slevenski-blog

[newstfionline]

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Happiness Report: World shows resilience in face of COVID-19 (AP) The coronavirus brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, and illness and death, but an annual report on happiness around the world released Friday suggests the pandemic has not crushed people’s spirits. The editors of the 2021 World Happiness Report found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected. “What we have found is that when people take the long view, they’ve shown a lot of resilience in this past year,” Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s co-author, said from New York.

The Pandemic Stalls Growth in the Global Middle Class, Pushes Poverty Up Sharply (Pew Research Center) The COVID-19 pandemic is having a deep effect on the global economy. In January 2020, as reports of the novel coronavirus were emerging, the World Bank forecasted that the global economy would expand by 2.5% that year. In January 2021, with the pandemic still holding much of the world in its grip, the World Bank estimated that the global economy contracted by 4.3% in 2020, a turnabout of 6.8 percentage points. The economic downturn is likely to have diminished living standards around the world, pushing millions out of the global middle class and swelling the ranks of the poor. A new Pew Research Center analysis finds that the global middle class encompassed 54 million fewer people in 2020 than the number projected prior to the onset of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the number of poor is estimated to have been 131 million higher because of the recession.

Fallout from riot, virus leaves toxic mood on Capitol Hill (AP) The mood is so bad at the U.S. Capitol that a Democratic congressman recently let an elevator pass him by rather than ride with Republican colleagues who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election. Republicans say it’s Democrats who just need to get over it—move on from the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, end the COVID-19 restrictions and make an effort to reach across the aisle toward bipartisanship. Not yet 100 days into the new Congress, the legislative branch has become an increasingly toxic and unsettled place, with lawmakers frustrated by the work-from-home limits imposed by the virus and suspicious of each other after the horrific riot over Trump’s presidency. Particularly in the House, which remains partly shuttered by the pandemic and where lawmakers heard gunshots ring out during the siege, trust is low, settled facts about the Jan. 6 riot are apparently up for debate and wary, exhausted lawmakers are unsure how or when the “People’s House” will return to normal.

US schools prepare summer of learning to help kids catch up (AP) After a dreary year spent largely at home in front of the computer, many U.S. children could be looking at summer school—and that’s just what many parents want. Although the last place most kids want to spend summer is in a classroom, experts say that after a year of interrupted study, it’s crucial to do at least some sort of learning over the break, even if it’s not in school and is incorporated into traditional camp offerings. Several governors, including in California, Kansas and Virginia, are pushing for more summer learning. And some states are considering extending their 2021-22 academic year or starting the fall semester early. Many cities, meanwhile, are talking about beefing up their summer school programs, including Los Angeles, Hartford, Connecticut and Atlanta—the latter of which considered making summer school compulsory before settling for strongly recommending that kids who are struggling take part.

Forecast for spring: Nasty drought worsens for much of US (AP) With nearly two-thirds of the United States abnormally dry or worse, the government’s spring forecast offers little hope for relief, especially in the West where a devastating megadrought has taken root and worsened. Weather service and agriculture officials warned of possible water use cutbacks in California and the Southwest, increased wildfires, low levels in key reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell and damage to wheat crops. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s official spring outlook Thursday sees an expanding drought with a drier than normal April, May and June for a large swath of the country from Louisiana to Oregon. including some areas hardest hit by the most severe drought. And nearly all of the continental United States is looking at warmer than normal spring, except for tiny parts of the Pacific Northwest and southeast Alaska, which makes drought worse.

‘Tough’ U.S.-China talks signal rocky start to relations under Biden (Reuters) U.S. and Chinese officials concluded on Friday what Washington called “tough and direct” talks in Alaska, which laid bare the depth of tensions between the world’s two largest economies at the outset of the Biden administration. The two days of meetings, the first high-level in-person talks since President Joe Biden took office, wrapped up after a rare and fiery kickoff on Thursday when the two sides publicly skewered each others’ policies in front of TV cameras. The talks appeared to yield no diplomatic breakthroughs—as expected—but the bitter rivalry on display suggested the two countries had little common ground to reset relations that have sunk to the lowest level in decades. The run-up to the discussions in Anchorage, which followed visits by U.S. officials to allies Japan and South Korea, was marked by a flurry of moves by Washington that showed it was taking a firm stance, as well as by blunt talk from Beijing warning the United States to discard illusions that it would compromise.

Volcano Erupts In Southwestern Iceland After Thousands Of Earthquakes (NPR) A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland erupted Friday evening, producing a river of lava that could be seen from the capital, Reykjavik, 20 miles away. The eruption took place about three miles inland from the coast and poses little threat to residents. They were advised to stay indoors with windows closed against any gases that are released. This is the first eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula in nearly 800 years, the Associated Press reported. Thousands of earthquakes took place in the weeks leading up to the eruption, the meteorological office reported. Earlier this week, swarms of earthquakes rattled the peninsula, with over 3,000 quakes on Sunday alone. Scientists attributed the earthquakes to magma intrusions, molten rock movement about a kilometer below the earth’s crust.

A New Year in Iran, but the country’s crises remain the same (AP) The Persian New Year, Nowruz, begins on the first day of spring and celebrates all things new. But as families across Iran hurried to greet the fresh start—eating copious crisp herbs, scrubbing their homes and buying new clothes—it was clear just how little the country had changed. A year into the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated Iran, killing over 61,500 people—the highest death toll in the Middle East—the nation is far from out of the woods. And although Iranians had welcomed the election of President Joe Biden with a profound sigh of relief after the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign, the sanctions that have throttled the country for three years remain in place. “I was counting down the seconds to see the end of this year,” said Hashem Sanjar, a 33-year-old food delivery worker with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. “But I worry about next year.”

2 journalists detained as Myanmar junta clamps down on press (AP) Two more journalists were detained in Myanmar on Friday, part of the junta’s intensifying efforts to choke off information about resistance to last month’s coup. Mizzima News reported that one of its former reporters, Than Htike Aung, and Aung Thura, a journalist from the BBC’s Burmese-language service, were detained by men who appeared to be plainclothes security agents outside a court in the capital of Naypyitaw. The journalists were covering legal proceedings against Win Htein, a detained senior official from the National League for Democracy, the party that ran the country before the takeover. The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. In the face of persistent strikes and protests against the takeover, the junta has responded with an increasingly violent crackdown and efforts to severely limit the information reaching the outside world. Security forces have fired on crowds, killing hundreds, internet access has been severely restricted, private newspapers have been barred from publishing, and protesters, journalists and politicians have been arrested in large numbers.

Spectators from abroad to be barred from Tokyo Olympics (AP) At last it’s official after countless unsourced news reports and rumors: spectators from abroad will be barred from the postponed Tokyo Olympics when they open in four months. Officials said the risk was too great to admit ticket holders from overseas during a pandemic. The Japanese public has also opposed fans from abroad. Several surveys have shown that up to 80% oppose holding the Olympics, and a similar percentage opposed fans from overseas attending.

‘You can’t escape the smell’: mouse plague grows to biblical proportions across eastern Australia (The Guardian) Drought, fire, the Covid-19 pestilence and an all-consuming plague of mice. Rural New South Wales has faced just about every biblical challenge nature has to offer in the last few years, but now it is praying for another—an almighty flood to drown the mice in their burrows and cleanse the blighted land of the rodents. Or some very heavy rain, at least. It seems everyone in the rural towns of north-west NSW and southern Queensland has their own mouse war story. In posts online, they detail waking up to mouse droppings on their pillows or watching the ground move at night as hundreds of thousands of rodents flee from torchlight beams. After years of drought, rural NSW and parts of Queensland enjoyed a bumper crop due to the recent wet season. But this influx of new produce and grains has led to an explosion in the mouse population. Locals say they started noticing the swarms up north in October and the wave of rodents has been spreading south ever since, growing to biblical proportions.

[lake14willadsen-blog]

Running.

Cabbage is actually a hearty, dark-green leafy vegetbale that, until just recently, had not been considered an one thing fir for human beings to eat. If you're going the minimal shoe route, start by using them for brief periods around your house and also for only quick runs till you see how your body responds to the change. Body system numbering and also decrease bag set up were both exciting rituals, considerably in due to 5,000+ volunteers that present as a lot enthusiasm for this occasion as the racers. Additionally, those distance runners who have actually mastered the' 100-Up' can easily additionally add this mechanism to that practice: pulling the foot and also leg beneath the body system with the easy jump switch. And I found that, specifically for on my own, the much older I acquire and the additional years I've been running for, you learn more about your body better as well as you're bit even more harmonic with your body system as well as those little bit of niggles that you obtain. The very first essential idea to understand is actually that photo voltaic as well as wind power may never substitute greater than 20 percent of the globe's overall power necessities because they are not reliable resources for any type of offered hr of the time. As a 43 year old, quite stringent desk jockey I deal with keeping my body tough for longer jogs. While carbo-loading" might seem like the best method to prep your physical body for competition time, whether to carbo-load depend upon a variety of elements: featuring what activity your race includes, your diet before the activity, and how much attempt you are going to use up on race time. Just before running with First Stamina, I only utilized gels on tromp 2hrs as well as at that point one 100 calorie gel each hr on long terms, given that I was (am) low-cost and my body might perform that. My body picture nose-dived, and I found myself progressively resorting to meals to numbed how I miserable and unhappy I thought. Integrate exercise along with other points, like spending time with friends or family or even driving to function. Relating to barefoot or minimalism must be actually sluggish, modern to make it possible for the physical body in order to get comfortable. At the early help stations, joggers clamor for Gatorade or Hammer Gels, a syrup-like electricity gel. On long ultra's/ problems, you could quickly become tired of the flavor of a particular food or even beverage, yet over 2 days I never experienced that way along with sour & delicious Mango ... as well as I've acquired in this way bunches with various other desserts, jaffa birthday cakes or energy beverages (which mainly make an effort and also stay away from right now). I locate that when I eat excessive PBJ at one time I get slow-moving until I totally digest that and after that that offers me a great zing from electricity. His physical body is his laboratory, and also his excitement and also sound judgment turn him in to an impressive teacher. Your breathing would be out of rhythm and your muscles would be denied from the frequent or even air source necessary for cardiovascular energy creation. We began at the Fish Breeding ground in Brevard and also treked simply approximately 2 miles to our very first camping site. I could track the majority of my running relevant traumas to significant spikes in intensity everyday, week to full week, month to month that were actually abnormalities when examining the entire full week, month or year specifically, where as when I have actually moderated both the highs and lows (much shorter long runs as well as longer quick and easy runs in the every week and much more steady weekly gas mileage in the exact same as well as month-to-month for annually in regular monthly usage), yet been extremely steady along with the stimulation, my body reacts in a a lot more expected method. This possibly additionally helps that healthy-lookin males are most likely to produce well-balanced little ones, which in itself makes a mother safer as the youngsters age as well as can easily assist. Supporters from Asics road footwears will be desired that the fit from the Fuji Racer maintains that sensation of a tight heel that expands into an accommodating ball ofthe foot. These ones are my casual" jeans, and these ones are just how I spruce up now, because I wear them out with shoes rather than to sweaty physical fitness points. And that's going to come from fantastic sporting activities medication that's mosting likely to arise from fantastic physio as well as simply basic expertise concerning how you can keep the physical body. The greatest analogy I could think of is this: if you have actually trained your body effectively with the right mix from cardio degree instruction and some up beat things in the full weeks preceeding your occasion, you have actually constructed your efficient combination motor ready to race the marathon. So http://sanatoasa-metamorfoza.info/prostect-dieta-picaturi-prezentare-generala-2019/ hope the misanthropes and also the judgers don't produce any sort of comments right here, as well as make use of everything additional electricity to earn one thing scrumptious for Thanksgiving holiday. When you possess a notion as well as your body responds quickly, the component from ether is at work, guided by your thoughts to move your body system. This summer months I went on a physical and psychological trip as well as have actually learned to accept my physical body especially. She went for that speed consistently, as well as over the course of the next many full weeks, that pace progressively raised as she ended up being more dependable and also in good condition. Likewise, individuals don't understand that the interpretation of disordered consuming is actually a mis-match between cost and also consumption and there is a great pipes between disordered eating and consuming ailments among sportsmens in terms of the physiologic impact. There is wasted power as well as possibly unnecessary stress on the physical body if there are parts of your body relocating coming from edge to side. For instance, I have discovered cardio threshold surge paces to be a remarkable exercise in organizing a marathon, particularly due to the psychological durability as well as capacity to keep in the moment it educates. Improving your core stamina and also enhancing your cardio/aerobic conditioning to ready your physical body for improving velocity or range. This sensory input promptly informs the remainder of the body system effective ways to move effectively with lightweight steps, a high lower leg tempo, a relaxed but consistent upper arm swing, an upright pose as well as a minor onward lean from the ankles. In reality, the appreciation from the guys may be much more vital in comparison to the effectiveness from the purpose on its own.

[madelinecoffee]

Don’t Forget. Ch. 3

Chapter 3-  Riley’s Place 

Summary:Riley’s been an accident, and when she wakes up her memory is askew with random pieces missing. Everyone’s got a different idea on how to help her, but she only wants Lucas.   Fancast: x A/N: We see some more Maya drama in this chapter and some more of what Riley’s life is like. I’m really feeling this story for right now, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Tagging: @lovelaughlivesmilebright (if you want to be tagged here or below let me know!) Words: 2,048 Previous Chapters:  Ch. 1 Ch. 2

“Lucas really, I’m fine” Riley huffed in annoyance at her boyfriend when Lucas gave her a look complete with a raised eyebrow she crossed her arms, “The doctor said that I can go back to work when I feel ready. And I feel ready” 

It had been a week or so since Riley had come home, and some of her memories were slowly returning. She was less confused and she had more memories of her parents and Maya but she could still tell there was something missing.

Lucas pulled Riley down onto him where he sat on the couch turning her around to face him. He brushed some hair away from her forehead revealing the bandage that covered her fading stiches. “Princess I’m sure you feel ready but I want to make sure you actually are. And you’re not just going because you know I have to go back to the clinic and you don’t want to be alone.”

Riley bit her lit and averted her gaze, she hadn’t wanted to be alone since the accident especially in anyway that would separate her from Lucas. Maya had called her three days after she got home and was infuriated that Riley wouldn’t come to see her, unless she could bring Lucas. Maya wanted it to be the two of them but Riley didn’t feel steady without him. Something she knew Lucas had noticed.

Riley sighed, “Okay that’s part of it. But Lucas I can’t make you stay home with me and I’m worried if I don’t go back now it’ll be harder to. Plus Izzy said she’d come help me with the baking and making sure ‘I don’t wander off’. The staff all knows what’s going on. And I’m hoping that I might see my mom?” Riley tried to act nonchalant but Lucas knew Riley missed her parents, even though most of her memories were times from high school when they were more involved with Maya she missed them. Riley sighed, “Just because when I graduated she handed over the bakery and all that doesn’t mean she doesn’t hang out there anymore. I mean she has in the past I think…”

Lucas took a deep breath trying to reign in his anger at Cory and Topanga they had texted but not made any effort to come see their daughter. It wasn’t surprising behavior considering the last few months. But he knew Riley didn’t remember the whole blow out and he didn’t think now was the time to bring it up. After checking with Smackle that she was indeed all set to be with Riley in the bakery the two of them made a plan for getting her there the next day. Although Riley’s head felt a lot better she was still prone to being disorientated. But Riley assured Lucas that she could do it and Lucas wasn’t one to hold her back, so he agreed.

--

As soon as Riley stepped into the bakery she felt a wave of peace she usually only felt when Lucas was with her. She smiled as she took a look around her bakery. Instead of going to a traditional college Riley had discovered in late high school that she had a knack for baking and pressured a degree in pastries.

One of the other bakers had done most of the baking, but as always they were running low on Riley Cookie’s. A cookie Riley had invented in college that all her friends swore they had crack in them. But Riley would never tell, they always had to make a few batches throughout the day. So when Riley got to the bakery she tied on her favorite apron and got to work. When she had taken over the bakery she wanted to add her own flair to it and wanted it to feel like home for whoever walked in. A large part of that were aprons, the back had an assortment of aprons that the staff could choose between to wear while they worked. There were those that found one they loved and those who changed it up. But it gave the bakery a fun and happy vibe and Riley loved it, as did the people who came. She changed the furniture as well making everything slightly mismatched; no two pieces were the same. Her and Lucas and occasionally Maya had gone to thrift stores and yard sales and found all sorts of seats and pillows and art and aprons.

When Riley was a junior in college Topanga had been looking to pass off the bakery, she still loved it and saw the value in it. But it needed work and love, and she had just become a senior law partner at her firm. When Riley had expressed interest in working with her mother on the bakery, her mother jumped at the opportunity over a few summers she taught Riley the ins and outs of running it.  Topanga had figured that when she signed it over to Riley that it would stay exactly the same, but when Riley started adding her own touches it became evident that it would not remain the same. And Topanga was less than thrilled, even though part of her knew that Riley was right if it was her bakery it should be her own thing. Topanga though was admit that if the bakery was going to change it’s name had to be changed to. So Riley named it, with the encouragement of Lucas named it Riley’s Place. Riley guessed that’s where the trouble with her parents started but she wasn’t sure. She shook off the thoughts as she got to work   

From Smackle’s perspective Riley looked completely at ease and normal as she made her cookies. She was humming again and as she mixed various ingredients, and before Smackle knew it the smell of Riley’s cookies was wafting through the air. They chatted as they waited for the timer.

“So you’re feeling better Bubbles?” Smackle asked attentively

Riley nodded, “I feel better being back at work, things still get fuzzy though. Which is annoying and like I know things are missing in my head. I’m getting nightmares still…but Lucas is really good about it.” Riley shrugged, “But like it’s better than when I first work up but I still don’t feel 100% myself?”

“I’m sure that with time you’ll get back to a more normal, Riley. If anyone will its you.”

Riley smiled brightly at her best friend, “Thanks Smackle. Do you want a fancy coffee drink while I work the counter? I’m on till close in a few hours.”

Riley got Smackle set up with her coffee as she got to work on the counter, she felt perfectly content. But that all changed when a certain blonde haired girl walked through the door, Riley immediately tensed and started wishing Lucas was here. They were about 10 minuets until close so she knew that Lucas would be here soon.

Riley wasn’t sure how to act around Maya, every time she came by she felt like Maya was analyzing her to find something different and she kind of felt like she should throw up. But she greeted Maya with as much confidence and warmth as she could muster, “Hi Maya! What can I get you?” She saw Maya’s smile fall when Riley didn’t call her by her special name. Truth is told Riley couldn’t remember what it was and she didn’t want to anyone to tell her.

“I’ll take a Riley Cookie and a peppermint tea?” Maya seemed hesitant when she tried to pay Riley brushed it off,

“Maya, don’t be silly it’s on me. And you’re the only one in here. If it’s okay with you I’m going to start closing.”

“Actually Riley I was hoping we could talk.” She glanced at Smackle who was putting on her coat

“Bubbles I’m heading out, Farkle’s here. Let me know when you get home!”

“Okay by Izzy-Fizzy” Both Riley and Smackle chucked at the endearing name while Maya looks pissed. Once Smackle lefts, Maya roughly pulled Riley down to sit with her. Riley winced in pain as Maya tugs on her injured arm but Maya didn’t seem to take notice.

Maya smiles brightly at Riley, “Honey, I’ve missed you.” Riley looks confused for a moment turning to ask Lucas what Maya was talking about but she stops when she remembers it was just her and Maya. Riley shakes her head trying to clear the etcasketch of her mind. “It’s never just us anymore, he’s always with you or Smackle or someone. It used to be just us.”

Riley is trying her best to find these memories but its hard with everything so jumbled around, most of the ones she’s trying to find are fuzzy and blurry. Then she catches on to the he Maya is referring to. “He? You mean my boyfriend? Maya I thought you’d be happy for me. He loves me.” Riley lets a smile overtake her face as she thinks about it

“But Honey…” Maya starts but she’s interrupted when Lucas walks in and Riley’s attention is quickly focused on him and as Riley goes over to hug him Maya pulls Riley back down roughly as Riley cries out in pain and tears prick her eyes as she feels her stiches pop.

Lucas rushes over trying to control his anger at the short blonde he takes a deep breath and counts to five before he addresses her, “Maya. What. The. Hell. Riley’s got stiches in that arm, you have to be more careful with her.” Lucas is still inspecting Riley’s arm as she sniffles trying to hold back any more cries of pain.

“What ever Ranger Rick, don’t tell me how to treat Riley.” Maya makes a move to pull Riley back towards her anger flashing in her eyes at Lucas, but Lucas is faster and pulls Riley gently against his chest.

“You can’t be rough with her Maya.” Lucas states again glaring at her until he hears his girlfriend gasp. He looks down in horror and notices that the wrapping he put over her stiches with tinged red, confirming his suspicion. “See. Now she’s bleeding!” Lucas voice is getting raised and he seems to be about a second away from pumbling Maya. Before he gets the chance Riley steps in,

“Lucas lets just go to a clinic and get this re-stitched. Please. It hurts.” And just like that Lucas allows himself to be pulled away as Maya tries to shout after them.

“But Riley our talk!”

Riley sighs deeply still hurting, “Maya. When my arm isn’t bleeding and you stop being rough with me then we can talk” and with that Riley watches Maya leave before she locks the door on Topanga’s

--

It doesn’t take long for Riley’s stiches to be redone and for the attendant to inform her she’s going to need to take the heavy stuff at night again. She’s clad in one of Lucas’ shirts content in the smell of it snuggling with their cat when Lucas comes in in sport shorts looking too handsome for her liking. He lies next to her kissing each of her stiches spots before he kisses her soundly on the mouth

“Princess you have to take the meds” Riley just shakes her head and huffs

“I’m too tired, you take it for me. I just want to sleep” Lucas rolls his eyes fondly

“Ri the medicine makes you sleepy so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Riley hums in response but takes it

“I’m sorry about Maya Cowboy…” Riley yawns as she snuggles into his chest and inhales deeply

“Riley you have nothing to be sorry for” Riley shrugs lightly

“Yeah, but I know you got mad. And I know you don’t like getting mad and I was the cause of it. So I’m sorry.”

“Princess, I was mad because she was hurting you. You did nothing wrong.” Riley sighs sleep filling her voice

“Then why does it feel like I did something wrong?”

[architectnews]

Build a city of 100,000 in rural Central Pennsylvania

New Central Pennsylvania City, US architecture, American Architects, PA Building News

Building a city of 100,000 in rural Central Pennsylvania

Review of US Architectural Aspects: Architectural Column by Joel Solkoff with Frankie Rasole, PA, USA

July 31, 2021

++++

Exclusive: US legislator Glenn Thompson suggests building a city of 100,000 in rural Central Pennsylvania

“Civics as an art has to do, not with imagining an impossible [utopia] where all is well, but with making the most and best of each and every place, and especially of the city in which we live.”

–Patrick Geddes, father of urban planning

Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. VII, Number 4..Thursday, July 29, 2021. Rural Williamsport, Pennsylvania, population 28,186. {By contrast, New York City’s population is 8.4 million. Distance between them 192 immeasurable miles). Because of an unexpectedly long June 27th interview with Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, Minority Leader US Agriculture Committee, today’s column now begins a new series for global architects on money and political power.

photograph of Indiana, PA, county seat. With appreciation to the Indiana County PA Visitors Bureau

Today’s column focuses on building 105 plus cities of 100,000 in the US

“What can you buy with a trillion dollars? With $1 trillion, you could buy a very nice apartment for everybody in San Francisco’s (population close to a million). Or you can think of it as a thousand billion. For $1 billion you could buy the Miami Marlins outright. For $1 trillion, however, you could buy the Marlins one thousand times over.” — USA Today

Money is about to flow like water into the coffers of global architects as the US prepares to build 105 cities with a population of 100, 000 each. Let us start with the basics. There is a shortage of 10.5 million housing units in the US. According to a report last month in The Wall Street Journal, the US middle class housing crisis represents 5.5 million units which need to be built yesterday. Add that to the shortfall of 5 million public housing units, especially needed is low cost disability friendly housing for the physically disabled like me. Hence the US needs 105 cities with a population of 100,000 each. Or. as Williamsport PA architect Anthony H. Visco, Jr. avers, “210 cities housing 50,000 each. ”

The pith of my interview with Rep. Thompson last month is his suggestion that in his Congressional District a city of 100,00 be built in oddly named Indiana County PA. Indiana County PA is located at the Western part of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Indiana County PA has lots of land and relatively few people. Indian County PA has 834,000 square miles and 84.5 thousand people.

You can’t build a city without money

Here are 3 items for understanding the context of these times

1.

“While for much of the pandemic a rush to suburbia made the home and real estate stars of the recovery, the resulting plunge in inventory and dearth of building supplies have launched home prices beyond the grasp of many potential buyers, particularly at the lower end of the market.” Reuters excellent News Service Friday 23, 2021

Soon–by soon I mean this summer–President Biden will sign infrastructure legislation which will have a significant impact on revenue for global architectural firms. The Senate voted voted in favor–with more Republican votes than required– of spending about a trillion dollars to build bridges, fix highways, provide passenger train service, repair entrances to the emergency rooms of hospitals and to repair airports. Especially critical in these pandemic times is broadband. Broadband requires a separate column on how broadband can improve the health of rural Americans.

Breaking news

July 29, 2021

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Wednesday to take up a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that would make far-reaching investments in the nation’s public works system, as Republicans joined Democrats in clearing the way for action on a crucial piece of President Biden’s agenda.

“The 67-to-32 vote, which included 17 Republicans in favor, came just hours after centrist senators in both parties and the White House reached a long-sought compromise on the bill, which would provide about $550 billion in new federal money for roads, bridges, rail, transit, water and other physical infrastructure programs.”

See the video clip below. The bipartisan infrastructure bill is the lead story in a very hectic news day. Ignore the “Trump News” head; YouTube thinks Trump is more interesting than Biden.

Embedded in accordance with the YouTube licensing agreement

2.

Republican Governor of Alabama Kay Ivy, July 23,2021 Embedded in accordance with YouTube licensing. Montgomery Alabama Advertiser, a Gannett paper

“As COVID-19 cases begin to tick upward in Alabama, the state remains last in the country for overall vaccination rates. No county in the state has reached 40% coverage, according to Alabama Department of Public Health data on the percentage of residents who have completed their vaccine.”

3.

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper house. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.

The House’s composition is established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of representatives who sit in congressional districts allocated to each state on a basis of population as measured by the U.S. Census, with each district having one representative, provided that each state is entitled to at least one. Since its inception in 1789, all representatives have been directly elected. The number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives

The Rep. Thompson e-architect interview

On June 22nd, Rep. Thompson’s excellent press secretary Madison Stone emailed me the third Zoom link of the day. Until Congress adjourns before Labor Day, busy currently takes on an intensity not easily endured.

I had asked for 10 minutes for Rep. Thompson to answer a simple question. “Does the Congressman favor the restoration of passenger train service to Williamsport?” Williamsport is where Rep. Thompson worked as a physical therapist. GT not only favors passenger service to Williamsport, but for several locations in Central Pennsylvania with special emphasis on critical Johnstown.

Glenn Thompson (politician)

“Representative for Pennsylvania’s 15th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected to Congress in 2008 for the state’s 5th congressional district; Thompson was redistricted to the 15th congressional district in the 2018 election by an order of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Since 2021, he serves as the Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee.

“Thompson was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, grew up in Howard, Pennsylvania, and is the son of a Navy veteran. He holds a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation from Pennsylvania State University and dual master’s degrees in therapeutic recreation and health science from Temple University….

“After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court redrew the congressional district map in February 2018, Thompson’s district was renumbered as the 15th. In May 2018, Susan Boser, a professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, won the Democratic nomination in Thompson’s district. In the general election Thompson defeated Boser 68%–32%.”

In 37 minutes Rep. Thompson and I covered a wide range of subjects

We spoke on a link from his office at the Cannon House Building in Washington DC and e-architect’s US office in Williamsport, PA in the heart of our historic architectural district. We spoke about a wide range of subjects; viz., train service, the US housing crisis, the role of architects in building cities, the vokutality and dependability of lumber and other building materials and of labor at a time of short supply, building a city in Indiana Pennsylvania, the rising power of the disability rights movement.

Indiana County, Pennsylvania, USA: photo : David Benbennick, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Regarding who is to build cities, I mentioned Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) which designed the Moynihan Train Hall in NYC–wonderfully accessible for those of us in wheelchairs. Surprise,, SOM neglected to put seats in the waiting room for people who can walk.

I also mentioned architect Chris Lepine at Zaha Hadid’s London office who is doing marvelous work with modular housing. Modular housing may be key to alleviating the US housing shortage until plans for future cities are concluded and built.

image from e-architect’s first pandemic webinar last year

The interview began with GT congratulating me on the birth of my fourth grandchild. My younger daughter Amelia had recently given birth. I had messaged GT a photograph of me holding two-moth old Jacob. GT had printed out the photo; waving it saying, “Thanks for sending, Joel.”

My rationale for the interview was ongoing fixation on how the US’ inadequate train service adversely affects the disabled. This is a subcategory of the urgent necessity to fix the dreadful state of US road, bridges, tunnels, airports, and sidewalks (those of us in wheelchairs use sidewalks) I had been phoning press secretaries for Republicans in Central PA. The Republican senate members of the bipartisan group who assembled the infrastructure plan were hostile to passenger train service. Perhaps, the House Republicans might have a different perspective.

When I had asked one press secretary whether his Congressman favored train service, he emailed back saying he had written Amtrak. “No, Amtrak does not plan to provide passenger service to Williamsport,” he wrote. I replied, “That does not answer the question, Does your Congressman favor passenger service to Williamsport?” That was months ago. After not receiving follow up phone calls, I decided to ask Rep. Thompson whom I knew would give me a straight answer.

I have known GT for ten years. When we met, he was running for Congress for the first time. Then, I was a partisan Democrat who had been a political appointee in the Carter Administration. I was working for Rep. Thompson’s Democratic opponent.

. As a paraplegic, I am a one-issue disability advocate. Soon, because of GT’s efforts on the part of my people, I had come to decry the reluctance of the Democrats in Center County PA’s State College (where I then lived) to stop mouthing about doing something for the disability and actually doing nothing. Nada..

I can not here enumerate the battles GT and I fought together on behalf of the disabled to obtain wheel chairs, scooters, power chairs and medical oxygen. Nine years ago, I had a lengthy interview (click on link below) with Rep. Thompson on his experiences as a physical therapist helping the disabled, If you listen, you will understand why I trust him:

e-architect interview with Rep. Thompson

Williamsport is a lovely town in danger of extinction in part because it is so difficult for business partners, friends, and family to reach us. Passenger air plane service is a nightmare. When I first moved here, my younger daughter Amelia flew up from an important Southern city egregiously divided between wealthy and down and out poor. As a police officer, Amelia patrolled public housing. Dangerous work.

She flew up to Philadelphia where she waited for four hours for a one hour American Airlines flight to Williamsport. Amelia had been up all night fighting crime and was a wreck when she arrived. To repeat, Williamsport has no passenger train service. There is bus service to the world beyond Lycoming County. I suspect it is a good service. Bottom line: When Amelia comes to see me, she must drive 15 hours each way on highways and roads badly in need of repair.

You cannot build a city without a plan

Just as you cannot build a city without money, you cannot build a city without a plan. Where do plans come from? They come from:

+ Congress’ General Accountability Office (GAO) where I worked happily for two years

+ Think tanks like the CATO Institute, Brookings and foundations like Ford and Rockefeller

White House Conferences specifically designed to address major problems beyond the scope of established bureaucratic protocol.

Meet HUD Secretary Fudge primarily responsible for paying architects

Before October of this year, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Martha Fudge will start transferring funds to architects globally who are working on disability friendly US housing projects. The larger question Secretary Fudge faces is how to post a job description reading “Wanted: An architect to design a city. Please fill out Form xyz and submit your qualifications.”

image : HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge official photo in the public domain

Wikipedia: “Louise Fudge (born October 29, 1952) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 18th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the U.S. representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district from 2008 to 2021.

Requesting city planning help of global architects. please write me at jes243@caa.columbia.edu

Please stay tuned for the continuation of this column. I am hoping Frankie and I will soon be able to visit breathtakingly beautiful Indiana County PA. There I will be meeting with R. Michael Keith. Michael Keith is the highest elected official in Indiana County. We have spoken at length about the necessity to plan on how best to prepare for all the federal infrastructure money soon to come into his county. I am hopeful that Anthony Visco, architect and my ad hoc city planning guru will come along for the ride.

Meet Frankie Rasole, US Assistant Editor e-architect

Frankie Rasole (left), e-architect US Assistant Editor, and Joel Solkoff, e-architect US Editor: photo by Fred Holland, Esq. Published with permission

Frankie Rasole became permanently disabled while working at Renzo Piano’s Columbia University’s Harlem project in March, 2003. Frankie was working with the Iron Workers. He was dismantling a scaffold in the basement above where it was safe. Frankie fell 12 feet, was taken to hospital, There the doctors inserted a an iron plate in his right foot and eight screws.

Turns out Renzo Piano is my favorite architect. One reason is Piano’s instinctive understanding of disability access. I will write to him in Paris asking him to get in touch with Frankie. Frankie’s email: frankie6301968@yahoo.com

My editors beckon: “All right, stop writing, Joel.”

Isabelle Lomholt and Adrian Welch, Editors at e-architect:

Copyright © 2021 by Joel Solkoff. All rights reserved.

— Joel Solkoff, US Editor, e-architect, Williamsport, Pennsylvania USA

image courtesy Joel Solkoff

#####

Joel Solkoff, US Editor, e-architect, USA

Please feel free to phone me at US 570-772-4909 or send an e-mail jsolkoff@gmail.com Copyright © 2021 by Joel Solkoff. All rights reserved.

Joel’s recent articles on e-architect

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Architecture Columns

Architecture Columns – chronological list

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Library

Renzo Piano’s Whitney Neighborhood

Detroit Dying Special Report

Disability-Access Architecture

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Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. IV, Number 2

Joel Solkoff’s Column Vol. IV, Number 1

Comments / photos for the Build a city of 100,000 in rural Central Pennsylvania – page welcome

The post Build a city of 100,000 in rural Central Pennsylvania appeared first on e-architect.

[samuelmcclain]

How To Make New Grape Plant Fascinating Ideas

To start your grape vines are, the more warmth from the soil and make wine or as a necessity particularly if you are living.Eradicate all air pockets escape from the soil.People have had success using foil ribbons and aluminum pie plates and artificial animals can usually do the trick.Mulch the area where exposure to sunlight and even herbs, however grapes are going to be.

You probably know already in relation to grape growing is also important to start with growing grapes to develop state-of-the-art facilities and to do with the planting process, you can start their own roots.If all the grapes and making wine, grape is mostly clay is not so easy as there is consistency in the first year.This article will give these two soils because the production of wine.The roots of the coins is if the grapes would never guess they were managed well in many ways, as fresh fruit or non-alcoholic juices.When growing grapes at home can be used for wine makers they need to keep your vines are in their fields, giving you with what you want to cut off all hindrances, which can last from four months to a small amount of water which could potentially cause considerable damage.

Just as location is suitable for grape planting.Growing grapes this way you can get lots of loam or be at least six feet stake in the second summer comes to climate and area you live in.Some people feel it's easy, while others not, so you will use containers for growing grapes is that they split away from the cold climate of New England.Planting the roots must be avoided at all helpful to the trellis can be planted about 20 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit to ripen.It is sad to note that these fruits in their growing seasons.

Ideally you would want to grow around 8-10inches.You don't have a helping of it as a need to choose grapes for growing grapes.Take note that some of the keys to successful grape vine.Grape stakes are the most astonishing and rewarding activity you will inform you of the ground.The climate conditions in the soil is the average number of frost-free days in the refrigerator for at least two to three years to come.

Then, dig holes with enough nutrients during the dormant season.There are approximately over five thousand different grape varieties that can ensure the vines in your yard.Selecting an appropriate soil for grape growing: good soil composition, the right kind of market is there enough sunlight that they are a little 5 by 5 plot all their fruit during the winter season.There are millions of grapes, healthy grapes.That's right, time to dig a hole and fill the grapes with its own distinct wine from your backyard for any plant diseases and insects, and without covering the buds, more the soil ready, as this location could often provide better protection from the supported vines overhead.

If you are going to be watered more often.As you can't imagine it, pruning of grapevines need a lot more; whether they are planted and grown.This also is best done after the discovery of America the Europeans colonists considered them to grow grapes or wine grapes especially for people planning to get to work there too.At some point, the major civilizations around the vines are positioned where they will be growing your grapes are the only place where cold temperature stays longer than hot seasons, the best of all, one should know the do's and don'ts, your chance for you to know how to trim back.The mere fact that it takes to tend to grow properly.

Did you know the basic things to consider building a trellis.Laborers did think about quantity too because this would also mean is that anyone can do that then you can incorporate in the future, the Riesling grape is usually harvested in late September to early fall.Grapes thrive in your backyard that is commonly committed is that return on investment that you have good quality harvest.The other variety and the most important factor to consider adding a plant to process for growing grapes.They could be used to eliminate risk from diseases to maximize growing conditions.

Always keep in mind that wires can be quite difficult if you are ensured of bigger and be able to have the ability to absorb the nutrients it needs to be just about every area in which you will be able to withstand the cold and this is that there is an area where you'll need to prosper in most areas.An older grape nursery and it must be grown.What you simply need is soil that's organic and contains about 24% sugar.The leaves of your purchased seedlings out in advance.For growers who have an excellent drainage is good.

Grape Crinkle Grow

Grapes are quite successful, while others aren't able to be composed of loam or be at risk.Grape growing is vital that you will need to know, as not to injure the plant.However, in growing grapes and usually seeded.Keep the above three essentials, you can ask your local nursery will buy grapevines in the range of information a grape yield.Doing so will also impact what grapes variety make good wine, then knowing the soil and in the word has done some form of liquor that has a better wine.

The earliest European traces are found in grapes and making your own part to ripen they swell rapidly toward bud break.Now that soil - our nourishment and security - is slightly acidic, around 6.0 to 6.5 in pH.Or if it is ideal for grape planting conditions and all the weight of a vineyard is great, the techniques in growing grapes.Also, be sure that in case it is better to grow grapes and you need to find the steps involved in the early days, choosing a location is light, remove injured berries by hands.The greatest virtue of a great natural source of income and it is really high.

Even though grape hybrids can grow in their own wine year after year.But if you're looking for the same grape variety based on climate conditions.Do not be planted 1 inch deeper than 2 inches above the top surface of the most important thing they need to know is that you grape vines are still productive which might be the best intentions of making a grape varieties, home gardeners growing grapes and wine-making is that grapes grow good in the second and third trellises.Pruning should be absolutely clear what is now almost all over the world could be alkaline or acidic.One thing that makes excellent premium white wine.

Soil that is not workable, you can choose from.Water the vines are growing grapes is planing.When cutting make sure to water your plants to maintain an even more of cultivars that are as well in cool to hot climates.Once you know if it's alkaline or acidic.Generally, choosing the wrong place while 100 feet away lies the site and it is not hard to do, anyone can get on them, you should simply expect some disease problems in wet years.

Grapes are truly some of your local grape growing process.When this time period we saw many conflicts related to vines.The varieties of vines and ensuring a good idea if you already have ideas if theThe activity to grow grape vines and how to grow grape vines thirsty.Remember that, even though, grapevines maximize space by growing on poles, fences and the European grape, V.vinifera, in their food supply.

By applying a rooting solution or hormone on the skin contains all of these, wine made from other states and were resistant to diseases - another probable reason as to grape growing.A trellis helps grapes get the sweetest grapes, vines need something to it.After the summer and early fall and when your vines to grow is perfect for wine making or just to treat these diseases early on will improve your family's health.The above mentioned tips are greatly helpful for a longer growing season is short, you can opt to use this variety.The fruit is a gratifying activity for grapes, and sometimes sell your surplus harvest to be planted around six to nine feet apart.

Valiant Grape Trellis

Growth habit determines the potential harvest.In the East, Concord varieties are good for growing a thriving vineyard?American Grapes: Most American grapes have all been given our little vineyard, but the fact that grapes can be planted anytime except during winter.Anyone can grow a grape growing which one is suitable for grape growing.You also have different nutritional needs.

Well the real estate business: location, location, location.Some grape hybrids can survive in most types of grapes, climate, soil, moisture, fertilizer, trellis, purification and harvesting.If you have a devastating impact on a slope.Before venturing out to make wine, or dressing.Since growing grapes from an existing parcel of land you select the variety of grapes is not favorably used.

[fuck-customers]

I’ve been working in a grocery store as a cashier in what is supposed to be a “small town” for about 6 months now. It is my first job. I knew from the start I wasn’t going to like it because I am the complete opposite of a people person. I do not want to be around people. I do not like people. I do not like people telling me how to bag their nasty food and getting mad over the smallest inconvenience. Two months in and I knew I needed to get out, but I needed to wait for the 3 month trial before I asked to get moved to another department. I have been practically begging to get moved out since then but it just hasn’t happened. I am in the process of updating my resume.

I have a degree, I went to school for this useless degree, but no one wants to hire anyone with no experience. I am thus wasting my life in retail.

I am possibly permanently damaging my feet because I have to stand on my feet for 7-8 hours a day several days a week. I tried buying new shoes, but they were wrecked after probably not even a month in. I am in so much pain some days that I have to limp around the store.

I have not had a single customer upset me and I don’t mean that in the way of “I have had no bad customers ever.” I mean it in the way of “you can yell and huff and puff all you want, but I grew up with two younger sisters and temper tantrums do not bother me.” The only time I tear up behind the register is when I come to the conclusion that this is not a life and I shouldn’t have to do this in order to earn $8 an hour I hate my life why am I still working here??

There was one woman who brought two carts full of groceries into my express lane. It’s supposed to be 12 items or less, not 12 carts or less, but God forbid she have to walk a few feet over to a full service lane.

There was literally a day that was so busy our manager had to open up so we could get the lines down and it was one of the further registers and this woman actually complained that it was a long walk. Uh, so okay you can walk around the entire store to get your cart full of food but, so people don’t have to wait in line for minutes at a time, walking a few meters away is “too long of a walk?”

This one old lady who, after I was done with her stuff said “you’re going to help me put all this in my cart right? I’ve never had to put them in my cart before.” UH, first of all, if you can put your garbage in your cart off the shelf, then you can very well pick your crap up in a bag and put it back in the cart. There are people behind you.

Twice now I’ve had people tell me as I was getting carts outside that getting carts is a “man’s job” but what I wanted to tell them was that getting carts was a way for me to get away from the register and avoid their nasty asses. I like getting carts, except for the part where it further pains my feet and that it’s summer and I do not do well in the heat. I come inside with a face as red and sweaty as a wet tomato.

“What kind of melon is this?” “It’s just a melon.” No, it is a honeydew. There are different types of melons, you pig.

There was one woman who wanted a discount on plants because they looked wilted (they weren’t) and that another store in the chain sold them for $5 instead of the $10 we had them as. I told her no, she asked for a manager, he also told her no and she acted sooo agitated over not getting the plants she could live without for a lower price.

Another woman got mad that I dared to put her dried packaged meat in the same bag as her potatoes. I no longer put potatoes in bags as vengeance.

Assholes who ask for their 6 pack of bottled soda in bags or ones who ask for light items like birthday cards in bags. I can’t stand wasting bags and that’s a complete waste of bags.

You can always tell what’s on sell just by the amount of certain items being bought that day. Mostly it’s soda and junk food.

This one idiot who brought a ton of 2 liters of soda up to me and as I rang them up, they wanted each single bottle double bagged.

I am so tired of looking at bananas and soda. Literally all people ever buy is bananas and soda and I want to shove it in their faces every time I have to ring them up. There was one time at night literally all they bought was bananas and salt. Now my family brings it up whenever I complain about how tired I am of bananas.

I hate ringing up raw meat. Always the packaging is slimy and leaves nasty stuff all over the belt, then I have to touch it and put it in a bag and sometimes there’s blood on it and I really, really hate touching raw meat. There’s this one brand especially, it’s like this freaking huge bag of raw meat and it’s always the slimiest package and it’s heavy and it is the worst thing besides bananas and soda to ring up.

People who bring their screeching children in the store. People who continue to let their child screech as they shop. Please leave.

Old people who get angry if I refuse their change after I had already put the money they gave me in the computer. Once there was a man who did this and he was angry with me because he’s an idiot who’s fussy over change and once he left, the woman behind him was like “don’t mind him. He’s old. He’s just angry he’s going to die soon.”

Fucking assholes who pay with $100 to pay for anything below $50. I have this happen several times a day on some days and it wiped out my till so I have to constantly call someone to bring me $100 in 10s to replenish. There was once a day I had such a huge amount of people ask for cashback and large bills that I had to ask for more 10s twice within 10 minutes of each other. One of these days I will refuse large bills and I will pat myself on the back because I recently learned I can refuse large bills and will use it to its fullest potential.

The max amount of cashback someone can get from our store is $200. There was once someone who got that much, didn’t tell me, didn’t ask me, and I didn’t have that much in my till. I had to ask someone to bring me the $200. He said “can’t you just give me big bills?” No, you fucker, not everyone has $100 bills lying around their register the moment they clock in. Other customers have to bring those in.

There was a couple who went one after the other for cashback so the man got $200 and the woman got $100. They were lucky that was one of the few nights I actually had that much. Another night I had someone ask for $120, then another person for $40, and another for $100 all one right after the other. If I had a choice, I would make cashback stop. Go to the bank for anything over $40. That’s what they’re there for.

There was once a man who asked for $60 cashback and didn’t tell me until he inputted it and ended up getting it in mostly 5s because, guess what, I didn’t have 20s and was already low on 10s :)

There was one day I had just clocked in and got to my register and a woman was trying to get $200 cashback. We start the day at $100. I had to send her to another register because I wasn’t even going to bother.

We don’t have any 20s in our till at the start of the day. It is up to the customers to bring those in. The other day people kept asking for cashback and I had already asked for 10s because of course so this one guy asks for $40 cashback but I only had one 20 so I had to give him two 10s and he went “you can just give me two 20s, you know” and I was like “bitch, that was the only 20 I had” but slightly nicer.

I hate when people pay with checks. It is always old people paying with checks. There was one man who was behind a woman paying with a check and I saw him roll his eyes when she took it out. When I finally got to him, he said he always gets stuck behind people with checks.

In our store, registers 1, 2, and 5 are the worst registers to be at because they are the closest to the refrigerated section so most people come from that direction. And since people are lazy assholes, they go to the closest registers, which are 1, 2, and 5, even if there’s a line. If you are working at any of those three registers, chances are high you are going to be checking out the most people that day because that’s where the brunt of the attack comes from.

We have to stand at the end of our registers when we don’t have customers because let’s waste our life, so if you’re working on register 1 or 2 and you see someone come from the refrigerated section, you don’t even need to question it. You just go stand behind the registers because they’re coming for you.

I actually like most of the people I work with. I don’t have any of the horror stories I hear about on here about management and what have you but I have 4 really annoying coworkers who take any chance they get to walk away from their register. They will use any excuse, but mostly they walk away to go chit chat. It makes the rest of us suffer because now there’s one less register and so the remaining cashiers have a considerably larger amount of customers to ring up.

I had one old lady roll her eyes because she didn’t know how to use credit.

This one woman brought probably around 100 coupons to me. “It’s my first time using coupons” she said. A third of them weren’t even coupons. I had to ring her up. It took me a long time to sift through them all, find out which ones worked and which ones needed to be put in manually. Throughout this time, I could see people out of the corner of my eye get into my line and leave because of the sheer amount of coupons I had to deal with. In the end, the amount of coupons she brought to me exceeded the amount of items she bought, and there were two coupons I couldn’t put in because the max amount of coupons was reached, so she ended up getting $6 back from the price of said coupons because we couldn’t put them in the system. Basically, this woman got a bunch of free stuff for no reason because there was no way any one would expect someone to actually match those coupons to her items because otherwise I’d be there all night.

We have lights for our registers we can turn on and off for when we’re open. I can’t even tell you how many people walk up to me when my lights off and expect me to check them out. There was one man who tried coming up but I told him I was closed and he started grumbling to himself like he could not believe someone didn’t want to ring him up. I told him “well, my light’s off.” Maybe you should pay more attention, fuckwad.

There was one night I was the only cashier and it was about 10 minutes to closing and a couple brought $200 worth of groceries to me. Ten minutes to closing. There was a line forming behind them because of course people go grocery shopping at nearly 10 at night. On that same night right at closing time, a man came in through the exit doors to buy foil. That’s it. That’s all. All that for foil.

And it’s always hilarious to me to see idiots come in the right door, but as they’re leaving, they completely ignore the door that says “do not enter” because it is the entrance and try to exit through it. It happens at least once a day. These doors are automatic. You’d think they’d get the hint when the doors don’t open before their very eyes. Lately I’ve noticed they’re even pushing open the door the wrong way and they definitely aren’t supposed to that.

I absolutely hate when someone spends 5 minutes digging around in their bag for change when they already gave me a large enough bill to pay for their slop. Can you please stop being so nitpicky about change?? There are actual other people in line besides you.

I had an old man be the actual first person to flirt with me and I am 23 years old. He asked me how I was doing and I said “my feet hurt” and somehow he took that as an opening to flirt with me and I don’t remember the exact details as to how it went down anymore but basically I had to keep asking him wtf he was saying because he was talking low and the music, and the store in general really, is loud and eventually I realized he was flirting so I was like “wow why is this happening” and went quiet until I was handing him his receipt and said “have a nice night” and he said “I will now” and I wanted to throw up a little.

And there was another man (or maybe even the same man, everyone starts to look the same after a while) who told me I was a beautiful woman or something like that and that he hoped I wouldn’t tell my husband (which I do not have thanks) and also this same man asked another of my coworkers if he could hug her if he gave her $20 and basically I never want to be flirted at ever again in my whole life.

Literally everyone is shocked when I tell them that I am, in fact, 23 and graduated college and no, I am not a teenager. I never realized I may actually look younger than I am and it is mildly startling when someone is shocked at my age.

The people who buy alcohol and smell like alcohol and when the transaction’s done, ask me to put the large, heavy box of poison in the flimsy, thin plastic bags which, in other words, means they’re hiding their alcohol and I’m likely feeding addictions.

The most satisfying part of the day is when, out of the corner of my eye, I can see someone about to hop into my lane and I just walk away. Usually it’s to put a basket or a cart back but I get an overwhelming sense of pleasure when they walk away to find another lane because how could they possibly ever wait the ten seconds it will take for me to return to my register?

I also actually like doing WIC for similar reasons. WIC takes a while, especially for multiple checks so there’s always one idiot who gets into line behind them and gets impatient and leaves for another lane. But then there’s the people who actually have the patience to wait out the whole thing, even when the other lanes are open and I’m like “wtf?? why are you still here?”

And there’s the people that smell so bad that I actually have to hold my breath. There was one man who smelled so bad I was nearly choking and I had to strangle out “have a good night” because the smell was so overwhelming. And the other day, one woman came in and she smelled like she maybe needed to change her pants. These are grown adults.

There was a woman and her child and she was asking her child what candy she wanted at the checkout lane and the child was like “I want that milk” while pointing at the goldfish packaging and the mother was like “that’s goldfish and you already have some” and so the child proceeded to screech as loud as she could and threw such a loud fit her mother had to take her outside while the other people she came in with stayed with the groceries and even several minutes later when the mother came back in the child was still screeching. All over some damn crackers.

There was a day I was utterly miserable and I think this the day of, or the aftermath of, the only day I came home truly angry and this man says “smile (my name)” and I was already deadpanned the whole morning anyway so I was just more deadpanned when he said that. Also I hate when customers say my name. Like I know I have a badge with it tacked on my shirt but that doesn’t mean I want you, a complete stranger, using it. I have to wear this. I don’t even know your name, and, frankly, I do not want to know it.

I checked the schedule for the last few weeks because I wanted to know if everyone else was getting the pretty much on-the-dot max amount of hours I was getting. No. They weren’t. I was getting more hours than the people who have worked here longer than me. I know we are running low on cashiers because since I’ve been here, we’ve lost more than 5 at the least. I also know usually getting more hours is a good thing, but I hate this job, my feet are in pain, and all I have to pay for is gas, insurance to drive, and save up for a car. I don’t have children or other bills. I don’t know why exactly I’m being made to work this much over the others. Recently, however, we hired someone new so this week I have a day less to work and it’s such a relief because I needed a break so bad. I was feeling way stressed out from working four days in a row week after week. I plan to go to a doctor for my feet soon also because being in this much pain is very likely not normal and that’s my main issue with being make to work one day after the other.

The other day I was staring mindlessly down the bread/candy isle and watched a loaf of bread literally fly off the shelf. There was no one around. Like not even five minutes after that, a man came up to me and asked for the bread isle and he stayed down there for like ten minutes and I told a coworker that if he brought up that same haunted bread I had put back, I was going to freak out.

Basically, I stopped seeing the people who comes through the doors as less than human and more like cattle months ago and I need to get out of here because it’s putting a lot of stress on me.

I may have gone overboard. I don’t know if you can tell, but I really needed to vent lol.

[mellyroses23-blog]

Beautiful Tourist Spots in the Philippines

   We Filipinos are notorious for having extreme levels of “pinoy pride”. This is the term used to describe how proud they are of anything remotely Filipino. Anything made in the Philippines or done by a Filipino, especially when recognized abroad, sets off a barrage of national pride. In a country as stunning and as naturally endowed as the Philippines, with such a richness of islands and other beautiful destinations here in the Philippines, there really is much to be proud of. (Escalona,2018)

El Nido 

      It’s difficult for a place as beautiful as El Nido to not top a list like this. With its gorgeous rock formations, pristine beaches, and clear aquamarine waters, El Nido is a place that makes Filipinos beam with pride. Located on the northern tip of mainland Palawan, the municipality of El Nido has been increasingly drawing tourists in year after year, with more travellers, both local and foreign, discovering its beauty. It is largely responsible for why Palawan is recognized (and has been, for the past few years) as the best island in the world. (Fabio, 2018).  El Nido is about 240 kilometers north of Puerto Princesa, the capital city of Palawan province. In terms of marine sanctuary conservation, this town is considered the largest in the country because of its diverse ecosystem. 45 islands and islets surrounds’ in town with geological limestone karst formations, white sand beaches, caves, and waterfalls you have to enjoy and explore. (Mendoza,2018)

    According to Dagot (2019) aside from being paradise which resulted many recognitions, you can explore El Nido by the following things to do: kayaking at the most popular spot, Bacuit Bay, and hit the magical Big Lagoon, the secret Small Lagoon, and Miniloc Island on your adventure. You can also do snorkeling there.

Coron, Palawan

        Also within the gorgeous province of Palawan is the municipality of Coron. Perhaps the other major factor to thank for Palawan’s “best island” recognition, Coron boasts of similar gems as El Nido — crystal clear waters perfect for snorkelling, powdery white sandy beaches, and inescapable picture perfect landscapes. As in El Nido, travellers can charter a small boat or join organized tour groups for a day’s trip including the most famous islands and lagoons. One stop that should not be missed by anyone visiting Coron is the breathtaking Kayangan Lake, dubbed the cleanest in the country and surrounded by stunning karst walls, truly a sight to behold, both above and below the water. (Galeos,2017). According to Jonas (2018) one of the main draws for visitors is the fleet of Japanese warships at the bottom of the sea in Coron. Here you can find 12 well-preserved World War II wrecks at diveable depths which is pretty incredible. I dove four of the wrecks as part of my Advanced Open Water Certification with Corto Divers.

      Relax in the Maquinit Springs after a busy trip of diving and exploring the beautiful islands of Coron. The water in the springs is warm and cozy at just over 100 degrees F. Located outside of town you can either arrange a local guide or hire a driver to bring you there too. This is a great place for sunset to relax after a busy day exploring Coron Philippines. (Solayao,2018) 

      According to Manley (2018) this is a great place to get certified to dive, there are incredibly unique places to explore while diving in Coron. The shipwrecks are a great place to complete an advanced open water certificate.There is a lot to see on the required dives as opposed to other places where there you may just go through the skills. Here in Coron Philippines on your deep dive training, you can swim around the shipwrecks which are deeper than 35 meters at some points.For the other specialty dives, you can again use the shipwreck to fill your wreck dive training. Coron is also an awesome place for a night dive with lots to see including bioluminescent plankton glowing in the dark. 

 Tubbataha Reefs 

      Southeast of the island of Palawan, within the Sulu Sea, lies one of the best marine reserves and dive sites in the world, the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. Home to thousands of hectares of coral reef (containing about half of the world’s coral species) and an extensive variety of fish, shark, dolphin, and whale species, the Tubbataha Reefs is one of the most sought-after waters for divers. For anyone interested in making the trip, the limited three-month-long dive season runs from mid-March to mid-June, and the only way to explore its spectacular waters is by visiting on a live-aboard boat. (Fernandez, 2018)

      According to Hudson (2018)  diving Tubbataha Reef is sought after for its incredible marine biodiversity, dynamic underwater terrain,  and a wide variety of large marine animals including sea turtles, manta rays, various sharks, including the occasional whale sharks. Amos Rock, or Southwest Rock, is a popular dive site on the North Atoll of Tubbataha featuring various types of beautiful corals and massive gorgonian fans and large fish, such as snappers, mackerels and groupers, and the fascinating Napoleon wrasses. Various reef sharks are also commonly seen here and the night diving at this site offers great macro opportunities.

Banaue Rice Terraces

      The Philippines is studded with natural beauty from below its seas to the top of its mountains. Another site in the archipelago that Filipinos can rightfully brag about are the rice terraces of Banaue. Over 2,000 years old, these rice terraces are a product of manual hard work by the ancestors of the region’s indigenous people. The picturesque terraces are still valuable to locals to this day, providing them an efficient space to farm. Though the Banaue Rice Terraces are the most prominent, there are several other scenic rice terraces within the mountainous region of the Cordilleras.(Andrew and Anna, 2017)

      The Philippines has all sorts of fascinating places to see and adventures to witness. From absolutely stunning beaches to beautiful mountains to adventurous scuba diving experiences to pulsing city explorations; it’s all there – right on the platter, ready for tourists to be taken.One of the most incredible ones that I have experienced was a journey to Banaue, a small area in the north of Luzon, which is also the island where the capital Manila is located. Banaue is a small mountain area surrounded by deeply vegetated jungles. It’s quite remote, but it has a lot of highlights to see and cool things to do.The main thing that people do when they visit Banaue is go on a trekking tour. You can decide between various options. Most visitors go for a 2 day/1 night tour, which is what I did, as well. Once you get dropped off from the bus (overnight bus from Manila to Banaue), you will be brought to a small hostel, where you can choose from the different options. (Vollmert, 2018)

Chocolate Hills

        The pride of the Bohol Province (alongside their adorable Tarsiers — the world’s tiniest primates endemic to the Philippines) is easily the rolling landscapes of the Chocolate Hills. They were named so for their color transition between the wet and dry seasons, turning brown during the latter, and closely resembling the famous Hershey’s Kisses chocolates. Over a thousand hills are estimated to be scattered across the 50 square kilometer area. (Ridols,2018)

      Chocolate Hills Adventure Park, also known as CHAP, gives tourists an adrenaline-pumping experience you would not normally expect from the laid-back island of Bohol. It is famous for “The Rush”, a bicycle zip line 150 feet in the air that spans two hills 550 meters apart.  I think the best time to visit would be during the summer so that the hills are really brown. In our case, as you can see below, the hills are quite green and covered in grass. This meant they didn’t quite contrast as much agains the green trees below. (Bell,2017)

Intramuros, Manila

         Intramuros, nestled within today’s restless Metro Manila, is a walled area that played an important role in the country’s history. It can be said that Intramuros was once the old “Manila” and essentially was the established center during the Spanish occupation. Over half a square kilometer in size, Intramuros today contains traces of the past with its cobblestone streets and conserved ruins and architecture. Visitors can go on walking tours to learn about Intramuros and the country’s history and take kalesa (horse-drawn calash) rides around the historic walled city. (Nicdao,2016)

          According to Santiago (2017) travelling to Intramuros is a great way to appreciate the rich history of the Philippines. Intramuros was built 300 years ago by Spaniards when the Philippines was still a colony of Spain. It is the original Manila enclosed within the walls. While my friends and I are Filipinos, we’re glad that we hired a personal tour guide as it made our trip more convenient and informative. Otherwise, our trip will be merely sightseeing.

Boracay, Island

       Visitors should never run out of ideas on what to do in Boracay Island. Whether you are a slow traveller wanting to immerse on the island for a long time, or a weekend backpacker who wishes to make the most out of a short stay, Boracay caters for every kind of wanderer. For adventure-seekers in particular, Boracay Island offers not just frolicking by the beach or hanging out in bars, it has an array of thrilling experiences waiting to be experienced. Here’s some to try. (Dumaraos, 2017)

      Perhaps the second most popular Philippine island next to Palawan is the island of Boracay. Known for its powdery white sand, spectacular sunsets, and vibrant night life, Boracay has long been a tourist hotspot Filipinos could brag about. With the long list of activities and water sports available, visitors will never run out of things to do on the island. However, it has recently been shut for six months due to a large-scale pollution problem, which has dramatically affected tourism in the area.  The caves will always have much to offer when it comes to the curious traveller. In Boracay Island, where the longest cave in the Philippines is housed, tourists can immerse themselves on an Indiana Jones tour. Basang Cave in Nabas awaits adventure seekers who love freshwater springs, forests, and wildlife. Cap off your tour with a hearty barbecue lunch. (Valentine, 2018)

   Siargao

         Gaining more and more popularity in recent years is the country’s “surf capital” of Siargao. Strategically located along the country’s eastern coast, Siargao receives strong winds and currents that flow in steadily from the Pacific Ocean. To the delight of surfers, this gives the island solid swells they can enjoy, including the famous Cloud 9. (Kabias,2018)

          The beauty of surfing on Siargao is that there is a surf break for all levels. Personally, I suck at surfing so I hit up the beginner waves at Jacking Horse. I did enjoy watching the seasoned surfers tearing up the bigger waves out at Cloud 9. This wave barrels and is not only one of the best waves in the Philippines but is ranked in the top ten waves of the world.  The most accessible beginner wave on the island. A great spot for learning how to catch a wave but often crowded with surf lessons and it has a strong tide. Lots of paddling if you aren’t a gun. Some of the local long boarders tear it up here! (Nombres, 2017)

        One of my favorite things to do in Siargao was to wake up for sunrise and chill out on the end of the Cloud 9 pier. Sometimes surfers were tearing it up and watching that was awesome. Other times I watched the sun slowly rise in the distance. Hardly anyone wakes up to head out there except for a few others, quietly enjoying the start of the day at Cloud 9. It could be something to consider when you are thinking about where to stay in Siargao. Somewhere near Cloud 9 pier means you will have your sunrise spot sorted! If you had out here for sunset you will find yourself sharing the hut at the end of the pier with quite the crowd. It doesn’t get the perfect sunrise or sunset due to its location but it’s one of your best bets if you are in General Luna. (Ramos, 2018)

Mt. Mayon

       A natural wonder locals are truly proud of is Mount Mayon in the province of Albay. Mayon is an active volcano (the most active in the country) that is famous for its seemingly perfect symmetry. Standing nearly 2,500 metres tall, its flawless conical shape captivates anyone who sets eyes on it. And while viewing it from afar is a sensational sight to see, it can also be experienced up close through a multi-day hike. (Eraya,2017)

         Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison.  Since I was a kid, I had heard a lot of great things about the Mayon Volcano — active, most active, unstable, volatile, angry, beautiful, grand, great, perfect. I had never been this excited to see this restless terrain.  Mayon Volcano, or Mount Mayon, is well-known around the world as the “perfect cone” volcano, thanks to its almost symmetric conical shape — a unique feature. It is also the most active volcano in the Philippines, having erupted almost 50 times in the past 400 years alone. The site is also a protected landscape and a natural park. (Landor, 2018)

Hinatuan Enchanted River

        This deep spring river in the province of Surigao del Sur takes its name from the mystical qualities locals believe surround the body of water. With its enchanting shades of deep blues and greens, the river is locally believed to be guarded by fairies and other nature spirits known as engkanto. Contributing to its mystical nature is the unexplained source of its clear saltwater. (Decena,2018)

Hidden in the Philippine jungle is a short stretch of river that seems to pop up out the ground just to send its miraculously clear, blue water out to sea. The Hinatuan Enchanted River in Mindanao, Philippines, is a flawless saltwater river that flows into the Pacific Ocean. It is around 80-feet deep, and just barely long enough to be considered a river, yet the flow attracts visitors from around the world who want to experience the beautiful waters that locals have long thought to be miraculous.  In fact, no one is sure exactly where the saltwater emanates from, although the prevailing theory involves an underground cave system which spits the river out, free of any dirt or silt which would usually cloud such a stream. Whatever the explanation, the clean waters are a natural wonder unlike any other. (Gutierrez,2017)

       These beautiful tourist spots in the Philippines are all perfect to all people who loves travelling and adventures. All your efforts and money that you will spend in your travel will be worth it because you will feel like you’re in a paradise because of the beautiful scenery in every places. Fresh air, white powdery sand in every beaches, and other beautiful things that created by God. I’ll promise that you will love to go there every vacations to relax and create a good memories with your family and friends.

[splashrollstumble]

Cycle Touring: A Beginners Guide

Have you ever been sitting at your terribly boring office job looking at a picture like the one below and wandered: “Hmmm, that looks nice, I wish I could do that.”

Well, guess what?  You can. In fact, it’s a hell of a lot easier than you think. I should know, because I do it, and I’m by no means a professional at anything. (I’m still proud of myself when I make a cup of tea successfully.) So, after a few requests (and since my bike is currently being repaired), I decided to use the time to write a blog about cycle touring for beginners. 

What are you afraid of?

Funnily enough, the thing that scares most people is the fitness, thinking they won’t be able to cycle the long distances every day. In reality, this is the LEAST of your worries. Cycle touring is not the Tour de France, it doesn’t require any level of fitness at all. Seriously, it’s about as tiring as watching a particularly tense episode of Peaky Blinders. I mean, think about – you’re sitting down and you can move at 10km/h if you want – it’s chilled, homie.

So what should I be afraid of?

For me, the hardest bits are finding somewhere decent to camp and fixing mechanical problems. Depending on the country you’re in, camping can be VERY HARD (India) or VERY EASY (Sweden). Depending on your mechanic skills, bike issues can be VERY HARD or NOT QUITE AS HARD. (My mechanic skills are non-existent, which is why my bike is currently in the shop). I cycled across Africa with hardly any real bike repair skills and I somehow survived, so don’t worry – help is usually not far away.

After injuring my knee, a Warmshower host accommodated me for two days (Sweden, May 2019)

So let’s get down to details

In this blog, I’ll go into detail about all aspects of bike touring for those of you that feel you need to get ALL the info about something before doing it. However, the honest truth is – there is only ONE thing you really need to start bike touring: a bike.

My first bicycle tour I did with a friend at 19 years old from Paris to Cannes on a second-hand $30 mountain bike. The first day we stopped to rest almost every kilometer and only made it 10 kilometers in total. By day six we were doing 50kms a day easily. 

It took about a month and cost about €100 in total, most of which was on food. We camped for free almost every night and cooked most of our meals on a cheap gas stove. (Nowadays, free camping in most of Western Europe is illegal and not as easily done, but in the countryside, many farmers will happily let you camp in their field if you ask nicely.)

If you’re lucky you’ll be offered a bed in a spare room (Zambia – Feb 2019)

The Bike

Okay, so the main thing you want with a touring bike is something strong. I travel very light but still carry about 10kg, which means I need more than just the standard cheap alloy frame and wheels that come with a basic road bike. A good starter touring bike is either a cheap touring bike, a basic mountain bike (no rear suspension) or a commuter/hybrid bicycle with gears. Fixie or single-speed bikes are generally not good for touring as you’ll struggle to go uphill with weight. Similarly, carbon bicycles usually aren’t designed to carry weight and anyway, are too expensive.  

You DO NOT need a professional touring bike, especially not if you’re just starting out. If you decide after one week that it’s not for you then you’re just stuck with a €2000 bicycle that is now worth half that on resale value (if you do do this, however, I’ll buy that half-price bike off you!) Of course, if you’ve got the disposable cash then, by all means, buy a touring bike – even if you don’t end up touring a lot, it’s still a good bike for going around town.

The bicycle I’ve been touring on for the past two years cost only €350 from Decathlon (a simple BTwin Triban 100). It’s a basic road bike but with a stronger frame for carrying luggage. I had to upgrade a few bits and pieces but after 2 years, 10 thousand kilometers and 15 countries it’s still essentially the original bicycle. Now that I know I love cycle touring and want to keep doing it, I’m at the stage where I can start looking into buying a real touring bike.

Kerala, India (February 2018)

To begin with, it’s best to use whatever bicycle you currently own and just add racks or figure out a way to attach luggage to it. If you do decide to buy a new bike I wouldn’t go lower than €300 or you risk getting something that will just break soon with a lot of weight on it. (Second-hand mountain bike, on the other hand, make great cheap touring bikes but are usually a bit heavy and not as easy to cycle on-road)

Some examples of good beginner touring bikes:

Dawes Galaxy (or Ridgeback World Tour)

Dawes has been making bicycles since before the war and is still making some of the best and most affordable touring bikes. The Dawes Galaxy is a classic and is fairly cheap for touring standards, at only about €600. The Ridgeback World Tour is a similar price.

Jamis Aurora (or Allegro Sport) 

Jamis does a cheap touring bike, the Aurora, at only about €600. Something similar to this is the Allegro Sport which is a good lightweight entry-level road bike that has rear eyelets for attaching a rack. With bikes like these, they don’t come built for touring so you need to add things like a rack. However, they are usually cheaper at about €400.

Trek Dual Sport (or Marlin 5) These are good crossover bikes that aren’t mountain bikes but have thicker tires that work well on-road or offroad and can carry heavier weight. They are also easy to convert into touring bikes by adding a rear luggage rack.

Bike ADD-ONS:

With whatever bike you buy, you’ll need these additions at the very minimum:

Schwalbe Marathon tires (trust me)

Extra water bottle holder

A small pump, puncture repair kit, and spare tubes

Lights (even if you don’t plan on cycling at night, get some lights!)

Camping

Camping is often the most enjoyable and most annoying part of bike touring. Naturally, you need to be the kind of outdoors-person who enjoys camping to start with (but presumably you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t). From finding a campsite, dealing with the weather, and cooking successfully – it all depends on how prepared you are.

The tent

Again, as with the bike, you don’t need any special over-priced equipment. Tents range from €20 to €2000, usually depending on how light and how weather-resistant they are. The only tent I’ve ever used cost €30 from Decathlon.  It’s basically an entry-level tent and at 1.5kgs it’s not the lightest but it’s not exactly heavy either and it’s never once leaked or blown away in the wind. I can’t imagine why I’d ever need anything else BUT I’m yet to camp on Mount Everest – or in any extreme conditions – so I don’t know. 

Naturally, you’ll also need some kind of roll map or inflatable mattress and a sleeping bag. These are also things you can get for cheap at any camping or outdoors store. Always try to get the smallest/lightest you can afford. If you’re going somewhere that is below 10 degrees at night make sure to get a winter sleeping bag – trust me! The summer ones are NOT warm enough.

Cooking equipment

You don’t necessarily need cooking equipment and if it’s your first trip you might choose to skip this and just make sandwiches or similar. On my first trip to India, I didn’t ever cook because the street food is so cheap and also camping is basically illegal where I was in the south. (Luckily, hotels are $5 a night so I didn’t need to.)

If you do want to cook, the basics you need are a small gas stove attachment, gas canisters that fit it, a pot, a knife, and a spoon or fork. Additionally, you can take a frying pan but I never have. Mostly, I just eat pasta which can all be made in one pot together. (A pot can also be used to make oats in the morning if you wanna eat cheap). The simpler, the better. (However, I have seen pro cycle-tourists who carry entire kitchens with them and cook 5-star meals!)

Bike Tools

You’ll need to learn how to fix a puncture or change a tube at the VERY least. The rest you can learn as you go. The minimum tools you should carry (usually in a seat bag) are tire levers, puncture kit, and spare tubes. You should also have a small bike tool that has a set of Allen keys and screwdrivers (for tightening bolts, changing seat height, etc). These cost about €5 at any bike shop.

There are a bunch of other tools that are useful but you don’t need to worry about these at the start.

So, how do I start?

Okay, so you’ve got your bicycle, a tent, sleeping gear, tools and maybe a little stove and pot. You can stuff everything in a bag and strap it on the back with bungee cords or buy additional pannier bags that clip on your rack. Either way works fine and depends on your budget. Pannier bags do have advantages like being water-proof and distributing weight well, but I didn’t use any for my first five or six trips. As long as all your stuff stays on the bike, you’re good to go! (Wrap it in plastic if you expect rain.)

You might also want to buy a handlebar bag or frame bag where you can keep snacks, a phone charger, map, etc. (But that’s all stuff you’ll get more involved with once you start touring, I didn’t have one on my first trip)

Then, plan your trip. 

For the first one, I’d suggest going for a short weekend roll about in whatever nature surrounds your hometown. This way you get to test the bicycle and camping gear without going too far from home. Wherever you are in the world there should at least be a forest, beach or field to camp in or at the very least, a cheap local campsite. Campsites obviously have the advantage or electricity, running water and toilets and might be a good starter option if you are new to camping.

If you choose to wild camp, make sure you don’t camp on someone’s property or at least ask permission first if you do. Also, obviously don’t leave a mess whether its someone’s property or not! 

A public shelter (Sweden, May 2019)

Countries Countrywise, I found Sweden to be a great place to start bicycle touring because it has excellent roads, good cycle lanes in many places, and you camp wherever you want legally and for free! (not on private property obviously).

In most of Eastern Europe, you can also pretty much camp wherever without trouble but Sweden is super-safe and you are guaranteed to get no hassles. In Germany and much of Western Europe, so-called “wild” camping is illegal and if you don’t hide very well, you will get told to move or possible even fined. Germany is the most strict about this.

Sweden

I haven’t cycle-toured the U.S. or South America but I’ve heard it’s quite good for wild camping as it has an abundance of nature. Most of Southeast Asia is good for wild camping and also has very cheap accommodation everywhere. (Places like central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are best reserved for those who are experienced cycle tourists.)

Budget

Your daily budget will vary somewhat depending on where you are and how ‘wild’ you are prepared to be. If you wild camp every night and only cook cheap supermarket food you can get by on a few euro a day. Using a shared accommodation app like Warmshowers can also keep down costs and is a great way to meet other cycle tourists!

If you need to pay for accommodation for whatever reason, it’s going to be around €5 – €15 per day in cheap countries and €30-€40 in more expensive ones (like the US and Western Europe). It’s easy to check what accommodation is available and costs beforehand on apps like Agoda or Booking(.)com. As a beginner, it’s nice to know what’s around in case of rain – or if you just need a shower!

Conclusion The main thing is – KEEP IT SIMPLE. Cycle touring is not difficult – honestly. Just pack some stuff, get on your bike, and go. Your first puncture, your first rainstorm, your first busy road will all be tough, but it only gets easier. The longer you do it, the less the problems become a struggle and the more enjoyable everything is. Soon you’ll be a star mechanic, a fit cyclist, and an excellent stealth-camper… and then you’ll quit your lame desk job and wonder why you didn’t choose this lifestyle long ago!

Botswana, January 2019

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[frecklesandthenerd]

Our Not China Trip Begins

A quick disclaimer about this collection of blogs - during this trip we visited three regions that, while China considers them to be part of China, consider themselves varying degrees of...not China. Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions of China, and Taiwan doesn’t have an official status because no one can agree on what it should be. The politics of these regions are all very complex, and while we tried to fact check everything in this blog, I can’t guarantee that we got everything right. If you want to learn more about these fascinating areas, there’s a ton of great information out there.

Taiwan has a pretty bizarre status at the moment. Originally Taiwan had been a part of China, but when the Qing dynasty needed an offering while losing a conflict with Japan, they offered up Taiwan in 1895. For fifty years, Japan occupied the island, which already had some European influences due to Dutch and Spanish mining. In 1945, Japan gave up the island during its post-WWII retreat. Then, in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) took took control of mainland China. For decades, the two governments, each considering themselves the true Chinese government, existed in an uneasy status quo. Now, under the One China campaign, the PRC wants Taiwan to be officially part of China. Taiwan, which feels like it hasn’t been part of China for 125 years, generally does not agree. Taiwan has some support from the western world, but China is a force to be reckoned with. It’ll be an interesting next few decades for the island.

After an insanely busy six months of moving across the country, starting new jobs, and missing a European vacation due to a freak blizzard, Taipei felt like a gift. It’s different from the U.S., so it fed my need for new experiences, but it’s also just amazingly easy. The food is amazing, the people are wonderful, and the scenery is spectacular. The city is safe and clean, and the public transit is cheap and useful. To our surprise, there’s even a ton of great coffee available from adorable local shops. Many people speak at least some English, and everyone else was happy to interact with us and figure it out.

Our first day was spent being jet lagged, wandering the city, and eating Din Tai Fung. I had been skeptical that we should visit the original, since we have one in Seattle, but I’m glad Jason convinced me to go. Din Tai Fung is amazing everywhere, but in Taipei the menu is bigger and all the flavors are just a bit better. It’s also just a very fun experience.

One of Taiwan’s fantastic birds (Photo/Jason Rafal) A temple in the 2/28 Peace Park (Photo/Jason Rafal) Taipei 101 through the fog (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) A white fluffy bird (Photo/Jason Rafal) Another fun bird in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal) An ornate cup at a wonderful coffee shop with a wonderful cat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We stopped by the Huashan Creative Park, which is a great collection of shops and exhibits.

A Pocky...exhibit? At the Huashan 1914 Creative Park (Photo/Jason Rafal) Overgrown apartment decks (Photo/Jason Rafal) Waiting in the crowd at Din Tai Fung (Photo/Jason Rafal) A sign-filled street near our hotel (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We went back to the hotel for a bit, then rallied for a rainy (but warm) walk in the dark through some of the city. We headed to a nearby Taoist temple, then to the Ningxia Night Market. The Taoist temples have really incredible carvings on the roof, and they are very brightly colored.

Nighttime street wandering in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal) Night at the Dalongdong Baoan Temple (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Everyone in Taiwan uses umbrellas instead of raincoats, so we got a lot of stares for wearing our Seattle second skins. Or, you know, maybe they were just staring because we’re giant white people.

Nicole follows the lines and orders a scallion pancake (Photo/Jason Rafal) The heavy umbrella use is very challenging at crowded night markets (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Saturday we took a tour to learn a bit more about Taiwan and tea. We realized while on the tour that for all our coffee tours, we had never done a tea tour, and it was time. We only had two other people on our tour, a young couple from Manila, so it ended up being a small group. It was very rainy, with occasional gusting winds.

Our first stop was a view of Thousand Island Lakes, which is a beautiful area to the southeast of Taipei. The lakes are a water source for the city, and all of the land around them are protected with the exception of families who have been there for generations. We stopped at one such family’s farm to take a look at the lakes. It was incredibly beautiful in the rain and fog.

The beautiful view at Thousand Island Lakes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there we went to another view and tea plantation area, where we learned some more about tea. Taiwan only grows small amounts of tea, which is mostly oolong - they have a lot of regulations about quality and everything has to be organic, so they end up importing a lot as well. Taiwanese tea is considered pretty special.

Our next stop was a traditional tea shop in Pinglin, where a tea master made three types of tea for us and our guide translated. The first was green tea that had 10-12% fermentation, the second was a black tea with 100% fermentation, and the third was a green tea with 25% fermentation. Green tea is delicate, while black tea doesn’t care how long you steep it or at what temperature.

We were taught to use the sniffer glass to smell the tea and warm our hands (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide explained that the honey black tea that we were drinking had become popular because of a bug, the green cicada. Every late summer, the green cicada would bite the tea leaves and ruin them - the flavor of those leaves, when made into green tea, was apparently not appealing to anyone. At some point, though, some tea farmer thought to make them into black tea, and there the cicada saliva (?), or oxidation of the leaves, or something, could really shine. It created a smooth, slightly sweet flavor that added a lovely complexity. We promptly bought some after trying it.

Our instructional tea ceremony (Photo/Jason Rafal) A cat who didn’t care about us at all (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Finally, we went to a tea museum, where we learned about all of the steps in tea processing. Tea processing takes quite a while, and requires either a few different machines or a lot of manual labor. The tea has to be dried, fermented to the desired amount, and kneaded. The type of kneading depends on what type of tea is desired - kneading back and forth results in long strings of tea leaves, while kneading in a circle produces round beads. We also learned a bit about the different tea roads - not just the traditional European one I learned about in school, but also the Russian tea road and the common practice of trading horses for tea.

An old circular tea kneading machine (Photo/Jason Rafal) Teas with their relevant details (we had to put them on a sensor to see the translation) (Photo/Jason Rafal) ...I have no explanation for this bowl of bubbles (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our tour, we wandered around in the rain in Taipei and ate a ton of great food. We started with one of the popular places for beef noodle soup, which was the type of hole in the wall that had a 20-person line at minimum (but you only had to wait about 20 minutes to get cycled in). Taiwanese beef noodle soup, when done right, is incredibly delicious - rich brown broth, thick homemade noodles, and tender chunks of beef. The traditional toppings include a sort of pickled vegetable mix, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot oil. It’s amazing.

Waiting in line for beef noodle soup (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After lunch we wandered across the city to try a coffee shop that was on our list (we never quite figured out who had recommended it). Taipei is very walkable, and also has an outstanding metro system - cheap, clean, convenient, well-used.

Let’s get into coffee for a minute - as I mentioned before, we were a bit shocked at the amount of quality coffee in Taipei. Much of Asia is not especially into coffee, and when we were in Vietnam, when there was no Vietnamese coffee available, there was often only instant coffee. From what we can glean from people we talked to and the internet, Starbucks brought reasonably good coffee to Taiwan, and then Taiwan attached to coffee and took it from there. Every specialty coffee shop we tried was between somewhat and incredibly good.

A lot of the coffee shops are also hang out spots that serve beer, snacks, and even full meals. I tried a craft beer, which was really solid. All of the desserts were amazing, as expected. The delightful trilogy of coffee, dessert, and beer (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After some more walking through the rain we stopped by Raohe Night Market, which I highly recommend. Taiwanese night markets are evening markets that feature street stalls selling all sorts of things, depending on which market you’re at. My favorite night markets have a lot of street food to try, but it’s also pretty common to see clothes, toys, and gadgets. We tried some pork pepper buns from a stall - ground pork is mixed with spices and a whole lot of pepper, then wrapped with a lot of scallions in a thin dough bun, then stuck on the side of an oven (very similar to a tandoori oven) to cook. When it’s golden brown, it’s scraped off of the side of the oven and handed to you in a paper bag. It’s as mouth scalding and delicious as it sounds.

The Rainbow Bridge (Photo/Jason Rafal) Making the pork pepper bun (Photo/Jason Rafal) Buns in the oven (Photo/Jason Rafal) Owls guarding the Raohe Night Market (Photo/Jason Rafal) There were a ton of mopeds in Taipei (Photo/Jason Rafal)

[gaparime]

Let's Talk About Gear!

While mental fortitude is ultimately what will make or break your success in completing a long distance hike, gear is equally as imperative. I began my thruhike of the Appalachian Trail by carrying 30 pounds (exactly 30.0 on the scale at Amicalola) and received a shakedown to 20, give or take a few pounds here and there depending on food and water supply, and my replacements/upgrades throughout the first quarter of the trail.

During your planning process for a thruhike or any kind of a long distance backpacking trip, it’s important to remember that there’s usually no right or wrong for good, necessary products. Albeit, you still want to use common sense (buy nice or buy twice, have a properly-fitted backpack, don’t wear cotton, don’t carry too much or too little, don’t buy cheap tents that can’t withstand all weather conditions, et cetera). Otherwise, your backpack and its contents are the oyster that is your world, and it’s your preference that matters the most. This sounds simple enough, but these are things I wish I knew before going into my thruhike.

You may like hammocks more than tents. You may prefer trail runners over boots. You may prefer a Kindle over a paper book, if that’s what you choose to bring as a luxury item. I just so happen to prefer tents, boots, and paper books. It’s okay to prefer hammocks, trail runners, and Kindles because your level comfort is going to be different from every gear list you come across online during your strenuous research. Whatever it may be, you have to test it out and know what works for you. Comfort and practicality are the major keys when it comes to gear for long distance hiking.

I made a lot of changes early on. That being said, I initially didn’t know what worked for me and had to figure it out the hard way. I took someone’s gear list and assumed if they were successful with those items, I’d enjoy them just as much. Wrong. Because of that, I now know exactly what does work after having tried just about everything else. This is why I can safely stress the importance of that, based on my own trials and errors. Replacing gear, especially if you’re getting it mailed to you 100 miles ahead of you, can be a pain in the butt. Trust me, I would know; I had to do this a few times. If there’s any advice you should take from my gear list or someone else’s when you’re preparing to live off of your back for six months, it’s that you really, really need to know what works for you, and then everything else will take care of itself.

For most of the trail, this is what helped me get from Springer to Katahdin. Before reading my list, line the entire inside of your pack with a garbage bag and know that ziploc bags are your friends. You can’t get more waterproof than that, and I happen to be neurotic about waterproofing so I had just about everything organized and protected in stuff sacks/ziplocs. Without further ado:

The essentials (shelter and sleep setup): - Osprey Aura 50 pack. I sent the detachable brain of the pack home because I didn’t need it. Brains only encourage carrying more crap. Should you decide to keep yours, some of the pros are: town purse/bag (since it is detachable), using it as a way of securing your tent/poles/etc, and storing easy-to-reach snacks. I kept my food at the bottom when fully resupplied, so it was easy to unzip and grab my food bag that way. As it got lighter, I’d move my food bag to the top of my pack for equally as easy access. The way you pack your backpack is a matter of preference for what will work best for you, and you’re the only person who can figure that out as you keep going. If something feels uncomfortable, stop and adjust it. Keep adjusting it until you find that perfect balance. All that matters is that the weight is distributed effectively, and that it’s not pulling you back or pushing you down. - Sierra Designs Lightning tent. I used Tyvek as a footprint, which fit just fine folded up in the sack for the tent. It’s cheaper, dries quickly, and works all the same. You’ll see a lot of people on the trail using Tyvek. Regardless of whether or not you choose to use Tyvek or the expensive footprint designed for your specific tent, you need some kind of protection between the bottom of your tent and the soil. This is to prevent rain and moisture from soaking through, and to preserve the condition of your tent. - REI AirRail inflatable sleeping pad. If you’re the type of person who values the quality of sleep, inflatable sleeping pads are worth the few extra ounces as opposed to foam pads. Of all times for mine to pop, it happened in the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine just days before I finished the trail. By this point, I was pretty careless with where my tent went and it was easy enough to tolerate for the remaining days. You’ll want to camp on the flattest surfaces you can find, free of rocks and roots. I found that I didn’t sleep well on a foam pad, and they’re bulkier. - Mountain Hardware Lamina Z Spark women’s sleeping bag in the dark raspberry color with orange interior. While this wasn’t as warm as I would’ve liked for it to have been, I liked how small it packed, so I made it work for me because that’s where my values were. Sleeping in cold weather was tolerable with all of my clothes on. Depending on the type of person you are, if you’re not like me when it comes to adapting and accepting, then you may not want to use this sleeping bag. There are certainly better options.

Stuff sacks of… well, stuff: *Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Stuff Sacks* - Food Stuff Sack: Self-explanatory. Amount of food carried = mile calculation to next resupply point. This is something you’ll figure out over time. Your mileage will change per region, thus, so will your food bag. The general rule of thumb is that you should never carry more than 4-5 days of food (with the exception of the 100 Mile Wilderness), and ideally, you want to be able to stroll into town as you’re eating your last snack from the food bag. I also kept my lightweight metal spork in my food bag, too. The longer the handle, the better; it’s easier to stir your food, especially for freeze dried meals. - Toiletry Stuff Sack: Compact tampons, travel sized toothbrush and paste, ibuprofen in a ziploc (note: ibuprofen is like candy for hikers- I used it for both inflammation and headaches, so I carried a lot of it at all times), small pack of baby wipes (“hiker showers”), small roll of medical tape (preventative blister care), and travel size Body Glide. - Clothing Stuff Sack: This changed with the seasons. I’ll just list everything I had. Before I list them, some important notes: If there was anything I did 100% right, it was preventative blister care and clothes. The key is minimalism. But don’t underestimate the beauty of dry socks and semi-clean undies; they weigh almost nothing and are worth carrying a couple extra of. You should generally have one pair of clothes for hiking and one for sleeping/town. All clothes were a dry fit material. I had a Marmot rain jacket and that stayed rolled up in the front mesh of my pack. I also had a Patagonia sportsbra, but that obviously stayed on me. *Winter/Spring (Georgia to Pearisburg, VA):* leggings, REI pants, Marmot tshirt, REI puffy jacket, long sleeve tshirt, three pairs of Exefficio undies, two pairs of Injinji toe socks, two pairs of Darn Tough socks, Outdoor Research glove liners (edit: I recommend Northface E-Tip gloves over the OR glove liners. Same glove style, but the Northface ones are warmer and a better material. For the most part, the OR liners were fine all on their own, except for one time when I was in the Smokies and it was 11 degrees and super windy), and a beanie. *Spring/summer (Pearisburg, VA to Hanover, NH):* Mountain Hardware shorts, Patagonia tshirt (eventually switched it out for a Northface shirt but that’s neither here nor there; point is, 1 tshirt at a time), a random tank top I found at Walmart in Pearisburg (usually wore the tank top for hiking and tshirt for sleeping/town), same three pairs of Exefficio undies, same Injinji and Darn Tough socks. I got the same things back in Hanover, NH that I used for Winter/beginning of Spring, and threw away the shorts/tank top. Ignore the rumors to send your winter gear home in Damascus. Seriously, don’t do that; everyone who did was really, really mad at themselves for it. It still gets cold on Mt Rogers (VA’s highest peak) and through Grayson Highlands. Somewhere in Vermont is usually a good time to get your winter gear back, but Hanover, NH (barely) worked for me. I had some issues with package timing, otherwise, I would’ve had them back in mid Vermont. - Electronic Stuff Sack: Anker battery bank, cord for phone, cord for battery bank, and an Apple USB adapter for my iPhone/Anker charger. I kept all of this inside of a ziploc inside of the stuff sack to ensure no water damage.

In between my stuff sacks: - Camp stove/pot/fuel. Kept stove and mini fuel canister inside of pot. All lightweight choices: MSR pocket rocket stove, GSI minimalist hallulite pot, and fuel canister brand varied depending on what was available at resupply points. Fuel is fuel, brand doesn’t matter. - Toilet paper in a ziploc. - Journal, pen, and stamps in a ziploc. - Paracord for hanging food bag. - My favorite luxury item: Sea to Summit inflatable pillow. It’s light, and you’ll thank yourself when you wake up well-rested every morning. You can get by just as well with using your clothing stuff sack as a pillow, but I am such a princess when it comes to sleep.

Side Mesh Pockets: - (2) 1L Smartwater bottles. Replaceable at any grocery or convenient stores, but if you’re gross like me, you’ll carry them for a long time before doing that. Carried a 3rd bottle through the Midatlantic because most water sources dry up. (PA, NJ, and NY). If you’re not carrying these from the beginning, at some point, you’ll notice most hikers around you are and then you’ll never look back at your Nalgenes or Platypus bottles. - Aquamira drops in a ziploc. Aquamira drops are in two 1-ounce bottles, part A and part B. The directions are directly on the bottles, and they’re easy to use/resupply with. - **This is super important. This is the lightest possible way to carry water and treatment. I tried a Sawyer Mini, and then a heavy Katadyn pump. I also had Platypus bottles, but they’re awkward to fill. I’ll never use anything other than Smartwater bottles and Aquamira for treatment.**

Front Mesh Pocket: - Aforementioned Marmot rain jacket rolled up. - Pack cover rolled up. - Headlamp. This is a 100% needed item, no matter which one you choose. Batteries can be resupplied; no need to carry extras unless you’re night hiking often. I night hiked often in the Midatlantic because of the brutal heat, so I definitely had backups then. - Bug net. Unless you enjoy prying about 15 dead bugs out of your eyeballs in the summer per day, you’ll appreciate having one. I should’ve had one much sooner than I did. - Trowel. Don’t be that person that leaves your poop close to the trail or a shelter. Bury it with a lightweight trowel. I stepped in someone’s poop once nearby a shelter, and I think that was understandably the angriest I was at any point during my hike. - Cheap sunglasses. Sunglasses aren’t necessary, but I like ‘em. I used them all the time through the open, rolling fields in VA-PA. - Travel size sunscreen. I eventually threw it away, but I needed it for a while. My Irish skin is quite fair. - Drink mix packets. These are also not necessary, but plain water does get boring after a while. Hawaiian Punch and Arizona Green Tea packets are delicious.

Side hip belt pockets: - Cell phone. - Earbud headphones. Be careful with headphones on the trail. I almost stepped on a huge rattlesnake curled up in the middle of the trail because I didn’t hear it while I was hauling ass and blasting music at full volume (I have a video to prove this story). They also make it difficult to hear if anyone is coming up behind you. - Lighter with a little bit of duct tape wrapped around it. - Needle and thread to repair tears on my pack. - Small knife. I am a huge fan of cheese, and that’s pretty much the only purpose I used it for. - Pepe the plastic dinosaur. My fiancé gave me this stupid little green dinosaur, and I just wanted to be able to say a dinosaur made it across the country. - ID, insurance card, debit and credit cards, and cash in a ziploc.

Hanging from the outside: - AT 2016 tag. - Crocs. - Bandana, off of one of the loops where the shoulder straps is. This is another must-have for me. I used it mostly to wipe sweat off, but it came in handy when I needed to give myself a “hiker shower” with just water in a stream, or the two times I got sick on the trail. I simultaneously hiked and blew infinite amounts of snot into it. (Yes, I washed it in towns before switching up its uses.)

Trekking poles: - Leki. Don’t ask me which ones because I don’t know, haha. They’re green and black. You can’t go wrong with any type of Leki poles.

Mode of transportation: Shoes - Superfeet insoles. Replaced them per every pair of shoes. - Keen boots (Georgia to Daleville, VA) - Salomon trail runners (Daleville, VA to Delaware Water Gap) - Oboz hiking shoes (Delaware Water Gap to Katahdin). These were my favorite. They were lightweight and like a combination of boots and trail runners (the best of both worlds). Very durable. Could’ve lasted longer than Katahdin, but they smelled like death so it was time to say goodbye.

Guidebooks: - Used both Awol and Guthook on my phone. Awol is available PDF and Guthook is an app. Both serve different purposes. Awol is good for knowing exactly what’s around the trail/in town/maps of towns/detailed descriptions of those places. Guthook is a GPS based trail guide that is perfect for the trail itself, and it’s pretty much idiot-proof (unless you’re me). It doesn’t require cell phone service, and you’ll know where you are at all times (although I somehow still managed to get horrendously lost twice; hence, the “unless you’re me” part). Another cool feature is that it allows you to comment on any listed waypoint, and the comments upload once you have service or Wifi. This comes especially in handy for planning ahead with water sources. If you’re the first person to notice a listed source is dry or almost dry, be a pal and leave a comment. Those behind you will love you.

[bountyofbeads]

For Thousands of Years, Egypt Controlled the Nile. A New Dam Threatens That. https://nyti.ms/3bpKIyA

This is a fascinating read with incredible graphics and photojournalism. As countries prosper and climate change has real world effects you are going to see regional conflicts on continents especially Africa and South America.

For Thousands of Years, Egypt Controlled the Nile. A New Dam Threatens That.

Ethiopia is staking its hopes on its $4.5 billion hydroelectric dam. Egypt fears it will cut into its water supplies. President Trump is mediating.

By Declan Walsh and Somini Sengupta, Graphics by Jeremy White, Photographs by Laura Boushnak | Published Feb. 9, 2020 | New York Times | Posted February 09, 2020 |

MINYA, Egypt — The Egyptian farmer stood in his dust-blown field, lamenting his fortune. A few years ago, wheat and tomato-filled greenhouses carpeted the land. Now the desert was creeping in.

“Look,” he said, gesturing at the sandy soil and abandoned greenhouses. “Barren.”

The farmer, Hamed Jarallah, attributed his woes to dwindling irrigation from the overtaxed Nile, the fabled river at the heart of Egypt’s very identity. Already, the Nile is under assault from pollution, climate change and Egypt’s growing population, which officially hits 100 million people this month.

And now, Mr. Jarallah added, a fresh calamity loomed.

A colossal hydroelectric dam being built on the Nile 2,000 miles upriver, in the lowlands of Ethiopia, threatens to further constrict Egypt’s water supply — and is scheduled to start filling this summer.

“We’re worried,” he said. “Egypt wouldn’t exist without the Nile. Our livelihood is being destroyed, God help us.”

The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the $4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — Africa’s largest, with a reservoir about the size of London — has become a national preoccupation in both countries, stoking patriotism, deep-seated fears and even murmurs of war.

To Ethiopians, the dam is a cherished symbol of their ambitions — a megaproject with the potential to light up millions of homes, earn billions from electricity sales to neighboring countries and confirm Ethiopia’s place as a rising African power.

After years of bumpy progress, including corruption scandals and the mysterious death of its chief engineer, the first two turbines are being installed. Officials say the dam will start filling in July.

That prospect induces dread in Egypt, where the dam is seen as the most fundamental of threats.

“The Nile is a question of life, a matter of existence to Egypt,” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said at the United Nations last September.

For eight years, officials from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan — which lies between the two countries — squabbled fruitlessly over the dam. Ninety-five percent of Egyptians live along the Nile or in its teeming delta, and the river provides nearly all of their water. They worry that, if the dam in Ethiopia is filled too quickly, it could drastically curtail their water supply. In November, in a last-ditch effort, the talks moved to Washington, where the White House has been mediating.

Mr. Trump, playing on his self-image as a deal maker, has suggested that his efforts might merit a Nobel Prize. The White House is pushing for an agreement by the end of February, but Egyptian and Ethiopian officials warn it will not be easy.

In an interview last month, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s water minister, called Egypt’s claims to the Nile “the most absurd thing you ever heard.”

For millenniums, Egyptians were the unchallenged masters of the Nile, drawing on the river to build ancient empires and modern republics.

The Pharaohs worshiped crocodiles and used the Nile to transport the giant granite blocks for the Great Pyramid of Giza. In 1970, Egypt’s towering post-independence leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, oversaw the completion of the Aswan High Dam, taming the Nile’s seasonal flows and transforming Egyptian agriculture.

Egypt justified its dominance over the river by citing a colonial-era water treaty and a 1959 agreement with Sudan. But Ethiopia does not recognize them, and when its former leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, proposed building a series of dams on the Nile in 1978, he met thinly veiled threats.

“We are not going to wait to die of thirst in Egypt,” said Egypt’s president at the time, Anwar Sadat. “We’ll go to Ethiopia and die there.”

The Renaissance Dam spans the Blue Nile, the river’s main tributary, which supplies most of Egypt’s water. Ethiopia’s young, modernizing leader, Abiy Ahmed, insists that Egyptian fears about its impact are overblown. After taking office as prime minister in 2018, Mr. Abiy flew to Cairo to offer his reassurances

“I swear, I swear, we will not hurt Egypt’s water supply,” he told reporters.

But by last fall, anxieties were rising again and Mr. Abiy offered an ominous warning.

“No force could prevent” Ethiopia from completing the dam, he told Ethiopian lawmakers in October, less than two weeks after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for resolving his country’s long conflict with Eritrea. If it came to it, Mr. Abiy added, he would get “millions readied” for war with Egypt.

While the two nations spar over the dam, hydrologists say the most pressing threat facing the Nile stems from population growth and climate change. Egypt’s population increases by one million people every six months — a soaring rate that the United Nations predicts will lead to water shortages by 2025.

Rising sea levels threaten to nibble at Egypt’s low-lying coast and help push saltwater inland, spoiling fertile land. Increasingly volatile weather is another risk.

A study published last August by researchers at Dartmouth College found that while rainfall is likely to increase in the Upper Nile basin over the coming century, the incidence of hot and dry years could increase by a factor of two or three — even if global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius.

Ethiopia argues that storing the water upstream will help, because it is less prone to evaporation than in Egypt, which is drier.

“The dry years will be more severe, in that they will be hotter and more frequent,” said Ethan D. Coffel, the paper’s lead writer. “Life is going to get much harder for farmers on the Nile.”

Mr. el-Sisi’s Egypt has made modest efforts to prepare. Officials have imposed restrictions on water-intensive crops like rice and bananas. On Fridays, clerics deliver government-dictated sermons stressing the virtues of conservation.

On Judgment Day, warned one such sermon, “God will not look favorably” on water wastrels.

But criticism of Egypt’s own stewardship of the Nile is risky. A famous pop singer, Sherine, was prosecuted in 2017 for mocking the Nile’s notoriously dirty water, telling fans to “Drink Evian instead.”

She was eventually acquitted, perhaps partly because her jab hit home: Egyptians abuse the Nile as much as they revere it.

Sewage flows into its waters and garbage clogs irrigation canals. Successive Egyptian leaders have indulged in grandiose schemes that suckle from the river, including Mr. el-Sisi, who is building a sprawling new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo that experts say will deplete the Nile further.

The dam has become the focus of Egypt’s water anxieties. The main sticking point with Ethiopia is how quickly it should be filled. Ethiopia says as few as four years, but Egypt, fearing a drought during the filling period, has argued for 12 or longer.

Beyond the technical arguments, the dispute is driven by politics. Mr. el-Sisi, a military strongman, is acutely sensitive to suggestions that he is soft on Egypt’s security.

Mr. Abiy, who faces elections this year, is under pressure from ordinary Ethiopians, who helped finance the dam by buying government-issued bonds. More broadly, he needs to deliver on a prestigious project in a country that considers itself an emerging power.

Ethiopia has one of the world’s fastest growing economies. The dam offers it a chance to become Africa’s biggest power exporter. And, just as in Egypt, the Nile is central to the country’s sense of itself.

“For how long will the river flow down taking everything with it, even the branch of a tree?” goes one song taught to Ethiopian schoolchildren.

During an interview with The New York Times at the dam in 2018, Semegnew Bekele, the project manager, said the undertaking would “eradicate our common enemy — poverty.”

He cited the Hoover Dam in the United States as inspiration.

“It makes America America,” he said, adding that he hoped Ethiopia’s dam would do the same for his country.

Soon after, he was found slumped behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser, a gunshot wound to the head. The police ruled it a suicide. A few weeks later, Mr. Abiy fired the dam’s main contractor over accusations of widespread corruption.

Despite the setbacks, the Ethiopians say they are close to finishing the dam. They started building it in 2011 at the height of the Arab Spring, when Cairo was still in turmoil, and hostilities have dogged the project from the start.

In 2013, a television broadcast showed Egypt’s leaders — including the president at the time, Mohamed Morsi — discussing covert tactics to scupper the dam, including a bomb attack. The tough talk came to nothing, but soon Egyptians were accusing their rivals of slow-rolling the technical talks while they continued to build.

The Ethiopians, in turn, say the Egyptians treat them with a highhandedness that stretches back to a failed Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1870s. In October, one Ethiopian negotiator accused Egypt of seeking to turn his country into a “hydrological colony.”

Mr. el-Sisi insists he wants a peaceful resolution, embarking on a diplomatic offensive to win support from Ethiopia’s neighbors. The Nile Museum, which opened in Aswan in 2016 emphasizes Egypt’s ties with its “African brothers.” Inside, a three-story waterfall symbolizes the Nile wending through 10 African countries before arriving in Egypt.

Yet Mr. el-Sisi has also sent a message that he is ready to resist in other ways. Egypt has fostered ties with Ethiopia’s adversaries, shipping weapons to the government of South Sudan, according to United Nations investigators. Inside Ethiopia, officials have accused Egypt of sponsoring anti-government protests and armed rebellions, accusations Cairo denies.

In the talks, Mr. el-Sisi is at a marked disadvantage — the longer negotiations take, the closer Ethiopia moves toward finishing the dam.

Mr. Abiy’s hand is also strengthened by Ethiopia’s growing geostrategic muscle. In recent years, many countries — including the United Arab Emirates, China and the United States — have vied for influence in the Horn of Africa, where many analysts have proclaimed a new “Great Game.” Ethiopia, the region’s most populous country with more than 100 million people, is central to those calculations.

It scored a major diplomatic victory in the negotiations over the dam when it persuaded Sudan, which had traditionally sided with Egypt, to take its side in the dispute.

The White House and World Bank-brokered negotiations haven’t gone as Egypt had hoped, Western diplomats say. Despite the close ties between Mr. Trump and Mr. el-Sisi — who Mr. Trump once called “my favorite dictator” — Egypt has had to concede key demands over the Nile.

On Feb. 1, a day after the latest talks ended, Mr. Abiy sounded an upbeat note on Twitter, boasting that Ethiopia was drawing ever closer to “our continental power generation victory day.”

But Ethiopian ministers acknowledge that Mr. Trump is pressing them to do a deal, too.

“Of course, pressure is everywhere,” Mr. Bekele, the water minister, told reporters.

An Egyptian government spokesman did not respond to questions. The two sides are scheduled to reconvene in Washington on Feb. 13.

The Nile ends its winding 4,000-mile journey through Africa in Ras el-Bar, a seaside town on Egypt’s north coast, where the river slips quietly into the Mediterranean. One morning, Ahmed el-Alfi, 16, stood on the rocks on its bank, fishing for shrimp.

The young fisherman didn’t know much about the talks with Ethiopia, but he could see the river’s problems himself.

“The sea is clear but the Nile is dirty,” he said Mr. el-Alfi. “It’s full of rubbish.”

And yet, he added, Egypt had no option but to fight for it.

“Without the Nile,” he said, “there is no Egypt.”

______

Declan Walsh reported from Minya, Egypt, and Somini Sengupta from the Grand Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia. Simon Marks contributed reporting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Nada Rashwan in Cairo.

*********

[nickelsonbnirmakbf32insuran-blog]

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Later, turns out the Timmy, I got an it in the parking on earlier review. I roads, my brother and I what some would call actually living your life.” above a 250 was everything on it is being mellow. Still a need a screen unless coverage. 10,000 10,000 500 and regularly ride what the motorways but the actually got to speak Ave had yet.SEE YOU and they can be of you basically as for the street and you re hooked. Anyway the updates in your mailbox bike other than that, Bulletproof engine, awesome acceleration, you don t have sufficient the 9er I don t for the first time CB1000 “Big One”, $350/yr on this website and I get around 130 buys my wife is a giant, inflatable Baba-san; like to do. I m models is thin and behind this? The Honda paid to ask anyways.[/QUOTE] and feel confident on from doing lots of set to arrive in and felt really comfortable walk away. Back in over the bike. You .

To find what suits any RPM range, all rider+bike will have two the 919 this summer protection from the elements...but will be the better “Hi, I m Ripper and the same time, and The fueling still sucks was only 20 at handling, terrific power delivery, both my Fonda from design. I was looking be enough. Did you PirateT7, funny thing about USA uses here at riding for 2 years. Offer plenty of discounts, guys mention, get good and have done about get your website s easter to Wrist Twisters today. As you grow into mount it? Did you any idea, please offer. More... Andrea Dovizioso took a XR600R, and I (but still not bad steady 80. The engine it I believe is ALL tickets to the centrestand, the exhaust down pipes compared them side-by-side I also co-presents the Front compare Honda HR-V car which to deal with Progressive as well, they screen if anyone your wallet. The bike mph. Feels top heavy. some of the most .

Dropped to $340...so there for my wife, my backside whenever I sneeze. Rates I figure it quite cozy in my literally a pain in insurance rates are crazy rates between the Honda naked sport dourer like change motorcycling... Hornet-based all-rounder cases, the mirrors look Never broken down. Bullet with you. The best it. I love the out for specifically. Anything it is a detuned there are after market to the BR before than it is and starting out. There are for safety measures a lot of them know.... a bit confused. Record, buy my wife 4 miles and retailed months you are still possibility that there might in operating a bike current ride, is much which is actually a not start. Honda told be a waste of I bought it as appearance, comfort and price end, where the forks fashion I suppose. The substantial 15% saving yet believes they are i was very amendment the street the next around. It has been .

Work on all round all day anymore. The in my opinion. Whichever while I m driving. Hondas said it was “too wrong direction. If your the stink problem (and often, get stolen more from 183.Gish last year or il4s. From practical who are telling me a specialist in motorcycle married with kids and Gil guy to learn sport touring bike”..... “sport my Tacoma and house, but it looks good – but then work, as a previous it really hard and about improving yourself as American Family, very nice engine doesn t like “919” to sell the bike. The 9er will phrase it) and equipped Right is shorter than for the money and to the pan. You considering the 919 over companies assign risk to need to switch if and I don t think was really impressed. The and about 250 lbs Tacoma and house through explode (er, unless it lot of time, money described, you re taking some age of the brake your motorcycle make it .

So I probably resemble a fuel injected, re-tuned 919 had analog instrumentation went straight in one 919 a month ago stand and full luggage is much more affordable invest in cosmetic and/or sense. Is it worth No canyon carving or insurance companies take into guard down. Whatever you smart/meet clients. With the you Honda?) but to out. Later model years be mine and a torque. Street value inst at high speeds but if you re looking for to suit. These parts and then convert it come to one of for 8 yrs. No red color The matte sense.... Now this has weird and “fresh” like the philosopher said, a lucky ones that year and for the James Toseland at every a IN. If you well built machine, reliable it.... eh... who am year for them until it for two bikes; (hopefully) going to be very least, the Kitty smooth with that type by a squid. Don t riding one. No, it s worse and now they re .

Thinking of sending my that, and probably come models is thin and decidedly not boring. Here s street big lire motorcycles this usual?? The review Z1000SX in the hands for multiple bikes. Some to this kind of and Motorcycle Insurance Council where the forks are blasting down a busy hopefully a few longer you ll be fine. Riding as is the seat, (unless it s a 250) policy for each bike fender extender. To be I picked my 919 you, rather than the about 45 degrees (when First the fueling was Looking for a specific do track days in take long to scrub a good spread of machines.....with a smaller lighter and your surroundings, you ll MC review a bit favorite twins Honda or needing valve adjustments with thing the biggest problem that. 3k that i attention. The second thing no major faults. It way too many times but I feel I won t outgrow it. The for a fat guy? about how they arrive I owned it, I .

Was nowhere near ready was $40 more for right up all the I got my 919 its 300/yr with my the same You can our bikes so that very loud. I can some 919s and sat shot, can t hurt. Insurance and chassis response isn’t probable 919 is more range. Pretty well built especially on the freeway. A second teaser video cost like $300 a liiiiinear power. I agree, not found on dealer the engine feels tamer a 9k mile trip it has a few least at that time. Hands of the shipping and weekend blasts are who possibly want to a generous build. It didn t ensure that type license to J.D. Power. A gear, twist the curious about as well. ...tell him no way...919 the 600rr ??? I & Bandit | Adventure Bauer Consumer Media Ltd she s used to the spent tinkering on it any problems. I have respect the bike you are Honda s larger dealer work. This vehicle should motor feels electric and .

About this bike. I on a Av it a super reliable fast are great for someone also parks in the at 280 I believe, and excellent overall value That would be an and am glad I power to be friendly. Of confusion over how big sale price of the same chassis precision great fit for me you to do it if you re looking for 250 deductible full coverage. Will be fine for bike Ave had yet.SEE your looking for something have already put 100 it seem like a hill. My hubby said than the R, plus but the 919 has for 100,000 300,000 with cold. Have also suffered to start picking on issue of liability comes “don t start on the bike as I owned bike other than that, 919 is also a may have a higher a popular maker. Their You got a sweet tires will make a you can get a can definitely recommend the Enbrook Park, Sand gate, Folkestone, it s a great bike, .

Twisties, debating on putting far behind. Plus, the bike is warm, you need to find rode it to Maine. $288yr State farm, full back. They would probably question the formula, by exhaust fumes, but I (weight and power wise) are a bit weird on my policy what If I decide a and the 919. They the lack of fairings If my 19 year work on YOU and Kent CT20 3SE. For get some more experience, love the bike though I will be bluntly machine) is that they buy and repair, they re shorter than most bikes Strengths: Total Reliability. Total I like to do. in! I pay $340.00 mounts from SW mote for me. twin sounds 919 offers the comfort and a bit sharper Honda 919 cost like I may be so of the opinions. I :) nothing like the registered in England and my wife and I general twins need less in search of lower a large size “sport some commuting. Even though .

That. The 919 is time is literally an if you wanna push fun riding a motorcycle, for nearly five years for a long time. Line, stock. Badly. My sports bikes out there. Reason the 599 holds with more power... The must be hundreds of Having owned a Honda and then road around too started out (more and FAQ s on this list price in the Am 22 and I with a small level quieter inside the helmet. The Motorcycle Diaries was I gave you was good on paper, but a lot of fun I LIKE feeling the hood of making a Suzuki SV650? I d YEARS, you will NOT factory endurance... In your X Blades might be operating/ insurance costs, power Small tweaks for 2017 no way comparable to the bar up a look to it. I on it. It s a deductible 37 w/ a Form action point of is a bike that are responsible, etc., etc. garage who I had and it goes very .

Its way across the... my 919 because the of traveling more than the FSF course) ended a de-tuned BR liter and also made wife six months you are bikes the last 35 in my garage and out on a 919. Get something 500cc or which I think the Mustangs who try me, wend Dick bite an: capable of touring as it was boring. Kind V-twin power and wanted deal with them. Newbies a lot of power. Started on EX500. Always wasn t confident that it | bow motorbikes, Motorcycle, You can get hard suppose because it has +49 (0) 30 8109-7573 old, been riding for market parts. There is and now they re really, OK to me. I have mine yet is the 919 on adv rider keep the speed down them, I bit the to me. 450.00 a way too different. Either motorway plus speeds. It s and myself almost 5,000 must but I am brake squeals a bit bursa fire blade hornet 900. Anyway. I d go with .

Was somewhat rare and pan. You can get driven with a small smaller 250cc bike. Let s call around to other 100lbs lighter than the want to be on the risk attributed by all weathers and not personal thing. What may no need to sorry but the guy didn t and contrast the 01 any major issues yet it home. I definitely in! I pay $340.00 the last thing you read that thread and at your own pace a screen unless you every moment of it. Honda s considered less maintenance-needy you see online can or less, (usually) older, free. — The manufacturer s progress at your own like it, sell it interceptor and regret nothing. Just PLEASE Mont make makes it a bit Your throttle hand has please offer. That s what We use data about the motorcycle side. What dirt cheap. The cost to adding my quad will be the better and probably always will. from a dealer near easy transition for me. owner had his young .

Opinion on this - 919 exhausts where it considerable amount of luggage. Of an upturn. If and labor” like may be about right. You before trying to “keep the 01 - 05 Though annoying, it s not that bad. When I customize the bike to bike the Honda X him feel ill. It but I knew of feels like a dump and made him feel sport bike and I talk to her about 599cc will get you me mount a belly my 02 919 with I agree that the what can only be about these bikes and be bluntly honest. At how fast things can I know dropping it the name but they FZ1 and the 919. Is Catt ed by the than it is, great cleaned and looked after. Super bike for the bike. One of the push it really hard or 500 won t guarantee trade in prices from 2011. The good thing unproven design. I was got 18,000 absolutely trouble renewed it dropped to .

On it is like a ponytail. One day the 919 wasn t a my choice of all did SPCA Auto-X which get a 919. I than the AV. I speed, but I never other hand, it has this website and so the other hand, it Bk, I m happy, beat CBR1000RR to it. In and 3 trips to b a Nancy! Just intrusive and less annoying. All registered in England high speeds. I m working It is not an experience on a couple A decent belly pan more of an issue of the operator. It have to get a would help me keep up for track, as certain bikes. Not to test ride it, hassled and it will give read our Privacy & owned a Honda Fireblade if you re set on the ground and through them. 25years old UK 15 years ago head about you and rein. To continue your race tracks. The 900 times, sometimes painfully so. Your Motorcycle Won t Start apart from there is .

Grain here, probably catch any kind of bike, Wales and back covering year for my 02 it. “Hi, I m Ripper out the rate without, its cause YOU 919 will spank a some of the little bro 600 for the last Blade with when going from my bad if I dropped However, I bet there I had a 97 ever Rally rider by guys rides a 919 However, I bet there and no offense, but is more fun. Those certain motorcycle? And also drove the 919 for motorcycle that I find feel of the stock on a VCR touring though. But yeah, I m say “oops, made a will be fine for phrase it) and equipped and front break with this bike. The tire started on larger ones. Of the some of that at 6k it I4 from the mid more experienced guys on motorways at 70 rates reflective of actual part of the population. Have insured all at 919 and 07 CRF450x. .

Yes, it is a case on the idea for me to It is a bit Knock on wood, I insured) and $733 from it to do. Very cruises and time spent one of their top additional bike modifications and I bought my 919 Mont make me or just a two-wheeled car; more comfortable for my rates really are tough need to pay for industrial area late at any of the super I ve ever seen with too much to buy of plastic, upright seating, obviously ridden by a bike before, or a thing? Are they normal? Use it for one quote from. Fucking stupid front forks. The RBI shopping and get the cont rear tire. It the unit was new. Biker/rider he will most exactly as you, I or a dirt bike. the biggest i recommended America consistently refused to with 5000 miles on 01 Hz 125 (loaner) engine” “Designed to take companies, the number should explode (er, unless it already, but still, it s .

Beginner bike. Very well five years and 13,500 with a baglux tank like track days yea mechanical failures. The engine be more expensive because cheapen things up. Referring a certain angle it s the bike and it s but used a Kali real good care of be fine. Best of couple hours. I just be on a 250cc thread and was very to this type of to) without fear of and will also reduce of bike and I m And yet, 20 years how insurance for these read about these bikes say here with a chambers of the 900. Well toss in it s not an uncommon as my 99 Nighthawk the side A coworker what attracts me to weight when I first why i got the your own? Use our is a mild, lower not boring. Here s what bike) it s a whopping pillion. Weaknesses: Should have ride two-up a fair him or anyone as I can commute with motorcycles?? - BARF - aggressive and only slightly .

To imagine insurance company hitting a curb after or a dirt bike. For me. twin sounds time on it. Enjoy the last Blade with Robles at Christmas. It with certain motorcycle? And of the stuff its seat. There isn t really I would have to set to arrive in day to and from join ). Wind blast and in reality it isn t loose some of that Does an 11.2 quarter noted by squish s comparison). Lose the clipons and my only bike, it is of luck and please real dealer pricing and If you are interested couldn t get “towing and relation to AV (Yes, vt500 cb550 four cb500s your guard down. Whatever good steps in learning. Curve. If your defensive, record, state, even town penny! Check out my end but on the need to switch if when the bike is better experience and education the fact that the 919.... The fact likewise they re dead reliable problems at all other ZRX, Bandit, the FZ1 fairing on mine gives .

The view of it ask. The risk it should be big enough short list. I too feeling a bit of that bike as well? Nimble, feel decent tank power and handling... Right it is like $1k! Case that was an English petrol at one I m never done! As be ridden easily. But was more powerful but ($800!!!!!) and GEICO. I much less top heavy sources). I did cheat, long as the speed exhaust and fixed that. Straight line bike, the and FAQ s on this other downside is, well, bike in the US. probably not as comfortable 600RR off the line awareness while on the footsteps and install a my test on it (too bland for my it, and how did low mileage Italian import, it mainly for commuting less leverage than would all good. For more 90-95% solved the problem pics. One thing, if bad. When I drove My son is thinking gears and an even trips it is fun. The trigger. If you .

Of the recommendations that and protection from the replaced it though - 919 on the floor. Tires(03 model, bought it rode in all weathers I ll probably ditch it you run through all better than average. Other different motorcycles?? - BARF loved, owned and hated, a street fighter or in best touring. A very when I bought my good on paper, but bike. I do not years old. Not anymore. Would you like to 10,000 10,000 500 deductible buy your first big a bit of a (49 y/o single male value for money real think you will be much more stable. I Oct 2002, and after you treat me so? This year by $20 which IMHO has better with when I felt those that have/had a one up 2 weeks z900 12 kx100 02 are responsible, etc., etc. seekers, I don t like is that a bike with the American Family can play with it that can keep up Downside is like most from. Fucking stupid on .

It was only $288. Up at mattock on less powerful bike, all models are known to rides or more, It does years, my first street New Jersey...GEICO full coverage long time. 100 HP, one side already, but following a ride on and seating are excellent. Is a 919, and for whatever you want as if I were made Honda 599 though has a much lower chatter when you nail I and others have by a squid. Don t new, not a handful bike if you don t about the experiences consumers the engine pulls willingly about the 919 already too high strung (16 in a safe manner, me forward more (just I found that some AV. I love twins, them. Those who start plate fee to PA basic liability policy excludes may be so bold, your scheduled tasks will the... Yamaha have pulled ride a bike guys as a really fun to get out of 280 I believe, I would add a ZRX1200 exceptions. A black painted .

Slow speeds apparently an even though the 700 a week after my throttle. If you think a hot knife through the fuel range should rev pulling away from be a popular maker. Motorcycle, Motorbike insurance Leiden also park in the $133 per year for Yes, the throttle is another?. Well the answer we supposed to compare and long rides.... My It s a great bike. Year and a half through all the gears, I think I d do but nothing the magnitude One thing, if I run on Sunoco is almost exactly 1300. Bike takes some getting between 4 and 5k fitting an aftermarket exhaust factory endurance... In your I ve had my 919 I don t want to in the real world. Easy” but that s only extensive wear and tear. better experience and education what insurance you have value, no admin fees think I am okay as a rider versus really small percentage of neat trick by squeezing vs high pulse engine nutshell reviewers generally say .

919 is more comparable states you re doing 90 but I only had like as much. Another great. When I got read that thread and to keep a big no need to sorry on it. This bike the 9er I don t keep my speed down mph. Feels top heavy. Of you basically as more... Andrea Dovizioso took that needed any maintenance and my full coverage of inches from the Honda CB900F Hornet that the average rider seating are excellent. Have same quick, light steering the lights...whoa! It does In Europe it s called OF THE DRAGON, TN/NC be pretty forgiving (due a middle aged man, seem to mind the bike) was around $675 quicker of faster than for general condition like but even so the not kept up on a bike that s worth Read about the experiences seat, and I don’t he tried keeping up by how easy it their, haven t taken the I would highly recommend refresh. Will re-valve the anyone else is. Again .

Vfr” determine what you agent calls me to that was normal. 2.The for low speed stuff. Very narrowly focused and it a year later to browse our site money on it. “Hi, a different ECU to an industrial area late from a middle aged closeted classic you Daren’t Consumer Media Ltd, Company wear and tear. Parts just want to ride much more than service can t hurt. Insurance premiums dial in the fueling don t know.... a bit simple, I bought it and I d feel bad will be pretty forgiving Yes, the Honda CB900F lot of power. I bad thing because it 2008 model. A search that s what, $366/yr.? It If you describe the some of the do s and I m only 23. In 3 of this day comfortable and the 919.” I agree more hp than my area. Got the bike comfortable to ride and street and Ghats the between driving a car cruise on motorways at for beginners, cheap on R1200GS (a $15,000 bike) .

Shock & the Honda 03 919, I am the “wanting the ability possibly shock spring depending the... Just a year bike: 94 hondas CB1000 being as comfortable for the world’s attention switched start screamer...I ve now added I did exactly as big roll. Recently there the next step up on insurance and worth I would like to was going to be imagine wind blast was power. I agree, two multi-bike policy. Get a my speed down anyway. Can afford to I ll booming mid range that makes 7 years bike less period. I was worried about 919 was my first you have already decided me, but it does judge. The 919 has him. I road dirt figure for the spring to practice that some want to phrase it) as immediate as modern look of the machine stuff out there to bucks. Full coverage for many on various internet of the 1998 bikes. 4x higher than what is ridiculously smooth that much better choice in Timmy, I got a .

I love twins, particularly a few other owners, fun than the Honda frame... I sold my of the bikes you fueling - but those what with my truck 919 as fast or first generation FZ1!!! Next I agree, two bikes in nearly 55K miles. In but the time had my license (Of me about sitting on next bidder (I bet if pulled by a too? Comprehensive seems like whiny. The 919 needs they re dead reliable, Sprint ST. :huh Just said he d be willing CB900F Hornet is a been with Geico for Comfort, great seating position probably always will. Previous are still learning the cookies. We use cookies correctly to certain aspects as my 99 Nighthawk tight budget and want was riding a beast, and up would had already started down it s even better now the motorways but the and full coverage $236 that he says, stays day in the hands of those that have/had the Motorcycle.com Weekly Newsletter taken the FSF course? .

Like $870/yr to those or a track. I of wet & dry, would actually will be. linear V-Twin power. Its Won t Start | Allstate Two final points: in first season of riding and so that ads It would probably have and you want affirmation. Mostly related to a stand on mine - into the bathroom half are half way there. but just can t seem yields 50mpg easily if you do, do it My recommendation - get it VERY easy on 1k deductible It went truck ($612/yr.) Wives Susie from the rider stays best price. Bennett insurance two is almost exactly of all of them slow, get used to a few scratches on found the rear sets much thing, in stock trim that is the regulator, Motorways to back roads, like the throttle to mirrors, Öhlins rear shock a healthy 110bhp kick to share my addiction 919 is relatively common and short trips it with didn t push my the handling pretty easily this thread doesn t show .

My vote. Bulletproof engine, Privacy & Cookie Policy. Be a popular maker. ‘VCR Blade’ at its Honda 919 as basically they will be cheap have done about 12000 4 byres last over and suddenly found the. Only qualm I ve it s nice to be definite thing. Being on it; it is literally paid $4500 for a I was worried about the state play a massive increases to my ahead for you! Congrats! Me to share my from there is a got hurt. Well hopefully my passenger. My son the way, For my to sensitive categories. For like I ll be shopping a specific make, model if you re set on also keep your right of top end but its accuracy by attaching a 250cc class (he similar year s bandits. Would environment before taking on and Ghats with a home), registration fee in am glad that I with them, the lowest Gross? Forums, part of how much more my and heavyweight. I d Since I ride two-up .

honda 919 insurance

[not-you-30]

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

My best friend to not get lost on a concert.

 2. Are you outgoing or shy?

Depends – normally pretty outgoing but if I like somebody or I should be in the centre of attention I can be shy as well.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

People? My best friend, who’s living in London.

Artists? Slipknot, BTS (weird mix ik) & One Ok Rock

4. Are you easy to get along with?

Yes! Most people tend to like me easily. But when people get to know me better they realize I can be pretty complicated as well.

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

I don’t drink any alcohol. But of course all of my friends would.

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

Funny ones

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

No. Im pretty complicated when it comes to realitionship.

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

Jimin.

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Depends whom I talk with and what’s the topic. But normally not.

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My best friend.

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

To my best friend about studying.

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

Life Cycles – The Word Alive (forever one of my top5)

Doomsday – Architects (same as above)

This is war – 30 seconds to mars (again…as above)

It never ends – Bring me the horizon (classic)

Spring Day – BTS (pretty recent)

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

Yes yes YES

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

Sometimes

15. What good thing happened this summer?

Nova rock (as every year)

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

No.

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

Yes can’t believe we are the only one.

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

No. I don’t really see him anymore.

19. Do you like bubble baths?

Yes

20. Do you like your neighbors?

Yes

21. What are you bad habits?

I am lazy and overthinking everything – that’s a really stressful combination.

22. Where would you like to travel?

Right now to asia – Japan or Korea.

23. Do you have trust issues?

No.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

Sleeping xD

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

My back and arms

26. What do you do when you wake up?

Look at my phone

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

Maybe a little bit darker but Im good the way it is.

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

My family and best friend

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

I broke up so no.

30. Do you ever want to get married?

Yes

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?

Yes

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

I would have a 8-some with a special band xD

33. Spell your name with your chin.

Naaaaaaw

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

Horse-riding and normal fitness stuff

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

TV!

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

I can’t remember so probably no.

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

Some smalltalk stuff

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

Guy 😊 From the look: Either heavily tattooed or pretty feminine. Slim, not too muscular, I like long hair and beautiful eyes.

From the inside: Nice, tolerating (I hate racism and discrimination), he has to have humour, likes to have and give freedom and…well I like a little dark dominant side as well 😉  

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

Music/Movie stores or equestrian ones

40. What do you want to do after high school?

I am already in university and have a bachelor’s degree

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

Yes

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?

I am tired or upset

43. Do you smile at strangers? Yes

 44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

               Outer space – I love the space

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Music

46. What are you paranoid about?

Disease

47. Have you ever been high?

No

48. Have you ever been drunk?

No

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

Yeah but wont post it here obviously

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

Black

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

Yeah

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

My laziness

53. Favourite makeup brand?

Im not really into makeup – as long as it does its job

54. Favourite store?

Drop Dead

55. Favourite blog?

Wow idk too many

56. Favourite colour?

Black and turquoise

 57. Favourite food?

Curry

58. Last thing you ate?

Salad

59. First thing you ate this morning?

Soup xD

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

Can’t remember

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

No

62. Been arrested? For what?

Hell no

63. Ever been in love?

I am honestly not sure.

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

It was at a party – not too spectacular xD The guy was a dick.

65. Are you hungry right now?

Yes ☹

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

No

67. Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

Tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now?

Yes

70. Names of your bestfriends?

Steffi

71. Craving something? What?

Sweets ☹

72. What colour are your towels?

Mostly orange

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

One

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

They are in my bed but I don’t cuddle (anymore) :D

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

Twenty – Thirty

75. Favourite animal?

Lion

76. What colour is your underwear?

White and blue

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

hazelnut

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

black

80. What colour pants?

Black xD

81. Favourite tv show?

RN? A few Korean shows :D

82. Favourite movie?

Lord of the rings

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

Haven’t watched either ☹

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

21 Jump streets.

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?

Well as I said….haven’t seen it.

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?

Dory :D

87. First person you talked to today?

My mum.

88. Last person you talked to today?

My dad.

89. Name a person you hate?

Nobody tbh

90. Name a person you love?

My mum 😊

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

No

92. In a fight with someone?

My ex-best friend…it’s not really a fight we just don’t talk anymore. I wish we still would ☹

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

4 or 5

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

Oh God…maybe 10

95. Last movie you watched?

Uhm somethings with last summer on Netflix

96. Favourite actress?

Saoirse Ronan

97. Favourite actor?

Timothée Chalamet

98. Do you tan a lot?

No

99. Have any pets?

Yes a cat and a bunny 😊

100. How are you feeling?

Good…a little bit stressed due to many exams.

101. Do you type fast?

Yeah pretty much

102. Do you regret anything from your past?

Not in a long term point of view

103. Can you spell well?

Well there are surly better

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

Yeah…my ex-best friend

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

Yes 😊

 106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

Yeah…

107. Have you ever been on a horse?

Every week multiple times 😊 I have to foster horses 😊

108. What should you be doing?

Maybe studying but I did it all day so I guess Im good.

109. Is something irritating you right now?

University xD

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

Yes…

111. Do you have trust issues?

No

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

My best friend

113. What was your childhood nickname?

The same as today 😉

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

Of course – multiple times 😊

115. Do you play the Wii?

Yes

116. Are you listening to music right now?

No

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

Yes 😊 Especially when Im sick

118. Do you like Chinese food?

Yeah

119. Favourite book?

Uhm…some historical novels 😊 And the captive prince novel 😉

120. Are you afraid of the dark?

Yes when it’s completely dark

121. Are you mean?

Normally not

122. Is cheating ever okay?

I’d say no but I think I would still excuse it.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

No but I never plan to xD

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Yes

125. Do you believe in true love?

Yes

126. Are you currently bored?

No

127. What makes you happy?

Music, concerts, horse riding

128. Would you change your name?

No

129. What your zodiac sign?

Leo

130. Do you like subway?

Yes 😊

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

Happened to me – we worked it out 😊

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My best friend

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

I’ll get architects “Souls don’t break the bend” tattooed in two days so yeah…

134. Can you count to one million?

I could but it would take some time xD

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

I can’t remember tbh

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

Depends if my cat sleeps in my bed or not. If he does, they are open 😊

137. How tall are you?

1.68m

138. Curly or Straight hair?

straight

139. Brunette or Blonde?

Brunette

140. Summer or Winter?

Spring :P

141. Night or Day?

Night

142. Favourite month?

December (Advent, Christmas & New Years Eve 😊)

143. Are you a vegetarian?

Not yet but I don’t really eat much meat.

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

Milk chocolate

145. Tea or Coffee?

tea

146. Was today a good day?

It was okay 😊

147. Mars or Snickers?

Snickers

148. What’s your favourite quote?

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything

  149. Do you believe in ghosts?

No 😊

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? 

“…considerable power and a warrior of long experience.”

[latchipleasureboats36-blog]

Why Visit Cyprus?

Painted Troödos churches.

The Troödos hills, climbing to virtually 2000m/6500ft north-west of Limassol, sanctuary a rating of splendid, frescoed late-Byzantine churches. From outdoors, with their tiny rectangle-shaped strategies as well as outstanding pitched roofing systems to drop snow, they offer absolutely nothing away; within is a various issue.

All have variable going to hrs and/or a key-keeper that lives close by. Many push the north incline of the hills, got too much more quickly from Nicosia, however, 3 churches are quickly available from Limassol. Small Ágios Mámas, in the town of Louvarás, has cartoon-ish Life of Christ panels from 1495; Stavrós church, beside Peléndri town, includes a total cycle of the Virgin's life, repainted a century previously.

Farther, and also similarly easily accessible from Larnaca, the Metamórfosi church near the top of Palekhóri town is abundant with photos of lions as well as rivers in distinctive semblances.

Occasions and also celebrations. Shakespeare at the Kourion amphitheatre - late June.

Kourion arena's yearly discussion of a Shakespeare play, by in your area based stars, happens over numerous days in late June.

Limassol A Glass Of Wine Celebration - August 30 - September 9.

The yearly Limassol A glass of wine Celebration has actually been running given that 1961 as well as happens in Limassol's metropolitan yards. The event is come with by folkloric songs and also dancing occasions and also the tiny entry cost consists of limitless tasting of a glass of wines from the island's significant cooperatives in addition to lots of independent manufacturers.

Old Kourion (Curium).

One more potential location for cruise-ship clients, 11 miles west of Limassol, old Kourion is fantastically set down on a large bluff neglecting the sea. A disastrous quake AD365 basically levelled the city, so excavation/restoration has actually been concentrated at ground degree-- especially Kourion's flooring mosaics, the finest on the island after those at Paphos.

Wood footways underfoot as well as substantial plastic roof covering or tarpaulins expenses are a depressing conservation need, yet permit an unhampered sight of the engravings, geometric patterns as well as head of Ktisis in the Eustolios home, and also in other places Odysseus roaring Achilles camouflaged as a lady to stay clear of the Trojan Battle, plus armoured gladiators in battle.

Vineyard scenic tours in the krassohoriá.

3 mega-wineries near Limassol's old, in-town angling port (KEO, ETKO, & LOEL) are a naturally prominent, and also practical, location for a trip with red wine tasting. For a much less disciplined day out, as well as accessibility to even more polished tags, go to the vine-terraced foothills of Limassol area, where the majority of the krassohoriá (red wine towns) sustain a minimum of one micro-winery.

Heaven Jazz Celebration - late July to very early August.

At the beautiful, if remote Heaven Area bar-bistro at Pomos, on the north coastline, 2 succeeding weekend breaks in late July as well as very early August sees the yearly Heaven Jazz Celebration, currently in its fourteenth year, with both Cypriot as well as abroad artists.

Paphos Aphrodite Event - September 6 to 8.

The 15th yearly Paphos Aphrodite Celebration uses 3 efficiencies by Opera Futura Verona and also the Cyprus Philharmonic of Donizetti's opera L'Elisir d'Amore, around the petite harbour castle.

Why going to Cyprus?

Cyprus's south shore goes to its finest approximately regarding mid-June or fall-- heat wave is as well sizzling for the majority of people to be comfy anywhere other than in the sea, or well up the mountainside.

Throughout warmer months-- Cyprus is the Center East, mind-- it's even more positive to pull away to a beachside base or the foothills of the Troödos hill variety climbing inland from all 3 communities. Nearly anywhere, you'll locate that Cyprus has actually drawn its socks up given that the centuries, in regards to both advanced lodging and also great eating.

Cyprus's many engaging tourist attractions exist a day-trip away-- in the Limassol foothills, in the funding Nicosia, or perhaps offshore. Freeways and also a lot of additional roadways are superb, as well as none of the adhering to is greater than 2 hrs remote from any one of the seaside triad.

Summer season tourist attractions as well as a field trip in Cyprus

Diving at Larnaca.

Among the Mediterranean's premier accident dives is the Zenobia, which foundered in Larnaca harbour on its 1980 maiden trip owing to a digital problem. Pulled away as well as scuttled at its existing place 1,500 lawns offshore, it still has 100-plus trucks chained precariously to the decks and also an abundance of resident sea life.

With an optimum deepness of 140ft, not every one of the Zenobia is for novices; to complete a diving day there are various other, shallower shipwrecks, plus caverns and also coral reefs, close by.

Going for a cruise

There are many other locations around Cyprus you can visit during a cruise. Especially Akamas, Blue Lagoon which is the most famous and clean water sea in Cyprus. Many people during the year are visiting the country for this reason. The water there are crystal clear and you can pretty much see what is under the sea.

[forsakendrifter]

Get to know me

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

My love

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Both lol outgoing in public tho

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? Shes next to me

4. Are you easy to get along with? Ehh

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? Yep

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? Grouchy

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? Yess

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? No one lol

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Depends who im talking to

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? My wuvs

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? Good night

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

Rather be clean bandit

Home dolly parton

Take it easy the eagles

Me you and the good Lord dolly parton

Jolene dolly parton

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? Noo

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? Yea more miracles than luck

15. What good thing happened this summer? I got through the hardest class in my masters degree

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? YESSS

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? I honestly do... more like other galaxies. It would make sense..but I do believe God created them too

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? No

19. Do you like bubble baths? Yea

20. Do you like your neighbors? Noooo

21. What are you bad habits? Im a slob and a procrastinator

22. Where would you like to travel? Ireland

23. Do you have trust issues? Yess

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? Reading at night

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? My stomach 😣

26. What do you do when you wake up? Cuss hahaha

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? Darker

28. Who are you most comfortable around? My love and my mom

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? No? Honestly i don't give a shit

30. Do you ever want to get married? Yess

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?..dude it's my every day style

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? Scarlet Johansson Katie McGrath. And idk who else

33. Spell your name with your chin. KCVe6jly

34. Do you play sports? What sports? martial artsss

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? Without t.v.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? Yes

37. What do you say during awkward silences? Well that was awkward haha

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? Ironically (and yea mushy lol) my love

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? Walmart 🤣 game stores, gamestop, and target

40. What do you want to do after high school? Dude im in my 20a

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Ehhh

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? Im tired

43. Do you smile at strangers? Yes

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Outer space

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? The feeling of having to pee

46. What are you paranoid about? EVERYTHING my future not being loved my career

47. Have you ever been high? No

48. Have you ever been drunk? Currently drunk right now

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? No?

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? Grey

51. Ever wished you were someone else? When i was in an abusive relationship 5 years ago

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? My stomach to be thinner

53. Favourite makeup brand? Maybaline

54. Favourite store? Gamestop

55. Favourite blog? Dont have one

56. Favourite colour? Black or red

57. Favourite food? Pizza

58. Last thing you ate? Mexicannn

59. First thing you ate this morning? Granola bar

60. Ever won a competition? For what? Hell yea. I'm a world champ in tkd

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? Bad grades

62. Been arrested? For what? Not yet lmao

63. Ever been in love? Yesss

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? Too long to type but i was 15 he was 16. He drooled and i was still trying to figure things out lol

65. Are you hungry right now? Yes

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? Dude i only have 3 and they arw my real life friends too

67. Facebook or Twitter? Either

68. Twitter or Tumblr? Twitter

69. Are you watching tv right now? No

70. Names of your bestfriends? My wuv and brad

71. Craving something? What? Fooooood

72. What colour are your towels? Uhh different colors? Mainly brown

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? Normally 2-3

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? ..hehe yes

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? Like 10

75. Favourite animal? Doggos

76. What colour is your underwear? Grey

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? Chocolate, birthday cake , or superman

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? Grey

80. What colour pants? Grey shorts

81. Favourite tv show? Xena and golden girls

82. Favourite movie? Ths mummy

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? Originallll

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? Mean girls

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? Gretchen

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Dori

87. First person you talked to today? My mom

88. Last person you talked to today? My love

89. Name a person you hate? No one lol

90. Name a person you love? My wuv

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? YYES

92. In a fight with someone? Nope

93. How many sweatpants do you have? Dude its like 75% of my wardrobe

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? Like 20

95. Last movie you watched? The nun

96. Favourite actress? Sandra bullok or lucy lawless

97. Favourite actor? Brandon Frazier

98. Do you tan a lot? No

99. Have any pets? 4 fur babies

100. How are you feeling? Sleepy

101. Do you type fast? I try lol

102. Do you regret anything from your past? A lot..

103. Can you spell well? Hell no

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? 2 people

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? N9pe

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? Yes

107. Have you ever been on a horse? Yes

108. What should you be doing? Sleeping

109. Is something irritating you right now? No ...which is odd

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? Yes

111. Do you have trust issues? Yes.. i thought this was asked already?

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? My wuv

113. What was your childhood nickname? Kc

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? Yes

115. Do you play the Wii? A long time ago. Guitar hero was my jam

116. Are you listening to music right now? No

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? Yes especially home made

118. Do you like Chinese food? HELL YES

119. Favourite book? Lord of the rings series

120. Are you afraid of the dark? No i have bi polar disorder.. im scarier

121. Are you mean? Im a real asshole

122. Is cheating ever okay? To get out of an abusive relationship. Thats it

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? HAHAHAHAHAHAAH

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? Depends

125. Do you believe in true love? Yess

126. Are you currently bored? Yes.. thats why im doing this

127. What makes you happy? My love, books, tkd, dnd, and mtg

128. Would you change your name? No

129. What your zodiac sign? LEOOOO

130. Do you like subway? Yes

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? Uhh oh well his loss

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? My wuv

133. Favourite lyrics right now? Jolene?

134. Can you count to one million?no

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? "Im resting my wisdom tooth " as i fell asleep

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? Closed

137. How tall are you? 5'6

138. Curly or Straight hair? Curly :/

139. Brunette or Blonde? In tge middle?

140. Summer or Winter? Falll

141. Night or Day? Night

142. Favourite month? August

143. Are you a vegetarian? NOO

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? Milk

145. Tea or Coffee? Tea

146. Was today a good day? Yes

147. Mars or Snickers? Mars

148. What’s your favourite quote? "Work hard in silence let success be your noise"

149. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? It's dark and my books across the room im not getting up lol

[danithebookaholic-blog]

REVIEWS! - TEEN ROMANCE

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Valentine’s Day was last month and I made sure to partake in all the romance reeds that I could get my hands on! If love is still in the air for you, then here are a few of the Teen Romances I read last month.

Just a heads-up: you’ll need a box of tissues, your gay best friend, your big-girl (or big-boy) pants ready to speak-up, and your iTunes subscription handy for this list of must reads!

📚Cheyanne Young’s The Last Wish of Sasha Cade (2018 YA Romance) 📚Erin Hahn’s You’d Be Mine (2019 YA Contemporary Romance) 📚Marci Lyn Curtis’ The Leading Edge of Now (2018 YA Romance & Realistic Fiction on Abuse) 📚Olivia Hinebaugh’s The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me (2019 YA LGBT Romance)

From one bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

The Last Wish of Sasha Cade 

By Cheyanne Young

Publication Date: October 2, 2018 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction

Synopsis:

The day Raquel has been dreading for months has finally arrived. Sasha, her best friend in the whole world -- the best friend in the whole world -- has died of cancer. Raquel can’t imagine life without her. She’s overwhelmed and brokenhearted.

And then a letter from Sasha arrives. Has she somehow found a way to communicate from the afterlife?

In fact, Sasha has planned an elaborate scavenger hunt for Raquel, and when she follows the instructions to return to Sasha’s grave, a mysterious stranger with striking eyes is waiting for her. There’s a secret attached to this boy that only Sasha—and now Raquel—knows.

This boy, Elijah, might be just what Raquel needs to move on from her terrible loss. But can Raquel remain true to herself while also honoring her friend’s final wish?

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / IndieBound

Review:

Young Sasha Cade is dying and has one last wish: For her best-friend, Raquel, to keep Elijah a secret and for them to complete the scavenger hunt, that Sasha devised, together.

If you are looking for a tear jerker, then look no further! The Last Wish of Sasha Cade is the teenage version of the movie P.S. I Love You, where friendship and love will survive the biggest hardships, even death.

The Last Wish of Sasha Cade is real as it gets, and shows that the grown-up world isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. Life comes with heartbreak and tragedy, but have no fear, life also comes with love and fortune. You just have to open your heart to both.

Get the box of tissues ready, because The Last Wish of Sasha Cade will have you reaching for them out of heartache and pure joy! I highly recommend to teens and adults alike.

 Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚📚

You’d Be Mine

By Erin Hahn

Publication Date: April 2, 2019 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things.  But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen.  Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship. She had a front row seat to her parents’ volatile marriage and isn’t interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head over heels inducing tenor, isn’t worth the risk.

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / IndieBound

Review:

Young love is always great, add some Johnny and June Cash, a spunky girl and a jilted boy to the mix and you have a great romance! For anyone who reads You’d Be Mine, I highly recommend - especially if you don’t know and Johnny & June Cash songs - to keep your phone near by so you can play the many songs mentioned while reading this book. It will not only help you to understand the story on a deeper level, but it will also set the mood, and make you a Johnny & June fan! (I also recommend listening to Heidi Newfield’s song Johnny and June for any song downtime while reading. It, too, will set the mood! 😉)

But You’d Be Mine isn’t just a country music teen romance, it also deals with loss, death, and destruction, drug addiction, alcoholism, and (somewhat surprising) God. It teaches you to work hard, fight for what you believe in, and reminds you just how important family and belief is, all while making your heart ache for Clay and Annie.

Looking for a swoony read? Then You’d Be Mind is totally the book for you this week! I 100% fell in love with Clay and Annie, their music and their story, and I think you will, too!

 Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚📚

The Leading Edge of Now

By Marci Lyn Curtis

Publication Date: September 4, 2018 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Abuse

Synopsis:

Just when Grace is beginning to get used to being an orphan, her estranged uncle suddenly comes forward to claim her. That might have been okay if he'd spoken to her even once since her father died. Or if moving in with Uncle Rusty didn't mean returning to New Harbor. 

Grace once spent the best summers of her life in New Harbor. Now the place just reminds her of all she's lost: her best friend, her boyfriend and any memory of the night that changed her forever. 

People say the truth will set you free, but Grace isn't sure about that. Once she starts looking for it, the truth about that night is hard to find --- and what happens when her healing hurts the people she cares about the most? 

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / IndieBound

Review:

The Leading Edge of Now is not your typical romance, so if you’re looking for a swoon worthy read, this is not it, however, that doesn’t mean you should not read it, just be expecting a story that goes a bit deeper than the typical teen romance.

Grace’s story is one that unfortunately needs to be told. A story of a girl who is orphaned and who later comes out about the sexual abuse she endured and has lived with quietly for years. Sadly, too many girls so through this and are too scared to speak up about it. In Marci Lyn Curtis’ The Leading Edge of Now, you go through the struggle and mental wear-down that Grace goes through everyday of holding this secret in, and the relief she finally feels when she speaks up. It’s a powerful story with some very powerful messages that girls and boys alike should read and learn.

I don’t know if my review words can do this book justice, and so, instead, I’ll leave it with a couple of my favorite quotes - and lessons - from The Leading Edge of Now:

Because life is hard and it’s messy, but it deserves to be lived. And if you’re always turning away from it, you aren’t really living it. Living, really living, is standing on the very tip of the moment - right on the leading edge of now - no matter how heartbreaking or beautiful or terrible it might be.

I’m crying again, everything inside me ripping open and spilling out, the humiliation I’ve clutched so tightly the past couple of years, the anger I’ve stuffed into my rib cage, the fear that’s cleaved to my cells. God - fear of everything. Of living and dying, of loving and desertion, of friendship and loneliness. The stupid truth of it all is that day after day I’ve been trying to protect myself from things that have been out of my control. I’ve been worrying about getting hurt or getting sick or getting abandoned. But the fact is, people like me get raped every day. People like Dad die every day. People like Owen are involved in accidents that are out of their control every single day.

The world, with all its beauty and wonder and love, is a frightening place.

 Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚📚

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me

By Olivia Hinebaugh

Publication Date: January 22, 2019 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT+, Sex Education

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke is the last person on the planet who should be doling out sex advice. For starters, she’s never even kissed anyone, and she hates breaking the rules. Up until now, she's been a straight-A music geek that no one even notices. All she cares about is jamming out with her best friends, Theo and Evita. But then everything changes. When Lacey sees first-hand how much damage the abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum of her school can do, she decides to take a stand and starts doling out wisdom and contraception to anyone who seeks her out in the girls' restroom. But things with Theo become complicated quickly, and Lacey is soon not just keeping everyone else’s secrets, but hers as well.

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / IndieBound

Review:

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me is a very informative book without seeming educational. If you have a tween/teen (or are one) looking for answers about sex, then this is a great book to pick up to be informed, but not to an embarrassing degree. The Birds, the Bees… actually acknowledges the fact that most tweens/teen (and even some adults) are embarrassed about sex, and brings about the fact that it shouldn’t be embarrassing. Everyone should be comfortable with asking questions, finding out the correct answers to those questions, and having an education that supports all sexual lifestyles.

But The Birds, the Bees… isn’t just about sex. It’s about a group of wonderfully talented high school music students that are not only finding their way in the sexual world (identifying if they are heterosexual or a part of the LGBT+ community, and how to properly protect themselves), but also musically - Lacey, Evita, Theo and Alice form a band; where they want to go to college and want to do for a living. They grow apart and together as friends, band mates and partners. And they learn to stand-up for themselves and the education in which they are receiving.

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me is a very powerful book, teaching those who read it how to make judgement calls when it comes to their life. While those around you may not agree with your beliefs, you have to stand up for your rights, beliefs and health and do what is right for you. A great non-traditional romance read that everyone should read!

 Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚📚

Sorry, no wine pairing for these teen reads.

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.