#so now whenever random blogs have me blocked and smaller blogs i follow are in theesame bubbles im like :x

[superchat]

why do random blogs i dont ever interact with have me blocked

[cerberusthenking3]

A Dragons Refuge In Frost

This story is for random-vore-blog and using their OC Titanus Thiro Gengo

Warning:This story contains soft,safe,half-size vore,fearplay,unwilling pred,aftercare

Gengo POV.

I glance at the giant ape who drags me by my wing and I weakly attempt to charge my laser but he just swats my head with the back of his hand and the already weak yellow blast sputters out.He approaches a large lava waterfall and roars at a few other great apes and they throw a few boulders in front of a lava waterfall which splits and I see a cave behind it as he raises a large whip with a crystal at the end and I hear a loud roar shake the earth and the other great apes run as fast as they can away from the opening.I'm shoved towards the cave and a giant white titan with bone chains wrapped around its neck.It looks at me and says"Oh,hello"In a very pained tone but with a gentle undertone and a soft look on a very strained face when the Great ape says"Ice beast,eat this intruder”before holding his whip up at her and she looks at me in horror before jerking her head down and snarling in pain and I scramble back to my feet and open my wings to get as far from the titan as possible but the moment they are fully open I feel a sharp pain lash though my left wing and I turn to see the tip of the whip going straight through the membrane and tearing down my wing for at least twenty meters.I turn and see the giant titan walking towards me and softly saying"I'm sorry,I'm so sorry"I turn to run but realize that the great apes are blocking the path and I feel a long scaly appendage wrapping around me and turn to see her tail around my midsection.She lift me into the air as I flail and begin charging another laser but am cute off as she flicks my mouth shut with her tail and fear seeps over my body and I begin slowly shrinking down as the tail tightens to match the smaller size that I have reached and she look at me with interest when she jerks over from pain and looks at me as I feel tears welling up in my eyes"P-please don't"I say in a shakey tone.She stares at me and I see tears appearing at the corners of her eyes but another pained expression appears on her face and she opens her mouth and a strange blue glow emanates from inside of her.She gently places my head onto her tongue and I feel cold breaths flowing over my body with a shiver as I burst out struggling and hear her whimper in pain but she continues pulling more of my torso into her maw and my head reaches her throat,punctuated with a deep swallow.Tears stream down my muzzle and I try to open my wings to make myself impossible to swallow when she simply opens her mouth wider to take the wings in and only now do I realize how much smaller I've turned.She easily swallows me down and I bring my wings closer to myself to stop them from being broken.She swallows heavily one last time and I'm pushed fully into her throat.

Shimo POV.

I sadly swallow down the last of the dragon-like titan and send her down into my crop.The horrible ape points the whip back to my cave and I walk back in with a small jolt of pain.The lava closes behind me so I listen carefully for the ape to leave before looking down to my chest and saying"He's horrible isn't he?”I hear a shaky voice say"P-please,d-dont kill m-me”I rub where my crop is and say"Don't worry,I can't digest anything in my crop,it's not even a stomach but the act of swallowing was technically following his order,you're okay"I hear them sigh in huge relief before saying"Can you let me out now,please?”I give a sad growl and say"No,sorry,he'll kill you if he sees you again,I'm sorry but I'm not gonna let you out,yet”I feel them roll over and say"W-when will you let me out?”I softly say"Whenever I can little one,whenever I can"I squeeze my crop around her softly before laying back down and let myself drift off to sleep.

Two years later

I reel back in pain as the giant lizard titan slams into me and knocks me against a building when I notice a smaller ape slamming the ax into the horrible crystal and I watch in wonder as it shatters.The lizard titan says"Well,are you gonna take revenge,you have a chance now?”I turn and realization spreads over my face as the ape yells”KILL THEM!”At me.I open my mouth as blue light begins filling my mouth and I fire at him,striking him straight in the chest,freezing him solid.The bigger ape steps towards the frozen one and stares at him for a moment before lashing out and shattering him into pieces.I turn to the sky again and say"Oh,oh no,the ice age,it's starting"The lizard-like titan aims into the sky and another one of his lasers begins charging and he fires it straight up,splitting the ice storm.I feel a tired movement in my crop,turning to the water I tread out and easily stride over the rapidly freezing water and after a few minutes of running I arrive at an abandoned island.I lean forwards and open my mouth widely before tightening the crop and pushing Gengo up.They slide up my throat and I open my mouth before gently laying them at my feet and happily wait for them to wake up.

Gengo POV.

My eyes open slowly as I roll onto my back in the……warm sand.I look up and cover my my eyes from the light,what happened?I blink for a good five minutes before my eyes adjust to light again and turn back to see Shimo standing there with a happy smile and I question"Is he…….?”She nods excitedly and say"We’re free now my friend,we're free"I charge at her and wrap my wings around her as best I can in a hug.I have already returned back to my normal size long ago but it feels so nice to finally stretch my wings out again.She uses one leg to hug me to her chest and purrs happily"I forgot what you looked like,it's been so long since you've been out"She happily says.I respond with"Me too,but now we can finally see each other"She smiles at me before looking down and stopping for a moment before looking up with a slightly forced smile and I say"What's wrong Shimo,I thought you'd be happier for our freedom?”She looks at me and I see small crystals falling from her eyes before she says"A-are you going to leave now?”In a clearly upset tone.I stare at her in shock before saying"You protected me from that monsters cruelty for years,comforted me during rougher days no matter how horrible I was to you,you know me better than anyone and I think that I know you as well,I don't think I could leave if I wanted to"She holds her front legs out to me and I walk up to hug her.She lets me go before slamming her legs into the ground and says"How about we play something,hide and seek,I win and we get more cuddle time,what do you want if you win?”I think for a second and say"I don't know but I'll think about it"She look up and says"You have two minutes,go hide"I run off onto the island as I quickly shrink down and slip into a cave so small that there is no way Shimo will even see it.

Shimo POV.

One hundred and eighteen,one hundred and nineteen,one hundred and twenty.I open my eyes and yell"READY OR NOT,HERE I COME"I walk through the dense forest and notice a small golden glow under coming from a cave I never would have noticed.I walk over to the cave and lean down to see them staring at me.I smile and step back as they crawl out and I lick over the entirety of their body.I use my tongue to pull her head into my and get saliva all over her as she pulls back and shakes it off onto my face.I pull back in disgust but lay down and say"I win,now we cuddle"They roll their eyes but lay against my stomach and I curl up around my little friend.I notice how she leans into my touch despite how she finally has a choice not too and realize how touchy of a person she is.I gently snuggle up to her when I hear a confused growl and look up before seeing the ape from earlier,I snap into a protective position and rapidly pull Gengo under me before snarling down at him.He quickly says"I'm not your enemy,just came to check on you,is that your friend"I begin slowly swaying my tail back and forth before saying"Yeah,what of it?’He nods before confusedly asking"Where were they?”I point down at my crop before saying"That ape tried to make me eat them,I didn't kill them"I lower myself and wrap around Gengo again.The ape turns to walk away and I wave at him as he enters the water,leaving for wherever.I look down at Gengo and say"I'm going to find us a new home,hope you don't mind being stored until then"They shake their head and I open my maw before gently slipping their head into my mouth,swallowing them down gently and reaching halfway down their body,where they carefully pull their wings around themselves.I quickly finish swallowing before approaching the water,which freezes under me.I rub my crop and say"Let's find us a good home,somewhere we can live and play,without interruption"I hear them jokingly say”How about the arctic"I laugh but quickly stop and say"Wait,maybe that will actually work?”She rubs the wall of my crop and says"Wherever you decide,I'm just along for the ride,my friend”

[inkedsevans]

seeing red. | solo

WHO: sam evans (with mentions of others)

WHAT: he should have expected this. sam runs into an old, unfriendly face.

WHEN: 2/8; evening.

WHERE: the maggie

WARNINGS: mentions of alcoholism; and also violence.

In hindsight, Sam realized maybe, he should have expected this. Perhaps not subconsciously, but part of him was at least prepared for the talk. After all, it was all anyone in Castleport ever fucking did. And growing up the son of the town’s most infamous bar owner (and notorious drunk), he was used to it. The looks, the whispers, the same snarky comments from the people who’d mock his father but still find their asses on The Maggie’s bar stools on any given night. 

And maybe, that was the reason he never got as angry as he could have, should have. Make no mistake; he was plenty angry at the overstepping and invasion of his family’s privacy. But these people would talk their shit while lining the tills though that was barely enough to keep his temper leashed. 

Until that blog interfered. Once again, putting his family’s business on blast for all the town to see...and for what. What was the reason for bringing the attention to his father’s whereabouts? Sam wasn’t sure what irritated him more. That it happened or that if it hadn’t, he wouldn’t have even known the name of the facility where his father was currently drying out. 

He’d discarded the paper with the information Quinn had given him, pushing it back towards her after their fight. And true to his word, he hadn’t mentioned his father to Stacy. He didn’t know if she’d gone to visit James, choosing instead to maintain his icy silence where their father was concerned. It wasn’t his money paying for this overpriced excursion and he wasn’t about to dig deeper. 

That attitude had obviously not been extended to the rest of Castleport. The antics of some anonymous asshole had once again put a spotlight on his family and their issues. The mean-spirited, callousness of it all called to mind the weirdness from last year. The pranks inflicted on him and others he knew. It wasn't completely off to think it was connected, the anonymity and hyper focus just as irritating as being locked in a freezing shed, but Sam couldn't connect the dots. 

Maybe the only thing it all had in common was his anger. It was harder to push aside now, though. The strain of it visible in the hunched line of broad shoulders and his jaw, clenched so tightly it gave him a headache. Hiding away wouldn't do. He couldn't do it; he had hours at the shop, clients to see and he was thankful the distance between Castleport and Portland was significant enough that he could work in relative peace, dodging looks and questions. 

It lasted until he reached The Maggie. 

The new bartender Natasha was a recent transplant to Castleport, from an even smaller town in upstate New York and Sam was glad to have her around. She was funny, good at her job, and Sam wouldn’t have to worry about replacing broken glasses. Really, all he needed to do was come in occasionally whenever office work was required. 

It could have waited until the next morning, when the bar was empty and he didn’t have to make small talk with anyone outside of the AM cleaning crew. But Sam told himself it was just a quick check-up. He parked around back and entered through the back exit, ignoring the sounds of clinking glasses and the din of voices that came from the bar. 

The office was spotless, everything in order, just the way his father had left it. At least there was some semblance of business as usual, the bar chugging along smoothly, even with the months-long absence of its owner. Marie, angel that she was, had even managed to take care of the liquor orders and the other business particulars, leaving Sam well and truly free for the evening. 

He turned to leave, this time going down the hallway, past the bathrooms and into the bar. It was packed, just like he figured. It was karaoke night and he could already see Wade, their usual MC gabbing on the microphone and getting the crowd hype in between the list of singers. 

Wild how even something like gossip wouldn’t stop people from coming in. Or maybe gossip was the reason, despite his very public opposition to it. He didn’t miss the furtive glances in his direction as he shouldered his way through the crowd to the bar. Sam barely acknowledged people with nothing more than a passing nod, unwilling to be drawn into a conversation that would no doubt bring up whatever that gossip rag had to spew. And he was nowhere near drunk enough for that. 

Not that he wanted to drink. Sometimes, he thought about it, being so bombed out of his mind that thinking was made impossible. But the idea of it, the visions of cleaning up his father’s messes, and the glassy-eyed stare of nothingness stopped him from ever going too far. He couldn’t remember the last time he was wasted. Buzzed, maybe. But getting past any point beyond that terrified him. He was already dealing with enough shit as it were, no need to add a drinking problem to the list. 

Thoughts swirling, he let them take a backseat when he approached the shiny bar top, greeting Natasha with a smile and nodding at Danny, the other evening bartender. He was a good guy, graduated two years behind Sam and coached little league baseball in his free time. 

Sam shrugged out of his leather jacket and leaned on the bar top at the very end, blocking any drunk random from coming around and into the employee area. Olive eyes scanned the room, taking note of the mood. It seemed no worse than usual, but the night was fairly young and everyone wasn’t as deep into their cups just yet. He winced as the opening notes of some stale classic rock song filled the space, followed by a voice that could only be described as ‘godawful’ singing the words off-key and loud, seemingly spurred on by the raucous cheers that rose up. 

Natasha dropped a beer in front of him with a sympathetic smile, and Sam figured his displeasure must have been evident if she was placating him with a pilsner peace offering. Long fingers gripped the tall glass, watching the white foam settle into the golden lager before he lifted it to his lips for a tiny sip. 

One beer, and then he was out. The day’s exhaustion and bullshit drama had worn him out and Sam was tired of being ‘on’. He was ready for a quiet night of sweats and clearing out his streaming queue. 

Twenty minutes and four singers later, he was still nursing his beer and surveying the action. As much as people eyed him, they seemed more interested in staring him down than actually approaching. And he wasn’t sure which annoyed him more. Being treated like some ticking time bomb, some sideshow spectacle to take it at a distance, as if his feelings were unimportant. Whatever. Soon as his beer was finished, he was leaving, anyway. He was still weighing the options of going out the back way or taking the less crowded route through the front door when the smell of sweat and cheap beer hit him suddenly. 

He glanced up, nose wrinkling slightly at the sight before him. Rick ‘The Stick’ Nelson. Former hockey captain at Castleport High and forever a jackass. Sam had never liked the guy, not since their days in youth hockey, when Rick had swiped Sam on the ice, nearly fracturing Sam’s wrist with his stick and Sam returned the favor by smashing Rick into the Plexiglas. 

Last he’d heard, Rick had been in some front office job with the Bruins, no doubt bought and paid for by his father, who owned several sports equipment stores in Maine. So it was a surprise to see him lingering around town, and hovering around Sam, no less. 

“‘Sup, Samantha” Rick offered, thin lip curling into a cocky grin as if he’d delivered the best joke ever. 

“Rick the Dick. Least that hasn’t changed. Nice to see you lost the mullet, though.” Sam shifted back slightly, needing to get away from the overwhelming smell of the other man’s cologne. “Why are you here? In my bar, and in my face.” 

“Just passing through, checking out some possible recruits. Can’t believe this shithole’s still open. Gotta be tough to keep the place running when the owner’s drinking half the profits.” Rick’s grin slipped into a sneer, one Sam knew so well when it came to a particular tax bracket in a town like Castleport. Those types who always enjoyed reminding everyone else just how beneath them they really were.

Sam turned, elbows resting atop the bar to keep him from clenching his fists as outwardly, he attempted a look of bored indifference. “Shouldn’t you be moving along? There’s no jockstraps you gotta collect back in Boston? The Bruins must miss their best errand boy.” 

Rick laughed, the sound of it chipped and hard like ice and it only stoked an ugly feeling in Sam. “Nice. You were always a funny guy. Guess you gotta be, balances out the fuck-up. But hey, I hear congrats are in order. The old man’s in rehab. What’s that, first time sober in a decade?” Sam felt the hand come down hard on his shoulder and the smell of Rick’s boozy breath hitting him hard as the other man leaned in. “Shit, Rock Harbor. Gotta draw a lot of shitty tattoos to make those payments.” 

“Get your fuckin’ hand off me.” Sam didn’t bother turning to face him. He knew baiting when he heard it, knew it wouldn’t take much more for him to react, and he wasn’t sure if he was more annoyed at Rick or himself. 

Nah, it was definitely at Rick. 

He could see the look of concern that Natasha sent his way but he brushed it off with a minute shake of his head. He wasn’t going to drag anyone else into this shit. Rick was looking to be an asshole, and Sam didn’t want to play that game. 

He jerked out of the other man’s hold, his elbow clipping Rick’s bottle of beer and Sam winced when it slipped and dropped to the floor, smashing in a mess of glass and beer. 

“What the fuck, man!” Rick sputtered, loudly, drawing the attention of a few people sitting around. “It was just a joke, no need to smash my drink.” 

“That was all you,” Sam replied simply. He was in no mood for the show Rick was clearly gearing up for, especially as more people seemed to be paying attention. “You talked your shit and now your drink’s gone. Time to call it a night.” 

That didn’t sit well with Rick. His face, as ruddy as his rust-colored hair, contorted with anger and he glanced around at the growing audience before replying, raising his voice dramatically. “That’s how you treat a paying customer? Shit, everyone in here knows you need the money. Your daddy’s rehab bill ain’t gonna pay itself.” 

There was an audible gasp at that, and Sam exhaled, slowly. The ugly feeling rose, churning hotly in his gut and he could feel the twitch in his fingers. It grew watching Rick, who now that he’d gotten some attention, decided to kick it up a notch. He pulled out his wallet and tossed some bills in Sam’s face, the crowd’s reaction louder as the bills fluttered to the floor. 

“Better pick those up, Evans. That’s at least three therapy sessions for your drunk ass father. Better yet…” More money followed, landing right on the others but not before clipping Sam in the collar and his fingers flexed before curling tightly. The nails dug into the flesh of his palms and his peridot eyes were hard and flat as Rick fixed him with that stupid fucking sneer. “That’s for you. Just in case. ‘Cause it’s obvious fuck-up runs in the family.” 

Sam didn’t even know when he reached for the other man. But it was only when he felt that first punch connect with Rick’s cheek, and heard the exclamations did he realize what he’d done. 

It didn’t stop him, though. 

Something inside him snapped, the throb in his knuckles jolting him into the moment, focused and steeped in a hot fury that shook his hands but they were steady when he delivered another blow. It was so satisfying, seeing the blood, Rick’s lip already swelling before he managed to even hit Sam back. 

Sam barely registered the right hook to his eye, ignoring the pain of it and busied himself with busting Rick’s nose. The crunch of cartilage and Rick’s pained groans as Sam delivered another blow was the only sounds he could register, ignoring the way the music stopped and how people clamored out of their way, the noise of voices and shouts fading while he pummeled Rick, not even bothering to dodge the other man’s wild defensive swings. He didn’t feel anything, only that angry, ugly heat burning in his belly, letting his blows land hard and fast. 

Rick was on the ground when the bouncers finally managed to make it through the crowd to see what the commotion was about. Sam stood over him, chest heaving. He licked his lips, tasting the blood and the sting of an already swelling cut on his bottom lip and that only made him angrier. He watched the bouncers help Rick to his feet, cursing and swaying and Sam stepped forward,ready to bust him up again but was met with a hand to his shoulder from Kevin, one of the bouncers. 

He looked around, at the various reactions from the crowd. Stunned, impressed. Disgusted. 

Fuck them. 

Fuck this. 

“Get him outta here,” he told Kevin, who simply nodded and led the way while Rick shouted back at Sam, the words inaudible over the chatter of the crowd. 

Adrenaline pumped through him, his hands shaking with it as he grabbed his jacket from the bar top, not even bothering to look back at the bartenders as he stepped over the small pile of bills on the floor and moved toward the back door, finding it easier to get through the crowd with nearly everyone giving him a wide berth. 

He made it to his truck out back, and slid inside, the tremble in his hands still going strong, and the cold had done nothing to ease the hot anger roiling inside him. His gaze fell to his knuckles. Stinging and slightly bloody. Barely able to grip the steering wheel. Sam didn’t know how long he sat there, waiting for the shivery feeling to leave him before he finally pulled away and drove towards home.

[room93-sl]

Second Life Guide for Beginners Part 1 : Firestorm

FYI these post will not be in any particular order honestly. Very random.

Sorry for the lateness.

Firestorm is a Viewer used to access the Second Life grid and is one of the most common viewer for SL. 

Click Hoe to download Firestorm. Click on your operating system and follow their instructions.

PART I In-world

 Movement Controls

 You can move using the arrows keys on your keyboard. Up and down arrows moves back and forth. And the Left and right arrows rotates. For whatever reason you want to Jump you would use the Page Up button.

Toolbar

(Customizable as well)

 1.       Nearby Chat & Chat Bar – This is for chatting with people. You click on nearby chat and a dialogue box would appear and you can see what people write to you and you can also chat with other.

2.       Conversation – This button allows you to open and close the chat box. Also allows you to see private messages people send.

3.       The microphone – the microphone always you to speak to people with people instead of typing if you prefer. Only works if you have a microphone on laptop/ webcam or if you have headphones with a microphone attached to it. I would suggest headphones with a mic because the person listening to you won’t hear an echo.

4.       The headphone button – This is for seeing who around you talking and also allows you to edit the volume on mics as well as your own. Also lets you mute peoples mute so you don’t have to listen to them, but they can still hear you if you’re speaking on mic.

5.       The Eye button – This button lets you see from different views. I personally allows have this button on because it good for taking pictures. It is also self explanatory just click on the different views to see how they look. Now the object view which is the 4th button, this allows you to zoom in. you can also bring up this view without clicking it by pressing the alt on your keyboard and click around (idk what it is on Mac I say Google it. LOL). If you happen to click on Mouselook view and don’t know how to get out just press the ESC button on your keyboard.

6.       The Moving Controls – you can also move with this button but its easier for you to move with arrows. It’s also self explanatory click through the buttons. You can also fly.

7.       The Pose stand button – This is for editing your Avatar whatever (facial, body, etc). Instead of having an AO (will explain later) it would temporarily disable it to have it pose in whatever pose you choose. Posing balls are also useful.

8.       People button – This button has 6 categories: Nearby, Friends, Groups, Recent, Block, and Contact Sets. Nearby tab lets you know the people in the same area as you. The Friends tab is a list of people who you added or added you. To add someone you can open their profile by right clicking on their Avi and click on “Add Friend” or go to the nearby tab, right click on their name and click “add friend”. Groups tab is to see what groups you have been invited to or just joined. Many creators have groups that they create to let users know of new release, gift and etc (they usually have signs in-world that you simply click and you join their group). You can also create group by clicking the + sign.

9.       The Appearance Buttons – This button allows you know the things your avatar is currently wearing, making outfits, and editing what you currently have on. This also allows you to edit your facial feature and also body. Mostly everyone on SL uses Mesh Body/Head (will explain further). You can edit body/ face by clicking on avatar click on Appearance>Edit Shape. You can make an outfit by clicking on the Wearing tab go down and click on Save As. That you can save a favorite outfit and put it on whenever you please.

10.   Search – This button allows you to search anything you want. You can search anything from people, places, events, creator’s stores, groups and etc. Also pretty self explanatory.

11.   World Map – Also pretty self explanatory and also similar to the nearby tab in the People button. Read the Legend it will help. I only use to copy the Landmark of a place for blogging or teleporting.

12.   Mini Map – Smaller version of the World Map. I personally do not use.

13.   Snapshot – This button allows you take pictures and save you a folder of your choosing. You can save it to different places such as Disk (which would same to a folder of your choosing), To inventory (which will appear in Photo Album and will charge you 10L), Facebook, Twitter and etc. After you choose where you want to save it follow the instructions they give. When saving on Disk, you can choose the dimension of the picture depending on the resolution of your computer. If your dimensions are too high for your computer to handle, Firestorm will crash! So check your computer specs.

14.   Inventory – Okay so this buttons is where all of the things you receive or buy will be stored. Your animation, clothes, body shapes, Landmarks, and etc. There are 3 tabs in the Inventory window: Inventory, Recent and Worn. Inventory is everything and some are already categorized. I suggest making folders for the items you buy (such as Top, Bottoms, Hair, Shoes and etc) because it will keep you inventory more organized. Recent tabs is allows you to easily find the things you have recently brought. They usually disappear from recent tab after time but can still be found using the search bar in the window (click on Inventory tab first then search). Worn tab basically lets you know what you currently have on your avatar. You can also take off an item by double clicking on the folder with the name of the items (keep clicking until you reach bold lettering). Then right on the bold lettering, a small list should appear click “detach from yourself.” Another way you can right click on the folder and choose “Remove from Current Outfit” and this removes everything from the folder that your currently have on, off.

15.   AO – AO also know as Animation Overrider which basically overrides how your avatar stands, sits, walks and etc. You can make your own AO and also buy your own from creators who make Animations. You can also customize it to your liking from pose packs you buy.

Now if theres a button you would like on your toolbar that isn’t there you simply right click on toolbar and click on “Toolbar buttons”. Choose the button you want and drag onto the toolbar.

Lindens

Second Life has its own economy and a virtual token referred to as Linden Dollars. Lindens allow you to buy everything from Backdrops to a hairstyle. You must purchase Lindens with real Dollars in order to purchase anything in-world. You can also exchange your lindens for actual money!

As of right now the lowest amount of lindens you can purchase is $2.50 USD which is 622ls. There are 2 ways to purchase lindens.

Before you are allowed to buy lindens you must have a Debit/ Credit card or PayPal linked to the account.

To link one a payment option first you go to Secondlife.com.

Account > Billing Information > Click the payment option of your choosing.

 Disclaimer:  Please don’t use someone else’s payment option without their permission. Also do not commit fraud because if Linden Labs finds out you can lose your account and/or become banned from using Second Life at all.

 How to Purchase Lindens

1.       A. Way One

·         Load Second life Home page (secondlife.com)

·         Look for Linden exchange then click Buy L$

·         Then it will take you to the buy page. You can either buy a certain amount of Lindens or buy a certain money worth of lindens.

·         After you decide that you click place order and it will ask for Password to reassure it’s you on your account. So enter Password and pressing continue.

·         Choose you payment (Paypal or Debit/Credit)

·         Press the button and you should receive your money right away

2.       B. On the Viewer

·         Top Right on the Firestorm Viewer where it says BUY L$. Choose amount and Click Buy Now.

Well that’s enough for today. If you have any questions or concern, please don’t hesitate to message me. I answer any and all questions. 

Besos ;}

[smoldinopup]

Jonghyun - The Letter - 2017.06.14 - Fan account

Epic Fan Account of Doom…or Fluffiness (but that sounds less cool)

People who follow my blog attentively might know that I flew to Seoul on Monday to see Jonghyun in concert on June 14, because I only mentioned it like 14142112313 times on here. This trip went as smoothly as room tempered butter on a piece of toast. Pics and a video of my trip and some fun facts can soon be found on my travel blog, but no one cares about that now, right?

Let’s get to the actual content of this post *whips out her non-existent kazoo to play a song*

@krge @gone-with-the-bling, because you two wanted to read it! ^^

I went to SM Town at noon to buy some merchandise. I had typed down everything I wanted on my phone to make things easier for me as well as the staff working at the merchandise stand. When I arrived shortly before 12 around 30 people were already waiting in line (or more like sitting on the floor). Luckily they played Jonghyun and SHINee videos throughout the waiting time on some huge screen, so the time until 1pm passed really quickly. 

It was my turn after only 10 minutes, but by then the kazoo was already sold out, which still shocks me. Not every person in front of me bought one so I’m still wondering how many SM actually sold? 15? I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that they only sold a handful of kazoos. I already read several fan accounts that they were quite short on some of the merchandise in general, but I thought it would get better in week four. Apparently not…I’m still meeh about it, because the kazoo was the one thing I looked forward to the most. Anyway, I got my merchandise (I went a little wild *coughs*. Random side note, the T-shirt is such good quality! I’m in awe and will never take it off again! Especially compared to those flimsy T-Shirts with that ridiculous sizing they had for the FIVE tour in Japan, Jonghyun’s T-shirt can only win.) 

Left side: Jonghyun’s T-shirt (free size) Right side: SHINee’s FIVE T-shirt (size S). The thing with the FIVE T-shirts, before you wash them the print looks beautiful because it’s holographic. After washing it this effect is gone. The material is also much thinner than the one they used for the Jonghyun T-shirt, and the sizing was ridiculous. Those T-shirts were super short as you can see in the photo, but super wide (it’s like a crop trop in a way) I don’t even know how Minho wore that T-shirt with his long upper body. Jonghyun’s T-shirt on the other hand... I mean you want to wrap yourself up in it and pull it down to your knees (which I can’t, because I’m too tall, but smaller people can wear it as a dress, which is adorable). They were produced in different countries, which might be a reason for the difference in quality. I don’t know, but SM please produce your Japanese tour shirts somewhere else in future!

After taking photos with the shining babes at the photo booths (SM ships 2min and Jongkey…just saying) I went back to the SM merchandise shop to buy some more SHINee merchandise and then did some sightseeing around Seoul before coming back at 7pm for the actual concert that started at 8pm.

I sat in the left block in the third row, which was amazing, and I wish I had been able to stenograph during this whole concert to capture all the details as soon as they happened like

[Jonghyun perked his eyebrow | Dead | He just growled | Deader | He smiled | Deadest]

But yeah, that didn’t happen. So please bear with me, I try to write it down as accurately as I can remember it, but like I already mentioned in my ‘fan accounts’ for the SHINee concerts I’m only human (an old one on top of that) and I can’t possibly remember everything (even if it breaks my heart). So please be aware that the following passages will be filled with a lot of cringe worthy love that I feel for this adorable human being. 

You have been warned! 

So, grab a snack, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the ride. I should just write this like a fan fiction…lmao (maybe not)

The opening VCR was him riding in a car and then walking along the beach. The presentation of the video was so nicely done, because they switched screens from left, to middle, to right as Jonghyun walked along the beach, so the audience basically followed him in his steps. He also looked astonishingly beautiful in that VCR, but let’s be real…when doesn’t he look astonishingly beautiful. The VCR was shot together with the video to ‘Lonely’, because the beach and the outfit he wore were the same as in the music video.

We stood up for the opening songs, which is always nice of course, but also made me very uncomfortable, because I was a head taller than anyone else in my block, and I constantly worried that people behind me might not be able to see the stage that well. Sorry people who sat behind me, I can’t do anything about my height T_T. Like I mentioned above I was sitting in row three, but I forgot my glasses at the hostel and therefore Jonghyun was still a little fuzzy around the edges, and I naturally tilted my head to look at the screen from time to time (force of habit…which I acquired during the Japanese concerts). 

Jonghyun wore a white T-shirt instead of the red one for the opening stage. Something like one, two, three Seoul Youth was written on it. But I’m not completely sure if that’s completely accurate, so don’t nail me down on it. 

Just like the red T-Shirt he sleeves of the white one had been generously cut off. However, I sat on the wrong side and only caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his ribs. Pity! But better than the T-shirt were those jeans! His jeans were torn in all the right places and whenever his legs moved one could see the muscles nicely contract in his thighs (is that too detailed, I wonder?) Anyway, I can attest that the boy got some booty and thighs now (@every-person-who-has-an-url-talking-about-jjongs-non-existent-butt-might-consider-an-url-change). I have to admit that I spent the majority of the first three songs with looking at his thighs and butt. I’m sorry, Jonghyun. Please forgive me my rudeness! I’m just not used to seeing you having an actual booty.

There were dancers accompanying Jonghyun for a lot of the songs again. Though, while I thought they are a nice touch during the X-Inspiration concert, they often felt like too much for this concert series, and to me it didn’t feel like they added much to the performances. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m sure others loved the dancers. As I mentioned in my “I’m screaming into the void, but I have to scream anyway post” right after the concert, Jonghyun came to the left side of the stage in the beginning of ‘White T-Shirt’ and pointed into my direction while saying ‘You’re so rock n roll’. He could have also pointed at all of us, but let me have this one little moment of fangirl love and let’s all assume he did point at me, because I stood out the most in a lot of ways, and yes, I’m more rock n roll than even Mr. Kim will probably ever be, so it would have been very fitting. (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ lmao

So, that being said I was totally overwhelmed by all the fan chants. I mean sometimes I love doing them, but at other times it feels suffocating and too much, like I’m part of some Army? I have the Japanese SHINee fan chants down perfectly. You can wake me up in the middle of the night, play me a random Japanese SHINee song and I will do every fan chant perfectly (including synchronized fan light movements). I’m also quite confident in doing the Korean ones, but most of the Jonghyun ones just exhausted me. I can’t even remember if we did all of them in December? December is still such a blur. It’s a pity that I didn’t write everything down back then, because my brain is weak and so was my heart. Anyway, it took me a few songs to get into the right fan chant groove.

When the VCR to Rewind played I was shocked to hear Jonghyun speak German. I was like O.O ??? What is this foreign but familiar sounding language doing here? Is he Lady Gaga? There was Spanish, and Japanese as well…I wonder how he came up with using German and Spanish from all existing languages. Did he open Google and ask ‘How to count in different languages’ and he thought those are the fancy sounding ones? Or did Jonghyun think ‘Roo’s ancestors were German, so let’s go with some Rammstein vibes’. Either way I’m still not over it. Kim Autobahn you can speak random German words to me all day. The video was just like the song title… very repetitive. Jonghyun did the same things again and again. But I believe by now most have seen the snippet of the VCR that was posted a while ago.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in ‘Suit Up’. It is one of my favorite songs on the album. The band was way too loud and overpowered the softness of Jonghyun’s voice while singing the beginning of this song. The audio technicians should have changed the volume of the microphone or something since it’s never a good thing if the band is louder than the singer. As of the performance of the song, Jonghyun was rolled inside on some arm chair by some pretty female dancers who tried to ‘seduce him?’ I’m not sure, but they also stripped him off his purple jacket and his tie later into the performance, so I guess we can call it the art of seducing Kim Jonghyun. But like I’ve mentioned earlier while I loved the dancers during the concert in December, I felt like they didn’t fit the mood for the letter series, but do you do Jonghyun or SM, whoever decided that it’s a good idea to include dancers. He wore a purple suit during this segment by the way. There was a fan account that stated that he looked slimmer, because the pants fitted looser around his thighs than they had done before. I agree with that account since the pants indeed were a little looser, but I’m not sure this had anything to do with weight loss. Is it possible to lose so much weight around one’s thighs in a mere week? I don’t know. I don’t know. It also doesn’t matter…he looks beautiful no matter the shape or size! So, let’s move on.

‘Staring into Space’ was absolutely adorable, but I didn’t expect anything else, just watching him put on the robe and the little bed cap made everyone in the audience squeal in delight and him smile shyly in return. He knows he looks adorable in that outfit, but he still always acts surprised when the audience is more excited about him dressing up in cutesy outfits than seeing him undress himself. Anyway, the props for this performance stood on the left side of the stage. Some boxes, some lights, something he could sit/lie on. I’m not sure what it was exactly, something like a bench covered in pillows and a blanket? At first he only sat on it while singing, and I was already like…boooohh everyone said how adorable you get during this performance, don’t disappoint me now! As if he had heard my thoughts he lay down with that little dog plushie (that wore some polka dotted hoodie) and pulled down the sleeping mask, and then playfully tugged the mask down on one side so only one eye peeked out. You can imagine the squeals coming from all sides. He continued with pulling the other side down as well so his nose and his mouth were basically covered by the sleeping mask. It looked adorable. He’s such an adorable human being and he’s very aware of that. After the performance ended he got up to take the robe off and he was quite amused by the disappointed reaction of the audience, because everyone wanted to see him continuing the concert in that outfit. It’s definitely a look! Next SHINee comeback should include sleeping masks and robes.

For ‘Blinking Game’ some fancy looking lights were lowered onto the stage behind Jonghyun, and the scenery gave off the atmosphere of some fancy jazz club, and one only waited for a contrabass to start playing.

We used the hand bells for ‘Gloomy Clock’, and Jonghyun had a lot of fun altering the rhythm randomly to confuse the audience. Sometimes he really does act like a little kid, having the most fun by bringing mischief to the stage. But it shows how much he enjoys performing, and seeing him have so much fun, makes one’s heart feel really warm and fuzzy.

I’m quite sad that the talk segments were basically me sitting around and having no idea what Jonghyun was talking about. That’s what I personally like about the Japanese concerts, because there I understand most of the things they say, which is quite nice. But yeah, it’s not their fault that I don’t speak Korean. Anyway, before the cockroach song he looked for a couple again (apparently there was none…or no one wanted to out themselves) so he picked out some girl who had been single for a very long time. I only understood a few words, and tried to figure out the content of their conversation by clutching onto every straw that was thrown, and after that one fan account I was surprised to realize that I wasn’t that off with my speculations. It was really fun listening to their conversation, because that girl was very fierce (I loved her since she was not shy to voice her opinion) and ranted so much that she apologized several times when Jonghyun got all ㅎㅅㅎ--- O_O--- :’D and wondered why she sounded like she was mad at him. It was adorable. She mentioned Minho at some point, but I’m not sure what she said. Did she refer to him as her ideal type? I don’t know. 

The cockroach song was awesome live, and the animation of the cockroaches were so adorable! Especially when one cockroach was sitting on Jonghyun’s head. He got all embarrassed when he saw himself on the screen with that cockroach head on his, and started laughing. Speaking of little, embarrassed Jonghyun. He also got very shy when all the fans excitedly waved their fan lights around when he sung the now infamous lyrics of ‘Where are you?” You know the drill. It was amusing. But what else did he expect the reaction of fans to be when he wrote those lyrics? Probably no one is going to look at him in disgust when he sings ‘Where is the person who is going to kiss me?’ Are there any fan accounts about what Minho did during this part when he attended the concert yesterday? I expect Choi to jump up from his seat and point at himself!

The second girl he talked to was one of the people who sent in letters. I have absolutely no idea what the conversation was about, but she was very shy and said annyeonghaseyo very, very awkwardly and shyly and also sounded slightly bored on top of it (an interesting mix), which Jonghyun apparently found quite amusing and mimicked the greeting in the same awkward manner and tone. We can conclude Jonghyun likes to play and tease the audience. In general I got the feeling that he really enjoys talking to the fans, listen to their stories, and give them advice. It felt like group therapy session with Doctor Kim. For the talk segments he walked around the stage and when reading the letters he sat in an arm chair in the middle of it. At some point he was wearing a huge white shirt with a wide collar and some pretty necklace. It was such a nice and dreamy outfit. Did I mention how beautiful his eye make-up was done? His eyes looked so pretty and shiny, and… *inserts all the hearts*.

The stages I feared the most were the ones starting off with ‘Let me out’. I really thought I would start crying him a river right then and there, but luckily that didn’t happen. The prop for this stage consisted of some cocoon looking 2m tall foldable wall that surrounded him, and he wore all black with a black corsage like binder around his waist. Let me tell you that corsage did things to his figure. I mean we all know he has a tiny waist, but that binder only emphasized that, which made his shoulders and arms look massive while it made his waist look even tinier. Especially when seen from the side with the light falling onto him he looked like some statute in a museum. I think this was my favorite outfit of the night, because he just looked very dark and mysterious, but also very soft and beautiful at the same time. This guy is just a contradiction, but what else is new.

Like some fan accounts already stated the performance to ‘Let me out’ is quite intense and Jonghyun puts his everything into it, but just like with ‘Suit up’ the band overpowered him during the quieter parts, which is a pity. I don’t know if this was a general problem and just no one mentioned it until now, because fans tend to throw all form of critic out of the window as soon as they are graced by his presence or if the concert I attended was an exception. Maybe they should have arranged those songs differently, because performing them live requires some special attention in my opinion so the haunting feeling of the music and lyrics get across to the audience.  After ‘Let me out’ Jonghyun pushed the cocoon open and continued with ‘Elevator’, one of my all-time favorite Jonghyun songs. It was very powerful and I sat in the audience with goosebumps.

The duets between Jonghyun and Shawols were beautiful. He should consider recording a song with a bunch of Shawols as duet partners in future. I especially liked the Shawol duet to ‘Love belt’, because it makes it easier to yell ‘I NEED YOU. I LOVE YOU…HOLD ME’ at Jonghyun without seeming like a crazy person. (/・・)ノ

The VCR before the encore seems to change every so often and while it was a rice brand Jonghyun advertised last week, he did some advertising for a drink this week. He tried to act as if he was seducing that bottle in his hand, and ran it along his face and so on. It looked hilarious. I laughed so hard. I live for funny VCRs. After the video ended everyone’s head suddenly turned to the entrance of the theater, and I was like ‘What is going on? Why is everyone turning their head around?’ I figured out why around ten seconds later when Jonghyun came down the aisle on the left side for ‘Deja Boo’ and everyone started screaming. Holy guacamole I wasn’t ready for seeing Jonghyun that close. I thanked all existing Gods on this planet that I sat in the left block so he passed me only a few feet away and came to a halt right in front of my block. HE’S SO TINY!!!! *USES ALL CAPSLOCK IN THE EXISTENCE OF CAPSLOCK* AND SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! Wow, I was so dumbfounded that I just stared at him like the weak fangirl I am. How do people survive fan signs? I mean yes, he’s just a normal human being, no need to put him on any pedestals (that’s 100% correct) but holy daisy…if he isn’t one of the most beautiful human beings I was able to lay my eyes on. His skin was glowing! If it had been me standing right in front of him in that first row I probably would have gaped at him without feeling any shame. He has just a very engaging aura. I mean it is one thing to see him up close on stage, but when he’s literally on eyelevel with you…oh my oh my…how do people manage to act all normal around him? Are they dying on the inside from all the tiny firework explosions and fan feels? Tell me your secrets survivors of the US fan meets!

Random anecdote: 10 years ago I met my back then favorite guitar player during a meet and greet and expected to die right then and there. However, I didn’t die and I carried a table with him instead and told him how tiny he is, which resulted in the singer laughing and saying ‘Well, what a nice compliment!’ Me being as smooth as a spiky cactus. So thinking about this fan girl episode of mine I probably would say something stupid instead of dying inside. But I matured, I wouldn’t call Jonghyun tiny to his face. I learned from this embarrassing episode that still haunts me at night sometimes.

The concert ended with ‘Fortune Cookie’ and ‘Beautiful tonight’. As always Jonghyun directed the audience during ‘Beautiful tonight’ and I looked at every kazoo around me in envy. I wanted to become a kazoo kid. I will forever be bitter about this. But I might just buy one from ebay and start my kazoo career anyway. No need for Jonghyun’s concert logo on this genius music instrument. I loved how he cherished every single person in the band accompanying him, and jammed along to every instrument. He played air bass guitar, it was so adorable and cute and I just wanted to pinch his cheeks and pat his head.

The ending of a concert always makes me feel very empty and this time was no different. As soon as Jonghyun left the stage I felt a wave of ‘So this was it. The final goodbye’. It’s always the worst part of a concert, because you just don’t want it to be over yet. The concert was a little over 2 hours, I believe, and everyone stormed out of the concert hall to wave Jonghyun goodbye at SM Town’s side entrance. When I arrived at SM Town that day I tried to figure out where all those ‘Arrival’ and ‘Departure’ photos had been taken, but I didn’t have to look long for it, because the entrance is right next to the actual entrance of SM Town. So, I followed the crowd and waited behind a barrier. I think at least half of the audience waited for him there, and most of them had their phones and cameras ready, already filming the door. Some of the girls even had little stools they could stand on so they could see the entrance better. He exited the building shortly after, waved into the crowd like usual and then disappeared into the waiting car. Nothing too dramatic…

It was a beautiful concert; very cozy and somehow very intimate. I for one belong to the group of people who prefer small venues, and I never understand why some fans have it as a goal to attend a Tokyo Dome concert at least once in their lives. I mean you do you, but it sounds more fun than it actually is. I already disliked the size of Saitama Super Arena with a little over 30.000 seats and I don’t want to imagine how a hall filled with over 50.000 must feel like. Yes, the ocean might look beautiful with 50.000, but it already looks beautiful with 500, so I don’t know what the big deal is…especially if you happen to only get a ticket on the fourth/fifth floor. But to each their own I guess. One needs to have a goal in life after all, and if it’s attending a SHINee concert, then that’s a really good one! So, you go Shawols! ^^

I should end this here, but I want to add a last note on the global packages. Last year I got a global package for the first X-Inspiration concert, because a) I didn’t know better b) his first concert was on my birthday and therefore I wanted to go there whatever the cost. As most of you know the global packages are very pricy to begin with, but in the case of the X-Inspiration concerts they also offered a lot in return, and you could choose the price category of the hotel. So after calculating everything, I thought, well the price is not too bad, and I still don’t regret buying that package, because it was a wonderful experience that I treasure a lot. However, this time the prices for the global packages were even higher, you couldn’t choose the price category, and they offered nothing at all except for the goodies. All I thought was ‘SM, what are you doing???’ This being said, if you have the money, just go for it, but if you are on a budget you might want to look around a little. There are trustworthy Korean sites which people use to resell their tickets and if you are lucky enough you might find a ticket to a reasonable price. The one I found was only 40$ more than the original price and was a seat in the third row, so I’m not complaining.

So, in conclusion: Did I have fun at the concert? Yes, I did! Was it enjoyable? Yes, definitely. Would I do it again? Oh yeah, anytime. There is just something about Jonghyun or SHINee as a whole group that makes me incredibly happy, and I’m very thankful that they never fail to put a smile onto my face.  ♡

Thank you! (♡＾▽＾♡)

[inquiringquilter]

Wednesday Wait Loss 157

Welcome to Wednesday Wait Loss, where you can share photos of the quilt projects you’re working on and get encouragement to finish them from our Wednesday Wait Loss group!

First let me tell you what I've been up to

Last week I worked on my challenge for January at work, which was to cut the panels for my Dragon quilt and add the borders.

Over the weekend I also worked on my February Island Batik challenge which will debut during the Log Cabin Blog Hop that starts next week. Be sure to come back on Monday for the hop schedule so you can visit each Ambassador, see the latest batiks, and enter their giveaways! My quilt will be made using the Jewel Box collection, arriving in stores soon!

On Monday, I shared my goals for February and reviewed how I did with my January goals. Not too bad, as you’ll learn when you read my post.

Well, that was my week!

Now let’s see who made this week’s feature

This week I’d like to focus on finished quilts and meeting goals.

First up is Jan @ Cocoa Quilts who finished this amazing stamp quilt top which was also her OMG (One Monthly Goal).

Next, Melva @ Melva Loves Scraps shared her Color Challenge quilt which is all finished!

Marti @ Plain Stitches finished her blocks from a 2005 BOM and is now considering layouts. Good job at finishing a long WIP! Marti also organized her goals for the week.

Andrea @ Mouse in My Pocket finished this lovely Baby Communique quilt. Love the bright colors!

Turid @ Den Syende Himmel completed her blocks for the Bea et Cecile quilt along for this month. Great job on meeting that goal!

Marsha @ Marsha’s Spot finished this lovely Color Challenge quilt top.

Karrin @ Karrin’s Crazy World finished a drEAMI quilt (Drop Everything and Make It), and made progress on several other projects. Way to go!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting also finished a drEAMI quilt just in time for Valentine’s. So sweet!

Pamela @ Pamela Quilts finished a smaller version of her lovely May Roses pattern in short order for a local quilt shop. Love those Island Batiks!

Gail @ Quilting Gail finished a drEAMI bag for her daughter. Lovely!

Deana @ Daughters of Dorinda sewed her memory blocks into a quilt top which was a goal for January. She also checked off several other items on her list. Way to go!

Celine @ Esprit Patch finished her Vintage Kitchen quilt top. So cute!

I’m so impressed with how many of you linked up finished projects and/or items on your monthly goals list. Kudos on getting things done!

Finally, I’d like to introduce Anorina @ Samelia’s Mum, who linked up these adorable improv placemats. Anorina is new to Wednesday Wait Loss, so drop by her blog and give her a nice welcome.

I’d also like to introduce Janine @ The Sweetest Dreams who shared this beautiful baby quilt! Janine is also new to Wednesday Wait Loss so be sure to drop by her blog and leave an encouraging comment.

Congratulations ladies!

Here's an I Was Featured badge for your blogs or to simply print out and wear with pride! Thank you for supporting my blog!

Important note about this week!

This year I’m making the first Wednesday Wait Loss linky of the month all about goals.

So take a photo of a project you’d like to work on and maybe finish this month and link it up! Then the rest of us will visit your blog/Facebook/Instagram and leave a comment encouraging you to finish. For those of you uploading a photo direct from your computer or phone, please leave a comment here explaining your project and we’ll leave a comment encouraging you to get ‘er done!

Each month at work, we choose a random number on our project list and do that project. This year, I’ve got 3 projects broken down into monthly tasks so I’ll be jumping around between these three projects as my “must do.” For February, I’m working on my Heartbeat quilt.

Remember!

By linking up, you give me permission to grab a photo or two to share here on Wednesday Wait Loss.

This linky is all about encouragement, so BE SURE TO LEAVE COMMENTS!

If you’re uploading a photo from your phone/computer,don’t forget to leave a comment below that explains your project. And for the rest of us, please reply to a few of these comments leaving words of encouragement for a quick finish.

Please link back to my post somewhere in your blog/Facebook/Instagram post. Use @inquiringquilter and #wedwaitloss to tag me.

I’m not sure how to link up!

Need help?

Here’s how to upload a photo from your phone or computer: Click the blue Add Link button. Click the blue Enter without link button. Type the name of your project and your name in the Caption box. Type an email address in the Email box. The Upload tab is highlighted on the left. If you’re on a computer, you can drag a photo into the area on the right. On your phone, click the Drop your image or click here link. Find your photo and select it, then click Open. Select the I agree to the InLinkz Terms of Service & Privacy Policy checkbox. Click Save.

Here’s how to upload a photo from your blog, Instagram, Flickr, or Facebook: First, if you’re using Facebook, upload the photo to your news stream. Make sure it’s Public. then click the photo so it’s enlarged. Copy the URL for the photo (if you’re on Facebook) or the URL for your post (for a blog, Instagram, or Flickr) and paste it into the Link box. Type the name of your project and your name in the Caption box. Type an email address in the Email box. The Blog tab is highlighted on the left and your image(s) appear on the right. Select one if needed. Select the I agree to the InLinkz Terms of Service & Privacy Policy checkbox. Click Save.

After you link up with a photo, you’ll be asked if you want to Follow me so you’ll know whenever I have a linky party! Since that’s the way I typically arrange my giveaways you might want to click Follow to be alerted.

You’ll also be asked if you want to share your photo and my linky party. I’d love for you to do that! Be sure to include the hashtag #wedwaitloss and #inquiringquilter.

Don’t be frustrated! If you can’t get linked up even after reading the instructions above simply send me your images via email and I’ll add them manually.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Tell me..what have you been Working on this week?

[whirofinvention-blog]

The Value of Compromising

Life gets really busy. Everyone experiences this past a certain age. Sure, the average 9 year old is probably just going to go to school and maybe to football, gymnastics or dance after school. In high school, you get a little busier. Your school work becomes more straining on your schedule and the extracurriculars can start to pile on. You get your first job and your first girlfriend/boyfriend and have even less free time. College can break either way. You may be busier than ever or you may be the kid who skips class unless it is mandatory for you to attend. Maybe you get really involved in a student union or are playing college sports. If you are like me, then a lot of your free time is going to be devoted to doing your essays last minute and going to random parties on Wednesday nights (my first two years of college were not a high point for my academic career, but that's a story for another time).

After all that time, school is finally done and you are free. Infinite free time to do whatever you want. You can stay home and play the newest Elder Scrolls game all day long or take that road trip you've always wanted to go on or even sit on your couch and make spicy new Magic brews for hours. Odds are, you will do none of this. Instead, you get a job where five days a week you are doing the same thing all the time. You will realize that sitting in a desk or at a cash register is not keeping you as in shape as you wanted to be so you have to get a gym membership. Don't forget that if you want to save money you have to make food at least a few nights a week. The time just slips away. This is where I am at. It seems like it is going to get worse before it gets better. There still is more responsibility to come. Whether it is parenthood or buying a house. Things don't really seem to settle down too much for most people.

In case it isn't obvious, this post is about how life can strain the amount of time you have available to do the things you like and some of the sacrifices you have to make. Now, the sacrifice I am going to talk about today is not exactly huge but is relevant to this blog.

Portland is the home to about 10 game stores, and I don't think there is a perfect game store among them. The issues cover the full spectrum you'd expect. Bad prices. Rude employees. Horrible owners. Small selection. A weird obsession with making every order be made via computer even if it is just one card. That's not to say that they are all bad. The ones with rude employees or bad prices tend to have the best selections. The worst selections have the best communities. A few of these stores I have gone to for years and a few of them I will never step into again.

In the summer of 2017, I moved to a different neighborhood and after having signed a lease discovered my apartment was a few blocks away from a LGS. It is one of the smaller shops in the city, but the owner knows a lot about Magic and will provide advice to anyone who walks in to buy singles. Myself and a couple of others are the spikier players amongst the community. At FNM, we are there to have fun and there is a lot of table talk during the event, but we also know how to play and want to win.

Unfortunately, this shop is a little too small to run modern events. There just isn't a large enough player base in the store with modern decks at the present. I can think of four other people who have decks, one of which is a very spicy but not competitive taking turns brew. At the same time, the community is growing and events do fire pretty consistently. The first prerelease I went to there was about 12 people. The Dominaria and Guilds of Ravnica prereleases were both sold out at 32 people. FNM still doesn't fire as often as you would hope, but the first FNM of a new draft format is usually about 16 people compared to 12 months ago when it was 9.

What does this have to do with sacrifices and being busy? Well, I am busy. I work Monday thru Friday and come home everyday to make dinner with my partner. I try and go to the gym for a minimum of 6 hours a week (approximately 3 times). I need to spend time at home and with my friends. Magic is not something I can play every night and when I do go to shops, I try and go with a friend to make it a more social event than just playing games with strangers. Modern events aren't something I will go to by myself. If a friend is up to go to one I will, but I need to plan these things ahead of time because being out till 11:30 on a Wednesday with work at 7:30 the next morning is not where I want to be.

Things haven't lined up in such a way that I have been able to play modern in an event since my last post. Instead, I have been taking advantage of my local shops growing community and the kindness of the owner. These past few weeks I went to their Saturday Standard Showdown event and jammed some games with the owner's G/B/u deck (list at the bottom). This deck oozes value with there being between 10 and 13 cards that can yield two for ones. Last week, things didn't go so well with the deck due to some awkward draws and mana woes. I still went 2-2 and won my entry in store credit back as well as a foil Mox Amber out of my showdown pack. This week I showed up and did the same thing as last week where I just sat there and when an odd number of people signed up, I signed up and borrowed the same deck to make it an even number.

Here's what happened:

Round 1 - RW Angels

My opponent this round is a regular and a brewer. I have a lot of respect for him because his decks are always good, and he almost always is using his own decks. He has been playing this deck since the beginning of the format, and his original iteration was pretty close to what the Boros midrange deck looks like these days. Game 1 started out pretty evenly with him playing his early Adanto Vanguards and  Resplendent Angels with me firing right back with Plaguecrafters, Chupacabras, and Assassin's Trophys. He missed his fourth land drop for a few turns, and I felt like I had the game locked up. Unfortunately, I punted this game. I misevaluated the threat of one of his Resplendent Angels and Trophy-ed it. This gave him his fourth land and allowed him to play a Lyra Dawnbringer on the next turn. I ran out of answers and didn't hit any of my game ending cards early. He hit a few more threats and ran away with the game. The next game started out with both of us mull-ing to five. His early game was three Adanto Vanguards and mine was a Dusk Legion Zealot and Merfolk Branchwalker. I was able to hit my land drops easily and answer all of his threats with Dead Weights and Plaguecrafters. He flooded and played a Huatli and a Lyra in consecutive turns with both being met by Vraska's Contempt. In the end I just went wider than he did and had more answers. Game three was really closed at first with both of us trading resources in the early game with my removal answering his creatures. Then he played Rekindling Phoenix. I had the answer in Vraska's Contempt. A few turns later he plays a second one and I am forced to use a Trophy on the front half and a Moment of Craving on the second. Unfortunately, after giving him a few lands early, when he played the third Phoenix and a Resplendent Angel in the same turn I had no answer. The next turn I played a Branchwalker and explored into an Eldest Reborn which I leave on top. My opponent activates Angel and swings in for over half of my life. The next turn I play the saga; he sacs the angel token and kills me on the crack-back. Keeping the saga on top was a definite misplay since I was dead on board without a card like Vraska's Contempt into Ritual of Soot. Those weren't the next two cards in my deck, so it didn't matter but a misplay is still a misplay.

1-2, 0-1

Round 2 - BR Aggro

One thing to note about this tournament is there were a lot of mulligans. Last round my opponent mulliganed every game and the same thing happened this round. Also, another random thing was I lost literally every die roll so was on the draw a lot. My opener was awkward and consisted of Island and Watery Grave as the only lands. Though I had Muldrotha in hand, I don't want two blue sources ever or Muldrotha in my starting 7, but I kept because I had a Moment of Craving and Ravenous Chupacabra so was in a good spot against any creature deck and the control matchup is bad game 1 anyway so mulliganing to 6 doesn't really help my odds. Luckily for me my opponent plays a Swamp followed by Vicious Conquistador. I draw a second Watery Grave play it tapped and pass turn. Over the next two or three turns my opponent plays a few more durdly creatures like Viashino Pyromancer and I draw the second Moment of Craving and am able to just cleanly answer all of his threats. At the end of my fourth turn, my opponent made a play that made me really confident I would win the match. While I had no creatures on board, I pass the turn and on end step he Lightning Strikes me when I am at 18 life. Whenever this happens I feel so far ahead because now I know my opponent has committed a card to a game plan that I can fight against with little worry. He floods out and I stabilize at 5 life with a Muldrotha in play and many good cards to get back in the graveyard. This game was actually pretty close at one point when I had drawn all three Watery Graves, Island and a Drowned Catacomb, but I drew mostly black cards which are the better cards in the matchup. Game 2 is almost exactly the same where I 1-for-1 till I stabilize with Muldrotha and Eldest Reborn. Truthfully this just seemed like a terrible matchup for my opponent, but his plays game 1 definitely sealed his fate more than anything I did.

2-0, 1-1

Round 3 - BW Vampires

I know this player pretty well and have played him a few times in both Standard and Limited. I think we were 1-1 in Standard, 2-0 in Limited and like 1-4 in Modern (he also plays Hardened Scales and has always beaten me in the mirror but Lantern has gotten there). A few weeks ago he was playing Abzan Knights to middling results. Last week he tried his hand at a Naya Hexproof build and we went 2-1 with my edicts being stronger than his Vine Mares, Nullhide Feroxes (Ferices?) and Palladia-Mors. This week he was running back a classic. Game 1 he plays a Plains and passes the turn. The following turn he plays an Adanto Vanguard and the following turns plays Mavren and then Sanctum Seeker. Overall his curve was very good, but I had answers for most of his plays and by the end of the game I have a Muldrotha, both Vraskas and his Ajani on the battlefield. Needless to say, his vampires weren't as good as my on board removal and draw engines. Game 2 was actually disgusting. His curve was something like turn 1 Vicious Conquistador, turn 2 Legion Lieutenant, turn 3 Radiant Destiny, and turn 4 one drop and Radiant Destiny. I never stood a chance without drawing Ritual of Soot. Since I never drew it, I picked up my cards and we went to game 3. 

Before I get too far into this, I would like to say that this game had one of the better plays I have ever made in Magic happen during it. The game starts alright with my opponent playing early threats and me playing early answers. Around turn 5, I clean up the board with a Ritual of Soot at a pretty comfy life total. I pass the turn and my opponent plays a couple of vampires and ticks up an Ajani he already had to five. The following turn I do nothing but look at my completely empty board. My opponent then plays two Vicious Conquistadors and an Adanto Vanguard. I play a Muldrotha and pass the turn. On his turn he plays a Sanctum Seeker and Legion Lieutenant, pluses Ajani up to ult range and attacks with two Conquistadors and the Vanguard. I block a Conquistador with Muldrotha and go to 1. At this point I am circling the drain. I swing with Muldrotha at Ajani because I am dead on board to the attack trigger with any vamp so long as the Sanctum Seeker stays alive. Luckily he blocks with his Sanctum Seeker wanting to ult the Ajani to seal up the game - which was already sealed. I am forced to Dead Weight one of the Conquistadors and then recast it from the graveyard on the second. After playing a Merfolk Branchwalker to block and an Evolving Wilds I passed the turn. On the next turn my opponent plays another Legion Lieutenant and swings with Vanguard. I chump with the Branchwalker. He ults Ajani and passes. For the rest of the game I am forced to Dead Weight and recast my own Plague Mare from my graveyard every single turn to wipe away the cats over and over. Eventually I am able to play four spells pretty much every turn and my opponent never is able to catch up. I thought I couldn’t win the game but was proud of myself for seeing the line to keep his cat tokens at bay and eventually grind out the win.

2-1, 2-1

Round 4 - Mardu Burn

My opponent's deck this round was honestly one of the craziest standard decks I have ever played against. A friend of mine at the shop had mentioned losing to this player the round before and simply said that my opponent was on a crazy burn deck playing both Risk Factor and Sword-Point Diplomacy. I had the advantage going into the round of having some idea what my opponent was doing, so I was optimistic. Still, I didn't feel great about it. Going into the game my deck felt like it was made up exclusively of dead cards. Moment of Craving. Dead Weight. Ravenous Chupacabra even. This game wasn't even close. He cast multiple Sword-Point Diplomacys and a Risk Factor and was able to kill pretty much every single threat I played with Justice Strikes and random burn spells. At one point he just goes face and Banefires me for 5 when I was at 4 to play around countermagic. I went with the tech-y play of Moment of Craving my own creature to go to 1, but he just runs it back the next turn so my play didn't matter. The sideboard for this deck isn't designed for this matchup. I don't believe any sideboard is designed for this matchup. Fortunately for me, the sideboard is heavily skewed to beat control so I grab the copies of Duress, Negate and Unmoored Ego (which is for the Teferi matchup and I really don't like in the Teferi matchup). I pull out every copy of Dead Weight, Midnight Reaper, and Dusk Legion Zealot figuring the Dead Weight would literally never do anything (which was accurate) and that the life loss of these two creatures could be too detrimental. The other considerations were the Vraska's Contempts and Moment of Craving, but the Contempts have so much utility and the Cravings sometimes just keep you alive. Game two starts with me Duressing my opponent and seeing Banefire, Risk Factor, Cleansing Nova and four lands. I take the Banefire and pass the turn. Turn 3 I Unmoored Ego naming Risk Factor and see my opponents win cons are Erratic Cyclops, Angrath, Banefire and burn. The following turns consist of me playing creatures and him killing them. I eventually Unmoored Ego away his Sword-Point Diplomacys to put him in a position where he has no traditional card advantage. My Eldest Reborns and Contempts answer his Angraths and I stabilize in the low teens with a Vraska, Relic Seeker and Karn in play. He scoops up his cards, and we go to game 3. Game 3 consisted of a few misplays on my part but was extremely similar overall to game 2. I turn 3 Unmoored Ego away his Risk Factors again, curve out and play my lands. He kills my creatures and also hits his land drops. There was an awkward moment later in the game where I Unmoored Ego and say Sword-Point Diplomacy but almost immediately say Angrath afterwards. Unfortunately my opponent flipped his hand face-up so fast and had an Angrath already putting me in the position of not wanting to feel like I was angle shooting - I swear I didn't see his hand when I changed my choice. I do what I consider to be the right thing and take out the Sword-Points. I had an Eldest Reborn in hand anyways. The game ends with him having to regularly use his board wipes to clear my Eldest Reborns allowing my creatures to trade 1-for-1 the whole time. Once my second Muldrotha hits the table and I bring back a creature and Eldest Reborn, the game is pretty much over.

This was the coolest deck I played against all tournament. The pseudo-redundancy of the punisher cards made the deck feel consistent and, well, punishing. The game 1 matchup was probably close to unwinnable with the percentage being like 80/20 in his favor. The sideboard games though felt really hard to lose and probably flipped it to 60/40 for me. In the last game, I wonder if I should have named Angrath and Banefire from the start with Unmoored Ego to make it literally impossible for him to win assuming I can kill his Cyclops with one of the six cards that cleanly deal with creatures in the deck. If I had both Egos in my opening hand then I think that play I made was wrong but since I only had one, it was probably correct still. As a note and request to players out there, my opponent seemed like a really nice guy, but his graveyard/exile zone was super chaotic and literally just a pile of cards thrown together. Don't be like my opponent. Keep a clean play area.

2-1, 3-1

Round 5 - G/B Midrange

The two of us sat down at the table and instantly knew what the other player was on. Since I was borrowing the shop owner's deck the regulars were familiar with it, and I had been sitting next to my opponent round 1. As we shuffle he says something like, "This is a bad matchup for me. All of your Plaguecraters and Chupacabras are really hard for me to beat." The start of this game is pretty slow with him playing a Wildgrowth Walker and some explore creatures early and me playing two drops and removal spells in response. He misses his third land drop for awhile, and I continue to play lands and threats. By the time he hits his third land, I am too far ahead for him to come back. Now, I understand that casually chatting while shuffling is good form, but I would advise against saying card X or card Y is hard for you to beat to your opponent. Knowing that my sideboard plan became simple. Take out every single card that wasn't a 2-for-1. I took out the Greenseekers (since they probably are rarely going to survive the turn cycle), Moment of Cravings, and a single Dusk Legion Zealot to bring in the Arguel's Blood Fast, Find//Finality and Ritual of Soot. Every game started with both of us playing early creatures and having a back and forth of resources. Unfortunately, his creatures just slightly outsized mine, and I was put in a spot where my blocks weren't good but my life total was ticking down. He cast a Sylvan Awakening (there was a weird lands subtheme in his deck that I never really figured out) and brought me down lower than I could recover from after he played a big Vraska the following turn and started making pirates. Game 3 saw me keeping a very sketchy 7 that I probably should have thought on more. He specifically told me that his deck didn't do well against 2-for-1s that answered creatures. So, keeping a hand of Merfolk Branchwalker, Assassin's Trophy and five lands may not have been a great idea. He duresses me on turn 1 and takes the removal spell. I draw a Ritual of Soot off the top, play Branchwalker leaving a spell on top and pass. He plays his Wildgrowth Walker and passes back. A few turns later he plays a Kitesail Freebooter and sees my hand has both an Assassin's Trophy and Ritual of Soot. He's pretty much priced into taking the Ritual since it wipes his board and would get back any other card he may take. I decide to Trophy his Freebooter and get back my Ritual. Over the next two or three turns my opponent makes the mistake that loses him the game in my opinion. Since I have the board wipe in hand he decides to pass the turn doing literally nothing. No land drop. Not adding to the board. Not attacking. Nothing. I draw my card, play my land and pass. This happens one more time where he draws and says go with me responding with a draw, land, go. On the following turn cycle I draw Muldrotha and cast Ritual of Soot. He plays some threats, but I play Muldrotha and an Evolving Wilds after drawing a second Muldrotha. He obviously kills the first but when the second comes down he has no answer. Eventually multiple Eldest Reborns seal the deal in my favor.

I understand the incentive of playing around the board wipe, but this was a classic case of me not being pressured enough to need to use the board wipe. With neither player adding to the board and me hitting land drops, I don't think my opponent had a chance. He had a Find to get back the wiped creatures, but he probably should have forced me into playing the board wipe as early as possible to allow him to rebuild aggressively. I still would have won probably given my draws, but he gave me to much control of the end game. The fact that his main deck was designed to beat aggro probably helped me out a lot too.

2-1, 4-1

I'm very happy with this result. I didn't play perfect, but I did well enough to get 4th (the lowest of the 4-1 players due to breakers). The standard showdown pack had a Sulfur Falls and a foil Risk Factor in it which was nice. The deck ran smoothly, and the only meaningful changes I would make would be cutting the blue since it makes the mana a little painful and awkward. Though it gives access to a few powerful spells, I have to wonder if the Muldrothas should just be Jadelights, Izonis, or Carnage Tyrants. Let the Negates and Egos be a fourth Duress, Wildgrowth Walker, and maybe something spicy. Also I would probably swap out the Dusk Legion Zealots in favor of Seekers’ Squire since I think the body coupled with the lifeloss can really matter against aggro.

The best estimation I can give of the decklist is below. I don't have the deck in front of me so there are some things I am guessing on (specifically the number of Branchwalkers, Vraska's Contempts, and Chupacabras). If you have the cards, I would recommend building the deck. It is definitely fun.

2x Dead Weight 3x Dusk Legion Zealot 3x Merfolk Branchwalker 2x Dryad Greenseeker 2x Moment of Craving 3x Assassin's Trophy 2x Midnight Reaper 2x Plaguecrafter 2x Vraska's Contempt 2x Ravenous Chupacabra 1x Golgari Findbroker 1x Karn, Scion of Urza 2x Vraska, Golgari Queen 3x The Eldest Reborn 2x Muldrotha, the Gravetide 1x Vraska, Relic Seeker 1x Find//Finality 2x Evolving Wilds 1x Island 5x Swamp 4x Forest 3x Watery Grave 2x Drowned Catacomb 4x Woodland Cemetery 4x Overgrown Tomb

Sideboard 3x Duress 2x Negate 2x Arguel's Bloodfast 2x Plague Mare 3x Unmoored Ego 2x Ritual of Soot 1x Find//Finality