#luckily i found a way to get everything over to one sd card!!! but it's hella complicated so uhhHHHHH

[cinnamuff]

14~16 year old me may have made a huge mistake with my 3DS and it’s downloading games to 3 separate sd cards...

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

Click, Click

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6 , 7, 8 , 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Chapter 23:

“Oh, thank god you guys are finally here,” Kwangsun exclaimed urgently rushing towards you and the group of club members parading behind you. You felt anxiety grip your heart at the words and you reached forward, grabbing Kwangsun’s wrist.

“What happened? What’s going wrong?”

Kwangsun looked at you for a moment, puzzlement in his eyes. You weren’t sure initially why that was his reaction because the urgency he had displayed was enough to get your heart racing. You knew that the performance was in a while, but still, there were so many things that could have gone wrong already- or could even go wrong in the time before the performance- that you couldn’t help but worry that there was already something that needed fixing. You were ready to hop right into your protective-leader mode, set aside your anxieties and fix whatever needed to be fixed, but Kwangsun’s next action cleared those thoughts right from your mind.

He just laughed light-heartedly and placed his hand gently over your hand.

“Nothing, nothing, I just missed you too much that was all,” Kwangsun assured softly. You gave him a quirk of the eyebrow, which only made him laugh. “Do you even know how cute you are?”

You felt your face warming up, so to distract yourself you brushed your hair behind your ear and choked out a small laugh. No one seemed to think the action was odd, you supposed that was a good thing, because you felt like your guilt at Kwangsun’s outward affections towards you (and your inability to return them) were pretty easy to read.

“Kwangsun, come on, we have a lot to get ready,” you said, trying your best to change the topic. He chuckled at your words and looked over his shoulder at one of your friends.

“You think she knows she’s even cuter when she gets all serious and stuff?” He asked. He put his elbow on their shoulder and slowly shook his head. “There’s nothing more admirable then a girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and get things done.”

This time you just ignored his words. Deciding that maybe if you did you could focus on what mattered the most right now. The performance. You walked around the small area, talking idly to the people already gathering there (a few of which you actually recognized) and getting the speaker system set up for the day.

Kwangsun didn’t stray from your side for even a second. While he placed a few comments here and there about how cute you were, and how much he enjoyed working alongside you he was more helpful than anything else.

Sure, you got a tad annoyed when he insisted you needed help to carry around a speaker, but you were stubborn enough to not let him help you with the next speaker you had to move. Sure it got you what you equated to be a bit of a lecture: “You have to be careful, it’s just that it’s heavy and you’re dancing today… You know it’s okay to ask for help right?”

Yeah, you knew you were dumb to be mad at him for just wanting to help you. You knew it was stupid to be mad because he cared about you, but you didn’t need him to care about you, and you didn’t want anyone to think that. It made you seem weaker, and you were not weak in anyway at all.

“Okay, guys, five minutes till we start!” You called, breaking up the slow practice that every one of your team members were doing.

You had always had this bad habit of practicing nervously before most of your performances, and as you walked through the dances, your group tended to join in forming a casual full group last- minute practice. It was a custom that your group was pretty used to, and a reality that Kwangsun couldn’t believe when he watched you guys start.

His group didn’t practice, and they seemed a lot more at ease then yours did. You wondered briefly if you guys tended to just put too much pressure on yourselves. After all you weren’t actually idols, and even if you were everyone always liked your performances so there was no need to be so hard on yourselves. But before you could think too much about it, you started to go to each of your members, just ensuring they were all okay for the performances.

You checked up on everyone one by one, and then once you had left the last member found Kwangsun looking at you from not far away. You smiled at him and brushed down the flannel you were wearing for you two’s duet. It was long; but the pants, and the crop top you were wearing were so tight and… Form-fitting that you just knew that you would be self-conscious throughout the entire performance. But you looked good in it, so you were letting the sensuality of it pass for the moment.

“You’re so… Caring,” Kwangsun mumbled. You laughed quizzically at him, letting your head fall to the side. “What?” You questioned.

“I mean you checked on everyone. Made sure everyone was okay. You’re always looking out for your friends; do you know how rare that is in a person?” Kwangsun asked. You rolled your eyes.

“It’s not rare,” you insisted. Kwangsun shook his head.

“It is rare. And on top of all of that, you always just let… What’s her name… Kaylin? Walk all over you.”

Kaylin had been just like usual. Trying to make a big deal out of everything. Your relationship these days was rocky at best, but you tried not to think about it too much. Except for when you were ranting with Caitlin and Julia about how crazy she drove all of you.

You guys had gone to film something not long ago, and it got brought up that the video was never edited. Kaylin said some bull about how the editing had been up to a volunteer basis in the past despite the fact that she was the only one who ever edited anything (minus a few times that she instructed someone else to do so) and that she had just assumed someone else was doing it. Then she mentioned the fact that she had the video the entire time because, how was anyone supposed to edit the video if she had it and her excuse for that was “I don’t know how, but no one told me that the sd card was in my camera.”

You… You were getting off track.

The facts were, Kaylin was always discouraging everyone, never took responsibility for anything that she did that was wrong, and always tried to pin the blame on you and your friends even though you were always scrambling about trying to fix the problems she had caused.

Luckily, recently it had been easier to avoid her- because she never talked to anyone when she was mad at them. So, she only passive-aggressively complained about your decisions around you these days, and then pretended you two were friends when it was convenient for her.

“Kaylin is… A complicated subject,” you murmured. “Anyways, are you ready to perform?”

Kwangsun didn’t look like he wanted to let the topic drop, but you gave him a reassuring smile and held out your hand and at that he just couldn’t help but smile and take your hand as well. You encouraged everyone to come together and smiled at them all.

“Okay, we’ve all worked hard, and now the only thing to do is to give the best show possible,” you said comfortingly. “Fighting everyone! Collab on three. One. Two.”

Everyone cheered three all at once and the crowd began to grow silent. Kwangsun kept a firm grip on your hand pulling you into the center of the stage for the night. You willed your nerves down to a minimum and stood next to him. You looked up at the person in charge of sound and gave him a quick thumbs up.

The suave music started to play, and instantly you started to walk along with the beat, falling in place right there next to Kwangsun. Luckily, all the practice you had done had prepared you to the point you didn’t really have to think too much about remembering the dance moves. After all you knew them, and at this point your body just did them on cue.

Your solo hit and as you danced and sang you made sure to focus on your facials as best as you could. This wasn’t the part of the dance that you worried about so it was easy to just relax and emote and sing the way you would if you were alone (despite the audience cheering as you dropped down- legs spread) as Kwangsun came back on stage.

It wasn’t until you briefly wandered offstage, right before the part that you were most worried about that you even had the chance to look at the audience. It wasn’t long. You recognized some people that you had seen at a couple of your busking events, all cheering for Kwangsun, you felt your part coming up and so just as you were about to go back out, you saw someone in all black towards the front- but before you could dwell you were strutting back on-stage.

You felt Kwangsun’s body moving fluidly against yours. You stepped, you spun, you guys dispersed and then before you knew it, you came back, your back brushing his chest. You pulled your arms across your chest, and his face drew close to yours, so close that you could feel his hot breath on your cheek. You didn’t think about it, and instead focused on your second solo.

It was a little more difficult than the first- not move wise but because you were practically touching yourself in front of a crowd. You still got through it as easy as you had the first one, but this time you didn’t dare look at the audience while you were briefly off-stage. You just watched Kwangsun move on the stage until it was time to do the chorus with him again.

You were thankful for the breather as you guys sang the part right before the dance break of the song, especially thankful for the minimal touching at this point. Even the dance break was okay, a few touches to your hips, and that area were fine. You were just glad you guys hadn’t decided to do Troublemaker, or worse Knock Knock by Nasty. Of course, you guys had done the breakdown from their 2013 MAMA performance. A lot more touching, required sharper movements and a little bit of grinding on your part but you weren’t worried when you heard how loud the audience got cheering for it.

Kwangsun wrapped his arm over your chest, and pulled your head close to his, pulling you to the side, just so that your lips couldn’t be seen by the crowd. You could tell by the look in Kwangsun’s eyes that he wanted to kiss you again. That he was using every fiber of his being to keep from placing his lips on yours.

Your heart was pounding a million miles an hour as the song came to a stop, and even still you forced a smile on your face. You looked out into the audience, scanning for the person that you hoped- No prayed wasn’t actually there. Still in the front, smiling and clapping for you, you saw a man in a dark hoodie, sunglasses, and a face mask.

You didn’t let your smile falter, but you still felt the dread spreading through you.

“And, now, the show can truly begin!” You exclaimed, breaking out from within Kwangsun’s arms. You could feel his eyes holding on to you as you wandered away from him, trying your best to put as much space between you two as possible.

“You know, your awful puns are one of the fondest things about you,” Kwangsun said with a laugh. It hit you like a pang in the heart, but still you smiled harder and laughed as if it didn’t hit as hard as it truly did. “Did Sunny really just compliment me?” You exclaimed, placing a hand on your heart. “I’m honored truly honored.”

“Not as honored as me and the rest of the boys are to be here with you guys!”

The thing with this performance was probably that the whole point was to be a collaboration between groups. While it was easy to seamlessly fit the few boys in your group along with the boys in Kwangsun’s group, it wasn’t so easy to fit the girls in while holding the integrity of dances that both boys and girls were comfortable doing. Some of the boys weren’t comfortable doing girl group dances, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that mixing the two groups would probably end badly for the girls dancing with the boys, as they could be overlooked if the boys did well enough.

To protect that integrity, you had come up with a small solution to the issue. Your two groups would do your own solo things, add in a few duos here and there, totaling up to six quick performances, and then you and Kwangsun would get into a debate on which group was liked the most. During this debate, you guys would decide to invoke a competition.

It would invoke boys versus girls, performing mashups of the various produce songs like that of a dance battle. This dance battle would get slightly sidetracked by a song that you both liked, that was a collaboration Kpop male and female idols had done before (Who’s Your Mama by JYP had been the chosen giant collaboration song) and then you guys would all end the entire performance with a performance of Seventeen’s Thanks.

“You really are a big fan of Seventeen aren’t you?” Kwangsun asked you as you outlined your idea. He was smiling fondly at you, but for some reason the comment made you tense up a tad.

“Sorry?”

“I mean you’ve got to be a huge carat. You always plan these events, right? And you guys always perform so many Seventeen songs.”

“I guess you could say that… It’s just that being able to mirror their synchronization and execute their difficult choreography makes our group look better as a whole. It makes us look even more impressive you know?”

It was a hard show. You weren’t dancing as much as usual, but even so, you never left the stage. Never had a moment to clear your head, never had a chance to relax and tell yourself that everything was going to be okay. It was just smiling, and laughing, and dancing and pretending like everything was okay until you watched as the rest of the people on stage slowly sank down…

“Gomabda,” you sang. You slowly lowered yourself to the ground, counting beats as you lifted yourself back up, pulled your hand across your chest, and slid it down your arm. You hooked your pinkies together, letting your head drop to look down at your lap.

You heard applause and you got to your feet, eagerly waving around the audience.

“Thank you for coming!” You called excitedly. Kwangsun laughed as well grabbing his own microphone.

“We hope to do this again for you guys! Have a good night!”

Everyone in the group began to depart from the formations, meeting with their friends, or fans in the audience. Finally having everyone’s eyes off of you made you deflate. You could see Kwangsun making his way to you and so you turned to him and wrapped your arms around him in a grateful hug.

Kwangsun held you tight and seemed pretty reluctant when you pulled away slightly, but you were adamant anyways.

“Hey, there is someone I’ve got to see,” you stated softly. “Catch up in a second.”

You could feel his eyes on you, but you didn’t care. You were determined to see Jihoon and do damage control. You couldn’t imagine what he could potentially be thinking about and whether or not he was mad. You were so ridiculously anxious.

You pushed blindly through the crowd, and before you got really anywhere you felt someone grab your wrist. You were worried for a moment it was Kwangsun but when you got pulled into his arms you recognized the hug to be different. Tight grip, smaller but built frame. You smiled and buried your face into his neck.

“You came,” you mumbled into him. He laughed, an action you felt in the vibrations that ran through his body.

“Of course, I came. You come to all my concerts,” he replied. You pulled back and beamed at him brightly.

“That’s different,” you insisted. “You’re an idol.”

“You’re practically an idol,” he stated. He waved around the square at all the people standing around and smiled. “I mean you arranged this whole collaboration and everything!”

You rolled your eyes.

“Well, if I learned anything, I learned it all from you,” you murmured back. You nervously bit down on the bottom of your lip. “Are you sure that you… Liked the performance?”

He laughed.

“Of course, I did! I swear you get better and better every day!” He said encouragingly. Still you weren’t able to get out of your head about everything. You pressed your lips together.

“But it was really…”

“Sexy,” Jihoon agreed with a nod of his head. “You must have had to practice a ton with Kwangsun.” “Hours on end would you believe?” Your heart began to pound in your chest again, and you looked over as Kwangsun himself wandered over to you two.

You hadn’t imagined he would try to come find you, but you supposed you had just been hopeful with that thought.

“We spent ages in the practice room together,” he stated. “Really helps you to get to know a person.”

“Ah-ha!” You laughed out nervously. “Meet Kwangsun.”

Kwangsun beamed and looked at you.

“I just had to see who was so important to you that you ran off like that… Who is this?”

You knew you couldn’t answer the who is this question, but you were still determined to get of this situation unscathed, secrets safe, with no more secrets between you and Jihoon. How the hell you were going to manage that? Honestly? You didn’t know. But still, you were going to try.

“We-”

“Hey look who it is!”

You nearly face palmed, how on the planet could even Jeongin be here?

“It’s my favorite-” You pointed at Kwangsun from behind his back and smiled nervously at Jeongin. You knew his next word upon seeing you and Jihoon together was going to be- “Couple… of… friends!”

He bounced up to you guys and threw his arm around Jihoon’s shoulders laughing loudly as if he hadn’t just almost exposed them. You breathed out in relief and smiled nervously at Kwangsun when he turned around.

“Kwangsun-”

“Sunny,” he tried to correct. You just ignored him.

“This is one of my best friends Jeongin,” you introduced. Finally, you were in good company. You could really relax and not worry so much about having to lie about Jihoon and you with Jeongin here. You knew he would catch on pretty face to the simplistics of the situation. You knew that he would make this easier on you. (Even though, honestly, most days just being around Jihoon made everything easier on you anyways.)

“Jeongin? She’s never brought you up before,” Kwangsun said innocently. Your eyebrows drew in suspiciously at the boy but Jeongin either didn’t notice or comment on it.

“She’s a strange one,” he said with a laugh. “She’s never talking about the people who mean the most to her, and is always mentioning the people that will hardly ever be around in her life… On an unrelated topic, she’s mentioned you to me before.”

You smacked Jeongin on the arm and shot him a glare, wondering why he was being so rude, but he didn’t seem to mind the act. He just smiled innocently.

“But no matter. I am Jeongin, her best friend! And life advisor!”

“You aren’t my best friend, and you aren’t my life advisor,” You grumbled back, but a part of you was still a little relieved by Jeongin’s presence here. Even if… maybe he wasn’t going to be the saving grace you had initially assumed him to be. Jihoon laughed at your two’s antics, seeming amused by the entire situation. You were relieved, oh god so relieved.

“This is Changwoo,” you stated, gesturing towards Jihoon. Jihoon gave Kwangsun a short wave which made him nod his acknowledgment.

“Yep… Changwoo. That’s my name. I’m a close friend of Jeongin’s now a days,” he stated. “We’re getting lunch next Thursday.”

“You are?” You asked in surprise.

Jeongin beamed.

“We are!”

Kwangsun laughed in pure amusement as Jeongin put his arm around your shoulders and pulled you close. You felt yourself sigh in content and rest your head on Jeongin’s shoulder at the action. Suddenly you were hit with a wave of nothing but pure exhaustion.

You buried your face in Jeongin’s chest, and wrapped your arms around his body, but you were only in that position for about two seconds before Jeongin had pushed you into a different set of arms. Jihoon’s hands settled comfortably over your shoulders and you felt the tip of his hat brush your head.

“Oh hello,” he murmured. You felt your face darken and you looked up at him.

“How did I find my way over here?” You asked teasingly. Jihoon rolled his eyes at your words but the smile never left his lips so you knew that he found your jesting adorable either way. You lowered your eyes again, burying your face into his chest. You heard Kwangsun start to talk, a question that you believed was directed at you but before you could turned your head out and address it, you felt the distinct body vibrations that meant that meant that Jihoon was talking.

Quickly the boys around you dissolved into conversation, but you didn’t even care. You weren’t generally very tired after concerts but today was something entirely different.

You felt Jihoon’s thumb rub a circle into the back of your neck and you peeled away from him, to rejoin the commotion going on around you. Kwangsun beamed when he saw your attention returned, but a glance around showed you that Jeongin wasn’t looking very happy.

You gave Jeongin a confused look feeling as Jihoon pulled you closer to him by your waist. Jeongin rolled his eyes and did a small head quirk to the side directing your attention over to Kwangsun.

“Remember when we were practicing Now, and you stumbled into me?” He said excitedly. “That’s when I knew I wanted to kiss you so badly that day.”

Jeongin laughed and you felt your face burning red.

“So then, y/n and I had been practicing for like an hour straight no breaks and I need a break, so I tell her that I’m going to take one, but she just keeps practicing,” he stated. “And then I’m teasing her about it, and she calls me Sunny and my heart jumps…”

“That a nickname you call him often?” Jeongin asked dryly. Kwangsun’s smile grew.

“If I’m lucky! Does she call you guys any nicknames?”

Jihoon hummed.

“No, not that I can recall.”

You wanted to protest that you literally had him in your phone as a nickname under his photo album but before you could argue anything Jeongin kept talking.

“So, I start to get really close to her because this is it, you know. I’m telling her that I want to be with her and that I want to kiss her, and I’m going to do it, I’m determined to kiss her in that perfect moment and-”

Just then you felt Jihoon’s phone buzz in his pocket, he gently pressed you away from him, and Kwangsun stopped his story as Jihoon pulled out his phone.

Jihoon looked down at his phone, a frustrated expression crossing his face.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I have to go,” he murmured. He looked up at you and stared at you for a long moment. You could tell that he wanted to kiss you and honestly you wanted nothing more than to let him do so. You wished so badly to be able to feel his lips on yours again, even though it had only been a day since you last saw him and got to do just that… But it seemed like Jihoon had better self-control than usual. He smiled at you and turned his head to the side.

“I’ll see you?” He asked. You nodded.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

You let Jihoon’s hand fall out of yours despite wanting to hold on to it, and it wasn’t until he had disappeared in the crowd and you couldn’t feel the lingering warmth of his hand on yours, that you realized something horrible.

Jihoon never heard the end of the story.

Jihoon never heard that you didn’t let Kwangsun kiss you.

You felt your heart drop at the thought, and you considered chasing back after him to assure him of just that but before you could Kwangsun was speaking again.

“So that was him huh? The guy you’re in love with.”

You choked on air and were about to spit out some excuse about how Kwangsun had just read the room wrong, but you didn’t get the chance, cause your reaction was answer enough.

“Does he know?”

“Uh… Yeah, he does,” you mumbled slowly. Kwangsun’s fingers balled into small fists.

“What and he isn’t your boyfriend?” He demanded. That felt like a shot to the heart. After all it wasn’t Jihoon’s fault you guys weren’t official… Not really. In the end it just boiled down to you and all of your insecurities. “What kind of a-”

“It’s not Ji- Changwoo’s fault,” you stuttered, you stepped towards Kwangsun. “It’s uh, it’s just complicated.” Kwangsun rolled his eyes.

“Yeah. Complicated. Don’t you have any respect for yourself?” Once again you were caught off-guard by his words, unable to say anything as the rage grew in his eyes. “I mean really. Guys like him will just take advantage of you and leave you on the curb.”

“But-”

“You shouldn’t be waiting around for idiots like him,” Kwangsun insisted. He reached forward this time and took your hand. “You should be with me.”

“Kwang-”

“I’d actually take care of you I would-”

“Well at least Ji-” Jeongin interrupted himself with a scrunch of his nose. “Changwoo lets her get a word in edge wise.”

“I’m just saying that she deserves someone who actually appreciates her.”

“Changwoo does appreciate her! And he actually respects her opinions and feelings instead of just assuming that-”

“Jeongin!” You interrupted before Jeongin could continue. He gave you an annoyed look and you could tell that he was angry, which surprised you. He had always been so laid back that you had never imagined actually seeing him mad. You felt the need to walk over to him, calmly placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a sympathetic look.

He re relaxed a little at that… But not a whole lot.

“I can stand up for myself, Jeongin,” you assured him softly. He rolled his eyes at your words.

“I wasn’t standing up for you, I was standing up for Changwoo,” he replied certainly. “And god knows he deserves it for how much he cares about you and-”

“Jeongin,” you interrupted weakly. Jeongin fell silent and gestured to the ground before him, letting you take over. You looked back over at Kwangsun who looked a little annoyed, for what reason you weren’t sure.

“The stuff with Changwoo is… Well, it’s complicated because of me, not because of him,” you explained softly. “I’m scared of commitment but he… He seems ready for it crazy enough. He’s really sweet and jesus I love him so much-”

“Oh my god,” you looked back at Jeongin, surprised to find that he was completely at ease now. He smiled at you softly. “You admitted that you love him.”

You chuckled and brushed your hair nervously behind your ear.

“Shut up,” you murmured. “Anyways, Changwoo is a really great guy and I appreciate the concern but there is no need.”

“I just…” he huffed and crossed his arms. “I just care about you a lot okay. I want to make sure you are with someone who cares about you, because you deserve nothing but the best.”

You smiled gently.

“Changwoo wouldn’t ever hurt me,” you assured. “Now, I really need to get Jeongin home before he gets even more angry…”

“You’re treating me to dinner first,” Jeongin grumbled. Then he rolled his eyes. “Just kidding I’ll treat you to dinner. You really killed it at the busk.”

He reached out his hand, his bratty behavior from before disappearing when you placed your hand in his. He beamed at you, and you rolled your eyes at that.

“I’ll make it up to you Kwangsun, you can text me anytime you know?” You murmured. Kwangsun’s eyebrows scrunched together, and his lips formed a firm line.

“I’m sorry I upset your friend; I hope that…” He trailed off and sighed. “I’ll text you; I owe you lunch huh?”

You smiled at him wearily and waved your hand through the air in farwell.

-

“Why didn’t you tell me about Kwangsun?”

You rolled your eyes pushing our spoon deeper into the scoop of ice cream that Kwangsun had insisted on purchasing for you. You had told him a hundred times on the trip over that ice cream wasn’t dinner, and that he shouldn’t substitute it for it, but he insisted that ice cream was good for the soul and that you needed to chill out anyways.

“I did,” you replied. Jeongin scoffed at that.

“Yeah, okay, maybe but you didn’t tell me that he was bothering you,” Jeongin responded. “I could tell from the moment I saw you and Jihoon talking to him that something was wrong.”

“Yeah well I think you’re overreacting,” you replied pointedly. “I just can’t help but thinking that I’m a terrible person for not returning Kwangsun’s feelings. And that I don’t deserve all the good attention that I’m getting from him when I like Jihoon. And it’s not like I’m also worried that Jihoon will get jealous like he did with you, and that he thinks I kissed Kwangsun when I’m basically with him, and that me not being able to call him my… you know… means that he’ll think I’m not worth the trouble and he’ll break up with me and not want to see me anymore.”

You didn’t even realize that you had said that all in one breath until you finished the sentence. Your face was red and hot from the exertion of letting it all spill and honestly you were so embarrassed by admitting the truth that you hid behind your hand and another spoonful of ice cream.

Jeongin whistled, shaking his head slowly.

“You really do over-think for someone so hyperly aware of their situation,” Jeongin stated softly. “You know that Jihoon isn’t going to break up with you right?”

“And how do you know that?” You demanded. Jeongin dropped his spoon.

“Because he loves you,” Jeongin argued.

“Yeah, sure he does. Me, my fear of commitment, and even better, the man that I did a sexy dance with without really telling him about it who he thinks that I kissed,” you blurted. Jeongin reached across the table and grabbed you by your wrists.

“Get a hold of yourself!” He exclaimed. “You’re making it so hard to enjoy the ice cream…”

You scoffed and pulled your hands away from him, which made him sigh.

“Okay, okay, look really you are overreacting,” he mumbled. “Just wait until you see Jihoon again. You can clear the air and then you will find out that he trusts you, and you can go back to being so disgustingly in love with the guy that you’ll forget you were ever worried.”

You pouted to yourself, ice cream forgotten.

Sure, you knew that Jeongin was right… But there was still that ball of dread sitting in the pit of your stomach at the thought of Jihoon thinking you had cheated. There could’ve been another way to change this outcome, you should have just told him what dance you were doing... Should’ve asked him if it would bother him or something.

God you wished you could just relax but the thought of facing Jihoon again and him being upset or hurt… You swallowed hard.

“Y/n,” Jeongin mumbled between bites of ice cream, an eyebrow raised precariously higher than the rest. “Please tell me you aren’t going to do anything stupid.”

You forced yourself to pick up your bowl of ice cream, and plastered a smile on your lips.

“When have I ever done anything stupid before?” You asked him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

[writing-appreciation]

Hazel Eyes

SYNOPSIS: You have hazel eyes, but in most lights they appear to be a dirty brown. Instead of giving that complicated explanation, you just say you have brown eyes; but one day a boy says otherwise.

PARING: Stark!Reader X Peter Parker

WARNINGS: Moderate language. Possible Endgame Spoiler? If you look into it, yes, but on the surface, no spoilers.

WORD COUNT: 1,807

A/N: Just a little imagine for my fellow hazel colored eyes people out there. I am over it. This is actually inspired by something that happened to me not too long ago at class. Some elements are fictional, but inspiration is everywhere. So, enjoy!

..................................................................................................

It was annoying having hazel eyes that look brown. It made the question, "What colour are your eyes?" difficult to answer.

And that's the situation I found myself in today in Newspaper class. We weren't doing much as the school year was winding down. Other than planning stories for next year, we had nothing to do. Ultimately we all ended up playing random personality quizzes we found online. It was all fun and games until my least favourite question appeared.

“What is your eye colour?”

Without a beat I responded with a simple, “Brown.”

Ned, who was working the computer, just clicked on my answer.

Although I noticed how Peter seemed caught off by this question.

“Wait, my eyes are brown.” He said. “Look at me.”

I looked up, knowing what his answer would be. The lighting in this room sucked. The green specs in my eyes would be basically invisible here.

Peter looked into my eyes for a bit. Not gonna lie it made me feel awkward.

“No, she definitely has hazel eyes.” He finally spoke up, still eye locked with me.

I was taken back. Peter was the first person to notice my eye colour. Clearly he noticed my confusion as he cleared his throat and clarified.

“I mean, look, there’s clear green specs on the inner ring of her eyes. There’s even a little bit of blue. Ned look at them.”

Peter pulled Ned up by the arm and positioned him to face me.

“Hey Ned.” I said.

“Hi, (Y/n).” He replied awkwardly.

This is starting to feel like a circus show.

“Nah, man I’m just seeing brown eyes, not any green or blue.”

“Well, the lighting in here does suck.” I finally spoke up. I was a little confused because I had never noticed blue in my eyes.

“Yeah, but Peter saw the the colour.” Ned called his friend out.

This did throw me off. How did Peter see the colour in my eyes? It could be his hypersenses, but that still doesn’t make that much sense.

This seemed to hush Peter. A slight blush also climbed up his neck.

“Let me see.” MJ looked up from her book.

I walked over to her. She was sitting in the corner of the room. She observed my eyes.

“You know Peter likes you, right?” She whispered, looking into my eyes.

“Pft. No he doesn’t.” I defended.

“Dude, he just talked about the green specs in your eyes. He was one sentence away from confessing his love with you.” She said quickly, still keeping her voice low.

“Brown. Definitely brown.” MJ called out to the boys, but not breaking our eye contact.

“Okay, that’s it. (Y/n), come on.” I heard Peter call to me.

I looked at him to see him grabbing a camera and a hall pass.

“Peter, what are…”

“I’m proving you have Hazel eyes. Come on.” He began to walk out the room.

“Good luck.” MJ said, smirking.

Without anything to do, I decided to roll with this.

Peter was walking incredibly quickly. He was already halfway down the hallway when I exited the room.

“Peter, you wanna slow it a bit?” I called to him.

“Oh sorry.” He said and stopped so I could catch up.

“Not all of us have spidey powers of high endurance.” I whispered.

He laughed, “Alright I’ll keep that in mind. Come on, what’s a well lit area in this school?”

“Cafetiera? The lights are way too bright in there.” I suggested.

“No, I think we should go outside. Your colour comes out really well when you’re outside.” He absentmindedly remarked.

I looked at him puzzled.

“Well, I mean, like from what I’ve noticed. Not that I’m just staring at your eyes constantly. I just like keeping eye contact with people. Plus they’re good eyes. I mean, not that they’re not pretty. They are beautiful I MEAN, the colours go well together. The green specs and blue accents really bring out the element of kindness. They compliment your pr.. personality.” He stumbled on his words.

I laughed at his rambling, “Peter, breathe. And thank you.”

He finally looked back at me and looked mortified.

Maybe there was some truth to what MJ told me.

“So, I have a macro lens, so I should be able to get a nice photo of your eyes.

“Oh, the eyes that have green specs and blue accents that bring out my element of kindness?” I asked innocently.

He blushed even harder, if possible.

When we got to the school courtyard, Peter went into full photographer mode. He began correcting the white balance and setting the ISO.

“Where do you want me Photographer Parker?”

“Uh, here. Sit on the bench and I’ll try this lighting.”

I did as I was told.

Seeing Peter behind a camera was a sight I don’t think I’ll ever forget. He looked hyper focused. Not to mention the fact that a camera was centimeters away from my eye. Peter himself was directly in front of me. He licked his lips in concentration. I stayed still, not particularly wanting to leave this position.

I heard the shutters of the camera.

Peter pulled the camera away and sat next to me. He began to go through the photos. They looked great. Peter was right, there was definitely some blue in my eyes.

“Wow, if those weren’t my eyes, I’d love them.” I joked.

“You don’t like your eyes?” Peter asked, searching my eyes for an answer.

“Not really. They always look brown. But look at their real colour. It sucks.” I complained.

“Well, I think they’re pretty.” He said, smally. “Besides you don’t have ugly poop coloured eyes for real. That’s something I have to deal with everyday.”

“Peter, your eyes are not ugly. Their nice.”

“Yeah, just nice. Yours are beautiful.”

My breathing hitched. Peter Parker just called my eyes beautiful two times in the past 15 minutes.

Without thinking I grabbed the camera off of Peter’s neck and stood up. Peter followed my lead.

“Oh, no , no Parker.” I pushed him back down, “I’m taking pictures of your eyes now.”

“No, (Y/n), the goal was to get a picture of your eyes, not mine. Besides, they aren’t worth the memory.”

Instead of a response, I positioned the camera in front of his left eye.

He kept moving.

“Peter, stop moving. You’re gonna ruin the picture.”

And he did. So I focused in on capturing Peter’s eye in a photo.

It was my turn to sit down by him and show him the photo.

“See, nice eyes. Dare I say beautiful.” I teased him.

“(Y/n)...” He trailed off.

I looked up to him and saw him looking at me. His eyes flicked to my lips.

“Peter?” I responded.

Before I knew it he had his lips on mine. I felt the camera go limp in my hands. Peter pulled away and swiftly caught the camera. Damn, I couldn't lie. That was attractive as hell.

“Drop this?” He asked, confidence in his voice pronounced.

I just nodded as I stood up.

“We should probably get back. The bell’s gonna ring soon.” I quickly took off.

I heard him jog ahead of me. The little gentleman went to grab the door for me.

“M’lady.” He stepped aside so I could get back in the school.

I muttered a quick thanks and proceeded to walk back to class.

I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wonder. What the heck just happened? Peter B. Parker, the most awkward, adorable dork in MidTow Tech history just kissed me? I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to kiss him more regularly. I mean, come on. He's cute, funny, smart, and is a superhero.

“(Y/n), please stop.” He lightly grabbed my arm before I could get far. This pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Listen, I don’t think it’s a secret that I like you.”

Wait, hold up. Does everybody know about this except for me? Why, more how, was I left out of this memo?

“Say something, because you’re starting to freak me out.” He pleaded.

I paused, trying to find some type of confidence. Luckily, I did.

“You know, my dad loves you, but loves the idea of me being single more.” I finally looked at him.

His face lit up. This could be interesting. Especially given who my dad is.

“Mr. Stark loves me? I don’t see a problem here.” He smirked.

I smirked too. This was definitely going to be interesting.

"Well then, talk to him. See how it goes." I suggested.

He looked mortified.

"May I suggest wearing your suit because you may want to make a hasty exist after you tell him you have a crush on his eldest daughter."

That clearly didn't help him feel any better.

"Okay, cool thanks for the tip." He breathes out as we enter the classroom again.

This time all eyes were on us.

"The pictures?" Ned asked as we sat down.

Peter slid the SD card into the slot and pulled up the photos.

"You're right, definitely hazel." Ned replied, now changing the quiz answer.

"(Y/n), come here!" MJ called.

I walked over to her corner. That's when an epiphany hit me. Her spot was adjacent to a window that overlooked the courtyard.

"So that kiss."

I heard a pin drop. Yep, her corner would've given her a front row seat to everything that just went down.

I feel like for a moment I forgot how to speak english. A series of strange noises left my mouth.

"Yeah, Ned and I saw everything."

I looked back to Ned and Peter, who was now completely red.

"We didn't expect Peter to make the move, but here we are."

I chuckled at this.

"Well, MJ, I guess you were right."

"I'm always right."

I waved goodbye and walked back to the boys.

"Hey, so I just texted your dad telling him we need to talk."

"Already? Somebody's in a rush."

"(N/n), I've literally been waiting since 7th grade."

I laughed, "Really? 7th grade, wow."

"Yes, really. Trust me, I was there. It was almost embarrassing how much he liked you." Ned chirped in.

"Dude." Peter playfully hit his friend.

"No, no Ned. Tell me more about how Peter's embarrassing crush." I pleaded.

And so he did. Ned went on about every detail he could remember.

I smiled as Peter sat with his head in his hands, clearly embarrassed about everything.

"It's fine, he's embarrassing and cute." I said.

Peter slowly raised his head, a familiar shade of pink dusting his cheeks.

This was going to be fun. All that was left was to break the news to dad that his daughter and his mentee both liked each other. That's a story for another time.

A/N: Trying to cope post Endgame, this helped. I'm still in denial.

[crew-19]

Week 40

Hey hey guys, Leya here. So this week was filming week and booooy was it a hectic one. Let me just say here: always have a backup plan for your backup plan, because you just NEVER know. As my mom says to me all the time “better be safe than sorry”. 

Anyways... We decided we would divide up the filming into two separate days, to make sure we’d have enough time to get all of our shots. 

WEDNESDAY

The first day of filming had finally come. We were all very excited and nervous. We all met an hour before WG to get the actors ready and discuss final comments. For our film, we put a lot of importance into costume design because we wanted to really assert how badass our protagonists are. Tarantino often puts glasses on his characters so we decided to do the same and then base off the rest of their look from that. So for example Bella (aka Leya aka me) had red glasses so my eye shadow was red, my lipstick was glossy, and I was the killer so we really liked that hidden significance behind the red. Then Luna (aka Gabi) had sort of transparent/blue hue and gold glasses so we put blue makeup on her and a transparent gloss to make her look more angelic. We were both very matching but also very opposite which I loved because we’re both partners but at the same time there is constant tension between us. 

LOCATION 1: GARAGE

Our first location was the parking garage in Foodhallen. We’re all set up and ready to shoot. We only had to do one or two shots to establish that we we’re underground (and therefore needed to take an elevator to get up to the bar!) so it was supposed to be quick and easy. This is when we encountered our first problem: the microphone wasn’t working. I totally wasn’t freaking out. 

We quickly noticed the light of the mic was not working so we thought maybe we need to change the batteries. Manon quickly ran to a store to get some and it ended up working. Challenge one: completed. 

The shots looked great I was really happy. Since I was also acting, I was worried that it would be difficult to direct at the same time but it was actually never a problem. Kaja (the camera operator) and I work really great together and I could really trust her to always make sure everything was on point. Without this team work I wouldn’t have been able to manage as well. 

LOCATION 2: ELEVATOR 

We then moved on to our next location (at this point it was already almost 4pm so we were a little bit stressed). I have a friend who lives near Lelylaan and was willing to let us film in her elevator.

We arrive on set and the set designer Jianah with the help of Manon and Josh had printed papers to mimic wallpaper in order to cover up the mirror in the elevator since that would have been a major issue (or even impossible) to film and not see the camera. Unfortunately this is when challenge two came along. She only printed 20 papers which ended up being far too little to cover up the elevator because it was bigger than anticipated. We came up with the solution of using white paper as a border and the print in the middle. Challenge two: completed. This was really hard for me to come around on because I can be a perfectionist and I felt as though it looked pretty bad and I was worried it would ruin the shot. Luckily with Kaja we worked on trying to mask it as much as possible and I think with editing in post-production with Josh we will manage to make it look good. 

These shots took longer than expected to film but in the end we managed to get everything done. It was a really long day and we were all quite exhausted. We finished around 8-9pm. I said to them jokingly “anyone reconsidering their future career in film?” If I am being honest, yeah it’s tiring but it’s also so so fun and I absolutely love doing this film. 

FRIDAY

On Friday we were shooting the bar scene. After much struggle to find a location we ended up being able to shoot at Josh’s work: Dapper Bar. We met at Gabi’s house to prep the actors. While we were on our way there, Kaja and Josh (camera and sound) were already there prepping, we get a call: the SD card is not working (and we had all of our previous files on them!!!). I was super stressed out. We tried finding solutions but we ultimately decided to go see Pieter (the guy who takes care of the equipment) to see what was wrong. Turns out Josh coincidentally had a different SD card in his pocket and had put the wrong one in. *abort crisis* challenge three: completed. 

So now we’re all set up, ready to roll, when Josh’s manager comes to tell him that the boss changed his mind, he doesn’t want us to be there, and that we have to leave now. 

MAJOR CRISIS MODE ACTIVATED. 

Yeah so, at this point, I was so freaked out I was actually really calm. I just didn’t know what to do. We were so devastated. We had to find a solution right then and there, and with the new COVID measures, it was going to be impossible to find a place. We all start thinking of people we know, who can we call? Where do we go? Do we change the script? Do we go on a terrace? At a park? But then what about the elevator scenes we already filmed? What about the scenes at the bar of the drinks being made? So do we switch out a gin and tonic for a fucking cappuccino? That sounds boring. All I could think is that there was no way we could remove the bar without making our film look super boring (with the only few hours that we had).

So I tell Kaja and Josh: “Listen guys, at this point we’re hopeless and it’s probably not going to work, but we should still give it a try: there’s the bar at OMHP, since it’s inside the university maybe they’d be willing to let us work there since we’re UvA students.” So they head there to ask the guy and guess what? He said YES. CHALLENGE 4: COMPLETED. 

LOCATION THREE: BAR

This man, let me just tell you, was an angel sent down from heaven to us. I mean we have never met someone as nice as him. He was our knight in shining armour ready to save the day. Without him, this film would’ve failed. He saved our project and we are very grateful to him. 

Anyways so back to filming. He let us use the whole entire bar. Because of COVID, there weren’t many customers who came around unfortunately. I mean he basically shut down for the day so that we could film.

(PS. We also didn’t know that anyone from the UvA could go, even students! I always thought it was for faculty so if anyone is reading this please head over there to get a coffee or chill because it is so cozy). 

We started with the scenes of the bartender making a drink (that roughly took an hour in total with setting up and filming). Then we did the scenes with Mr. Verbinsky where we asked this lovely man to cameo in our film because he was so enthusiastic to help us out and participate we thought it was the best way to tribute him. That also took about an hour. The bar was on two floors so we actually played around with that and him bringing the briefcase. 

This was also really fun for me because those shots didn’t involve me so I was able to fully direct them.

Finally we filmed the scenes of Bella and Luna waiting at the bar for the briefcase and opening it, that took about 1h30. In the end we finished by 17:30 with only one last scene to film: the burger reveal. 

LOCATION 4: CANAL

While we took a short break and location scouted for a nice bench on a canal near OMHP, Jianah headed over to Burger King to fetch a fresh juicy burger and crispy onion rings. Shooting this scene was relatively straight forward, we only had about 5 shots to take in total. In the end we ended around 19:00.

AND THAT’S A WRAP.

Overall, this process was definitely quite stressful for our group, we encountered a lot of issues such as not being able to film at that location last minute. However, we all worked so well together and found a solution for every issue. I’m so so proud of what we did and how we managed, it proves to say that we did truly make it work. Can’t wait to start the edit :)

- Leya 

[asterinjapan]

The final

So that’s it for Japan 2019, huh…

Today was my last day in Tokyo, and also my last full day in Japan proper. Thanks to daylight savings ending in the Netherlands today, my flight tomorrow will be around 11:30. That’s an hour later than in summer, so that means a slightly less ridiculously early train trip, haha.

Since it was my final day and rain was predicted, I hadn’t really planned on leaving Tokyo. In the end, it stayed dry for almost the entire day, because of course my weather related luck hadn’t run out yet, pff. I didn’t want to over-exert myself before leaving, though. Been there, done that, only makes the jetlag worse, so nope, a calm day today. Follow me below the link for the details! I took some pictures on my camera, but with everything packed, I’ll post those after I’m back in the Netherlands.

So! I started the day with a bit of a scare, since I couldn’t check into my flight online and the airline company didn’t respond. I decided to take it out in karaoke, only to find out that you can totally sing until 5 AM in the morning, but starting before 11 AM was not possible in Ikebukuro, pfff. Instead, I took the train to Shibuya to say hi to Hachiko one last time and visit my shrine once more. After crossing the scramble crossing however, I found a karaoke joint from my favourite chain (Big Echo) that was open 24/7 and currently had no waiting time, so in I went!

This building actually had ‘princess rooms’, titled Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and so on, but my room was just next to them (you can book a room just for yourself, so no need to share with strangers). I had booked for 90 minutes and just put a bunch of Japanese songs on blast, with the Japanese people in a room near me putting Ed Sheeran on blast, haha. Though I do admit I also picked a bunch of Disney songs and Total Eclipse of the Heart, because I wanted to let it all out. It definitely worked and I had a great time. And the price tag was a lot lower than I was expecting – prices are down before 7 PM, so if you ever want to do karaoke in Japan, be sure to do so during day time to save some money.

I explored the streets of Shibuya that I knew, had some nice finds into the nearby 100 yen shop, went for lunch at a café, and eventually found myself floundering a bit, mindlessly browsing for clothes I wasn’t even set on getting. It was only 3 PM though, so I made myself walk back to find the Miyamasu Mitake shrine again. And once again, it was completely quiet, tucked away in between the skyscrapers and somehow drowning out most of the sounds. I gathered myself here, took some deep breaths, and actually felt my upset stomach settle into normalcy again. Yep, I love this shrine alright. I definitely recommend it, but please don’t go there in droves now, haha.

I made my way back to the station, with a slight detour through the Starbucks that looks out over the scramble crossing just to shoot a picture from above, and then hopped onto the Yamanote line for Ikebukuro.

I wasn’t even planning on that much, but I went into Sunshine city anyway, visiting the Pokémon Center and just – generally seeping in the familiar atmosphere. It’s the weekend before Halloween, and although the big event here is behind closed doors and a paywall, there were still quite some people out in full costume. I saw an Ash and an N cosplayer in the Pokémon store, haha.

I went through my favourite stores too, only picking up a small strap for my phone, but as said, it was also comforting to just take in the familiar sights and streets. I actually had the perfect amount of money with me for dinner, breakfast for the train tomorrow and the last minute small fry at the airport, so unless I wanted to visit the ATM I couldn’t even spend much money, but it was fine. Things change over the years, of course, but Shibuya and Ikebukuro remain familiar. (Although I had to laugh a little at the contrast with my first visit in 2010. Back then, most people I went to school with had iPhones while most of the Japanese people still used flip phones. Currently, they put up warnings everywhere to tell people to not look down at their smartphone while walking. Not that most people heed that warning, but hey. At least it also means there’s a lot of free Wi-Fi spots going around.)

A little after 7, I picked up breakfast, dinner and some dessert and ate the latter two in my hotel room. I, uh, was getting a little emotional over having to leave tomorrow, so I didn’t want to eat out in case I broke down crying or something. Luckily, the TV provided a distraction, as the figure skating grand prix season has started and some of the biggest names in Japanese figure skating competed in the Skate Canada event this weekend. The competition was already done, but this program featured the highlights of the men’s and ladies’ programs, so I ended up watching it all and staying up a bit late, considering I still had to figure out my suitcases, oops.

That is all done now, though! I’m – actually not entirely sure my small boxes of Kitkat will survive the trip, but the candy themselves should be alright. All legitimately breakable things are in my carry-on. I am definitely over the weight limit for one suitcase, but the airline eventually checked in with me and let me know that although I can only check in at the airport, the second bag had gone through okay. So that’s a relief, and with the Narita Express up and running again, I should be at the airport a good three hours before my flight.

I can’t believe how fast these 4 weeks have gone by. It does feel like I’ve been in Japan for a long time though, maybe because settling into Tokyo is pretty easy by now. But I had a great time, despite the typhoon troubles in my last week (which I don’t even dare to complain about, considering how lucky I’ve been overall). Maybe I could have done more in this last Tokyo week, but hey, I still had a good time, and that’s what counts.

I’m going to close down the laptop and try going to sleep, as I have an early alarm tomorrow. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this trip and Japan in general, but I think I’ll save those for my retrospective post.

I’ll probably shoot this blog a quick message once I’m back home safe and sound, then the final pictures will follow and then – the final posts, I guess. My final thoughts, the usual photo sets of the highlights… And then I will have a hell of a time browsing through all my pictures to compose a photo album, because I almost filled up my entire SD card. I can put like 4000 pictures on one of those and that’s not taking into account the candids and panoramas I took on my phone, so, uhm.

But that’s for later. For now, sleep and the final lapse of the journey!

See you tomorrow, probably from the Netherlands again!

[freerebelmentality]

No more room service

Ok this is my very first hockey fic of Mike Condon. Be nice. After reading an article on the NHL website and reading the quotes he gave is when it just tugged my heart. Well whatever I have left of it anyway. Plus MIKE CONDON DESERVES ALL THE LOVE!!! He’s a precious cinnamon roll.

***********************************************

Word Count: 1,947

"I lived in three different hotels [in 2014-15]," Condon said. "I lived in the hotel when I was up and down between Wheeling and Hamilton. I'm just used to hotel life."

The Penguins claimed Condon from the Canadiens to be Marc-Andre Fleury's backup while Matt Murray is recovering from a broken hand. After falling to No.

3 on the Canadiens depth chart, Condon welcomed the opportunity.

He isn't married and doesn't have children, so moving a family wasn't a concern.

"I'm single as can be," Condon said. "I've been moving in and out of hotels for the past five years. No one's been able to stick with me. No one wants to stick around for the ride. I don't blame them either. It's a tough ride. It takes a toll."

Last season was an anomaly for Condon because he spent all of it with the Canadiens, who gave him the green light to get an apartment on Nov. 1.

"It was weird for me to have my own place, not sharing with roommates or anything like that," Condon said. "I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself, but one day, hopefully, I can get another one. A guy can dream, right?"

You remember the quote to all those years ago and finally looking to today on how everything came to be for Mike.

It was a year ago when you first moved to Ottawa and he recently got picked up by the Senators hockey team. You two met at a charity event the Sens team always had for whatever fundraiser.

You’re a freelance photographer and your friend who worked for the organization that the Sens are fundraising for. She has hired you to take photos throughout the event for the website.

You couldn’t refuse the job because it’s a paying job, free drinks throughout the night and most of all there were going to be hockey players.

Throughout the night you have been taking pictures. Asking the players and their significant others for pictures as well and they happily accepted with wide smiles. Some you noticed were beginning to get quite tipsy, which was completely hilarious and happy you agreed to take the job.

With one quick swing around to walk back to the office your friend has placed you in. You wanted to switch cameras along with getting a new SD card, the one in you camera is getting quite full and fast.

You bumped into someone who was tall, you felt toned muscles as your face met his chest and you fell backwards as your bottom hit the floor. Your camera took a bad fall as well, the lens cracked as you took a better look at it.

Everyone stops what they were doing, gaps throughout the building while the person you bumped into kneels beside you and your friend rushes to your side.

“Y/n are you ok? What happened? Oh no your camera” she says while helping you to your feet

Others ask if you were alright, you nodded as you smiled and looked to your friend.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. Are you alright?” The man asks looking to you all worried he hurt you.

“I’m fine really. Thank you for asking. Only bad fall was my camera lens” you wave him off and look to your camera.

“I can replace that for you” your friend says while looking between you and the man

“No, please don’t bother. It’s a quick fix and I have extras. Don’t go through the trouble and spending a lot of money on a lens when I have a few at home” you tell her while walking slowly back to the office.

Your friend and the man who wasn’t bad looking. A ginger with adorable blue eyes. Such beautiful blue eyes that you can swim in them forever.

If he looked any deeper into your eyes, you’d allow him to look through your soul and let him have it.

“I’m Mike by the way. I feel bad for your fall and your lens breaking. Let me do something for you” he is basically pleading now.

He looked like a hurt puppy who played too rough and hurt the person he loved so much and trying to make things better by doing anything.

You knew who he was, you followed his playing career since he got signed by the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are your most favourite team, second is the Sens. You are a third generation Habs fan and knew the rich history behind the team.

“Y/n. Since I’m not going to get rid of you that easily. You can take the rest of the pictures” you tell him as you wave him to follow you.

He followed while your friend remained where she was and continued doing her rounds.

Since then the both of you kept hanging out when he could. When the summer came is when the both of you got more acquainted and had fun.

While it lasted and it was the new hockey season all over again. You were worried he was going to get placed on waivers again and having another team pick him up.

That didn’t happen, the Sens offered Mike an extension on his contract and told him to find an apartment. Which he did and asked you to move in with him right away.

You didn’t want to be apart from him anymore and you graciously accepted. The both of you couldn’t be more happier.

“Hey what are you so deep into thought for?” Mike asks as he enters the office the both of you share

You exit out of the article quickly and making it look like you were working on editing pictures. You pulled up the software you always worked on and luckily a picture is still on there.

A picture you completely forgot to finish but got sidetracked by something else.

“I’m just debating if I should get a Leica Camera or not. Why I’m so deep into thought” you tell him while he sits in the chair that’s in front of the desk and where you are sitting.

“Wow, why don’t you just get it? Plus I think it’s time for you to upgrade anyway. You take amazing pictures and you deserve the very best to work with” Mike says while leaning in closer and in hopes he’s changed your mind and purchase the damn camera.

“You are so sweet you know. Too sweet for me. It makes me puke” you say while you look to him and back to the computer screen

“And you are disgustingly charming” he retorts as he gets up from the chair and walks out of the office

“Wait, I was looking at an old article you were in a few years ago” you finally tell him before he is an ear shot away.

He stops at the doorway and turns around slowly. He leans against the doorframe as he crosses his arms across his chest.

“Which article?” He asks keeping his gaze on you

“The one about constantly living in hotels and how you mentioned no one has ever stuck around because it takes a toll and you as single as can be” you recite the quotes he said a few years ago.

By reciting the very quote causes you such grief because the thought of him being lonely like that is hurtful.

After getting to know Mike, you didn’t like the idea of him being lonely or didn’t like the thought of anything so enduring such as loneliness. You loved Mike way too much for him to go through that. Loved him way too much.

“Ooh that interview. Why would you be deep into that thought?” He asks as he enters back into the office and this time he gets the chair and places it right in front of you.

“Because the very thought of you being incredibly lonely, in between towns/cities, in and out of hotels. It hurts me to even think of the things that you were going through. I mean your mental well being and so forth” you exhale while placing your hands over his and look to him

As you tell him that is when he forms a smile on his face.

“I appreciate you for that. I really do” he replies as he kisses the top of your hand

“It was lonely, especially at night and no one to ask how my day was in general and just talking about it. But I knew what I got myself into and I knew I needed to focus on going into pro hockey. I thought of it more as no distractions to keep me from getting the one thing I really wanted and that got me more motivated to get to where i am” he continues while talking about his journey into the NHL.

You loved how he talked about the hard work he has put into getting that contract. Loved how he talked about the trial and tribulations he endured just to get to where he is at today. Oh you loved this man right in front of you, you loved how he is so devoted to his career, devoted to his family and how much he has devoted himself to you.

“I love how you talk about your trials into getting a pro NHL contract and love how you stuck on being focused on that” you tell him as you get up from your chair and sit in his lap.

You wrap your arms around his neck and begin to kiss him. The way your lips molded together couldn’t be anymore fitting and perfect. It was as if you two are meant for each other. Like what the stories were told in books, how they were brought together by scent or how they imprinted and so forth. It’s how you like to think about it.

“Mmm, what else do you love?” Mike asks as he pulls away from the kiss and looks deep into your eyes

There he goes soul searching once more with his beautiful big blue eyes. You definitely can swim and get lost in them forever.

“You. I love you” you reply while look deep into his eyes as well.

“I love you too. You know, after that interview and just a short couple years. I have found the most incredible, understanding, accepting, loving, beautiful, caring person. Who is willing to join me on whatever path this crazy career of mine will take me” he says with an adoring smile as he closes the gap between the both of you.

“Really? Who is that? I’d like to meet this person” you jokingly reply while he looks to you all surprised and begins to tickle you.

You laugh while trying to move away from his sudden movements as he reaches the ticklish spots you have.

In all seriousness Mike is happy he has found someone like you and at times he felt he didn’t deserve you because of how long he’s gone all the time.

He was happy enough to find you still at the apartment the both of you shared. He thought at times that you have left him because you couldn’t handle things anymore. But no.

You were always right there, patiently waiting for him to come home. You were waiting right there at the airport when he called for pick up. He loved how your face lit up every time he came home. He loved everything about you and didn’t want to lose you over anything. He loved you too much to endure loneliness again. Never again.

No more room service for him.

[waywardnerd67]

Writing Your Story: Chap. 13 - Only Tonight

Summary: Raelyn and Dean take a romantic weekend trip to get away from everything dealing with the Hooded Man.   Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel and Raelyn Nichols (OFC) Pairing: Dean X Raelyn (OFC) Warnings: Fluff/implied smut/adorable boyfriend Dean (yes it’s a warning) Word Count: 4140 A/N: I hope you all are ready for some adorable, loving, romantic Dean and Raelyn action! This chapter will probably rot some people’s teeth and I’m not sorry about it. After this chapter be prepared for all the angst! As always this is unbeta so all mistakes are mine. Likes, comments and reblogs are splendid and I will love you doubly for them! Enjoy!

When they told Sam and Castiel that they were going to take a weekend trip alone they were more than supportive. “I think that’s a great idea. Cas and I will keep on the Raymond mission.” Dean shook his head. “Sammy, we all need to take a break even if you take one day but go do whatever it is you do for fun. Poetry reading, all night bender playing Dungeons and Dorks, anything fun.” Sam rolled his eyes at Dean as Raelyn chuckled. “Well there is a convention in St. Louis this weekend that I would love to go too.” Dean smacked Sam on the back, “There you go! Have fun with all the nerds.” Raelyn and Sam glared at him as he held his hands up, “No offense. Nerds are awesome.” Raelyn smirked and kissed him on the cheek, “Much better pretty boy.” Dean smiled proudly as Raelyn walked towards her room.

Dean spent an entire day planning out their weekend trip and would not tell Raelyn any of the details. “How am I supposed to pack?” she asked as he was sitting on her bed with his laptop. “I’ll pack for you.” Raelyn turned her computer chair around, “Winchester, you are not going through my underwear drawer.” He glanced up biting his lip in thought and then smiled, “That is a thought, but I will let you pack the undergarments.” He chuckled as Raelyn went back to the article she was reading about the connection between twins. Ever since they all agreed to take a weekend off the atmosphere in the bunker had lighten up. After the last nightmare with Raymond, Raelyn focused on the connection between twins instead of trying to find something on hybrid monsters. Something deep down inside her nagged at her that the answer was more about their connection and not about him being a monster. She ran her hand over her new scar on her arm. Luckily, the cut on her cheek healed nicely without any scarring, but her arm was not so lucky.

On Thursday afternoon, Dean was packing the Impala for their trip as she was packing her laptop bag. The only way Dean was allowing her to bring her laptop was for her to work on her manuscript. She was getting ready to walk out of her room when Castiel came in. “Hello Raelyn.” She looked up as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “Hey Cas, what’s up?” Castiel held out a box with a blue bow on top of it. “This is for you. I know you love to take pictures and the man in the electronics store said this is the popular option.” Raelyn smiled as she opened the box for the Polaroid Snap camera. “Cas, this is amazing. Thank you.” She hugged Castiel as he stood there awkwardly. “Uh, Cas, this is when you hug back.” He chuckled slightly as he stiffly hugged her back. She let go him and went to her desk pulling out an extra micro SD card and inserting it into the camera. “Wait.” She said as Castiel was walking out of her room. She stood next to Cas and put his arm around her shoulders, “Smile!” She pointed the camera at them snapping a picture. The picture printed out and she started laughing. “You look constipated, Cas.” He cocked his head to one side, “I do not feel restricted in any way.” She rolled her eyes as she placed the picture of them on her desk.

“Do you have everything?” Dean asked her as she walked into the garage with Castiel. “Sure do! Look what Cas got me for our trip.” She showed Dean the camera as he smiled down at her. “That’s really cool. Okay, let’s get this show on the road. We have a day’s drive ahead of us.” Raelyn sighed, “A whole day of driving. Jeez…” She hugged Sam goodbye and they took off out of the garage. They had been driving for a few minutes when Dean glanced over to Raelyn, “Will you play your mix playlist?” he asked. Raelyn smiled pulling out her Bluetooth speaker sitting it between her and Dean. “What song do you want to hear first?” She asked as Dean raised his eyebrows at her. She scrolled through until she found the song he always wanted to listen too. 

As soon as it started playing she heard him humming along. “Why do you like this song so much?” she asked as she stretched her legs out across the seat resting her feet up against his thighs. “I think of you every time I hear it and that makes me happy.” Raelyn felt a fluttering in her stomach that bubbled up into light giggling. “Wow, Dean Winchester I never thought you would be so sappy.” Dean pointed a finger at her, “Don’t you dare write that in your Supernatural books. This is our little secret.” Raelyn started laughing and leaned forward sticking out her pinky finger, “I promise I will never write about how the great Dean Winchester is just an ole lovable sap.” He hooked his pinky with hers and smiled.

During their twenty-four drive Dean stopped at every little tourist site they passed. Raelyn would take pictures of them with her new camera and place the prints in her journal. They stopped in Utah to sleep for a bit before making the rest of the trip out west. Raelyn repeatedly asked where they were going and Dean would not give her anything. “You’ll see.” Was all he kept saying to her. When they hit the California state line Raelyn drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, Dean shook her shoulder and she slowly opened her eyes. “Come on sleeping beauty time to wake up.” The smell of salt water overwhelmed her nose and the calming sounds of waves flooded the car. She looked out over the dashboard to see the sun starting to set over ocean. She looked over to Dean grinning from ear to ear. “Raelyn Nichols, welcome to Santa Cruz, California.” She jumped out of the car excitedly and ran over to the railing looking out. They were parked outside a nice hotel called the Sea and Sand Inn which was near the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. She watched as people walked up and down the boardwalk and families sat together on the beach.

She felt Dean’s arms wrap around her waist and she leaned back against him. “What do you think?” She turned in his arms interlocking her fingers behind his neck. “I love it, Dean. Thank you.” She pushed herself up kissing him. She felt him smile against her lips and his hands traveled down the small of her back and resting on the back pockets of her jeans. He pulled away from her and gently kissed her forehead, “Come on, let’s get check into our room and plan our evening.” Dean smacked her butt as he let go of her walking towards the back of the Impala. “Pretty boy, what did I tell you about smacking my ass?!” she shouted as he started laughing. “I believe it was in the bar when you told me that would be the only time I’d get away with smacking you ass, but I believe I just did it again.” 

He was carrying both their bags as she slung her laptop bag over her shoulder. “You’re lucky I like you and you’re handsome.” He gave her a cheesy smile and laced their fingers together. Raelyn could not believe the beautiful view from their room. Raelyn stepped out on their balcony letting the breeze from the ocean sweep over her. She closed her eyes breathing in the smell of the beach feeling all the tension release from her body. She heard Dean walk out next to her, “So, tonight is your night. Anything you want to do we will.” He rested his forearms against the railing looking out to the ocean, “What would you like to do gorgeous?” She thought for a moment, “A date of my choice?” Dean nodded and she smiled. “Then I know exactly what I want to do.” She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him from under her dark lashes.

“This is not what I had imagine you wanting to do on your perfect date.” Dean said as he went from rack to rack trying to find a bowling ball that would fit his large hands. Raelyn laughed as she found a bowling ball that was the right weight for her. “Consider yourself lucky that I don’t have my own equipment with me.” Dean stopped and looked over at her curiously. “Your own equipment? As in…” She walked over putting the bowling ball on the ball return. “As in I have my own bowling balls, shoes the whole thing.” Dean pursed his lips together trying not to laugh. He put the ball he found next to hers. “Think that’s funny Winchester? Care to wager a bet?” Dean looked up at her as he sat down tying his bowling shoes. 

A cocky smirk coming across his gorgeous face, “What did you have in mind?” Raelyn finished putting on her shoes and started putting their names in the computer. “If I win then we go down to the Boardwalk and we play every game they have. Also, ride all the rides I want.” Dean tilted his head from side to side slightly thinking, “Okay and if I win?” Raelyn stood in front of him in between his legs. His hands went up to her hips as she ran her hands through his hair. She leaned down and whispered, “I will give you what you want most from me.” Dean’s eyes went wide as he sucked in a quick breath. Raelyn licked her bottom lip as he stared at her lips, “I’ll make you my grandma’s famous cherry pie.” She started giggling seeing his reaction and stepping away from him. He narrowed his eyes on her, “You’re on.”

Dean was still grumbling as they were walking back to the hotel from a few hours at the boardwalk. Raelyn was blissfully skipping alongside him holding a large stuffed tiger he had won at a shooting game. “You didn’t play fair. If I had known you were a damn professional bowler I would have never made that bet.” Raelyn hooked her arm with Dean’s, “I’m not a professional bowler. I just so happen to have bowled on a league and a few competitions for all of my youth and well into adulthood.” Dean shook his head as they walked up to their room and unlocked the door. Raelyn set her tiger on the couch as Dean flopped down onto the bed. “So, what is the plan for tomorrow?” she asked as she went through the clothes Dean had packed for her.

“Well I figured we would hit the beach for a little while go swimming in the ocean since I’ve never done that before. Relax and then take you shopping for something to wear tomorrow night on our date.” Dean looked over at her as she looked through her bag again. “Dean, you didn’t pack my swimming suit?” Dean looked up at her with a smirk and wiggled his eyebrows. She looked at him seriously as he chuckled, “I couldn’t find it when I was packing so I figured we could go get one.” Raelyn sighed and sat down on the bed. She felt Dean sitting up as the bed shifted. “What’s wrong?” She sighed shaking her, “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She got up but Dean caught her wrist. “Raelyn, what is it?” She looked down at him, “It’s… I can’t just go into any store and find a swimsuit. I’m not small like normal girls.” Dean got up and walked over to towards her. She was trying hard not to let her insecurities show but by the look on Dean’s face she was failing. She shivered when Dean placed his hands on her hips. “Raelyn, you don’t have to be embarrassed or self-conscience around me. I’m attracted to you just as you are. If you don’t find a swimsuit then we can just buy a shirt and shorts for you to swim in.”

Raelyn rolled her eyes and surprisingly her anger flared. “Yeah because that is exactly what a girl wants to wear when going to the beach with her boyfriend. A baggy shirt and shorts. So sexy Dean.” Raelyn pushed past him going outside on the balcony. She did not know why she reacted so harshly. He was trying to plan a romantic day for them and she was ruining it. Her insecurities always popped up at the wrong times. She heard the door open and Dean’s arms wrapped around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder. He slid his arms back to run his hands across her stomach. She felt his soft lips leaving a trail of kisses down her cheek to under her ear. “Dean…” He shushed her as he continued kissing down her neck. His hands moved down to his hips then slipping under her shirt. His rough hands slid up her curvy sides to her ribs and back down around to her stomach. 

As he kissed his way back up her neck he let out a small moan setting shivers down her body. “Raelyn, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a sexy outfit, baggy sweats or a swimsuit. I think your gorgeous no matter what. You’re smart, sassy, funny and one of the most caring people I have ever met.” She sighed relishing in his touch, but she turned in his arms to face him. Dean kept his hands under her shirt running his calloused fingers down her spine. She rested her hands on his firm arms. “Dean, I know I’m not the prettiest girl and I know my personality makes up for it. I just…” His lips came crashing down on hers rough. Pressing his hands against her back bringing fleshed against him. His expert mouth moved against her as she moved her hands up to grip his shoulders. He pulled away taking a few deep breaths.

“It wasn’t your personality that attracted me to you, Raelyn. As much as I would love to be the guy who tells you it wasn’t your looks but I can’t. The moment my eyes laid on your sweetheart face, killer curves and amazing ass of yours I wanted you. At first, I was fine with getting with you any way I could, but then you ran your smart mouth. For the first time I wanted something more and then Cas told us we were soulmates. I knew, I knew he was telling the truth and it scared the holy hell out of me.” Raelyn stared up at him in disbelief. “When I say your beautiful, gorgeous or whatever I mean all of you. Physically and personality you are the sexiest woman I have ever been with.” He slipped his hands out of her shirt and rested them back on her hips. “Dean?” she asked and he nodded. “Thank you.” He smiled down at her and place a chastised kiss on her lips. “Come on, let’s get ready for bed and watch a movie.”

The next morning, Raelyn woke up her head resting on Dean’s chest. Her arm was wrapped around his stomach and her leg was resting across his waist. She looked up at him a couple days’ worth of stubble darkening his chin and chiseled jaw. She gently ran the tips of her fingers along his jaw causing him to shift slightly. His arm tightened around her back and his other hand gripped her thigh. She slowly reached over him grabbing her phone and snapped a picture of him sleeping. “No pictures before bacon and coffee.” She giggled feeling his chest rumble as Dean spoke. “Then I guess we better get up and going.” She went to move and Dean held her against him. “Five more minutes. We’re not in a rush.” Raelyn laid her head back down on his chest for a moment, “You know the sooner you get up the sooner we can go out and I can model off dresses and swimsuits for you.” She watched Dean’s eyes snap open and he flew off the bed leaving her face first in the mattress laughing.

Raelyn could not think of a more fun day she had than spending the day with Dean. They went shopping in the local mall which Dean was stalked by the ladies in Lane Bryant as Raelyn picked out a dress and swimsuit. They had gone into American Eagle to grab Dean a pair of trunks where she learned that Dean had a jealous side from a worker hitting on her. “Back off or I’ll break your nose.” Dean said as he came out of the dressing room scaring the crap out the poor guy. They went back to their room for an early lunch where they changed into their swimsuits. They walked down to the beach and Dean laid out a blanket for them to lay on. “Wanna go in the water with me?” he asked and she shook her head. “I’m going to relax here for a while and read my book. You go ahead.” She watched Dean kick off his shoes and pull his shirt over his head. Seeing him stand there like a model. He ran down to the water and jumped right in.

Anyone who would see him now would never know that he had battled monsters, was a demon for a while, went to hell and saved the world countless times. He was strong, badass hunter who at the current moment was acting like a big kid in the ocean. After several minutes he ran back up to her and she looked up at him over her sunglasses. His chest was glistening from the ocean water and his blond hair on his head shined from the sun. “Raelyn, come play with me in the ocean.” She chuckled at his whiny tone. She stood up and took off her cover-up revealing her royal blue tankini top and black swim shorts. She bent over setting her sunglasses on her book and heard Dean whisper, “Damn.” She glanced over to see him checking out her butt. “Like the view?” She asked standing up. Suddenly, Dean swoop her up over his shoulder and carried her down to the water. “You have no idea, sweetheart.” He swatted her butt making her yelp.

After a couple of hours at the beach and swimming they went back to their hotel to relax before the date Dean had planned. As Dean slept, Raelyn worked on her manuscript out on the balcony. Everything that had happened this trip she wrote in her manuscript to show Dean how she saw him. She knew all of them had low opinions of themselves and she wanted them to see themselves through her eyes. How much she admired their strength, their character and how normal they could be. That having a normal life and being a hunter was possible for them. With her earbuds in and being so focused on writing she did not hear Dean come outside and only noticed when his hand was waving in front of her. She pulled out her earbuds out, “Sorry…” she trailed off her eyes ran down his body. He was standing there in only a pair of red and black gym shorts with his hair sticking up wildly from sleeping. “Stop gawking. Come on it’s time to get ready for our date.” She saved her document and shut down her laptop. “I’ll stop gawking when you do pretty boy.” She got up going inside leaving him chuckling.

After taking a shower, doing her hair and adding some make-up to her sun kissed face she walked out in the black dress she bought earlier. Dean was waiting for her on the couch. “Alright, I’m ready to go.” She said as Dean turned off the TV and stood up. He licked his bottom lip as he approached her. Raelyn could not believe this was the same Dean Winchester who has flannel collection lumberjacks would envy. There he stood in dress shoes and slacks, crisp white button-down shirt with the first few buttons undone and a navy jacket. He twirled a strand of her hair as he looked her over. “Raelyn, you look beautiful in that dress.” She blushed as she leaned up and kissed him quickly. “Thank you. Now let’s go because I’m hungry.” Dean chuckled motioning for her to lead the way. 

Dean drove them to a little restaurant a little way down from their hotel. They ordered a bottle of wine and chatted. Raelyn loved that they could chatted about mindless things like ridiculous TV shows that Dean loved like Real Housewives of Atlanta. Dean shared stories about hunting as a kid and funny stories about Sam. They shared food of each other’s plates and shared a piece of pie together. After dinner they walked to a nearby bar that had a band playing. After a few drinks, Raelyn convince Dean to dance with her. The band was playing oldies music from the fifties and sixties which Raelyn loved since Morgan’s dad was in an oldies band since they first became friends. They laughed and danced the night away until the band played their last song.

As they walked back to the car, Dean put his jacket over Raelyn’s shoulders and carried her heels for her. Raelyn woke up as Dean was laying her down in bed. “Hey sleepy head, go back to sleep.” She looked up at Dean and grabbed his hand pulling him towards her. She curled her finger motioning him to come closer and as he leaned down she slipped her hand around to the back of his neck. She pulled him down his lips meeting hers. The scent of salt water and her perfume mixing together. She ran her tongue over his bottom lip and as he deepened the kiss she tasted his last whiskey he drank. One hand pulled his hair gently as the other grasped the back of his shirt. Dean shifted his body hovering over hers for a moment and then softly laying partially on top of her. Feeling his body pressed against hers was comforting and she needed to feel more of him. She tilted her head to one side as Dean started leaving little kisses down her neck. When he kissed the crook of her neck she let a soft moan out and she felt him smile against her skin. Raelyn pushed him up so he was sitting back on his legs and she stood up.

“Raelyn, I’m… sorry if…” She shook her head stopping him. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and she stood between his legs looking down at him. She leaned down and kissed him for a moment before whispering against his lip, “Dean, I want this, but…” She leaned back as his hands traveled up her back as she started giggling, “You can’t exactly take off my dress if I’m lying on my back.” His smile was contagious and she felt him draw the zipper down her back. Slipping the straps off her shoulders she let the dress pool at her feet. Dean sucked in a breath as she stood there in a match black lacey bra and panty set. Suddenly she felt insecure and she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Dean quickly took her arms and pulled her on top of him. She squealed as she flew forward and bracing herself with her hands on either side of Dean’s head. Her long hair creating a curtain around them. “I told you, don’t be insecure about your body.”

His hands were on her hips and he bucked his against her. She went forward giggling, “Can you feel the kind of effect you have on me?” She nodded feeling her body heat up. He leaned up slightly and her breath hitched in her throat. His lips were barely touching hers when he said, “Raelyn, I want you.” That was all it took for her to press her lips against his. She started unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. She started giggling again when he flipped her over onto the bed and he sat up pulling his undershirt over his head. He hovered over her as his hips pinned her to the bed. Dean kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose and her finally her lips as he hands started to undo his belt. “Are you sure, Raelyn?” he asked one final time. “More than anything.” She whispered as he kissed her again.  

My Nerd Herd: @carryonmywaywardcaptain @waywardrose13 @anotherwaywardsister @waywardbaby @ladywinchester1967 @dwgrl1903 @1967-essentialghoul @weirdoblogger69

[olla-village]

Language biography -My Chinese adventure

1. Here I am 18 years old

So, here I am, 18 years old confused monolingual… Finished my community college just to realize that I hate spending so much time in front of computer screens, writing code at nights, powered by coffee and greasy junk food.

 18 years old meant that I was an adult, at least both I and law of the country agreed on that… I could buy cigarettes, alcohol and tickets to other countries even if my parents were against it. I didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission. It felt like freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility, but that’s the whole different story.

 2.  It was time for something big It was time for something big.But for what? When I was younger I liked to travel to nearby cities by busses and hitchhiking. It was a mixture of being lost, on purpose… and finding something new after every trip. Traveling was my form of learning and escaping from problems at the same time.

 This time I was really lost.No direction. Hitchhiking for a week didn’t help. Yes, I tried. I needed a new medicine. I tried, like many of us nowadays, to find the answer online. Almighty Google knows it all.I didn’t know what to ask. So I decided to look at my bookmarks.

There was a website I read for more than 4 years. Or so. I guess. It is called Magazeta. They also do a podcast. Not some goofy cast, but LaowaiCast. They discuss everything about China through the eyes of laowais, speak Chinese fluently and seem to have all kinds of fun there in the mysterious country.

3. I decided to join them

I decided to become one of them, join this strange tribe. To become a laowai. A proper living in China laowai. And not an expat, who just hangs out with westerners, but a Chinese-speaking laowai. I figured out how much money I needed to study Chinese for a year, found 2 jobs that’d allow me to earn enough in 3 months. June, July and August. I became a taxi-driver, and began to work at a construction site. Not bad for a guy who majored in programming, eh? At least, there were no computers.At all. No screens, not even sunscreen. None of that, nada! I kept researching my new dreamland, China. Almighty Google told me that for my budget and for language learning Top2 options were Tianjin because Mandarin there is very standard, but it is cheaper than Beijing and Shenzhen, the most Mandarin-speaking city in Guangdong. I chose Shenzhen. It’s tropical and close to Hong Kong. I watched many Hong Kong movies as a kid and was interested in Kung Fu.

After working for 14 hours a day for 3 months I hated my jobs enough and was ready to fly to my dreamland. So I did. I kissed my parents and my girlfriend good bye and started my new scary laowai adventure. 4.  I didn’t learn Chinese before went to China I didn’t learn any Chinese before I went to Shenzhen because I read online that it’d destroy my pronunciation forever. So I followed advice of someone Almighty Google led me too. I was proud that I would’t learn broken pronunciation. Stupid. After a few, quite a few days of trains and planes, I arrived in Shenzhen. It was another planet. Humid, incomprehensible, green, terrifying and extremely friendly. No Kung Fu skills required. Beginner friendly.

I ordered a service of an interpreter who would meet me in the airport and help me to get to the hotel, the first and the last time in my life. He was quite surprised when I asked if he has a knife or at least keys when we got to an ATM. It was hard to explain why I sewed my bank-card in my pocket, but he understood that in my country people like to pick pockets. Not the best advertisement for a country, but I was determined and didn’t want to let thieves destroy my plan. 5.  Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all So I got a dorm room, figure out where I can buy pillow and started to learn Chinese in class, but soon I found that I was not able to say tones right and I was late for my writing classes on purpose, to skip that annoying dictation where I’d make a mistake in every character. Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all. I joined Wing Chun classes and hung out with other laowais and Chinese folks instead. My roommate also taught me some Chinese, especially survival kind of stuff or how to ask for cigarettes on the street, his teaching skills were particularly awesome when he was drunk. Sometimes when I met my classmates in campus they asked me why I gave up on learning Chinese, I said that I don’t go to classes, but I still learn Chinese. I hated that one guy who said he learns Chinese just to read stuff and that he doesn’t care about speaking since there’s no reason to talk with Chinese people, what a prick! I don’t hate him anymore. At that time I called my approach “just learn”. It meant learning without homework and tone drills. 6.  Laowai life was fun I spent 4 months like this. I was so busy practicing wing chun, playing football, buying fake shoes, hanging out and exploring Shenzhen that sometimes I forgot to eat for 2 or 3 days. That’s why I sometimes stole my roommate’s sushi that he’d get for free every night. Thanks to well-cooking people who lived in the girls’ dormitory, I was never hungry. I think I looked so skinny they just wanted to feed me on the level of instincts… Long story short, laowai life was fun, colorful and cheap for those who lived in campus. At least, it was for me. For 4 months or so. And then it was over.  The End. Game over. I had to go back home for what I call family reasons. I didn’t finish my 1 year Mandarin course. It was also hard to get my deposit money back, but I did. It was really good for my Mandarin skills. My WeChat was full of contacts. I packed all the tea, gifts I got from strangers in my friend’s dorm and stinky clothes. I was and wasn’t ready to leave. I told my friends that I’d be back for sure, which I doubted.

 The END or To be Continued? That is the question. At that moment, I connected language to living in that country. 7.  I missed China and Chinese Don’t live in China = don’t learn Chinese. So, obviously I gave up learning languages and broke up with my girlfriend. Luckily, I found a lazy job where I could play my phone almost all the time. For several months I just lived in my memories about China and felt some hole growing inside me. I didn’t understand where it was coming from. One cannot go and live abroad and then come back to the farm and pretend it didn’t happen. It is going to change anyone, no matter how hard this naïve person is trying to ignore it. I needed to fill that emptiness. I tried a few things. They didn’t work. Until one day I saw an ad about learning Chinese just by listening. Like literally sitting on my bottom, which I was already doing, I was even getting paid for that, and learning… Chinese! The language of my dream/nostalgia land. I was nowhere near fluency at that moment. Upperbeginner at best. I missed China and Chinese Pod became my new way to connect to the land of rice and cuteness. That emptiness inside was filled. Except for … it wasn’t. But things were getting better, way better. I felt alive again. Or maybe it was that nice Turkish coffee I was drinking while I listened to Chinese Pod? Then I thought that just listening, even good listening was not enough for that hole somewhere inside me. So I thought I need… people! But I still wanna sit on my bottom so if I find people online, I don’t need to spend extra time after job. Multitasking for the win. 8.  I started my new job I found hellotalk and some similar apps with similar names. Hellotalk was the best one, but at that time it was slow, sometimes a message was sent 4 hours or a day later, so I stole people from there by asking their whatsApp number. I started to realize that the missing ingredient in my life, besides people, was Chinese language. I also realized that escapism and dreaming about faraway lands was not an ideal solution. In search of a perfect combination of people and languages, I decided to join a university. I wanted to study Chinese, but they told me that they have teachers, but not so many students want to learn Chinese. Interpretation was not available that year. What a weird year! The only choice was teaching English, which sounded tasty at that moment, since I also wanted to change my job at that moment. I asked for all the details about exams and stuff. It was nice except for the fact that that stinking girl tricked me and I was preparing for master degree entrance exams instead of what I really needed because I was the first one who wanted to join that university that year and she didn’t really know what to tell me. It was a surprise, but I passed it super well, like top2 or something. Probably because I prepared for something way more difficult, thanks to that stinking girl. My score was a big surprise for me, since I’ve never been a top student. At the same time I started my new job. I was a tutor. Teaching kids English.1 on 1. Learning my major by practice. It was awesome. Language became my bread and peanut butter. 9.  I found my jam. It was olla. But I still needed jelly! Peanut butter sandwiches are fine, but they’re nothing like peanut butter jelly ones!

That Sunday I planned to have some rest for my brain and body. So I got a lot of nesquik and scrolled mindlessly through countless web pages full of memes and stupid videos. Until I saw an ad for a language learning app on some page where people who learn English hang out. In comments I read that most users were Chinese. These comments were written in a negative tone, but for me it was pure treasure. Here, I found my jam. It was olla. By that time, hellotalk and its clones were deleted and forgotten for a long time, but I gave olla as much of my precious SD storage and space on the screen as it wanted. I liked it for no particular reason, as I thought back then. Now I do understand that other apps couldn’t provide this kind of sense of community as olla did. It was alive, lively and vivid.

10.  It was addictive

It was a perfect place for me to practice my languages. My way to do it was to provoke people, often it meant arguing with them. I learned to be provocative in many languages. I also learned to pretend to be from different countries. The most difficult one was Australia. Controversy and gossip were my fuel. It was not just any drama, it was international. Better than Argentinian TV series! I tried many ways to catch attention, I hope that psychologists and my future employers don’t read how much of an attention seeker and drama queen I was. A few times I deleted an app and said it was shitty publically, while actually I loved it but was busy studying in my university and knew that I don’t have enough will power to keep studying while olla was still on my phone, it’d be too much of a distraction. It was addictive. Before I deleted it, I posted my email on olla plaza. Jessica was worried or surprised or something of this nature and wrote me an email. She helped me to deliver my messages to my biggest language buddy. It was one directional isolation and made me way more mysterious than I’ve ever been before. Because of me being such a d... dumbass, many people hated me, but many liked me. Many mentioned that they missed me, I knew it through gossip and screenshots. Imagine the size of my ego at that moment… After a while, I realized what other apps lacked completely and why they didn’t deserve my storage and screen space. Sense of community + drama, gossip and controversy (people crave it) + many people from different countries in the same room. Cultures don’t merge this way in 1 on 1 conversations. Other platforms also have many people from different countries,but they try to find you a match, a perfect partner. Perfect is boring. In olla people didn’t match perfectly and it was beautiful. It was colorful. It was my home anywhere I went. 11.  I couldn’t stay like this forever I couldn’t stay like this forever. All of us eventually get boring, also known as serious. I was a university student after all. Gotta be pretentious and stuff. They call it professional. I started to read a lot of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research, just like people read news or comics. As a result, I realized that my“just learning” intuitive approach to languages was actually consistent with research. Even gossip and drama. But mostly community and compelling input. It is kind of the same thing.

Not only I pretty much filled that emptiness by languages, I also came to the point where my experience met science\research. Like yin and yang.

12.  I started to plan to get back to China After that, I decided to get my life together again and I started to plan how to get back to China. I didn’t get any good idea how to do it, but I started to save money and told my classmates and buddies that most probably I will go to China again. Fake it till you make it works every time. I also told some folks on olla about my plan. I really do consider olla to be my hometown and I did find real life friends there. I think it’s safe to say that I spent more time on olla than with my real life friends. I also spent a lot of time with my offline friends, but they can be less available than something tiny in my cheap phonethat opens the door to my friends. Wait, olla is real, so it’s also real life. People there are real. Language learning there is real as well. Wrong dichotomy. So I spent more time in my olla hometown than in another one because it felt warmer and closer.

My best language buddy who already became my friend decided to help me make my second laowai life happen much faster than I imagined and invited me to join olla team. I pretended that I am so cool and need to think for 1 day or so, like it is not a big deal, when in reality it was dreams come true type of deal, at that moment I was already packing my small backpack and getting ready for the second chapter of China. This time it was Guangzhou.

To be continued.

 You can read my language buddy’s story here

(my story https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/ollaolla.home.blog/40)

 Bear

2019/10/1

[pjarox-journey]

Breath of the Wild - Session #5

Hey, i did something! You know, i can make screenshots of my journey! In color! And upload them! Crazy, right? I just had to buy an adaptert, cause my PC had no SD-Card-Reader.

Anyway: this is how Link looks right now:

Hylian Tunic and Trousers, with the Bandana. Also, this is Fiona. Say hi to Fiona!

Anyway - it was the start of day 7! One week over, nearly, and... i didn’t achieve much. Talked to Impa, though, but... well, still not much. My next goal was Hateno, with a few shrines on my way.

When i left Kakariko, i met a strange guy, who was member of the Yiga.

Hi there. We can talk about this, right?

Eh... protip: if you fight against a fast enemy, you should not use a slow claymore. Just... just saying. It could make the fight slightly harder. Not that i did that, noooo.... *coughs*

After heroicly defeating the Yiga *coughcough* i remembered that there was a small Island in the lake (you can’t see it, but its on the right side of the picture). Islands are known for secrets, so... i jumped there with some icy pillars.

Hello, little one #22!

Of course there was a Korok. What... what did i expect...? Also, i did some more explosive fishing!

Everything in this world is weak to explosions!

After replestocking my supplies, i ventured south again. I know, Hateno is in the East, but there was a shrine i had forgotten... It was next to the forest with the Stalox.

Hello, totally not suspicious looking wall

Through rotating my controller a bit, i was able to solve all the puzzles in the shrine, the Toto-Isa-Shrine (german), and got my 9th spirit orb. Now, of to Hateno!

100 years ago, there was the calamity. I told you, didn’t i? I also told you about the guardians, right? They are intimidating and deadly. Lasers and stuff. And on this plain there are plenty of them - luckily, they are all broken.

Still unsettling

Oh, eh... all of them? Eh...

Oh, HI there!

...but shields in this world are powerful. Like ‘You can deflect laser beams’-powerful. If youre timing is good, though. If not... eh... either you (too early) or your shield (too late) will burn. You see that shield on Link’s back? Say farewell to that, because i might have done a mistake. Maybe.

But this was the only ‘living’ guardian here, so... that was nice. I looted all of the broken ones (you can get a material from each of them once!), fought some bulblins and went on to

TREASURE!

...Hateno. I also tamed another horse on accident, but it’s stats were not good enough, so it is free again. I think. Maybe it’s still waiting at the stable for me.

On the way to Hateno i had to ride past some more broken guardians and some Bulblins, until i reached the ruins of the Hateno stronghold? Is it called like that? Well, whatever - a big wall, which protected Hateno from the guardians back then. There was a small forest behind it. With...

BEEEEES!!!

...that’s the heros spirit! RUN LINK, RUN! (I got some honey from it, though! Worth it! Little girl, fear not, i will bring you your honey!)

Also, i found this little guy under a rock under a metal door... (#23)

An archaeologist was living here, because he was working on a strange riddle. All you had to do was to visit the place nearby, where many statues were standing - one of them with glowing eyes in the night. Shoot an arrow at it, and tadaaa, shrine. But he was at home at night... *sighs* Guess Link is the better archaeologist...

Look, there is the stat- OH DEER!

Also: little guy #24. He likes apples.

The shrine i found was the Kamu-Yuo-Shrine (german). Shrine #10, yay! I thought this one was one of the “free” shrines - sometimes you have to solve puzzles in the overworld, and then the shrine just gives you some loot and the spirit orb - but... not this one.

Big wheel

After a few minutes, i finally reached the end. Not because it was hard, but because i wanted to get the second treasure in it, and... eh... I don’t want to talk about it.

RUN LINK DON’T FALL DOWN AAAAHHHH

Aaaanyway... after i had finished the shrine, it was already day 8. Around noon, i think. The archeologist was there, too!

“How was someone else solve this extremly hard puzzle?” - Well, i dunno man, seems like magic to me

And... that was it for today! This... turned out rather long. I guess. But hey, screenshots! I hope you enjoyed it as much as myself! Next stop: Hateno. ...or the tower. I think i should visit the tower in this area first. And there were some shrines around here, too? And a minigame? And Koroks? ...yeah, it may take me a while to reach Hateno... *sighs*

[mlpsimta]

The Nintendo Wii Mini

Just one month ago I purchased my very first Nintendo home console a Wii Mini. When it comes to Nintendo consoles I don’t have any experience at all with them. I own a 3DS since the end of August which is a brilliant handheld system (that I should cover in the future), but not a full blown home console. Nope I don’t (and had never own) even have a NES, SNES or an N64. Mainly because Nintendo was the only gaming company that flown under my radar completely as a child. So I was really excited when I found a used Wii Mini at my local game store and I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on my very first N home console!

Eevee used Helping Hand! The Wii Mini’s FPS has increased!

So I booted up and no picture. I thought OK maybe I just plugged the component cables into the HDMI converter in a wrong way. After I confirmed that I’m indeed not colour-blind and plugged in everything in the right order I ventured into the depth of Google to figure out what was wrong with my system. I could hear the menu tone and even felt my controller vibrating so my Wii Mini couldn’t be defected. A few clicks later I found my answer for the lack of video output. As it turns out the Wii Mini can’t use component cables! So if I wish to play with my console I have to fall back to use composite cables. I was a little frustrated at that point. How a system released in 2012 couldn’t handle component output?! If you don’t understand why that is a problem basically with composite (5 plugs) you can get a much better and clearer video signal than with component (3 plugs), even the PlayStation 2 a console which is by the way older than the Wii can handle it. Luckily I own an AV2HDMI Mini converter so after changing out the video cable and converter I finally was able to see something on my monitor.

See?! I’m not a Sony fanboy! I have a Nintendo console too!

Obviously it wasn’t a good first impression from the little device. It’s never good if the first thing after booting up something you don’t see anything. Now maybe I’m asking too much from Nintendo but I was genuinely surprised that I can’t use component cables. Mainly because the normal Wii was capable to pull out such a trick like that. Anyways I knew that I’m going to lack some features with the Wii Mini, like the lack of internet connection (which is absurd too, but I don’t really care about net) and no SD card support but I just can’t understand Nintendo sometimes (most of the times). According to them the Wii Mini is a cheaper alternative than the original Wii but that shouldn’t be the excuse to sacrifice image quality. No internet and SD support? Fine... You don’t want your console to get hacked. Although if you want to avoid hacking provide a better service than the hackers. Also looking up the prices back when the Mini came out it was only a couple of bucks cheaper. So who at Nintendo thought that the Mini is a good idea? It literally makes no sense.

OK. Enough rambling! What does the Wii Mini can offer you? Well in sort you can play Wii games on it and that’s all. If you wish to use it for as a cheap way to play Wii games (I wouldn’t recommend it) than you are good to go but bear in mind that is the only thing that the device is capable of, and if you wish to hack it to increase its IQ and show it what a present day (or 2010) device can and should do than you are shit out of luck my friend. Now I’m not saying that you should hack or mod anything that uses electricity and you should always support the developers by purchasing their games. All I’m saying is that if you wish to do it on this device than you are going to have a bad time (or a nice challenge). In summary; no internet, no dvd player support the only thing you can do on the system literally is playing Wii game on it.

The starting library, still need to buy a couple more games....

When it comes to games the Wii Mini can handle all of the Wii titles relatively well, just bare in mind that with component cables the picture quality will be a little washed up. Basically the image quality looks like a moving water painting. So I would highly recommend purchasing a basic component to SCART converter that will help a bit. Oh also if you have an old tube TV that would be the best option to hook up your console to. Ok enough image quality back to games... The titles that I currently own are running fine and it’s really interesting to use motion controls too. Currently I own Twilight Princess, Cod MW/WAW/MW3 and other games that I wish to cover in the near future, but this time I only wish to speak about the console itself. I have never really used motion controls in the past so I was a little hesitant first how it will turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised. It took me a few minutes to get used to it and after few hours when I was completely confident and stopped pressing the wrong buttons and learnt how wildly I have to swing the Wii Mote or Nunchuck. Also using the two controllers are really good and they fairly comfortable to hold not to mention that you don’t have to hold your hands close to each other like with any usual controllers. So most of the times I’m just hanging my hands down by my sides while playing (well at least when I don’t have to point at the screen) and it is just sooo comfortable and I really enjoy it!

Gimmicky? Yes. Fun? Hell yeah!

So far I’ve finished Modern Warfare, World at War and I’m halfway through MW3 and Twilight Princess. Using the Wii Motes for aiming in cod is hard at first and it is something that I still not really used to it but it is a really interesting way for playing an FPS game and it gives a good twist to it that I like. Maybe I shoot bullets all over the place not hitting anyone at all but man I like it! Maybe it’s because I have completely missed this motion control nonsense so it’s still new to me but I really want to see this concept not to die. Especially that Sony already has it so maybe if they would do something about it that would be nice. Not to mention if someone who hasn’t played a game before than motion controls is a great and simple way to teach them how to play. Speaking of which!

Also I got my hands on a normal Wii that is protected by Sylveon!

The biggest reason I love this little machine is that it was capable of doing something that I have failed countless times. Mainly introducing gaming to my family members and other friends who are normally trying to stay away from gaming as far as possible. My father really got into Mario Kart! Since I showed him each day he request to play a couple of tracks which is insane because I showed him games before that he would like but never got into them, so to see that he is the one wanting to play is an absolute joy! Other than my dad’s liking of Mario Kart Wii my mom and sister has an interest in Wii Sports and Just Dance 2014. They haven’t really got hooked into them but if I see them bored and I suggest playing a few rounds of bowling or dancing they don’t hesitate to say yes.

Over all the Wii Mini is maybe not the best device (and as of writing this I already got a normal first model Wii) but if you find one at a yard sale and there’s absolute no way for you to buy a normal one, go for it! Playing games with motion controls as I have already stated in this mess of a review a dozens of times is really fun and well made also if you are trying to introduce gaming to someone you care about than a Wii is an excellent system! I often like to give shit to Nintendo when they deserve it, but man when they do it right they do it an outstanding performance. So now that I own some consoles from the Big N and played some of their games I have to say: I’ve got some catching up to do and play some games that I missed completely.

—————————————————————————————————-Shameless self advertisement starts:

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Obligatory question so that you can comment under the post: What is your favorite game on the wii that I should buy and do you like the system too?

[itswomanswork]

How to Make Money with a Drone: Up to $200 an Hour on the Side

Today’s contribution comes from Josh Boughner, who turned his birthday present drone into a money-making machine.

Hooked after his first paid drone-flying gigs, Josh now runs SoldByAir.com, the largest real estate drone network in the US. The site has over 1000 registered pilots (at least one pilot in every state), and connects those drone operators with jobs across the country. 

Take it away, Josh!

************

I’m one of those tech guys who loves his toys. My wife realizes this, so for one of my previous birthdays she bought me a drone.

Nick’s Notes: Nice wife! Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are usually equipped with a camera to take photos or video. They look like miniature futuristic helicopters and you fly them via remote control.

A few weeks later a realtor in the family asked me to take aerial photos of a property they had for sale. And they were going to pay me.

Make money flying a toy?

I was in!

When you consider the costs, starting a drone business is cheap. Why not put a drone to work and make some extra cash? Drones are a perfect fit for a fun and profitable side hustle.

What Are Some Ways to Make Money With a Drone?

Real Estate Photos & Video

The first place most drone pilots try to drum up work is in the real estate market. It’s easy and familiar.

Realtors need attractive photos to help market properties online, and drones can provide an elevated vantage point to show off different features of a house or property.

Personally I prefer doing real estate because I love seeing amazing properties. Not every house needs drone photos, but high end listings purchase drone photos more often.

There have been times where I get to a shoot and no one is there but me and I have to stop and just stare at the house in amazement.

There are these incredible mansions I didn’t even know existed near where I live. I love it.

Roof Inspections

It costs money for insurance companies to send someone up on a ladder. Drones are often much cheaper.

These jobs can be quick and easy. They often come in large quantities and then dry up quickly directly after large storms.

Stock Photography/Video

If you like traveling and documenting amazing sights you can try your hand at selling stock photos/video.

You’ll have to amass quite a bit of footage before you can expect to see much from sales but if you are good there are a number of websites where you can list your work.

Get Creative and Technical

Drones are so new that there are many industries still learning how to utilize them. If you are creative there is the potential to find or create your own niche. Some industries using drones are more technical than others. Cell tower inspection, thermal imagery, high end video productions are a few examples.

Once your name gets out in your area you will get requests for drone jobs that don’t really have a specific category. I did a job for a contractor who was bidding on a job to create a walking trail.

The job was basically to fly the drone down a few miles of a potential walking path and take video of it that they could show to the potential client. It was relatively easy work, and jobs like this are a ton of fun as they help to keep things interesting.

Other Potential Ways to Make Money with a Drone

Aerial reconnaissance and surveillance

Delivery and disaster relief

YouTube

Hotel and resort ads / videos

Wedding videos

Structural or building inspection

Agricultural or environmental inspection

Marketing at events (think low-flying billboards)

How Much Money Can You Make With Your Drone?

The amount you charge is really up to you. This is a new and exciting market so nothing is set in stone.

If you go into some of the more complex verticals like cell tower inspection or thermal imagery you can charge a lot more for your services. However, working in the higher dollar areas require technical knowledge, more expensive gear and quite often having connections to people in those industries.

Since the real estate industry is where most people start, let me use that as an example.

Pricing is generally in the range of $75-200 for drone photos, though it varies based on local market conditions. For real estate video you can charge more.

I’ve found it’s difficult to charge extra just because it’s an expensive house, but you can charge extra for houses on large plots of land. Acreage simply takes more time to fly with a drone.

Most drone pilots start out on the lower end of pricing and increase their rates as their skill level increases and they build their portfolio.

For example, I did my very first job for $50. At the time I thought it was awesome.

I quickly realized I wasn’t charging enough, so I added $25 to my price.

When no one complained, I added $25 again. I did that and raised my prices until I started hearing people say they had other cheaper options.

I didn’t go back down to the cheaper guys’ prices, but I had now found a fair market price to set my fees for my area.

The Costs of Starting a Drone Business

Starting a drone business is relatively cheap. All in, you are looking at around $1500-$2000 to have a minimum viable drone business up and running.

If you hustle and push hard you can have that paid off quickly (we were profitable in a few months).

The startup costs include:

The drone (duh)

Extra batteries (have at least 3 total)

ND filters for videography

Photo and video editing software

An FAA drone pilot’s license (seriously!)

Which Drone is Best?

You can get a high quality drone for less than $1,500.

There are many drones on the market, but the best are all made by DJI. They dominate the drone market for good reason as they always seem to be a step ahead of the competition.

The exact drone you buy really depends on the type of work you plan to use it for.

For entry level drones you can use professionally, look at the Phantom 4 Pro and the Mavic Pro Platinum.

The Phantom has the better camera but the Mavic is much quieter while in the air. Each have their place. I give the slight edge to the Phantom as the camera is a pretty significant jump up (+8 megapixels).

Photo and Video Editing Software

Drones have become fairly advanced very quickly. They have automated flight patterns and are extremely steady in the air. Flying the drone and taking pictures/video is one of the easiest parts of the job.

Still, you are going to want to familiarize yourself with photo and video editing software. You don’t have to be an expert at Photoshop but you will want to learn the basics.

Some valuable techniques/topics to study up on include:

Sky Replacements

HDR Photography

Color Correction

The Magic Eraser and Clone Stamp tool

On the video front, you can use something like iMovie before upgrading to Adobe Premiere or After Effects. Practice on your own videos first to learn how the software works.

Because the cost of entry is so low, there is competition in the field. Post production is something that can set you apart from the kid down the street.

Your Drone License: FAA Part 107

In order to make money with a drone you are required to be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

To get licensed you have to pass a test that seems more geared towards general aviation then it does to drones.

Don’t be intimidated by the test — it’s not very difficult and has a 91% pass rate. The FAA provides all the study material you’ll need, and there are many study guides and training classes available for those who need some extra help.

The test itself costs $150 and is good for 2 years. I personally studied for about two weeks and passed it easily.

Where to Find Drone Pilot Jobs

Now that you’ve got your drone, it’s time to re-coup your initial investment and start making some money.

So how do you find the work?

Luckily there are websites you can join that specialize in drone pilot jobs. They will usually take a percentage of the payment in exchange for sending you the job.

These marketplaces include:

SoldbyAir.com (my site)

Dronebase.com

DroneJobs.org

VideoToOrder.com

If you just want to fly and not deal with cold calling or finding customers, these sites may be right for you.

If you prefer to be a little more proactive, you can reach out to realtors, their agencies, or insurance companies themselves to offer your services.

Nick’s Notes: This is freelancing and we’ve seen tons of creative ways people have marketed their freelance services.

Advertising in local Facebook groups can help. Try to think of places where the customers are and go there. There are various real estate gatherings that can get you in front of realtors. Think outside the box.

I’ve also been known to stop at open houses from time to time.

Before You Fly – Verify the Legal Requirements

As with everything else, there are laws you have to abide by when flying drones.

Are you near any airports? Airmap is a cool little app to show you what the local airspace is like. Busy airports require authorization to fly nearby. There is a process the FAA is implementing to speed up authorization requests but for the time being legally flying jobs near airports can be very difficult.

It’s also illegal to fly drones in national parks.

State laws and local ordinances vary. While the FAA has ultimate authority over the skies, they seem to avoid getting involved in drone disputes at local or state levels so it’s best to follow your local and state laws even if they seem more restrictive than what the FAA has on the books.

Your First Paying Drone Job

Planning is key to a successful shoot.

Make sure to schedule when there’s no rain or strong winds in the forecast. Be sure your batteries are charged and don’t forget the SD card.

A common mistake new pilots make is to fly too high. If you are flying real estate the goal is to sell the house, not show off the roof.

Keep the entire house in the frame of the photos and provide a variety of photos showing off different angles and key points of interest for the property. Show off the location of the property relative to areas of interest such as golf courses, shopping centers, waterways or similar.

Over time you will want to come up with a repeatable process. Plan to take the same set of photos at every shoot to speed up the work. When I first started, I might spend 45 minutes to an hour at a property. Now I am in and out in 15 minutes if there’s no one there to talk to.

Are You Spying on My Daughter?

The media has painted drones as scary spying devices. Some people think drones are awesome technology and will talk your ear off asking questions the entire time you fly. Others are paranoid about them.

If you do enough jobs you will eventually get someone asking you, “Hey are you spying on my daughter?”

They’re usually half joking/half serious.

Be friendly; let them know why you are there and you shouldn’t have any problems.

I remember one particular occasion vividly. I was on a weekend shoot and brought my son with me, since he likes drones too. It was a vacant large plot of farmland so I assumed that we wouldn’t run into anybody.

I was wrong.

Just as we’d finished and were packing up, a guy in his minivan comes driving down down the lane with his hand out the window recording us on his cell phone.

He starts the conversation by saying. “You are lucky I didn’t have my shotgun handy or I would have shot that thing out of the sky!”

Calmly I pointed to the realtor sign on the plot of land and explained to him that we were just there to get photos of the farmland for sale. I showed him one of the photos and he calmed down dramatically. He even asked if he could fly the drone!

Post Production

Drone video is obviously more complex than photography but it doesn’t have to be hard.

The general rule of thumb is to keep your videos short — hardly anyone watches videos online for longer than a minute.

Take short clips and splice them together. Any jerky movements should be edited out.

Drone video can be sold to a variety of customers. Not only do realtors want video of the house being listed, but they sometimes want video of the town that the house is in they can re-use in future listings. You can charge a premium for reusable video.

Businesses like drone videos for commercials or Facebook ads. We’ve even have people request aerial video of private parties/events.

Video is less forgiving than photos as you can’t just photoshop objects out of it. Make sure to get much more footage than you think you’ll need as it’s much easier and quicker to cut out a bad clip then it is to fix it.

Track your Mileage

Drone work is much like other ‘gig’ work. Once you have a steady stream of customers you’ll be driving around from job to job.

Save yourself a headache in the future and get a process in place for tracking your mileage. I recommend MileIQ. Even though it has an annual subscription it quickly pays for itself in tax savings.

In Conclusion

There are days when I’m out flying my drone at a customer site and I think to myself, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this!”

It is extremely fun and pretty exciting to be involved in a cutting edge field. To be fair there’s not really enough work yet to easily make it a full time gig, which is actually a great thing for those looking for a cool side hustle!

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For more info, be sure to check Josh out at SoldByAir.com.

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[banetech]

HTC U11 was introduced back in May and I had the privilege to see the launch event in person. Being able to see the HTC U11 in production and how the phone was developed, gave me a good perspective about the company. Read in more detail about that experience HERE.

Luckily, I was given an international version of the HTC U11 to bring back to the US. Since I have had the device I have been for the most part impressed and definitely like HTC U11 over the M10, M9, and so on. Not saying the M Series was bad, but they were not for me. HTC completely started from scratch this time giving us a beautiful design, great camera, and top performer. They added in a few extras like the squeeze feature and assistant. Along with the revisions, HTC pretty much checks off all or most boxes to make this a top competitor. It’s not perfect, but it has my attention.

HTC U 11 Review

Design – The HTC U11 is a new series. We were used to seeing the M Series and seems like those days are gone. We saw a preview of what the U Series is like with the HTC U Ultra, which in my opinion was a solid device. They even carried over the Sapphire Blue. The color and glass is where HTC designers spent a lot of thought. They didn’t want to just give a flat color, but to give an experience when looking at the back glass.

The U11 comes in Amazing Silver, Brilliant Black, Sapphire Blue, Ice White, and Solar Red. In person, the most impressive color is the Solar Red, even though it’s not the one I would pick to purchase. The Solar Red shines like the sun with red, orange, and gold tones. One angle looks red and the other glimmers like a shiny gold bar. It’s pretty cool how they designed this. The other colors have unique features as well. The Ice White looks like a pearl, Brilliant Black has a green hue, and Amazing Silver isn’t a typical silver at all.

Now while the glass looks awesome, it’s one of the best looking glass backs available, it is a HUGE fingerprint farm. So far I have not encountered any scratches, mostly due to have a Slickwraps skin installed, but while not having the skin installed, no issues with markings.

Mini-rant – While glass backs look really nice, when clean, I don’t want to see any more glass back designs. You can’t enjoy the phone because of worrying if it’s going to get dirty, scratched, or have to have a skin or case on. Not to mention more likely to break if dropped compared to other finishes like metal. /rant

The HTC U11 does not have wireless charging even though having a glass back. Wireless charging is not a deal breaker for me, but might be for others. Even though I don’t use wireless charging much at all, it would have been nice to have it.

The home button and fingerprint sensor are on the front of the device. I tend to like this placement because of working at desk at work and home. The phone can be left on the desk and still interact with the device. It’s not a dealbreaker, but a prefered placement for the button. However, after using the S8 for a while, the minimal bezel design is amazing and is a reason Samsung chose to place the sensor on the back. Mind, the S8 sensor is in a HORRIBLE spot on the back. Therefore, the HTC button has performed a lot better compared to the S8’s button.

Camera

A smartphone’s camera is one of the most important features of a device to me and I know I am not alone. Why do you think companies spend so much effort mastering their cameras. HTC kinda has been a rollercoaster in the camera department. Some years they are spot on and others they miss the mark. This time around, HTC has done a great job. As a matter of fact, the U11 has the best rated camera to date. That’s matching up against the iPhone 7+, Galaxy S8, and Pixel. That’s nice company and not to mention being the best. It’s really no surprize since HTC basically made the Pixel.

Apart from the quality of the camera, the camera app is just as important to me. It’s got to be feature heavy. I can’t stand having to install separate apps to be able to perform a function. The U11 has everything you need built right into the app.

One of my favorite improvements coming with the HTC U11 and the only phone that has this, is the combination of Electronic Image Stabilization and Optical Image Stabilization. EIS and OIS together gives a great stable shot for photos and videos. Unfortunately, there’s no stabilization on the front camera. If the front had at least OIS, it would make a great vlogging camera.

Is The Squeeze Feature Useful?

Never would I have thought that we would get a phone that you could squeeze to activate features. Many might call it a gimmick and I can see where they are coming from, but it’s actually got some usefulness to it. I don’t think it would be something I would miss though. The best thing about the squeeze is the ability to program it to open any app and other shortcuts, unlike the Bixby button on the Galaxy S8.

As  a matter of fact, the Bixby button down right gets on my nerves at times because of so many accidental presses. There are times that I accidentally squeeze the phone too much on the HTC U11, but not nearly as much compared to the annoying Bixby button. ALSO the squeeze is fully functional at launch.

I’ve programed the squeeze to launch the camera app with a short squeeze and with a long squeeze to take a screenshot. What would you like to use for the squeeze feature?

Audio

HTC has owned the best audio in a smartphone for years now and this year is no exception. What’s impressive is they added water resistance and still provide a loud listening experience. It’s not like it was with the front facing speakers, but it is one of the best speakers you’ll hear from a smartphone with water resistance.

BoomSound, it’s not just loud, but it’s clear and balanced. It makes listening to music and videos so much better! Most of the time I catch up on watching YouTube video by watching on my phone and having great sound is nice to have. Something to where I don’t have to cup my hand the right way to hear everything well.

USonic compliments BoomSound nicely. I actually like USonic more than BoomSound because the in-ear listening experience is top notch! The HTC U11 has USB C input for USonic to work the best. By using the USB C connection to allow for not only great sound, but for noise cancellation. The U11 has the ability to adapt to the environment around you.

HTC just wins in the sound department. There’s really not another phone out there that competes in this category. If you like great sound quality from a device, this is a phone to consider.

Performance

The HTC U11 has been a solid performer. It flies through tasks and has not given any lag. If there is lag to any degree, it’s the app’s fault. Apps like Facebook can be a bit sluggish on just about any device used, including a computer. The phone is snappy, opens apps swiftly, and runs without overheating.

HTC has toned down their Sense OS skin, which is nice, but still needs an app icon design refresh. Some of the icons still look like something from the HTC Droid Incredible. However, because HTC has decided to use Google apps for some of the basics like a gallery app, they use Google Photos. There are no double apps to found that perform the same function. For example, Samsung still has their own browser and gallery apps. That’s a waste of space. HTC has a close to stock Android that you can find on most phones.

With all that said, the closer to stock Android, usually the performance is better compared to phones with heavy skins. Performance plays into how snappy the phone is and how long the battery life lasts. As far as battery life goes, it gets me through the entire day and that’s how I judge battery life on a phone. If I have to plug in midday, it puts a bad taste in my mouth.

Other Features

Water resistance – It’s almost a must have feature for a phone to be water resistant. It’s the same protection as we see with the iPhone 7, but not ranked as high as the Galaxy S8. You’re not going to have to worry about the phone being damaged from rain, drops in water, or sweat, etc. It also lets you capture moments like this…

#GalaxyS8 does some cool slow motion effects! pic.twitter.com/ybifRryJL6

— Josh Bane (@BaneTech) June 17, 2017

SD Card Support – I am so thankful for companies including SD card support. It’s scam to just have internal storage and jack the price up for higher GB models. It’s great to be able to have 64GBs of internal storage and add my 256GB card.

Carrier Unlocked – The unlocked version supports Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Don’t have to buy through a carrier and can change carriers without worry if it will work on GSM or CDMA.

So Is It Worth Buying? Who’s It For?

With all the competition out there such as the Galaxy S8, LG G6, and OnePlus 5, what does the HTC U11 have to offer over them? Who does the HTC U11 match up with? This is who the HTC U11 is made for…

Audio heads – It’s got the best sound quality from any 2017 smartphone.

Minimal bloat – HTC does not add a bunch of extra software.

People that don’t care about a missing headphone jack.

People that don’t care about wireless charging.

Ability to have an unlocked edition that works on AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon.

Bypassing a carrier to purchase a phone.

Great audio & video recording.

Great photos.

There’s not too much of a reason not to get the HTC U11. If you are in the market for a new phone, I’d recommend giving the HTC U11 a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Purchase Links

HTC | Amazon (Use Prime for fast shipping and the price has been a bit cheaper than HTC.com)

[amazon_link asins=’B07144ZQ87,B0722X3M9F,B071NT9HPQ,B071Z84GZL,B07234FLGX’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’bantec-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ba4cf526-5821-11e7-9e11-9193bc71f662′]

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and sincerely hope it was found helpful and enjoyable! Please feel free to leave thoughts down below in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe to Bane Tech on YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!

HTC U11 Review – HTC revived? HTC U11 was introduced back in May and I had the privilege to see the launch event in person.

[mileynwen]

Solo Travel: Day 1

I need to start this by saying: Singapore is rocking my socks off. And ok, I guess technically you could count my study abroad in Tokyo is a kind of solo travel, but going to a uni had MUCH more structure than what I’m doing now. So buckle up for my first day in Singapore!

So one of the things I like so far about solo traveling is that I make my own schedule. Meaning I got to sleep in and start the day when I wanted to start the day. I had a pretty relaxed day yesterday, despite getting a lot done. I started out in the early afternoon, by heading over to Little India, a 15 minute walk from my hostel. I went to the Mustafa Center, a 24hour supermarket. I got everything I needed to buy: an adapter, new headphones, and even some ibuprofen! I walked around Little India for a bit, just to explore. I didn’t end up getting any lunch because I wasn’t hungry, another great thing about solo travel. I eat when I want!

After Little India, I made my way to the MRT station. I bought a transit card and headed downtown. Side note, the subways in Singapore are beautiful. I might even say they’re a little better than the ones in Tokyo. Sure, they might not come as often, but the cars themselves are bigger, well-designed, and are just as comfortable.

I quickly reached downtown, and headed to the marina. One thing about the architecture in Singapore—it’s bold. The skyline and the view from the marina would be enough to inspire any aspiring architect. I started making my way over to the Merlion statue, an iconic image of Singapore, when I was approached by a Singaporean man on the boardwalk. Now, being a solo traveler means being a lot more weary about random men who approach you on the street. However, Stephan, a local, was pretty nice and just made small conversation as we walked in the same direction. He did ask me if I was alone, but protip: NEVER admit to a stranger on the street that you are completely alone! I told him I was meeting up with my friends later that afternoon.

At the Merlion statue, two separate people asked me to take photos of them. One Asian group (couldn’t tell from where, but definitely not Japan or Korea) and a European girl. Almost everyone speaks good English, so it’s very interesting to understand more conversation here than other places I’ve travelled to. Unfortunately, while I was sitting trying to get a good angle, I stood up to take a picture with my phone, and I realized it had shut off. This is a problem I’ve been having with my phone, is that it will randomly shut down for hours, even if I have sufficient charge, and then die. I wasn’t panicked, more just inconvenienced. However I was semi-humiliated as I had to do what I’ve been scolding my parents about for the past two weeks….. I had to pull out a map. A PHYSICAL MAP. An ancient relic! Man it was embarrassing, I tried to be discreet as possible, but to no avail. I’m glad I picked it up at the airport though, because I’ll probably need it again if my phone cuts out on me. When I bought the transit card, luckily they also gave me a subway map, which also turned out to be incredibly helpful later in the evening.

After the map fiasco, I made my way over to Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. As I handed my ticket over to the Cloud Forest and walked into the building, I was overcome with a cold breeze that was immediately matched with my awe for what was in front of me. A towering mountain of flora surrounded by one of the largest glass domes. It was something out of a utopian fantasy. (Look up pictures, mine are all trapped on my camera SD card until I get to a computer!) It is truly an architectural masterpiece. Not only was there a giant indoor waterfall, skywalks through the mountain, and every kind of plant imaginable, but thee was also a documentary towards the end about our impact on the earth and how the world will progress if we don’t change our unsustainable lifestyles. The entire building was built with sustainability in mind, look up how the building is structured! The flower dome was equally beautiful, with plant species and flowers from all over the world.

When I had spent sufficient time in both domes, I headed over to the iconic Garden By the Bay super tree grove at sunset. I bought a ticket to walk on the sky walk up in the trees, and wowza. I got up in time to see the sunset, and when the sun was making the entire horizon and everything in it a vibrant orange. I can barely describe it as anything other than an orange haze surrounded us as we all walked on the suspended bridge between the architectural tree tops. I can’t wait to get my photos uploaded! When I got back to the ground, I was sitting in a grassy area with a bunch of people, looking at my photos and admiring the branches as they lit up when the sun was going down further, when all of sudden the trees went dark. I was like, oh crap, the trees broke? But then an announcement came over the loudspeakers, that the light show was beginning! What a surprise treat.

After an eventful day, I made the long walk back to the station that would directly take me to my home station, and easily found my way back to my hostel. I don’t want to jinx it somehow and say that it was probably one of the best days I could have had in Singapore, but it was truly a magnificent start to my journey.