#october is just also super crazy busy for me?

[allylikethecat]

I don’t want to seem rude, but I want an update for 'you know where the city is' so badly, I can beg you on my knees, please, give me back the meaning of life 😭😭😭

Ahhhh hopefully I will have one soon! I'm so sorry that it's been literal months 😭 ironically You Know Where the City Is is my favorite fic that I'm working on - every time I go to finish the chapter something dramatic happens in the IRL Matty / Taylor universe and then I feel like I accidentally caused it and take a break from writing. The next chapter is about 75% done though and I want to make it a priority to finish ASAP! I'm so happy that even with the IRL drama / controversy with these two that people are still enjoying the fic and looking forward to the update whenever it may be!

Thank you for sending in this ask and reminding me that there are humans other than myself that care about this fic, and for reading in general! Hopefully I'll be able to make your day soon!

❤️Ally

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: You Make Loving Fun*

————————————————————————-

summary: you and joe are taking your first weekend trip away after having your twin boys. you two take the private jet and alone time to your advantage.

warnings: smut

pairing: joe burrow x reader

imagine universe: into the mystic

————————————————————————-

(y/n’s pov)

October 15th, 2023

“oh my god, i’m so fucking excited!!” - you grinned

joe’s big hand on my lower back was leading me towards the steps to the private jet he had rented for this special occasion.

i turned to face joe, wanting to see his reaction to the jet but he was too busy slipping money to the guy that had loaded our bags into the plane.

after joe thanked him one last time, his blue eyes locked with my eyes and a large smile spread on his lips.

“you like it?” - joe smiled

“it’s so damn cool! that things awfully big for just me and you, was there no smaller options?” - you

“there were, but i kinda just wanted to impress you.” - joe

“joseph. we’ve been together too long for you to think you have to impress me.” - you

“i don’t think i have to, i wanted to. now let’s get inside, there’s something i wanna show you.” - joe

joe moved in front of me and took my hand, practically yanking me up the stairs since his long legs allowed him to take them two at a time.

“joe! slow down! i don’t have long ass legs like you.” - you

“oh shit sorry, baby. i got excited.” - joe

i had to giggle at that, his childlike wonder always coming off so adorable.

when joe and i stepped through the plane door hand in hand, the flight attendant was there pouring red wine into two glasses.

the plane was actually more roomy than expected, there were a couple different places to sit but joe opted for the two chairs that faced each other with a small table between them.

“mr. and mrs. burrow, welcome aboard! it’s lovely to have you! can i interest you in some of our red wine?” - flight attendant

“that’d be great, thank you.” - joe

she placed the glasses in front of us, making sure not to spill anything.

“10 minutes after we take off i’ll be back to take your dinner order. also, after we take off feel free to roam around. there’s the bedroom in the back that you guys can take a nap in, or just sprawl out to get comfortable.” - flight attendant

joe and i thanked her before she retreated to the cabin.

“there’s a bed on this thing?” - you

“yup. that’s what i wanted to show you.” - joe winked

“you trynna get me going, burrow?” - you

“i’d never, burrow.” - joe

even after being married for over a year, hearing joe call me by his- our last name never failed to make me blush.

joe referring to me as his wife or calling himself my husband would never ever get old.

“seriously though, this is gonna be a long ass flight even on the jet. i’m prob gonna knock out at some point.” - joe

“sounds fine with me, we can head back there after dinner and cuddle.” - you

joe nodded with a smile on his face. he was so happy when i finally agreed to go on the trip. since the twins had been born joe and i have had 0 alone time together, so he really wanted to have a getaway just the two of us. it came as a surprise to you since joe was no doubt a homebody that hated leaving the house.

i took a long look at joe while he was busy looking out the window, the stubble he’d recently grown out giving him a sexy af dad look that made me want to pounce on him.

joe and i still haven’t had sex since i gave birth to the twins 3 months ago, but i was growing super impatient. this is the most built joe’s physique has ever been and he drove me literally insane.

“god, you’re such a dilf.” - you

“excuse me?” - joe’s stare left the window and found you while he chuckled

“you’re a straight up dilf.” - you

when joe stayed staring at me like i was a crazy person, i started to explain what the acronym stood for.

“joseph, it means dad i’d like to fu-” - you

“i know what it means!” - joe cut you off

“then why’d you say excuse me?” - you

“you said it out of nowhere, you caught me off guard!” - joe

joe and i laughed for a few moments before we were interrupted by the flight attendant walking over to take our order.

our time waiting for our food was spent by talking about what we wanted to do on the trip, what we were looking forward to seeing the most, and honestly how much we missed the twins.

not even 15 minutes had passed and our food was being brought out to us. joe opted for soup while i got the salad.

there was a comfortable silence that fell over us due to the fact we were eating, but joe broke it.

“that dressing looks weird as hell.” - joe

“it’s good. wanna try?” - you

“eh, sure i guess.” - joe

i user my fork to make sure to get one of every piece of the salad in one bite, along with the dressing. when i handed the fork over to joe, some of the dressing dropped into his finger and his face showed a look of disgust.

at first i was just gonna let him cringe till he wiped it off on his napkin, but this seemed to be a perfect opportunity to tease him.

i leaned across the table and grabbed his hand. he was confused at first but when i sucked his finger into my mouth and licked the dressing off, his mouth hung open.

pulling off his finger with an audible pop sound, when my eyes met his i recognized those wide pupils that only seemed to darken his baby blues with pure lust.

“fuck.” - joe mumbled

“taste the dressing, baby.” - you

a smirk formed on joe’s face, a telltale sign he has just come up with an idea.

“here.” - joe handed you the fork

“c’mon! you gotta try it!” - you

“i’m going too, just eat it first.” - joe gestures towards the spoon in your hand

i put it to my lips, chewed, and swallowed all while still being confused to what joe was up to.

opening my mouth to ask joe what he was up to, he leaned across the table and captured my mouth with his. his tongue on my bottom lip asking to enter, and when i opened my mouth just a little bit his tongue was circling around the roof of my mouth.

“damn.” - you mumbled

when joe pulled away, that smirk was still on his face and the lust still shined in his eyes.

“it’s not bad.” - joe shrugged

“boy please.” - you roll your eyes

joe laughed and continued to eat. there were times i’d catch him staring, or his gaze would linger on my chest for a few seconds before looking away.

“you’re zoning out on me.” - you

“am not. i’m admiring you, you look ridiculously gorgeous today.” - joe

“thank you, joey.” - you smiled

joe’s eyes flicked down to my salad bowl and when he saw that it was empty, his excitement only grew more.

“wanna head back to the bedroom?” - joe

“i could def take a nap!” - you

“def not what i meant.” - joe winked

“maybe later? i need a nap first.” - you

“you can’t just suck my finger like that and then reject me.” - joe

“i’m not rejecting you, you goof. lemme get a 30 minute power nap in before we do anything like that.” - you

joe rolled his eyes but eventually got out of his seat, he walked over to where i was sitting and put his hand out to help me up. it was a habit he’d made during my pregnancy since it was hard for me to get up with my big bump.

“c’mon, momma.” - joe

we walked hand in hand through the small hallway of the jet, joe opened the door in the very back where the small bedroom was revealed.

joe led me over to the bed after shutting the door behind us, tripple checking that he locked the door.

the bed definitely wasn’t the ideal size, way smaller than the one we have at home. that was evident when i laid down and was the full length of it.

“babe, i think you’re gonna be bigger than the bed.” - you laughed

“calling me fat?” - joe gasped

“no! you’re 6’4, baby. if i’m the length of the bed, your feet are definitely gonna dangle.” - you

joe plopped down onto the bed and laid flat on his back, i had to laugh when his feet hovered in the air at the end of the bed.

“joey, your feet!” - you laughed

my laughing muffled when joe pulled me into his chest, his own laughter filling the room.

“roll over. if we spoon i can curl up and fit.” - joe

“yes sir.” - you teasingly bit your lower lip before following orders

“stop that! god, i hope this fuckin nap goes by quickly.” - joe

once joe seemed to be comfortable, and completely on the bed, i shut my eyes and drifted to sleep.

*time skip*

(joe’s pov)

i wasn’t that tired, so i just cuddled up to y/n and let her sleep. it was 15 minutes in when she started moving around. i just thought she was stirring in her sleep, but when she started grinding her ass against my crotch i knew this wasn’t just restless sleeping.

“baby?” - joe whispered

pushing myself up on my elbow to see her, i was met with a peacefully asleep y/n. the room in my pants was starting to get tight, and i really didn’t want to wait 15 minutes till her 30 minutes would be up.

this one particular time where she ground into me a little too hard, a groan escaped my lips and in return she moaned my name.

“y/n? are you awake?” - joe

“joey…” - you whimpered

fuck it.

i gently shook her shoulder and when her eyes opened she was gasping for breath.

she looked at me like she embarrassed, her cheeks flashing red. i hadn’t even asked her about her dream, but i’m guessing the grin on my lips and my erection pushed against her behind was enough clues.

“so, how was your dream?” - joe

“oh no. please tell me i didn’t do anything stupid.” - you

“i wouldn’t say moaning my name and grinding on me in your sleep is stupid.” - joe smirked

“oh my god! im so sorry!” - you

“no reason to be sorry, baby. it’s super fucking hot that i can make you moan even in your sleep.” - joe smiled smugly

“your ego is huge, joey b.” - you

“not the only thing about me that’s huge, wanna see what else is?” - joe

she hesitated for a second, so i let my hand roam from her waist down to her ass. when she instinctively pushed into me more i moved forward and pressed my lips onto hers.

“i thought that having sex on a plane was illegal..” - you

“they just gonna put a bed back here and expect us not to fuck?” - joe

“joe!” - you laughed

“i’m being serious, y/n.” - joe

“sorry.. what’s the game plan?” - you

i took one of her hands and placed it on my bulge before continuing, her eyes shined with lust.

“you practically tortured me in your sleep, i want your pretty lips around my cock.” - joe

a smug smirk formed on her lips, she loved hearing me talk about how i wanted her.

in a matter of minutes we were heavily making out, clothes flying across the room till we were both completely naked.

y/n maneuvered me to where i was sitting at the edge of the bed, and she lowered onto her knees between my spread legs.

i tilted my head to the side as i watched her examine my hard dick, not in a weird way, she was more admiring it than anything.

(y/n’s pov)

“you’re perfect.” - you reached forward and wrapped your hand around his length, giving him slow pumps

“i- i don’t know about that.” - joe

i looked up at him through my lashes to maintain eye contact as i licked over his tip. the groan that left his mouth hitting me straight in the crotch.

“oh god-” - joe groaned

removing my hand from his length, i licked the underside of his cock and took him in my mouth.

i had dropped my eyes from his since my nose was met with his happy trail, but occasionally i’d look up at him just to see his perfect top teeth sunk into his plump bottom lip.

he moved one of the arms that was holding himself up and laced his fingers into my hair to help guide me to his standards.

“holy- shit!” - joe

joe wasn’t loud in bed. praise, mumbled curses, and groans being his go-to’s, but due to the fact it had been over a year since we’ve done this i wasn’t at all surprised when he let out a louder moan.

i pulled off of his dick for a moment to lick and suck on his balls. ghosting my fingertips over the veins in his cock, i knew he was close by how his hips were bucking up.

“please- baby, i’m so close. i wanna cum down your throat..” - joe

still massaging his balls with my hand, i closed my lips around him and he pushed my head down to where his tip hit the back of my throat. a loud moan left his lips and i felt the hot spurts of his climax in the back of my throat.

“fucking hell-” - joe groaned

joe was still breathing heavy when i pulled off of him completely, he fell back against the bed as his chest heaved.

“you good, baby?” - you

“better than good.. that was insane.” - joe

i laid down next to him and he immediately pulled my head onto his chest, peppering kisses on my forehead.

“you ready for a nap now?” - you giggled

“oh hell no! this isn’t over.” - joe

“oh?” - you

i could barely finish my word when joe flipped us over to where he was leaning over me.

“you think i’d pass up getting inside you? absolutely the fuck not.” - joe

“then get inside me, joe.” - you

joe looked down at me with lust blown eyes, they were scanning my face till he leaned down and pressed his lips onto mine.

i was expecting his cock, so when he ran two fingers through my folds, i gasped out.

“you’re so wet, mama” - joe kissed you and entered in his fingers

“all for you-” - you moaned

a moment later, he disengaged his lips from mine and moved to where he was between my legs. joe moved to prop my knees up and pulled his fingers out of me, quickly replacing them with his tongue.

“oh god, joe!” - you moaned

i clenched around his tongue making him moan, the vibrations only making the experience better.

“i’m close!” - you

joe picked up the pace and it wasn’t long till i was screaming his name while wrapping my legs around his neck.

there was a few seconds of silence before joe unwrapped my legs from his neck and leaned over me again.

“you okay? it wasn’t too much right?” - joe

it was so sweet for him to check up on me, this was our first time since i gave birth and joe just wanted to make sure it was a pleasurable experience for me.

“it was perfect, really perfect. i think i passed out for a second.” - you laughed

joe laughed before placing a sweet kiss on my lips.

“grand finale time?” - you

“grand finale time.” - joe confirmed with a wink

i watched joe slowly stroke himself before he was lining his tip up with my entrance.

“listen. if it starts to hurt, you want me to stop, slow down, or if you want to do something different just tell me okay?” - joe

“okay, joey. i love you.” - you

“i love you too, honey.” - joe kissed your cheek

my arms wrapped around his neck as joe slowly entered me, once he started moving i realized something. this wasn’t fucking.. this was making love.

it was different from the sex we had before the twins, but it definitely wasn’t bad- it was more intimate in a way.

“god, i missed you so much.” - joe

“i missed you too…” - you moaned into his neck

joe started to pick up the pace, he was beginning to overcome his fear of hurting me.

“you feel so good, baby.” - joe

finding myself starting to get lost in the feeling of him, i couldn’t even form a response.

“i’m not gonna last very long!” - you

“that’s okay. this is about you, my love.” - joe

after a few more steady thrusts, that unmistakable feeling swarmed in my stomach.

“joe- joey.. i’m gonna cum!” - you

“cum, baby. let go for me.” - joe grunted

second later, my orgasm washed over me and the way my walls were fluttering around joe’s dick had him not far off either.

“don’t you dare fucking stop.” - you

“you sure?” - joe

“don’t stop till you cum too.” - you

joe resumed thrusting and a minute later his moans were getting more frequent.

“gonna- cum!” - joe

i grabbed his face and pulled him down to me, put lips engaging in a kiss that was nothing but filthy as he stilled inside me before finishing.

joe collapsed on top of me and i immediately wrapped my arms around him to start rubbing his back.

“i love you, joe.” - you

“i love you too.” - joe mumbled into your neck

i continued to hold him till he eventually pulled out and rolled off of me, he almost immediately pulled me into his chest and kissed my head.

“joey?” - you

“mhm?” - joe

“it’s kinda cold.” - you

joe sighed and sat up, climbing out of bed to check the cabinet next to it.

when joe opened the cabinet doors, a neat stack of throw blankets were revealed.

“voila!” - joe grabbed a blanket and tossed it at you

he turned around to shut the doors and i quickly leaned up to playfully slap his bare ass, i only giggled louder when he glared at me.

“you’ve got a nice ass! i mean can you blame me?” - you laughed

joe laughed with me as he fell onto the bed and pulled me into him again.

“i feel like knocking out for a couple hours.” - joe

“we can do that, as long as we wake up early enough to get dressed before we land.” - you

“sounds good.” - joe yawned

I raked my fingers through his hair and kissed his cheek, life with Joe was crazy but he sure made loving fun.

————————————————————————-

authors note: might not be the only fic of mine coming out tonight 😏😏

here are the requests that made this fic;

hope you enjoyed! 🫶

[dennydraws]

Good Morning! Happy start of the week!

September is almost over! But also spookiest month is coming! :D I was always sad as a kid that my country wasn't celebrating Halloween. Now kids do it more often while boomer parents yap how this isn't Bulgarian/Orthodox Christian holiday or something... Ya all need to leave the kids have fun and do kids things and enjoy being spooky and getting candy! I love preparing candy for trick or treaters!

I'm glad kids are having more fun and my generation seems more chill about these things.

October, october, october~!! I look forward to binge watching spooky movies, spooky series, bake cinnamon rolls, start inktober and agonize as I fall behind it ... :D;;; Speaking of, with how October tends to be, I may skip a chapter update at some point of my "The Snake, The Firebrand and The King of All" comic (update later today btw! Please look forward to it!). I think I'm keeping a good pace so far. I just know October gets crazy at work and between that and attempting Inktober, on top of... attempting to juggle FanFyria updates too... it may get crazy! But if it does, I will drop something instead of trying to be a hero and juggle everything xD;;

Sun Haven, Sun Haven~ That game is seriously enabling some kinda fang/claws aesthetic I'm super into and never realized until now lol We tried multiplayer with friends yesterday and it was pretty fun! Nothing broke (too much) yet :D;; We accidentally got ... God and his 3 angels (or Ary's whole family as we joke now!) I hope I get to draw them too eventually! Thank you for all who followed me for my Aryllin x Claude arts, I may do more in the future as I have ideas™ but also October may be too busy for that... but I hope you will enjoy other arts I show here too! :D;;;

Sun Haven Art Trades? I love art trades! Doing one with a friend now but if anyone is interested, hit me up ~ :D But it will have to wait for November at this point lol;;;;

Original Character (don't steal) ™ I've been scribbling Reciferius a lot lately, you guys remember him? :D;; he won the OC poll way back! I drew him recently, kinda keep scribbling him again on the side. Still not sure what to do with him, or in what world setting I can stuff him but... well anyway he has fangs now cause apparently it's "fangs n claws season" in my head!

I hope I get to finish this WIP eventually this week, I'm really happy at the vibe I got :D

And that's all~! I hope you have a great start of the week, dear reader! I hope the month of September was kind to you and brought you new dear memories for your life's album. I hope October brings you warm fuzzies and inspiration for everything you pick to do!

[fair-fae]

Lil real life update~ mostly just incoherent rambles

I’m starting a new job in January. It’s been in the works a crazy long time now but I didn’t mention anything sooner, which I’m glad for because it has taken actually forever and anything that could possibly happen to delay the process did happen :’) But it finally paid off. I’m quitting my current job in December because it’s the only way I’ll be able to get time off to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in years (since it’s “forbidden” for us to request time off October - early January at my current job). It caused some drama with my in-laws who I guess pre-emptively assumed we were doing “Christmas” in January because “that’s what we always do” (yeah because I can’t get any other time off, not for funsies or our personal preference lol????) but whatever, that’s a whole other thing. I have finally escaped the service industry! As someone with no degree and no “marketable skills,” that’s huge lol. And I am very excited. I am little nervous since I don’t know a lot about the job or what to expect. The hours apparently vary wildly--some times of the years we are off, some times will be slow, some it will be super busy and I’ll be working a lot of hours. I’m not really sure how it will go. I don’t really have the spoons to keep up with overtime let alone fulltime work. But like? I already work 30 hours a week at an emotionally, physically, and mentally draining job. I lose two entire days every week of my life to double-shifts that leave me no time for anything but sleep and hygeine. I feel so busy and so drained I can’t even enjoy my time off or do anything with it. So like, could it really be any worse than that? It also involves some travel which I am really excited for! I do kinda wanna scream because things are going to shit with my husband’s job and he’s talking about us moving back to DC/noVA because that’s where the most job opportunities for him are now that I’ve finally got this job that I sunk a year of waiting and endless hours of paperwork into and I am so tired of moving :))))) But w/e we’ll see how things go. I am ignoring that possibility for now and just going to let myself feel excited that I can finally quit this shit job LOL I know I haven’t talked about my real job a lot here. I’m a hostess at a fine dining restaurant which is one of the nicest places in this combination tourist trap + retirement community I have the misfortune of currently residing in. Along with all the usual fun of working in the service industry, most of our regular customers are rich, entitled old people, and then we get a lot of people coming to celebrate special occasions and expecting everything to be ~*perfect*~ and business people having business meals and thinking they are more important than everyone else in the restaurant. It’s kinda horrible and to top it all off, my boss may actually be one of the worst people I have ever met. I know most people hate their bosses and like yeah, I’ve had bad bosses before, but no, this is beyond the stereotype. She incompetent. She is lazy, won’t do shit, only comes in for two “shifts” a week (by which I mean she shows up like three hours into an actual shift) but then tries to micromanage and do nothing but lecture people and refuse to help solve any actual problems or talk with customers wanting to speak with her. Her shitty attitude toward us is not even a “the customer is always right” thing; she is actively horrible to both her employees and even the customers, like almost actively malicious toward our customers who give her their money LOL. We get bad reviews about her and she upsets so many of our customers. She’s a spiteful, racist, xenophobic, Fox-news obsessed piece of MAGA shit who goes on about her shitty political views at the work place to us and bewildered customers alike. She won’t let anyone request time off for anything but she’ll take multiple vacations a year + time off for plastic surgeries and not even have someone available to cover for her in her absence. Oh and she loves to party and drink with her employees who are younger than her own children, get mixed up in all their drama, and bring her relationship drama about who is cheating on who in her marriage (well, former marriage now lol) into the workplace and like. If it weren’t for everyone else still there, I would love to see this entire business blow up in her face, but oh well. Anywho, I’m excited for the new job but definitely nervous. Even if it doesn’t work out, I’m just so relieved I can quit my current job before I actually snap. I’m really looking forward to the future now. Even if that means potentially moving yet again.

[thestarsmakemedream-art]

Hi!

So I disappeared for a while. (Not like I have many followers who is interested in my shenanigans :D but mainly it's disappointing for myself because I really want to make this learning project to work.)

These last two months... but actually the last three were crazy. I am working in the film industry so production is usually couple of months (max. 2 years) long. And at the end (or 2/3) of the production is super busy. Overtime, even through the night... 4-5 hours of sleeping for weeks.... you get it. This was the case lately. In the beginning of October I managed to do inktober for almost 12 days but then multiple shit happened (mostly work and some other problems) and I was engrossed with them. Which is sad because October is one of my favourite months and I had big plans drawing-wise. Which I failed clearly.

But now. I finished my job one week ago (next starting on this thursday) and spent the last week with recreation (sleeping and reading) and making christmas presents (huge idiocracy but I love to make personal gifts for everyone and I have a huge family and kind a lot of close friends so for example this year I am making presents for 19 people (okay-okay, for some of them I am buying stuff but otherwise diy). Which is.... a clear sign that I am stupid.) Slowly but surely I am making it through the list. I'm gonna share a few of them here too, because only one of my friend is here on tumblr so the exception of her present I will show them. We just need some decent sunlight for photos....

Back to the four project per month system. I am not sure what to do. There was a plan for every week til March so now that I messed up I don't know if I should get back to the plan or like a madman try to do every failed October-November prompt. I am inclined for the latter because even if I like christmas, the autumn vibe is closer to my little soul and I was so hyped for making those drawings. So it's a huge possibility for me to share gothic vibed stuff in the middle of December We will see. I am sure I will finish the abandoned ink learning project and the remaining inktober prompts. I will also participating in two supernatural-themed bangs/fests (@dcwildwestfest and @mitskinaturalbang , also they're looking for artists to join to Mitskinatural, so please participate, it will be fun ;) ). Which is pretty exciting. They have priority. (I am really happy for these bangs.)

Enough of rambling, I just wanted to sit down and make a mental check up after I am not exhausted all the time. (Surprise.) Now I get back to creating stuff.

[adiabolikpastel]

Life Updates w/ Mun Yu~

Just a note: I started writing this in March... So, yeah that is how crazy things have been for me.

I thought I would take a moment to do a good- ol'fashioned Blog Update. Since the new year started - and my resolution to post more isn't going too well - I thought it might be nice to just clear the air.

Brush off the non-productiveness of the past, and look forward! With that in mind, let's dive in! Everything will be under the cut - if updates aren't your thing, no biggie. Thanks for the support, and I'll post more content soon!

●・○・●・○・● | ●・○・●・○・● | ●・○・●・○・●

Mun Yu Updates

So, what's been up with me? What's the happs? Well - after four LONG years I am finally getting my Bachelor's Degree. For those that might be new - I am an older college student, having wasted my first chance of going.

Originally, it was only to go back to finish my AAS in Early Childhood Education. Once that was done, however, I found the job market to be less than ideal. That being the case, I transferred to another college and began working towards a BA in Human Resource management. And now - as I stand but 3 more weeks away from completing that degree...

I have been asked by the college to continue my education - and will be starting the next chapter of this crazy journey. Starting next August - I will be working towards getting my MLD (Master's in Leadership Development) & MBA (Master's in Business Administration). I cannot properly express how crazy the idea of that is to me - I was never great in school and now all this... I feel so blessed to have this experience.

That has been my major focus - and it's literally a full-time job. On top of my actual full-time job. I also got married last October, to my best friend of 12 years. As we both enter into our thirties - we are looking to bring in another member of the family soon enough. Not just yet - but soon.

●・○・●・○・●

Blog Now - What's Happening?

You know I wish there was more to post about. Truly I do. This blog is going to be 7 years old - and while it's come a long way, there isn't much to say right now.

I do have the L.E.M. art project continuing, we are officially on the last two boys. L.E.M. was such a huge accomplishment for me as a creator - even if it does exist outside of either canon. I enjoy going back and looking it over; just to see how far the blog has come.

TORMENTED REVERIE

Story-wise; super slowly I am working on publishing Yuuki's official story. My plan is to do each boy's route - complete with C.G.s (the first of which are done). Which will cover the month Yuuki was in the mansion before choosing Kanato.

After those routes are done, I want to make an overarching timeline post about where her story goes from there - then an epilogue just before Another Daydream. Those will also hopefully have art - which would be nice.

Yuki on the other hand - doesn't really have routes with the other boys. So I am wondering what the best way to tell his story is. I could just do it in sections and then break it into parts. I have seen OC blogs in the past do like diary/journal entries - which could be good for him honestly. Something like he was asked by Reinhart to keep a journal?

Yuki's storyline is one that I feel I have an idea of what I want, but I don't play with nearly enough like the others. So, that is definitely something I would love to work on in the new year. If you all are ever curious about him or the story - I am open for ask, they help me develop the story so much.

TORMENTED REVERIE: ANOTHER DAYDREAM

So, listen... these children got a lot of attention years ago. I don't feel so bad that they are getting ignored right now because of that. That being the case - I do have small things in the works for them. Nothing that is being developed at the moment though. My age old project Yukio in Wonderland is still something I want done, but I need a new artist for (and cant afford right now anyway). I do plan to work on getting sprites made for their older looks, mostly Yukio and Kanaye - Rini is set with what she has.

There is no official name for it - BUT - there is a sequel in the works for this time line. It follows Kanaye and Isabella (owned by @pureblood-prey) and their family / reign after taking over as King and Queen. With children of their own too - it's such a fun story that Mel and I have built over the years. Like I said though, no official name or release do that - but if you have any questions feel free to ask~!

EXCRUCIATING DUPLICITY

Ohh... this universe. I feel like it has so much going on, yet nothing all at the same time. There are a lot of OCs here, and I am trying to make them all cohesive with one another - the biggest part of that is that most of them have little to do with one another, which is kind of nice.

Skye's story is something I want to explore more. He has become such a presence on this blog - which I never thought possible. So thank you everyone for being so supportive of his chaotic a$$. I certainly never originally thought of his as Karlheniz partner - but I love where that plot is going.

Roselyn will probably never have a proper story, mostly because she is more of a background character. While she is there any around - having her own plot going on, it's not the focus, and we'll probably only see it in small doses. But you all ready know, if you want more Burai x Rose or just Rose content, all you gotta do is ask

Sweet baby Calli~ I know I have bit off so much with her story. Not only does she have two boys, which causes her story line to split - her family is super important to the natural order of the universe. It will probably be years upon years before I can properly give this story anything that it deserves. For now at least, Calli's story is the "Main Story" of the universe - where all others revolve around and have influences from or to the events in her plot.

●・○・●・○・●

And... really that is all I have right now. Seriously, I started this in March and nothing really changed since I started till now when I am finally publishing it.

Once summer rolls around, and I am not weighted down with school work, I will 100% be able to focus more on the blog and releasing content. Thank you for your continual patients and support - truly it means the world.

For making it this far I will share a little inspiration board for the twins! I am so happy that you guys are excited for them. I swear I will answer the ask in my box today from my sweet anons. Thank you all again, we'll chat soon!

[ghostbustermelanieking]

I’ve been wanting to get into reading more ghost stories, so send me all your recs please!!

ok ok!! i fucking love ghost stories

(sorry i didn't italicize titles, i'm probably gonna add it in later -- tumblr mobile is just really shitty about that for some reason)

so if you're into kids books at all, the all time ghost story master is mary downing hahn. she's got several middle grade ghost stories (and some witch stuff too), and they're all excellent. legitimately scared me as a kid and hold their own now. there's one with a haunted lake, one about pranks turning into real hauntings, one set in victorian london, one set during the Spanish flu pandemic, lots of spooky dolls, several involving some lite time travel... highly recommend, and not just bc of nostalgia. other middle grade ghost story favorites: the dollhouse murders (a betty ren wright classic) and the ghost of fossil glen

if we're talking young adult, katie alender is a particular standout. she has several good ones, but my personal favorite is bad girls don't die, a story about sisters and ghost stories and spooky dolls.

if we're talking adult books...

stephen king is kind of a horror cliche but i legitimately love some of his stuff... his ghost stories are the shining, and pet sematary (what, shut up, it totally counts), and these are both special favorites of mine. frequent rereads (especially now that i have better copies!).

thirteen storeys by jonathan sims (writer/narrator on the magnus archives!) is a tremendous ghost story -- or more like thirteen ghost storeys fit into one (lol). i haven't actually read his newest, family business, but i actually just downloaded the audio book and plan to listen on my impending 7 hour drive friday. fairly sure it's a ghost story and i'm sure it's excellent

the deep by alma katsu is one i remember enjoying a lot. it's a ghostly spin on the titanic and brittanic and features real historical figures as well as fictional characters. (it's not a ghost story, but i loved her other novel the hunger, which is a horror take on the donner party, so maybe check that out if you enjoy the deep! she's got another historical horror novel out that i need to read.)

shamefully, i haven't finished this one -- but heart shaped box by joe hill is also a very good ghost story. i don't actually know why i didn't finish it. it's legitimately spooky and awesome. the premise is an aging rock star who collects spooky shit buys a haunted suit.

one of my favorite ghost story novels is the drowning kind by jennifer mcmahon. it's about a haunted swimming pool, and is set in the 1920s and present day. super spooky and a poignant family story. i also enjoyed the invited by mcmahon, a story about the construction of a haunted house. mcmahon has several other ghost stories that i haven't read yet, but plan to soon!

not exactly ghost stories -- although one, cackle, does contain ghosts -- but i have been love love loving the work of rachel harrison lately. like reread her books about five times since october crazy. she has three books: the return, probably closest structurally to a ghost story, but it isn't exactly one -- about a friend group who reunites after one comes back after two years of being missing; cackle is a story about a woman who moves to a new town after a break up and befriends a witch; such sharp teeth is about a woman being turned into a werewolf while staying in her hometown with her pregnant twin sister. all are tremendous both as spooky reads and as moving character driven stories about female relationships. also, rachel harrison has some short stories out there: an anthology of four spooky short stories called bad dolls (one of the four is definitely a ghost story); an audible original short story that's also a ghost story called the veil (in the process of listening [edit: i actually finished listening while making this post and can confirm it is excellent); and a short story here.

old country by query and query is one that i bought and read recently... it's actually based off of a no sleep story on reddit. its about a couple who move to the country in idaho and learn from their neighbors that there is a spirit who will haunt the land differently each season. i found it to be unique and fun, and legitimately unsettling. (mixed feelings on the ending but otherwise a fun ghostie read.)

a head full of ghosts by paul tremblay is sort of a ghost story and sort of a demon story? a young woman recounts the supposed demonic possession of her older sister that occurred when she was a child. there was a reality TV series made about the possession and exorcism; years later, the main character is grappling with that legacy.

if you're looking for more vintage ghost stories, i remember legitimately enjoying the haunting of hill house, despite finding it a little hard to read. (thats just me, i have a hard time with older-sounding texts. i would like to reread it soon.) it's nothing like the 2018 TV show (although that show draws heavily from it in certain ways), but it's an excellent novel in its own right, and a big inspiration to the horror genre.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones is sort of a ghost/folklore/slasher story, but it is excellent all the same. it reads like a movie, which i love. i remember loving it when i read it. four native american men are forced to reckon with a hunting accident from their youth when a supernatural force comes back for revenge. very spooky, but also a slasher in its own right, if that is at all your thing.

for a festive ghost story: a christmas carol is great on so SO many levels (listen to the podcast jacob marley is dead!!) but also excellent as a ghost story, and there is an excellent audio book version on spotify that i love

the broken girls by simone james is a ghost story i remember enjoying. it's got a haunted boarding school and operates on two different timeliness. simone st. james has some other ghostie stories i haven't read but that i intend to.

beloved by toni morrison is a book that i've only read once, and that i need to read again, but that i remember really liking. it's an excellent read. sethe, a former slave struggles to escape her past, particularly the death of her beloved young daughter many years before. her life is upended by the arrival of a mysterious young girl called beloved.

when the reckoning comes by latanya mcqueen is one i really enjoyed. a woman travels to her white friend's wedding at a former plantation, where she is one of only two Black guests, and the ghosts of the slaves who lived and died there linger.

nothing but blackened teeth by cassandra khaw is a novella that i thought was really fun. a group of friends attend a small wedding at a haunted house in japan. the house is said to be the site of a bride who was sacrificed and buried under the house.

hex is an honest to god unique ghost story. a town is haunted, and essentially held captive, by the ghost of an executed witch. eventually yknow. horrible hijinks ensue.

some popular books will make you think they're ghost stories but there really was never a ghost all along!?!! this annoys me DEEPLY.

honestly check back in a couple months and i'll probably have more. i have a whole stack of ghost story books in my reading queue ❤️

[therealraeweber]

🍂Fall Journal Entry🍂

Just a little bit about what I've been up to this fall (if you can call it that...)

Well... it's November now. My favourite month of the year is officially over, and my favourite season is coming to a close.

Fall is my favourite season for a few reasons... The main one being Halloween, of course (which I had an amazing Halloween), but the other reasons are the beautiful fall colours and the foggy weather... both of which are a photographer's best friend.

Fall is by far the most fun season to photograph, and I missed out on all the pretty colours last year because school was super overwhelming, so I was determined to get lots of fall pictures this year... only we didn't have a fall.

The weather went straight from being hot, summer heat, to winter. Absolutely no in between stages. Until a couple weeks ago it was still shorts weather, and now they are calling for snow this week? I doubt it will actually happen, but still... where was fall?

Because of this weird weather there has been next to no fog, and almost no fall colours. This has been a huge bummer for me, and I've spent quite a bit of time searching to see if I could find any trees with nice colours. (I actually spotted a couple today on campus, so I might bring my camera to class tomorrow)

Last weekend on the 22nd, I went out to capture the "fall colours" and was pretty disappointed. I got a couple cool pictures, but nothing too spectacular. It was a bit strange. All the trees were already completely empty, all the leaves having fallen, or were still completely green. No reds, no yellows, not even browns... just green or nothing. And everything that was green wasn't even a nice green, but rather a dusty grey-green. There were the odd yellow or red tree here and there, but the overwhelming majority was already finished with the fall cycle, or hadn't even started.

I'm planning on sharing more photos from my excursion soon, but you can see here what I mean about everything being mostly green, or even a dusty grey.

It was definitely a bit disappointing to have my favourite season just... not happen, but I didn't let that stop me from having a great spooky season.

In October I got to do all kinds of fun things like hang out with the cosplay club and have a lightsaber duel, go to a pumpkin patch with the cosplay club, see Rocky Horror in theatres with my friends, go to a costume party at the university pub, have a spooky dnd session where we cosplayed our characters, and hang out with my friends on Halloween to ghost hunt and play an intense game of Mario Party. It has been an absolutely jam-packed month, and I've enjoyed every second of it.

In case any of you were curious what my Halloween costume was this year, I did Eddie! I technically wore 3 costumes this year for the different events I went to (Eddie, my OC, and Beetlejuice).

Here's some stuff from our Halloween weekend dnd session! I really love how my cosplay turned out!

Also this month I ran my first ever session of dnd as a DM! That was crazy! It is something I've always wanted to do, but never thought I would ever have the time or knowledge to pull off. I had an opportunity to fill in for our usual DM and decided to run a one shot that I created. Sure it was a bit rough, and I needed a bit of help when it came to the combat side of things, but I had a ridiculously fun time and the players all loved it! It was a super meta one shot, where I took all of our pre-existing characters from our usual campaign and threw them into our world. I got to play myself as an NPC which was very fun, and got to play all of our group members as the enemies, so they had to fight themselves. It was such a cool experience and I'm so glad they all enjoyed it. It's pretty cool that I can now cross that off my bucket list! Here are the minis I made of everyone for the combat!

Anyways, I haven't been posting much this month because A) I've been super busy, as you can tell from this needlessly long journal entry and B) because I am SO FAR BEHIND ON DRACULA DAILY. I can't use Tumblr without seeing all of the Dracula content, and I really don't want spoilers (Yes... I know the book is more than 100 years old. I still don't want spoilers). I think the last entry I read was the October 2nd one, so I'm a month behind at this point. It's been killing me! I need to know if Mina is ok!!! But alas, I simply have not had time to read. I'm hoping to catch up soon now that life is calming down, but who knows.

So... that is a little bit about what I've been up to. Not that anyone cares. I just like writing these little journal posts so I can look back on all the fun stuff I got up to... and oh boy was there lots of fun this month.

[1d1195]

Hi Sam my love!! I know I’ve been gone for a bit but for once life has been super busy! I’ll explain later obviously lol (also I fear this will also be a part one of two ask lol)

Bestie when I tell you I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW YOU MENTIONED AUDIO PORN BAHAHAHHAHA OMG absolutely obsessed with how your train of thought led you to that 😂

It’s probably just the blindness speaking tbh! Idk all I know is if given a chance even with a mullet I WOULD TAKE IT HAHAH plus I can’t say shit when I literally have a fuck ass bob rn soooo yeah HAHAH and omg look we all have different hair types and routines so honestly if it works for you and you like it then that’s all that matters lol plus finding the proper hair care/routine is TOUGH bc scalp stuff is involved and like hair types too lol plus i TOTALLY feel you about the hair washing aspect! My hair luckily doesn’t get greasy if I don’t wash it BUT I simply will not feel good or “clean” if I don’t wash it lol

SAM WDYM WE ALREADY MET THE HARRY WITH THE BREEDING KINK?!? BESTIE?!?😭😭😭😭 you have no idea the way my mind is RACING to figure out who!!! Like realistically I think all of them lowkey would bc they are obsessed with their MC BUT I feel like some just radiate that vibe more than others if that makes sense lol

Oh I’ve tired the Quinn app and the Dipsea app and cannot lie I was pleasantly surprised!! (Btw there’s nothing wrong with indulging in that too!) and the plots are honestly so good?!? Like I had low expectations the first time I tired it but these plots kinda go crazy in a good way lol love that these audios have inspired you!

I genuinely believe any route you would have taken you would genuinely be so good at it!! Given like your strong work ethic and the way you do get things done, i wouldn’t be surprised if you thrived in it! You’re teaching AP calculus this year right(I’m so sorry if it’s wrong 😭) so anything AP is kinda hell in general so the fact that you aren’t too exhausted from teaching is good at least! I’m glad this year’s group isn’t too bad and HOPEFULLY it will stay that way!!! I’m always sending you the best vibes and I hope things will stay pretty calm for the rest of the school year💗

The shimmery dress is a bit out of comfort zone but the fabric is just so top tier and it was a STEAL for the price so I’m super excited! Awww Sam you have no idea the smile I had on my face while reading this!!! THIS IS BIG!! It makes me so happy that you’re finding your vibe and style!!! It’s so nice and fun to find things you actually like to wear and feel good about it! And the fact your students notice it like thats so adorable! Especially since kids are super honest sometimes so I don’t think they are fucking with you lol and honestly some people just are so naturally good with their own personal style and they are so lucky!

Truly loved that spin you did for Sunflower! Thought it was really cute!! Also the way I’m not even surprised that you have all these drafts outlined/planned lol like it’s very you thing to do and I mean this in the nicest way possible way! I love that about you bc I wish I could be that organized!

I support any check in tbh! Like you know I’m basically a Stan for all of them it’s crazy lol I typically have so many questions and not because you don’t do a good job or anything! I’m just a curious person lol miscommunication tropes are always so painful but I’m a good way!! But honestly idk why angst always comes to mind for certain couples lol

ALSO BESTIE WHAT ABOUT THE MADE TO BE COUPLE?!?? I saw someone get hit with a baseball(don’t worry they’re fine lol) and it reminded me of them!! And I kinda miss them like how’s their life now? Did the delivery go okay? How’s life changed with the baby?! Any insecurities popping up about being good parents???? Anyways maybe it’s time for a re-read lol

Hopefully October can be manageable at least! So please don’t feel pressure to post anything if you simply can’t do it! -💜

I would sell my soul for mullet Harry. I would probably shave it off once present but still. I would sell my sould.

HEHEHEHEHE You're honestly so right about the breeding kink 😭 they probs all have one. This one I've mentioned before and I think you've commented on but I like the idea of it being a surprise kinda? I'm sure it'll be obvious once I write it.

I haven't heard of Dipsea. Seems like it would be up my alley though... 🤭 Totally nothing wrong with it. It's hot af but I think it's funny I like the plot more than sex part of things (naturally) 😂 y'all get smut from me like once a month and it almost always coincides with I'm ovulating 💀 whoops. OH WELL at least I'll stay inspired long after everyone is done hearing about Harry (which I hope is never).

AP Calc is new to me this year and AP Stats as well (old news though, this is my fourth year). I am LOVING AP Stats because now I know what I'm doing, but Calc is really throwing me for a loop. I love Calculus (nerd alert, I know) so I want to be good at teaching it. I'll get there I'm sure :)

I bet the shimmery dress is going to look stunning on you! Getting it for a steal is also almost better than the dress itself. I think I've always had a very basic style but I like colors and flowers so it's fun to play with a little. You're right about the honesty. My kids tell me all the time I look tired and I'm like "ten out of fourteen of you have asked me to go to the bathroom in the last fifteen minutes and I haven't been able to ask what (x + 4, y - 2) means without being interrupted; of COURSE I'm tired." I'm a lucky teacher, my students seem to genuinely enjoy my presence. If one of them tells me I look "bad" it would be like if a friend told me I had food stuck in my teeth 😂

If I don't right my idea down it's *poof* bye and then y'all will have to wait ten to fifteen business days for it to reappear.

Angst is really fun to write tbh. Gets the plot moving. My next check in is super mushy. Like 0% angst and it's so cute, like I thoroughly enjoyed it but obviously without angst we don't have a storyline.

You know I had an idea for them the other day! Maybe I'll have to revisit them. I had a fun little idea unrelated to yours so maybe now I'll have two (heading to my drafts to write it down before I forget!) I also have another teacherry idea as well. Gotta write that down too!

Hopefully 🤞

See you in part 2!

xoxo

[taenys]

i've just read some of the personal posts you wrote about your dating life and i'm like giiiiirl fuck these men 😭😭 i'm so sorry that they all SUCK this hard. i've been a super casual lurker for over a decade and if i remember correctly you used to identify as bi/pan at some point? are there any cute girls in your area or is it literally fuckboy city rn?

no girls. or if there are, they're all polyamorous (portland, oregon is big in the poly scene...) or "ethically non monogamous." the few girls i've matched with ghosted me relatively quickly so we never actually got to an in-person date. too many femmes, not enough butch women (my preference). very slim pickings, and girls are much more selective and we all want to be pursued lol so no one is doing the pursuing LOL. no one wants to make the first move.

men on the other hand, will fuck anything with a hole so i've always got hundreds of dudes matching with me and making "an effort" (at least in the beginning lol) so i've only been dating dudes for now.

also, i live an hour away from portland, so i'm actually in a small EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE little rural town so another issue is the distance. even when i match with girls in the portland area, none of them can drive and ain't no way i'm killing myself to drive downtown portland to meet them LOL so dudes it is for now. they all love to drive (usually) so that's at least never an issue.

i have one guy left that i still talk to, but he's so busy with 3 jobs with evening and weekend hours, he responds to my texts like twice a week (and rarely flirts back lmao ugh). idek what we're doing anymore lol. i get that he's busy and tired and probably not in a place to be dating (and definitely not prioritizing it anymore). we matched in march and had a really good connection and 3 great dates, but then my summer schedule started and now we both are working like crazy and our schedules don't align as well. i keep telling myself to stop initiating contact, but then i'll crack after 3-4 days or he'll do my favorite thing and randomly send me a selfie and i'm back to chasing, waiting, and hoping for another date. he's so cute and so fun. but he's married to his work lol he legit has no days off right now.

but considering how busy i am at work right now too, i’ve stopped actively dating. i deleted all my profiles on all the apps back in may and i don’t plan on opening them up again until october. i need some time on my own. but i’ll keep that last dude on the back burner until he straight out tells me he’s not interested lol i like him too much and he’s stuck around the longest 😂 he’s the main character from the bear, carmy. he’s a professional chef who works at 3 different restaurants and is EXTREMELY passionate and dedicated to his craft, he legit has no free time. he only had one job when we first met so he had mondays off and so did i so that’s when we could meet up but now we both work pretty much all the time so i don’t view his “ignoring” as fuckboy behavior. he’s just genuinely busy working all the time 😭

[123whistler-blog]

Spin Rewriter AI – Article Spinning Tool

Spin Rewriter AI – Article Spinning Tool

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Andrew Larder

Spin Rewriter AI

Article Spinning Tool

Spin Rewriter AI Review, Bonus, OTOs From Aaron Sustar – the next version of our immensely popular article spinning tool

Aaron Sustar’s Spin Rewriter AI

Spin Rewriter AI is the next version of our immensely popular article spinning tool — and it goes live on October 11, 2023!

We first launched Spin Rewriter twelve years ago — all the way back in 2011.

It has quickly become the world’s most popular article spinning tool. And ever since 2011 our team has remained 100% focused on Spin Rewriter. We continued working incredibly hard to make sure that we’re always taking great care of our customers and delivering a mind-blowingly good experience.

Here are the most important facts about the Spin Rewriter AI Launch:

Spin Rewriter is a time-tested high-quality product that converts like CRAZY! It comes with a 5-Day Free Trial so it’s incredibly easy to promote.

Demo Video Walkthrough

Spin Rewriter AI

I want to share a business idea with you.

One that’s easy, quick and doesn’t need a load of stupid-expensive software.

In fact, all you need is the brand-new Spin Rewriter AI and you can get it (literally for free) right below here:

See, here’s the thing:

Everyone needs content.

No argument there.

And ‘everyone’ doesn’t just mean online marketers. These days, pretty much every business has a blog, and that means pretty much every business needs content for it.

Do they want to write it?

But now, with Spin Rewriter AI, you can step in and do the job for them.

It generates 500 articles in 45 seconds, remember?

Let’s say you spend a few minutes rewriting an article… taking advantage of all the new AI features that automatically rewrite entire paragraphs for you, and write perfectly SEO-optimized meta tags with a simple touch of a button.

Don’t believe Spin Rewriter AI lets you generate content that fast?

Look, I’m not going to claim this opportunity was my idea.

Rebekah Richards does it: “I have several clients that I provide content for and they want to be completely hands off, so I find decent PLR and then have it re-written using Spin Rewriter. What a time saver from doing it myself and money saver from hiring a writer to rewrite it for me. I couldn’t imagine doing my job without Spin Rewriter.”

And so does Jarrett: “It has helped me to get high quality content fast without having to outsource the spins. I used to spend hundreds a month just on getting article spins for all my client sites and SEO campaigns. It’s very effective on getting amazing spun variations of highly relevant and high quality content quickly. You can also go back and use them again in the future since it archives them. I love that. (TIP) Spin 10 completely different titles with your articles for ultimate diversity!”

And so does Sue: “It is so easy to use and super fast. I use Spin Rewriter when I am doing articles, blog posts and facebook posts for all of my clients. They are impressed and I look good, they have no idea how easy it all is because of Spin Rewriter :)”

As a business model, this works.

And right now, you can get the magical, AI-powered tool that makes all of this possible, at a huge launch discount.

And a 5-day free trial to go with it.

You’re going to love it,

P.S. Bottom line is, with the brand-new Spin Rewriter AI, you can now finally create enough content to manage more than a few websites.

Maybe you decide to set up your own empire of dozens of money sites instead.

Or maybe you build hundreds of PBN sites, with almost no effort required.

You really need to see the new Spin Rewriter AI in action. Go check it out now…

Learn more About Spin Rewriter AI:

Article Spinning Tool

[croissantbae]

October 16, 2023

The past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind. While I’ve been on my phone constantly the past few weeks it was almost exclusively to take photos and communicate immediately with folks to coordinate meetups. I barely looked at insta or my emails. It was seriously wonderful. Today I went through my photo album of the past few weeks and it doesn’t feel like there are enough photos. I legit feel like there should be more based on how full the trip felt.

I’m not even going to attempt to summarize the trip. I’ll just jot down a few thoughts.

1. Even though we were with the kids 24/7 and they were driving us crazy at times, now that I have to leave them I feel really sad and I miss them so much. I really do just love our family. Same goes for extended family too. After my mom/bro/sil/Shiloh departed, it felt like we weren’t whole without them. We could feel the lack of their presence. My mom is also seriously so clutch. She came to our house before we landed, made bap and miyukgook, and then picked us up from the airport. The miyukgook sVed our lives. We ate it for dinner and then as a post sleep meal when the girls were up in the wee hours of the morning. And then for breakfast the next day lol. She’s also coming tomorrow to take the girls to school because Jason has an important meeting. I would want to pay it forward for our kids but I’m generally assuming they won’t have kids (bc of climate change).

2. Adjusting to time zone changes is a bitch. The kids were waking up super early and sleeping very little when we went. And adults got virtually no sleep in the plane ride over. The girls slept fairly well but they were really squished lying next to each other on the seats. I actually got sick on the second day in and I think it was mostly from extreme sleep exhaustion (because we were already deprived from the sleep training saga and nerves not being able to sleep from starting a new job). It felt pretty miserable those first few days but thankfully the whole fam was there to watch the kids so I could get some rest. Now coming back we’re also getting terrible sleep and the kids have been awake anywhere from 11 to 4 am but I actually feel like I’m still sleeping better this time around. Today the girls slept in until noon and then I took them to school at around 2 just so they could play for a few hours. Hopefully they wake up earlier tomorrow and can actually go to school on a relatively normal schedule. Godspeed to my mom.

3. My grandma is so old. Like seriously. She was sooo happy to see us she was trying her best to keep up with us. She was actually walking so fast I was shocked. But she said she didnt care if she died she was going to walk as fast as she could so she could hang with us and not be seen as a burden. I could tell she really enjoyed herself and she bonded a lot with Dani. Jason’s grandma is much older than my grandma (I think by 10 years) but she’s still soooo healthy. She walks with a cane now but I love how social she is. We told her we’d come by to hang out the next day but she said she couldn’t because she was busy with her friends 😂. When we hung out w Jason’s family they took us to their local gogi jib (one we went to years ago too) and wansun Emo made me drink w her so I drank a bottle of soju and she drank a bottle of makgeoli lol. It was a lot of fun and the girls were thankfully well behaved.

4. Overall the kids really seemed to love Korea and want to go back. I fell in love with jejudo and seriously want to go back to the same hotel. But if we did go I wonder if it would be nearly as magical without the whole friend group there 🧐. I suspect not but there’s a different kind of fun just being with family too.

[j-a-smiths-blog]

1519 1Oct23: Oh Shit... its October!

It's crazy on how it feels like just a few weeks ago I was in the Navy waiting on notification about retirement and now I am already in the Philippines, been retired for two full months but still adjusting to my new life.

The wife pulled a scandalous move! I mean I'm not super upset but she definitely conned me... she was supposed to be having a meet up with friends in Manila and tagaytay... well one of the friends all of a sudden has to work and is limited to just 4 hours from what she told me today which is kind of like really? You needed to take sat, sun and Monday for 4 hours to see a friend so soon when we have moved here?

I found this out because she called me to ask what size my slippers were because she was in Makati shopping...

I wanted to go to the waterfall today but had to take my niece to a clinic yesterday because they were not taking care of her feet and she has infected sores. I really don't understand some things but I don't want to air my business out there... I'm just baffled at how some things are working. I'm also stuck in a "I hate to see the kids suffer / but it's not right that they are living WAY out of their means, and feel comfortable constantly asking for money."

It's a known thing in America that if your receiving American dollar you're the go to for family to ask for money, unfortunately retired US Navy also have a reputation around here that people already have an idea of how much you are making monthly. So yeah... it sucks. But what sucks more is that I have to be stern with my money and make sure we can build our house because I don't forsee my wife being superwise with the funds. Yes she will take care of the bills and such but she also has a hard time saving. I'm guilty too but so far I have barely touched my account since arriving in the Pbilippines and it's nice to see money slowly collecting in there. At this rate come film time I will have a good cushion for budgeting a film. Maybe this week I might go to the hardware store and price things I'll need to build set lights and such. Guess we will see!

[dirt-goth]

One of the mooooost crazy realizations this week is I do im fact still have some very severe issues around food/eating when I am not smoking an insane amount of weed. Just hadn't noticed because I'm pretty sure the only time I've gone more than a day without smoking was an accident back in October and I was too busy to thinl much about it.

I also found it insane that my friend literally said to me "I thought you knew that and just were working around it" like thank you but no I was in fact more or less convinced I had moved past that part of my life🤷‍♂️

It's honestly crazy how hard it's hitting that pretty much no one sees or feels the same about me as I do which is Good because I guess it means I'm a better cooler and cuter person than I think.but ALSO it is like. Literally painful not being able to reconcile the kindness offered to me with how I see myself. And it's kind of clicking that the way I feel about my body + food + being perceived in general are all a big part of this. Super super crazy how unaddressed parts of your mental health puzzle all kind of cave in at once<3

And logically I know that my relationship with my body + food is probably one of the next things I need to really work on amd am fully aware my perception is not fully reality but also like. It just got a whole lot more weird out here. Honestly even after some pretty clear signs the severity of what's happening here didn't click Until I was well into the second day of the trip, had been doing loads of walking, and physically couldn't make myself eat more than 4 garlic knots :) I figured it out and like. Did end up eating sething through the trip and found some weed but also maybe not the best sign that I physically can't eat when I'm sober so uhhh. Guess that is my next Self Growth experiment for now.

Like this is all overall for the better it's clicking now but. What the fuck is wrong with me and how does it stop.

[heymantakemycruiser]

Here’s the wonderful recap of my year.

January: Got sick twice just in this month. Was having to deal with an annoying ass friend who wouldn’t leave me alone and we got snow :D

February: Met who would soon be my new best friend. A lot of birthdays, made the infamous and inevitably creating a long road of torture group chat. Also got sick again.

March: So many birthdays including my own birthday, tried roller skating, starting listening to NFR.

April: Fell in love with a gorgeous boy, kicked out someone in the group chat. Started my Lizzy Grant era. Started doing ballet.

May: Still in the Lizzy Grant era, the gc was slowly falling apart at this point. Starting listening to Anarchy Club at this point I think.

June: The group is literally non existent at this point it was just me and I will be calling her Anna for her protection. Had my infamous Aliyah Ace era and for some reason I was obsessed with the colors orange and black.

July: This was beginning to carry over into hell from here on out. I was still in my Aliyah ace era but it was slowly falling apart. I got sick at the end of July as well.

August: Being sick carried over into August, but August for some reason was kind of fun. I mean I was very hopped up on meds so there is that.

September: September was a blur. I don’t remember much other than that it was horrible and I was in a lot of pain mentally. Anna started taking over my life and torturing me. Killing each little piece of will I had to live because she didn’t want to live so she dragged me down with her.

October: I remember October for the most part sucked, until like mid October. Then that was actually fun, I had my Paris Auciello phase which was… interesting. But it was super fun. And yk why? Because I had very little to do with Anna. I could ignore her and just say I was busy cleaning because that’s when I rearranged my room. And for the most part, I was stress free if you don’t count the beginning of October which sucked.

November: Ah November, this is when I reclaimed my freedom. I was fed up with Anna’s antics and she was making me even more miserable than she had before. I was having to cry every night before I slept just so I COULD sleep. I would sh so often because it helped with stress. It was like when you hear bad news that someone you REALLY love and care about the most has died, but it was like that all the time. It never got “better” it was just consistently horrid. She knew I was experiencing hardcore signs of schizophrenia and yet she still thought her problems were bigger than mine when half the time I kept my mouth shut about things that had happened to me even though it helps me to talk about them but no if she was pissed off because her parents didn’t get her the drink she wanted I couldn’t talk about anything rather it be good or bad. Then she’d expect me to say SOMETHING but she’d put me in a corner where I couldn’t say anything and if I did most of the time she would bitch at me for it. All I wanted to do was relate to her, but the truth is, I’m not even THAT fucking crazy. I really should fucking sue.

December: December. Lovely wonderful December. This month has been a dream. Between Christmas and falling back in love with someone, it’s truly amazing. I loved this month and I’m kind of sad it’s ending, but me and him have so many more wonderful journeys to embark on, so it won’t end. December will live on for as long as I allow it to.

That’s all for my wonderful and insane year of the life of me. Bye for now

[fishoutofwaterlikeabird]

We Ran A Marathon

Four, Three, Two, One...

Three weeks ago my friend Tag and I ran a Marathon. This was by far as of this current moment the hardest thing I have done (again, so far).

The journey for me to get to the Marathon started 654 days earlier.

31 December 2020 was the day I started a distance run, walk, or hike streak that lasted until 17 June 2022 (the day my boring life changed for the better forever when my little human was born). What I mean by that is from 31 December 2020 to 17 June 2022 I had gone out into the world and ran, walked or hiked for a distance (some amount of kilometres or miles). The streak still continues I just sometimes don't get a distance but a timed walk instead. For example, walking with my pregnant wife around the hospital hours before she gave birth to our baby boy. Walking around the house to get the little guy to sleep. Things where distance isn't really calculated, but the legs are still moving.

For me the daily run, walk, or hike started from a desire to be healthier. A desire for when I have my own family I will be able to run around and play with my kid(s). The goal was NEVER a Marathon. I was never a runner. I played baseball and basketball growing up. There isn't that much running in those sports. I also rarely hiked, but then I met my beautiful wife and that's one of her favourite things to do. So we do it. Nature is great.

Not long after I started my journey to be healthier my friend Tag started his as well. He was getting ready for a wedding he was in (the one where he married his forever bride, which happened to be a week before my wife and I would celebrate our one-year anniversary).

Fast-forward to mid 2022 and we were running more and talks of doing a virtual Marathon this year and a legit Marathon somewhere else next year became a thought Tag mentioned. I was curious but not yet sold. Then Tag proposed the idea of doing a real Marathon together in October in Medford (15 October 2022 to be exact). So we started running on more of a schedule. Tag had found a Marathon training schedule which I was terrible at following. Life can be quite busy with a little one in the house. The idea was to do short runs 3 days during the week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) and a big run on Saturday.

We did this from August on when time allowed. Thankful to both of our wives who let us get up super early Saturday mornings and go on long runs. We did 8, 10, 12, 13.1, 14, 15.5 and everything in between multiple times.

Tag had done two previous Marathons in the Marine Corps. This was to be my first. I also had a brother-in-law training for a Marathon and when we were up visiting I ran 21 plus miles with him (and a friend) one weekend. They say you need to at least run over 20 miles before you run a Marathon to make sure you are really ready. Some people cramp up and have issues when they hit 20 miles. Luckily I was not one of those and I was thankful because the Marathon was getting closer every day.

RACE DAY

We got up around 4.50am to get ready and get to the bus stop so we could catch the bus that would nearly take us the length of the Marathon to the starting line.

We would start the race at 6.50am and proceed to run from Emigrant Lake through Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and all the way to Medford.

Fun But Tough

Like I previously mentioned. This was not an easy task. Running 26.2 miles is quite a lot. I actually look back on it and crazy enough I enjoy that I did it. On our way home in the back of the SUV Tag and I were looking at stats and statistics for Marathons. Only 1 percent of the world's population runs a Marathon. That a pretty small group of people.

CHAFE NOW BRAG LATER

Elise (my wife) and Katrina (Tag's wife) got together and made pretty sweet signs for us and were the talk of those who saw them cheering us on everywhere they could.

So here is where I brag. First off, we got complimented on our cheering squad. Someone who was also following around a runner (or more) noticed Elise and Katrina everywhere. They said we had the best cheering squad they'd seen. Tag and I would have to agree. The signs were great and so was the consistent encouragement. To get up super early and make it to the start of the race (with 1 minute to spare) and be all over cheering us on was a pretty great feeling. Elise did this with our, at the time 4-month-old child. So thankful for Katrina for helping her do this. Tag and I felt so lucky to have all the cheering.

Secondly, this guy...

...he finished his THIRD MARATHON!!! That's crazy. As we found out (and I mentioned earlier) only 1 percent of the world's population runs a Marathon. My friend Tag has done three of them. He also ran this one 1 and half hours faster than his previous two. He was a little bummed he didn't finish quite at his goal, but it was actually perfect timing. His parents showed up literally seconds before we saw him coming down the road. Any earlier and he would have missed them. It was pretty special. Also, as I mentioned he shaved almost 2 hours off his previous two Marathons. That alone is something of itself.

Goals

Going into the race Tag and had talked about what we wanted to do. Talked about trying to run the whole thing together. Talked about what pace we'd want to have and about not holding each other back.

We both really wanted to finish. Plain and simple. A Marathon is not easy. So that was the main goal. Next, was to try and run the whole thing together. Lastly, was a hopeful goal of finishing under 4 hours. Reaching for the goal of around an 8.30ish mile time. Like I said 8.30ish was a hopeful goal. I also had a personal goal of just not stopping to walk. In all the training we did there were good days and bad days. Some days we walk a bit on the longer runs because we were tired. It happens. Some days we'd pause the run and then start it up again after a quick break to pee or breath. It happened. While training, it was just about completing the distance. We didn't care about the time. I found out very quickly that it is not easy to start and stop on long runs either, hence why I didn't want to stop at all until I was done.

Tag and I ran half the Marathon together and it was beautiful. Tag had a few weeks earlier started dealing with back issues which forced him into taking some time off from running for a bit. However, like I mentioned he still finished the Marathon and he did it almost 2 hours faster than he'd done previously.

I set my own personal record. Which was bound to happen due to it being my first Marathon. I was able to squeeze in at an 8.36 mile pace running it around 3 hours 45 minutes and 22 seconds. Pretty happy with that. Tag was not far behind me. Which like I said was perfect timing as his parents showed up right as he came into view.

Training

It is hard to say what training did or didn't do for me. I know that when Tag and I started training for a Marathon I ended up running distances I hadn't planned on doing. I think for me and my ability and body doing the longer training, that wasn't training, but more for health and happiness (that started 31 December 2020) helped me more than finding a specific Marathon training schedule in a shorter time span.

We Finished

Running a Marathon is a dedicated task. We trained, we laughed, we cried and we were overjoyed with the results and the accomplishment we achieved. I am thankful that I have a friend who pushed me to do something that I never thought of. I am thankful for a wife who let me train on weekends to do such a big thing. Not only that, but I am also pretty excited that my little human got to wear the medal I got as his first. That warms my heart.

I THINK WE DID PRETTY DARN GOOD

There is some pretty interesting history on why the distance 26.2 for a Marathon. It has changed over time for various reasons, but seems to be stuck at 26.2 for the time being. I found (as I have heard said) that the .2 is the hardest. For me, it felt like the longest part of the Marathon (even though I know the previous 26 took longer). I hit 26 miles and was like okay where is the .2 now?! I was ready to be done.

The most interesting history I have seen however is the very first person to run a Marathon (26.2 miles) died. With Tag and I finishing and still being alive, I feel like we did pretty darn good.

p.s. I ran the whole way with my GoPro and our wives had a GoPro as well so there is a video of the adventure here: https://youtu.be/8aEw5Sj_ndw

Enjoy (: