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dayseternal-blog · 4 years

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A summer job at the Dole pineapple cannery, graveyard shift 10 PM to 6 AM. A long bus ride into and out of town. Two teens, shy beside each other.

Written for NaruHina 2020 August - Cultures/Around the World

Rated G

Inspired by “Torch Song” by @mmmbuttery (emmykay)

Here we go, a story I've worked on since November of last year. Despite the months of creation, this story is simply boy meets girl. This one is close to my heart, and I've second-guessed posting it.

It's loosely based on my parents' high school stories and how they met, and the experiences from many recorded accounts of people from that generation, the 1970s. I wrote this mostly with the intention of diving into and imagining their time period.

Finally completed, of course it’s late for August, in true spirit, I stay on island time. This story is titled after “About You” by Cecilio & Kapono, a 1975 Hawaiian pop classic.

One Shot - About You

The bus bumps and lurches on the potholes.

She notes when they pass by a friend’s house, lit only by the dim orange street lamps over dark driveways. There are so few cars out on the road that every time the bus pulls over and the door opens, she can hear the high-pitched hum of crickets in the grass. It’s all a familiar rhythm that might have put her to sleep on any other night. But she already took a long nap, readying her internal clock for the new schedule.

She’ll be taking this route for the rest of the summer, heading from the bus stop next to the local library straight to the cannery.

It feels alright, better than she was expecting. She was worried it would feel lonely--her friends are all working the cannery, too, but in the daytime. She wanted the extra nickel the night shift earns, bringing her up to $1.40 per hour.

She’s always thinking ahead--the more money she manages to save now for business college, the less she will need to work later.

The bus slows down to a stop, picking up probably the last passenger before it gets on the freeway straight to town.

She relaxes into her seat, settling in for the drive out of the suburbs.

“Hinata?”

That’s weird that someone would know her at this hour.

She turns her face away from the window and sees him standing in the aisle, as if he was about to sit down in the row in front of her. “N-Naruto?” She regrets her stutter. She just wasn’t expecting to see him. At all.

“Hey! Howzit?” He looks genuinely surprised to see her, too.

“Good...” She returns his bright grin with a shy smile of her own. She tucks a lock of loose hair behind her ear. “I’m heading to the cannery.”

“You working cannery, too?”

“Yeah...are you?”

“Yup. Gotta make dat extra nickel, yeah?” He smiles disarmingly as she nods, and he takes a seat.

She wants to relax. But she can’t.

Because it’s him.

All 5 feet 9 inches of beautiful boy sitting in front of her on a relatively empty bus. He’s taller than the average local Japanese, due to his hapa blood. And as if height wasn’t enough to make him attractive to all the girls, he’s funny. And clever. Athletic and nice. A little rascal, but that only increases his charm. She has so much adrenaline pumping through her from that one tiny conversation, she knows she’ll be exhausted before they even get to Honolulu Harbor.

The forewoman, a middle-aged Portuguese lady, takes her and another girl named Tenten to the lockers. “Wear dis.” She passes them a white apron and hairnet. “You girls get gloves?”

They both nod, pulling out their plastic gloves, required in the job description.

The lady glances at the gloves, bored expression unchanging. “Follow.”

Hinata tucks all of her hair up into the net, and she knows she probably looks like an enoki mushroom, dressed now all in white.

They follow the forewoman to the assembly floor.

“Here.” She hands them knives with the same carelessness of someone who’s been doing this for ages. “Take all da extra skin off cuz da machine no get ‘m all, look, but gotta do ‘m fas’ kine ah. No let da pines go down widdout cleaning ‘m,” she explains, pointing and waving at the conveyor belt.

Hinata nods. Four girls stand silently before a machine that’s spitting out bright yellow, skinned pineapples. They grab at them quickly, and then with practiced flicks of their wrist, they nick off the remaining bits into slots for the rubbish. They put the pineapples back down on the belt, where the fruit runs along to another set of girls, who give them another checkover. Further down, the fruit runs into a machine with circling blades that chop them into slices.

Rows and rows of young women dressed in white aprons with mushroom-netted heads stand around conveyors and machines.

Young men cross over the upper ladders and walkways carrying pineapples to dump into the machines and sticks to poke at the fruit in the chutes to prevent jamming.

The smell of pineapples is pervasive, sickly in its sweetness.

Not too much later, a bell shrills throughout the warehouse, and she’s taking over for a girl who’s now off-duty. She grabs at the pineapples, turning the weighty fruit over in her palm and cutting brown spots of skin off with the knife as quickly as she can. Droplets of pineapple juice stick to her gloves, and soon enough, the juice is dripping down the latex.

She’s not thankful for the gloves for long.

The juice runs down, and every stretch of her arm to grab at the fruit or place it back down feels sticky in the crook of her elbow.

Minutes turn into hours of watching pineapples.

She has no idea how the world eats so many pineapples.

How is it possible that people love pineapples this much? That the machinery is rarely turned off? That all of the state’s teenagers are employed every summer to work the fields and machines practically 24/7?

As unfathomable as it is, she finds a strange awe for the tropical fruit that she never had before. To pass the time as she trims the skin, she imagines where these pineapples are going. Who’s going to buy these pineapples. What country they’ll end up in and what language the people speak there. And whether they have ever seen a whole pineapple before.

But then again, maybe they’re all just going to the Mainland. Women who look like the movie stars with perfectly curled, blonde hair will open the cans for their families.

The bell rings, the machines stop.

They have 30 minutes.

The more veteran workers zip off to the lunchroom, not waiting for anyone.

Hinata smiles tiredly at Tenten.

“Whew,” the Chinese girl sighs.

Hinata nods in agreement. “I never seen so many pineapples before, I think.”

“Yeah, me, neither.” Her brows raise to emphasize the point.

By the time they get off at 6 in the morning, dawn is breaking, traffic is slowly building along Nimitz Highway, and she knows she must absolutely stink of pineapples.

But Naruto waves and stands beside her as they wait for the bus, as if he doesn’t care. Maybe he can’t smell her, desensitized now after so long in the warehouse. “Morning, Hinata,” he laughs, and the joke is not lost on her.

She smiles weakly, only his good attitude motivating her. “Good morning,” she manages to reply. She’s too exhausted to feel shy about standing beside her crush. After all, she was standing for the last several hours. All she wants is to sit down.

“How wuz it?” he asks conversationally.

She pinches her lips into a tight frown. “I had to trim the pines at the ginaca.” She gestures halfheartedly with her hands, showing him the flick of an imaginary knife she used. All night. She’s almost certain that she’s the machine now. “What did you do?”

“Oh, wuz pretty neat! I jus’ had to keep da cans moving on da belt an’ stick da lids inside da kine, machine, and then the cans pop out. I did da tops.”

She blinks at him. Forces a weak smile out that she barely feels in her heart. Sounds easy… But that’s to be expected, after all, women usually handle food anyway.

“No can wait fo’ sit down, yeah!” he laughs. He doesn’t sound tired, but it occurs to her that maybe he never does. His natural excitement is what makes him popular in the first place.

She nods.

When the bus pulls up to the curb, Naruto lets her get on in front of him.

The bus driver pulls a face as she pays.

She frowns, a hot blush spreading over her cheeks. She tried to clean up as best she could after her shift, but apparently, it really was all for naught.

“Go in da back!” the driver directs, none too friendly.

She does so, even though the front seats aren’t full.

Naruto laughs outright as he pays, unashamed at his own stink. “What, uncle, wen try fo’ wash off, still stay pilau?”

“Eesh,” the driver utters in response to the teen’s cheekiness.

She doesn’t know how he’s not embarrassed, nor how he’s able to talk back to strangers like it’s nothing. It’s just another case in point of her admiration and curiosity of him. She picks an aisle-facing seat, and, to her surprise, Naruto sits right next to her, his knees spreading open.

She’s not as tired as she thought.

Nerves race up her legs. She stares at her hands, which she carefully places on her knees, which are closely pressed together as ladylike as possible. Not a single part of her touches him. She thinks she might die if their legs touch.

And that’s how she doesn’t doze off on the long ride back home.

He meant to brag to his friends about working graveyard shift when he saw them that first weekend. Sure, the hours are junk, but, Ho, should see da chicks!

Particularly the one he rides the bus with. Hinata Hyuuga. A small, Japanese girl. Brains and looks. Not to mention her unusual, light eyes, making you question her race. But, nah, no real question about it, she’s Japanese through and through with her shy, quiet manner. She’s someone he imagines could win the Cherry Blossom Festival pageant with her smooth skin and round eyes. He and the guys always steal a poster of the new year’s contestants from the supermarket window. Pictures of pretty Japanese girls’ profiles all lined up, free to admire. She could definitely win. If she ever tried. But she’s not very personable.

Not that that ever stopped him from talking to whoever he wants to talk to.

Yet he ended up not mentioning anything about Hinata to his friends. Not the next week, either.

Somehow, she just comes off as out-of-his-league. At least, he’s certain that’s what his friends would say. Just mentioning her would probably earn him jokes. He’s pretty sure she’s in all the high, smart classes. But he doesn’t know much about that--and she’s a year younger than him. He only knows her because his social club had a gathering with hers last year, invited by Sakura. There’re lots of pretty girls in that social club, and, unusually, it has girls over two grade levels. Just the younger girls didn’t catch his attention last year.

Needless to say, he’s thinking about her now.

Not much else to think about while he drops lids into the machine. It’s monotonous work, but he knows now that his job is way, way better than Hinata’s.

-Two weeks ago-

His jaw dropped when he saw her on the bus the second night.

She had covered her arms self-consciously with her hands when he got on.

Of course, that action was what drew his attention.

Bright. Red. Streaks and bumps. A rash. Mottling her fair skin in the crook of her elbows to the middle of her forearms. Both sides.

“From da pines?” he asked incredulously.

She nodded, her eyes turning down, as if somehow the rash was a personal fault.

He looked away, realizing his staring was only making her feel worse. “You have da kine..sensitive skin?” He wondered belatedly if talking about it would only make her feel worse worse.

“Umm...yeah…” Her voice sounded even quieter than her usual.

He frowned awkwardly, though she didn’t see it. He sat down beside her, still looking away. “Jeez. Das real junk.” He swallowed back his strange feeling of guilt. Her pain wasn’t his fault. Her job placement wasn’t his fault. So why did he feel like he was partially responsible...? “Uh, dere anyting fo’ do about it?” He suddenly felt like cringing at the sound of his own pidgin. His heavy speech just further emphasized his upbringing compared to hers. Someone classy like her shouldn’t be doing a job like that, right? “‘Cuz like, can only get worse, yeah? You get medicine fo’ put on or someting?” He couldn’t help jabbering on and on. When he starts feeling uncomfortable, that’s just what happens.

Thankfully, she continued the conversation. “Mhm. I saw yesterday some of th’ other workers wuz wearing two gloves.” She opened her purse and pulled out a pair. The hands were cut off. “Like this, see?” She pulled the glove on over her elbow like a sleeve, then pulled another, uncut one on so that they overlapped on her forearm.

“Ho, neat idea, yeah?” He nodded in approval.

She smiled in response. “The juice no can get inside, I think, yeah?”

“Yeah!” he emphasized.

She smiled a little more, obviously not embarrassed anymore by her arms.

And he felt proud of himself for getting them out of that uncomfortable start to the bus ride. Felt oddly self-satisfied that he got her to smile. Decided right then and there that he was pretty interested in her.

But he hasn’t really made a move, yet. The thought that she might turn him down is there. He’s been turned down enough times that rejection isn’t really what’s bugging him. It’s that she never seems to be in a good mood after their shift is done. That, and he doesn’t want it to be uncomfortable for the rest of the summer in case she does reject him. He would still have to catch the bus with her every night and morning. Too bad his dad doesn’t let him take the car to work. He gets it, though. His dad needs the car to go to work.

Well, he’ll figure it out later.

The bell screams, signaling the start of their lunch break.

He joins a group of Farrington guys he befriended over the course of the two weeks. There’re a lot of them working at the cannery, being that the high school is only a neighborhood away from the warehouse district.

“Eh, Naruto, you surf?” Omoi, a dark-skinned Filipino boy with sun-bleached ehu hair, asks.

“Yeah,” he answers, excitement bubbling. But only on the weekends with Shikamaru and Choji. He lives central, not at all close to the ocean, making beach trips longer than ideal. “Why, whatchu thinking?”

A guy they call “C,” Naruto has no idea what it’s short for, leans forward. “We go dawn patrol, Kewalo’s.”

Right after their shift, at the surf break at Kewalo Basin. Sounds solid. “Eh, shoots, we go! Tomorrow den?”

“Yeah,” Omoi affirms. “Prolly gon wash da pine stink off, yeah?”

C’s eyes widen at Omoi’s shoes, shaking his head. “Eh, brah, I no tink so, you dripping pines ova hea, bet yo feet kill, phew!”

“You faka, you no can talk, da flies stay all buzzin’ ‘round you!” Omoi shoots back.

Naruto frowns, considering that Hinata has the same job as Omoi, one of the few guys assigned to a woman’s job. Over the course of the job, Omoi’s shoes had soaked in pineapple juice that dripped from the cutting. This didn’t seem to be as big a problem for Hinata, who, for some girly reason, wore sandals despite the long hours of standing. “How come you no jus’ wea rubbah slippahs?”

Omoi shook his head with a serious expression. “No can fo’ do dat brah. I only get one good pair! Already wen ruin deez shoes, no sense ruin my slippahs too.”

“Dis broke faka ova hea, he no get money fo’ buy one noddah pair from Long’s das why!” C laughs.

Naruto shakes his head, laughing out loud. “No way you dat broke!”

Omoi turns to C, faux annoyance twisting his face. “Eh dis haole ri’ hea like get lickins?”

Instead of looking threatened, C just humorously shoots back, “You like go, we go!”

“Go den, shoots we go,” Omoi answers, squaring up.

“Yeah den go cuz, shoots,” C threatens back.

But neither of them stand.

Naruto rolls his eyes at their idiotic banter. Rarely is he the voice of reasoning, but he supposes it would be a different story if his school friends were here. “Eh we go Kewalo’s shoots.”

They turn back to him, huge grins on. “Yeah, we go!” Omoi says enthusiastically.

“Bring your board yeah?” C reminds him as the bell rings again.

“Yeah!”

He tells Hinata that he can’t go back with her the next day, and she just nods and smiles. Tells him to have fun.

And it’s a slight relief to not worry about the ride back home with her. He’s starting to feel like maybe she’s expecting him to ask her out since they spend so much time together. Well, really, he’s expecting that of himself, but he just can’t right now.

She’s just not any other girl at school in these current circumstances.

Hinata never meant to be one of those girls.

One of those girls, picked up on a stretcher and taken to the medical room to recuperate.

But on the first day of her period, she was exactly one of those girls.

She was feeling so tired. Legs like jelly. Sore up her thighs. Aches digging around her lower back. A weighty twisting in her core. A heavy day. It made her feel lightheaded.

The pineapples, one after another, going by, making her feel a little dizzy, like maybe she needed to close her eyes.

Shutting her eyes for a second didn’t help.

A breath, two breaths, intentional breaths.

She felt like maybe she was going to make herself start hyperventilating, the opposite of what she wanted. She wanted to breathe normally.

Focus on the pineapple.

It felt too heavy in her hand.

Her focus sliding off the pineapple, to the sticky yellow glint of the knife. Back to the pineapple.

She looked up, dazed, her eyes taking too long to adjust to a point on the far wall.

“Hinata, you alright?” Tenten asked.

She tried to refocus on the girl on the opposite side of her. She nodded, blinking, trying to concentrate on their job.

“You don’t look alright.” Her voice was too loud, like everything else going on.

Too loud, pounding.

She closed her eyes, heat searing her temples.

“-nata? Hinata?”

She slowly gains consciousness, to find Naruto looking down at her.

“You okay? You wen faint dey said.”

“Oh,” she manages to utter, trying to get her bearings as the room and bed take shape in her mind, blinking away the dazed vestiges of sleep. “W-what time is it?”

“Our shift only pau now.”

“Oh.”

“You feeling okay?”

She slowly sits up, nodding. “Yeah.” She must not have been out for that long. She really thought she would make it to the end of the night. “Were you waiting for me?” she asks, suddenly panicked at the realization that he is here with her.

“Ah, nah, nah. I come in jus’ now.” He gestures at the door. “You weren’ out dere, so I jus’ wen ask somebahdy. Dey said you wuz in hea.”

“Oh.” That’s good that he wasn’t waiting for her to wake up, but, still, she never expected him to do something like this. “You didn’t have to.”

He shrugs. “No problem. Ready fo’ go? Can walk or..?”

She nods, scooching off the bed-like table.

And he walks with her to check-out with one of the heads, and then back to the bus stop. Waits with her there. And when it’s obvious that he’s going back with her despite the longboard he’s been holding this whole time, she haltingly brings it up. “You not...going surfing?”

He shakes his head carelessly. “Nah, I go tomorrow.”

She ducks her head, biting her lips. “I’m sorry.”

“Nah, nah, waves not hitting today, so.” He shrugs, looking past her for the bus.

Obviously an outright lie, but she accepts it over drawing out such an uncomfortable situation.

“You no feel good today?” He sounds honestly concerned.

“Um, I felt fine earlier.” Well, in truth, she felt okay. The normal period cramps. As okay as a heavy day can be.

“You not sick?”

She shakes her head. She wants to sit down. The bench has the older workers sitting down, so she never gets to sit until the bus comes. She shifts her weight from foot to foot, trying to relieve the weight from her hips and pelvis.

It’s such a relief when the bus comes. She ignores the bus driver’s daily grimace and makes for the back row as quickly as she can.

He watches her sit down, audibly sigh, and her whole body kind of just melts into the stiff chair. It’s obvious that out of all the days so far, she’s the most tired today.

Or has she been like this? He just didn’t know because he’s been avoiding her in the mornings?

Ten minutes into the long ride, he’s thinking that it’s a good thing he’s going home with her today because…he thinks she’s falling asleep. Her head keeps jerking in his peripheral vision, so he decides to stop being considerate and turn to look straight at her.

Her eyes are drooping heavily, she’s blinking really hard...she is falling asleep. Or, trying really hard not to.

“Hinata.”

“Huh?” Her eyes fly wide open, obviously forcing herself.

“Sleep, I go wake you up later.”

Her cheeks redden. “Oh, no, I’m fine.”

She doesn’t trust him, or…what? She’s embarrassed?

“You sure?”

She nods. “Yeah.” Her voice sounds too breathy to be fine, but if she says so...

It’s no surprise to him when her body starts slumping over, her head weighing the rest of her body down and toward the seats in front of them.

She’d be even more embarrassed about this position, right? So he reaches over to grab both her shoulders and kind of push her back upright.

Well, that’s what he meant to do.

Her eyes open as if spooked, and she straightens out of his hands. “Sorry!” she gasps. Expression all pinched, she looks like she feels really ashamed.

About what, though? If anything, he feels bad about how tired she is. “No,” he reassures. “No worry ‘bout me.” He’s trying his best to sound comforting… “Should get some rest, s’okay, I go wake you up befo’ my stop. Trus’ me.”

Her eyes squint, like she’s straining to focus. “...maybe. But I don’t like sleep..on da bus.”

He can’t help a laugh. “Ha, you look like you goin’ give yourself da kine whiplash back-an-for'-li’ dat, jus’ relax.”

“Mm…” A noncommittal answer, but one that doesn’t argue, so he can’t push the issue any further, either.

They settle back into the sound of the engine roaring along the highway, and pretty soon, her body’s starting to lean over again. He refrains from helping her, even though she looks uncomfortable.

She looks like she’s going to wake up with a sore neck. Her blood’s probably rushing to her head in that position. That’s not good, right? She literally just had a fainting spell not too long ago. So having her head lean against the rattling window pane wouldn’t be ideal, either. Since they’re sitting at the back, she might really conk her head hard if the bus has to stop.

With more care than the first time, he tries to guide her to lean against him.

For a moment, her eyelids and brows wiggle and bunch up, but swiftly return to their placid state.

It’s nice.

She’s nice.

He should ask her out. She doesn’t ignore him or outwardly show any disinterest, so…sometime he’ll do it. Just of course not today.

When he sees that he’s getting close to his stop, he calls her name, “Hinata. Hinata.”

“Mm.” She sits up and blinks, a hand hurriedly wiping her mouth.

Drool? He’s trying not to smile like a goofball, but kind of failing at hiding his selfish amusement. “I gotta get off now. You gon’ be okay?”

She nods, making eye contact for a second, only for her gaze to immediately skitter away to some unknown point on the bus floor.

“‘Kay, you take care, yeah?”

She nods again, still refusing to look at him, her hands busy everywhere touching her face and then her hair, fixing who-knows-what. She murmurs something.

“Huh?” he asks in a knee-jerk reaction before his brain pieces together that it sounded like an apology. “Oh, no need say dat.” He reaches over to pull the cord for his stop and grins. “Maybe I see you tomorrow, yeah?”

She nods, glances up at him for a second, and looks down once more.

He gets off the bus feeling pretty good about himself in the bright morning sun.

Only to realize--

Maybe he should have made sure she got home all the way.

Maybe he should have gotten off at her stop with her.

The library isn’t really that far a walk back to his own home.

…

She’s probably fine, right?

She wouldn’t have fallen asleep again, right?

Why did she faint anyway?

Should he have asked more?

His consciousness won’t let up. He could call, but if he calls, then he really probably will need to ask her out eventually. Well, he plans on it anyway, but if he calls, then that would really solidify things, and she’d expect something from him by, like, tomorrow.

Well, that’s all hypothetical. If he can even find her name in the phonebook...

...He finds it.

“Who you calling?” his mom asks, teasing him, as she pops up beside him in the kitchen. “Noddah one of your girlfriends?”

“...No…”

“Ohh, you asking a girl out? Why you no jus’ call her? She goin’ turn you down, ah!” she laughs, all by herself. “Who like go out wit you, ah?” Her laughter rings throughout the house.

He wishes he could yell at her to shut up, but then she’d go get the slipper and give him some serious dirty lickins.

So he keeps his eyes on the phonebook, and with his mom’s derision motivating him, picks up the receiver and hooks his finger into the first digit, gaining self-confidence with each pull, release, and spin of the dial.

If it’s the parents, then that’s fine. He’ll make a good impression. Maybe. He doesn’t need to talk to Hinata, he just wants the family to know that she fainted. He gets the feeling Hinata’s not the type to talk about things like that to her family.

But then...maybe the cannery already called them about it.

The dial tone ends.

He takes a readying breath. “...Hello?”

“Hello?” It’s a young girl’s voice.

“Is this Hinata’s house?” he continues, desperately trying to imitate a school valedictorian or maybe a teacher...

“...Yeah...Who’s this?”

“This is Naruto...I, uh, work same place, at da cannery.”

“...She’s not home, yet. And she’s not supposed to talk to boys.”

What? I tought she in dat social club? “Well, I no need talk to her. I jus’ like you guys know that, uh, she wen fainted at work, yeah.”

“...”

“...So, she should be home soon, I get off da bus a little befo’ her, I jus’ like try check she gets home okay..yeah..”

“...Okay.” In the background, he hears a faint voice talking before the girl on the line continues, “It’s a boy.”

“Huh?”

“He’s saying Hinata fainted at work. And that she should be home soon.”

He realizes she’s talking to someone else, so he awkwardly waits.

“Okay, ...uhhmm...” Her voice trails out for a solid second.

She talking to me now? “Oh, yeah?”

“Thank you, I’m gonna go meet her. Bye.”

“Oh-” The line cuts, his own goodbye stuck in his throat. He places the receiver back down, uncertain what to make of that whole exchange, wondering what about it left him dissatisfied. He did what he meant to do, after all... That must have been a younger sister.

“Hinata? You neva talk about her befo’,” his mom observes as she gathers her things for work. “You met her at da cannery?”

“No, she one year youngah dan me at sku’.”

“She wen faint? Why you neva walk her back home, ah?!”

“I no tink dat until aftah!” he defends. “Das why I wen call!”

“You no can get one decent girlfriend acting li’dat, ah!, dis stupid son of mine, ahh, ah, if you jus’ focus on sku’ mo’, get bettah grades, get mo’ smartah, ah,” his mom tuts and laments off on a tangent, and he ignores her.

He sees her off for work at the door, his mind turning back to whether he needs to ask Hinata out tomorrow. Especially since, “She’s not supposed to talk to boys.” What’s that about?

He never does find out. There’s no way he could ask such a question, and the summer passes too fast for him to face her plainly. He’s not sure why, but whenever he imagines her turning him down, the idea hurts a lot more than it should.

Logically, he knows itʻs just a yes or no answer. He’s been turned down here and there. He’s gone on numerous dates, danced with girls, and played silly social games with the opposite sex at parties. And concerning Hinata, she’s a year younger than him, so the chances of seeing her on campus are a lot smaller, so he wouldn’t have to face her that often if she does turn him down.

So why can’t he just ask her out?

She held out hope.

She thanked him profusely the day after, and he was extremely nice to her. He went back on the bus with her for that entire following week's shifts, making sure she was okay, before he determined that she was safe enough without him.

He went back to surfing in the mornings.

The day of their last shift, she held out so much hope.

He didn’t ask her out.

So she tries to shrug it off.

The disappointment.

The deep, far too deep, disappointment. She’s probably just not his type.

But to her surprise, that’s not the last time she sees him before school starts.

Their social clubs host a joint car wash to raise money.

She pushes down her shy feelings, knowing that if he has absolutely no interest in dating her, then there’s really no reason for her to act strangely around him. It would simply be rude of her to ignore him after spending all summer the way they did on the bus together. Gathering her courage, she walks up to him and calls out his name, “Naruto! Hi!” She smiles, hoping to appear as cheerful as possible.

“Oh!” He turns from his friends, already knowing whose voice it was, but still caught off-guard.

She’s dressed really casually--in shorts, a shirt, and rubber slippers, obviously appropriate for the day’s work, but still strange to see on her. He somehow thought maybe she didn’t own casual clothes like that.

“Hinata! Hi!” he responds, a little belatedly. He feels really stupid, somehow his grin feels unnatural, too tense. He watches her smile again and then turn back to her friends.

Something gnaws at his consciousness, like he missed out on saying or doing something he should have done in that moment. Ask her how she’s been in the past week? He just saw her not too long ago, so that would be dumb to ask.

“Whose dat again?”

He blinks out of his stare and turns to Sasuke.

“Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga. We bo’ worked night shift at da cannery.”

“You ask her out?”

“...No, nah yet…” he admits, nerves crawling around, making him feel guilty out of nowhere.

Sasuke raises a brow. “You like her?”

He shrugs his shoulders, frowning, trying to play off the intrusive question as nothing to him. “...Yeah…”

Now both of Sasuke’s brows are raised.

Naruto shifts uncomfortably. Every single second here is making him realize he should’ve gotten the deed done and over with already. Now she’s around all of his fellow club members. Any one of the other guys could ask her out by the end of the day.

She could take a liking to one of his friends. He realizes that his chances were so much higher when it was just the two of them.

She and Sakura walk around helping to pass out sponges and buckets. They introduce themselves to several boys, all of them very friendly.

Hinata herself feels very friendly. After her act of courage in facing Naruto, after getting that difficult exchange done with, she feels pretty bold.

She’s in this social club to have fun! She won’t let a little one-sided crush damper her day!

True that none of the other guys are as naturally magnetic as Naruto, but she knows that first impressions aren’t everything. All of these guys in his social club seem perfectly nice, helping to fill and carry the heavy buckets of water for the girls.

She sets to work on a car, excitedly engaging in discussions about the new school year with whoever works beside her. And with an observant eye, she manages to not work on the same side of a car as Naruto.

Two hours pass in laughter and good spirits, even with how the noonday sun beats down, pouring heat over the asphalt lot.

The once cool water comes out hot from the hose, and the buckets are just puddles of liquid sun she has to dunk her hand and sponge into as infrequently as possible.

The constant bending is nothing to her, though. After a whole summer of cannery work on her feet, she’s pretty sure she’s more fit than last year. She’s not even sweating as much as she thought she would.

Until she gets up too fast.

Her head sears hot, her vision darkening into pinpoints of bright light.

She tries to squint, to see through the sudden tunnels of black, but her eyes burn, and just as quickly, she feels off-balance, her head too heavy to hold up.

She crouches down, face in her hands, confused and pained.

“Hinata, you okay?” Sakura, most likely.

“I can’t see.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t see,” she repeats, trying to stay calm despite the painful splotches of color beneath her eye lids. “It hurts.” And she feels like she’s going to pass out, but she refuses to embarrass herself like that in front of everyone.

“Oh my gosh… Water. Water!” Sakura says louder.

“Wut’s wrong!” Another voice.

Oh no, not that voice.

“She’s dehydrated I think!”

“Oh shit,” he curses.

Hinata sits as still as possible, focusing on not tipping over into a ball and fainting right there on the dirty, poky ground. Not again.

“Here, water,” Sakura says, her voice stressed and concerned. “Can you raise your head?”

“Mm.” She slowly lifts her face and opens her mouth.

A plastic water bottle is placed at her lips, lukewarm liquid flowing onto her tongue. She drinks it dutifully, the pain in her head clearing rather quickly.

She eventually pushes the water bottle away and wipes her lips on the back of her hand. “Thank you,” she breathes out, relieved that her head’s weight is starting to feel normal again. But she keeps her eyes closed, too afraid to strain her vision. Or to see if she attracted everyone’s attention...or to find out if Naruto is still there.

“Do you feel better?” Sakura asks, still sounding way more worried than necessary.

“Yeah, thank you, Sakura.”

“Can you see?”

“I don’t know…” She doesn’t want to test herself too soon, but she cracks her eyes open, if only to assure Sakura that she’s okay.

The world is a bright fog through the slight cracks of her eyelids.

But it doesn’t hurt.

“I’ll be able to see fine in a minute, I think.”

Sakura sighs in relief. “Good.”

A random boy whose deep voice she doesn’t recognize asks what happened.

“She dehydrated,” Naruto answers.

Hinata doesn’t know whether to feel flattered or dreadfully embarrassed that he’s still there.

“Oh, das not good,” the other boy assesses.

“Yeah…” Naruto agrees.

“I’ll be fine in a moment!” Hinata pipes up, her personality automatically choosing to feel embarrassed.

The unknown guy makes a sound of uncertainty.

“Yeah, Hinata,” Sakura adds on. “I don’t think you should help out right away. You could’ve gotten heatstroke.”

“Heatstroke?” she asks.

“Dere’s no shade ‘round hea,” Naruto comments.

Hinata slowly forces her eyes to adjust, hoping to prove them all wrong. “I can see. I’m fine.” She starts to get up carefully.

More sounds of uncertainty resound behind her, and she hates how all three of them are treating her like she could collapse at any moment.

Like, even if she could collapse at any moment, even if that is what just happened, she doesn’t want this to be how everyone sees her from now on. Like some weak, stupid girl who forgets to drink water on a hot day.

Even if that is what she is.

“I can take her home.” Naruto’s invitation has her finally turning around to face her audience.

To her relief, it’s just the three of them, Sakura, Naruto, and a pretty, black-haired Japanese boy she’s seen him hanging out with.

“Yeah, take her home,” the pretty boy says. He claps Naruto’s arm.

Naruto gives some kind of smile that’s really cute, and Hinata has to force herself to try not to examine anything he’s said or done in the past five minutes.

He made her over-examine his behavior all summer, only for it to amount to nothing. He’s just really nice and treats her like a good friend. That’s all.

Sakura helps her walk to his car.

And all too soon, she’s sitting right next to him.

Naruto starts up the engine, blasting the AC so that cool air roars onto their heated faces.

“I’m sorry.” She gulps down a knot of discomfort in her throat, already regretting so much.

“Nah, no need say dat.” His stomach feels sore, his legs antsy. He was trying to nonchalantly work on the cars by her, but somehow, he wonders if she was avoiding him.

She’s too nice to do that, right? She never tried to avoid him at their summer job…

He needs to gauge her interest in him. So after he backs out of the parking space and safely makes it into traffic, he ventures conversation. “How you feeling now?”

She nods. “I feel better. I could’ve stayed, I think…”

“...Oh…” He’s already on Moanalua Home Road, and turning around now would be humbug. “Are you sure?”

“Mm…” She’s not sure. She just doesn’t want to seem so frail.

“‘S'okay, ya know? Already get plenny help, das why, no need chance 'm.”

“Mm...okay… Thank you...I’m sorry…”

With conversation finding its natural, quick end, he finds himself wracking his brain for ideas. He has about five more minutes with her before they get to her house. I should ask her out...I should just ask her...just ask her…

“Oh, I like this song.”

“Hm?” He turns the radio up, glad to focus on something outside of his brain. “Oh, yeah!”

It’s a newish one by Cecilio and Kapono, one he imagines will be really popular at social club dances, the slow tempo is perfect.

Not knowing what else to do to fill the silence, she starts singing softly. She can tell he’s glancing at her, but she keeps her eyes fixed determinedly forward, her gut turning to jelly as the romantic meaning registers in her mind. “...Our small moment that we shared, Is only yours and mine, No one else is really going to know, That I care about you…”

His cheeks flush. This song really is perfect for a social club dance. He never paid that much attention to the lyrics, but with her soft voice singing them, the words are suddenly resonating, hitting a little too close-to-home.

“And all the questions that I asked myself about you…”

He's made up his mind. He’s going to ask her out.

“Won’t you come and be with me…”

Right after this song.

“That if you come and stay you’re going to see, That I care about you.”

He relaxes into his seat, his grasp, unintentionally tight on the wheel, relaxes, too. If she's comfortable enough to sing in his presence, then there's nothing stopping him from feeling comfortable, too. It's actually really nice to know that she's willing to do something like this with him. He's stressed out for nothing. He's hesitating for nothing. And maybe, if things work out, this feeling...this moment...would be normal...

She peeks at him, and...he’s smiling. He’s not teasing, laughing, or grimacing at her. So she continues singing, relieved.

When the song finishes, he lowers the volume, reassured, readier than ever. “Hinata…”

She blinks, realizing they’re really close to her house, and Naruto doesn't know where to go. “Oh! You turn left at the intersection after this light.”

Jarred to the present, he suddenly notices his heart racing, despite how calm he felt not even ten seconds ago. The words get lost on his tongue, and he simply follows her instructions, the opportune moment evaporating into nothing.

“It’s that house,” she points, and he slows, pulling over against the curb.

She turns to him to give her appreciation properly.

But he’s facing directly toward her, his usually cheerful expression one of uncharacteristic focus.

Her heart leaps into her throat.

“Hinata," he repeats. "You like, go movies with me, sometime?”

She nods, speechless, because yes, yes, yes.

And he visibly relaxes. He can breathe again. Her agreement was so much easier than he thought it would be. “I go check da listings den, okay? And I’ll call you?”

She nods, eyes growing wide as everything starts to sink in.

He nods, too, an embarrassed smile working at his mouth. “Talk to you later den, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she breathes, a smile forming in reaction. In a fog of happiness, she steps out of the car, nearly forgetting. “Oh, thank you for taking me home!”

He nods, thinking that this won't be the last time he makes sure she gets home. He notices how her happy smile lights up her eyes like earlier at the carwash, but now, it’s directed at him, him only. And once she disappears into her house, more than anything, he feels incredible relief.

And excitement.

He gets the feeling…

She gets the feeling…

This is going to last.

#naruhina2020 #naruhina fanfic #naruhina fanfiction #1970s au #dialect fic #code switching #race changes au #high school au #thank you for reading!

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alicedoessurveys · 4 years

Text

Doctor Who Tag

yes im a nerd...

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

I was 10 when it came back on telly with Eccleston and the first episode with the autons scared me so much my mom wouldn't let me watch it again until a couple years later, but yeah my teens I was obsessed with DW... still am at age 25

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

‘Rose’

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I still have the eleventh doctor’s screwdriver... I used to have some of the figures but there in storage now somewhere

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

didn't play it on the playground

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

all of them! the ones that still scare me now are the Cybermen and the Autons... genuinely cant walk past a shop mannequin without being suspicious

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

as a kid, any of the innuendo type jokes

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

idk I think I still have the same opinions

9. Who introduced you to DW?

parents

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

I LOVED SJA!! I miss that show, and Elizabeth Slade :(

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

Ten was the doctor that made me fall in love with Doctor Who

12. Your favourite Doctor?

omg why not just ask me who my favourite child is... (I don't have kids but you know what I mean) if I had to chose my top three are ten, eleven and thirteen

13. Least favourite Doctor?

purely just because he doesn't have enough episodes... nine...

14. Best regeneration?

none of them I hate regenerations :( they make me sad, im too emotionally invested in every single one

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

they're not my faves

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

I think nine maybe? or twelve?

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

the 50th anniversary special

18. Best Doctor monologue?

“Hello Stonehenge! who takes the pandorica, takes the universe. but bad news everyone, cause guess who? HA! You lot you're all whizzing about- its really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I AM TALKING. Question of the hour is, who's got the pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? Come on, look at me! No plan. No backup. No weapons worth a damn. oh and something else, I don't have anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns and you've got any plans on taking the pandorica tonight... just remember who's standing in your way. remember ever black day I ever stopped you and then- AND THEN- do the smart thing... let somebody else try first.”

not copied and pasted, remember that from the top of my head... its always there waiting in my mind incase I ever need an epic monologue :’)

19, What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

hopefully living his best life with Rose

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

ten and donna

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Donna, Clara, Amy

22. Favourite secondary companion?

is Mickey classed as secondary? idk

23. Least favourite companion?

Ryan

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Doctor, Amy and Rory

25. Most underrated companion?

Graham, but that may just be cause I love Bradders

26. Most overrated companion?

Rose... I like her but idk, I think she gets more hype than she deserves.. don't @ me

27. Favourite companion’s family?

Rose’s mom

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

idk I cant think of anyone

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy and Rory

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

wasn't keen on Bill at first but by the end I really liked her, same with Rory

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

girl in the fireplace

32. Least favourite episode?

most of Chibnall’s episodes tbh sorry not sorry

33. Which episodes do you skip?

the regeneration episodes

34. Best two-parter?

Human Nature - Family of Blood

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

I like them all in there own way but I think present is fave, then historical, then future

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

all of them

37. Episode that will always make you cry?

Rory and Amy’s last episode :’(

38. Best run of episodes?

ugh I cant answer this theres too many

39. Best cliffhanger?

the end of Spyfall part one when the Master reveals who he is... I was SHOOK

40. Favourite Christmas special?

Voyage of the Damned

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

new who

42. Favourite series?

four or five

43. Least favourite series?

eleven, I just cant with the writing

44. Which series do you skip?

none

45. Favourite series opening?

eleventh hour

46. Favourite series finale?

Doomsday

47. Best series arc?

Bad Wolf

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I adore Jodie Whittaker and her doctor, and although I think 3 companions is too many I do love Yaz and Graham (Ryan is hit & miss). I just think theyve been massively let down by the stories/writing... they’ve tried to hard to tick certain boxes and completely missed what Doctor Who is about for a lot of people.. an escape from the real world into these outrageous unbelievable but lovable fun alien adventures

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

not a lot

50. Who should have had another series?

NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

the master

52. Most creative monster?

Weeping Angels, whoever came up with monsters that look like statues and only move when you're not looking at them is genius

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

Autons, Cybermen, the creepy dolls from Night Terrors, the ones from Waters of Mars, Weeping Angels

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

idk

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

absorbaloff

56. Monster you want to return?

The Master, I really hope that isn't the last we see of Dhawan

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

being genuinely scary,

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

Weeping Angels

59. Best Dalek story?

Daleks in Manhatten

60. Best one time villain/monster?

my brain has gone blank I cant think of an answer right now

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

I haven't watched it all so I couldn't say

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

again, not watched it all

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

huh

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Sarah Jane

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

K-9

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Nope

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

n/a

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

yes

DESIGN/PRODUCTION

71. Favourite piece of alien tech?

the sonic, I love how it is so multipurpose except for when it comes to wood

72. Favourite piece of Murray Gold music?

I am the Doctor - gets me pumped every time

73. Favourite TARDIS design?

Ten’s Tardis

74. Has the 2005 era CGI aged well?

actually yeah, I was rewatching the ‘are you my mummy’ episodes the other day and my God when the gas masks emerged from the faces... ooooooof I was like omg how

75. Favourite Doctor outfit?

eleven or thirteen

76. Monster with the best design?

not really a design more of a costume.. I live Dhawan master’s costume. that shade of purple, oof he so stylish

77. Best show runner?

idk

78. Best writer?

Gatiss

79. Best opening titles?

eleven’s titles where the Tardis is flying and being zapped is cool but thirteens music hits different

80. Will DW age well/stay popular in the future?

I hope so, I feel like its lasted this long surely it can last forever.. if the writers don't fuck it up...

IF YOU WERE IN THE SHOW

81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor?

whatever time means Id get to wear the most beautiful costumes

82. Planet/place you’d want to go with the Doctor?

Galifrey, pre-desctruction

83. Doctor you’d most like to travel with?

any of them, please and thank you

84. Companion you’d most like to travel with?

donna, sceso a good laugh but also I feel like she’d look after me

85. Monster you’d like to defeat/fight?

The Master

86. If you could go back on your own history (like Father’s Day), where would you go?

back to when I was a toddler, I wanna see what I was like

87. If you could ask the Doctor anything, what would you ask?

theres too many to ask

88. Historical figure you’d like to meet?

Shakespeare

89. How do you think you’d meet the Doctor?

id probably be rescued from doing something stupid and then the doc would be like you know what the bitch clearly needs supervision she's coming with me

90. Would you travel forwards or backwards in time first?

backwards

IF YOU MADE THE SHOW

91. Historical event would you like to see in DW?

Hamilton

92. Issue you’d like to see addressed in DW?

idk

93. Who would you completely erase from the DW universe?

Ruth

94. One unanswered DW question you’d love to know the answer to?

where is Clara now?

95. Actor/actress you’d like to see play the Doctor?

Phoebe Waller Bridge (or Lin Manuel Miranda)

96. Actor/actress you’d like to see play a companion?

Andrew Scott (yes I did just basically recast fleabag and hot priest)

97. Is DW “too political”?

series 11 got a bit like that

98. Which characters fate would you changed?

Danny Pink

99. What about DW could be improved?

I think ive made my options about Chibnall pretty clear...

100. If you could write an episode of DW, any ideas for what you’d do

bring back Jenny, the Doctor / Daughter adventures they would have. I’m actually writing a fic about it if you wanna read.... here

#doctor who #tag #doctor who tag #doctor who questions #survey

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fishdavidson · 5 years

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Dream Journal 2019-06-27: An Unusual Movie Called QST.B32

All right, so this dream is probably going to be far too long for the amount of time I have to write tonight, but I will do my best to get as complete and concise a summary as I can. Part of the reason for its length is that I was pretty lucid for a large part of it, in addition to its vividness.

The dream begins in a nondescript bedroom that appears to belong to an older teenager or young adult. A black shelf is built into the wall next to me, empty except for a DVD case and an almanac of economic statistics. Someone has circled various statistics in the book, and I know deep down in my gut that this is supposed to mean something. I recognize the DVD --which is labeled QST.B32-- as an underappreciated cult film that I have yet to see.

I take both of them.

Flash forward a bit, and I have watched the movie and promptly become obsessed with it. This movie is unique among most other movies because there are hundreds of scenes hidden on the disc that you will probably never see. The only way to see them is to find hidden branch points that will allow you to change the story.

I watch the movie again. And again. And again. I trawl the internet for tips and rumors of how to find the dozens of scenes I haven’t yet witnessed. Once the internet stops giving up secrets, I turn to other sources. I am convinced that the book of economic statistics from earlier is somehow related to uncovering all that this movie can offer.

My brain gets a bit jumbled with events here, because things are simultaneously happening and not happening. The boy from whose room I took the book and DVD has died of unknown causes. He is also alive and fearful of an impending event known as “Bounce Day.” And he is unconscious and much younger, lying face-down on the tile floor of a kitchen.

This is where the lucidity kicks into overdrive.

Somehow the DVD, the book, and the reality in which I find myself are all interrelated. My reality is now that of the DVD, and I am at a narrative branch point. I also now have the ability basically make a “bookmark” at the current point in the film/reality, but each time I make a bookmark, the next one has to be closer to the end of the film.

Reality spans several days until it reaches “Bounce Day” at the end of the film. Once it reaches this point, I have the option to restart the film from the beginning and make different decisions to change what happens in the story. My goal from now on is to understand what exactly “Bounce Day” is and to stop the boy from the beginning of this dream from ending up dead.

I go through the events a few more times, trying to figure out where some hidden branch points are. The only thing that I can carry between replays is the book of statistics, so I use it to create a notation system for tracking which branches I’ve seen and where decision points are likely to be.

Everything seems to be laden with meaning and subtext. Otherwise unrelated or meaningless objects want to share secret messages with my brain somehow. I become more attuned to the weird little waypoints that indicate where in the narrative I am. These waypoints are all little things like the expiration dates on grocery store coupons, or status messages on gas pumps (like “no change given at this terminal”).

Some decision points always occur during the flow of the narrative, while others only show up if certain conditions are fulfilled. By this point, I’ve experienced the film several dozen times. I’ve located several fuel pumps that function like debugging menus and let me sidestep certain branches and move forward and backward through time via a process known as “advancing the room.”

Bounce Day is the first mystery that gets solved. It occurs in the timeline where the boy dies, and Bounce Day is some sort of cataclysmic event that will bring about a major civil war filled with bullets and bombs. If I can prevent the boy from dying before the end, I can probably prevent Bounce Day.

On the next playthrough, I make a bookmark before the boy dies and knock him unconscious instead. This is the timeline where most of the stuff I haven’t seen before is located. My notes in the book indicate where the first new branch should probably occur. I steal a car and drive very slowly through a specific parking lot to travel through some sort of demonic portal to a new parallel reality where time doesn’t exist in a linear fashion and there are more overtly supernatural beings (though everything otherwise looks identical).

I make another bookmark here.

This portion is extremely chaotic and the decision points seem even more arbitrary. After another dozen runthroughs from this point, I am pretty confident that the only way to prevent Bounce Day and keep the boy alive is to secure the help of a blue demonic assassin named Bella. But the only way to get Bella to appear in a scene where she is not outright hostile to you is to figure out the arbitrary patterns that govern her appearance.

The position of two pieces of wood in a barren concrete room with a thin layer of water on the floor dictated this for some reason. One particularly advantageous path put me in contact with another human named Matt who worked as an agricultural scientist before he ended up having to work on finding a way to avert Bounce Day. He gave me a packet of instructions that detailed more hidden paths (which got documented in my book) and told me how to find weapons and ammunition I could use to defend myself.

I took Matt’s plans and made another bookmark. I started cycling through different paths until I found one that gave me about 30 seconds to reach Bella before she entered into a gunfight with another assassin. I jumped down a massive staircase in order to beat the rival assassin to Bella and secured her assistance right as the gunfire started breaking out.

At this point I had found all the passages through the movie and found the best possible ending to the film. But all was not finished!

Upon reaching the end this time, I was transported back to the bedroom from the beginning of the dream. But this time around, I was outside of the movie reality. The book and DVD were still there, but all the notes I had made in my journeys were still in the book. The boy from the beginning was maybe 5 or 6 years old at this point.

My purpose in this dream, it turns out, was to map out every pathway through a treacherous alternate reality for this boy. He was destined to be the one who would avert Bounce Day in this reality.

Good luck, kid; you’ll need it.

#dream journal #dreams #lucid dreaming #lucid #bounce day #taken #fishddavidson #movie #book

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getyourvitamin-bri · 6 years

Text

Super-Mega-Foxy-Awesome-Hot Klance Fic Recs!

One-Shots

Sweet Quiznak - CheckeredCloth Read if your into hurt/comfort and humor, an odd mix but this fic does it awesomely. Summary: "You're really into him," Hunk mutters, and wow, Lance's face is on fire. Hunk is killing him. "Look, read into how you like, Freud, just make sure that if I die Keith knows I totally would've mowed his ass like grass. That way, I can laugh hysterically at his emotionally-constipated expression from the afterlife." Rated Teen & Up

Love Bug Stuff - WhatTheBodyGraspsNot @whatthebodygraspsnot I’m such trash for Love Bug fics, this one in particular is stellar. Summary: Keith is bitten by an alien love bug that makes him fall in love with the first person he sees. And just guess who the heck that first person is? Rated M

Never Saw You Coming - dimpleforyourthoughts @dimpleforyourthoughts Read if you love angst, slow burn, mutual pinning, and hurt/comfort aka read if you love being put through all the feels :) Summary: Three months in space on his own would have been fine. Three months in space with Lance McClain is a whole other fucking story. Rated M

nothing’s quite as sweet - dimpleforyourthoughts There is cute cats and cute klance, need I say more? Summary: Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street. Rated Teen & Up

Muy Lindo - flipfloppandas - I’m trash for shy adorable keith and this fic delivered. Summary: In which Lance must learn how to navigate through a relationship with a Keith who is surprisingly shy, but it’s okay because Lance honestly freaking loves it. Not Rated.

implosion (the lines we cross) - pidgeotto_gunderson Some well written hard core angst if your up for it. Summary: The adrenaline is pumping through his veins - this is what he needs, what they both need. To yell and scream and hurt each other before they can mend.Fix-it fic for s7e6, imagining if Lance and Keith fought things out while they were all lost in space and it led to Lance finally spilling about his insecurities. Rated Teen & Up

Crest of White, Bow Down - 2towels @2towels I totally went “awwww” while reading this fic, its so adorable, it will definitely make you smile. Summary: “I don’t know what I need to do to prove to you that I haven’t thought about leaving, but I haven’t.”Without hesitating, Lance lifted his good hand to rest on Keith’s cheek and stroked his thumb across it, silently appreciating his pouty features as he swallowed. “Tell me every day you love me more,” He finally demanded dramatically and breathlessly, flitting his gaze down to Keith’s shoulders instead of the intensity of his eyes, “maybe that would work.”“That wouldn’t even be a challenge.” Keith said quietly.--Five times Lance is swept off his feet, and one time he falls. Rated Teen & Up

Kodachrome - HoddieMaine @joinmeinthishell , Ninke_A @collector-of-hats Wow this is such a beautiful story, its really well written, read if you love pinning and fluff. Summary: Keith has been at a loss for a while now. His job is terrible, his passion for photography has waned, and his pseudo brother has moved to some little town and keeps insisting he visit.When Keith finally does go, he ends up on a little street full of quaint shops. He intends to simply spend time with Shiro but ends up in a record store across the street. With a very attractive man, who signs instead of speaks. Rated E

Thinking ‘Bout You - BleuSarcelle @bleusarcelle, Queerklancing @queerklancing I got a cavity from the fluff in this fic :) Summary: That time Keith had a voice in his head singing and found out he had a quite unique soulmate link. Rated G

Rose-Colored Boy - melancholymango @melancholymango Read if you enjoy angsty lance, langst, & to experience all the feels. Summary: “I missed you, you know.”“Yeah?” Lance sighed, warm and giddy, clearly not absorbing how serious the words truly were. “Yeah.” Keith said, more certainty in his voice now. He reached down, hesitantly threading his fingers through Lance’s and giving his hand a squeeze. Lance tensed next to him. “I still do.”“I mean, I’m right here.”“Are you? You still seem pretty far away.” Rated Teen & Up

Blue Christmas - melancholymango I loved how keith and lance were written in this fic, its just overall super well written. Summary: The team decides to celebrate the holiday season in space as nostalgia gets the better of them, but reflecting on the past hurts Lance more than it helps and Keith doesn't have any memories to reflect on. AKA the one where Keith and Lance hate the holidays together, only to realize that they were actually celebrating all along in their own Keith and Lance way. Rated G

Multi-chapter

Not That Bad - varelsen @lvtvr Yeah this fic gave me lot of feelings, their relationship builds beautifully. Summay: “Am I really going to have to explain this to you?”“No, I’m totally fine with you shutting up right about now.” Hunk cups his hands around his mouth. “You. Are crushing. On Keith.” Or, a college AU featuring coffee shops, silly rivalries, motorcycles, arcade games, friendships, and lots of warm, fluffy feelings that are both confusing and delightful all at the same time. Rated M

Entangled - Purpleneutrino (mackerelmademedoit) @purpleneutrino I found this fic super interesting to read, and literally could not put it down. Summary: When Keith found himself mentally linked to Lance of all people, he never thought that it would end in anything but irritation and misery on both sides. He certainly never imagined that it would be a useful asset in team Voltron's fight against the Galra Empire. Now if he can just keep his feelings in check, they might actually have a chance at defeating Zarkon. Needless to say, when he'd wished for a 'bonding moment' with Lance, this wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind. Rated M

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here - klancekorner @dimplesandcurlsss Yeah I stayed up till 4am reading this and it was glorious, I finished at 3am and just thought about it for another hour, so awesome! Summary: Lance and Keith have been best friends since first grade. Lance’s brain is always on overdrive and Keith’s blunt, realistic ass can never keep up. They both come to realize that sometimes you can learn a lot about loving yourself by loving someone else. Rated M

Something just like this - klancekorner A summer romance sundae with a friends to lovers cherry on top. Summary: Keith reluctantly becomes the counselor for the Red Cabin at Camp Voltron, a summer camp in the middle of buttfuck nowhere that his older brother Shiro has worked at for years. Already unhappy with the current position that he is in, Keith prepares himself for a boring, sweaty, miserable summer; and his frustration only grows when he meets the counselor for the Blue Cabin Rated M

You and I Collide - idratherhaveyou @itsthegameilike If you looked up cute in the dictionary, this modern apartment au would be the definition. Summary: Lance likes to sing in the shower. Keith lives in the apartment next door and the walls are not very thick. And you can bet when Lance wakes him up at 7:30 in the morning, Keith has something to say about it. Rated M

I’ve Got You - DragonofFernweh @dragonastral Keith comforting lance is my aesthetic, this fic is my aesthetic. Summary: Keith isn’t great at the whole comfort thing, he doesn’t have a way with words, nor does he have much experience in way of affection. Still, when Lance hurts, Keith wants to do something to help. Otherwise known as; five times Keith comforts Lance, and one time Lance comforts Keith. Rated G

it’s easier for you to let me go - welcometothehumanrace Should be called 6 times I went AAJKSCNSKDCNSJ because of how fluffin’ cute keith and lance are. Summary: Keith did not think Lance's arms were anything to get excited about. Or his shoulders. Or any general part of him. Just everything about him was unexciting as a whole.Obviously. Or 5 times Lance put his arms around Keith and the one time Keith really wanted him to. Rated Teen & Up

The Message - shipstiel @shipstiel-writes Wow this wrong number fic is just glorious, I laughed, I went “awwwww”, I just had such a good time reading this. Summary: Keith is texted by accident by some idiot one day, and honestly he's not even sure why he responds. Or why he keeps responding. Yet somehow he finds himself drawn in, and okay, so maybe this fool is mildly entertaining after all. Who would've thought. Rated Teen & Up

Homesick at Space Camp - K0bot @k0tron So awesome...just a fucking great fic. Its got fake relationship/married, its got angst, its got ballroom dancing, its got so much fluff, do I need to say any more? Summary: Lance realizes he's been an asshole to Keith, and on a diplomatic mission to a key planet for the Voltron alliance he... overcompensates.

Fake It Till You Make It - nikkiRA @aravenlikeawritingdesk I’m a sucker for Fake/Pretend Relationship fics and this one is the fic that started that particular habit. Summary: “What Keith here means to say,” Lance says, and although his voice is steady, he is gripping Keith’s fingers so tightly it’s painful. “Is that we can’t mate with your people, although we, um, appreciate the offer, because, well. We already are. M-mated, I mean. With, you know. Each other.” Rated M

I hope you love these fics as much as I did, they are some of my fav fics of all time. It took me forever to finish this post because I sorta, kinda, maybe, totally re-read a lot of them while making it :) Shout out to fanfiction writers, thank you for putting so much of your time into these stories for free, your all amazing!

Check out my blog if you would like >>> @getyourvitamin-bri

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rp-meme-central · 7 years

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Big Hero 6 - sentence starters

1. “Zero resistance, faster bike. But not fast enough. Yet.”

2. “Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Do not move! Behind the line, please.”

3. “I have a system. A place for everything and everything in its place.”

4. “Oh my gosh, you must be ______! I’ve heard so much about you!”

5. “Do not be alarmed. This is just a suit. This is not my real face and body.”

6. “The name’s _____. School mascot by day, and by night... I am also the school mascot.”

7. “I’ve been trying to get _____ to develop a formula that will turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will, but s/he says that’s ‘not science’.”

8. “Hello. I am _____, your personal healthcare companion.”

9. “On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

10. “You have been a good boy/girl. Have a lollipop.”

11. “_____. Explanation. Now.”

12. “We’re under attack from a super-villain, _____! How cool is that! I mean, it’s scary, obviously, but how cool!”

13. “There are no red lights in a car chase!”

14. “Welcome to my mi casa! That’s French for ‘front door’.”

15. “Come on in, _____. We’ll be safe in here.”

16. “I thought you lived under a bridge.”

17. “If I hadn’t just been attacked by a guy in a kabuki mask, I think this would be the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.”

18. “It’s like spooning a warm marshmallow.”

19. “We can’t go up against that guy! We’re nerds!”

20. “Do you feel this? Our origin story begins. We’re gonna be superheroes!”

21. “the neurotransmitter must be in his/her mask. We get the mask, s/he can’t control the bots. Game over.”

22. “I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble?”

23. “Does it hurt when I touch it?”

24. “It is all right to cry. Crying is a natural response to pain.”

25. “Diagnosis... puberty.”

26. “Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere.”

27. “Can I try? I have a robot. I built it myself.”

28. “That was my first fight. Can I try again?”

29. “Hey, I’m as surprised as you are. Beginners luck. Do you want to go again?”

30. “You graduated high school at 13, and this is what you’re doing?!”

31. “Bot fighting is illegal! You’re gonna get yourself arrested!”

32. “Where was I going with this? I had a point.”

33. “There’s a fight across town. If I book I can still make it.”

34. “You’d better make it up to ______ before s/he eats everything in the cafe.”

35. “When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?”

36. “Hey! I’ll take you. I can’t stop you from going, but I’m not going to let you go on your own.”

37. “Relax, you big baby. We’ll be in and out.”

38. “Welcome to the nerd lab.”

39. “Shake things up! Use that big brain of yours to think your way out. Look for a new angle.”

40. “Stop whining. Woman up.”

41. “I haven’t done any laundry is six months. One pair can last me four days.”

42. “This is a ______. It doesn’t look like much, but when it links up with the rest of its pals... things get a little more interesting.”

43. “If you can think it, the _____ can do it. The only limit is your imagination.”

44. “Wow. That is both disgusting and awesome.”

46. “I wouldn’t trust _____ with your _____... or anything else.”

47. “I appreciate the offer, _____, but they’re not for sale.”

48. “Yes! Nothing is better than free food!”

49. “I know what you’re going to say. I should be proud of myself because I’m finally using my gift for something important.”

50. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, so... you know... thanks for not giving up on me.”

51. “_____’s in there. Someone has to help.”

52. “All right, special dinner tonight! I’ll whip up some chicken wings. You know, with the hot sauce that makes your face all numb.”

53. “I am not fast.”

54. “We gotta get you home to your charging station. Can you walk?”

55. “We jumped out a window!”

56. “Okay, if my _____ asks, we were at school all day. Got it?”

57. “_____ was in excellent health. With a proper diet and exercise, s/he should have lived a long life.”

58. “People keep saying s/he’s not really gone as long as you remember him/her. It still hurts.”

59. “If we’re gonna catch that guy/woman, you need some upgrades.”

60. “Let’s work on your moves.”

61. “Will apprehending the wo/man in the mask improve your emotional state?”

62. “I have some concerns. This armor might undermine my non-threatening, huggable design.”

63. “No, no. This isn’t a fighting thing. It’s what people do sometimes when they’re excited or pumped up.”

64. “I fail to see how you fail to see that it’s awesome!”

65. “Maybe enough flying for today. What do you say?”

66. “Yeah, if I weren’t terrified of heights, I’d probably love this. But I’m terrified of heights, so I don’t love it.”

67. “Oh, there’s a skull face on this one. A skull face!”

68. “Be ready. S/he could be anywhere.”

69. “Well... at least we know our gear works.”

70. “Teleportation. The transport of matter instantaneously through space. Not science fiction anymore.”

71. “Seriously, what’s the plan?”

72. “My programming prevents me from injuring a human being.”

73. “Do it, _____! Destroy him/her/them!”

74. “No! Stop! S/he’s getting away!”

75. “I regret any distress I may have caused.”

76. “How could you do that? I had him/her/them!”

77. “What you just did, we never signed up for.”

78. “Do you want me to terminate _____?”

79. “I’m not giving up on you. You don’t understand this yet, but people need you. So let’s get back to work.”

80. “I am so sorry. I guess I’m not like my ______.”

81. “We’re going to catch _____. And this time, we’ll do it right.”

82. “No! You knew it wasn’t safe. My _____ is gone because of your arrogance.”

83. “You took everything from me when you sent _____ into that machine. Now I’m taking everything from you.”

84. “You’re going to watch everything you built disappear. Then it’s your turn.”

85. “Is this what _____ would have wanted?”

86. “This won’t change anything. Trust me. I know.”

87. “That’s it! I know how to beat him/her/them.”

88. “Whoa. Gravity’s getting a little weird here, _____.”

89. “The portal is destabilizing. You’ll never make it.”

90. “Come on, _____, let’s get her/him/them home.”

91. “There is still a way I can get you both to safety.”

92. “You are my patient. Your health is my only concern.”

93. “No! There’s gotta be another way, I’m not gonna leave you here!”

94. “Please. No. I can’t lose you too.”

95. “We didn’t set out to be superheroes, but sometimes life doesn’t go the way you plan.”

#rp memes #sentence starters #Big Hero 6

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travelingtheusa · 4 years

Text

NEW YORK

17 Aug 2020 (Mon) – I went to the neurologist this morning and was wired up for a 24-hour EEG. They attached 23 electrodes to my head and 3 to my chest. I have to wear a machine to register brain activity for 24 hours. All this just to reassure Paul that I am OK and can go hiking in the woods again.

When I got home, Paul went food shopping. I was NOT going out with all the wires hanging off my head. When he got back, we had lunch, then went to work on getting rid of old files and boxes. I have tons of old military books and material that has to be burned. It can’t just be thrown in the garbage. I sat in front of the fire pit for 2 hours and only got through 1 box. I have 5 more to go.

Ford called to say they replaced the fuel pump on the truck and everything seems to be alright. I took the rental car, drove Paul to Sayville Ford to drop him off, drove to Islip Airport to drop off the rental car where Paul picked me up and we drove back home.

16 Aug 2020 (Sun) – We borrowed Kenny’s truck and drove to church this morning. It rained all day. We spent most of the day inside watching TV or working on the computer.

15 Aug 2020 (Sat) – Spent the day working around the property. Kenny went to work at 4 and I went into the house to watch Caiden. He came out to the camper and had dinner with us, then we went back inside and I gave him a bath. We had a pillow fight and played with his transformers. He finally went to bed at 9 p.m. I think that is too late for a 6 year old but his parents are night owls and I guess he’s becoming one also.

14 Aug 2020 (Fri) – The tech from Sayville Ford called and said the diagnostics was telling him the truck needs a fuel pump. No amount of arguing that the last service station messed something up. We finally authorized the part. Maybe they can get to it on Monday. Ugh.

Miranda’s truck was finished at 4 p.m. Turned out to be the alternator. I was going to take the rental car since we have no vehicle but I let her take the truck to Philly given the cruddy condition of her truck. We weren’t sure it would make it there and back. It really is on its last legs.

We were supposed to ride out to Indian Island to join the Long Islanders for camping this weekend. Since we don’t have the truck to pull the camper, we will miss the campout. This was very disappointing.

13 Aug 2020 (Thu) – Miranda’s car suddenly gave up the ghost today. It was clicking, wouldn’t start, and all kind of diagnostic warnings were flashing on her dashboard. She was able to drop it off at the service station. This is really bad timing because she is preparing to go to Philly this weekend to coordinate a concert for her camp. We looked around and was able to reserve a rental car just in case the car isn’t back tomorrow.

Paul and I rode our bicycles to Best Buy this afternoon. It’s been giving me trouble and there’s some kind of program on there that we didn’t load in but keeps trying to update drivers. I had them take it off. They were very understaffed and the tech wasn’t really interested in working with me on anything else. I had wanted help in getting videos off the computer. I’ll have to wait until things get back to normal.

Paul took an Uber to the cardiologist this afternoon for a stress test. They injected him with something and then put him in an MRI machine. He said it was quick and easy.

12 Aug 2020 (Wed) – It was a quiet day all around. Paul picked up the truck. Not only was it making the humming noise, but the dashboard was lighting up like a Christmas tree! Low fuel pressure! Low engine pressure! The service station told us they couldn’t find anything wrong and the noise was gone. Boy, were they wrong. Paul called Sayville Ford and we were able to get it into the service bay today. Hope they didn’t break the engine. L

11 Aug 2020 (Tue) – I went to the radiologist today for an MRI of my right foot. We worked around the property, cleaning out old files and boxes. Sent out for pizza for dinner.

10 Aug 2020 (Mon) – Paul brought the truck back to the service station this morning. They kept the truck and dropped him off back at home. At 1 p.m. I went to the doctor for an echo cardiogram. I had to borrow Miranda’s car to get there and back.

We called the service station at 3:30 p.m. The tech told us that they had to call a friend at Ford to ask about the fuel pump. The guy told them they had to replace the entire assembly, not just the fuel pump. Paul was annoyed! I think we will have to make sure in the future that (1) only Ford does the work and, (2) that the mechanic is a certified diesel mechanic. Hopefully, we will get the truck back tomorrow. They were going to send out for the item, which will cost us over $400. This is after already being charged $170 to put the fuel pump on before they broke it.

9 Aug 2020 (Sun) – We went to church this morning. I think it was the most people we’ve seen there since we came back. Everyone is still wearing masks and there are seats roped off. Hand sanitizer stations have been set up around the building. They announce that the thrift shop will open for 2 hours on Sunday afternoon in an outdoor setting. That means folks attending the service will be asked to help bring things outside and set up, then take it back downstairs when done. I hope it works. The thrift shop is a major revenue source for the church and it has really been hurt with the closure.

After church, we went to the Clamside Bar & Grill at the East Islip Marina. The waitress was soooooo slow. Paul ordered Belgian waffles and they came out cold. My food was lukewarm. He sent his waffles back. The next service was also cool. Paul wound up not eating his meal. It was a disappointing experience and we probably won’t go back there for a while.

8 Aug 2020 (Sat) – We gathered up Caiden and drove to Sue & Bill’s for the day. The day started out overcast but the clouds soon cleared away and we had a delightful day in the pool.

7 Aug 2020 (Fri) – I went to the neurologist this morning. The first test was a Neurotrax. It was a cognitive test to see if I’ve had any brain damage from the TGA back in March. Following that, I had an EEG. A technician glues 23 nodes to your head and then has you sit in a chair with your eyes closed most of the time. He flashes a light on your closed eyes, then says “Open Your Eyes” for like 30 seconds then close them again. Weird.

Paul has been working hard in the yard, cleaning up after the storm. The oblivious neighbor did a stupid thing. A tree in his yard came down into our yard. It was straddling the fence with the root ball in the neighbor’s yard and the tree branches supporting the tree in our yard. The neighbor brought his chain saw out and cut the tree. No longer balanced between the tree branches and the root ball, the tree crushed our fence.

I went to the podiatrist today to check out the painful lump on my Achilles tendon. The doctor took an x-ray and said I have a bone spur that could be causing the problem. She also criticized my flip flops, saying I needed more support for my feet. She gave me some heel inserts to wear in a closed shoe. She also sent me to the radiologist to get an MRI. I made an appointment for Tuesday.

6 Aug 2020 (Thu) – Paul brought the truck to the service station to get it inspected. When he got back, he complained that he could hear a humming from the fuel pump. That happened to us once before. A non-qualified mechanic had tried to mount the fuel pump on the rail and broke it. Apparently, a certified diesel mechanic needs to do the job. Paul called and was told to bring the truck back in on Monday.

We brought Bonnie to the vet at 2 p.m. The ultrasound shows she has some abnormal liver issues. The vet wants to do a biopsy but Bonnie has to get a blood test first to see if she has a clotting factor. If so, then she can have the biopsy. If not, then we can’t do it.

5 Aug 2020 (Wed) – I had a check with the nurse at the cardiologist’s office today. They wanted to check and make sure there were no problems with the loop recorder. She said I had a bit of a reaction to the medical tape but everything looked OK. I should just let the tape fall off when it wants.

After the doctor, I brought some containers to Travis. He is now in contract on his house and beginning to pack things up. I brought him 9 containers. Then I drove to Sayville and met my sister, Susan, and her daughter, Shay, for lunch at Cornucopia. It is a kind of health food supermarket with a great deli counter where we all ordered lunch. We then sat outside to enjoy our meal. Following that, we took a walk along Main Street, looking in the shop windows. When we came upon an India shop, we went in. Susan & Bill follow the religion of Ashananda and the shop owner had been to one of their meetings out in the Hamptons. She spoke for a while with the clerks (the shop owner wasn’t there).

We went over Trap’s tonight to sign the contract for the sale of their house. Since we are listed as co-owners on the house, we have to sign the contract as well. While there, Trap dug out the chain saw for Paul.

4 August 2020 (Tue) – Things have been so busy and technology has been so challenging that I have not been able to keep up with the blog. I have an appointment with Best Buy on the 13th. Hopefully, that will get things back on the road.

Let’s see. I have been to the cardiologist and had an internal cardiac monitor (ICM) installed in my chest. It is a device that tracks heart activity and at night, when I am sleeping, it uploads the day’s activities to the doctor’s office. It’s been 5 days and the site still itches like crazy. Ugh.

I had to go to the lab and get a COVID test before getting the ICM installed. The nurse stuck a Cutip so far up my nose that my eyes teared. And I had an earache for the rest of the day. That dam thing was painful! I will not do that again.

We took Caiden to Sue & Bill’s last Wednesday. Their daughter, Shay, and her boyfriend, Pat, are up from South Carolina. We all swam and munched on delicious vegan foods. It was fun.

I went to the doctor’s office to see what is wrong with my heel. The PA saw me (the doctor was busy). He thinks I have a cyst on my Achilles tendon and referred me to a podiatrist.

Miranda was back in Pennsylvania this weekend so we watched Caiden a good part of the time when Kenny wasn’t working.

We got to visit with Travis & Sam yesterday. The baby is walking pretty good now. He’s always so happy. He immediately lights up when he sees you and waves his little hand hello. Trap got an offer on the house and we signed the contract with the realtor. He’s a little freaked out. They have now signed a contract to sell their house. They have to be out in a month. They want to move to South Carolina but neither of them has a job or a place to stay. In addition, they’re not going to be able to keep as much of the money from the sale of the house that they had counted on. The realtor gets $16,400 alone! Wow!

Today, Paul had an appointment with the dentist. This was a follow up to checkups we had two weeks ago where the dentist found a cavity. He went in to day to get it filled. Afterward, we went to WalMart to pick up a few items. Later in the day, Tropical Storm Isaias blew through. Another tree from the neighbor’s yard came down across our fence. Also, one of our trees came down and landed on the deck. It just missed the roof and back doors. This was dejavu! Same thing happened last year when we were here. Paul will have to dig out the chain saw. The entire neighborhood is digging out. Two trees went down on Saxon Avenue, the next block over, and the road was closed. Thousands of people were without power. We lost power on and off all day long but not for very long. Our neighbor a few doors down had a tree go down and take all his electrical lines with it. The fire department came and cut up the tree and pulled it out into the road.

25 July 2020 (Sat) – We went to Nicky’s on the Bay for lunch. The tables were spaced apart. Lots of them were out on the deck. All the wait staff was wearing face masks. Our waitress was very slow and unsure about herself. She might have been new. While we were eating, a waitress came running through the restaurant asking if there was a doctor, an EMT, or a nurse in the place. Apparently, something happened at the marine fuel site out on the deck. We couldn’t see what happened but an ambulance did roll up.

The cost of the meal was very high. It don’t know if it is because Nicky’s is a seasonal place and is trying to make its money during the summer or if they jacked the prices up because they can’t have as many people in the place. Either way, it was over $60 for a wrap and a sandwich. Ouch!

24 July 2020 (Fri) – Finally! A day with no doctors. Whew! Paul got up early and took the truck to WalMart to get an oil change. He said it looks like WalMart is going out of business. The shelves are all half stocked. If you stop to think about it, they get most of their products from China. The pandemic has affected shipments worldwide. In addition, the U.S. is angry with China for keeping the Coronavirus a secret and has instituted sanctions against them. WalMart must really be hurting.

After Paul got home, we went to Home Depot to get a container. One of our two batteries went bad and Paul bought two new ones. Now he wants a container to put them in to keep the area more organized. Home Depot didn’t have much of a selection at all. On the way out, we stopped by the tile area and picked out a tile to do a backsplash in the bathroom. We couldn’t decide, so we picked up three samples to see which we would like best.

When I was entering the costs into the budget, Paul discovered that WalMart charged him for the oil that he actually provided. So he got in the truck and drove back to WalMart to get his $12.47 refunded.

Miranda is teaching in Pennsylvania again this weekend. They took Caiden into Queens to stay with his grandmother. Kenny borrows his mother’s car so Miranda can take their car. I will miss Caiden.

23 July 2020 (Thu) – Today was my visit with the oncologist. It was so disheartening! My appointment was at 4:15 p.m. I checked in then after a brief wait, a tech brought me into an exam room and took my vitals. Thank goodness; no blood draw. Then I went upstairs and checked in with the receptionist. I waited about a half hour before the doctor’s admin assistant came and led me to the exam room. I sat there for another half hour before the nurse came in and went over my case. He spent a lot of time complaining about patients calling and asking for visits or pain medication when they should be going to their primary care physicians. Then he asked me who my PCP was. I felt like it was some kind of criticism. Was I supposed to be going to a different doctor?

The nurse left and it was another 20 minutes before the doctor came in wearing a face mask and a full face shield. He seemed detached and didn’t really hear my complaints. He said the medication sometimes causes blisters on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Was I having any of those? He also said the medication can cause AFIB and that the cardiologist should check me for that. It seems like every visit to the oncologist results in him telling me something else that can happen with this chemo therapy. He seemed preoccupied and in a hurry to get out. I felt like I got the bum’s rush. I came home and started crying. Which is kind of stupid because the CT scan shows that I am responding to the medication very well. All the lymph nodes are continuing to shrink. So what’s my problem?

22 July 2020 (Wed) – I went to the Good Sam Sleep Center this morning. I had to sit in the parking lot and call the office to tell them I was waiting. They called me when the previous patient was done. When I walked into the doctor’s office after checking in, he excused himself and began to dictate the results of his visit with the previous patient. He stated the patient’s name, the issue, and his diagnosis, all in front of me. Hasn’t he been briefed on this whole patient privacy thing? I thought that I should probably step out of the room but with the whole COVID thing, they don’t want people wandering around unsupervised. When he was done, I told him that I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in 15 years. The cardiologist recommended I do a sleep study because poor sleep can affect heart function and weight. The doctor said we probably wouldn’t find anything but said he would do the study anyway. How encouraging is that???

21 July 2020 (Tue) – I went to the eye doctor today. I arrived at 9:30 a.m. When I checked in, I found my appointment was for 10:45 a.m. It looks like I made the appointment while we were in Alabama and my calendar recorded the appointment as central time, not eastern time. So the clerk sent me to sit out in my car till it was my turn or the doctor became available sooner. They called me at 9:50 to come in and brought me right to a test station where they blew air into my eye. Then she took me to an exam room where I sat for over a half hour. The doctor came in, put drops in my eyes, and said I am developing glaucoma. Come back in six months. Then he was gone. No discussion, no explanation, no anything. I complained about some eye discharge and irritation so he prescribed an ointment to put in my eye at bedtime but, again, no explanation or discussion of what the problem is. It was a very annoying visit. The doctor was very dismissive.

Paul put together a 3-minute video of upstate New York. I posted it on You Tube then contacted SMART with the link. They posted it on the website next to the description of our New York caravan.

I went in at 4 p.m. to keep an eye on Caiden while Miranda went to the store. Paul is still grousing about yesterday’s argument. I have to find a way to get him to lighten up. Ugh.

20 July 2020 (Mon) – I had a CT Scan with contrast today. I dropped off a urine sample for Sheba at the vet, then drove to Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I checked in at the front desk and asked if my doctor or his nurse was available to see me. The receptionist said she would contact Dr. Rodriguez and see what he said. I then went into the imaging area and had the CT scan. That’s such a weird test. They inject an iodine based solution and it gives a flushed, very warm feeling in the back of the throat and in the crotch. It feels like I wet myself. The test isn’t very long and I was out of the machine within 10 minutes.

I returned to the front desk to see about the doctor. The receptionist said Dr. Rodriguez would change my telehealth appointment for Thursday to an in-person appointment or I could see someone in triage today. I said I would meet with the doctor on Thursday.

I got home to find Paul working around the RV. He was installing a switch for the water pump in the bathroom. The switch on the main panel stopped working some time ago and Paul installed a switch down in the basement. That has turned out to be somewhat inconvenient so he moved the switch up into the bathroom. That should work better for when we have to use the onboard tank for fresh water.

While we were outside, Paul and Miranda got into a nasty fight. That was very upsetting for me. Then we left and went over Travis’ house to help him with some projects. He has finally gotten an offer for his house and the inspector will be over on Thursday. He wants to clear up a few little things before the inspector arrives. Paul and Travis worked on repairing a leak in the kitchen sink and on the thermostat for his burner. I played with the boys then we all enjoyed a meal that Sam prepared. It was a pleasant evening.

19 July 2020 (Sun) – We didn’t think Caiden would be able to sit for an hour in church with a mask on so we didn’t go. At 11:30 a.m. we drove to the Bayside Clam Bar for brunch. Afterward, we walked along the boardwalk and looked at all the boats in the marina. There was a dog at one end that the owner let go down on a little spit of sand. Caiden climbed down and followed the dog around. We took his shoes off so he could step in the water. The dog was an older black lab and very friendly. Her name was Sandy.

After our meal and walk, we returned to the house and I watched Caiden while Paul worked around the house and yard. Kenny got home at 7:30 p.m.

18 July 2020 (Sat) – We got Caiden at 10:30 a.m. and then drove to Sue & Bill’s house in the Hamptons for a day of swimming in the pool and barbecuing. Despite the fact that I put sunscreen on Caiden twice, he still burned. So did I. His mother will never let me take him to the beach again. Aaarrgghh!

After we got back, I stayed with Caiden until his father came home at 10:30 p.m.

17 July 2020 (Fri) – We both went to the dentist today. The chairs in the office were taped off to ensure adequate spacing between patients. It only left 4 chairs to use. The secretary took our temperature and went through a checklist (like the tech did yesterday). Then we had our teeth cleaned and xrays taken. I got an excellent rating; Paul has a cavity and has to come back to get it filled.

We went over Trap’s to visit. We picked up dinner at Chili’s and brought it to the house. Travis was working on painting the counter top in the upstairs bathroom. They are trying everything they can think of to sell their house. They’ve had lots of lookers but no buyers. The real estate market is so hot today, I can’t figure out why the house hasn’t gone. His in-laws put their house on the market and the first visitor bought the house for $5,000 more than they were asking. The only stipulation was that they had to be out in 30 days.

Miranda’s cat was showing some kind of neurological issue today. It was walking against the side of cabinets like its left side was weak and it couldn’t stand by itself. Miranda contacted us while at Trap’s and asked about bringing her cat, Liath, to the vet. We hurried home to help but the vet said it was not life threatening and to wait until Monday to bring her in. Miranda was concerned because she is leaving tonight for Pennsylvania and will not be back until late Sunday. I promised to keep an eye on the cat.

16 July 2020 (Thu) – We both went to the cardiologist today. I was doing a follow-up to my “incident” in March. Paul went because he has hypertension and should be seen by a cardiologist.

When we arrived, we were met at the door by a tech who asked us a bunch of questions about where we’ve been and who we’ve been near. He took our temperature and then let us pass. We walked in and was processed by a clerk. Then we were brought back to the exam room. The PA came in, went over our medical histories, took our blood pressure, and did EKGs on both of us.

Then the doctor came in. I liked him instantly. He is young – in his late 20s/early 30s. He was upbeat and very friendly, touching elbows as a form of hello. He thinks I had a TIA and felt the neurologist was wrong to think I had a TGA. He recommended I get an EEG, an ambulatory EEG, and have a loop recorder inserted in my chest. He feels it is possible that I have atrial fibrillation (AFib) and the recorder will measure my heartbeat and send messages to the office. I would wear it for 3 or 4 years! I said I had to check that one with my oncologist.

Then it was Paul’s turn. The doctor referred him for a nuclear stress test. He also recommended that Paul resume taking the baby aspirin every day (he stopped a year ago because of a medical report that said baby aspirin didn’t help to prevent strokes.

15 July 2020 (Wed) – We worked around the RV until 11:30 a.m. then we took Sheba to the vet. It was over an hour in which the vet’s office displayed confusion and chaos. First, I called to say we were outside for our appointment. About 20 minutes later, one of the vets came out to gather information then went inside. Ten minutes later he came out to get Sheba. Again, the office was not able to get through to my phone and the vet came out to tell me to call them. I called and spoke with Dr. Thode. She took blood and gave Sheba shots. Dr. Thode also said the blood results were back for Bonnie. She has round worm and a low liver value. She prescribed medicine for the worms and recommended an ultrasound for the liver. After waiting 10 minutes, I called the office to see what was happening. They were just finishing up and would send Sheba out. The vet brought Sheba out, went over the highlights of her exam, and said the office would call to get payment. After another 15 or 20 minutes, I called to make the payment. The clerk took my card number three times because the machine wasn’t working properly. Then the vet tech came out with the paperwork. Paul asked about the medicine for Bonnie. They forgot it so she went back in to get it. She brought it out but stated they had forgotten to charge us for the medicine so I had to call again to give the credit card number. They brought the receipt out along with the stuff to get a urine sample from Sheba. We left but I got a phone call about 10 minutes later saying they forgot to charge us for the bloodwork they did on Sheba so I had to call back again and give the card number again. What a debacle!

Late this afternoon, Caiden came knocking on the door. He came in and played for a while then I made dinner for the three of us. He ate a small part of his meal but seemed to enjoy it. I brought the left overs into the house for Miranda and Kenny, or to keep and reheat for Caiden tomorrow.

14 July 2020 (Tue) – I had an appointment with the neurologist this morning. This was the same doctor that found the tumor in my mother’s brain 36 years ago. He has gotten very personable over the years. I liked him very much. He said the incident I experienced in March was most likely Transient Global Amnesia (TGA). Just to be careful, he recommended three different tests but stated that he doesn’t expect to find anything. Apparently, a TGA can happen at any time and never happen again. Or, it can happen again once or multiple times. If it happens many times then you would have to get checked for seizure activity in the brain. Luckily, I have not had any problems since that one time.

I played with Caiden a little tonight. We didn’t get much time together but it was still fun. He loves battle sequences.

13 July 2020 (Mon) – We took Bonnie to the vet this morning. She needed a refill on her flea and tick medicine. She got a checkup and a couple of shots. It was so weird. When we arrived, we called the office and were instructed to stay in the truck. After about 20 minutes, a vet tech came out. He took down Bonnie’s information and reason for her visit then went back inside. He came back about 10 minutes later and took her inside. We sat in the car until the doctor called. We discussed our concerns and what the doctor found and recommended. Five minutes later, the clerk called to get our credit card number for the bill. A whopping $950!!! After about another 15 minutes, Bonnie was brought back out to us. Then we waited ANOTHER 15 minutes for the clerk to bring out medicine and the bill. What a pain in the butt. And we will have to do it again with Sheba.

Kenny was off of work today, so Caiden stayed in the house nursing his sunburn and playing with his parents. Paul worked around the yard and I did paperwork.

12 July 2020 (Sun) – We went to church this morning. They just reopened after holding services digitally on You Tube and FaceBook for months. There were about 30 people in church. We had to wear our masks the entire time and still try to maintain 6’ distance from each other. They didn’t pass the collection plate. Instead, it sat in the back of the church and the minister asked everyone to drop their donation in the plate when they left.

After church, Paul and I drove to the Clamside Bar & Grill at the East Islip Marina. We both enjoyed a salad. The day was lovely – sunny, but not too hot, with a soft, balmy breeze blowing in off the water. The sun glittering on the bay was beautiful.

When we came home, I gathered up Caiden and he and I went to Heckscher State Park. I figured the beach would be closed but we could walk along the shore, throw stones in the water, build sand castles, and wiggle our toes in the water. Boy, was I surprised to find the beach open, complete with lifeguards. There were many people on the beach and in the water but they still were all keeping a decent distance between each other. The water was so warm; like a bathtub. There was lots of wave action and a delightful breeze kept the heat away. I did not have a bathing suit so I stood on the shore with my feet in the water, getting splashed well up the legs. Caiden went in and had a great time. Unfortunately, I forgot to put sunscreen on him and he got burned. His mother yelled at me.

When we left the beach, I stopped at Carvel and got Caiden some ice cream. The perfect end to a perfect day.

11 July 2020 (Sat) – Paul worked in the yard most of the day. I entertained Caiden a good part of the day. At 4:30 pm, we went over Travis’ house. We shared a salad and pizza then spent two hours playing with Noah and Hudson. The baby is on the verge of walking. He has very good balance.

10 July 2020 (Fri) – It was an overcast day with rain on and off. Tropical Storm Fay was pummeling the Jersey coast today but we didn’t get it too badly. Paul and I went shopping at PetCo for pet food and ShopRite for some groceries. Boy. Was the grocery store crowded! And we forgot to bring our own bags so the cashier charged us for 3 bags. Glad we didn’t buy a lot.

Caiden wanted to come into the trailer so badly today but the weather was lousy and I wasn’t going to put Bonnie out. Caiden came out and we stood outside in the drizzle talking for about an hour. Later, I went into the house and we played for about 2 hours.

9 July 2020 (Thu) – We packed up and left Newburgh at 10:45 am. It took almost 4 hours to drive down to Long Island. We were surprised with all the traffic on the road. We came through the boroughs and had traffic and construction that caused us to creep along through congested spots.

Caiden was so happy to see us! He ran out and gave me a hug, then ran back to the porch to watch us park the rig in the driveway. When Paul had the RV positioned well, I had Caiden help finish the set up by pushing buttons to open the slides. After we were set up, we visited for a bit and watched him swimming in his little pool. After dinner, I took Caiden to Carvel and picked up ice cream for him and Miranda (Kenny was working and Paul and I are on a diet). We brought it back home and they enjoyed the treat out on the back deck.

8 July 2020 (Wed) – Just hung around the campground most of the day. We did run out to fuel the truck and get ready for tomorrow’s move.

7 July 2020 (Tue) – We visited with the sales manager here at the campground. We had interviewed him last year and reconfirmed the amenities and costs. The nightly fee actually went down. He also promised to coordinate a bus tour into New York City for us. He offered to pick up our order for bagels and juice and even stated he could arrange a catered meal right here in the campground.

We came back and did laundry then just hung out for the day.

6 July 2020 (Mon) – We started out for West Point but would up sidetracked to the Historic Huguenot District. It was two blocks of old stone houses built in the late 1600s/early 1700s by early French settlers. The visitor’s center was closed and none of the buildings were open. We walked up and down the street, admiring the architecture from the street.

We then continued on to the West Point Military Academy. The visitor’s center was closed, as well as the tour operations office. There was no one to ask anything of. The day was a loss in that regard.

5 July 2020 (Sun) – We drove over to the Mohonk Mountain House today. Thought we’d check them out for the farewell dinner and then take a hike around the area. Unfortunately, they now have a gatehouse to control access to the place. They have us a brochure to look at and a telephone number to call but wouldn’t let us go in.

Then we drove by another restaurant but they were closed. No signs on the door. We couldn’t tell if they were just closed or if they had gone out of business. Cross them off the list.

We made a quick stop at the grocery store so Paul could pick up milk for his coffee then returned to the campground. We got to enjoy another campfire tonight. Two in a row. Wow.!

We drove into Newburgh and took a stroll on the Walkway Over the Hudson. It was an old railroad trestle over the Hudson River built back in the late 1800s. It was repurposed into a level concrete walkway that stretched for more than a mile and a third. We walked out to the middle, took a selfie, and walked back. The day was lovely. There were lots of people on the bridge – strolling, biking, walking the dog. Almost everyone obeyed the signs and wore a mask. Some people didn’t. It was very warm and my mask was wet from sweat by the time we finished our walk. It was a good time.

We drove to the FDR National Historic Site to look over the presidential library and home. The visitor’s center was closed.

4 July 2020 (Sat) – We were going to drive to the Mohonk Mountain House today but stayed in the campground instead. We had a small BBQ and sat before a delightful campfire. The campground is pretty full with lots of kids. Bonnie is barking at bicycles, skaters, and walkers. The staff came by yesterday passing out flyers about the pool. It was going to be open today from 10 to 4. They were having people sign up for a one-hour block of time. The pool is limited to 25 people but they were thinking they wouldn’t be able to do that and still have people maintain their distance. We didn’t sign up. It seemed better to leave the time slots to the kids. Normally, they would spend the whole day in the pool. This is like a tease. But I suppose it’s better than nothing.

3 July 2020 (Fri) – Things have been quiet. We have been running around trying to line up restaurants for the caravan next year. We are now at the KOA in Newburgh for a week.

30 Jun 2020 (Tue) – We pulled stakes at 9:25 am. It was a white knuckle exercise in getting out of our site. Paul had to ask the guy behind us to move then he backed up the RV to get out. Trees and other RVs and yard “stuff” in the area made it impossible to pull out from our pull-through site. Paul did it perfectly! He is so good in moving our big monster. It’s almost like it’s an extension of his physical being. Just imagine maneuvering 54’ of truck and trailer. I can’t do it!

We arrived at Shadowbrook RV Resort at a little past 11:30 am (it was a very short drive). This campground only has 18 campsites for transients. Again, we’ve been undone by the seasonal campers. After set up, we drove to four separate campgrounds and all gave the same answer – no room at the inn! The last campground we stopped at recommended the KOA up on Route 20. We’ll try them tomorrow.

We drove by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. They are on a limited opening. I left a business card and someone will call me back. I also sent emails to the tour director for the NY Capitol in Albany and the USS Slater. Communications continue with other venues as well.

29 Jun 2020 (Mon) – We drove to another campground this morning to check it out. It turned out to only have 4 available campsites for transients. The rest are filled with seasonals. Too bad. It was a really nice campground right on Saratoga Lake.

On the way back to the campground, we refueled for tomorrow’s trip and picked up chicken and water. Bonnie has diarrhea again. It just seems to be something that she’s going to go through on a regular basis no matter what we give her.

28 Jun 2020 (Sun) – We left Ticonderoga at 9:20 a.m. It rained a little in the three hours it took us to arrive at Adventure Bound RV Resorts & Campground. The campsite we got was very tight while Paul had to maneuver around a parked van, trees, and lawn decorations. This campground, although very large (over 300 campsites), would not suit our group and many campers are seasonal. The RV next to us hasn’t been moved in years.

As soon as we were set up, we headed out. First stop was at Chili’s for lunch. We both had a grilled chicken salad. Tummies full, we drove to four different campgrounds. Two wouldn’t fit the group, one had no one in the office, and the other took our phone number to give to the owner. It was not a very productive day. Hope things get better tomorrow.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Hannaford to pick up groceries. It was a nice supermarket. Why can’t we get any of these grocery stores on Long Island?

27 Jun 2020 (Sat) – It was a light day. We just hung out around the campground today. I made some calls and updated the files on what we’ve collected so far. The poor wifi service here is maddening! Even the cell service is poor. I’m glad we won’t be staying here as a group but I worry the other campground might be just as bad. After all, we are now in the mountains.

26 Jun 2020 (Fri) – We drove into Lake Placid today. It is a small town. The Olympics Museum was closed. We decided to have the group explore the museum then go out about the town on their own. There is a lot to see in this little tourist town.

We then drove to Whiteface Mountain. We wanted to drive up the Veterans Memorial Highway to the peak. Unfortunately, it was $25 per car to drive up. I thought that was too much money to go up there and find everything closed (not that there is that much up there to see other than the view). We turned around and left.

Right next to the entrance for Whiteface Mountain is Santa’s North Pole Workshop. We came up here twice with the kids when they were little. The workshop is still there with the post office that will send off a letter or postcard with the North Pole return address. The park was also closed.

We drove to Ausable Chasm, the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks. It was beautiful. We spoke with the sales manager and got information on a walking tour, float trip, and lunch at the center. It will be a nice touch for the group. Up the hill right next to the chasm center is the Underground RR Museum. It is in a beautiful old stone building. It was closed but a woman stepped out of the building to speak with us. The cost to explore the museum is free and the place is very small. Guess we’ll have the group break up into smaller groups to tour the museum.

We also checked out two other campgrounds. The KOA seems like the best option at this point. It would have been nice to stay at the North Pole Hundred Acre Woods Campground but they don’t take groups of more than six rigs. Oh, pooh!

After we got back to the campground, we did the laundry.

25 Jun 2020 (Thu) – Well, we learned today why a scouting trip is so important. We left 1000 Islands CG and headed out to Ticonderoga, 170 miles away. The GPS in the truck tried to route us though Canada. It would have added 100 miles to our trip! Instead, we followed the route on my phone. The trip went through Adirondack Park. We saw mountains but the elevation never got much over 2,000’. The roads were narrow and winding and the driving was slow but we got here safe and sound. The scenery is beautiful with occasional glimpses of the lakes and rivers beside the road.

It turns out that this campground does not have enough campsites for our group – they are mostly for seasonal campers. Paul went through a list and found an alternative campground. In fact, he changed two campgrounds for one and we now have another stop on our itinerary.

After set up, we drove to Brookwood RV Resort and interviewed the owner for a possible stay there. They are a very popular campground and she suggested we get our reservations in ASAP. The only thing we don’t like is that we wouldn’t all be together. Everyone would be spread around the campground.

We drove down the road to another campground owned by the U.S. Forest Service but it was closed. We then drove into the town of Ticonderoga. The Star Trek Museum and Fort Ticonderoga were both closed due to the pandemic. We walked into a luncheonette across the street from the Star Trek Museum to see about a lunch for the group. Our group could go to the museum at 10, go to lunch at 11 (it’s a little early but that’s what they want), then take a tour of the fort. The other option is to wait on lunch until 2 pm, which is kind of late. I don’t like either option.

As we were driving around, we spotted an old stone chapel in a graveyard. We parked and went in to explore it. It reminded me of the Viking church on display in DisneyWorld.

24 Jun 2020 (Wed) – We drove over to Alexandria Bay this morning. We stopped at U.S. Boat Tours which I had emailed to ask about a tour of the Singer and Boldt Castles. We checked at the window to find out what time the shuttles and tours ran. After getting the times, we decided to have the group go to the Boldt Castle at 10 a.m., come back to town, wander the shops, and have lunch. At 2 p.m., we’ll have everyone come back and take the tour to the Singer Castle.

Afterward, we drove around the area, checking out different places. We also drove over to Wellesly Island and looked at the state parks and golf courses there. We also stopped by the ice cream shoppe in front of the campground to find out about an ice cream social. They sell 3-gallon containers of ice cream for $45. The lady suggested butter pecan as an older person’s favorite flavor.

23 Jun 2020 (Tue) – We packed up and left Stow at 9:15 a.m. The drive was easy but took almost 4 hours. When we arrived, the office was closed (we had checked in online), and a note on the door told campers to proceed to their assigned site. After set up, we left a message for the campground manager asking for a meeting.

We drove to Clayton where Main Street was under construction and closed to traffic. We had seen a delightful hotel with a restaurant years ago that boasted the original Thousand Islands dressing had been invented there. Unfortunately, the restaurant went out of business. We spoke with a manager at Bella’s. The restaurant was pleasant but she said they did not want to have a large group in to dine during their peak season. She preferred to cater a meal of assorted wraps, salads and desert and suggested we eat at the Antique Boating Museum.

We drove past both the Thousand Islands Museum and the Antique Boating Museum. They were both closed. I sent emails asking about admission and meals. This is becoming very frustrating. Many of the businesses that I have sent emails to have not answered.

When we got back to the campground, we met with the campground camp host. Whe was very chatty and gave us lots of information about the area. I have to follow up with an email so she can share it with the owner.

22 Jun 2020 (Mon) – We drove to Seneca Falls today, noting the mileage to various areas along the way. Everything we wanted to see was closed. The National Women’s Hall of Fame, although the name was displayed on the front of the building on Main Street, is no longer there. A woman in the visitor center told us it was relocated to a mill across the bridge but the coronavirus had stopped the set-up and opening of the center in its new location. We drove over and saw that it will be 3 stories high and promises to be a good stop. There is also a National Women’s Rights Museum on Main Street and a couple of houses around Seneca Falls that people could tour if they wanted.

Waterloo, birthplace of Memorial Day, is next to Seneca Falls. There is an American Civil War Museum and memorial graveyard in town. I think it would be appropriate to include it in our itinerary but Paul thinks it is too much. If so, we will certainly have to suggest it as a stop on their own.

We stopped at Ventosa Vineyards to see about a group lunch after the Seneca Falls tour. There is a lovely deck area outside overlooking the lake. The woman we spoke with suggested we send an email to the catering manager.

We then stopped at Belhurst Castle. They have a very attractive stone room with an intimate setting for lunch that also looks out at the lake. The man we spoke with gave us a menu and suggested we coordinate with the catering manager. I sent emails out to both managers.

21 Jun 2020 (Sun) – We packed up and left Bath at 9:50 a.m. It was only 95 miles to Red’s Twilight on the Erie RV Resort in Macedon, near Rochester. We arrived about noon. The office was closed. Our registration packet was sitting on a table. As we were preparing to drive to our campsite, the owner pulled up and led us to our place. She was very friendly and gladly agreed to meet with us later.

After set up, we cased the campground while walking the dog (it was too hot to let Sheba out – 90 degrees!) then went to the office and sat down with Barb. She said they would give us 10 percent off for military discount. We were all sitting around the table with our masks on and it got very hot. I was sweating like crazy. I sure was glad when the meeting was over.

We drove into Rochester to the George Eastman Museum. It was closed. We then drove to The Strong Museum of Play. That was also closed. It is a very large museum and looks like it will be fun. We then drove to a restaurant recommended by Barb. It was too far from The Strong to have people walk to it so we will have lunch in the museum then explore the museum. There is a restaurant inside.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Wegmans Supermarket. What a huge store! It had to be the largest supermarket we’ve ever been in. And it was neat and clean and attractive. Everyone in the store was wearing a mask and the staff was actively wiping things down and making sure everything was sanitized.

20 Jun 2020 (Sat) – We drove to the Finger Lakes Boating Museum to meet the Administration Assistant and see the wine cellar where they host catered meals. It is a lovely room and we are sure the group would like it. We would probably have the tour of the museum first (there are 3 floors in the museum) then go to the bottom floor for a lunch.

After meeting with Nancy Wightman, we drove back to the KOA to meet with the Office Manager. We sat outside at a picnic table, all in our masks, and discussed what they could offer the caravan next year. Elaine is pregnant and will be out on maternity leave for a while. This could cause a problem with coordination but we will see how it shakes out.

While driving out and about, we stopped at a nearby fish hatchery. It was closed but they had an observation pool with three kinds of trout in it – brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout. What is weird is that the brook trout is the only native species to the area, yet the hatchery doesn’t raise them – only the other two species.

We drove around to check out some other places. There is a VA Center and National Cemetery a couple of miles down the road. We rode around the cemetery looking at the gravestones. We also gathered information about other services in the area – RV dealers, hospital, clinic, vets, foodstore, etc.

We had a campfire tonight. There is nothing more intoxicating that the smell of a campfire.

19 Jun 2020 (Fri) – We packed up and left Chautauqua at 9:30. The weather was good and the drive was pleasant. We arrived at the Bath-Hammondsport KOA around noon. They had sent an email asking us to pre-register/check-in. I did that. When we arrived, Paul stayed in the truck while I went in. The clerk confirmed our information and gave us our map and paperwork. This is a lovely campground. We have been here before and am sure the caravan will enjoy the place.

We drove around town, trying to find a restaurant to have a welcome dinner in. The three restaurants we chose were all too small and two of them were still closed. The thirde, the Stone Timber Inn, does catering. We took the chef’s card and left. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at an American Legion post and took a look at their hall. We asked about renting the hall and the bartender gave us the rental agent’s phone number along with the commander’s number.

The campground is working hard to ensure people are having a good time, despite the spacing restriction from the coronavirus. They delivered a packet to make s’mores with. Folks were invited to make s’mores and post pictures on the facebook page. They also gave us free firewood. It made a delightful fire. They also had a cornhole contest where people who had the game in their rig wee encouraged to play and report their results.

18 Jun 2020 (Thu) – We went to the office at 9:30 a.m. to speak with the campground owner. The doors were locked. Some guy came out in to the hall, looked at us at the door then went back into his office. How rude! I then called the office and the owner answered. We sat at the table outside on the deck and interviewed the guy about the facilities and what he would do for the group. Satisfied, we told him we would send a check and wanted to leave him a book. He said he was in his office. When we told him the door was locked, he laughed and said he forgot to open it then stepped out and took the book.

We drove 20 minutes to the Grape Discovery Center to see what it looked like. It was closed. We parked and walked around, peeking in the windows. It looks like it would be a nice experience for our group next year, so we will include it in the itinerary.

We found a laundromat in a house (ah, country life). We put the clothes in the washer then drove to a Mazza’s Winery and had a flight of wines. Then we returned to the laundromat house and put the clothes in the dryer. We walked around the town of Mayville while our clothes tumbled.

After we collected the clothes, we drove to Jamestown to check out the Lucy-Desi Museum and the National Comedy Center. Unfortunately, they, too, were both closed because of the pandemic. This situation is going to make it hard to develop a budget for the caravan.

Paul located a WalMart and we did some food shopping. We are starting a diet and needed to pick up all the right kinds of foods. I just planned 4 days and the frig is chocked full. I will not be able to shop a week at a time, that’s for sure.

The check-in time for this campground is 6 p.m. (check-out is 5 p.m.). We’ve never seen such a late time for check-in. We asked if the owner would put that aside for us when our group comes next year.

17 Jun 2020 (Wed) – We left Marblehead, Ohio, at 8:20 a.m. It was a long drive today so we left early. The drive was over 4 hours and took us along the lakeshore of Lake Erie, through Pennsylvania and into New York. The campground looks like it was a KOA at one time. Our campsite is a pull through with a concrete surface. The campground is on Chautauqua Lake. The pool, the store, and all group centered places are closed due to the pandemic. You have to wear a mask in the office.

After set up, we drove into Mayville to meet with the operations manager of the Chautauqua Belle paddlewheeler. He was a young man who seemed to be coordinating a group tour for the first time. We went over is suggested schedule and agreed on an itinerary. He will draw up a contract and send it to us.

Then we drove down the road to the Chautauqua Institution. It is one of the stops on the itinerary Mike put together and we wanted to look at it. It’s not very clear why we should take a tour of the place. It seems like a private community with very lovely homes on the lake. The roads are very narrow and seem to wind aimlessly around the neighborhood. There is a beautiful old hotel where he suggested we have lunch. We wanted to get some information about the place but the visitor’s center was closed. I’ll have to send an email.

We drove to Jamestown and picked up food at Pet Smart. Then Paul drove up the other side of the lake to the center where the interstate crossed the lake. We got back to the campground at 5 p.m.

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sneakyhomunculous · 5 years

Text

Last PT Report

Day 1: Wake up fresh; shower normally and then turn it freezing for the last 30 seconds. Shadowbox for 5 minutes. Stand on head against the wall for 3 minutes. 20 push-ups, get dressed and shuttle 0.4miles to site. Walking would be better, but it’s a bit cold and I don’t wanna worry about a jacket. Arrive at 8:55, pods go up minutes later. Arrive at the table to see Zvi and 6 others I don’t recognize. Zvi is two to my left. Open my pack Ayara, Edgewall Inkeeper, Slaying Fire, Fierced Witchstalker, and thankfully a Charmed Sleep. Slam the Charmed Sleep. I’m not going to let the way some early packs break determine my fate in the last PT ever. I’m passed clockwork servant and a bunch of mediocre cards like scorching dragonfire scalding cauldron maraleaf rider. Slam clockwork servant. Pick 3 there are no good cards, luckily I’m greeted with a Fabled Passage. Take it easily over middling things (I did briefly consider taking corridor monitor). 4th pick I am greeted with a gift from the gods. A 4th pick Opt!!! One note, at this point corridor monitor is the only blue card I’ve passed. This pack contains no blue cards besides Opt. Many people would panic thinking Blue is being cut. While the chance that is happening are not 0, they are not significantly more likely just because you haven’t seen blue cards in 2-3 picks. The packs easily could’ve just been light on blue cards. But what is certain? No one on my left has even seen a single blue card they can take. Pick 5 no blue cards. I take Jousing dummy over middling cards in other colors. Pick 6 a welcome sight. Corridor monitor! Slam it so fast as I wouldn’t want to give the players on my left a faulty signal. Pick 7 there is a mad ratter that I assume my fellow draft mates did not see in the pack. Pick 8 there are no blue cards but a wicked guardian will do. I already have servant and monitor, to go along with Opt and this mad ratter. Not sure how I’ll cast it but we’ll see I round out with another joustin dummy and that early corridor monitor tables!!!!! Pack 2 I crack open a pack without a blue card. Luckily there is an epic downfall that I may end up playing. Pick 2 I get passed a pack with the best common in the set, draw 3 sry 3. I take it quickly over reave soul and other irrelevant cards. 3rd pick Stolen By the MF Fae. Thanks Worth! 4th Pick Frogify over nothing. They aren’t going to give this draft to me easy. 5th pick No blue cards 😡 take Witch’s Vengeance I probably won’t play. 6th pick SO TINY; The second best common in the set with a run away together and didn’t say please in the pack too. Bad distribution tilt. 7th pick spinning wheel. I can’t wait until they fix these bots and we can get REAL practice in 8th pick Draw 3 scry 3 😂 this is when I knew I had 2-1 at least locked up. Around this pick I notice the player on my right (I’m on the edge so he’s directly across from me) has an opportunistic dragon sticking out of his pack C. So I call a judge and they have to replace the pack with no issues. I round out the pack with dregs. Pack 3 I open Folio of the fancies GG yo I get passed a pack so blank I almost cried but then I noticed a scaulding cauldron, whew. 3rd pick I face the decision of mystic sanctuary vs hate drafting, and sanctuary is completely busted so I take that. Pick 4 I am greeted with another 4th pick Opt!!!! 3 for 3 baby. 5th pick there is nothing great I take a searing barrage I hopefully won’t have to play. 6th pick I get passed a pack with didn’t say please! But there is also a Lochmere Serpent and a Drown in the Loch. I take the serpent 7th pick is blankish if I recall correctly and I got sad. 8th pick another mad ratter, I recall being happy/content. And saying to myself in my head... I think I shall play it all! I do end up playing everything! 4 swamps 1 mountain 1 Fabled Passage 1 Sanctuary 10 Island. My SB is pretty weak but I do have a couple searing barrages, a forever young and a few expensive fliers/jousting dummy type things I can bring. [Insert Picture of deck 1 here] (I’m trying but can’t figure out Tumblr maybe I’ll post all the pics at the end?)* Wouldn’t be a PT without a Round 1 Doozy I’m paired vs someone I don’t recognize. Apparently it is their first PT but I don’t know this at the time. They seem confident but reserved and ready for battle. We both keep 7 and I am on the play. My opponent plays a turn 1 witches Cottage. On turn 2 he plays a swamp and an order of the midnight. It immediately becomes So tiny. On turn 3 I do nothing. My opponent plays a mountain and a redcap raiders. I miss my land drop but put the raiders into a Charmed Sleep. On turn 4 my opponent plays swamp Lochtwain Paladin with Cheese. I untap and draw Fabled Passage. My hand is expensive cards like mad ratter Draw 3 Serpent and something else. I am about to fetch and then I realize his hand is facedown on the table but looking thicc. I just double check how many cards and he picks them up no problem and says 5. And it’s correct it is 5. However my brain says it should be 4. Turn 1 land. Turn 2 land 2 drop. Turn 3 land 3 drop. Turn 4 land 4 drop. This means he started with 7, drew up to 8. Played his land down to 7, and he didn’t miss any land drops so far. So turn 2 his card played should mean he is down to 6, then turn 3 down to 5, and now his Paladin down to 4. He has an extra card!! I count 5 times just to confirm, and sure enough he is 2 cards ahead of me. I call a judge and after a quick count and discussion it is confirmed he has one too many. He is extremely calm but also quiet during all of it. I didn’t get any vibe of him trying to be dishonest or hide anything. At the same time it’s incredibly sketchy of course. How and when did he get an extra card? He is on the draw so he’s already got extra cards, seems like he’d notice if he had 9 to start or something?? The ruling is that I get to Thoughtseize him basically and he has to shuffle what I pick back in his deck. I really hate this rule as its putting so much of the onus on me to always track my opponents hand so vigilantly. If I would’ve noticed he drew 9 to start, it would be hugely beneficial for me to Thoughtseize him. But now I Thoughtseize him and see 5 spells as I’m already behind on the board and want to throw up. Did he just draw 2 cards at once on turn 4 because he needed a land? I’ll never know. But his hand is completely fucking stacked and I can’t find myself ever beating it. He has another lochtwain paladin, Murderous rider, another order of midnight, lash of thorns, and a festive funeral. I take the murderous rider but miss a land again and by the time I can play serpent I am forced to block into his Lash and have no outs so I just concede without showing him. Game 2 I don’t remember a ton of, but I know he plays multiple rimrock knights and order of midnights and I am so close to dying so many times. I had spinning wheel and he made a few small errors, and it let me survive at one life but needing to topdeck a cheap creature/play to survive at all. I peeled a Charmed Sleep and it left me actually in control with mana left over to tap his one other attacker. Well, as in control as you can be with 1 life. Shortly after I find a draw 3 and turn the game around over 2-3 turns before he can find a way to deal me 1 damage. Unfortunately the time is about out in the round and we only have a 7 minute extension. I slam in the 2/1 bloodcrazed wolfthorn guys and both searing barrage hoping to have time to finish game 3. Instead I am on the backfoot and in serious danger of dying. T2 order. T3 rimrock it and play rimrock. T4 rimrock it and play rimrock. I am all the way down to 4 before I have any chance at stabilizing. I play in the only way I think will give me any chance to survive and it involves letting him untap with me at 4 life and him having a Brimstone Trebuchet in play, knowing he has at least two cheap knights he has returned with order of midnight/forever young combo. He did only have 5 mana so I wasn’t that scared (I had witch’s vengeance for walls ready on my next turn). But the prospect of surviving at 1 still seemed grim at the time. Oh yeah somewhere in there he played a murderous rider and pumped it with rimrock knights so he was at 30 and me at 1. I never felt safe until around a minute before time was about to be up. Unfortunately my opponent was still at 30. The judge called time right as I passed so I got turn 1. On my Opp turn 2 I flashed in serpent and untapped and sacrificed two swamps but could only find more lands. I made it unblockable and attacked with it and all 4 of my stolen by the Fae tokens and 8 of my mad ratter tokens leaving back a few more to make sure I wouldn’t die to the swing back from my now 3 life. My opponent took 17 down to 9 so they must have been at 26 at the time. On turn 4 I had a small sweat as I left myself dead to barge in (hadn’t seen one, did pass multiple in draft though) as I really wanted the win and not the draw. Luckily my opp not only didn’t even attack, but they played out their entire hand and were clearly dead on board by 2 points more than lethal. Win on turn 5. Wild start. The rest of the day was a lot smoother. R2 vs ZVI Mono G Zvi Mulligans on the play g1 but leads t1 Goose. I have so tiny and Charmed Sleep draw 3 and bunch of lands so I ignore goose. He plays a wildwood tracker at some point I so tiny and I Charmed Sleep a Fierced Witchstalker. He is hitting me for 1 with gingerbrute when I cast draw 3. Then I cast another. Then I play serpent and folio etc and I’m still above 10 life and he dies in short order. In g2 I get sloppy and lose a game I have no business losing. I turn 3 clockwork servant turn 4 Wicked guardian draw a card, but this was just a mistake. I did this knowing I would take 5 damage this turn but I had no business taking it as I already had everything I needed to win this game. I needed to preserve my life total. On turn 5 I do start preserving life, but when I flash in serpent on turn 6 to block Zvi has Insatiable appetite on his gingerbrute that has counter from weapon rack to kill me from 7. G3 is a lot smoother as I so tiny a gingerbrute, and at some point am up so many cards I decide to use a searing barrage on the untapped gingerbrute with so tiny on it (only 3 cards in Zvi yard) just so I don’t have to worry about losing to double insatiable appetite when I tap out for stolen by the Fae and or serpent. R3 vs GW I play vs the person feeding me and my heart drops. I assume he is blue and will have many secret keepers and didn’t say pleases and I know I am screwed because I have 0 counterspells. Instead he leads forest curious pair food turn 2 the 1/3. Then he misses land drops and eventually beanstalk giants up to 4-5 mana but just plays some medium GW creatures. I win without much resistance and G2 goes about the same. 3-0 and now it’s break time. I immediately start running to subway as I want to beat the crowd on our short lunch break. Unfortunately as I open the door I am greeted by a 50+ deep line. I turned around and dive into the fried chicken place. 30 person line and 1 lady working. GG yo. I am feeling good despite not having any lunch options. At some point in the beginning of the constructed rounds Allen Wu shares his protein cookie with me, and I think that was just enough to save me from crashing too early. R4 JetSki Fires I don’t recognize my opponent but I Open his list and see a Sam Roflo Specialeee. 4 Bonecrusher 1 Shimmer 1 Fae 1 Realm Clock 4 clarion 8 cavalier stock fires. I have a t2 Oko on the play, but otherwise my hand is Shite. Joe Demestrio is birding and brings up my line after the game saying he would have done things differently. That is why Wallace was on the rail and I was in the streets. The point was that my opponent played a turn 2 shimmer. On my turn 3 I made my food an elk and attacked for 3 missing a land drop and said go without playing paradise Druid. The reason being that if my opp has clarion you always want to have a food back to start attacking immediately. This way I could make food with goose in response to clarion untap make it a 3/3 and play Druid. Instead my opponent did nothing, and I passed turn 4 with a lethal attack if I untapped (9 damage from elks and 2 from Druid I just played with opp at 11). But They play 4th land and say go? I am worried about going for it as if they have bonecrusher giant for my Druid and then untap and realm cloaked giant I will have an Oko no food and 2 lands with no plays. But I don’t see any real other options. If I don’t make My 3rd elk and attack with everything I still will die to the realm cloaked. My opponent just concedes when I right click attack all. I sort of forgot what Joe even wanted me to do. Maybe it was not playing Druid T3 he didn’t like, or maybe it was when I turned my goose into an elk the following turn. But that was mandatory as it left me a food back Incase my opp had the t4 clarion or fires/clarion, and left me with a lethal attack if they did not. G2 I play a T3 nissa untap Breeding Pool attack, my opponent plays 4th fires and I Aether Gust it and untap and krasis for 6 or something. I won that one. R5 Jack Kiefer on JetSki Fires. His list was notably a bit cleaner and played less bad cards (except he had a bunch of shimmers I guess, that does qualify as a bad card) This match was really good, but just showcased how good the food deck is. He beat me g1 with no real sweat as I couldn’t pressure him nearly fast enough. G2 and 3 details are blurry to me but I know a surprise brontodon really threw him off in one of the games. He cast fires into drawn from dreams turn 4 and when I untapped and played and brontodonned his fires he seemed frustrated. I don’t know if he could have taken different cards with drawn but his next couple of turns were not good enough and I won. Oh I remember now. I absolutely ravaged him with a casualties of war in the other game killing his 5th land and only white source, his fires, his sorcerous spyglass and his cavalier. 5-0 R6- Oscar Christensen Mirror Oscar had a good list with 2 Casualties and I was a bit worried going into this match as I hadn’t practiced much at all with my deck and I felt he was probably well prepared for these mirrors. That proved to be true as he seemed to play very well in all the games. I think I just ran away with one game on the play, and the other game I won was solely bc I jockeyed myself into a position where he was forced to make plays to keep parity and left himself tapped out and dead to my 1 SB casualties. That 1 card I put in my sideboard at the last possible second after discussing how much I hate duress with Collin is certainly the only reason I made this run. It singlehandedly won me 4 matches. 6-0 R7- Craig Krempels Mirror Craig has a Karn’s bastion in his deck! I immediately screamed judge to get an Oracle as I had no idea what that was. But the rest looked pretty normal. I don’t know Craig well but I knew he was old school and at least a good to great player. I was in the zone this round and I think I got extremely lucky in a few ways. First was the seating arrangement. By the 2nd game a huge crowd was forming and I could sense them around me, but couldn’t really see any of them. He had them over his shoulder but also could see all of the people behind me up close and looking on. He made a few glaring strategical errors (Multiple times in Nissa fights he attacked with a land which let me kill his nissa for free where otherwise I would’ve had to overextend/throw things away to get to it), but he also just literally forgot to activate his planeswalker one turn and also forgot to play a land in another. He ran away with game 1 with a t2 Oko followed by an early Nissa, capped off with a Karn’s Bastion threatening to activate no less! In game 2 we have a bit of a back and forth affair but I am starting to fall behind. I am not giving up hope as on turn 5 I draw the black source I need for Liliana on the following turn. My board is two wicked wolves and a food, and I have 4 forests and a watery grave after playing land this turn. My hand is Liliana and my freshly drawn overgrown tomb. Howver Craig has just deployed Nissa to go along with his Oko on 10 counters, and his own goose and wolf. On his turn he makes an attack after I had attacked his walkers with my wolves. His only blockers now are the lands and one goose but his Oko has so much loyalty and nissa is now at 4 because I hit it with a wolf last turn. Fortunately he says go without even using his Oko. I untap ready to slam Liliana and hope I can fade krasis for a couple turns and claw back from a dangerous life total (I was at under 10 but don’t recall exactly). Instead I draw my 1 casualties 🏆 I kill both his creature lands and his Oko which leaves his nissa at 4 loyalty and him only having a goose to chump. But I have two wolves and a food so he can’t save nissa and chooses to not block with goose. He’s down to 3 lands goose and I end up winning easily with Liliana a few turns later. Game 3 is another back and forth affair but this time I wrestle control in the middle turns and also have my casualties ready. He is fighting back and has a vraska in play for a couple of turns, but I manage a krasis for 3 which will threaten to kill it as its at 1 going up to 3. He does remember to use it and has a goose he can use to jump in front and protect it for one turn. But I have nissa and casualties ready this turn and when I untap I know it’s over. I start by attacking Vraska with Krasis. He blocks with Goose and Bins it. I ask how many cards he has as they are on the table and he spreads them out slowly and it’s 4. As this is happening someone behind me on the huge rail screams Judgeeeeeee. My eyebrows raise and I immediately realize he left his Vraska at 3 but it should have gone to 2 from Krasis Trampling over his Goose. So I tell him this. Craig looks incredulous. I said yeah u chumped with goose it should be at 2. He says well trample is your ability. You have to remember your own abilities. So I said wait what? Did you think maybe I just wanted to go ahead and assign all 3 damage to the goose this time?? Really fuck that goose up good huh??? He kind of shrugged and said something back but I said let’s just call the judge. Lengthy call but I just lead with exactly what happened. I tell them that the person behind me screamed judge after a few seconds and that is what prompted me to scan the board and realize he didn’t tick his vraska down. It’s been 5-10 seconds since binning goose and all I have done was ask how many cards he has. I acknowledge that it wasn’t even on my radar until someone screamed judge (bc I was so happy and knew I was going to win. Also probably bc I suck and can’t seem to remember what my own cards do) They basically rule that trample does not have a default rule, so it’s on me to assign it. And also that someone behind me saying judge seems to have prompted me to realize I missed it. So the vraska stays at 3 I think this rule is kind of BS in the first place. Trample should be automatic default lethal + rest at you. (That’s how it works on Modo and Arena no?) But also barely any time has passed and no actions have been taken here, so I snap back and ask “What if I would’ve just called you over and told the exact same story, but left out the part about someone behind me screaming out judge?” You would rule differently right? “I cannot answer that hypothetical at this time” Ok well when can you?? “After the match” Ok thanks. “You can appeal if you are not comfortable” No it’s all good. Nissa float Gb with overgrown tomb untap casualties your entire board except vraska and a useless wolf go. The crowd goes wild!!!! “Olldddd Schooooooollllll” rings heard throughout the hall. He died the next turn or so. I bring it back up with Craig and I just let him know it’s not 1999 anymore. It’s actually the future now, 20 years later. And almost everyone in the room would just tick their own Vraska down to 2. He didn’t agree with that, but I have faith in the new guard. 7-0 R8 Eli Kassis on GB Adventures I was starting to fade hard at this point. The lights also got to me a bit. Its extremely bright up there and I was actually having trouble even reading what lands/cards he was playing. Game 1 I was feeling the head spin from not eating and having such a long day. I managed to keep it together and I am proud of myself for recognizing what I should be doing in this game. I had a wolf and 2 goose and on turn 4-5 I untapped and could slam nissa, but he had left 3 mana open and had some cards still. And I identified massacre girl as a massive blowout if I didn’t get my food count up ASAP. On top of that Nissa was so likely to just die to Murderous Rider or Grasp as he’s not doing much proactive stuff and I haven’t given him a great window to use either of those cards either. The issue is mostly that I didn’t practice so I haven’t played this matchup. But I totally blanked on Liliana for a few turns. The passive plays I was making left me completely fucked if he had one removal spell (kill a goose) into Liliana make me sac two. I still think I made all the correct plays, but after a few turns of skipping my plays to make food with geese to play around massacre girl and abyss him with my wolf, I realized how big of a threat Liliana was and finished the game off while playing around that as well. I win and he drops his hands of all lands. He played well but literally drew all lands so any plays I made throughout the game probably would have been good enough to win. G2 and G3 I think I play quite poorly. I don’t remember specifics but every time I made a play I felt like I was guessing and second guessing and I would just tell myself to make a play u are thinking but actually not getting anywhere. Go ahead, guess you monkey!!! No amount of thinking can save you. And then I’d just listen to The Oko Devil on my shoulder and make a random play. It all culminated in me scooping when I wasn’t dead. (I was dead as shit, but not technically dead. He had 2 cards and a castle, and any 1/1 or removal spell in the top 4 cards would kill me immediately) but I never would have scooped if I knew wasn’t dead immediately. You see the problem was Lovestruck Beast. Eli had 2 of them, a massacre girl, and a 1/1 human. I had a wolf that could kill the human and now help double block Massacre girl. The bigger problem? I played the entire match as if Lovestruck Beast was just a 5/5 for 3. Totally forgot it can’t attack without a 1/1. There is no excuse as I had the card multiple times in draft, but after a long day it just totally slipped my mind. 7-1 [Happy] One other note. Open decklists. I think this is a massive reason for my success at this tournament. I don’t have much time to practice these days, and there are so many damn formats and they are always changing! Magic is already so hard, but when you don’t have the practice + confidence in what your opponent will have in their list + confidence in your ability to remember and understand all of the possibilities/interactions/situations in the entire format it makes each game so much harder to form your long term strategical plan, which in turn makes all of your tactical ideas harder to execute as well. Knowing exactly what I am working with and against every round makes me 10x as comfortable/dangerous. I know it goes both ways, but I feel like most players at the top level have a huge edge on me without open decklists. I struggle to play around cards/piece together what they might have until it’s too late so often. Mostly because I’m bad at it and scattered, but also because of the lack of reps. I can never remember what set a card was from or how long ago a standard was or all the decks from the old formats etc. I actualy can barely ever tell you what sets are in standard and which cards are in which set! And that’s when I’m actively playing. So yeah. Shoutout to Open decklists. I’m sure many people hate them, but I strongly prefer them. I’m always going to bring caw blade anyway; GG yo. Day 2 & Day 3 Coming soon!

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hopevalegame · 5 years

Text

January 13 2019

Robo-San update:

Today ended up being a day of strategizing. No pixels or music was made but that’s okay. I think it was more productive than if I’d been doing those.

- I got out of bed at 14:05. I was feeling too sick earlier on (light fever, nausea, stomach pains). Probably side effects of probiotics (on day 6). I expect I’ll start to feel better pretty soon once I’ve gotten used to them.

- I ate oatmeal cookies that Robo-chan made the night before. Took a bath.

- I read about probiotics, diet and the gut brain connection for a while. Pondered on the fact that 90 % of our bodies serotonin is produced in the stomach by bacteria. Since I so often feel strong feelings of anxiety for no obvious reasons, this is really something I will have to fully investigate in 2019. Even if the probiotics end up not helping me out, I want to keep experimenting through the year until I find a definitive solution to both the stomach pains and the anxiety. The likelihood that they could both be solved at once seems... likely.

- 17:00: Ate my second meal (oatmeal) , cleaned out the fridge and washed dishes.

-18:20: Listening to the book ‘’Hyperfocus’’ with Robo-chan

-19:30: Food! (Cereals (getting a little lazy with the cooking which I suppose is fine while I’m getting used to the pill. Every meal no matter how healthy ends in pain anyhow, so...)). Broke a third commitment for the day right there by eating too late (the first one was waking up too late, second getting started too late) but this one doesn’t make much sense when I get to bed at 2 a.m I realized. I shouldn’t eat 4 hours before bed but anytime before is fair game.

20:00: Listening to Hyperfocus and exercise

_____________

Change of plans: Hyperfocus made me think about how, if I want to experience the state of flow more often, I should focus on one task through the day. Whichever task I consider to be the most urgent. It’s been my experience that my most productive days have been the ones where I truly just focused on one thing and was completely absorbed into it. So, yesterday I’d planned on doing three different things but I’m not doing that anymore. Everyday will either be a pixel day or a music day and it will be decided the day prior which it will be.

I definitely consider pixels to be the most urgent thing to get this project made so I’ll be doing quite a lot more pixel days than music days.

Hyperfocus also made me realize that I need to be more specific in my goals. So, I’m gonna start being specific right now and state my intentions for the next few months (over 6 months) concerning pixel art.

Music will require further thinking and I’ll be writing my musical intents at some point in one of the days to come.

Pixel goals for the first half of 2019. In order:

Note: I’m only sticking to autumn assets until everything is made for the first season of the game.

First - Get very good at wood textures and make a tree stump and fallen log (one is a cylindrical shape and one is a cylindrical shape on its side (with moss and everything, add a rotten core, etc.)) and to make the tree stump as beautiful as possible: mushroom (little red mushrooms that pops out, mushrooms that only grow on dead trees, flowers, grasses (all things that can go on or around the tree stump). It’s hard to predict these things but I’ll say this should keep me busy for 2 weeks (I expect I’ll be slow at first then pick up speed).

Second - Once I've made the tree stump as close to perfection as I can, I will need to become an expert at leaves textures. Then I can make a bush. First I make fallen leaves, a pile of leaves, then I'll be ready to make the bush (spherical shape), make some berry bushes, all sorts of bushes. Let’s say this will take me 1 week.

Third - Once I've gotten great at both of those, I can start making trees. A tree is basically a log with a bush on top but I have to get really good at both of those elements to be able to combine them. Hope Vale will have LOTS of trees. Lots and lots of them of many different kinds and sizes. I will easily spend 8 weeks making all the trees for fall only.

Fourth - Once I've made the trees I’m going to move on to rocks. For this I'll have to get good at stone texture and get good at handling items with multiple shapes in the same object. I’ll give this 2 weeks.

Fifth - Then, and only then, will I start working on the tiles. Only the nature tiles for now, including sand and leaving the water tiles for last (not including the water animation, animations will start towards the very end). This doesn’t include height tiles Let’s give this one 4 weeks maybe.

Sixth - Then, I'll be making cliff and hill tiles to create heights. 1 week maybe?

Seventh - At this point, I can move on to making the peripheral forest which will fence off the north and west sides of Hope Vale and will have a different look than the game space to let the player know that these areas are off limits (darker, more overgrown, etc). I’ll estimate this at 4 weeks.

Eight - After this, I can create the bridges. The first bridge will be the entrance bridge to Hope Vale which will be made of stone and under which Roger Dodger will live. The second bridge will be made of logs and will be connecting Loon island to the mainland. 2 weeks

So, if my count is right, that would be how much I would accomplish in the next 6 months but I might have horribly low balled how much work all of this requires. I’m just a beginner so these estimates are shots in the dark really. But I suppose it’s better to shoot for the stars and land on the moon or... whatever the expression is.

I’ll continue on but I'll start being less precise now because there's not much point planning past 6 months when it comes to this sort of thing.

Ninth - Once all of that is made I will create my first building. It will be Clyde's house since it will be made of logs and I will have gotten very good at wood textures. 3 weeks for the first house seems fair.

Tenth - Then, to make the other houses, and trailers, I will need to practice metal textures. For this I will start with metal objects (I'll probably start with objects that would be laying around outside of Clyde's house (I'll be leaving the insides for much later). Non exhaustive list of objects (in no particular order yet) include: A bucket, a rake, barrels (on Lance Crutchfield's property and dumped in the lake), bells and wind chimes (Which I will animate and have them make noise eventually), metal fences, a shed (Clyde will have a metal shed), metal lighting devices, etc. Let’s give all of this (including the shed) 4 weeks I guess?

Eleventh - Once I've made enough metal objects I'll be ready to start doing all the other buildings. Let’s say 20 weeks.

Twelve- Once I've made all the buildings, I'll make every outside objects that I didn’t get to already. 2 weeks.

Thirteen - Then I can move on to the insides. 16 weeks.

Fourteen - Once I've made the insides, I can make every single one of the cutscene locations for fall (prison, interrogation room, etc). 4 weeks.

Fifteen - Once that's done I can make the characters standing in every directions but not animated (including the animals). 12 weeks.

Sixteen - Then I can make the UI for the game, the inventory screen, the character convo boxes (minus the portraits obviously) etc. 3 weeks.

Seventeen - Then I can start working on simple animations (Bells, wind chimes, fire, leaves falling from tree, etc). Then move on to animate the water and the waterfalls etc. And finally, I can animate the characters. First their walking animations, then every other animation that we'll need including the animals. 1 year for all the animations.

Eighteen - And, for the very end, I'll create the assets for all other 3 seasons (winter, spring and finally summer). 24 weeks.

I've probably missed some things but that's essentially it. So, by my count, this adds up to 164 weeks which is 3 years and 2 months which sounds about right since we’re hoping to get this done in 4 years or so. I’ve probably overestimated some things and underestimated some (number eighteen I’m especially unsure about), but that doesn’t really matter. Better a bad plan than no plan at all.

And, of course, during that time I’ll also have made the music and the writing along with Robo-chan.

Alright so my pixel goals for the next 6 months are established. I now know with a lot more clarity what to aim for.

So, for tomorrow’s goal, I’m dropping all the lifestyle crap for a little while for as long as I’m still in pain from the treatment. No getting up at x hour or eating at y or bed at z for the time being. My only goal for January 14th 2019 is:

Make 3 tree stumps. At least. And show your progress on this site. No matter how dreadfully bad you are.

That will be all.

I didn’t respect my plans today but what I did instead, thinking, was a lot better, I think. So I’m giving myself a passing grade for today. Because, thankfully, I’m the only arbiter here and no one, not even Robo-chan, can do anything to stop this mad lad right here, hehehe ;)

Today’s grade:

6/10 ... >:)

Robo-san signing off. Feeling particularly optimistic about life at this moment in time.

- Robo-san

Robo-chan update:

Once again a terrible night of sleep. Fell asleep around 5 am, slept until 8 waking up with nightmares and back to sleep again around 12 until 3 PM. Tonight I’ll be writing with Robo-san so I won’t break any of the rules.

The best day so far in terms of exercise. I’m really pumped up with how quickly I’ve improved my cardio and weight resistance exercises.

Tomorrow I intend to make it a really great day of work. Robo-san has me very pumped up with all the planning he’s been doing so now that I’m getting comfortable in my workout routine I think I’ll be able to go heavy and hard with work as well!

I just need a little bit of luck with sleep tonight.

- Robo-chan

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madventurousblog · 7 years

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The Winery and Emotional Weirdness

First of all, don't judge my horribly slanted and awkward photos from the winery. We're not supposed to have our phones (even though we were walking out for our break and it was probably fine), so I was trying to be stealthy. I was a spy in another life.

Anyway, the winery.

It's mostly a maze of tanks, tubs, hoses, and of course - wine! There are rows upon rows of these tanks, both indoors and out, that look just like this. Some tanks are teeny, and some (like these) hold 50,000 liters! There are even bigger ones outside, and hiking up the platforms to get to the tops of those puppies is a thrilling little adventure, let me tell ya.

I'm wishing now I would've taken better photos, but ah well. They call this area Middle Earth because it's in-between the two big cellars, and they do all the in-between kind of work: additions, transfers, cleaning... wine stuff. The caution tape you can see is a precautionary measure from the earthquake we were in last November. The force of the quake broke the gigantic bolts that hold the tanks to the ground, so we're required to wear hard hats if we have to work in this area... because if one of those tanks falls over, we gotta protect our noggins, you know? (Anyone else remembering that scene in Titanic where Fabrizio meets his death? I know, I'm sorry.)

All jokes aside, I do get a little hopped up on adrenaline when I have to meander the catwalks in this area. I just try to get the job done well and quickly to minimize the need to go back up. I'm also constantly concerned I'm accidentally going to drop something over the edge and whack someone. Maybe that's the real reason we wear the hard hats.

The area I'll be working in is called White Receival, and although we don't require hard hats, we do need ear plugs to muffle the roar of the red machines you can see. These are some of our presses - the machines that press the juice from the fruit - and you can see some of the pumps and hoses we use to transfer the juice to the tanks as well. That's basically the quick and dirty of what we do in this area.

Here, sing this to Daft Punk's "Technologic" tune: Take it Crush it Pump it Press it Put-it-in-the-tub Transfer it

There. That's what we do. So in all actuality, my area deals with fruit and juice rather than wine. We're the start of the whole process after the grapes leave the vineyard. It's a sweet and sticky job, but someone's gotta do it!

And that's us! But not all of us. Our supervisor and second-in-command were somewhere else, probably picking up our slack. Just kidding, I think we're actually cottoning on fairly well for being brand new to this stuff. Or at least, I'm brand new. The others have varying levels of experience, but mostly in smaller wineries, so there's still plenty to learn. (Thank God, it's been a relief to know I'm not the only one starting from ground zero.)

I suppose that's where my "emotional weirdness" comes into play. Occasionally my anxiety kicks up a pretty good fight, and with the mixture of a new job, stresses of not knowing what I'm doing, sadness of getting ready to leave New Zealand, and feeling like I'm in a bit of limbo... well, I freaked. Kiwi Mum noticed I wasn't my usual joyful self and asked if everything was alright, which - when everything's NOT alright - is the perfect recipe to bring me to tears. I have no idea why, but I stood there doing the dishes and bawled like a baby while Kiwi Mum talked me through it. (Bless her sweet motherly soul.) Honestly, I was a disaster. And I'm not gonna lie, my period's on its way as well, which only added to the emotional cluster fuck going on in my brain.

So yeah. I blew my top a little, but later vented to Real Mom and family over a video call, and chatted with some friends, took a walk, cleared my head, and I felt better. I DO feel better. That's another thing I've learned over the years: it's really really really okay to reach out to people when you need a lift. I used to think I didn't want to "burden" people with my problems, but sometimes all you need to do is let off some steam. Vent, cry, laugh, whatever.

The anxiety I've been feeling over work has decreased greatly over the last few days. The more practice we get before we go "full vintage" (working the 12-hour shifts), the better, so I'm happy with where we're at. And I'm trying to remember that it's OKAY to be new at something, and therefore a little bit shitty at it at first. The work we do is really just a long list of simple steps. It's the fact that there are so MANY simple steps that makes it seem complex, but I'm getting there, and gaining confidence, and probably a little muscle as well. Those hoses are heavy!

OH! And speaking of shift work, I've been assigned the night shift. Crazy, eh? At the moment we're still on 8-hour days, working from 12 pm to 8:30 pm. When the vintage really kicks off, we'll be working 6 pm to 6 am. It was nice knowing ya, sunshine. But actually, I'm quite excited to see what working a night shift will be like, and it will only be for a few weeks. Just adding another experience to the list!

Oh yeah, and they have a full-fledged espresso machine that we get to use for our break coffees. No complaints there.

P.S. - Song obsession at the moment: "Sleep on the Floor" by The Lumineers. I listen to it every day on my bike ride to work.

#New Zealand #Work #Winery #Vintage #Madventure #Coffee #Wine #Working Holiday #Tanks #Learning #Working #Emotional #South Island #Marlborough

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phantomjai · 6 years

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questions 1-100 ;)

;) 1. Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?Spotify!2. is your room messy or clean?It tends to be a little bit on the cleaner side but will be messy for awhile before I clean it.3. what color are your eyes?Like a blue gray

4. do you like your name? why?Ehh yeah I guess, it is spelled differently so sometimes it is annoying. 5. what is your relationship status? Single, but somebody better fucking date me sooner or later…. I have so much interesting drama to spill6. describe your personality in 3 words or lessBig dick energy7. what color hair do you have?It is brown… and gray… I at 20 have salt and pepper hair….8. what kind of car do you drive? color?Chevy Cruze and its gold!! 9. where do you shop?Target, forever 21, rue 21….10. how would you describe your style?comfortable11. favorite social media accountTwitter, follow me @phantom_jai12. what size bed do you have? full size 13. any siblings?Yes! An older sister and brother14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?Either Japan or Denmark they both seem like places I would love to live in! Maybe even Canada!!15. Already answered 16. favorite makeup brand(s)Elf and Anastasia Beverly Hills!!!17. how many times a week do you shower?Everyday but I only wash my hair like twice a week18. favorite tv show?I have a lot, ER, SVU, Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy!!19. shoe size?9 1/2 20. how tall are you?5’ 6 1/2”21. sandals or sneakers? Sneakers all the time22. do you go to the gym? Not currently, but I want to start going at the beginning of the school year!23. Already answered!!24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?Cash? A solid zero dollars25. what color socks are you wearing? none, but usually they are a the ones from target that have cute designs!!26. Already done baby27. do you have a job? what do you do? no, but I wish I did! Hopefully I can get one in a couple of weeks!28. how many friends do you have? Close ones only a handful29. whats the worst thing you have ever done? Uhhhhh Idk nothing I’m not as cool as you think I am30. whats your favorite candle scent? Anything with mahogany.31. 3 favorite boy namesTheodore, Peter, and Matthias32. 3 favorite girl namesPenelope, Scarlett, and Charlotte33. favorite actor? Matthew Gray Gubler34. favorite actress? Alex Kingston35. who is your celebrity crush?Niall Horan and Hayley Kiyoko 36. favorite movie? The Avengers37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I read a lot before college, but my favorite books are any Rick Riordan books and Harry Potter!38. money or brains? Brains, I can make pretty stupid decisions so I would lost my money probably39. do you have a nickname? what is it? Jai! Perci! Jar Jar!40. how many times have you been to the hospital?I've never been personally41. top 10 favorite songs (most of these are more current faves!!)Got Over, White Man’s World, Flicker, God is a woman, dying in LA, Magic City, Curious, Miss you, Whatever it takes, and Partition42. do you take any medications daily? Nope nope43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)It is pretty oily ngl44. what is your biggest fear? …dying alone/afraid or something like that 45. how many kids do you want? 3 maybe 4 idk depends on who I marry46. whats your go to hair style?Well my hair is buzzed so….47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) Well im in college so its a small apartment, but my parents live in a moderately sized house…48. who is your role model? Hmmmmm… I really have no idea? 49. what was the last compliment you received?That my winged eyeliner looked good!50. what was the last text you sent?“Yah”51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?Like 10/1152. what is your dream car? Maybe a Tesla because I hate pumping gas53. opinion on smoking?Just watch out for your lungs and shit y'all 54. do you go to college? Yah! I am in my third year and it is terrifying 55. what is your dream job? I wanna work for sport teams social media!56. would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? I love rural areas but for work probably suburbs….57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? Fuck yea!58. do you have freckles? Very few and they're spread across my arms and such59. do you smile for pictures?Ehh most of the time 60. how many pictures do you have on your phone? …like 4,000…. but I have extra iCloud storage61. have you ever peed in the woods? nope62. do you still watch cartoons? Yes! I love rewatching older cartoons63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?McDonalds!!!64. Favorite dipping sauce? Honey or bbq sauce65. what do you wear to bed? Shorts and a tank top66. have you ever won a spelling bee?I cant spell for shit my dudes67. what are your hobbies?Eating, sleeping, and making dad jokes68. can you draw? Nope but I wish69. do you play an instrument?Yes! I play Violin, Viola, and Tenor Sax! I also know some Piano!!70. what was the last concert you saw? Panic! on August 1st and Beyoncé is next!!!!!!!71. tea or coffee?Both but Coffee most of the time72. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?I love going to Starbies with my shisters73. do you want to get married?Yes!74. what is your crush’s first and last initial?I’m not crushing on anyone at the moment but... NH75. are you going to change your last name when you get married? Maybe, or maybe I will put both of them together76. what color looks best on you? Brown? Idk I usually wear sweatshirts and leggings so 77. do you miss anyone right now? Yah my besties78. do you sleep with your door open or closed?Closed it is the only way I can really sleep79. do you believe in ghosts?hm… yes80.what is your biggest pet peeve? People who think they know everything81. last person you called`My mother about what type of ice cream she wanted82. favorite ice cream flavor? Coffee or publix brand moose tracks83. regular oreos or golden oreos? ….. peanut butter oreos… but regular ones84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? Rainbow for that gay shit but chocolate is also a good choice85. what shirt are you wearing? A green tie-dye shirt from my Bio Club86. what is your phone background?A picture of Fjord my roommate drew87. are you outgoing or shy?Shy around randoms but outgoing with friends88. do you like it when people play with your hair?YES89. do you like your neighbors? At my parents no, idk who my neighbors are in my apartment 90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?Usually only in the morning but I try to at night 91. have you ever been high? nope92. have you ever been drunk? yes!93. last thing you ate? Some ice cream but before that pizza94. favorite lyrics right nowI’ve got scars even though they can’t always been seen 95. summer or winter? Winter96. day or night? Night 97. dark, milk, or white chocolate? Milk98. favorite month? October99. what is your zodiac signAquarius 100. who was the last person you cried in front of? I almost fake cried to Keely bc she wouldn't get me grapes…. but uhhhh idk man I don't cry in front of people

#Jai answers #yall im bored as shit #wtf help #Anonymous

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outsidespaceblog · 6 years

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Everest, A Tale of Woe | Hiking in the Himalayas, Nepal (Part 2)

By Louise Coghill

Most mountaineers consider ‘how’ you got to the summit, more important than actually getting there. Or so Jon Krakaur told me in his Everest disaster book ‘Into Thin Air’.

The key is to hike the mountain in a new way, whether it’s faster, more difficult or without oxygen. You have to always be pushing yourself and going beyond your peers.

In Nepal, everyone you meet is heading up that mountain, you meet people who have made it to the summit more than once. I was only climbing to base camp and reaching 5600m. I had to do something to make it more interesting.

Hiking with a chest infection seemed like the only logical option.

The Ordeal of Everest with a chest infection.

A tale of woe by Louise M. Coghill.

I hadn’t slept properly in days. The heat and noise of Kathmandu had kept me wide awake. The nerves and excitement of solo trekking pumped me with energy when I should have been resting (something my immune system will soon come to regret). That and the fact my bed was a favourite of the hostel cat Winnie who enjoyed jumping on my pillow and giving me a fright.

I boarded the flight to Lukla. (2800m high) The beginning of my adventure. A tiny plane, in true Nepali style, with random boxes cluttering the first few seats and the aisle. Cotton wool was handed out to protect our ears from the engines.

Away I went, flying next to the snowy peaks which I was about see up close, appreciating how epic this mountain range is.

I’m a photographer, which makes hiking in Nepal wonderful, but also weighs me down with gear. I have my camera, 2 lenses and a tripod. An extra few kilograms to lug up the mountain. A feat made slightly more difficult by the fact I’m only 5ft tall. Though what I lack in height, I make up for in leg strength.

I began the walk fresh-faced. Excited. Confident.

When you’re hiking alone your brain goes internal. You discover a lot about yourself. So far I’ve discovered I’m a cheapskate. 3 people asked me about the large gaping hole in the right leg of my pants, worrying i’d fallen and hurt myself on the trek.

They all laughed when I tell them I fell off my bike over a year ago. “Why not just buy new pants?”

It’s sacrifices like this, I make so I can afford to even come to Nepal.

After 6 hours of solo trekking I made it to Jorsalle. The first of the tiny mountainous villages I’d call my home for the night. My shoulders revel. It’s amazing how quickly you forget the pain of hiking. As soon as the pack is off, the shoes are lying by my side and my feet are soothed by the freezing cold glacial river, the pain of the last 6 hours is a fading memory.

I lay back on a warm rock in the sun listening to the water rush past. I don’t close my eyes because i’m so tired, I’ll probably fall asleep and I’m lying in a glacial flood risk area.

I’m amazed at the capacity of life and how much we can fit into it if we try. Hiking alone through the Himalayas had been a distant dream for years and with a short amount of hard work it became a reality.

My eyes droop, I have that familiar scratch in the back of my throat telling me I might have a cold coming on. I force myself back to the guesthouse before I fall asleep out in the elements, i’m in bed by 7pm and my ability to journal diminishes.

Note: Sunscreen thumbs. Note: Stop eating all your dates, this is day 1, you have 2 weeks left. Note: This is badass. Remember this when you feel lonely on the hike. Note: I’m serious about the dates. — I make it to Naamche, 3400m, I have to stop here for 2 nights to acclimatise. Thank god. My throat feels like sandpaper, the cold I’d felt coming on yesterday is well and truly here. My muscles ache more than I expected, but I still feel somewhat human.

Anything above 3500m is considered high altitude, the oxygen is sparse and so the body has to learn how to deal with the change in oxygen levels. Your breathing and heart rate increase, your body makes more red blood cells and it redistributes the blood to the more important organs (your brain, heart and lungs). If you don’t take acclimatization days your body doesn’t know what the hell is going on and you’re at risk of altitude sickness, which can turn into a potentially fatal cerebral or pulmonary edema (the crazy science words basically mean you can get fluid in your brain or lungs, not ideal).

Note: At 3400m and i’m not feeling the altitude or the cold too drastically.

Revised note: Ignore what I wrote earlier. I feel like I’m dying.

Yet another note: STOP EATING YOUR DATES! __ I wake up telling myself I’m a strong capable woman, I’m going to attempt a 3 hour acclimatisation hike. After breakfast I get back into bed.

“Just for a moment, just a quick nap to re-energise”

30 minutes later I got into my hiking gear, finished tying my shoes. Stood up. Sat back down, took my shoes off. Paused, berating myself. Put shoes back on. Took them off and finally admitted defeat and jumped back into bed where I proceeded to stay for the rest of the day.

Feeling incredibly sorry for myself, I spent the entire day wondering if I’d make it up to base camp. Weakling! Failure! The usual tirade. I knew it was just my tired, sick brain that was in dire need of a hug and chose to ignore it.

Just as I reached the height of my self condemnation, I looked out the window and noticed the clouds were disappearing and I finally had a view of the worlds highest peaks just across the valley. So close I felt like if I leaned out of the window I could touch them.

I aired out my sick room and the crisp mountain air worked its magic, taking away the feelings of despair I’d been laying with all day.

My hacking cough was attacking with a vengeance. I have obviously wronged someone in a past life. Or this life, perhaps my brothers have gotten into voodoo and were paying me back for that time I told mum and dad about the parachute they made out of an old tarp and tested it by jumping off the roof.

Today was the day of the toughest ascent. 600m straight up.

Luckily I’d met Spencer on the way. A moose hunting Canadian from Saskatchewan.

The universe sent me a new hiking buddy right when I needed a helping hand, the mental challenge of hiking alone had become too much. Pushing yourself up step after step when you’re sick and suffering through coughing fit after coughing fit is tough. It’s necessary to have someone there a) looking out for you and b) waiting for you to catch up so your ego gets the better of you and you push through the pain.

After what felt like hours and the idea of ‘reaching the top’ had become a distant dream from a different reality, we finally saw the end. We crested the hill, mostly alive.

We were greeted with a small town (if three lodges and a bakery can even be called a town), completely surrounded by fog. No mountains in sight.

Note: Thank god I bought that second packet of dates yesterday.

Today was the day of Mordor. We made it above the tree line into a barren, cold, wasteland. Falling rocks, evidence of landslides littering the landscape.

The altitude was kicking in, luckily it was a slow steady incline for most of the day. Nothing too drastic, but every ascent left me breathless. Followed by yet another coughing fit and another and another.

Spencer and I met some other hikers in the guesthouse and decided to merge our groups for the day.

The others were fit and healthy AND they had a porter. I looked in jealousy at their tiny backpacks and their long legs speeding off into the distance.

I had to come to terms with the fact that I was the slow one. Not because I kept stopping to take photos (the usual reason I’d be at the back of the group) but because my body wouldn’t let me go any faster.

Anyone that knows me, knows this would kill me inside. I’m highly competitive and grew up wanting to prove that I can do anything a boy, or a larger human, can do. I am never the slow one. And here I thought the struggles on this hike would all be physical, I never expected such an internal battle.

We arrived in town at the same time as a cloud. So much hiking, so much pain, and I’d hardly seen any snowy peaks. Maybe it was the same cloud from yesterday, following us and taunting us.

It hit 9pm, and my eyes were burning with tiredness. My body ached. I climbed into bed expecting to fall straight asleep, but the altitude had different ideas. There isn’t enough oxygen to slip into a deep sleep.

I tossed and turned, coughing constantly until 5am. The whole time questioning every aspect of my life and travels.

Wondering if I am in fact the strong person I always thought I was. Painful questions plagued me until I eventually fell into a shallow sleep. Will I make it up to base camp? I’ve hardly taken any photos on this hike, am I even a good photographer? Should I just quit and go home where mum will look after me and play ‘Don’t worry be happy’ by Bobby McFerrin until I feel better?

Note: Add ‘Don’t worry be happy’ to your spotify playlist for your next mentally destructive hike. — I woke up at 9am to a blue sky, unexpectedly sweating in bed (we’re well over 4400m here). Not ideal due to the fact I won’t be showering or washing my clothes up here. (Yes boys, I am single ;).

My filthy hair is matted over my face adding to the incredibly attractive picture I have obviously created. I feel like a truck has ran over my head, but I finally have a view of snowy peaks outside my window!

It’s Everest Marathon day. The hike began with a constant stream of marathon runners rushing past. Just when I thought I’d reached the end of my tether, these people would speed by reminding me what the human body is capable of.

If they can run 42km’s from base camp to Naamche then I can hike for a few goddamn hours! It was a necessary vote of confidence seeing as yesterday’s hiking group had powered on ahead, leaving Spencer and I behind. Their guide hadn’t wanted to become responsible for two slow pokes who were battling illness.

The day included yet another gruelling ascent. (Surprising really, that hiking a mountain includes so many uphills) It was made easier by the fact I ran into Bob, a friend I’d hiked another mountain in the Himalayas with. A kind-hearted english lad who has the same penchant for pain as myself given that we’d only finished our last high altitude hike 2 weeks earlier. The duo became a trio.

We were hiking between two mountains above a valley where the wind was whipping through, buffeting us as we climbed.

As many small people already know, strong winds are not my friend. I distinctly remember being 9 or 10 and making the mistake of running outside in a very large coat where I was quickly picked up by a ferocious gust and forcibly slammed back into the ground.

The memory stuck with me as I scrambled up the mountain. Perched precariously on rocks nervously waiting for a train of yaks to pass and watching admiringly, as the porters did the same ascent with triple the weight on their backs.

The key to tackling these ascents is to avoid looking up. Look just ahead and slowly put one foot in front of the other. Continue this until you reach the top.

Don’t think how far it is to go. A watched pot never boils as my Nan used to say. A watched summit never gets any closer.

Instead look below you and admire how far you’ve come. Take in the magnificent view, which reminds you why you’re subjecting yourself to so much pain. Pat yourself on the back for how amazing you are for even attempting it and then keep on climbing.

Ignore the hikers who are descending and say helpful comments like ‘ooph, you’ve still got a long way to go’ or ‘I’m not going to lie, it’s a tough hike’

Internally you sarcastically answer ‘Oh really? I didn’t notice. My eyes stopped working years ago.’ Externally you smile and nod as if their words helped you.

But then an older gentleman walks by and says ‘you’re doing a good job!’ and you can hear the sincere good will flowing out with his words, so you give him a heartfelt smile and use his words to get you up the last few steps. Finally you reach the top and look down at the small town below you. You admire how far you’ve come, but also admire how long it took you to ascend such a short amount, thanks altitude.

It’s here that I get a proper reminder of how many people die on this mountain. Stupa’s are erected as memorials everywhere you look. Americans like Scott Fisher, Indians, Europeans. First time summitters and old hacks who’d done it so many times they probably thought they were invincible (as we all do I guess).

Everest has its way of constantly keeping my own mortality at the forefront of my mind. With the constant hum of helicopters flying overhead, never knowing if it’s a scenic flight or a rescue operation.

With news coming in that a flight crashed in Lukla, killing two people and injuring one. The news that 2 people died at Gorak Shep, the town I was heading to in 2 days. 4 bodies where found at camp 4 (2000m’s higher than I’d be heading, but still) the lack of oxygen overwhelming their poor bodies.

Or just constantly meeting people who are suffering severe altitude sickness and heading back down, or know someone who did.

Not to mention all the documentaries and films you watch on the hike about the Everest disasters.

As I stood reading each memorial, the sun disappeared behind another cloud bringing an added chill to the already frigid day. Although I tend to try and push through the pain, I made a mental promise to my mother to pay attention to my body and not continue if I had signs of altitude sickness. (Mum probably would have considered my cough bad enough and the fact I hadn’t slept as reason enough to head back. But since when do we travellers listen to our mothers!)

We took a moment to respect the people who didn’t make it back down this path, which served as an important reminder that this endeavour isn’t to be taken lightly. I tend to force myself through the pain of a tough situation, knowing it will be worthwhile on the other side, but with high altitude trekking, this isn’t the case. I thought often whether I should turn back and assessed my body before deciding to continue. Hiking at altitude is the one place you should definitely not just push through the pain.

The hike continued and we hit the desolation area. A world of white, grey and black. The only colour coming from the trekkers garishly bright clothing, and the blue North face bags piled onto the backs of the yaks heading back down the hill, as the seasons base camp was slowly packed down.

The wind whips through the valley. We scramble over rocks, we catch sight of a glacier completely covered by grey boulders. The snow capped peaks constantly appearing and disappearing behind the clouds.

The air is dry and harsh. A reminder that this place is not designed for life.

We reach Lobuche. I’m so tired I can hardly string two sentences together. My eyes are drooping and I retire early hoping I’m finally tired enough to sleep.

Don’t hold your breath like I did. I tossed and turned until 5am again.

4900m is not an ideal spot to try and get your 8 hours.

I’m too tired to get excited about base camp tomorrow.

Note: The dates are finally gone.

Note: I now realise how much mental endurance came from that small pocket of sugary datey goodness.

Note: Farewell my sweet friends, farewell.

Note: Hot tea has become my new best friend.

Base camp is only used by those attempting the summit. It becomes home to mountaineers for 2 months while they acclimatize on the mountain. Small tent communities spring up next to the Khumbu ice fall, one of the most dangerous parts of climbing up Everest.

The normal folk like me, just head to base camp to stare in awe, touch the ice fall, take a selfie to brag to family and friends back home, and then head back to Gorak Shep to sleep and maybe make a plan to come back and actually hike it one day.

Base camp is 5364m above sea level. It’s going to be a tough day due to the altitude, no matter what the terrain is like. It’s ‘Nepalese flat’, which means it’s not flat at all, but a constant up and down. It started cruisy enough and the constant view of the worlds largest mountains always make it easier.

But eventually we were scrambling up and down massive piles of boulders and rocks.

Luckily, when you reach Gorak Shep (home for the night) you can put your pack down before you continue the hike to Everest Base Camp (EBC to those in the know).

Unluckily for me, I’m a photographer, so my bag still consists of 5kg’s of camera gear.

We ran into a couple who had just got back from the hike, they were energised, fresh faced, not suffering any illnesses. They told us “It’s a pretty easy hike, took us 2 – 3 hours return”. Stupidly I took them at their word, forgetting I still have several kilo’s to carry, and my rattling lungs (which by now I was starting to suspect wasn’t a simple cold) made every expulsion of energy into a difficult and time consuming challenge.

For the fit and healthy it’s a 2 – 3 hour hike. For our group it took maybe 4 – 4.5 hours.

I take full responsibility for the hold up.

We finally reach a dead end, were there is a group of people sitting around chatting. ‘We’ve arrived’ I think in relief. I celebrated too early, I looked down and realised base camp was below us, it was a swift descent down and then back up to actually be able to walk in amongst the few tents that were left (most of base camp had packed up in the preceding week).

I considered not making the effort but I hadn’t trekked for 9 days to sit on my tired sick butt and NOT go explore base camp. So down we walked, right up to the Khumbu glacier. The ice fall. The most dangerous part of the Everest summit ascent. The part that has claimed 44 lives.

Also the first glacier I’d seen up close. Undulating waves of ice reaching it’s way up the side of the mountain, glistening as it melts under the sun, causing a river to run below it, with water so clear the only reason you can see it at all is the ripples caused by it’s fast descent over the stones.

So many doco’s, movies, pictures, books. So many years of dreaming of this moment and here I finally was.

Standing ON the worlds tallest mountain, maybe standing on the place where one day, I’d start my ascent to the summit (although we’ll wait and see how expensive it gets, I am just a struggling artist).

These moments are always so anticlimactic. It’s hard to sit in awe when you’re so breathless and cold and tired, knowing there’s still so much more hiking to go.

I sit down and rest, my brain finally getting enough oxygen to start appreciating what I’d achieved.

What a beautiful, desolate wasteland base camp is. What a strange world we live in were we push our bodies to the limit for a pretty view, for an adrenalin rush, or just to say we did.

What many don’t realise, is base camp isn’t the most exciting part of this trek. Kala Pattar is what I came for. The highest point of the hike, it’s a peak 5600m high with the best view of Everest and 360 degree views of the worlds largest mountains.

We had to get up at 4am.

I genuinely wasn’t sure if I could do this.

I hadn’t slept in days. Every breath was becoming an effort. The familiar tickle in my throat that signified a coughing fit filled me with fear. Not knowing if it would stop after 20 seconds or 2 minutes. My throat felt swollen after every fit. Knowing by now it wasn’t just a normal cold, but something more sinister.

We’d met so many people who had made the hike and faced a complete white out. They didn’t see Everest. A 500m hike up at dawn, in the cold, with the altitude, for nothing. If that happened to me I knew I’d probably have a mental break down.

That night, I climbed into bed, with 3 layers of clothing on, hoping I was warm enough and tired enough to actually get some sleep. Of course that wasn’t going to happen.

Every time I blinked I’d doze off, but my body would shake itself awake with yet another coughing fit. My eyes were weeping and gluing the lids shut. I was bought to tears. It felt like a torture my own body was inflicting upon itself.

“I can’t do this” I kept telling myself. At 1am I turned off my alarm, knowing one day soon I’d regret this decision. But in this moment my health was more important.

Another 2 hours of tossing and turning and I became too bored of sitting in bed NOT to give it a go. I switched my alarm back on and finally fell asleep just after 3am.

A whopping 45 minutes later my alarm tore its way into my sweet slumber. I wondered what on earth I was doing, cutting my precious and healing sleep short, but a quick look outside showed that it was a clear morning, the soft pink hues of dawn were just beginning to dust the tips of the snowy peaks. A sunrise over Everest was waiting, so I pulled my aching body out of the warm cocoon I’d created in my sleeping bag and sighed heavily. I didn’t want to go. I had to go. I had to do it for the pain and agony I’d put myself through, to be able to look at myself in the mirror when I got back down. So that when I was back in the comfort of my own home having an intense netflix binge and hadn’t left the house in 3 days I could still feel good about myself because I’d done THIS. This moment would serve as a reminder that I can do it. Whatever it is, I can do it.

But first I had to actually climb the thing. Five hundred metres up. Straight up.

Eyes burning. Muscle energy reserves completely depleted. Lungs dying. Thin Oxygen. Torture.

As we hiked higher, a cloud drifted back in. I couldn’t see a single mountain. (I bet it was that same cloud from before, if he was a person, he’d be that annoying housemate called Chuck that uses the last of the milk and puts the empty carton back in the fridge and just completely ruins your day) Visibility dropped to about 10m’s. I was alone on the hike now, well Chuck was there, but I wasn’t talking to him.

Was this it? Would the clouds clear? Can I keep going?

I continued walking. For a few steps. Pause. Breathe. Cough. Lean on walking stick. Cough. Breathe. Keep walking. Repeat. Repeat.

After another 30 minutes, the sun started peaking over the mountain tops, like a biblical scene the clouds parted and there was the tip of Everest, just as the first rays of light started bursting out behind it.

I was still only half way up but I stopped to take in this unbelievable sight. Literally unbelievable. I never really thought I’d actually see the sunrise over Everest.

Basking in what I’d just seen I started asking myself ‘Can it get better? Should I keep going?’

I really considered turning back, the mental torture of the hike to come was overwhelming.

‘I haven’t come all this way to let a cold and a bit of lacking sleep to stop me hitting my goal’ I told myself.

So on I went.

One foot in front of the other. Plodding away. Or trudging might be a better adjective. Plodding sounds too light-hearted and happy.

My steps were so slow it felt like I wasn’t making any headway. Stuck in quicksand, pushing my body so hard but getting nowhere.

‘You can do it!’ came Bob’s familiar voice. I looked up and there it was. The peak of Kala Pattar.

I could see the top. Maybe 20 or 30m’s up. Bob, who’d already been up there for an hour kept shouting encouragement to me.

I had no option but to believe him. Stopping again and again. Two steps. Stop. Sucking air into my lungs.

Somehow I made it.

I was as shocked as you are.

As I looked at the view I couldn’t believe I’d even considered not doing it. Base camp might have felt anticlimactic, but this certainly did not.

The weather was better than I’d even hoped. Uninterrupted views of the largest mountains in the world.

Staring straight at Everest.

The summit that took decades to conquer. It took longer to put a man on Everest than it took to get one to the moon. One of the most unforgiving place on earth.

I looked and wondered if I’d make it up there one day. I could see a possible path my life might follow in which I become a badass mountain climber. So many epiphanies about life and the options open to us. The kind of epiphanies that are only conceivable when you’ve pushed your body and mind further than you thought possible.

If I can do this, I can do anything.

After an hour of admiring our planet, our world, our lives and our own abilities we started the descent.

Many of you might think the story is over now. But don’t be fooled. This is where the best action happens.

The Everest descent. The true tale of woe.

Don’t worry guys, I did survive.

5 nights of practically no sleep. Hectic exercise. Intense cold. Dry wind. Dusty paths. Became a nearly fatal combination.

We were descending to Periche, 1500m below Kala Pattar.

We walked down for hours, a small town visible for most of the descent. As we got closer our spirits raised, we’re almost there. Thank god. My lungs were really struggling, their capacity had dropped to 70%. Worrying yes, but doable when descending. And we were close to the town so I didn’t let it get me down too much. When you’ve watched the sun rise over Everest, it takes a LOT to get you down.

As we got nearer we realised this wasn’t Periche. The town we were aiming for was approximately another hour’s walk further into the valley.

Remember when I was talking about the walk UP to Everest and being caught by the wind. The vicious wind whipping through the valley and almost picking me up and flying me away? Yep. Well this is the valley.

As I’d discovered over the previous few days cold, dry wind makes my cough worse. The wind was tearing through, I felt colder than I’d been the entire trek. I couldn’t breathe through my nose thanks to my sinister sickness so my throat was suffering more and more. I had a neck warmer and pulled it over my mouth in an attempt to warm the air up a bit before I breathed in. It helped a little, but not enough. As we got closer and closer my breathing diminished more and more.

I slowed down, my body going too fast for its oxygen intake, my little hiking group got further ahead. I’d lost my voice and the wind was strong, going in the wrong direction, so I couldn’t shout to them. I’d just have to wait for them to notice how far behind I was. (Mum, you know I like to exaggerate while I write. I was actually safe and sound and we drove a heated car to Periche. Ignore all of this.)

I was a few hundred metre’s from the outskirts of town but my breathing had dropped to what felt like 20%.

I was having to force air into my lungs and the sound was terrifying. It felt like an asthma attack but I haven’t had asthma in years. I stopped walking completely and leaned on Wallace, my ever trusty walking stick. Always there to help me through a particularly painful moment.

Tears welled up and I let them, if this wasn’t a moment to get upset then I don’t know what is. My life flashed before my eyes. This life of adventure, of pushing myself hard, enjoying the pain, knowing it was making me a better, tougher person. All for what, to have pushed through and have it all end here? Everyone that died on Everest was once a very motivated person, and I truly thought I was about to join the list. My lungs were shutting down halfway up a mountain where we had no phone, no internet, my friends ahead of me and no breath left to shout for help. ‘If I survive this moment’ I mentally promised myself, ‘I’ll stop being such a god damn idiot and admit when I need help in a more timely manner.’ That moment being 2 hours ago when my lung capacity first began it’s drastic decline.

The effort of crying stopped my breathing completely so I had to force myself to calm down. By keeping the rising panic at bay, my breathing went back to 20%.

Bob and Spencer had noticed how far away I was and they were patiently waiting, having finally reached the very outskirts of town. At least if anything happened they were close enough to call a helicopter and hopefully it would arrive soon enough to save me.

Melodramatic? In hindsight, being still alive. Yes. In the moment… No.

As I reached them and managed to wheeze out a quiet ‘I can’t breathe’. Bob snapped into action, he made me drop my pack and sit down.

‘I don’t think it’s a normal cold, Lou’

I nodded my agreement.

‘We need to get you to a doctor’

I agreed wholeheartedly.

A little part of me was happy knowing I hadn’t let a normal cold slow me down so much. The other part of me was berating myself for stupidly putting my life at so much risk.

Alas the doctor was 700m’s below us in Naamche. For now I just had to get somewhere warm and hope my lungs would sort there shit out.

Bob and I swapped packs so my load wouldn’t be so heavy and we made our way into town. I was considering evacuating myself, wondering if I was sick enough to claim it on insurance. If my breathing didn’t go back to normal there was no question, I would never make it down the hill on my own.

I was hoping it wouldn’t, I was so tired and I just wanted to be at normal altitude and able to get better and a helicopter would be a fun way to save myself.

But alas, after laying down in the warmth my breathing returned to normal (well as normal as it could with lungs filled with phlegm) and yet again, that annoying ‘I can do it!’ little bitch of a mental voice, started whispering in my ear.

Everything ached. I’d been carrying my camera around my neck for a few days and the muscles had seized up, so I couldn’t turn my head from side to side. I was so cold. So tired. But I was alive.

I thought the hardest part of the trek was behind me. A goal I’d wanted to achieve for years. Another reminder that life is what you create.

I actually managed 4 hours sleep. What a blessing.

However we still had another mission ahead of us. The doctor was in Naamche. 700m’s below us.

Even though we’re going DOWN the mountain, there’s still a fair few drastic inclines we would have to conquer before I could get the necessary medicine to heal my aching lungs.

Away we went, we hit the first small incline of the day and instantly my lungs shouted out in protest, my breathing plummeted back down to 70% and kept dropping.

We made it to the top before my lungs put out completely, but I was thinking about the rest of the hike to Naamche with trepidation. We had a 600m descent, instantly followed by a very sharp 300m incline.

I was not going to make it.

Luckily there are horses for hire along the route. Unluckily it was going to cost $100 US to get me up the hill.

To those of you reading this at home, drinking your morning coffee before you head to your cushy office job, $100 isn’t much for a horse ride that feels life saving.

However for a poor traveller $100 is a gigantuan amount, that’s 28 days of accomodation if you don’t mind staying in the dingy rooms. Or about 33 meals, 100 bottles of clean drinking water, 14 long haul bus rides.

Yesterday’s panic was fresh in my mind though so I reluctantly forked over the money, as you can’t enjoy travelling in Nepal if you’re dead. (Yes mum, that actually was an exaggeration.)

As soon as we started the incline, my regret over the money disappeared. I would not have made it up that hill.

I patted Dongma, my white and grey horse and saviour. He was breathing heavily. I thanked his owner who’d led us up the hill and off we went to Naamche. (It was going to cost another $100 to get the horse all the way to town, and no way I was paying that!)

3 more hours of torture before we finally made it. My lungs had reached the end of their tether. My vision was blurry and my eyes were bloodshot.

I still couldn’t move my neck.

The next morning I would be sitting in a doctors office with a cold stethoscope pressed into my back, being diagnosed with a chest infection. An infection that causes your airways to become swollen and filled with mucus, making it difficult to breathe. Not what you want when you have to walk for hours on end, carting heavy bags up a mountain were the oxygen is already sparse.

For now I took my first shower in 10 days, guzzled some cough syrup and collapsed into bed.

I may not have made it to the summit of Everest, but in that moment of bliss as my clean body fell into the sheets and I had enough oxygen in the air to breathe normally again, my muscles relaxing after a hot shower and knowing it was all downhill from here, I felt like I’d summited something far greater than a mountain. The memories that overwhelmed me as my body finally relaxed will stay with me for a lifetime as a constant reminder of all the things that I can do, even when it feels impossible. The pain I had experienced over the past 2 weeks washed away and left room for the new faith I found in myself.

I smiled briefly as I slipped into my heavenly slumber and dreamt of the packet of dates I was going to buy tomorrow.

Note: The dates were delicious.

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comfsy · 6 years

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Everest, A Tale of Woe | Hiking in the Himalayas, Nepal (Part 2)

By Louise Coghill

Most mountaineers consider ‘how’ you got to the summit, more important than actually getting there. Or so Jon Krakaur told me in his Everest disaster book ‘Into Thin Air��.