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wileys-russo · 4 months

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i’ve noticed that alexia usually doesn’t wear nail polish and it gave me a thought..

imagine reader being super happy to always do her own nails with different nail polishes and designs and having them perfectly manicured even though they are short for practical reasons and then one day reader is doing her nails bc she’s bored and alexia is there watching a match as preparation like always and reader begs her to let her do her nails as well and alexia gives in because she can’t resist reader but is like 😐 the entire time even though she secretly loves it

and reader paints the nails a rose color with small red hearts because it’s cute and ale is like 😐 still

reader posts a story of it super proud of the design (bc small hearts on short nails are a pain in the ass let me tell you) and ale still acts like she couldn’t care less

butttt then refuses to let reader take it off again and keeps it the entire time even though it grows out and gets chapped and everything and next time reader does her own nails and is about to put the nail polishes away, ale is like: what about me? ☹️

tiny red hearts II a.putellas

amid the pandemic everyone picked up a hobbie in lockdown.

if it be knitting, dancing, pottery, reading, cooking, puzzles. you name it, someone had likely perfected it as an art form during those weeks and weeks locked away from society.

you were no different. you'd tried cooking, reading, jigsaws, colouring in, sudoku, but nothing really clicked.

until one day you were endlessly doom scrolling your various social medias as again, everyone was, when you stumbled across a nail art video. intrigued you'd watched it, then another, and another, and another.

then before you knew it you had package after package arriving on your doorstep and the days melted into weeks as you worked tirelessly to perfect the art.

and now, you'd done it.

which is how you came to be sitting on the floor of your apartment, bottles of polish sat in perfect colour coded order on the coffee table with all your little brushes and tools neatly lined up in front.

your bottom lip was firmly between your teeth, eyebrows furrowed deeply with concentration as your eyes squinted and your hand moved slowly and precisely.

your girlfriend of two years whom you shared your home with lay stretched out on the sofa behind your head, toned tanned arms crossed firmly across her chest.

her face was stoic and seemingly stern as ever, nothing unusual when she was reviewing game footage and given she wasn't currently able to play her studying had only increased.

you were off in your own little world and she was in hers, you coexisted but knew how not to be codependent, one of the things that made your relationship healthy was the fact that despite how long you'd been seeing one another you still spent time apart.

you would go shopping or out for drinks with your school friends you'd known for years, as alexia would often go for dinner or hikes with some of her own childhood friends.

that's not to say you weren't infatuated with one another, and whenever you did spend time apart you were increasingly clingy that night once you were reunited but when out you knew to respect one another's time and space.

with a small exhale of relief you finally finished the intricate design you'd been working on, your frown switching quickly into a grin as you slipped your hand into the UV nail lamp and waited for them to dry.

since a young age you were known to daydream, your girlfriend finding it adorable as much as amusing as you'd zone out from reality and go somewhere she never understood. sometimes alexia would just watch you with lovesick puppy dog eyes filled with nothing but pure adoration, though always in the privacy and intimacy of just one another's company.

like right now where you'd clearly drifted off somewhere as the footballers eyes glanced down toward you and her hardened features softened, corners of her mouth curled upward into a smile.

"hola princesa." you snapped right out of it as her foot moved to push at your shoulder, dragging you back down to earth as you shrugged her off and sent her a playful glare, pulling your hand out and flicking off the lamp as both of them were now dry.

"look!" you leapt up eagerly and dropped down on the lounge next to your girlfriend, wiggling your fingers proudly at the blonde who hummed.

"muy bien bebé." alexia complimented, softly kissing your cheek and turning her attention back to the television where the match had resumed, as did the stoic expression on her face.

"alee." you started with a coy smile, grabbing her hand and interlacing your fingers with a gentle squeeze. "mm?" the midfielder hummed, eyes unmoving from the screen.

"can i paint your nails amor?" you asked, alexia only letting out a puff of air from her nose as she chuckled, shaking her head. "please! you know i'm good and they'll look good." you pleaded, squeezing her hand again.

"no princesa, no nails." alexia shook her head as you huffed, moving to rest your chin on her shoulder, lazily kissing her jaw. "please? please, please, please-" you repeated over and over, peppering kisses across her face.

now as much as alexia could be at times be a fierce woman, driven and passionate and willing to do absolutely anything to achieve whatever she set her mind to, she had a fatal soft spot.

you.

alexia would do nearly everything that you asked of her, with a few sweet words in her ear and a charming smile you had the catalan wrapped around your little finger, and you knew it.

so of course it was with a deep seeded sigh that alexia gave into your demand, wordlessly placing her free hand in your lap as you beamed. clapping happily you sat up properly and grabbed her chin in your hand, pecking her lips a few times and reveling in the slight pink blush which coated her cheeks.

you sat back down on the ground and stared carefully at your arsenal of colours, taking a few moments to decide what you wanted to do before nodding happily and grabbing what you needed.

you settled back down on the lounge as again alexia moved her hand into your lap, eyes glued to the match as her eyebrows turned downward in frustration at a fumbled tackle and an easily preventable shot at the barcelona goal.

"you will get wrinkles corazón." you teased, smoothing out her eyebrows with your thumb as the tiniest of smiles flickered across her face just for a moment which wasn't missed by you.

warning her to stay still you placed her right hand down on your knee and grabbed out the first colour after tugging the coffee table closer so everything you needed was well within reach to avoid anything being knocked or falling.

much as alexia might bend over backwards to do as you asked you knew well enough if you spilled even a drop of polish on the carpet or the sofa you'd be hearing about it for days.

as you set to work your girlfriends face remained stoic, but her bright hazel eyes flickered down to you curiously every now and then, corner of her lip curling upward at the look of sheer concentration on your face and the way the tip of your tongue poked out of the side of your mouth.

finishing one hand you blew gently on the nails, unable to use the machine which was plugged in and just out of reach. though not in any rush as you awaited her first hand to dry you kept a cautious eye that she didn't move as your head dropped to her shoulder.

there was a comfortable silence between you, the only sound the occasional grunt of frustration from the taller girl whose side you were curled into, a shake of her head and something mumbled under her breath at every costly mistake.

her first hand drying you tapped her knee, gesturing for her to swing her legs into your lap so you could reach her other hand. shuffling her body she did as you asked, sliding down a little as her head thumped backward into the soft cushions behind.

you couldn't do anything to keep the smile off your face as you worked on your girlfriends nail design, incredibly happy with how it turned out as again you gently blew on her hand, settling it back into her lap to dry.

warning her about not moving you crawled up the lounge and wedged yourself in beside her, sitting half on top of her much to the older girls amusement as you pulled her other arm to drape across your shoulder allowing you to tuck yourself even tighter into her side.

checking a few moments later you were happy they were dry and sat up a little, shrugging off your girlfriends arm and eagerly taking her hands in yours.

"done." you announced happily, holding her hands up as alexia's eyes moved from the tv to her hands which made yours seem tiny, your own gaze falling to admire both the size difference and the small 11 tattooed on the back of her palm.

"i did more of a pale pink because i know you do not like them too bright, but i did tiny red hearts on each nail for barca!" you explained with a beaming smile, alexia melting at the confession as she stole a glance toward you and softened even more seeing the clear delight in your eyes.

"perfecto bebita." your girlfriend gave you a small smile not giving much away, one of her hands slipping around to cup the back of your neck and bringing you into a tender kiss.

"can i put them on my story? i think these are some of my favourites." you asked hopefully as alexia shrugged, eyes having returned back to the final few minutes of the match, seemingly unfazed.

grabbing your phone you positioned her hands on her knees, taking a few photos and editing your favourite before adding it onto your instagram and curling back up on top of your girlfriend who held you tightly, eyes flickering down to her nails with a small hidden smile every few minutes.

that next day at training was a very different story though as alexia couldn't wait to show off her nails to the rest of the team. the morning was spent with the midfielder very proudly boasting how good you were and that you were completely self taught, ignoring all the teasing remarks thrown her way about how she'd gone soft.

when you'd come to collect her that afternoon having dropped her off and borrowed her car for the day as yours was being serviced you were overwhelmed as a small group of the girls suddenly swarmed you in the carpark.

"hey hey hey back up vale!" alexia warned protectively, moving in front of you with a mean stare as a few of the younger girls cowered and hurried off to their own cars as the rest rolled their eyes.

"me next amiga! maybe little black hearts? or...letters." mapi beamed, eyes flickering toward her girlfriend who caught onto what she was wanting and blushed as you laughed.

"get your own! este es mío." alexia huffed, wrapping herself around you as her chin hooked into your shoulder and she sent her best friend a glare.

"tomorrow? you can cook me dinner as payment." you offered, mapi agreeing eagerly as you promised to also do ingrid's nails as you caught her pouting at you over her girlfriends head.

"sí, sí! before the next game chicas, promise." you laughed as pina, salma and patri swooped in next undeterred by the murderous glare given by your girlfriend who refused to unwind her arms where they wrapped tightly around your torso holding your back flush to her front.

"we are going! relax capi, you will get wrinkles." patri smirked as alexia's eyes narrowed even further and the three sprinted off and away. with a small laugh you craned your back back staring up at your girlfriend with a wide grin.

"see amor? i warned you about the frown wrinkles."

you expected alexia to allow the nails for a couple of days before she'd want to return back to normal with a clean set again, so you were surprised when anytime you'd offer to help her take it off she seemed to come up with every and any excuse not to.

by the end of day five with the rigorous gym program and workouts needed with alexia's recovery the polish was cracked and chipped, most of it worn off and faded, hearts now barely small red blobs.

it was that night alexia finally seemed eager for you to wipe them clean, again swinging her long bare legs into your lap and settling her hands on her knee for you to work on.

the removal process compared to the creation was next to nothing and before even five minutes had passed you were finished, tapping her legs to let you up to move your things back to the bathroom where they normally lived.

when you returned it was to an empty and dark living room, changing route you followed the light at the end of the hallway where you finally found your girlfriend once more.

you held a hand over your mouth to stifle the loud boom of laughter you wished you could get out, the catalan having fallen deep asleep on top of the bed, one of your favorite dramas playing in the background where she'd clearly intended the two of you to lay in bed together and watch.

with a small sigh of amusement you flitted back around the house ensuring everything was locked and off before you returned, closing the bedroom door behind you with a gentle click.

the room now only illuminated by the dim glow of the tv as you flicked off the downlight you made you way around to her side of the bed and crouched down.

"amor. amor. cari? ale." you repeated softly, moving one arm to shake her lightly when there was no response, the blondes chocolate brown eyes fluttering open tiredly as you shook her a little harder.

"hey baby, into bed?" you ran a hand through her mane of hair, moving a few loose strands off her forehead with a soft smile as the footballer sighed tiredly but sat up as you tugged down the covers allowing her to slip inside properly.

already showered and changed you ducked off to the bathroom to brush your teeth before joining her, chuckling as once more she was seemingly dead to the world, mouth ever so slightly ajar as her blonde hair sprawled across the pillow.

though as the mattress dipped, never the heaviest of sleepers alexia awoke a little, turning around to her other side and shuffling down the bed as her face pressed into your neck and her long legs tangled with yours, feet rubbing against one another.

you felt an i love you mumbled against your skin as her arms wrapped tightly around you, latching her taller body firmly onto yours making you smile and tangle a hand in her hair.

the next night you removed your own nail polish and sat down to redo it, having spent a few hours scrolling through for inspiration before it struck and within minutes you'd grabbed what you needed and settled.

though before you could even glance to the bottles of polish a body dropped down next to you and suddenly strong hands were on your hips lifting you up.

"ale!" you laughed as she set you down on her lap, long legs stretched out straight as you wiggled a little to get comfortable. "my turn first please." the girl spoke in her accented english, her hands moving around you and placing themselves on your knees.

"oh your turn?" you asked both equally pleased and surprised, turning a little so you could look up at her. "sí, mi novia so my turn." alexia smiled softly, ducking her head to press a lingering kiss against your lips.

you smiled as you pulled away, a hand softly carressing her cheek as your thumb pulled at her bottom lip, pressing another tender kiss against them with a lovesick sigh.

"of course mi amor whatever you want. so, what colour?"

#woso x reader #woso #woso community #alexia putellas x reader #alexia putellas #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso blurbs

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squid-ichorous · 2 years

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ffhfhfhfh what was that site with the online jigsaw puzzles and you can join other people doing public puzzles

#i love jigsaw puzzles ;w;#i actually really want to get an overhead tripod and remote for my phone #i'd love to post like jigsaw timelapses and toy reviews ;;

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krawlernyannyan · 5 months

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VERSION 2.0 STREAM MEGAPOST

They packed a lot of information into only an hour, so I'm warning you now, this is gonna be a mile long beneath the readmore. That said, I've put together all the gameplay-relevant information here for your casual review and convenience.

Story

Various factions from throughout the universe have been invited by The Family (Xipe's followers) to Penacony, the Land of Dreams for the first time to partake in their Charmony Festival. That description, as it turns out, is extremely literal - Penacony itself mostly consists of just a massive hotel, The Reverie, where guests fall asleep and enter a shared collective dreamscape where the "real" Penacony exists.

The first Dreamscape we're visiting as part of the v2.0 story is "the Golden Hour" (the big nighttime cityscape we've seen in so many teasers up to this point). The core idea of the place is "the time just before midnight", and the wish for "today to never end" and for tomorrow to never come.

The story for the Penacony arc, in contrast to the previous storylines we've played through, is described as "chill, carefree, [and] upbeat" where there's no imminent crisis to solve and your primary goal is enjoying your vacation to the fullest.

The Penacony story will be playing out over versions 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2, with an epilogue in v2.3, and was described as "Star Rail's biggest story ever".

Environment

There's a statue of Clockie in the Golden Hour that we can upgrade and change as we progress through Penacony.

Time and gravity are frequently warped in Penacony, and moving in multi-dimensional space is a recurring mechanic. This includes walking on walls, achieved through the "Dreamwalker" mechanic. Dreamwalker utilizes charges to change gravity that can be refilled.

Two specially mentioned settings are Dream's Edge (the outer limits of Penacony and a construction site for the dream) and A Child's Dream (an area where the Dreamwalker ability is used to explore the largest wallwalking room on Penacony).

While exploring Dream's Edge, players will need to complete walkways using perspective puzzles in order to navigate and explore.

Dream jigsaw puzzles are spread all over Penacony, and hide walkways, treasure chests, NPCs, etc.

Characters

Black Swan (Wind/Nihility) is a diviner and Memokeeper for the Garden of Recollection (Fuli's faction) who can turn people's stories and memories into cards. She uses Tarot cards as her main source of attack, though the Tarot system has been simplified for the benefit of players. When she uses her Basic Attack or Skill it inflicts enemies with the "Arcana" card, which acts as a DoT that grows in strength as more stacks are added and the cards upgrade. She's described as working especially well with damage-over-time compositions but being versatile and able to work with other teams as long as you can keep stacking up Arcana.

Sparkle (Quantum/Harmony) is a member of the Masked Fools, and a classic Fool who is always in pursuit of "elation". She mechanics seek to break the rules of the game itself; while she's in the team the party's maximum Skill Points increase beyond 5 (even restoring SP via her Ultimate). She allows the team to deal more when using SP, and her Skill allows her teammates to break the restrictions of turn order by advancing their actions (to a certain degree).

Misha (Ice/Destruction) is a doorman for the Reverie, full of interest for the world outside Penacony but who has to settle for overhearing conversations from guests to satisfy that curiosity. Misha's main weapons are a mop and a luggage trolley, which can cause chaos and get water over enemies. His primary mechanic is that the more SP the team uses, the more motivated Misha gets, resulting in greater damage (including from his Ultimate). This Technique can create a time-stop area that fully pauses any enemies caught in it.

Warps

Black Swan is the main five-star of the first half of v2.0, along with her Light Cone Reforged Remembrance. Misha will be appearing as a four-star in this half of the update.

Dan Heng - Imbibitor Lunae and his Light Cone Brighter Than the Sun will be rerun during the first half of the update.

Sparkle is the main five-star of the second half of v2.0, along with her Light Cone Earthly Escapade.

Jing Yuan and his Light Cone Before Dawn will be rerun during the second half of the update.

Events

Sparkle and Black Swan have a shared Companion Mission, "Masquerade Duet", where players will get to learn more about their respective stories.

In "Hanu's Prison Break", the Trailblazers are brought into a dreamscape where SoulGlad has been outlawed and they must lead a rebellion and take over a prison. A lot of individual mechanics in this one, including a "human pinball" section, a mirror maze that Clockie has to be guided through, and a segment where you turn into Hanu to break through prison security.

After completing Prison Break, Trailblazer will get to choose one free four-star character (between Guinaifen, Sampo, Asta, and Yukong) as their reward.

The ability to alter people's emotions will be a mechanic that is introduced as a way to interact with NPCs.

The Dreamscape Pass is a feature that will allow players to track and remember their adventures in Penacony vis-a-vis collectible stickers you obtain through the story and missions.

The Dreamchaser Bulletin is a feature designed to quickly acclimate players to the new metropolis by giving them set challenges and battles to solve on a daily basis.

In Dreamjolt TV, a local television station has been hijacked and the Trailblazers have to fight special battles in order to restore the airwaves and regain lost viewers.

In the Penacony Food Fest, you bring raw materials to the Clock Diner so they can create delicious food (and get you rewards).

The Gift of Odyssey event is returning for another free ten pulls, but the Starchaser's Gift check-in event will give another free ten pulls.

Enemies/Bosses

"For certain reasons", Sam of the Stellaron Hunters will be fought during this update. Sam can consume his HP to greatly increase his combat abilities, while also igniting the battlefield in a scorching blaze.

A new enemy, the Lordly Trashcan, can be encountered in each area of Penacony. Their gimmick is that they begin battle with no Weaknesses and take little to no damage, but take on the Weaknesses of any attacks they've been hit by.

As a result of negative emotions surfacing in the dreamscapes of Penacony, enemies can appear on Penacony. These can be divided into distinct factions, namely the Dreamjolt Troupe and the Memory Zone Meme.

The Dreamjolt Troupe are based on the local delicacy of Penacony, SoulGlad, and are warped distributors and transporters of the beverage. The only specific member described was the Sweet Gorilla, which can spray soda over your party.

Mr. Domescreen was originally a television performer, and its primary mechanic is swapping between various faces (switching between supporting your party and attacking them based on which face is active).

The Memory Zone Meme have more abstract forms as they're based on deeper subconscious thought. Mentioned members are the Allseer (based on "vision"/"sight") and the Heartbreaker (indicative of the idea of fragile hearts underneath sturdy bodies).

A specific Memory Zone Meme discussed in detail is the "Something Unto Death", which has a potent ability to instantly kill party members and ensnare their souls within Sombrous Sepulchurs and will remain dead until they are broken. This ability triggers after receiving a number of attacks, indicated by eyes along its body lighting up red.

Relics & Materials

The Pioneer Diver of Dead Water set allows equipped characters to deal more damage to enemies afflicted with debuffs.

The Watchmaker, Master of Dream Machinations set increases Break Effect for the whole team. This and the Pioneer Diver set will be obtainable in a new Cavern of Corrosion on Penacony.

A new Quantum Ascension material, Dream Flamer. This is the material needed to ascend Sparkle.

A new Ice Ascension material, Dream Fridge. This is the material needed to ascend Misha.

New Trace materials for the Paths of Destruction, Nihility, and Harmony will be introduced. All of the characters introduced in v2.0 will use these materials.

New Light Cones will be added to the Light Cone Manifest Store (the one operated by the Memory of Chaos Memokeeper and Youci). These are in addition to the Light Cones already in the store, not replacing them.

System Improvements

The new Fate's Atlas system will gives players the ability to look at a strict timeline of events in the story and gain a proper understanding of when certain missions happened in relation to each other. This includes main story missions, compansion missions, and plot-critical side missions.

Players will be able to designate 3 support characters instead of just 1. The related Starfaring Companions section is also being bumped up from 3 to 5.

When levelling Relics, you can now allocate materials to reach specific level thresholds automatically.

The Relic Recommendations feature on characters has been improved to give greater understanding for users and make it easier to swap between sets. Relic filtering has also been improved.

Penacony and Version 2.0 release on February 6th.

#Honkai Star Rail #HSR #HSR Penacony #this took me an hour to get everything down JSYK

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essektheylyss · 8 months

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remembering today that I really like annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. like genuinely, they are so fun to write. the fanfiction of the research world. don't have to have my own wholly original ideas, just get to synthesize and build on other ideas for a while. like a little jigsaw puzzle for your brain.

#listen full respect to everyone who genuinely does not like writing papers but I love them.#yes I understand this is not a hinged thing to say but has anyone who followed me ever thought there was a hinge here.#if you did........ sorry ig?#megs vs mlis

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nodirectionhome-ao3 · 6 months

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3, 17, 24 for the asks please!

Thanks Kelsey!!!

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer I answered this here, but I also want to add that I've learned that I really enjoy the prep work that goes into writing. That might seem like a weird answer haha, but I guess before I started actually working on KSFM, I always expected that planning a multi-chapter fic would be kind of a chore, and that I would love the writing but be annoyed by the planning. So I was surprised by how much I enjoyed writing the outline for it!😅 I guess I've sort of come to see the process as something like doing a jigsaw puzzle – it can be a challenge to fit all the ideas together at first, but once I know what I'm doing it's so satisfying to be able to look at the full picture! I deal with writer's block from time to time, when trying to figure out exactly how to word everything, but every time I look at my outline I get excited about what's to come!!!

17. What were your go-to writing snacks? Haha, this is a fun one! I guess I eat a lot of cheese. Which is random, I know, but I'm a big fan of Gruyère cheese (it's magic in omelettes or scrambled eggs), so sometimes when I need a snack I'll venture to the kitchen and cut up some of that! I also have a bag of Dove dark chocolates in the kitchen cupboard that I'm constantly raiding.😅

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story? There have been a couple things that I've thought of while writing Kindly Stopped for Me that weren't initially in the plan. The one that comes to mind the most is Rose Zeller. She wasn't part of the outline at all at first, and the idea for her really only came about when I was writing the Lily-Umbridge confrontation in Chapter 26 and remembered that in canon, Harry wasn't the only victim of the blood quill (Umbridge also used it on Lee Jordan), and it would be entirely likely for other students to have been in her line of fire as well. The idea for Rose specifically came when I was writing Chapter 27 (she was a very last-minute addition) and as sad as her story is so far, I'm really glad I added her. For multiple reasons, but the main one is that Lily being muggle-born is very important to her character and KSFM more broadly is definitely going to explore the discrimination that Lily and others have faced and will continue to face. Also, separate from the muggle-born aspect of it, I like that the Rose storyline allows me to show that Lily's fierce protectiveness and loving nature don't just extend to Harry, Sirius, and Remus, but to others who need her as well....which is something that will be explored further as more characters are brought into the fold. So adding Rose doesn't really change the story in a big way, but it certainly adds to it!

Thanks again for the questions!💕

2023 in review questions

#2023 in review #asked

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fiftytwotwentyfour · 2 months

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Puzzle 16: Speed Puzzling:

1000 Piece

Beyond Amazing Spider-Man Puzzle

Created by Buffalo Games & Puzzles

Puzzle Classification: Jigsaw Puzzles

Price: ~ $12

Review:

So......

I definitely bit off more than I can chew and I really put myself at a disadvantage.

My table was/is too small (I was constantly drop pieces on the floor - and - wouldn't you know it - if the pieces landed upside down the practically blended into the floor) , I had/have no overhead lighting, and I started my puzzling too late in the week.

AND!

I opted out of having Tasty Tunes... I did this all in my head.

But in my defense a 1000 Piece puzzle is a big undertaking even in perfect conditions.

Reading articles here and there I have seen some stats stating a 1000 piece puzzle could possibly be completed in as low as 5 hours (last week it took me roughly 4 hours to complete a 500 piece puzzle) - and - another source said 1000 piece puzzles could take as long as 15 hours.

My personal challenge was to complete the entire Spider-Man puzzle in 10 hours.

Well... As time went on I just wanted beat 15 hours, so I set my cap at 14 hours.

14 Hours in I still had exactly 125 pieces to place.

I only managed to complete 87.5%

In short:

Did lose the challenge? Yes.

The last hour I was color checking pieces against the insert...it was getting down to the nitty-gritty:

Did I eat that entire Bag of Peanut M&M's?

Yes, gawd, yes...

Is it a complete loss?

No.

I got some moments of "zen" - and Hello - An Entire "SHARING SIZE" Bag of Peanut M&M's for my efforts - and in the grand scheme of it all I only 125 pieces left and I still won't mind wrapping it up - Who Knows?! Maybe I'll glue it when it is all said in done and hang it in my den?!

Heh?!

Give me a break I just "lost" 14(+) Hours of My Life - Don't I get to Mount My Kill Puzzle?!

Jk...jk...

End/Failure Time:

14hr00min24sec13ms

Items Not Included / Needed:

Large Clean Surface

Optional: Tasty Tunes

Personal Rating: 6/10

2024 Puzzle Record: 13/16

UPDATE:

I did finish (4/24/24) - And Guess What! - There was TWO pieces missing. Looked Everywhere - No Go!

Completion Time:

14hr53min05sec32ms

#52 in 24 #puzzle #jigsaw puzzle #buffalo puzzles #1000 pieces #1000 piece puzzle #Spider-Man Puzzle #Beyond Amazing

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finishinglinepress · 2 months

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FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Break Self: Feed by Gabrielle Myers

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/break-self-feed-by-gabrielle-myers/

Break Self: Feed meditates on eroticism and relationships with searing language play. The #poems sing of our #ecosystems, their human threats, and possible cures based on nourishment and barrier fracture. In #eco-poetic lyrics, borderlands and boundaries evolve in reference to a deep connection with the #natural #world that surrounds us with its seasonal shifts and the impacts of climate change. We never know when abundance and satiation will come. We spend so much time preparing for devastation and desiccation, so much energy we waste planning our ruin. Beak Self: Feed repurposes that drive, energy, and time towards preparing for our proliferation, our unfurling, our living into our potential. Dig into the soil, feel loam and fine-webbed roots working out their networks of nutrient pull and harvest. Let’s mimic the roots motion to gather, see what it can get out of the perfect soil, set ourselves on expansion, lengthening, growth.

Gabrielle is a writer, professor, and chef. Her memoir, Hive-Mind, published in 2015, details her time of love, awakening, and tragic loss on an organic farm. Her first poetry book, Too Many Seeds, was published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press. Her third poetry book, Points in the Network, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has been published in the Atlanta Review, The Evergreen Review, The Adirondack Review, San Francisco Public Press, Fourteen Hills, pacificREVIEW, Connecticut River Review, Catamaran, MacQueen’s, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and is forthcoming from The American Poetry Review. Gabrielle is the Farm-to-Fork columnist for Inside Sacramento magazine. Access links to her work through her website at www.gabriellemyers.com

PRAISE FOR Break Self: Feed by Gabrielle Myers

“With Break Self: Feed, Gabrielle Myers asks, ‘what will we make of us, here?’ The question lingers throughout the collection as the verses respond with the lessons of the earth, its cycles of growth and decay, ‘bound by light’s air, uncaged/ humming like wires set in motion.’ This is a collection of longing, becoming, the process of reformation and rebirth, and the search for wholeness as we sing ‘a tune to another narrative/ of us, me, you.’”

–Brian Turner, author of The Wild Delight of Wild Things

“Break Self: Feed is stunningly myriad in its complexities, even as it is searingly direct in its line-by-line depiction of our human struggle to know ourselves and others, and to create a life that will “feed” us. The subject-matters of this text are jigsaw-puzzle pieces that mirror a life broken and yet finding the means to cohere.

It is a book raging against the ways we are bent on destruction, of natural world and of each other. Yet it is a book that honors the preciousness of the least living thing and offers that awareness through exactingly expressed depictions one will not soon forget.

And it is a book that brilliantly uses form to speak its subject matter. Here you will find short poems and long, poems that are in couplets or in thick stanzas, and poems whose stanzas stretch across the page. In each, I sense that the forms reflect the emotional resonance of the work. Whether it is a poem of longing, of anger, of eros, of hope, the form speaks to this, through its shape on the page.

I have found in this work that if one has the courage to follow the imperative ‘Break Self,’ then one may find so much that is freed, and so much that will feed the psyche and soul.”

–Rusty Morrison, Co-Founder & Co-Publisher of Omnidawn, author of After Urgency, the true keeps calm biding its story, Beyond the Chainlink, and Risk, forthcoming in 2024

“The poems in Break Self: Feed make rhythmic leaps that mimic leaves, trees, and hummingbirds. These poems express the sense that, despite our destructive tendencies, we belong to all things. Primarily written in first person plural, this book is an exuberant expression of “we” and what that means in a landscape where we are continually cut off and isolated, but where failure can “make us gentle toward each other.” Myers pays close attention to roots, to smoke, to Sycamore and birch, to sunlight itself and urges us to reach out, not away.”

–Jessica Cuello, author of Pricking, By Fire, Hunt, Lair, and Yours, Creature

Break Self: Feed was selected Finalist for the Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets in 2020 by Zack Rogow: “These poems speak of the most inward thoughts about how people relate when extremely close. The book is a sort of phenomenology of intimacy. Often it feels as if this poet has created a new way to use language that doesn’t follow the rules of everyday speech. The words are almost abstract but highly precise in recounting states of mind, and states of the heart. The reader senses that true feelings are being excavated, and they are both unexpected and breathtakingly familiar. In an extraordinary tour de force, the poet maintains a first-person plural ‘we’ narrator through much of the collection, without losing emotional intensity.”

–Zack Rogow, author of Irreverent Litanies, My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers, The Number Before Infinity, and The Selfsame Planet

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetrybook #read #poems

#poetry #flp authors #preorder #flp #poets on tumblr #american poets #finishing line press #small press

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stunnedkae · 2 years

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i finished nona last night (and sobbed) so here is my spoiler free review!!!!!

ok so first of all. i am so incredibly grateful that i got the honor of reading this as an arc, and while its absolute AGONY to not be able to talk about its contents i wouldnt trade it for the world. thank you tor publishing ily🫶🫶🫶

now! the review. oh my god. this fucking book. tamsyn has absolutely done it again and she ripped my heart out in the process and then continued to kick my feet out from under me. going into nona i was worried that it wouldnt feel like its own book because of the fact that it stemmed from act 1 of alecto, but holy shit it is absolutely its own book. first of all, the worldbuilding?1!2?2! AMAZING. the way that tamsyn has used the level of worldbuilding in the past 3 novels as a way to characterize the narrator is incredibly unique. nona is so curious about the world around her, so naturally it comes through in her narration. and nonas voice and descriptions throughout the book were SO amazing and effortlessly endearing— she is so sweet. i love her.

the book was also SO funny. i dont think i caught the two (2) singular memes there apparently are but i am in fact just a little guy and probably didnt understand them. but the jokes were SO good. like amazing. like i was genuinely losing my shit. now on the flip side, i did in fact cry. i cried very hard. i know nobodies reading the locked tomb to be happy because these books will Ruin you. rest assured, nona does a great job at making you happy and giving you a false sense of security only to slap you in the face!!!

now let me tell you how beautifully confused i was throughout the book right up to the very last page. these books are definitely not for people who like to understand every plot point and every twist and turn— if gideon was a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle, and harrow was an 1000 piece, id place nona at somewhere around the 700 range. every single time i thought id had a solid theory, it was literally ripped out from underneath my feet and then when i fell backwards i fell into the deep end of a community pool. and let me tell you it was perfect every time. tamsyn knows her audience and knows we like to be confused and she did not dissapoint. i read these books to be able to reread and analyze them, and my god am i going to have fun doing that with nona. you guys will fucking love this just as much as nona loves you🫶🫶

no context spoiler phrases for you: cows watch sunsets, fairy lights but theyre little skulls, sexting, and a handkerchief

#nona the ninth #the locked tomb

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writingculturepoetry · 3 months

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Book Review: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

"We were wonderful travelling companions, but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal on their own separate orbits."

"Sputnik Sweetheart" begins with the unrequited love of Sumire for Miu that stays this way perhaps until the end. An interesting love triangle forms, when Sumire falls for Miu, where K has already been deeply in love with Sumire.

K and Sumire could connect themselves with each other maybe through an inevitable pain, or maybe they were the long lost other half of each other, or maybe they were just two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, or perhaps it was because they used to share the same stories or experiences or even mindset.

An interesting thing to notice is that when the characters in this novel fall for someone they shouldn't, they lose their real selves, their own soul. They become their own shadows, who seem to be the same as their real version, but not exactly the same. It happened with all three of them. First, Miu experienced it 14 years ago at 25 in a small Swiss town where one part of her happened to fall for the 50-year-old Spanish man, Ferdinando, when her other part couldn't particularly accept it. One night her shadow part saw her real version to have sex and enjoy it holding Ferdinando intimately. That night, she lost her real self and became a shadow of herself. Her other self left her with stealing her hair colour, period, ovulation and capability of playing wonderful piano. The second person in this book who experiences the same is Sumire. She fell for Miu who is 17 years older than her. Maybe a part of herself couldn't accept it and fell apart and she became her own shadow. From that day she could not think and write anymore the way she used to do. And the last person who went through the same experience was K himself. He lost himself in the Greek Island, where maybe deep inside he started liking Miu and somehow a weird unearthly music attracts him towards it and absorbs his real soul. The love triangle completes when Miu also feels something for K. But by that time, all these things came to an end and K had to leave the island for Japan with his shadow part.

But he knew that Sumire would come back cutting the dog's throat. Personally I reckon that "cutting the dog's throat" is a metaphor which actually means to make the dead's soul return to his body according to some ancient cultures. But here, it, as a metaphor, wants to say that leaving the wrong puzzle pieces of oneself is the way to return their shadows to their real selves. As Sumire wrote that if the shadow part of Miu rejected her, she would cross the bridge and cut the dog's throat with a sharp knife. She probably indicated to go to the other universe and make the real Miu come back and love her. But here once again I have to assume what happened in the other world. Perhaps Sumire happened to cross the bridge and go to the other world and there she proposed the real Miu. And that real Miu also rejected her. And then Sumire had to leave Miu and her dream of getting along with Miu. But maybe, just maybe somehow Sumire managed to "cut the metaphorical dog's throat" and returned Miu's shadow self to the real self. Because when we see Miu running her Jaguar in Tokyo 6 months after this incident, she seemed very clear, bold, real and much different from her past self in Greek Island.

Finally, the moment K becomes his real self again was when he left the "kind of" illegal affair with a married woman who is the mother of his pupil.

At the end of the story, Sumire calls K at one midnight from the telephone booth she used to call from before. She could not be able to explain everything to K. But it seemed that she forgot most of the incidents in the other universe. Even she didn't know where she was at that moment. But at least she remembered that she had cut the dog's throat and managed to come back to the real world where both she and K were looking at the same mouldy-coloured half moon. Sumire's real self realizes how much she likes K while she was far away from K and missed him so much. Perhaps Sumire realizes that K is her long lost other half.

#sputnik #sweetheart #sputnik sweetheart #haruki murakami #japanese #japan #novel #magic #magic realism #book review #writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity

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pandalandalopalis · 1 year

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my Kaleidoscope review

non-spoiler review: great concept, bad execution.

spoiler review under the cut:

first things first, my viewing order was the Rainbow Order: Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, White

watching the last two episodes first (Pink, Red) and starting at the end was a fantastic choice for me. it was very Memento in that i had no context for what was going on but the mystery made it exciting. i didn’t know what was going on but it made me curious about the characters and what had happened. what happened to RJ? how/why did the heist go wrong? what happened to Leo to injure him like that? what went down with Bob? why did Judy decide to leave Stan behind and take the money herself? who went after Leo in the tunnel to shoot him? oh, the FBI have informants in the crew, as in plural? i was excited! i was immersed!

little did i know, it was all downhill from there.

the more episodes i watched, the more it became apparent that there wasn’t all that much to it. so many of the episodes are filled with padding, like the writers were trying to increase the length of the episodes without giving it a lot of substance. there were some secrets that were revealed here and there (Ava being the FBI informant; Hannah being a part of the plan) but a lot of what went wrong in the heist was revealed in the heist episode (White). which, based on this concept, is not how it should have gone.

and i found myself more and more disappointed, especially realizing that White was only the heist episode and did not reveal any more of what happens six months after the heist. so Judy just decides to leave Stan and take the money herself? so someone kills Leo/Ray but we don’t know who it is and we don’t know if he’s actually dead? you mean, even though Nazan specifically used the word informants meaning MORE THAN ONE, there was actually only one mole in the crew?

it’s disappointed because it IS such a neat concept. and yeah, the show wasn’t awful, and there were parts i enjoyed, and i think the actors did a hell of a good job and they were fantastic. but originally this show was titled Jigsaw, like it’s meant to be that every episode gives you a piece of the puzzle and it isn’t until you watch every one that you finally understand the full picture.

is that difficult to do? maybe. except that it HAS been done before.

not in the same way, not with episodes that you can watch in any order. but there was a blueprint they could have used to help direct them on how to do something like this.

in How I Met Your Mother, season 7 episode 15, “The Burning Beekeeper”, the episode is structured where it shows you five minutes, the same five minutes, in three different rooms. five minutes in the living room, five minutes in the dining room, and five minutes in the kitchen. and in each room, there are things happening that you have no context for, because you have to understand what is going on in the other rooms. it’s not until you’ve watched each of the three rooms that you get the complete picture and you have all the pieces to understand what’s going on.

this is what they could have done. have episodes that are all the same amount of time (1 hour, 2 hours, or the whole night perhaps), during the heist, all in different rooms. and characters move in and out of the rooms but you only have context for the room in the episode that you are watching. things happen, stuff goes off the rails, but you don’t know why until you’ve seen everything else. (this could work with shorter episodes too, maybe more like half an hour.)

obviously, this requires a much different story, because you don’t get the same kind of backstory. but the heist plot could still work with this concept.

to use the show as an example, there are a few moments where things happen elsewhere that characters are not privy to. the crew in the vault doesn’t know what is taking judy so long or why she’s not answering on her comms. they see that the FBI suddenly shows up but they don’t know why. it’s a concept like this, stretched out more, that they could use. you don’t know what happened to judy until you watch the episode that shows you. you don’t know why the FBI showed up until you watch the episode that shows you. and so on and so forth.

it could have been so much more.

#kaleidoscope #kaleidoscope netflix #netflix kaleidoscope #panda posts

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