#top 10 worst showers of all time the third may surprise you

[yifftwiceplz]

imagine wasting all this money and you dont even buy anything good let me give you a run down here source i had sensitive skin and lived with rose and roxy for several years plus i briefly worked in hba at walmart

not joking i can name almost every fucking item here but what i would really like to point out is the body washes she have are all dove native olay and fucking suave why in gods name would you buy suave shes got NINE countem NINE tree hut sugar scrubs which are not cheap (did you know theres only 2 ingredients in a sugar scrub)(do you wanna guess what one is) my girls got a whole library of skin care and didnt do one fucking iota of research didnt even check the ingredience for quality im losing my mind here

just on a quick guestimation thats at least $300 worth of product just in her fucking shower and literally none of it is even good

[artificialqueens]

Lemon's Misadventures in Dating, Chapter 5 (Lemon x the world) - Mermelada

A/n: Hej hej hej! I’m very late in posting this to AQ after Ao3, so please forgive me! I hope you all like *~* filler chapters *~* because there’s a couple of them coming up! I’ve already written the next couple of chapters, but PLEEEAAASSSEE let me know if you have any requests or suggestions! Namely, should I attempt to write smut or not lol! Thank you again for all your lovely words about the fic, I love you all massively <3 <3

Having not slept in her own bed for the last two nights, Lemon decided to take a well-earned evening for herself, partly because she was running out of excuses for her parents as to why she’d been out so much lately, and partly to give the various bruises and bite-marks on her body time to heal. With Gus the dog snuggled into her side, she waited for The Sims to load on her laptop as Chromatica blared from her phone. She pressed on its screen to check the time, and saw she had received a new text message.

Dr Rita <3 [16:45] “I hope you survived your walk of shame, mon petit citron! Thank you again for a great night and day :-) x”

Rita was amazing. She was the epitome of a dark horse: she was so kind and patient with Lemon during her panic crisis, as she had so adorably put it, and made her feel all the safety and love she needed all morning. Yet not long afterwards, after some lazy chatter which had made Lemon inexplicably horny, she was once again fucking her to within an inch of her life. Speaking two languages was far from the only thing she could do with her mouth. They had even gone for lunch together after round 2 – and round 2.5 in the shower – before reluctantly parting as Rita prepared for her nightshift at the hospital. It was over lunch where they both agreed that pursuing anything serious wouldn’t be worth it, but they would definitely like to work on a friendship. Lemon had, however, still managed to charm her way into borrowing a hoodie from the older woman, both of them secretly pleased that it gave them a reason to hang out again. She quickly sent off a reply, thanking her once again for her help that morning and wishing her luck for the long night ahead in kidneyland with her love interest from the ward. 

Looking back to her laptop, the loading bar appeared to have frozen. Rolling her eyes, she held down the device’s power button to restart it. The snoring lump beside her clearly wasn’t going to entertain her as she waited, so she bit the bullet and opened up her new favourite app.

She grinned upon seeing that her most recent message was from Kyne.

[16:20] Remember I told you about my roommate who works in a porn studio lol? She came home just now with a box of those custard tarts you were telling me about, they are so good!!! 🤤 You really do have the best taste 😘

That’s a lot to unpack, she laughed to herself, she’s persistent, fair play to her! Plus it turns out she actually WAS listening! I just hope they were clean… I’ll reply later. Now what about Kiara, eh Gus-bus? She was nice, let’s see what she’s said! 

[09:12] How was the party? 🙂 I hope it was tudo bem!!

Lemon and Kiara had continued chatting yesterday until Lemon had to leave for her date, a ‘family party’ being the first reasonable sounding thing that came to mind when having to end their conversation. She hated lying, she really did, but how acceptable was it really to tell one Tinder-match that you were going on a date with another Tinder-match?

[17:03] It went well, merci! But I was too hungover to function all day lol 🤯

[17:03] How has your day been? 😊

Right, who’s next? Two new matches and a message from Boa! Let’s see what she has to say about me spamming her before she blocks me. Clicking on the girl’s message from last night, however, Lemon was pleasantly surprised that her texting blunder wasn’t the end of her chances.

[20:55] Lololololololololol no YOU’RE fun!!!!

[20:55] Clock the good grammar

[20:55] So what’s a girl like you doing on an app like this?

[20:56] 🍆🍆🍆

Now that was a question Lemon still occasionally asked herself, and she didn’t even know if she had an answer. So the best she could do was be honest.

[17:07] Well I’m recently single so I’m just seeing what happens, really, a few dates here and there to get me back on my feet again! To quote the great Kelly Rowland, I am down for whatever 😉

[17:07] How about you?

She had, once again, been well and truly sucked into the Tinder vortex. Closing her laptop and placing it on her bedside table, she nuzzled her face into Gus’s head, the dog making no effort at all to reciprocate the sudden attention. Squishing a kiss to his head, she turned back to the app, and her new matches: Scarlett and Ilona. They had both matched at around the same time, making their chat windows sit neatly at the bottom of Lemon’s screen. Sending them both standard “Hey gorge! What’s up? 😊” messages, she went back to swiping through profiles, although within less than a minute, a reply from Scarlett flashed at the top of her screen. 

[17:13] Hey gorge! I’m doing much better now that I’m speaking to you 😉

[17:14] What’s up with you?

A bit of enthusiasm goes a long way, she smiled, maybe Scarlett is the one? Or maybe she’s too into me and I should be worried? Surely not!

[17:15] I’m glad I can help! I’m pretty good thanks, having a lazy night in tonight! Are you doing anything fun?

Lemon debated giving the girl more details of her night in, but she was worried about what she might think… She’s covered in tattoos and eats fire, for god’s sake, there is no way she likes Lady Gaga or The Sims. She probably listens to death metal and drives a motorbike and has a pet snake, I could never compete! 

Fortunately, Scarlett was charming and very easy to talk to, and the two exchanged details - both mundane and exciting - through quickly typed messages. She learned that the other blonde was a lawyer, but had gone to circus school at weekends throughout university - which explained a lot - and was currently in an open relationship with her girlfriend. Lemon had never been ‘the other woman’ before, but as long as she wasn’t hurting anyone, surely it’s not that bad! Eventually, though, one message made Lemon’s anxiety start to creep in again.

[17:57] So I know this probably seems WAY too fast, so don’t worry if you don’t want to

Time seemed to stand still between this message and the next one. What does she want to do that’s fast? Sex? That’s not that big a deal, it must be more than that. Unless she’s into super kinky shit, which wouldn’t surprise me, does she want to piss on me? Does she want her girlfriend to piss on me? Does she want me to be her fake girlfriend at her sister’s wedding where we have to share a bed before eventually realising we loved each other all along? Finally, right on cue, the follow-up arrived.

[17:59] It’s my birthday on Saturday and I’m having a party at my house before heading out on the town, it’ll hopefully just be a few friends, and it would be cool if you could make it 🥳

[18:00] You can bring a friend if you want! But again no pressure!!

Wow, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. She started blankly at her phone, letting her heart rate settle back down to its normal speed. A party, cool. I can do that!

[18:02] You had me worried for a second there! But that sounds fun, I’ll be there! 😀

Exiting the app, she hastily composed a message to Jan. Jan loved parties, she had such a natural charisma which she exuded effortlessly whenever she entered a room. She was able to chat to anyone about anything, and Lemon was always responsible for getting her out of tricky situations on nights out where her natural friendliness had been mistaken for something else. She would be the perfect person to deflect any potential awkwardness that may occur at a Tinder-date-she’d-never-met-before’s birthday party. As she awaited Jan’s reply (Please please please say yes, Jan, you’re my only hope!), she checked on the app again, swiping through countless samey-looking profiles. Until she reached one that she’d definitely seen before.

Priyanka, 29

Within 10 miles

I already swiped for this girl, look! There’s her in her lengha, there she’s at pride… Oh she has new pictures now, how weird! Priyanka did indeed have an additional two photos on her profile which Lemon hadn’t seen before: a professional-looking black and white image of her face and torso, showing her dark waves flowing down her shoulders, and her eyes directly piercing Lemon’s soul; and finally, a picture of the dark-skinned girl wearing a blonde wig, cowboy hat, and appearing to be screaming into a microphone… I do like a Hannah Montana fantasy, get it girl!

Just like before, Lemon swiped Priyanka’s profile to the right, but unlike last time, the notification she’d been hoping for appeared straight away.

Congratulations! You have matched with Priyanka!

Buoyed by the excitement of matching with somebody so quickly - and someone so gorgeous - Lemon jumped straight off the bed and started dancing, ‘Rain on Me’ blaring beside her for the third time that evening. Even Gus seemed to pick up on the change of energy, running up and down the bed, wagging his tail merrily. As the pair danced, the familiar ‘ding’ of a new notification sounded through the room. And again.

Briefly pausing to pick up her phone, she saw the two messages she had received. Firstly, from Kiara.

[18:12] Unnggghhh work today was the worst, but I found a really cute Portuguese café on my walk home! I have eaten so many natas lol. We could go sometime if you want to? 🙂

Before replying (yes, obviously… I didn’t download Duolingo yesterday for nothing!), she went to check on the second message, which was from her recent match, Ilona.

[18:12] See you on Saturday bitch! xox

Well that seems ominous.

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 10

~*~Sebastian~*~

 I parked next to Emma, grabbed the food, and followed her into the condo. The door opened directly into the family room. There were wood floors with a large patina gray and blue area rug. She had one of those couches with a chaise on one end. There was an oversized chair with an ottoman in the same dark gray. Tables sat at either end of the couch. Natural light flooded the room from a window on one wall and French doors on the other. A TV hung in the corner of the front door and window wall with a fireplace between the TV and windows. Pillows in a blue to match the rug and a dark berry were tossed on the chair and in the corner under the TV were a stack of three big floor cushions. My guess was they were for sitting in front of the fire. The room felt comfortable. I wanted to jump onto the chaise and hug one of the berry pillows.

I followed Emma's lead and kicked my shoes off in the entry. I don't wear shoes in my place either. New York streets are disgusting. I don't want that shit tracked through my home.

 She headed left to the kitchen. It was an open floor plan with a breakfast bar separating the two rooms. Grey fabric bar stools tied the areas together. Lower cabinets where black, uppers white, Carrara marble counter tops, and black appliances. There was another window over the farmhouse sink.

 "Wow. I love your kitchen." 

She smiled at me over her shoulder, "Thank you." 

I almost lost the ability to breathe. Her shy smile dropped my heart to my knees. She looked so beautiful with her hair messed up from where she'd pulled it out of the ponytail. Seeing her against the backdrop of her house... breath taking. 

I put our food on the bar, "Can I use your bathroom?" 

"Of course." She pointed to a door in the far corner of the kitchen. "Ignore the clothes." 

I closed the door behind me. Laundry room and bathroom. Convenient. There was a pile of folded clothes on a long counter across from the washer and dryer. 

When I came out, she had lunch set out. I sat on the stool next to her and put the roll I'd grabbed for her in the top of her take out container, "For you." 

"Thank you." 

I jumped in where we left off at Whole Foods. "It's really thoughtful how you use people's names."

 "I think everyone likes to hear their name and most people don't even look at the person checking them out or bringing their food." She looked over from her salad, "It may sound naive, but I hope that small nicety makes their day better."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it did. I don't think it’s naive. It's nice. Lots of people don't think to do the nice thing. Those small acts of kindness can change the world for someone." 

"Our brains involuntarily respond to the sound of our own names, even if we're unable to respond to or act on anything else." She smirked, "Can you ignore it when someone yells your name?" 

I'd just shoved a forkful of salad in my mouth. I chewed and shook my head. "Nope." I pointed my fork at my ear. "I wear earbuds a lot." I cringed, "Don't take that the wrong way. When I'm at an event or on a stage and people are screaming my name it's... fantastic and humbling. I'd be crushed if they stopped. But when I'm going about my day it's easier. I know people who can ignore hearing their name, but I can't. So, if I hear my name I look over and usually it’s taken as an ok to come over and talk." I cringed again. "It is. I like talking to fans. I love hearing stories. Most people aren't rude." My shoulders slumped, "Sometimes I just want to get to the subway and go to my friend's place." I shrugged and tilted my head, looking at her, "Earbuds." 

She nodded, "I get it. Those guys at the restaurant weren't rude and didn't stay too long." 

"I don't like when someone interrupts when I'm eating. They waited and, like you said, didn't stay too long." 

She looked curious, "What if they had?" 

"The hostess recognized me, so management knew we were there. Usually, if someone stays too long or lots of people start coming over, management will clear them away. If they hadn't, I would have gotten us out of there." 

She laughed, "Do you always know an exit route?" 

"Not even close." I laughed too, "I'm good at winging it." 

She ran her hand down my bicep, "If I made you uncomfortable, l'm sorry." 

I'd done a lot of cringing in the last few minutes. "Nothing to be sorry about. I'd rather you ask." Pretty sure I was looking uncomfortable again. "I don't want you to think I don't realize how blessed I am." 

Emma stopped me with another touch on my arm, "Not at all, Sebastian. Privacy shouldn't be the price you pay for doing what you love." 

This would also be a perfect time for a kiss. However, one of us had a mouthful of blue cheese and spinach. 

It wasn't me.

 We laughed and talked about the gym while finishing eating. There was a lot to laugh about from the yoga class. The woman who kept shushing us scared me. It was a good thing Emma got us out of there. She didn't believe me and laughed. When she laughs, she gets the cutest dimple in her cheek. Just one. Left cheek.

 Emma closed the lid on what was left of her salad, "You were right. The roll was delicious." 

"I would never lie about bread." I was finished too and closed the lid.

 Emma stuffed the containers back in the bag then into a garbage can under the sink. She came back around the breakfast bar, "I'll get you towels and show you where everything is."

 I grabbed my bag and followed her up the stairs. The bathroom was the first door on the right. Emma opened the second door, pulled out a set of towels and a washcloth, and handed them to me. "Thank you."

 "No problem." She pointed to the third door. "That's the guest room. You can use it if you want. I'll meet you back downstairs."

 I nodded and walked into the bathroom. When I pulled my phone out of my shorts, I noticed the blinking light. My mom texted asking what time I'd be home and when I was leaving tomorrow. Fuck. I was taking the train back to the city tomorrow morning. I leaned on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. I watched myself start to smile. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't taking a train anywhere in the morning.

 Naturally, I over thought this in the shower. There were tradeoffs to be made. I felt guilty blowing off helping my parents to go to a festival with Emma. If I stayed through tomorrow it would negate skipping out today. I could leave Monday morning. But that was the holiday. Schools are closed. Wonder if Emma has plans? I had plans Monday, but nothing I couldn't skip out on.

 I realize I've only known her twenty-four hours and I'm making decisions based on the rest of the day going well. I don't know why it wouldn't. This has been good and fun. Who the hell knows where it will go, but there's a little voice telling me not to go home yet.

 I beat her downstairs and sent a few texts updating my plans while stretched out on the chaise. The remote was on the table next to me. I hit the power button and brought up something like Netflix, but wasn't.

 I heard Emma come down the stairs and looked over, "Hey, what's this Plex thing?"

 She sat down on the other end of the couch. Too far away. "You look really good in that color, Seb."

 I looked down to see what I'd put on. Dark red t-shirt. "Thanks."

 Emma smiled and nodded to the TV, "My father digitized his entire movie and TV series collection. Plex organizes everything. It's like your own personal Netflix."

 I'd been poking around for a little while, "This is cool. How does it group things into collections?"

 "We do it. I can sign into the server and add things to favorites or fuck around with Amy's."

 I clicked on Fave-Emma. "You like a lot of reality TV."

 Emma laughed, "That’s Amy messing with me. I hate reality TV. It's like the worst parts of people sensationalized for the masses. I don't like watching people be horrible to each other. I don't like people being put in prescribed situations and rewarded for being nasty."

 It was cute how worked up she was. I must have smiled.

 "What?"

 I raised my shoulders, "No Survivor or Keeping up with the Kardashian's for you."

 She understood I was teasing, "Or Big Brother or American MasterChef. Australian MasterChef is good. I like Great British Bake off and The Repair Shop. Polite British reality TV."

 "What about movies?"

 Her demeanor changed to wide eyed excitement. "Oh, they're completely different. They're not real people being horrible. It's scripted. I love in movies what I hate in reality TV. One of my favorite movies is 'Closer' and it's," she shook her head and cringed, "harsh."

 I startled, "With Natalie Portman?"

 She nodded, "Love it. It's one of the most honest movies I've ever seen."

 I sat up, threw my head back, and put my hand up, pretending to be exasperated. "Honest? Everyone in that movie was a big fat liar." Her smile let me know she recognized the quote from the movie.

 "Everyone is incredibly unlikable, but Larry didn't lie."

 I raised my eyebrows.

 She stuck her tongue out a little and pointed at me, "He was a horrible person, but not a liar. He was so hurt when Anna cheated."

 I leaned forward, "No, no, no. That scene was horrifying."

 "Yes, but it was real in how people can destroy each other. The whole interchange where he wanted to know all the details. Where they were, what they did. He even asked what the other guy's cum tasted like." She fell back onto the couch. “In a movie full of lies that was the most honest thing I've ever seen." 

I leaned back, mirroring her. Partly because I wanted to pounce on her. The back and forth had been fun with both of us fervently involved in the conversation. Then she used the words “what his cum tasted like” and my brain short circuited a little. I laced my fingers on my chest and thought. I turned my head to look at her, "You're right. I remember sitting in the theater with my mouth hanging open. I thought it was the language, because it was almost obscene. Only now... I wonder if it was because it was a brutally unsanitized version of a break up."

 She smiled and shrugged one shoulder, "Made you think."

 "It's the teacher in you."

"Occupational hazard."

Important question. "Are first grade teachers allowed to say the word cum?"

She drew her eyebrows down with a look of disgust, "Not in front of the children."

 I laughed so loud I startled myself.

Emma shook her head, stood up, and held out her hand to me, "Let's go play, Sebastian."

 I took her hand, letting her pull me up. I put up enough resistance for her to drag me out the door. As soon as I closed the vehicle door behind her, I realized I'd missed the perfect moment. When she pulled me off the couch, I should have pulled her back, taken her in my arms, and kissed her.

I fucking missed it. Again.

 We pulled out and Emma told me which way to go. “One of my favorites is similar. Husbands and Wives. It’s funny and tragic. It’s real too. You'd probably like it. Godfather. Lots of classics for the acting and film making. I loved Boogie Nights.  Life of a male porn star. I enjoyed seeing how the porn industry worked."

"Tempted?" Mischief was in those green eyes.

 "Porn and acting aren't always so very different. Scum bags in both."  I wanted to hear more from her. "What do you love besides fucking cavemen?" Another quote from Closer.

 "Um, Sliding Doors. Princess Bride. I like trilogies. Lord of the Rings is the best thing ever. The extended cuts. Dad is a huge Tolkien fan. He read us the Hobbit when we were little. We couldn't focus on reading the Fellowship, but the movies worked. Loved The Force Awakens.”

I could tell by what she didn’t say she wasn't in love with number two, "Opinion on Last Jedi?"

 "Hated everything about Canto Bight. They made Poe both stupid and sexist." She growled, "Fucked up script."

 I nodded. I was biting my tongue. I wasn’t a stranger to fucked up scripts. I wanted to ask. She would tell the truth, which was good, but I didn't know the way she'd go. Next stoplight I looked over, "Dare I ask?"

 She laughed, "Don't care for the Hulk. Like Spiderman and Ant Man only in ensemble movies, not the solo films. Love Tony's genius and arrogance. I almost peed my pants because of fat Thor. Love Wanda and Nat. Love everyone in Guardians except Peter Quill and not just because he could have stopped Thanos. I thought I just didn't like Pratt because I didn’t like him in 10 Years and Parks and Rec, but loved Jurassic World. So its Peter. I can watch baby Groot dance all day. Did I miss anybody?" Her eyebrows were pulled down with the question she was facetiously asking.

I went with it. "Falcon. Hawkeye, Vision." Left out a couple of major players. The one’s I really wanted an opinion on. I put the ball back in her court.

"Snarky fun, steady, a bit over bearing." I just nodded and we were quiet. A few seconds passed before she put her hand on my arm, "I can't keep this up. Seems mean."

"A little teasing never hurt me."

 She smiled and went on. "At the beginning Steve and Bucky were all boy. They ragged on each other and I didn't really care for either. I know they were best friends, but I didn’t like how they interacted. Bucky was cocky and dismissive of Steve. Steve was annoying in his earnestness. I liked how the characters grew. Beautiful bad boy, who’s not really bad. I like broken characters. Bucky is definitely broken. Was broken. We'll see."

 I was good with her take on Bucky and Steve. I don’t completely disagree. "I hear there are plans for Bucky."

"You would know."

I nodded, "You thought Bucky was beautiful?" I said this with a straight face and looked at the road.

"Wanna know a secret?" 

I guessed she didn't want to answer, "Sure."

"Bucky is much hotter than Steve."

"I think I'm glad to hear that." Yeah, more than good with her opinion.

 Parking was a bitch. The positive about parking so fucking far away is I got to walk a couple of blocks down the street holding my date's hand. It's amazing how sometimes the simplest things make me happiest. Right now, I'm pretty damn happy.

[himbofreddynewandyke]

creamsicle smut + freddy being conflicted

being Mr orange gave freddy the chance to be the cool guy he’d secretly always wanted to be, leather jacket and slight sneer, sure the stakes were higher but suddenly he didnt have to worry about his actual life, could act how and dress how he wanted, drink and blow smoke and banter with Cabot’s men, and they bought it. he was always waiting for someone to cry out, not “hey, this guy’s a cop!” but “hey, this guy aint one of us, he’s a fuckin dweeby loser” but that never happened. mr orange fit right in.

and when mr white flirted with him, freddy newandyke would've just blushed and stammered and made an excuse to leave, but mr orange flirted back, sent mr white longing looks while biting his lips, making sure the older man knew exactly what was on his mind.

White was confusing to freddy, he was dangerous, dangerous as hell, during their conversations he slipped mentions of his previous violence into them so casually – because it was casual for him, but freddy found everything about him strangely arousing, the way he was so sure of himself, the way he could be so brash yet a gentleman, he joked about time he kneecapped some mouthy guy once while they were eating burgers then ten minutes later offered his lighter to an elderly couple at the next table who were having trouble with theirs.

freddy had known he was gay since he was a young teen, not just gay but the worst type of fag, the type that wanted to be on the receiving end of sex, the type that wanted to be the more submissive partner. he may have been a social inept kid but he’d been smart enough to know to keep his mouth shut about crushing on other boys. as an adult he'd been with men a few times, never any names or kisses or beds, anonymous handjobs in club bathrooms, quick and hurried and always left him feeling dulled and wanted more. after he joined the police force his fear of his sexuality being found out and his own self hatred kept him celibate, and if he spent most nights thinking about being held and kissed and fucked by another man - his mind wouldn’t allow him to entertain the word ‘boyfriend’ - then that was his business only. and now, while he was playing this role, fitting in for the first time in his life as mr orange, this opportunity had fallen straight into his lap. He wanted mr white. He wanted mr white to fuck him, wanted this brute to rid of him of his pesky virginity, it was dangerous, it was dumb, but the undercover job had given him a type of courage he could’ve never possessed by himself.

white was definitely into him, freddy suspected he’d organised all their excursions together outside of joe’s orders, and one late evening when they were driving around, when white had slipped his hand on freddys knee but not gone further, was when freddy realised the older man was waiting for him to make the first move. so he made it, put his hand on white’s and brought it up higher, guided it over his thighs then over the top of his crotch. white didn’t react at first, just parked the car, then lent over and kissed him hard, his hand on freddys neck pulling him in. when they reluctantly broke apart, white started up the car again “my place is only about 10 minutes away”. feeling bold, freddy had kept his own hand on whites inner leg the whole way there.

once they got inside of his apartment, white tossed his car keys on the table then pulled freddy over to a couch, pulled him onto his lap so he was sitting and freddy was straddling him, then started kissing him again, slower this time yet no less forceful, his hands slipping under freddys jacket and undershirt. "he knows what he's doing" freddy thought "oh thank fucking christ, he knows what he's doing." freddy grinded up against white, couldn't help letting a whine escape him, he kissed down whites jaw n started sucking at his neck, white lifted his head up and pressed their foreheads together "what do you want sweetheart, we'll do whatever you want" he said. freddy licked his lips and swallowed "i want you to fuck me". White grinned, "yeah?" "yeah" freddy confirmed.

After a few more minutes of necking white led him over to the bed, and stripped them both effortlessly while still making out with freddy, this confirmation of his experience helping to relax freddy, white was running his hands over freddys sides and it was strangely tender and soothing, not at all what freddy had anticipated, but that he enjoyed nonetheless. They explored each others bodies, hands everywhere and kisses all over chests and shoulder, freddy growing red at how much his body responded to whites movements, arching into his touch, the stupid noises he was making.

When they were face to face again white gave freddy a small kiss on his lips "still want me to fuck you?" he said "yes" freddy said, not sure what he was supposed to do, but white had turned away, going thru the drawer of his nightstand, pulled out a tube of lube and a foil wrapper. Oh, right, a condom. Freddy felt mildly stupid, wouldnt have thought in the moment to ask about protection, then relief that white was the kind of guy to not have to be asked to wear one.

Freddy got onto his hands and knees on the bed, feeling self conscious, the most he'd been since he became mr orange. "you want me to be like this?" he asked, white rubbed his lower back and arsecheeks, "whatever position you want baby" "ok" freddy said, still unsure.

when white slid a lubed finger into his arse, he gasped and slid his arms down, buried his face in them. "shhhhhh" white soothed "that ok?" freddy was breathing heavily but stuttered out "yeah". "just relax, ok baby?" white slowly fingerfucked him, added another finger then a third, the whole time checkin in with freddy. Then he removed them, freddy kept his face hidden against his arms with his arse up, could hear white quickly opening and putting on the condom, then squirting more lube on, felt the head of his cock against his hole, then inside him, inching in slowly, giving him time to get used to the feeling. Freddys legs were shaking and white rubbed lil circles over his outer thighs, "good boy, you're doing so well baby". Freddy was so out of his element, appreciated the encouragement. it occured to him that white had probably seen past mr oranges sneering overconfident swagger, could tell it was freddy’s first time doing this.

there was a slight burn and stretch, but sex didn’t hurt like freddy had anticipated. Freddy was suddenly grateful that white hadnt given him the rough fuck he was expecting, was going slow, steady thrusts, could feel whites hand on his back and neck, reassuring him. White gently pulled out, "we're just gonna change positions baby" and freddy let him manipulate his body, couldnt stop him if he wanted to, onto his side with white behind him, pressed against him. White brought freddy’s leg up and then guided his cock into him again, freddy giving a sharp intake of breath at the new angle. This was nice, white's arms around him now, and white kissing the back and side of his neck, "sweet boy, such a gorgeous boy" he breathed into freddys ear, and freddy twisted his head so they could sloppily half-kiss. One of white's hands started on his cock as he continued fucking freddy at a slow rhythm, freddy didn't feel close to coming but didnt care about it now, all the new sensations he was feeling tonight were enough, the warmth of white pressed up against him, and inside of him, and his arms around him. White muttered "gonna cum" next to his ear, and soon did with a grunt, freddy thought he could feel the fat cock pulsing inside him. White didn't continue thrusting but kept his softening cock inside of freddy as he jacked him off, freddy was exhausted, didn’t think he could come just then, he felt like telling white not to bother but couldnt get the words out, didnt realise he was still slightly shaking. White continued switching different rhythms on his dick until freddy came suddenly and unexpectedly with a small yell.

When white slipped out of him and let go freddy wanted to bury his face in his arms again but couldnt move, then felt white's weight back on the bed, pulling him over so they were facing each other, started kissing slowly and lazily, and that was just what freddy needed, he moaned, sunk into white, he could hear him muttering “gorgeous, youre fucking gorgeous baby” then white rolled over slightly so freddy was curled into his side, occassionally pressing small kisses on whites chest, white running his hand through freddy’s hair. “you enjoyed that orange?” freddy smiled weakly, bone tired and still processing what happened, “yeah”. white groaned and yawned “i’m tired as hell, we’ll shower in the morning” “you want me to stay the night?” freddy said surprised. “sure, if you wanna. im not gonna fuck you then make you sleep alone” white said

it wasn't supposed to happen like this, white – this man who just yesterday was bragging about how to cut a man's fingers off for defending his business  – was supposed to fuck him, be rough with him, be every stereotype that freddy anticipated, then send him off into the night. Instead he'd been more tender and sweet than freddy could’ve imagined, than he had a right to be, than anyone would ever treat freddy again, had made sure he was ok and called him pet names, called him gorgeous. Freddy should've left right then. Instead, he did the worst thing possible. He burst into tears

this was the icing on this whole mistake cake, not only was white gonna think that he was some foolhardy whore who spread his legs for the first man who’d have him (which, an hour ago, he couldnt have given a damn about it, maybe thats what the reputation he wanted for mr orange), now he was gonna think he was emotionally disturbed.

"hey, hey" white's hand slipped down from his hair and started rubbing his back, bringing him in closer, which just made freddy sob pathetically more, bury his face into white’s neck. "I didn't hurt ya did i?" freddy shook his head and managed to whisper out a "no". "you're just feeling a bit vulnerable?" and freddy said "yeah", white continued to rub his back while making shhhh soothing noises, said “you’re ok, you’re good sweetheart”. freddy soon calmed down, whites hand never leaving him, neither man talking. freddy usually had trouble falling asleep but exhausted after his crying fit and with the warm body pressed beside him he went to sleep quickly

when he woke up, it was still dark, he and white had drifted apart slightly during the night but white still had an arm resting over him. Freddy rolled over which woke White up with a grunt. "wassa time?" he muttered. freddy looked at the digital alarm clock on whites nightstand "just after 3am" white gave another grunt as thanks, his eyes closed "c'mere" freddy sunk into his side again, let white lazily sling an arm around him, then he leaned over and started softly kissing along whites shoulder and neck "love how affectionate you are kiddo" white said, his eyes still closed "go back to sleep, i'll cook you something nice for breakfast in the morning"

no one had ever described freddy as 'affectionate' before, but then again he'd never been this affectionate – nor recieved anywhere close to this amount of affection – before. For the first time since he began the job, freddy felt guilty, for letting white treat him so good, treat him like a lover. He didnt feel like supercool Mr Orange anymore, just felt like a rat. He wondered what would happen between him and white, whether they could do this again (and again and again). He wondered if he could somehow get white a leaner sentence, lie maybe, say that white was forced to do the job to pay back a debt to Joe, but even in his head he knew White wouldn’t go along with it, he was an honourable guy, just with a really fucked up code of honour. For one crazy minute he wondered if he could just abandon everything, the police force, his whole life, and just drive off together, he and white living life on the lam. He yawned and wondered what white was gonna make him for breakfast.

[tinkeringwithcannabis]

“Consuming Cannabis: OMG I’m Way Too High”

Aj Tinker November 26, 2019

Most of us who have tried cannabis have accidently overdone it and found ourselves trying to handle effects that are way more intense than we expected. This may be due to being an inexperienced user, trying a new strain, trying concentrates for the first time, eating too much of an edible, or an array of other reasons. In some cases, this has made people turn away from cannabis as a treatment option all together. In other cases, it has left some leery of using those specific products again. Then there are those of us who continue to use those products and just decrease the dosage. These are all things that happen after the effects are over, so what can you do during that moment when the world is spinning, you feel like you can’t function, maybe you are paranoid that everyone knows you are high, or you have something important to do and you need to come down? Luckily, there are several routes you can take to fight back against a THC overload, so let’s jump right in and talk about what those options are!

First, it is important to remember that in many cases the idea that people will know you are high is all in your head. The more you ruminate on the idea that “everybody knows” the more anxious you will get, and the more likely everyone will end up knowing. Therefore, it is important that you keep yourself from panicking and keep reminding yourself that you are fine, everything is fine, and you do not have to worry. Now, this is not to say that there are not cases where people will not realize you are high just from looking at you, but in either case, the effects will begin to dissipate within a few hours at the most, and you will be back to feeling as you did before you medicated. All will be right with the world again. When it comes to smoking or vaping cannabis, the timeline is usually about 90 minutes to two hours before the effects really come down and get to the point where they have pretty much worn off. With edibles, tinctures, etc., it can be a little harder because they don’t hit your system for about 90 minutes, so it can take a couple of hours before they fully hit you. The important thing is that you do not lose your cool, and that you just keep reminding yourself that you just have to get past this hump, and you will be just fine, nothing bad is going to happen.

The second thing to keep in mind is knowing where you fall in regard to tolerance. If you are a new user, and have barely used cannabis, or you haven’t used cannabis in a really long time, then your tolerance is going to be really low. In this case, you aren’t going to want to smoke a whole blunt and then try to go about your day, because you won’t really be able to get too far before the product knocks you on your ass. If you are a more experienced user, then you should have a better idea of what your tolerance level is and how much cannabis you can consumer and in what forms before you cross the threshold from functional to lost in the fog. This is not to say that you won’t have times where you accidently consume too much. This can happen when trying a new strain, a new type of product, or even in cases where you may be smoking with a friend and completely lose track of how much you have smoked until it hits you like a brick. It is always important to remember to go low and slow with any new product, however, realistically, this may not always be the case. In my personal experience, this has happened on occasion, but it has also made me more aware of just how potent that product was for the next time that I used it in order to prevent a similar situation.

Third, drink water. Yes… it’s that simple. Hydration always has amazing benefits in helping to cleans the body, but in this case, it also acts as a sort of distraction technique allowing you to focus on drinking and swallowing, while also addressing any signs of dry mouth at the same time. You can also use some sort of juice if you prefer, but water is always the best option. Lemon squeezed into water is also a great option that really helps in these types of situations. Do not go for caffeinated beverages, as they can dehydrate you and make you feel worse, and definitely avoid anything with alcohol, as alcohol can intensify the effects of the THC, therefore increasing your high rather than decreasing it. Eating light snacks is also something that may help, but in my experience, I have found that this depends on how you consumed your cannabis. Now, eating is something that I have heard many people do when they are too high in order to bring down the high. This works in a sense, but it is also dependent on your means of medicating. Sticking to light snacks, like fruits, nuts, and cheeses are good for combating overly intense psychoactive effects from any cannabis product. That being said, heavy snacks and meals can be counterproductive to the goal of diminishing the effects, especially when the cause of the intensified effects comes from taking a tincture on an empty stomach. Eating can make this worse, and after learning this the hard way, I have found that sticking to water, and then using the next method on this list work best for me.

This next one may come as a surprise to many of you, I know it did not only to myself, but to many of those who I passed this along to, but black pepper. Yes, black pepper. I was skeptical, but after I accidently overdid it one day on the tincture, and then made it worse by forgetting that I should not eat anything heavy, doing so, and then ending up even more high than I already was, I was sitting in the café I was sitting in a café with no other option but to give it a go. I figured, worst case scenario, it did nothing and I just had to weather the storm. So I grabbed a few packets of black pepper and began stuffing them in my mouth one at a time. Within 10 minutes I could feel a reduction in my high, which led me to feel confident enough to get up and go outside and do the next thing on my list, which is to use some CBD oil. I always keep CBD on me in multiple forms. CBD helps to bring down the high and balance out the effects of the THC. Between consuming three packets of black pepper and hitting my CBD vape about six times, I found myself to a functional point within 25 minutes, which was great because I was easily at least an hour and a half to two hours away from coming down without those methods.

The last options pertain to relaxation methods, such as distractions, like reading or watching TV, taking a hot shower or bath, taking a nap, or going for a walk. These are excellent options for days when you don’t have somewhere to be, and you are just trying to come down a bit when you are at home. I have tried these in the past and I find that the relaxation I feel when taking a hot shower is phenomenal and really helps to ease me into the effects and transition the experience from anxiety provoking to more enjoyable. When I have used this method, I have then found myself a comfortable spot on the couch or curled up in bed, turned on the TV, and vegged out until I either fall asleep or until the effects completely wear off.

These are just some of the options that you can choose to try in order to decrease your high if you find that you overdid it on your cannabis session, but the top priority should be to keep hydrated and to do something that relaxes you to prevent the anxiety from taking over and making the trip more unpleasant that it already is. If you can get yourself to relax into it, you may find that the effects are not as bad as you thought, and you can ride out the storm with a little more ease than you would have without finding a way to implement your favorite relaxation strategies. Regardless of what you choose, I do highly recommend trying the black pepper and CBD options, as I have had amazing success with these strategies, and have found that they work quickly, along with increasing my water intake. Another great suggestion, which combines the main terpene of the black pepper which decreases the high and the CBD options, is to find a CBD product with Beta-caryophyllene. There are CBD companies who offer products with this terpene in multiple forms. Regardless of which option or options you choose to try, at the end of the day you just need to remember that the effects are only temporary and they will pass within a short time., and now you will have a better idea of how to gauge your tolerance when using that product in the future.

[mayeleventwentytwelve]

2018 / 2019 Recap

WOWOWOW!!! I honestly did not realize how long it’s been since I’ve posted on here! But I guess better late than never right? Here we go..

Jan 2018 - we went to the Boil (only remember this because I’m looking back at pics lol!)

Feb 2018 - we celebrated Valentine’s Day with Jherick and ate at the Thai place in Chinatown. We also tried Phil & Anne’s. Food was ok but overpriced!

Mar 2018 - filed form to get my passport. Wahoo! Went to El Vez for mensiversary.

Apr 2018 - we started playing a lot of basketball. This one Saturday, Spencer met up with us after his class and we played. Then went to Roli where Jherick had a tick on him lol yikes

May 2018 - our 6th year anniversary! We went to Unos. Food was ok, I remember one dish I think the pizza took FOREVER so they ended up giving us free dessert. We also went to Florida with Spencer/ Ruby. I think this was our first trip that involved a flight with them. We went to I think both Island of Adventure & Universal right? And we also went to SeaWorld. Poor Spencer threw up here after eating uncooked eggs made my his lady LOL. I miss the metro café place near the entrance of Universal, by Hulk. The Chicken Alfredo there is yummy! The Airbnb we had here was nice, it was super nice that we had 2 bathrooms lol. And a pool that we got to use on our last night. Luckily we had it all to ourselves. We also got to make your famous spaghetti. **I want Spaghetti in Jherick's voice** The morning of our flight back to NYC, we made Spam musubi right? And we had so much extra so we packed it in an empty Pringles can haha but we ended up throwing it away.

Jun 2018 - your birthday!! You turned 25! Quarter of a century, young baby. I took you to Peter Luger to celebrate! We also got to see Paramore w/ Jherick, courtesy of Live Nation free tickets.

Jul 2018 - played lots of basketball on the weekends. Went to Noreetuh for our mensiversary.

Aug 2018 - had Fogo w/ John & O'neal! We also ate at the Boil for our mensiversary.  We also went Tree Top Adventure! That was really fun, but too bad you had to tap out early lol! You wanted to be a big boy and try to climb up the rope but nope. We also went mini golfing & paddle boating or something like that.

Sep 2018 - my birthday! I turned the big 26. Wahhh. Went to El Vez w/ Ruby & Spencer. Got the green tea crepe cake, yummy!

Oct 2018 - saw Bruno Mars in concert! One of the best that I've thoroughly enjoyed.

Nov 2018 - Ruby's birthday! We went to Pennsylvania for Hershey Park. It was a fun trip. I remember the night before we were all on Discord & we told Ruby to pack her bags. But never said for how many days.. oops! But most importantly, this month we went to Japan!! Our first INTERNATIONAL, might I add.. LONG AS HELL! trip. I remember it was like a midnight flight, we ate around 2AM and best of all, they gave us Hagan Daaz ice cream! I didn't sleep too much on the plane but I did fall asleep here & there. It took maybe 14 hours until we landed in Beijing for a layover. I remember getting 2 sandwiches & water to hold us through. Then we finally landed in Tokyo!! We met up w/ Rui? I forgot the Airbnb guys name. I just remember taking a pic & sending it to him so he knew what we looked like since he was picking us up from the train station. I remember when we landed & went thru Customs, I took a whole bunch of free paper and magazines by the exit lol. And then seeing the lines of people patiently waiting for the train. Anyway, Rui spedwalk like crazy to the Airbnb. Luckily it was near the train station, it was so nice. Little studio and had the best bathroom EVER. Your favorite, the bidet. I remember nearly breaking the washing machine lol. It took hours to wash & dry man. I remember the first night, we showered & then headed out to explore. Walked around a little bit and I think we had that cold ramen the first night? I remember being sooooo exhausted, you have a video of me walking in the Airbnb like a lifeless zombie lol. The first day we visited the doggie statue. I'm not going to go day by day because it's all a blur. We went to Harajuku and got the big cotton candy cone. We had that cute ice cream. The crepe from the alleyway. We went into Daiso where I got my chapstick that I love so much. We visited a lot of anime/ figure stores. We visited the arcade. A lot of the gatchiflan toy thingies. We had more ramen (by our Airbnb). We had sushi on the last night I think. We tried that rotating sushi bar place but it was like a 1.5-2 hour wait so we said oh hell nah and ended up eating near our Airbnb. We had a lot of breakfast buns and onigiris from 7-11. And Family Mart. And Don Quiote where we got a lot of snacks & my favorite peach tea drink. We also tried Lotteria which was no Bueno. Taco Bell & Wendys were cool though. Did we try McDonalds? We spent our Thanskgiving at Ginza! a5 Wagyu, yummy yummy in my tummy. Everything was so good there. I remember we also went to the worlds biggest Uniqlo! You got your coat there & I got my pink fuzzy sweater & I think we got house slippers too our first night. That area we were walking around reminded me of 5th ave in the city, lots of shopping stores. We also had that fried beef thingy down in that basement restaurant. That was really good too. We also went to the shrines where we had to wash our hands & I remember we got to the burning ashes area and you told me to inhale it but really we were just suppose to swoop the smoke into our hair for good luck lol. This was also where there were a whole bunch of markets and we found our Kenji key chains. And where you spent $10 for gold foil ice cream. Our wifi at the Airbnb also went out like that second or third night. So the hosts told us to use the portable wifi. I think we probably used up so much they had to close their Airbnb :( lol Aside from me being cranky & tired, this was all in all a really good trip! I know it was your favorite.. even over the Paris one *eyeroll*

Dec 2018 - this is where you helped me setup my cpu area. We went to Ikea and bought my table & chair. Wahoo!

Jan 2019 - don't really remember much from this month.

Feb 2019 - we went Axe throwing!

Mar 2019 - I finally got 2 of my wisdom tooth removed. I think this was the month we went snowtubing w/ Helen & Carlo? This was also the month Jensen was born! Love that little mans.

Apr 2019 - I surprised you at Yayas w/ your airpods.

May 2019 - our SEVEN year anniversary! Celebrated at no other place than Fogo. We also saw Spencer graduate from Med school and again went to Fogo to celebrate lol. We went hiking this month too. That was fun. We also went to Governors Island where you chauffeured me around on a bike hehe. And then we ate at that diner place on Montague St. I really liked the food there. And then we ate at Blossom, our first time. It was soooo good.

Jun 2019 - our second international trip! To Spain. We went to Madrid which was fine, then Seville which was the best because of that tapas place & then Barcelona which was the worst because you got mugged :( It's otay Jeffrey it's otay. I know you're still traumatized.  The most memorable thing I will take from this trip is how Spencer projectile vomited for like an hour.. it was on your birthday! We ate at that steak place & when we got home he was in the bathroom and we just heard him puking his guts out. Then when we finally think it subsided, I decided to brush my teeth while Ruby showered and then I turn around and get started by Spencer and he goes, "Can I throw up now?" And then I manned up and wrapped my hand and arm in like 4 trash bags to unclog the sink. YUCK! And then the last day there, we ate at that yummy brunch spot we ate at 2 times. And Spencer blew up the bathroom. He had the SHIETTTTTS.

Jul 2019 - don't really remember much here. But you started your diet this month right?

Aug 2019 - we went to California! San Francisco & LA. Had fun on this trip, weather was nice. Food was good. Got to visit Vy and the doggies. Went hiking with the bears and snakes haha. Spencer & Ruby took me to the zoo while you visited your friend.

Sep 2019 - my 27th birthday! We went to the Boil. And I remember you made me watch the video you made there & there was a little part of me that thought at the end of the video, you were going to propose to me LOL

Oct 2019 - we went to Boston. Worst goddamn trip ever. Stuck on the never ending ride back home. We went to 6 flags here right? This month was also hard because I lost my papa.

Nov 2019 - celebrated Jherick's 21st birthday at Fogo! We went to the boil for mensiversary. For Thanksgiving, you came over Diana's and pigged out lol.

Dec 2019 - another cheat month for you. Went to Diana's for Christmas.

[keywestlou]

FROM ANCIENT AMORGOS TO THE GRANDEUR OF ATHENS

DAYS 31 and 32…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Key West Lou

I am back! Missed a day. Yesterday. Big traveling day. 

I am sad to say I left Amorgos. It is like Key West in my feelings. Twenty five years ago on my first visit I knew some day I wanted to live in Key West. Amorgos leaves me with the same feeling. No way, however. Key West is home and I am happy there. 

I am in Athens. A big vibrant teeming city. After spending more than three weeks on three different Greek isles, I needed a return to the normal world. 

I am doing my two days in Athens big time. Staying at the world famous Grande Bretagne. It is civilization. Opulent. Service till you fall over it. Tons of fresh clean towels. A woman to give me a manicure. A real shower. Not one of those small confines with a hand held shower head. Big bed with a great mattress. Clean sheets every day. 

The modern conveniences! 

My last day on Amorgos was spent doing exactly what I liked. I sat in my bathing suit with my feet propped on another chair on my terrace. A baseball cap on my head backwards. And read. Except for an hour in the afternoon when I went in to take a nap. 

Dinner was with Demetrius. He made a fuss. I told him…..I shall return! 

Yesterday was a new experience. My 9 hour boat trip to Athens. I was not excited. The starting time was too early. The length off the trip too long. I expected an old beat up trawler with a handful of people. 

What a surprise! The boat was fantastic! 

Big. Three stories. Long. A ferry boat in effect. The first floor for cars. Don’t know why. There are not that many cars in the Greek isles to fill the mammoth space. Two floors for passengers. Roughly 400. The second floor all economy class. The third, half economy and first class. The other half business class. 

I was in business class. Explanation time. Classes when traveling are not the same as in the U.S. Whereas first class is tops, in Greece business class is. The Greek first class is comparable to our business class. 

You would not believe the business class salon. Easy chairs and sofas. That’s all to sit on. Pure comfort. Always a table nearby for a drink or whatever. Service. Waiters. A small bar with little goodies to eat. Only half full. 

The trip was a treat! Rather than the dreaded experience I thought was before me

The long boat trip gave me a chance to see many of the Greek isles. We were in and out of about 10 of them picking up passengers. 

Politics could not be avoided. I was speaking with some Italian and Greek passengers. Fortunately, all spoke English. 

Italian former Prime Minister Berlusconi is on his way back. He beat a sex charge involving a seventeen year old and won some sort of local election soon thereafter. Berlusconi is running again for the Prime Minister’s job. The election is next year. 

Of the roughly 17 European nations making up the euro bunch, Italy is in the third worst shape. Only Spain and Greece are behind. Greece is last. Berlusconi has started blaming the Greeks for everything. He is siding with the Germans. The Greeks screwed up is his position. 

I shuddered. History repeats itself. The scenario reminded me of the late 1930s when Mussolini joined with Hitler. 

I further thought how dumb! Didn’t this guy realize that Italy will be one of the next. Sucking up will not avoid the grasp of the bill collecting Germans. 

An example of how heated the conversation got was the boat we were on and ATM machines. The boat was built/bought 10 years ago with euro dollars. The Italian said that euro nation dollars had built the boat. Not Greece’s money. Further, he said that money the Greeks were taking out of ATM machines was made up of Italian and euro nation dollars. In effect, the Greeks were free loading…..all the way around. 

I fear worse is yet to come. 

Last night was a replay. Went to Plaka. To the same outdoor cafe I drank at several times three weeks ago. The manager saw me and shouted out…..Louis! He embraced me.

I had dinner on the poor side of Acropolis. At the restaurant where the Greeks dance. Under brightly lite Acropolis. Only one problem. Business was poor last night. Only three tables in use. No music. The food compensated. I had huge grilled lamb chops. The kind with fat. The taste spectacular! 

Before leaving for dinner, I went to the bar and put down two gins. A magnificent big city type bar. Just like New York City. Then it was downstairs for a manicure. 

Chrysa did me. A lovely young lady. Did a good job. We chatted. She was born and raised in Greece. Has a friend in New Jersey. She visits the friend on occasion. She thinks she may be visiting the last week of November and the first week of December. They are planning on driving to Florida. I asked…..South Beach and Key West? I do not think she understood these places. Her answer was Orlando. I told her we all love Mickey Mouse and she should go. But afterwards keep going south till you hit South Beach and then Key West. 

I know Chrysa will be reading this blog today. Come to Key West! When you arrive, go to the Chart Room at the Pier House Hotel. I am there most evenings at cocktail hour. If not, tell the bartender who you are and how I may contact you. Do not miss South Beach and Key West! 

I had a quick breakfast of nothing this morning. A double espresso. It was like drinking acid! 

Enjoy your day! 

—

A couple of items that come to mind which are not in the blog.

The magnificence of the Grand Bretagne I have already shared. Greece’s economic condition, also. The economy affected my stay at the Gran Bretagne.

The hotel was empty. I did not know it at the time.

I had no reservation. Walked up to the counter and explained I had just spent a month on Amorgos and wanted to spend a few days in their hotel. I explained I needed a return to civilization!

What a deal it turned out to be!

I had a huge magnificent room, bathroom and terrace. All for $172 a night.

I was placed on the valet floor. Did not understand what it meant till I reached my room. The floor had a valet. Tails and all. He was to provide all services.

Nice guy. He explained I was the only customer on the valet floor. Ergo, I was all his during my stay. He unpacked my bags. Packed them when I was to leave. He said anything and everything you want, call me. I did. I was cared for like a King.

Lamb is a big dish in Greece. What is on the menu, what you order, is not lamb. Generally, goat. The islands definitely goat. Big time hotels and restaurants in Athens I assume lamb. Smaller places goat.

Don’t say ugh at the mention of goat. Tastes like lamb. You cannot tell the difference.

Goat is especially served on the islands because it is plentiful. You frequently see herds of wild goats running across a mountain side.

I am excited! Extremely so! I am finally to get the vaccine shot. Tomorrow at the Frederick Douglas Gym in Key West.

The news a relief. My 85 year old age is constantly in the forefront of my mind. I should have been one of the first in line. At the moment, they are down to age 55 receiving the shot. What happened to me? I’ll never know and don’t care. That I am to finally receive the shot tomorrow is what is important.

Coronavirus is what? A year old. New things happening daily. Problems. Solutions.

One of the recent occurrences involves a baby born in Washington, D.C. in September. The baby was born with the virus. More dramatic and worse, the baby had 51,000 of some bad thing in his body. The 51,000 number far higher than those in other young patients.

No one knows why.

The baby was “very sick.” Responded well to treatments, however and is virus free today. Doctors believe the infection was from a  coronavirus variant.

The baby was “lucky.” The young barely show symptoms.

We are all familiar with the saying when it rains, it pours. Somewhat like Murphy’s law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

I refer to Boeing. “Poor Boeing.” However the poor is not really applicable. Boeing has a glitch or two in its manufacturing process. People die when something goes wrong with a plane.

I mention Boeing this morning because a Boeing 777 made an emergency landing yesterday in Moscow after receiving an engine sensor warning.

A safe emergency landing was made. No injuries. No visible damage to the plane.

This is Boeing’s third engine problem this week. Another  777 engine problem and a 737 one.

Something’s wrong in the plant. Boeing better figure it out. And soon! Otherwise no one will fly their planes.

There will be no blog tomorrow. My time will be absorbed with the shot.

Enjoy your day!

FROM ANCIENT AMORGOS TO THE GRANDEUR OF ATHENS was originally published on Key West Lou

[viralnewstime]

It’s just past 7 a.m. as Tavis Clinton’s sanitation truck pulls to a stop in an alley in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Petworth, its streets lined by aging rowhouses and the occasional glass-and-metal gentrified upstart apartment complex. The 41-year-old sanitation crew chief, who like the other members of his three-man team is African American, navigates the massive orange city truck through the narrow lanes, his mouth covered in a star-spangled bandana. His colleagues jump off, grab a couple of wheeled bins and swing them in a practiced arc onto a mechanized arm that tips the refuse into the truck. The team then skates the bins back behind the still-quiet homes and sprints to the next set, panting through their face masks in the former swampland’s late spring heat.

Sanitation workers like Clinton show up before dawn to start their 6am shifts, wrapping themselves in masks, gloves, neon jackets and vests, and a take-no-prisoners esprit de corps to get through exhausting shifts removing the locked-down city’s refuse. The streets have been emptier but the trash is heavier with so many staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic. The three-man crews pack into the truck’s cab, where no social distancing is possible. When Clinton gets home to his wife and five children, he sprays his clothes his disinfectant and then scrubs hard in the shower before going anywhere near them.

“It’s tough,” Clinton says. “I just have to trust in my crew that once they leave work, they are home and they’re not out socializing, because it’s all our health at once.”

Clinton and his crew are part of the essential workforce that has kept America’s capital running during the pandemic, most of which are African American, according to the city. It’s one of the reasons officials say the African American community here has been so hard hit by COVID-19: While African Americans make up nearly 47% of the District of Columbia’s population, and account for 46% of the city’s COVID-19 cases, they also account for more than 76% of the city’s deaths.

Nate Palmer for TIMETavis Clinton disinfects his truck before beginning his route on May 22.

Now, as the District’s officials weigh reopening non-essential businesses as early as Friday, they worry its black and brown residents, who are being disproportionately impacted by the virus, will bear the brunt of a second wave of infections once people leave their houses. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser knows she has to both bring back business and minimize the health risk to the largely black and Latinx workers doing the work on the pandemic’s front lines. Latinx are the second highest risk group for COVID-19 in the U.S.; in the District, they make up 11% of the city’s population and 25% of infections. “You don’t get to open up and be successful if people are scared for their lives,” Bowser tells TIME.

The virus’ disproportionate impact on the District of Columbia’s black community in particular reflects a broader pattern across the United States. Nationwide, African Americans comprise just 12.3% of the country but nearly 26.3% of the COVID-19 cases and 22.7% of deaths, according to CDC data. (At least 30% of states’ test results compiled by the CDC failed to record race.) A high rate of underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease, coupled with historically lower-paid jobs, have put many African American communities at greater risk from COVID-19, experts say. The skewed toll “spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country,” former President Barack Obama said in his May 16th commencement speech for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Until this week, Washington, D.C.’s startlingly high proportion of African American deaths has helped make the city has a national outlier in its stay-at-home orders. On May 13, Bowser extended D.C.’s the order to June 8th, while nearly all other states moved toward some kind of reopening. Her caution proved prescient: the metropolitan D.C. area had the highest rate of positive COVID-19 tests in the nation on May 22, just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, according to White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx. But after the holiday, Bowser told reporters on Tuesday that cases were again dropping, and some non-essential businesses could begin to open by Friday if the trend continued downward.

Patrick Semansky—APD.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, right, speaks during a news conference about the coronavirus inside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on May 11.

Drew Angerer—Getty ImagesA woman wears a mask as she walks past a bus stop on 14th Street in downtown Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2020.

Bowser’s caution has put her at odds with the President living in her city limits who has been actively urging the country to get back to business. She is trying to walk a diplomatic line with the Trump Administration, since D.C. needs federal funding to bridge a nearly $725 million-dollar budget shortfall spurred by rising social-welfare costs and falling tax income due to the pandemic. But she doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that she thinks President Donald Trump’s push to reopen overlooks the needs of some of the most vulnerable Americans. “There is this kind of a callous calculation happening that surprises me,” she says. “It’s kind of like, ‘Well, this COVID is killing old people and, Oh, well. It’s killing black people, and poor people and essential workers. Oh, well.’”

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‘This death that’s going around’

For many of the early rising members of D.C.’s sanitation crews, COVID-19 has brought both a sense of renewed pride in their crucial work and a creeping sense of dread. “The public comes out when they are coming through the alleys, kids waiving at them,” says Earl Simpson, 43, the associate administrator of D.C.’s collection division. “I think the citizens really appreciate us being out there collecting the trash and recycling.”

Nate Palmer for TIMERetired sanitation worker Maurice “Pony Man” Queen, 72, stands in the hallway at the Department of Public Works Solid Waste Collections Division on May 22.

But some have already left the job out of concern for their safety. Fear of the virus drove one of the city’s longest serving sanitation workers, Maurice “Pony Man” Queen, 72, to finally retire on April 3, after his “50 years, 7 months and 22 days of service.” He started the job just after Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, where the reverend had traveled to support a protest by black sanitation workers. He says he never missed a week’s work until coronavirus struck. Now he’s worried about the young men he mentored who are still on the job. “We’re gonna have some more people die before all of this is resolved,” Queen says. “And I’m just hoping and praying that none of my family members or anybody that I know will be a part of this death that’s going around.”

COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting African American communities across the U.S. for a variety of reasons. Many inhabit the low-income, densely packed neighborhoods with a large number of multi-generational homes, which helps spread the virus, says Danyelle Solomon, vice president of race and ethnicity at the Center for American Progress (CAP). Other factors include type of employment, lack of a financial safety net and pre-existing health conditions, she says.

African Americans make up about a third of some of the service industry’s public-facing jobs like taxi drivers and barbers, according to CAP research. That’s in part why less than one in five black Americans, and less than one in six Latinx Americans able to work from home, Solomon says. And for every $10 a typical white family has in the bank, a typical black family only holds $1, according to CAP research. “Wealth allows people to respond to that unexpected emergency like COVID-19,” she says, “resources you can draw upon when you’re not pulling a paycheck.”

When it comes to health, CAP’s analysis shows that 28% of people of color between the ages of 18 and 64 in the U.S. — or more than 21 million people — have a pre-existing condition, like asthma, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes, that could put them at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

Nate Palmer for TIMESanitation worker Vincent Walker sits below a portrait of Mayor Muriel Bowser inside the Department of Public Works Solid Waste Collections Division.

In Washington D.C., Mayor Bowser, who is 47, says the virus has been “efficient against underlying conditions that you see in the African American community, like diabetes and high blood pressure and heart disease.” She says it has also hit those who don’t have the luxury of staying home, and those who live in multiple-generation households that are getting more crowded as families double up when they can’t make rent because of lost wages. “Less than optimal health decisions, coupled with the inability to isolate, has put black and brown communities right in the crosshairs of COVID-19,” Bowser says.

Others say criticizing African Americans for lifestyle choices that lead to pre-existing conditions smacks of blaming the victim. Washington’s most populous black neighborhoods, concentrated in Wards 7 and 8, are food deserts, says Doni Crawford of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, with only three large supermarkets serving 160,000 people. Decades of inequitable city planning also come into play, with homes in black and brown communities often located in more densely packed neighborhoods, or near warehouse or industrial districts, due to zoning practices, the 30-year-old affordable housing analyst says. “When you’re living close to a trash site, that negatively impacts your health.”

All these factors are further complicated by a historic distrust of doctors felt by many members of the African American community, says Dr. Michael Fauntroy, 54, associate professor of political science at Howard University, who studies African American political behavior. For many, that is rooted in the notorious Tuskegee experiment, he says, which started in 1932 when unethical U.S. Public Health Service researchers told African American men they were being “treated for ‘bad blood,’ a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue,” according to the CDC. Instead, they were being studied as syphilis consumed them, and infected their loved ones, long after a cure was found.

Lingering suspicion — and the prejudice African Americans continue to encounter in the modern health care system — has made some people reluctant to seek out care. It also means it can be hard to dislodge bad information, Fauntroy says, like the rumor in the early days of the pandemic that blacks couldn’t catch COVID-19. The Howard University professor recalls hearing that rumor repeated by one of his best students. “I almost lost my mind,” Fauntroy recalls, “because it’s just the single most illogical thing you can think of.”

‘Disregard for black life and black bodies’

Mayor Bowser is mindful of that history. As it became clear that D.C.’s black community was being hit hard by COVID-19, she reached out to fellow African Americans through a trusted voice, enlisting D.C. resident and former First Lady Michelle Obama to record a message that went out to denizens of the District via robocall and through social media in mid-April. It urged non-essential workers to stay home and explained where people could get free coronavirus testing. (An Obama spokesperson says she’s recorded similar messages for other major African American cities and broadcasters during the pandemic as well.) The robocall helped drive up numbers of people getting tested, Bowser says, putting the District in the top 10 states or territories in terms of people tested per capita, according to the District’s Director of the Department of Forensic Sciences Dr. Jenifer Smith.

Nate Palmer for TIMEEmery Heights Park on a cloudy day in Washington, D.C., on May 22.

But cases have still been spiking in some of the city’s low-income neighborhoods, so Bowser’s team has been setting up pop-up sites that offer free testing for essential workers, people in high risk categories, or people who think they may have been exposed. At the first one, on a sunny Saturday on May 16, a line of masked residents waited next to a mobile lab near a charter school in Brightwood, a neighborhood in northwest D.C. that was once home to a pre-Civil War community of free African Americans. Today it’s a cross-section of black, Latinx and Amharic families, and is situated within the District’s Ward Four, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

Juan, a plumber, stands in line to get tested because his boss is in the hospital with COVID-19. “I have four children in the house,” he says. “I have to make sure that everything is okay.”

The economic impact of COVID-19 people in low-income neighborhoods like Brightwood is putting people at higher risk of infection in D.C., health care workers say. Homes that were already tight are now even more crowded as families move in together to save money. “A lot of people have lost their jobs, and the people that didn’t lose their jobs have lost hours,” says Maria Gomez, RN, president and CEO of Mary’s Center, which is providing the pop-up center’s testing services. To save rent, families are doubling up. “So one family that already was crowded in an apartment is moving in with another one that was already crowded.”

A few blocks away, on the neighborhood’s main drag, most businesses are closed, other than a funeral home and the occasional pharmacy or liquor store. One of the few open shops is Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen, where Elsa Yirge, the 45-year-old owner, works behind the counter. Her husband Beniam Belay greets drivers from Uber, Seamless and Grubhub in a bright African-print face mask, to the sound of an Ethiopian soap opera playing on a wall-mounted TV.

He says business has been down 80% since the pandemic hit. Just before COVID-19, the business leased more space upstairs to hold tables for up to 40 guests. Now, they don’t know how they’ll pay rent at the end of the month. The restaurant applied for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the emergency federal program designed to help small business owners struggling under the shutdown. “We never heard back on our loan application,” Elsa says. When asked what they’ll do, she just shrugs, a grim look on her face.

Stimulus measures meant to bail out small businesses struggling under stay-at-home orders haven’t had the impact on minority-owned businesses that advocates would like to see, according to Crawford and co-author Qubilah Huddleston’s research for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Only a quarter of PPP loans could be used for expenses like rent, while three-quarters of the aid was structured to cover staff paychecks. “More than 90% of black businesses nationwide are sole proprietorships with no employees,” Crawford says. The Latinx community is also struggling, according to a recent Latino Decisions poll, which found that 35% of respondents had lost a job, 29% owned a small business that was on the brink or had already gone under, and 43% had trouble making rent.

Nate Palmer for TIMEBrightwood resident Carol Lightfoot, 73, stands on her front porch on May 22.

But for people in the capital who have watched friends and neighbors get sick, rushing back to normal life isn’t necessarily the answer. Next door to the testing site, Carol Lightfoot, 73, and her brother George, 69, watch neighbors line up for nearly half a mile from the front porch of their peeling 1800s-era Victorian home, which in its day hosted salons for members of the black intelligentsia like W.E.B. Du Bois. When the Lightfoots realized they could get tested for free, they lined up too, as the siblings share a host of serious health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and asthma.

Lightfoot has empathy for people who have lost income during the pandemic, but calls the primarily white protestors she’s seen on TV dismissing the virus “ridiculous,” adding that they’d likely feel differently “if it was a member of their family or friends who came down with it.”

As Trump continues to push for reopening, homemade posters have appeared on a handful of D.C. lamp posts across the District. “Coming soon to your City: Trump Caskets,” the signs say, with an image of the President grinning over an open coffin. It’s a snapshot of how some District residents view Trump’s handling of the pandemic, says longtime Washington, D.C.-based public radio host Kojo Nnamdi. Many African Americans here see the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on their community as part of a wider pattern of neglect by the Trump Administration, he says. “These are people who are convinced that President Trump does not have the interests of poor and people of color at heart. They think that President Trump prefers to err on the side of the major corporation, the big banks, and the business community.”

Nnamdi, now 75, predicts the pandemic will renew the movements for black equality that first inspired him to travel to the U.S. from Guyana as a college student and briefly join the revolutionary-minded Black Panther Party. Policy analyst Huddleston, 29, agrees. “It just reflects the disregard for black life and black bodies to say that we know that there are specific communities being decimated and devastated, economically, health wise, etc. But we’re still going to open anyway because the show must go on,” she says.

Mayor Bowser sees this crisis as an opportunity for Trump to reach out to the nation’s black community. “If there is ever a place where we could really look at the disproportionate impact on African Americans, it’s D.C., she says. “I think Trump gets that this is an issue that he can lean into for African Americans. I don’t know if he knows what the answer is.”

In Brightwood, nobody is talking politics. Juan and the other residents standing in line to get tested are just focused on getting through this crisis, like Clinton on his early morning sanitation shift. He may have to get out and help the public every day for a living, but in his private life, Clinton says he is planning to stay from public places for a while. “You gotta choose. What’s best? The economy? We need to get it back together so people can work, but you also gotta be safe,” he says. “It’s out there.”

— With reporting by Chris Wilson

Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to virus@time.com.

[ukvec]

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine lists 3-acre home for $6.75M (Photos) – Atlanta Business Chronicle

The home where famed former Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine and his wife Chris have raised their five children is for sale for $6.75 million.

The eight-bedroom, nine-bathroom home at 910 Hurleston Lane in Johns Creek encompasses 16,132 square feet and was built by the Glavines over a period of two years. It comes with a backyard baseball field and basement batting cage — both built by Braves groundskeeper Ed Mangan — and is located in the exclusive gated community Country Club of the South in Johns Creek, Ga. It includes a championship Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course; Glavine is an avid golfer.

Glavine starred for the Braves during their record-setting 1990s run. After the team finished last in 1990, his pitching helped take the Braves to the National League West title the very next year — the Braves’ famous worst-to-first 1991 season.

This season is shaping up like that, Glavine said.

“They are a little bit ahead of where everybody thought they were going to be – to be really, really competing for their division. Sometimes things happen sooner than you plan, like they did for us in 1991, so hopefully this is another one of those years,” he said.

With a 20-11 record, a league-best nine complete games and the National League Cy Young Award, Glavine helped the Braves advance to their first World Series — where they lost to the Minnesota Twins in extra innings in the dramatic seventh game.

The Braves went to the Series again in 1992, and then in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians. Glavine threw eight-shutout innings in Game 6, earning the world championship with a 1-0 victory. He was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.

Along with Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, Glavine was part of one of the best pitching rotations in baseball history. Together they won seven Cy Young Awards from 1991 to 1998, with Glavine’s honors in 1991 and 1998. He was a 10-time All-Star, led the National League in wins five times and even won four Silver Slugger Awards.

Glavine was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, along with Maddux. Smoltz joined them a year later. In 2011, Glavine became a color commentator for Braves baseball games.

Today, change is in the air for the Glavine family. Two of the couple’s children are out of college and on their own, a third is in college (Peyton Glavine is a left-handed pitcher, like his dad, for the Auburn University Tigers), a fourth is entering his high school senior year and the fifth is in third grade, Glavine said. It is time to find a smaller house, although they have enjoyed 910 Hurleston Lane, he said.

“It was the perfect house for what we wanted. We wanted a destination for our kids and their friends,” Glavine said. “We had kids here all the time hanging out. We could actually do that, and we were not all on top of each other. It worked perfectly in that regard. We had a lot of fun memories with those guys hanging out here.”

The family is looking for a smaller home in the Country Club of the South neighborhood and surrounding areas of North Fulton, such as Alpharetta or Milton, Glavine said. He plans to keep playing golf with the same group of guys. "It may just be a longer commute (to the course) now depending on what happens," he said.

“We plan on staying here; we haven’t decided what to do. We toyed with the idea of going into Buckhead but I am not sure how realistic that is,” he said. “We are comfortable here and we know the surroundings. I am hard-pressed to believe we wouldn’t end up somewhere in this area.”

It’s also been home to another famous former Brave and friendly Glavine rival, Smoltz. His house in Milton, 700 Foxhollow Run, is listed for $4.998 million.

Asked whether he hopes his house sells for more than Smoltz’s, Glavine laughed. “We are competitive, I hope so – yes. I don’t know what John’s listed for; he has a beautiful house.”

Smoltz’s 18,265-square-foot home has 10 bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and four half bathrooms, and is on a 19.74-acre lot. It also has a baseball field.

Glavine’s Hurleston Lane home in Johns Creek was built on two lots that back up to the Chattahoochee River, listing agent Paul Wegener of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty said. It has a long private drive and professionally landscaped grounds including a pool and spa, a cabana, a fire pit, and a basketball court in addition to the baseball field.

The home was designed by Atlanta architect Norman Askins. It features gothic-style archways, French oak doors, hand-carved staircases, gothic reproduction mantels from Francois and Co., and limestone floors reclaimed from a church in France. The study features judge’s paneling with moldings replicated from St. Philips Cathedral in Atlanta and a ceiling decorated with restoration plaster lattice panels from Fischer and Jirouch Co..

The great room is defined by a two-story cathedral ceiling, iron chandelier and a hand-made leaded glass transom window. In the kitchen are commercial-grade appliances, stone accents and hand-hewn trusses. There are also a breakfast room and a fireside great room. Three sets of French doors lead out to the covered back porch with a masonry fireplace, gas lamps, iron railings and views of the backyard.

The master suite includes a fireside sitting area, a spa-like bathroom with a freestanding tub and steam shower, and a custom closet system built out into four separate rooms to include shoe closets, a dressing room, a library ladder, built-in dresser drawers and a hand bag vignette.

On the terrace level are a billiard room, arcade room, custom bar and wine cellar, an exercise and steam room, and the pitching and batting cage.

According to Fulton County property records, 910 Hurleston Lane most recently changed hands on July 24, 2001, when Clyde R. and Linda C. Williams as grantor sold the property for $620,000 to grantees Thomas M. and Christine S. Glavine. Prior to that transaction, Jack Nicklaus Development Corporation of Georgia was grantor of 910 Hurleston Lane for $179,500 to Robert R. and Glenda S. Bulger on May 3, 1989, records show.

The Glavine home is one of the larger, newer properties in the 950-acre, 733-home Country Club of the South, which was developed mainly in the 1990s, Wegener said. The neighborhood features a championship Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, which has hosted a number of professional tournaments over the years and currently hosts an American Junior Golf Association event that draws the top junior players from all over the world.

Country Club of the South has 24-hour security patrols. It has been home to numerous successful entertainers, executives and entrepreneurs over the years. In addition to Glavine, they include retired Atlanta Braves stars Greg Maddux, Charlie Liebrandt, Jeff Blauser and Paul Assenmacher; football stars Chris Doleman, Garrison Hearst, Randy Cross, Andre Rison and Victor Greene; music celebrities Usher, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, L.A. Reid and Babyface; comedian Jeff Foxworthy; and NBA Hall of Famers Allen Iverson and Bernard King.

The home entertains well, Wegener said. The Glavines hosted fundraisers there for charities including Atlanta-based Cure Childhood Cancer, a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and awareness for childhood cancer research, he said. The couple serves on Cure Childhood Cancer’s advisory board.

There are currently 33 homes in the Atlanta area listed above $5 million, according to First Multiple Listing Service data cited by Wegener. The average days on market for those listings is 176 days, he said.

The Glavines are building a home in Alys Beach in the Florida Panhandle, but Glavine said that would be a vacation, weekend and off-season home for the time being. “When our little guy is in high school maybe we will spend more time down there,” he said.

Glavine said he is enjoying watching this year’s Braves turnaround into a real competitor for the National League East Divison title, although he was surprised it happened so quickly. “They are off to a great start. I hope they sustain it through the course of the year.”

Glavine said the team is fun to watch, both the young players and the veterans.

“Freddie Freeman is a staple. I have a lot of appreciation for him and what he’s accomplished. Ozzie Albies, the second baseman, is having a phenomenal year and then the young pitchers are starting to grow up a bit. It is fun to watch them develop,” he said.

He thinks the team is a playoff contender. “Obviously it is a little bit of a surprise. Certainly the way they are playing, the way their young pitching continues to develop from start to start, has been something to watch,” Glavine said. “Hopefully everyone continues to be healthy — that is one factor you can’t predict, the injury bug — and I think they are going to be in thick of it (division title race) all year.”

Atlanta’s Largest 25 Homebuilders

Ranked by Number of homes closed in 2016

Rank Company Number of homes closed in 2016 1 D.R. Horton Inc. 3,070 2 Century Communities of Georgia 1,265 3 PulteGroup Inc. 758 View This List

Source Article

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[duaneodavila]

More Judicial Nominations From President Trump — And More Judicial Emergencies

Justice Britt Grant (Supreme Court of Georgia)

April showers bring… more judicial nominations from President Donald Trump. Last month, the White House announced its twelfth wave and thirteenth wave of judicial nominees.

So the Trump administration actually seems be picking up the pace on nominations, considering that the usual timetable up until now has been roughly one new wave per month. And the White House was already excelling on this front, having set a record for the most-ever federal appellate judges confirmed during the first year of a presidency.

One can understand why the Trump administration wants to move swiftly. First, the November elections loom. Right now it’s looking unlikely that the Democrats will take the Senate, but it’s not impossible — and if it does happen, look for the judicial nominations process to screech to a halt.

Second, despite the impressive speed with which the White House, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate as a whole are moving on nominees, the number of vacancies, including judicial emergencies, continues to grow. As of this writing there are 142 current vacancies on the Article III bench, up from 108 at the start of Trump’s term, and 72 judicial emergencies, up from 42 at the start of Trump’s presidency.

Now let’s look at the two waves. This post will offer general observations and focus on circuit-court nominees, with more granular analysis and district-court discussion to follow in subsequent posts. If you have information or opinion you’d like to share on the subject, please feel free to email me, subject line “Judicial Nominations.”

The twelfth wave, announced on April 10, consisted of three nominees for the circuit courts — Britt Grant of Georgia (11th Cir.), Paul Matey of New Jersey (3d Cir.), David Porter of Pennsylvania (3d Cir.) — and 16 nominees for the district courts. I’ll begin with some observations from one of my favorite sources on the federal judiciary, Professor Carl Tobias, then follow with my own points:

This list is interesting in a number of ways and resembles some prior lists in certain ways. It shows the White House is steadily nominating batches of nominees so that the Senate Judiciary Committee has plenty of people for its hearings every two weeks when the Senate is in session.

Of the three circuit nominees, Britt Grant (11th Cir.) seems well qualified. I know little about Paul Matey (3d. Cir.) but assume Chris Christie recommended him.

If you’ll indulge my self-congratulation, I flagged Britt Grant as an Eleventh Circuit nominee in July 2017, and I predicted Paul Matey as a Third Circuit nominee in May 2017. I think Professor Tobias’s assumption of Chris Christie’s involvement is correct; Paul Matey worked for Christie back when Christie was New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney (disclosure: Matey and I were colleagues in that office), then served as deputy chief counsel when Christie became governor.

Back to Professor Tobias:

David Porter (3d Cir.) was a Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) pick for a W.D. Pa. vacancy in the Obama years, and Bob Casey and many others opposed him then — so there does not seem to have been much White House consultation here, which may mean that Casey will not return the blue slip.

With all due respect to Professor Tobias, I think that might be an overstatement; the White House consults with senators all the time, but isn’t required to defer to their wishes, especially on circuit nominees (as opposed to district-court or U.S. attorney nominees, where senators receive more deference).

Professor Tobias does acknowledge extensive White House consultation with senators on some of the other nominees:

On the positive side, numerous nominations show what can happen when the White House assiduously consults with home state senators and those senators work together. The Rhode Island nominee, the two Indiana nominees, and the two Ohio nominees attest to that. My sense is that these nominees will move smoothly through the process. These and the other district nominees seem to be named primarily for their competence in managing cases and have been recommended by their senators.

I am concerned about the dearth of “blue” state nominees in this package and overall. For example, California and New York both have a dozen lower-court vacancies, half of which are “judicial emergencies,” and Trump has nominated no one to any of these 24 vacancies. There needs to be some movement on these vacancies and vacancies in other states like New Jersey. (Pennsylvania and Florida have 10 vacancies each, so the two Florida nominees should help.)

I agree with Professor Tobias on the disturbing number of vacancies and the need to have more nominees from blue states (and therefore disagree, as I often do on judicial matters, with my colleague Joe Patrice, who views the complaining about vacancies as overwrought and often disingenuous).

In defense of the White House, the high number of vacancies lamented by Professor Tobias isn’t entirely the administration’s fault. In a number of cases, to be discussed in my subsequent posts, no nominees have been announced because the administration is going back and forth with senators over nominations. Contrary to the claims of some critics, the White House is most definitely consulting and working with home-state senators on judicial picks (even if it doesn’t always accede to the senators’ wishes).

Now let’s turn to the thirteenth wave of nominees, announced on April 26. It consisted of three nominees for the circuit courts — A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr. of South Carolina (4th Cir.), Julius “Jay” N. Richardson of South Carolina (4th Cir.), Richard J. Sullivan of New York (2d Cir.) — and five nominees for the district courts. Again, from Professor Tobias:

The new wave is small but interesting. The Fourth Circuit nominees seem well qualified. Jay Richardson prosecuted Dylann Roof, and Marvin Quattlebaum practiced for decades at a fine firm. Quattlebaum’s elevation might be the fastest in U.S. history, as he was confirmed to the District of South Carolina on March 1. Most presidents wait several years before elevation, so the nominee has time to build a record and secure experience. It may also indicate that the GOP is watching the calendar in terms of approvals before the midterms and possible concerns about losing the Senate. [Ed. note: I’m not aware of a faster elevation in federal judicial history; if you are, email me.]

Richard Sullivan (2d Cir.) is another elevation, of a Bush 2007 appointee, and he is the first New York nominee, which is great — but New York has 11 more vacancies, half emergencies.

Judge Sullivan’s elevation comes as no surprise; I identified him as a likely nominee back in May 2017.

As for all the New York vacancies, some of this fault lies with the senators. The White House sent the senators a (bipartisan and impressive) slate of possible nominees way back in July 2017.

And New York isn’t even the biggest problem, as Professor Tobias notes:

California is now worst with 12 vacancies, most emergencies and no nominees.

The five Florida district nominees will fill all the vacancies — and the state really needs them, as a number are emergencies. Most were recommended by the Rubio/Nelson commissions, which shows that they and senators’ cooperation can be effective. Two of the S.D. Fla. nominees are minorities. There are no female noms.

As readers of my coverage know, in general I’ve been quite impressed by the Trump judicial nominees (especially the appellate rather than trial-court ones). But I do think the administration could do better on diversity; the George W. Bush administration demonstrated that it’s possible to put up nominees who are qualified, conservative, and diverse.

How quickly will these nominations turn into confirmations? Professor Tobias points out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t wasting any time:

Another major event was McConnell’s filing notice of cloture on six circuit nominees when the Senate returns on May 7. I think this is unprecedented.

In Bush’s eight years, he never tried to confirm more than two or three in one week and then with the Democrats’ permission. Obama did confirm five in one December 2010 week, but they had been on the floor for months and the GOP would not agree to final votes and Congress was recessing for the year.

It is unclear why McConnell is doing this. He did stack five in the first week of November 2017. Doing that grants the minority little time to prepare and can deprive the Senate of the rigorous debate that is needed to discharge Senate responsibility for advice and consent on life-tenured judges who will resolve life-and-death issues. This may also be a sign that McConnell realizes the GOP could lose the Senate majority in November.

One last point is the calendar. [Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck] Grassley has set hearings every two weeks that Congress has been in session, usually for one circuit and four district nominees. Given the backlog of nominees in the process and the time remaining, it seems that this wave of nominees will be the last who can possibly be confirmed this year, because they will need evaluations, SJC hearings, discussions and approvals and floor debates and votes. There simply is too little time left, although there could be a lame-duck session in which noms might be confirmed.

This analysis makes sense based on past precedent — but as with many things relating to the Trump Administration, precedent can be broken.

Senator McConnell has stressed that confirming circuit-court nominees is his “top priority.” And a possible rules change, already approved by the Senate Rules Committee, would shorten the maximum debate time for most nominations from 30 hours to eight hours — and district judges would go down to two.

This proposal is entirely reasonable. First, it’s identical to a policy adopted for a time during the Obama administration. Second, if the 30-hour rule isn’t revised, it could take nine years for all pending Trump nominees to be confirmed. One might not love all of the DJT nominees, but it shouldn’t be controversial for them to get up-or-down votes within a reasonable period of time.

In fairness to the Democrats — I’m not a Democrat, but I do try to be fair to them — they have a rebuttal to this, and it’s two words long: Merrick Garland.

Of course, there’s a rebuttal to the rebuttal: two wrongs don’t make a right. Republican obstruction of Obama nominees doesn’t justify Democratic obstruction of Trump nominees.

And now let the blame games begin. The Republicans obstructed Obama’s trio of (very qualified) D.C. Circuit nominees! The Democrats obstructed Bush’s (very qualified) D.C. Circuit nominee, Miguel Estrada! Lather, rinse, repeat — going back (at least) to 1987 and the failed Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork.

Regardless of which side you take, you can’t deny this truth: this is why the Senate can’t have nice things.

President Donald J. Trump Announces Twelfth Wave of Judicial Nominees [White House] President Donald J. Trump Announces Thirteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees and Seventh Wave of United States Marshal Nominees [White House] A Look at President Trump’s Twelfth Wave of Judicial Nominations [National Review] A Look at President Trump’s 13th Wave of Judicial Nominees [National Review] Trump announces 12th wave of judicial picks [Washington Times]

Earlier:

David Lat is editor at large and founding editor of Above the Law, as well as the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

More Judicial Nominations From President Trump — And More Judicial Emergencies republished via Above the Law

[joinaltruist-blog]

As lastly in the cellulites that each upset us.

Dry brushing may be the juice cleanse from the attractiveness planet. Each of the chicest crunchy granola celebs (we see you, Gwyneth Paltrow) are engaging in it-between their Bikram lessons and runs towards the area natural farmers' industry, that is-and it really is supposed to remedy, nicely, fundamentally all the things, together with bad digestion, cellulite, and what ever terrible factor transpires when your lymph nodes are not draining (there is certainly no much less interesting phrase inside the English language than "lymphatic drainage"). Frankly, the entire point has normally sounded variety of silly to me, but with summer season suitable all around the corner and my legs on the lookout quite boring soon after a winter invested tucked away, I determined to dedicate a month of my daily life to it. To begin with, a primer for anyone of you who have not invested a single twelfth of the 12 months entrenched on the earth of dry brushing: In essence, dry brushing is actually a mixture of exfoliation and massage that requires taking (brace yourselves) a dry brush and moving it more than your entire body in slow, circular motions two to 3 occasions every week. The company bristles with the brush give your skin a thorough exfoliation when the stress aids to stimulate your circulation and, yep, lymphatic drainage, which in flip is supposed to assist your body get rid of harmful toxins.

As certainly is the situation with a number of supposed cure-alls, numerous claims happen to be produced about dry brushing which are at very best unstudied and at worst flat-out untrue (any Allure reader can inform you that no topical process can magically banish cellulite, even though issues like massage can temporarily make it seem smoother). But there's some basis for many of the claims-when it involves softer, far more even skin, exfoliation is your buddy, along with a enhance in circulation through the brushing can undoubtedly depart skin far more plumped and radiant inside the quick phrase. By using a trip in Cabo for the horizon, I broke out the brush I acquired for Christmas but hadn't in fact implemented (thanks, Mom!) and set myself a twice-weekly routine. The procedure was basic (brush, shower, moisturize like crazy). And despite the fact that it extra an alternative 5 to 10 minutes to my preshower program several instances every week, it was not also a lot of the dedication (far more on that inside a minute). The firm-bristle brush was distinctly scrubby, which, becoming a fan of hard-core exfoliation, I appreciated, but even I uncovered brushing my chest region to get uncomfortably extreme, so delicate varieties, beware.

The primary week gave the by far the most obvious results-just not from the way I would hoped. In which previously my skin had a boring, I-didn't-shave-all-in-March cast to it, following my initially two dry-brushing sessions, my skin cried out which has a thirst that even my most heavy-duty of moisturizers couldn't quench. Then it begun to peel. A whole lot. Like, full-on post-sunburn peeling. While in the saddest way attainable. I truthfully viewed as calling the entire point off perfect there. Nonetheless, I'm a committed elegance reporter, so using the desperate hope that issues could only go up from there, I soldiered on. About the upside, the small flakes of skin sloughing off of my physique with each movement did a great task of disguising any unpleasant dimpling on my upper thighs, so I guess it did hold up within the cellulite-fighting guarantees. Week two was a marginal improvement on week one particular (probably mainly because I had previously shed the complete outer layer of my physique like a snake). My skin did not seem to be for being fairly as insatiable in its have to have for lotion, and, glory of glories, the peeling had stopped. There did not look to get every other notable distinctions in my skin, but at that stage just not peeling was this kind of a relief that I did not even thoughts. My skin was somewhat much more hydrated, but nobody was calling me as much as get my freakishly radiant skin inside their moisturizer campaign, so all in all, it had been some thing of the wash.

I discovered a vital lesson through the third week of my experiment: You are able to dry-brush as well challenging. Getting invested two days with an unpleasant raw spot behind my left knee (why I received overzealous together with the back of my knee even I are not able to clarify), I once more thought of no matter whether holding up with procedure was worthwhile. When my skin did look somewhat extra glow-y, and in many cases my in most cases oblivious boyfriend commented on my skin's satin-like softness, I would not swear the variation was a lot more than a sound in-shower scrub could have provided me. However the factor that caught out, now that I had invested all of this time, was much less the surprising alter in my skin and even more a realization about my very own elegance tendencies. Wherever I'd believe almost nothing of the regular exfoliation program for my encounter, plus standard utilization of masks, serums, and all method of other beautifying potions, I had noticed that producing the time for you to do a prettifying ritual for my physique appeared like a lot much more of the headache. I started to come to feel lousy for my bad, neglected physique, permanently the runner-up in my attractiveness program, and I vowed to find out the dry-brushing by way of for the finish as an apology of kinds. With only one week to go ahead of getaway, week 4 was, naturally, full of all of my normal last-minute attempts to develop into a seaside goddess in spite of not getting noticed the within of the gymnasium in months. Setting up: I am very good at it. Concerning last-ditch-effort planks and that haircut I would been placing off for also prolonged, I also noticed myself rushing off for the waxing studio the place, to my shock, my technician in reality commented on how smooth my skin looked. "Thank you," I stated, "I've been dry-brushing." "Oh, that is the top," she explained, nodding approvingly, as though I had out of the blue turned out to be a member of an elite club.

So how did all of it operate out while in the finish? Properly, there have been unquestionably some lows (if my skin hardly ever peels like that once more, it will likely be as well quickly). I can not state that my existence (or my lymph) has noticed any dramatic alter, and my cellulite hasn't disappeared as though by airbrush, but coming out in the finish of it, I've to say I've a sunnier see of your ordeal. Possibly it had been the compliment from a full stranger who understands a issue or two about skin; possibly it truly is just my legs, wherever the very little ingrown hairs that have a tendency to crop up on my calves have disappeared. Possibly it truly is the flush of your tropical sun on my (heavily sunscreened) smooth skin producing me come to feel only a very little bit additional like a seaside goddess. What ever the main reason, I am contemplating I might not be packing away the dry brush just nevertheless.

como acabar com celulite nas coxas

[femkebekker-blog]

Wychwood Festival 2017

On the 31st of May I arrived at Cheltenham Racecourse to work an internship with Nick Turvey of Tribefestivals, who organised Wychwood Festival. On the first day I was shown around a rather empty festival site. There was a stage, a helter skelter, a circus tent(sort of) and the back stage area was set up. The site seemed massive to me, but on the second day I would find out that when all of the traders came in, it was not as massive as it seemed. After being introduced to Britney, an intern from Gloucestershire University (she’s American and I looooove her accent!) and Gianni, a third year student from Bucks I proceeded to stick signs to the windows that would inform people about the possibility of their bags being searched, especially after Manchester, and what they weren’t allowed to take on to the site, anti-smoking signs and exit signs. I then set up some cycling racks to form four queues for when the contributors, stewards, punters and  artists will arrive at the box office. After I finished that I went to the production office where I met Harrad, a really lovely person who was in charge of production (I think) and I made some signage and printed them.

On the second day our little group of interns, and Nick, had become quite close, but I had to work mostly in the production office and at the gate. I started at the gate to let traders and delivery men in, or not. I was given radio which made me feel important. When Julie told me she’d take over from me I had to go to the production office to print ‘’some’’ stuff. Basically, about 400-500 copies in total of different passes and wristband pictures. This was the worst bit. The printer, Mr. Printie, has become my arch enemy. The paper jammed about three times, I ran out of paper and Gianni had to get new printing paper (he came back with 2500 pieces of paper, which I think might be enough to last us the weekend), after fixing the printer multiple times it stopped recognizing that it was fixed and I had to restart it twice. This meant that it would start the entire printing schedule over, so I ended up with 146 copies of one pass, when I only needed 100. Yes, I did count them. Then Gianni had to print 200 copies of something and, of course, he didn’t have to fight with the printer once…… After dinner I proceeded to rip some wristbands(the ones that you get stuck together and you have to rip them off each other), which I’d basically been doing the entire day in between waiting for new things to do. I think I ripped at least 3000. We were still working with some traders when Nick got a call and had to leave straight away, which was a shame, but I understand why he had to leave. I hope he does come back tomorrow, because I think he is great to work for. A slight ‘’what-do-we-have-to-do-panic’’ kicked in and I impulsively told Britney what I thought we should do since Nick wasn’t coming back for the rest of the day. We finished ripping up wristbands to be fully prepared for tomorrow, when the punters arrive. I asked Britney if she could clean, and organize the place a bit more as well, while Gianni and me went to the shop to get some staples and a toothbrush for a trader and we completely forgot the staples. When we came back we closed up the box office and Britney and Gianni went home. My accommodation, however, was sorted by Nick and I have to say that I am very thankful. I’m staying in a hotel stuck to the racecourse and it’s amazing. He has basically given me his room to use, since he was going home every day, anyway. It is amazing, I’ve got two beds, a sink, lockers, there’s proper showers, a television and even a little water cooker with tea and coffee :D So I just moved all my stuff into the lockers and I am heading off to bed, to wake up bright and early tomorrow at 7 a.m.

I wrote the first two paragraphs on the second day of being at the festival site, with the intention to write a paragraph every night after getting back to the hotel. I quickly realised that this was impossible if I also wanted it to make sense and if I wanted to get enough sleep. Everything after this has been written after I came back from Wychwood.

The first day of the festival arrived and before opening up the box office there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. We had loads of volunteers to help us out with the wristbanding and signing in artists and their entourages. This day I didn’t do an awful lot. I mostly just continued fighting Mr. Printie and helping out with wristbanding. I think this might have been the most boring day of the festival. I did follow Nick around for a few hours and saw him interact with Harpers Ferry, the band that he is managing. When he was interviewed by the BBC he obviously told him that the band he was most looking forward to seeing was Harpers Ferry which I found was a smart thing to say. I mostly just hung around the box office that day and wandered around the festival site, before closing up around 10:30 pm and going to the hotel for a well-deserved sleep. I did talk to Nick before going home and told him that I’d like to do some more challenging stuff and as a result, the next day, he gave me the box office phone.

On Saturday I think I worked through about 120 voicemail messages on that phone and I felt really productive that day. I generally really hate talking to people on the phone, because I get really nervous, so having to call all these people back took a lot of self-control. I also did a shift at the box office, signing artists and contributors in and giving them wristbands. That night I decided to follow security around for a bit, just to see how their jobs work. This ended up being rather interesting. We kicked 2 people out, both of which were excessively drunk and one of them was relieving himself against a fence. A 7-year old girl saw this and told her dad. Obviously her dad was really angry and he drove backstage with the intention of confronting the person who did this. Security quickly told him not to worry and that they’d take care of it. The person in question then decided it was a good idea to run, but quickly found out it wasn’t when two security guards were on top of him.

The last day was really quiet and there wasn’t much to do except for cleaning up the box office as much as possible. This way we could return it to the state we found it in quicker, on Monday. I decided that I wanted to see some bands play and I got to meet the guys from Mawkin. These guys are so incredibly good! I absolutely enjoyed their set and took a few pictures with them afterwards. I also had a look at how the sound at a festival works, which was really interesting. On Saturday and Sunday night I also went to see the comedy in the Hobgoblin tent. This was on every night from 10 pm to 12 midnight. I met some great comedians and ended up networking with them. I jokingly asked one of them if they needed a manager and to my surprise he said that he and the other comedian he works with actually do need a manager. But I decided to let it go, as I don’t feel I am capable to do that yet. Especially because comedy is really difficult to get into. The next day, Mark Makin, the person who booked all of the comedians came up to me with some advice about the minimum pay for comedians and other relevant information, which I will remember for future reference.

I learned a lot from being at Wychwood and I definitely enjoyed it. I learned that one of the most important skills to have in the music industry are communication skills. A lot of it comes down to talking to the right people and being able to convince them of your point of view and get them as excited for something as you are. I really admired how everyone at the festival seemed to get along with each other and how they managed to give all these punters, and me, an amazing experience. I met some amazing people and made some amazing memories and I hope Wychwood would have me back next year, because I would definitely not say no to that.