you are very talented, you do a scholarship audition. However, the headteacher saw potential in me on the first audition and I was the second person in the history of the school to be given a straight scholarship. Shook was the least I could say I was.

I had an incredible time at college! I made one of my best friends there, I moved from home at 17 in my second year and grew as a person a lot! I did well in classes, especially lyrical dance, in screen acting and singing! We were promised if we worked hard, we would be successful. It looked pretty true when I got given an award from a highly appreciated person in the industry at the end of my time there and a small hint that I could join a very good agency after I left. However, in my third year, there was always something nagging me in the back of my mind. As much as I loved musical theatre, I just wasn’t sure if it was me. I loved doing all 3 things separate (singing, dancing, acting), and I loved watching shows...but especially when I was given the Lady Gaga project in my third year, I knew creating, being a character, researching and dressing as that character, doing my own kind of show felt more right. But I put that to the back of my mind. I’d been doing musical theatre for years, it’s what I loved!?

I graduated college and none of those promises really came true. I couldn’t get an agent. I don’t fit the standard musical theatre look. I’m too small for cruises and most chorus lines. And I’m not a good enough singer to be a principal in a show. I auditioned a lot, even moved to London prematurely in my opinion (because that’s what everyone else was doing, it’s where you needed to be!). Nothing.

But then I came across my ex music manager through connections at college! She was looking for a small, brunette dancer and singer. I was in her music videos, and also backing sung for her for a while. I also got signed to a dancing agency, things were looking up! (I was promised lot’s of jobs from them, but I’ve only got 2 since.) Then, a huge fork came up in my life. I auditioned for a job in Disneyland Paris...and I got it. At the same time, my manager said she wanted a meeting with me and an investor of music, to develop me as a solo artist, they promised a lot of things, they made it sound very compelling and I was very naive of the music industry. The thing that stood out to me was that “Disneyland Paris is always going to be there, this opportunity might not be.” That thing that was nagging me in the back of my head when I graduated took over. I took a shot and signed with the newly formed record label, I was their first artist!

We wrote songs for a long time (Boom Boom was wrote in 2012!!) and I found a passion I knew I had, but didn’t know I could actually do! Songwriting, making music, video concepts, styling. Basically creating. We finally came out with Pom Pom and it did very well online! But with various unlucky events things went down in the label and I was basically left to do most of the things myself. Booking shows, making my own music videos (boom boom) etc. This went on for years. I had to move back to Barnsley because I was struggling financially. At this time, my youtube was also doing pretty well, and I really enjoy doing it, so thought I should continue with that too! I wasn’t making enough to have either as a career so I had part time jobs at bars and at Barnsley hospital too.

I was stuck in Barnsley, I love my hometown and I love my family, but there is nothing there for me. A lot of my friends were in London, and so were the opportunities. I wanted to audition for things, but it was hard. I went to London on the megabus twice a week sometimes to go for classes in London and meetings about youtube, music etc. Since I was a bit stuck, I decided to focus on youtube a bit more, as it was another passion of mine! I got promised by a network that they would help me get brand deals, help me with my channel, take me to events for networking! I was excited about this. But it never happened. I’ve not got one deal or event from them. I’ll be cutting them out very soon.

Finally I saved up enough money to move back to London.Just!! But a job popped up on facebook that looked perfect! Work at Harrods on commission, on the hours I wanted to do! It was great because I could still do youtube, music and audition for things! I took a leap because I knew two others who wanted to move too and did it. This time I was more mature and aware, I was more financially secure too!

A few months after I moved, I decided I wanted to get more music out, I was emailing and meeting back and forth with my music management. Then, they had an idea about forming me into a group. I loved the idea and I still do! At that time, my label had a lot of promising things going on, a huge PR company backing them, major labels taking interest. I was promised good things. We started on K.OH! and started writing with a few people, who also had faith in me and the group and promised me things. But then, a series of unfortunate events again made everything fall through. The financial backing was pulled because the section of the major label that was interested was also pulled for financial reasons. Making the video for Ponytail was left to me again on £50 of my own money. We did it and I’m proud of it!

After Ponytail came out, I discovered my contract had ended with my music management months ago and was never made aware. Basically K.OH! are on our own. One good thing about this though is that I’m now not tied to one music project, I can still do my own music...and other things as I’m not in a 360 contract. It ended on good terms still and even though they can’t really help financially, I am still getting advice and guidance from them. However, now I’m on my own I’ve faced a lot of obstacles. I’ve been thrown into managing things I can’t handle myself. People have become distant and don’t want to work as much with me because I don’t have that promise of making them money because I’m not backed. It’s looking very tough. But I don’t want to give up as it’s something I’m very passionate about.

This year, I’ve also been getting small acting jobs on films and on adverts. What’s weird is that on every job of these I’ve done, I’ve never wanted to come home. I’ve wanted to do it everyday. This has rarely happened to me. I remembered being highly complimented at musical theatre about my screen acting skills. Acting is something I’ve actually wanted to do since I can remember. When I was a kid, I had some Disney Princess costumes, I would put them on in the morning and would act as that character the WHOLE DAY. I wouldn’t answer to Kelsey, I wasn’t her, I was that Princess. I would imagine I was on a film and I was that person. My mum would literally have to explain at school who I was and the teachers would have to play along haha! I love cosplaying, bringing people’s creations and characters to life, and if you’ve seen my videos, whenever I do a character, I will act as them. Also if I’m doing lookbooks, I will also put on a different character for each outfit (especially my hogwarts one). I’ve never considered screen acting or wanted to even try for it. One, because I have very little experience or training in it...two because of how I look. Why would a casting director go for someone with a distracting eye over someone with perfectly normal eyes?

I have an extra job on a HUGE film at the moment (I can’t tell you what, but I’m a huge fan of it and they are being so top secret about it). And I had a conversation with someone in the industry. They picked me out and gave me a lot of encouragement and tips, said I should try acting, and...promises. I was very excited about this, but then I thought.

I just don’t know if I can trust what anyone in this industry says anymore. I don’t know what I should do anymore. I’m actually in a pretty good point in my life right now, I’m working at viewster creating videos, so I have a job that pays rent and lets me also freely do youtube, music and performing jobs...but still, I feel like I’m at another fork in my life or just stuck.

I know I want to continue making music to my abilities as best as I can. I know I love youtube. But this new, (well not really new, since I’ve always thought about it) burning passion I have that I can’t stop thinking about for this past year is also eating at me. I know it would be fucking hard. People won’t cast me because of that specific reason, but people may also cast me despite or even because of it. But I have to be good at what I do, I have to be better than maybe some people because of it. I have to have thick skin and honestly, I think I have a pretty thick one, all of these things that have happened have helped in a weird way. What if all of these things were bringing me to this part of my life?? Or what if it’s just another promise and passion that’s going to end in nothing.

Might as well have a go since I don’t really have anything to lose and I’m not really committed to any contracts or anything any more. Let’s see how it goes. First off I am going to look in to actually getting a bit more training. I’m going to get some headshots and I’m also going to apply for student/independent/no budget films for a showreel and just to see if it is something I really want to do.

If I never hit the big screen, at least I’m on your youtube screen! I also may try and incorporate some of this passion more into my videos. I may stop doing weekly uploads and concentrate on bigger, more higher quality videos. I’m not sure yet. 

But yeah...that’s where I am right now. Hello lmao

[theplateescape]

L.A.

Los Angeles: City of fallen angels

After much too long dragging ourselves out of the quicksand of our modern lives, we touched down in the city of angels with no sleep and, by then, uncomfortable shoes. We at once found ourselves being spoken to like slow children by a large, surly black woman who had apparently seen fit to apply thick, white house paint as nail polish and eye shadow, as we negotiated passage through the broken down houses, and barred windows of Inglewood to our accom in Koreatown. After a brief glimpse of the famous Hollywood sign through the green/grey haze of the thick LA air, we arrived at our temporary home. Our driver of course, was not shy to ask me for a tip (we come from a non-tipping culture in Australia and New Zealand) an awkward exchange which consisted of him giving me change for the ride fare, and then me giving it straight back. We then stashed the bags, as we were much too early to check in and, with a much needed change into my trusty jandels/ thongs/ flip flops, set out into the 40 Celsius morning to kill some time.

Following a lot of cursing and sweating, we managed to get a tuna melt in the belly, and board one of the mobile looney bins they call buses, to the Downtown area for a quick reconnaissance mission. We stumbled into “The Last Bookstore”, and the “Grand Central Market” which was more of an immense extended food court, with great local beers, and a mind boggling array of local delicacies. With the jagged teeth of jet lag digging deeply into our ability to remain conscious, we just managed to get back to Koreatown before surrendering to sleep. Waking sticky, but refreshed, it was back to the Grand Central market for great local beers, tongue tacos and the spiciest raw prawns I’ve had since Bangkok. Marinated in lime juice and coriander and swimming in pure evil, this refreshing bowl of prawn aguachile was the perfect catalyst for a big night out.

First stop, “Varnish.” The worst kept secret bar in LA. With a great cocktail list and super authentic prohibition era speakeasy vibe, this gem is hidden behind a sandwich shop. You enter through a door that from a distance just looks like a wooden panel wall. A few cocktails down, the best mint julep I’ve ever had, and free shots from the vibrant and knowledgeable bar staff, we did what all self respecting traveling alcoholics should do, and asked the bar keep where they go to drink. Seems simple enough right? It’s like asking chefs where they go to eat. We’ve employed this technique many times in foreign lands and have yet to be disappointed. Next to “Bar Clacson” for a beer and to watch people play pétanque on their full sized indoor pitch until I notice a lot of people emerging from the back of the bar. Another hidden space is revealed as we head through to a dark, dingier space playing punk music at high volumes and finished with arcade games. Needles to say this is much more our scene and we hold up here until we can barely stand.

As we leave, we employ the old ‘ask the bar tender where to go’ trick one last time and end up in the middle of nowhere eating tostadas and tacos from a truck with a bunch of LA natives. These taco trucks are an institution here and people are pretty faithful to their favourites. I’ll admit on our way to the “Flamin Tacos” truck, it seemed like the mother of all bad ideas; heading into the unknown with no trusty internet service or cell phone coverage to get our drunk asses back home. But as soon as I tasted the “Cubano,” a two pound sandwich filled with every kind of dead animal you could think of I realised, I am home!

As a child I can vividly remember one of my friends going to Disneyland over the school break. I can also remember being intensely jealous and vowing to get myself there some day. Well folks some 25 years later this overgrown kid got his wish, and then some. We hit three theme parks in 4 days, a deceptively exhausting exercise. I’ll spare the details in favour of a brief overview of each as we experienced them.

Universal studios. This was our first one so we were naturally pretty excited despite getting in from our taco excursion at 2.30am. In short this place is like the Gold Coast’s “Movie World” on crack! Not so many actual roller coasters, but 3D motion master type rides are the go here. The highlight was definitely Harry Potter’s Wizarding World. All the lengthy queues for rides were well shaded with big misting fans everywhere, which were a godsend in the crippling heat. Longest wait time was 45 mins for the Harry Potter ride, but it was the best!

S

6 Flags, Magic Mountain. Our roller coaster lust was fully sated at this park. There so many that we couldn’t possibly ride them all in one day, though we did try. This one is a long way out of town and involved us having to hire a car and drive ourselves out there. We’d had another big night the day before. This coupled with learning to drive on the right side of the road made for a pretty exhilarating experience before we even got to the park. The highlight was probably the “Tatsu” in which you are strapped in then turned to face the ground, and hurtled head first through the most terrifying series of twists and turns ever dreamed up by some sick genius engineers. It was the first ride of the day and we foolishly thought we had picked a gentle ride to warm up with, not the most intense ride in the whole park! Parts of this park where a bit run down and shabby to be fair. Also in a week of bad theme park food, the styrofoam biscuit they were marketing as a burger here was the fucking pits. Longest wait time was an hour I think, and lines were unshaded and the park overall felt poorly thought out compared to the other two. The “Superman Escape” is worth an honourable mention as I have never screamed with such honest and complete terror as I did while being shot 35 meters in the air backwards at 100miles per hour.

Disneyland. We really did save the best for last. As soon as you set foot in the magical kingdom you can’t help but revert back to an awe stricken 10 year old kid. The obsessive attention to detail was impressive to say the least. Some of these rides are at least 40 years old now, but you’d never know. Everything was so beautifully maintained, you’d swear it was built yesterday. Beautiful design and flawless staff execution, (the other parks probably had more thrilling rides) overall immersion, professionalism, and a sense of true childhood wonder made this place on point. Highlight was the “Indiana Jones “ ride which also had the longest wait, not that that mattered as the queue lead you through an ancient temple complete with booby traps and ancient relics. Also “New Orleans Town” was fucken mint! Unfortunately the “Haunted Mansion “ and “Space Mountain” where both closed which kinda sucks but this place was still the happiest place on earth. They also had the best food with the “Dole Whip”, a pineapple soft serve that actually tasted like a real pineapple, and a Moa sized turkey leg that tasted like ham and left me greasy and defeated.

We did all the other LA staples, the Hollywood walk of fame, the Chinese theatre. We saw an orchestra performance of some of John Williams finest film scores at the Hollywood Bowl which was $20, BYO, and so epic it still brought a smile to this jaded old travellers face. I was delightfully and constantly surprised at how, despite the reputation for rudeness, the people of LA were so polite, kind, and helpful. The traffic gets a bum rap here too but to be honest, Auckland traffic is much, much worse (sort your shit out Auckland!), besides once you have mastered the “hook turn” on the mean streets of the Melbourne CBD, you can basically drive anywhere it seems (except Saigon, Saigon is fucked up!). We’re told that no trip to this town is complete without a trip to “In-n-Out Burger” and to be fair it was an experience. If you’ve never seen a drive through queue spill out onto the road, around the block and hold up traffic a road over, then you ain’t seen shit son! The burgers were good, but not that good. We went to “Five Guys” burger parlour a couple of days later which was far superior in every way, and we didn’t have to wait 45 mins for burgers and battle overweight, heavy breathing burger whores for a scrap of table space to actually eat. In a town built on hype and little substance I felt like In-n-Out’s popularity is symptomatic of an age when you can be famous for simply being famous. Sure the secret menu items are kind of a cool touch, but is a secret menu really that cool if everyone, their dog and the internet knows about it?

After cramming in as much as possible in our short time, in this very large city, we decided to hit “Little Tokyo” for drinks and nibbles. Starting with “Mumford Brewing “ we demolished their range of very delicious IPA’s before striding through what was hands down the biggest homeless tent city I have come across. The stark contrast between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in this town was never so brutally apparent as while watching my back we made our way to the next port, in this sea of misery and decrepitude. We’ve seen real poverty in places like Cambodia before, but it was a cold hard slap in the face to see this happening on such a large scale in the “Greatest Nation On Earth”; for shame America. 

Our night then took us to “Wolf & Crane”, where the barkeep directed us to a great sushi bar down the road (always ask the bartenders where to go), where we gorged ourselves on very well priced raw delicacies prepared right in front of us, and sipped giant Sopporo’s and tried our best to order what we could in poorly spoken Japanese. Back to Wolf & Crane for more beers, whiskey tasting flights, and eventually being held captive by the head bartender who knocked off, sat down with us, and proceeded to get us completely shit faced until the wee hours, and refused to let us pay for anything.

Suffering the most brutal hangover, in a week of foggy starts, we pulled our shit together, cleaned up the now unrecognisable food mess we had presumably purchased before retiring only a few hours before, and prepared to leave Los Angeles. We rented a car, packed up all our shit and hit the road for the California coast. The fresh sea breeze and coastal hillsides did much to mend the self inflicted mental wounds we sustained in the concrete jungle. Mile after mile of pristine coast line gobbled up by big business and wanky resorts the size of small towns, made me long for untouched New Zealand just a little, as we made our way down to the border to cross into Mexico.

Los Angeles, city of angels, home of the dodgers and of course Mickey Mouse. Where the air is thick, the water dehydrates you, and the sun is always shining. Looking back however, the angels are dodgy at best, with soiled, scabbed wings, and yellowed nubs for teeth that chatter incessantly to drug induced apparitions, while constantly scratching at the imaginary worms crawling under their skin. I’m no stranger to colourful characters coming from one of the rougher parts of Auckland, and now living in a once notoriously sketchy area of Melbourne, but as we catch the bus to downtown LA to rustle up something to eat, it strikes me that there are an extraordinary amount of damaged individuals roaming the streets in the broad, unforgiving daylight. It takes more than the far off gaze of a few broken souls to deter my appetite, but as I stare into the vast void pooling behind those dead eyes, I have to ask myself, “who is to blame for all this misery?” And then it clicks, who else could it be? The only logical conclusion is as obvious as the track marks on the arms of its victims, we must of course blame the mouse! That’s not to say that I believe a 5 foot rodent wearing gloves and pants is responsible for all the hurt on the streets here, rather it is an effective symbol for the dream, or rather, lies that lead so many hopefuls to over extend and wind up facedown in the gutter. We are all told that if we work hard we can do anything. But this is not necessarily the truth. Do you really think a man (or women) wakes up one day with the burning desire to clear away other people’s trash. Most of us have to play with the hands we were dealt. But that’s a necessary evil in our world. Simply put, if we all got what we wanted out of life by following our dreams our filth would ultimately pile up in the streets and choke society to death. Some ones gotta pick up the trash. Hollywood makes its living packaging up the lie, the dream, and selling it off piece by piece for the price of an admission ticket. So like moths flying too close to the light bulb, the hopefuls come to ‘make it’ in tinsel town, but instead crash and burn, and wind up chatting to themselves on the 720 to downtown. Possibly also the apparent lack of an effective welfare and public mental health systems could be a large contributing factor, but it’s not as fun as taking a swipe at everyone’s favourite bipedal magic vermin.

[carleencl]

Adventures in Hong Kong: Day 3 - Disneyland

DAY 3: October 29, 2018

Third day in Hong Kong was spent in the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! This was on the top on my list that I’ve been looking forward to visit since I was a child. Who wouldn’t be excited to experience a magical day in this place, right?

I’ve been a Disney girl ever since I can remember watching cartoons. I love each and every movies, and shows that Disney created, especially when a Disney princess was included.

Visiting Disneyland made my inner child out again and explore the magical world of Disney. That inner child where you weren’t scared to try new things, curious about everything, and is brave enough to make it happen.

We rode the MTR going to Disneyland since it was convenient, fast, and cheaper.

To go to there, take the Tsuen Wan Line (Red Line) to Lai King station, get off the train, and change train at Lai King Platform 3 towards Tung Chung (Orange Line). Get off at Sunny Bay Station and interchange at Sunny Bay Platform 3 towards Disneyland, then board the train to Disneyland Resort (Pink Line), and get off at Disneyland Resort station. Afterwards, just walk towards the Disneyland entrance.

The train especially for going to Disneyland was so cuuute! Everything was shaped like Mickey, it’s like spot the hidden Mickey.. except it isn’t hidden! 😅 🤣  Also, the seats were comfy since it was like those car seats.

I’ll be sharing the photos I took during my trip there, so better expect that this post will be photo-heavy, meaning a lot of photos coming up! It will be like a virtual tour of HK Disneyland. Some photos are put together to lessen the photos, but some weren’t since I feel it is better to have it with its original size. On top of that, I’ll post my vlog below about Disneyland for you to further see what happens in the park.

Here’s what you will see upon getting of the Disneyland Resort station, a welcoming sign to Disneyland.

After a walking a few minutes, you would be greeted a fountain with Mickey on top! The Mickey statue was actually going up and down, like surfing on the top of the Whale.

We bought our tickets via Klook again. Our experience with Klook was great. We just exchanged the vouchers for the tickets, and went inside. No need to fall in line just to get in.

Decorations during this time was for Halloween since it was October. The theme was Nightmare Before Christmas.

Pumpkins everywhere! 🎃

Denim Jacket: Forever 21 Shades: Sorrento

Of course, a photo with any Mickey on it was a must during the Disneyland trip!

I love what was written above, “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” It just like telling to leave the present for now, and enjoy a world full of magic for now.

Pictures below were taken at the Main Street.

Each store has Disney memorabilia and souvenirs you can purchase.

We were able to witness a band playing. During that time, it feels that I was indeed in another world and away from reality.

The bakery was so lovable and aesthetics was really really good! Good job Disney, this kid at heart was very happy!

Desserts looks so appetizing and yummy but at the same time, feels like I can’t eat it because it was just so cute!

Tried the Chicken & Mushroom Pie & the Lava Cheese Tart and both were so mouthwatering.

◼️ IRON MAN EXPERIENCE

First on the list to try was the Iron Man Experience!

Starkvision a.k.a. 3D glasses were for pick-up before entering the ride itself. There were different stations/rooms that can cater the visitors for the ride. The ride was about “us” and Iron Man saving the city.

This ride was one of the best rides ever! It was 4D and really in sink with the one showing that you can literally feel like you were in it! I can’t really describe it that well, so better try to visit HK Disneyland to be able to experience it.

◼️ STAR WARDS: HYPERSPACE MOUNTAIN

The scaredy cat in me got away once I stepped foot in Disney and was able, for the first time, rode a roller coaster! I am really scared in riding one but for the sake that I was in Disney and that this was a Star Wars themed ride, I bet on life and tried this one.

Ride was also amazing, I was actually closing my eyes at times because it was just soooo fast as if I’ll fly away from my seat. 🤣 I loved the effects that made me feel I was one of the Jedi fighting against evil. Hands down again, Disney!

One of the food halls in the park.

◼️ TOY STORY LAND

On our way to another ride, I saw this and know we were near the Tory Story land. (and also we can hear music and Woody’s “Yee-haw! Giddy-up partner!” 🤣)

And there’s Woody!

Life-sized toy alphabet and Mr. Potato Head!

Toy Story land made me feel like so small like a toy! So this how Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Rex and the rest of the toys feel like. 🤣 

This part was so wonderful having life-sized Toy Story designs and this was my favorite theme in the park.

That’s how big the toys are!

Top: Zara Shorts: Forever 21 Shoes: Nike

Since it was Halloween season, Sid’s toy was in the land, Babyface/Spider Baby! It was so realistic and creepy at the same time. 

◼️ IT’S A SMALL WORLD

The ride with all those dolls! 🎎

The dolls were just so cute! 😍

The Philippines!

I was just a little surprised that the Tarsier was big. 😅 Also, I just found out during that time that there’s a Filipino/Tagalog version of “It’s A Small World.” 😅 

This part was just so girly and pastel-ly!

Can you spot “Paalam?”

After riding this, I can’t get the song, “It’s A Small World” out of my mind! I keep on singing it on repeat the whole day. 😂

◼️ MICKEY’S PHILHAR MAGIC

Sorry that this one’s dark. I took it at night while on our way to the Night Parade because I later realized I don’t have a photo of the entrance signage.

PhilharMagic is a 3D show that shows magic and fantasy of an orchestra including the instruments, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and more! The visuals, and sounds were actually very believable that I felt that it was really happening in the place.

◼️ JUNGLE RIVER CRUISE

Here, you will have a tour guide for the whole Jungle Cruise. The lines were sorted according to what language you prefer: Chinese or English. The lines was a little long that took us about 30 - 45minutes until it was our turn.

Effects were so good that feels like it was real and will be able to attack me. Again, Disney, you are always on point! 👊

The whole ride took us about 15-20 minutes long.

We claimed our free pop corns which was included in the Klook voucher. Flavors were caramel and BBQ/Buffalo, I think. I like the caramel more than the other flavor.

Next stop was the Grizzly Gulch.

◼️ GRIZZLY GULCH

Grizzly Gulch made me forget for a second that I was in Disneyland since everything just makes you believe that you are in another place. It made me feel I was in a movie with a Western themed film.

There were even performers dancing and singing - makes everything more believable.

My very own ”WANTED” sign. 🔒

◼️ JOURNEY TO HALLOWEEN TOWN

This was the attraction that took us the longest to get our turn. I think it took us about an hour or more and when it was our turn, a little technical happened which took another 15 minutes of waiting time.

Sally is so pretty and exactly looks like the cartoon.

This attraction was actually not a ride but a live action story telling. The only thing disappointing was that the other parts were spoken in Chinese rather than in English. I know we were in Hong Kong but I would truly appreciate if it was spoken in English since it is Disney after all.

More pumpkins! 🎃

Witty sign before exiting the attraction, “Come Back Soon! We’re always dying to see you!”

Night’s approaching and the last ride we tried was the Mystic Point.

◼️ MYSTIC POINT

The facade of the Mystic Point attraction.

Another ride that I enjoyed - a trackless ride! It seems simple as you enter but during the ride, all I can say was that  “Wow!” I loved how they incorporate the 4D experience while in a trackless ride. You can feel the wind, splatters of water, hear everything clearly, and more. If I’ll comeback to Disneyland, I’ll ride this one again.

◼️ DISNEY NIGHT PARADE

Villains were on the spotlight for Halloween’s Disney Night Parade, since it was Halloween after all. There were no sight of Mickey, Goofy, Minnie, and etc. All were the different villains from the Disney stories.

Below are just photos I got during nighttime in Disneyland.

I’m currently missing Disneyland while writing this blog post. I will surely be back to the magical world of Disney! Truly a place where I can say, I will always be a kid at heart because of Disney.

HONG KONG ITINERARY FOR DAY 3

This was our itinerary for Day 3 in Hong Kong

DAY 3

08:00 AM - Wake Up 08:30 AM - BREAKFAST 09:30 AM - ETD from Hotel 10:15 AM - ETA to Disneyland 10:30AM - Explore Disneyland 12:30 PM - LUNCH 02:00 PM - Rides 08:45PM - Disney Night Parade 09:15 PM - ETD from Disneyland 10:00 PM - ETA to Hotel / DINNER

To sum up my Disneyland adventure in Hong Kong, I compiled all the video clips I got. Feel free to watch it below:

*Not sponsored by Klook. Friends and relatives suggested trying Klook to have a less hassle vacation in another country. Experience with it was good and was able to skip the long lines because of booking with them. Paid Klook through an OTC bank since some says there were additional fees when credit card was used.

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🔗 DAY 1 IN HONG KONG BLOG POST

🔗 DAY 2 IN HONG KONG BLOG POST

[upthenorthmountain]

Disneyland Paris Ride Reviews

Here they are! Reviews or all the rides and shows we experienced. So there’s a few missing that we didn’t do for various reasons, but we hit the majority of what was available to us I think!

DISNEYLAND PARK

 FANTASYLAND

 Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

At Disneyland Paris the castle is Sleeping Beauty’s Castle (Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant). There are steps up inside the castle and you can see stained glass windows and tableaux with the scenes from Sleeping Beauty, and also step out onto the balcony to see the view over Fantasyland. There is a dragon under the castle - if you walk up from Main Street and head round to the left of the castle, not over the bridge, you will see the sign for La Tanière du Dragon. There is also a shop inside the castle selling jewellery and crystal, and sometimes you can watch someone making glass roses.

The nighttime show, Illuminations, is mainly projected onto the front of the castle. It starts at park closing - currently 11pm - and it’s a good idea to take your place at least an hour before. There is a lot of projection, also fireworks and fountains, and as we left the park afterwards Mickey Mouse was standing on the balcony of the Main Street railway station waving and wishing everyone goodnight, which was a lovely touch.

 Royal Castle Stage

This is to the right of the castle, coming from Main Street, and there are currently two shows using it - Joyeux Anniversaire Disneyland Paris in the morning/lunchtime, and the Starlit Princess Waltz in the afternoon/evening. Both shows are mixed French and English. The first has a cast of different characters and they do a birthday song and one with sections for each of the lands in the park. The princess show features eight princesses, who dance, then their princes come on and they all dance together, because Disney knows how to give the people what they want. There are a few stone benches but you’ll need to get there fairly early to get one; otherwise you’ll end up sitting on the floor but Disneyland has the cleanest floors I’ve ever seen so whatever.

 Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Snow White and the seven dwarves) 

This is a Snow White dark ride, which sounds lovely! But two years ago when I took a four year-old and a six year-old on it, by halfway through I was hugging them both and saying ‘I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just close your eyes, I'm sorry’ because they were fucking terrified. It opens with happy dwarves and woodland creatures, but then immediately heads into the dark woods, with scary trees lunging at you and the witch constantly appearing and a dungeon full of skeletons, one of which jumps right at you. Then a brief scene of Snow White and the Prince waving at you, then the ride is over and you have to stop everyone crying. You think I am exaggerating. I am not. What the hell were they playing at. Worse than the Phantom Manor because at least you expect that to be scary.

 Les Voyages de Pinocchio 

Now this is more the thing! A traditional dark ride, scenes from Pinocchio, jolly good stuff. Boys turning into donkeys, being eaten by a whale, just what you'd expect. Not that exciting but it is nice in a traditional sort of way

 Le Carrousel de Lancelot 

The first time we went to DLP as a family was in 2014, and we were only there one night and didn't have time to do everything. Several times we walked past this lovely carousel and I told the girls we'd do it later, but we never got round to it. When we returned in 2015 I said we'd go on the carousel first, marched straight into Fantasyland and it was surrounded by hoardings as it was being renovated. But this time! We went on it! First of all! And it was lovely. A lovely carousel with lots of horses that go up and down, as carousel horses should, I can’t stand it when you go on a carousel and your horse doesn’t even fucking move, but it’s okay because Disney understands me.

 Peter Pan’s Flight 

Another dark ride but you ride in a flying pirate ship, out of the nursery and over London to Neverland. Newly renovated and much more colourful and sparkly. Flying in a boat makes it that much more fun, until the ride breaks down, and everyone has to be evacuated, and you’re ten feet above Neverland and cast members have to help you down with ladders, and today it was warm so you wore a skirt, and your six-year-old was so very brave so you have to be brave too even though it is Surprisingly High. Walking back through the closed ride was awesome though and we rode the ride several other times without incident.

 Disneyland Railroad

Steam train that takes you round the park. We only went halfway on it on this trip, from Fantasyland through Discoveryland to Main Street, which is cool because you go through the top of It’s A Small World and you can wave at the boats; I think the other side through Frontierland has a Grand Canton tableau thing but I forget. The main problem is that if they only have one train on you can wait up to half an hour for it to come round again.

  Meet Mickey Mouse 

Here is where you can meet Mickey Mouse, all day, because why not. And they will take your picture. Does what it says on the tin. Can be quite a long queue but you’re inside and can watch cartoons on a big screen.

  Dumbo the Flying Elephant 

You sit in the elephant and there is a lever to make it go up and down. A bit of a slow loader so can build up quite a queue but I think an essential part of the Disney experience. Let the small child accompanying you believe that you get scared when it goes all the way up and it will vastly increase their enjoyment or maybe my daugher is just evil.

  Alice’s Curious Labyrinth 

Alice in Wonderland themed maze in two parts; the first is pretty much a walkthrough, with a few different paths and dead ends but it isn’t really possible to get lost; you run into the Caterpillar and the playing cards painting the roses red and can take a picture. After this section you can exit, or you can enter the Queen of Hearts maze, which is a proper maze, and has a castle in the middle that you can go up. A good arrangement as children are satisfied with the first section without having to risk spending time getting lost and frustrated. Only open during the middle of the day, I’m not sure why; when we were there it opened at 11am and closed at 5pm.

 Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups 

Another Disney classic and the canopy and lanterns are very pretty. You can turn the disc in the middle to make the cup spin faster, possibly while laughing maniacally….guys, I think my youngest daughter might be Slytherin

 Casey Jr - le Petit Train du Cirque (the little circus train)

 This is the circus train from Dumbo, and it shares space with the Fairy Tales boat ride; you can wave at the boats as you go round and see some of the scenes and the central castle. These two rides are set a little back from the rest of Fantasyland, behind Alice’s Labyrinth, and they close earlier for some reason (7pm while we were there, the rest of the park not closing until 11pm). This is a good little trainer rollercoaster and it plays the Casey Jr song all the way round, as it should.

 Le Pays des Contes de Fées (the land of fairy tales)

A boat ride past scenes from various fairy tales, some Disney (Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Aladdin etc), some not (Peter and the Wolf, the Wizard of Oz etc). Nice and relaxing and plenty to look at. Not very exciting though and probably best for little ones.

 It’s a Small World

This is a goddamn classic and no Disney trip is complete without multiple rides, I am not even joking, I think we went on it four times on this trip? And a good time was had BY ALL (the good time is compulsory). This had been newly renovated and looks very shiny but WHY is the ceiling still just tiles? Why is it not painted black? There are even things that draw the eye upwards - kites in China, monkeys in Africa - and then it looks like an office building or something. Paint the ceiling! Black! It would be so easy!

 Princess Pavilion 

This is the place to meet a princess! It had changed a bit from our last visit - then, you queued up before it opened at ten and got a timed ticket to come back and see whichever princess was on duty. This time you just had to wait in the queue, but there was a sign saying which princess you would see, which was good because then we could decide whether to bother. If you have a Priority or Easy Access card you can go in the morning and get a timed ticket but they only have so many so best to go early. We saw Rapunzel one morning and my husband queued with our eldest daughter for two hours to see Aurora in the afternoon, which was 100% worth it because Aurora is her favourite and she hadn’t met her before and we have a photo of her face when she first saw her and I’m tearing up just thinking about it

 DISCOVERYLAND

 Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast 

This is a ride that is also a game! You have a laser gun and you have to shoot the targets with a Z on them to defeat Emperor Zurg. You get points for hitting the targets and it is possible to get very competitive. Every photo from this ride has me frowning in concentration. I always ride with a child and I always win. Because it’s a continuous loader, they have to stop it every now and again to help someone with reduced mobility, if this happens while you’re on the ride find the closest target and hit it over and over.

 Orbitron

Like the elephants but you ride in a rocket ship that goes up and down. I’m not good with heights and this seems to go very high and not be entirely stable? And you slide from side to side and I’m not super big on it. I’d rather ride the elephants again to be honest. It makes me uncomfortable and whenever I’m on it I just want to get off but other people love it so what do I know

 Videopolis Theatre 

This used to have an awesome Lion King show but now it is the Jedi Training Academy, which we didn’t do, but we did enjoy a performance from the Calidcott Musical Theatre Company while we were eating at the fast food restaurant that’s also in the building so that was nice.

 Star Tours: l’Aventure Continue 

This has all be redone and relaunched and it so much better! Not as rattly, 3D screens, and in theory you get a different ride each time (our first and second rides were different, the third was the beginning of the second with a different ending). It’s all in French which I suppose can’t be helped but did impact our enjoyment a bit. But very slick and I enjoyed it a lot.

 Starport 

We met Darth Vader! That was nice. He was a bit scary but we were brave.

 Hyperspace Mountain

Space Mountain but skinned as a Star Wars ride - I’m not sure if that’s permanent, as a lot of the Jules Verne-esque theming was still in place, but it was fun. The ride now has space battles, big screens with spaceships and lots of lasers and sound effects, pew pew pew. I think at the beginning it says you’re flying to Jakku? But my French isn’t good enough. We didn’t realise until the last day this was open in Extra Magic Hours or might have gone on it more, but did manage six rides between us which was pretty good (I rode with eldest daughter twice, and she rode with my husband twice, youngest daughter not being tall enough to join us).

 Autopia 

Little cars that you drive along the track; there is a steering wheel but you don’t have to steer properly if you’re lazy or six years old. Someone over 1.32m has to control the pedal. You have a little drive through the countryside then you spend ages queuing up to get back to the platform to disembark. Eldest can drive the car herself and loves it, youngest can’t reach the pedal but loves to steer or at least try to.

 ADVENTURELAND

 Pirates of the Caribbean 

Is still closed for refurbishment which is a BIG PILE OF POO. This is youngest’s favourite ride and we couldn’t do it. So it gets ZERO POINTS.

 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril 

Mine car rollercoaster, a bit rattly and jerky but good fun, has one 360 loop. Good theming, tucked away right at the back of Adventureland. I think for a few years they ran this backwards? But it’s forwards again now.

 La Passage Enchante d’Aladdin 

A walkthrough with scenes from Aladdin. This was closed on our last visit but this time we all enjoyed going up Aladdin’s Enchanted Passage.

  FRONTIERLAND

 Phantom Manor

This is the Haunted Mansion. A bit hard to follow the story if you don’t speak French, something about a bride? She keeps turning up, certainly. Another Disney classic and I know I shouldn’t keep complaining about the language barrier when I’m the one who willingly went to a foreign country but it does make it not as good as at the American parks, for me.

 Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing

You can ride the riverboat round Big Thunder Mountain. Pretty slow and not enough seats and we didn’t bother on this trip. There are some tableaux along the side of the lake, mostly on the outside, so stand on that side of the boat if you want to see them.

 Big Thunder Mountain 

Mine cart rollercoaster, has been updated with new scenes including a dynamite blasting section, top stuff. The ride loads on the side of the lake and most of the track is on the island, so you immediately plunge into a pitch-black tunnel before surfacing to climb and go round and round, then back through a black tunnel full of bats to the platforms. Just the kind of thing I like and it’s got even better since our last visit.

  WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

 BACKLOT

 Rock’n’Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith

A rollercoaster in the dark, with loud music and flashing lights. Launch start. Very fast, don’t put your head against the headrest or it’ll get rattled to pieces, I like it but it’s very intense and the theming seems a little bit dated now.

 Moteurs...Action! Stunt Show Spectacular featuring Lightning McQueen

We saw this on our last trip but not this one. Quite long and didn’t seem to know if it wanted to be a stunt show, or a Cars show, or showing film special effects, but good if you like that sort of thing.

 PRODUCTION COURTYARD

 Studio Tram Tours: Behind the Magic

You ride in a tour tram thing and see some props from such blockbuster hits as Dinotopia, Reign of Fire and Pearl Harbour, none of which I’ve seen, has anybody? But there’s a bit where they show special effects with rain and fire and a flood which was quite cool. Sit towards the right of the car if you don’t want to get wet. But it was a hot day so we didn’t mind. Needed more to look at as some parts of the road were empty and that was a bit dull.

 Disney Junior Live on Stage! 

We saw this on our last two trips but not this one as our two are growing out of Disney Junior a bit, and the show badly needs updating. There are alternating French and English shows so check the times.

 TOON STUDIO

 Animagique Theatre

The current show here is Mickey and the Magician. We had to queue for about half an hour before the show but it was well worth it, it was a very good show with live singing, magic tricks, lots of songs and dancing. In general, Mickey speaks French and the other characters speak English, but the plot isn’t complicated and is mainly an excuse to show songs from different Disney films. The theatre is also air-conditioned and has comfortable padded seats which was almost worth the wait by itself.

 Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

Similar to the Teacups, but you’re sat in a Car and they move round each other in a figure-of-eight and you keep thinking you’re going to collide but not quite doing it. In theory each car seats four but my husband and I are average-sized and only just fit side-by-side in the back row of the car. Good fun though and doesn’t make you as dizzy as the teacups, not me anyway.

 Crush’s Coaster 

This is AWESOME and probably my favourite from this trip. The rollercoaster car is shaped like a turtle shell, with two seats facing forward and two back, but once you get into the rollercoaster section it spins so you’re facing forward, backward, this way and that way. Starting off forwards you see more of the shark, starting off backwards you see the jellyfish better, but it doesn’t matter once you get past the first few scenes and into the East Australian Current, which is a dark rollercoaster section with spinning lights and occasional turtles. Smooth except for when it rights you at the end which can be a bit jarring. Top stuff.

 Les Tapis Volants - Flying Carpets Over Agrabah 

The thing about this ride, which is like the elephants again but with flying carpets, is that it should clearly be in Adventureland in the main park, which has a big area themed for Aladdin, but I’d guess there isn’t room for it, so it’s in the Studios park, with the genie there and supposed to be directing a film? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. The ride itself is good though, smooth and quite fast. Nice breeze on a hot day.

 Art of Disney Animation 

This building currently has an area where you can meet Belle - don’t believe the times in the programme, she was here all day, with a long queue (again, if you have a Priority/Easy Access card you can get a timed ticket but get there early as they only have so many). There is also an exhibition of Disney concept art and, my favourite part, an area with little desks shaped like the bottom half of Mickey Mouse and a cast member who teaches you to draw a Disney character. We all drew Stitch. The drawing bit was a nice change of pace and also I got to show off a bit and the cast member said my picture was very good, she really did, no honestly

 Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Remy

This was my favourite ride on our last trip and it is still my second-favourite (Crush’s Coaster, which we didn’t ride last time, has just pipped it). You wear 3d glasses and ride in a little rat and it is all very slick and immersive. Half in English and half in French but not much dialogue so it’s easy to follow.

  TOY STORY PLAYLAND

 Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop

You sit under a parachute which goes up, then drops, four times over I think. I didn’t ride this one but I was informed that it is higher than it looks and you have a great view; it feels secure as it drops; and that it is very good.

 Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin

My husband won’t ride this one as it gives him a headache but my head, which can be delicate, doesn’t mind it. The dog goes round and round and a bit up and down. Quite bumpety and you get pushed to the side of the car.

[daysofparker-blog]

Chapter Seven: The Mall: Scottsdale Fashion Square

New Post has been published on https://www.daysofparker.com/chapter-seven-scottsdale-fashion-square/

Chapter Seven: The Mall: Scottsdale Fashion Square

Scottsdale Fashion Square:

I decided that it would be a neat idea to take Virginie to one of Arizona’s largest malls, Scottsdale Fashion Square. Virginie and I watch this series on Youtube called Dead Mall by Dan Bell. This film-maker travels around the US documenting the dying mall industry. While watching this series, Virginie is always stunned by how these huge shopping centers are so vacant. I would always tell her that the mall I grew up going to was still thriving. It was hard for her to believe given how this series painted the industry but I was eager to show her a proper mall. Who knows, maybe Scottsdale Fashion Square will soon become a thing of the past.

On the way there, I kept complaining about how difficult it is to find parking because of how busy Fashion Square always is. I figured I should make her first Fashion Square experience proper because parking is usually the biggest deterrent for me. The good news was we were just being dropped off.

Starting The Mall Trip Right:

Once we arrived, we did like any true Fashion Square shopper would do, we bought Starbucks. When in Scottsdale, act like Scottsdale. While we drank our coffees outside I would tell about my mischievous teenage years loitering at this mall. Virginie was a saint growing up so she thinks I was little over rebellious. To be fair, I did go through a short rebellion period but that did not last long.

After giving Virginie a little history lesson of my teenage rebellion, it was time for us to begin out mall adventure. We headed towards the door and one aspect of Fashion Square that has always intrigued me was how luxurious it is. I think Virginie was fairly surprised by it too, given that her only knowledge of American malls comes from the Dead Mall series. Virginie could definitely tell right away that Fashion Square was far from being considered a dead mall.

Where to start? 

We entered the food court and foolishly I asked her “what next? “. I forgot that I was supposed to be the tour guide showing her around. Once she gave me the look of “are you seriously asking me that?”. I quickly started to name off all the stores that I could remember and thought she would like. As soon as the Disney store rolled off my tongue, she immediately lit up and begged to go there first. I warned her that it was very pricey but I was going to rob her of that experience.

Scottsdale Fashion Square

While making our way towards the Disney store, Virginie was mesmerized by how massive Fashion Square was. I explained to her how Scottsdale Fashion Square was organized. The ground level was mostly dedicated to the food court and a handful of novelty stores. The first level is where you go if you want to spend big money. It has all designer stores such as Michael Kors, Gucci, Coach and so forth. I told her we would probably never be able to afford shopping on that level in this lifetime. The second level which is the top level was nearly all consumer friendly stores. This was the level I would be at the most when I was a teen. Lastly, at the ends of the mall were the flagship stores like Macy’s and Dillards. Now that Virginie had a basic understanding of Fashion Square, I could tell she was starting to feel a little more comfortable.

Disney: 

We arrived at the entrance of the Disney store and Virginie instantly reverted back to her childhood self. She investigated every single inch of the store while oohing and awing over all the neat Disney merchandise. It was like a miniature Disneyland to her. After a little while, Virginie found a mug that she was absolutely infatuated with. It looked like Chip from Beauty and The Beast which happens to be her all-time favorite movie. I could tell she really wanted it but as you can imagine it was expensive. She reluctantly put it back on the shelf but before she could let it go I told her I would purchase it for her. Virginie insisted that I should not buy it for her but after some words, she finally agreed to me buying it for her (She paid me back a little later with tickets to the aquarium). I love seeing Virginie when she is happy and excited. She has this special glow that is so infectious. When Virginie is happy, I am happy.

Once our mini Disney adventure ended it was onto one of Virginie’s favorite stores, Claire’s. Until this point in my life, I had never been inside of a Claire’s but that was about to change. We spent a looooong time in there and it wasn’t due to Virginie.

Neverending Claire’s: 

While Virginie was shopping for the cutesy accessories that she loves so much, I noticed that you could get your ears pierced here. Now, I have wanted my ears pierced for well over a decade but I just never pursued it. I bought this up to Virginie and she was all for me getting studs in my ears. I had to promise her one thing though, I would never gauge my ears. Fair enough, I wasn’t a huge fan of that look anyways. I love jewelry, so I was stoked on being able to wear more.

Virginie and I went to the front desk and asked for the paperwork to get started on the process. I signed the documents and handed them back. There were a couple people ahead of us getting their ears pierced, so I thought the wait wouldn’t be too bad. Boy, was I very wrong? I swear, we were in Claire’s for what seemed like over an hour. I can’t believe how long it took the workers to shoot a couple of holes in people’s ears. Virginie and I circled that Clairs store more than a dozen times. It was not all bad because Virginie would pick out hair accessories and asked my opinion on them. I enjoyed that part and I am sure she did too.

Once our wait ended, it was time for me to man up and get shot in the earlobes. I am making it sound worse than it really was. The lady started on my right ear and all it felt like was a little prick followed by warm pressure. Nothing too bad. The toddlers ahead of me made it seem like it was going to feel like a train running over my ear. I had my tears locked and loaded! My left ear was a little bit more tricky than the right one. For some reason, the gun did not shoot the earring all the way through. This caused me to flinch because I was not prepared for this extra pain. I held my tear back but damn it hurt. The lady apologized, I assured her everything was fine. I officially had the earrings I have wanted for so long now. I’m not going to lie, I felt pretty badass afterward.

Virginie and I headed to the checkout to finally leave this place. It was worth it though because I got my ears pierced and a 30% coupon that Virginie was able to redeem. We left Claire’s both with smiles on our faces.

Rich Lands: 

It was getting late in the day and Virginie and I were meeting my brother for dinner later but I had to take her to one last store. This particular store was on the first level so you know what that means. Yep, it was one of the expensive classy stores. The store’s name is… MICHAEL KORS! Virginie is absolutely obsessed with his handbags, I thought she might find a store dedicated to them neat.

Once we got to our desired floor I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. The first floor has such a different feeling than the rest of the mall. It is not nearly as busy as the other floors but the shoppers you do see are packin’ some serious cash. I am fairly certain I could not even afford a keychain from a store on this floor. I feel like the shoppers can sense this which makes me feel especially out of place.

After a treacherous walk through Rich Lands, we finally arrived at Michael Kors. The look in Virginie’s eyes was priceless. Virginie doesn’t have a very expensive taste nor does she ever want super expensive things but she does LOVE her Michael Kors handbags. She circled that store with so much excitement it almost made me feel bad I could not get her one.

Once we left the store, I promised her that she would get a Michael Kors handbag one day. *Spoiler alert, she received one for Christmas(Thanks, Jana and Dan)!

Finishing A Long Day: 

Our day at the mall had finally come to an end, it was one of my more eventful trips to the mall. Both Virginie and I were pretty exhausted but our day was not over quite yet. We still had dinner plans with my brother and his wife.

The dinner was a nice way to end the day. We all sat on the patio of the restaurant and enjoyed the beautiful October evening weather. After our meal, we took a little stroll down the road to an ice cream place called Creamistry. Neither Virginie or I had ever had the type of ice-cream they served. It was freshly made right in front of you with some kind of witchcraft. I swear I have never had such amazingly tasty ice-cream, it was so damn creamy. We were a little bummed because both of us decided to share one. I think both of us could have eaten a tub of that witchcraft goodness.

With our stomachs stuffed with food aid delightful ice-cream, it was time for us to part ways with my brother and his wife. I can’t lie, Virginie and I were both relieved because we were both extremely tired from our busy day.

When we returned home we struggled to get into our pajamas but we somehow managed. After finding something to watch on Netflix, we ended that night much like the previous nights, with our hearts full of love and smiles on our faces.

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[photograpia]

Travel Thursday: 5 Things to Know when Visiting Tokyo DisneySea

The biggest highlight of our Japan trip was spending an entire day at one of the most magical places on the planet: Tokyo DisneySea. From the time Mia, Monica, and I became best friends, we knew we wanted to travel together someday, and a Disney park was definitely on that bucketlist. At 26, we finally did it! We got to enjoy the day with someone else we grew up with- our ever-pretty friend Mica, whose infectious excitement (and Japanese speaking skills!) made the trip so much better. 

It was my first time to a Disney park outside of the US, and while most foreign Disney parks are based on the original at Anaheim, Disneysea was an entirely new concept. As with most Japanese attractions- the devil was in the details, and everything was so well thought out, over-the-top, and extra. We loved it. 

As a tribute and mini guide to anyone visiting the park, these are the 5 Things You Should Know when Visiting Tokyo Disney Sea:  

1. The Park is entirely in Japanese. 

I don’t know if this should be common knowledge, but the first time I went to a theme park that wasn’t in the states, I was suprised at how there was very little English anywhere. It think it’s a good thing- it shows how these parks really try to adapt and make things more local for the people in the places they set up. To a foreign tourist who only understands English it may be a challenge, but pertinent signs and instructions are multilingual so it shouldn’t be a deterrent to visit. Also not knowing what comes next on a ride when the narration is in Japanese makes them so much more thrilling! 

2. Tokyo DisneySea is HUGE. 

Unlike in other Disney resorts in other countries, the Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea parks are separate (think a train station away separate) and do not offer cross park tickets. This really makes sense- to maximize the experience, do one park a day. The DisneySea park is divided into seven areas:

Mediterranean Harbour

American Harbourfront

Lost River Delta

The Arabian Coast

Port Discovery (where you’ll find the adorable Finding Dory ride)

and Mermaid Lagoon. This was my favorite part of the park- be sure to enter the actual castle and marvel at the multi-sensory King Triton’s underwater world. I felt like I was five and watching The Little Mermaid for the first time again. 

3. The rides are fantastic. Get Fastpasses whenever you can. 

These are the rides you absolutely shouldn’t miss: 

 Journey to the Center of the Earth

Tower of Terror

Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull 

Toy Story Mania (closed when we went)

Aquatopia

4. Peoplewatch. The guests themselves are part of the adventure. 

Last year when I was at the Disneyland in California, I had every intention of dressing up like Princess Jasmine (no judgement). Then I found out that this is no longer allowed for anyone over the age of 12 (understandably so, the world and time we live in warrants such restrictions to keep kids safe from creepy predators). The wonderfully creative people in Japan however found a way around this by integrating character elements into their wardrobe...and channeling all their costume restrictions on to their children. It is a glorious thing to observe.  

I’d like to point out the bear ears these adorable school kids are sporting. These are the ears of the most famous character in the entire Tokyo Disney Resort- Duffy. Who is Duffy, you may ask? Duffy is Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear. Yes, the bear is more famous than Mickey himself. So much so that they gave him a girlfriend this summer- a random violet bunny named StellaLou. 

This is my future parenting peg. Classic mother with the chic ears and her princess child.

Few families made me smile bigger than this huge one of apparent Disney fans- see also the toddler for whom this visit was probably planned, sleeping blissfully in stroller. 

Then of course- the girlfriends who all dress in the same colors, and pose in all the key photo spots with their Duffy/StellaLou stuffed animals. Only at Tokyo DisneySea. 

5. Bring lots of yen for food and merchandise. 

I wrote previously about how a visit to Tokyo DisneySea can turn into a great food trip real quick here. 

If only for the food and the merchandise, the DisneySea park is well worth a visit. While the entrance is significantly cheaper than most theme parks (as of July 2017 it’s 7400 yen for an adult or $67/Php3500), you’ll find that it’s very hard to say no to the merch. It’s also priced pretty reasonably, but the volume of things you’ll want to get can get overwhelming! Everything is so much cuter, more chic...and after such an amazing day at the park, you’ll really want something to remember your day by. Here are some examples of the kawaii culture buys you can find: 

Technology Accessories. Lots of phone cases, charms, microfiber cleaning sheets, and the like. The designs are adorable and really unique -like this one of Chip and Dale making acorn pasta! It even has a little pasta cutter charm! 

Subtly Disney Jewelry. I really loved the Disney accessories selection in Japan because it wasn’t over the top in character branding, but more chic gold elements with subtle references. As someone whose ears aren’t pierced I love that all their earrings come with softclip options too. 

My biggest regret is not buying this Queen Elsa jewelry stand. I should have. 

Cutesy-fied Star Wars Merchandise. I know, I know. Star Wars is a classic and really needs no cutesy-fying, but who can say no to making droids and ewoks even cuter?

Stationary. Gradschool has allowed me to be indulgent with these for a little longer, and for that I am glad. Couldn’t turn away from the pens, the sticky notes, the notepads! It has been the best way to remember the fun that day, even when I’m back in the stressful school environment. Thank you for the smiles, Disney. 

[mrcoreymonroe]

Disneyland for AvGeeks: Fliegerschiessen AXALP 2018

Swiss F-5s fly during the 2018 Fliegerschiessen Axalp live fire demonstration.

This story is written by Jerry T. Lai. Jerry is a Chicago-based photojournalist who read our coverage of 2017’s Axalp show in Switzerland, and decided he had to make the trip to see it for himself. This is his story about the 2018 show – hope you enjoy it, and be sure to let us know if you decide to attend at some point, too!

We’re all AvGeeks here, but what really gets my heart pumping is fast jets at air shows and demonstrations.  As someone based in Chicago, I’m spoiled with having the wonderful Chicago Air and Water Show in my backyard, as well as EAA AirVenture in nearby Oshkosh, and am a short flight away from many other fabulous official demonstrations like Fleet Week in SFO.

But there was one show I had somehow not ever heard of, until I read about right here on AirlineReporter: Fliegerschiessen Axalp.  An air show that combines liberal use of flares, cannon fire, vapor, and set with a backdrop in the Swiss Alps?  SIGN ME UP!

Parachuting, Swiss Army style.

A Swiss F/A-18 and a Pilatus flying in formation.

Around August, I started making my preparations to visit.  I got a flight to Zurich booked, rented a car, and found an Airbnb in Brienz, a quintessential lakeside Swiss town at the foot of the Alps.

I knew that going into this trip that because weather at this time of year in the Swiss Alps can be a bit unpredictable, that planning a trip where the primary purpose of seeing the Fliegerscehiessen would be a lot like fishing.  You have no idea what you are going to get on a given day, and need to be prepared for the possibility that you may get completely shut out.  Indeed prior to 2017, this event had been canceled trip years in a row.  You really do have to go into an adventure like this with the mindset that you could get skunked.  However, at the end of the day, you’re in the Swiss Alps with so much to in nearby Brienz, Interlaken, Lucerne, and others.

Fortunately, the weather gods were in my favor for the 2018 edition.  I made the 90 minute drive from Zurich to Brienz in beautiful 70 degree fall weather on Monday afternoon before the first practice day, so that I could figure out where I needed to go before it got dark.  As I passed Meiringen and approached Brienz, I could hear the roar of Swiss fighter jets above me.  That was the confirmation I needed to have to know it was going to be a great week.

I was a combination of being both jet lagged and overly excited, so I ended up waking up at 3 a.m.  Being unable to fall back asleep, I decided to just head to the show early which as you will read below, ended up being very fortunate. I arrived at the Park and Ride in the dark at about 5:45 a.m. but was not the first one there.  There were many other cars already parked and unloading their gear for the trek up to Axalp.

And here’s the part that people don’t really warn you enough about: the hike.  Oh that hike!  I’m in pretty good shape, but it still took me a strenuous hour and 15 minutes to get from the chairlift to the uppermost viewing area, KP Ebenfluh.  The photos of the climb don’t really do justice to describing just how steep some portions get [editor: I dunno, those photos look pretty intense].

But when you stop and look in the other direction, you’re rewarded with beautiful views of the town below.

A layer of morning fog covers the lake below the show site.

After the bus transfer, chairlift ride, and hike, I got to my spot in KP Ebenfluh at about 8:30 a.m. and geared up for a long morning of waiting.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have too wait long — at about 9 a.m., four Swiss F/A-18 Hornets made their very loud arrival by dropping flares and firing their cannons at the targets for morning practice.

An F/A-18 releases flares as it heads up the valley — it’s a sight to behold.

  Mmmm. Vapor.

  Favorable morning temperatures are often conducive to vapor formation in the Alpine autumn.

  Dropping into the valley.

This was followed by a Super Puma performing their full demonstration.

The Super Puma display team in action.

  Both pilots wave to the crowd while wearing orange gloves.

All in all, morning practice lasted for an hour and quite frankly, if that was all that I saw that day I would have been one happy camper.  But no, that wasn’t all, not by a long shot.  At noon, the hornets returned but brought their Tiger friends along for a few additional practice runs.

It’s super fun to see Super Hornets flying beneath your vantage point.

  Afterburner on at the end of the valley.

  Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Finally, after all that, the regular show at 2 p.m. began.  In addition to the previously seen Hornet and Tiger teams, any teams that didn’t practice earlier like the parascouts and Patrouille Suisse finally made their appearances.

Formation flying with the Patroiulle Suisse.

  One of the finest liveries in military aviation, at least in this editor’s humble opinion.

When the day was finally done, I essentially ended up watching and photographing three air shows between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.  Needless to say, because of the constant action, the flawless weather, and the great ambiance around me; this exceeded all my expectations.  A few of my friends who are also AvGeeks — but just not as hardcore as me being willing to get the risk of getting skunked for the distance traveled — said that after seeing my photos they are not going to make any excuses and will definitely go in 2019.  If you’re like them and thinking the same thing, you can already start planning:  The Swiss have announced the dates for next year’s show for Wednesday, October 9 and Thursday, October 10, 2019.

An F/A-18 sporting a special livery.

  Even the drop tank got special paint on this one.

  Bottoms up.

A few tips if you make the visit in 2019

It is possible to visit without a car. You can take the train to Brienz, transfer to a shuttle to the park-and-ride lot, transfer to another shuttle to Axalp, then take the chairlift, then hike.

If you do drive, you should purchase your parking and lift ticket in advance. The advance purchase price is a bit cheaper than buying the passes the day of the event. You can find info about next year’s event here.

To fit in like the locals, I would suggest visiting a Coop grocery store and purchasing a portable candlelight raclette maker, and your own cheese and bread and other fixings. While you can buy concessions on the mountain, I didn’t feel like my experience was truly authentic without melting that delicious raclette cheese like seemingly everyone else.

Again, have a game plan and go into this with the mentality that you are in Switzerland. If there is no show, enjoy the lovely scene and the surrounding Lake Brienz area and there will be no regrets.

For the photographers: a 200mm lens is adequate for closes passes, formation flying, and for the Super Puma demo, but a lens with a reach of 400-500mm is ideal for everything else. A wide zoom, like a 17-40mm or 24-70mm, is also handy to have if you’re interested in doing some scenics or want to capture the whole tableau.

The path between Tschingel and KP Ebenfluh closes approximately an hour before the morning practice, and an hour before the afternoon show. If you are looking to set up at KP, please budget your hiking time accordingly.

Dress for all weather. Even though during the day it got downright hot and people were even wearing shorts when the sun came out, the hike in the morning was very cold and I was in my full winter gear for the climb.

If you arrive early in the morning, you should bring a flashlight or a headlamp. There is no lighting on the mountain for the hike, so hiking that rough and slippery terrain in the dark is really sketchy.

The post Disneyland for AvGeeks: Fliegerschiessen AXALP 2018 appeared first on AirlineReporter.

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[jacewilliams1]

The day I almost didn’t take off

When you are a young airplane pilot, the world of flying is full of wonder. So many new things to do, new experiences to have, and yes, people to impress with your new-found skills. There are so many fun challenges out there and sometimes you don’t worry as you should about things like physics getting in the way.

I had wanted to be a pilot since I was very young. Some of my oldest memories were of air shows my father took the family to back in the 1960s. I was always the kid at the airport standing at the fence hoping and praying someone would see me and offer me a ride. Unfortunately, that never happened.

After a brief stint at college as an engineering major, I realized I was more interested in flying and fixing airplanes than designing them. I took a brief period off to figure out what to do, then enrolled in the A&P school at the local college. It was during this period that I finally realized my dream and started flying lessons.

I was quite troubling to my instructor. I was ready to go full bore into flying and had little to no time for studying. To me, there were many subjects I thought were not worth the time so I just concentrated on the actual flying and hoped for the best. When my written test came around, I walked in very confident but walked out just hoping I had passed… I didn’t. It seemed the subjects I had skipped all seemed to be on that test. I buckled down and finally passed my written and eventually passed my flight check also. Finally I was a Private Pilot and I didn’t have to worry about all that studying stuff anymore.

After getting my A&P license, I relocated to Los Angeles and began a career as an airplane mechanic. Soon after, I was renting airplanes from the local flight school and having quite a good time flying all over southern California. As my experience grew, I became more and more confident in my abilities. This should have been a warning sign, but I took very few things that way back then.

My roommate and some friends had been bugging me to take them up and that fit right into my new status as an ace pilot so I said sure, let’s do a night flight over LA and we can even go down and watch the fireworks above Disneyland.

Cherokee 140, or 180 – what’s the difference?

I had wanted to rent a Piper Cherokee 180, but it was down for an annual inspection so I took the Cherokee 140 instead. When asked about fuel so they could fuel it before everyone went home for the evening, I just said fill it up. I had almost 120 hours in my logbook so what could possibly go wrong?

I picked up my three passengers at my apartment and we drove the short distance to the airport, full of anticipation of the upcoming flight. None of them had ever flown in a private airplane before and they were very excited at the prospect of it.

It was beautiful weather: zero wind, the sun had set about an hour before and it was just a typical warm summer California evening. I climbed in and in short order had the engine running and the radios on. I taxied out and lined up on the runway. As I advanced the throttle, the acceleration on takeoff was less than I thought it should be, but I justified this with the thought it was a 140 and not the 180. No alarms were going off in my mind yet. What could go wrong with almost 760 lbs of people and full fuel?

The runway was 3500 feet long and at the end was a 10-foot drop-off, a chain link fence, then some houses across the road on the other side of the fence. I started thinking about this just past the halfway point of the runway when I rotated and the airplane did not fly. I thought if I just wait another couple seconds I know it will fly like it has always done. Now we were at about the 2500-foot mark and the wheels were still on the ground.

Now the alarms were going off in my head. I realized I had left myself with only two options: try to stop and end up going down the embankment and through the fence or try to get it into the air and possibly stall at very low level and risk everyone’s life. I’m afraid to say I took too long trying to decide and the wheels finally left the ground… at about the 3200-foot mark.

We were flying but just barley. I’m pretty sure I would have hit the houses off the end of the runway if they had not been that 10 feet below the level of the runway. The aircraft was very slow to respond and we had between 25 and 50 FPM rate of climb. I had the presence of mind to keep the nose down as much as possible and just keep it flying until we gained some altitude.

We went by some prominent landmarks about four miles from the airport and I was still only 250 ft AGL. I finally started to feel like it might be ok when we finally got to 1000 ft, an accomplishment that seemed to take hours from where I was sitting. I knew we must have been very overweight and possibly out of CG so I decided the best course of action was to burn off some fuel prior to trying a landing. We did end up flying around Disneyland but it turns out fireworks look great against a dark sky; not so great when you are above them and the background is a bright city. Finally we made a safe landing. I made absolutely sure a go around would not be needed.

That flight was one of the most tense and traumatic flights I have ever had. We finally landed safely and I went home feeling like I should never be allowed to fly again. It was almost a month before I had the courage to fly again. My friends never knew there was a problem and thought I had just given them the low, scenic flight so they could get better pictures. I guess at least someone was happy about the flight.

That flight was over 30 years ago and to this day I remember it. I think about it every time I plan a flight and I teach it and use it as an example for my students hoping that my cocky stupidity may someday keep one of them from doing something equally as stupid, and something that could turn out far worse than that flight did that night. And to my friends, I am truly sorry I risked your lives that night.

And as far as my experience goes as a kid that never got offered a flight, I now offer flights to any kid that shows any interest in aviation and to their parents also, especially if they are a kid standing at the airport fence hoping and praying someone will offer them an airplane ride.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of our series called “I Can’t Believe I Did That,” where pilots ‘fess up about mistakes they’ve made but lived to tell about. If you have a story to tell, email us at: editor@airfactsjournal.com

The post The day I almost didn’t take off appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2018/10/the-day-i-almost-didnt-take-off/

[blacklivesmattermemphis]

In Medicaid, dental care for adult beneficiaries is optional and is often one of the first benefits eliminated amid state budget constraints. While 47 states and Washington, DC offer some dental benefit to Medicaid-enrolled adults, only 32 cover services beyond emergency care, and only 16 offer comprehensive dental coverage. Inadequate access to dental services can lead to high rates of dental disease, costly oral health-related hospital visits, and missed work days {medicaid.gov}.

This past Friday and Saturday the Mid-South Mission of Mercy held a free dental clinic at Bellevue Baptist Church. Those who do not receive Obama care are without dental and vision insurance.  Activists and organizers work from small donations. A couple of BLMM activists and their family members attended this Free Dental Clinic fo treatment and to evaluate the process.  It was akin to a roller coaster.  Waking up at 3 am to travel to the mega-church all the way to Cordova was the easiest part of the beginning of an epic journey for free dental care.

Standing in line didn’t seem so hard, but for one person who had Lupus, it was challenging time. It was only 2 hours until the doors opened at 6:00 am. I didn’t seem like a long time since it was for a worthwhile cause. When the temperature dropped, significantly and this began not be such a great idea, not to mention there were 497 people who had arrived a few hours before us. Some of them had chairs and had camped out for these free dental services.

Many people were just happy to know that they were in the top 500.  Suddenly, a kind lady passed out arm bands letting us know the first 1200 would be seen.  Overcoming the freezing temperature with Community Coffee, things began to look up. The line was moving forward to a giant heated tent.  As we approached, excitement could be felt by everyone.  Realizing everyone was here for the same reason, swap stories with each other. The friendly chit chatter was interrupted by a disgruntled woman, wanting join the conversation.  She was upset because no one was talking to her.  Many mentally ill people were seeking services, and this situation became frustrating for those who were not.   An elderly man began to talk to the woman, and suddenly the energy outside the church was transformed with positivity.

A man appeared and start requesting that all women with children come with him.  It felt like the scene from the “Titanic” because one woman said, “I should have brought my child.”  As we moved closer to the tent, another man asked all the disabled and elderly people to come with him. Two hours felt like five until a nice lady began passing out breakfast foods, juice, and more coffee.  We were almost to the front of the line of the giant heated tent when an altercation broke out between the Copeland Security employee and a seemingly veteran/mentally ill man.  This was ironic because there was a large police presence.  There should have been people trained to deal such situation. The situation was diffused quickly, but one could only wonder why mentally ill people don’t receive free dental care.

Finally, we made it on the ride inside of the Tent.  One person shouted, “Hallelujah thank you, Jesus.” We were greeted with smiles and welcomes from the Mercy volunteers. We began to thaw out and seated at exactly 8:45 am.  We could only wonder if this would this be worth the wait, as we were asked which services we desired, and were separated by category. They even had an unsure category.

While filling out the paperwork, various volunteers had signs on their shirts that read “Can I pray for you?”  A nice gentleman named Ben Taylor thanked us for coming and added though we were here to get dental service that there were some people who wanna pray for us. Just as we need dental care, we need spiritual care. No one objected.  A gentleman walked up and sat down next to a man and asked: “Do you know if you are going to heaven?”

He replied, “Yes because I do good deeds take care of my family.”

He then told him  “No man will get to heaven unless he believes and confess and admits that Jesus is his Savior, and according to the Bible, GOD LOVES U.”

He went on to tell him that “the consequences of sin are death & that is what separates us from death. So that’s why God sent Jesus, he is alive today.”

He then asked, “Does that make sense to you?”  

He said, “Yes, are you ready for him to be your Lord & Savior?”

At that point, I suddenly realized I needed to find a bathroom. They had porta potties, but with the near freezing temperatures, I was not going to be able to use one. On a mission for mercy to make my way into the building, I began to pray that I could get inside a real bathroom without incident.  As I walked to the door a lady with a smile greeted me and asked me where I was going.”I need to use a

“I need to use a bathroom.”  She said, “Come with me, I will show you where it is.” My prayer had been answered.  After relieving myself, I made my way back to the tent feeling like a new person.  

She said, “Come with me, I will show you where it is.” My prayer had been answered.  Afterward, I made my way back to the tent feeling like a new person.  

Someone spoke on the mic about unity and going to the Lord because he provides all of our needs. Knowing that I needed a root canal, I was shocked to find out that they had dentists performing them onsite.  Walking into Bellevue Baptist building was like a “dental Disneyland.” The first section was for children decorated in superhero pictures.  Volunteers were gracious.  They immediately began taking our vitals, the process of seeing a dentist had begun, but not before someone brought us all lunch. This hospitality sent an illuminating warmth throughout the gigantic gymnasium. After getting our X-rays, we were then sent to have our gums numbed. Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell entered with bodyguards.  He did not interact with the people or his constituents who had been waiting outside all morning but offered a big smile for the cameras as if he were responsible for sponsoring the event.

The hygienist was very gentle and kind. It was reassuring to know that the process was almost over, so we all thought.  After consulting with a dentist, she said, “You’re going to need a root canal, but the tooth was so close to the bone. It may be a waste to do a root canal.”   She assured me the two dentists were the best who would perform my root canal.  Not sure what she meant by that.  The only teeth I had ever had pulled were my wisdom teeth. I had no intention of having any teeth pulled.

I waited another hour because the volunteers were changing shift.  I became anxious and impatient because all I wanted was to fill the chipped hole in my tooth.

The majority of the people receiving services were black folks. The majority of the dentist and professional staff were not black.  In fact, I don’t think I counted more than ten black dentists in the entire building. With such a high demand for dentistry needed why aren’t more blacks aren’t in this field and what programs exist in Shelby County to encourage more black dentist?

My root canal which would have cost $400.00 minus the crown, if I had gotten elsewhere.   I was glad to get a root canal, so I thought.  Michael James, a young black resident, told me he is going to be doing my root canal. Something about his energy was different from everyone else. He didn’t talk to me about Jesus or even offer to pray for me like everyone else. He didn’t even smile.  All of a sudden he tried to put something on my tooth.  The tooth broke. The numbing stuff had worn off I felt the pain. I began to get frantic because he was not gentle like all of the other people.  I was about to cry, but then another man came over and said, “We are not going to be able to save your tooth.” I started to get angry because I didn’t sign up for them to break my tooth or an extraction.  I signed up for a filling and was hoping to get a cleaning if they had time.  If only I had dental insurance and had been getting my teeth cared for on a regular I would not be going through this experience.

Immediately I asked for someone in charge. I came in with a tooth, and I intended to leave with a tooth I didn’t care if it was free. I felt like I had been at the top of the roller coaster and being dropped.  My heart sank, and I began to pray. Two black security guards walked up.  Before they could say anything to me a nice Iranian man came and said, “I will take care of you. Come with me we will have to pull your tooth, but I will personally make sure you leave with a tooth. Because the tooth is broken, it must come out.” I didn’t believe a word he was saying, but he was so nice and convincing, and when he said you are blessed, I knew I could trust him.

We went to another part of the church where impressions for dentures and other moldings were being made. The ride was almost over.  When I saw that they were making teeth in the church.  He made a molding for my teeth and said, “Come with me we now have to take you to surgery.”  I felt helpless but I was willing to follow him to hell as long as he didn’t take me near the guy who was doing the root canals. He then took me to an older dentist who re-numbed my gums. It was like getting on another ride that I knew I shouldn’t be getting on, but I had to according to the Iranian dentist who said I was blessed.  All of a sudden he couldn’t get the tooth out it broke again from the root and then he began asking the assistant to hand him instruments that weren’t big enough next thing I knew my mouth was being hammered.  Literally, he was hammering my tooth.  He said, “You have good bone structure.”  I began to pray because I knew I was going to die at Bellevue Baptist Church.  All of a sudden he said, “you made me sweat, but I got it.”  He began stitching my gum up.  Then he said, “No, I don’t like that one let me re-stitch it.”  He laughed, and I sighed and vowed to never get on this ride again.  Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. I was ok.

All of a sudden he couldn’t get the tooth out it broke again from the root and then he began asking the assistant to hand him instruments that weren’t big enough.  I knew my tooth was being hammered.  Literally, he was hammering my tooth.  He said, “You have good bone structure.”  I began to pray because I knew I was going to die at Bellevue Baptist Church.  All of a sudden he exclaimed, “you made me sweat, but I got it.”  He began stitching up my gum.  Then he said, “No, I don’t like that one let me re-stitch it.”  He laughed, and I sighed and vowed to never get on this ride again.  Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. I was okay.

They explained my temporary tooth would be ready the next day by 10 am.  It was time to exit this place they provided me with free pain pills and antibiotics, and I left thinking I have to come back again.  When I arrived at 10 am the next morning, I was greeted by friendly smiling faces and the Iranian dentist Dr. Hassan Bashiri the man in the blue scrubs who had rescued me the day before.  I discovered more about how long he had been doing dental work and felt a sense of pride knowing that he was a Maxillofacial Prosthodontist which is a sub-specialty of dentistry.  Originally from Illinois, he practices in Arkansas but travels all over the world doing God’s work and it had to be divine intervention that brought him to me the day before. He fitted me for my temporary replacement tooth and did not allow me to leave until it was perfect. He said he was a perfectionist.  I told him me too that’s why I had to have a tooth and will be getting a permanent implant at some point.  He reassured that even though this was temporary it would last for years.

When I looked in the mirror I could not tell which tooth was the fake one because it looked identical to the others. I was shocked to know as much pain as I was in the day before that he could put something there even though my mouth had not healed and it looked good.  He said this will keep my teeth from shifting and explained how to care for it until I get a permanent implant. He then sent me to get my teeth cleaned which I really needed. Greeted by Tera another Mission of Mercy Volunteer, she said, “Can I pray for you?”  I did not resist.  Something about all the constant prayer in the past 24 hours was comforting. Almost in tears from the generosity of all these different spirits, I could not allow one negative encounter to form my opinion of this free dental clinic.   We were cold.  They gave us coffee. We weren’t extremely hungry, but they fed us twice.  I needed to use a real bathroom. I was permitted to do so I could maintain my dignity. I was in distress and they comforted me.  My tooth was broken. It was almost fixed by probably one of the best dentist in the world. Dr. Bashiri was right. I am blessed.  The Mid-South Mission of Mercy provided different experiences for each individual this past weekend, and it would behoove other churches to try to offer similar services to the community because they not only saved teeth. They spread love in a city filled with so much distress.  After everything we had been through all we could say was Hallelujah thank you, Jesus.

So how does a free dental clinic relate to black lives matter Memphis?

Dentistry just like social justice work is a challenging field which sometimes requires unconventional tactics to bring about desirable end results. Sometimes we have to hammer so hard. It hurts to get the perfect results.  Sometimes we have to allow strangers to love us and pray for us even if we don’t believe it will work. Sometimes we have to trust a complete stranger who says that we are blessed and know that we can find a solution to a problem. All of the work that was done was to bring us a step closer to the promise land. Many people don’t believe in God or Jesus, but the faith of others is enough to bring us one step closer to our Hallelujah moment.  Sometimes we have to let go of our hurt and fear and allow people who don’t know us to guide us and reshape our opinions.  We must learn to open our hearts, love and trust people even if it hurts. Our legislators also should listen to the need and implement more affordable dental insurance for those who can’t afford it. Memphis is a city full of hate, and if we are not careful it will continue to be passed on to our generations, and if we do better it may be a challenging procedure, but we can overcome each obstacle with patience, love, pain, dedication, and perseverance where we can all reach that Hallelujah thank you Jesus moment. 

Our legislators should listen to the needs of their constituents and provide dental insurance for those who can’t afford dental services. Memphis is a city full of hate.  If we are not careful, it will continue to be passed on to our generations. Although it may be challenging, if we create a better process, we can overcome each obstacle with patience, love, dedication, and perseverance where we can all reach that Hallelujah thank you Jesus moment. Six Flags over Jesus. 

    6 Flags Over Jesus In Medicaid, dental care for adult beneficiaries is optional and is often one of the first benefits eliminated amid state budget constraints.