#because i had to wait for the bus in -22 degrees for like 5 hours cus it couldnt get through

[famousblueraincoatmp3]

im crazy cus there has been snow here since late october. that is why i am the way i am

[katiesthoughtson]

22 Lessons I’ve Learned in 22 Years

In honor of my impending 22nd birthday, I decided to do one of my favorite things and self-reflect. I’ve complied this list of some important lessons I’ve learned over the past 22 years. Please enjoy.

1.      Just do the thing.

 There are so many experiences I’ve wanted to do that I’ve put qualifications on – ‘I’ll do that when I’m older/fitter/more confident.’ I’ve also had the habit of thinking that I can’t do something because it’s outside of a trend or an aesthetic that I’m trying to achieve. I’m a little bit ashamed to even admit that last statement, but it’s the truth.

I now try to keep myself conscious of when I’m having those thoughts and reframing them. There are, naturally, things that I have to save money or wait until I’m legally allowed to do something. However, for the most part, I can do these things now. I can wear that dress or those shorts now. I can learn what an IRA and an ETF and a mutual bond are now. I can be happy now. Not when I’m older or in a new city or achieve a certain goal. I can be happy now.

2.      Doing things alone is not unbearable and can even be fun.

One of my most vivid memories of my Disney College Program was my first alone trip to a Disney Park. It was something I put on my bucket list, so I figured I had to get it done. I boarded the infamous CP bus and headed to Epcot, promising myself the entire way, like a mantra, that I could leave as soon as I felt uncomfortable and stopped having fun. I could enter the park, walk around, and leave, if that were all I wanted to do.

I ended up spending almost the entire day at Epcot, thoroughly enjoying my own company and taking my sweet time exploring every nook of the World Showcase (my personal favorite activity during my Disney Days). I love being able to do things at my own pace. In a real twist of fate, I even got to the point where I would intentionally turn down plans with others to have a day to myself in the parks. I’ve tried to continue this practice outside of Walt Disney World – movies, restaurants, parks, shopping. And I’ve had fun doing it.

3.      Sticking to what I think is right is worth it in the end.

There are times, in all of our lives, when we are challenged between what we want to do and what others want us to do. It’s hard to stick to what you believe is right, the values that you hold deeply, in the face of adversity, but it’s well worth it. Keep at it.

4.    Some things simply don’t matter as much as I think they will.

a.      I’ve agonized over so many things – hard conversations and grades and mistakes at work – and honestly…they’ve almost always went better than anticipated. I’ve had hard conversations that have improved my relationships, not ruined everything like I feared. I honestly can’t remember most of my grades, especially from high school. I’ve spent weekends worrying about a mistake I might’ve made at work, just to come in on Monday and be told it wasn’t a big deal. Overthinking and I are close friends, but often, it’s very wrong.

5.      Most of the good things in life require risking some degree of failure.

There’s a lot of failure associated with putting yourself out there in search of the goals you want. It takes strings of bad dates and ghosts in order to find someone that you really connect with. It takes endless rejection letters and interview ghosts to find a job that works. Choosing the safer path, the path that offers less rejection and pain, might seem like a good choice, but it comes with the sacrifice of missing all the beautiful things that could result too.

6.      Mental healthcare is a very real necessity.

I’ve learned a lot about mental health since my initial discovery of the topic 4 years ago. Lately, I’ve been trying to reinforce mental healthcare in a proactive and reactive way. I have started to incorporate healthy behaviors in my daily routine, like meditation, yoga, and journaling. I have also started taking care of myself when I notice dips in my mental health. I used to have the terrible habit of telling myself that I could just push through it, but now, I stop and take care of the small things to genuinely try to feel better. I drink a glass of water, do something I enjoy, eat a snack. It is well worth it for me to take an hour to step aside, take care of myself, and get back to work, rather than keep trying to do things while my brain is screaming at me the whole time.

7.      Making one small positive change can go a long way.

This is another recent mental health tip I heard lately and it’s been so helpful, even in the short time it’s been in my practice. As soon as I notice my mood dip or my anxiety start to build, I change something in my physical environment to make things just 1% lighter. I might light a candle, change into comfier clothes, drink a smoothie, or listen to a favorite song. All of these engage my senses and make my environment a bit better. No, it’s not curing the mental illness, but it’s a mood booster in a small way and sometimes, that’s enough.

8.      Real friends grow with you. The friendship will not always feel the same because people change, but if you’re lucky, the friends will stay.

The friends that I currently have in my life are some of the longest friendships I’ve always had. After years of school with people moving or growing out of touch, this is the first time that I can look at my group of best friends and proudly say that I’ve known all of them for 3+ years. Naturally, we are not all the same people we were when we first met, but my friends and I have grown with each other through life’s challenges and successes. Our dynamics have shifted. The way we communicate has changed. But our friendship is still there and it’s beautiful.

9.      I have never regretted a learning opportunity – a good book, podcast, seminar, event, etc.

This is a true Ravenclaw trait right here, but I love learning. I have never regretted any opportunity to learn, even if it’s not in my particular fields of interest. I loved my general education requirements in college because they gave me so many opportunities to learn and become more well-rounded. I attended random on-campus seminars and learned so much, even when I walked in knowing nothing about the topic. Now, in my post-graduation days, I still try to find opportunities to learn with books and podcasts and I’ve never regretted any of it.

10.   There is no shame in making things easier (even if that requires sacrificing the aesthetic).

Literally this is just about wearing sweatpants and leggings. I used to feel that I always had to dress up or I’d be wasting the day, but I’ve had many, many productive, positive days while wearing leggings. It’s just easier.

11.   Things that are popular are popular because they’re good. There’s no point in not liking something just because it’s ‘popular.’ (I’m referring to Taylor Swift here.)

For a long time, I never liked to admit that I liked ‘popular’ things. I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift since elementary school, but finally admitted that I liked Taylor Swift last year. There’s no shame in liking the popular things because they’re popular for a reason – they’re good. (Side note: I’ve made and rekindled so many friendships thanks to Taylor Swift, so it’s also a great bonding experience.) So here I am – turning in my hipster card – and proudly proclaiming that I like Taylor Swift and Starbucks and white nail polish and all kinds of pop music and there’s nothing wrong with any of that.

12.   Setting boundaries over your time is essential.

I’ve learned that I need to stop having so many distractions. In particular, social media has sucked my time away. Setting time limits on my apps is one of the best changes I’ve made for myself and my time. I have 10 minutes on Twitter, 20 minutes on Instagram, and 25 minutes on TikTok a day. This has helped me be more mindful, instead of endlessly doomscrolling, and has given me a sense of control over my time again. How lovely.

13.   One break from routine will not ruin my progress.

Last night, I didn’t dry my hair before going to bed. I was tired after working out, hopped in the shower, and then went right to bed. My hair, albeit, was a mess this morning, but it didn’t ruin anything. A night without flossing isn’t the end of the world. My teeth will be okay. My habit will be okay. I can pick up right where I left off.

14.   Perhaps it’s all just about trial and error to discover what works for me.

I’ve had many expectations about how things would go – from internships to my career to dating – and been incredibly surprised by the reality. I had an ideal list of qualities for a romantic partner, only to go on a series of dates, and have to reconstruct the list entirely. I had to see how I actually fit with different people to determine what I was really looking for. The same goes with jobs. I’ve had plenty of jobs over the years and I’ve had to piece together what I like and dislike about each of them to inform my next moves. For example, after years of retail, I pined over a desk job. My current position is exactly that and yet, I’ve discovered that I kind of miss the busyness and the action. I never would’ve known that, however, if I didn’t try the alternative.

15.   I actually like being outdoors. 

This is a recent quarantine discovery. I spent my entire life thinking that I didn’t like being outside. It was even a joke among my family members – that I never went outside. You still probably won’t found me outside on extreme weather days, but I have found a love for a walk around a park, reading outside at sunset, or the refreshing feeling of walking through a rainstorm.

16.   Advocating for myself is hard and very uncomfortable and sometimes an upward battle, but it feels very empowering in the end.

It takes a while for some people to believe or trust you. It’s a hard process, especially when you know something is wrong, but others don’t see it. However, the persistence makes all the difference. It’s worth it to keep going until you find the support you deserve.

17.   Being in pain is never okay.

Another one of my bad habits was delaying treatment for pain, both physical and mental, for as long as I could. One of my goals in 2020 was to take care of my ailments as soon as they occur and it’s been such a relief. (I am incredibly privileged to have access to healthcare and a way to pay for it.) Instead of waiting until my symptoms leave me wiped out, I focus on prevention and helping myself when things only feel a little bad, instead of continuing to push until it was unbearable.

Also – if a doctor belittles or ignores your pain, leave. Just walk out of the office. Ignore them and find someone who does care. This quote comes directly from a doctor I spoke to last year, who after being ignored for an endless amount of time regarding my pain, hit me with this powerful statement and it’s stuck with me ever since. I’m incredibly grateful for her and her attention to my care.

18.   The beginning sucks.

During a transition, the beginning is not going to be easy. The first days in a new job are going to feel chaotic and overwhelming. The first days in a new city are going to feel lonely. With time, it always gets better. The beginning is only a temporary phase and I just need to adjust.

19.   Everyone is working at their own pace. I’m on my own pace and that’s okay. Things unfold as they are supposed to.

One of the most confusing things about being in your 20s, for me, is that everyone is at a completely different stage in their life. I find myself often comparing my progress in certain areas of life to my friends or people online, when we’re all on our own trajectory. Everything will come to me when it’s right and rushing the process wouldn’t help me. Patience is a virtue.

20.   Some people make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and those relationships are incredibly, profoundly meaningful.

My favorite feeling is when I leave someone after spending time with them or hang up the phone on a Facetime call and feel incredibly warm. I can’t stop smiling or replaying our conversation. It feels like I’m consumed with light. That’s the feeling that I want to nurture. I’m so happy there are people in my life who make me feel this way.

21.   “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”

I am often afraid of big decisions and making those leaps. Moving to Florida. Moving to Florida again. Switching majors. Applying to graduate school. Actually deciding to enroll in graduate school. I’ve been afraid of the unknowns involved in all of these big life changes, but did them anyway. I’m so grateful that I stuck through each of them, pushed through the fear, took care of myself in the transitions, and emerged better for it every time.

22.   I’m 22 and don’t actually know that much at all.

I feel a lot of ways about turning 22. I’m equal parts excited and intimated, but here we are. I’ve learned a lot in these past years and I know that I have so much more to learn. Who knows – maybe in the future, I’ll even look back at this list and disagree with these lessons. I’ll think back on this time in my life with a fond nostalgia, appreciating my naivety. But for now, all I can do is embrace what I think I know and keep moving forward. There’s a beauty to youthfulness, to not knowing what’s going on, to stumbling through life, and I don’t want to miss any of it.

So here’s to another chapter of life. I’ll make the wrong decision sometimes. I’ll make the right decision other times. There will be curveballs and winding roads and pain, but there will also be magic and light and resilience. I can only hope that 22 will be kind.

[tiredtuff]

tagged by @hugbeam! i don’t remember if I’ve ever been tagged in one of these before lol so I’ll give it a go!

I don’t know 20 people so I’ll just tag my favourites @schnozzbun-art​  @tarnhag @lesbionage @ninja-kitty-more-like-no​ and @bageldork if he still uses this site

here we go, under the cut:

1. name/nickname: Tuff!

2. gender: gend her? i don’t even know her! (nb lesbian, she/they)

3. star sign: it’s either aquarius or pisces idk 

4. height: 5'7″? I think?

5. time: 7:43 AEDT

6. birthday: february

7. favorite bands/groups: (oh god i have bad taste plz don’t judge) owl city, lemon demon, lizzo, password:password, fall out boy, patti lupone, vetta borne, alice francis, studio killers, carly rae jepson, mika, ok go,  etc etc

8. favorite solo artist: at the moment it’s Vetta Borne! love her,,,

9. song stuck in my head: mr sandman because i was singing it with a mate while waiting for the bus lol

10. last movie: 100% wolf (for research for my job teehee)

11. last show: binge watching the nanny with a glazed look in my eye as i try to remember what it was like to be around other human beings

12: when did i create this blog: april 2013... mama mia that was almost 8 years ago...

13. what do i post: whatever im obsessed with atm. i barely post anymore-- atm either tf2 or dc

14. last thing googled: "i know now meme madoka”

15. other blogs: i have 2 art blogs, one full of fanart and regular art that i barely touch, and my tf2 art quarantine blog that i update biweekly

16. do i get asks:

a few

17. why did i choose this url: my name is tuff and i am tired

18. following: 1021

19. followers: 363 | 1792 | 1596

20. average hours of sleep: 5 or 6 at night, +3 or +5 if i nap, 12 if i have the time on the weekend, and all of it is interrupted by 1-3 nightmares per session

21. lucky number: i don’t really have one but me and 69 get along fine 

22. instruments: clarinet, saxophone, some percussive instruments, gumleaf

23. what am i wearing: black jeans and a hawaiian shirt with a black hoodie over the top in 27 degree weather (80.6 farhenheit)  

24: dream job: literally the one I’m at now ;v; I’m working on m@rvel’s what if series as a layout artist and I’m having SUCH a good time ♥♥♥

25: dream trip: TEXAS, USA

26. favorite food: i stress bake so im morally obligated to say brownies but i dont have an oven atm so i guess savoury french toast

27. nationality: white australian

28. favorite song: at the moment probably girls by vetta borne

29. last book read: a layout textbook they had in a bookshelf at uni

30. three fictional universes you’d like to live in: whatever animal crossing has going on, pokermons, or the dc universe just so i could cyber bully bruce wayne

[3packsfrom21]

Gander through Greece

On October 22, we flew from Rome to Athens. Knowing that Greece was nearing the end of its warm season, we only stayed in Athens for 2 nights before heading to Thira (Santorini). Our days in Athens were spent close to the hostel. I was feeling a bit of a stomach bug, so I needed to lay low. However, we were thrilled to discover some delicious food for cheaper prices than we’d seen in months! Greece is known for its gyros – wraps comparable to kebabs with generally either chicken, pork, or lamb, along with onions, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce, lettuce, and fries (inside). We were just grateful to have meat options that we could afford that weren’t just smoked ham, prosciutto ham, fake deli meat ham, or slightly-more-expensive-but-probably-actually-has-meat-in-it-ham. We also discovered feta cheese and HOLY. I didn’t think feta cheese could get better than ours at home, but I assure you it can. [In case you’re confused, my stomach bug didn’t eliminate my appetite].

The morning of the 24th, we woke bright and early (4:30 a.m.) to catch our ferry. Our receptionist had recommended that we show up two hours early, so although our ferry didn’t leave until 7:30, we caught a cab down to the harbor at 5. We were then confused because no one knew where our boat was supposed to dock. Our taxi driver was immensely helpful (another one of the Lord’s saving gifts) and helped us until we figured it out. Apparently, it is ridiculous to show up to a ferry 2 hours early. So, although we kept showing ticket offices the name of our boat, nothing made sense until we finally showed them the time when we would be leaving. They weren’t even considering boats that were arriving that far in the future. Our taxi driver thought we were crazy. With everything sorted, we sat at our gate for 45 min, while Lynece gloated (she’s the “no need to be too early, everything will work out” type), Kiana sat, resolutely unfazed (she’s the “better to be early cause what if [insert literally any possible obstacle that could arise here]” type), and I sat between them, admiring the boats and early morning breeze (I’m the “sure, ok” type). We all had a good laugh, and did get some pretty sweet seats on the ferry (which we later learned were reserved for people who paid more, but regardless). The ride was 7 hours long. We experienced the most amazing sunrise, the kind that can only be witnessed from aboard a boat, and spent the rest of the time chatting. You’d think that we’d eventually run out of things to talk about, but, although we do have our moments of silence, we always have more to say.

Now, to talk about Santorini. In the last post, Lynece told you about Venice being her “must-see” destination. Santorini was mine. In fifth grade English class, I had to do a project, which focused on traveling to another country. I remember basically nothing about the project itself, but I know I did mine on Santorini. I priced out flights and accommodations (pretty sweet deal when you’re 11 and have all the money in the world). I recall choosing a private home in Oia, with a pool that overlooked the stunning view of pearly-white-walled and sky-blue-domed houses, as well as the surrounding islands and endless ocean. From then on, I was GOING to Santorini (“like, when I’m old enough, like probably when I’m 16, or something”). My resolve was further strengthened by the likes of Mama Mia and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I, too, put it on my list of 10 places that I wanted to see for my 13th birthday trip, and even cajoled Aasta into putting it on hers. And yet, somehow, even with turning 16 and everything, the plan had yet to materialize. Until now.

Since 5th grade, I’ve learned that apparently (and disappointingly) I’m not alone in wanting to go to Santorini. It’s chocked full of tourists who were as convinced as I by Meryl Streep and Abba. So, my expectations were sufficiently checked. Still, the 11 year old inside me couldn’t help but jump with glee as we neared the white-topped cliffs. We didn’t stay in a private home with a pool and a view (although, my fifth grade research was pretty accurate - there are plenty of these homes available). But, our hostel in Fira was clean, had plenty of people to meet, and did have a pool (minus the view). On our first morning, after picking up some groceries and Freddo Cappuccinos (iced espresso, with some kind of special sweetener, topped with just-under-whipped, whipped cream), we sat looking out over all of the magnificent view, feet dangling over the wall, and I couldn’t help but be filled with overwhelmingly joyous tears. It was all too cool.

We spent 5 lovely days in Santorini. The first was spent exploring the climbing streets of Fira. The second was spent in Oia (we went to Oia!), where we explored some more, found the classic windmills as well as an an epic bookstore (that I’d still be in now if it weren’t for Kiana and Lynece’s prompting), and discovered the unpredictable nature of the local bus system (I say local because that’s what it is called, but it is used much more by tourists than locals, from what I could tell). The bus is supposed to come every 20 minutes; however, the bus that brought us back from Oia to Fira was 45 min late. A new understanding of “island time.” The third day was a life maintenance day, where we caught up on journals, did laundry, etc. On the fourth day (I’m beginning to remind myself of Genesis, here), we went to the heavenly “Red Beach,” named after the red sand. It was a cove perfect for swimming, with the kind of water you see on people’s screen savers. We swam and soaked up the rays aaand.. I forgot to drink enough water. Which brings me to the fifth day, where I had a touch of heat stroke, so we lounged around the pool of our hostel all day before catching our ferry back to Athens in the evening. While here, we caught the famed sunsets almost every night (there aren’t enough words), and were blessed with absolutely perfect weather. Also, being at the end of the season, there were sales everywhere and we were each able to pick out a ring we liked.

There is something truly magical about Santorini. It is undeniably westernized. It’s busy. But there’s just a feeling about it that leaves you wanting more. It has an almost Arabic feel to it (I say this with admittedly zero grounding, as I’ve never been to an Arabic country). It feels island-y and luxurious but also feels like real things have happened here. It makes me curious to explore other Greek islands to see what even more spectacular gems might be waiting outside of all the vacationers’ sights. But I would be more than thrilled to spend a season just here, working at one of the shops (preferably the book store mentioned above). Many of the people that we met who were working at the shops were from elsewhere in Europe; they all go home for the down season. So I know it is frequently done! Maybe when I’m finished my degree..

Anyway. We loved Santorini. And I will be back.

As I started saying, on the evening of the 29th, we caught a ferry ride back to Athens. A 12 hour, overnight ferry this time. There were no cabins (and we wouldn’t have been able to afford them even if there had been) but, luckily, the boat was not too busy and there were plenty of open sofas to lie down on. Even better, the ride was incredibly smooth, especially compared to the rather choppy waters on the way there. It was a surprisingly incredible sleep!

We arrived in Athens at around 9:00 a.m. We stayed at the same hostel as before – it was particularly lovely because there were curtains around the bunks which gave us a little bit of privacy. You come to really appreciate these kinds of things! The heat stroke had thrown me off; I lost my appetite towards anything Greek food and was just not feeling myself. So, we spent the 30th and 31st laying low, once again. Truthfully, we were glad to have an excuse to take a break from any kind of sightseeing. Europe was tremendous, but we were exhausted, especially after Rome. Rome really took it all out of us. So those two days of rainy weather and bed/café chilling were necessary for us.

We ventured out a bit more on the 1st. We went and explored the area around the Acropolis, called the Plaka. I was feeling particularly moody and, frankly, angry with still being in Europe, still having to eat this stupid food and sleep in these stupid foreign beds. All I wanted was Mum’s chicken and dumplings, or noodle soup, or Dad’s buttermilk pancakes. It’s funny, writing this and noticing how drastically my attitude towards Greek food changed. Don’t let this deter you; the food is GOOD. This was just the post-heat stroke talking. Anyway, the good news was that our little bit of exploring helped to brighten all of our spirits. We didn’t overdo it - soon returning to the hostel to begin to prepare for our flight to Asia – but it was enough to move through some of the blues.

The next day was Acropolis day. The Acropolis did not get the astonishment it probably deserves. As I’ve mentioned, we were tired. And there comes a time when another set of ruins is kind of just another set of ruins. We put in our best effort, reading lots of the placards for more info and taking time to admire the sights. It really was cool. My favourite part of any ruins is when they still have old engravings on them, and some of these did. On the South slope, there is an ancient stadium/theatre that spans a large portion of the hill. In this stadium there are still the seats that were reserved for the priests/priestesses and on the front of many of the seats there is still the engravings dictating which priest got to sit where: “The priest of Zeus” and so on. We couldn’t actually read the letters, of course, but we overheard a nearby tour guide telling her group about it.

As for the Acropolis itself, I’ll need to return to appreciate it fully. It was remarkable to think of all the history that occurred there (in other circumstances, it would’ve likely been mind-blowing). My highlight of the day was seeing the Areopagus (Mars hill). It is quite the experience to know that you are standing in the place where Apostle Paul preached the gospel to the Greek philosophers. To think: in this spot, Christianity was introduced for one of the first times to this land. Woah. It’s really just a craggy rock on the top of a hill, but it was more impactful to us than any of the pillars in the Acropolis.

Acropolis day was also wonderful because I had my appetite back. To celebrate, we went to one of the most famous Greek restaurant chains, called O Thanasis. O Thanasis is known for its yogurtlu: souvlaki meat, covered in warm Greek yogurt and various spices, and served on a bed of pita bread. GUYS. This food is SO GOOD. Ah. We shared a yogurtlu and a Thanasis souvlaki kebab (basically the same thing, but just onions and tomato instead of yogurt), and were filled and happy, happy, happy. What’s more, it only set us back 19 euro in total. For dessert, we went to Lukumades to try Greek doughnut balls, called loukoumades. Traditionally, they are served with honey and cinnamon. So, we shared one order of traditional ones (with a side of ice cream, of course) and one order with Bueno chocolate drizzle on top. Enough said.

With the 2nd at a close, we only had two remaining days in Greece (and in Europe!) and we had plenty to do. You see, paying to check bags would’ve cost a ridiculous amount of money. So, we embarked on the task of trying to carry everything on. This meant that a) we needed to make our packs look small enough to carry on (the easy part) and b) we needed to ensure that each of us only had 10kilos of weight (the slightly harder part). This task was made easier by the fact that we knew we were entering hot country, so we left pants, sweaters, and other unnecessary layers at the hostel, for other travelers to look through. There were some things that we didn’t want to part with, so we also sent a package home. However, even after all of this, we were still over our weight. We began seeing how much we could fit into our pockets. Turns out, the inner pockets of my sweater can fit our iPad on one side and a novel on the other. I look like a walking brick, but oh well. We debated significantly about how much we could carry in our arms without looking suspicious. Finally, we caved a little for the sake of comfort and bought an extra 5 kilos of carry-on weight. This meant that with just the right number of layers, and with our pockets as full as reasonably possible, we could probably squeeze by.

And so, the morning of the 5th came. We donned our layers and took the hour-long metro ride to the airport. And what were we wearing? Well let’s see. Kiana: 1 pair of capris; 1 pair of pants; 1 t-shirt; 1 long sleeve shirt; 1 sweater; 1 rain jacket; 1 pair of socks; and sandals. Lynece: 1 pair of shorts; 1 pair of pants; 1 t-shirt; 1 long-sleeve; 1 sweater; 1 rain jacket; 1 pair of thick wool skiing socks; and sandals. And me? 1 pair of capris; 1 pair of pants; 1 t-shirt; 1 long-sleeve; 1 sweater; 1 rain jacket; 1 pair of socks; 2 bandanas (one on each wrist) and sandals. And what did we have in our pockets? Kiana: pillowcase, 2 bandanas, phone, charging cords, and glasses case. Me: charging battery, charging cords, sunglasses case, phone, a deck of cards, and my camera. Lynece: phone, charging cords, camera, and 4 adaptors. To top it all off, we each have a multi-colored sheet (Kiana, Lynece, and Dad brought them home from the Philippines) that is sewn like a sleeping bag (except open on both ends). Naturally, we wore them around our necks like face-eating, overgrown scarfs. Needless to say, the metro ride was a little warm.

Just imagine 3 huffing girls walking down the airport hallway (in Athens, a warm country, mind you), topped with massive scarfs, each wearing two backpacks, weighed down by their sagging pockets, wearing socks in their sandals. That was us. We decided that if anyone asked we’d just say we’d come from Canada. We acted as normal as we could, standing in line at the check-in counter, and comparing the size of our packs to the size of everyone else’s. Our anticipation rose as we stepped up to the counter. The man gave us one look, asked for our Passports, printed our passes, nodded, and sent us on our way. HE DIDN’T EVEN WEIGH OUR PACKS. We stood outside of line, stunned, for a minute. The email had been explicit in warning that “each person is only permitted 2 bags with a combined total weight of 10 kilos.” We thought there must be some mistake. Maybe they weigh them later. So, we refrained from removing any layers or putting anything more into our packs. We cleared security (that was a sight, as we emptied the electronics from our pockets). Still no weighing. We found our gate, thinking: “Is it possible that they’d weigh them at the gate? That makes no sense!” Still, we stayed in our layers, pockets full. And so, we boarded the plane with our 16 layers. No weighing necessary. It was all somewhat anti-climactic and highly hilarious. At least we wouldn’t be cold on the flight.

Our plane took off at 11:00 a.m. It was a 10 hour flight, followed by a 3 hour layover in Singapore, and then a 2 hour flight to Denpasar, Indonesia. We said goodbye to Europe, part 1 of our trip. Wild. We’d dreamed of our sister trip to Europe for so many years and it has now come to a close. We were sad to see the end, but also so excited for Asia. We were really too tired to continue in Europe; Indonesia couldn’t have come at a better time.

Cheers // Janae

[prettywordsyouleft]

The Sex Contract [M] - Chapter 2

Genre: friends to lovers au / friends with benefits / mature content / romance / angst

Characters: Shim Changmin x Kaia Ashton (OC)

A/N: Due to the overwhelming request I have followed your encouragement to bring back one of my older stories. This was back in a time where OCs were everything and writing one chapter in each main’s point of view was the trend. I hope that even though I have edited this, that you can appreciate this story comes from my older style of writing. I definitely still read this often and find it enjoyable so I hope you will too.

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 - FINAL

Chapter 2 – Kaia’s POV.

The difference in working atmosphere was obvious as the Korean music boomed around the trendy office the following day. Kaia had arrived home in the early hours and collapsed onto her bed, only to be woken up by a ridiculously early text message from Changmin wishing her a good day. Although she enjoyed the friendship she had made in the boy, Kaia didn’t like his schedule. She didn’t even know when he got the time to sleep.

Working for Korea Star though wasn’t as bad as it would be if she worked full time at SME. It comprised of a small team of young journalists with a mixture of racial backgrounds that produced the latest KPOP news translated into five languages around the globe. She hadn’t quite expected when she finished her degree at Canterbury College to end up halfway across the world teaching English part-time and writing articles that fuelled the fans that Changmin didn’t understand. To Kaia though, it made perfect sense. It was incredibly easy to fall in love with Korea.

“Almost finished with that piece on Miss A, Kai?” a familiar voice questioned and Kaia smiled up at her boss Minah, nodding her head. “Good. Do you reckon you’d have enough time to translate and edit another story before lunch?”

“Of course, what is it about?”

Minah leant down to her ear, though her whispering wasn’t exactly quiet. “News on TVXQ going to Japan later this week to begin promotion of I Don’t Know and Superstar.”

“I’m free, how come you didn’t give that story to me?!” cried the girl next to them, and Kaia grinned at her disgusted face. “What’s so special about Kaia that she must write about the Gods?!”

“Must you really refer to them like that, Sungra?” Kaia pulled a face. “They’re just guys.”

“Here we go again,” Abby, a brunette opposite them mentioned and Kaia smirked at her. “The debate over what to call Dong Bang Shin Ki commences!”

“Kaia will never understand that despite their name translating to Rising Gods of the East, they are considered a league above the rest.”

Kaia leant around Minah to shoot my other best friend a look. “Still at the end of the day Sungra, they sleep, eat and have bodily functions.”

“Very funny.”

“I just don’t get why everyone in this building apart from Abby and I flail like little fangirls over them. We’re journalists, not obsessed fans.”

“Technically,” Minah began and laughed lightly. “Because we source the latest news and have such an interest in doing so, we kind of are or at least we definitely are good at fuelling the obsession.”

“And if we were to look at Kaia’s wallpaper right now, I’m sure we’ll find her reason as to why she’s so blind to TVXQ.” Sungra folded her arms over her chest smugly as the room fell into laughter, Kaia’s eyes merely rolling as she took the information Minah had brought over for her to translate. Her Korean was fluent despite originating from England, having a Korean step-father had helped with learning as a young child. It had also been the reason she felt more at home in Korea than back in Kent, enjoying Asian culture and what it had to offer.

Although Kaia loved living in Korea, stepping out into the world alone at only twenty-two had made her miss the close friendships she had back at home. It wasn’t like Changmin and Sungra were her only friends, though they were the two she had grown closest to. It was a hard situation to be in; one of her best friends being a member of the group Sungra was so crazy over. There had been several opportunities to tell her but every chance Kaia had, she quickly talked herself out of it, wondering how detrimental it would be if Sungra knew the guy she dreamed over marrying in her fantasies was someone who Kaia frequently had dinner with. She almost felt guilty for it and after Sungra’s reaction when she found out that Kaia worked at SME as a tutor, Kaia had sworn she would never tell her Korean friend about Changmin.

It made situations at work a little awkward though. There had been so many times where she wanted to admit that Changmin didn’t smell like manly cologne, but could make an entire room empty in five seconds flat with his stench. Many found his eating habits endearing, whilst she would sometimes watch in horror, the tall boy eating enough for two people at times. Even with some of the other artists she had learned the inner secrets to, Kaia had to refrain from joking about the actual reality. She had learnt quickly that KPOP fans, including the girls she worked with, could be vicious about those they protected.

Kaia snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the article within her hand. Reminding herself that she would need to text Changmin later and ask why he hadn’t told her he was leaving for Japan, she then set to work, mildly aware of Sungra’s huffs every now and then.

    It seemed after the long day in the office that Sungra had forgotten all about the incident earlier. Instead, she had organised a work trip to a karaoke bar, something Kaia was still learning to be a popular night out amongst the girls. It also showed how much of a lightweight she was when it came to drinking and so she never bothered, knowing her loose lips could potentially get her in trouble if she did.

“Does my hair look good?” Sungra asked as they walked down the busy sidewalk in Hongdae, glancing at her friend expectantly. “Oh and my makeup, I never checked in the bathroom before leaving work.”

“You look fine,” Kaia assured and then smiled. “But why are you worried about that, it’s just going to be us girls in the karaoke room.”

Sungra sighed and looked at her like she had sprouted an extra head. “You never know who or what you might see when out, Kai.”

“I seriously wonder how we’re such good friends when we’re complete opposites,” she murmured and Sungra let out a huff of air.

“Not everyone can be a classic beauty like you.”

Kaia rolled my eyes. “I’m white and in an Asian country, if anything the most I get are stares and comments of look there’s a foreigner directed at me. Hardly anything to write home about, Sun.”

“So oblivious,” she chided before stepping into the karaoke place. They found the rest of the girls were waiting in the lounge area for them, greeting loudly with glasses of alcohol already in their hands. Kaia waved at Abby, noticing she had a juice and grinned.

“Ready to sing?” Abby asked and Kaia shrugged, laughing lightly.

“Reckon we’ll be able to slip out after two hours?”

Abby nudged her lightly. “Have you got a date?”

“Only with my television, I’m not missing another episode.”

“Oh goodness,” she chuckled and then nodded. “I’ll help you with your drama fix, don’t worry. Though, I wonder if you’re ever going to notice the guys around you if you keep painting the perfect pictures Korean dramas replicate.”

“You sound just like someone I know too well.” Kaia smiled. “I’ve given up on men in reality; they just don’t seem to understand romance like in books or movies.”

Abby laughed as they followed the rest of the excited group down the hallway to the private room. “Might I remind you that the men you refer to don’t exist either?”

“Leave me to my fantasies, and I’ll not press you for who you’ve been texting all day long.”

The girl blushed. “You noticed?”

“Every smile that came with them too.”

Abby groaned and flumped down on one of the sofas that were embedded into the wall, the noise already rising up a notch or two with 2NE1 being chosen as the first song to sing along to.

The night continued in that fashion, and Kaia was tired from leaping up and down to join in with the songs she actually knew well. The girls all seemed to find hidden energy whilst singing, whereas she was happy to take her early leave at nine, which left just enough time to get home and in front of the television.

Kaia was already on the bus ride home, holding onto the bar despite being in a seat. She had discovered that the driving system and drivers in Korea were frightening, with a pure love for speed. Even though she had grown accustomed to darting for a spot on a bus, she still wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the speed everything and everyone travelled at.

Her phone began to ring around the quiet bus and she fished it out of her jacket, hitting talk without checking who was calling. “Hello?”

“You sound tired.”

“You never told me you were going to Japan,” Kaia bit back and the man on the other end chuckled. “Not that it matters too much, I’m pretty busy of late.”

“So busy you can’t come hang with me tonight since I’m leaving soon?” he asked with a voice that she knew followed with a pout.

“I saw you last night; surely you have better things to do.” Kaia smiled. “Or at least I have better things to do.”

“Like watch TV.”

“Beats playing games when I should be sleeping, Max,” she retorted, carefully changing to his stage name in case the older lady nearby was listening in.

“I remember you were there beside me playing.”

“I’m not coming over,” Kaia decided, nodding her head even though he couldn’t see it. “I’m too busy.”

“I’ll watch it with you.”

“Watch what?”

“Your silly drama, now get off at the next bus stop and give me directions. I’m already heading out to my car to get you.”

And then the phone line went dead. She obeyed his request, sending him a text with her location and wondering if she had finally stepped into that parallel universe.

Or rather, what was going to be in store for that evening.

_________________

Part 3

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[tiabryantprofessionalenhancement]

Living like a local in Barcelona with my best friend. (PSA: the photos will make you wish you were there)

This year I have been fortunate enough to have friends who are on Erasmus, studying abroad, meaning I can travel across Europe to see them and explore their temporary new home. 

In February this year I went to Barcelona for 5 days to see my best friend Georgia, who’s studying at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, and living with her lovely boyfriend, Luke, only a short metro ride to the centre of Barcelona. I was lucky enough to visit the week when the UK and Europe had that weird heat wave in the middle of Feb, so it managed to reach temperatures of 22 degrees in Barcelona, which of course was lovely, despite the looming fear of global warming.

On my first full day there Georgia had classes so I ventured into the centre of Barcelona on my own to explore, I walked down La Ramblas to the docks and back up to the MACBA, which is infamous for skaters who travel across the world to visit the area. I then caught the train to the nearest station to UIC to meet Georgia at uni and walk home with her, a nice 40-minute walk downhill, down a path that was filled with Palm trees, and anyone who’s friends with me will know that Palm trees are my favourite type of tree. 

Whilst we were out, Luke packed a picnic for us all, so when we got back, we bought a few beers and decided to take a trip to Badalona. Unlike Barcelonetta, this beach is one of the quieter ones in Barcelona, with less tourists. We listened to music, ate our sandwiches and watched the sky turn pink - it’s safe to say that I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness, sitting on a beautiful beach, sipping cheap beer with my best friend who I hadn’t seen for 9 months.

On the Saturday me and Georgia attempted to do a small workout in her apartment before heading out for the day whilst Luke went for a run – this involved us getting stupidly sweaty, Georgia making some weird grunts (which almost had me in tears) and getting incredibly sore legs. After cooling down on the balcony and getting washed and dressed we headed to Park Guell. It was a very sunny day and the park was absolutely beautiful. We saw an abundance of dogs which was amazing, and spent the morning walking around taking in the sites and snapping a lot of photos. 

We went back to the apartment for lunch, Luke had made up some Tapas for us, which was lovely, then we headed back out to explore Placa d’Espange and the surrounding sites. We went to the old bullring (which is now a shopping centre with a viewing deck at the top), The National Art Museum of Catalonia and finally the Olympic park, in which we stopped on a bench to watch the sunset over the city.

On Sunday we woke up early and headed out of the apartment by 7am. We had booked a trip to Montserrat, a multi-peak mountain range on the outskirts of Barcelona (only about an hour on the coach) with Luke and Cara, Georgia’s friend from home who’s also studying in UIC. The peak we climbed was Sant Jeroni which was 4000ft above sea level. Our legs were still incredibly sore from the HIIT workout the previous day, which made the climb somewhat more difficult, but with ‘just think of the gains mate’ constantly being repeated to each other over the course of the day we kept motivated and looked forward to reaching the top. The view from the Monastery in Montserrat was amazing, but the view from the peak of Sant Jeroni was even more breathtaking. It certainly made the trek up there worthwhile. 

Monday was my last full day in Barca, so it was another day of exploring the city. Georgia and Luke took me to Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, the Arc d’triomf and Citadel park, all before catching a bus from Barcelonetta up to a place called The Bunkers to watch the sunset over the city. 

We had a bit of a nightmare with the bus as a diversion had started on that day without us realising, meaning we had to walk (what google maps said was) an extra 35 minutes to get there, but we made it in about 20 as we really didn’t want to miss the sunset so basically legged it up the hill. Although it was pretty busy when we got there, we managed to find a great spot that overlooked the city, cracked open a few more beers and watched the city turn dark. I felt so happy to be there, but also incredibly melancholy because I was leaving the next day and wouldn’t see Georgia and Luke until they returned to Coventry in September. We returned back to the apartment later that evening, finished off the remainder of our beers and watched friends before heading to bed – the perfect end to the perfect day. 

My flight was at midday on Tuesday, I woke up at about 6am to say my goodbye to Georgia as she had to leave the house early for work, felt a bit teary-eyed but went back to sleep for a couple of hours before waking up to walk to Sants and get a train to the airport. Luke took me all the way to the airport like a true gent and after we said our own goodbyes, I wandered into the airport to catch my flight back to Birmingham. I was lucky enough to be greeted by a sunny sky when getting off my flight in Brum, which didn’t make returning as bad as I anticipated, if it would have been rainy and miserable I have no doubts I would have booked another flight to head straight back to Barca. 

Living like a bit of a local in Barca was such an amazing experience, and to do it with my favourite people made it a million times better. I can’t wait for them to return back to Coventry so I can have my bff back living just across town, but I hope they both thoroughly enjoy the remainder of their time living it up in the sun! Love and miss you both!!

[heyitskylie13]

My Journey to Try to Meet Tay

So, I put together this thread on Twitter not long before my first Rep Tour date (Columbus, OH 7.7.18) and it got quite a bit of attention in the Swiftie fandom (as of right now, I believe the original thread is up to 113 retweets and 242 likes, which is A LOT for little old me). I am trying to get @taylorswift & @taylornation to see it, and maybe...just maybe....this story can finally get its happy ending before I am finished with my rep tour dates. I figured in order to increase my chances of getting it seen, I’d write it all out here on tumblr as well, and maybe some of you very sweet fellow swifties will reblog, tag Tay, etc. I’d truly appreciate it. My next show is Atlanta Night 2, and then I will be in Nashville as well.  Here we go, an overview of all of the times I have gone out hoping to meet @taylorswift: 

1) 2007 - Country Concert Festival Fort Loramie, OH - I was 15 years old, and Taylor was the earliest act of the day and only had like a 30 minute set. I begged my parents to let me go with my boyfriend at the time just to see her play. There were only like 3 people in the crowd who knew her songs! I’d been following her Myspace (LOL) so I knew already that she loved interacting with her fans, and I waited by her tour bus opposite side of a gate for over an hour before a security guard eventually told me that she was not going to be coming over, that I was pathetic for waiting so long, and that I need to leave. I started crying, and my boyfriend made us go. 

2) 2008 - Country Concert Festival Fort Loramie, OH - Taylor got invited back! A slightly later slot, but it was on Sunday which a lot of people don’t stick around for (the festival actually has since cut the day entirely). My high school bestie and I were there though with a poster baring Tay’s lyrics and screaming every word to the songs she played. I don’t have photos of our posters because some drunk girl stepped on it after we had accidentally dropped it and ended up ripping it pretty bad. We waited by the buses after her set for quite awhile before we were eventually told by security that she had to catch a flight to NY or something and wouldn’t be coming out.

3) 2009 - Defying Gravity Tour - Taylor was opening for Keith Urban and a group of my friends and I got tickets to just to see her! I got to meet Mama Swift for the first time, but didn’t meet Tay. I wasn’t really surprised because there were so many of us in our group, and this was before her headlining days so we didn’t even really know if there’d be a chance or not.

4) 2009 - CMT Awards Nashville, TN - I bought tickets when it was announced that Taylor would be performing, and drove to Nashville from Ohio (with my older sisters accompanying me because I was only 17 haha). I got to meet a lot of celebrities actually outside of the venue beforehand, but not Taylor, and my phone also died before the show so I didn’t get any photos. 

5) 2009 - Fearless Tour Columbus, OH - Nothing crazy happened this day, really, but it marked the beginning of Natalie and my’s ongoing Taylor concert bond! Taylor also came this close to us during “Hey Stephen” and touched my hand as she was walking back to the stage! 

6) 2009 - Fearless Tour Indianapolis, IN - A random guy-friend of mine ended up with an extra floor ticket to the show and invited me so of course I said yes! I saw Mama Swift again, and she actually remembered me and “all my jean skirt, cowboy hat friends” from Cincinnati (the keith urban show!) -- I was shocked, and she is so sweet that she upgraded us from our back-of-floor seats to the pit! 

7) 2010 - Fearless Tour Cincinnati, OH - My friend and I arrived to the venue at like 10 A.M. the day of the show, and we brought a scrapbook we had made for Taylor. It ended up raining and still we stood outside (trying to protect our book lol) for nearly five hours across from the tour buses/loading area. Eventually someone from Tay’s team came out and gave us pit passes and took the book promising to get it to Taylor. I still have no idea if she ever saw it. 

8) 2013 - The 13 Hour Meet & Greet Nashville, TN - This is the hardest day to talk about of them all...We came from Ohio and walked around the event ALL DAY (totaled about 10 hours) trying to be picked by Taylor’s team members and we watched fans meet Taylor all day from this close to us. We never were picked, and eventually we left/gave up once they announced the last meet & greet wristbands had been handed out. It was honestly heartbreaking because this event had our hopes up so high, but Taylor is truly an angel for meeting SO many people that day, and I don’t fault her at all. Plus, we did get to enjoy a free acoustic set!! 

9) 2011 - CMA Fest Nashville, TN - At an event this big, we truly didn’t expect to meet Taylor, but we still had an incredible time supporting her as a CLOSING act of the festival!! 

10) 2011 - Speak Now Tour Indianapolis, IN - We had SOOO many glowsticks haha but it worked somewhat! Taylor’s team came up to us in our literal nosebleed seats and gave us pit passes! It was an amazing experience, but we still didn’t get to meet Taylor. 

11) 2011 - Speak Now Tour Cleveland, OH - This concert was the VERY NEXT NIGHT from the previous entry in this story! Two out of three of us (Natalie and I of course) made a back-to-back trip from Indianapolis to our hometown (2 hours each way) and then to Cleveland immediately (4 hours each way) to see Taylor again in our same get-up from the night before. We had floor seats this time, and there were these two precious little girls in front of us who kept standing on the chairs in order to see and getting scolded by security. It was breaking my heart that them (or their parents who kept trying to hold them but they were heavy as like seven year olds) couldn’t truly enjoy the concert. Since we knew what the setlist would do, we told the family about Taylor’s “b-stage” songs she’d sing later closer to us. I saw Andrea and told her what was going on, and she said I looked familiar haha I gave her a brief overview of shows I’d been to and when we’d met and she said, “so of course, you’ve met Taylor” or something along those lines and I truthfully said “no I haven’t.” She had me go get the family and brought all of us into the sound-stage/b-stage private area for Taylor’s set there and for the rest of the show. The family was so excited and when Taylor came down from the stage, she hugged those little girls on her way out to the crowd and when she was hugging these other girls in front of us, she extended her arm to half-hug us at the same time. I CRIED A LOT.

12) 2013 - Red Tour Columbus, OH - At this point, we tried to up our costume game lol we went for the “22″ music video look. We were pretty happy with it! We didn’t get noticed by anyone for anything at this show, though. Nothing crazy happened, but as always any night at a Taylor Swift show is magical and memorable <3 

13) 2015 - 1989 Tour Louisville, KY - OOOO Lucky #13 ;) This really was a lucky show. We went to the @taylornation booth and they were impressed by how many shows we’d each gone to, and when I told them all about my Master’s Degree Thesis (I wrote it entirely on Taylor just a few months prior, and had just earned my graduate degree about a month before this show!). They were really intrigued by this and kept asking for all sorts of details lol when we left the booth, we barely made it far away before one of the girls from TN was chasing us down. My heart was beating SO FAST. She asked if we’d like to enjoy Taylor from the pit that night instead of our ticketed upper-level seats. OF COURSE! We didn’t get offered Loft ‘89 that night, unfortunately, which once we’d been upgraded we didn’t expect. Although, some girls nearby us did get upgraded and then later given Loft as well. Props to them! This was still one of my favorite show experiences and memories, especially because I heard the “Clean” speech for the first time and I REALLY needed it at this time in my life. A lot of tears were shed. 

14) 2015 - 1989 Tour Gillette Stadium, MA - We won tickets to this!! Couldn’t believe it. Four of us got to go, and we drove TWELVE HOURS (it actually ended up being like 14 after traffic and stops etc haha) to go to this. This was one of the costume get-ups I am the most proud of. When we got to the TN booth, there weren’t any of Taylor’s team working it (I guess it was stadium employees taking pics idk). We did our best to stand out during the show, but we didn’t get to meet Taylor. I actually heard that there may not have even been a Loft that night, but there had been at the previous night Gillette show.

15) 2015 - 1989 Tour Columbus, OH - We loved our outfits for this, we were BAD BLOOD AF!! We didn’t get noticed in any way this night, though. Taylor was still amazing as per usual and it was my last time seeing the 1989 Tour. We did, however, cry on the drive home feeling defeated yet again....

16) 2018 - Reputation Stadium Tour Columbus, OH - Just recently added this one because I’m one show into the Rep Tour and have still not met Tay. My first show of the rep tour required me to drive 6 hours from Nashville (I moved here in 2016), but I was so excited that the drive there flew by! I’ve really been working hard to get noticed on social media this era (as you’ve seen everything above wasn’t working for me). I thought maybe this twitter thread was finally enough to get attention from Taylor/TN, so I honestly got my hopes up more than I should’ve about getting a DM for pre-show. I’m still not totally sure what was going on, but it seemed that there wasn’t as many pre-show DM’s as usual and maybe the process is changing (or the holiday impacted it idk still really). Not that I thought I was a shoe-in or anything for a pre-show M&G, but the situation did make me feel like my shot of meeting Taylor now was definitely low. We were absolutely in AWE of every aspect of this show, though, let me tell you. I wasn’t disappointed in any way by Taylor’s production. Wow. Just wow. We also were unexpectedly right next to one of the B-stages so Taylor was so close during that part of the show! I cried my eyes out to the “Long Live” & “New Year’s Day” mash-up because of my new long live tattoo and because NYD has significance to me and my relationship. Unfortunately, I ended up feeling AWFUL like a majority of the show though (like sick) and it got worse about halfway through.I spent a lot of time trying not to throw up or miss any of Taylor performing, and I toughed it out, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to experience the show. I ended up having to sprint past everyone with Natalie’s help to make it to a bathroom and throw up and I felt awful our whole hour drive back to Natalie’s house. It’s honestly probably good I didn’t get picked for post-show rep room because of how bad I felt! ANYWAY I’m still sad it didn’t happen for me, but I am hopeful that it wasn’t the right time and my time with Taylor is still coming.

CONCLUSION: I am not in anyway ungrateful for the @taylorswift experiences I have had thus far. I know I have gotten more from Andrea and @taylornation than many have. Some people haven’t even gotten to see Taylor live! I know that, BUT my DREAM since before section #1 here has been to meet Taylor and thank her in person for everything she’s helped me get through. So if it’s possible in anyway to make this happen so I can tell her that, show her my tattoos she’s inspired, tell her about my thesis, etc....it’d mean the world to me.

[imjustthemechanic]

Natalie Jones and the Golden Ship

Part 1/? - A Meeting at the Palace Part 2/? - Curry Talk Part 3/? - Princess Sitamun Part 4/? - Not At Rest Part 5/? - Dead Men Tell no Tales Part 6/? - Sitamun Rises Again Part 7/? - The Curse of Madame Desrosiers Part 8/? - Sabotage at Guedelon Part 9/? - A Miracle Part 10/? - Desrosiers’ Elixir Part 11/? - Athens in October Part 12/? - The Man in Black Part 13/? - Mr. Neustadt Part 14/? - The Other Side of the Story Part 15/? - A Favour Part 16/? - A Knock on the Window Part 17/? - Sir Stephen and Buckeye Part 18/? - Books of Alchemy Part 19/? - The Answers Part 20/? - A Gift Left Behind Part 21/? - Santorini Part 22/? - What the Doves Found Part 23/? - A Thief in the Night Part 24/? - Healing Part 25/? - Newton’s Code Part 26/? - Montenegro Part 27/? - The Lost Relic Part 28/? - The Homunculinus Part 29/? - The End is Near Part 30/? - The Face of Evil Part 31/? - The Morning After Part 32/? - Next Stop Part 33/? - A Sighting in Messina Part 34/? - Taormina Part 35/? - Burning Part 36/? - Recovery Part 37/? - Pilgrimage to Vesuvius Part 38/? - The Scent of Hell

Getting the hang of alchemical thinking, our heroes catch up with the alchemists... maybe.

The next question was where to look for the two alchemists, and the most obvious answer was on the volcano itself.  Newton and Desrosiers had gone to Mount Etna to tap its energy for their reactor, and it seemed likely that they would do the same with Vesuvius, if they weren’t actually going to build the Philosopher’s Stone inside the mountain itself.  But where, exactly?  Vesuvius was huge, its two cones studded with several vents and craters.

They pulled out the Voynich manuscript again.

The manuscript was, of course, a two-dimensional map encoded in a picture of flowers, was the real volcano was a three-dimensional structure in stone, so without being able to read the labels there was not much they could learn.  They looked anyway, and Nat found herself wondering if the colours meant anything.  The map of Etna had used a lot of yellow, which was famous as the colour of Etna Broom, a tree that grew high on the slopes were almost nothing else could gain a foothold in the dense basalts.  The plant that seemed to represent Vesuvius was mostly green, with what looked like tiny white blossoms.

“Where is there something white on the mountain?” Nat asked.

“Snow?” said Clint.

The group looked up from their table at a street café at the mountain looming over the city.  In the summer there wouldn’t have been any snow on top of it, but it was October, and there was just a dust of white around the peak.  She smiled.  “Of course,” she said.

That meant they were going to have to climb the mountain, which was a daunting prospect indeed.  Even dressing for it was a fairly complex task: it was hot down here by the seashore, but the peak was cold enough for snow, meaning they were going to have to add layers as they went.  Climbing mountains had not been on the list of things they’d expected to do when they’d left Folkestone on the Chunnel train, so some shopping was required.  Fury was going to be annoyed enough about their expense list, Nat thought, even without any cruise ship voyages.

About an hour up the slope, they came across a tour group.  Thinking the guide might know an easier route, they slipped in among the crowd and tried to look like they belonged there.  Hopefully they wouldn’t be asked to get on a bus at any point, since it would then be clear that there weren’t enough seats.  Despite the air growing chillier, the route was still very steep and the tourists around them were sweaty and exhausted.

The tour guide, on the other hand, was a wiry man in his fifties who trotted up the slope like he’d done this every day for his entire life.  He would get thirty or forty yards ahead, and then have to stop to wait for the tourists to catch up.

“Vesuvius is still an active volcano, and the area around Naples is prone to earthquakes,” he announced, as they reached a scenic lookout.  “The government has been offering financial rewards to people who will agree to relocate, but most stay.  Their logic is that their grandparents and great-grandparents lived here and there was no eruption in those times, so why should there suddenly be one now?  The people in ancient Pompeii and Oplontis probably thought the same things.”

That made sense, Nat decided.  The ever-present it won’t happen to me mindset that led people to do all kinds of stupid things.

“Has the mountain been abnormally active lately?” asked Clint.

“Not abnormally,” the guide replied, “but everything in the area must be built according to seismic codes, and if anything happens we’ll all have to evacuate.  If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you’ll have heard about the evacuation of people from around Mount Etna in the last few days.  We’re always ready to do the same thing here if we need to.  Are you worried?”

“Maybe a little,” said Clint.

“Then why did you come on the tour?” the guide asked.  Other people laughed.

As they climbed higher, the air got colder.  The trees got smaller and scrawnier, too, and the landforms around them became stranger and stranger.  The rocks there were black and red, like those in the walls on Santorini, and protrusions and small cliffs were folded into odd shapes the lava had made as it flowed around obstacles or piled up on top of itself.  Smaller stones at the side of the path were full of air bubbles and came in very irregular shapes, looking almost like chunks of hardened foam.

“You’ve got all the pumice stones you could possibly want,” Sam observed.

“Laura just buys the white ones from the bath shop,” said Clint.

“Oh, look at this!” the guide exclaimed, pointing down an overlook.  “If you’ll look in there, you can see some vulcanologists checking their equipment.  We have sensors all over the mountain to tell us about the heat, the escape of gases, and the movement of the earth.  At times like this, it’s particularly important to make sure we know what’s going on deep underground.  The volcanism of the entire Mediterranean is fed by the meeting of the African and European crustal plates.  If there is activity in one area, as there was in Etna yesterday, it’s likely to spread to other areas as well.  We’re considering Etna a warning that we should look very closely at Vesuvius.”

But Natasha had noticed something very interesting indeed.  Two white-suited figures were working next to a gash in the ground at the bottom of a shallow fissure.  The gash was surrounded by yellowish-white crystals that looked almost like flowers.  “What’s that white stuff?  It can’t be snow,” she said.

“That’s sulfur,” said the tour guide.  “If the wind were blowing in the other direction we’d be able to smell it.  One of the reasons the scientists wear breathing apparatus is because not only will they smell the rotten egg smell, the crystals indicate that sulfurous gases are vented there, and if they breathe those in, they’re terribly toxic.  The poet Dante said sulfur was the smell of hell.”

The people around the vent were too far away for anybody to have seen their faces even without the gas masks.  One of them put a metal suitcase on the ground, opened it, and removed some object which was then driven into the ground.  The mountain began to rumble, and people in the tour group cried out.

“Stay calm!” said the guide.  “Stay calm and stay away from the edge.  It’s just a small tremor, we have them here all the time.”

Although the sound was alarming, the actual shaking was barely enough to feel.  Even so, Nat couldn’t shake the sense that its appearance was somehow related to what the scientists were doing.  Especially when, a few seconds later, the tremor stopped and so did the steam rising from the vent.  Perhaps it was her imagination that made it seem like the air temperature also dropped a couple of degrees.

“There, you see?” asked the guide.  “It’s over.”

The scientist picked up the metal briefcase again.  Was there something glowing inside it?  Or was that just the sun reflecting off the shiny surface?

“Gather around everybody, let me count,” the tour guide said.  “There should be thirty of you.”

Nat motioned to her companions.  “Come on,” she said.  “Before he realizes there’s thirty-seven.”

“You think it’s them?” Sam asked.  He must have noticed the same things as Nat.

“I hope so,” said Jim.

“Down, boy,” Nat told him.  “You don’t want to be thrown over another cliff.”

“Oh, I’m ready this time,” Jim promised.

The group quietly separated from the tour and began climbing down through the shrubbery along the edge of the pit.  Nat would have liked to go right down into it, but that was clearly not a good idea – now that they were closer, the smell of sulfur hung thick in the air.  Gravel shifted treacherously underfoot as they clung to the vegetation and to each other, and there were a couple of heart-stopping moments, when somebody nearly tumbled in, before they made it to the lower end of the fissure in the hillside.  There they crouched in the foliage, waiting to see who would climb out.

They waited.  And they waited.  And they waited.  The sun got lower and the air colder.

Nat had played waiting games like this before, and she hated them.  It was like lying in bed wanting to check the time, but knowing that if she rolled over and looked at her phone she’d find only thirty seconds left until her alarm was due to go.  She desperately wanted to peek out of her hiding place and see if the supposed scientists were on their way, but didn’t dare.  If she did, they might be right in front of her, and she would have just blown all their covers.

Eventually, she just couldn’t take it anymore.  Very slowly and carefully, she leaned down to put a cheek on the ground and peek under the bushes, where she saw… absolutely nothing.  Next she straightened up to look over, again carefully avoiding any noises or sudden movements.  She raised her head above the bush and looked down into the fissure.  There was nobody there.

Her companions took this as a cue to see for themselves.  Everybody sat or stood up, not nearly so subtly as Natasha had done, and everybody saw the same thing: nothing.  The two white-suited scientists, or whoever they’d been, were gone.

“Where the hell did they go?” asked Jim.

The options were very limited.  “Either they climbed up the steep way,” said Natasha, “or they went into the cleft.”

The first possibility could be quickly eliminated.  There was no other way out of the fissure – any route but the one they’d been waiting by would have required ropes, climbing harnesses, and a team of other people to do it safely.  They must have gone into the cleft itself.  Could anybody do that and survive?  The pair had been wearing heat suits and gas masks, but surely somebody would need more protection than that to go inside a volcano.

Then Nat noticed something – or rather, she noticed the gap where something wasn’t.  “What do you smell?” she asked.

There was a moment in which everybody stood around sniffing, trying to figure out what she was going for.

“Rocks,” said Clint.  “Damp greenery.”

“Nothing much,” said Jim.

“The brimstone smell is gone,” said Sir Stephen.

He was right.  They hadn’t been able to smell sulfur from the lookout, but they had smelled it on their way down, and now it had faded away.

“Gone gone, or we just got used to it?” Clint asked.

“Let’s find out,” said Natasha.  She started to climb over the lip of the fissure to get closer to the cleft, surrounded by its crystalline sulfur flowers, but Jim grabbed her arm.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Newton said I could be strangled, and Mrs. Desrosiers said my cells could fall apart,” Jim said, “but if I’m cut I heal, and nobody said anything about me being poisoned.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be,” Allen protested.

“Yeah, but I’m less likely to be poisoned than any of you,” he said.  “And if I die, there’s nobody to miss me.”

Nat wanted to protest that she would miss him, but that would be cheesy.  She caught Sir Stephen’s eye and knew in her gut that he wanted to say something similar, but he didn’t dare, either, because he didn’t want Jim to think he only meant he would miss Buckeye.  Nat would miss Jim when he was gone, but that wasn’t important right now.  She just nodded, and he climbed past her and let himself slide down the slope towards the gap in the rocks.

[keywestlou]

TRUMP NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW

There is still a humor in things Donald Trump.

He has been nominated for the second consecutive year for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Wonder of wonders!

I am not concerned about his winning. It would be both a surprise and shock.

Son in law Jared Kushner was nominated last week for the Award also.

Neither will win.

The nomination is no big deal. Each year 300-400 persons are nominated. Only 1 or 2 will win. Anyone of stature may do the nominating. A college professor or officer, a political leader, are examples.

This year Trump was nominated by an Estonian member of the European Parliament Jaak Madison. His reasons for the nomination were two fold. First, Trump is the first American President in 30 years who did not start a war. Second, Trump signed several peace agreements in the Middle East which helped provide stability in the region and peace.

I am 85 years old. Still waiting for my coronavirus vaccine shot. Different County locales have been opened for the purpose of providing the shots. The problem is there has never been enough shots.

It has been announced the College of Florida Keys will be providing vaccine shots beginning sunday. The College is going to work off the Health Department’s application list in determining in what order the shots will be given.

Sunday’s shots will be provided those 65 and older. I should qualify. I qualified when the age was 75 and could not get it.

Four hundred vaccines are available for sunday. It is expected that by the weekend, 300 additional shots will be received.

Each a pittance. Better than none, however.

Let’s hope all goes as planed. Let’s hope that all such as myself 20 years over the minimal age limit finally get the shot.

The Democratic Party concerns me. They have for years. Especially since Obama took office.

Democrats are good guys. They do not know how to fight dirty.

Republicans fight dirty. Democrats not. They continue to be legislative gentlemen in the tradition of old.

No way to fight.

It is tit for tat and a bit more. The Democrats have to learn to be like Republicans when it comes to fighting dirty. The Republicans need to be taught a lesson. Hit them first. If not, hit them harder when they hit first.

Otherwise, nothing is ever going to get done.

Trump’s impeachment trial before the Senate begins tuesday. The Trump defense is two fold. One is he is no longer President and therefore cannot be tried for impeachment. The other, and a new one, is that Trump continues to believe he is still President and has done nothing wrong. Therefore, he cannot be impeached.

Two inconsistencies meeting. A Catch-22 situation. The trial will be an interesting one.

The CDC announced friday all persons using public transportation in the U.S. must wear masks. The masks must be 2 layers which I assume means 2 layers of material. Additionally, the masks must be secured to the head.

Violation will result in arrest.

Oregon is a first in the nation. Oregon has decriminalized all illegal drugs. Such includes cocaine, heroin,and meth. Persons caught using drugs can be apprehended. However they can opt for rehabilitation rather than jail.

Today Santorini! A marvel! One of the most beautiful places in the world, if not the most. Hope you enjoy.

Day 8…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Key WestLou

When I saw Key West for the first time twenty five years ago, I knew almost immediately it was a place I wanted to be. So too with Santorini.

You just know.

My day yesterday started with an early morning flight from Athens to Santorini. Olympic Airlines. A one half hour flight. On a big jet. Packed.

The plane took off. The pilot said we are heading to an elevation of 17,000 feet. Once we reached that point, the plane started its descent. You got it! The plane ride was an ascent to 17,000 feet and then an immediate descent into the Santorini airport.

Again young stewardesses. That is the word. Stewardesses. Thin. No more than size 4s. Hair swept back and up. For the little hats they perched on their heads when we landed.

Nikos met me at the airport. I never had met nor known Nikos before. Nikos and his wife Maria own some cave houses which they rent out. I was booked into one of those cave houses.

Nikos about 5′ 6″. Thin. Muscle bound. I would estimate around 60. Skin tough and weather beaten by the sun.

He embraced me like a long lost friend. A mutual acquaintance had arranged for me to stay at Nikos’ place. Nikos pointed out on the drive to his caves that he never picks anyone up at the airport. He was only doing so because a mutual friend had told him to take good care of me. I was grateful

The formal name of the caves is Filotera Cave Houses. I do not know what filotera means. I googled it and could only come up with a list of motels, hotels and other cave accommodations on Santorini. Everything is filotera here.

The ride from the airport was an experience. Uncomfortable.

Nikos’ place was an hour drive from the airport. Straight up a hill. Mountain may be a better description. A very narrow two lane road with a drop off on the upward side thousands of feet into the sea. I was up up and away.

Drivers speed here. They come at each other at horrendous speeds. The road was very curvy. At every turn I saw an accident in the making. Especially when a bus came at us!

The views were spectacular. The heights dramatic. I have never been closer to God. In more ways than one.

Maria met us. Her appearance as her husband’s, except Maria was shorter and on the heavy side. It was hugs and kisses all around. I met the whole family. Daughter and grandchildren.

It was Maria’s birthday. She sent a piece of her birthday cake to my cave.

These caves are another world.

Santorini was once one large island. About 1,500 years before Christ (everything is before Christ in this part of the world), there was a huge volcanic explosion. Reportedly the largest ever known to man before and since. Broke Santorini into several islands. Santorini the largest.

The very first volcano was a long time back. Six hundred fifty thousand years. ago. The most recent in 1950.

Natural tragedy appears common to the area. There was a violent earthquake in 1956 which destroyed many old structures on the island. Earthquakes and I are becoming common place on this trip.

One side of Santorini ended up being a very high and steep cliff running from the heavens thousands of feet into the ocean. Caves developed. Home for me is one of those caves. Fear not, the accommodations are wonderful. Do not let the term caves scare you. All modern amenities. Only negative, no windows. Not for the claustrophobic. I have my own small white terrace hewed out of the cliff in front. A place where one can sit and contemplate his navel.

I can see the four islands made by the volcanic eruption. The eruption actually split a big island down the middle into two islands as well as several small ones. Smoke and sulfur can still be seen coming from the volcano itself.

Tradition has many tales. It is claimed that Santorini is the place where Moses and his people made their exodus from Egypt. The plagues which afflicted the Pharaoh and Egyptians are the same as were experienced on Santorini at the time of the volcanic eruption. Also, the breaking up of the island is said to reflect the parting of the waters by Moses. Another historical claim  is that the Atlantis of old was a part of Santorini and now lies somewhere below the sea in the area.

The waters are extremely deep around Santorini. Especially in the area of the volcano. So the tale may have some truth.

Sunset is big here. As in Key West. I rarely go to a sunset anymore in Key West. Seen one, seen them all. Too many people.

I went to the sunset last night. When in Rome, etc. Never again.

The sunset was around a corner of the island. I had about a one mile walk to it. Uphill all the way. Sometimes at a 45 degree angle. Steps everywhere. No consistency between the distance or height of each. The paved area marble. Slippery.

I was exhausted when I arrived at the anointed place. Pleased I had not fallen. Crushed into and with a mass of people just as in Mallory Square.

My sunset hours the rest of this trip will be spent on my little terrace with a drink in hand.

Many outdoor cafes along the top of the cliff. I stopped at one and enjoyed a delicious dish of moussaka. Prices dramatically cheap.

Then back to my cave and sleep. The weather cool. I slept like a baby all night. The first time I have done so this trip.

This morning there was a knock on the cave door. Yes, there are doors. It was a boy with coffee and bread. Nikos had sent them to me for breakfast. The bread was hot. Just out of the oven. I broke off a chunk and enjoyed.

More tomorrow. Do not miss any of it. This is one exciting place!

Enjoy your day!

TRUMP NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW was originally published on Key West Lou

[pcktsprgrl]

Answer me this

ok @cherryheart42 you asked for it. :P

1. You just opened up a web browser. What is the first site you visit? My email  2. You just walked into a bookstore. What section do you go to first? Fiction  3. You are hanging with your closest friends. What are you most likely doing? Listening to music and talking about random stuff lol 4. You just turned your car on. What station is the radio tuned to? One that has a variety of songs 5. You have just woken up for the morning. What is the first things you do? Do stuff for my cat, brush my teeth, wait to fully wake up 6. Complete this phrase: You cannot buy happiness, but you can buy____. A 1956 jaguar roadster ? 7. What would you do if you woke up as the opposite gender? Try out for the NFL lol 8. Are you more likely to cook for yourself or bu y food from a restaurant? Probably cook depends on my work schedule 

9. If you had to lose one of your senses, which one would you rather lose?  taste  10. If you could relive any one year of your life, how old would you be?  Hm probably when I was young and we'd go on family vacations. 11. Would you take a bullet for anyone you know? Yup! There's a few. 12. Would you rather be rich and dumb or poor and extremely intelligent? Poor and extremely intelligent then id figure out a way to be rich lol  13. What TV character do you most relate to? lol im not really sure 2bh? 14. You just walked into a supermarket. What section do you first go to? Fresh Fruits and veggies  15. Is sex before marriage wrong? No  16. You just won the lottery. What is the first thing you do with your winnings? Pay off my parents'  house payment. 17. If your best friend admitted that they have a crush on you, how would you react? ?￰ﾟﾘﾵ? 18. Will the USA ever have a female president? I have a big rant for this but l ets say I really hope so, if its the right person. 19. You are carpooling with your friends. Are you more likely to be the driver or a passenger? Prob passenger so I can chill a while  20. How short is too short for skirts and dresses? I don't like them at all but whatever the person wearing them feels right with?  I prefer some imagination though lol 21. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, without any consequences, what food would you choose? Ice cream lol 22. It's Saturday night. What are you most likely doing? Probably resting from practice and watching a movie 23. You go on a blind date. Your date is extremely beautiful and physically captivating, but you hate their personality. Would you want a second date? Urgh probably no.  24. How strict should gun laws be?  If people want them bad enough they'll get them anyway. 25. Would you rather be the worst player on the best team or the best player on the worst team? Ugh im too much of a perfectionist to answer t his lol. 26. How well do you work with others? Pretty well I think?  27. You have the ability to cure only one fatal disease and eradicate it forever. What disease do you choose? Cancer  28. If you could go back to college and choose a different degree to study, would you? I mean im not in the field I originally studied and im pretty happy with where im at but part of me would like to go get my JD. 29. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?  I hope making plenty of money off my business to be able to do what I want.  30. Are you pro-life or pro-choice? Choice 31. Would you attend a same sex wedding if invited? Absolutely!  32. So far, what has been the greatest day of your life? Er  33. Has anyone you know ever been arrested? Yes 34. If it could be one season year-round, what season do would you want it to be? That's tough because they all have their own perks and beauties. 35. What is your biggest regret in life? That I didn't have enough time to learn from the older generation like my great aunt about how she did things. 36. If you could bring one celebrity back from the dead, who w ould it be? Freddie mercury 37. What offends you the most? Im not easily offended  38. Would you rather have an ugly hairstyle or be bald? Lol ugly hairstyle  39. At what age did you have your first alcoholic beverage? Uh I don't really remember  40. What do you think happens to us when we die? Ghosts. 41. What do you think is the best way to quit smoking? Never start, but I don't smoke  42. If you could take home any one animal from the zoo, which animal would you choose? Tiger  43. We're humans created or did we evolve from earlier species? Created  44. What scares you the most? Being a complete failure. 45. What personality trait turns you off the most? Being rude 46. You got offered a job to do something you hate, but the pay will make you rich. Do you take it? Maybe. For a while 47. If today you only had what you were thankful for yesterday, how much would you have? My cat and my friends lol 4 8. How often do you get mad or upset at yourself? Ehh probably too often 49. If you could choose one celebrity to be your parent, who would you choose? Lol  50. If you could only listen to one musical artist for the rest of you life, who would you be listening to? at the moment Taylor Swift. because she can sing other peoples’ songs too lol 51. Have you ever used you cell phone while driving? Speaker phone to talk to stay awake and I dialed it before I started driving lol. 6+hours on little sleep is no fun 52. Had anyone you were close to die way too young? Unfortunately yes. 53. Is world peace possible? No 54. You go on a blind date. You date is extremely ugly and physically appalling, but you are madly in love with their personality. Would you want a second date? I don't want to sound shallow but if I'm not physically attracted to someone there's no point leading them on. 55. How did you discover that Santa Claus isn't real? What?!? He IS REAL! Pssh question canceled !!! 56. Do you believe in God, or some form of higher deity? Yes  57. If you could save someone you deeply cared about, but it meant breaking a law, would you do it? Yes  58. What is the dumbest thing you've ever done for money? Lol I chugged a redbull on a five dollar bet. But that was more to prove I could 59. If you were to make a YouTube video about what you know most about, what would the subject be? Toss up I guess between football and gardening.  Which funny story I already have Youtube videos on lol. 60. What do you think is your greatest personality flaw? Im too hard on myself  61. If your friends spoke to you the way you speak to yourself, would you still want them as friend? Lol uh all the time? I'd think they hated me sometimes I need the "get your crap together" talk. 62. Have you ever "woke up like this"? Like what?!  63. You got offered a job to do something you love, but the pay is one of the worst out there. Do you take it? Probably especially since i already had a job I hated and got rich :P lol 64. What do y ou think is your best physical feature? My 'guns' lol 65. What do you think is your worst physical feature. Im mostly happy with my body,  66. Do you know anyone who has committed suicide? I don't think so 67. What is the nicest thing you've ever done for someone you don't know? I drove out of my way to take someone home from work where my roommate and I used to work 68. Have you ever had a night's dream come true? My dreams are strange so I don't think lol 69. How would you reject a date offer from someone you didn't like? Oh im sorry but I really don't think I want to. 70. Which do you think is worse: Failure, or never trying at all? Never trying at all.

[sunken-standard]

Yet Another Drabble Ask Meme Fill

Requested by @mychakk [I'm sorry I forgot] : Ok, I think I'll go with those numbers, feel free to combine them or do them alone or just pick one that fits your fancy anything for sure will make my day :) 9 (Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?), 14 (Fire! Fire! Fire!), 15 (You watched 4 seasons today?), 42 (This cost a thousand dollars?!), 43 (Foreigners…pffft), 102 (Buy me chocolates and tell me everything’s going to be okay), 107 (This house isn’t even haunted) My top favourite 'verse is the Holmes Family Function (the best), Tom-verse and Vegas. But I'll love anyhting ;) Huge thank you :) looking forward to them :)

This is the list for round 3: https://prompt-bank.tumblr.com/post/146525402053/drabble-challenge

Filled: 17, 95, 72, 84, 105, 41, 28, 69, 90, 95, 46, 100, 104, 81, 18, 24, 108, 99, 25, 61, 66, 52, 80, 73, 54, 89, 26, 32, 71, 16, 20, 27, 45, 57, 89, 32, 44, 64, 102, 27, 57, 6, 2, 70, 5, 7, 93, 9, 14, 15, 42, 43, 102, 107 Yet to be filled: 86, 96, 2, 14, 20, 21, 22, 94

"Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?"/ "Fire! Fire! Fire!"/ "You watched 4 seasons today?"/ "This cost a thousand dollars?!"/ "Foreigners…pffft"/ "Buy me chocolates and tell me everything’s going to be okay"/ "This house isn’t even haunted"

Molly walked into her lounge and screamed.

It wasn't as common an occurrence as one might think, even when taking into account that Sherlock Holmes had taken over her flat as an annex of his own a few years before; she was used to all manner of things greeting her at the door when she returned home from work.  Two dogs (on separate occasions), a monitor lizard, a pathetic Sherlock covered in fly paper, a pathetic Sherlock covered in bee stings, a pathetic Sherlock covered in marmalade (as was half her kitchen that time, though she'd got a much nicer kettle and a new blender out of the deal, so she hadn't complained much), a shirtless Wiggins and Sherlock with a tattoo gun, The Night King himself (okay, yeah, just Mycroft, but with a codename like Iceman [which she wasn't supposed to know, but Sherlock also used her brain as an annex for things he didn't want to keep in his own] the comparison was just begging to be made), and now the corpse of Sherlock's ex-girlfriend in rigor on her sofa.

Except, no, that wasn't a corpse.  It was a sex doll.  Wearing one of Molly's cardigans and a pair of her pyjama bottoms.

She supposed it could be worse.  It could be a sex doll that looked like one of her exes.  

"You're out of Fairy and if you have to use the loo, which you always do because apparently riding the bus is just too much excitement for you, don't look in the bathtub," Sherlock greeted as he tramped down the stairs to the kitchen.  She added Marigolds to her mental shopping list as well, because he was wearing hers (and goggles, oh lovely) and she was sure she didn't want that pair to ever be near anything that would ever be near food again.

"So, um...  Why?  And why is she wearing my clothing?"

"Really more of an 'it.'  I had to put something on it, it was—" he wiggled his fingers "—weird, and wrapping it in a blanket made it weirder.  If it makes you feel better, I used clean clothing so none of your DNA will accidentally be transferred."

"Wait, is this evidence? We talked about evidence in my flat."

"It's not evidence per se, at least not in a criminal capacity.  Well, it could be, should my client choose to press charges, but she won't, considering she's technically dead—"

"Your client," she said flatly.

"Whose name I can't reveal because I adhere to the strictest professional standards of confidentiality—"

"Oh for shit's sake, I know who it is.  Why is it here?"

"Mrs. Hudson would evict me if she saw it.  And it is rather creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way. Its eyes close when you tilt it past a thirty degree angle and the mouth is, ah, motorized.  Wiggins accidentally bumped the 'on' switch when we were carrying it inside and I've actually never heard a grown man scream like that before."

She narrowed her eyes at him.  "You're not keeping it here."

"It's only a few days, she's making shipping arrangements."

"Shipping arrangements."

"She said it would be a waste of a prop to destroy it entirely.  She's ah, left me with the task of disposing of the... peripherals, though."

"Peripherals.  Going to go out on a limb and guess that's what's in my bathtub."

"Yes."

"And you're cleaning them because...?"

"DNA," he said as though she were daft.

"Uh huh.  I'm going upstairs because yes, fine, I actually do have to wee and it's not because the bus is exciting, it's because I time my last cup of coffee so I don't fall asleep on the way home and miss my stop and a side-effect is having a full bladder by the time I walk through the door.  Whatever. When I come downstairs, you're explaining this to me from the beginning and leaving out no detail.  Then we'll figure out what to do with your Stepford Girlfriend."  

*

"So she has her face trademarked and copyrighted and all that stuff, and she sent you to fetch her intellectual property."

"More or less.  There may or may not be multiple blackmail components."

"Oh even better.  Did you shatter a few kneecaps just for fun, too?"

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing.  I mean, I'm sure pimpin' ain't easy."

"So because I took on a case for someone in the sex industry I'm a pimp?" he asked slowly.

"You're actively helping a whore blackmail one of her clients, from whom you just stole a sex doll."

"That bears the exact likeness of my client and falls well outside the scope of her contract with the party I reclaimed the property from.  Honestly, you're a feminist, you should be championing this.  Imagine if Tom had a sex doll made that looked just like you."

Ugh, he had a point.  Of course he had to go and humanize Irene Adler.

"Fine," she relented.  "But you really should wear the fur collar for your coat more often. Maybe put some bling on John's cane and start carrying that around when you wear the hat."

At least she could still amuse herself with that image.

*

"You're actually logging these?"

"She wants to know what he's been—ahem—using it for so she can charge him accordingly."

"I can think of a pretty short list of what he's been using it for," Molly said, fishing yet another of the doll's vagina inserts out of her tub.  Which Sherlock was going to sanitize repeatedly before her next bath (the tub, not the vagina; those were about as clean as they'd ever get thanks to the boiling water and bleach).

"And I'll thank you to keep that list to yourself," Sherlock said, taking the insert and turning it around to look for the serial number.  He was really putting on a good show of not being flustered, but the colour in his cheeks gave him away.  

"Is this real human hair?" Molly asked, squinting down at the next piece.  She was tempted to take her gloves off just to feel it, but then they'd have to re-sanitize it because he had some weird hang-up about DNA all of a sudden.  

"Mmhmm.  That one costs fourteen thousand Yen.  A thousand pounds, give or take."

"This cost a thousand pounds?!  A fake fanny?  Wh—oh.  Oh God, it's moving.  It's moving and I don't know how I turned it on."

"How—?" he began, side-eyeing her.  He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then put down the insert he'd been holding.  "Oh for—give it here, there's got to be a switch somewhere."

She watched as he examined it from all angles, then started poking and prodding at it with his gloved fingers; she wasn't sure if it was sexy, absurd, or just weird, but she knew she was the one blushing now, too (which was ridiculous, considering how often she examined actual genitals belonging to an actual person in any given week).  She thought she was going to choke on her own saliva when he used two fingers to check inside.  She really hoped he didn't make that face when there was a real woman involved.

"I can't...  I can't turn this off.  I have no idea how to turn this off," he said, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was even saying.

"Batteries!  Just take the batteries out!"

"I don't know where the compartment is."

"Google it."

"You google it, I've got my hands full of—thing."

"Maybe it's on a timer.  Just put it in the box and maybe it'll stop on its own."

Sherlock shrugged and withdrew his fingers, then set the insert into the box.

"Oh God," he said, staring down into the box.

"What?"

"It set another one off.  And there goes another, it's a chain reaction."

"It's just like in The China Syndrome," she said peering around him to look into the box, which had begun to vibrate its way across her bathroom floor.

"The what?"

"Have you never watched a film?"

He didn't dignify that with a response.

*

"I can still hear them," she said, looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm sure the batteries will die soon," he said, eyes on his phone as it moaned another text.  It was beginning to sound like a bad porno soundtrack.  "Ah, good. Her people will be here on Monday to properly crate it for its trip to Hong Kong.  Which is not where she is, so just completely forget I said that."

"Today is Tuesday.  This thing is going to be here a week?"

"Six days, yes."

"It's so creepy."

Sherlock tipped his head in agreement. "Trust me, it was worse when it was naked."

"Can't you at least move it somewhere?"

"It weighs eight stone, it's like moving a water heater."

"I want to watch telly and I don't want to sit next to it."

"Fine, I'll sit next to it, you sit on the other side."

*

"Maybe if we just put a bag over its head," she said, leaning forward to look past Sherlock at the doll.  He'd inched his way nearly into her lap, pressing her into the corner of the sofa like they were on a Twister ride over the course of the last half hour.  She didn't mind, really, except for the doll being there.

*

"No, that's worse, take it off, it looks like a murder."

"You like murders," Sherlock said from just behind her.

"No, you like murders.  I like my job, which is only tangential to actual murder."

"Potato, potato," he said. "What about a mask?  You have one in the spare room from Mary's hen do."

"The one with the willy on it?"

"The one with the feathers," he said flatly.  "It's bigger, it'll cover more of the face."

*

"Oh my God, that's horrifying. Why is that so horrifying?  Take it off.  Take it off."

"You take it off, you brought it into our house!"  She realized too late the slip she'd just made.  Thankfully, Sherlock didn't seem to notice, as he was tentatively sliding closer to the doll again to remove the mask.  She didn't know why, but she kept expecting it to turn its head in her direction and start singing 'Non, je ne regrette rien' or some Marlene Dietrich song or something equally and unexpectedly creepy.

Sherlock used the back of a pen to flick the mask off the doll's face and they both relaxed a bit.  

"Okay," he said.  "I have an idea.  What if we just put it in the corner where the lamp is that you never use?  That entire corner is an oubliette, we'll just put it in your desk chair and wheel her over there for the rest of the week."

*

"Nope," she said simply, her hair standing on end.  

"To be fair, I didn't say it was a good idea."

Sherlock's phone moaned a text and they both jumped.

"I'm never going to sleep again. This house isn’t even haunted!  Or, it wasn't, until that thing showed up."

"You don't believe in ghosts."

"And you don't believe in wearing pants under pyjamas.  What's your point?" she snapped.  She wanted that thing gone.

Sherlock simply narrowed his eyes at her while pulling out his phone.

*

Molly hefted her overnight bag on her shoulder and Sherlock shifted the still-vibrating box of fannies as they waited by the kerb.

"Least it's not raining," Sherlock said conversationally.

*

"Is a chicken really a bird if they can’t fly?" Wiggins said, one hand on the wheel and the other out the window doing that uppy-downy swimmy thing people usually stopped doing once they were old enough to drive.  "They're closer 'a dinosaurs anyway, I saw it on telly."

"They have feathers and beaks—taxonomically, they're birds.  And chickens can fly, only not very far," Sherlock said, bored.  They were both stuffed into the back seat because there was a suspicious stain on the front passenger seat and neither of them wanted to sit there. The box of fannies was secure in the trunk.

"Did you know—"

"Oh God, here we go," Sherlock muttered.

"—some paleontologists stuck plungers on chickens' bums ta figure out how T. Rex walked?"

"I did not not know that," Molly said, because how else does one respond to that?  It wouldn't be very polite to ask their driver, 'how many mushrooms have you ingested today?'

"Spent'a day watchin' Natural World, din't I?  Last four series."

"You watched four series today?" Molly asked incredulously.  

"Well, only'a ones wi' Sir David Attenborough.  He's'a only one I really like."

Fair enough, she thought.

*

"I'm going to be deleting useless trivia of dubious accuracy for hours," Sherlock grumped while Wiggins filled the tank with petrol.  "I'm going inside to get...  Something, anything, I don't really care, I just don't want to be in the car any longer."

"Buy me chocolates.  And tell me everything’s going to be okay.  I mean, we're halfway to Slough with a box of sex toys in the boot and it's almost midnight and I'm pretty sure Wiggins is high."

"And somehow I'm the dramatic one.  Wiggins isn't high, that's just how he is.  Everything is going to be fine, it's just a quick trip to an abandoned brickyard, we'll be back at Baker Street where there are no bloodthirsty Maschinenmenschen waiting for us to fall asleep to murder us before you know it."

"Maschinenmenschen?"

"Now who's the one who's never seen a film?"

"Just go and buy me a bloody chocolate bar."

*

"So you keep an arsonist on retainer for special occasions?" she asked, watching as Sherlock situated the box in the centre of the hastily-constructed pyre.

"Former arsonist.  It was only once and he's a very successful builder now.  Care to do the honours?" he asked, holding out a disposable lighter and a rolled-up copy of The Sun.

She took the newspaper and let Sherlock light it.  "Oh!  Fire!  Fire!  Fire!" she chanted as she bustled around the pile of cast-off wooden pallets and construction scraps, lighting the bits of cardboard sticking out here and there.

"So if we were just going to burn them, why did you bother cleaning them?"

"I was actually going to sell them on eBay.  It seems he had some 'limited editions' and you wouldn't believe what they're worth.  We're burning potentially £8000 or so."

"Are you serious?  Why are we burning them?  Is this some kind of ridiculously expensive catharsis?"

"Wh—catharsis?"

"Like, burning them in effigy. She was your ex-girlfriend.  Or is this some kind of noble gesture, like, protecting her honour or something?  So no one can defile her silicone bits."

"Noooo," Sherlock said slowly.  "They're just extremely unsettling and I didn't want to leave them to roam about the flat like... demonic caterpillars in case they escaped their box.  I'm beginning to suspect they're powered by nuclear fuel rods.  Really, we should probably step back, actually.  Or leave, and rather quickly, since the fire department is on its way.  Run."

*

"I'll get Wiggins to help me move it tomorrow," Sherlock said after they were settled in his bed.

She'd never slept in his bed before. It was weird.  He'd slept in hers dozens of times, and often those times overlapped with her own occupancy, but this was... weird. "Though you could just stay here for the rest of the week."

His suggestion was a bit too casual.

"You don't actually want to move it, do you?"

"It's very heavy.  And unnerving. And I will deny that with my dying breath if you ever tell anyone I said that."

She couldn't help herself, she giggled. "Perish the thought.  No one would ever believe me, anyway. Just like that time I met Bill Murray.  Not John's friend Murray, the Bill Murray.  It was in an Indian takeaway in Hackney and he knew I recognized him and he just leaned into me and said, 'No one will ever believe you.'  No one did, either.  But it was him."

"Who's Bill Murray?"

"An American actor.  Caddyshack, Ghostbus—"

"Foreigners…pffft.  Boring."

"We really need to work on your cultural literacy," she said, then yawned.

"I've seen every film I'll ever need to, and for the rest, there's Wikipedia."

"We're watching Groundhog Day tomorrow night."

"It's a punishment, isn't it?"

"Yes.  You'll take it and you'll like it.  Now go to sleep, I need to be up in four hours."

"Make it five.  We'll take a cab. I need some teeth for an experiment I've been thinking about, tomorrow is as good a day as any to start it."

"I won't argue.  Still can't believe we burned £8000 worth of fake fannies."

"I still can't believe they exploded like that.  I should hope they come with warning labels on the package."

"Maybe that's part of the allure. Like playing penis Russian roulette."

"Molly."

"Hmm?"

"Go to sleep.  And please never utter the phrase 'penis Russian roulette' again."

"You're no fun."

"I'm lots of fun.  Tonight was fun."

"Yeah, it kind of was.  Night."

"Night."  

"Sherlock..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure we got rid of all of them?  Did you, ah, remove whatever was in the doll before you dressed it?"

There was a beat of silence, then, "Bollocks."

[pixelatedlenses]

2017 in Review

All questions originally made from here. I copied and didn’t change them, but wanted to answer them in my own post. 

2017 is about... two hours and fifty-five minutes from being done, and while I’m tired, I do want to stay up until the new year comes so I can drink some Hello Kitty kid’s champagne with my mom then pass out on the sofa bed.

So here’s a detailed review of my 2017. Below the cut since it’s quite a bit wordy.

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?

This year, I tried Koto! My teacher for shamisen plays both instruments -koto and shami- so I decided to give it a try. No regrets: I absolutely love it and will be playing my first concert on 1/27. It’s really exciting and has inspired me to try my hand at a few other instruments.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

No and yes: I didn’t make resolutions, but I have made goals for next year that I truly plan to keep. All of them are completely for me: I’m really making 2018 about my care.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No. I think not at least. A close friend got married though.

Wait, no! One of the ALTs got married and had a son: she lives in Tokyo now.

4, Did anyone close to you die?

Yes, a family friend at my church back home. It was quite sad, but I feel that she’s at peace right now. I, thankfully, think few others passed.

5. What countries did you visit?

Can I count Japan because… Japan. I am planning on going to South Korea in 2018 though!

6. What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?

Time and patience with myself. We’re working on both starting tomorrow. I would also like the ability to budget my time for me better.

7. What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

July 25, 2017. It was the day that after an active four years of being in love with my best friend, she inadvertently gave me the courage to confess to her, only to find the feelings are mutual. It’s 9:39 p.m. on the last day of the year and I still can’t believe this happened.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Recontracting with my school, earning my TEFL, and going to therapy again. Also, really mastering riding my bike with two baskets: that’s a huge achievement in my book.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not getting help before I needed it and letting others influence me too much.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

In August, I got food poisoning, in September, I caught a cold, and in October, I got strep throat. It was a....rough time for my body these last four months.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Honestly, my slow cooker, bamboo tableware, and my chromebook, all last quarter purchases!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My homestay students. They showed up for a week straight to afternoon lessons with me and ended up having the experience of a lifetime in Australia. I’m just so, so proud of them.

Shoutout to my supervisor too: she’s really come through for me even though we just met.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Quite a few ALTs who are actin’ like we’re not twenty-something year old adults in charge of children and the man who spit on me.

14. Where did most of your money go?

New computer/chromebook, Yuri!! On ICE, books, and clothing.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The re-release of the W.I.T.C.H. comics. I’m still hyped, enough that I keep listening to the playlist on repeat everyday.

16. What song will always remind you of 2017?

Echo feat. Gumi by Crusher-P

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c ) richer or poorer?

Happier, thinner, and so-so on the cash.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Loving myself.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Being hard on myself and trying to change. I was incredibly critical of myself this year, and that… was not always good.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

With my mother in Japan and with my friend James in Tokyo. There was lots of FMA with the latter.

21. Did you fall in love in 2017?

All over again. I expect that in 2018, I’ll say the same about my precious partner. Once again, I’ll confess that I’m still in shock that someone is as into me as I am them, and also thinks I’m sexy. I feel immensely attractive.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Shinya Shokudo, Super Sonico, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Blazing Transfer Students.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No, and that’s a blessing I think.

24. What was the best book you read?

I really loved Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and also Fran Wilde’s Updraft.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

REOL and Crusher-P. Shame that REOL is breaking up, but honestly, I love all three members so much.

26. What did you want and get?

I wanted to finally own lolita clothing, and I got my first outfit from indie label Lady Sloth. It’s a chocolate themed coordination, and let’s be honest: I look splendid.

27. What did you want and not get?

I really wanted to take the JLPT and I just didn’t have the chance. NExt year though.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

It came late but I really did like the new FMA live action. Also, I really loved Koe no Katachi a lot.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 25 this year and spent it with a 102 degree fever in bed. Next year, y’all.

I did, however, receive lots of drawing goods which means people listened to what I wanted. Rather pleased with that.

30. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Discovering the joys of taking myself on a date. I am really good company

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?

Soft Librarian Chic

32. What kept you sane?

Hope and knowing that everything comes to an end in time.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

None really.

34. Who did you miss?

In no particular order: my mother, my friend-turned-partner, my dog, my father, and my sisters, who are really two of my best friends from childhood.

35. Who was the best new person you met?

Probably my supervisor and principal.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.

I’ll give you a few, actually:

You can tell how much a person values by how they start a text conversation.

Nothing can prepare you for crying on a bus ride home.

Listen to a river: it’ll help you understand what to do next.

Sometimes, people who you give to will never care to give back. Stop giving to them once you realize that’s all our ever going to get. 

It’s not selfish to expect kindness in return for giving kindness.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

So since I got big back into Italian comic series -and American animation series-  W.I.T.C.H., I want to share lyrics for what I found at the end of this year. It’s Taranee Cook’s imagine song, and really helped me when I was hurting a lot. Taranee is a character that really inspired me growing up and continues to now: though timid, bookish, and often the first to be considered weak, Taranee’s ability to overcome inspires me.

Let’s end the year with her image song “Fire”.

I often wonder what’s my purpose. I always would search deep inside. I found myself lost in the dark until the day that I let my light shine.

Each day I know I’m getting strong. The path is much clearer to me. Now I can with the world the gift that I have, for everyone, around me to see.

There’s a fire that burns deep inside. There’s a light that I use as my guide. I can put all my troubles behind me when I warm every heart with the fire that lies inside me.

[thekillerblogofkillers]

Jeffrey Dahmer (1960-1994) PART TWO

In November 1987, Dahmer, who was living with his grandmother in West Allis, encountered 25-year-old Steve Tuomi in a bar and persuaded him to go back to his hotel with him. According to Dahmer later, he had no intention of murdering Tuomi, just to drug and rape him as he was unconscious. The next morning, when Dahmer woke up, he found Tuomi lying beneath him with his chest “crushed in” and “black and blue” with bruises, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Dahmer claims to have no memory of killing him, and later informed investigators that he “could not believe this had happened.” Dahmer put Tuomi’s body in a large suitcase and took it to his grandmother’s house. A week later, he dismembered the body and filleted the bones before cutting the flesh into small pieces. He placed the flesh into plastic garbage bags, wrapped the bones in a sheet and crushed them into splinters with a hammer. The whole process took 2 hours and all of Tuomi’s remains, except his head, were put into the trash. For 2 weeks after the murder Dahmer kept Tuomi’s head wrapped in a blanket before boiling the head in a mixture of Soilex (an industrial detergent) and bleach in an effort to retain the skull (to use as a masturbation aid). The skull, however, became too brittle after this process and was pulverised and disposed of.

After this murder Dahmer began seeking out victims in and around gay bars, before luring them to his grandmother’s house and drugging them and raping them. After they were unconscious he would strangle them to death. 2 months after Steven Tuomi’s murder, Dahmer met 14-year-old James Doxtator, a Native American male prostitute. Dahmer offered the boy $50 to pose for nude pictures at Dahmer’s apartment. There, the pair had sex before Dahmer drugged Doxtator and strangled him on the cellar floor.  He left the body there for a week before dismembering it and placing all but the skull in the trash. He then boiled the skull and kept it for a while before pulverising it. On March 24, 1988, Dahmer met 22-year-old Richard Guerrero, a bisexual man, outside a gay bar. He led Guerrero to his grandmother’s house on the promise of giving him $50 to spend the night with him. He drugged Guerrero with sleeping pills and strangled him with a leather strap. He then performed oral sex on the corpse before dismembering his body less than 24 hours later. The remains were again disposed of in the trash and the skull was kept before being pulverised several months later. On April 23, Dahmer lured another young man to his house, but after giving him a drugged coffee, he heard his grandmother call, “Is that you, Jeff?” Dahmer replied that it was him, and he was alone, but his grandmother noticed that he wasn’t. For this reason, Dahmer did not kill this victim, but waited until he was unconscious before driving him to the County General Hospital.

In September 1988, Dahmer’s grandmother asked him to leave her house because he had been bringing young men to her house in the middle of the night and she had observed foul odours coming from the basement and garage. Dahmer ended up in a one-bedroom apartment on North Twenty-Fifth Street and moved in on September 25. The next day, Dahmer was arrested for drugging and sexually fondling a 13-year-old boy he had lured to his apartment on the pretext of posing nude for him. In January 1989 Dahmer was convicted of second-degree sexual assault and of enticing a child for immoral purposes. Sentencing was suspended until May. On March 20, Dahmer began a 10-day Easter break from work, during which time he moved back in with his grandmother. 2 months after his conviction and 2 months before his sentencing, Dahmer murdered a fifth victim, 24-year-old aspiring model Anthony Sears, whom Dahmer had met at a gay club on March 25, 1989. Dahmer later said that on this occasion he was not looking to commit a crime, but just before closing time Sears “just started talking to me.” Dahmer then lured Sears to his grandmother’s house where the pair had oral sex before Jeffrey drugged and strangled him. The next morning Dahmer put the corpse in the bathtub, decapitating the body before attempting to flay the corpse. He stripped the flesh from the body and pulverised the bones, as before, and disposed of them in the trash. According to Dahmer himself, he found Sears “exceptionally attractive” and Sears became the first victim from whom he kept any body parts – he preserved Sears’ head and genitals in acetone and kept them in his work locker. When he moved to his new home the following year, he took Sears’ remains with him.

On May 23, 1989, Dahmer was sentenced to 5 years probation and one year in the House of Correction, with work release so he could keep his job. He was also required to register as a sex offender. 2 months before he was due to be released from the work camp, Dahmer was paroled and his probation began. He temporarily moved back in with his grandmother before moving into the Oxford Apartments on North 25th Street in Milwaukee in 1990. Despite being in a high crime area, the apartment was close to his job, was furnished, and cost only $300 a month including bills, so was a good deal for Jeffrey. On May 14, 1990, Dahmer moved out of his grandmother’s home and into his new apartment, taking Sears’ skull, scalp, and painted genitals with him. Within a week of moving into the new apartment, Dahmer killed Raymond Smith, a 32-year-old male prostitute whom he lured with the promise of $50 for sex. At Dahmer’s apartment, he gave Smith a drink laced with sleeping pills and then strangled him. The next day he bought a Polaroid camera, took several photos of Smith’s body in suggestive positions, and dismembered him in the bathroom. He boiled Smith’s legs, arms and pelvis in a steel kettle using Soilex. He then rinsed the bones in the sink and dissolved the rest of the skeleton except the skull in a container full of acid. He spray-painted Smith’s skull  and placed it next to the skull of Anthony Sears. A week after Smith’s murder, Dahmer lured another young man to his apartment – but this time accidentally drank the drugged coffee himself. When he woke up the next day, he discovered that his intended victim had stolen his clothing, $300 and a watch. He never reported the incident to police but did tell his probation worker he had been robbed.

In June 1990 Dahmer lured 27-year-old Edward Smith to his apartment. He drugged and strangled him, but instead of acidifying the skeleton or bleaching the bones, Dahmer placed Smith’s skeleton in the freezer for months in the hopes that it would not retain moisture.  This didn’t work and Dahmer dissolved the skeleton with acid several months later. The skull was accidentally destroyed after Dahmer put it into the oven to dry (causing the skull to explode). Dahmer later told police he felt “rotten” about this murder because he couldn’t keep any body parts from it. Less than 3 months later, Dahmer met 22-year-old Chicago native Ernest Miller, who agreed to accompany him home for $50 and to allow him to listen to his heart and stomach. When Dahmer tried to perform oral sex on Dahmer, Miller replied, “That’ll cost you extra.” Dahmer gave him a drugged drink but only had 2 sleeping pills left so they were ineffective and he had to kill him by slashing his carotid artery with the knife he usually used to dissect his victims’ bodies. Miller bled to death in minutes and Dahmer then posed the nude body for suggestive Polaroid photos before putting it in his bathtub to dismember. He repeatedly talked to and kissed the severed head while dismembering the rest of the body. He wrapped Millers heart, biceps, and portions of flesh from the legs in a plastic bag and placed them in the fridge to eat later. Dahmer boiled the rest of the flesh and organs into a jelly-like substance using Soilex which enabled him to get all the flesh off the skeleton so he could keep it. To preserve the skeleton Dahmer put it into a light bleach solution for 24 hours before drying them on a cloth for a week. He put the severed head into the fridge before later stripping it of flesh, painting it and coating it with enamel.

On September 24, 1990, Dahmer met 22-year-old David Thomas at the mall and persuaded him to go back to his apartment for a few drinks, and an additional $50 if he posed for some photographs. Dahmer later stated that after giving Thomas a drugged drink he didn’t feel attracted to him but was scared to wake him up in case he would be angry. So, he strangled him and dismembered the body, purposefully keeping no body parts at all. He did, however, photograph the dismemberment process and kept the photographs, which helped to identify Thomas later. Following this murder, Dahmer didn’t kill for almost 5 months, but did lure a few men to his apartment during this time. He is also known to have told his probation worker at the time that he was feeling anxious and depressed, and also referenced his sexuality, loneliness and monetary problems. He also confessed to having suicidal thoughts occasionally throughout 1990.

In February 1991, Dahmer saw 17-year-old Curtis Straughter standing at a bus stop near Marquette University and lured him into his apartment with an offer of money for posing naked for photographs, and the added incentive of sex. Dahmer drugged and strangled Straughter with a leather strap before dismembering him. Dahmer kept hold of the boy’s skull, hands and genitals. Less than 2 months later, on April 7, Dahmer encountered 19-year-old Errol Lindsey on his way to get a key cut. Lindsey was not gay, unlike Dahmer’s other victims. Dahmer lured Lindsey to his home and drugged him, drilled a hole in his skull and poured hydrochloric acid into it. According to Dahmer himself, Lindsey woke up after this “experiment” (Jeffrey wanted a permanently unresponsive submissive partner) saying, “I have a headache. What time is it?” Dahmer drugged Lindsey again, then strangled him. He cut off Lindsey’s head, keeping the skull, flayed the flesh off the body, placed the skin in a cold saltwater solution for weeks in the hope of keeping it permanently. Dahmer ended up disposing of Lindsey’s skin after noticing it had become brittle. By 1991, other residents in the Oxford Apartments where Dahmer lived had begun  complaining about the skulls coming from Apartment 213 along with the sounds of things falling over and sometimes even a chainsaw. The manager of the building, Sopa Princewill, contacted Dahmer to register these complaints to which Dahmer suggested that the cause of the smell was his freezer breaking and the contents becoming spoiled. Another time, he told the manager that his tropical fish had recently died, causing the odour.

On May 26, 1991, Dahmer met 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the younger brother of the boy he molested in 1988, and approached the young boy with a cash offer to come to his apartment to pose for photographs, a ruse he had used many times before. According to Dahmer, Sinthasomphone was reluctant at first, but Jeffrey managed to change his mind and get him to come to his apartment. Whilst there, the boy posed in his underwear for 2 pictures before Dahmer drugged him and performed oral sex on him after he fell unconscious. Dahmer then drilled a hole into Sinthasomphone’s skull, injecting hydrochloric acid into his frontal lobe, again trying to create a permanently submissive partner. Just before Sinthasomphone became unconscious, Dahmer led him into his bedroom, where the naked corpse of 31-year-old Tony Hughes, whom he had killed 3 days earlier, was lying on the floor. Dahmer said later that “he believed [that Sinthasomphone] saw this body,” but he didn’t react – due, in all likelihood, to the sleeping pills that were beginning to course through his system and the hydrochloric acid making its way to his brain. After Sinthasomphone became unconscious, Dahmer drank several beers lying next to him before going out to drink at a bar and then to purchase more alcohol. In the early hours of the morning Dahmer came home to find Sinthasomphone sat naked on the corner of his street talking in Laotian (his native language) with 3 hysterical girls next to him. Dahmer approached them and explained that Sinthasomphone was his boyfriend. He tried to take him back to his apartment but the 3 women wouldn’t let him, saying they had called the police. When Officers John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish arrived, Dahmer told them that Sinthasomphone was 19, his lover, had drunk too much after an argument, and often behaved liked this when intoxicated. The women did not believe this and when one of the women pointed out that the boy was bleeding from his anus and that he had been reluctant to go with Dahmer when he arrived, the officer told her to “butt out”, “shut the hell up”, and not to interfere, citing the incident as “domestic.” Against the protests of the women the officers just covered up Sinthasomphone and helped Dahmer get him back to his apartment, where Dahmer showed them the Polaroid photos he had of Sinthasomphone naked in an attempt to validate his story further. The officers later reported that there was a strange smell that reminded them of faeces in the apartment (this was coming from the decomposing body of Hughes) and Dahmer said that to investigate this odour one officer just “peeked his head around the bedroom but really didn’t take a good look” (or he would have discovered Tony Hughes’ body). The officers left, telling Dahmer to “take good care” of Sinthasomphone. If they had followed procedure and run a background check they would have discovered that Dahmer was a convicted child molester who was under probation. After the officers left, Dahmer injected hydrochloric acid into Sinthasomphone’s brain for a second time – this time it proved to be fatal. The following day, Dahmer took the day of work to dismember the bodies of Sinthasomphone and Hughes, keeping the skulls of both victims.

On June 30 Dahmer travelled to Chicago where he met 20-year-old Matt Turner. Turner accepted Dahmer’s offer to travel to Milwaukee for a “professional photo shoot.” Once at Dahmer’s apartment, he drugged, strangled and dismembered Turner. He then placed his head and internal organs into separate bags in the freezer. Turner was not reported missing. 5 days later, Dahmer lured 23-year-old Jeremiah Weinberger from a bar in Chicago to his apartment on the promise of spending the weekend together. He drugged Weinberger and injected boiling water into his skull twice, sending him into a coma that killed him 2 days later. On July 15, Dahmer met 24-year-old Oliver Lacy and lured him to his apartment on the familiar premise of posing nude for photographs. Whilst at Dahmer’s apartment, the pair had sex before Lacy was drugged, which was out of the ordinary for Jeffrey, who usually needed an unconscious, submissive partner. Dahmer tried to chloroform Lacy, but this was unsuccessful. Dahmer took the day off work and ended up being suspended. He strangled Lacy, had sex with the corpse, and dismembered it. He put Lacy’s head and heart in the refrigerator and his skeleton in the freezer. 4 days later, Dahmer was fired from his job. After finding out the news, he lured 25-year-old Joseph Bradehoft to his apartment, strangled him and left him on his bed covered with a sheet for 2 days. On July 21, Dahmer uncovered Bradehoft and found the head covered in maggots, so he decapitated the body, cleaned the head and put it in the refrigerator. He dissolved his torso in acid, along with the bodies of 2 other victims he had killed that same month.

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer approached 3 men with an offer of $100 to pose nude at his apartment for photographs, to drink beer, and to keep him company. Only 1 of the 3, Tracy Edwards, agreed to go. When Tracy Edwards first walked in to Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment, he noticed a foul smell and boxes of hydrochloric acid on the floor, which Dahmer said was used for cleaning bricks. After some small talk, Edwards turned his head to look at the tropical fish – at Dahmer’s request – and Dahmer placed a handcuff on his wrist. When Edwards asked, “What’s happening?” Dahmer tried to cuff his wrists together, unsuccessfully, but told Edwards to follow him to the bedroom to pose nude for him. While in the bedroom, Edwards noticed posters of naked men on the wall and a video of The Exorcist III was playing. He also saw a blue 57 gallon drum in the corner, which was giving off a foul smell. Dahmer produced a knife and told Edwards he was going to be taking some pictures of him. In an effort to seem compliant, Edwards unbuttoned his shirt, saying he would comply if Dahmer removed the handcuffs and put away the knife. Dahmer just turned to the TV and began rocking backwards and forwards, chanting, before looking back at Edwards. He put his head on Edwards’ chest, listened to his heartbeat and pressed the knife to his flesh, telling him he intended to eat his heart. Edwards kept repeating to Dahmer that he was his friend and he was not going to run away – in reality Edwards had already decided he was either going to jump out of the window or run through the unlocked front door as soon as he had the chance). Edwards said that he needed to use the bathroom and asked if they could sit in the living room with a beer (because there was air conditioning) and Dahmer said yes. The pair went into the living room as Edwards left the bathroom. Edwards waited until he saw Dahmer’s concentration wane before he asked for the bathroom again. When Edwards got up off the couch, he noticed that Dahmer wasn’t holding the handcuffs, so he punched him in the face, knocking him off balance and ran out of the front door.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s web was coming undone...

[steficek-knedlicek]

I was tagged by @i-am-the-brunette thank you how sweet! I learned some new things about you.

THE LAST: 1. Drink: herbal tea 2. Phone Call: to my my boss 3. Text Message: "Now it is” to my coworker (as a reply to “Is the battery charger turned off?”) 4. Song You Listened To: The Circle of Life (repeating myself, I know) 5. Time You Cried: Sunday, on a bus.  6. Dated Someone Twice: no 7. Kissed Someone and Regretted It: no 8. Been cheated on: I don’t think so 9. Lost Someone Special: yes 10. Been Depressed: yes 11. Gotten Drunk and Thrown Up: once but I don’t drink now

3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12. pink 13. violet 14. green

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: I kinda rekindled relationships with some old friends so I guess that counts too? 16. Fallen out of Love: in a way 17. Laughed until you cried: many times 18. Found out someone was talking about you: yes 19. Met someone who changed you: yes 20. Found out who your friends are: not really because I already know my close friends well 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook List: no

GENERAL 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: all of them but I don’t meet up regularly with most. I don’t really use facebook, except for messaging and organisational stuff 23. Do you have any pets: I have a baby cactus called Alan and several stuffed animals. I used to have a dog who I had to give away (she now leads a happy life with a new family) and a cat who died, that kinda broke my heart so I wasn’t ready for a new one for a long time but I think now I am 24. Do you want to change your name: I definitely want to add my wife’s last name to mine if I marry but otherwise not 25. What did you do for your last birthday: I had a very special visit 26. What time did you wake up: 8am  27. What were you doing at midnight last night: trying to sign up for practical class because the administration loves to make us suffer 28. Name something you can’t wait for: start new research on bisexual women for my master thesis and show my bachelor degree to my grandpa to make him proud 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: like three hours ago 30. What are you listening to right now: gentle snoring 31. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: yeah  32. Something that is getting on your nerves: people 33. Most visited Website: Tumblr 34. Hair Color: brown 35. Long or Short Hair: short-ish  36. Do you have a crush on someone: I don’t really quite understand the exact meaning of a crush so I can’t tell (someone help?) 37. What do you like about yourself: my personality, my mind, my hair, my eyes, my lips, my sense for humour, my memory, my voice, my reason, my determination and my boobs 38. Want Any Piercings: no!!!!! 39. Blood Type: I don’t know 40. Nickname: Štefka 41. Relationship Status: in love 42. Zodiac: Scorpio (I know) 43. Pronouns: she/her 44. Favorite TV Show: A LOT 45. Tattoos: I love tattoos and I wish I could get one but I’m so scared and I basically faint at the idea of pain 46. Right or Left Handed: right handed 47. Surgery: never had one 48. Piercing: no 49. Sport: sleeping 50. Vacation: Last was in Switzerland 51. Pair of Trainers: I own two?

MORE GENERAL: 52. Eating: yummy things 53. Drinking: strawberry juice!!! 54. I’m About To Watch: don’t know yet 55. Waiting For: free Sunday 56. Want: to learn 57. Get Married: I didn’t used to but now I want to 58. Career: research in psychology, hopefully some teaching and counseling or therapy

WHICH IS BETTER: 59. Hugs or Kisses: kissing while hugging 60. Lips or Eyes: both 61. Shorter or Taller: I don’t care, all girls are pretty 62. Older or Younger: I think both has it’s perks 63. Nice Arms or Nice Stomach: I like soft tummies 64. Hookup or Relationship: love 65. Troublemaker or Hesitant: hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER: 66. Kissed a Stranger: no! 67. Drank hard liquor: I’m Czech so yes 68. Lost glasses/contact lenses: actually no, only when I forget I’m wearing them but they aren’t actually lost are they (even though I spend half an hour looking for them) 69. Turned someone down: yes 70. Sex on First Date: no 71. Broken Someone’s Heart: not that I’m aware of 72. Had Your Heart Broken: yes 73. Been Arrested: hehehe no but I did wrestle several policemen 74. Cried When Someone Died: yes 75. Fallen for a friend: yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

76. Yourself: yes

77. Miracles: not really? because if they’re impossible to happen they won’t happen and if they do happen they are possible and hence not miracles? I do believe in conincidences and rare events. But things don’t happen in contrary to what’s possible, only to what we think is possible.

78. Love at first sight: Personally I don’t think it’s what I consider love to be, but I can’t say it doesn’t exist or that people who see love differently don’t experience it

79. Santa Claus: no but I did believe in Ježíšek

80. Kiss on First Date: I believe that as long as it’s consensual everyone can do what the hell they want

81. Angels: not as mythical or biblical creatures

OTHER: 82. Current Best Friend’s Name: Franziska and Katka 83. Eye Color: brown 84. Favorite Movie: A LOT 85: Fav Actor: I used to have Martin Freeman because of his acting but now I’m kinda sour grapes about him so Natalie Dormer and Gwendoline Christie

I tag @official-jenja @laughing-at-the-darkness @bahkris and @comfortably-sleeping

[phatjosh180]

RACE RECAP: Mt. Nebo Half

Okay, before I go any further I have to get this out of my system — NEBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Okay, that’s much better. This is one of my favorite races and has been over the past 5-6 years — it holds my half marathon PR of 2:09:25 which I hit in 2013. A time that seems eons ago if I’m being honest.

As much as I love this race — I was rather wish washy on whether or not I was going to do it. It was supposed to be one of my last long runs and tune ups before the Revel Big Cottonwood Marathon, but — yeah — that didn’t happen thanks to setbacks due to my back, ankle and a nice bout of bronchitis and walking pneumonia.

I’m not going to rehash a lot of those setbacks — because I’ve been working hard getting past them — and I’d much rather work forward then mettle in a mindset that won’t take me anywhere productive. It’s been a very inconsistent and difficult year that all I really want to do is get past it instead of keep poking it with a stick. But, of course that’s all easier said than done.

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A post shared by Josher 🏃🏻‍♂️🏋🏻‍♂️🥩 (@runfitketo) on Aug 25, 2019 at 10:35am PDT

I initially signed up for Nebo last year — almost immediately after last year’s race. Which isn’t very rare for me. But, back in June when I got knocked out for three weeks because of the bronchitis and walking pneumonia I purged a lot of my 2019 race schedule because the illness killed my marathon training. So I ended up transferring my Nebo bib to the Haunted Half in Salt Lake City instead.

And, then less than a week later I had a change of heart. So, I signed up for the race again. Because of course.

I did so knowing this would be my first half marathon in nearly four months. I did so knowing I wasn’t trained like I’d want to be. I did so knowing it was going to majorly suck. But, I also did it because I knew I needed to do it. If I was going to improve my running I knew it wasn’t going to be sitting on the sidelines waiting for it to happen. This felt like a good enough place to start.

I didn’t have a time goal mainly because I knew there would be a marathon behind me. So I just wanted to really just do my best, run and have fun. My friend Amanda, who’s getting ready to PR at the Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon, sacrificed her race to run with me — knowing it was going to be well below her pace. I was very grateful she was willing to do that for me because I won’t lie — I didn’t really want to do this race alone.

Then there’s the anxiety of knowing I was going to be over three hours on a race that holds my PR — at 2:09. As much as I try not to compare those times to now — how can you not? But, I’m not the same person or runner that I was six years ago and I need to come to terms with that somehow. Because it’s definitely easier said than done. Anyways, a lot of these frustrations and anxieties were swirling within me leading up to the race.

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A post shared by Josher (@josherwalla) on Aug 24, 2019 at 11:39am PDT

The lead up to the race during race week was a mixture of familiarity and anxiety. Usually my anxiety is tempered by familiarity. But, my race anxiety has been long gone for years it was hard to place my feelings of anxiety. Some of the anxiety was because I wasn’t where I wanted to be physically — I’m about 15-20lbs. above where I’d somewhat like to be (that’s all another story for another day thanks to med changes, etc.), my back is inconsistent and my ankle hates me on any given day.

Instead of driving down to Payson from Bountiful the morning of the race (about an hour drive) I journeyed down on Friday night and stayed in the Hutchings camper trailer. I was going to sleep on the grass, but I’m glad I didn’t because the sprinklers would have soaked me around 2am. Plus, I actually got decent sleep which helped ease a lot of the pre-race anxiety.

After the bus ride up the canyon we were off at 6:30am. I started running with both Amanda and Coach Blu. But, after about 3-4 miles Blu cruised down the canyon because he had to be somewhere by 10am. So that left me and Amanda the rest of the race to fartlek down the canyon. Which we very much did.

Well, it wasn’t so much a fartlek, because Amanda let me set the pace, but we did intervals of about three minutes running, 30 seconds walking. That changed about half way through the race to about three minutes running, one minute walking. As part of our game plan we’d also walk one mile of the race — which I chose mile 8-9 because it’s the one part of the race I hate the most. It’s hot, flat and sometimes smells like horse poop.

When Amanda and I were making a race plan my only goal I had — besides finishing the race — was to have fun. I’ll be honest, that’s kind of been my default game plan as of late. And, we had fun. We had a lot of fun chatting with new friends, the sweepers (who passed us — heyo!) and of course all of the aid stations. It’s always a party running with Amanda and she really helped keep me distracted throughout the race with her sense of humor, mom jokes and Hamilton soundtrack karaoke skills.

But, she also went all Biggest Loser on me and got into my head a bit. Especially during the stretches I’m sure she knew I was struggling. The one thing she said during the race that stuck with me the most was — let go of the brakes.

In downhill running the easiest way to run is to lean forward and just run. But, I was holding back. I was slowing myself down by leaning back and shuffling more than striding. As soon as she pointed this out to me it was easy for me see this too — and I knew better. I knew exactly what I was doing.

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A post shared by Josher 🏃🏻‍♂️🏋🏻‍♂️🥩 (@runfitketo) on Aug 25, 2019 at 10:40am PDT

So I really focused on letting go of the brakes for the rest of the race. I let the quads just do their thing. I might not have had the juice like I have had in the past — but, the motion felt familiar and more fluid. As I focused on my gait I started to really internalize what other breaks I needed to let go of, especially in my running.

I think I’ve been pumping the breaks a lot the past couple of years. There’s been a lot of hesitation here and there regarding my health — whether it’s been my thyroid, back and/or ankle. It’s been frustrating and I feel like I’ve been pumping the brakes for various reasons. But, what it really boils down to are doubts and fears.

I can’t tell you how much more apprehensive I’ve become to push my limits here or there because of my back. It really does a mental number of you, because you want to push yourself at a degree you know you can push yourself, but on the other hand, you don’t want to because you could lay yourself out for a week if you screw up your back again. It’s a crappy cycle of mental madness.

I can’t let those fears stop me. I know I can’t stop. If I stop the doubts, fears and health problems win. So why am I pumping the brakes? What am I afraid of? I know I’m not afraid of success. I know I’m not afraid of failure. I think what it really boils down to is afraid of losing a sport, lifestyle and community that has changed my life. That’s what I am afraid of losing.

But, I realized something while reflecting on this all during the race. I will definitely lose it all if I am too afraid to not take risk at all. If I risk nothing I gain nothing. And, I don’t want that. I don’t dream of winning races, I dream of growing old with this sport. That is why I must risk more than what my fears and doubts want me to risk.

Anyways — that’s a lot of deep and heavy thinking for a race report. But, that’s where my head and heart stayed for most of this race. It was a real gut check of my priorities, abilities and desires and I totally blame Amanda. She was the one who told me to let go of the breaks.

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A post shared by Josher (@josherwalla) on Aug 24, 2019 at 6:57pm PDT

Once we were out of the canyon the last mile or two were in the valley taking us toward the finish line at Payson Park. It got pretty ugly hot, especially since I was wearing a black running shirt. But, at the mile 12 aid station my friend Tiffany handed me an ice cold Diet Coke — it was truly the best Diet Coke I’ve ever had in my life. I may of guzzled it and had sea lion burps for a good half mile, but I still have no regrets. It hit the spot!

After making the final turn toward the finish line I had such a feeling of relief and gratitude. It was a tough race which I did in 3:22 hours — not my best time — but I didn’t care at all. I was done. I gave it everything. And, not only was I finished but after going through all that mental inventory for a good chunk of the race I felt recommitted to doing what I needed to do regardless of the hand dealt to me.

My legs were completely dead and that felt great. Not only was it a reminder of what I did, but a reminder of how much work that’s in front of me as well. And, that’s exciting me. I may never reach certain goals of mine, but I can sure as hell work hard toward them — and that’s what I need and want to do.

Past Mt. Nebo Half Times

2013 – 2:09:25 2014 – 2:18:45 2015 – 2:40:02 2017 – 3:02:55 2018 – 2:43:15 2019 – 3:22:44

My Next Five Races

Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon; September 14, 2019

The Haunted Half: SLC; October 19, 2019

The Haunted 5K: Provo; October 26, 2019

South Davis Turkey 10K; November 28, 2019

New Year’s Revolution Run; January 1, 2020

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A post shared by Trails & Pavement (@trailsandpavement) on Jan 21, 2019 at 7:46pm PST

RACE RECAP: Mt. Nebo Half was originally published on Life In The Slow Lane.

[gatorjbone]

MIAMI HALF MARATHON - January 27, 2019

There was a cloud looming over our heads this entire race weekend…and I mean that literally.

If you are a loyal follower of this blog, you know that the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon is kind of a big deal.  It’s a big race, with a big race feel.  I sign up way in advance, and friends travel near and far to stay with me.  In recent years, Elaine has become a regular.  Now participating in her third straight year (and four in total), she would be making the trip from her home in North Carolina.  Lindsey signed up before she moved to New York, but she was coming down as well.  Who wouldn’t want to leave sub-arctic weather to run the streets of Miami?  Even if the temperatures should “drop” into the fifties, it’s still a win-win situation.  With a long-time proven track record for success, what could go wrong?  How about nonstop rain the entire weekend.

Lindsey noticed over a week out that it was going to rain the entire weekend.  As the race got closer, the forecast wasn’t budging.  There was some genuine concern, but we all know how it goes in South Florida.  It could be raining on one side of the street, and dry as a bone on the other.  That having been said, the forecast looked pretty bleak when Elaine and Lindsey landed in the 954 on Friday.

It was off to the expo on Saturday morning.  Renee from

Runner’s Depot

once again provided bus transportation.  I love the fact that they offer this service to their customers, and we were on the road at noon.  This also gave us an opportunity to sleep in a little, since we would be getting up so early on Sunday.  The weather was nasty, but it wasn’t raining when we got to

Mana Wynwood

.  This was the third consecutive year the expo was held in this convention center, and I think it is time to go back to the

Miami Beach Convention Center

.  The venue is too small, and it’s hard to move around.  I was able to find a jacket in the official merchandise section, but checking out the vendors was more like a cattle call.  After about an hour of fighting the crowd, we took a trip over to the

Wynwood Walls

, and then grabbed some lunch at

BND Burger

.  We went back to the expo, since we still had some time to kill before the bus arrived at 4:30pm.  The crowd had thinned out a bit, but it was still packed like sardines.  It rained the entire way home, so we ordered in supper.  I was pretty tired, and went to bed around 8pm.

  I set my alarm for 2am, but of course I woke up early.  It was raining, but not very hard.  We were out the door at 3pm, and hit rain the entire drive down to Miami.  Not a monsoon, but nonstop nonetheless.  As we pulled into the parking garage inside the American Airlines Arena, it was sprinkling lightly.  The temperature was around 67 degrees, and we decided to stay undercover as long as we could.  We met a couple who had traveled from Trinidad to participate in their first marathon.  I hooked them up with ponchos, and they were forever grateful (they took a selfie with us.  I can’t imagine where that photo may turn up).

We moseyed our way over to our corral around 5:30am, and the rain had completely stopped.  I have run in pouring rain many times before, but never to start a race.  Once you get going, it’s all good; the prospect of standing in a downpour for over 30 minutes or more before the race actually begins seems like a nightmare.  It’s has never happened on over 22 years of racing, but all streaks are made to be broken. The streets seemed rather empty, as I’m sure many of the runners were waiting until the last minute to jump into their corrals.  I personally would never drop out of a race because of the hostile weather conditions, but I know a lot of folks who do (Mary and some of the Turtles were running the

Celebration Marathon and Half Marathon

the same time as us, and she said it poured the entire race).  Elaine was in the same corral as Lindsey and me, and we met a few students who were going to school at FIU.  They were running their first marathon, so I had to instruct them on “the ways.”

   It was now time to start the race, and still no rain.  If it would just hold out until we started going, I would be thankful.  For some reason, the race stared about ten minutes late. 

16,907 runners

(2,850 for the full; 14,057 for the half) waited patiently as the gun finally sounded.  It took us close to 30 minutes for us to get to the starting line, but still no rain.  Lindsey decided to run without me in an effort to try and PR the race.  Elaine was running the full, so I didn’t want to hold her back.

As we ran over the bridge, it was very windy.  Not coming right at you windy, but enough to make you struggle a little bit.  The streets were not as wet as I thought they would be, and the temperature was now in the low seventies.  There had been construction on the course the past few years, but not this time.  I don’t like it when you have to run south for a few miles as a temporary detour.  It almost seems as if it’s an out-and-back when you see the other runners ahead of you running in the opposite direction.  This year, I got to experience all of the scenery this course has to offer.  I felt really good, but my pace did not reflect that.  I was moving very slowly, but the lack of rain (and sunshine) made it a complete joy.  The sun did make a couple of guest appearances, but just for a few minutes at a time.

     The course ran a bit long (according to my Garmin), as I crossed the finish line at 13.41 miles.  It was very congested, so it took a few minutes until I was able to get my medal.  Lindsey was waiting for me, and she did in fact PR the race.  The post-race party was very good, with a nice selection of food and drinks.  After stuffing our faces, we walked back to the car to change into dry clothes.  Still no rain, so we went back to the finish line to cheer on Elaine.  Not much rain on the drive home, but who cared at that point?

  It’s hard to imagine that the biggest takeaway from an exciting race weekend like this would be the rain (or lack of), but it was definitely the talk of the town.

KEEP TRACK OF MY RUNNING ON