#easily one of my favorite old magazine covers from this time period

[kishigunpla]

Currently working on Animage from September of 1987 for the next blog post. In the meantime, here's a scan of the cover featuring art of Char by Haruhiko Mikimoto

[ultravioletfuture]

ULTRAVIOLET VISIONS: Perfect Dawn and New Portal Plus+

Hello UVF! This week, I honestly don't have a ton of new releases to talk about but I have a couple releases in my bandcamp collection I'm gonna recommend to everyone. It's been a busy couple weeks getting UVF releases scheduled, finishing the UVF magazine, and wrapping up the final mix and masters for Perfect Dawn, but I've got some things to talk about for the future of music on the portal side of things.

Next week the first Perfect Dawn single, "Back To You Pt. 1", drops on Friday the 15th and we can't wait to share it with you all! Working on Lunar Data Garden has also been super refreshing and Perfect Dawn has come to be something Truman and I are super proud to be a part of. Aside from Lunar Data Garden, I've been wanting to work on more portal related music and already have 3 new mixtapes planned out as part of a new sub-alias, "New Portal Plus+".

New Portal Plus+

These new mixtapes I've been working on are composed of some B-sides from ULTRAVIOLET CATHARSIS, tracks I made during the Perfect Dawn production period that didn't necessarily fit the sound, or completely new tracks that complement the concepts. I've been wanting a space to host new music I wanna work on that isn't as high in concept or tediously produced and sitting on my hard drive to release until perfect. Lately I've just been feeling like I've put a lot of time and effort into meticulously putting my albums together so far to create very concise sounding records, but sometimes I just wanna make a collection of tracks, throw them together and drop them on Bandcamp without having to worry about a ton of promo. These mixtapes will still have effort put into them just like I do with all my music, they won't just be looming over my head for over a year until I get the song to sound perfect. I will still be working on more conceptual, thoroughly produced mainline albums for portal.rwb and portal.flx, these mixtapes are merely just extra albums that I probably wouldn't even think about releasing without a mixtape club setup like this. The process so far has been extremely refreshing and has eased my mind to be able to still put out music for those that are interested without having people wait a year between album cycles. I'm still on the fence about setting up a subscription club for these mixtapes, but regardless, the first 3 mixtapes will be available for free to the public as a sorta sample to what the club will be and if a subscription club happens, it will only be a couple bucks for my entire catalog plus exclusive mixtapes. More details will follow in the coming months but I can't wait to share what I've been working on for you all!

Other than this, I've been working on the next couple months for UVF releases and currently have 5 albums scheduled to release in the next coming months! I'm beyond to excited to start UVF Year 2 soon and to share these new releases with you all! The UVF Magazine is also coming very close to full completion and should be ready to send out for printing in the next couple weeks. Depending on the reception of this 1st Edition, I might end up doing more editions routinely, but it's been a huge mission to get so many people involved and am happy enough just to get this 1st Edition out to you all for now.

Album Recommendations

I honestly haven't had a ton of newer releases I've been able to check out this week, but if you guys have any releases new or old that you'd like me to cover, be sure to send it over!

アバドン (aka Abaddon) is an artist I suprisingly haven't brought up on the blog before, but I highly recommend you all give them a listen!! You may be a little more familiar with their album Perfect Fake , but if you haven't heard them by now, they are easily one of my favorite artists in the Vapor scene rn and are constantly pushing the boundary for Vaporwave and Electronic music. I highly recommend starting here if you are into any works by death's dynamic shroud and have a soft spot for K-pop samples. If you are looking for something a bit dreamier, definitely reach for Perfect Fake afterwords, or The Lady In Black for something much more dramatic and darker in tones.

Gonna shout out the new super going project "Wake Up" for it's incredible deep and rich atmospheres throughout. super going specializes in Experimental Electronic music and showcases a nice blend of glitch, noise, and ambient on this new release. The album definitely embraces more of a noisy distorted field-recording sound in the first half and then leads you into very airy and ethereal atmospheres in the second leg of the album. If you are looking for something to scratch that itch for something mildly ambient with heavy electronics, definitely check out "Wake Up".

"In A Silent Way" by Nico Niquo has been my go to ambient record for the past couple months now since first discovering it. If you are into anything from the Orange Milk label at all, this release will surely be right up your alley. The album is a perfect blend of minimal instrumentation and electronic music that just keeps me feeling warm and welcomed. Each track feels like an airy trip floating through the sky in an endless sea of sonic clouds that fill you with emotions of comfort and peace.

Thank you all for checking out this weeks UVF blog! Sorry there wasn't a ton for me to cover, but I hope to have more to talk about next week. Maybe during some of these dryer weeks where I don't have a ton of specific releases to talk about, I might ask for your recommendations on any topics to talk about and have a dedicated segment towards. Be sure to tune in next week for the new Perfect Dawn single and I can't wait to see you all next week <3 ! -portal from UVF

[firefield]

David Bowie - Reality (2003)

“The thing, probably, that keeps me writing is this awful feeling that there are no absolutes. That there is no truth. That we are, as I’ve been thinking for so many years now, fully in the swirl of chaos theory.” DB, 2003

I always learn new things about David Bowie whenever I listen through his complete discography chronologically, and this run through is no different. As I get close to the end here, I’m reminded how much less I know about these later works, due simply to the fact that they have existed for a much shorter time, and my experience with them is more limited. “Reality” rocks more than I realized on release day, especially coming off the heels of “Heathen” with all its layers and mystery and subtleties. An empty house afforded the opportunity to really crank this one up, a vinyl pass, and CD pass, and finally the 5.1 surround sound edition - and yeah - DB said he wanted a simpler sound, and wanted a record that could be translated into a live show easily and effectively and he got that in spades.

As with all his post-80’s work, and especially his post-heart attack material, “Reality” embraces the darker and more cynical side of DB’s many characters - from the irony of the album title with album art portraying a very cartoony space-man Bowie looking about as unreal and non-Reality as possible and still be recognizable - to DB’s insistence that he made a “positive!” record despite themes of aging and death, loneliness and anonymity, geopolitical strife, day-in-day-out mundanity and the creeping threat of urbanization to nature. Regarding the subject matter of Reality he told Interview Magazine, “This is probably a period when, more than any other time, the idea that our absolutes are disintegrating is manifest in real terms. Truths that we always thought we could stand by are crumbling before our eyes. It really is quite traumatic.”

I read quotes like that and I think, for a guy that is largely known for (and criticized for) his ability to synthesize the past and his surroundings into something entirely David-Bowieingly unique, he certainly shows skill at synthesizing the future as well. Beyond things like financial chicanery like Bowie Bonds and the impact of the internet on the creation and distribution of music, Bowie often hit at the very essence of what unites as well as divides.

The seeds of this malleablity of truth that DB describes had been planted in my country during the civil rights movement and the tragedy of the Vietnam War, but began to flower and bloom after the 9/11 event - affecting Bowie’s home turf and his family profoundly. Heathen is prescient, Reality is a little angry about things. DB took time to specifically say what Reality was not: it was not an angry album, it was not a response to 9/11, it was not his “New York Album” - but then he’d spend just as much time gently walking back those claims, almost wondering aloud if it was, in fact, all of those things and more. He speaks around this time about how naturally writing music came to him. Unforced, calmly. I think this “flow” is why you can glean so many little contradictions about Reality and it’s intentions and meaning. He’s letting it happen, not dictating the plot; the tensions of that city and that moment in time allowed to mold and shape the work. Polar opposite to the Heathen recording environment at Allaire Studios in the Catskill Mountains, Reality was recorded in the cramped Studio B of Philip Glass’s Looking Glass Studios in NYC and both those disparate studio choices impact their respective products acutely.

Reality is Bowie’s most “hands-on” record since Diamond Dogs, employing all his multi-instrumentalist abilities, and it’s also one of his most thoroughly demoed. Most all of Reality was demoed out in Studio B by DB and Tony Visconti playing all the instruments, with Mario McNulty (the same engineer DB would later trust with the posthumous reimagining/re-recording of Never Let Me Down) as studio assistant. According to Tony, he had a feeling that many of these “demo tracks” would not ever actually be re-recorded, so they were laid down at a useable fidelity. Consequently, much of the demo material survived on the final album. The band brought in for final overdubs was chosen with the live show in mind specifically. This was a smaller, tighter unit of BowieLive veterans and by all accounts recording was smooth and productive.

New Killer Star opens the record, and is also Reality’s debut single (that contained one of his more surprising B-sides, Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s ‘Love Missle F1-11’) and is a spectacular Earl Slick led hazy, woozy guitar statement.

This is followed by The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso - recorded in 1972 but delayed until their 1976 debut. This track mimics the space occupied by the Pixies cover Cactus - the second track on Heathen - DB pulling tracks from his past that he enjoys and placing them where they give the record momentum. Quite a different interpretation if you have heard the original - DB took liberties with both the lyric and the arrangement and it’s a cool little track.

Never Get Old follows and addresses the common theme of time and aging in DB compositions…. (Cygnet Committee, Time, Hearts Filthy Lesson, Changes, Fantastic Voyage, and many more) and the composition itself references much of his past in Space Oddities countdown, the elongated guitar strands of Heroes, bits of melody from Crack City, the four-walls-closing-in sense of Low and some of Hunky Dory’s ominous moments. A pounding live favorite.

…and seamlessly right into The Loneliest Guy. Anyone who saw the Reality Tour knows the captivating power of this piece, and it’s honesty and fragility was one of a few reasons why I thought this would be DB’s final album.

Looking For Water. Man, I *love* this song. It’s one of my favorite vocal performances on Reality and would certainly end up on my list of “underrated DB songs” were I compelled to make one. I like repetition in music, and it’s hypnotic and mantra-esque qualities - and this is one that always gets a significant volume boost.

She’ll Drive The Big Car - a supercool stab of Bowie sash and swagger, and a killer vocal performance, masking some seriously sad lyrics. Bowie manages to sound defiant, tired, funky, deferential, sexy and soulful all in the course of a single song. He’s such an effortlessly great singer, that’s it’s easy to become so accustomed to it that you almost miss it. It’s just “him.”

The exceedingly sweet “Days” fits nicely with all of Realities reflections, and has for me become a song I pay much more attention to since we lost the man to cancer.

Fall Dog Bombs The Moon is one of DB’s most overtly political songs, and was apparently written very quickly - under a half and hour - and directly addresses the Iraq War and the profiteering involved. Relatively bleak with murky lyrics, it’s a interesting and unique DB composition.

Try Some, Buy Some is just beautiful and I think one of Bowie’s most interesting and genuinely heart-felt covers (along with Waterloo Sunset, also from these sessions.) The inspiration to do this song comes directly from the 1971 Ronnie Spector version and the impact it had on him personally. DB seems to be absolutely sincere when he claimed that he had completely forgotten that it was a George Harrison composition until he sat down to work on the album credits.

Next up is the sizzling rocker Reality that has one foot in Tin Machine and one foot in The Next Day. Love Earl’s guitar sound here. Like New Killer Star, the guitar layers in this one sound amazing on the 5.1 surround mix.

Ahh yeah. Another in an amazing number of fantastic Bowie album closers. I’ve made it a point in my life to quit ranking art into “good/better/best/sucks categories and hierarchies and see art as an experience, not a competition. My friends know this about me, and consequently tease me and attempt to prod me into breaking this creed. Under unrelenting pressure to name a “favorite David Bowie track” I named Bring Me The Disco King.

I could give many reasons why this would be the one…. The repetition I mentioned earlier, here found in Matt Chamberlain’s drum loop (interestingly snagged from ‘When The Boys Come Marching Home,’) the overwhelming sense I had when I first heard it that this was DB’s final record, the sense that the threat of jazz that had always pounded on David’s door in his chord structures and harmonies had finally broken down the door… the very tangible sense that this was a composition that had already had a long life but stayed tucked into the shadows by its unsatisfied creator, only to be given life and light on this great album after it had been stripped down to almost nothing - simplicity being the sought after key to its finally being allowed to soar. If it’s not already obvious, I think this song is magnificent. Literally. The fact that David knew it was deep inside there, he just had to mine it out over the course of a decade or so is extraordinary.

Couple of thoughts about a track that didn’t fit well on Reality but made it to bonus/B-sides…

How cool is his cover of The Kinks Waterloo Sunset? In the years after his death, when I feel that loss in my heart, it’s Waterloo Sunset I turn up to 11 and allow it to yank me back out of that murk.

“People so busy

makes me feel dizzy

but I don’t feel afraid

as long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset

I am in paradise.”

[brokingyoking364]

How to connect a gaming router to a modem

Major 20 Gaming Blogs You Should really Be Following

Online Gambling Websites covers the complete industry of gaming more than the World wide web. 1 of the key issues of spending as well substantially time in front of computers, tablets, or even smartphones is that you get exposed to the eye-damaging effects of higher energy blue light. This can lead to the formation of cataracts, the development of macular degeneration, and even permanent harm to the retina. With the Gunnar Optiks Intercept Pc Gaming Glasses , you can effectively block as significantly as 65 percent of this damaging light although also defending you against UV rays. The Intercept is specially made for incredibly active computer gamers, permitting them to sleep improved as this gaming glasses can support decrease eye strain.

In this post I asked 300 gamers what they wanted for birthday and Christmas so I could show anybody interested in purchasing a present for a gamer what the gamer seriously wanted. Here, on the other hand - pun intended - I speak about how I solve my difficulties with wrist pain right after lengthy gaming and operate sessions. It is not substantially of a list if the colossi of gaming news aren't integrated. This very first tier is solely for the gaming community's elder statesmen—the eight internet sites that are normally abreast on what's hot in gaming and are recognized by gamers worldwide to be a trustworthy source of information in the business.

PushSquare revolves about the Queen of video gaming, PlayStation. Obtain every news update, data, game reviews and videos relating to PlayStation in this well-known gaming neighborhood site. These veteran gamers know how to cook the perfect stew of quirky original content to fulfill your RPG gaming news cravings. The video gaming trend is accelerating its pace leaving behind movies and television. As the Newzoo industry report asserts, the international games earnings will climb to $137.9 billion in 2018 and reach $180 billion in 2021.

How To Make Your GAMING Look Surprising In 5 Days

NeonGame is a quickly and reliable no cost WordPress theme that is specially developed for reading. This theme involves a layout that adapts fluidly to all screen sizes to boost usability. With the aid of this theme, you can simply make a web page to sell your games, gaming plugins, applications, and add-ons with its Ecwid and WooCommerce support. And also it is fantastic for weblog and magazine web-sites. The theme is translation ready and Seo optimized design and style that aid to rank on the prime of Google and translate your internet site the way you like.

Kongregate are a video game studio, bringing a huge array of games to the table. Their devblog and forums give invaluable insights into the gaming world, hunting behind the scenes and allowing you to ask those burning inquiries in an atmosphere full of authorities. I applied on line. The course of action took a week. I interviewed at Green Man Gaming (London, England) in June 2018.

So you want to start off a gaming weblog? Very good for you! Gaming is a great subject to write a blog about, with a lot of people out there interested in this niche. No matter if you want to start out a blog as a hobby or you're hunting to make a bit of cash from blogging, the following tips can support you get began.

Ask a Game Dev is a Tumblr blog committed to hosting a wealth of answers to any questions that arise about the world of building video games. The blog has been operating for several years and has amassed a huge archive in that time, but the creator nevertheless answers new questions on an ongoing basis. Gaining the type of insight that only an sector insider can present is a superb tool for these aspiring to break into game improvement, and the concerns answered can be particularly topical during significant gaming events such as E3.

Obtaining a very good gaming magazine is no quick activity, getting to create numerous articles a day is a have to for it to be capable to rank appropriately on Google and keep up to date with all the news but what about when you want to create your personal evaluations or make up rankings. In this short article we are going to examine the ideal themes on the market from easily accessible with fewer capabilities up to the ideal themes complete of characteristics. The post will cover the superior, the quite great and the really greatest gaming WordPress themes readily available, orderer by characteristics and ranking.

If you were born in the late 70s, chances are you have played a single of the most iconic gaming console systems in the period. In truth, the Nintendo Entertainment Technique (NES) Classic Edition has paved the way to how families can delight in a great personal computer game together. Now, you can bring back these old glory days and re-play your favourite NES games of the 80s and 90s such as the Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey kong, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Final Fantasy and a complete lot a lot more. The modern day version of the NES Classic is far more streamlined and comes with HDMI connectivity.

If the initially tier is gaming's prime-time news applications, the subsequent bunch is the hobby journalists, the functioning-class heroes, the passionate gamers who are authorities in their own ideal, specializing in one or two aspects of the sector. Sea Nanners has a great reputation among gamers on social media, generating him one more of our major gaming influencers to watch out for in 2018.

They even host an RSS feed of the most up-to-date jobs from prominent gaming studios. Resources like Gamasutra are invaluable for keeping oneself abreast of the latest happenings in the industry, irrespective of whether that is disputes over developer pay, the hottest reveals from gaming expos, or just the most up-to-date factor that EA has carried out to annoy people today.

Why we like it: This is a perfect https://www.alterka.site/ gaming podcast if you want to learn how the game sector seriously operates. The episodes cover subjects like What is incorrect with user evaluations?”, What does it expense to make a video game?”, Why distribution is cool”, How to get your game published”, and other individuals. This is in all probability the most successful way to make funds on line within any business and surely with your gaming blog as properly.

Green males gaming holiday sale games, very low-priced for a great game. Sonic the Hedgehog” gave this Japanese multinational enterprise immense achievement each in terms of revenues and reputation. Sega did knowledge main losses immediately after its selection to discontinue its hardware enterprise and concentrate on third celebration software program improvement. Having said that, given that 2005, Sega has been going robust in the gaming market.

Meet NVIDIA SHIELD portable —the ultimate gaming and entertainment transportable. Unleash your favorite Android and Computer games, films, music, and a lot more. Take on the newest console-good quality Android games with amazing HD 720p graphics, booming stereo sound, and the precise, familiar overall performance of a console-grade game controller. Stream your Computer games over Wi-Fi or Ethernet to play about the property, on your huge screen HDTV, or even outdoors your residence. Get lost in the hottest movies, music, or e-books with a stunning 5” retinal-good quality multi-touch display and custom tuned bass reflex audio. And love the most up-to-date Android KitKat OS—with instant access to thousands of excellent games and apps. All powered by the incredibly speedy NVIDIA Tegra four mobile processor, and ready to go whenever you are.

Though numerous of smartphone gaming apps pale in comparison to these games that are developed specifically for handheld gaming consoles like the PlayStation Portable, the Nintendo DS3, and other people, they can nevertheless, supply you with almost the same level of gaming expertise. This can be further enhanced if you use the Power A MOGA Pro Mobile Gaming Technique that capabilities an Xbox 1-inspired game controller that you can use to attach your Android-based smartphone or tablet. It comes total with complete-sized grips, dual analog sticks, D-pads, illuminated action buttons, triggers, and even shoulder buttons to mimic the gaming expertise of a true gaming console. Make confident you also check the rest of our Xbox a single accessories for much more wonderful products like this.

[purplesurveys]

766

My dad is starting to gear me up for ~adult life~ and has made me start a Paypal, a social security number, and all that jazz and it’s making me immensely anxious, so expect more surveys than usual in the next few days lmao.

How frequently are you inclined to read, and how much? Not frequent at all. I’ll read only if I have to; and when it comes to reading for leisure, I’ll only reread books I’ve already read in the past. I find it sad considering how big of a bookworm I was as a kid. When was the last time you questioned the direction your life was taking? Right now, what with the Covid crisis. My life would have been mapped out ever so neatly if my life’s schedule went as expected - finish the sem, finish my thesis, graduate, travel for a bit, get a job. Now that that has been thrown out the window I essentially have to start from scratch and go into the world blind. And if you've been reading my surveys, you’ll know my least favorite thing to have to deal with is big change. Would you say that your personal views align with society's, generally? Not the society I have no choice but to be surrounded by, which is mostly Catholic, homophobic, sexist, and just very backwards in general. But when it comes to people I voluntarily choose to be with, like the friends I make and the people I follow on social media, I make sure their views are as liberal as mine so I don’t go completely crazy. ^ If not, in what ways do your opinions drastically differ? I just said it, but yeah Filipinos continue to be very resistant to more open-minded, modern views. Girls will still often be told to cover up, religions other than Christianity are viewed as wrong and of lower status, abortion is the most scandalous thing a woman could do, drug addicts must be handled with bullets and not rehab, etc. Basically everything you can roll your eyes over, that’s what Filipinos will tend to side with; and it’s very difficult to want to have your voice heard here because you will be ridiculed and thrown Bible verses instead of legit arguments. What small things have the ability to get under your skin? People who only start picking their orders once they’re the ones at the cashier, drivers who do have their turn signal on but will go THE OTHER DIRECTION, finding out there’s a car accident and I find out traffic has been building up only because drivers slow down to look at the crash site. The last one makes me especially mad every time it happens lol.

When was the last time you were caused to be upset with someone? I haven’t been upset with anyone in a while. If I’m upset these days, blame it on the weather. ^ Have you made up with that individual yet, or will you ever? I will never be ok with the summer climate over here. What is something small that has the ability to cure a bad mood? Hearing a favorite song on the radio as I’m driving, hitting all the green lights while driving, finding a parking spot near the mall entrance... man I really miss going out :(( What beverage is best capable of quenching your thirst? Water. What was the last big change through which you went? It hasn’t happened yet but I’ll be graduating and will officially be done with school forever in a few weeks. I mean, that’s the case unless I decide to take up a master’s but honestly the chances of that are super blurry as I’m over school at this point. ^ Do you deal well with change, typically? Have you always? I am honestly terrible at it and as much as I’m excited to get my first real job, I’m also scared to see how my adjustment pans out. I’ve had a pattern for not being able to adapt well to a new phase – I didn’t adjust in high school until my junior year, and I didn’t adjust in college until the latter half of my sophomore year. I really wish the trend doesn’t continue in the workplace because I can’t handle another mental slump. How do you feel after spending a great quantity of time online? I feel nothing? I mean I need the internet to do almost everything so it’s just become a part of daily routine; it’s normalized already. I would tend to feel some shame if I’ve been unproductive online when I could’ve been doing much more important stuff, but I’ve been avoiding that - I’ve been working on my thesis again, working on stuff for my org, participating in my other extracurriculars, etc. I feel relatively productive given the current circumstances. What do you consider to be the biggest drawback to being you? Like I said, I’m terrible with change. It takes forever for me to warm up to new conditions, and in that period I tend to feel very alone and miserable. I don’t know why I’ve never learned to just get out and make friends earlier. What do you consider the best part of being who you are? ^ Related to said drawback, once I have adjusted to the change, I do very well. I make lots of friends and am back to being my bubbly, social self. I just wish She could come out more easily. What kinds of things do you have on display in your room? Several Audrey Hepburn frames, a couple of paintings, and a poster of a Korean actor. What do you think your room and its contents say about you, if anything? I think more than anything you’ll see how my interests have shifted over the years haha. There’s tons of old WWE magazines, Paramore albums, Beyoncé albums and DVDs, crafty stuff like painting sets and coloring books, etc. When was the last time you felt insecure about something/some situation? Half hour ago when my dad was encouraging me to register for a bunch of grownup stuff. He doesn’t pester me a lot in small bits everyday (which I would really prefer); he’s more of a I’ll-dump-all-this-shit-on-you-in-one-go kind of person, which pressures me even more. I mean I’m excited for this new chapter but I wish he didn’t tell me to start a bank account and a Paypal and a social security number and a TIN all at the same time. What is something about which you are very confident or self-assured? I pride myself on being a good worker/co-worker. Do you ever stop to contemplate infinity? No. Are you comfortable amongst nature, or does the wilderness discomfit you? Sure, it makes me feel at peace. When was the last time someone or something caught you off guard? Andrew did a buuuunch of progress on our thesis this afternoon after a few days of passive-aggressively telling him that I’ve been doing all the work in the last week. How much time do you put into maintaining your appearance and hygiene? I don’t want to take a lot of time since I’m usually on a tight schedule but I do put enough effort to look and smell nice, if that makes sense. Like I wouldn’t take hours to do my makeup and put up an intricate hairdo, but I will still make sure I don’t exit the house looking shabby. Are there any foods you eat daily? . . . Or wish you could? I have rice and some sort of meat everyday. When was the last time someone new entered your life? Start of the semester when we had a new wave of applicants joining our org. ^ What was your first impression of that individual? They all seemed nice and fun to be around, and I’m glad their batch has had amazing chemistry from the get-go. But because of the lockdown I never got to know them all that well so I’m a little sad about it, since I’m already graduating. Do you put much thought into your handwriting? No? It’s not really something I can control anyway haha. What are some of the top priorities in your life right now? Ugh I’ve talked about this so much on here that it’s almost stupid because I take these surveys to begin with to distract myself from my current anxieties only for the surveys to ask about said anxieties ksksksks. Can I say pass for now? Lol In general, how do you feel about romantic relationships? They’re nice, and it feels good to have a person you can share everything to, be affectionate with, who supports you in everything, etc. I’ve been used to being in one for so long now I honestly can’t imagine being single. Which emotional sensation inconveniences or bothers you the most? As if I haven’t talked about it on this single survey enough, anxiety. Are you capable of consoling others in their grief? It depends on how bad is the thing they’re grieving and how accepting they are of help. I don’t know if I’m capable of talking to someone who has lost a parent, but I’ll be able to talk to a friend who’s going through a breakup. Do you ever find it awkward to compliment another being? No. I can give compliments, but I’m unable to take them. When was the last time you had a new experience? What was it? Earlier this afternoon when my dad made me make a Paypal hahaha. Skskss plz stop reminding me of scary things Do you dress more for yourself, or to the expectations of others? A little bit of both. I want to look nice, but I also make sure I keep up with the trends so others think I look nice. What kinds of things tend to stress you out? The stuff I’ve mentioned throughout this survey... What is one way you cope when you feel like crap? I watch videos, I eat whatever I’m craving, I talk about it with my girlfriend, I hug my dog... I have a lot of coping mechanisms.

Name an insult you regularly receive, if there is one? My mom tells me so many insults on a regular basis I can put each one of them in a spinning wheel and give you whatever comes out lol. Name a site that takes up a lot of your time? YouTube. What is something you used to believe about life that you no longer do? That money was easy to acquire. It was certainly so easy to fantasize about as a kid. What is a lesson you have recently learned? I don’t recall picking up anything new lately. Realizations, sure; but I’m not sure about lessons. Do you have a tendency to look on the morbid side of life? Sometimes. When was the last time you went shopping? What did you buy? A weekend before the quarantine. I bought a couple of new tops. When you shop for clothing, how long does it take you? 10-15 minutes tops. I just pick out whatever looks pretty. What is something fun you have done within the past week? It’s been a horrid week. I can’t answer this question. What is something you hope you never have to do again? Stay at home with nothing to do for this long. How does the rain affect your mood, if it does? It makes me feel happy and at peace.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Colonialism

You back into things sometimes.

One of my many guilty pleasures is old school pulp, which I first encountered with the Doc Savage reprints in the 1960s, then old anthologies, then back issues at conventions, and now thanks to the Internet, an almost limitless supply.

And to be utterly frankly, a lot of the appeal lays in the campiness of the covers and interior art -- brass plated damsels fighting alien monsters, bare chested heroes combatting insidious hordes, etc., etc., and of course, etc.

Once past age 12, I never took these covers or the covers of modern pulps such as James Bond, Mike Hammer, or Modesty Blaise seriously; they were just good, campy fun.

While my main focus remained on the sci-fi pulps, I also kept an eye on crime and mystery pulps, war stories, and what are sometimes called “sweaties”, i.e., men’s adventure magazines.

Despite the differences in the titles and genres, certain themes seemed to pop up again and again.

Scantily clad ladies, typically in some form of distress, though on occasion dishing out as good if not better than they got.

Well, the pulps that drew my attention were the pups made for a primarily male audience (though even in the 1930s and 40s there were large numbers of female readers and writers in the sci-fi genre).  Small wonder I was drawn to certain types of eye candy; I had been culturally programmed that way.

That’s a topic well worthy of a post or two on its own, so I’m putting gender issues / the patriarchy / the male gaze aside for the moment.

What I’m more interested in focusing on is the second most popular characters to appear on the covers (and in the stories as well).

The Other.

The Other comes in all shapes / sizes / ethnicities.  Tall and short, scrawny and beefy, light or dark, you name it, they’ve got a flavor for you.

“Injuns” and aliens, Mongols and mafiosi, Africans and anarchists.

Whoever they were ”they ain’t us!”

Certain types of stories lend themselves easily to depicting the villainous Other.

Westerns, where irate natives can always be counted on to launch an attack.

War stories, where the hero (with or without an army to help him) battles countless numbers of enemies en masse.

Adventure stories, where the hero intrudes in some other culture and shows them the error of their ways.

Detective stories, where the Other might be a single sinister mastermind but still represents an existentialist threat.

And my beloved sci-fi stories?

Why, we fans told ourselves our stories were better than that!  We didn’t wallow in old world bigotry, demonizing blacks and browns and other non-whites because of their skins.

Oh, no:  We demonized green skinned aliens.

Now I know some of you are sputtering “But-but-but you wrote for GI Joe!”

Boy howdy, are you correct.

And boy howdy, did we ever exploit the Other with that show.

I never got a chance to do it, but I pitched -- and had Hasbro accept -- a story that would have been about the way I envisioned Cobra to have formed and been organized, and would focus on what motivated them.

They were pretty simplistic greedheads in the original series, but I felt the rank and file needed to be fighting for a purpose, something higher to spire to that mere dominance and wealth.

I never got to do “The Most Dangerous Man In The World” but I was trying to break out of the mold. 

For the most part, our stories fit right into the old trope of The Other.

Ours were mostly about the evil Other trying to do something nefarious against our innocent guys, but there’s an obverse narrative other stories follow, in which our guys go inflict themselves on The Other until our guys either come away with a treasure (rightfully belonging to The Other but, hey, they really don’t deserve it so we’re entitled to take it from them), or hammer The Other into submission so they will become good ersatz copies of us (only not so uppity as to demand equal rights or respect or protection under law).

These are all earmarks of a very Western (in the sense of Europe and America…with Australia and New Zealand thrown in) sin:  Colonialism.

Now, before going further let’s get out terms straight.

There’s all sorts of different forms of colonialism, and some of them can be totally benign -- say a small group of merchants and traders from one country travel to a foreign land and set up a community there where they deal honorably and fairly with the native population.

The transplanted merchants are a “colony” in the strictest sense of the term, but they coexist peacefully in a symbiotic relationship with the host culture and both sides benefit, neither at the expense of the other.

Oh, would that they could all be like that…

Another form of colonialism -- and one we Americans are overly familiar with even though there are all sorts of variants on this basic idea -- is the kind where one culture invades the territory of another and immediately begins operating in a deliberately disruptive nature to the native population.

They seek to enslave & exploit or, failing that, expel or eradicate the natives through any means possible.

It’s the story of Columbus and the conquistadors and the pilgrims and the frontiersmen and the pioneers and the forty-niners and the cowboys and the robber barons.

It’s the story where different groups are deliberately kept separate from one another by the power structure in place, for fear they will band together and usurp said power structure (unless, of course, they band together to kelp make one of ours their leader, and build a grand new empire just for him).

It’s the story where our guys never need make a serious attempt to understand the point of view of The Other, because they are just strawmen to mow down, sexy lamps to take home.

I think my taste in sci-fi and modern pulp writing in general started to change around the mid-1970s.

Being in the army quickly cleared me of a lot of preconceptions I had about what our military did and how they did it.

The easy-peasy moral conflicts of spy novels and international thrillers seem rather thin and phony compared to the real life complexities of national and global politics.

Long before John Wick I was decrying a type of story I referred to as “You killed my dog so you must die.”  Some bad guy (typically The Other) does a bad thing and so the good guy (one of ours -- yea!) must punish him.

Make him hurt.

Make him whimper

Make him crawl.

Make him suffer.

The real world ain’t like that.

Fu Machu falls to Ho Chi Minh.

As entertaining as the fantasy of humiliating and annihilating our enemies may be…we gotta come to terms with them, we gotta learn to live with them.

That’s why my favorite sci-fi stories now are less about conflict and more about comprehension.

It’s better to understand than to stand over.

. . .

The colonial style of storytelling as the dominant form of story telling is fairly recent, dating only from the end of the medieval period in Europe and the rise of the so-called age of exploration.

This is not to say colonial story telling didn’t exist before them -- look at what Caesar wrote, or check out Joshua and Judges in the Old Testament -- but prior to the colonial age it wasn’t the dominant form of storytelling.

Most ancient stories involve characters who, regardless of political or social standing, recognize one another as human beings.

And when gods or monsters appear, they are usually symbols of far greater / larger forces & fates, not beasts to be subdued or slain.

Medieval literature is filled with glorious combat and conflict, but again, it’s the conflict of equals and for motives and rationales that can easily be understood.

It was only when the European nations began deliberately invading and conquering / dominating foreign lands that colonialism became the dominant form of storytelling.

It had to:  How else could a culture justify its swinish behavior against fellow human beings?

Even to this day, much (if not most) popular fiction reflects the values of colonialism.

Heroes rarely change.

Cultures even less.

We’ve kept The Other at arms length with popular fiction and media, sometimes cleverly hiding it, sometimes cleverly justifying it, but we’ve had this underlying current for hundreds of years.

Ultimately, it hasn’t served us well.  

It traps us in simplistic good vs evil / us vs them narratives that fail to take into account the complex nature of human society and relationships.

It gives us pat answers instead of probing questions.

It is zero sum storytelling: The pie is only so big, there can’t be more, and if the hero doesn’t get it all, he loses.  (John D. MacDonald summed up this philosophy in the title of one of his books:  The Girl, The Gold Watch, And Everything.)

It’s possible to break out of that mind set -- The Venture Brothers animated series brilliant manages to combine old school pulp tropes with a very modern, very perceptive deconstruction of the form -- but as posted elsewhere, imitation is the sincerity form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness, so while I certainly applaud The Venture Brothers I don’t want to encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

Because they won’t.

They’ll pretend they will, but they’ll veer off course and back into the old Colonialism mindset.

We need to break out, break free.

Here in the U.S. it’s African-American History Month.

The African-American experience is far from the Colonialism that marks most white / Western / Christian storytelling (and by storytelling I include history and journalism as well as fiction; in fact, anything and everything that tells a narrative).

It’s a good time to open our eyes, to see the world around us not afresh, but for the first time.

Remove the blinders. 

I said sometimes you back into things.

Getting a clearer view of the world I’m in didn’t come from a straightforward examination.

It came from a counter-intuitive place, it found its way back to the beginning not by accepting what others said was the true narrative, but by following individual threads.

It came from Buck Rogers and the Beat Generation and Scrooge McDuck and the sexual revolution and Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance and the civil rights era and Dangerous Visions and the Jesus Movement and Catch-22 and the Merry Pranksters.

It came from old friends, some of whom inspired me, some of whom disappointed me, and yet the disappointments probably led to a deeper, more penetrating insight into the nature of the problem.

This Colonialism era must come to a close.

It can no longer sustain itself, not in the world we inhabit today.

It requires a new breed of storytellers -- writers and artists and poets and journalists who can offer 

It’s not a world that puts up barriers by race or gender, ethnicity or orientation, ability or age.

There’s ample opportunity for open minds.

All it asks of us is a new soul.

  © Buzz Dixon

[randombtsprincessa]

AGL

Author: Randombtsprincessa

Characters: Kim Taehyung x Reader

Words: 4.3k

Genre: Smut

Summary: Your Birthday is made when you meet your Idol on the flight home.

Warning: Airplane Sex, Mile High, Hella Unrealistic Sex (Like really, this is a reach, even for me), Unprotected sex. 

A/N: PLEASE TAKE THE UNREALISTIC WARNING SERIOUSLY. I doubt Taehyung would be doing this. And even if he’s into it, my best friend wouldn’t. LOL, unless she was actually in the scenario of the fic. Moving on!

Your best friend’s hug lasted a full two minutes, tight and warm as she bade you well at the departures of the airport terminal.

“Have fun, give my best to your mom and come back quick! I’ll miss you!” She murmured in your ear and you almost, almost stopped the eye roll.

“I’m only going for the week. You’re acting like it’s a year or something.” You said, pulling away and placing your hands firmly on her shoulders. “You’re going to be fine. You’re probably going to sit at that laptop and forget the world exists in a few hours.” You said, remembering the last time your best friend had undergone a writing period to meet a deadline.

Yeah, she was not going to come out of her shell for a good long while and you could only hope she’d remember to take care of her general self until at least you could come back.

“I’m not that bad.” She defended immediately, just as they announced the boarding for your flight to your home country.

You and your best friend both sighed, taking one last look at each other with a wry smile.

“I’ll see you in a week. You better be alive and not starving till then.” You warned, spinning the handle of your suitcase and your best friend nodded along.

“Aye aye captain,” she saluted and with one last hug, you were off, brisk steps carrying you deeper into the airport.

You went through all the preliminary checks without much excitement. Your tickets were handed to you at the counter, baggage was checked in and your carry –in was approved without a hassled and then you were on the plane, a magazine open in your tray while you sent various texts to your best friend and other associates you were supposed to see back home.

Your eyes skimmed over the politics section of the magazine Asiana had provided and skipped to the entertainment. Unsurprisingly, the first page was splattered with a picture of your seven favorite men, the Palisade advertisement snagging the main talk of the biz.

You gave a quick glance towards Jimin, remembering your best friend’s cry of anguish as he once again distracted her from whatever hero she was agonizing over and then travelled over Yoongi, Jungkook, Hoseok, Namjoon and Jin to Taehyung, looking sinful and delectable as always in a charcoal suit and light hair.

You gave a cursory look towards the car as well but didn’t linger on that much. As good as you and your friend were doing, none of you were interested in buying another car, your old ones doing the job satisfactorily enough.

The lights dimmed before the announcement for the take off came.

Dutifully, raising the tray and folding the magazine on your lap you looked out of the window and watched as the pilot cruised and then took off, the whirr of the wheels pulling up indicating the flight attendants to start with their safety instructions.

You gazed at the manuals, dissociating already as your fingers were already fumbling with the wires of your earphones as your plugged them into your phone, already in airplane mode – you smiled, thinking about Airplane Part 2’s Japanese version and how adorable Hobi’s slurred airplane mode sounded.

“Excuse me, Miss Y/L/N?” You looked up to see an airhostess smiling down at you and nodded to show you were listening. She indicated the still empty seat next to me.

“This is sort of unorthodox but the seat next to you has been booked by a man who wishes to be sat next to his mother. She’s in first class so he’s willing to exchange your seats with her so he can have both these adjoining seats. Would you like to change the seats?”

For a second you just processed what she said. First class…? Who refuses that?

“Of course, thank you,” you mumbled and she nodded, a beam stuck to her face.

“Please, if you’d follow me,” she said and you stood up, grabbing your bag and following her to the plusher, high end hall of the first class.

“Right through there,” she pointed forward and you walked through the longer partitions between the seats till you reached an empty one, the cubicle next to yours occupied by a single man.

You vaguely noticed baggy pants flumping out while the silhouette of the crisp white shirt made you wonder if your next seat buddy had dressed up in a hurry or just thought it was hippie airport fashion time.

Not that you minded…after all, you were a Taehyung Stan.

Any respectable Kim Taehyung fan knew that it was a crime to judge anyone about how they dressed themselves, especially your idol himself either dressed as if he was going to walk the red carpet or a modeling ramp at 3 AM or like he’d just rolled out of bed and onto the floor, putting on whatever he found in the laundry hamper and did a photo shoot.

You smirked to yourself as you opened up the magazine again. Your best friend had the habit of commenting that nobody looked beyond Taehyung’s chin at those photo dos.

You almost always agreed. After all, Taehyung’s face was one even God cried over.

You turned the page again, reading about the endorsement deal when you caught the man beside you looking over at you. You squirmed, not wanting to look at him directly in case he took it as invitation for conversation but a small peek out the corner of your eyes told you there was nothing on his face that you could tell apart. He had on a black face mask, huge black sunglasses and a large beret covered almost whatever was left of his face.

He soon looked to the front and you returned your eyes to your lap, pulling out your earphones again.

You rested your head back, earphones in, going through the recommended lists of your playlist, the soothing strings of the classical piece almost lulling you to sleep and you were thankful. You never did entirely great on long plane rides. You got bored easily, always remained anxious about rough turbulence blowing you down and felt uncomfortable with all the crowding when that happened.

And on such a long flight over the wintery cold clouds, you were just bound to get antsy. You planned to spend most of it asleep, especially now that you were in much better comfort.

Your eyes, which were trained outside the window, watching the darkening clouds and slanting rays of the setting sun, you felt your partner shift, jolting the rack of accessories in front of him by accident, causing them to fall out and you jumped back to consciousness, sitting up and turning your head to stare at the man blearily who was adjusting his seat, side turned away from you. He let out a low grunt before bending forward, placing the rack back on its feet.

He looked over his shoulder, glasses reflecting your half dazed face and you wondered if he smiled sheepishly or something because he ducked his head in an apologetic bow.

“I’m sorry, not used to…um, haven’t been on these chairs for a time.” He said in broken English.

Chairs…?

You blinked, realizing the man was most probably Korean.

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it.” You said back, in Hangul and watched in pale amusement as the man’s shoulders sagged dramatically.

“Ash…Korean?” he asked, his voice deepening with the use of his native tongue but you just shrugged.

“Nope, just living there,” You mumbled, leaning your head back again.

“Oh, I am Korean.” He said sheepishly and you had to smile at the contrite, childlike tenor of the man.

“I can tell.” You grinned, making him laugh.

There was something so familiar about the man. You were sure you didn’t know him from Adam. Besides, if you knew him he would strike a conversation while this man just seemed overly nervous in his situation and seemed a conversation partner to distract him. You could sympathize but just the way he sat and moved and his voice…

“Taehyung?” You blurted out even before a full course of thought could pass your head and you almost immediately wanted to bang your head against the window.

If God was kind he would let you get sucked out of the aircraft itself but hey, you didn’t think he would be very partial to helping you out at that moment.

For his part, the stranger had frozen, his shades reflecting your stupefied expression.

Before you could even stammer out an apology at your rudeness, he spoke, “You know?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

You eyes flew wide open, almost popping out, as your sheepish seat buddy raised a gloved hand up to his eyes and pulled the huge sunglasses off.

Too familiar soft brown eyes met yours, deep and dark. Even though his hat still hid most of his lids but you knew that if you lifted it off, you’d be met with a set of mono lidded and double lidded eyes.

Never mind you’d probably die of utter shame first.

You had just caught Kim Taehyung – Kim Gosh Darn Apple Tart Taehyung – off all people in a general plane and he was your seat partner.

This day could not be better – but that depended if your hair looked alright.

You painfully swallowed these disjointed thoughts when you noticed him speaking but it took a moment for his words to register.

“Are you alright? You look like you’re going to panic. Please don’t panic,” he said. His voice was still low and you could only guess it was to keep others from recognizing it.

“I’m fine.” You choked out, your voice coming out mousy and squeaky at best.

Kim Taehyung watched you with those pondering eyes for a second before nodding.

“I’m sorry; I just don’t really want to deal with a hoard of people in my face. I’m on vacation and it’s off duty season so I’m hoping to keep the fan service to a minimum.” He sent you a wink before pushing the glasses on again and turning to face front again.

You kept staring at him for a good ten seconds before even you turned to look forward, the song in your ear numbing down to static as you kept thinking about your chances.

Kim Taehyung was in the flight you were in. Kim Taehyung was in your aisle. Kim Taehyung was sitting right fucking next to you.

You were sure you weren’t asthmatic, but you were definitely seeing signs. If you couldn’t melt right through the metal tube, you would just have to endure your short breathiness in a ten hour flight. Yeah, easy- just wait till you told your best friend. She would die –

“So where you headed?”

Of course, Kim Taehyung couldn’t pass a ten hour flight without making friends and you just happened to be sitting right next to him.

You turned your head to look at the completely hidden man and squeaked out, “My home country, I have some work and I wanted to see my family.” you said.

He nodded. “That’s nice. Seeing family,” He said.

For a second it was silent before – “You don’t see yours a lot, do you?” you asked.

Please, god had to kill you now.

Probably not, God worked a little too close with your best friend and they both loved to torture you. You just had to contain the embarrassment.

Taehyung didn’t seem to mind.

“No, I don’t. So, you’re ARMY?” he asked; good naturedly, hands folded primly in his lap.

“Yeah, five years now,” you said, a tinge of pride coating your voice and you smiled.

“Wow, that’s dedicated. Plus another few years now that we’ve renewed our contract,” He said, before pausing.

He proceeded to reach up and removing the beret, his momentarily natural hair flumping out. Pulling off the sunglasses, he pushed the face mask, below his chin after a careful sweep of his surroundings.

“I hope you don’t mind. I was suffocating in that.” He mumbled, carefully placing the beret on the fold up tray.

How could you possible mind? You just got to see him in all his bare face glory. You took a moment to just soak him in. Your favorite shaped eyes were out, sleek nose and tops of his cheeks shining in the overhead lights and his thin lips look just barely chapped. There was a smattering of stubble spreading across his jaw line and you could spy a small reddening patch higher up near his cheekbones.

Clearly, there was a V live on the horizon in which he proudly showcased his new ‘guest’.

He was fucking gorgeous. You wanted to cry.

“So, vacation,” you prodded, a surge of energy flowing through you, willing you to keep the conversation flowing and it seemed that Taehyung picked up on it because he was turning towards you, a beaming rectangle smile on his face as he embraced the chance of making a new friend.

“Yes, we’re going to have to go back to work soon, but PD said we earned it so here I am. I’m going to meet up with the others soon.” He said.

You noticed he was careful about keeping the locations to himself but then again, your twitter would soon blow up anyway.

“What about you? What work are you doing?” he asked and you began to explain your job, which didn’t seem as interesting as dancing and singing and recording and travelling but the way Taehyung leaned in, an arm dangling in between the gap of the cubicles as he hung off your words…you could’ve been the President of United States for all he cared.

“Seems like you work hard,” he noted.

“I have to, if I don’t, I won’t get to buy your albums,” you joked and he grinned.

“Your best friend is an ARMY as well?” he asked.

You nodded, making sure to put in a good word for her with Jimin. Taehyung playfully chuckled at that.

“Your house must get crazy with the two of you.” he commented as he leant further in, almost clambering onto the floor in front of your chair.

“It does, occasionally,” you admitted.

“So, who’s your bias?” he asked, eyebrows wriggling.

You laughed. If he thought you were giving that away, he was insane.

“Oh come on, I’ll find out one way or another.” He said and you coughed.

“I’d like to see you try.” You teased back, winking.

Taehyung smiled, his gaze fixed on yours for a second longer as he reached out and placed a finger just under your eye. You froze, wondering if he was tracing your dark circles or something, watching him closely as he focused on the spot, eyes flickering over your eyes once before he pulled the finger away.

“You had an eyelash,” he explained, placing it in your palm. You shrugged, although your deeper recesses hopelessly made the wish anyhow. You didn’t look up again to see Taehyung’s gaze darkening as he watched you closely.

Your talks soon lulled after that. You recognized that you couldn’t really keep a celebrity involved even though Taehyung seemed happy to lend you all his attention and he soon began to play a game on his tablet that engrossed him until the lights began to dim, both outside and inside as passengers started to go to sleep.

You put away your phone to charge in the thankfully present socket near the base of the chair and leant back, your back at a comfortable angle. You placed your blanket over you, seeing Taehyung look over at you curiously and you whispered a goodnight at him. As your eyes drooped, you noticed Taehyung dimming his own light.

You thought you felt an arm land gently on your cheek for a second but it must’ve been imagination.

It was probably near midnight that you felt the foreign weight across your chest.

Your eyelids fluttered, consciousness licking at the edge of your mind, prodding you to wakefulness to investigate the warmth that had settled near your clavicle. Blinking awake, you tried to raise your hands to brush at the deposition at the corners of your eyes when you felt your movement being restricted.

You glanced around yourself, feeling dazed as you scrambled to get your bearings back.

Oh right, I’m on a plane. I’m going home for business and family.

You glanced down at the arm that had fallen around your shoulder, following the sturdy limb to the man who had thought it was ok to use you as a teddy bear in his sleep.

Of course, I was sat next to KIM TAEHYUNG, MY IDOL, and THE LOVE OF MY LIFE…

Taehyung it seemed was already awake, having been shaken to consciousness with the way you kept squirming and he was staring at you with those dark, innocent eyes. He moved his quickly drooping gaze over your face before dipping to your lips.

“You’re like, really pretty, you know?” he whispered.

You could only muster a disbelieving snort in your sleepy haze but he was quick to protest.

“You are…you’re very exotic looking.” He explained before his arm was tightening, bringing you quickly in.

Your mind was already moving in hyper drive and you almost didn’t realize that he had planted his sleek lips across yours, tongue swiping across your bottom petal to get a taste.

You felt your heart jump, thudding blood through your veins as you stared at him with deer in headlight eyes.

Taehyung groaned at that, deep and frustrated. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t sleep, I’m sure you know why and you were so warm I just…couldn’t help it. I…I can’t believe this but,” he stopped, waiting to see if anyone was awake but it didn’t seem like anyone in your aisle was. Thankfully you were at the far end, nobody could really see you.

Taehyung brought your attention down to his lap and helplessly your eyes followed, saucer-like to the straining bulge that was clear even through the loose tent like pants.

If you were a bigger person you’d have avoided this whole interaction, choosing to not let Taehyung’s implication rile you up.

Fact was, you were definitely not that.

You let out a low whimper, looking up at Taehyung’s face which was flushed as he desperately pressed into your, curving his front to your side as he tried to get some friction where he needed it.

Who knew that Kim Taehyung would be grinding his morning wood against you like a rutting puppy?

“What,” you croaked, stopping immediately to clear your throat. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to fuck you.” Taehyung said immediately, none of the innocence that normally hovered around him present. This wasn’t a happy go lucky Idol, this was a desperately horny man. “But I want to do it right,” he whispered, his voice pure dripping want against your ears.

“How?” you asked. You knew you had already given in. While you were still scared of being caught; you were already under his spell.

Instead of answering, Taehyung slid away from you, the absence of his body heat leaving you cold and feeling abandoned.

Taehyung quickly covered you in both of your blankets, pushing you to lie back almost flat in the fully stretched seats before he made a whole show of stretching. You could see his eyes roving over the rest of the passengers before he was ducking down…right under the blanket.

You stiffened; fingernails digging into vinyl of the arm rest as you felt him kneel between your slightly parted knees, big hot hands coming to rest just at the start of your thighs, slipping under your skirt.

He didn’t ride it up immediately though, instead taking his time to rub against your flushed, sweating skin, probably to calm you to comply for the sinful actions you were about to partake in.

Slowly, as if he didn’t have anything to care about – and he probably didn’t – he began to slide his hands higher, fingers splayed to brush both sides of your legs before you felt him raise them up over his shoulder.

He was beginning to pick up speed, movements faster as he began to tug at the edge of your simple cotton underwear. You could feel yourself disassociating, feeling of guilt despite having your Idol kneeling at your feet, flicking his tongue at your heat.

How many women had he done with this? This same scenario when he just needed to come? Were you even worth it or just some cheap doll he needed to get this done with?

The first brush of his lips against your sensitive flesh tossed all these thoughts right out the window. You let out a surprised squeak and Taehyung stopped, warning squeezes of his fingers felt on your waist.

You bite your lips, feeling him return to your folds, the rough muscle of his tongue running gently against you, opening you coaxingly and you close your eyes, opening your mouth just slightly to pant.

Taehyung might have wanted to do it right, but he was certainly not being slow about it. Soon he was pressing long, nimble fingers against you and whiles you were definitely not a virgin you had to admit his felt amazing down there.

Maybe you were just biased, you thought amused, before stuttering in your tracks as Taehyung slipped his middle finger right in, tongue still swirling around your clit, tracing slow churns as he opened you.

You were shaking, the angle in which he had propped you making it harder to hold your torso up as he ate you out. You were about to pull him up when he was suddenly emerging from under the blanket, licking his lips and fingers as he quickly sat down next to you, tugging the blanket to hide himself as he turned you roughly, hiking your skirt up right to the waist, one hand undoing his pants while the other pushed the crotch of your underwear to the side.

“As good as you taste, I’ll burst,” you heard his whisper your ear and let out a low groan at his words as he tucked your leg over his, entering you with one harsh, brutal thrust.

Your hand flew out to balance yourself, slapping against the cold window and he stilled, arms wrapping around you carefully to pull you against his chest.

“You ok?” he asked.

You nodded, feeling him pull his hips back and in again as he set up a slow, considerate pace.

Taehyung buried his head against your back, his low grunts in time with your breathy moans creating a symphony that you were sure was going to haunt your nights.

“Fuck, you’re so tight. I fingered you and you’re still so tight. I should’ve used more fingers.”

“You’re so hot. I’m going to get off on this forever.”

“I could die a happy man just like this but I would rather be doing this on a bed.”

His filthy words made it so hard for you to stay quiet and you let out a shaky moan which quickly had Taehyung’s hips stuttering as you heard a quick clatter of heels. You froze in Taehyung’s arms as he hissed out a ‘Shh’ in your ear as an airhostess paused near your aisle, looking out confused.

Her gaze crossed over you but didn’t stop before she was moving away and Taehyung was picking his speed up again, his hand slithering over to cover your mouth tightly.

“Such a desperate slut for me, aren’t you? Can’t even stay quiet, I’m fucking you so good. Are you going to come for me?” he asked as you nodded pathetically, his harsh growls tightening the knot in your stomach before you were squirming in his hold as the arm he’d wrapped around you drifted down, flicking against your bundle of nerves, throwing you to the waves of orgasm inflicted bliss.

You squeezed you eyes shut, concentrating on not making a sound as you clenched against him. Taehyung didn’t seem to have any qualms left as he sunk his teeth into your shoulder.

“Fuck, I’m,” he began, but before he could even complete the sentence, he was pulling out, coming all over your bare skin. You felt his warm come splatter across your ass and thighs and he let out a relieve sigh.

You stumbled your way out of the departure terminal of the airport of your home country, the handle of your suitcase gripped tight in your sweaty palm as you walked carefully, not wanting anybody to notice the wobble in your steps.

Hailing a taxi, you sat back, eyes and mind drifting as you recalled your wild night which painted your name in the list of Mile High Club.

After finishing on you, Taehyung had wiped you clean with the complimentary face wipes, giggling as he returned to his normal self, not the sexy, sensuous man who had fucked you raw just minutes ago. He’d apologized for his inappropriateness but you couldn’t bring yourself to care as you had tucked your head against his shoulder, snoozing off the afterglow.

A ping of a text brought your attention back to reality and you fished out your phone, expecting a text from either your workplace or your best friend. None of those were what you got as you frowned at the unknown number as you swiped to open the text.

Hey, it’s T here. I hope you don’t mind but I saw your phone next to you and couldn’t resist getting your number. Last night was great, aside from the fact that it was on a plane. Maybe when you and I are back in Seoul again, we could give it another try? Properly this time too. Let me know ;)

You gaped at the ending winking emoji as you wondered what this meant for your future.

[justwords]

Matthew 18:21 The secret to six-pack abs & CT scans by Corey Saucier

I am not a spiritual guru. In fact, based on the scriptures of a certain bible-like book, I am a walking abomination: I love boiled shrimp and broiled mussels in a garlic sauce (Abomination); my favorite pieces of garment are a stretched jeans over a three-dollar mesh jockstrap with a cotton and spandex waistband (Abomination); I am covered in tattoos—half of them are bible quotes, but I’m not sure Leviticus makes exceptions based on context (Abomination); I do not go running from the room when a person of any gender is on their period (Major no-no); and we must not forget the one that has set the stage for how we treat all the other very specific rules (given only to a few chosen people while they wandered through the desert thousands of years ago), the one that most people quote when trying to vilify a person for breaking scriptural benison law (regardless of if you actually follow that religion or not), the one that most Christians consider the epitome of evil and disgust—that which a certain religious document that some would call the Bible says should put us to death: I do not always stand when a man with gray hair walks into a room.

Forgive me father for I have sinned.

A lot.

Not to mention the whole gay thing….

But because I’ve had AIDS since my early twenties I am acutely aware of my mortality; and because of this, I am acutely fixated on the disposition of my soul and the metaphysical systems that may keep me on a “good and righteous” path.

Yup, I admit it! I’m one of those.

I kind of want to go to heaven. (If there is such a thing.)

Sue me.

I may not be a Kabbalah string-wearing zealot, but I am far enough along the path of “enlightenment” to know that no matter how infinitely small the chances of Nirvana…you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.

So I’m half-naked at the “straight gym” in Hollywood, dressed in a conservative green crop-top that reads “kiss me I’m Irish” and “kiss me red” shorts that are so short you could measure my testosterone levels with one downward glance. And I am sitting in one of those rusty old black and broken abdominal crunch machines that I’ve used obsessively for the last ten years at the beginning of every workout until my uterus is so cramped I pause for worry of ruining my fertility…and after all these years of fervent gym-going, I still have not achieved not even one indentation of an ab.

Many are called, but few are chosen, I guess.

It’s the middle of the day and not many are here, but I am facing a small herd of delicious heterosexual men who are sweating, lifting weights, and bending over in ways that should make my testosterone levels even more visible in my tasteful red shorts, but instead, I am scribbling ferociously in my emergency sunshine yellow mead notebook like I need to be sedated: My eyes are wild and my hands are moving so fast they have started to emit an acrid grey blurry smoke, because I have been hit by inspiration.

And only amateurs go to the gym to workout.

I am contemplating the concept of forgiveness. Writing to myself and to the Universe about what it means to allow space for another person to do you harm and still love them as they do it.

“Forgive them,” I write in the battered almost full notebook that I carry with me at all times.

“Forgive because you don’t want to die angry and hurt.”

I know it doesn’t sound that profound, but mind your business! Some of us don’t like being hurt.

I do everything I can to prevent it.

I may pretend to be kind and long-suffering when everyone is looking. But when you have turned your beautiful face from mine, my ego tries to defend itself just as savagely as the next girl.

And I do not forgive easily.

But there is a leather-bound book with thin easily ripped pages that says, “You should forgive your brother seven times seventy times.”

In my natural state you get just one chance to make a mistake with me, but I think being HIV-positive has given me a higher tolerance for pain and an intimate understanding that there is usually a path through the bad back to the good… Until there isn’t.

So I finish scratching in my journal, pouring all my wrath and pride into this poor little crazy person notebook.

“Forgive them,” I write two hundred more times until my wrist locks-up. I dry my tears and go back to the locker room, get naked, and blatantly ogle straight men while they shower; and try my best to make space to love someone who has done me harm-because only amateurs use the gym to workout.

So though I often get it wrong… And still eat meat with blood in it (Abomination), I must say having AIDS for so long does make it a little easier for me to transcend into the metaphysical realm and make fundamental life adjustments. I think it has something to do with dancing so often with death.

For example: My lymph nodes have been swollen for three months now and I’ve been having night sweats during the freezing winter sleeping hours…

It could be nothing.

But tomorrow I have a CT scan (with contrast) from throat to the middle of my chest; and if it’s bad….

I don’t want to die angry and hurt.

Love and Light.

[galbinuscarnation]

The Last of Real Ones

Chapter 1

Haircuts were a chore for James Herondale. Ever since he was a child, his hair has grown massively and uncontrollably curly. Unfortunately for his parents, he abhorred having his locks chopped off like the the other boys his age. His mum compromised with hair ties, barrettes, headbands the like when he was a toddler but when it was time for him to enter primary school, he quickly realized that there was an expectation for boys to have shorter hair than girls. His tantrums soon became pouts and small sniffles into his mum’s embrace after his dad had put away the scissors. James couldn’t fault his parents for trying to help him, and held no bitterness against them for not respecting his wishes as a five year old. He was able to look back and chuckle a bit, especially at the memory of his dad sitting down for his mum and attempting to model what a haircut should have been like and getting immediately itchy and chasing James whilst flicking his itchy hairs at his son.

That was a period of time before his father had become the renowned author, Will Herondale. In later years he was constantly locked in his office drafting new works, while his mother tended to his little sister Lucie, and James. He still respected his father, and his mother, Tessa, never complained, and it was not like there weren’t other male figures in his life. His Uncle Jem, for example, would visit their household and was equally, if not differently, an influence in his life like his parents.

Maybe, James thought, he was projecting his disdain for haircuts on remembering his father because his hair was basically a more shaggy version of Will’s seemingly flawless, unruly and handsome hair. Also, because he was currently heading towards a salon, with the money his sister forced upon his wallet, and business card of an apparently excellent hairdresser. He also couldn’t get out of it, because Lucie threaten to call the establishment to make sure he went and even went as far to book an appointment for him. Not, James smirked slightly, that Lucie would have time to call till closing because of her busy schedule as a publishing intern for TIME Inc.

Blinking as he arrived to his destination, a salon in Soho on Great Marlborough Street, he immediately was caught off guard by the pastel green floral decor lining the window and the door, which was also green. He briefly wondered if this was an Irish theme of some sort and meandered around the people still walking while he had paused, and opened the door. An overbearing wave of heat overcame him, he assumed from the sound of a handheld dryer, and the rows of hair dryers while a few women waited reading magazines and the like as ambient classical music played.

James instantly regretted stepping inside what he should have known was a space for the opposite gender, since he received some confused and some appraising looks from the various patrons. Before he could turn tail and leave, coming up with an excuse like “I agreed I would go not actually get a cut” for his sister, a voice rang over the noise and music and James turned to see a man with rosy blonde hair brandishing a comb in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other.

“Hullo sir, I’ll be right with you!” He smiled radiantly, and James squinted at him suspiciously, recalling the name on the card, Matthew.

“Very well,” James settled with saying as Matthew turned his attention to his current client seated in front of him. This entire establishment was beyond James comfort zone, but he was here, Matthew had seen him, and now he sat on a couch which seemed ancient and Edwardian, but well preserved despite that. To avoid the continuing stares of some women that had nothing better to do with their time while their hair dried, James produced his book from his messenger bag. He could hear Matthew the hairdresser talking animatedly with some woman on the chair. James mind drifted away from the environment and into the book, becoming lost in the fantasy and ignoring the reality of his discomfort and impending appointment.

“James Herondale, correct?” James jumped in his seat and adjusted his glasses to look up at Matthew who appeared before him with a winning smile. James had the urge to scowl at him, but held his tongue and nodded, clearing his throat as he put away his book.

“Yes.”

“Didn’t mean to startle you!” Matthew apologized and bit his lip before it formed back into that irritatingly fitty smile. “Lucie did mention you like books too.”

Great, James drawled within his thoughts as he stood. This man would have expectations of him due to Lucie’s inability to respect his privacy. “Yes, hard to avoid books in my family.”

Matthew nodded in agreement. “Of course, how’s your father?”

“Um,” James faltered, it was natural for people to assume his dad was the reason his children loved to read, despite the fact that his mum was also an avid reader, and pushed his dad to pursuing his dream of being an author. There would be no Will Herondale without Tessa, and it didn’t help that over the years his uncle Jem Carstairs rose to fame as a violinist and known friend of the famous author, adding fuel to the fame flames. “He is well, writing, signing books, the like.”

“Sounds glamourous.” Matthew gestured to the now empty seat in front of a massive mirror. “Care to have a seat?”

James could not tell if Matthew was being sarcastic or earnest, but if Lucie felt this man was the right one to tackle the task of his outrageous hair, who was he to argue? Maybe later, if this ordeal turned out with his hair being buzzed off entirely. He made his way to the seat, relaxing a bit as aria from one of his favorite pieces began. He concentrated on that, even when he could see Matthew stanitizing the scissors and switching out the recently used combs and brushes for new ones.

“What were you thinking of doing today?” Matthew spoke easily during his task.

“I’m told that I need a haircut,” James told him bluntly, and flushed at how brash he must’ve sounded. Of course he needed a haircut, his curls were covering his eyes, only his glasses were keeping it slightly out of his line of vision.

Matthew laughed, his eyes twinkling. “Do you now? You have magnificent hair, and with a little styling and some accessories you could definitely pull it off.”

“Really?” James asked, skeptical and blushing. Was this man encouraging him to not get a haircut with flattery?

“Really,” Matthew repeated with a chuckle, placing his instruments down. “But I swore a solemn oath to your sister that I would cut your hair today.”

Of course, James thought bitterly, recovering from Matthew’s earlier comment, damn Lucie.

“We’ll start with removing your glasses...” Matthew reached out for them, but on instinct James grabbed the man’s wrist. It went slack at the grab, and with a gasp James released the startled hairdresser’s hand.

“Sorry…” James eyes darted to his lap and he put his shaky fingers to his rims.

“No it’s alright!” Matthew waved his hands in front of him. “They would be in the way but I shouldn’t have grabbed them without asking or explaining myself.”

James nodded and took his glasses, handing them to Matthew’s outstretched hand, now lowered and not so near his eyes. Matthew placed them gingerly on the vanity and produced a black smock to wrap around James neck.

“Would you like a shampoo and condition?” Matthew inquired, James could see Matthew staring at his curls thoughtfully.

“Sure.” James said reluctantly, knowing it was part of the process. Matthew raised his eyebrows but helped him up and guided him to the tubs with chairs in front of them. James lowered himself against the chilly edge of the tub, and Matthew ran the water just above his forehead.

“Let me know if it’s too hot or too cold,” Matthew informed James, as the water trickled within his thick hair. James took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Matthew’s fingers were careful, and they kneaded against his scalp as the chill of the shampoo was mixed in. James could feel himself drift away as the sensation of a stranger washing his hair lulled him to a foreign sense of security, something that was sort of lacking in his life lately. Before James’ mind could wander off to a memory he repressed, he heard Matthew’s voice in his ears. “Time to get back to my chair.”

James opened his eyes and stared up at Matthew, who was looking at him expectantly. He was holding a towel and seemed to be about to do something with it, but hesitated. James raised his eyebrows as sat up from the low chair. “That’s for me correct?”

“Oh, yes.” Matthew nodded distractedly and covered James’ soaked hair, ruffling the towel a little to dry it up.

James put his hand on the towel, brushing against Matthew’s for a moment, and held the ends so it wouldn’t slip off as he crossed the salon back to the chair he had first seen Matthew at. Matthew followed him hurriedly, apologizing about the towel, or the hands, or something. James honestly wasn’t paying attention, still lost in the blissful haze he experienced during the wash.

“Do your best and I’m sure it won’t be so bad.” James decided to say, as he sat down and pulled the towel off. Matthew stopped in front of James, his face flushed like he’d been running a mile at full sprint only to stop halfway through.

“You… mean the haircut? That you're definitely sure you still want? I was sort of joking when I mentioned a promise to your sister.” Matthew waved his hands dismissively at the mention of Lucie, and James rolled his eyes.

“Well I’m hardly going to walk out of here with my hair dripping over the sidewalk.” He chuckled and noticed how Matthew’s lips crinkled upwards from his dry tone, and whatever sudden nervous energy that he had seemingly disappeared.

“Your a piece of work Mr. Herondale,” Matthew put a hand on his hip, the other gliding over several pairs of scissors.

“Already? Wait till you have to keep sweeping my hair bunches long after I’m gone.” James retorted. “Besides, Lucie probably had some choice words about me, isn’t gossiping apart of your job?”

Matthew gasped in mock offense and put a hand to chest. “Et tu, Brute?”

“What?” James laughed, knowing the phrase but clueless to why Matthew had said it.

“Lucie accused me of the same thing at her first appointment, reducing my profession to nothing but being a collector of gossip.” Matthew explained, placing a dramatic hand to his forehead. “I finally see the family resemblance.”

“Seeing as you’ve done nothing but chatter instead of cutting I’ll say that’s a pretty accurate description.” James teased.

“So eager now?” Matthew flashed a grin and James let out a resigned sigh.

“Just get it out of my eyes.” James told him.

“Will do,” Matthew finally picked up a pair of scissors and a comb and went to work.

James wasn’t used to so many questions during the process; he was asked if he still wanted bangs, whether it was alright to cut over the ears, how far down his neck he still wanted it, where did his part normally fall? It wasn’t as though he didn’t know what he wanted in the past, it was simply he never felt more relaxed, instead of sitting terse and silent he was engaged with Matthew.

“So why a salon and not a barbershop?” James wondered.

“I love working with different styles, and long hair is easier for me to work with.” Matthew explained as he clipped another piece of hair to trim the one underneath. “I would ask you the same, but Lucie probably had much more to do with your decision than yourself, right?” He chuckled lightly as he worked.

“Hm, yeah. Lucie likes to meddle where she’s not needed. Though… if it wasn't for her I probably wouldn’t leave the house...” James realized he was exposing his life story to this stranger and went silent.

“Family can be tough, but we look out for each other.” Matthew nodded and continued snipping. “Growing up I looked after my father, he’s a genius but extremely clumsy and prone to have accidents.”

“Accidents?” James inquired.

“Well,” Matthew paused, concentrating on cutting the hair while holding it together with a comb. “He uses a wheelchair, from an accident he had before I was born, but he still does what he loves most, inventing. He’s always moving around his laboratory to do something, with science and engineering though sometimes things don’t go as planned. I once had put out a fire that was blazing on top of his head.”

“Wow,” James hadn’t expected Matthew to say so much, and the details made him feel a bit guilty, he never remembered ever helping his own father with his craft. He wondered if it was normal to go through such lengths for one’s parent.

“It’s finished.” Matthew announced after some silence, and James opened his eyes to face the mirror before him. He blinked a little and Matthew handed back his glasses. James hadn’t mentioned to Matthew that he was farsighted, and could see himself relatively clearly. He couldn’t help the slight smile curving his lips, his hair was still messy, but somehow Matthew managed to make it look stylish. James brought his glasses to his face and glanced up at Matthew, who was wiping his hands with a towel.

“It’s good.” James nodded. “Though, I’ve never used anything in my hair before.”

“Never?” Matthew echoed with awe and removed the smock. “I should have asked!”

“It’s alright,” James nodded standing up. “I never cared either way. It looks good.”

“Do you want to care?” Matthew folded the smock and placed it on the vanity.

“I wouldn’t know how,” he admitted with a shrug and reached up tugging on one of his locks. “The most important task is done though, I can finally tell Lucie I survived a haircut.”

“Survive you did.” Matthew chuckled and clapped his hands. “Congratulations Mr. Herondale.”

“James,” He amended to Matthew’s surprise. “Call me James.”

Lucie was delighted to hear from Matthew after her brother paid and left his establishment. Matthew was busying himself by scrawling over his appointment pad while Lucie gushed over the line about this milestone. Matthew initially agreed to this appointment as a joke, thinking Lucie was exaggerating her brother’s plight against getting a haircut. It was almost jarring to be reminded that some men strolled through London without even touching their hair, but when James had entered the door Matthew mistook him for a walk-in. His hair, what James had referred to as a mess, was windswept and lustrous, covering half his face with glasses peeking on his free side. If James hadn’t immediately sat on his couch and pulled out a book Matthew wouldn’t have suspected he was Lucie’s brother.

“He wasn’t terribly rude was he?” Lucie asked after she was finished squealing and cheering.

“Not at all,” Matthew laughed. “We bantered but nothing I haven’t already experienced with you.”

“Now you know where I get it from,” Lucie giggled. “Although Jamie tends to be more passive aggressive when he dislikes someone, so clearly you passed!”

“Was this a test?” Matthew drawled, “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Is it drastic? Or- I swear if you only cut a piece and let him leave I’ll…!”

“No no, I trimmed it quite a bit, and got it out of his eyes as requested and even touched it up with mousse.” Matthew explained, leaning against the counter stationed towards the door.

“MOUSSE?!” Lucie cackled and was muffled, Matthew suspected she was still at the office and covering her mouth with her hand.

“Yes, is that a problem?” Matthew inquired with a chuckle.

“I cannot believe he let you put product!” Lucie took a breath to calm her laughter. Matthew put his pen down and glanced back to check on his colleagues. Only one familiar person was left for her appointment, she gave Matthew a knowing look as her hair was being styled. Matthew rolled his eyes at her, she winked back at him, and then he turned his attention back to his pad to look occupied.

“Well you’re the one that recommended a salon, we have dozens of products at our disposal.” Matthew informed her.

“Oh I’m aware, and if I had referred a barbershop they would have chopped it all off and he wouldn’t speak to me for years!” Lucie countered.

“Are men truly that barbaric?” Matthew gasped.

“Indeed they are, lord knows why you are attracted to them.” Lucie teased.

“Men nor women cannot resist my charms, or my hair, not sure which is more effective.” Matthew shot back and they both laughed.

“Matthew if you don’t mind I need the counter space so Anna can pay me.” A clipped voice interrupted, and Matthew cast a coy smile at his oldest assistant, Barbara Lightwood.

“You really going to make your cousin pay?” Matthew quirked an eyebrow Barbara and then at the woman who smirked at him, Anna Lightwood. She was what those in the modern world considered androgynous, wearing a fine suit fitted for a man but still fashion forward. Her hair was slicked back on the sides, with a quaf of longer hair on top. Anna stood regally, basking in the attention as if it were her god given right, yet still humble enough to meet his eyes and smile.

“I am willing to help Barbara provide for her family.” Anna explained.

“Of course,” Matthew nodded, and winced when the voice of Lucie interrupted.

“Is that Anna? Matthew why didn’t you say something?”

Barbara casually brushed against Matthew to access the touchpad to process the payment. Matthew busied himself with telling Lucie that he would definitely let her know when Anna was free next time. He could feel Anna’s eyes on him, and his neck heated up a bit when Lucie went back to the topic at hand.

“Thank you Matthew, you don’t know how much it means to me that you helped Jamie.” she admitted.

“Helped? All I did was a trim,” Matthew rubbed his neck, his eyes going to his feet bashfully.

“I know.” Lucie sighed. “But every little thing helps you know?”

“Lucie…” Matthew could sense there was more to this than what she had told him but Lucie clicked her tongue.

“And my dinners up! Back to work!” She hung up before Matthew could reprimand her for calling him during her meal breaks.

“That woman, I have half a mind to order her food for tonight.” Matthew lamented for a moment, placing their old fashioned phone back with a clack!

“You should buy some for reclusive James as well.” Anna chimed in. Matthew’s eyes darted up to Anna, his face flushed even more, and Barbara laughed at the statement.

“So it’s not just me who noticed your obvious crush.” she teased as Matthew shook his head vehemently. “Don’t deny it!”

“He is… attractive.” Matthew admitted with a sigh. “But my finding a male attractive doesn’t mean I have a crush!”

“Was he hideous after the cut?” Anna inquired as she swiped her card.

“Excuse me?!” Matthew was scandalized that Anna would even suggest such a thing of his work. “He was beautiful!”

Anna and Barbara exchanged a look. Matthew realized belatedly what they were trying to do; the saying goes if you find someone unattractive after a haircut it was merely an aesthetic that appealed to you, but if you continued find them flawless after a do... it was more.

“Conspiracy!” Matthew accused. “I was the one to cut it, of course I’d make sure it would appeal to me!”

“What happened to the Matthew that is always critical of his work and strives to be better?” Barbara demanded to know.

“I never admit my flaws in front of customers,” Matthew pointed out.

“Ha! I am hardly a mere customer,” Anna, who was as close to him as family, reminded him. Matthew pouted and turned away from the patronizing women. He stared at the spot James had sat in waiting for his appointment and could feel the nervous flutters of his heart beating at the memory. He placed a hand over his eyes and let out a long, drawn out breath before turning back to face the two women still staring at him.

“Fine.” Matthew relented. “Still, it’s not like he’ll ever come back, and is probably straight. End of discussion!”

“But he’s-” Barbara began to say something that Matthew should have heard but was embarrassed enough as it is.

“Fin.” Matthew held his fingers together and zipped it across his face for emphasis before heading to the back room to take care of closing business.

Later that evening Matthew was locking up for the night, his eyes wandering up to stare at his decorative green carnations. He reached out and touched one, letting out a deep sigh before turning away and striding into street towards his home. He twirled his jangling keys in his hand as he weaved through the bustle of the end of the work day. His residence was a couple of rail stops away, so he stared wistfully out the window, with one thing on his mind, James Herondale.

It had been ages since he’d felt compelled to go out of his way to please a client, but seeing James and realizing he was the one Lucie had spoken to him about, he couldn’t help it. He wanted the man to have a positive experience with a haircut, but Matthew could also understand completely why James would be self conscious. A personality like that, one that seemed to shrink at being the center of attention and couldn't fathom being pampered, would probably be completely unaware of how gorgeous he really was. If his hair, with waves like black wool wasn’t enough, his eyes were a striking orchiroid, which were hidden by his wide dark glasses. When Matthew had trimmed his hair he made sure James’ face was framed just enough to continue being a shield, but with the option to be styled back in case James considered opening his face to the world. Though Matthew suspected the glasses also had a role in this, but he wasn't an optometrist.

Shaking his head, Matthew followed the crowd off of the rail and made his way up the stairs back to the streets. His stomach grumbled as he passed by the pub wafting the aroma of food from its windows on the way to his flat. He swiftly turned the corner and arrived at the entrance, and could hear the barks of an excited dog upstairs. He grinned and bounded up, hearing the scratches on his door as he worked to unlock that one too. The door swung open and a small, pudgy French Bulldog greeted Matthew with slobbery kisses. Matthew laughed and scooped up his darling, kissing her on the head as he entered the flat. “Evening Adele,” He greeted and was rewarded with more licks. “You wouldn't believe the day I’ve had.” Adele blinked slowly at him, not minding being cradled in his arms as he made his way to the kitchen. “I met Lucie’s brother, James…. And he is something…” After feeding and walking Adele, Matthew finally sat down to relax, sipping tea with his dog on his lap and rereading one of his favorite novels. He drowned out the noises of the streets as he became engrossed within the world on the pages...

The apartment was still and dark, the only illumination was peeking through the shades from the street lights. Low rumbling snores between Adele and Matthew echoed through the place, until an instistant buzzing coming from the coffee table woke Matthew out of his slumber. He rubbed his eyes, carefully sliding his precious pet off his lap, her limp body sank into the couch cushion comfortably. Matthew picked up his phone, scrolling through his various notifications.

“Thomas and Chris are back…” He mumbled to himself upon seeing a text and rubbed his eyes as he thumbed through his apps. His voicemail declared the number one, with a message waiting for him to listen to. He pressed it, and was surprised to see a awfully familiar number. “Bloody hell what does he want?”

“Matthew? It’s your brother, Charles. Look, I know its out of blue for me to call but it’s an emergency. You see… Father… He tried to do something ridiculous and wound up in the hospital again. Except this time… well it’s his head you see… Mum told me to call, she a bit distraught at the moment. You know how much she cherishes family... I’ve just called the girls as well-“

The phone slipped from Matthew’s grip as he put his head in his hands. He had to make arrangements right away he knew, but all Matthew wanted to do was scream. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he took deep labored breaths to attempt to calm himself. Father is in good hands it’s just another …. incident ... nothing major … His nails dug into his scalp, the pain alerting him to the voice of his brother still droning on, but with the details of which hospital he was located at. Matthew wiped his eyes with his sleeves, as his shaky hand grasped his phone to listen again. He tuned out the beginning and with a pen and pad wrote down every important detail, and made note that at the moment his father was unconscious as the doctors tried to determine if he was concussed.

Matthew stood up, shoving his papers into his pocket, and running a hand through his hair, deflated as it was. He didn’t care and strode to his room to gather a overnight bag, toiletries, and his jacket. He immediately texted Thomas, Barbara Lightwood’s younger brother and good friend who just returned from a semester abroad with his other cousin, Christopher. The Lightwoods were in no way related to Matthew, but their parents had been close friends, and raised their families together like relatives would. He would understand Matthew’s situation the best out of anyone in the world, but he also needed a willing dog sitter.

“Adele!” Matthew called, whistling. Adele awoke and jumped, trotting over to Matthew and wiggling her butt since she did not have a tail. Matthew smiled shakily at her, scooping her up. “I have to go my darling… I’m sorry I can’t take you with me…” Adele licked the salt of his tears away, her round eyes boring into his with a knowing expression unfit for a canine. Matthew nodded and kissed the top of her head, before placing her down. His phone buzzed yet again, and Matthew sighed as he glanced at the response to his S.O.S.

I heard, but figured you were asleep. I’ll stay for Adele np. Call when you’re ready.

I’m heading out now, I’ll ttyl. Matthew texted back.

He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, and after a thought, snatched a snapbill cap to cover his mess. Adele followed him dutifully, and when he reached the door he ruffled her head. “So long Adele.” She yipped and licked his hand reassuringly, and after one last look at his flat, Matthew turned away and shut the door behind him.

[imitranslates]

Honjitsu no Kami Oroshi Ch. 4

Sorry for the delay, this one took me quite a bit! Hopefully the next chapters should be done, uh, not quite as belatedly! Reminder that this chapter is viewable until August 12th on the official website!

You can read this chapter at www.ganganonline.com/contents/honzitsu/ by clicking “ [4話] アーサー王 公開! “  in the chapter listing!

Today's Divine Revelation Chapter 4 - The Legend of King Arthur

Page 1

Ryuunosuke: ?

Ryuu: ?

Rin&Ryuu: ........

Page 3

Ryuu: So,

Ryuu: Pull out the knife that was thrust into the pumpkin. (This sure is something.)

Rin: Sorry for bothering you in the middle of work.

My hands are tired, so I can't seem to do it with my strength...

Ryuu: No worries, it's fine! This'll be easy!

Ryuu: Being relied on by my little brother makes me happy...

Rin: I'm really...

Rin: Reeeally reluctant to ask you, but please.

Ryuu: ...Is it really that bad to let me enjoy it? (Every now and then.)

Page 4

Ryuu: Well, anyway. Take a good look at this, little brother.

This is your older brother's true power.

Ryuu: Huuh!

Ryuu: Nnnngh...

Ryuu: Gyah!

!!?

(crack)

Ryuu: My... My wrist...!

Ryuu: (It's tendinitis!!) My wriiiiist!!

Rin: ...

Alright already.

Page 5

Ryuu: Wait, one more time...

Let me try again!! (I'll be able to do it next time!)

Rin: It's distasteful to say things without basis ...Besides,

I don't want to think even less of you than this.

Ryuu: Don't look at me like that!!!

Ryuu: Isn't it bad if you can't pull it out?

Are you using it for dinner?

Rin: No,

I thought I'd make some pumpkin custard.

Ryuu: Flan?

Rin: I bought a pumpkin, but cutting it's more difficult than I thought.

I had some left over vanilla beans.

Ryuu: Ah! (From when I made ice cream!)

Ryuu: (Fushishi) Ehehe, custard!

Even though I didn't ask for it. Custard~~!!

Rin: You're so annoying. Is there a problem?

Ryuu: No, not at all.

Page 6

Ryuu: (Hmm.) Rintarou.

Ryuu: Can we try making King Arthur's pudding?

Rin: Huh? What's that?

Ryuu: Do you know King Arthur?

Rin: Just... the name.

Ryuu: I only read about him when I was a kid, but

Arthur was the king of Britain.

Ryuu: Near the end of the 5th century, the story of a legendary hero who fought with the Saxons spread through the continent.

Ryuu: The story of the Knights of the Round Table, the wizard Merlin, a sacred sword and the Holy Grail...

You could even say that Legend of King Arthur is the first real English fantasy tale.

Rin: Oh... Fantasy, huh... (Not my favorite.)

Page 7

Ryuu: When I told my editor about our divine revelations,

they said I should consider serializing it in a women's magazine.

Ryuu: The Legend of King Arthur is kinda romantic, don't you think?

Rin: Ah...

So it's like that.

(Rin: A king's pudding...)

Rin: Custard's pudding, right? Might as well.

Ryuu: Nice!

Now that it's decided, you should look up how to make pudding!

Rin: Huh? I already know how to make custard...

Ryuu: No, pudding's different!

Rin: Huh?

Page 8

Ryuu: When good King Arthur ruled this land~

Ryuu: If you look it up, you'll understand!

Mother Goose!

Rin: ......

What the heck's that?

[Library search for "Mother Goose"]

Page 9

Rin: (Lately...)

Rin: (I feel like I've become a regular here...)

(Rin: Here it is. It's huge...)

[Mother Goose is...

A general term used for nursery rhymes popular in Britain and America.]

Rin: (These lullabies began as ways to teach English pronunciation, songs to pass down history, songs meant to amuse, etc...

Children of all classes sang these songs during their education.)

Rin: So this stuff

Is what tons of people throughout history used to sing.

Rin: King Arthur appears in here, too, huh.

Page 10

[When good King Arthur ruled this land, 　　

He was a goodly king; 　　

He stole three pecks of barley-meal 　　

To make a bag-pudding. 　　

A bag-pudding the king did make, 　　

And stuffed it well with plums; 　　

And in it put great lumps of fat, 　　

As big as my two thumbs.]

Rin: ?

Rin: (Barley-meal...? Fat!?

Isn't this supposed to be custard pudding? What's the deal...?)

Book: Pudding: Best Collection

Book: There are all types of pudding!

The History of Pudding.

Sausage and dessert are both "pudding!?"

Rin: ...

Ah.

(What a pain... This is so over the top...)

Page 11

[But...]

Rin: ?

Rin: ?

Book: King Arthur and the two swords.

Announcement: The library will be closing shorty.

Page 12

Rin: (Crap!

I was just supposed to be doing a little research, but I got really into it...)

(Rin: It's already this late...)

Rin: (I wasn't able to finish the book about King Arthur, so I ended up checking it out.)

Rin: (The book about pudding, too.

I'll make sure to read it thoroughly la...)

Man: ?

Rin: (What, no way...

What am I getting so excited over?! Come on, me!)

Rin: (This is just some annoying thing I have to do! What's wrong with me?!!)

Page 13

[Those divine revelation menus are my job.]

[Intently doing research and spending long hours in the kitchen]

[Are just part of work.]

Rin: (Right...?)

Page 14

Rin: Why are you here.

Ryuu: I'm taking notes!

Ryuu: I can't cook, but I won't be able to write about it if I stay oblivious!

I'm counting on you to explain!

Rin: (Tch.) Coming in here and demanding something like that...

If you get in the way, you're banned from the kitchen from now on.

(Ryuu: Banned?!)

Ryuu: How cold-hearted...!!!

[Explanation]

Rin: So first, the ingredients.

Wheat flour, bread flour, brown sugar,

Spices, raisins, eggs, milk, and suet.

Ryuu: Suet?

(Also known as sukiyaki fat.)

Rin: It's beef fat.

A particular kind that comes from the area around the kidney's.

Page 15

Rin: Recently using butter has been commonplace, but

Since we're making "King Arthur's pudding," I think we should make it the old way.

Ryuu: When you say old, how old is it?

Rin: 17-18th century, I guess.

Rin: Pudding originally referred to a kind of sausage.

Back then, when the fields in fall started to thin out, cattle farmers would slaughter their cattle.

It was common to use organ casing to preserve food for later.

[There are various theories.]

Rin: Only after that, hundreds of years later, did the sweet pudding we have today get developed.

Ryuu: Ah!!

In the old stories of Mother Goose, there was something about sausage pudding!!

Ryuu: I see, so that's why! (I thought that was weird.)

Page 16

Rin: Since it's an old pastry, it's simple to make.

Rin: First, grate up the suet.

(Use a cheese grater or something like it.)

Rin: Mix it together with both flours and the sugar until it looks incorporated, then

Add the raisins, spices, beaten eggs, and milk, and stir it together.

The spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and coriander, stuff like that.

Rin: With that, the dough's done.

Rin: Now,

Rin: Next is the interesting part!

First I'll boil this cloth in water.

Ryuu: Huh? The cloth?

Rin: Yeah.

In the 17th century, something called a "pudding cloth" came about.

Rin: This cloth became a substitute for cattle organ lining.

With it, they could easily make pudding all year round.

Page 17

[Dust with flour]

Rin: What we call "basins" now were like private steam-cookers. (I've never seen one myself though.)

Rin: Now, I'll wring out the cloth, spread it out, and sprinkle it with the wheat flour from before.

Then I'll place the dough on top.

Rin: Tie it together into a pouch.

Rin: And submerge it in boiling water!

Ryuu: !!!?

Ryuu: You put it in there?!

Won't it get all soggy?!

Rin: I thought so, too, but

The flour I sprinkled on hardens and becomes like a skin. So it shouldn't get very wet...

[Doubtful.]

Ryuu: Re...

Ryuu: Really...

Page 18

[As the water evaporates, add more hot water.]

Rin: Well, anything's an experience.

To keep the water covering the bag halfway, I'll have to periodically add water over the 2-3 hours it boils.

Ryuu: That's so long!!

So, where's the one you boiled for 2-3 hours?

Rin: There isn't one.

I've been making dinner preparations until now.

Ryuu: ...Hm?

Ryuu: Wait, Rintarou.

What are you doing with that pumpkin?

Rin: What am I doing...?

I thought I'd steam it like this so I could pull the knife out. (Since I can't take it out.)

Ryuu: Stop! Stop!! Just wait a sec!!

Rin: !?

What's the deal?

(Ryuu: No way!!)

(Ryuu: You absolutely cant!!)

Page 19

Ryuu: That kitchen knife...

Please trust in me to pull that knife out later.

Rin: ......

(Rin: Trust in you..?)

Rin: ....

What?!

Page 20

Ryuu: Y'know, Rin...

Seeing you in the kitchen has become really common, huh...

Rin: !

Whose fault is that?

Rin: Lately, I feel like I'm always in the kitchen or the library.

Ryuu: Ahh, for your research.

Was the pudding lots of trouble?

Rin: (No.) Just looking up the recipe was easy, but...

Rin: I ended up getting curious about all sorts of things on the way...

Rin: If I remember correctly, the "English people" in King Arthur's time and the Saxons that had come from the continent were different.

Pudding was a traditional dish from those Saxons, but...

Ryuu: Hmm.

Rin: That pudding was also made by King Arthur.

...Isn't that a bit weird?

Ryuu: Haha! I see.

...Yeah, it's a bit weird, but it's not that weird.

Page 21

Ryuu: Because at that time,

Weren't a lot of things changing?

Ryuu: Former enemies became citizens. The shape of the country was changing.

Organ casings became cloth. Models changed.

Ryuu: And those things changed from history to written word.

Ryuu: A simple high school student

Ryuu: Becomes a chef before you know it.

Page 22

Rin: Just when did I become a chef...? (I'm just doing what my job entails.)

Ryuu: Before you know it, I said!

Hey, is your pot okay? (It's almost time, right?)

[But...

For just a moment]

[While researching and making all sorts of things]

[Before I knew it, I was enjoying it.]

Page 23

(Finish it off by baking in the oven to dry the outside.)

[Just a little...]

(Prepare a custard sauce drizzle onto the pudding.)

[But that's a secret.]

Ryuu: It's doooone!

[Today's Divine Revelation Menu:

King Arthur's Pudding (with custard sauce)]

Page 24

Ryuu: Thanks for the meal! My very first pudding!

Ryuu: ...

....

Ryuu: ...Ah...

It's rich... (Really rich.)

Rin: It's really dense!

I wonder if the thick texture is because of the beef fat.

Ryuu: I can smell the spices!

When I smelled the dough earlier, it reminded me of Christmas!

Rin: Yeah, me, too!

Next, I'll try it with the custard on top.

Ryuu: Ah, me too!

Page 25

Ryuu: ...Yeah.

Ryuu: This is really good.

Ryuu: Fancy meals are good, too, but

A traditional dish with a few ingredients, cooked simply,

Ryuu: I feel like I can touch history just by eating it.

Ryuu: Living alongside nature's cycle with their cattle,

Devising new ways to use their wheat and fruits as they ate.

[Ryuunosuke is]

Ryuu: A strong wind blows over the scarce soil...

[Summoning an unseen, far-off legend.]

[Turning back time.]

Ryuu: I can see the capital,

Where a king used to live long ago, in a land far away.

Page 26

Ryuu: And in that place,

Ryuu: Is a sword that only the rightful king can pull out.

Page 28

Ryuu: ...Please

Lend me your power...

Ryuu: I am also a king,

Ordained by literary circles in the future.

Ryuu: Come out!

Page 29

Ryuu: Ex-

Ryuu: cali-

bur!

Rin: Huh?

Rin: I thought that was a different sword from Excalibur?

Page 30

Ryuu: ...Eh...?

Rin: Oh, it came out.

Ryuu: Ehh?!

Book: King Arthur is given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake.

Ryuu: EEEEH?

Ryuu: It really was a different sword. (I didn't know...)

Rin: (The blade's undamaged.)

Rin: I wonder if that was a real revelation...?

[There's multiple patterns.]

Page 31

Girl: Hey!

You!

Girl: Wait...

Schoolgirl: Kya!

What are you doing?!

Girl: I, I'm sorry...

This is grandma's...

The pumpkin I got from my grandmother...

Schoolgirl: That was close! Geez, what are you doing?

Schoolgirl2: Just drop it. Let's go.

Page 32

(Schoolgirl: What a joke... That stuff about her pumpkin...)

Mom: Urara, are you okay!?

Urara: Ah, yeah, I'm fine!

Mom: You scared me...

That's why I said it'd be better to send it by mail!

Now, can you stand? Let's get going.

Urara: Yeah.

Mom: Don't stray off, okay!

Urara: Okay.

Urara: (This is Tokyo...)

Page 33

[This is the city I'll be living in from now on!]

[phoebus-de-chateaupers-blog]

Phoebus de Chateaupers – Character Sheet

oh, some evil spirit, oh, some evil this way comes / they told me how they fear it / now they're placing it on their tongues / for to see it with my own eyes / for to see it with my own eyes / no food or water for the better part of ten months

quietly he sat between the folds of a tree trunk / for to see it with my own eyes  / for to see it with my own eyes / all the men of faith and men of science had their questions / could it ever be on earth as it is in heaven? / for to see it with my own eyes / for to see it with my own eyes

Archetype — The Ruler Birthday — November 14, 1982 Zodiac Sign — Scorpio MBTI — ENTJ Enneagram — 6, the Loyalist Temperament —  Phlegmatic Hogwarts House — Gryffslyth with a claw model Moral Alignment — Lawful Neutral Primary Vice — Envy Primary Virtue — Diligence Element — Earth

Overview:

Mother — Sorcha de Chateaupers (nee DunBroch) (FC: Lindsay Duncan) Father — Silas de Chateaupers (FC: Pierce Brosnan) Mother’s Occupation — homemaker Father’s Occupation — Prince of the Order; owner of de Chateaupers industries (they make metal work for construction sites) Family Finances — wealthy; got dat old money Birth Order — oldest Brothers — none Sisters — Astrid, little sister Other Close Family — family tree here Best Friend — Celmens de Chateaupers (deceased) Other Friends — the Order Enemies — vicious creatures, demons, ghosts, mediums, sinners Pets — Achilles; twelve year old grey dappled Hanoverian Home Life During Childhood — because Phoebus had been born prematurely, for the first few years of his life, he was rather frail. His mother became over-protective of him and doted on him. He spent a lot of time indoors, reading and studying. His cousin Clemens came over to play with him, but he didn’t socialize much outside of school. His father was constantly criticizing him and attempting to “toughen him up.” Town or City Name(s) — Skagen, Denmark (has also bopped around Europe, he’s been pretty much everywhere.) What Did His or Her Bedroom Look Like — pretty plain, didn’t have a lot of toys. Lots of books though. Painted like a blue probably. Faced towards the sea. Any Sports or Clubs — Once he got older, he got into rugby and football, that kind of thing. Was never amazing at it, but not horrible either. Also did sword fighting, sparring, wrestling, etc. He’s a GREAT jouster. Favorite Toy or Game — jousting Schooling — homeschooled Favorite Subject — history and tactic Popular or Loner — loner for sure Important Experiences or Events — becoming a squire, studying with the DunBrochs, when he fucked up his first hunt, when he finally killed a demon, when his father named Clemens his successor. Nationality — Danish Culture — Danish; Order of the Prince Religion and beliefs — Christian, specifically Lutheran-Protestant

Physical Appearance:

Face Claim —  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Complexion — fair, but tannish from the sun Hair Colour — golden Eye Colour — blue and twinkley Height — 6’2 Build — stocky but not overly broad, definitely fit and toned and intimidating Tattoos — one on his right shoulder of his family coat of arms Piercings — none Common Hairstyle — mid-length, straight, tucks it behind his ears or slicks it back, sometimes it is shorter, just depending. It’s been longer for a while now bc he can’t be fucked. Clothing Style — casual. Wears a lot of jeans and boots. Good things for hiking or moving freely. Mannerisms — not a fidgeter. He stays still. Very stoic. Usual Expression —

Health:

Overall (do they get sick easily)? — yeah, he lowkey gets colds all the time, especially travelling, but he fights through it Physical Ailments — none Neurological Conditions — depression, alcoholic probably Allergies —  general allergies Grooming Habits — depends on his mood, definitely likes to get cleaned up and look nice all clean shaven or beard trimmed and wearing a nice suit, but on the day to day he’s a little more rugged Sleeping Habits — doesn’t sleep well these days because he’s haunted, so always looks kind of tired Eating Habits — also not great, drinks more than he eats probably, but he does his best to keep in shape too so eats lots of meats and salads, not a big sweets person. Exercise Habits —  every day, runs in the night and does gym shit in the morning i don’t know what gym shit i don’t do gym shit but he’s physically fit okay Emotional Stability — lol not great Body Temperature — average Sociability — he’s an introverted extrovert, he’s good with people, very slyth-secondary Addictions — alcohol, women--probably Drug Use — none Alcohol Use — all the time

Your Character’s Character:

Bad Habits — drinking, getting into fights, being a general dick Good Habits — uh, he reads a lot, intelligent, thinks before he speaks...usually Best Characteristic — hard-worker Worst Characteristic — jealousy Worst Memory — learning of Clemens’ death Best Memory — becoming a Prince Proud of — his hunting accomplishments Embarrassed by — himself? lmao Driving Style — a good driver. follows rules Strong Points — intelligence, strategy, eager to please Temperament — pretty even keeled, but he’s got a bit of a temper and is impatient Attitude — callous and uncaring Weakness — his ego? uhhhh Fears — being useless, being shamed Phobias — none Secrets — that he is p sure he killed his cousin Regrets — spreading that rumor about Clemens Feels Vulnerable When — people talk about him behind his back Pet Peeves — cowardice (when it comes to hunts/battles) Conflicts — what happened to his cousin, his religion v what he’s done Motivation — to be the very best, like no one ever was Short Term Goals and Hopes — fight some monsters Long Term Goals and Hopes — get rid of his fucKINg cousin’s ghost Sexuality — hetero af aggressively hetero Day or Night Person — daytime Introvert or Extrovert — introverted extrovert Optimist or Pessimist — pessimist

Likes and Styles:

Music — likes a little bit of everything but is more into acoustic-type stuff. Probably also like a few danish rock bands from the 80s/90s most likely, when he went through like his #angsty punk phase. Books — loves history books and mythology; anything that can help him gain more information and strategy for fighting. Magazines — none Foods — loves fish and meats. Not a big sweets fan, honestly. Drinks — whiskey, who doesn’t love a good glass of whiskey? He also is a fan of a good beer. Drinks protein shakes, but he doesn’t like them. Also an avid coffee drinker. Animals — horses and dogs, as they are the most useful during a hunt and also loyal. Finds cats frivolous and only good for rat-catching. Indifferent towards most other animals, except for dangerous magical ones, of course. Social Issues — the protection of mundus Favorite Saying — “strength gives glory” his family words Color — gold and red, the colors of his family coat of arms. He takes great pride in this. He also likes blue, because it looks good on him. Jewelry — probably has like a family ring heirloom type thing. also has a virgin Mary miraculous medallion that he wears Games — jousting, melees, that kind of thing Websites — none really TV Shows — cops shows/true detective crime shows/the history channel Movies — okay there is this danish movie i found called “Ordet” and the plot is #wild, but also sounds like something Phoebus would be into. He’s into like gritty noir films or avant garde indie films. Stuff that has to do with like crises of faith and that sort of thing. Probably into period pieces too or medieval. Also, big into mythology, so any adaptation of the Odyssey or the Iliad or stuff like that. He watched a lot of movies as a kid. (Side note: there is another movie called “Breaking the Waves” and wow,,) Greatest Want — to take over as the head of his family and be a successful Prince, maybe even King one day, in the future Greatest Need — to be admired

Where and How Does Your Character Live Now:

Home — an apartment in Castle Suites Household furnishings — plain Favorite Possession — his saddle, it was given to him by his father when he became a Prince -- it was custom made Most Cherished Possession — he’s not really a material person tbh or well, he is ? but he doesn’t really consider anything “cherished” Married Before — no Significant Other Before — he’s had a few girlfriends over the years, but they’ve all fallen through, was in love with his cousin’s wife just for extra salt in THAT wound. her name is Olivia. Children — none Relationship with Family — strained with his father, closer to his mother Car — none atm but he can drive Career — a Prince -- but his cover is police officer Dream Career — running his family company and being a successful Prince Dream Life — married, with kids, running his family company and being a well-renowned Prince Love Life — a mess.

Your Character’s Life Before Your Story:

Past Careers — he’s been an officer in many places over the past twenty-ish years Past Lovers — lots and lots of women Biggest Mistakes — lmao where do i start Biggest Achievements — becoming a Prince

[richardhandelcarpfishing]

My Journey Through The Old Skool Days

I started my Carp fishing in the early ’80s, after leaving school.  I discovered there was more to fishing than small local rivers with only Roach & Dace and the odd Perch in the offing.  At this time, I was living in Ipswich and there where only a couple of tackle shops.  These shops had a very basic, limited range of carp gear which the majority of which was match kit and when I say carp gear, it’s not as you think of it today.  The choice of hook was poor (to say the least), I stuck to size 8 hooks.  They were pretty good and served me well for many years.  Rods on the other hand; were a mixture of all sorts, as I could only afford one at a time.  I started with an SS6 and a bodex, this was an early carbon rod if my memory is correct.  I also had a cork handle rod that my dad got for me.  I then got myself a pair of ss7’s, which were the bees knees, as far as I was concerned, they were secondhand and reels were a mish-mash as well.  I can’t actually remember or even recognize them in the photography.  At the time I lived at home and didn’t get paid that much, I gave my mum & dad a little bit of rent and saved the rest for bait.  This has always been a key factor in my view.  If you have the best kit in the world you will not catch fish, however, with the right bait and a good selection of bait, this is the key to catching carp.

Until I could save up money to buy better stuff, I just stuck to what I had and get the odd bits second hand from friends.  At this point in my life, I had not discovered mail order or even fishing magazines!  All of my money went on bait, beer and trying to save up for a pair of rods.  As for buzzers, I had the right mixture of a Heron and a rolon.  This was rubbish, if you got a screamer in the night, you would need to check with a torch first.  You had to check which line was going – if the line was pulled tight, it would set the alarm off.  This was fun until I realized what was going on.  I then managed to get together enough money for a pair of Optonics.  I was planning on doing this first, as sitting up all night listening out for coins to drop off my spool a tin was taking its toll on me.  Trying to do nights in the week and the odd two nigher at the weekend was putting years on me!  I even had my ever faithful fairy bottle top bobbins. I have even done a week trip in the early ’80s like this.

The lake I was fishing was a club water,  at this time consisted of 4 lakes over a massive area.  They were full of bars and gully back bays which were full of pads.  There were only a handful of carp anglers, I think there were about 6 fully kitted out carp anglers.  They had clearly been fishing for some years and had a greater understanding of the lake.  In though’s days, they clearly were never going to help you.  They were still a friendly bunch of lads and we all enjoyed pike fishing over the Winter months.  It was perceived that carp didn’t feed over these months, the social pike trip helped us bond with the lads and finally started getting the odd snippet of information handed down.  I started to catch the odd fish, at that time 1 or 2 fish a season was good going.  My best year was 7 carp, I was amazed and totally hooked on carp fishing.  One year, I had a take on the opening day and lost the fish around the corner of a point.  This was the only carp take for that year, it was very hard going, to say the least.

I could never afford a bivvy, so I started off with bits of plastic sheeting tucked up around the spokes of a brolly, this helped until the wind blew (as there were no pegging points).  I slept in a large sail bag my dad had given me.  This was when I started seeing what other anglers were using as I was being allowed to look inside their bivvy’s.  You had to be invited in and not just peer in – it was just not done.  You can imagine my face when I finally spotted the old Argos sun-loungers, that bit of kit jumped to the top of my list.  They were a death trap though, we had watched people collapse in them and finding it very hard to get out.

The best way around the lack of bivvy problem was to go halves with a friend and then double up on a swim together.  If they couldn’t fish that weekend, you got it to yourself, then you both just needed to save up again to get another one.  This worked well and slowly we started to look a bit more like carp angler’s or as we called ourselves Specimen Hunters.

Those first few years on Barham pits (near Claydon), is where the carp bug really kicked in and is still well and truly with me.  We had some laughs in though’s days.  There was no barrow other than a wheelbarrow, which I hadn’t seen anyone use yet.  We used an old pram base was perfect until we got bored and started to race them up and down, you can guess the rest!  Let’s just say the wheels all buckled up and that was the end of that!  We did muck about somewhat back then, I will come to that later on.

This was the time also when I discovered PVA Bags, at this time they were made by Duncan Kay.  Wow!  How they changed my fishing.  After playing around with them, I realized that if you left the air in them and got the wind in the correct direction you could drift a bag under overhanging trees and pick up fish that way.  Inevitably, it would be a tench or bream.  This was a bit frustrating and costly but occasionally worth it if you spotted a fish in these swims.

By 1984, I had sorted out my kit (well sort of), I had better rods but they were still not a pair.  Other kit had become more important, we then moved on to Weybread pits on the Suffolk Norfolk border.  There was a small pit in the middle of the complex, where we settled on for a few years.  This enabled me to hone the art of carp fishing and was more of a runs water.  This was a very valuable period of time in my carp fishing life.  I had learned so much from other anglers and the group of friends I was with.  This was where a couple of lads could empty the lake most weekends.  We learned the art of floater fishing, we went through a stage of trying to capture a carp floater fish on all the rods we owned one by one.  This sounds crazy and it did at the time, but it gave you a greater understanding of how to play fish.  The minimum and maximum pressure you could put on them without getting a hook pull and margin fishing is the key to a lot of fish captures.

To this day, this is still my favorite style of fishing.  It is the most rewarding and possibly the most intense you can get from carp fishing.  We had discovered that black-eyed peas were an amazing bait.  They were very cheap to buy, easy to prepare and you could easily color/flavor them and they stayed on the hook.  Also at this time, we had started to play around with boilies.  I did have a go around 1980 but without much success.  It was hard to find any information regarding ingredients at first, so I just stuck to stuff out of my mum’s kitchen!  Things then started to kick off in ’84 – I purchased the odd book, which for the life of me I can’t remember the names.  Unfortunately, over the years I moved around a lot and I so wish I hadn’t binned so much stuff.  I used to keep everything there was to do with carp fishing; I read so much, just sat and made up bait recipes.  So many in fact, that I never ever used them all!  Somewhere very successful for me, others not so much but it just was a fantastic time to be in the carp fishing world – a voyage of discovery.  I do miss bait making these days but with work, kids and family stuff I just don’t have the time.  Also the ready-made frozen bait market so advanced today, why bother?  Use your time to go fishing!  I do like to play around with hook baits, stick mixes and ground bait, in the past two years they have got me very excited again, there is just so much choice, back to the ’80s.

Transport in those days was also great fun.  We use to share lifts for a couple of years and I still can’t believe we would get all that tackle for two people in my Mini Clubman estate.  It was bigger than my mates one but he still got two people’s kit in.  They were stuffed to the gunnels but we got it all in and it worked well.  I would like to see you get today’s kits in an original mini, now that would be fun!  I ended up with an Escort estate, much to the dismay of my girlfriend, as everyone else had flash Escort, she just didn’t understand carp fishing!

In the photo you can see my first proper bivvy and a pair of rods, you may have spotted the third.  We hoped the bailiff never did, if he did, he mostly turned a blind eye, which was a help.  I had an old groundsheet as a sleeping bag cover, landing net in though’s day’s where very heavy and hard to move about, unlike the modern slimline ones.  We were good at cooking on the bank, that was one thing that wasn’t too bad.  There were plenty of options for cooking as camping equipment was very common.  Most of the summer months, I would kip out under the stars, this was just an amazing time to be fishing, I did have a brolly pole just in case the weatherman was wrong!  I sorted out the issues with the Argos sun-lounger by cutting a V at each end of a piece of wood, this stopped the bed collapsing but in the end, I found the best way was to dig a groove in the ground for the legs and use pegs to peg it hard into the ground.  This worked well and worth the effort – no more trapped in a bed with a rod trying to play a fish and get out.

Weybread Middle Pit was where I honed my skills and I certainly had plenty of carp in the first year there.  I remember turning up the day before June 16th and we were all set up by 8 am, we just sat feeding the carp bread in the margins most of the day.  They were just everywhere.  The following morning was a different matter, we had carp but not in the numbers we were seeing the day before.  The carp had learned about pressure even then.

It was hard to find a lake with twenty’s in, let alone a 30+ and then you needed people to tell you about them and the location.  This all took time, part of the complex we fished had 1 and I’m not sure to this day, why we started on middle pit but there were 2 or 3 twenty’s.  I think we must have thought it was a better option.  I had over 53 carp that year.  I learned so much, watercraft was a key factor, understanding the topography of the lake and the feeding patterns.  I was up there every weekend from Friday to Sunday, even if I worked Saturday morning, I would go straight after work and set up.  The more you are there, the more you learn and that is certainly true today.

Fish care was in the long grass in though’s days.  We did all had a sack to retain the carp in and tried to do our best.  There has always been an urge for me to look after the fish and return it safely for the next person to catch.

They may not have all been the biggest fish in the world but back then, we certainly thought they were and took photographs of them all.

There was another thing that I remember about the ’80s, that has all but been forgotten –  playing tricks on each other (and scoring points for the idea of the trick and the reaction of the person).  Some of the best ones I can remember was turning the bivvy around, giving them a run and watch them try and find their way out in a sleepy daze or removing the elastic bands from under the bed chair a putting string to just hold the material in place, then watching them lay on the bed and fall onto a nice hard floor.  Other ones I can remember, putting food coloring into beans, blue and green were the best, switching the rod’s over and leaving the line in its original buzzer was a fun one.  Never leave your keys about as someone would put something in your car which would generally be horrible.

There was a group of five of us that fished together back in the early ’80’s; Mike, Carl, Paul, Andy, and I.  It was probably one of the best periods of my carp fishing career.  For the company and laughs, the innervation and discovering so much between us all.  Without a doubt, without this group of people, I think the start of my fishing career, wouldn’t have been that much fun.  Unfortunately. I had to move down South and time changes with family and stuff – we lost contact with each other.

I have fond memories of the ’80s and the old skool kit.  I wished I’d kept more of it but this wasn’t to be.  However, I love the modern day carp kit and the advances which have happened over the years.  As I get ever closer to 55, I am glad of my Aqua bivvy and 5 season sleeping bag.  How well would we be at sleeping on the Argos sun-loungers?  I bet we would all be doubled up with back pain and walking with a stick.  I could go on about all the other inventions and improvements.  The key one for me has to be bait.  As the ’90s began, fishing tackle started to take a leap forwards with proper bivvy, Kjc Rod pods, Wavelock brolly.  Winter fishing became a thing of the future for all carp anglers.

Not sure if you class the early ’90’s as old skool.  However, looking back at the amount of money I could send on carp fishing.  It was certainly a turning point for me.  The tackle I could buy and the lakes I discovered, the industry was starting the beginning of great things to come.

I hope this has been an incite to old skool fishing and my time through the ages.

Until Next Time

Richard

  Search eBay

  Please subscribe to my Video Diary

Consultant For

  Sponsored By

  Follow me @richardhandel

Carp Fishing Tackle on Ebay

My Journey Through The Old Skool Days My Journey Through The Old Skool Days I started my Carp fishing in the early '80s, after leaving school. 

[the-panic-the-static]

ALL THE QUESTIONS IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH

1. What is your middle name?I don’t have a middle name

2. Do you have any nicknames?Nope

3. Do you have any allergies?No

4. What is the longest your hair has ever been?To my hips 

5. Apple or PC?pc

6. Favorite flavor?ehh depends on the food

7. Have you ever been on a blind date?No

8. Are you friends with any of your exes?NO

9. What kind of car do you drive?A Citroen

10. How grammatically correct are you when you text?In German, very, in English I try to be 

11. What foreign country would you most like to visit and why?Norway, because it’s so fucking beautiful there AND the US just to see a wonderful human

12. Creamy or chunky peanut butter?creamy 

13. Favorite food to pig out on?

14. DC or Marvel?ehhh idc

15. Disney or Nickelodeon?SAME

16. Do you have any stickers on your laptop computer?I have not!

17. Name/author of the last book you read cover to cover. Do you recommend it?It’s called Bio-Nahrungsmittel für alle ... ?: Trendentwicklungen der Biobranche by Astrid Sara Nave, and ehhh I would recommend it if you’re interested in organic food and speak German (I had to read it for my diploma thesis)

18. Do you read any magazines?I do

19. Coffee or tea?Tea

20. What is your go-to Starbucks drink?I’ve been to Starbucks just once and ehh no thanks

21. How many things can do with your weaker hand?IDK actually nothing tbh

22. Last show you binge watched?None

23. Dogs or cats?Dooogs

24. Favorite Disney princess?wat

25. Do you like fast food?sometimes, sure

26. Favorite thing to cook for yourself?Lately I’ve often been cooking this coconut-rice with vegetables, cashews and dattles cause it’s SO GOOD

27. Favorite song to sing in the shower?Lately: The Heart From Your Hate

28. Have you ever butt dialed anyone?HELL NO

29. iPhone/iPad or Android?Android

30. Any styles of music you do not like?Actually everything else but Metal/Rock tbh

31. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same gender? If so, did you like it?I did and yeah, I liked it

32. Have you ever gotten a ticket while driving?Nope

33. Favorite emoji?EH IDK

34. Showers or baths?DEPENDS ON the day/mood

35. Is there anything you regret buying?Not really, no

36. Are you fluent in more than one language?I am

37. Any movie(s) you can watch over and over again and enjoy just as much every time?There are a few

38. What is the heaviest you have ever weighed?AHHHH

39. Do you have any tattoos? If so, how many and where?3, two on my arms and one on my back

40. Have you ever uttered a spoken hashtag?NOPE

41. Favorite school subject?EH it was Business Informatics and Information- and Mediatechnology

42. Favorite non-chocolate candy?ICE CREAM IF THAT COUNTS AS CANDY

43. Name one celebrity you dislike.IDC

44. If you could have one superpower, which one would you most like to have?READ OTHER PEOPLE’S MINDS I GUESS

45. From 1-10, rate your singing ability.Probably a 3

46. From 1-10, rate your dancing ability.0

47. From 1-10, rate your cooking ability.I love cooking, I’d say a solid 8

48. From 1-10, rate your driving ability.SAME FOR DRIVING

49. Are you religious?No

50. Do you drink soda? If so, which one is your favorite?Not really

51. Have you ever locked your keys in your car?Ehh, no

52. Spring or autumn?Autumn

53. Do you play any sports?nope

54. Can you play any musical instruments?The flute 

55. Are you more introverted or extroverted?Introverted, obviously

56. How easily do you cry?Very, unfortunately

57. Last musical artist you saw live?KORN

58. Favorite YouTube channel?Don’t really have a favourite

59. Star Wars or Star Trek?IDC

60. How long have you known your best friend?5 years!

61. Have you ever voted for a reality show?Ehh, no

62. Last CD you bought?GOOD QUESTION, I don’t really know

63. Have you ever ended a romantic relationship?if you mean if I’ve ever broke up with someone, yeah, I have

64. Have you ever been broken up with?Yeah

65. Have you ever been in the audience for the taping of a TV show?No

66. How long was your longest relationship? Are you still with that person?kinda over a year, no, luckily

67. Have you seen any Broadway plays or musicals?Yeah, with school but I can’t remember anymore

68. Have you ever acted in a play or a musical?When I was in primary school, yeah

69. How flexible are you?kinda, I think

70. Have you ever sexted?Sure

71. Do you own any clothes from garage sales or thrift stores?No, I don’t

72. Real or fake Christmas trees?DON’T REALLY CARE

73. How many pillows do you sleep with?One big and one small

74. How well can you write in cursive?my handwriting is horrible

75. What is your political affiliation?-

76. Do you like any boy bands?HELL NO

77. Have you ever broken any bones?I haven’t

78. Have you ever gotten any stitches?No

79. Do you have any piercings in places other than your ears?I do

80. What is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear and how old is it?a pullover, 3 years I guess

81. Do you like wearing hats?No

82. Have you ever dyed your hair?Sure

83. From 1-10, how competitive are you?I’d say 5, I don’t really know tbh

84. How long have you been at your current job?2 weeks, just started

85. Have you ever studied abroad?No

86. Phrase you say the most?probably “What the fuck” or “I DON’T KNOW”

87. Have you ever quit a job?no

88. Have you ever gotten fired from a job?No

89. Have you ever won a trophy? If so, what for?I have, flute 

90. Have you ever been a Boy/Girl Scout?I haven’t

91. Last thing that made you laugh?TODAY at work I told my co-worker that a girl from my friend’s class and her boyfriend have dildos distributed all over their apartment and we talked about how weird that was cause they don’t hide it when people come visiting them and like, THERE ARE DILDOS ON THE FUCKING TABLE OR COUCH AND THEY JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT IT AND ACT LIKE IT WAS NORMAL TO SHOW EVERYONE LIKE IT WAS SOME DECOR 

92. Do you eat meat?No, actually not

93. Are you more of a morning or a night person?night, definitely

94. Worst habit?Eating at nights, I hate it 

95. Deepest fear?Old habits

96. Do you believe in ghosts?I don’t

97. If you could take home any animal from the zoo, what animal would you take?EHH IDK Probably a tapir, they’re so sweet

98. Do you consider rapping singing?rapping is rapping, singing is singing

99. Favorite costume you wore for Halloween? How old were you?IT WAS A WITH when I was like, 6? 

100. Favorite store to shop at?EHH idk

101. Have you ever given anyone CPR?I haven’t

102. Favorite Pokémon?-

103. Do you own any homemade clothing?NO

104. Do you drink alcohol at all? If so, what is your drink of choice?I do, Gin Tonic

105. Have you ever skinny dipped?YEAH when I was maybe 2 or 3 in our garden 

106. Favorite type of cookie?CHOCOLATE chip, probably

107. Favorite flavor of ice cream?I LIKE THEM ALL CAN’T DECIDE

108. Biggest pet peeve?table manners, probably

109. Are you still friends with anyone from high school?I am

110. Favorite literary character?EHH idc

111. Are your birth parents still together?They are

112. Do you wear or have your ever worn glasses?I have, now I’m wearing contacts

113. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually hang out with?I have like 20 fb friends so yeah, pretty much with everyone of them 

114. Have you ever been the victim of a prank?I haven’t

115. Do you belong to a fraternity or a sorority?No

116. Have you ever taken a nude selfie?I have

117. Are you adopted?I’m not

118. Favorite fandom??

119. Oldest memory?I laughed at a friend’s haircut when I was 6 and she started crying, I regreted it so much that I locked myself in the toilet and cried until my teacher followed me, she needed one hour to make me open the door and brought me back to class, I apologized immediately and since then I’ve never done something like this to anyone ever again, and I won’t 

120. Have you ever snorted when you laughed?No

121. Can you drive stick?I drive stick

122. Favorite Disney song?IDC

123. Random boy’s name.Daniel ♥

124. Random girls’ name.Ehhh, MARLIES

125. How often do you eat out at a nice restaurant?maybe 2-3 times a month

126. How many people are in your nuclear family?4

127. What accent do you consider the most attractive?IDK I JUST KNOW that mine is the ugliest

128. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type?IDK

129. What is your astrological sign?Gemini

130. Biggest regret?THERE ARE some I guess idk

131. What type of shoes do you wear the most?BOOTS

132. Do you like any soap operas?Nah

133. Do you listen to talk radio?No

134. What sports team(s) do you root for?NONE

135. Describe your sense of humor.IDK it’s weird I guess

136. Have you ever been hit on by someone of the same gender?Today a girl randomly sent me her tits, if that counts

137. Favorite video game?BATTLEFIELD AT THE MOMENT

138. Name a moment in your life when you were pleasantly surprised.When I got the job I haven’t thought I would get

139. Do you believe in serendipity?No really

140. Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was done?Yeah

141. Have you ever felt you were born in the wrong period of history?SOmetimes, yeah

142. Is sex before marriage wrong?Of course not? wtf

143. Have you ever gotten a song you dislike stuck in your head?I have

144. Can you handle spicy food?I love spicy food

145. Have you ever called a non-lover a term such as darling, honey, babe, or dear?I have

146. Do you like MTV?Nah

147. Where on your body are you the most ticklish?Probably feet

148. TV show or movie you quote/reference the most?idk

149. Have you ever lived with a roommate you didn’t get along with?No

150. Where do you think is the best place to meet a new lover?idk, probably in a restaurant or bar, I think it’s not important as long as both feel comfortable with the place

151. Have you ever successfully been on a diet?I have

152. Favorite thing to do outside?EHH GO FOR A WALK? IDK

153. Where did you go on your last vacation?Croatia

154. Do you say “y'all” at all?sometimes, I do

155. Have you ever lived on a farm?I haven’t

156. Do you believe in evolution?I do

157. What TV channel do you watch the most?I don’t watch TV at all

158. Favorite Beatles song?IDC

159. Have you ever been on TV?No, luckily

160. Have you ever been to Disney World or Disneyland?Nope

161. Do you like horror movies?I do

162. Do you like to go fishing?Haven’t been in years, used to go sometimes with my dad when I was like 4?

163. Have you ever been hunting?Ehhh no?

164. Do you take medication for anything?I do

165. Name one item from your bucket list.I don’t have such a list

166. From 1-10, how much do you like children?it depends on the child? I’d say a 5

167. Have you ever thought about your wedding?Nah

168. Have you ever been bungee jumping or skydiving?I haven’t

169. Favorite flower?I LOVE THEM ALL

170. Do you collect anything?LINGERIE if that counts

171. Who was the last person you told a lie to?MY MOTHER TODAY cause she asked me when I’m going to visit them again and I said I didn’t know even though I’m going to visit them tomorrow!

172. Have you ever been a bridesmaid or a groomsman?No

173. Have you ever had a fortune cookie fortune come true?ehh no

174. What was your favorite toy to play with when you were a child?can’t even remember

175. How good are you at math?not too good, not too bad

176. Have you ever learned anything from a how-to YouTube video?No

177. Have you ever participated in a science fair?No

178. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender?Nope

179. Have you ever participated in a public protest?No

180. Do you have a pool at your house?I haven’t

181. Have you ever hosted a wild party?nope

182. Do you like karaoke?No really

183. Have you ever written a love letter?I have

184. Have you ever ran a marathon?No

185. How often do you get mad at yourself?Like, all the time

186. Any guilty pleasures? I don’t think so

187. Fruits or vegetables?BOTH

188. Do you live in a house or an apartment?Apartment

189. The countryside or the suburbs?both has its pros and cons, for me it’s the suburbs

190. Worst job you’ve ever had?-

191. Do you hang out with any of your co-workers?NOT YET

192. Were you ever voted homecoming/prom king or queen?We don’t have this dumb shit over here, luckily 

193. Were you voted a “best” or “most likely to” in high school?wtf

194. Have you ever gotten detention?no

195. Have you ever babysat?I have

196. Have you ever taken a road trip just for the fun of it?Of course

197. How many drinks get you tipsy?I think it starts around drink number 6

198. Were you a part of any academic clubs in high school or college?-

199. Have you ever given a public speech, aside from your schooling?no

200. How long have you been on tumblr? For almost 3 years now

THANK YOU SO MUCH DANIEL ♥

[restingbritishface]

all the questions

1.What is your middle name? Grace2. Do you have any nicknames? The ones you call me lol3. Do you have any allergies? Seasonal and maybe dairy and penicillin4. What is the longest your hair has ever been? However long it is now lol5. Apple or PC? PC just because I’ve only used it6. Favorite flavor? Omfg for what though, maybe cinnamon or chocolate7. Have you ever been on a blind date? Nope8. Are you friends with any of your exes? Nope lol they were all weird assholes9. What kind of car do you drive? ‘02 ford taurus10. How grammatically correct are you when you text? Very in terms of spelling and verbs and shit but punctuation is nonexistent11. What foreign country would you most like to visit and why? England obviously lolipo12. Creamy or chunky peanut butter? Depends on my mood lol14. DC or Marvel? DC just because WW15. Disney or Nickelodeon? Disney16. Do you have any stickers on your laptop computer? Nope17. Name/author of the last book you read cover to cover. Do you recommend it? Whatever the second Magnus Chase book is lol18. Do you read any magazines? Nope19. Coffee or tea? Both but i drink coffee more20. What is your go-to Starbucks drink? Either a london fog or blonde roast21. How many things can do with your weaker hand? A lot except writing22. Last show you binge watched? Maybe merlin?23. Dogs or cats? Cats but dogs are good too24. Favorite Disney princess? Elsa/Moana25. Do you like fast food? Depends on my mood but not normally, I just get in the mood for certain things like fries26. Favorite thing to cook for yourself? maybe cookies idk27. Favorite song to sing in the shower? Whatever comes to mind lol28. Have you ever butt dialed anyone? Thank fuck no29. iPhone/iPad or Android? Ipod30. Any styles of music you do not like? fucking country music lol31. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same gender? If so, did you like it? lol what gender are we talking about here (but no never been kissed)

32. Have you ever gotten a ticket while driving? nope33. Favorite emoji? don’t use emojis really34. Showers or baths? BATHS35. Is there anything you regret buying? an amp for my electric guitar lol i’ve used it like 3 times36. Are you fluent in more than one language? nope i wish37. Any movie(s) you can watch over and over again and enjoy just as much every time? moana and wonder woman and pride39. Do you have any tattoos? If so, how many and where? nope not yet40. Have you ever uttered a spoken hashtag? yeah but ironically lol41. Favorite school subject? whatever has the least hw lol42. Favorite non-chocolate candy? ???? that exists?43. Name one celebrity you dislike. Johnny depp because he’s abusive44. If you could have one superpower, which one would you most like to have? flying or shapeshifting 45. From 1-10, rate your singing ability. 846. From 1-10, rate your dancing ability. 847. From 1-10, rate your cooking ability. 848. From 1-10, rate your driving ability. 849. Are you religious? nope lol50. Do you drink soda? If so, which one is your favorite? not usually lol51. Have you ever locked your keys in your car? yes haha52. Spring or autumn? AUTUMN53. Do you play any sports? dance is a sport so yes54. Can you play any musical instruments? piano and guitar55. Are you more introverted or extroverted? both?56. How easily do you cry? i used to cry super easily but it takes a lot to make me cry now tbh57. Last musical artist you saw live? idk maybe jonas brothers58. Favorite YouTube channel? i don’t really have one tbh59. Star Wars or Star Trek? both60. How long have you known your best friend? two years in december61. Have you ever voted for a reality show? nope62. Last CD you bought? harry styles63. Have you ever ended a romantic relationship? yep lol64. Have you ever been broken up with? yep lol65. Have you ever been in the audience for the taping of a TV show? nope66. How long was your longest relationship? Are you still with that person? almost a year and thank god no67. Have you seen any Broadway plays or musicals? ayyy yes aladdin68. Have you ever acted in a play or a musical? no but i auditioned for one once69. How flexible are you? very tbh70. Have you ever sexted? ....yes lol you know that71. Do you own any clothes from garage sales or thrift stores? idk i don’t think so72. Real or fake Christmas trees? i love how real smells but fake is easier73. How many pillows do you sleep with? 1-274. How well can you write in cursive? if i try hard then relaly well75. What is your political affiliation? not conservative lol76. Do you like any boy bands? idk i don’t really know77. Have you ever broken any bones? nope lol78. Have you ever gotten any stitches? yeah when i got my wisdom teeth out79. Do you have any piercings in places other than your ears? nope lol80. What is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear and how old is it? a winter coat maybe 5 years old81. Do you like wearing hats? nope lol makes my hair frizzy82. Have you ever dyed your hair? not yet83. From 1-10, how competitive are you? maybe a 6?84. How long have you been at your current job? 3 years85. Have you ever studied abroad? nope86. Phrase you say the most? no worries87. Have you ever quit a job? nope88. Have you ever gotten fired from a job? nope89. Have you ever won a trophy? If so, what for? yep my dance team won 1st 90. Have you ever been a Boy/Girl Scout? was briefly a girl scout91. Last thing that made you laugh? a video of two hamsters92. Do you eat meat? chicken sometimes but i avoid it otherwise93. Are you more of a morning or a night person? nightttt94. Worst habit? probably talking negatively about myself tbh95. Deepest fear? losing people I love96. Do you believe in ghosts? not really97. If you could take home any animal from the zoo, what animal would you take? Idk maybe a leopard98. Do you consider rapping singing? no but it’s cool99. Favorite costume you wore for Halloween? How old were you? a slytherin hermione when i was like eight100. Favorite store to shop at? kohls lol it’s cheap101. Have you ever given anyone CPR? nope102. Favorite Pokémon? no clue lol103. Do you own any homemade clothing? yep 104. Do you drink alcohol at all? If so, what is your drink of choice? not 21 yet lol105. Have you ever skinny dipped? ...not yet106. Favorite type of cookie? chocolate chip107. Favorite flavor of ice cream? chocolate chip cookie dough108. Biggest pet peeve? shitty drivers and shitty customers109. Are you still friends with anyone from high school? sort of 110. Favorite literary character? alex fierro or nico di angelo111. Are your birth parents still together? unfortunately112. Do you wear or have your ever worn glasses? probably should tbh but no113. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually hang out with? i don’t have a fb lol114. Have you ever been the victim of a prank? yeah lol i have 3 brothers so of course115. Do you belong to a fraternity or a sorority? nope116. Have you ever taken a nude selfie? yeah lol117. Are you adopted? I wishhhh118. Favorite fandom? I’m sort of in too many for that lol119. Oldest memory? napping with my dad on the couch when i was like 2-3120. Have you ever snorted when you laughed? yeah lol121. Can you drive stick? nope122. Favorite Disney song? all of them lol maybe Shiny123. Random boy’s name. Sam124. Random girls’ name. Ellie125. How often do you eat out at a nice restaurant? maybe twice a year126. How many people are in your nuclear family? 8 but we pretend there’s 7127. What accent do you consider the most attractive? ...british128. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type? enfp129. What is your astrological sign? taurus130. Biggest regret? not being more confident131. What type of shoes do you wear the most? ankle boooots132. Do you like any soap operas? nope133. Do you listen to talk radio? nope134. What sports team(s) do you root for? nope135. Describe your sense of humor. sexual and observational and sarcastic136. Have you ever been hit on by someone of the same gender? lol what gender are we talking about here137. Favorite video game? Skyrim138. Name a moment in your life when you were pleasantly surprised. finding out my financial aid covers all my tuition139. Do you believe in serendipity? Sure?140. Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was done? nope141. Have you ever felt you were born in the wrong period of history? nope142. Is sex before marriage wrong? lolllll yes.... it’s sooooo wrooooong....143. Have you ever gotten a song you dislike stuck in your head? god yes144. Can you handle spicy food? yes pleeeeease145. Have you ever called a non-lover a term such as darling, honey, babe, or dear? yep146. Do you like MTV? lol nope147. Where on your body are you the most ticklish? i’m not super ticklish 148. TV show or movie you quote/reference the most? i don’t really know149. Have you ever lived with a roommate you didn’t get along with? uhhh my parents150. Where do you think is the best place to meet a new lover? idk lol152. Favorite thing to do outside? go back inside153. Where did you go on your last vacation? nyc154. Do you say “y'all” at all? nooo155. Have you ever lived on a farm? noooo156. Do you believe in evolution? idk probably157. What TV channel do you watch the most? i just watch netflix158. Favorite Beatles song? lol idk159. Have you ever been on TV? nope160. Have you ever been to Disney World or Disneyland? disneyland once161. Do you like horror movies? not really162. Do you like to go fishing? no163. Have you ever been hunting? no164. Do you take medication for anything? yes165. Name one item from your bucket list. cut my hair166. From 1-10, how much do you like children? 10000167. Have you ever thought about your wedding? yessss168. Have you ever been bungee jumping or skydiving? no but i’d do it169. Favorite flower? anything bright, maybe daisies170. Do you collect anything? i just sort of collect a lot of shit that means a lot to me171. Who was the last person you told a lie to? my parents172. Have you ever been a bridesmaid or a groomsman? yep173. Have you ever had a fortune cookie fortune come true? idk i don’t think so174. What was your favorite toy to play with when you were a child? barbies i think 175. How good are you at math? basic math is pretty easy for me176. Have you ever learned anything from a how-to YouTube video? yep, how to cry because i apparently need a welding tool for a ww costume lol177. Have you ever participated in a science fair? nope178. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender? well there’s more genders than just two so opposite isn’t really a good word there179. Have you ever participated in a public protest? nope180. Do you have a pool at your house? nope181. Have you ever hosted a wild party? nnope182. Do you like karaoke? not really183. Have you ever written a love letter? sort of184. Have you ever ran a marathon? no185. How often do you get mad at yourself? a lot186. Any guilty pleasures? ice cream187. Fruits or vegetables? fruit188. Do you live in a house or an apartment? house189. The countryside or the suburbs? countryside190. Worst job you’ve ever had? customer service 191. Do you hang out with any of your co-workers? i used to192. Were you ever voted homecoming/prom king or queen? nope193. Were you voted a “best” or “most likely to” in high school? nope194. Have you ever gotten detention? nope195. Have you ever babysat? yep196. Have you ever taken a road trip just for the fun of it? nope197. How many drinks get you tipsy? idk lol198. Were you a part of any academic clubs in high school or college? nope199. Have you ever given a public speech, aside from your schooling? nope200. How long have you been on tumblr? since 2013 or 2014

[kunoichihatakebranchaccount]

#191 358 questions

I don’t paint my nails. I shake my leg a lot. I used to like ‘The Office’, but now I can’t stand it. I actually watch Disney Channel sometimes. And like it. My laptop is a piece of crap and I wish I could get a new one. My favorite show is LOST. My favorite movies consist of LOTR, V for Vendetta, Across The Universe, etc. I need a new iPod. I spend WAY too much time online. I LOVE to read. I LOVE Green Tea. I have Hypothyroidism. I also have Asthma. My cell phone cover looks like a condom. I am mostly Polish. This dumb guy drives down my street every day blasting his bass. It’s really annoying. I love watching Law & Order: SVU. I know how to knit. And sew. I am currently in the process of writing a novel. I have been to 4 colleges. And have finally realized what I am going to major in. I am majoring in English. I hope to become a famous author. I take too many surveys a day. Waffles are way better than pancakes. I love reading outside, and wish I could do it every day. Johnny Depp is the best! I have a cat. I have a new car. I have more purses than I can count. I’m pro-choice. I’m totally for gay marriage. I’m straight. I fear I won’t find someone to spend the rest of my life with. I pee way too much. I am obsessed with The Beatles. I own a TON of Beatles paraphernalia. John Lennon is my favorite Beatle. My favorite color is Green. I watch Baseball. I watch Hockey. I hate Football & Golf. I love Yoga. I love the Wii & Wii Fit. I feel like I was born in the wrong time era. I wish I was alive in the 60s & 70s. I have arch pain. I stay up WAY too late. I always have to have chapstick with me. I am trying to lose weight. The only reality shows I can stand are ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8’ & ‘What Not To Wear’. I love lotion. I am kind of germaphobic. I carry hand sanitizer with me at all times. I hate public bathrooms. I’m a vegetarian. I get migraines all the time. I love to go bike riding. If I get married, I don’t know if I want kids or not. I have made a few surveys before. I’m pretty lonely. I always feel left out. I can spell well. I have to sleep in complete darkness. I suffer from insomnia. I am on Xanga 24/7. I am subscribed to a few magazines. I have lost a loved one to cancer. A certain type of cancer runs in my family. I always feel tired. I have more books and DVDs than I can count. I seem to always be sick. I like long surveys better than short ones. I’m a kid at heart. My room is really messy. I have more things in my room than I should be able to fit. I need more money. I need a second job. I have an older sister and a younger sister. I am on a ton of medications. I’ve had soooo many x-rays. I go through sooo many adapters for my laptop a year. I don’t know what my natural hair color is anymore. I’d rather be pale than be tan and get skin cancer. I love being pale anyways. My favorite bookstore is Borders. My favorite department store is Target. My favorite clothing store is Forever 21. I spend most of my time in Borders and/or Target. I am older than 18. School’s over for me for the summer. History fascinates me. Fantasy/Horror books are my favorite. There are a ton of movies I need to watch. I’m going to go read. Then I’m going to go to bed You’re a girl. You like that fact. Even when you have really bad cramps you think it’s better than being a guy   You think boys are SO confusing. You always say you hate someone then and up talking to them not long later. You forgive people who shouldn’t be forgiven. You have multiple best friends. You’re still close friends with one of your childhood friends. You have lost lots of friends. You are single. You are under 18. You are in high school. You hate/ hated high school. You hate guys that think they can get any girl. You tend to be attracted to players. You always choose looks over personality and you hate that about you. Your group of friends has changed a lot in the past year. You miss your ex. You cry every day. You over think way too much. You’re incredibly insecure. You feel like people are just being nice when they compliment you. You can’t ever believe that someone really loves you. You have a tumblr. You’re addicted to the Internet. You prefer twitter over Facebook. You think Facebook’s too judgmental. You hate guys who just want to have sex. You love indie rock. You love One Direction. You create scenarios in your head that will never ever happen. You look back at your past and are like, wtf was I thinking?! You know a lot of people named Alyssa. You’re nice to everyone no matter what. You like to meet new people and make new friends. Finding new songs you love is one of the best feelings. You wish the person you loved, loved you back. You try to make your ex jealous often. Someone broke your trust that you NEVER thought would. High school changed one of your best friends. Your parents are divorced. You have step-siblings. You live close to one of your best friends. You know a lot of people at your school. Looking good is important to you. You love fashion. You’re SUPER lazy. You don’t text that many people. You like to answer questions & take surveys. You have a cat. You have a dog. You hate when people complain a lot on Facebook. You have Facebook stalked a hot guy. You love your bed. You love sleep. You love food. You think you’re fat. You don’t think you’re pretty at all. You like to do/ say provocative things. You like to sing & dance even if you’re not good at it. You’re not good at any sports. You’re incredibly stubborn. You want to travel the world. You never seem to have any classes with your best friends in school. You have an ex that you absolutely hate. You are a virgin. You have had more than 5 relationships in the past. You want a really cute relationship. You like guys taller than you. You love when guys smell good. You think football players are hot. You’ve dreamed of being a cheerleader before. ^ & you’ve dreamt of dating a football player before. You get bored easily. You’re bored of this survey. You love music. You wear mismatch socks. You love plaid. You always have to keep your legs shaved. You like your nails painted. You love indie music. You’ve dyed your hair quite a bit. You’re afraid of dolls. You suffer from depression. You have a boyfriend. Your eyes are hazel. You have long eyelashes. You need braces. You suffer from an eating disorder. You play the piano. You’ve recovered from self-harming. You’re only energetic & hyper around people you know. But you’re super quiet & shy around people you don’t know. You have freckles. You have your ears pierced. You sleep in extremely late. You don’t go to bed until it’s light outside. You’re a grammar nazi. You’re terrified of spiders. You’ve been in a psych unit for depression. Your birthday is in December. Your favourite season is summer. You shower everyday. You wear make-up, but not a lot. You share a room with your brother & mom. -.- You’ve been homeless before. You have money problems. You’ve been pregnant before. But didn’t have the baby… The only friends you have live in different states. You do your own laundry. You watch Teen Mom. :’D You’re schizophrenic. You have a lot of clothes that you don’t wear. You cut up your own clothes to make them cuter. You put salt or ketchup on almost anything. You HATE raisins. You have a niece. You’re 15 years old. You love the color purple. You love alternative music. You’re currently in high school. You love your school. You’re attracted to coy boys. (: You’re sensitive. You cry easily. You’ve been so depressed, you couldn’t get outta bed. You’re always hungry, but can’t eat. You’ve attempted suicide. You’ve had your first kiss. You’ve been in love. You like to draw. You love to sing. You have 8 siblings. You’re the youngest on your mom’s side. You have a relative in the military. You have 2 tattoos. You’ve broken a bone. You aren’t flexible. You absolutely despise Nicki Minaj. You hate Lil Wayne, but like a couple of his songs. You’re a fan of Tech N9ne. You’re underweight. You put others before yourself. You’re a people pleaser. Satan himself temporarily takes over you when you’re on your period. When you’re nauseous, you become violent. You’re addicted to soda. You dress weirdly, but like it. You’re currently looking for a job. You’re always the one standing out. You’ve been severely bullied. You overcame your depression. You still get sad from time to time, though. You’ve been back stabbed by a girl who you thought was your best friend. You’ve been cheated more than once by just one guy. You’re easily forgiving, but you never forget what’s said & done. Your favourite movie is LOL. You enjoy romance movies. Also, chick flicks. You have short hair. You get car sick. I love Barry M nail paints. I sometimes think I eat too much. The person I have feelings for is younger than me. I can be quite stubborn sometimes. I’m always too shy to tell someone if I like them. I love those random conversations that make no sense. I’m legally old enough to drink … but I don’t go out drinking too often. I’m single. I’m more of an evening person than a morning person. I’ve read all of the Harry Potter books. I’m not very flirty. I spend a lot of time with my family. People always seem to text me when I have no credit to text back. Pasta is one of my favourite foods. I worry a lot about what other people think of me. My toenails are painted purple. One of my friends is pregnant. Chocolate always cheers me up when I’m feeling down. I tend to get embarrassed and blush easily. I’ve never been cheated on. I prefer Facebook messages to comments. I suffer from migraines. I hardly ever drink coffee. I feel insecure sometimes. I like prawn cocktail flavour crisps. I always make an effort to keep in touch with the people who matter to me. Mariah Carey is one of my favourite singers… …But I listen to all different types of music. I miss someone right now. I haven’t texted anyone in ages. People can be quite protective of me sometimes. I’ve never had unprotected sex. I find it hard to lie to the people I care about. I like the sensation of butterflies in the stomach. Talking on the phone makes me feel awkward. I’m easily amused. Most of my friends are in relationships. I usually keep my phone on silent. I love to sing. My best friend is pretty. I’m hungry. I hold back from saying what I think a lot of the time. I love Bourbon biscuits. Most people think I look younger than my actual age. I wish I was taller. My birthday is in April. I’ve never smoked. I don’t have casual sex. I think Leona Lewis is pretty. I don’t like to draw too much attention to myself. I haven’t bought any new CDs for ages. I prefer to wear my hair down. I hate guys who think they’re God’s gift to women. When I was younger, I used to love pop groups like Steps, S Club 7 and Atomic Kitten. I slept alone last night. I use conditioner every time I wash my hair. I was born in the 90’s. I have blue eyes. I don’t have a flat stomach … … But I’m not worried about my weight. My hair isn’t dyed. I was obsessed with Pokémon when I was a kid. I don’t like to bottle up my feelings … … But I sometimes struggle to talk about them because I’m not sure what to say. I sometimes miss the way things used to be. I’ve had singing lessons. I’m British. I hardly ever wear white … … Because I can’t seem to keep white things white, no matter how hard I try. I’m straight. One of my best friends is gay. My hair isn’t straightened. My friends think I have strange taste when it comes to guys. I will be staying at home tonight. I’m agnostic. I’m quite romantic. One of my friends is engaged. I sometimes feel like I take things for granted. :/ The last person I hugged was a family member. I like looking at old photos … … Even if I look bad in them, just for old times sake. I only dance when drunk. I’m a forgiving person. I listen to music by Evanescence. I listened to music by Paramore. I listened to music by 30 Seconds To Mars. I don’t have a problem with being single … … But sometimes I feel a little bit lonely. I can’t whistle. I dislike watching the news. I haven’t had sex recently … … And that doesn’t bother me. My favourite type of chocolate is Galaxy. I don’t wear shoes with high heels. I feel embarrassed when I see photos of myself as a child..

[brazilianchronicles]

The Best Bob Dylan Lyric

           The lyrics for Bob Dylan’s song “The Times They Are a-Changing” are being sold for 2.2 million dollars. Not the lyrics themselves obviously, what’s being sold is the original handwritten lyrics, on a piece of paper, and if that’s sold for the price that’s being asked for it will beat the previous record of 2 million dollars for original handwritten lyrics. Can you guess what song or even what artist that has the current record? I’ll tell you later.

            The lyrics on that paper were written by a very young Bob Dylan, but it’s a song that should have been written by someone very old and wise, who knows his way around life. The lyrics are quite possibly one of the best ever written and, also, they get to be one of the most impactful and important lyrics to have ever been sung by anyone, ever. But our friend Dylan has written so much and so many good lyrics that I find it hard to say which of them are the best he has ever written, but I’ll try to give my amateur opinion.

             I’ll start with the obvious, “Blowin’ In The Wind”:

           “How many ears must one person have

            Before he can hear people cry?”

           Very direct at times, he just tells you what he means, and, in this case, he asked a rhetorical question right? I mean, we only need one. But by asking the question he implies that we aren’t hearing them, so we might need more than two, because if we did hear people cry, we would do something about it right? But I love how he ends the verses with not a question but telling us that the answer is blowing in the wind, what that answer is he doesn’t tell you, so we get to listen to the wind and come up with our own. Master songwriter from a young age, perhaps that is his best song, maybe his best lyrics, but not for me.            

           The first time I heard this song and payed attention to the lyrics I was quite shocked, in my head, there were love songs, and songs that didn’t talk about love at all, but what I was hearing there was not a love song at all, it was exactly the opposite, Bob was singing “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” and I couldn’t wrap my head around how he seemed to dislike the person he was breaking up with, just listen to this:

           “I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind

            You could have done better but I don’t mind

            You just kinda wasted my precious time

            But don’t think twice, it’s alright”

           What a revelation that was to younger me. That’s how he ends the song, it’s a rough break up for a relationship that really didn’t work out, it’s got harsh feelings and no “we broke up, but I still love her”. Those used to be my favorite Dylan lyrics, they opened up my mind and showed me another side of things, but not anymore.

            Rolling Stone magazine says this is the best song ever, period. It’s also the song that the lyrics were sold for 2 million dollars, its “Like a Rolling Stone”, did you guess it right? The song, at the time it was released, was huge in many ways, the electric guitar and the length and the everything, but really it was because it was a Bob Dylan song, he wasn’t the folk hero Bob Dylan anymore, he was a rock and roll Bob Dylan now, which angered a lot of people, to the point of him being called Judas at the Newport Folk festival back in ’65. That was when it was clear that rock and roll was here to stay, for a few good years at least, and that was the song that solidified it. A good pick for the best song ever, but the name of the song and the magazine that gave it the award makes you think doesn’t it?

            But anyway, the lyric out of this song that I like the most is… Just kidding I can’t really choose, in the context of this song all of the lyrics “rank” the same for me, they’re all really special, they all have meaning, and they are all structured really intelligently. Go read the lyrics and see how the rhymes are structured, it’s very cool what Bob Dylan does here, and his choice of words is also very cool, you can see he has started to move towards more abstract lyrics, but that was already true for the album before this one, but the rule holds here too. And no, those are not my favorite lyrics by Bobby.

            This one is from his next album; can you guess it? If you said “Visions of Johanna” you are correct. It is after all, one of the three best songs on the album, the other two being “I Want You” and “Just Like a Woman” but this objective list changes according to my mood. The lyric is very straight forward but it always makes me happy whenever I hear it:

           “But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues

            You can tell by the way she smiles”

           Mona Lisa couldn’t have had the highway blues; those weren’t a thing at the time Leonardo Da Vinci was painting her. But I love how he says she does. I love how he so easily fits the modern concept of the highway blues, which I don’t even know what it is really, but I do get it, with something as old as Mona Lisa and her smile. That lyric is really intelligent, but it’s still not my favorite.

            After this album, Bobby was at the height of his fame, he was doing concerts left and right, getting called Judas and everybody wanted a piece of him. And then when it seemed like he might have died from all his fame and fast going life, as had happened to many rock stars, he got into a motorcycle accident. Or did he?

            “Just then a bolt of lighting

             Struck the courthouse out of shape

             And while everybody knelt to pray

            The drifter did escape”

           You’d have to listen to the whole song to get the picture, but that’s the most important part of it, and also my favorite. The song ends with our main character, the drifter, escaping because of pure luck, if the bolt of lightning hadn’t struck the courthouse, he would’ve been sentenced to something we don’t know exactly what. That’s called a deus ex machina by the way, when the main character finds his way out of a sticky situation by pure chance or luck.

            What happened to our drifter is very similar to what happened to our favorite singer-songwriter. An unexpected occurrence saved their lives. The lightning bolt and the motorcycle. And what was Bob’s motorcycle called? Just kidding I have no idea. But that was the time he was being crucified for “abandoning” folk music. The hints are there, but you never know. These lyrics are good on their own, but when you factor in who wrote them, they turn into something else, but still not my favorite.

            The album Rumors is really fucking good. But what’s better is that the first line of the first song tells you what the whole album is going to be about. And it’s the same story for Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks:

           “Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’

            I was layin’ in bed

            Wondrin’ if she changed at all

            If her hair was still red”

          The first two lines are normal, but the next two show you that the first thing this character thinks of is of this woman he once had. That’s the entire tone of the album right there. The album was released two years before his divorce with Sarah Dylan. Bob swears this album has nothing to do with his divorce, but I don’t know about that cowboy. The whole album is sad, and it’s all about breakups. Again he is putting all the hints in front of you, you just have to choose if you believe them or not. These lyrics carry a lot of weight with them because of what they mean to the album, and this is also one of the first songs that made me fall in love with Dylan, especially the live version in 1975, go listen to it, it’s just a shame that he cuts a verse from it, but even still it’s not my favorite lyric by him.I could go on and on. I really could but let me tell you what my favorite lyrics are that Bob has ever written since this is getting long. But really trust me when I say there are more songs I wanted to talk about.

            This album was really important for him, it was his first album where he started to move to folk rock, and it opens up like a punch in your face with “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. Do you know what album it is already? It’s Bringing it All Back Home. It has an electric side and an acoustic side, side one and side two, respectively. So now you want to go to side one and listen to the first three songs as a warmup and now you’re in the fourth song, it’s called “Love Minus Zero / No Limit”, I’ve read that you’re supposed to read that as “love minus zero over no limit” but I read it as “love minus zero (pause) no limit”. I like it better that way. And now pay attention, not that there is much to pay attention to, it’s just three chords and there is no cool riff. Bob Dylan starts singing with that controversial voice of his early in the song. I used to hate it, literally hate it, used to think how anyone could like this dude with his stupid voice. But now I wouldn’t have anyone else sing this song, or any of his songs. Bob Dylan covers are nice, but the originals will always have a magic touch to them.

            Oh yeah, the lyrics. Well, I’ll be honest, it’s hard to choose what my favorite of this song are. But I think I know, we’ll get there, first things first, the opening:

           “My love, she speaks like silence

            Without ideals or violence

            She doesn’t have to say she is faithful

            Yet she is true, like ice, like fire”

           The first line tells you it’s not a straightforward love song. What does it mean to speak like silence? Maybe I’m dumb but I don’t know. What does it mean to be true like ice, like fire? Again, I don’t know. But I like that I don’t know, I can interpret these lyrics as many times as I want and get different things each time. Let’s keep going, the next set of lyrics I want you to pay attention to are these ones:            “Some speak of the future

            My love she speaks softly

            She knows there is no success like failure

            And that failure is no success at all”

           Amazing once again. The first two lines are easy to understand, they’re nice lyrics with some play on words, and then the next half is really clever. Failure, by definition, is no success at all, but we learn so much when we fail, I used to have a teacher that always said the winning was the worst, because you don’t learn anything, to him there is no success like failure, and I agree. Those two lines are clever, Bob was truly a master at writing.

            The whole song is noteworthy and the entirety of it is surreal and abstract, which is, as I have said, a theme is many songs he would later write, and this song has references to the Biblical Book of Daniel and also to Edgar Alan Poe’s poem “The Raven” which leads me to my favorite lyrics by Bobby:            “My love is like some raven

            At my window with a broken wing”

           There it is. The last two lines of the song. Simple, yet complex. References another work as we have talked about and I don’t really know what to make of it. If you ask me what that line means, I don’t know. But I do have a hunch of what it means to me. But I’m not sure of that even. Are we to take it as his love is like the raven from Poe’s poem? A poem about loss that is generally sad? Or is it to mean that Dylan will take care of his lover and her broken wing? I have no clue. But I do know, that’s my favorite Bob Dylan lyric, next we’ll just have to find my favorite Dylan song.