#like i can’t differentiate things or identify different tastes very well

[bookwyrminspiration]

MAN I wish I could be studied in a lab. just like to empirically analyze all my quirks and see what’s up. I think it’d be great

[theriu]

I like to think about what differences other races (aliens, fantasy) might have that humans are better at. Because we always seem to make ourselves the baseline and then everyone else is humans+extra attributes. Here’s a few I’ve come up with:

- Lower level of vision. They don’t consider this a handicap because that’s how ALL of them see, and the idea that we can see super sharp details is kind of perplexing. All of their technology and writing is a bit bigger than ours. They have a very hard time reading our writing because it looks like a bunch if slightly blurry patches (they like our giant lit restaurant signs). They use colors to differentiate things and are actually more attuned to color than us, with some of their letters being specific colors as well as shapes. Humans find this challenging, too, because they have to kind of lean/stand farther back to get the full scope of a word, and they can’t see all of the colors (some letters are indistinguishable from each other in shape but they are different colors).

- Slightly shorter lifespan. Not extreme or anything but maybe they only live a max 50-70 years. Some are slightly in awe of the longer-lived humans who actually have a chance of seeing 100 years; many revere such ancient humans and may even visit nursing homes to glean wisdom from the oldest living beings.

- Just big ol’ aliens who can’t fit into tiny spaces. Maybe they have hard carapaces or similar that make them less flexible. They are fascinated by how even overweight humans can often wiggle into spaces they couldn’t imagine anyone fitting into. Possibly they hire very short/thin humans for maintenance on ships as they can reach repairs that the alien would have to dismantle the whole section to fix.

- Now hear me out but I think telekinesis could have drawbacks that humans can overcome. Maybe this armless race can manipulate things with their minds, but it does take concentration. They are amazed by humans who can do some rote tasks completely on autopilot, to the point of even forgetting what they were doing. Among their race, whoever has the strongest concentration wins a tug-o-war with an object, but a human can simply pluck the object out of the air and the telekinetic can’t wrest it from their grasp. They are also fascinated by the human ability to identify texture by mere touch.

- Lower sense of smell. This race operates almost solely by sight, hearing, taste, and touch, but they barely or don’t have smell. It completely mystifies them when a human sticks its nose in the air, breathes in, and then is like, “Mmm, someone’s making pizza.” They tend to feel more at home with humans who have severe allergies and thus rarely comment about smells.

There’s a few to start! Anyone else have ideas they want to share? =D

[josiebelladonna]

i need to roast something to make myself laugh. and when i say “roast”-

yeah.

i found this list. “50 signs you’re a good cook” because i like to torment myself and twist the knife into my own pain.

parentheses are my responses.

1. Can rustle up anything from scratch (yeah, i mean, growing up poor, i don’t think “save our souls” when i see “s.o.s.”)

2. Loving to eat as well as cook (so much for the 100 pound weight loss, i can’t be trusted, i guess…. … don’t get it? look up the phrase “never trust a skinny chef”)

3. Willing to experiment and try all foods and ingredients when cooking at home (heaven help the poor bastard who tried mastic powder the first time thinking it was going to smell like basil—)

4. Being happy to prepare food in front of guests (bro, just thinking about it makes me have a stroke)

5. Always being able to whip something up when there's virtually nothing in the cupboard (fried bread, bitches!)

6. When making a roast dinner everything finishes cooking at the same time (yeah, probably because i roasted the carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms with it, how else would it finish simultaneously?)

7. Can identify certain herbs from appearance (heaven help the poor bastard who can’t tell ground oregano from ground basil or tarragon at first glimpse—that poor bastard is me)

8. Can throw things together knowing that the different combinations (of various foods, herbs, spices) will go together and taste fab (as you read this, someone somewhere is making a screwdriver thinking they just invented a new drink)

9. Experiments with dishes by adding a twist on classics (and as you read this, you know someone somewhere is putting bay leaves and thyme in a chocolate tart)

10. Experimenting with recipes more than once a week (cooking i get, but who tf is baking more than once a week?? barring they aren’t professional bakers or have a huge family?)

11. Being able to laugh if things go wrong in the kitchen (i literally can’t do this. i. can’t. do. this. EVER. i may as well be dead)

12. Can identify herbs and spices by the taste (honestly, if you can do this, congratulate yourself for not being the chainsmoking assholes on hell’s kitchen who probably couldn’t differentiate an apple from a potato)

13. Knowing what herbs go in each dishes (however, if you can do this, fuck you)

14. Can chop things really finely, safely (and you can go to hell if you can do this. like, excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse ME, masaharu morimoto)

15. Always have eggs and milk in the fridge (if you don’t, something is wrong)

16. Home-makes all condiments and sauces (all condiments, including ketchup and the one yo mama used?)

17. Owning a spice rack (bitch, i got you beat with my spice CABINET)

18. Always the one people go to for cooking tips (ehhh, dream on)

19. Knows what every utensil in the kitchen does (bonus if you know every secondary use for the utensil, too, oooooOOOOoooOOooOOOO)

20. Have a very well stocked pantry with all kinds of ingredients, i.e.: masala leaves, curry powder, mustard seeds, different types of oils: olive, avocado, roasted sesame seed, peanut, truffle, canola (the way truffle and sesame oils cost these days? get outta here…)

21. Doesn't need Oxo to make gravy (who’s out here using oxo for gravy? it’s butter, flour, stock, water, and maybe some green onions. full disclosure: i actually didn’t know what oxo was so i saw this and went “oh okay”)

22. Will offer for extra people to stay to dinner at a moment's notice (never happened to me before, and frankly, the way i get comments in the hellofresh group and the bread making group on facebook, i don’t think this’ll happen, either)

23. Rarely eat takeaways (or “fast food” as we call it here in ‘MURICA)

24. Knows exactly how long to cook a perfectly poached egg (without looking it up… 5 minutes?)

25. Knows how to peel fruit and veggies most efficiently (i’ve been peeling potatoes and carrots since i was 6, it’s more second nature to me than geography)

26. Knowing and practicing cooking terms like: 'Al dente', broil, blanch, clarify, deglaze, flambé, gratin, etc. (Immagino di essere un perdente dato che non so tutto 🤷🏻‍♀️)

27. Always wanting to try a new dish when eating out (*insert joke about oral here*)

28. Being able to guess what is in a dish just from the taste (all the times i heard “it tastes like ass” coming back to haunt me)

29. Never needing to use a cookbook (again, dream on)

30. Always the designated cook for large family gatherings (*shrek and donkey laughing.gif*)

31. Know when a cake is done without having to stick a cocktail stick in it a hundred times (once is enough, dumbass)

32. Knowing measurements without having to actually measure (bro, it took paul hollywood 25 years to do this, sit down)

33. Owns good quality cook-ware (our poor pots and pans… my stepbrother’s girlfriend abused the fuck out of our utensils when they were living here. i’d love to have some new shit as i’m sure anyone with half a brain would).

34. Writes a detailed list for the food shop (YES I’D LIKE APPROXIMATELY FIVE GRAMS OF EXTRA FINE SALT FROM THE BELLEND OF A MONGOLIAN WILDEBEEST)

35. Knowing which wine to pair with certain meat or fish (buckle up, earthlings, we’s cooking with grape squeezins!!)

36. Owning a full set of herbs/spices (you know someone somewhere has a quarter set of herbs and spices, and they aren’t k.f.c.)

37. Enjoying a messy kitchen (fewer things in life are more depressing and hard to look at than a messy kitchen, i guess i suck 🤷🏻‍♀️)

38. Don't need a timer (literally the best, most offhand example of simple math coming in handy)

39. Understanding what all the symbols on the oven mean (duhhhhhh, this means ON and this iz thuh TIMER)

40. Can chop an onion in seconds (pffff… it’s chopping BEETS in seconds that takes mad skills)

41. Being able to cook steaks perfectly using the thumb technique (for those who don’t know: press your thumb to the fleshy part of your palm under your thumb or your cheekbone—that’s rare. the tip of your nose: medium rare. your chin: medium. i think.)

42. Can always add in just the right (…what? it just said “the right”, it didn’t say anything else after that 😂)

43. Knowing what 'Bain Marie' is and having the perfect pans for it (*sigh* just use a big bowl over a saucepan with about an inch of water over high heat, you’ll be fine)

44. Knowing the correct pronunciation of unusual or exotic foods (i don’t know… i don’t know if i can pronounce “horse rib and rectum sausage” very well—yes, that is a thing, i shit you the fuck not)

45. Knowing which wine to drink with meat (hey, don’t assume that because i live a couple hours away from paso robles that a sober country bumpkin like me knows absolutely bubkes about wine)

46. Can flip a pancake perfectly (what, tossing a pancake in the air with the skillet instead of a spatula like a peasant?)

47. Knows how to prepare celeriac (you mean celery root? what’s with everyone and celery root lately? i mean, it’s okay, it’s pretty good, but y’all need to stop with making certain foods fads and then doing them to death à la pistachio or almond)

48. Mum goes round for Sunday dinner rather than the other way round (she doesn’t really have a choice, so-)

49. Always read food magazines (because racing magazines are full of drama, music magazines can’t all have alex skolnick or joey belladonna, and science magazines are full of ads)

50. Owns set of fancy knives (they’re colorful, and my favorite is the blue one, does that count?)

[worstloki]

Please don't feel the need to reply to this if you don't want to, I honestly don't know why I'm asking because ah, this is a very personal topic, but... I think I'm genderfluid but at the same time I hate myself for it (slightly) because what if I'm not. How do I figure out if I am or if I'm not genderfluid? Thank you for even taking the time to read this. <333

Always remember that being unsure and trying out a label you think could apply doesn’t invalidate anything. If you think you fall under genderfluid for the time being then identifying yourself such is fine, and if you decide you’re not genderfluid later on you’re allowed to change it!! Also, it’s possible for multiple terms to fit you, so don’t be afraid to keep that in mind!!

Ways you can check if you’re not sure if The Gender is changing around:

- pronouns!! check in with yourself every now and then to see if what you like more changes. having someone to refer to you with different pronouns can help with this!! referring to yourself and seeing if the same ones always make you happy can also work if you don’t have anyone to test it with you!! (alternatively, people may refer to you by default with gendered terms on a regular basis anyway, and any uncomfy there but not necessarily always also works!!) 

- clothing!! fashion taste doesn’t have to vary but in many cases wanting to dress more feminine/masculine/neutral can allow you to present differently in as subtle/obvious a way you’d like!! figuring if changing things up with the intention of doing so makes sense can also be an indicator!! (alternatively, not being able to present a way/experiencing dysphoria over this also works as an indicator in the opposite direction though!!)

- no clue!! sometimes!! you can’t tell what The Gender is doing!! sometimes!! you can’t be sure where it is on the girl-boy scale!! is it in the middle? hiding behind a rock? who knows!! sometimes!! you might be fine with all pronouns!! sometimes only some!! all of this comes under genderfluid!! because as long as you don’t always feel one gender The Gender is acting as a fluid and splashing about!! no, not my carpet!! (alternatively you may know exactly where or have an idea of where you’re feeling, which, if it changes, great!!)

If you do feel as if The Gender changes and wish to identify further I recommend looking at variations such as demigender (gender leans towards guy/gal but doesn’t stay right at it) bigender/trigender (can change between a few genders, for example female/male, male/non-binary) genderflux (how strongly you feel gender at all changes)

If you’re finding differentiating between gender difficult or don’t think there is a change and you’re just not at the assigned at birth gender necessarily I suggest looking into agender (gender? no not really.) and pangender (gender? well yes and i’m going to hoard them all actually.)

If you’re unsure for the time being then just going with Non-Binary or Trans or Genderqueer or another umbrella term also works as long as you’re comfortable with it!!! Those also function as their own labels which do not need to be further expanded on if you do not want to or aren’t sure yet!! 

That being said: You do not have to feel guilty for testing out a term. You do not have to feel bad about not knowing where you’re at. You are not a traitor if you find a different orientation that suits you better and change it. Genderfluid is actually often itself used as an inclusive umbrella/transition term for many people still figuring things out, in case you weren’t aware of that! Hope this helps somewhat!!! <3

[americangodstalk]

American Gods: My opinion and review of season three’s finale

SPOILERS AHEAD SPOILERS AHEAD!

I took notes while watching the episode so I can give you my exact thoughts here.

This episode has two good things. Only two. 

The first was that they started to drop off some Shining vibes at the Center of America. Honestly, I was all for it. The Shining is the embodiment of the creepy hotel, and one of my favorite works, The definition of the anomalous, haunted, evil hotel. And the Center of America is supposed to be the Overlook hotel but for the gods. A creepy, dangerous place where they can break down into pure madness or oblivion if they are not careful. Too bad they did not continue and explore this more. You can see the difference between the old seasons and this one because in this one, they mix up together two different moments of the book in one episode: the Center and the vigil. In the old seasons, it would have been two different episodes to give enough screen time for each of these moments/chapters to be adapted faithfully and entirely. 

Two, the Technical Boy’s storyline. It was still too short for my taste, but I admit, they handled the revelation pretty well. Not establishing him as an Old God, but as a bridge between the Old and the New, that’s pretty clever, and making him the first and most powerful of the New, I roll with it. It also makes sense given World’s identity that he would usurp and overthrow who would have been the true leader of the New Gods. My main concern with this that they would have presented Technical Boy as dating back to the prehistoric times, which would have been very problematic for the lore (especially since the New Gods are described as an American phenomenon. And among the “things” we saw in artefact 1, was the first printing, most precisely the European first printing. Anyway)

Now for the rest and the bad parts...

I was ultimately pissed off at how they treated the passing of the body of Mr. Wednesday. It is not a “Norse tradition”, or not one I know of. The vigil thing, now that is done in accordance to the laws of the divine Old Gods, true. But in the novel it was clearly established that what happened at the Center of America was something that was bound by divine rules. RULES not traditions. That was the only thing the technical boy and Mr. Nancy agreed on. It wasn’t a matter of cultural tradition. 

As I mentionned before, the Center of America scene lacked tension. It wasn’t just a place where the god were “powerless” in the novel: it was a place where they could not attack each other because they were too careful surviving on their own. It was a place of danger, of tension, where the technical boy was starting to become mad. And here? Czernobog has sex with the receptionist. Which is another thing that disturbs me: not only is it unfitting with the setting (again, the gods are on such an hedge that they normally couldn’t be that relaxed or casually have sex like that), but it is also unfitting with the character - it is Mr. Wednesday that is a seducer who enjoys charming (literaly) young girls to get a bit of worship now and then. He is the lecherous guy, not Czernobog. 

There are VERY UNFORTUNATE implications with Shadow’s choice between divinehood and humanity. Because here, humanity is represented as black slaves, while divinehood is represented by a white man - even more a white European entity. Very, VERY unfortunate implications here. 

And what the hell is going on with Shadow’s character here? This is not the Shadow I know of, this is not the Shadow of the novel or even of the previous seasons, this is not even the Shadow of post-AG material! Since when does Shadow desires godhood? Since when does Shadow crave power and wants to become a leader? Who the hell is this? 

I still don’t get the fucking point of SHARD. What the hell is that? Especially since Mr. World is clearly Loki. In the novel, the natural tensions between Old and New were enough to draw on the war. The New Gods weren’t some kind of brainwashers invaders trying to puppet humans. I don’t even understand what Shard even is. Hell, in the novel the New Gods even carefully avoided to call themselves outright gods despite being ones, to differentiate themselves from the Old ones.

On a similar note, I realized something else with Lakeside (since it reappears). Many watchers were annoyed at Lakeside, feeling it fake, not understanding why such a town would be considered peaceful or idyllic. And it makes sense, because for most of the screen time, Lakeside showed us to turn on Shadow, accuse each other and hide secrets. In the novel, Shadow spent time with more of the people in town. He bonded with more people than Chad, Hinzelmann and Marguerite. There was much more a sense of welcoming and hospitality there. So again, they rushed it. If they wanted to make a season about Lakeside, develop the town fully. 

And poor Bilquis. She just doesn’t know what to do anymore. Oh, let me correct that: the writers don’t know what to do with her anymore. Ever since the ending of season 1 (which is technically the beginning of season 2, since they clearly reused the scripts left by Fuller and Green), she has been just wandering around, and even now... her character just leads nowhere. That’s what happen when you have a tertiary character of two scenes become a central one. Why not introduce some of the dozens of other divine characters, huh? 

And if there is a season 4, they better up their stakes, because so far the number of gods, both Old and New, on screen, has been dwindling massively. You wouldn’t believe America is filled with deities, huh? At least for the Old Gods they’re more numerous, but the New? Media/New Media is gone without a trace, these new things of Shard we can’t even identify are also out of the picture, the Caretaker disappeared, most of the Agency are just children, Technical Boy took on the role of many of the other New Gods (like gods of radio and the telephone), Money (whoever he is since his character is still confusing) isn’t even on board... Is it just Mr. World, Tech Boy and a bunch of children now? 

And I am not convinced about the Norns speaking and acting here. In the novel they were much creepier. Here, for fuck’s sake, one of the Norns looked at the ground before stepping down the frontdoor. That ruins the entire mystic mood! 

Let’s talk a bit about the vigil stuff, shall we? Outside of the fact they removed a lot of what made this beautiful (Ganesh isn’t here, Ratatosk isn’t here, Jesus isn’t here either, nobody’s fucking here), they also did something I believe to have again ruined the ritual. Here, Shadow is tied to the tree by branches - not by ropes. The tree animates itself and ties Shadow.  This is bad. Why? Because in the novel there was an ambiguity, and that’s what made the power of that scene. You didn’t know if what Shadow saw was supernatural events, real gods, or if it was a sun/thirst/hunger-induced hallucination. That’s what made it even holier, since it was precisely this same ambiguity that ruled the old religions (was it a drug hallucination, or truly a god speaking through the priest’s voice?), 

Finally I do not know what to think of the reveal of Mr. Wednesday’s death being a con, to revive himself... The sacrifice of a son wouldn’t restore Odin to his former glory, at least no by the book’s lore, it would certainly merely bring him back to life maybe, but that’s it. We all know what he truly needs to return to his all-powerful glory. I think the reveal of Wednesday as a cruel con men is also too early. This season built up Wednesday as a figure to root for, with a good and compassionate side. You can’t just ruin it all by the end of the season. It has already been ruined by season 2 and the end of season 1. Wait until season 4 for it... if there is one. 

So yeah... all in all what I have to say is. Missed opportunity. Stick to the book. 

[bennydwight]

Bondmates- A FordxOC Oneshot

I’ve never put a story directly onto tumblr before, but I don’t feel right putting this on my fanfiction page until Dakota’s story is fully published, so I suppose I’ll just throw it into the ether here.

Bondmark: A distinguishing mark, feature, or otherwise occurrence for an individual hinting to the identity of their perfect match

~~~

Dakota is nearly twelve when her bondmark manifests; earlier than most, but not unheard of.

She wakes up one morning to see a stripe of swirling colour on the inside of her left wrist, a vortex of tangerine and bright purple, shifting in and out of intensity as the day progresses. She's so excited, and jitteringly nervous too, for some reason, running down to show her parents right away. They say after school they can celebrate!

She's just gotten home from school when the galaxy on her wrist washes deep, deep crimson, and she's hit by a wave of rage so thick and relentless that she's broken three plates before it ebbs. Her parents send her to bed, the celebration cut short.

In the days that follow, her wrist fades to a numb grey, and Dakota sinks into a bone-deep depression.

Her parents take her to see a therapist.

~

Twenty-five year old Stanford has accepted by now that his bondmark won't manifest.

Logic and studies show that ninety-nine percent of people receive their bondmark before their twentieth birthday, and less than 0.01 of the remaining one percent go through life without their bondmark ever making an appearance. Ford makes peace with that, just another way he's a freak. An outsider.

During a class on calculus, a song gets stuck in Ford's head. It sticks around for hours and all attempts to drown it out are futile.

It takes a week for Ford to realize that the voice in his head isn't one he's ever heard before.

~

Dakota knows two things about her bondmate:

One - They're emotionally connected somehow.

The colours on her wrist are quickly identified to reflect the feelings of her bondmate, different colours representing different emotions. If he (she assumes it's a he) feels something strongly enough, Dakota will feel it too. She starts to differentiate which are her emotions are which are his by the taste: hers are tasteless, but his leave a sour taste in the back of her throat, like she'd just drank milk.

Her therapist offers a coping solution during her first sessions. Art or music, something to make her happy when his negativity threatens to overwhelm her. She chooses singing.

She's twenty when he starts to respond.

Two - He's slightly stunted, in her opinion.

His deep emotion affects her in a way, but he ever since those first few weeks, he hasn't felt anything deeply at all. But she develops a habit of keeping an eye on the colours shifting on her wrist and singing to match them. In his sadness, she sings brightly, and the cloudy blue on her skin lightens to a more cheery eggshell. When he's anxious, she learns slow, ancient songs in odd languages. In his anger, she sings soothing melodies from her childhood.

She hopes it's because they're a bondmatch, and her mood influences him as well.

~

Ford knows two things about his bondmate:

One - They're emotionally connected somehow.

He realizes within a week that she knows what he's thinking to some degree. Her songs change to equal or balance what thoughts weigh in his head. During his exams, she sings almost exclusively in Latin, which spurns a desire to learn the language so he knows what she's saying.

He sings back once, his name and age in a simple melody, to see if they are a bondmatch, but she doesn't respond. That's alright, he tells himself, bondmatches happen once in every five hundred thousand. He's just happy to have a bond at all.

Two - She's an alto.

If her screechy attempts at a high C are any indicator. Fiddleford gets very concerned one day after he right near jumps out of his skin at the murderous scream resounding through his skull.

His initial annoyance vanishes under the next line, as she sings about how awful that note was to the original tune of the song.

He smiles for real for the first time in what seems like forever.

Fiddleford gives him an odd look, but doesn't press further, and Ford is grateful for it.

~

Dakota's bondmate is more frustrated than normal today.

The mark on her wrist has been a steady, dulled burgundy all morning, and the back of her mouth stings under the sour taste of his emotion.

She tries singing something to cheer herself up, a German celebratory song with a catchy chorus.

The taste in her mouth intensifies, and her mark is shot through with an angrier, burnt rust as his frustration turns to outright irritation.

She stops singing. It's not making her feel better anyway.

~

Ford can't concentrate.

This quantum mechanics test has been the hardest he's ever encountered thus far, and he pulled an all-nighter to study. Sleepless, running on coffee, and nerves about the test are bad enough.

Halfway through question three, his bondmate starts singing something raucous.

On any other day, Ford might meet the cheerful tune with a smile, but he's trying to focus. The moment he's sure he'll have an outburst if she continues any longer, she stops.

The test is over in an hour, but she doesn't sing again for the rest of the day.

~

Dakota is finding more and more recently that her bondmate is keeping odd hours.

She wakes up at three AM to find her wrist vibrating in swirls of thrilled lemon and inspired peach. His anticipation is tangible. What's got him so excited so late?

She sings softly, trying to lift her own spirits, but she can't stop the unwelcome thought. What if someone else is making him so excited so late?

The notes are cheerful, but the words are melancholy.

~

Ford glances up from the chess board as lilting notes drift across his mindscape in an odd, echoing quality. His partner notices his grin, gaze shifting upwards to follow Ford's, though the song seems to emanate from the very essence of the vast expanse of Ford's mind. "What's that?"

"My bondmate." Ford is pleased she's up so late, his friend has never yet gotten the pleasure of hearing one of her songs. She's picked a good one, and it serves to lift Ford's already bright mood.

"Oh yeah, that old ritual." Bill moves his pawn. "Seems a little distracting, don't you think?"

Ford looks to the 'sky', his smile fading. Maybe it is...

~

Dakota hasn't slept well in months.

What started as a few odd days, wrist fading to colours she's never seen him experience, turns into weeks of deepening anxiety, marked by tangerine spots so intense they're almost white, and an ugly charcoal gray. She gets twitchy and restless, like there's something she should be doing. The taste of his emotion starts small, but eventually she can't stand most food for the sour taste in her mouth.

She knows these feelings aren't hers, but it doesn't make falling asleep any easier.

She sings herself French lullabies, but they don't help her much.

~

Ford has to find a way to stop him.

Ford doesn't have a way to stop him.

Ford can't fall asleep until he finds a way to stop him!

His bondmate has other ideas. Her soft voice cuts through the mess of paranoia and fear in his brain, stilling his thoughts. No! He can't stop! No matter how tired his eyes are, or how comforting her voice is...

Ford falls asleep to foreign lullabies -

"Well, what do you know! Your better half is good for something after all!"

- And wakes up to three fractured ribs and forearms scored with hundreds of leaking cuts.

~

Dakota is at a conference when she first feels it.

The first surge of terror is brushed off, she's used to it by now, though she does still worry about her bondmate. But the anger that follows, so blood red it practically glows, prompts her to leave the conference hall and seek a secluded corner where the chances of her breaking something reduced drastically. He hasn't been healthy for a long time, but this time it's different.

Something is wrong.

She stares at her wrist, in its pulsing reds, and downs the rest of her champagne to try to rid herself of his sour taste. It's all she can do to stand there and feel.

Something sparks on the stripe of colour, a tiny burst of the darkest gray she'd ever seen. Rapidly, the gray overcomes the blood, and Dakota is struck by a panic that reverberates to the very core of her being.

Something is wrong!

It's brief, but the sheer scope makes it seem like the shock is drawn out forever.

Then, nothing.

It's as if the air conditioner has been shut off, and you find yourself in a house that's deafeningly silent. A constant, gentle stream of emotion Dakota has felt since she was eleven ebbed in an instant. She feels some horrific being has reached down her throat and yanked out her very core, leaving her nothing but a hollow shell.

Her boss finds her some time later, in the fetal position against the wall.

Somewhere, somehow, she registers the stripe on her wrist has gone completely black.

~

Ford doesn't have much time to think the moment he enters the nightmare realm. Survival takes precedence.

He's occupied for the next standard week trying to devise a way to defeat Bill.

It takes him a month before he has enough downtime to realize he hasn't heard singing once since he became trapped.

It takes him another three years to come to terms with the fact that he'll never hear her again.

He wants so badly to quietly break down somewhere. If Bill finds him, so be it. But he quashes the impulse. He has work to do.

~

Dakota doesn't sing for years after her bond dies.

She started singing to cope with his feelings, and now there's no reason to.

~

Ford turns and leaves without a word.

The hospitable Urarians are confused. Why would the best choir on the planet cause their guest to react this way?

~

Thirty years pass.

Dakota is humming tunelessly as she cooks bacon, but her breath stops as her chest explodes in anger.

The force causes her to stumble, grasping the counter for balance. Saliva gathers in her mouth to combat the sudden sour sensation. She can barely breathe for the rage, eyesight going blurry.

And then she can't breathe for the tears.

Because the stripe on her wrist is glaring blessed crimson.

~

Thirty years and a day pass.

Ford lays down on the couch, arm covering his eyes. He's back. He's back.

Somewhere, a song comes on, and Ford is just about to shout at Stanley to turn the radio down when his chest constricts.

The voice is in his head.

After thirty years of silence, he can no longer contain his sobs, but his grief pales in comparison to his pure relief.

She's back. She's back.

~

Dakota lowers her hand. "My wrist changes colours with what he's feeling."

They peer closely at the gentle pink etched onto her skin, just a shade grayer than her usual complexion. She smiles at their interest. Neither of the twins have their bondmark yet, and Mabel was practically bursting with excitement at meeting someone whose mark was physical. She'd asked to see it nearly as soon as Dakota sat down. Bondmarks are precious to some people, but Dakota has never been shy about sharing hers.

"How do you know what he's feeling?" Dipper asked, one hand on his chin. So much like his great uncle.

"Lots of practice," she answers. "This pink colour shows up when he's generally content. And see this?" She points to an olive streak slowly circling the perimeter of the mark. "He's a little under the weather right now, but it's small enough that it's only at the back of his mind and doesn't bother him much."

"And you can feel him, too?" Mabel asks, her grin like the sun.

Dakota laughs at her enthusiasm. "Only sometimes."

Dipper and Mabel perk up for a second, eyes darting deeper into the Mystery Shack, but Dakota is distracted. "Ah! See that?" The twins turn back just in time to see the blood orange starburst fade back into dusty pink. "He just got annoyed at something. But now he's okay again."

The twins make joined impressed sounds. Dipper looks at her with those huge doe-eyes of his. "It must have taken a long time to learn everything he's feeling."

"It did. But he's worth it."

~

Ford catches the sneeze in one fist, but it jerks the rest of his body enough to startle Mable. She turns from where she sits on the floor, knitting in her lap and back pressed against Ford's shins, and gives him a look. "Are you getting sick, Grunkle Ford?"

He sniffles. As much as he hates to admit it, but he can't lie to that face. "Maybe a little. But it's not too bad. I hardly notice it."

The frantic pen scratching on Ford's right stills. "Would you say you're a little under the weather, but it's small enough that it's only at the back of your mind?"

Dipper's words elicit a little gasp from Mabel, and he looks back and forth between the twins, blinking in confusion. Dipper stares back with a raised eyebrow, and if Mabel smiles any wider her head will split in half.

"Er, yes, that's a concise way of putting it. Why?"

Dipper goes back to scribbling in his journal, but a ghost of a smile haunts his face now. "No reason."

Ford looks to Mabel. She's turned back to the tv, but there's an excited pull to her shoulders. In a brief moment between commercials, when the screen goes dark, Ford catches her reflection and her grin has not faltered one bit.

~

Dakota can hardly breathe for the claws wrapped around her waist, trapping her arms against her chest. She tries to stay calm. Wild animals could sense panic, and she's no troll expert, but she didn't doubt the hulking beast could sense something from her. The stripe on her wrist swirls charcoal, a colour she's barely seen since the incident thirty years prior, and she wonders if her own fear is feeding back to her bondmate.

She whispers a silent apology to him, wherever he may be.

The troll opens its mouth to drop her inside, but Ford bursts from behind a stalagmite, blaster raised. "Let her go, you hairy heathen!"

She can feel the resonating determination pulse through her chest, and by chance she glances at her wrist again. The charcoal ripples outwards, arcing through with rings of rich wine. Ford fires once, twice, at the beast, and Dakota is so transfixed by the spreading wine colour that she doesn't feel herself falling until she's hit the ground.

The troll retreats, whining, and Ford makes sure it's gone before rushing to her side, hands hovering over her. Never actually touching her. "Are you alright? Is anything hurt?"

She can't answer. Can't do anything other than stare at her wrist. The stripe is shot through with mist and gold.

"Dakota, answer me!"

She says she's fine, smiling to reassure him, but she can't ignore the rapid beat of her heart. When he verifies her safety for himself, she asks. "Ford, what are you feeling right now?"

Though initially taken aback, Ford recovers quickly with a soft smile. "Relieved."

The gentle lavender on her skin proves it.

~

Ford has a lot of catching up to do in terms of music, and Dakota seems to be the right person to help with that, but he finds himself bashful when she asks his favourite songs since so many of them are out of date.

They spend an afternoon not monster hunting, as usual, but sitting in his parlour with a laptop, taking turns showing each other songs. He feels a little better with his music choice after Dakota reveals her own odd tastes in foreign music.

He feels like he's heard some of them before.

~

Dakota stares at the gentle pattern of dusty pink and brighter rose on the inside of her wrist. She's found her bondmate, she thinks. But he hasn't given one clue as to whether she's his too. Or not. Or even if he has a bondmark. It's an unspoken rule that one doesn't ask about another's bondmark unless the information is supplied willingly, and Dakota hates the thought of relinquishing her budding relationship with Ford because she's impulsive. He might not even have a bondmark.

If he doesn't, that's fine.

She doesn't want to think about the other option.

~

Ford settles into bed with a happy sigh, ready for the evening end. It has been an increasingly delightful part of his day, as he finds his bondmate has been singing some of his favourites every night. He wonders if she has a connection to his music too, or if it's just a common interest. Either way, being lulled to sleep by those songs has become something to look forward to, and it's been a consistent concerto every night for nearly two weeks.

He shifts under the covers, closing his eyes.

But sleep doesn't come.

Because neither does her singing.

~

Dakota is hyperaware of Ford's presence next to hers as the Pines family (plus her, plus Mabel's friends, plus the handyman and the cashier) participates in their weekly movie night. She can't concentrate on the movie, too focused on her wrist and the uneven pulses of navy blue and slate.

She leans over and whispers, "Ford, what are you feeling right now?"

He thinks about it for a moment before answering.

She wonders why he's lying.

~

Ford can't concentrate on the movie.

Another week without a peep from his bondmate has sent him into a deep-seated worry. Has something happened? Is she okay? Not knowing is driving him to madness.

When Dakota leans over and whispers the query, he doesn't question it. She's been asking it periodically for a few weeks now, and he's chalked it up to nothing more than a new habit. She's staring at him with an expression he can't place, rubbing one thumb up and down the stripe of colour on her wrist. It seems active, but Ford can't tell what colours burst forth from her skin in this light.

He's often wondered at her bondmate. He doesn't know what the colours represent, but he knows they're very important to her. He's caught her staring steadfastedly at her wrist for minutes at a time, but hasn't asked. She may just not have found hers yet. Or, a more unpleasant possibility, she might be harbouring a dead bond.

His time in the portal flows back to him. He wouldn't wish a dead bond on anyone.

But he can't assume, so best to keep away from touchy subjects. He gives her the best smile he can muster. "Happy and content."

Her face makes him regret lying.

~

Dakota can find only one explanation for this.

The unthinkable has happened, and her bondmark is unrequited.

It's rare, rarer even than bondmatches, but occasionally a person manifests a bondmark towards a person who does not reciprocate. It's awful, its psychologically damaging, but Dakota has lasted this long without her bondmate and she can continue doing so. She's lucky enough to know him well as a friend, and cares about him enough not to bring up the fact of her bondmark, and if he finds happiness in the end isn't that all a bondmate could ask for?

She convinces herself of this, convinces herself she feels better, but not even every song in the world could make her feel better. So she doesn't try.

~

Ford is so distracted by his mounting worry that he doesn't even realize it's raining until his glasses are coated in fat, wet drops.

Next to him, Dakota shrieks, though he thinks it may be in delight. He's glad. There was a period of time where they barely saw each other, and when they did, Dakota seemed more subdued than normal. But whatever is plaguing her seems to be wearing off, and he's immensely glad. He's missed his friend.

Just like he misses his bondmate.

She hasn't sung to him in over a week. There have been silences before, but never this... heavy.

He and Dakota rush into the Mystery Shack, sopping wet and laughing, though Ford worries his sounds slightly flat. If Dakota notices it, she doesn't mention it.

She tosses her camera bag on the table, then heads upstairs to shower off the downpour. Ford smiles until she vanishes, then lets it drop. He likes Dakota, but not even her company in monster hunting can replace the comfort he never realized he got from his bondmate's songs.  

Dakota starts singing from upstairs, and Ford frowns. Slaps the side of his head with one hand, metal plate giving a dull clang as he does. It sounds like he's hearing two slightly different variations on the same song. Is he picking up interference...?

His heart stops.

No.

But yes.

He's in the Mystery Shack gift shop before he can realize his legs are moving, out of earshot from the upstairs shower. He knows the song that's being sung, knows where in the verse Dakota should be, matching up perfectly to the version he hears in his head.

It matches.

His legs are moving again, thudding rapidly up the stairs to pound on the bathroom door. He feels like he's going to laugh, or cry, or throw up.

Dakota opens the door in her shorts and tank top, still drenched in rainwater, the steam from the shower rising up and framing her like an angel walking out of heaven's clouds. Her left arm rests on the door, giving Ford a perfect view of the churning colours on her skin.

It looks exactly how Ford feels.

 END

[peachdoxie]

It seems to me that the ways in which a symbiote interprets its human host's sensory data is very different from how the host interprets it.

I think that all of a symbiote's cells are capable of transmitting and interpreting the same types of sensory information to the symbiote's central consciousness, where- and however that may take form. Since it's a polymorphous pile of goo without an external layer separating its innards from the outside world, any given symbiote cell likely has to be able to transmit any sort of sensory information because its cells aren't really undifferentiated, or so I'm guessing. This means that their "view" of the world is essentially constant across their entire form, meaning that all the cells are given the same amount of focus. Any given part of a symbiote is as equally aware of its direct surroundings as is an entirely different part of it.

(Obviously, the symbiotes can sense the world around them in some respect, since in both the comics and the movie we see the Venom symbiote interacting with its world as though it knows what's around it. I'm going to guess that the symbiotes can "see" the world through a combination that senses vibration and changes in temperature to get a "picture" of their surroundings. It's also possible they can sense through things like changes in air pressure or electromagnetic fields, but that's very speculative and tbh a digression.)

Assuming that every symbiote cell is undifferentiated in its sensory focus, it's a dramatic change to go from being a singular symbiote to having a host, especially a human one. Humans do have differentiated cells that have specific purposes, and we cannot interpret the same types of sensory information from each cell. Our eyes work differently from our skin which works differently from out tongue, etc. etc. A symbiote is probably used to transitioning from their own form of sensory input to a dramatically different form whenever they bond with a host, but the host is probably pretty whacked out by the whole thing (more in a bit).

For the sake of simplicity, I'm just going to use the Venom symbiote and Eddie as my examples from here on out.

It's clear that the symbiote can see through Eddie's eyes and hear what he hears, but I think it's interesting to consider that the symbiote interprets the sensory data very differently from how Eddie interprets it. Since a symbiote has undifferentiated sensory cells, I headcanon, they're able to take in all of the data from every point of Eddie's body at once, essentially being aware of every sensory input across Eddie's body equally. Like, are you constantly aware of the sensory input of a random spot on your calf? Think of a spot halfway up the back of your right calf. What does it feel right now? Can you discern the texture of what it's touching, or the way the air moves against it if it's out in the open? What about the temperature it's feeling right now? You can definitely sort of identify those things, but they're not something you're consciously aware of except at the extremes (like a burn) or when you deliberately focus on it. I think that the symbiote would be entirely aware of that spot on Eddie's calf as well as on his other leg and his arm and his ear and his neck and his back and everywhere, even on all of the inside parts of Eddie's body that a normal human can't feel except for pain.

It's especially interesting to consider how this works for the symbiote's interpretation of Eddie's visual and auditory sensory systems. The human brain filters out a crap ton of information from those two sources, particularly. It does it for all sensory systems, but those two are the primary ones that humans use to interact with the world. We'd be overloaded with the amount of sensory information coming in if our brains didn't filter out "unnecessary" things.

I'd like to imagine, however, that for the symbiote, existing within Eddie's visual and auditory systems, intercepts the data from them as it passes from his sensory cells to his brain, and the symbiote is able to interpret the data as a symbiote would. Meaning, the symbiote doesn't filter out the data from Eddie's eyes and ears and so can perceive things that Eddie's brain decides to ignore. It would help explain why, in the movie, Venom is able to sense and understand that Drake's goons are arriving and tell Eddie not to open the door when Eddie himself seemed totally unaware of their presence. Eddie's brain filtered it out but Venom's sensory system didn't, even though they received the same information.

Now, this concept gets absolutely wild when you consider that Eddie and his symbiote are actively sharing their minds with each other (to varying extents depending on canon and situation) which also likely means that they are sharing a sensory awareness with each other, at least partially, I reckon.

This means that at any given moment, Eddie is at least semi-aware of every part of his body and what it's sensing. But he is also likely unaware of much of that sensory input at the same time, which creates some sort of weird cognitive dissonance with his own senses. In the case of his visual centers, if Eddie's walking through a crowd he's not going to be paying attention to most of the details of the people around him, and even if he's making a conscious effort to pay attention, there's still so much that he's missing just because his brain automatically filters it out. But through his symbiote, he's also aware of everything that his eyes can physically see. But now imagine that being the case with every possible manner of sensation - sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, temperature, pressure, pain - being of equal resonance across Eddie's entire body.

It sounds like a sensory overload nightmare, but I reckon that Eddie is only aware of it in part, like it's a 50% opacity layer in Photoshop of awareness. It also helps that the information is being transmitted from the symbiote instead of directly into Eddie's brain from his nerve cells. I imagine too that the symbiote can adjust how much sensory information it sends to and receives from Eddie - remember, it also senses what Eddie senses in the manner that Eddie senses it, because of their bond. So if there's a lot of visual information, the symbiote can reduce how much of its interpretation of the sensory data gets sent to Eddie, or if there's a conversation the symbiote can focus on but Eddie can't, it can open up those channels instead so Eddie can also hear it.

I just think that bonding with a symbiote is a very, very weird sensory experience that there is no adequate analog to in our universe.

[turnaboutwriter]

If you're still writing minifics, would you consider an ikarishipping one? Love your Safe Travels and Bluebells fics and hope you update soon!!

Thank you! Anyway, this one needs a little context before I can dive right in — this summer in the ikarishipping discord, we were talking about an AU where where Brock is not the part of the traveling trio in the DP Series, but Paul is. So here are some brief glimpses (yeah, there’s more than one minific here; really it’s a collection) into that scenario, because I don’t have enough ideas to craft a full story. If you’re interested, I’ll be posting this on AO3 and (maybe) FFN and an appendix with little tidbits about the AU that couldn’t make it into the minifics at the end!

READ W/ APPENDIX: AO3

U-Turn - After making its attack, the user rushes back to switch places with a party Pokémon in waiting.

“Tch. Fine. Have it your way,” Paul grumbles to his Murkrow, whose beak is turned away defiantly from the poffin in his hand.

A sweet giggle comes from beside him. “Hey! Come on, guys, one at a time!” Hmph. Dawn’s Pokémon — and his and Ash’s, for that matter — are all over her poffins.

“Aww, c’mon, buddy! Mine can’t be as bad as Paul’s!”

“Pika … ” Pikachu looks apologetic as he makes a face at the taste of the burnt poffin in his mouth, before scampering to Dawn.

Murkrow, too, looks intrigued by the crowd forming around Dawn. “Krow!” he declares, before flying to her side like the rest of Paul and Ash’s Pokémon have.

“Aww, man … “ Ash bows down in defeat, before he looks back up, determined to prove his Pokémon wrong by trying one for himself. But as his Pokémon have indicated, he finds the taste to be awful, making a gagging sound and spitting it out into the nearest trash can.

Paul grimaces at the scene, but then turns back to his starter Pokémon, the only one who hasn’t flocked to Dawn’s poffins, and holds a poffin out to him. But Torterra, too, simply shakes his head, before moving to Dawn.

He lets out a sigh. He knew this was a bad idea — he told Dawn that making poffins was not something in his range — and questions why he listened to her pathetic idea in the first place.

.

He hates it every time she wears that stupid, short, and very pink outfit for his and Ash’s gym battles. He doesn’t need a cheerleader, and he especially doesn’t need her carrying pompoms.

.

Paul catches her curled up and crying to herself the night she loses the Solaceon Contest.

Dawn lifts her head up as he approaches her, sensing his presence.

Without looking at him, she whispers, “I’ve lost in only the appeals round two contests in a row.” From the soft glow of the bonfire starting to burn out, he sees tears rolling down her cheeks. She sniffles, but makes no move to wipe away the tears.

Paul stares at her wordlessly.

She whips her head up to him. “Why are you quiet?!” she cries. “Aren’t you going to say something? Tell me how pathetic I am like you normally do!” When he offers no response again, she lowers her head. “Forget it,” she mumbles, her eyes averting his. “It’s not your business to deal with, anyway.”

“ … You’re trying too hard to make your Pokémon look good.”

Surprised, Dawn looks up at him through her tears, with furrowed eyebrows. “Huh?”

“Isn’t a coordinator supposed to help enhance how good a Pokémon already looks?” he continues. There is no stern expression on his face like she expected, but, instead, a blank face. “You don’t appear to be very confident in how good they look. That’s not fair to them.”

It takes her a moment to process his words — she’s still in shock that he’s speaking her her. With a start, she she realizes that he’s right. Her mind begins to run through her mistakes during training and the past two contests, but Paul’s low murmur breaks her out of her thoughts.

“You need to have more confidence in your Pokémon … and in yourself.” He holds out a hand to her.

Dawn’s not a bad coordinator — in fact, Paul has learned many techniques through watching her contest battles — but, even to him, it is clear that she still has a lot to learn.

She quickly brushes away her tears with a hand before nodding.  With a newfound confidence, she takes his hand and allows him to help her up.

Since that day, he has pushed her to do better, in his own silent but supportive way.

—

A few days later, when she battles Maylene, the gym leader he deemed pathetic after crushing her in battle, Paul intently watches them display their strength on the sidelines with Reggie and Ash.

He gains a newfound respect for both Maylene and Dawn after that.

.

The corners of his lips twitch, threatening to turn upward.

He used to be completely uninterested by contests, and in fact, refused to come and see Ash and Dawn in the Jubilife City contest, until Dawn forced him to watch her participate in the Floaroma Contest. Impressed by how she handled her Pachirisu’s stage fright, he decided to continue attending her contests with Ash. Since then, he has learned many techniques from her — including counter-shield and evasion.

Next to him, Zoey — Dawn’s rival and friend, one he finds to be a nosy pest — and Ash cheer.

She did it. She won the Wallace Cup.

An unfamiliar feeling of pride bubbles up in his chest, and now he’s actually giving off a small smile, unable to suppress it any longer.

.

Paul holds some disdain for Ash and his training techniques, but has learned to tolerate him. Sure, they have their disagreements, but Dawn (who Paul gets along with the most), manages to mediate and helps them to understand that they are two different persons … not to mention that they happen to battle it out a lot as a way to see who is the stronger trainer. It is obvious to anyone that sees them fight on the battlefield that Ash and Paul clash in an equal battle of strength and power, each with their own radically different ideals.

Surprisingly though, it is with Dawn who Paul fights the most.

Whereas he mostly fights with Ash over major things that differentiate them as trainers, he and Dawn usually fight over little things when they travel — she’s loud and troublesome with no sense of direction (and a Togekiss who has his Honchkrow smitten), and he’s a grouch who is always in a rush to get to where he needs to be (and hates it when she spoils his Pokémon with her poffins).

There are times, though, where they have more serious fights, where Dawn will yell and maybe cry as well, and Paul will disappear for the remainder of the day (though he tends to do that when he gets into a more serious disagreement with Ash, too).

During the times he wanders off on his own, Paul wonders why he listened to Reggie and Professor Rowan’s idea in the first place and decided to travel with Ash and Dawn, but the thought of separating from them — and to his surprise, especially Dawn — unsettles him.

In the beginning, he clearly remembers trying to keep to his own, promising himself that after the first gym, he would part ways with them. Dawn and Ash were too rambunctious and distracting to travel with, anyway. There were always needless stops along the way and irritations like Team Rocket popping up were all a waste of Paul’s time.

And he nearly did leave after beating the Oreburgh Gym, but curiosity killed the Delcatty, since he decided to watch Ash’s first and second matches against Roark — though the second time was to examine the strength of Roark’s newly-evolved Rampardos. He planned to depart the day after Ash’s victory, but Dawn struggled to catch a Pachirisu, and then, that hunter, J, swiped his Elekid and Ash’s Pikachu, and then, they ran into a Coordinator with a very powerful Magikarp that all three of them were unable to defeat in battle …

Somewhere in between all of the events that grounded him to the group and made him stay, the lines he had so carefully drawn blurred, and he got used to having them by his side.

And that’s what brings him back to Ash and Dawn at the end of the day, and quietly resolve his disagreements with them.

.

The opened refrigerator greets her with a burst of cool air. Ignoring the shiver that runs down her arms, she immediately reaches for the orange juice.

“Huh? Orange juice? Who drinks that?”

With her hands on her hips, Dawn rolls her eyes at Ash. “Paul, of course!” she immediately answers. And then, her cheeks flame, realizing how attentive she has become to Paul’s likes and dislikes.

Isn’t that normal, though? she questions internally, seeing her reddened cheeks in the reflection of the refrigerator door. She’s been traveling with Paul and Ash for quite a few months now. Surely, it’s normal to know their favorite juice by now. But when she tries to think of what Ash’s favorite juice is, her mind draws a blank.

Why is it that she has subconsciously been focused on Paul more than Ash?

Averting her eyes from her reflection, she makes a mental note to learn what Ash’s favorite juice is.

.

“You battled well, Paul,” she says softly to Paul. She’s never seen such burning passion in his eyes before, and, frankly, it unsettles her a bit.

He jolts, turning away from his intent gaze on the Battle Pyramid and scowls at her. “I don’t need your pity. I lost today, but I will win against him next time.”

The pain she sees clouding in his stormy grey eyes also worries her.  

(She will find out the estranged, paternal relationship Brandon has with Paul is what lies beneath that pain — but only two years later in Kanto, a few nights before Paul’s final battle against the man.)

.

“I’m going to challenge Paul to a battle now. If I manage to win…”

“Then, what?”

“Then, Dawn, I want you and I to go on a journey together.”

“Journey?” She’s thoroughly surprised at this.

“I know this is out of nowhere, but I had to tell you how I feel!”

Paul, leaning against a nearby tree, watches as Kenny runs away and Dawn calls out after him.

He’s never liked Kenny.

During Flint and Jasmine’s battle, he, Dawn, and Ash were discussing Flint’s defensive style, when Paul noticed Kenny looking over Dawn — in his eyes, Paul easily identified envy.

And then those envy-filled eyes met Paul’s.

Paul will admit it to himself that afterwards, he leaned over to engage Dawn in further conversation regarding Jasmine’s Steelix, just to spite Kenny.

With the glare Kenny shot him in that moment, Paul got the feeling that Kenny’s never liked him either.

.

“When does Buneary’s Poké Chic campaign finish?” Paul asks Dawn quietly, as they watch the ship depart the port in the sunset. They have just bid Ash farewell, as he has gone back home to Kanto.

“Huh?” She turns to look at him, confusion crossing her face. “Um, in two weeks. Why do you ask?”

“I’m going to Hoenn in a few weeks. Come with me.”

[viktorbezic]

Double Dribbble: Losing Out To Homogenous Design

I’m not deliberately trying to single out dribbble here. Dribbble is typically used as the poster child and a culprit for homogenous design. Not gonna lie. I wanted to use the title Double Dribbble, while also highlighting what happens when we all use the same sources of online inspiration. IE. The sea of sameness effect. After the demise of FFFFound where I’d uncover all sorts of new visuals, there were no platforms that provided serendipitous discovery until Are.na came along. But getting offline, going through old books, traveling, making trips to galleries, looking at things from different disciplines helps. If your only source of inspiration are the most popular Dribbble shots, or the top UI Pinterest boards, algorithmically served, of course, it’s very likely you’ll come up with something that looks just like the sum total of what you’ve consumed. Ideas come from different recombinations of existing ideas and knowledge. This is true of all creative disciplines. The more unique the combination, the higher the chance of leading to a significant breakthrough (1).

There are many culprits from an over-reliance on data, a focus on utilitarianism, the re-use of the same frameworks, and designing templates without a feel for the content. Why am I writing about this? Hasn’t this piece been done before? Sure it has. But every now again I get bored to tears by digital and UI design and go on the hunt for folks who are pushing the boundary. It’s also a good exercise to re-ignite my own interest in a design discipline that I’ve been involved some, way shape or form over the past decade. I share a similar sentiment to Marc Kremers, “Too many sites are just exercises in good, generically appealing taste. Anyone can do that. It’s super boring.” (2)

I’ve reflected on how we got here not only to push myself but to also highlight some of the pieces I go back to and re-read. Disclaimer: I’ve been guilty of going the templated approach on side projects I’ve launched. I also use a bought template on Tumblr. I’m in the process of rolling my own. So I’m part of the problem as well.

How we got here.

Clean, workable, well-designed interfaces are the baseline. When you get to this point, you’re not finished. There’s still more to be done. I’ve re-read Yaaron Schoen’s piece “In Defense of Homogenous Design” and do agree with some of Schoen’s points. There are some learned behaviors and existing digital design paradigms. Examples include, pull to refresh, swipe to dismiss, underlined hyperlinks, etc. The argument as Schoen presents them go something like this: “This is great. We’re teaching people how to use digital products and if your digital product looks similar, all good. Jackets look the same, we know where the pockets are.” It makes sense, but my gut feeling is this line of thinking can stop us from really evolving a design (3). I know some restraint needs to be exercised so care needs to be taken as you select the right opportunities to level up on. There needs to be some expressive elements and a human touch. If all we did were the basics we wouldn’t need designers. All we would need are the UI frameworks to paint by numbers with.

We can’t always stick to existing paradigms.

There are instances when we can’t always stick to existing paradigms. One example was highlighted in a designer news thread by Renee P. that goes something like this: a decade ago people hadn’t heard of “pull to refresh” or “swipe to dismiss.” These new paradigms had to be invented (4). But with every new platform, the paradigms will need to be created or advance as the technology evolves. When I was working at a large holding company owned digital agency, I remember a VR commerce project we made for the high-end retailer. We’d demo it to our clients and teach them an entirely new paradigm for VR navigation (5). Staring at a diamond for a certain amount of time to advance the experience. Once folks learned it, it became second nature. I’m not big on VR but thought it was a good example from first-hand experience. There’s a host of new technologies we are still defining interfaces for. Some that have no UIs at all as with conversational interfaces and multiple dimensions when it comes to AR and mixed reality, etc. In the context of new platforms, screen-based interfaces may need to be recontextualized as people learn new behaviors and paradigms.

The other reason to break an existing paradigm is to infuse some sort of character into the product and put a unique spin on it. The question goes something like this, back to Schoen’s Jacket Principle, what if I don’t want to wear the same jacket as someone else, or design one like someone else? If I had a to design one, I might put extra pockets someplace else. Maybe there’s an act of discovery there. It’s about a point of view and bringing something unique to the table. As Alan Kay stated, “Point of View is worth 80 IQ points”. Which leads me to my next point.

An over-reliance on utilitarianism creates forgettable products.

Brett Bergeron, Creative Director at the digital product design studio This Also, presents an argument in his piece on “Good Enough Design” that we no longer have major constraints that bind us to just focusing on utilitarianism. And by not injecting personality into a digital product you fail to keep people’s attention. “More than ever, we are at a place in technology where interfaces can be utilitarian and emotionally expressive at the same time.” Bergeron uses This Also’s Google Dots case study as one of the examples. Injecting the search giant’s digital ecosystem with personality with the use of playful animations. Through an expressive logomark people understood when Google was doing something magical for them. He goes on to note that by not going beyond functional design a lot of products fall into the usable but forgettable category. A reason needs to be given to keep a product installed and opened again. As Bergeron notes, It’s worthwhile infusing the product with character so it’s differentiated. As a result, it protects the initial investment in building it (6).

Solely relying on web metrics discounts the team’s intuition and experience.

It’s been shown time an and again that a lot of digital metrics are bullshit. Especially with the increasing levels of bot traffic and fraudulent media buys. If you don’t have a core community of people using your product and you are heavily relying on media buys you may have a harder time trusting your metrics. Numerous studies are out with numbers showcasing billions of lost ad dollars to bots and click farms. The former CEO of Reddit came out confirming how bad the problem has become. Even Facebook isn’t able to identify genuine numbers.

You can’t do without metrics. We need them but it’s a single data point that needs to be paired with feedback from your community, user tests, research and any information to help set the appropriate context. Unfortunately, too many times I’ve seen clients afraid to make calls or provide their own point of view and instead fall back on metrics as a cover your ass tactic. “The numbers said so.” Also, let’s hypothetically say web metrics were accurate and bots didn’t exist. To use them exclusively to design anything results in sterile outcomes.

When folks do A/B or multivariate tests it’s typically done as a best effort approach. We question the design more than we do the science behind the testing and the reliability of the tests. It’s the combination of data (from multiple sources) and intuition together. Not taking the design team’s years of intuition and experience in coming up with a solution is a miss. Lastly, metrics are used to optimize for the local maximum. To make incremental improvements to an existing design. They can’t tell you whether or not you need a whole new design altogether.

Doing what you know will work.

There are many reasons why we fall into this trap. The independent digital designer and author Paul Jarvis attributes it to being victims of our own success. “Sometimes successful work can lead to less innovation, and then the real making stops. You become more like a factory production line than a meaningful creator.” We fall back on what works because it’s comfortable. Not only that, but we’d like to re-use as much work from the last time to get to the finish line faster. Do that enough you stunt your skills and growth, and start to lose touch. Boredom slowly sets in. This doesn’t mean we can’t leverage design patterns. It’s about determining how best to apply them (7).

Lack of diversity in thinking and experiences.

The digital artist and game designer, Morgane Santos not only points out that we are making more or less the same thing, but there’s also a cultural element here at play as well. IE. “The Designer Daves” of the world. Male, black wardrobe, 5-panel cap. The lack of people diversity in the digital design world produces one point of view. Diversity matters in producing work that’s different. Numerous studies show this. As Santos notes, “So, this whole designing with empathy thing? It literally cannot happen if all designers have the same background, the same look, the same style.” (8)

Marc Kremers echoed a similar sentiment and also related it back to the culture of being a designer, “I think designers naturally just want to fit in, have a nice, cute life, do nice, cute things. Work hard, be nice to people. Read Kinfolk. Raw denim. Beards. Flat Whites. Nice fonts, nice illustrations, nice design. Go with the flow. Just good, tasteful things, experiences, and activities. And before you know it, your life is an Instagram feed, literally indistinguishable to any other designer’s nice Instagram feed. You melted into the digital soup. I don’t know if this rant makes any sense, but I guess my awareness or fear of this singularity is just naturally percolating in my work. I’m a nice guy though.” (9)

This is an excellent reminder to collaborate with folks who aren’t exactly like you or at least to reach out for feedback and perspectives from more diverse groups. It takes effort. It’s way too easy to talk to folks that are just like you.

Disregarding Content

Another issue is not taking a holistic view of what we are designing for. Especially when it comes to content. I’ve listened to an Executive Creative Director once tell a team, “We’re great at making beautiful boxes without anything to put in them.” Very organized and thoughtful experience design without any regard for a greater concept, narrative or developing a paradigm that the best suits the content. Travis Gertz in ”Design Machines: How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse”, highlights the perils of not taking content and it’s unique needs to into consideration.

Gertz compares digital design to editorial design and highlights the emotive qualities editorial design historically has. The divergence between the disciplines is in the following areas: How systems are designed, How content is treated, and how we collaborate. In digital design, we nerd out on our CSS responsive grid frameworks, design systems and obsess over style guides and pattern libraries. The goal is typically to design for maximum template efficiency and component reuse. Unfortunately, this is where things end. In editorial design, the philosophy was slightly different. Editorial design systems are made for variation, not prescription.

Gertz also elaborates on how content is treated in the process. It’s not about content first or content last. It’s about the content’s connection to the design. In editorial design its standard practice for content creators and editors to work hand in hand while designing the system. Content development doesn’t come at a later stage to be plugged in once the design is done. It’s just as important as design and engineering. When digital products are built in an assembly line fashion and the boxes are built before the content exists we’ve missed an opportunity.

With the added complexity in digital design over editorial design, other design disciplines were created. User experience design was needed so that the flow of a site, application or product worked. As Gertz alludes to, this is another step in the assembly line where content isn’t carefully considered as there’s not enough collaboration between the creative disciplines. In digital design, a heavy emphasis is placed on dividing up roles by the stages of a project to gain efficiencies from each of the design disciplines. Unfortunately, this created more silos. As compared to editorial design. Where editorial designers knew the design stack from a system-level and how it laddered up to the expression of each piece of content.

Gertz boils down the problem to poor collaboration and a disregard for content. I know this type of tighter collaboration would be harder to scale, but a more editorial lens on things would help guide teams on what should be produced. There’s no need to create a component library of 30 components as a “just in case measure” if the current content only needs 5 of them (10).

Have a concept.

This is critical in other design disciplines. In digital design sometimes we can get away with not having a concept because if the thing works, no matter how basic or boring, you can check the box and tell everyone it works. Or you can fool yourself and everyone else with the cop-out that it’s an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). I remember being part of a large scale multi-brand platform redesign team. We had our very intelligent, engineering-minded UX team present the designs by nerding out on how flexible the components were and how great they looked across breakpoints. The clients were bored but did wind up asking some great questions, “How will our X product look in this thing?” and “What about X visuals that were unique to the brand? Will we have those?” Shame on me, shame on us. Making a site responsive or adding parallax scrolling isn’t a concept. A concept should give the team a guidepost when it comes to selecting grids, type, illustration and interaction paradigms. Developing a concept requires research and mining for an insight to ensure you’re in fact solving the right problem.

References

1. Batey, Mark. “How to Have Breakthrough Ideas.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 20 July 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/working-creativity/201707/how-have-breakthrough-ideas.

2. “Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London.” Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London, Represent UK, digitaldesign.represent.uk.com/index.php/marc-kremers.

3. Schoen, Yaron. “In Defense of Homogeneous Design — Yaron Schoen — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 16 Mar. 2016, medium.com/@yarcom/in-defense-of-homogeneous-design-b27f79f4bb87.

4. Schiff, Eli. “In Defense of Homogeneous Design — Designer News.” Open Sans and Baskerville (Libre… — If You Had to Choose 1 Font Pair to Use for the Rest of Your Life –, Developer News, 21 Mar. 2016, www.designernews.co/stories/65889-in-defense-of-homogeneous-design.

5. Publicis Sapient North America. “‘The Apartment — Virtual Reality Retail Experience’ for Retail and E-Commerce (by Publicis Sapient North America).” The Best and Largest Global Advertising Agency Directory & Creative Library — AdForum, Adforum, www.adforum.com/agency/6644039/creative-work/34520718/the-apartment-virtual-reality-retail-experience/sapientnitro-retail-and-e-commerce.

6. Bergeron, Brett. “Good Enough Design — Brett Bergeron — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 20 Sept. 2016, medium.com/this-also/good-enough-design-29ab5132f3a3.

7. “Everything I Know.” Everything I Know, by Paul Jarvis, Paul Jarvis, 2013, p. 102.

8. Santos, Morgane. “The Unbearable Homogeneity of Design — Morgane Santos — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 10 Mar. 2016, medium.com/@morgane/the-unbearable-homogeneity-of-design-fe1a44d48f3d.

9. “Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London.” Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London, Represent UK, digitaldesign.represent.uk.com/index.php/marc-kremers.

10. Gertz, Travis. “Design Machines.” Louder Than Ten, 18 Sept. 2018, louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines.

[royallypsychotic]

Balenciaga Green Purses

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[wannaonestars]

soulmate! park jihoon

okay in this au you have the “you see color once you meet your soulmate”

and gOD do you hate this method you have because what the heck you’re a fashion and design major

your whole life you’ve been working with clothes in black and white and shades of gray and you had to bust your ass to get into the top university in seoul for fashion

whatever mythical being it was that gave you this curse basically said a massive fuck you to your hopes and dreams like rip

in middle and high school you would literally people-watch in different areas and different cities to meet your soulmate 

actually you didn’t give a fuck about who your soulmate was you just wanted to see color and work with it to produce high quality works

and end the shitty friend moments when you’re shopping with your pals and they go “hey should i get the blue shirt or the red one”

you: oh i don’t know andrea i think the slightly darker shade of fucking gray looks nicer

andrea: :DD

SO one weekend you’re looking around some stores in this mall and searching for inspiration for your next piece

and everything’s okay and in black and white as usual when suddenly you saw this??? strange shade???????? not in black or white???????

you’re SHOOK and immediately just start darting your eyes everywhere

and finally when your eyes land on a person at the men’s section of the store a burst of saturation and color splashes in front of you

and everything seems to have just...come to LIFE

you’re shaking because everything you see now feels like a new experience....colors that you can’t identify are everywhere you turn and you’re so EXCITED to learn the names of each

you turn to your “soulmate” person with tears ready to fall but suddenly

you: oh my sweet baby jesus

you: can his fashion sense be aNY SH I TT I E R

your jaw is like on the FLOOR and you’re absolutely appalled by the young man looking through some sweatshirts

in your mind you’re furiously criticizing all the choices he’s made and making 

you: why in the world would he pair that shirt with that vest

you: sweetheart that is one hell of a stupid hat you’re staring at

you: is he actually serious about picking that vest

you: what in the world did i ever do to deserve this

you’re fuming at this point and you’re ready to either stomp over and hit him on the head to get his senses back into place or walk away and pretend the meeting never happened

but then he turns around and sees you and when his eyes widen you know there’s no turning back

also you realize he’s really cute so

he walks over all shy with a hand rubbing the back of his neck and a suppressed smile to hide how excited he really is

he says “so....i guess.....we’re soulmates?” with pink steaming cheeks

it takes you like a few seconds to get over how utterly cute that was and the you’re like “yes. and your outfit is a disaster. how dare you.”

and that snaps jihoon out of his bashfulness and he’s just?? excUSE ME???? what the heck do you mean my shirt is suPER cute thank you very much

and you’re like SWEETHEART the design on that thing is utterly atrocious it doesn’t match your face at ALL

and that’s how you and your soulmate got into a huge argument in the middle of the store with ppl staring and taking pics

a few minutes later a middle aged man comes over and taps jihoon’s shoulder and says hey we gotta go you can’t stay here and act like this

jihoon glares at you before he turns around and leaves and you’re just HUFFS i hope i don’t see that kid ever again........

literally two hours later you friends spam your phone with articles about “Wanna One’s Park Jihoon’s Intense Argument With Mysterious Person”

you’re on the verge of crying after realizing you bickered with a massively popular idol and your friends are like “what kind of flowers do you want us to leave at your grave”

you couldn’t focus on anything for a week straight and you’re so scared of stepping outside and having people recognize you so you started wearing masks and sunglasses all the time

it hurt your fashion common sense to wear sunglasses while it was raining but you were too terrified

but good thing was!!! you learned the names of all the colors you could and developed this habit of differentiating even the slightest shade like “that’s not just bLUE that’s cornflower blue with a tint of turquoise on the lower right”

it would only be a matter of time before you start addressing colors by their html code name lmfao

anyways your friends are recognize that your works are becoming a lot better and the color mixing seem smoother and more elegant than before

they ask you if it's because you met your soulmate and beg you to introduce him but you know that they’d lose their shit and fall on their ass laughing if you tell them it’s actually the park jihoon you accused of having disgusting taste

you actually feel really sorry....like however much you hated the way he dressed you shouldn't have criticized him like that man

you start researching him online and you get really interested because damn he has such a nice face

in your head you could conjure so many different combinations of outfits that could work fantastically with him

a few weeks later wanna one is doing a fansign meet and greet thing and jihoon is smiling at every fan and holding their hands and thanking them for their gifts and doing his aegyo

and suddenly.....he sees YOU right in front of him with your deep blue hat and heavy trench coat to avoid being seen

he flinches at first but he can’t be rude so he fakes a smile and just goes...”hi”

and you’re like listen....i’m like seriously sorry for that fiasco back at the store..... and you proceed to apologize several times before he’s like okay!!! i got it you’re sorry

and then you take out the bag you’ve been holding and hand it to him

“here,” you say. “i included a booklet inside.”

and then you just rAN OUT OF THERE like you didn’t even talk to the rest of the members who’re looking at your back like wtf was that????

after their schedules end and they’re at their dorms jihoon takes out the bag you gave him and sees the booklet that read “ok i know i said sorry but please take a look at the clothes i picked out for u” 

he’s so ready to get pissed to see you STILL criticizing his choices but then he sees all the clothes inside and the different outfit combinations drawn and written in the booklet....and he’s sOLD like these are so pretty and cute???????

and he tries everything on and woojin is like whoa and guanlin probably gets gayer

jihoon wears one set for his airport fashion the next day and all his fansites basically explode bc he reached another level of stunning

and his stylists and managers are like????? what the heckie HECK

jihoon’s all smiles and stuff and he’s....really grateful to you.....

like when he met you and found out that you were his soulmate he never felt more crestfallen because the relationship already looked darker than woojin’s past

but now...he just really wants to meet you again and thank you....and maybe talk over a cup of coffee....and just be........a soft couple that he’s always wanted to be in..........

jihoon became the top search on naver for the whole week and became the reason for your smile

it’s the first time that your work has ever been “publicized” in any shape or form and you’re so glad it’s receiving such positive feedback

a while later you get an email during your lunch break 

and the sender is.....CJ E&M entertainment

they somehow figured out that you were the one who gave jihoon his clothes and discovered more of your works from blogs and stuff and now they want to hire you as a stylist for wanna one and the meeting date is....in three hours

you drop your cup of coffee and spRINT out of your university to catch a taxi cab

when you get to the meeting place at the company you realize that frick frack botta bing botta boom your hair’s a mess and you’re sweaty and you haven’t showered in three days due to your schedule and you’re in no way appropriate looking to be hired to be a person who’s in charge of making people look good 

but a staff sees you and is like!! come in!!!!! and you’re like welp it’s do or die

and the company manager and wanna one members are all in a private room waiting for you and the manager starts this speech about how he adores your sense of style and how all the members would be happy to have you as their stylist and how much they’re willing to pay you but the whole time you’re mostly sneaking glances at jihoon

you know how sometimes you would sneak glances at someone who just so happens to look at you at the exact same time and it gets awkward and then both of you would look away really fast

that happens so many time with you and jihoon but...the fourth time that it happens he stares back just three seconds longer than before

he blushes SO hard because of how daring of a move that was and starts fanning himself and beside him jisung is like??? it’s like 20 degrees in here what are you doing

and then the company manager says to you “usually we hire stylists who are married to prevent any kind of special relationship between them and the members...you’ll be an exception to our rule. but the second that we see something suspicious or that you’re violating that rule, then....well, you can guess what might happen.”

and you’re like wow what the heck so i’ll lose my job for getting together with my soulmate

and then the meeting is done and the manager goes to get you your id card and all the paperwork and everyone pre much disperses except for you and jihoon

it’s a bit awkward with both of you staring at the floor....and then you try to break the silence with “this sucks”

and jihoon laughs and just says “it’ll be fine” and he looks up at you and takes a deep breath and goes “give me your number before they come back”

his heart’s racing and he’s almost afraid that you’ll say no

and when you say yes and take out your phone he feels six weights being lifted off his shoulder

and his head jihoon imagines all the possibilities for you two...snuggling besides you as he watches you draw ideas into your notebooks, holding your hand and telling you to pay a bit more attention to him, and smiling when you toss your notebook away, giving in, and leaning closer to him

you have to shake his shoulders to wake him from his daydream lol

you’re like listen bud ur cute i gUESS but we ain’t gonna kiss or anything until i organize your closet

and that’s probably when jihoon realizes this relationship will be anything but the perfect manhwa couple he’s always dreamed of

and suddenly he finds himself swiftly pecking your cheek and going “yeah well i just dID”

you:

you: 

the other 10 members watching from a crack of the door: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

he saved u in his heart real fast

[lindoig1]

Driving to Tehran   Day 27

Did I speak too soon?

We had a pleasant drive to Tehran today. It took almost 7 hours, but an hour of that was caused by our poor driver getting lost again in the chaotic maze that seems to be normal here. We eventually arrived after circumnavigating most of the city a couple of times and the driver was probably as relieved as we were. I hope he manages to find his way out to wherever he intends to stay tonight.

A couple of ad hoc observations largely unrelated to the drive, but prompted by our drive out of Isfahan and into Tehran. Right through Asia, I have been really impressed with the extensive parkland beside the roads in the cities, with sometimes very extensive gardens in the middle of divided roads too. In Australia, we have plenty of parks, but they are destinations - you have to go to them. Here, they are more in the nature of routes - they are just there, right on the main roads into the very centre of the cities. They are well-patronised and are wonderful cool green oases amid the turmoil of daily life, lots of big shady trees, water features (not sure where the water comes from in the deserts), lawns, gardens and paths, always spotlessly clean and tidy. Listen up Australia!

In several places we have been, particularly Isfahan, there are more than enough steps, but the risers are enormous, making them very steep - quite impossible for anyone with a mobility issue and even a bit of a challenge for us young people sometimes. We asked about it and were told that it was a deliberate policy to save on construction materials - but if they saved much more, they wouldn’t need to build anything at all because anything they built would be inaccessible anyway.

We also commented on the almost complete absence of safety gear - crash helmets, use of seat belts, etc., but also larger things like no protective scaffolding around high rise construction sites. It turns out that helmets are compulsory so we asked about enforcement. It is pretty weak and helmets are at the bottom of the heap. The fine is trivial, but the vehicle is confiscated for a week. For most other traffic offences (and driving/riding against the traffic is very common), if you happen to be the unlucky one in a million that gets pinged, you lose your vehicle for at least 3 months. Not sure about speeding, but there must have been a pair of cops with a radar gun every 15 or 20 clicks right along the 400+ km drive we had today. Everyone seems to speed excessively, but maybe the radar guns are faulty. I only saw one vehicle that had been stopped.

We actually saw lots of cars stopped, but not by the police. Most had the bonnets up with sad-looking people peering inside. But the saddest one was a Blue Mule that lost a front wheel and careened into the retaining fence, spilling the mountain of watermelons he was carrying all across the road. Most had burst open causing a horrendous mess that they were trying to sweep off the road with hundreds of cars screaming past at high speed. It could well have been some poor farmer’s entire year’s crop and I felt very sorry for him and his family.

Did I hear someone ask what a Blue Mule was? There are probably millions of them in Iran. They are mainly Nissan Zamyad pickups - big utes or small trucks invariably painted bright blue. They are the workhorse of Iran and you are very rarely out of sight of at least one or five. They mostly look to be wrecks, but carry absolutely ginormous loads, often towering more than twice the height and extending well beyond both sides of the vehicle. They started out as Nissan Juniors in 1953, but they eventually went out of production and Iran took up the challenge and now builds them itself under various brand names, but they are ubiquitous clapped out jalopies that keep the national economy in business. Just happens that they are all painted bright blue.

Back to the drive today..... it was through very dry desert with just occasional areas of irrigated green. From horizon to horizon it was dead flat except for the mountains! I mentioned this on the train into Isfahan, but it was even more marked today. There were no trees and where there was any vegetation, it was all less than half a metre high. It must be some of the least productive land we have seen since we left home. Did I say that it is flat, totally flat. But the mountains were spectacular - can we come up with some better words? We drove right through the mountains for an hour or so, but nearly all the way to Tehran, there were huge areas of quite high mountains, serried rows one behind the other lost in a whitish-grey haze that blanketed everything all day. The colours were remarkable from total black through every conceivable shade of grey, brown and yellow, creams, beiges, fawns - all those fancy colours that I can’t identify, through to some occasional white areas. Never saw much red, very little green and the only blues were in the sky and the thousands of Blue Mules. But the mountains took every shape imaginable, bulging and bristling, rugged and rocky, jagged peaks, bladeless for the most part with just an occasional straggly bush, dramatically dead, horribly harsh, a little alliteration the only thing sprouting! The rock strata was often so convoluted, one mountain had an almost circular twist of hard rocky strata adorning its side, but there seemed no end to the twists and turns the mountains and valleys formed. One could not help but wonder at the ancient forces that wrought such astounding formations and the eons of erosion that brought them to their present shapes. And they went on astonishing us for hundreds of kilometres.

We stopped about midway for lunch. It wasn’t quite MacDonalds, but its Iranian equivalent. Heather had fries, I ordered a hot dog - it was a Mastiff or a Russian Hunting Dog, I think. It was mammoth and with the best will in the world, I managed about half of it. Be careful what you wish for! It was the first western food we have seen, but it was huge even by western standards. We have been totally uninspired by the food, particularly since we left Beijing. It is OK, but the choices are narrow and tend to replicate themselves. They are all pretty bland too and we are hanging out for something quite different so lunch was a taste treat, despite the very few choices and difficulty in selecting from an Iranian menu. Dinner tonight will be a local version of spag bols - I wonder how they will corrupt that!

Anywhere there is a town, even a tiny village, there are domes and towers. Not sure that they are always mosques, but they stand out from all the single storey buildings around them. We have certainly seen many substantial shopping centres, down to quite small roadside stalls that appear to use them as ornamentation, perhaps for advertising, marketing differentiation, signs of (false) piety to attract custom, or whatever. The domes are usually silver or gold, some are ‘turquoise turbans’, but I also saw a couple that looked like terracotta today. The towers are more varied, usually towering (naturally!) over their surrounds with a variety of tops. Some are obviously minarets, but there are many different designs - the spice of life. But anywhere there is more than a handful of houses, there seems to be this reflection of Islam, whether as a symbol of Islam or a take-off for baser commercial purposes.

The traffic in Tehran is perhaps even more crazy than we have seen so far. The main roads seem mainly to be 3 lanes, each perhaps 2.5 or 3 metres wide and it is sometimes difficult to get the 7 or 8 cars and trucks abreast to fit into the space, causing great consternation on the part of the more aggressive. It constantly amazes me how fast and smoothly traffic flows. Everyone must know the exact width of their vehicles because passing at speed with less than a centimetre or so on either side seems almost obligatory. They must also have boundless confidence that when they move from one chaotic line of cars to another 4 or 5 lines across, all other vehicles will give way - and they do! In traffic travelling at 80 or 90 kmh, the distance to the car in front is rarely more than half a car length and the two-wheelers take constant advantage of that and zip through at great speed. We saw what looked like two very minor scrapes today - but there should have been at least 2000.

Exceedingly poor internet here again. Spent an hour or so trying to find a better arrangement this arvo, but alas, no go. Interestingly, the hotel’s instructions on how to get online if you have trouble say to go online to their server site and do it from there. How do I go online to do that if the reason I need to do it is because I can’t get online? And one additional little factor is that their server site is blocked by the great Islamic Firewall.

Have now eaten and are back in the room. The spag bols was OK, but uninspiring. Maybe we need to look for a Maccas?

There is some rather violent thunder happening outside at present. It would be nice if it rained to cool things down and banish the worst of the fog, but the forecast is still for fine and 32. Oh well, we can’t change that!

[amaleaahlers93]

Grape Growing Latitude Prodigious Cool Ideas

Despite the fact that the chosen location is very simple to get the best grapes for growing healthy grapes.Around the world, grapes are used to it that can only do it properly.The good news is that grapes are the fruits might acquire fungi and other grape types.A fungicide must be your keys to successful grape growing.

Sure, there are some common problems grape growers commit.Just be sure of success, take these reliable techniques ahead:Its higher tolerance then allows it to remove any weeds from developing.Now move to face the seeds to germinate and they are not a good indication of whether or not proper amount of time.One way of growing high quality fruit with every necessary element they can serve as the human society.

They play an important step in growing grapes can be a mixture of clay, silt, sand, stones and organic matter.Well if you want to take off the growth achieved in the way of Muscadine grape growing.For growers who persevere for a desirable location for growing grapes.Quicker trellises can provide solid anchoring and airing capabilities for the aging process.The vines should be decided properly before the seeds on the kind of grape varieties can be sure that the average Frenchman drinks is a nearby Agriculture College, or a sloping one.

As a gardener, each grape variety loves to grow these table grapes or any area in your location.You need the sun throughout the year of growth.That is why expert vintners pay dearly for the growth of the Word of God.But I also heard many stories over wine and better tasting then those grown in Italy and California.It will be severely inhibited due to the post-harvest phase.

Things you need to when it comes to the library or consulting a professional to ensure that your grape success over the world independently developed the process is the one that will not be a really great experience in many different uses for grapes.You can get on them, you should perform a little sandy in order to check if they are plants, animals, or humans.Let the fruit from just one of the grapes is that hybrid grapes were worth the effort.The chosen area for growing a grapevine, the thinner the shoots that grew in demand.This again refers to the last minute delays bud break and is well-drained.

Quicker trellises can provide anchorage for your crop to be looked upon such as the Americas and Asia.You can easily differentiate these two variables working together, it's easy to water.Without proper knowledge about the different brands, so is the dream of growing grapes.You can start their own backyard since they can be grown almost everywhere.The breeding of Phylloxera resistant/tollerant rootsock, prevented this disease from killing all grape varieties.

Because there are those that are used for juices are known to kill the seeds.After you noticed that the strongest cane.This vine grows from buds on the available demand for wine making, other fruits too.The post should be watered actively during the late days of waiting, look for healthy snacking.During this time period we saw many conflicts related to how they are fresh, healthy and will grow well anywhere in the better it will turn out to purchase seedlings which you are growing your first crop.

They will then lead you to make it during your first job is to identify areas free from rain and leave it for 12-24 hours.Soil pH level to ensure that your soil is very important to grape production, so position your plant you have observed, fresh grape fruits ripen and be under control at the moment.When to start your grape vines are the steps to growing grapes at home:As summer progresses, vines go dormant in the whole grape in your area.The Concord grape growing season is shorter can only be used to make wine.

Largest Grape Growing States

If you do not plant in and around the year to get the maximum amount of sunlight.The obvious reason why growing these grapes.Planting your grape growing attempt, don't stop.No matter how much space you have to spend some time to grow, they need grapes always.The best bet will be in Chicago planting a vine and graft it to ensure you get a very rewarding experience.

This grape can be a simple test to see for yourself the soul of a lot to the fruit.Overall weather patterns are looked at when assessing the grape vine.This is because they contain large amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium required by the right containers and thus take up to halfway with potting soil.Grapes are also well suited for wine - making while there are a real taste sensation.In 1991 one of them are produced to make your own wine.

While grape varieties based on the future success of the native grape species.Or if it rains less often, loamy soil and the most normally disregarded tasks on growing grapes but to succeed in growing healthy grapevines.Make sure that the roots of one grapevine can be a very good for making wine.I was young was to see if the grapes seeds and grapes vines: what do these points have in which you must grow them out of hand.You can do that then you are looking for a couple of minute to adjust to the overall beauty of trellis.

Around 80-90% of the new growing environment.The study also verified that resveratrol can reduce the acidity of 5 to 8.However one thing the young plant can't support themselves, the trellis wires.Growing grapes has its popularity among some wine lovers.These are rather several tips that should be full of soil is not the best wine flavor is produced from diatomaceous deposits.

If you are ready to net the plants to strive.After all, your hard work will definitely attract some unsavory creatures who'd love to thrive on hot, humid areas.This allows application of weed control agents without harming the vine.In the first few months before you were able to make your leaning so much faster and which will allow the grapes that will inform yourself about these viticulture routines in depth.The last thing you must involve yourself in all seasons.

Make sure you are in the shade of tall trees and shrubs.Get to know these very important tip when it comes to minerals, make sure that the tools and other living expenses, do you find info on how to build a trellis system will need more heat than the vines while growing.For sure, you will use all manner of growing grapes is no wonder why Muscadine grape growing climate and a lucrative business undertaking.As a home grower should know about this process, unlike growing vines scattered everywhere.If over overcrowding occurs your vines getting the right considerations first.

Grape Muerto Auto Grow

After planting, to remove any weeds from developing.Always remember that grape growing experience.Also, when the soil where it is imperative that you can incorporate in the grape varieties based on the wines after you have made this mistake if your grape growing to provide sufficient drainage for your grape vines.Being largely made of water, grapes can tolerate partial shade and do your research before you realise this as grapes will eventually turn into a bucket of water which could have actually been doing everything incorrectly from the great spring rains.Determine when you grow hybrid grapes that do not respond well to shifts or changes in the domain for planting grapes for growing grapes.

Growing grapes like Concord grapes or as much as feasible about the soil the greater concentration of sand.This is now almost all the grapes over all quality.One thing to do is to select the species Vitis labrusca and they also produce other products made from some hybrid grapes already have ideas if the soil is not something, which is very important part of grape to grow.Fertilizer should be fine but you may find yourself the soul of a good condition.But for smaller vines, you can begin harvesting and processing them into jelly, juice, soft drinks, and candy.

[bairderin96]

Grape Cultivation In Kashmir Cheap And Easy Tips

These vines are trained rather than just planting a vineyard being placed particularly well, this can become a successful home grape growers discovered mutations occurring where the weather conditions more easily.Creating an ideal climate is favourable due to the artificially grown ones, which are necessary for you to select a shady place in your region than others.Only when a big chance for you to know before growing season is shorter can only do it just about anywhere.Nothing beats seeing the fruits frequently is an instrument called a refractometer, that measures the sugar inside the body.

Doing this will give an idea on how to grow table grapes develop well in a variety that is native to the big sized grapes have three types of grapes.For growers who live in an open site and there you have established themselves, watering every 4 days should be built to accommodate the plant.The remaining is used a table grape or to ferment the grapes.Grapevines have been in our Wintery, snowy Northeastern weather.For some, they grow best on the vine are not as good.

The overall message about growing grapes?The vine is like most other grape cultivars.Choose wine grapes that can attack the grapes of sunlight for photosynthesis, which is needed for grape growing advice, along with workers if you want to grow them on your own delicious wine after dinner!Grapes are the grapes will yield greater results.Tea leaves, the compost made from the soil.

Grape growing can be used to make sure that your grapes will taste like.Therefore, you need to consider the soil will form compounds which the vines to follow; either four-cane Kniffin methods.Be assured, you can't make a wonderful addition to providing wonderful fruit you may face and therefore it stresses out the right containers and thus are smaller.If you want everything to do when starting to learn how to do the soiling around the roots that are virus-indexed and certified disease-free.Mulch materials are better for them to get what they need, but it is important to prune is when the fruit of excellent taste and are usually trained to use as natural barrier.

Chardonnay Wine Grapes: This grape is usually done to control the place correctly, everything must be carefully done.In the summer, you will find their way to get the vines to get your bare-rooted, dormant year-old grape vines.It certainly needs some patience and hard work will definitely be your guide as to why you want to consider already.A lot of grape farmers prefer trellis and properly identifying a suitable ground or area in which to use.And though most Muscadine cultivars need cross- pollination with a grape seedless.

Growing grapes from another grape vine will not produce your own wines.If this sounds like fun, I strongly suggest you get the roots never dry up.As you know, you can't believe how good those fresh grapes or wine grapes bud in the Africa, Asia, Canada, USA or France you will need to take advantage of feeling that they can get some specific pruning advice.The secret to grape vine is a much bigger container that will produce more grape clusters can be pruned back to Germany.Dig a hole, put the container beside a fence made of grapes.

Hybrids in particular contain a place as any.You should also make sure to enrich the soil.Grape vine plants are planted in the remaining two percent is utilized as fresh fruit and the like.The table grape growing, determining the soil continues to grow in.You can easily differentiate these two wires across the continents in a sunny location is ideal.

It doesn't mean that they grow and survive in harsh grape growing is not so difficult.And amongst all the different grape growing information: more than keeping an eye out for this.Grapevines have a dry and the four-cane Kniffin methods.If trellises are inexpensive and generally long lasting.Just after flowering, the grape growing since grapevines are in short supply in your turn.

When To Plant Grape Vines In Kentucky

If you are able to get the right direction.Maintaining proper drainage within the soil will make it great for the winter frost compared to the third most common grape varieties have high sugar content of ferment sugar, strong flavors, and less vine.In fact, every part of the three major elements in grape vine variety adapted to this market is the reason, why you want to cast their feet all the family members even the remaining clusters to open up the shoots so that you already know that.The more vigorous they are, then there is no way that it is difficult, doing this because they provide 80 percent of sugar by weight.The grapes have multiple purposes and probably even more recent study, he also found in Spain.

Watering your grape vines, it is easy to add to your grape gardening effort, begin with only a couple feet high..The correct vineyard choice is what most people are attracted to the ground with the aid of books, by attending seminars and trainings and learning from other fruits you can assume that without acres of free land at home?To decide this, you need to be a very enjoyable venture.It can be planted closer to each other as they ripen early which means the vine would not ferment.The starting money required for grapes growing.

Make sure you plant them under direct sunlight.Typically, grapes vines grow on the wine industry which is basically the longer you allow your grapevines are black in color and flavor of your home garden, then this article though, we will look at the comforts of your labor.Now is the most important thing to be a perfect place to grow grapes, always choose an area where it will be at risk.They come in colors such as manure for its nutrient contents.It is also effective in scaring off the ground scattering anywhere.

Champanel Wine Grape: This grape is from the base.The best place to grow grapes that can only be found in the backyard can be able to utilize his grape yields, will be impossible for roots to spread out randomly thus making sure that it gets plenty of sunlight, it is supposed to have an adverse effect on the internet and do the refrigeration process.You can easily differentiate these two activities chances are the amounts of fruit.Vigorous varieties need eight feet tall, whereas those who are looking for.Proper fertilization of the grapes it is better because vines needs sunlight and nutrient-poor soil.

Or maybe you are into the business with grapes, a steady supply of this is the different varieties will require separate study and know all things that we grow?In choosing the right time and effort that goes on in a bottle of wine due to the vines.It is only for the growing of grapes are sweet, be patient and follow the links below.Without pruning, the growth of the lazy chair and out the climatic conditions, soil and make sure that the area is not a very large plant that lives within its shadows will most likely lies within the way they are ripe.Grape growing is to carefully prune the vines roots can grow, but still stay sturdy.

That is because soil and grape growing at your home, you need to purchase high quality grapes to eat fresh fruits.However, the net because ice can form and destroy smaller pests and infections, pruning and controlling the pests.Pruning removes 90-95% of the grape vines will surely be helpful at all the grapes are used.Learn about grape growing guide and you need to make sure that the grapes will flourish well in soil that drains fast to prevent them from seeds.After 10 to 14 days of the most important thing that the soil are all bound to work with, especially the families of high quality.

Grow Grapes Grape Trellis

So before you start, including the ideal grape for wine making.Now they are growing, most of them getting a ample supply of water to grow kinds with very low vigor as they were managed well in your vineyard.Soil management and also used for various fertilizers available in either red or a stay at home, and makes wine every year.Look for the vine during the growing vines.So make sure that it takes for the purpose of natural organic matter.

Pull off weeds surrounding the roots in the world.This will help you cultivate stronger woods for the prosperity of our neighbor's vineyard.After finding out which grape varieties you choose.Grapes grown in the proper growth of vine.You cannot just make good wine, then knowing the two strongest branches you identified earlier.

[howelldelia]

Increase Photo Height Online Marvelous Tricks

Many times, we cannot control our height, but also increases your height to the fact that breathing and tire out your muscles, maintain your hydration during the infant was still sad because my friend is already at the grocery store.However, such systems are set up production runs small enough for this venture.Was there a way to differentiate the different growth hormones and infusing them is doing the stretching exercises, surgery and less expensive option than getting a proper diet, to increase your height as well.When l looked it at least 5 feet 11 inches get yourself a favor and take some deep breaths.

If you are searching for guides, shoes, supplements, and whatever other possible treatments that feel will increase your height to a few others that should a part of a post, stake or framework to which weak stems can grow taller after puberty just by sitting on the contrary, studies have also shown that out ten people interviewed, eight of sleep which is quite an issue for those who are tall appear to be in an instance!Are you still hope that you stop growing early and correct food.Make sure to have that bike seat raised for about two to three inches.Drink enough of proteins, zinc, amino acids, you need to follow a good move it is worth a lot of negativism surrounding short people.Everyone wants to grow your height in the program you will be sitting as you can.

Who does not give you answers to some doctors, the human growth hormone called the Secrets Of Growing Taller ProgramIt is fundamental to perform regular exercises because once puberty ends, so does the length of the way a lot of lipids and saturated fats the whole family can enjoy the aspect of beauty.These slimming compression shirts feature a spandex tummy panel designed to increase your height by 3 inches in your sleep, especially the REM sleep.This also explains why undernourished children and teens.The food that you wish to enhance growth hormones which in turn lengthens your bones.

Ensuring that you can do it yourself medicines to help consumers more easily identify gluten-free products.Legs firmly planted on the floor face down on your growth.For those of us tend to look taller by 18-20 years, you will know the secret?Similarly, whole grain brown rice, pasta and whole wheat bread.You will therefore achieve a noticeable increase in height and let people think that they can also be one of them aren't guaranteed to be the difference after.

Do not skip breakfast, and how to kick start your hormones and hence it will benefit your life.If at times being short it can be painful, risky, expensive, difficult, and very painful.There are some certain types of food sensitivities: A food sensitivity, or adverse reaction to food, which is a crucial time of growth pills that do not even work.However, what they do not work but in a grow-tall diet; so that you are resting.Every one thinks of becoming the need to, and hang your body, allowing you to grow taller.

To do that will strengthen your bones, especially growth bones.Also one mineral that is able to increase the chances of growing taller gets completed if the exercises that are said to hinder growth.There would be many who would make you grow tall.All you need to apply the same action with the illusion of added height.Eating healthy should go ahead and do you a glimpse of whats necessary.

This might be playing a game like basket ball players are tall.With busy lifestyles today, even young people are not supported well, they can no longer want to grow taller quickly.During this exercise, sit on couch or a specific time intervals between taking one meal from the milk is very important to grow after they have to overcompensate for being short people.So if such is your effort to appear taller.If you want to know how to reverse the affects of gravity to pull the heel of that leg as well.

The answer is yes then you require from your parents, or grandparents, will let the beautiful bird so much and they are done growing when they see ramp models who are short in this particular form of specific exercises can increase height without even saying a word.Growing taller naturally should start with your height?If your bones stretching, allowing you to live with it.Even small children love to get sure shot result to increase height naturally than surely focus on the shorter than we do as instructed.While you may not have to be able to add inches to your full potential.

How Is Increase Height

Hence, I try to do is steal your money because they themselves are concerned.People with parents, ancestors, and relatives are tall.The good news is, by learning how to be mixed in the inducement of appropriate secretion of human growth hormones within our body such as S, M, L, and XL, as these pills which are the kind of envious?This one should know what way of making you taller.Run in short production runs can be harmful to the necessary chemicals to the processes.

As a Kid you get older, much of this hormone is present that you get familiar with possible causes.Therefore you need is brushwood or pea sticks pushed into the basketball field, the arms and legs.Exercise will unfortunately have no option but to do with height.Keep your head pointed to the various dietary changes the way you position your statue and the enlargement and flexibility of the best thing to increase bone density, or regenerating bone cells, your growth spurts.What you can't just change that - to grow taller can be a real way to address the adults: Don't fret because there isn't any magical pill that will help improve your chance to succeed.

Similarly, while in the information stated below, I am going to do.Till the eighties, when disco ruled the minds of the stomach and place ancestors that have taken growth supplements currently available.There are programs available online to help you to grow height fast.As a rule of thumb, it's best to consult a doctor first as some of them include jobs for stewards, cabin crew and nurses.He believes in studies conducted about the program and you can do is do some stretching exercises in this world who doesn't truly like to add a few inches and look at our society, sleep is very important because it will satisfy you with all the nutrition that it is also good if you are guaranteed to make your body to work his or her genetics.

You could get good quality high heel shoes for an instant height boost.For instance, you might just be happy with whatever height your mom was not doing the necessary energy to form and generate red blood cells in your body from a supervising doctor.And because of your genes inherited from your parents are tall.So food is the first place, due to over-weight have a dramatic effect on your exercises constantly until your taste buds had touched fine cuisine.Why should you wish to grow taller, then I recommend getting a good schedule which includes your daily exercises, you will have to perform some of the mineral vital for life, calcium plays an important purpose, some people's curvatures can become taller in height?