#since i already have my trip to uk planned out

[jaffre]

suitcase of creatures

[pearwaldorf]

I hate that you can't see a tweet thread anymore if you're not logged into Twitter (as a gesture of disrespect I refuse to call it by its rebranded name). Here is a copypasta of a thread from Dan Olson, a Canadian documentary filmmaker, expanding upon camera quality, the guilt trips Somerton used to goose his Patreon subscriptions, and how the best tools will never make up for lack of dedication or patience. I have added clarifications in [[double brackets]] where I feel it is necessary.

START OF THREAD

Okay, so, back in April I snapped at James in reply to a tweet that was linking to this video (which James has since delisted but not deleted) and I want to talk about the full context of that but I don't want to make a video, put your beatdown memes away. [[The video has since been deleted. I can see the title of the video is "Maybe the end (not an April Fool's Day thing".]]

The first bit of context is that I initially got keyed into James to fact-check his claims about indie filmmaking in Canada. As a filmmaker the entire Telos venture was immediately obvious as a juvenile fantasy dreamed up by someone with no idea how to make a movie.

Just wild claims about their plans that weren't worth debunking because they bordered Not Even Wrong. But in watching one of these pitch videos I noticed that he had a $4000 current-gen camera in the background as a prop, and that seemed both pretentious and weird.

You don't use your best camera as a prop, you use your second best camera as a prop. So being an obsessive weirdo I needed to know, and I watched his BTS stuff until I spotted his main rig, a $6000 camera with about $1000 in accessories.

Now, these in isolation are unremarkable because his Patreon at the time was bringing in ~$8000 per month, his channel was a full on Business business, and so investing in some professional equipment of that level is maybe a bit indulgent but justifiable.

What was weird is that he doesn't shoot multi-cam, doesn't shoot outdoors, doesn't shoot on location, and in a studio the two cameras kinda really step on each others' toes. Basically if you already have one and don't need a B cam there's no reason to get the other.

Again, on its own, this says nothing, it's just indicative of poor financial decisions, maybe impulsive purchasing, Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Biblical sins, but not crimes.

Paired with the constantly inflating fantasy scope of the Telos films it was clearly an expression of a very, very common bad filmmaker habit of "if I just get the right gear then my movie will basically make itself" Buying stuff because it feels like progress.

At the end of February he tweets "I want to start shooting anamorphic" and then three weeks later in March he posts the worst, out of focus, under-exposed "I just got a new lens!" video I've ever seen, showing off his trash-covered bedroom.

Based on what's available for his cameras and the lead time, that's enough time to get a Laowa Nanomorph or Sirui Saturn from B&H but not enough time to get a Great Joy from the UK or a Vazen from China. And with the flaring blah blah blah, $1300 lens.

Again, [gear acquisition syndrome] is not a crime and these lenses are budget options. Bit of a pointless impulse purchase since he only used it for the Showgirls video. But this is what he was doing just a few weeks before that above video came out: effortlessly impulse purchasing lenses.

James has (had?) a habit of regularly, aggressively driving viewers to Patreon by claiming that videos were getting demonetized. While tacky, it is something a lot of queer YouTubers have dealt with, so there's precedent there. But people were noticing he did it a lot.

Mid-March he humble brags about needing to work so hard to make 6 videos in April because he has over-booked sponsorships.

Then March 29th James posts this whole incel screed on Twitter about how sex work should be "subsidized as a mental health service."

[two image descriptions.

1. "For the majority of people sex (and human contact) can be imperative to a healthy state of mind. A kind and talented sex worker can make someone feel wanted for the first time in their life. I know sex workers who have pulled people back from suicide just by being there for them." 2. "Not only should (sex work) be legal, but it should be subsidized as a mental health service."]

He spends several days getting absolutely *roasted* for this, just dragged across the pavement and read for filth, and doubles down in the replies the whole way.

So this is the context immediately surrounding James waking up on Friday, and posts the above video and the below tweet.

[image description: "We just got the lowest Patreon payout we've gotten in well over a year. Like, a "maybe we need to rethink things" kind of amount... NOT an April Fools Day thing btw. But I don't know if we'll be making videos much longer."]

Now, this unfolds in kinda two directions. The first is that I'm convinced he was just lying about this income shock in the first place.

There's a million theoretical edge cases about what maybe happened and if maybe he just misunderstood the data or saw a glitch and panicked, maybe one of those happened, I don't believe it, I think he just lied because he was salty about getting dragged and felt owed a win.

A big tell to me is that he doesn't blame Patreon. He says he doesn't know what happened, but let's be real, Patreon screws up all the time, they're the first people anyone blames if anything confusing happens, just as a reflex action, even if it's completely not their fault.

The only reason to not blame Patreon is if you already know that it's not their fault and that any investigation on their part might reveal embarrassing details.

Instead he indirectly blames his viewers for not watching enough, not sharing enough, and not turning on auto-renew.

So regardless of the unknowable truth, this segues into the second, far more offensive direction of the messaging itself. "I don't know if we'll be making videos much longer." "Maybe the end" He explicitly framed this as an immediate existential threat to his channel.

In the video he is vague about everything, leaves a ton of hazy room for plausible deniability on how long the channel can keep going, but the messaging is "I need more patrons right this minute or my YouTube channel is over."

He repeatedly evokes all the "fun stuff" they had planned that would never see the light of day if this didn't turn around right away.

And his audience received this message loud and clear. Tons of people making far, far, far less than him left very heartfelt messages about digging a little deeper to subscribe or up their pledge or unsubscribe from other channels to move their pledge to his.

1200 new patrons in one day.

Since I simply don't believe the income shock was real in the first place that would put his post-"Maybe the end" Patreon income at around $10,000 per month. US. Add YouTube income, he's spent the last seven months making around $18,000 per month.

I have seen creators scale back their capabilities to the bone purely to keep making videos for the love of just, like, making stuff even as their funding evaporated and they needed to go back to a desk job to cover their bills.

You'd have to be so outstandingly reckless with your finances as a channel that a one month spook leads immediately to "channel over, sorry about all the fun stuff we won't get to do with you, our patrons, specifically because you, our patrons, aren't giving us enough money"

And not a spook where you then spend a couple weeks crunching numbers. Oh no. A shock so violent where less than two hours later you're weeping on camera about the channel being over.

Three weeks later he brought a brand new Sony FX6v for $8000 CAD to add to his pile of cinema cameras despite the fact that he was, but scant moments earlier, in such a precarious position that a single bad month would kill his channel.

He stole your money, and for that I'm profoundly sad and angry. That's why I snapped at him in April. I'm sorry I couldn't give you the full context then, and I'm sorry if that anger upset you.

END OF THREAD

[willowsnook]

Right Place, Right Time (last pt. LN)

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4

@seasonswinter @drdbnkl2008 @jaematthews15

this is the longest one bc i needed to finish before i go on vacation :)

To say things were not going well was an understatement. On the outside it seemed like you were holding it together but on the inside you were barely staying afloat. You were going out less with your friends, keeping more to yourself at work, and drinking more. You'd watched both of the races since Austin, secretly happy to see that Lando was finishing outside of the top 5 both times. You had been staying off social media but one of your friends had let it slip that he had been fined a bunch for refusing to speak to media after both races.

You'd facetimed Lily a couple of times and she never brought him up but could tell that you were still sad about the situation. She still insisted you come to Vegas and you promised that you were still coming.

Lily was worried about both you and Lando. He was miserable, Oscar talked about it all the time. Moody in team meetings and refusing to hang out with anyone besides Max Fewtrell occasionally. She was a romantic, so she was hoping that you two would make up in Vegas and it would all magically work out in the end. There was one step already in motion that you were just about to tell her.

"So I have some news," you said over the phone, mindlessly picking at your nails. "And am hoping for some advice."

"Okay...what's up?" She said.

"So you know how I was telling you last week about being nervous for this meeting with my boss and her boss?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"They offered me a new job." Lily squealed.

"That's so exciting, congratulations," she said. "I haven't necessarily accepted it yet," you said.

"Why not?" "The role would be managing the EMEA partner team, meaning I would have to move to the UK," you said and she was silent for a second.

"Oh," she finally said.

"Oh is right," you said sighing. "It's a great career opportunity but with where things stand with Lando I'm not sure if it's a good idea."

"I mean would you really be around him that much?"

"I guess not really but we'd still cross paths a lot."

"Hmm have you talked to him since October?"

"Nope."

"Maybe you guys should talk next week?," she suggested.

You actually had been planning on doing that, trying to make up and see if you could repair what happened but then your friends showed you some tabloid pictures, you changed your mind. You tried to not pay attention to any F1 gossip but you'd gone down a rabbit hole when it was reported that Lando was with a blonde girl while with Max F on a golf trip. Your suspicions were confirmed when you saw a pic him with her in his car. At first you cried for a good couple of hours and then you were livid. He's the one that was sooo into you.

"I don't think so," you said simply. "He's already moved on so it doesn't really matter."

"Well I think you should still take the job, don't let him take away something good."

--------- Vegas GP week, Friday -------------

You walked into the paddock with confidence radiating from you. You actually had passes for Red Bull's garage for the weekend thanks to Max but you thought it would be a bad look professionally to rep their merch so you had a cute Ferrari jacket in case you were cold.

"Ahh hermosa, did you wear that for me?" You laughed pulling Carlos into a hug. "Looks like you stole those jeans from Charles' closet though."

"I missed you buddy," you said and he smiled, throwing his arm around you as you walked through.

"I missed you too, not as bad as someone else though," he said and you stopped walking, crossing your arms over your chest.

"His new company seems to suit him just fine," you said and Carlos raised his eyebrows.

"Y/n I don-," you cut him off.

"I don't want to talk about him," you said and he nodded.

Speaking of the literal devil, your steps faltered as you saw him staring at you from across the path, ignoring the reporter trying to get his attention. He started to step towards you and Carlos but you watched Carlos shake his head and he stopped moving, looking deflated. You kept your eyes forward and let Carlos guide you towards Red Bull.

"Schatje!"

You smiled widely as Max picked you up twirling you around.

"I'm actually very upset with you," he said once he put you down and you looked at him quizzically.

"You're moving closer to me and you didn't say anything," he said and you nodded.

"You're moving?" Carlos asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I got promoted to oversee all of our European partnerships so i'll be heading to the land of the British next month," you told him and he grinned.

"Congrats y/n, you deserve it." He said.

"Does Lando know?" Max asked.

"No, and I would prefer to keep it that way," you said firmly. Both boys nodded but gave each other a look. Carlos had to head back to Ferrari so you and Max headed into the garage. You watched his and Checo's practice session and then headed towards hospitality for lunch. Max walked you up there but then beckoned Daniel over to you.

"I have to go to a debrief but Daniel will keep you company," he told you and you rolled your eyes.

"I don't need a babysitter Max," you grumbled.

"We have a united front," he said before leaving you.

You didn't realize what he meant until later when it seemed like you had spent the day being passed from driver to driver keeping you away from anyone wearing Papaya. At one point you sat in silence with Fernando drinking coffee, both feeling awkward but it paid off. Lando had ended up in the same area and he saw his chance but Fernando abruptly stood up and Lando quickly turned on his heel.

At the end of the day you waited in the parking lot for Lily and squealed when you saw her and Oscar walking towards you. You gave her a big hug before moving to give Oscar one. When he pulled away he kept his arms on your shoulders shaking you.

"I am begging you y/n, please talk to him," he said. "I am going to kill him or myself by the end of this weekend if he doesn't stop."

"Just tell him to leave me alone," you said sourly and Oscar sighed. Lily slipped her arms through yours and you headed towards your car.

"I know you're with RB for the weekend but will you please keep me company tomorrow during qualifying?" Lily asked. You thought about it for a minute before agreeing.

The three of you piled into Oscar's car and drove you to the strip to find someplace for dinner. You got seated quickly at a nice restaurant thanks to Oscar's status and you had just opened the menu when someone slid into the 4th seat, across from you.

"Lando," Oscar said and you groaned.

"What?" He asked innocently. "I want to have dinner with my teammate, is that a crime?" You huffed and Lily gave you a sympathetic look.

"Nice jacket," he said causing you to finally meet your eyes. His expression was neutral and you kept yours the same.

"Thanks, it was a gift from Carlos," you replied.

"Lovely," he muttered looking down at his menu. "How have you been?"

"Fine."

"Good, good," he said awkwardly.

Oscar luckily jumped in at that point to take over the conversation. Lando kept trying to catch your eye but you refused to look at him and you could see him growing more frustrated. The waiter came back at the end asking how you guys wanted to split the check and Lando quickly motioned that the two of you were on one and Lily and Oscar on another. You huffed crossing your arms.

The four of you headed out of the restaurant, Lando close behind you.

"Ride with me back?" He asked hopefully.

"Absolutely not," you replied and he sighed.

"Are you going to keep avoiding me the rest of the weekend?" He asked.

"Hopefully for the rest of eternity," you said back.

"Baby please," he said and you whirled on him bringing your finger up to point.

"You don't get to call me that," you seethed and he gave you those sad puppy dog eyes. You caught up with Lily who didn't press about the situation, simply squeezing your hand in support.

----- Qualifying --------

You got to the McLaren garage early the next day to find Lily and unfortunately she was not the first person you saw.

"Come to wish me luck?" Lando said as you walked in, grabbing your attention.

"I quite literally am praying that you are out in Q1," you replied and he frowned. One of his engineers laughed, covering it up with a cough and he shot them a look. You found Lily sitting with a headset on and you joined her. The first round went by fast, both boys making it into Q2.

Q2 was going fine to start but you noticed that some of the engineers jumped in scrambling with anxiety. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked up just in time to watch Lando slam into the wall on turn 14. You gasped and grabbed Lily's hand instinctively, your other one going to cover your mouth. You heard his engineer repeatedly ask over the radio if he was okay and you let out a massive sigh of relief when he groaned out that he was.

You watched as he pulled himself out of the car, holding his side. He disappeared with the stewards and you fiddled with your hands nervously.

"I need to get some air," you told Lily pulling off the headset and heading back outside.

You lingered outside of the medical tent for a little bit before finally deciding to walk in. You saw Lando lying on a bed, clearly in pain waiting on a doctor to come over. You made your way over to him slowly and he reached his hand out to you when he noticed. You slipped your hand in his, bringing the other to run your hand through his hair. The doctor came in and wanted to check Lando's ribs so you helped him pull his suits off. Lando squeezed your hand hard, face grimacing as they felt around his ribs.

They ended up deciding that nothing was broken, just bruised and you walked back to the garage with Lando ,your hand still in his. His team surrounded him as you got back and you squeezed his hand as a goodbye before going to find Lily again.

------- Race Day ----------

Lando's POV

Lando was waiting around for the driver's parade talking to Oscar when Max and Carlos walked up.

"How are you feeling?" Carlos asked.

"Meh, it still hurts but it's survivable," he replied and the guys nodded.

"Heard you had a visitor in the medical tent," Oscar said and Lando blushed.

"I was very surprised to see her," he admitted and Oscar grinned.

"Guess you'll be seeing a lot of her soon too," Max said and both Oscar and Carlos snapped their heads towards him. "Oh fuck."

"What are you talking about?" Lando said confused. All three of them refused to look at him. "Guys?" Oscar sighed.

"She got promoted at Monster and is going to be based out of the UK starting next month," he said and Lando was shocked moving angrily towards him.

"Why didn't anyone fucking tell me that?" He demanded and Carlos stepped in.

"She asked us not to man," he said and Lando slumped back.

"I shouldn't be telling you this because Lily would kill me," Oscar started. "But she was planning on telling you and seeing if you guys could work things out but then the pictures of you and Magui came out and yeah."

"What do you mean pictures?" He asked. "We're just friends, nothing happened."

"Look all I know is that she was really upset and then decided that she didn't want to fix things anymore."

Lando was stunned. He had been with Magui once, and it was in a group. It's not like he could control that those were the pictures that were posted.

Y/n's POV

The race came and went, Oscar securing the win and you were in their hotel room getting ready for the celebration with Lily. Right now you could see her and Oscar whispering to each other, him looking over at you multiple times. Finally Lily came over fidgeting in front of you.

"Spit it out Lil," you said while applying lip gloss in the mirror.

"First I want to say that I didn't mention this earlier because you didn't want to talk about him and then it just never felt like it was going to change anything but after seeing you yesterday and how you reacted I think you should know," she said and you nodded for her to go on. "Nothing happened with that girl. She's one of Max's girlfriend's friends and they were hanging out in a group. I know the pictures looked bad but they weren't really anything."

You looked at her trying to figure out what to say and she continued.

"I know you still care about him. And I know he hurt you but you know how badly he feels about that. So I'm not saying you have to give him a chance romantically but don't let gossip that's not even true hold you back."

"it was much easier when I thought it was true," you smiled sadly at her and she pulled me into a hug.

"You'll figure it out."

You guys showed up at the club a little later, heading to the VIP section where pretty much the whole grid was. Being in Vegas overshadowed having a bad race for sure. Lando was talking with Max and when his eyes met yours you knew that he knew about the job. It all clicked why Lily felt like she had to tell you now. You looked away from Lando quickly following Lily to get a drink.

The next hour the tension between you and Lando grew considerably. The small touch on your back as he moved past you, him catching you staring multiple times, him hovering near you constantly...

Eventually you followed Carlos and Lily down to the dance floor and lost track of Lando. Oscar joined you a little later and you had the most fun that you had all weekend. You soon felt two hands on your waist and were pulled back into someone's chest to dance. You looked up to see Lando holding you, moving you to the music. Eventually you turned around in his arms, wrapping one arm around his neck. You were staring intensely at each other before he leaned in to whisper in your ear.

"Can we talk?"

You nodded and let him pull you off the dance floor, heading back to your section. He found a quiet section in the corner and sat down in an armchair pulling you down to sit on his lap, his arms resting comfortably around your waist.

"This is how you want to talk," you teased and he smiled.

"Easier to hear you like this," he replied before settling into an awkward silence.

"I know-" "I know-" You both started and then stopped amused and he cleared his throat.

"Congratulations on your promotion," he said and you looked down rubbing circles on his arm with your thumb as you mumbled thanks.

"I'm not with that girl," Lando said and you looked back up at him. "She's just a friend."

"I wanted to tell you about the job," you blurted. "But I thought you had moved on because like you said 'you could get any girl you wanted'". He winced as you said this.

"I was upset, and I know it's not a good excuse but you were breaking my heart," he admitted. "Maybe I could get any girl I wanted but that wouldn't matter if I couldn't get you."

You felt butterflies in your stomach and you wrapped your arms around him, resting your head in his neck.

"I'm still going to be far away from you," you mumbled into him.

"A two-hour flight is nothing compared to fourteen," he said bringing a hand up to brush through your hair. "Plus it'd be easier during the season to come stay with you during the in betweens."

"I guess you're right," you agreed and he pulled your chin to look at him.

"I guess I am," he said before he leaned in connecting your lips. You deepened the kiss shifting to where you were straddling him, holding his face in both of your hands. You pulled back resting your head against his, both breathing hard.

"Please come back to my room with me," he begged and you laughed. "Funny business this time."

"You are so lame," you teased slipping off his lap.

"You love it," he said.

"I do," you reply bringing him in for one more short kiss.

The two of you moved out of the section and towards the door holding hands and you smiled as you caught Daniel looking from you to give Max a fist bump.

[ghcstao3]

I can’t stop thinking about Ukrainian!Simon and Gaelic!Johnny

like what if Simon and Tommy are traveling in between hostiles and they end up in the UK? And what if Soap and his friend Gaz are also traveling / backpacking and end up in the UK as like thier first stop.

What if Simon and Tommy get separated and Soap and Gaz get separated and somehow, with each others help, Simon and Johnny reunite! Simon gets to show off his English and Johnny gets to try some Ukrainian but it’s sounds awful with his thick Scottish accent, but Simon doesn’t mind. It’s cute in an endearing way :(((

sorry if this is long I. Just can’t get them out of my brain

ukrainian ghost my beloved. also riley brothers my beloved

quickly i'd like to apologize because i just changed it a little bit to be tommy&gaz, ghost&soap instead since i misread the prompt and finished writing this before i realized 🗿 i hope that is ok. also this got so much longer than i intended

(other language dialogue will just be in bold italics. this takes place between ghost and soap's first meeting and soap's trip to ukraine)

-

For as long as Johnny has been travelling in his adult life, every trip he's made thus far has been solo—mostly. Beyond pit stop visits with friends living in other countries and that one incredible experience with Simon the Ukrainian (Johnny had, unfortunately, never learned his surname), his backpacking travels have always been taken by his lonesome.

It was always easier that way—it was cheaper, easier to keep track of only himself and one schedule, and he was more than sociable enough to find companionship in the locals.

However, that isn't to say he's entirely against organizing something with a friend—hence why he has Kyle along with him.

Or, had.

Being that the trip they were soon to be properly embarking on was the kind of thing Kyle wasn't used to, one of Johnny's suggested preparations is to first stay in a hostel somewhere within the UK to ease Kyle into the kind of arrangement not everyone finds all that... comfortable. Hell knows Johnny would rather forget the first few times he'd ever stayed in a hostel.

They'd be somewhere familiar enough but not too familiar, and once a few days have passed then they'd move on to their first real destination. It was a good plan—a great plan, even, if johnny had to say anything about it.

At least, it would be, if he and Kyle hadn't managed to get separated before they've so much as checked in.

This, thinks Johnny, is exactly why I said we should take a test run.

He wishes it were so simple as calling his friend and setting a rendez-vous point, or just meeting up at the hostel, but unfortunately it had been Johnny with the address and directions, and Kyle with the dead phone he'd forgotten to charge.

Surely... surely Kyle couldn't have gotten too far, right? It's all Johnny can hope as he searches the area, repeatedly calling out his friend's name.

But no dice. He slumps onto a nearby bench, slipping his pack from his shoulders just to take a moment to compose himself, burying his face in his palms. They're barely a day into this—he shouldn't already be this stressed.

Then he hears his own name being called, distant and uncertain, and for a brief, hopeful moment, Johnny wonders if the universe is actually on his side today despite the rough start.

And, well, it is—albeit in a different way than expected.

Johnny lifts his head, squinting out in the direction of the voice. Once adjusted to the distance, Johnny's eyes widen upon realizing who it belongs to.

"Simon?" Johnny exclaims.

Once he closes the space between them, Johnny is happy to confirm that yes, that crop of blond hair and shy, crooked smile are most definitely familiar.

Simon slides onto the bench beside him as Johnny moves his pack to make room. Simon himself isn't carrying anything, but Johnny assumes that's because he—unlike a certain two someones—actually got the chance to check-in somewhere before going out to explore.

"Hi," Johnny breathes, still left speechless by the warmth of Simon's coffee-coloured eyes. "How are you?"

He winces, knowing how accented his Ukrainian is no matter how desperately he's tried to correct himself, but to Simon's credit, his only reaction is a wider smile.

"You've been learning," Simon remarks in English. The lilt of his accent is far more pleasant in a foreign tongue than Johnny's own, he's most certain of it.

"A little bit," Johnny admits sheepishly. It had been a difficult venture, learning a language entirely new from his first, but he had been putting the work in—not only for having been inspired by Simon, but almost maybe for the off-chance they'd meet again.

Like this.

Simon replies with something in Ukrainian, something Johnny only understands pieces of. His confusion must show in his face, as Simon just looks at him, laughs quietly to himself, then says, "I said, 'Your pronunciation is good... for a beginner.'"

Johnny snorts, playfully shoving Simon in retaliation along with an indignant protest. A proper laugh bubbles out of Simon's throat this time, all too pleased with himself and the teasing insult.

"Sorry we can't all master a new language right away," Johnny says, shaking his head awfully fondly—already, just as Simon had, he's noticed improvement in the other man's English, though far more significant that Johnny's own progress. "Maybe you'll just have to start teaching me."

Simon shrugs a casual shoulder, a mirthful grin still lingering on his face, though far more subdued than it had been seconds before. He remains silent, so Johnny continues, the moment somewhat reminiscent of their first meeting when Johnny had mistaken Simon's quietness as an invitation to fill the gaps—he knows better now, however.

"So, what're you doing here?" Asks Johnny, offering a much gentler nudge with his shoulder.

Simon hesitates just briefly, and initially Johnny chalks it up to him trying to find the words in English, but then his expression falls somber, his brow furrowing with concern.

"I'm here with my brother, but then he..." he begins explaining, slow like he's unsure of something. He makes a vague shooing gesture as he chews on whatever irks him. "...and now I don't know."

Johnny frowns, trying to decipher what Simon is talking about—then comes to the realization that he's in the exact same situation as him; currently in search for a lost travel partner with a tendency to wander.

"Well... can you call him? Or where are you staying?" Johnny questions. "He could just have gone back there, aye?"

Simon hums assent. "He didn't answer. I was walking back, when I saw you. You looked…”

He trails off, whether it be to avoid adding insult to injury or just because Simon didn’t have the vocabulary.

“Troubled?” Johnny supplies. “Distraught? Stressed?”

Simon nods.

Johnny huffs, slumping back on the bench. “‘M in the same boat. Lost my friend and his phone is dead,” he sighs. “He might be at the hostel, though. Or heading there. It’s as good a place as any to check, at this point.”

“A hostel?” Simon asks. “Maybe it’s the same one.”

“Same one?” Johnny raises an eyebrow before understanding hits him—and yeah, maybe the universe really is on his side today. How convenient it would be to have an excuse to spend more time with Simon, if they were staying at the same place. “Aye, could be. Why don’t I come with you, anyway?”

Simon doesn’t refuse him, so Johnny stands and slings his pack over his shoulders before offering a hand to Simon. Despite doing so, a part of Johnny is still surprised Simon accepts, his palm warm and lightly callused.

Then Johnny’s phone starts to ring. He pauses, pulls it out; it’s an unknown number. He glances at Simon, who jerks his chin toward the device as if to say go ahead and answer.

He accepts the call and puts it on speaker. “Hello?”

Kyle’s voice is suddenly in his ear, not quite frantic but nor is it completely calm—breathless, is really what he is. “Tav? That you, mate?”

“Aye, it’s me.” Johnny glances at Simon again, who just shrugs. “Where are you? What are you callin’ from?”

“Borrowing someone’s phone. Says he didn’t know enough English to help,” Kyle explains. “Can you tell me the address of this place? I’ll just meet you there.”

Johnny rattles off the address of the hostel, not at all ignorant to the way Simon’s face lights up with recognition—definitely the same place, then.

“Thanks a lot. I’ll just—“ Kyle suddenly cuts himself off, and Johnny can hear quiet murmurs on the other side. He waits impatiently to see what it’s all about. “The… he’s saying something about his brother. He knows the place.”

Simon’s brows arch, and Johnny would bet he’s thinking something similar about how coincidental it would be that Kyle would be enlisting Simon’s brother for help just as he’s also searching.

Tentatively leaning closer to the phone, Simon asks, “Tom?”

There’s a brief rustling on the other end along with some more mumbling before a new voice cuts through the phone. “Simon?”

Johnny wordlessly passes the phone off to Simon before he starts into a tirade of rapidly-paced Ukrainian directed at his brother. Again, Johnny is back to understanding only bits and pieces, but he has to imagine it’s something along the lines of cursing and telling off for not answering the phone earlier and other kinds of brotherly arguments. He’s all too familiar with that tone, having both given and received such talks to and from his own siblings.

Finally, Simon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “See you there,” he grumbles. Then, in English, presumably for Kyle’s benefit on the other end of the line, “Me and Johnny will meet you at the hostel. Sorry for…”

“No worries,” Kyle replies. “And—was that Johnny, you said? Tav, I thought—“

Johnny seizes his phone and hangs up before Kyle can finish. Simon regards him curiously, but ultimately says nothing. They finally set off to their destination.

Johnny is glad, at least, that everything seems to have worked out.

*

Reunion at the hostel is a well-needed burden off Johnny’s shoulders, more than happy to finally check in and get settled somewhere before enjoying their next few days in town.

Simon goes back to scolding his brother as soon as they’ve all arrived, pulling him aside to talk whilst Kyle and Johnny get everything figured out. Johnny minds his own business, of course, until their voices suddenly drop and he glances over out of curiosity—and watches as a splotchy, pink blush suddenly spreads across Simon’s face.

Kyle elbows him in the side. “So, Johnny, huh?” He teases, likely now since Johnny can’t simply end a call. “Thought no one was allowed to call you that.”

Johnny scowls at Kyle. “Haud yer wheesht, would you?” He hisses. “It’s not like that. It’s not like anything.”

“Uh huh,” Kyle says, entirely unconvinced. He does, in fact, shut up for a moment—but then there’s a smug grin growing on his face that Johnny doesn’t like in the least. “Wait—don’t tell me that’s the Simon.”

Unfortunately, Johnny can’t help his face going red.

“It is!” Kyle whisper-shouts. “Oh, this is too good. Hey, Simon!”

Both Simon and his brother turn at the sudden interruption. There’s still remnants of a blush on Simon’s own face.

Johnny wishes the world would just open up and swallow him whole.

“We were gonna head out to dinner,” Kyle says, much too loud. “Care to join us?”

Simon glances at Tom and asks him something quietly, to which he nods after a moment of consideration.

Simon nods as well. “Sure. We’ll come.”

Johnny decides then and there that he’s taking back everything positive he might’ve thought about the universe and his luck today. He can already see the way Kyle is scheming, and something tells Johnny a plan is already formulating in his head—all because of that silly nickname.

Though, Johnny supposes, it’d probably be pretty easy for Kyle to connect the dots without that part.

Oh well. He wanted to spend more time with Simon anyway, right? He shouldn’t take today’s many coincidences for granted just yet.

And hell—denying this would be a waste of an opportunity to get to know Simon and his family better, if he were ever to go ahead with that surprise visit to Ukraine in the future.

[finelinevogue]

smile

summary - harry can’t go a show without calling you beforehand

warnings: fluff?! swearing, it’s based off that photo abov

word count: -1k

L.A. traffic had its reputation for being the worst traffic on the planet.

You’d drive 50 metres and it will have taken you 50 minutes. There was no traffic like it - other than maybe the M25 outside London.

Most people would avoid this traffic, trying to get to their destinations with as little car congestion as possible. However, Harry had other plans. Harry would happily sit for 50 minutes to travel 50 metres, because he happened to love car journeys.

They were his only trips alone. They were a few minutes, or a few hours, of solitary peace and he depended on them to keep him sane. The only other person he would be okay enough to share this time with was his fiancé; you.

Normally you’d be travelling sat next to him, his hand on your thigh whilst you both hum along to the shared playlist you’d both created. However, on this particular journey Harry found himself alone with you staring at him through the phone on Face Time.

You were away with work for a few days and out of town, meaning you couldn’t be there for some of Harry’s shows. However, that didn’t stop you both from talking to each other 24/7. Any spare moment you both had you’d be on FaceTime. If Harry went shopping he’d call you. If you went to the loo you’d call him. If you were reading in bed he’d want you to call so he could read with you.

FaceTime kept your relationship in the honeymoon phase - even 3 years after the honeymoon phase is supposedly over.

As Harry drove himself to the Forum he couldn’t help but be ecstatic when you answered first try on FaceTime.

“Heyyy, love.” He smiled at you, whilst stopping at a red light.

You were busy putting on your makeup for the day, so your phone was propped up on a vanity so Harry could see your head down to your waist. Your makeup was splayed out in front of you and you picked up some concealer to carry on with your routine.

“Hello, my favourite human.” You replied, cheerily grinning over your reply.

“Favourite human? Quite like the sound of that. Might even top fiancé.” Harry said, reaching to turn the radio off so he could only hear you. It would be rude of him to have anything drowning out the sound of your voice.

“Really?”

“Maybe not. Fiancé does just have a night ring to it, doesn’t it?” With one hand on the steering wheel, his other hand went to rub his fingers over the top of his lips where his moustache was growing in. As he did so, his engagement ring sat pretty and made you internally squeal at how you were the person attached to that ring.

“I think i’ll like husband better.” You answered honestly.

“It’s weird we’re both each others fiancés now, but when we get married you’ll be my wife and I’ll be your husband - like we’ll have different names for each other then.” Harry drove on green.

“You can still be my wife if you want. My little housewife.” You giggled at the thought.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you? Me, in an apron, making dinner and doing the laundry.” He teased, unfortunately not catching your reaction since he was concentrating on the road.

“You do that already, H.” You laughed. “Are you off to the venue?”

“Hm? Uh, yeah, yeah.” Harry was momentarily distracted as he had to turn onto a busy junction. His UK driving was a lot easier than LA, because of how short and simple the roads were in London. New York driving wasn’t even worth thinking about.

“And how was therapy?” You moved on to fixing your eyebrows, being prepared to stop and listen carefully to Harry if needed be.

“Yeah, it was good. She helped me through some of that tour stuff I was worried about.”

“About being away from family for so long?” You double checked.

“Yeah, yeah. She was trying to explain that if I’m happy doing what i’m doing then that’s all my family should want for me. Just happiness.”

“She’s right H. Your mum will be perfectly fine, as long as she knows that you’re happy - and that you’ll call often.”

“I try.” He said honestly.

“I know you do. I mean, when you’re not calling me that is.” You laughed, trying to lighten the situation with a bit of silly humour.

Harry got stuck in another traffic jam, meaning he would be late for rehearsals but he didn’t care because it meant more time on the phone with you. His favourite moments were spent with you, so he’d take ever extra second he could just to make new and happy memories.

“Have you had breakfast already?” Harry asked, in awe of watching you put on your makeup.

Harry was lucky to find someone that cared more about other people and the world than colouring in their skin and buying fake boobs. So your makeup routine didn’t in fact take too long to run through.

“Not yet, no.”

“Well, please have something before you leave, alright?” Harry asked, always concerned for you and your health whenever he wasn’t around to take care of you. He liked being the one to make you breakfasts in the morning, so often when you were apart from each other he’d believe you weren’t eating anything as good as what he makes - which is true, but you do also eat still.

“Okay, yes. I promise.” You rolled your eyes at him but gave him a smile, knowing he only meant well. “Have you eaten?”

“I actually am on my way to have lunch with Jeff now. He wants to run through Grammy stuff.” Harry explained.

“How are you feeling about that? The Grammy noms, I mean. Tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, tomorrow, yeah. Um, I’m feeling alright y’know? Like, I thought I’d feel a lot more dependent on them, but I think after last year I’m still feeling that high. Any nom would be great, but if I don’t get any then I also know that it is a great album and there was only one person I wanted to impress with it anyways.”

“Oh yeah? Who?” You asked, knowing the reply already.

“You.”

You smiled and shook your head. He was too cheesy sometimes, but it was no lie, or secret, that Harry’s House had been solely made for you. It was a love letter from Harry to you and a declaration to the world that Harry Styles was the happiest he’s ever been.

[someforzari]

Coloured Sky

Niki x black!gn!reader

Genre: fluff

A/N: My first work where the skin colour was specified, I hope its up to your standards.

Ep.1 | Ep.2

You started listening to kpop in 2019 but it was more of a casual liking in 1 or 2 groups, rather than the only thing you would listen to. So when the group 'Enhypen' came out you peaked a huge interest in them. You biased Niki for his cute persona and how he always found a way to lighten the mood.

In little time, you found yourself listening to them often and even buying an album now and then. When all of your friends started talking about going to a concert together, you suggested Enhypen's upcoming tour.

"_____, we're not made of money and plus that's in New York, only you have a place to stay there, what will the rest of us do?" Jen retorted looking at the price.

"She's right, _____" Another friend agreed.

Sighing, you knew you had to meet them at some point in your life and why not now since it was your gap year before starting college, but seeing how you had £50 to your name, you knew that wasnt happening anytime soon. You chose to go to New York anyway since you had already bought plane tickets to see your family there, texting your mum to tell her.

"Guys, I have to go pack my bags but I'll talk to you soon. Love you bye." You said leaving the café. A quick wave of goodbyes surging through your friend group.

Time skip: 11:34pm, Thursday 28th March

"Yes mum, I've packed everything. I know the trip is overseas, look, I'll be fine. I'm staying with aunt shay, I'll be alright." You explained to your mum, holding the phone between your ear and cheek. "The plane leaves at 4pm tomorrow. No, I'm getting a taxi. Look, I have to go I'll update you soon. Bye."

Putting your passports and luggage near the doorway and setting your alarm to 8am you crashed on your bed and slept soundly.

Time skip: 8:13am, Friday 29 March

Brushing your teeth slowly due to drowsiness and scrolling through instagram was a normal part of your morning, your eyes widening upon seeing a new post from Enhypens official account. It was a picture of Niki and Sunoo at the airport, nothing special except that the destination was New York. That left some excitement for your day, dreaming about running into him unexpectedly and becoming his friend. Of course, you knew your delusions were just that, delusions. But you were free to imagine, right?

Stepping into your room to double check that you had packed everything, you noticed that your nails looked terrible and decided to get them done later. A decision that would save you from embarrassment later on.

The nails you picked weren't too over the top, just french tips with a few charms. Looking at the time on your phone, you gasped. 2:09pm. You were going to be late for your flight. At your apartment, a taxi was already waiting for you as you had planned, pulling the luggage into the boot and sitting in the taxi, you sighed and hoped you'd make it in time for your flight as the airport was an hour and a half away, hopefully there wouldn't be much traffic.

Timeskip: 5:43pm, Saturday 30th March

"Yeah, I'll manage." You said as you left the house to go explore New York City.

Living in the UK, you never experienced anything close to New York, sure, London was just as busy, but the nightlife couldn't compete. Plus, you lived in Whitehall of all places. It was cold, and even though winter had finished, the sun still set by 7.

It was amazing. The street signs with vibrant colours and cute little pictures of cartoon characters and animals, the shops with the latest iconic trends and the souvenirs were so creative.

Looking around, you didn't notice the shouting and running around. It was New York, this was normal, right?

Wrong. You would've been able to look some more, if only someone didn't bump into you and both of you fell.

"Who the hell...?" You mumbled holding your ankle and looking at the person.

Niki Rishimura. He was the man who had bumped into you, making you fall and hurt yourself. The throbbing pain in your ankle was forgotten as you stared at him with your mouth wide open and eyes wide.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Is your ankle hurt?" He asked frantically, clearly worried.

You couldn't even answer, you just sat there, staring at him. Once the state of shock took over, you were quick to reassure him that you were fine and asked him if he was hurt at all.

He offered to get you coffee as an apology. Being a modest person, you refused at first saying there was no need, secretly hoping he would take you anyway. Him being the absolute angel he is, he insisted to treat you to coffee and you agreed. He reached out for his phone and asked for your number, you blinked a few times in confusion but not wanting to pass up this opportunity, you typed in your digits as fast as your sore hands could.

"I'll text you later, I have to go now." Niki said smiling sweetly at you and picking up a call from his manager.

You couldn't believe it, you had just met Niki Rishimura and gotten his number! And, you were going to see him for coffee! The whole way back to your aunt's house, you smiled and some people even looked at you like you were insane, but they wouldn't understand. You couldn't wait.

@microwvdstrawb3rri3s

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I have another ticket booked for my UK trip this summer! This trip contains a week in London, then a couple of days in Scottish Highlands, then a week in Edinburgh, then a train back to London, and I fly home from London. The week in Edinburgh will be the first week of the Fringe Festival – I should have five full days there – so the vast majority of comedy tickets I book will be for that.

The Fringe Festival website has actually just released their latest batch of shows, will be the second last big update before the actual festival, and at this point nearly everyone I’ve been waiting for is either on my list of potential bookings, has announced a run that starts after I leave, or is probably not showing up anyway. I look at my list of people I want to see who still haven’t announced a run at all – there are 16 acts left on that list, and realistically, only a few are likely to actually announce a run. Of those, one is Daniel Kitson, whom I expect that if he does announce a run it’ll be in the morning so won't clash with anything anyway. And whatever he does, there’s no good reason to wait for him before I book stuff, because I am expecting him to announce a last-minute run, and if he does that, I’ll have no problem wasting the price of one ticket for someone else by skipping them for him. Josie Long’s doing WIPs right now and lives in Glasgow so surely she’ll be in Edinburgh at some point, but it’s a similar situation, I like her so much that I kind of don’t have to wait for her, since I won’t mind skipping stuff for her. Shelf have to turn up, right? It’s weird that Shelf haven’t announced anything yet. But mostly, I think, most people I’ve been waiting for are already on the schedule.

So I can probably start booking things this weekend. I might book a bunch tomorrow. I don’t want to leave it so long that things fill up, and I don’t think I’m waiting until the final program launches in late June. I know what I want to see. Obviously if Josie Long turns up standing on some soapbox doing graffiti under a bridge at the last minute, I will skip everything else I’ve ever planned to watch that instead. Obviously I would make my way to the top of a mountain or the bottom of the ocean at 9 AM or 3 AM or wherever or whenever Daniel Kitson decides to gather his disciples, I don’t need to leave a spot open in an effort to predict his whims.

Anyway. So far, all I’ve actually booked for the Edinburgh Festival are Nish Kumar and David O’Doherty. But I’ve now booked something else for the trip:

(Sorry for the weird cropping, that is a screenshot of my ticket, I'm just trying not to post the QR code on the internet.)

That's the day I get back to London from Edinburgh, the day before I fly back from London to Canada. So when I get to the end of my week in Edinburgh and inevitably get depressed because I've run out of time to see my favourite comedians, I'll still have one more thing to look forward to.

To be honest, part of this is just that I want to see the Soho Theatre. So many of my favourite comedy shows were recorded there (officially or unofficially). So much great comedy history there. I knew when I first planned this trip to the UK that I wanted it to include something at the Soho Theatre in London. But I'd be limited to what was there in the short time that I'd be in London.

So I'm lucky that this was on offer. Sue Perkins is one of those comedians whom I'd see in Edinburgh if she were there when I am, but she won't be, her run there starts after I leave. However, an Edinburgh run that starts halfway through August means WIPs in the beginning of August. So I get to get in on that, the night I get back from Edinburgh.

To be honest I've had this booked for a day now, but haven't posted it yet because it doesn't feel real. None of this does. I'm not really going to be in a room with Sue Perkins. Obviously that won't happen. Do you know who Sue Perkins is? She wouldn't be in a room with me. Not for only $30 (in Canadian money).

I remain a hard non-fan of any food-based shows, and yet, I have been a big fan of Sue Perkins for many, many years. I've been listening to The News Quiz since I was 19, in 2009. And when I started my panel show watching in 2020... I'll admit, the first few times I saw Sue Perkins, I just thought, "Wow, who is that incredibly attractive woman who makes funny comments and I've never heard of her before?" It wasn't until I'd been watching her for a while that I realized this is the same person as the Sue from The News Quiz all those years ago, the one I'd heard bantering with Toksvig all those times, the member of the News Quiz lesbian cohort, with Sandi Toksvig and Susan Calman and later Zoe Lyons. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of them as the same person. I still have trouble wrapping my head around that. And I definitely struggle to connect all that to a person who will be in the same fucking room with me this summer, in that room that I've seen so many times as the site of my favourite comedy specials.

All these were things I thought about Sue Perkins before she got cast on Taskmaster. Then she was fantastic on there. And now I will be in a room where she also is, in person, displacing the same air as I am, like a human being. Also I'm going to the UK for real. Like, for real. I'm going to actually get on a plane and fly there. It feels like I shouldn't be able to, like how you can't fly to Hogwarts or Mordor (you can't even walk into the latter). I'm used to spending years obsessively getting to know the lore of a place, like in all my phases of obsession with fictional settings (obligatory note: fuck JK Rowling, obviously fuck JK Rowling, but my childhood obsession does leave me wishing I could fly to Harry Potter places for real, which is the main reason why a day of looking at Cambridge University is on my list of things to do during my week in London), but I'm not used to actually being allowed to go to those places and being told they're real. But I think I'll probably be allowed to go to the Soho Theatre and see Sue Perkins from the News Quiz lesbian cohort that I was obsessed with when I was like 19.

[bearballing]

having a Time

i am making this post because a couple of people offered to help.

so on january 15th, my stepmum died very suddenly at the age of 58. i hadn’t seen her in person since 2018, and i was going to see her again this march when i finally FINALLY go back to the uk to see my family for a couple of weeks. this trip is already expensive but i am also helping my dad out with the funeral and other things like that, and just helping HIM out because he just became a widower and now lives alone. my brother and i both live far away so only my sister is physically close to where he lives.

and yesterday on 3rd february, my cat Paul also died. he stayed at my mum and stepdad’s house after i moved because i couldn’t bring him with me and of course this was also a month before i would get to see him again. i really want to get him cremated and have a little casket for the ashes. the absolute cheapest for this is £180 which is about $220. paul was my baby boy. i need to have SOMETHING for him.

i don’t want to have our long-planned vacation be totally overtaken by loss and more expense. i would like for us to enjoy ourselves somewhat yknow.

and we also have some at-home expenses that suck too, my wife @thatboxylady​ has 2 large-cost medical things that have to be taken care of this year, i won’t put her business on this post for now though. and then there’s just stuff like we still have to get new hurricane shutters since hurricane ian fucked ours, the old owners of this house left a Lot of shitty little things that need repairing and just hid them the biggest of which right now is the toilet which is constantly leaking.

i am not Asking anyone for anything but if you would Like to help us out here are some links:

p4pyal

v3nmo: @spannerfrog

ca$h4pp: $qwerty207

my etsy store where i sell lgbt and anticapitalism pin buttons: TwentyBiteenButtons

reblogs are appreciated. thank you

[raytorosaurus]

Hello! I’m going to one of the MCR shows in Brisbane and i was wondering if you could give me some info on the venue/etiquette over there (I’m from Puerto Rico). Do you know if they’ll do the wristband system for GA or if you’ll have to queue all day? Are pits particularly rowdy or anything like that? I’m so excited to go to Australia for the first time! Any tips on what to do/eat would also be welcomed 😅 thanks!

heyy!! sorry this took a while for me to get to, i wanted to give you a decent answer. first of all, that's really exciting that you're coming from pr!!!! hope you enjoy your trip <333

okay so you didn't specifically ask this but just as a general heads up because i worry about it - one thing for i know for sure is that overnight camping at this venue is strictly prohibited. it's also not actually possible at all, because the venue is in a large gated-off area that's locked at night and borders/is surrounded by swampy wilderness lol. so as a heads up to anyone attending the brisbane show, please please do not camp overnight it's not only illegal but very unsafe. you'll also literally be eaten alive by bugs lol it's a huge mosquito breeding ground. i promise you'll regret it lmaooo.

okay the rest of the answer is under a cut bc it got rambly lol sorry. but if anyone else is travelling to brisvegas 🤘🤘 for the show/s, here's a little crash course for you if you want lol

so to answer your original question, i highly doubt there'll be any kind of wristband system organised by the venue tbh, i've just never heard about a precedent for that here (though i haven't been to this particular venue since before covid so i guess i could be wrong). their website says you can queue "outside the turnstiles" on the day, so i think it'll just be down to who shows up tbh! also as a reminder, the venue is kind of out of the way and there isn't much in the way of food/water nearby to purchase so if you do do that, come prepared! and bring plenty of sunscreen and probably insect repellent. remember it will almost definitely still be quite hot in march down here. i'm not really expecting a very serious queue myself - i'm thinking there'll be maybe a dozen or two dedicated people who show up in the morning at most, and the rest won't show up until maybe a few hours in advance. i could be wrong though!! i'm personally not planning on getting up really early, i'd rather be rested for the show. maybe late morning? who knows i might change my mind

it's also not exactly the easiest venue to get to by public transport lol, your best bet is the nearby train station (boondall station). but on the plus side it's close to the airport!

as for pit rowdiness, it's really hard to say, i reckon it just varies from show to show. i'm honestly really curious myself as to what the crowds will be like because from what i can tell mcr aren't really as popular over here in general as they are in america/the uk (not so sure about europe). i already know a couple of people who are going who don't actually know much of their music they were just like oh huh mcr, i remember them LOL. for reference there are two shows in each city, one that was announced in 2019 and one that was added the second or third time they rescheduled, and in every city that second show still hasn't sold out. so i don't thiiiink the pit will be very rowdy at these particular shows, no. but same as always - if you're worried, just avoid standing front and centre!

as for what to do/eat - now this really depends on where you're staying and how long you're staying for! the best place for that kind of stuff is obvs around the centre of brisbane, whereas the mcr venue, like i said, is pretty close to the airport. if you want to really see brisbane and eat out in nicer restaurants/bars, southbank (most tourist-friendly place, accessible and genuinely nice to wander around along the river), the fortitude valley (which is also the nightlife district and chinatown), and west end (pretty heavily gentrified 'hip' youth area - lots of vegan food and brunch places, farmer's markets and the like) are probably your best bets, though not the cheapest. brisbane does actually have a good foodie culture so there's plenty around - it's hard to go wrong with asian food here thanks to australia's pretty high asian population! if your budget is smaller than that - dude trust me. go to any brumby's bakery or to any pie face and get a proper meat pie. and a lamington while you're at it.

if your stay is short and you just want to find cheaper accommodation close to the airport, honestly the aforementioned swampy wilderness that the entertainment centre is in is part of a national park (boondall wetlands environment centre) that's quite nice to walk around if you're into that kind of thing! it's a mangrove system which is a really fascinating ecosystem if you haven't seen them (though i think pr has plenty lol), lots of native birds and shit. the nearby suburbs of sandgate and shorncliffe are a great place for some classic fish and chips and to walk along/sit by the water (though don't get excited, they're not a 'real' aussie beach, it's a sheltered bay so the water is flat and the sand is brown).

depending how long you're staying and whether you'll have a car, there are lots of very beautiful "real" beaches surrounding brisbane an hour or two in either direction - the gold coast to the south is for the touristy ones (good if you like shopping/nightlife, more accessible by public transport), and the sunshine coast to the north is quieter and prettier. there's also lots of nice hiking trails around if you're into that but you would need a car.

anyway. sorry this is long, i hope i answered your question!! you're welcome to dm me if you want specific clarification on anything :)))

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES AND STUDIES, Etsy & Google, early June 2023

Since I have been writing so much in detail about Etsy happenings lately, I didn’t have time to write my usual news summaries. Better late than never, here is what has been happening on Etsy and in the SEO world in general for the past few months. 

The bad news is I am on a 2-week road trip as of June 14th, so you may not get the rest of the ecommerce, social media and other news until into July, but I will do my best to get some work done in the car each day without an internet connection. 

Don't forget you can always follow me on Twitter or on LinkedIn to get more timely updates.  

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy sellers in the EU can opt out of Offsite Ads. In fact, even shops from Switzerland can do so. The UK is not currently included, and no one knows which EU law makes this possible. If Etsy gives you trouble when you try to opt out, keep pushing.  

If you ever thought Etsy wouldn’t put your shop on payment reserve, did you know they did it to Katwise? From numerous other reports in the last month or two, Etsy is now putting more shops on reserve for very small increases in recent sales, and plenty of other bizarre reasons. One seller contacted me because the now-on-reserve shop had been empty and unused since May 2022! I’ve updated my blog post with some new details, and have a new list of potential factors. Please let me know if you have recently been put on reserve and if any of the factors - known or suspected - apply to you. 

I’ve spent the past few months researching how Etsy’s seller protection plan works in practice, and yes, there are some things you can do to reduce the chance of losing money due to Etsy’s new rules. 

ETSY NEWS 

In a disturbing development, Etsy sellers in India now must use Etsy Labels for all domestic orders. Unfortunately, I don’t expect this will be the last country Etsy does this for, as Etsy is already making it difficult for people in other countries to mark orders as shipped. Anyone experiencing this issue can avoid it by using the app, by buying labels on sites with automatic integrations with your shop (so the order is marked shipped immediately), or by trying this tedious workaround on every order. 

As I previously reported in beta, Etsy introduced a “Make an Offer” option for US vintage sellers in April. 

Etsy is pulling the usual last-minute attempt at complying with new laws by having some sellers re-verify info before the INFORM Act takes effect in the US. 

Etsy’s Annual Transparency Report shows that their technology is mostly flagging items that aren’t prohibited on Etsy, even after a few years of adopting this automated approach. I cover it in detail on Tumblr. If you are interested in how search is working these days, definitely read my post! This could explain some items suddenly getting no views. 

Speaking of which, the latest glut of bot takedowns involved several different areas:

handmade items, often best sellers from successful shops. Some have not been successful getting the listing reinstated after several days of trying

drug paraphernalia, usually for items that aren’t even remotely drug-related

listings making medical claims, which now includes mentioning the FDA. Read the updated Medical Claims policy here.

Despite this supposed increased effort of Etsy policing the site, the counterfeit accusations against the Etsy marketplace continue to percolate through the media and blogosphere, with some noting that both counterfeit and basic reselling [Glossy; soft paywall] hurt genuine handmade and vintage sellers. If you prefer video on the Citron report, here’s one from Yahoo. Then this Washington Post article [gift link; no paywall] got a lot of attention regarding dropshipping and how you can get a lot of the same things cheaper on Alibaba; there was also an investigation in the UK that came to the same conclusion. 

Etsy even addressed the negative media attention in the first quarter report, which I covered on Tumblr as usual. In case you missed it, the fourth quarter of 2022 is here. 

If you use abandoned cart coupons, note that many shoppers are now receiving them within a few hours of carting your item. 

Some sellers - mostly but not all in the UK - discovered they could no longer use the shipping carrier option “Other” on their listings around May 12. Listings already using this option cannot be edited or renewed with more than a quantity of 1. Etsy Support has told many of them that this is intentional, and that they will need to select listed carriers - but Etsy does not offer some of the common Royal Mail or other carrier options in their coding. This removal also prevents sellers from using extended delivery dates when the official ones are too optimistic, putting them at risk of forced refunds under the Purchase Protection Program. 

Canadian sellers now get reduced Tracked Packet (US) rates for Canada Post through Etsy Labels, but there are several problems with the offer. It’s only available to people with Solutions for Small Business accounts (many sellers have commercial contracts, which are not eligible for this deal), but the labels purchased no longer count towards Solutions for Small Business tiers. That means you will eventually end up paying more for your non-US labels, and for your labels for other platforms and your website. It therefore isn’t useful for bigger shops that sell to more than the US, or sell through multiple channels. Also, it appears that you can get a lower rate at Canada Post counters, as well as through eBay as of April 27th. And even if you don’t use any of those sources, tracked packet to the US has been only marginally more expensive than small packet since September, so make sure you compare prices before opting for the untracked method. 

Etsy has reintroduced its wedding registry, and included the latest wedding trends in the blog post. This should work better than the first time they did it in 2012, since Etsy now has many more items sold in multiples that can be on dozens of registries without selling out. 

The old Etsy seller app was removed from app stores by May 23, and eventually it will not work any more. 

As mentioned in a previous update, now that Etsy has brought on “tens of thousands” of new sellers in India, they are working on attracting buyers in the country. In India and interested in opening a shop? Etsy has a specific “how-to” page for you. 

A new listing page is currently being beta tested and should be available to all sellers now, but you can opt out if you have it. 

Etsy Up was held in mid-May, and all of the sessions are available online now. Most of it is rather bland advertising for Etsy, although new sellers may learn some things. 

The somewhat-depressing story of how one tech writer managed to open an Etsy shop in a week with all AI-designed artwork and print on demand services. “I created a series of four retro-futuristic puzzles. The MidJourney prompt was merely this: retro-futuristic. The results were just so good that I decided to use them as-is.” Note this still took a lot of editing and time, plus skill with the AI-art generator used. 

Reminder that Etsy knows it doesn’t have to keep every seller happy, just most of them [Fortune; paywall]. Josh Silverman said "...with 5.4 million sellers, no matter what you do, you’ll find 100,000 sellers that aren’t happy... We’re trying to create an ecosystem with the right incentives so most of our sellers can succeed." [my emphasis]

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Chat bot/AI search is the SEO hot topic of 2023 so far, but the commentary varies widely, and offerings are changing almost daily. Therefore, I will provide very few articles on the topics for the foreseeable future, since they are often going to be out of date by the time you read them. A few exceptions this time around:

One author suggests that AI will change SEO by making social media and question answering more important. 

Google is building a new AI search engine, while adding new AI features in the existing engine. 

“If your content isn’t better than what AI can produce, it’s not worth making.”

There are currently at least 7 types of queries that Google doesn’t use AI chat to respond to. [Twitter thread]

You can use Chat GPT to build Chrome extensions that complete SEO tasks and functions [I admit I can see this sort of thing being very useful for those of use who aren’t pro coders]

This post lists 7 good sources of AI news.

Since so much has happened since my last news summary, you may want to skim through update lists to make sure you didn't miss anything. Everything important that happened with Google in February is covered here (by Search Engine Roundtable), and here is March, then here is April, and finally, May.  

Google’s March Core Update saw big increases for some shopping sites, including Amazon and eBay, plus media and government sites.  Etsy seems to have dropped a fair amount, but this is just one study. Poshmark was also down. 

Want your images to show up in regular Google organic search (as opposed to Google Image search)? The quality of the page as well as the image itself can be important. The number of photos or images on the page may contribute. 

Ecommerce SEO is both the easiest and the hardest it has ever been right now. You need to do more than just post products. [slide deck]

Google updated its advice on linking, to now include advice on anchor text (aka link text) and internal links, among other changes.  

Title tags - the words that show up as your page title on Google and in the browser tab - can affect clicks beyond just keyword use.

Want to show up for Google’s featured snippets? (They’ve changed recently) You may need to edit the page in a few different ways. 

Just 16 companies (and all of their subsidiaries) control most of the top-ranking pages in Google searches. This is an old study with newly-updated information. 

A lot of small business owners ask me what “keyword difficulty” really means. Part of the problem is that different tools calculate it differently. [article has tips on how to approach the issue] On the same topic, don’t forget Bing’s keyword research tool when you are trying to find new keywords. There are 15 other free keyword tools in this article. [I always recommend Keywords Everywhere and TagCrowd] And here is a searchable site for all sorts of SEO tools (some are paid tools). 

Google’s Search Off the Record podcast took a look at moving websites, and the possible SEO issues, with solutions. [podcast and pdf transcript] Here’s a different post with a checklist for site migrations, in case you have one coming up. 

[sun-in-retrograde]

Outer Planet Energies for Week of 21 August to 28 August

A lot of the big aspects from so far in the Venus retrograde ended with the new moon and there's a few new aspects that will be lasting a while. So, a quiet week, but an interesting one in the dwarf planets!

Sedna 0 Gemini 32 to 0 Gemini 33

This is a Martian kind of week! We have a Mars opposition with Neptune, then a trine with Pluto. It’s a week of dissipation and challenge. The threat of addiction and the strength of willpower. But also, from Wednesday there’s a square between Mars in Virgo and Sedna in Gemini that comes in just as the Neptune opposition starts to ebb away.

What I often find with particularly challenging transits is that by the time they hit their apex a sort of natural immunity builds up to them. So, for instance, if a Mars Neptune transit has me indulging in addictions and intrusive thoughts, by the time its power starts to wax I’m already finished with my packet of cigarettes and able to sleep through sheer exhaustion. And that’s where the Sedna-Mars square comes in. Mars is in a problem solving mood, but Sedna just wants a space to complain. 

These are both natural responses to a hard time but they can be mutually frustrating. Mars sees in Sedna an energy that refuses to be helped. All Sedna wants to do is complain and think over things. What Mars doesn’t see is that Gemini is mutable and Sedna is doing the work to find a solution. Complaining about it and thinking things through is the whole of the work, it just takes a while. Mars Virgo can’t solve the problems Sedna helps us work though. By the same note - if your problem is that you keep tripping over something, no amount of emotional analysis is better than the good old fashioned Martian impulse to move the thing. 

It might be hard to find the right tool for the right task this week but there’s also an opportunity there. Sometimes we spend years working on the emotional and traumatic undercurrents of a task when we need to clean our rooms. Sometimes the reason we’re upset by not having clean socks is more important than cleaning the socks. This square might give us opportunities to switch up tools a bit. 

Gonggong 5 Pisces 11 to 5 Pisces 07

The Saturn Gonggong Conjunction is started in April and will end in September and will return December 2023 to February 2024. A big result of the conjunction at least in the UK was a wet summer where plans were cancelled. A lasting effect may be the Antarctic’s shockingly bad year - the Antarctic ice sheets have had their worst year ever, substantially worse than the previous worst year ever of 2022. I know we expect this kind of news but you have to understand sea ice changes slow. The Arctic’s worst year is still 2012. 

Of course, you kind of have to ask, worst for who? I'm not trying to justify climate change, it's bad. But one impact of a hotter Antarctic is cooler temperatures elsewhere, which may if we're lucky reduce the strain on other system for a while. It’s complex and we’re doing astrology, not climate change. My reason for mentioning this is that Gonggong and Saturn in Pisces can also bring emotional flooding which is again not pleasant but can release energies we can use elsewhere. For instance, if climate change shocks and appalls you this week, that might encourage you to campaign against it politically in some way.

Haumea 29 Libra 12 to 29 Libra 17

Haumea and Pluto are in similar spaces. They’ve both had an experimental period in a new sign and are now hanging out in the old sign for a bit longer before going into a new sign full time. Pluto is preparing to enter Aquarius, where it spent the age of revolution and social transformation at the end of the 18th century. Haumea is entering Scorpio for the first time since the mid 18th century where it ruled over an expansion in global trade and industry that led to worsening conditions for the working classes, global war, and a massive expansion in the institution of slavery. 

Haumea in Scorpio feels oceanic to me because the source of Haumea’s egg-like shape and the weird expansion of the planet is thought to be in part connected to an ancient global subsurface ocean. Haumea in Scorpio feels like it’s offering global expansion to Pluto Aquarius’ interest in what’s off and beyond Earth. 

Haumea and Pluto are going to be squared for a long time, the aspect appears at points between 2018 to 2034. That’s with a 3 degree orb. With a more generous orb of 10 degrees - Haumea is squared with Pluto from 2010 and through the whole of the Pluto Aquarius period. From an environmental point of view, this feels like the crisis of living in a society that constitutes personal growth in terms of expansion with an awareness that the planet is not all there is and is, in fact, finite.

This strikes me as really different to Pluto Capricorn and Haumea Libra. Haumea Libra knows what happens when internal pressures for expansion are disbalanced - eruptions and calamity! Pluto Capricorn knows that the world is a hard place and appreciates work and harshness to survive in it. It feels to me like the clash between the need for self care and the fear of poverty. 

Eris 25 Aries 10 to 25 Aries 08

The North Node is coming to a conjunction with Eris. This is the first conjunction like this since 2005 and as Eris is in retrograde it will be very close for a very long time. It will go exact at the end of November after weeks of being dramatically close. I use a 3 degree orb and by that measure the conjunction ends on 1 January 2024.

The Eris conjunction offers a chance to hold your own with your desires, trined Lilith in Leo, there’s power behind expressing yourself. It feels like a time when people will want to show up as themselves and maybe won’t be able to compromise on what that looks like. That sounds empowering, it doesn’t necessarily sound harmonious.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

I have read a weird conspiracy theory and wanted to sure with you, Jam, as well as for your opinion.

Some (not really pro-Ukrainian and very anti-Olena) people in my group mentioned that it's weird Olena is always gone when Ukraine expects a big missile attack wave and they suspected that maybe this is done on purpose by Ze (and Olena) to keep her out of the country and safe somewhere abroad. They also said that it's probably good because just in case something happens to Ukraine / Ze she can immediately seek political asylum since she already is in the country.

Thoughts on that?

The trips are probably planned weeks in advance and he can hardly know when missils will hit Ukraine. Also, Olena was in Ukraine during times were they expected increased missile terror.

Also, her trips are sometimes linked with events in the country she's visiting (Germany - bookfair; UK - christmas season and Holodomor; Spain - Websummit;...)

So yeah, just a conspiracy theory.

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (777): Fri 3rd May 2024

I used my emergency holiday to go home five hours early today. I toyed with the idea of starting to use half an hour from my emergency hour every day to turn my half hour break into an hour break but I suspect that if I start doing this eventually work will tell me that I’m not allowed. I may try to do this next month but as soon as there's an opportunity to get the fuck out of there I can't help but snap it up. I don't hate the job in fact I'd go as far as saying that it's the best job I've ever had in terms of…well getting paid the most amount of money for the least complex work but I still would rather be in bed than lugging giant carts filed with packages around all day. I can't imagine there are people who would rather be working in a factory than being in bed, unless of course Jimmy Savile was in their bed. On another positive note today since cutting out the canteen food, snacks and takeaways my savings are already above £3000 for the first time in ages. It scares me to think of how much I could have saved and how many adventures I could have gone on if I just stuck to eating only the food that's already in the house that I get included with my board money. However for a long time I was incredibly depressed and working in a job that I didn't want to be in so the only source of comfort was junk food. Before I move out of this house and finally get my own place I want to try and cross off all of the travel based items from my bucket list and hopefully cutting back on all the confort food will go a long way towards all these adventures. This time next year I'm going to finally go off on my UK road trip that I've wanted to do for ages. Then there's Hawaii which Dad and I are planning on visiting in 2026. I'll be using the money Grandad left me for that one though so I won't need to put any of my own savings towards that. I want to go on a guided coach trip around Europe and I could possibly still do that this year if my holiday allowance goes back up to three weeks now that I've used a chunk of it for this family holiday to Greece. I also want to go to Baltimore to see Edgar Allan Poe's various haunts including his house, grave and the pub he was last seen alive), New Orleans, Japan for Wrestle Kingdom and whenever the WWE decided to hold a Royal Rumble event on the east coast I want to go to that (or hopefully if they decide to hold one in the UK I won't have to). Speaking of my bucket list I'm down to the last few artists on the list that I want to see and to my surprise this year they've announced UK shows and I have tickets to them. They are Jane's Addiction (who I'll be seeing at the end of this month), AC/DC (who I'm going to at the end of June) and Primal Scream who are doing a show at the end of October. I figured that these would be the last music gigs put on my my bucket list artists this year but today I got an email from Ticketmaster telling me that the legendary David Gilmour has announced a series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall. God damn it now I'm going to have to buy a ticket to this as well. I probably won’t get to see a Pink Floyd reunion so the next best thing will be to see someone who was in Pink Floyd and hope that his set contains a decent amount of Pink Floyd songs.

[tokyoheiku]

Japan 2024

Finally, after 12 years, I went back to Japan for nearly a month! It's a trip that's been a long time coming; a trip I've had many, many dreams about lol. After losing my passion for Japan/Japanese by the time my degree ended (for various reasons), it took a few years before I was toying with the idea of going back, particularly to see friends who had decided to go and move there (or already lived there) post-university. And then of course you've got to factor in time and cost. 2020 was the first time things seemded to be aligning and I really thought I might go back, but then, well, obviously I couldn't.

Then late last year, a friend (let's call her M) I recently got back in contact with happened to be planning her own Japan trip, and from time to time would mention that I should come along. I was hesitant at first (time and money!) but after thinking it over I realised that actually, for lots of reasons, this lined up pretty perfectly with my current life situation. So I agreed and we booked the trip!

This is a summation of that trip :D In parts cuz I can only upload so many photos per post -

Week 1! Tokyo

Our flight was indirect: Heathrow --> Helsinki --> Narita, with Finnair, who I have to hand it to, did a fantastic job. The planes were so nice and modern, and neither flight caused me any ear pain, which is a massive deal for me - if you've flown with me before, you'll know. Not to mention, the second flight only had 70 people on it...! So we were able to lay down. In economy! Plus we had some reindeer pasta during our layover in Helsinki, so now I can say I've done that. As flights go, (and for my first ever layover flight) it was possibly one of the best I've ever been on. Even though it was dragging toward the end of the 13 hours.

I don't know exactly what I had expected when arriving back in Japan, but it was so easy to just pick up where I left off. Everything was familiar, I was able to speak the language, I was finally returning to places I used to live.. it's amazing how quicky the brain just normalises these things. It was almost like I'd never left and those 12 years turned into nothing. This time I also had the added bonus of lots of pre-trip research, and google maps/translate (which I mostly needed for kanji every so often.!). I felt more at home than I did during my year abroad, I think. And in a far, far better mindset, to boot. I feel like I was able to take things in more; to experience the differences more. Or maybe I just don't remember what it was like 12 years ago lol

Something that catches your attention immediately in Japanese cities (apart from the neon) are the smells - walking by the many, many restaurants you'll get passing wafts of amazing smelling Japanese food. London cannot compete...! And for our first meal we ate at Torikizoku, an izakaya (pub-esque places where you can order Japanese 'tapas' style dishes for cheap) chain, and it was just immediately so heartening; even chain Japanese food is better than any Japanese food we can get in the UK. And my god, the price. I know the yen is weak right now which really worked in our favour this trip, but even so. A full meal for around £7 each.

It'd be an incredibly long post if I went day by day, so here are highlights of week one, separated by activities, and food

Activities:

Wandering around Shimokitazawa! I used to go fairly frequently since it was only a couple of stops away from Meidaimae, my station, which we also dropped into for that taste of nostalgia. Shimokitazawa is known for being a bit hipster, with a lot of vintage clothing shops. It's a nice change of vibe from the bigger areas like Shinjuku/Shibuya etc.

Night out in Shinjuku, at Psy Bar! One of the many, many tiny little bars dotted around Shinjuku/Kabukicho, this one was specifically rock/metal music themed and could house maybe 15 people? The guy behind the bar was already wasted, and a huge personality. Everyone was really friendly and the music was great. Definitely worth experiencing :D

Magical Lollipop Maid Cafe - we had to go to at least one! This one was themed around magical girls in training trying to become powerful enough to protect their customers. Despite the theme, it was pretty subdued compared to some other maid cafes but it was nice to chat to the maids and, of course, have our own omuraisu drawn on

Team Lab Planets - worth a mention mainly for the LED room tbh. I didn't think it was as good as it's made out to be, but then again it's so overhyped that that's pretty difficult. Worth experiencing, I think.

Muscle Girl Bar - absolutely fantastic. A++++. Only in Japan. The photos speak for themselves. M got slapped by like 8 muscley women and I got carried by two.

Food:

Fluffy Japanese pancakes from Flippers - dear god these are so light and fluffy and delicious and absolutely worth having if you ever go

Nabezou - a restaurant chain that does hotpot style dishes - specifically, in my case, SUKIYAKI! This is maybe my favourite meal of all time

Fancy yakiniku - yakiniku, but fancy

Zarusoba - a dish I'd never had before but have really come to enjoy: cold soba noodles you dip in a sauce. M ordered this tempura squid side dish which I ended up absolutely loving despite always having had reservations about squid in the past

Konbini bento boxes - the fried chicken/rice one was particularly good :D

Noteworthy mentions:

Shopping in Shibuya - it's worth traversing around 109 just to have a look.

Pokemon Centres - by the end of week 1 we'd already hit up a few

Cat Cafes - same here lol

Atami - a seaside town 40 minutes away from Tokyo by bullet train, where we went to the plum blossom garden

It's possible I front-loaded week 1 a little too much, but it ended up being so, so much fun - even if incredibly exhausting lol. By week 2 I was already feeling like I had eaten too much...!

A few things I took note of -

Japan is just so convenient. Everything this country does is to aid in helping make people's lives a little bit easier; diametrically opposed to England in that sense...! Having convenience stores literally everywhere really is so convenient, and the vending machines as well. There are drug stores on every corner, Starbucks on every other corner.. you could come to Japan with your passport and phone and immediately be within 5 minutes of everything you could possibly need.

On the flip side, they're obsessed with 1 ply toilet paper??? I get it, conservation etc, but if you're gonna go hard on conservation efforts, cut down on the plastic, Japan, not the toilet paper lol

Getting around takes time. Even if a train journey only takes 5 minutes, walking around the massive stations will take 10, and if you're outside, you've got to wait ages for traffic lights to change..!!! This was true everywhere I went, not just the metropolis that is Tokyo. Maybe it's different further out from the cities though.

Oh, and jingles. Jingles everywhere. I love them :')

Week 2 next!

[silverloke]

sooo i've had some feverish dreams where i'm still back in Rhodos and chillaxing by the pool and when i wake up i don't even recognise i'm in my own home. My mom actually called me this morning and i was convinced it was for her to get me out of bed so i'd have time to get ready before checking out.

i mean.... 🤣🤣🤣😅

the only solution to this problem is by going on beach vacation more often. 👍

tbf i've only done it in 2005 (all other trips out of the country since then was to 1) see 30stm in uk a few times 2008/9, 2) a weekend in rome in 2018 = no chillaxing, 3) a daytrip to oslo), like no wonder my brain isn't used to being in heaven and then back to awful reality. i want to plan for a xmas getaway already!

[occupied-retirement]

It’s Been A Long Time Coming to write this blog (2018)

I started this blog back in 2012, not too long after I retired from what I thought was my last paid organizing job and before a trip I was about to take to Spain.  Since then, I’ve managed to contribute absolutely no blog posts to this page and life sure has taken me in a lot of directions I couldn’t have predicted when I wrote that post about Spain and the Spanish Civil War back in 2012.

So to catch up a little on my retirement life, I’ll start with 2018 and then work backwards a bit later to share in this blog what has led up to this year of my participation in a bunch of iconic happenings in a number of countries I visited.  I’m going to write about organizing work, politics and the difficulties of living in the USA under Trump in a separate post. This one is going to focus on the lighter side of life and the serendipitous set of iconic events I was excited to participate in this year.

I’ve been living in between San Salvador, El Salvador more than half of each year and Salem, OR since the summer of 2012, and this year I left El Salvador in March after volunteering for the fourth time to help out with a delegation of international observers to watch the disastrous congressional and municipal elections with the right regaining power in the National Assembly and many of the departments and municipalities, following somewhat in the same path as the 2016 election of our president in the USA.

Earlier in the year I agreed to accept a 16 month long, three quarter time job coordinating a new organizing fellowship program with the Rural Organizing Project in Oregon.  More on this later as it is partly in response to the DJT election and other political events taking place in the USA.

But, I had already planned a big two-month long journey/vacation before I accepted the job and so on April 13th, I flew to Miami, met up with my friend and former co-worker Ann, and we boarded a cruise ship for a trans-Atlantic crossing which would take us to Southampton, England, then for a short round trip over to Le Havre, France, then for another week-long round trip up to the Fjords in Norway – linking a 15 day cruise, a short 3 day party cruise, and a 7 day scenic Fjords cruise together for us on one ship.  After that, I’d leave Ann and walk over to the train station in Southampton and take a train to Cardiff to join my brother at an apartment we rented for six weeks in Cardiff Centre across the street from the Millennium Stadium and the Cardiff Arms Park – my second time spending extended time in Cardiff since my retirement and my fourth visit to Wales.  The plan was to spend time in Wales, visit with my cousin and her husband who live in Carmarthenshire, enjoy hanging out in the city and countryside , and after Bob’s partner Jan joined us, fly up to Iceland to meet up with friends Lorene and Jess from Oregon and spend another week there – partly in Reykjavik and partly out in western Iceland at the home of lifelong Icelandic friends of Lorene. And all of that happened.  But along the way all of this did too:

When the ship docked in Portugal on the route to Southampton it was Independence Day – a chance to celebrate the fall of the fascist dictatorship called the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1975 and to talk about it with the locals and wander the city on a festive day. It was also an opportunity to reflect on how long it takes to break the chains after a country is taken over by right-wing dictatorial regime.

In Cardiff – the Cardiff Bluebirds, the city’s football club (AKA soccer), had recently been moved up into the premier league.  Many people were sporting their Visit Malaysia shirts (who knew what that meant? Not me.  Found out the owner of the team is Malaysian and the shirts were a premium at a game).  We were in town for the big parade to celebrate the team – and the rally in front of Cardiff Castle.

Then – what else was happening in the UK while we were there?  Well – the royal wedding of course.  Wedding mania – the BBC and the BBC Wales were solid wedding coverage and there were a lot of other weddings going on in that month too – so many hen and stag parties in Cardiff Centre!  Beyonce and Jay Z showed up while we were there too for a big stadium concert that brought a huge crowd to the city too.

And then…..the 100th Anniversary of the first women (and working class men) getting the right to vote in England in 1918 (not all women I have to add here – a lot of misinformation about the facts of this) – but it was a significant breakthrough.  So – in all four of the capital cities of the UK (London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast) there were huge women’s marches sporting the colors of the original suffragettes – purple, green and white – and Jan and I marched with 10,000 Welsh women while Bob took photos. Men were not allowed in the march.

And then….off to the Republic of Ireland.  This was not part of my original plan but through my friend Brooke who I am connected to through election work in El Salvador, I was connected to a Canadian woman organizing an observation of the vote to liberalize abortion laws in Ireland. Since I was already in Cardiff and she knew the travel costs would be minimal she asked me if I’d like to participate and since I have worked on abortion rights in the USA of course I was interested. She connected me with Sherrida, amazing new Welsh friend, who picked me up in Cardiff and drove us to Pembrokeshire to take the ferry to Ireland and introduced me to several historic sites there – a short vacation ahead of the delegation that included Glendalough and the fabulous Newgrange.  I then got to spend some time in downtown Dublin, several days with a retired teacher in South Dublin and a day observing the vote in 10 schools in her area (8 Catholic, one Muslim, one denominational – all publicly funded) and then observing the count in South Dublin as well.  It was a historic vote – 65-35 countrywide to approve legalization of abortion! After our debrief session and a bit of a tour of downtown Dublin with Margaret, we took the ferry back from Dublin to Holyhead and I had a chance to see even more of the northern part of Wales and the mountainous areas of Snowdonia National Park.  The abortion vote in Ireland, and their previous votes on approving divorce and gay marriage, were thought-provoking as well.  It is much harder for the right-wing to continue to fight back against a resounding democratic vote than a court decision like we have had in the USA on both gay marriage and abortion. It was also interesting to hear that the majority of the anti-abortion funding came from USA sources.

Then on to Iceland for the last of the iconic happenings I experienced across the pond. Our third day in Iceland was the day of Iceland’s first game ever in the World Cup of Football (AKA soccer) and the entire country (or so it seemed) turned out to watch it on big screen TVs outside in rainy downtown Reykjavik.  Since Iceland has only about 350,000 people and Argentina has about 55 million, it hardly seemed like a fair match up but Iceland held their own and it ended in a tie which definitely felt like a victory!

Since returning from that trip, we’ve had midterm elections in the USA and in Oregon we beat back four bad ballot initiatives including anti-immigrant, anti-choice and anti-tax ones and gained seats in our State House and Senate, re-elected our female Governor, elected the first African-American woman to the Portland City Council and had some other local victories so there is hope that changes can take place in the nation too. 

I don’t expect 2019 to be quite as exciting for me personally as 2018 was – at least for someone who loves traveling as much as I do, but I am going to travel across one major threshold in 2019 – I’m going to reach the age of 70.  Ojala!