#i promise to start getting better about posting all the solo edits after today!

[irisdaisysource]

Last Day of Belated Extension Announcements:💛🌼💛  

So hey guys! Thanks again to everyone who made gorgeous things and to anyone who wants to continue to get in content for our gorgeous flower girls, please do so ---- use the prompts as a jumping off point, or just get creative with yourself. Just keep doing the do for them and Tagging Us! 

Speaking of it feels like a time for a more permanent url and I want to open the floor (and the replies lol) to some of my top options:

irisdaisygfs ✿

irisanddaisy ✿

irisdaisyedits ✿

westquakesource ✿

westquakeflowers ✿

(mrsirisanddaisywestjohnson) ---- this one’s mostly just for fun lol

and even other suggestions you think could be great! 💜🌺💖

[hopesbarnes]

Black Swan (1)

Summary: Y/N used to be a Russian spy under the code name Black Swan. But that was a lifetime ago, now she’s a part-time avenger, dance teacher, surrogate sister to Natasha Romanoff, and trainer to new Shield Agents. She’s come a long way from the days of killing targets and being tortured. But when someone from her past comes around will she be able to ignore her history anymore? Or will she end up falling in love with the only man her sister ever loved? 

Warnings: None for this chapter  

A/N: Here we go againn! This is a edited form of the story I had posted last year. Taglist is open, send an ask 

“Bucky is going to be staying here,” Steve says at breakfast that morning. In the same nonchalant tone, he used to say “I’m going on a run’. Not the type of tone to use when announcing a dangerous assassin would be your roommate. You knew what he did wasn’t his fault, out of anyone, you understood this. But he killed without blinking, and his brain is scrambled like an egg. This didn’t make the most stable man, and it definitely didn’t make him safe to be around. 

“Steve, is that really a good idea?” Natasha says before you could form the exact same question. 

Natalia was your sister, you’ve known her your whole life. You’re not blood-related but related through things much stronger. The two of you were widows. A KGB experiment that stole girls and trained them to be merciless spies. They took your life away and killed anyone too weak to handle the stress. Natalia and you were the only known survivors. She took on the mantle of Black Widow upon graduation, and you took the mantle, Black Swan. 

“They took out the programming, he’s not the Winter Soldier anymore,” Steve combats with. “He needs help, and I need to be the one to give it.” He turns and leaves the room after this statement, leaving you and Natasha with no room to debate this fact. 

“This is not going to end well” you mumble under your breath, and Nat nods in agreement. Nothing about this screamed ‘good idea’. But then again, they did take in your sister and you. 

After breakfast, you head to the gym with Nat for morning workouts. It was never a crazy exercise, just enough to start the day. You head towards the treadmill, and she speaks first.

 “I remember him.” She admits softly. You knew the conversation was coming, but like hell did you want to avoid it. “Do you?” The ‘training’ you went through involved wiping, so there were spots in your memory that may never be filled. But James wasn’t one of those.

“Yeah, and I remember how you would talk nonstop about him,” you say teasingly. She throws her towel at you and the two of you break into giggles. A sound most people never dream of hearing from the two of you. 

“I was naive then! We were kids,” she says. Kids that never should have gone through what they did. 

“I never liked him,” you declare bluntly taking the goofy tone from the room. She exhales loudly. 

“I know сестренка (sis). What time is it, don’t you have class today?” She says effectively changing the topic. A trademark of hers.

 “It’s at 11, I have two hours and the building is 10 minutes away,” you tell her, even though she knows this information. 

“I still don’t get why you teach all those испорченные дети (spoiled children)” she says. 

“It’s my way of paying back to the society I guess. I might as well use my dancing skills for good for once.” She nods and you both continue running for a little while longer.

You arrive at the studio 15 minutes before class, which is more than enough to set up the barres and find the right CD for the lesson. The girls slowly start trickling in. It was your senior class so the girls are all teenagers. It’s Saturday which means the girls are here all day long. They stretched, ran through barre work, ate lunch, and then learned their choreography the rest of the time. They were part of a competition team, and put their all into dance. It was always refreshing to see such passion and reinvigorated your love for the sport. It may have lead you down a path that took everything, but it still held your heart.

“Alright girls, take off your street clothes. Barres mean leotards and tights only!” You say in an authoritative teacher voice and they all hurriedly shuffle to their assigned spots. You hit the music count “5,6,7,8-” and they begin their pliés. 

Two hours later the class ends and the girls go to their lunch break in a flurry of laughs and gossip. You put the barres back against the wall and join the other teachers for lunch. You’ve been with the studio for close to 5 years now. At first, they were wary of hiring an ex KGB spy, part-time avenger. But there were few people as trained as you, and when word got out that you were teaching, tons of girls signed up for a class with ‘The Black Swan’. Luckily the novelty of your celebrity status wore off with the girls and they stopped asking a hundred questions about the avengers and your past. (They were still obsessed with Natalia though.)

Lunch passes and you’re joined in the room by the girls of your large group. It was the beginning of the season and you had just announced they would be dancing to “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine. They were still giddy with excitement and constantly heard “Miss Y/N Look!” by excited girls showing new ways they could turn or fold in half. The dance would start with three of the girls extending their leg above their head and holding it. You told them the previous week that this week whoever could hold it longest would get to do it in the dance. The girls all got ready before you count down and let them bring their legs up. You hear them all egging each other on and it reminds you of when you were younger before the program.

All but three girls eventually drop their legs and you have to practically shout over their excited squeals. The rest of the time goes by quickly and you have the first part choreographed and the girls seem to have it memorized. You give them all homework to work on their turns and bid them goodbye for the day. Before you can leave two of the girls come up and ask you to choreograph their solos and you agree before shooing them to their parents.

You head back to your apartment in the compound upstate and shower. Your floor consisted of bedrooms for the Nat and you and a shared area in between. There were few people you could tolerate early in the morning and Nat was about the extent of it. You head to the common area upstairs, where everyone gathered.

“The old man give any more information on when he’s bringing him here?” You ask Nat in your native tongue. She’s stretching and watching television. 

“Steve left today. Said they’ll be back Monday,” she replies from the straddle she’s sitting in on the floor. “How was the class?” 

“Good, started choreographing the large group today. They’re all super excited and want better spots in the dance so they’re trying their best right now.” You smile thinking about the girls all trying to see how long they can hold their tilts. “Two of them asked me to do their solos for them, so I’m a little excited too,” You answer.

“Sometimes a part of me misses the tutus and tights. Then I remember what came with them.” She says in a wistful voice.  

“You should come to class with me sometime if you want. I promise they’re not that vile,” you say. “Plus, they’ve been dying to meet you. It’s nothing like our lessons.” 

She smiles and says “Maybe.” You join in her stretching and watch the show with her.  

Later on, Bruce finds the pair of you chatting while sitting in splits.

 “You do know that the body was not designed to bend that way?” he asks. 

“It also wasn’t meant to turn big and green. But here we are.” Tasha quipped back. Bruce pointed as if he was going to refute that, but lowered his hand in defeat instead.

“You hear about the new addition? You ask.

 “Bucky? Yeah, I never met him,” he says, “But at this point what’s another messed up person who could kill everyone!” He laughs.

“How much do you think he’ll remember?” Nat asks. 

“Hard to say. Guess we’ll find out in time.” You and Natasha share a look but go back to talking with Bruce and hope for the best going forward.

Perm Taglist:

@brokenthelovely​ @inkedaztec​ @buckysmischief​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @poppunkdork​ @bythebloodofafangirl​ @gwenvrse​ @momobaby227​ @winterprincess-sky​ @marvelousmrstark​ @starstruckpersonearthquake​ @katshrev​

Black Swan Taglist:

@desimarie12​ @puddinsqueen​ @fogfolk​ @creepylittlemarvelgirl​ @jennmurawski13​ 

[userdokja]

The Fall | Ben Solo X Reader || Two.

Summary:  In which the reader is Poe’s best friend but doesn’t like Rey for him and Kylo has a crush on Rey. Then one day Poe and Rey get together, Kylo and the Reader helps each other to break them apart, then realizes that while they were doing it… They were falling for each other Instead.

Based on this

Warnings: Curse words, Soft Ben so this isn’t really a Kylo Ren x Reader, Fluff, My Writing and Grammar.

One || Two 

Masterlist

----

You basically stayed in the restaurant for another hour before finally coming up with something.

"We make Poe go to that bar first, and then maybe we can get someone to get his attention." He read out of the piece of tissue paper you wrote on. "And then Rey finds out."

"And then I'll make them end it in a public place so you can comfort Rey after!" You continued, and he clicked the pen so he can write it down. "This sounds like an evil stupid plan."

"An evil stupid plan that's going to work!" He slowly said as if it would stay in your mind better if he did.

"Right, so we need to test this out first."

"What do you mean test it out?" You asked him.

"We need to be the one who's going to experience what they're going to experience and see if it will work." You looked at him weirdly, which was a sign that you didn't agree. "We're going to that place anyways!"

"But-"

"No buts we're going to make this perfect." He stood up and dragged you out of you seat, and out of the restaurant.

The place looked like it was where were made, poles around the whole room and a bar in the middle.

"I hope this works, it's going to cost a hell lot of money."

"Money's not really a problem..." He mumbled, you curled your eyebrows together and was about to ask where he'll get it from, and then it clicked.

"You're related to the Solo's?" He nodded. "I don't know why I didn't get it sooner,"

"That's cool, It's good that you didn't recognize the name earlier because then we wouldn't be able to come up with this!" He grinned and looked around the empty room, "I don't think that trying it out will be a good idea, the whole place smells like alcohol."

"We should probably just call them." You agreed and walked out of the room and made your way to the stairs and started going down, "I feel like the smell's stuck on me."

"Aw man." He said.

"What?"

"It's raining." You both made your way down faster and finally saw that he was right. "We walked all the way here and my car's all the way back at the restaurant."

"We can just run for it."

"It's ten blocks away, we'd be soaking wet when we get there." He says as he stared at the rain.

"Come on, school's been stressful. It's going to be fun." You grabbed his hand and walked out of the place, letting the rain fall on the both of you. You ran like little kids and you were sure that the people you passed by thought you were weirdos or something.

"I- I'm sorry ma'am." You heard Ben say behind you, you turned around to see him picking the woman's umbrella up and giving it to her with an apologetic smile.

"What was that?" You asked him as soon as he caught up with you.

"I accidentally bumped her umbrella with my forehead." He chuckled.

"Did it hurt?" You stopped under a roof to look at his face, "It's because you're so tall."

"Just a little." He answered your first question.

"We should probably run back faster to your car." You suggested and he nodded, when you got back to his car he quickly unlocked it for you to get inside, he turned the heater up and gave you  a jacket from the backseat. "See? it was fun."

"We haven't planned everything yet. and it's already almost 10:00."

"Who cares? It's a Saturday tomorrow." You hugged the jacket closer, "Maybe you can drive around and we can talk about it more."

"We're really planning the fall of their relationship huh?" He laughed quietly before driving out of the parking lot. "The fall of Pey- or Roe... whatever it doesn't suit them anyways."

You laughed at his comment, you started driving around and talking about your plan, occasionally laughing at a joke one of you threw in to keep the conversation alive. You realized that you haven't been this carefree since school started to slowly kill you, and you barely knew the person you were with.

"Tell me more about your self, Solo."

"I came from a rich family, not really that close with my dad since he's always away for work... and there's nothing that interesting about me to tell. How about you?" He glanced at you for a second before looking back at the road.

"Nothing really exciting either."

"No boyfriend? cute boyfriend?" He joked.

"Nope, all I have is me.... and Poe, and this evil plan." You say.

"And Kylo Ren." He reminded.

"And the tall Solo boy." He scoffed at the nickname. "You know the more we talk about the plan the more childish it gets."

"To be honest, I actually agree. Maybe we're both just looking for something fun to do." He pulled over once you were in front of your building. "Maybe you can just do the normal convincing first? Tell Poe how they don't belong to each other?"

"Sounds okay, I'll try." You opened the car door and walked out, "Thank you for today, Ben."

"It wasn't nice to see a pretty girl all alone on her birthday." You smiled at his comment before closing the door. Ben waited until you walked into the doors of your building before driving away.

You walked into your apartment and almost tripped over the shoe that was laying on the ground, the whole place was dark so you opened the lights. You looked around and saw that Poe's door was wide open with the lights on, you walked in and saw that his head was on the table, his lips parted lightly as he snored.

You walked over to him and gently rubbed his shoulder to wake him up, he suddenly flinched, surprising you both.

"Hey, You need to get to your bed or else your neck will hurt tomorrow." He groaned and nodded before standing up and letting his whole body drop on his bed.

"I'm really sorry for today." he mumbled with a tired voice, "It's not that i forgot.."

"It's alright. Get some sleep." You left his room without another word and headed to your own to get some rest.

----

A/N: I’m so sorry this chapter was boring! It’s just fluff for Reader and Ben (before everything goes down- oof) but I promise there will be something happening in the next part! I’ve already written most of the series and I’m just editing some parts before I post it!

Permanent Tags: @aintnouseofpretending @just4muggles @heartbeats-wildly @katiegoddessofmischief

Star Wars Tags: @melcutie @xxsirensong

Kylo Ren Taglist: @dark-night-sky-99

Series Taglist: @jxhn-mxrphy @bookluverandmore @crazynocturnalkiki @aintnouseofpretending @i-am-lokii-of-asgard @jcc04220 @treestarrrrrrrr @thwiso @celiholland @tori719

(Just tell me if you want to be added or removed from the tags!} 

[redthreadoffate]

three, too [sebastian stan, tom holland]

a repost, originally posted in my former writing blog

ship: sebastian stan x female!reader x tom holland

warnings: v-type polyamorous relationship (based only on research, forgive me if i get anything wrong), no smut; swearing, DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE AGAINST IT; edited twice so mistakes here and there

notes: definitely au, no acting related, based off on an inception fic i read once long ago

summary: sebastian stan, y/n y/l/n and tom holland. it was just the three of them. the three musketeers. the three amigos. sometimes even the three stooges. it was always just them against the world. they had no label and they don’t plan on putting one anytime soon.

ONE: Halloween Party.

“Okay, so, do we all agree on that?” You confirmed as you jotted down some notes.

“I’m in,” Sebastian said.

“Do I have to say that I am when I thought of it?” Tom shook his head. “Honestly, guys. I don’t believe you sometimes.”

You rolled your eyes. “Anyways. Han, Luke and Leia. I think we all know who’s who.”

“Obviously,” Tom chimed in.

Sebastian scoffed. “I know who Tom’s supposed to be.”

“At least you admit it.”

Days later, as you prepared to leave for your friend Chris Evans’ Halloween party, you three came out of your respective rooms and got ready to show off your outfits. You had all thought that you wouldn’t be wearing the same costume. Oh how wrong you were.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” you all shouted in unison. “I’M HAN SOLO!”

Sebastian shook his head. “It’s so obvious I’m Han in this relationship. Mr. Fanboy there is supposed to be Luke, and Y/N, you’re the badass Leia.”

You crossed your arms in front of you “No. You’re supposed to be Leia, Seb. You’re the beautiful one. I’m obviously Han. And Tom and his fangirling ass is Luke.”

Tom held up his arms. “Hold up, hold up. I’m the coolest so I get to be Han. Y/N is Luke because she’s the star. And Seb, you’re Leia because there’s no other character left.”

“Fuck you two,” Sebastian muttered.

You looked at each other before sighing. After a quiet moment, you burst into fits of laughter.

“I guess we’re all going as Han,” Sebastian stated.

“It’ll be fun, I suppose,” you agreed.

Tom shrugged. “Chris did say that we should go as our favorite characters.”

You smiled before heading out the door and into the car.

TWO: Movie Night.

It was your usual movie-type kind of night. Their choice of film for today was Sinister 2. You loved to scare herself silly. Tom got the popcorn ready as you and Sebastian laid on the couch waiting for the movie to start.

“I’ve got the popcorn,” Tom announced as he entered the room and switched off the lights. He sat beside you nd gave you the bowl.

Sebastian took a handful of the food before leaning back on the couch. You didn’t like eating until everything started to fall into place. Tom began to eat with much gusto.

When the movie was nearing its end, it was only Tom and you who were watching. Sebastian passed out as soon as the film reached its climax. Your eyes were glued to the screen, not even bothering to look at Sebastian’s face, and you adored looking at him when he was asleep. Tom, on the other hand, though still watching the movie, kept thinking about was how he shouldn’t have eaten all the popcorn in one go.

When a jump scare appeared on the screen, you screamed, waking up Sebastian and pulling Tom away from his thoughts.

“What? What?” Sebastian jumped up to look around him. “What’s wrong?”

“I wasn’t paying attention! What happened?” Tom wondered aloud.

You shushed them. “We’re almost getting to the mystery being solved.”

Sebastian closed his eyes and sighed in relief. He leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms, watching the movie once again. Tom was torn between going back to the kitchen to get something he can munch on.

“God this movie is going to be the death of me,” you muttered.

THREE: The Three Types.

“I’m the clever one,” Tom started, “Sebastian is the cool one, and Y/N is the cute one.”

“I can’t help but agree with you there,” Sebastian said with a nod.

You rolled her eyes. “Why do I feel like I have no choice but to be the cute one.”

Tom and Sebastian looked at each other before leaning towards you to kiss your cheek, one boy per side. “Because you are the cute one,” they affirmed in unison.

You smiled and held both their hands. “I love you two.”

Sebastian tilted your face with his finger and kissed you softly. “And I love you, too.”

You then turned to Tom as it was his turn. You leaned forward and gave him a kiss as well. “Don’t forget that I love you, too,” he reminded her.

“How could I forget?” You licked your lips.

Sebastian scoffed. “Yeah, you could never.”

You looked at him and pouted. “What do you mean?”

“Your insecurities get the better of you sometimes, Y/N,” Tom said.

You frowned. “Okay. But the things that happen after are always mind-blowing.”

Both Sebastian and Tom raised their eyebrows. “True.”

You three laughed.

FOUR: Home.

You three were lying down on your bed. You had just finished another amazing night and both Sebastian and Tom were tired, sleeping on either side of you. You, however, were looking up at the ceiling, reminiscing about the time you had been abandoned by your previous polyamory relationship.

“Sorry, Y/N, we love you, we really do, but Lisa and I are just not cut out to be in this kind of relationship.”

You felt the world stopped spinning. All you could do was nod. you stood up and gathered her belongings, not bothering to say goodbye to the people you once called your home.

You let out a heavy sigh.

“Why are you still awake?” Sebastian asked you.

You oked at him. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

He smiled. “Kinda. But it’s fine. What’s on your mind?”

Tom who had been listening, threw his arm on her waist and nuzzled her cheek. “Talk to us.”

You pursed her lips. “I just remembered the time I was kicked out by Lisa and Eric.”

Sebastian hummed. “Why?”

“I was so scared to love again,” you answered. “I can be monogamous, but I have so much love in me that.... They were my home. And they shoved me away.”

Tom kissed your cheek. “We’re your home now. Okay? We’ll never leave you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Sebastian kissed your other cheek. “I’ve grown to love Tom. I don’t love him like you do, but…I love him, nonetheless. I’m happy with this arrangement.”

“Same here,” Tom agreed.

You sighed happily. “I’m home.”

FIVE: But wait! There’s more!

You were having some alone time in the mall. You would go inside the bookstores and the clothing stores to see if there was anything new. For snacks, you decided to stop by in a Starbucks cafe.

“Name?” the barista asked.

“Y/N,” you replied with a smile.

“Pretty name,” he said.

“Thank you.” Your smile grew wider.

About an hour later, just as you was about to finish your pie and drink, the barista from earlier asked if he could join you.

“I’m on break, mind if I sit with you?”

You thought for awhile but realized there’s no harm in doing so. “Sure.” You gestured for him to sit in front of you.

“So, Y/N, right?”

“King, correct?” You remembered seeing his nametag earlier. “Thanks for getting my name right.”

He chuckled. “I actually listen carefully to names of pretty girls.”

You pursed her lips. “I see.”

King changed the subject and before long, you two were laughing about experiences and giving advice and tips to one another.

Finally, King asked if you were in a relationship.

“Yeah,” you replied and saw his face fall. “I’m in a relationship right now.”

“I see. That guy must be really lucky.”

You giggled. “I guess they both are.”

“Both? You mean, you have two boyfriends?” His eyes widened. “Any room for a third?”

You glared. “Yes, I have two boyfriends. And no, I’m not cheating on them. We are all in a consensual relationship. And more so, no, I have no room for a third boyfriend. Especially not for someone as judgmental as you.”

“How does that even work, I mean…wait, judgmental?”

“It works for us. And you better watch the way you talk to people. I know what you were implying when you asked if I had room for a third.”

He gave a nervous laugh. “I really wasn’t implying anything, Y/N. I was just–”

You stopped him. “I am not a cheater, King. And I’m not cheap either. Goodbye.” You grabbed her bag and left.

When you arrived back in the shared apartment, you saw Sebastian and Tom playing some sort of game. They both looked up when they heard the door open. They smiled at you and immediately, you began to feel better.

Unbeknownst to you, your threesome was about to become a fivesome. You wouldn’t know it until after a few weeks. You were pregnant. And as soon as their gender could be revealed, you were overjoyed when you found out that, as luck may have it, you were expecting fraternal twins.

[rkshion]

200630 [V-LIVE]: Shion’s Roof ⭐⭐ (Audio Only)

it's the last day of the month, and it's already been three months since their debut. a bit wild to think about. considering how long the road had been up there, maybe three months is not too much. considering he's now an idol in the eyes of the public, any little bit of time feels like a lot to im. he's unsure why he hadn't tried one of these before. the idea of doing it by himself got him a bit nervous, but he also didn't want to bother his other members to do something together.

he has fans now, though, it seems. again, wild to think about. he's not the most active in social media, but he'd still like to keep in touch with them. he's seen other idols name their lives something unique and special so jihoon's certain he wants to do something like that too. it takes some brainstorming to finally decide on something, but soon he starts the first edition of "shion's roof."

the boy had adjusted the settings for the live to be audio-only. this means he could lay down on his bed without having to worry about how he looks and what those watching could see around him. it'd also help take away some of the nervousness of someone who hadn't done one of these before. "hello~" he greets the first few people to join him. it'd be awkward if no one showed up, but it brings a smile to his face when the number starts going up. "wow, it's everyone here? there's a lot of you already." jihoon keeps repeating 'hello's during the first minute so that everybody can get some time to settle in.

"welcome to shion's roof! it's the first edition... isn't it special?" his eyes try to keep up with the comments, but he guesses that fast reading is a skill he'll need to work on starting today. "you're all here with me! on our first day... this is... our first day?" he chuckles. he's seen people say that before. it's usually used for a couple's first day, so the boy can't help but feel a little awkward about it. "everyone! don't get any wrong ideas!"

💬: are you in a roof right now??

"eh?? i'm in my room right now. the roof is... is metaphorical. it's our roof." while jihoon tries to explain himself, his hands start to move, even if no one can see him. "i wanted to have a cool title. other idols do that too, right? i wanted to take everyone to somewhere sunny. our roof is filled with flowers, okay? flowers and other plants. and it's always sunny... unless we don't want it to be. rain can be nice sometimes too, right? the plants would like that. i personally prefer sunny days."

💬: who are your roommates?

"my roommates are sinjae hyung and reno hyung. i'm the room maknae." he chuckles. "de:code rooms are separated by age. there is the hyung room and the maknae room. everyone, i'm not the maknae, okay! our a.c is our youngest member. the ace..." he takes a short break. "i'm alone in my room right now. i don't know what the other ones are doing. i told them i was doing a v-live before starting."

💬: what did you do today?

"ah, you want tmi?" he asks back as if he's actually into popular trends and whatnot. "i practiced all day long! with the other members... i'm working hard! to become a better shion and make you proud."

💬: were you practicing for comeback?

jihoon laughs. "no! i was practicing for something else..." he lets it hang in the air for a bit. "i don't know if i can share, i'm sorry! some of the other members and i are preparing something. you'll see it soon! it's not that secretive. you'll know when it comes out!"

💬: when is the comeback?

"i don't know!" he answers honestly. "i wasn't practicing for the comeback. i was practicing for something else." jihoon feels bad lying, but he knows that some things need to be kept a secret. he's also unsure if whatever he's said so far is enough to conclude anything. the fans are quick to come up with their own assumptions, though.

💬: is this audio-only to hide a new hair color?

"wow... you guys are really smart!" jihoon gasps, actually impressed. never would he have thought about that from anyone else's live. he touches his hair gently before continuing. "but it isn't true! is that a common thing to do? do people hide their hair colors with audio v-lives? i never thought of that..." he pauses. "that's really smart, thank you! i'll remember that for when i need!" he chuckles sheepily.

💬: are you doing station? / solo debut? / when is the comeback?

"wow, everyone... it's nothing like that! let's talk about something else, okay?" jihoon turns around on his bed and lays down on his stomach. "it's the last day of the month today! did everyone achieve a lot? i think i learned a lot of things... i've been working hard... i really want to get better!" his eyes keep following the comments. "it's okay if it takes some time, everyone! you can't become a master in a few days. as long as you worked hard, i'm proud of you! let's all work hard, okay? i want you all to achieve your dreams!"

💬: i'm learning korean

"ah, really? your korean is really good!" jihoon puts the phone down to clap his hand a few times. "keep working hard, okay? next time, write me a letter on fancafe! and then next time, we can have a full conversation. face to face! i can't wait to meet everyone again. i want to get up on stage. it'll come soon, right? are you waiting for it too? all the other members are working hard, too. since before debut, we're all working hard."

💬: can you sing your english line from 'what time is it now?'

"sincerely... i don't speak english very well." he laughs wholeheartedly. "did i sound good? did i do well?" jihoon pauses, considers it, then proceeds to try speaking a few words in english. "hello... i'm fine, thank you and you?" he chuckles. "was that good? do i speak it well? please let me know..."

💬: do you have song recommendations?

"mm..." he stops to think about it. "a recent song that came out... 'god's menu' is really good, isn't it? the rap is really impressive... and of course, our sunbaes, luxe, released 'up & down'! did you listen to it well? it got really popular, right? please show it a lot of love, too! they're really talented sunbaes." jihoon stops a moment to think about it more. "and*roma’s meiqi sunbaenim danced to our song, right? i saw it. she's really good! i like 'pepe' too... since it's summertime, shouldn't you listen to 'very nice'? or 'me gustas tu'? those are popular songs too, right? 'very nice' makes me want to have ice cream."

💬: are you close with any sunbaes?

"i don't know the luxe members too well... cheri sunbaenim is really nice, though! luxe's leader! this was some time ago, but she gave me lunch once. it was really good! i don't know many other idols... ah, but i know junju! per_se's junju! he's younger than me but we went to the same school. he's a good kid! i think he's really funny." he chuckles. "he was... a good student." he laughs a bit too honestly. junju was, actually, not a very good student at all, but he had promised not to share that fact.

💬: what will you have for dinner?

"that's a good question! i'm not really sure... we have members who like to cook, but sometimes we just order. we're a lot of people." he can't help but laugh again. "do you have any recommendations? ah, pizza?" jihoon reads surprised. "that's not very healthy!"

💬: i can cook for you!

"will you, really? but how will i get the food?" he chuckles. "should we have a picnic on our roof? we can all just bring whatever we want to eat... even pizza..." jihoon sits up straight and checks the time. now that they had mentioned it, he was starting to feel hungry. "we can take photos of what we eat and post it online. should we use a hashtag?"

💬: #shionsroofpicnic

"ah, that's perfect, right? should we do that? i'll do it too! make sure to bring something yummy, okay? i want to see it!"

checking the time again, he nods. "should i check with the other members what we'll eat? this means the v-live will end... i promise i'll do this again, okay? ah, and with the camera on! should i turn it on right now just for a quick goodbye?"

after touching the screen a few too many times to make sure he was doing the right thing, the camera turns on for what will be the last minute of the live. "can you see me? can you see my hair?" he makes sure to point it out. "it's still brown, right?" the boy chuckles. "thank you for watching! let's meet on the roof again, okay? this was... our first day." he gives the camera his typical bright smile. "bye bye~!"

[moviestorian]

Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl 1982 concert (Hot Space Tour) LIVEBLOGGGGGGGG

As promised! :) Initially I was supposed to go directly from Montreal to Wembley, but dear @his-majesty-king-mercury convinced me to do Live at the Bowl before, and I’m glad she did!

Background: The concert is dated at June 5, 1982. As I wrote in the title, it was part of the Hot Space tour and was initially supposed to be played at Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. A day before the gig Freddie had a nasty fight with his then-boyfriend who had bitten him between a thumb and forefinger.

Let’s begin! - ugh Hot Space - but hey, it's gonna be fun! It's Queen, and Queen always puts the bestest live shows! - oh wowzie, this is mah first liveblog since April, long time not seen right? - my pizza's ready, my coffee's ready, my dip is ready - I think I can start watching now - Ooo wow, this concert lasts an hour and 43 minutes? I would die if I had to play on stage for that long - I can already feel the enthusiasm!!! The ENERGYYYY - FLASH AAAAAAHHH AHHHH - they're leaving the plane and look so hella cuuute - oh hi Crystal! oh hi Phoebe! Great to see you all! - gotta say... Freddie's outfit is fabulous. - Brian: plays the guitar and jumps the Crowd: HELL YEAH - I'm only 3 minutes in and my current mood is: fuck the critics whoever trashed Queen and disrespected their music skills - WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU - I love the fast version, slaps 100 times harder than the studio version - Deaky looks awesome in blue, I mean I already noticed that when I watched Rock Montreal, but let me reiterate - It's only been 5 minutes but let me tell you...not enough zooms for Roger - Freddie's in a good shape and form... not that I'm surprised - ROGER - cute red little scarf on mah boi's neck - THE FIRST FREDDIE AND ROG INTERACTIONS, I LIVE, I'M HAPPY - "hello everybody" "hey hey hey" good time to miss Freddie - Action This Time... Anyone surprised that it sounds better live than on the album? - ROGER'S VOCALS HOTDAMN - Brian's hair is floofy as usual... why am I acting like it's an unusual thing - I really really miss hearing Freddie and Roger together... POWER DUO - the synths get introduced... I neither love nor hate it tbh - okay not Queen related but the pizza is not bad, for a frozen one - Freddie, you feeling too hot for that jacket? And you Deaky, too? Get undressed, babes, I certainly don't mind - Play the Game! I love this song... Also Freddie playing on a piano is a blessing to us all - He really puts his soul into this one... Bless this man - Brian's backing vocals always sound so soft... My tenor angel - THANK FRICKING GOD THE SYNTHS IN THE BACKGROUND ARE BARELY AUDIBLE - LOL FREDDIE - he put a towel on his head I'm XDDDD what a legend - this and the famous plastic bag is a thrilling saga - AAAAA YOOOO - LMAO at Freddie throwing his...water?beer? at the audience - *Hot Space apologist speech* :P - we're at the funky part, I guess... - Brian and John's synchronized movements :)))) - ah okay it's Staying Power... I forgot what the song sounds like - Roger in black... I'm swooning - Roger has a nice closeup view on Freddie's butt, I mean back :D - This is not bad, but I'm gonna bet that I'll forget what this song sounds like again in less than two hours - John's haircut is cute and adorbs :D - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - Somebody to Love!!!!!!!!!!!!! - The intro...sounds so sublime, soft, and raw at the same time - I love that it sounds slightly different, depending on the concert - This is really emotional... We shall see how it goes, but so far it surpasses even the god tier Montreal version! - Forgive me for not saying too much now... I'm fully sunk in the sheer beauty of this sincere performance - Love Roger's drumming and the crowd clapping to the beat! - "I like it" ME TOO FREDDIE - I wish we could hear Roger a tiny bit better! I love the crescendo part - That was beautiful :') - Now I'm Here!!!! asjgashasashjgas - I love it when they perform it at higher speed - The jumping crowd fairly represents what my brain cells currently look like - I hella love Roger's drumming in this song - well not just this song but y'know - Freddie...what was that??? WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THAT FINGER??? - hehe you can tell that Brian's very into it :D - Brian trying to get Roger's attention... Rog is, however, fully dedicated to his drums :D - Freddie lying down after the song is a post-exercise or post-dinner mood - "Let's play a game" YES SIR - yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah - "Go pretty boy, go" I'm SOFT - hear that bassline? YES ME TOO - (it's Dragon Attack if anyone's wondering) - Freddie Mercury: lead singer AND fitness instructor - wish I could make some screencaps, alas I'm watching this online so it would take too much effort so here we are - Fred, let BRIAN PLAYYYY nooo don't distract him! - out of context those cuts and shots look like John is jealous of Freddie and Roger XDDD this is gif and meme worthy (around 39 minute) - btw probably no one is interested because you came here for the Queen concert liveblog, but I got my period and I'm starting to feel it - IT SUCKS - ooooo Brian speaking! His voice is so soothing, I could listen to him all day and it would probably calm my nerves - acoustic guitar...I'm already in - WHY SO QUIET THOUGH - Love of My Life, I'm cry - Everyone's singing along from the very first line... this is beautiful - Everyone united by this song's pure beauty :))))) I'm not crying you are - Do you sometimes think about Brian playing the acords for this gorgeous track and there is no Freddie sitting beside him? - Yeah, I hate myself for that thought too - I might be a little bit emotional - No wonder it was this particular song was the one that finally convinced Bri's father to FINALLY accept his son's career - Brian's gentle smile I'm :') :') :') - *clap clap clap clap* SAME - We're at Save Me now... Are we doing a crying compilation or what? - This is almost as bad as the Queen Forever album I recently bought.. TOO EMOTIONAL - Don't get me wrong, I ADORE Save Me - But this is too much - Almost 50 minutes in and Freddie's voice is still STRONG AS A BELL - Remember what I said about the "fuck the critics" mood? Yeah the mood is back - Even the cute Roger/Freddie interaction almost makes me cry I'm agsahjhsAAAAAAAAA - I need a more lighthearted now BLEASE - I'm a tough cookie but when I have Queen feels very little can help! - Is this Back Chat? OH GOD - Please bring me back to the crying mode, I DIDN'T MEAN THIS - (I'm sorry Fidan and all the Back Chat fans over there, I'm not a huge fan of this song :-*) - We get a nice view on Roger's back, though *Lenny face* - The synths sound like a main theme for some mystery-drama tv show from the 1980s XDDD - I forgot how long this song is... - Get Down Make Love *insert Lenny face again* - Okay I gotta admit... lyrically this song is a mess and borderline cringey in the first verse, but I really like it musically - I GIVE YOU HEAT - I GIVE YOU MEAT *three Lenny faces* - Okay, let's just listen to the song and pretend we all forgot the English language, maybe? - That mid parts always makes me feel like I'm about to be abducted by aliens - Thank God I don't do drugs, I would start thinking I might be hallucinating - I assume that Brian's guitar solo starts now? - Nice intro! - And Roger gets time to breathe, the boy needs his oxygen - Actually, this may be one my favourite of Brian's guitar solos? - Brighton Rock :))))))))))))))) - Brian's hands are very pretty - oh noooooo - an error? - poor Bri - that disappointed guy who screamed "No" when the guitar stopped playing :D - thankfully he issue quickly got solved! - hi Roger, nice to see you back <3 - It's Roger's time to shine! - YEs, Under Pressure! - The Montreal version is gonna be hard to beat, though - Let's see - uu I like Fred's red jacket! - ...do you have any shirt underneath, though? Naughty boi - he does not LOL - "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH" - let me tell you again...Roger's mic is definitely not turned loud enough - This is great but still, I prefer the Montreal one - That beer always amuses me XD - Freddie, you want us to slap your ass? - Oh no, he's just announcing Fat Bottomed Girls XDDDD - "I was just a skinny lad" the editing team: cuts to the camera angle which shows Brian first and Freddie after him - Roger's "oooh" is funny because he's really into it :D :D :D - Freddie is now a pole dancer, he changed profession - The crowd, always cheering when Freddie gets undressed :P - I sense Crazy Little Thing Called Love incoming! - yes it is Crazy Little Thing! - Freddie's joke about the three guitar cords XDDD - This song always slaps - "she drives me crazYY" - ReAdY fReDdIe - FREDDIE PLS STOP FCKING YOUR GUITAR - this is pretty - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY YEAH - he sounds so soft :)))) - and now so raw - "Momma UwU" - can't unsee this fricking meme now ajsdhjgdhjds - My favourite guitar solo :')))) - they actually played the video??? - I miss spaniel haired Deaky tbh - *instense drumming* *fireworks* - Oh Brian is wearing this cool shirt he also wore in Montreal! - jumpy Deaky...too bad you can onnly see him from the distance - GONG - that was sexy - Roger hitting that gong in the black outfit is sexier than shirtless Rog hitting the gong, change my mind - TIEE YOUR MOTHER DOWN TIEE YOUR MOTHER DOWN - There's only some 15 minutes left... The time always passes so quickly when I'm watching a Queen concert - Another One Bites the Dust! I've been waiting for thiiiis - Deaky: happy jump - He knows it's his time to shine - wait a second, when did Roger change his shirt? - I need a good closeup - Freddie be like *imma slap my thigh now* - ooo I see Roger's Japanese shirt now! It's pretty cool! - Brian looks great too - Those flashing light are kinda migraine-inducing, thankfully I don't have an aura today - SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER heartattack - Looks like Freddie is flirting with Red Special :P - they're going absolutely crazy XD - WE WILL ROCK YOU DRUMLINE INTENSIFIES - LOL the sombrero on Freddie's head :P - ups mr editor dropped a frame - And now we're truly heading towards the end... I'm gonna start associating We Are the Champions with farewells soon - Well done, boys - I know I say it every single time - But you can't stress this enough - :)))) I'm glad I did this liveblog - They look exhausted but very satisfied :))) - Bye bye!

Next time I’ll be doing Wembley 1986, hopefully soon!

Tagging all the people who expressed their wish to read my ramblings. :) Enjoy!

@his-majesty-king-mercury, @x5vale, @radio-ha-ha, @mephisto92, @39-brian, @melisa-may-taylor72, @silapril, @kitty-rushes-in, @lydiannode, @an-abyss-called-life, @litsy-kalyptica, @importantmuggoophero, I hope I didn’t forget anyone! ^^ Comments are nicely welcome! :3

[dairy-skz-blog]

skz as high school students

lmao i didn’t double check this ooPS

chan

the senior that seems like he has everything under control

he doesn’t 

feels bad for his underclassmen so he offers to tutor them

“oh yeah! I’m free then!!”

isn’t free

probably juggles school, having a job, homework, and music at the same time

he doesn’t sleep

always listening to music in the hallways

someone asked what he was listening to once, and he turned to look at them with dead eyes and said “nothing”

has taken a million ap tests

always has extra pencils ?? how does he have so many ?? where does he kEEP THEM

“hey chan did you do the homework?”

“oh yeah I did it last night”

lets people copy the homework

woojin

another stressed senior

there’s a rumor that once he passed out in the library after studying, woke up the next day and went to class

always has food on him

like--- always. his backpack isn’t even that big

sleeps in every class but has the best grades

the teacher called on him to answer a question so he went to the white board and answered it correctly

he was sleep walking

every other day he’s on a field trip because teachers love him

every underclassmen is scared of him at first

but then he smiles and offers them food and they kinda fall in love

“oh yeah, I can get you on the field trip”

became friends with the cafeteria workers and gets better food than everyone else

already has 10290129 college acceptances

nobody knows where he’s going

minho

a senior

has average grades and uses his free time wisely

as in-- he knows everyone’s secrets

“mrs. kim I know what you did with mr. lee in the classroom two years ago. raise everyone’s grade to a B. - Lee Know”

everyone had a B at the end of the semester

blackmailed the principal into giving him a key that unlocks every room

the janitor found him in a random closet once and thought he was dead

he passed out in the closet after drinking 3 red bull’s trying to pull an all nighter

a random junior accidentally found out he was THE “Lee Know” and promised to carry out his legacy

minho could care less

somehow still a teacher pet

“psst minho, can I copy your answers?”

gives them the wrong answers 

overall everyone loves him but is terrified of him

changbin

the last senior

has rumors of him single handedly beating up a gang

he cried once when he got a paper cut

ready to graduate

had really bad grades but then brought them up at the end of high school 

teachers either love him or hate him

mumbles profanities under his breath when he gets a question wrong

“Seo Changbin, what did you just say?”

“nothing mrs. kim” 

looks into the security camera like he’s on the office

a kid jokingly asked changbin to rap battle with him

the kid transferred schools after changbin clearly beat him at rapping

very protective of his underclassmen friends 

“I’ll beat them up for you”

“but.. you’re like two feet tall”

the underclassmen had a bruise on his arm for weeks

hyunjin

resident junior

everyone has had a crush on him at least once

jokingly danced in the hallway once and now the dance teacher won’t stop asking him to join the team

had a bruise on his arm for a long time and nobody knows where it came from

it was changbin

he spaces out all the time

if he spaces out staring at someone,,, their blush lasts the whole day

has missed almost every day at school but has a 4.0 

“my hair is so bad today fuck”

everyone stares at him like he’s crazy

owns the vending machine

started a group chat to send homework answers

someone once found him and woojin asleep in the library leaning on each other

probably cried when the seniors graduated

jisung 

1/2 of the juniors everyone knows 

runs a joint meme account 

edits low quality memes of their teachers and posts it

the school board has no idea who is doing it

probably failed at least one class

edits his memes in credit recovery though

his teachers have a love hate relationship with him

thinks he’s going to carry on the “Lee Know” legacy

“okay but what if I make it “Han Know” what do you thin-”

“no jisung”

there’s a video of him punching a trash can when he walked into it

snuck his phone into an exam and didn’t get caught

when he’s stressed his meme page followers can tell 

“pleASE GO TO SLEEP IM BEGGING YOU”

felix 

1/2 of the juniors everyone knows

acts like he’s bad at korean 

to get easier work

“what the fuck is a cheenGOo”

passed all his classes but joined credit recovery to help jisung edit memes

second owner of the joint meme account

afraid the scary short senior is going to beat him up

the meme account has a video of him naruto running through the halls

anonymously sends asks to Chan’s blog and asks him to rest

is willing to help tutor anyone in english 

joined choir and surprised everyone by being an alto

got a solo in the choir showcase

when it was time to sing he dabbed at the end and the instructor just sighed

seungmin

junior that has basically already graduated

has all his credits

could graduate early but decides not to

sends all the answers in hyunjin’s homework group chat

ignored felix for a week after he dabbed at the choir showcase

the number one teacher’s pet

teachers he hasn’t even had love him

“oh would you like to teach the class?”

gets up and teaches the class

once convinced an underclassmen that he was harry potter

a basketball once made his nose bleed but his eyes didn’t water

the basketball players tremble when they see him in the hallway

jeongin

the sophomore all the upperclassmen love

“why do i look 12″

“because you are”

was convinced seungmin was harry potter all of his freshman year

already stressed about graduating 

bullies the upperclassmen but acts sweet so they buy him dinner

manipulates classmates to give him answers by being cute

convinced his teacher she lost his assignment and got an A for it

he never turned it in

sad that all his closest friends are going to graduate before him

made them all pinky promise to come to his graduation

minho already told him he’d be the one to keep the “Lee Know” legend going. 

“- signed, Intelligent Nobody, I.N.”

[blurry-fics]

Chapter Nineteen

Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 1686

Author’s Note: I’m attempting to post this from an airport, so hopefully it works! It may take me a little while to get to comments as I am traveling, but I’ll do my best to get to them as soon as possible! Enjoy the chapter :)

You took one final picture of Tyler before you went running to the other side of the stage. Josh was about to have one of his drum solos and an idea for a great shot had been bouncing around your mind all day. He glanced over at you as you were adjusting your camera.

You sighed and got the photos that you wanted. Josh had been catching your eye all night and it was only serving as a reminder to how terribly everything had turned out. As soon as the pictures were taken, you went rushing back to the other side of the stage. Tyler was about to get into the crowd for Holding On To You and that was a moment you didn’t want to miss.

After the concert, you headed straight back to the tour bus. There was still lots of work for you to do and you didn’t feel like waiting around for Tyler and Josh. You would have plenty of time to hear all about tonight’s show later on.

Your editing equipment was still laid out on the table, making plugging your camera in and importing all the new photos easier than normal. It was nice not having to wait ages just for your software to open up.

Josh and Tyler took longer than normal to get from the venue to the tour bus. Based on the expression that they had on their faces as they walked in, you assumed that Tyler had asked what happened between the two of you. He took a seat across from you at the table, but Josh kept walking straight to his bunk.

“How are photos going?” Tyler asked, plastering a smile on his face.

“I barely started,” you said. “But if you want to look through them with me, you’re free to.”

Tyler switched around so that he was next to you on the bench. You both huddled around your laptop, looking through photos and picking out your favorites. Occasionally Tyler would make some comment about something he saw or was thinking during the show, causing the both of you to crack up.

Josh appeared again; the laughter between the two of you immediately quieted down as he made his way to the fridge. He looked over at you and Tyler huddled over your laptop and bit down on the corner of his lip. Without a word, he grabbed a water from the fridge and went back to his bunk. You watched him go, silently hoping that he would say something.

“It’ll get better,” Tyler said quietly, reaching over to rub your back.

“I really hope you’re right.”

A week had passed since your conversation with Josh, and things hadn’t really changed. The two of you were barely speaking aside from a few comments or questions here and there. It was slowly starting to take a toll on you. Not even the good times with Tyler or photographing shows could outweigh the disappointment you felt with each day that you and Josh continued to avoid one another.

You had tried to be friendly with Josh again and act like nothing had ever happened, but after three days of no response from him you had given up. He was always acting like you weren’t in the room and if he did, you felt unimportant. It was growing harder for you to believe that there was ever a moment where you would have done anything for him.

“Y/N/N!” Tyler called.

His footsteps echoed a bit as he moved along the bus to where you were currently laying on your bunk. The one advantage of Josh not constantly distracting you--at least, not intentionally--was that photo editing seemed to go by much quicker.

“What?” you asked, pulling aside the curtain of your bunk.

You jumped a bit as Tyler’s face appeared right in front of you, causing you to laugh.

“You coming?” he asked, gesturing his head towards the door.

“Is it time already?”

“Yeah and I don’t feel like getting ready alone today,” he let out a little laugh.

“Ok, I’m coming.”

Tyler had already grabbed your camera bag for you so you followed him off the bus and into the venue. You flashed your badge at the guard but Tyler just continued right through, fully enjoying the benefits of being the main act.

“I’m just waiting for the day when you get stopped by security again,” you laughed, remembering the story that he had told you months ago.

“I’m sure it will come, but I’m going to take advantage of not having to use a badge as long as possible.”

You collapsed onto the couch in Tyler’s dressing room and stared up at the ceiling. Tyler immediately stripped off his hoodie and pulled on his dress shirt. He did some vocal warm-ups as he wandered around the room, slowly working away at the buttons.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket. Tyler watched as you awkwardly lifted your hips so that you could slide it out of your back pocket and check the notification. It was a text from one of your good friends back in California. You had almost forgotten you had texted them earlier that day.

August: Sorry about the wait, got caught up with work stuff. Did you still need to call?

Y/N: Yeah, give me two seconds?

August: Sure thing.

“I have go make a call,” you said. Tyler nodded as he continued to make some weird noise that he swore helped make his voice sound better.

It took you a second to remember how to get back outside. The tour bus would be empty, and you figured that was as good a place as any to make a phone call. You walked in and sat down on the couch, leaning back into it slightly. It took you a second to work up the courage to actually dial August’s number. The gravity of what you were considering doing felt like a weight on your chest.

“Hello?” August answered after a few rings.

“Hi,” you said, letting out a sigh.

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been ok. What about you?”

“Good! I just got a new job, as you know, and it’s actually been working out really well.”

“That’s great to hear.”

“Thanks, but I know you didn’t call to hear about my job. What’s going on with you?”

“I have a question that I needed to ask you,” you said, picking at a loose string on your jeans.

“Sure, go for it.”

“Um, I was thinking about coming back to California for a little while. I was just wondering if I would be able to stay with you?”

“Of course! When are you thinking you’ll get here?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but probably this weekend. I still have to look at tickets and sort a few details out.”

“Well my house is open to you whenever and however long you need.”

“Thank you so much, August. It means the world to me.”

“Don’t mention it. I can’t wait to see you again, it feels like it’s been ages.”

“Tell me about it. I’ll talk to you soon with more details, ok?”

“Perfect.”

“Later.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

You hung up the call and set your phone in your lap. That was all the information you needed.

“There you are!” Tyler said as you walked back into the dressing room. “Did you get your call dealt with?”

“Yeah.”

You walked over and took a seat on the couch. Tyler had now moved on to messing with his necktie, something that he seemed to struggle with every night.

“Need help?” you laughed.

“Yes, please.”

You grabbed the tie from around Tyler’s neck and helped him to do it up properly. He turned to look at himself in the mirror and smiled.

“I’ll never understand how you do that so well,” he said, lightly touching the tie.

“You can thank Matthew for that one.”

“Probably the only thing he was good for, huh?”

“Yep,” you sighed. “Um, hey, Ty?”

“What’s up?”

“There’s something that I need to tell you.”

“Hit me with it.”

Your hands were already shaking and you hadn’t even gotten the words out yet. The way that Tyler was staring at you wasn’t helping to calm your nerves much either. You already knew that he wasn’t going to like what you were about to say, but there wasn’t really a way to get out of telling him.

“I’m leaving,” you finally blurted.

Tyler’s head pulled back and his eyebrows furrowed, “What?”

“I’m leaving. I’m going to photograph the next few shows and then on Saturday’s break I’m going to fly home to California.”

“Y/N/N,” he sighed. “Why?”

You chewed on the inside of your cheek, “This whole thing with Josh is just… I can’t handle it right now. Between seeing him every day and him catching my eye at every show and acting like I don’t exist otherwise, it’s not helping me move on like I should be. I just need to be away from here. Away from all of this,” you gestured vaguely around the room.

“Have you considered any other options?”

“Ty, I swear I’ve exhausted every option. Trust me, I don’t want to leave.”

“And who’s going to take your place?”

“I contacted another local photographer. His stuff is really good and he seemed stoked about the opportunity. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll be able to come back once this whole thing blows over. It’s just that right now I need to put myself first, and that means leaving tour for the time being.”

Tyler nodded, “I understand, but I am going to miss you like crazy.”

“We’ll stay in touch, ok? That’s a promise.”

Tyler held out his arms and you held onto him tightly. You were forever thankful for this opportunity that you had been given, even if it didn’t quite work out in the end.

“Let’s go out there and make some of these last two shows some of our best, what do you say?”

You smiled, “I say that’s a great idea.”

Tags

@svintsandghosts @a-stumpsexuals-world @ohprettyweeper @jigglypuff1999 @simonsbluee @beanfic @abandonedwhxre @patdsinner33 @oncemorewithfeelingg @plumsfrombucharest

[thefreshfinds]

KID PRO:

One who takes into consideration that the world is his oyster, Kid Pro effortlessly plummets your favorite rapper's career.

As an active member of society, Kid Pro has tapped into a higher knowledge that most don't possess. In the midst of flipping the pages of philosophical books that speak on self-absorption & swimming against the current — he also impliments it into his own work. If he isn't speaking on racial issues or our very corrupted government, then the all-around prophet is slapping around those with "murder on their mind" with a word of advice, e.g Classified ft. Mickey Jaggs which speaks on how we're still slaves in todays society, police brutality & how we sell our own stories to tabloids. Mickey Jaggs: "Taking attention of off the sh*t where the focus should be at/Gave us freedom to choose but don’t give a f*ck about the choice/We all pawns & the bosses are anonymous/So distracted by idols that they idolize never even notice that they feed them lies.. goodbye” Yet his deep appreciation for golden hip-hop gives him the ability to mesh all of these subjects together with hard-hitting rhymes like "“Last name 'fuck', first name 'don’t', middle name 'give a so-nigga what you want." or “My true knowledge only came from true suffering now a nigga 4G so I ain’t never buffering.” (Technical Difficulties), boom bap & east coast vibes.

To simply put it, Kid Pro keeps in mind that there's always room for improvement. If he isn't venturing into his own Cons & Pros "The protagonist been laying low/Charging up like a proton." then he's encouraging others to "think global" & to "never get stuck on the locals." (ProZilla)

Bleeding yellow, red & blue — Kid Pro basks into his Columbian heritage with pride.

Even though he's from Parsippany, NJ where the music scene isn't booming, Kid Pro has found a way to make it work. "It’s a big enough town to hold two high schools, but small enough to where everyone pretty much knows or knows of each other."

Asides from being an MC, Kid Pro is an influx of other things.

On the whole he's an producer, engineer & even a father of two who teaches them about life. Yet he also learns more about himself in the process. In a word, KID PRO says it's an enjoyable journey that continues to levitate with time. " My constant pursuit is to be the best version of myself that I can be. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I can no longer stand by & just do nothing. Any day spent just lounging around is a wasted opportunity to learn a new skill, improve on an old one, read a book, write a new song, etc. I hate that it takes death to appreciate life, but Nipsey’s passing hit me harder than I thought it would because of all the good he was doing outside of music. We were practically the same age & he was able to change & affect so many lives for the better. That continues to speak volumes to me and it’s been one of my sources of inspiration."

The moniker he chose stands for three important elements needed in order to live a prosperous life, "K stands for “Knowledge”, I stands for “Intensity”, & D stands for “Determination." According to the artist, if one wants to become a Pro at anything, these things will get them far. Hence "KID PRO."

If it wasn't for “Midnight Marauders” by A Tribe Called Quest, Kid Pro's love for hip-hop wouldn't be so massive. Still, them along with 9th Wonder & Little Brother have paved the way for his conscious sound.

His music journey started off with poetry in a middle school English class, which then transitioned into rapping in a basement on a $10 USB microphone & posting songs on Soundclick & MySpace.

According to the MC it was just something he thought was cool because he always watched music videos & listened to rap. But over time, it became his passion & therapy. For Kid Pro, making music allows him to express himself in ways that he isn't able to with just speaking. In fact, he can perform those same songs on a stage in front of people & have them relate to what he's saying. "My life was all about music." Kid Pro adds.

Thus far, Kid Pro has been blessed with many opportunities. He's traveled to different open mics/showcases/competitions & always meet new acts that are bringing new energy & rocking new flows that keep him on my toes. To Pro, the new generation of MC’s in that 20-25 year range look the absolute hungriest & impress him with how they’re able to command a huge presence not just on stage, but with social media in order to help push their brand. 

Ultimately, Kid Pro is moved by those that go beyond their boundaries & don’t accept any limitations because the idea of making something out of nothing & presenting it to an audience to help them feel something comes with great joy & a never ending addiction. But his main source of inspiration comes from those he holds dear to his heart: His family.

As he asserts into lyricism, Kid Pro takes into account that music is forever changing. "I would say my strength comes in not being afraid to explore new concepts, flows & beat selection.” Kid Pro adds "You never want to get caught up in recreating what’s hot currently, but being a trendsetter for the next wave. I enjoy every aspect of the writing process. Being able to tell a story over a beat, rhyme & have consistent imagery & metaphors throughout, all while keeping the listener engaged with a melody is not the easiest thing to do. If it’s done right(& marketed right), you can change the world, & that’s what I aim for each time I pick up the pen."

Likewise, Kid Pro's main message to the crowd is to always strive to be the best version of yourself at all times. After all, tomorrow is never promised for anyone & we all have to live life as if we won’t get to see another day. "Before I get off stage at a show, I always recite a small “poem” I wrote randomly a few years back: “Keep Your Eyes Open/Open Your Mind/ Mind Your Business/ Business Before Pleasure/ Pleasure Your Life/ Life Is Good/ Good Night”.... It means a lot to me." he adds.

With this in mind, Kid Pro overcomes all in order to achieve true greatness. He gives those listening a crash-course on how to perceive, act & think about obstacles. He's learned how to deal with the source & never the middle man. And so, he aims to test his limits. Wait until mid-June, Kid Pro will be releasing an upcoming collab EP with @obbeatzz titled “KICKvSNARE” on all streaming platforms along with a solo project which will release in the Fall.

In the meantime, check out his freestyle series called #VersesAboutNothing. In this series he films & edits his own music videos. Kid Pro also showcases his lyrics over classic beats & original beats from producers he's met throughout the years.

"I’ve also put in the groundwork to jumpstart a YouTube channel & make it a full media experience where I’ll be doing everything from music videos, interviewing other artists, comedy skits, Vlogs, Podcasts & much more." he says "I want to take full control of the content I put out & not have to wait on anyone else to get it done. My creativity & motivation is at an all-time high so please be on the lookout for more coming your way!"

P.S: His favorite song to create was Cons & Pros which has two versions! (He even performs it frequently via acapella.) It consists of a rhyme scheme using words that start with “Pro.”

"It’s one of the most challenging songs ever, but that’s what makes it fun. It’s like starting this huge 10,000 piece puzzle: at first it seems impossible, then you start connecting more and more pieces, and before you know it, it’s all coming together flawlessly. The song also has a great message behind it and not just me rhyming a bunch of “Pro” words. I believe in the power of lyrics and always make sure I’m bringing some sort of positivity and knowledge to the listener."

By: Natalee Gilbert

LINK(S):

1. SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/kidpromusic

2. YouTube / Apple Music: Search “Kid Pro”

3. Instagram: @iamkidpro

[blogkin731]

Bun B Trill Og Deluxe Edition Tracklist

6

Bun B Trill Og Deluxe Edition Tracklist Youtube

Bun B Trill Og Deluxe Edition Tracklist Free

Bun B Trill Og Album

Bun B is calling the 3rd installment of the Trill series his best. Not only showcases Bun's lyrical ability that he is known for, he got the best of the best from today's music scene to contribute. Features appearances by Drake, Young Jeezy, Yo Gotti, Trey Songz, Pimp C, Tupac, and production by the likes of DJ Premier. Listen to 00-Bun.B-Trill.O.G-(Deluxe.Edition)-2010-NoFS in full in the Spotify app. The release is Bun's fifth solo studio album and his first since 2013's Trill OG: The Epilogue. He last showed up on Lil Keke's July album. Bun B - Trill OG Song Track List (New Album) Here is the full song track listing (set list) for the Bun B's third studio album “ Trill OG ” ( Deluxe Edition ), was released on August 3, 2010 via Rap-a-Lot/Universal Motown.

Many of you, my readers, are audiophiles like myself.

Bass pro xps 5 5 battery charger manual. I love music and I go out of my way to buy updated, deluxe, and special editions of albums by my favorite artists so I can get bonus tracks and better quality recordings when possible.

Unfortunately, lately, I’ve found that multiple record companies and music distribution companies are using little to no quality control and putting out CD’s that have errors in them. What this means is that you’ll buy a CD and it will have digital pops or skips in the songs.

If you like to rock your music semi-loudly on occasion, these pops will actually sound like they are going to damage (tear) your speakers, especially if you use any kind of higher end stereo equipment. Kind of backwards if you ask me, the better your stereo equipment, the worse these CD’s sound.

And this just hasn’t happened once. In fact, out of the last batch of CD’s I bought, 4 CD’s or CD sets have had these digital pops or skips. What’s even more shocking is that 3 of the 4 are deluxe/remastered editions of the album purchased!

Testing & Confirmation…

Just to make sure it wasn’t MY system, I tried the CD’s in my high end stereo, in my computer with high end speakers, and in my car stereo. 3 seperate stero systems by different companies. After this testing, all of the pops were still present in each system.

To further test, I took one of the discs back to the store (Best Buy) where it was purchased and exchanged it 5 times to find that all of their copies were defective. If you’ve read this blog for long, you already know the horror story of getting that situation resolved in this blog post about Best Buy. The CD was Trill OG by Bun B (Deluxe Best Buy Edition) and to give the manufacturer another chance, I ordered a copy online versus buying it locally after all this. It was from a different state and different warehouse but had the same pops. This CD has these pops throughout the last 5 songs on the CD.

To further my test even more, I also picked up the digital (iTunes) versions of a couple of these CD’s and guess what? No skips! It’s plain to see that the record companies are providing clean masters to the distribution companies but that the companies who are physically pressing CD’s are using sub-par equipment/materials or processes to produce the CD’s.

Additional Problems, Additional CD’s…

In addition to the Bun B – Trill OG CD issues that I’ve had which have been documented on the blog post mentioned above, three other CD’s or CD sets come immediately to mind that suffer from these same pops…

Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland – There are a couple of pops in the last songs of the CD. These are part of the Sony and Experience Hendrix wave of “remastered” re-releases so this is shameful.

Big L – Return Of The Devils Son – There is are digital pops on Track 5, the song School Days, starting at 2:19 in the song. Track 19 also has so many pops and distortions after 2 minutes into the song, it’s painful to listen to.

The Word Of Promise Audio Bible – There is clearly a digital skip in Isaiah Chapter 54, Verse 7 in which a portion of the scripture is left out. After months of being told a replacement would be forthcoming, I finally had to get assertive with the support person who shipped me a replacement 3 separate times, all of which had the error. After that, a completely new set was sent, again with the error. To their credit, after this, they did send me a refund check and apologize after going through this process for months.

I noticed that two of the discs are labled as being distributed by Fontana Distribution. I couldn’t find mention of Fontana on the other two but they have a different form of packaging so confirmation of these also being put out by Fontana is inconclusive.

Attempts To Resolve This…

Sony Legacy, Fontana Distribution, Rap-A-Lot Records, and Bun B ignored my attempts to contact them regarding these errors sent over 4 months ago. I’m sure they figure I’m one guy, forget me, they don’t care.

I’m a marketing consultant and copywriter for a living and work with packaging and product consulting, but I’ll be the first to say that it’s down right dishonest and wrong for these companies to make everything look shiny and new with flashy packaging, and then to deliver a sub-par CD of audio, which is what you’re really buying anyway!

Bun B Trill Og Deluxe Edition Tracklist Youtube

As I publish this, I am also contacting Sony Legacy, Experience Hendrix, Fontana Distribution, Rap-A-Lot Records, and SMC Recordings for a comment regarding how they plan on rectifying all of these defective releases. While I don’t anticipate that they will respond based on their previous history of ignoring communication, I will update this blog if they do respond.

This post will continue to grow. While I don’t have thousands of CD’s, it seems that a large percentage of CD’s I listen to for the first time in my collection have these issues, which is disturbing. I will continue to update this blog post with new information as it becomes available.

Until next time,

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: best buy, big l, big l return of the devils son, bun b, bun b trill og, bun b trill og deluxe, defective cds, electric ladyland, fontana distribution, jimi hendrix, jimi hendrix electric ladyland, the word of promise audio bible, trill og

TrillStatikStudio album by ReleasedApril 20, 2019 April 26, 2019 (Deluxe Version)RecordedApril 17, 2019GenreSouthern hip hopLength28:45 (Standard Version) 38:38 (Deluxe Version)Label

Showoff

ProducerStatik SelektahStatik Selektah chronology

8 (2017)TrillStatik (2019)

Bun B chronology

Return of the Trill (2018)TrillStatik (2019)

TrillStatik is a collaborative studio album by producer/DJ Statik Selektah and American rapper Bun B. The album features guest appearances from Method Man, Fat Joe, Smoke DZA, Westside Gunn, Uncle Murda, Big K.R.I.T., Talib Kweli and Paul Wall, among others. It was created entirely during an 11 hour livestream on YouTube, and was initially released exclusively through Tidal on April 20, 2019.(1)(2)

Bun B Trill Og Deluxe Edition Tracklist Free

Background(edit)

Bun B initially announced he and producer Statik Selektah would be creating an album from scratch on livestream through his Instagram on April 12, 2019.(3) On April 19, the tracklist was revealed.(4) The creation of the album was streamed live on April 17, beginning at 5:00pm EST, and lasted 11 hours and 37 minutes.(1)(2) The mastered version of the album was released to streaming services on April 20.(5)

Bun B Trill Og Album

Track listing(edit)

All songs produced by Statik Selektah.

No.TitleLength1.'Moving Mountains' (featuring Jovanie)1:422.'Still Trill' (featuring Method Man and Grafh)2:533.'Basquiat' (featuring Fat Joe and Smoke DZA)4:134.'Concrete' (featuring Westside Gunn and Termanology)2:455.'Money' (featuring Fame and Wais P)2:196.'Superstar(a)' (featuring Meechy Darko, CJ Fly and Haile Supreme)4:097.'Paperwork' (featuring Uncle Murda)1:428.'TBA' (featuring Propain and Killa Kyleon)2:469.'Time Flies' (featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Talib Kweli)3:5710.'I Know' (featuring Haile Supreme)2:18Total length:28:45

Deluxe edition bonus tracksNo.TitleLength11.'All Good' (featuring Tobe Nwigwe)3:0512.'Jon Snow' (featuring Paul Wall and Le$)2:4613.'Lemons'2:0114.'How the Game Go'2:06Total length:38:38

Notes

^(a) Track 6 'Superstar' is titled as 'Superstarr' on all digital platforms iTunes, Amazon, Tidal, Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and Google Play.

References(edit)

^ abhttp://hiphopdx.com, HipHopDX- (21 April 2019). 'Bun B & Statik Selektah Drop 'TrillStatik' Album'. HipHopDX. Retrieved 3 May 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

^ abShowoff Live (18 April 2019). 'TRILLSTATIK (the live making of Bub B & Statik Selektah album)'. Retrieved 3 May 2019 – via YouTube.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

^'Bun B on Instagram: 'Album will be made in front of your eyes this Wednesday 4/17 via live video stream on showoffhiphop.com. Then avail mastered on 4/20. Bun…''. Instagram. Retrieved 3 May 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

^'Bun B on Instagram: 'Tonight. Midnight. Just in time for 4/20. Recorded in 11 hours and 40 mins. Available exclusively on @tidal #trillstatik''. Instagram. Retrieved 3 May 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

^'Bun B on Instagram: '#TrillStatik Deluxe Edition from me and @statikselekt out now! With 4 bonus cuts! For sale through @applemusic and @googleplaymusic and…''. Instagram. Retrieved 3 May 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links(edit)

TrillStatik at Discogs (list of releases)

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TrillStatik&oldid=1002803174'

[purrtlepuff]

It’s amazing how your mental health can go downhill so fast without a warning. It wasn’t like a “oh I lost my shoe now I’m anxious about where I put it” kind of occurrence, but a multiple bad things this week that happened that snowballed into an avalanche that crashed into and buried me last night.

It started Tuesday evening, though it was rather minor. It was flurrying all day. Nothing we northerners couldn’t handle, but it still made the roads slippy. My car does not do well in anything but sunny... not an exaggeration (but i refuse to get a new car because I love the dumb toaster of a thing ok). 

So my dad picked me up on his way home from work to go to their house for supper with the promise of bringing me home. No big deal; he’s done it before. 

Problem was, the snow got a little worse. When he asked if I still wanted to go home, I said yes. My mom voiced how dumb it was and that I should just stay there instead of making my dad drive out to my house. However, my dad’s from New York, so 2 inches of snow was no big deal to him.

We got up to my house without any problems. The roads weren’t great, but they weren’t horrid. The scenery was beautiful! Anyway, I asked him to call me when he got home, and he agreed. So I’m waiting by the phone, because all I can think about is my mom’s words about my dad getting into an accident. And I’m waiting. And I know it should only take 15-20 minutes driving slow. Still no call after 30 minutes.

I messaged my sister nearly in tears and hoping he was home. Turns out he got home safely and went for a shower, forgetting to call. No big deal, crisis averted. I still didn’t sleep much that night, because my brain was still set in panic mode.

The next day, the roads are horrible. It was colder than before, and the wind kept blowing everything I just shoveled back onto my driveway (gotta dab on that wind I guess). 

Anyway, my boss called me up at 9:30 and asked if I could be in to work in an hour. At this point, I still had a lot of driveway to go and unknown road conditions. Reluctantly, I agreed, because I knew she wouldn’t call me unless she needed me.

So I’m anger shoveling my driveway, because I’m tired and I really don’t want to drive on these roads, especially because I don’t want to face my mom when she finds out I agreed. It did wonders, because I nearly cleared 4 inches of deep snow off my 100 foot driveway in about 30 minutes solo. (i’m gonna be so good at hugging!). And guess what? My boss calls me up and says I’m no longer needed, and we have a good laugh about how she got me to get up and exercise.

Well, I only have a little more to shovel, so I figure I’ll stay outside and finish it. Maybe do my aunt’s driveway too, because now I’m more frustrated than mad and need something to do.

And as I’m shoveling, my Aunt calls out her window that my mom was trying to get a hold of me. I politely thanked her and went back in my house. You’d think I’d been missing for 3 days with the way my mom handled it. (she could’ve just called my cell like my boss but never did oh well) And again, she indirectly reminded me why I have anxiety in the first place.

Welp, now my day’s off to a really bad start, I’m tired, I have nothing to do, and I just want today to be over already. I should’ve napped, but I couldn’t.

There was also some drama in groups I’m involved in. I won’t tell you who, but there were some nasty words being thrown about. Already in a bad mood, I didn’t feel safe enough voicing my usual mediator opinions. So I just... left it be. 

It got worse and worse, and I felt all I could do was watch. I didn’t want to take any unnecessary pent up feelings out on the group. That’s not fair to them. So I put the group on mute and tried to distract myself with other friends.

And later that night, that’s when Mark’s insanity came through. Now, I had a good time with it at first. I thought it was a weird little thing to get the community going. A few of my friends even joined in on it and sent me the messages (and I got to meet someone off anon for the first time <3) I even set up a sort of refugee place for people to go to, as like a joke, so they’d feel safe from the demons.

However a few of my friends... they didn’t take it as a joke. In fact, it actually scared them. I was rather sympathetic and inviting, or at least I hoped so, and reassured them it was all just a game and it will blow over soon.

I was worried for them, but at least I actually got sleep.

Then yesterday, something happened that I saw coming. One of our families was going through a divorce... a really nasty one... with a really nasty parent. I don’t want to overshare, but I was given instructions on what to do if the parent ever came in for their kids. I mean, it’s not unusual to have court orders on which parent can and can’t have a child on a specific day, but this one... this one actually scared me.

It still scares me.

Anyway, I hoped to anyone up above that my social media sites were under control. I needed that PMA so bad. However, I was unsuprised to find it got worse... much worse. I was actually disgusted worse. My whole dash was nothing but yelling, accusations, and just plain meanness. Nothing I wanted to see. 

I still thank the anon that sent the positivity message. You were a hero last night. 

However, soon after I posted my discontent with the fandom, I got a chilling anon message. I don’t think they were part of the cult, because they were on anon, but it set me over the edge. 

I blocked and deleted the message. I turned off asks, and still have them off because I’m too afraid to turn them back on, and logged off for the night. I barricaded myself in my house, locking even my basement door and propping chairs against them, hid keys, and slept with a knife beside my bed.

I didn’t sleep at all. I kept waking up at every little noise in my house. I’ve never been that afraid in my life. And I’m sure it was just someone being an asshole, but knowing that information about me... what if they knew more? What if they knew where I worked? What if they showed up at my school? Would they do worse? What if they couldn’t get at me and instead went after my neighbors? My thoughts just kept getting worse and worse.

Today... today was one of the most exhausting yet uplifiting days I think I’ve had in my life. I mean, I’ve always been thankful to have my job, but today I was godawful thankful to have my job. It was like an 8 hour therapy session. I’m so thankful and lucky to do what I do and work with the people I work with.

Edit: A minor note on this above part... I feel rather stupid now. Apparently a friend sent me an anon message asking about the event, and they used my first name by accident instead of my middle name. That’s what freaked me out. |D

It was worded like “What the fuck’s up with this Mark stuff [my real name]” and I just... |D It fried my brain. We cleared the air about it now, thankfully, but it still bugs me I reacted this way. All because I read a post about someone getting doxxed (which is FLIPPING FAKE THANKS FOR SENDING ME OVER THE EDGE FOR NO REASON YA JERK)

I’m still not at my 100%. I still feel like I’m just existing, and that’s it. I’m hoping to feel better tomorrow, because it’s the weekend.

Thank you so much for your time. I really do appreciate you skimming over this and taking interest in me. I know it was just a huge dump of angst, but it honestly made me feel a little better. Heck, usually I do this and never post them. 

Just thank you, every one of you, for being here for me. It means a lot. <3

-Cat

[whatiwore]

Room to Grow in a Colorful Boy’s Bedroom

We’re on a roll updating the farmhouse and today I’m so excited to post photos of Felix’s room! While most of my decorating preferences lean towards neutrals, I just love color in kids’ rooms. I incorporated many of the items from Felix’s bright nursery (first here and updated here) from our old house but went bold with colorful walls, ceiling and door. Come on in and lemme show you around!

PAINT

Is it sacrilegious to use paint chips from one company and have them matched elsewhere? If so I’m going to decorating hell because that’s exactly what I did in this room. The pale blue walls are ‘Poolside’ from Benjamin Moore, but filled at Lowe’s using Valspar Signature in a matte finish. Ditto goes for the ceiling (China Blue) and darker walls (Blueberry). I’ve used a couple of brands of paint in the past month and I think the middle range paints are very comparable. But if you want the Cadillac of paint, Aura from Benjamin Moore is really superior (I used it on his door in Yosimite Blue and a satin finish) and the coverage and final look are incredible. It’s pricey and I only bought a quart, but it was worth it.

NOTE: I've edited these photos to reflect the paint colors I see in real life, but all screens will display them differently. I absolutely recommend taking home paint swatches before committing to a full gallon!

BED

As you can see, we’ve upgraded to a full sized bed, but we’ve actually had it for a while now. Adam did a ton of research and based on his findings, we bought a Casper mattress (not sponsored, but you can get $75 off if you use my promo code). We also have a foam mattress in our room and I think Felix’s is better. In fact, both parents regularly zonk out in there when we put him to bed and because it doesn’t have springs, it’s easier to Houdini out once he’s off in dreamland. 

Behind it, check out that amazing Jenny Lind headboard. Errr... footboard! I bought it last weekend at this amazing garage sale for... $4.50. The real headboard was falling apart so I asked if I could just take this end. I cleaned it and then painted it using Valspar Signature in Lovely Love Song with a satin finish. I SHOULD HAVE PRIMED IT because it took about five coats. I wanted to apply them thinly as to not get brush strokes (which are still kinda there) but I also came away from it thinking... I found this, I updated this, this is not a factory finish, and I’m ok with that. 

The sheets and quilt are what inspired the painting pallet at the start of this project. Big thanks to my mom who generously bought them for us! We chose the Pillowfort whale watching sheets, a navy bed skirt and a two toned navy quilt (it photographs more colbalt, but it’s a true navy IRL). Again, not sponsored but the quality of the quilt (which has been through the wash three times already) is really lovely and it would be great in an adult’s room too. The two other navy shams were from our linen closet. The rainbow pillow was from our previous nursery, the yellow one came with the Monte rocker and the teddy bear was a gift.

DESK

We found this little wooden desk in the garage and it was made by the original owner of the house! I brought it back to life with a coat of butcher’s block wax and I think it’s perfect for a child’s room! It serves the dual purpose of being a bedside table as well.  The lamp was either a garage or Goodwill find that’s been in the nursery all along. I covered the shade for Bea Bea’s nursery (which, sorry, I never got good photos of!) in the wide yellow stripe. The ABC print was also in her nursery and I updated it with a little washi tape.  I also updated the chair. You might remember it from my Instastories a while back. I found a set of four and at the time we were considering furnishing the old house as an Air BnB rental. These were going to be the dining room chairs.  Now that we’re set to close on that house, I had them here for a project. I spray painted it a bright yellow, which took about 4-5 coats to get in all of the nooks and cranies. I’m glad I did though! It’s a nice pop next to the wooden desk. The map print trashcan is a second hand vintage find from years ago.

THE ROCKER

Babies love being rocked to sleep and I have nursed both of my kids hundreds of times in this rocking chair. I bought it before I had a million other things to spend money on, and truth be told, it’s pricey. I justified it by thinking it would be a nice addition to any room in the house eventually and I think that’s still true. It’s on sale at Land of Nod if you’re so inclined to check it out.  I designed and made the rainbow quilt and the yellow and white blanket was a gift to my mom when she was pregnant with me. The little fox was also a gift (side note! I saw our little fox again this morning! I have such a huge crush on him!!!!)

CURTAINS

We’ve got mega wide (128″) windows, so it took four panels to span across. We bought navy and white striped blackout curtains (also Pillowfort from Target). The curtain rod was repurposed from our living room and I painted it the same dark blue as the back wall - it practically disappears! 

TOYS

You don’t see a lot of toys here... because they’ve all been in storage for a couple of months. It’s amazing how little kids need and how much they can imagine on their own. In addition to “my giraffey friend” (baby shower gift), the fire truck (from Nana, found at a garage sale) and some wooden stacking and bead toys (similar), we have blocks and trains in the family room. Eventually we’ll rotate in some of his old toys, but less is more with that one for us.

BOOKCASE

The bookcase was made by my dad and Adam before Felix was born. It’s filled with his books and stuffed animals that we’ve received as gifts. Honestly it’s usually a sort of mass collection of books and not well organized, so I just took everything out, stacked books into rainbow colors and placed them back in that way. I’m calling it clean/semi-styled. I promise you it will not look like this a week from now, but hey! if he’s grabbing books and “reading” them I’m not complaining!

The vintage pull down school map is something I’ve wanted in a kid's room for a long time and I had seen it at an antique store a while back. After we painted the walls, I kept thinking about the map and luckily it was still available!! One thing I’ve realized is that if you see a second hand piece you love, get it then and there! Etsy also has some of these beauties if you don’t want to treasure hunt forever to find one! The colors on ours happen to match perfectly and it was a complete accident! I originally had it over the dresser/changing table, but both kids (especially Bea) played with it and while it’s not an old antique, it’s too nice to potential get poop on. Ha! It also matches the width of the book shelf better, and I love how it just pops off the wall!

DECORATIONS

I haven’t done much in the way of putting stuff on the walls besides the map and the kitty prints over the bed. Those are also from Felix’s nursery. I used bright poster board and cat treats to get these shots of our Raymond and Gizmo and are printed on canvas. We also kept the rainbow balloon Adam and I bought on our last solo vacation before kids and we still love it! 

I’m so in love with this room! It’s absolutely possible to make an update incorporating sentimental nursery items with practical pieces that will grow into boyhood. Thanks to my parents helping us out, I only bought paint, the vintage map and the new headboard specifically for this space! Everything else was brought along from the nursery or repurposed from elsewhere in the house!

GET THE LOOK

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[thefoolsloop]

The mistress of your charms: SNM Shanghai, show no. 1

**(Spoilers for Sexy Witch and Bald Witch loops, but not for any 1:1s. I have deliberately - and sometimes accidentally - changed the order of events in the loops, and I’ve redacted details which aren't in the New York show or which are just too much of a spoiler. I’m not accustomed to writing about a show which most readers won’t yet have seen, so I’m trying to exercise self-editing while still giving a genuine flavour of the experience. If I mess up, I apologise.

The first draft of this write-up came to 3,000 words; so I have gone through and excised a great deal. There’s basically nothing left which I would consider a spoiler, but your mileage may vary so be warned.)**

I came to Shanghai on a promise.

In 2015 I had promised Miranda that if she was ever cast in Sleep No More I would come and see her. I was assuming of course that she would be cast in New York. Then, many months later, the news came through that Punchdrunk was mounting SNM in Shanghai, a city I had no interest in visiting. Sure enough, she was in the cast. And so were twelve other TDM alumni.

I don’t break a promise. And the thought of seeing not only Miranda, but Sam, Omar, Fania, Ben and many more besides, people whom I had followed loyally in TDM, people who made that show for me, who made the world of Temple Studios so real that in my mind it still exists, I still visit it every day - the thought of all that overcame my reluctance to travel and the limitations of my budget. Some experiences are so obviously special that to turn them down is to live a life of regret. And I’m done with regret.

So after three months of Mandarin lessons I find myself, in the company of @drinkthehalo and a tiny handful of other ex-pat enthusiasts, in front of a huge, gleaming building on a main road in the west end of Shanghai. A most incongruous setting for a Punchdrunk production, accustomed as I am to seeing them in unmarked warehouses, barely-opened museum archives, crumbling stately homes; but not at all incongruous for Shanghai, a rapidly growing city apparently intent on erasing anything old.

You're not guaranteed an Ace at the McKinnon, no matter how early you queue; but the gods are smiling on me, and I’m in first lift. I make it to the ballroom while the party is still happening. I don’t know who’s in the cast for today, of course; but as I advance towards the centre of the room, searching for anything I recognise, I immediately see them: those incredible green eyes. Thank you, sweet Lord Jesus (more on him, later) - Miranda is Sexy Witch in my first show.

(Photo from sleepnomore.cn)

She’s upside down. Macduff has her in the middle of a backflip. But the moment I lock eyes with her, she holds my gaze as she returns to upright. I’m here, I try to say with my eyes, I kept my promise, I’m here. I know, she says with her eyes, I recognise you. I knew you’d come. Then she turns her attention back to flirting with Macduff. I look around and my joy is increased - Fania is here, a natural choice for Bald Witch after her ice demon PA in TDM. Olly is Boy Witch - too big and tall for the part in my view, but clearly enjoying himself enormously. Omar is Banquo - more hair than when he was in TDM, and he looks handsome and full of life. I recognise American performers whom I saw in New York - Emily, Eric. A family reunion, like Christmas.

I follow Sexy’s loop as far as the 1:1 (which I lose to @drinkthehalo, but that’s OK, I was miles away from the right spot). I could wait, but I don’t know how long for. It might be better to get accustomed to the space first. It would also make sense to see a Sexy Witch loop in full, from the top. And maybe there’ll be someone else interesting to follow. So I wander upstairs, see how the rooms have been changed, how the space seems better used than at the McKittrick. The fourth floor is the same and yet different, somehow twistier, less like a High Street and more like a whole town. I glimpse Jude’s Taxidermist, but he swiftly disappears into a 1:1. I see Lily in a costume I don’t recognise. I find the rep bar - Shen Ni looks like a performer worth following. But the beat of the rave is starting and I have to get out of the way.

I wander around until reset time, then head to the lobby. Here are the witches; when Macbeth appears, the three of them climb the walls like spiders. It’s such a delight to see them together. Once they were bopping along to ‘Bulldog’ in Studio 5: Andrea, Dwayne and Faye. Now they’re spinning, plotting, enchanting Macbeth in a scene with a very different tone. It’s a class reunion - and somewhere Daniel’s Porter is lurking; like Frankie, only on the margins of the big scene but waiting for his moment later.

I attach myself to Miranda like a limpet, it seems to be the way here. The loop has changed - there are new moments among the familiar stuff. There’s a new scene which I daren't reveal but it suggests that the character of SW has been fleshed out further, given an extra strand, more motivation. Not just a witch any more, now an avatar of someone else. Wonder if this has been done for all the witches.

Wherever she goes, Miranda fills the room with her presence: impish, sly, teasing, powerful, her timing constantly perfect. As the ballroom scene comes round again, I wonder what must it be like to dance with her (I miss the chance this time). I remember how Leslie in New York felt so light I could have breathed on her and watched her blow away on the air. Miranda seems made of tougher stuff, it’s what made her Romola less of a doormat and - perversely - made her story even more tragic.

The rave approaches; I follow the witches into the room but then I must make my escape before the flashing starts (I mean the strobes, of course, there is no flashing of the other kind in Shanghai - which I don’t think matters much; I have rather a lot I could say about this, but this isn’t the time). I wait in the corridor; once the lights stop, I hurry back in to see the witches hold up their miniature trees to Macbeth. The parties split up, their followers disperse. Because I’m at the back of the rave crowd, all I have to do is turn around and I’m at the front for the bar dance.

Ah, Miranda’s bar dance...

(Image by @arfman, reproduced with permission.)

There are some works of art that are simply too perfect, too accomplished, too striking, moving, disturbing or compelling to be described. Once you start using words to convey them, they immediately become diminished. Miranda’s bar dance belongs in this category.

Doesn’t that sound absurd? Well, all I can say is in the context of the piece, coming at the point it does when the atmosphere is elevated by the rave, when Sexy Witch’s persona is so possessed by... something... that dance, in which she seems to express all the demonic mania, all the suffering, all the rage, all the bloodlust, all the pain that runs through this show from top to bottom, that dance is one of the stand-out moments in the entire production. I’ve seen five, maybe six Sexy Witches do that dance, and none of them could touch the way Miranda does it. And I’m talking about some seriously great performers - Leslie, Lily, Emily O. Every time I saw it in New York, each performer seemed to do it better. And then Miranda comes and tops the lot of them. And I really can’t put into words what it is that makes it so great; it just.... IS.

(I’m biased, of course, but I check with my fellow English-speakers post-show and there is consensus on this point.)

We run to the door of the Taxidermist’s, where she pauses. Something is happening. She reaches out into the distance. For a moment I assume it’s just another gesture, but her hand stays out. I’m halfway down the corridor, some way out of reach. Another hand emerges from the crowd, a Chinese person looking for an opportunity. Miranda shakes her head, ever so slightly, and the person drops her hand. It seems this is meant for me, after all, and I step forward. I can’t say much about this interaction because it would spoil too much, except that once again Miranda seems to discharge a mountain of emotion in the course of seconds, her presence filling the entire corridor, her personal magnetism enchanting the crowd. This open-air interaction has a stronger effect on me than the 1:1 (which I’ve picked up earlier, now that I know where to stand). I’ve never known a performer like this.

I simply must spend a loop with Fania, so I pick her up around the reset. I don’t remember the early parts of the loop (the penalty of doing a write-up a week later), so let’s cut to just before the ballroom scene. I’ve been following her closely for a while now, and she’s rearranging the trees in the room, almost hidden in their midst (one place where the McKinnon’s improved lighting levels don’t have an impact). Then she draws the curtain, takes my hand and we’re dancing. She feels as tall as me (she isn’t, but Fania seems to exceed her dimensions, so compelling is her presence) and I try to remember months of ballroom dancing lessons from decades ago. As we part she whispers in my ear something which I will have to redact, but which makes me nod conspiratorially.

I’m now seeing the party scene for the third time tonight, and the infectious good humour of the music is rubbing off on me: I’m tapping my foot, nodding my head in time. My face has a broad grin on it - perhaps Fania can see it, because she catches my eye and breaks out into a grin too. We do the odd eyeball at each other as my gaze follows her around the room, then the crowd disperses and she goes into her muscular, spasmodic de-wigging solo. This is, just as I had anticipated, a massively athletic undertaking and is almost the match of anything Miranda does.

But, as Fania goes through her loop, I’m hugely impressed yet also slightly surprised. After seeing her PA in TDM I was expecting Bald Witch to be another contemptuous ice maiden. But this Bald Witch is fiery, defiant, with much more warmth than I would have imagined - more like Andrea’s evil twin. And her relationship with the religious artefacts and imagery in her environment - of which there is a plethora, far more than in New York - is so violently sarcastic that I expect the flames of Hell to spring up around her.

The rave happens. I go upstairs to investigate the fifth floor, so transformed from the McKittrick that I barely recognise the features (on a superficial level it’s not that different, but it feels different). I get a glimpse of a powerful scene in the new story, which I had been tipped off about, but once I’m past that I realise the rave must have finished. Maybe I can catch Miranda again, although my focus is on what Fania’s going to be doing. I head for the staircase. I can’t find the staircase. I do find the woods, however. I wander through the woods, looking for the way out. I don’t find it. I do find myself back where I started, however. OK, try again. Stick to the right hand path. No, that doesn’t work. Good God, don’t tell me the woods have only one way in and out?

I won’t answer that question, but I will say that after a couple of accidental detours into the toilets I find myself at last on the stairs down. So I’ve missed a chunk of the loop, but I do eventually manage to find Fania. Bald Witch is having fun, upping the ante on the relationship with her Redeemer. There’s no redemption here. It would be a massive spoiler to reveal what she does, but there are moments in the loop which make me jump with shock. Then we’re downstairs for the finale. As the walkout music plays, she comes round to the front of the stage, offers me her hand to help her down, and holds onto it as we walk out into the Manderley. A fabulous Fania smile and a gentle kiss, and my first show is over.

Fania and Miranda are about as perfect a pair of female witches as I’ve ever seen. While I may not be an SNM diehard, and may have missed some spectacular combinations over the years, the relationship this pair has built up through their work on TDM has granted them a naturally symbiotic dynamic in which they flourish - and the presence of Olly merely tops this off (I would like to have given him more time as Boy Witch, but he just seems to me a more natural fit for his other roles, Speakeasy and Macbeth). I would give anything to be able to see them all together in the rave, but I can’t take the risk with my health, especially on my first night.

And what a first night. To see these wonderful performers on their own would have been heaven. To see them together, and on top form, is... well, again, words fail me.

[superspurit-blog]

What You Need to Know about Time Management For Small Business in eCommerce

Many believe that after you start your own business, you become totally free to choose when to work and for how long. However, this is a huge misconception: you need to work hard and dedicate a lot of time to your business for it to grow and for you to make a profit.

Nevertheless, the number of working hours spent daily on your business rarely reflects the efficiency of the process, as you may have already experienced it yourself. A busy businessman is not always a successful one. For instance, you could spend two hours fulfilling the same task you (or someone else) could actually do in 30 minutes. Or, you could be panicking every once in a while asking yourself how to find time to do something.

This is why the words “time management” are all the rage nowadays — they are like a promise to cure you from wasting your time and to teach you how to use your time efficiently, as found in various time management articles. We couldn’t resist sharing some of our experience in time management with you, so make yourself comfortable and dive into this topic with us.

Content:

Before We Start

The Importance of Time Management for You & Your Business

6 Time Management Methods Worth Trying

The Bottom Line

Before We Start

What does time management mean, exactly? These two words are used in so many articles, yet it is rarely revealed what they actually mean. However, we need to be on the same page regarding what it is before we can take a closer look at various methods and tips for time management.

Time management is, first and foremost, the art of optimizing the way you work to minimize the amount of time spent. We can master this art by planning our time and sticking to those plans. Bad time management is, in turn, lack of planning and control over it, which results in the inefficient use of time.

Before we dive into various time management methods, you need to know how you are spending your time right now, i.e. how much time fulfilling different tasks takes. On average, if you are a solo entrepreneur doing everything on your own, most of the time required to maintain an e-commerce site is spent on:

administrating the website (adding/deleting pages, editing information, etc.);

processing orders;

answering questions from existing and potential customers;

dealing with suppliers (and you also need time to build new partnerships!), etc.

The Importance of Time Management for You & Your Business

There is one thing we often seem to forget: time is a resource that is irrevocable. It is priceless because we can’t buy more time at a shop. Yet, we are all equal in terms of how much time we have: 24 hours per day. So, it is up to us how we use this resource. This is why the importance of time management can hardly be ever overestimated, as well as the importance of time itself.

In terms of running a business, you need to be efficient, and therefore productive, to achieve the business goals you set. If you master the art of time management and make sure you don’t waste any time, there are countless benefits for you and your business, including:

becoming more efficient and more productive (as any time management blog would suggest);

getting to have more personal time as the result (you don’t have to be busy all the time);

improving the key performance indicators that you have set for your business;

reaching your objectives faster, making more room for growing your business;

getting better at decision making as you have more time to consider all the pros and cons;

being less stressed as you feel that you are in control of your time and everything goes as planned.

6 Time Management Methods Worth Trying

Time management for small business has its specifics as it is all about how you set your working processes. This is why not every time management article is applicable or even relatable for entrepreneurs. Fear not: we have prepared a list of 6 time management tips for professionals that you should try. Enjoy!

1. Automate Everything You Can

We are certain there are some regular tasks on your list that you can automate. We are living in a beautiful world full of apps and extensions to make your life easier, so why not use them?

For instance, if you are still scheduling all the posts manually on different social media platforms, there are many apps that allow doing it in one place (i.e. in the app itself) and posting them on several platforms in one click.

Or, you can set an automatic response to emails and other messages to make sure the sender feels valued without spending tons of time replying to them yourself.

2. Get Ready to Outsource

Even though it may be a bit scary (or challenging) to do, outsourcing does miracles for your schedule. We are not suggesting you should outsource every single thing; however, we are certain that there are some processes that can be outsourced.

For instance, if you are still processing hundreds of orders yourself, ask yourself whether this is a rational approach. You can find a ecommerce company that can do this for you, and you’ll have more time to focus on strategic things, such as growing your business and expanding your customer base. The same applies to shipping orders.

3. Schedule Every Task on Your To-Do List

To-do lists are extremely popular; however, they have proven not to be enough. If you have a long list of tasks that are not sorted by any deadlines, you will try to be a Superman and do all the tasks, and you’ll end up frustrated as the result because it is rarely possible to achieve this.

What you can do instead is tell yourself: “So, today I will be scheduling posts for social media for one hour, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.” Done? Now add that to your calendar (and remember to set a reminder notification!). This is how you make this task time-bound and, consequently, you make yourself more invested in completing it.

4. Concentrate on Your Task

This time management method is not really breaking news — we are often told that we need to be focused if we want to be productive. Pay attention — this means no multi-tasking! Yes, you are not hallucinating — research has shown that you’ll spend more time doing the tasks if you switch between them than if you do them one at a time.

Besides, it also means you shouldn’t get distracted by anything or anyone to get yourself “in the zone”. So, find a place where no one is likely to disturb you and make sure there is no film playing in the background.

5. Stop Procrastinating

You can’t complain about the lack of time for working if you binge-watch a whole season of your favorite TV series on the weekends. Sure, it is important to have some “me-time” to relax and restore your energy; however, there is a clearly visible line between rest and procrastination.

Procrastination means that you know you need to do something but you keep watching YouTube or a TV series, surf websites with memes, etc. The key to avoiding procrastination is to realize when you are resting and when you are procrastinating.

6. Use Your Waiting Time

Remember that we have only 24 hours a day? Unfortunately, we have to waste some of it waiting for stuff — for instance, when we are waiting for the doctor to see us or in huge queues if we are unlucky.

However, waiting time is still time — the oh-so-precious resource we shouldn’t be wasting. What you can do is use your waiting time to do something beneficial. Examples of the time-management strategy of using waiting time is updating your to-do list, scheduling your tasks, checking the stats or messages, etc.

The Bottom Line

The importance of time management will never stop being a hot topic. There are countless time management YouTube videos and articles on time management out there, which only proves one point: time management is more than just important, it is crucial. This is especially true for time management in business as it is not a piece of cake. However, if you try the methods we have shared with you, you will get one step closer to being more productive in operating and growing your business. All you need to do is to start with one of the methods and keep going.

A source https://spur-i-t.com

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 6th January 2019

The twelve pop songs that weren’t Christmas are all in the top 13 along with a new arrival, so, yeah, essentially this week is the same as last week without a holiday. Everything that was below the top 40 just came back in spades, hence...

Returning Entries

There’s a ton. Let’s get all of the returning entries and drop-outs in our first, very busy week of 2019, done first. Let’s go, starting from what’s at the top to what’s at the bottom. “Hold My Girl” by George Ezra is back at #14, “Baby” by Clean Bandit, Marina and Luis Fonsi is back at #15, “This is Me” by Keala Settle and The Greatest Showman Ensemble is back at #16, “A Million Dreams” by P!nk is back at #17, “Woman Like Me” by Little Mix featuring Nicki Minaj is back at #18, “imagine” by Ariana Grande is back at #20, “Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith is back at #21, “Going Bad” by Meek Mill and Drake is back at #22, “Let You Love Me” by Rita Ora is back at #23, “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is at #24, “The Greatest Show” by Hugh Jackman, Keala Settle, Zac Efron, Zendaya and the Greatest Showman Ensemble returns to #25 (this was the first song I ever reviewed on this series so it’s crazy to see it back pretty much exactly a year later), “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille is back to #26, “Advice” by Cadet and Deno Driz is at #27, “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes is at #28 (and while I’m at it, “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott featuring Drake, Swae Lee and Big Hawk is back at #33), “Eastside” by benny blanco, Halsey and Khalid is at #29, “A Million Dreams” by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams comes back to #30, “Leave a Light On” by Tom Walker lights up at #31, “KIKA” by 6ix9ine featuring Tory Lanez jumps back to #32, “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B rears its ugly head at #34, “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa, the biggest song of the year in the UK (yes, the year-end has been released, and I’ll rank it on my Twitter), “Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo is at #38 (that one’s growing on me too...), “Body” by Loud Luxury and brando is at #39, and “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran rounds off the Top 40. Well, since all of these have had their own reviews on this series before, I might leave links on each song to where they’ve been reviewed or something, although my opinions have already changed. Oh, “Perfect” and “Mo Bamba” don’t have proper reviews yet but it’ll be redundant doing it now because I’ll just be covering them more in-depth on my best list anyway (sorry, spoilers). Now...

Dropouts

Oh, my goodness. Okay, so, every single Christmas song is out. “All I Want for Christmas for You” by Mariah Carey from #2, “Last Christmas” by WHAM! from #3, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl from #4, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid from #6, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas” by Michael Bublé from #7, “One More Sleep” by Leona Lewis from #8, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens from #9, “Step into Christmas” by Elton John from #10, and the episode’s already half of a 1,000 words. Listen, sorry about all the changes in structure with the series, especially in this episode, but I asked on Twitter if you would rather have me review more songs and not bother with anything else, and no, it was decided by 80% to continue with the standard format in the poll, so, yeah, I guess I’ll have to do it like this for another year. Anyways, back to this nonsense. “Driving Home for Christmas” by Chris Rea is out from #11, “I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard from #12, “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande from #13, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee from #16, “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade from #17, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band featuring the Harlem Community Choir from #18 (God, that is a chore to type every week), “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney from #20 – may you rest in peace, you gorgeous novelty – “We Built this City on Sausage Rolls” by LadBaby from #21, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love from #22, “Cozy Little Christmas” by Katy Perry from #23, “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia from #24, “Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord” by Boney M. from #26, “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber from #28, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams from #29, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by Jackson 5 from #30, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby from #31, “Stay Another Day” by East 17 from #36 – still not a Christmas song – “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson from #37, “Lonely this Christmas” by Mud from #38, and finally, “Baby it’s Cold Outside” by Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé is out from #39. That felt oddly therapeutic.

Now, there’s not a single song that fell this week, obviously, but there are a few that climbed outside of the Top 10, and they’re all rebounds from the avalanche.

Climbers

“Without Me” by Halsey is up three spots to #11, “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings is up 20 spaces to #12, and finally, “Thursday” by Jess Glynne is up a whopping 27 positions to #13. Now, with the chart finally rid of those pesky Christmas songs, welcome to 2019, everyone, and this is the state of British pop as the year turns around.

Top 10

“Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max is spending its second week at #1 today, which is cool, I guess, but i don’t imagine it holding on for that long.

Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” is up three spaces from last week to number-two, but now we’ve got some massive jumps from scattered within the top 40 straight to the top 10.

“Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is up 16 positions to number-three.

At number-four, we have an 11-space increase for Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’ “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”.

Finally, in what feels like ages, we have a top 5 debut, with Post Malone having his ninth top 40 hit and sixth top 10 hit this week, as his new song “Wow.” enters at #5. We’ll talk about it at length later on.

At number-six, Lord help us, we have “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong up 21 spaces from last week. This is the best proof we’ve had since Mr. Blobby that the charts are ran by children.

“Shotgun” by George Ezra rebounds by 26 spots to number-seven for no good reason. Go away, please, for my own sanity.

Oh, joy, James Arthur too, with Anne-Marie for “Rewrite the Stars” up 17 spaces to number-eight.

Zara Larsson creeps her head into the top 10 as well after a 26-spot boost up to number-nine, making “Ruin My Life” her sixth top 10 hit in the UK.

Finally, Kodak Black’s “ZEZE” featuring Travis Scott and Offset is up an undeservedly high 24 places up to #10, rounding off our top 10 at way too many words for an episode that has yet to have any song reviews. I’ll try to keep them brief.

NEW ARRIVALS

#36 – “Gun Lean” – Russ

R-R-Russ? Huh... Never expected that name to ever pop up on here, to be honest. Russ seems to only be kind of big in the US but he’s never hit the top 40, and he’s pretty much just a running joke or meme in the hip hop community so I honestly never expected any Brits to take him seriously either but this is his new single, I guess, and it’s not great. It starts with a menacing piano line that could be kind of interesting but then Russ comes in with a British accent and—oh.

#36 – “Gun Lean” – Russ splash

BBC has called new UK rapper Russ splash “Russ” instead, but who really cares? He might as well be Russ because he doesn’t say anything of substance either, with a painfully simplistic hook and chorus that doesn’t really help his lyrical ability shine (if it exists). The heavy bass is obviously trying to be have that energetic old Lil Pump energy, but it doesn’t work when your song is three and a half minutes because this song is tiring as all hell. This is generic British rap that follows the formula to a T, and I hope it doesn’t rise. Speaking of following a formula...

#35 – “Money” – Cardi B

Sigh, I do like Cardi B, but she seems to have stopped bothering and that’s a big issue because that’s the main reason anyone liked her. It’s definitely not the lyrics and while it may be the beat, she always rides it with that loud, straightforward and powerful delivery she is known for, and when you stop trying in the booth, I feel like that appeal is going to squander, and this is her ninth top 40 hit in less than two years, so the fact that it’s going quick is an issue. Anyways, this is absolute garbage. The beats is literally like two piano notes just being violently played under trap percussion and bass, with a recurring high-pitched “Money” ad-lib that is trying to break up the monotony but, no, it’s just annoying. Cardi B sounds more ruthless on the verses, which may actually be kind of unfitting, but it works, although then she gets bored on the chorus. In fact, the transition is actually pretty abrupt and forced here. At least it’s shorter and has a few good flow switches, so it’s definitely better than “Gun Lean” in that respect, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

#19 – “Play” – Jax Jones featuring Years & Years

This is listed as a returning entry on BBC’s UK Top 40 page but this came out last year and I never reviewed so it’s safe to assume it’s new; I apologise if it isn’t, but I mean, would you care? The lead singer from Years & Years keeps up with a tiring atmospheric house beat, with meaningless lyrics and weak, radio-friendly drops that kind of take away its EDM properties immediately, I mean, the hook here isn’t that crazy of a vocal manipulation either like “One Kiss” or “Solo”, it’s just a pretty comprehensible phrase repeated and edited to sound a tad more distant. It’s so weak and pathetic, although the dude from Years & Years is trying so hard to fit on this beat, it’s kind of funny in that regard. Otherwise, yeah, who cares?

#5 – “Wow.” – Post Malone

Let me put it this way: my sister loves Post Malone for many reasons, one of which being his music, and she’s consistently loved a lot of what I’ve hated from Post like “I Fall Apart” (which is still a gruelling and confusing song to this day, read my worst list if you want to see me go into depth), but not even she could dig this, but I think I know why – she took it seriously. The tuneless keys is the only real build-up we get until Post comes in and there’s a cool noisy melody that ends with a high-pitched screech, and yeah, it’s a pretty awesomely minimal and menacing beat, so surely Post should add a lot to this... well, he literally has a whole line that is just “G-Wagon, G-Wagon, G-Wagon, G-Wagon”, but otherwise his delivery is on-point (I love his voice right at the end at the second verse), his flows are catchy, his lyrics are serviceable and sometimes pretty funny, and every single beat drop here is beautiful, seriously, that’s some perfect production from Frank Dukes and Louis Bell. After Post stops rapping, there’s a period of time where it’s just the distorted melody over some reverb-drowned drums with a chipmunk vocal coming in and him just ad-libbing “wow”, and it’s stunning. It’s not going to replace Beck’s song of the same title and in the same vein (seriously, it’s a trap-rap song too), but this is cool.

Conclusion

This week was mostly trap, huh? Well, Post Malone gets Best of the Week for “Wow.” but Russ splash is definitely bagging Worst of the Week for the dreadful “Gun Lean”. Dishonourable Mention is tied, and goes to Jax Jones, Years & Years and Cardi B for “Play” and “Money”, respectively. Not  a great start, guys. See you next week!

n

[touristguidebuzz]

24 Things Every Solo Female Traveler Learns on the Road

Kristin Addis from Be My Travel Muse writes our regular column on solo female travel. It’s a topic I can’t cover so I brought her on to cover topics and specific issues important other women travelers! In this month’s column, Kristin reminisces on the lessons learned from traveling solo.

“You’re going across the world by yourself?! Are you sure?”

You’ve heard it before, right? Someone who means well and tries to talk you out of traveling solo, mentioning all kinds of things that could go wrong.

They can be pretty convincing, focusing heavily on the negative — but completely forgetting that there are so many more positives that come from travel. What about all of the things that could go right?

There are things that only solo female travelers get to experience (things that just don’t happen when you’re traveling with someone else). It’s like a club that almost anyone can get into but few know about. But for those of us who have done it, we know that it’s not as scary as we thought, and much more rewarding than we ever imagined possible.

Traveling the world solo has taught me many lessons and made me realized there are some truths you only learn when you travel the world solo:

1. It’s way more exciting to try a new food on the other side of the world – and find that we absolutely love it – than it is to go to a swanky restaurant back home.

2. An exotic dish somehow tastes better when we eat it with our hands. With our shoes off, while sitting on the floor.

3. Being in a hammock on a tropical beach, watching the waves roll in, whether all on our own or surrounded by new friends, is worth the mosquito bites.

4. We can say “hello” and “thank you” in more languages than your fancy car has gears.

5. Playing with a child in another language is more warming than all the designer sweaters in the world.

6. People are beautiful everywhere, in every shade, shape, and size, and there is absolutely no singular beauty standard.

7. There is no greater rush than buying a plane ticket to a place that we alone want to see and that we alone picked out.

8. It is sexier to have more stamps in a passport than watches and fancy purses.

9. A sugar rush is somehow sweeter when we’re sitting in Europe eating a chocolate croissant with a whole day of adventures ahead of us.

10. It doesn’t matter what someone is wearing, where they’re from, or what their savings account looks like. If they can carry an intelligent conversation halfway across the world, we’re more than happy to hang onto their every word.

11. Espresso really does taste better in Italy, and Panang curry really does taste better in Thailand.

12. Knowing what it looks like when the sun sets over the ocean on the other side of the globe is worth more than all the Instagram likes in the world.

13. The Facebook news feed is a lot less interesting when we have an entire day of adventures ahead of us, with no plans, no obligations, and no strings attached.

14. Maybe makeup and hair products and straighteners and Spanx aren’t all that necessary, and we look fantastic just the way we are.

15. The heartbreak later is worth the fling right here and now with this beautiful stranger with an accent from far away and the promise of an adventure.

16. Being able to say “yes” without having to check in with anyone first feels so damn freeing and satisfying.

17. Being able to say “no” without worrying about offending anyone or feeling obligated feels even more powerful than saying “yes” sometimes.

18. We’re braver than we thought.

19. We’re capable of doing things that a year ago would have terrified us.

20. No classroom anywhere will ever be a better learning environment than going it alone on the road.

21. No boardroom, job interview, or house party where we don’t know anyone will ever intimidate us again, because we know what it’s like to go solo to a country where absolutely nothing is familiar and everything is new. And we handled it like a boss.

22. There were a few blunders and “learning experiences” here and there, but we’re better off for them.

23. Out of all of the things we learned, most of all we’ll remember that we are capable individuals with a better understanding of how we fit into the world now, and that’s something that will be beneficial for the rest of our lives.

24. When the trip is over, we’ll remember these things that only we know, and what we’re capable of — and probably start researching plane flights again.

We solo female travelers know that traveling alone is an amazing gift. It gives us a chance to develop our confidence, make all of the decisions about where we want to go and what we want to do, and be the CEO of our own lives and adventures. This confidence and ability carries over into our daily lives long after the trip is over.

Our loved ones’ fear and misunderstanding of it will probably always exist. Rebuffing a few well-meaning but uninformed remarks just comes with the territory. You can often show those naysayers by example how wonderful it can be.

If you haven’t yet traveled solo but really want to find out who you are and what you’re made of, go to the other side of the world by yourself and prepare to be amazed. Don’t let anything hold you back — you deserve to see the world on your own terms.

ANNOUNCING A BRAND NEW CONQUERING MOUNTAINS EDITION

In the second edition of this book, we did updated prices, tips, links as well as:

Expanded sections on finding travel deals, staying safe on the road, banking smart, and making friends.

Expanded resource section.

New section on working overseas.

New section on saving money on the road.

Added interviews with other travelers.

This is the most robust guide to solo female travel out there and brings together the tips and advice you need – plus the perspective over dozens of women – into one place. It has helped over 1,000 women plan their trip effectively. If you’ve been thinking about going somewhere but not sure where to start planning, this book is for you. Click here to learn more and start reading today!

Kristin Addis is a solo female travel expert who inspires women to travel the world in an authentic and adventurous way. A former investment banker who sold all of her belongings in 2012, Kristin has roamed the world for more than five years and visited over 70 countries. You can find more of her writings at Be My Travel Muse or on Instagram and Facebook.

The post 24 Things Every Solo Female Traveler Learns on the Road appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.