#tummy tuesday 2 days late or whatever

[moonbeamsmeantforme]

belly full, felt cute

[lillian-nator]

You want more shit? I can go all day (except for school and sleep, hm) but one day techno realises just how much trouble Tommy is getting into by hanging out with Dream and challenges him to a fight, that's how the dream and Techno duel comes about, techno wins and Dream is just like "Well, what did you want me to do?" and Techno goes "stop influencing boys younger than you or ill break your kneecaps next" - 💙

Oh shit - oh shit - oh shit

Man, Blue, you are really the mvp.

I feel as though we can understand eachother - I also need to sleep and have school in the morning lol.

Anyways, I would love to continue throwing ideas back and forth with you :)

Here it is [the scene]:

[So, for this scenario to happen, I imagine that Techno has to not know of the “Tommy being high off his ass” incident at first.

So, I picture for either Techno to sleep through Tommy’s lecture - or the more likely case (and the one I am going to write here) Tommy didn’t leave his room for the entire day after he got caught.]

When Tommy still hadn’t come out of his room at noon, Wilbur and Phil thought that Tommy was simply trying to evade punishment, but when they went to go check on him, he was still asleep. Like not even pretending to be asleep, like he was clearly out of it - and Wilbur, and Phil weren’t monsters, they would let him sleep as long as he needed.

They assumed that he would need a lot after only getting to bed at 4am, high as fuck, as well.

Tommy ended up sleeping until 6pm that Saturday (the weed incident happened on a Friday night). He only got up to puke in the bathroom and lay back down in his bed.

Techno, who had been gone for most of the day, came back and assumed Tommy was coming down with something. He went into his room, closed the door and din’t come out. Look - he loved his brother, he really did, but midterms were coming up, and he didn’t want to get sick. Besides, Wilbur being the sap he was, would totally be taking care of Tommy all day, if he was sick. He loved Wilbur really, but he could never had what him and Tommy had, Wilbur being the closest with the youngest, was over-protective at times, and a tad bit jealous of Dream, but he was a great brother really, and he was totally Tommy’s favorite, no doubt about that. He means, the two were stuck to the hip when Tommy was younger, and even now, sometimes it was like they were the same person.

So, Wilbur had been in fact taking care of Tommy. Sure, he was pissed out of his mind that his fucking 15-year-old brother came back home high as a kite, but he still cared about Tommy. Probably too much for either of their goods.

As soon as Wilbur heard Tommy get out of bed, he had been prepared to go upstairs, but when he heard Tommy vomit - he stopped. He wasn’t sure if he should help the boy or not. He knows that Tommy must have a killer headache, and probably stomachache from smoking weed on an empty stomach. So, he wasn’t sure whether or not he should let Tommy live the consequences of his actions - or if he should help ease his little brother’s pain.

Look, we’ve already discussed that Wilbur cared about Tommy too much for their own goods. SO, of course Wilbur fucking helped him.

When Wilbur got up to Tommy’s room, man was he not expecting to see Tommy in as much of a mess he was. He was still in his clothes from the night before, SapNap’s jacket hanging loosely around his arms, the multitude of blankets pulled up to his chin. There was sweat dripping down his forehead, and he looked green.

Taking a better look at him, Wilbur knew that it wasn’t the weed that made Tommy throw up - the kid had actually gotten sick from being outside without a jacket.

Wilbur was ready to throw hands with a member of the Dteam.

Anyways, the fact that Tommy was sick delayed the conversation a few days, and when it did happen - that Tuesday at 2 P.M, right after Tommy got home from school - Techno was still at the School studying for midterms.

Techno still didn’t know what was going on - but he noticed the subtle differences.

Tommy had to keep his door open when he had friends over, even with Purpled and Tubbo, practically two members of their family. Wilbur locked Tommy’s window, and when it was hot outside, Tommy had to ask Wilbur to open it. The air was tense. Techno felt like he was always walking on eggshells, and he felt as though he could physically see Tommy walk on eggshells. Tommy had started sitting with Wilbur and his friends at lunch. Tubbo obviously stayed with Tommy - really, Techno could see how glad the small boy was to spend time with his brother - but Purpled switched between Dream’s table, and Wilbur’s table almost everyday.

Tommy having to keep his door open only lasted a week and a half; Tommy was too loud, and the only kids coming over were Purpled and Tubbo (Phil completed trusted them). The window stayed shut though, and Tommy was not allowed to sit with Dream for the foreseeable future.

It was 3 weeks into Tommy’s new-found punishment when Techno had to ask Phil what was going on.

Techno sighed, “Phil, seriously, what has been up with Tommy lately. Did I miss something?”

Oh.” He had a look of confusion on his face. “Did Wilbur not tell you?”

“Did Wilbur not tell me what?” Techno scoffed, Phil could have not been more vague.

“Well, Wilbur caught Tommy come home high a couple weeks ago.” Phil threaded his hand through his short hair, he wasn't sure how Techno was gonna react.

Techno didn’t know how to react. His brother? Tommy? High? “Wait - but he was grounded a couple weeks ago?”

“I caught him sneaking back in. If Wilbur hadn’t woken up, I would’ve never known that he was high. He was good at hiding it.”

“Uh...” If Techno knew one thing, it’s that you aren’t good at hiding the fact that you are tripping balls the first time you get high. “Do you think that he had done it before?”

“I’m not sure. He said that he hadn’t. Wilbur believed him, but Wilbur would beleive anything that boy tells him. I have to trust him on it though.”

Techno mumbled, “That fucker.” And walked out.

Techno wasn’t thrilled bu the fact that his 15-year-old brother had been smoking weed.

Of course he wasn’t, it was his baby brother. Tommy was never supposed to do any of that crap. But, if Techno knew Wilbur and Phil well enough, he knew that he was getting enough punishment as it is. So he laid off him, even if Techno knew that Tommy had smoked at least one other time, he assumed he wouldn’t do it again - that part was right, however what Techno did not anticipate was to catch Tommy sneaking out again, or rather in.

It was late at night, the night before Techno’s last midterm. He wasn’t always the best at Physics. So he just decided to go over a few more equations.

Sure, it was almost 4 am, but Techno never slept anyways.

So, his head is in his hands just looking down at his Physics test book when he hears the clicks of the door being unlocked, and the kitchen being directly across the the house from the door - Techno had a crystal clear view of his brother attempting to sneak back in, from where he was at the counter.

“Hey.” Tommy stops in his tracks.

Tommy walks over to Techno, sits directly across from him at the counter, putting his keys on the table. Tommy sighs loudly.

“I will tell you anything. Please just don’t tell Wilbur and Phil.”

Techno, who actually really just wanted to know what was up with his brother, decided that he would take the deal. “Sure. You have to answer my questions though.”

Tommy let out an audible sigh. “Okay, deal. What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with the obvious.” He clapped his hands together. “Are you high?”

“No.” straightforward. Techno continued, “Are you drunk - did you drink?” “No.” Techno squinted his eyes, “Are you lying?”

“Do you need a fucking sobriety test? I’m not under the fucking influence.” Tommy gritted his teeth.

“Hey.” He was used to Tommy’s attitude, so he’s not sure why the hostility caught him off guard. “I’m doing you a fucking favor - I don’t need the attitude.” He smacked the blonde on the back of the head. In the process, he took a beanie off of Tommy’s head. Upon closer inspection, Techno realized that the beanie was not Wilbur’s. It was Quackity’s.

Techno started again, “Who were you out with?”

“The gang.” Tommy deadpanned.

“Who the fuck is the gang?” He was starting to get really pissed off at Tommy’s vague answers.

“I don’t know!” Tommy stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Last night it was Quackity, Karl, Tubbo, and -”

Techno sighed, “Dream.”

“Don’t cut me off. I’m giving you the fucking answers.”

“Don’t forget you’re the one in trouble here.” Techno closed his Physics book. This was gonna be a long night. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Dream asked if I wanted to meet them at the bridge, and I did. So, I went.”

“Even though you knew that you are not allowed?” Techno asked skeptically.

“That’s kind of the fucking point of sneaking out.” Tommy turned to go into his room. Techno grabbed hold of his wrist.

“Just tell me one thing, before you storm up into your room.” Tummy hummed in agreement. “How many times have you smoked weed?”

Tommy groaned; “Really? You’re still on this?”

“Just answer the damn question Tommy.” Techno growled back.

Tommy sighed, exasperated, throwing his hands in the air - also successfully freeing himself from Techno's grip. “I don’t know! 3 or 4 times - I mean it when I say, I won’t do it again.”

“I beleive you.” And he really did, although his little brother may have been sneaking around behind his back, he knew him. And Techno knew that Tommy sounded sincere. “But, you also lied about never doing it before. You also smoked weed. Here we are.”

“Whatever.” Tommy mumbled, pushing past Technoblade and stormed up to his room. What he didn’t realize is that he left his phone on the table.

Tommy’s phone buzzed - loud enough for Techno to hear it through his thoughts.

Techno shyly picked it up - look, he really didn’t want to invade Tommy’s privacy. He knew that no matter what Tommy did, he had a right to privacy away from his brothers, but, Techno couldn’t help but be curious to which of the assholes of the month was texting his brother.

It’s a text from Dream.

Dream: You dropped your student I.D. You wanna pick it up tmr night? Karl and SapNap found an abandoned mall a town over. They wanna check it out. You in - Purpled and Punz already said they were game?

Techno was about to beat the shit out of that green fucking bastard.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, nobody knew why Techno was waling down the hall with such determination.

But nobody stood in his fucking way.

As soon as he got to Dream’s locker, he saw the bastard. Standing there talking to SapNap like nothing happened last night.

Techno slammed Dream’s locker door shut, earning a wince from the tall blonde.

“What the hell dude?” Dream snarled, annoyed, and fucking too tired to deal with anyone’s shit.

“’What the hell dude?’“ Techno mocked. “Why the fuck are you helping my little brother sneak out?”

“Because he asked me too! It’s not my fault he wanted to hang out, and I’m not taking the blame for something he did.” Dream was tired of getting involved with Tommy’s brothers. He loved the kid really, but his brothers were a lot to handle.

“Tubbo, too! We both know he’s grounded.” Techno mused, hands raised to the ceiling.

Dream, swore he was never gonna get a break from this guy. "Tubbo asked too! I'm not gonna take responsibilities for their actions!"

"Then stop fucking inviting them." Techno growled.

"Look. If they want to sneak out - I'm not, not, gonna tell them when we are hanging out."

"Just stop fucking inviting them - then none of this would ever be your problem. You got it? Stop fucking around with my brothers." Techno stepped closer, pointing a finger in Dream's chest.

Dream looked at the pink-haired boy with a knowing look. He said 'brothers' - okay. So, Techno was talking about all 3 of the teens.

He dropped his head, he really didn't want to get into a fight right now, "Look, I'm sorry okay? I can promise you I won't give any of them alcohol. I can promise I won't let Tommy take a hit of Quack's joint. But, I can't promise I won't stop hanging out with them."

Techno laughed, "You don't understand do you? The point is that you let him do it in the first place."

"Do you really want to do this, right now?" At this point students had gathered around the pair. "You want to fucking fight?"

"If that will make you shut up and leave my fucking life; yeah."

Dream threw the first punch.

There isn't much to say about the fight. Techno won - but barely. Both came out with bloody noses, split knuckles, bruised ribs, bleeding lips, and tired arms.

Techno broke Dream's nose.

It was a good fight.

Most of the student body watched, 'oohing' everytime a punch was thrown. At some point, Tommy had seen the fight go down, and Karl had to hold the blonde back, from breaking up the fight himself.

"Alright," Dream admitted on the floor, tired beyond relief. "What do you want?"

Techno seethed, "I want you to stay the fuck away from my brothers." and walked away.

------------------------------------

Later, after school, when Tommy walked in on Calvin helping Techno clean himself up in the bathroom, Tommy brushed past Techno, bumping into his shoulder.

"Hey -" Techno grunted in pain.

"Good fucking luck explaining this to Phil. I'm going to Tubbo's. I won't see you later." Tommy growled, and continued walking.

[vkelleyart]

Damn you’re so impressive to being a working parent on top of being an amazing artist!

You are so kind, @poprocksromance. Thanks so much for being a cheerleader, because I’ll be honest: I don’t feel impressive. 

I feel… really tired. lol 

I actually put off answering this ask because when it comes to being a working parent and artist, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS. This month’s been excessively hard because I wear too many hats in my life and my neutral state is putting out fires before I can skive off and draw, usually at the expense of sleep.

Take this past Tuesday for instance:

6 AM: Husband is already out the door to work, but both kids crawl into my bed to doze until it’s time for them to be up. There is now hot, humid air in my ear and a small, sharp knee in my back. I am not dozing. I am thinking about drawing.

7 AM: Breakfast. Kids pull the covers off of me and whinge about being hungry. Spend next hour feeding kids, breaking up fights over legos, making lunches, and getting them ready for school. Inexplicably, no one has clean pants.

8 AM: Holler at everyone that we are late and I’m about to lose my mind because instead of putting on shoes, my kids are still arguing over who gets the red lego piece. More thoughts about art trickle in: “Man, I really hope I can carve out some time for drawing today because this sh*t is bananas.”

8:30 AM: Zoom across town to drop off children. Kiss heads. Wave goodbye. Try not to rear-end other, larger vehicles being driven by people who don’t understand how the drop-off line works.

9 AM: Back home. Time for Morning Pages. This is the daily act of emptying my head into a journal at the beginning of the day for 30 minutes just so I can plow into the chaos without having a panic attack. Each entry mostly consists of me pep-talking myself into doing my day job because food, shelter, college education savings, blah, blah, blah. Then it’s planning and email checking. I promise myself that, if I can just finish this next video edit task, I can reward myself with drawing artwork.

10 AM: My Video editing software update has made all the PNG files turn pink. I assume it’s for no earthly reason than to delay my progress and piss me off. I promise myself I will figure out the glitch in the next hour so I can earn myself time to draw.

1 PM: I have updated my operating system, reinstalled my drivers, troubleshooted with Adobe and Apple. The fucking files are still pink.

2 PM: I convert all PNGs to JPGs. Videoediting software now refuses to read .MOV files recorded after I updated my operating system. I mutter all the expletives and stare longingly at my tablet. This is gonna be a while.

3 PM: Rush out the door to pick up kids. Kid is complaining of a tummy ache. Come home with kid, put on the tea kettle, and read Kevin Keller together until tea is ready. Am screaming internally about video editing conundrum the entire time.

4 PM: Hubs is home. I run back to the computer. There is no way to uninstall most recent version of video editing software. Find and install Handbrake to convert every .MOV file I am using into .MP4 as a workaround until I can figure out what the everloving hell is wrong with my project. I tell myself I will draw after dinner if I can just figure this out.

5 PM: Praise Crowley for leftovers.

6 PM: Video editing issue is still going, but I’ve identified the workaround and am slowly piecing my project back together. My sketchbook is next to my desk. I do not touch it.

7 PM: Husband is coming down with something. Asks if I can single parent while he lies down for a bit. I agree (because he did it for me last week when I was down for the count). I ask the kids if they want to draw with me. They do not. They want to run around outside like one of them didn’t just complain about a stomachache three hours ago. I tell myself I will draw after they go to sleep.

8 PM: Bedtime. Clean kids. Pick up toys. Brush teeth. Read books. Sing songs. Hold hands until the littlest goes to sleep. Snoring (hopefully) at 9.

9 PM: Take shower. Try to reset. No more video editing tonight. I will draw instead! *nods defiantly*

9:30 PM: Husband wants to share about his stressful week. He’s got freshman this semester. Problematic ones. And too many; 28 in his class alone, and he’s the department head, so he needs to do all the fixing. I sit with him and listen.

10 PM: Youngest kid is coughing. Wakes oldest kid.

10:30 PM: Kids sleeping. Husband downstairs working. I’m in bed, iPad in my lap, Procreate open. Tonight’s work in progress: Simon and Baz holding hands.

I stare at it. Make a couple of adjustments to the line art. Then I put it away and turn off the light. I have nothing left––no energy, no vision––to give to it.

11 PM: The lights are out. My eyes are open. They don’t close until sometime after midnight.

Because I am thinking about drawing.

This is not a rare day in my life. This is tame compared to some days. To get through it, I tell myself this is all temporary. That one day I’ll be able to live off my artwork and I won’t be a slave to Adobe Premiere or the government or the myriad infectious illnesses my kids bring home. I also have to actively talk myself out of feeling jealous or furious at other, younger creators who don’t have to support a family, who talk about playing video games all day when they’ve got artist block, who complain about being bored, and who have the luxury of putting off whatever it is they don’t feel like doing so they can draw. My struggle is no one’s business or fault but mine and probably also Capitalism, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting that people are out there living the dream and taking it for granted.

Anyway, this is a very long way to say, thank you for your compliments. I am trying––every single day of my life––to make something beautiful. Sometimes, that’s fanart or my comic. Most times, though, it’s the life I’m trying to give my family.

[maljic]

i have been working in the grocery industry practically my entire life. for many companies, and in many many positions. i’ve seen hurricane panic buys, i have seen post hurricane apocalypses, i have closed stores, and i have opened stores. i have been to backroom recoveries, i have worked small stores and big stores. i have seen h1n1, and i have now seen covid19. and even tho this is something unprecedented, all together it’s really not. the difference here is that it’s been going on for three weeks now and there is no end in sight. the duration is what’s so new. 

so i’ve started making notes every day after i got home. just the overall experience, but also customer comments and new things being implemented. it’s a fascination change, and i wanted to write it down to maybe sometime in the future come back to this time and remember anew. 

i plan on keeping notes for the foreseeable future, to keep writing a diary of sorts, to see if this ever levels out or escalates even more, if things change drastically or not at all. and if the fucking toilet paper situation ever goes away. 

things started to change the first week of march. it was super subtle, i didn’t even notice it at first. it was just a steady increase in business. a solid 20% ahead in sales all across the board. and even tho the virus was already in the news it didn’t cotton on right from the start. or it did, maybe, but i wasn’t expecting it to escalate to such heights.

tuesday, 03.10.2020 9am - 5pm

people are making their own hand sanitizer by mixing rubbing alcohol and aloe vera. we’re out of both. lady is asking me by the sun tan section about the state of deliveries of aloe vera gel. we get to talking. i admit that i don’t understand the people’s need for hand sanitizer since the cdc and every doctor ever recommends hand washing first and foremost. Susan comes out and says, ‘well the only thing that really can safe us from all this is...” and i retort with, “washing your hands, right?” but Susan claps back with, “the lord jesus christ.” and i had to excuse myself real quick and leave her ass on the aisle, because why are you fucking here then trying to potion together your own hand sanitizer, Severus, if all you need is god? 

a grown woman that’s working at the register is. coughing. non. stop. co workers comment on it to each other and to me, and i wonder if anyone has taken her aside to explain the current state of world events to her, and maybe asking her to cover her damn mouth. we’re all gonna die.

thursday, 03.12.2020 2pm - 10pm 11pm

parking is an absolute nightmare. i’m 10 mins late cause i can’t find a spot. welcome to hell. i ask my boss what the sales were yesterday and she says we’re 40% ahead of the forecast. which is ridiculous. at this point it’s pretty much a blanket permission for over time. we do not have the capacity to continue to run at this pace. people get worn out, we’re bound to get sick, and the customers are fucking relentless. truck is big. Karen and her brother Chad look at the soap section and wanna know when we get more hand sanitizer in. 

this lady is looking at things in the cold and flu section and we get to talking about shit and she mentions something she’s read on facebook and whoops my filter went poofgone and i tell her that i hope facebook dies along with all this corona virus flu and have a good evening.

at the end of my shift after we’ve finished stocking and cleaning up, i stay longer because there’s still a fuck ton of people in the store but we only have two registers open. i check people out until 11 and then peace out. one dude dropped $650 on groceries.

friday, 03.13.2020 11am - 7pm

“where is the hand sanitizer?” Karen asks. i refrain from shouting at her to get outta my face. the store is absolutely packed. lines of lengths i haven’t ever witnessed. lines and lines of people with full bascarts of stuff. the end is nigh and we are here with a front row view of it. we have a small parking lot, and i have no idea where these people’s cars are? i didnt know we could fit that many people in the store. whats the fire marshall’s max capacity guidelines? someone should review those. meanwhile i’m trying to navigate around everybody and put things on shelves that don’t last very long.

the grocery truck arrives around 3 ish and paper products get thrown out first. usually, when the truck arrives it stays locked until the night crew shows up. we’re set up to always have a trailer at the store, so when the guy shows up he unhitches his trailer, and hitches up under another trailer which was the previous day’s grocery truck, which got emptied off groceries when the night crew stocks, and then got filled with stacks of empty pallets, paper bales, and other reusable thinks like plastic trays the meat comes in, or the eggs come in, or produce plastic trays, things like that. so now that we’re in the apocalypse of paper products, the day crew gets those pallets out on the sales floor asap. at this point we have reduced the quantities of things you’re allowed to take to 3. 3 packs of toilet paper, 3 packs of paper towels... also 3 of lysol wipes and 3 of hand sanitizers even tho we dont have any, calm down, Karen. paper products are gone within an hour. 

my company makes an absolute killing that day.

saturday, 03.14.2020 10ish to whenever. 

my boss said she was coming in (on her off day) so i said yo, mind if i sleep in a bit? i was scheduled 7am and if i don’t have to i don’t want to. she said ok. i rock up at 10:08. things stop showing up on deliveries. the diaper area is sad looking. people have started to buy us out of baby wipes. there’s a problem coming at us in about 2 months. you cant flush baby wipes but since the toilet paper situation is what it is, people will wipe their butts with wet wipes. have fun with that, dallas county utility department (or whoever messes with the water wastes). 

displays are dwindling. we are not getting product, so we are filling the shelves in the aisles with the stuff that’s on displays. it’s a bit wonky looking. there’s half an endcap with shampoo and then the rest of it is filled with hersheys. its upside down world. but we have to keep things full. with whatever. empty shelves are bad bad bad, but empty endcaps are a cardinal sin. 

people waste so much food when they’re shopping. now that the shelves are getting and staying empty, people will just put things everywhere when they decide against buying the items. bags of chips, six packs of beer, gatorade whatever. that’s not really waste. but we also see bags of salad, frozen items, meats. we are currently not in the position to walk the store every half hour and collect these things. these things are all now wasted and will get thrown out. not the chips, i’m talking about the temp controlled things. being cold to the touch is not enough. shit aint safe. 

monday, 03.16.2020 8am - 4 pm 6pm

truck is gigantic. never ever have i seen a truck that big. so everything that my boss was fantasizing about me doing gets thrown out the window when the truck hits the backdoor at 11 am. everybody who is scheduled for truck is given the option to come in early. and stay until it’s all stocked. or until you’re exhausted. i help with the pharmacy stuff because that’s the biggest part. i stay until 6pm. then i’m out. 

people would like to know where the hand sanitizer is, well, sugar, so. do. i. it’s the one item that has been out since the end of february, and people are absolutely gob smacked when you tell them it’s currently unavailable. i try to appease them with some hand soap, but, stupidly, people dont want to hear that. i’m thinking to myself that in about a week soap will also be unavailable, but to each their own. customers believe that we, the workers, know the exact day and time when lysol wipes will be stocked. but when you tell them that soap is getting scarce they look at you like you’re speaking a different language.

company wide, we are not allowed to order anything right now. which is huge. how it usually works is: our system knows at all times how many items we have in the store, as per bar code, and knows how much will fit on the shelves, how much we’re selling every day/hour, and then there’s the forecasting factor. so the system will order stuff based on sold quantities, automatically. all the time. if we need extra stuff for sales and/or displays and whatnot, we order extra. 

the computer system wouldnt know, for instance, that there was a tornado in oct that wiped out our electricity and that of most of our customers, so we changed orders to reflect that. no frozen things, lots more batteries, ice, coolers. 

a lot of things ride on added orders, which are now out

from here on in, everything is up to the system, and to the powers that be. if there’s soap in the warehouse, we will get allocated with every store in the area so that everyone gets equal amounts or close to. hoarding is, apparently, frowned upon at this level too. 

tuesday, 03.17.2020 2pm - 10pm

i have come to hate the soap aisle. used to always be my favorite. so long, soap aisle, we’ve had a good run. tonight i’m stocking the pharmacy area (cold and flu, pain meds, tummy stuff, those sort of things). truck is small. super small. i try helping customers as much as i can, but most of my end of the conversation is no, sorry, we dont have any. backstocks are dwindling. the backroom is emptying out. we rely on truck deliveries for things to do and products to be put out. “do you have any [insert product here] in the back?” is the most asked questions. “there’s nothing in the back.” is the most uttered sentence all day. 

people obviously do to not get what social distance means. every aisle is packed with shoppers. i’m wasting a lot of time trying to stay out of people’s paths, but people lingeeeerrrrr what the fuck. the mayor of dallas shut everything down to flatten the curve yet here all these fuckers are doing their god damn grocery shopping like it’s 3 months ago. get in, get stuff, get out. i try conjuring up some gas to clear the aisle, but the farts won’t come

go home, people. i wish i could.

somehow our store has become the hub in our area. we get trucks in the afternoon with produce and meat, and people from other stores around us show up in trucks and suvs to transport product between stores. i’ve seen so many people that i hadn’t seen in years because they’re coming by getting shit in the afternoon. 

we lost one of our baristas. she’s retired but works with us the maximal allotted hours per week the government allows you before they yank your money. she’s living in senior housing (cause its cheap) and they’ve completely locked down and she is unable to come to work. her boss funnels her groceries. and they face time a lot. she’s doing ok.

wednesday, 03.18.2020 10am - 6pm

parking lot semi full, too full for a wednesday. toilet paper situation is unchanged. but alas there’s no grocery truck scheduled tonight so this is not changing until tomorrow. i’m talking to three separate people desperate for some toilet roll (lol, i love how this pandemic makes me learn new terms, hi, united kingdom, i see you - toilet roll, i love it). anyways, i explain to all three the truck schedule and how to best strategize to get some butt wipes: truck is 6 days a week, wednesday being the no truck day. when the truck arrives, usually what happens is that the paper products get stocked immediately, to make room in the back room and to alleviate the situations. be in the store at around 3ish? 3:30ish, and hang out. i explain that i don’t want to encourage anybody to spend their afternoon in the store for obvi reasons, but when you gotta go you gotta go. alternately, hang out in your car, and when you see a truck pull behind the store around mid day, chances are in about 30 mins you shall have paper. people appreciate the info. 

i’m in the candy aisle trying to stock a case of twizzlers. we’re using shopping carts to stock, it’s way more flexible than lugging around huge stocking carts, especially now with the store being so crowded. this dude rocks up and asks me if i’m panic hoarding with all those boxes in my cart. he looks at me with a straight face and thinks he’s making a point. meanwhile i’m in full uniform and people around are starting to roll their eyes. i drop the box of twizzlers into my cart (its super heavy and dude is creating a scene). my box cutter comes out and i make a show of clicking the blade out while explaining to douche canoodle that i’m working here, excuse me, and cut into the tape of the box. moron. 

there’s a few people that i’ve seen every day this week. and they’re all advanced in their age. i get that the store is your second home cause you’re lonely, but right now is really not the time. go home. 

the question i hate the most is: when are you gonna get more soap in. the honest answer? no fucking clue, Karen. if i could predict the future i wouldn’t be working here. 

thursday, 03.19.2020 10am - 6pm

there was no grocery truck last night so shelves are still as empty as they were when i left last night. still, parking lot is semi full. we’ve seem to have gotten a decent produce truck, bananas everywhere. great. my boss’s plan for me is to: whatever truck is back there, and then easter. which means i walk the back room, collect anything and everything that belongs to our department, and get it on the shelves. there’s nothing back there except a chocolate delivery which arrived on the dairy truck. a huge amount, by normal standards. at least people are still enjoying some candy. 

by 3pm it’s made the rounds that one of the guys for our dept isn’t coming in: allergies. okay then. truck is not too big, i help out with that until it’s time to hit the time clock. 

times are tough, and i’m a good-natured person that can dish out jokes and emphasize with you and cumbaja we’re all in this together and all the other bullshit we’re telling ourselves to make us feel better. but when dudebro comes down the soap aisle and bemoans the state of the shelves (empty) and then goes into a rant about his two parents, immunocompromised, at home, out of soap, almost getting loud and making it seem like its my fault that we don’t have what you want, then no. i’m all out of fucks to give. meanwhile, people of the free world, have you forgotten that hand washing soap does not only come in little pump bottles that you can cutsify your sink with but also LOOK AT ALL THE BARSOAP, back in the days we used that to wash our hands. calm down and take some irish spring to your parents. 

grocery truck arrives. big time. in the good ole days of yester year we would get one trailer daily, most of the time not even full. we’ve been ramping it up to 2 most of the last two weeks. (and by we i mean we as a society, buying everything on the shelves and not being satisfied and always wanting more).  today it was three. one of which with nothing but water. the others with lots of toilet roll and paper towels. and the usual stuff of canned goods and the likes. nothing will last tho, nothing is forever. 

we have this one guy who works here who has, i believe, severe arthritis and is hygiene wise very challenged. he isn’t very mobile and does super light duty but he’s worked here a long time. i haven’t seen him in a few days. i wonder if he is just off, or if he said fuck it and stayed home. 

the grown ass woman at the register is still coughing. and not covering her mouth. asswipe. 

saturday 03.21.2020 7am - 3pm 6pm

“when do you expect more hand sanitizer in?” 

i have no idea what you’re talking about, hand sanitizer was never a thing. lemme ask you this: is it berenstein bears where you come from? 

people still want to shop brand loyal. i die inside a little bit every time someone turns their nose up at an alternative to their regular, “oh but we don’t use that brand.” dude didn’t you just say you needed vitamin c? was that a lie? here’s the damn vitamin c. it’s vitamin c, not, i don’t know, fucking coca cola. go home.

corporate finally came down and said we’re allowed to wear ppe now. like some of us haven’t since three weeks ago. i finally turned and went all ‘two by two hands of blue’ as well, and it’s really not as bothersome as i thought it would be.  

weekends are now slower than weekdays. i have no idea why that is. and i’m not really sure if these past weekends have been slow, or just normal, and the weekdays are just crazy. i have lost all points of reference. it’s still busy. but is it the same busy it’s always been on a saturday and now we just have more checkers? 

the company is desperately trying to hire more people. i don’t know if the new vigorous ad campaign is working yet? it’s a job, sure, especially in these times, but the starting pay is still barely above minimum wage so in any case people will collect unemployment which could still be more than they’d make working here i’m just saying. 

the only real perk right now is that whoever works for a grocery store has first dibs on stuff. and if you believe we don’t have a “family and friends stash” in the back of all the items that are scarce then you don’t know how the world works. a friend of mine with health problems came to shop at our store today because we do have more stuff than what i’ve been hearing is going on in surrounding areas.  and i was able to give her two cans of disinfectant wipes. another friend asked me if we had any loo roll, and they just came by my place to pick it up, cash on arrival. 

we also extend (or well, i do extend) the stash to customers who always have been courteous. and believe me, after working in one location for a few years you know exactly who’s an asshole and who isn’t. we are essential, we are important, and we’ve been known that forever. we just never got treated like that. people are thankful that we’re working, that we’re doing our best (like if we could afford to just take two weeks off to self isolate, yeah right), and it’s good to finally walk the store with your head held high, to finally feel the appreciation. we are the kings of the toilet paper and it’s fucking fantastic. 

the store manager (or the company, i’m not sure) bought lunch today for everybody. and there might be a texas rule of no gatherings of more than 10 people, but y’all should’ve seen the break room today at noon. we they feasted (i took two slices and went out back to enjoy) thanks for lunch, boss. 

we still haven’t implemented “senior hours,” and i hate that. 

hygiene challenged dude is back at work. so he just had his two days off. 

monday 03.23.2020 12pm - 9pm

people keep insisting on shopping “normally” and it’s mind boggling. if you go to the store for 5 things or 50 things, it’s fine either way. but please make a list at home and roll with it. do not linger in aisles, do not pick up 3 different items and stand there to study the, i don’t know what the fuck, ingredients? country of origin? manufacturer? i have no earthly idea why you gotta look at a bottle of suave shampoo so intently and just. stay. there. reading it like its a new product on the market. go home.

people just waste so much freakin time in the store. they run into acquaintances and have to have a conversation right there when other customers have to walk around you. please stop, please please stop that. please. get in, get your stuff, and get out. if we dont have your fave available right now come back next week, it’s bound to be back unless it’s something like hand sanitizer or over the counter meds. please. go home.

the shopping pattern has changed. there’s all the action in the mornings now. tons of people, full parking lots, all in the morning. i understand it’s because people are under the impression everything gets restocked over night. which is half true. but whatever. i mean people shop all throughout the day and it’s still busy but the bulk is in the morning.

speaking of: senior hours finally!!! i’m stoked.

i feel like i’m getting fed up with customer questions so it’s usually short retorts and no eyes contact. one guy asked me where the aloe vera is and he asked very friendly and from a few feet away and i was sort of a dick to him. i felt bad immediately and rephrased my answer. yikes.

on the upside also, my work buddy was throwing water all day long. poor guy. he said something like 9 pallets of 24 packs. at one point they were replenishing a display and people grabbed water from the display instead of the pallet, and he was like, “you guys are killing me, man, please take it from the pallet and not the display. every pack you take from the pallet is a pack less i have to move.” a couple of dudes then took over stocking duty from him and threw the rest of the pallet to fill the display. how fucking nice. good eggs all around.

backroom looks like we got a crap ton of paper products. a crap ton. something like, i’m estimating, 12 pallets. so they’ve been staggering it throughout the afternoon but also kept lots in the back for senior hours tomorrow morning. it really looks like that part is getting almost back to normal. lmao fingers crossed.

no eggs tho, today. all gone.

hot shot trucks still show up in the afternoon with produce and meat. and other stores still come by to transfer stuff to their location.

company lunch today was from torchy’s taco. i abstained cause i had just eaten at home. but gatherings of 10 or more people had been had in the break room again. no idea if it was paid for by our company or if torchy’s was just getting rid of a bulk of their perishables.

some dude threw a fit about the limits on certain items. i think his beef was with water and how he’s seen someone take more than three. calm down, asshole.

tuesday 03.24.2020 10am - 5pm 

it’s slow in the store. dallas county has a shelter in place ordinance right now and it’s just a slow and steady trickle of customers. the weather also has turned from grey and misty, to sunshine and 80ies. i hate it. i want my grey and misty back. and because it’s nice outside there’s a lot of people on walks and bike rides. there’s a trail behind the store and when i step out back i see people all the times. still keeping their social distance but people non the less.

we’ve finally got our hands on one of the people from the agency that has provided us with help. our girl is super nice and friendly and she works hard. i hope we’ll get to keep her in our department for however long theyre working with us. altogether there’s about 15-20 people in the store from the agency. they’re tasked with sacking groceries, cleaning shopping carts, cleaning shelves and helping to stock. it’s wonderful. they get paid $13, which is more than what you make starting out in the store.

it almost felt like it wasn’t a covid day. after what the covidiot in the wh said on monday, i was a bit unsure if non essentials would reopen (especially since the mayor just shut dallas down). it was weird. it seemed like customers stayed away because a) they went back to work or b) it’s too nice to grocery shop. but that’s prob only my stupid brain making things up.

there were two incidents, both of which weren’t covid related but needed security: a dude tried to walk out with two cases of beer (theft is a thing that happens in our store a lot) but somehow he had half the store chasing after him. i was outside taking my break when all the sudden this guy comes towards me with beer in each hand. where i was, there was no exit away from the store unless you wanted to jump the fence. and he sure did. launched himself and the beer over it. they chased him off (no one touched him, i wanna add, and no one would touch him too, even if we weren’t in the current time),  but got their beer back. that was an adrenaline shock i didn’t need. the second one was a lady at the pharmacy not happy with the speed of the pharmacist and she got upset that her meds weren’t ready to be picked up. she made quite a scene with cursings and such so security was called. they are doing their best at the pharmacy but just like every other department they are swamped with prescriptions.  

it was super slow and i left an hour early. went home and ate and passed out for 12 hours.

wednesday 03.25.2020 7am - 3pm

it’s probs the first time i’m on the road this early on a weekday during the self isolation period. it’s quite busy on the highway. but still no real traffic.

store is still slow but steady. i see a few customers with big bascarts and shopping lists going about their business urgent like. on the inside i was applauding their readiness and their commitment for getting it done. thank you dear customers. buy a whole cart and get the heck outta dodge. *chefs kiss*

help girl from the agency is with me today. i like her more and more. she gets it all done. baby wipes are still off and on, some days we have them, sometimes we’re out. we found 3 small cases of hand soap in the back (6 bottles each) and they are gone quickly. i’m working through shippers/displays (we’ve finally got a smattering in) but most of it goes straight to the shelves. i’m able to make some sense to one of the half shampoo/half hersheys end caps, and my eye finally stops twitching from the weirdness.

grocery truck schedule has changed and now we’re getting them also on wednesdays (for the time being). one trailer of toilet roll and paper towels, and one of canned goods and boxes and pantry stuffs. and maybe some lysol but who knows.

it’s still sunny and 80ies out, so more runners and bikers on the trail behind the store. still social distancing tho.

the news said someone from a grocery store of another chain was diagnosed. and then through the grapevine i heard that someone from our chain (not our store) also got diagnosed and is in the hospital. wash your hands. get in, get your stuff, and get out. stay safe out there.

friday 03.27.2020 9am - 5pm

there’s this lady in the store, little old lady, just wandering and shopping and whatnot for, i kid you not, 2 hours. what in the world? she’s wearing a mask, kinda like a “let me put this mask on cause i’m sanding something in the garage” you know that kind of mask. but it’s only covering her mouth? what is she doing. where is your family? do they know where you are and what you’re up to. seriously someone come get their auntie.

there’s stickers all over the floor by the registers “PLEASE WAIT HERE” reminding people to stay the heck away from each other. it’s working sometimes. people are patient.

this one lady asks me if we have this, and shows me her phone with a pic of the item like she is seriously standing 6 feet away stretching her arm as far as it’ll go. i appreciate it. she insists that the app tells her it’s in stock here. i ran out of ways to explain that the app doesnt keep up with inventory, only states that we carry it, not whether we actually have it in stock. it’s a surface disinfectant. we dont have it in stock.

rando people say their thanks that we’re working, that they appreciate it, thank you thank you. i have yet to learn how to respond to that. “youre welcome?” “oh sure!” “no problem” nothing feels right. me and my co workers all wish we could work from home, or take a few weeks off, without losing our jobs and benefits. it’s weird. how do you respond to that?

we’ve managed to stay in stock on toilet tissue all day long. one brand, one size, mind you. but! all day long! yes, toilet paper, on aisle 18!!!!

sales have leveled. business is returning to normal.

saturday 03.28.2020 7am - 3 pm

some lady lost her cool today and in her frustration she dead ass kicked over a display of gum. lmao, yikes.

every morning we have a little meeting in the store for all the department heads, or if they’re off, for whoever plays department head for that day. on saturdays that’s me. we call them huddles, although now we can’t call them that anymore because huddle doesn’t really scream social distancing. so now they’ll call it morning communication.

while walking the store today i found, get this, a bottle of purell. it was hidden behind other product. i immediately checked my surroundings (no one there) and then went and hid it in the back room. my immuno challenged friend had asked me for some for a while.

really nothing else going on. it was quiet in the morning and then a storm blew through, and then it was just gorgeous out. so the store got busier and busier. our truck was scheduled to be quite big, but it was late and i wasn’t gonna just hang around until who knows when.

monday 03.30.2020 2pm - 10pm

the break room is completely empty of chairs and tables. that’s new. just last week everyone crowded in, employees and management alike, whenever there was free lunch. and even tho one tells them, or points out that, hey, this is a bit more than technically should be in a closed space like this? all one gets back is, oh hahaha, yeah you’re probably right, but nothing changed. so now the break room is empty. only, i dont know, everyone here works on their feet, either standing (poor checkers) or standing and walking. for up to eight hours. there’s gonna be some people who will just have to sit down for 30 mins during their breaks. this was a company wide, or district wide decision, this wasn’t something our management came up with. and here’s the thing. admittedly, some higher ups in our company are seriously not the sharpest tacks in the box. and i’m not saying that you have to have a degree to make certain decisions, but it helps if you have some sort of,  i don’t know, compassion, deductive reasoning, two brain cells to rub together. i, personally, will hardly be found in the break room, i don’t use it. but it’s absolutely clear to me that taking away the opportunity to let people rest is a recipe for disaster.

tuesday, 03.31.2020 2pm - 10pm

so, the owner of the dallas mavericks (basket ball) donated hand sanitizers to our company, for use of company employees. which, thanks, Mark, that was super sweet of you. no really. IF I SEE ONE CO WORKER USE THIS INSTEAD OF WASHING THEIR HANDS I WILL NOT BE MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS. wash your god damned hands people. hand sanitizer will never be able to do what soap and water can do. why is that such a big problem to understand.

the break room has a couple of chairs and tables in it now, and a sign on the door that reads “6 people limit, 6 feet apart.” yikes.

its the end of the month and people got paid so the store is getting busier. tomorrow is the first and i’m sure we’ll be packed. please take the following to heart: SHOP ALONE. don’t bring your wifey or hubby or roommate or kids. ok bring your kids if you have no one to watch them. do not use the grocery store as your family outing cause its the only spot you think youre allowed to go. it’s not. youre allowed to go for walks, in front of your house, in your neighborhood, heck, walk a circle around the store if you want, but don’t bring everybody into the store. social distancing is easier achieved if there’s less people to stay away from. be smart, think ahead. and if you think that shopping with two people makes it go faster? it’s not. cause you’re gonna argue over the choices made, you’re gonna veto your shopping buddies choice of beans and your gonna walk every aisle twice instead of once. and there will be more people touching more things and i could really do with less of that.

wednesday 04.01.2020 11am - 7pm

there’s a distillery in kansas who has converted their production to make hand sanitizer (or sanitizer in general) and we have received a shipment of, i think, two pallets. the fun part? they are the size and shape of vodka bottles.

they’re selling for $8 and we put a limit of 1 per family. they look super neat. it’s a plastic bottle, too. i don’t use hand sanitizer and i dont need it and there are people who need these i guess but i want one so badly. just as a, you know, reminder, a token, of these crazy times. i’m not gonna get one (but i kinda want one).

they have finally installed screens at the registers. and new rules came down from corporate: social distancing is the highest priority, hygiene is the highest priority. we are only going to operate 3 (out of 6) registers so that we can ensure that there’s enough space for everyone to feel safe. i have also spent 2 hours today thinning out displays that are cluttering up the sales floor so that we can encourage everyone to keep apart.

starting tomorrow, every employee will get their temp taken when they arrive to work. if the temp is too high you will be sent home (but paid for that day) and only be let back in to work if your temp stays normal for 72 hours without the help of meds.

pay has been increased by $2/h.

friday 04.03.2020 9am - 5pm

face masks everywhere.

like 80% of everybody started donning masks, scarves and homemade things to cover their lower face. face masks are a stark reminder that everyone should keep apart. it’s like an extra “hey, remember how we’re all potentially sick with something deadly? stay away.” i appreciate the effect it has.

there are about 5 different announcements over the PA, one about washing your hands and sneezing/coughing into your elbows, one about senior hours (which have changed now to tue, thu and sat morning), one about social distancing (about the length of two shopping carts!), one about “we’re all in this together” and one about us employees and how we’re doing so much more than our job right now.

ive stopped greeting customers. i smile maybe, since it’s something so ingrained into our brain, but i won’t speak unnecessarily.

the store is absolutely packed. the suggestion of staying away until the 3rd or the 4th that ive seen all over the internets seems to have cottoned on and now we’re slammed. with only 3 registers open now (to keep room between registers) the lines are down the aisles. one of the guys on the registers told me he loved it. it’s waaay less crowding around the registers, safer for the workers).

we have two entrances (the main one and a smaller one) and they closed the smaller one because it’s very tight there and doesn’t really work with trying to stay away from each other. it’s not locked, it’s just closed. no idea about the fire marshall code, but i have worked in bigger stores with only one main entrance so maybe it’s not part of any code.

i saw a woman with a vegas golden knights shirt and i miss hockey.

saturday 04.04.2020 7am - 5:30pm

my first day during senior hours, and admittedly we’ve only recently changed that but there are tons of people in the store and not a lot of seniors. but what do i know they all could be immunocompromised.

in our morning huddle communications meeting the store manager is spitting out a lot of numbers and percentiles and such, basically sales are still through the roof, even with the slower week we’ve had. it’s funny how there’s really no reference point anymore. forecasts and budgets have all been altered due to the situation but even those are still behind. the agency people aren’t with us anymore (since sunday) and i can see maybe 2 new people - but i’m not a reliable source for that because i don’t inter-mingle with other departments that much so i dont even know the regulars so i have no clue who is new. but we’re still running on basically the same people we’ve always had with this increased business.

aceotone is the new toilet paper. cant find it on the shelves, the warehouse is out and people are constantly asking for it. this one guy had me in stitches. he was shopping for the fam and had a list from his wife and you know, acetone, cuticle cream all the stuff you need to take care of your nails after you rip off the fake ones. i used to get my nails done so i gave him advice as best i could  and pointed to some products, but no acetone. about five minutes later she finds me on the same aisle again and shows me a can of paint stripper with the word acetone in huge letters on it. i died. i told him that if his wife used that they are about to have a whole other set of problems. we both laughed. he had a great sense of humor. now go home, dude.

the side door that was closed on friday is open again. not surprised.

we are getting absolutely slammed with business. it’s a mad house. you can always tell when people start to park their cars on the fire lanes around the store. there’s just no more parking.

i do see a lot of single shoppers tho, which is so great. and then you got the families just sticking out like sore thumbs. and young college kids usually shop in threes or fours. but everybody is still taking way too much time. there was an article i read on local grocers and how some already reduced the people inside the stores and how every business is going to follow suit so we will see.

we ran out of eggs. and biscuits.  and no significant numbers of paper products all week.

monday 04.06.2020 2pm - 10pm

fuck these customers, man

wednesday 04.08.2020 7am - 3pm

my company will not limit the customer count in the store. at least not in this state. when the whole thing started there was an email about store hours and they listed basically every division of our company and their changed hours - except, you guessed it, ours. i have a feeling they are going off of what other companies are doing around here, so unless theyre limiting people, we won’t. that’s my opinion. after work i realized i forgot butter and swung by a store (from a different company) close to home and they havent limited entrance either. they did have markings on the floor to encourage one way traffic down aisles, and i guess we’re gonna do that too. but nothing else. i did see smaller chains have started to limit people but not companies we’re competing with. so much for that. i guess first we need to have a few positive cases in order for them to change anything. the dollar speaks volumes, eh?

i saw this article a few days ago and i keep thinking about it. it basically sums up everything that’s going through all our minds every day. (i have no idea who this website is, i saw it and i read it and it spoke to me so dont come at me if it’s something weird - i just wanted to provide a source)

I manage a grocery store.

Here’s some things everyone should know

1. I don’t have toilet paper 2. I don’t have sanitizer 3. I run out of milk, eggs and meat daily 4. I promise if it’s out on the shelf … it’s not in a hidden corner of our backroom.

Those are the predictable ones, now for the real stuff

5. I have been doing this for 25 years I did not forget how to order product. 6. I did not cause the warehouse to be out of product/ 7. I schedule as much help as I have, including many workers working TONS of overtime to help YOU. 8. I am sorry there are lines at the check out lanes.

Now for the really important stuff:

9. My team puts themselves in harm’s way every day so you can buy groceries. 10. My team works tirelessly to get product on the floor for you to buy. 11. My team is exhausted. 12. My team is scared of getting sick. 13. My team is human and does not possess an antivirus… they are in just as much danger as you are. (Arguably more) but they show up to work every day just so you can buy groceries 14. My team is tired. 15. My team is very under-appreciated. 16. My team is exposed to more people who are potentially infected in one hour than most of you will in a week (medical community excluded, thank you for all that you do!). 17. My team is abused all day by customers who have no idea how ignorant they are. 18. My team disinfects every surface possible, everyday, just so you can come in grab a wipe from the dispenser, wipe the handle and throw the used wipe in the cart or on the ground and leave it there… so my team can throw it in the trash for you later. 19. My team wonders if you wash your re-usable bags, that you force us to touch, that are clearly dirty and have more germs on them than our shopping carts do. 20. My team more than earns their breaks, lunches and days off. And if that means you wait longer I am sorry.

The last thing I will say is this:

The next time you are in a grocery store, please pause and think about what you are saying and how you are treating the people you encounter. They are the reason you are able to buy toilet paper, sanitizer, milk, eggs, and meat.

If the store you go to is out of an item.. maybe find the neighbor or friend that bought enough for a year … there are hundreds of them… and ask them to spare 1 or 2. They caused the problem to begin with…

And lastly, please THANK the people who helped you. They don’t have to come to work!

[baratrongirl]

Occult Blood and other Seitanic Nightmares

I have mentioned recently on Ao3 and Discord that I have been having Serious Health Issues lately.

To begin the story of my health breaking down, I want to show you a picture:

And you're like, "OK H-L, what the hell's that?"

THOSE are "sticky vegan spare ribs" made of seitan, which is pretty much pure wheat gluten.

Before eating said sticky vegan spare ribs, I did not believe that I had any problems with wheat gluten. I know several people with c[o]eliac disease, and I'm aware of a few others who can't eat gluten due to auto-immune conditions, but I did not think I was one of them. I've had a foul digestive system for years but had been mostly keeping it under control by avoiding dairy, eggs, animal protein in general, and eating a very large number of prebiotics and probiotics. Gluten? Didn't think that was a problem at all.

Profound TMI and potential triggers below the cut.

Cue the next morning, when I woke up with really bad cramping in my large intestine and as much blood as if I'd been having a period, only coming from what doctors refer to as my "back passage". Holy crap.

Well. So. I continued to have diarrhoea throughout the trip, came home and rang the GP surgery. At the time the coronavirus outbreak was just ramping up, so the GP I spoke to was basically telling me "it probably isn't cancer if you've only had it the once, call back in a few months if it continues." I never thought it might be cancer, but I was pretty worried about coeliac disease.

So from March around to June, I have been having diarrhoea between 2 and 5+ times a day. Sometimes explosive. Sometimes very painful. Got to 4th June and decided it had been "a few months" and I needed medical attention. Spoke to a GP in a telephone appointment, who took it all very seriously and ordered a bunch of blood tests and a stool sample.

The initial blood tests for c[o]eliac disease - IgA-TGA and IgG-TGA came back "negative", but I haven't seen the actual numbers. Also, according to both a very comprehensive review article and MayoClinic recommendations, these tests are negative in around 8% of people who do turn out to have coeliac disease.

In the meantime another GP reviewed the results and decided I should produce some more stool samples, one to be cultured to test what bacteria I have in my intestines, and the other a FIT test for occult blood. Which sounds awesome, but it just means hidden blood in your poo. That came back positive, which means that I have hit the "you might have cancer" target and been referred urgently to Gastroenterology under the Rapid Referral Scheme.

It's only about a 10% chance of being cancer, and I'm not even worried about that. I'm pretty young for bowel cancer. I've been trying to explain to people how even if it was cancer, I'm less afraid of a nice solid tumour in Stage 1 that hasn't had the chance to break off and metastasise than I am of a lifelong horrible inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's. I know that might sound really weird, but I'm aware of how "cancer" isn't a single illness, it all depends on the specific gene mutation that you have, and the word alone doesn't trigger me. I know several people who have had cancers found early and they're fine now.

I'm not even afraid of the colonoscopy which is booked for Wednesday. I seem to know a startlingly large number of people who have had to have one well before the age of 50, for one reason or another. What I'm distressed by is the fact I can't eat normal food from Sunday round to Tuesday, and then have to starve myself from 1pm on Tuesday, and then take medication to make the world fall out of my bottom. Twice. I already have the world falling out of my bottom on a regular basis - or at least I did, see below - and it's horrendous.

In other news I decided that I didn't care what the blood tests said, I was going to stop eating gluten and see if it made any difference. So I've cut out everything which contains wheat, barley, spelt, or gluten, though some of the things in my diet still "may contain traces of gluten". Since there isn't any need to go all the way gluten-free until I have some sort of medical proof that gluten is the problem, right? Except... I've gone from diarrhoea 2-5+ times PER DAY to having 2 episodes of diarrhoea in the past NINE DAYS. That's pretty conclusive, right?

Yesterday I woke up again with really bad cramping in my large intestine and more blood in my poo. It's probably from an injury from having had so much explosive diarrhoea, but from the position of the cramping over the top of my belly, I don't think it's anything up my bum but a lot further round. Today I woke up from one of those anxiety dreams about teeth falling out. Usually I can stave those off when I've been to the dentist within the last 6 months and determined that my teeth and gums are doing okay, but not today... So I'm distressed, anxious, and my tummy hurts.

Honestly, I really believe that I have either coeliac disease or non-coeliac gluten intolerance. The part where I stopped eating gluten and the problem almost completely went away seems telling, to me. I'm very aware of the psychosomatic effect and how a person can "believe" something that isn't true, get well from a placebo treatment or whatever. But I don't think my intestines could do that?

In the meantime, I am stressed beyond belief about the next few days. All I can eat is bland white carbohydrates, tofu, milk, yogurt without bits, fruit juice without bits, lemon sorbet, and a very small number of vegetables/fruit. I am very much a food-oriented person and it's already distressing that I may well have to stop eating gluten for life, without all the other nonsense in this temporary diet.

By the way, being a person with a rather sick sense of humour, it will actually HELP if you make "up the bum" jokes. I'd definitely prefer it to "I'm praying for you", which makes me angry at the best of times.

[latinkilledtheromans]

The Saga of the HelloFresh Box

Okay, so a while back, my friend @rolodextra was like “oh hey I’ve got a coupon code for half off two boxes from HelloFresh, you want it?” And I’m like, yeah, sure, I’m lazy, I hate having to come up with food for the week, hit me up.

So I placed the order for the first box, and it’s supposed to arrive on Saturday. I actually happened to wake up on time on Saturday for once instead of sleeping until noon, so I was awake when the delivery guy came. 

So I heard a knock on the door and went right away and opened it. And as soon as I looked outside, I saw this sad, soggy box. Like ... it looked wet on the bottom, and it was starting to cave in on itself.

That was setting off serious alarm bells in my head.

I dragged the box inside and opened it up right away. It was ... room temperature inside the box. To call it cool would be generous. I took all the vegetables out and put them in the fridge, and then got down to the bottom of the box, which has a double layer of freezer packs with the meat/seafood layered in between.

The freezer packs were completely melted (and the condensation had made the box wet and soggy, soaking through the layer of insulation). I did not trust any of the protein, since I didn’t know how long it had been not cold, so I ended up getting rid of it, and buying all new protein from the grocery store.

I contacted HelloFresh to let them know that I had issues with my box, and they were very courteous, responded right away, and gave me a credit for a full free box.

I decided to order the second box, and was kinda upset when I got an email from Paypal! Saying that they had been charged for my HelloFresh box! So they got an email from me being like, hey what’s up? This was supposed to be free.

Well, apparently promos are used before credits. So since I still had one box of the original “half off two boxes” promo left, they used that and charged me half price, instead of using the credit for a free box (or using a promo and half the credit and saving half the credit for later? I don’t understand). Well, they were able to refund the charge and use the credit instead, so we got that figured out.

But by this point, I was starting to get frustrated with HelloFresh. I was pretty sure I was going to cancel once I got this second (free!) box.

On Friday, September 7th, I got an email that my HelloFresh box was on its way. It was scheduled to be delivered on Saturday. I immediately decided to track the package cause I’m an impatient little goblin. Imagine my surprise when the tracking info said that it would be delivered on Tuesday, September 11th. 

So ... tracking isn’t always right, right? So I waited, hoping that it would be delivered on time. It wasn’t.

Now, remember: when delivered on time, my box arrived soggy and melted and I couldn’t eat any of the meat. So how would it be if it was another three days late?

According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service website, fresh fish can be kept in the fridge for 1-2 days. Ground beef can be kept for 1-2 days. And chicken or turkey can be kept for 1-2 days.

My box contains salmon, ground beef, and chicken breasts.

According to the tracking info on the FedEx website, the shipping info about my box was sent to FedEx on Wednesday at about 6am. That’s when they knew they were going to be sending a box out.

FedEx picked up my box at midnight on Thursday (aka, Wednesday night). So this box has been packed since Wednesday. At this point, even if it had arrived on Saturday, it really would have been pushing the limit for food safety guidelines. A point to consider for anyone looking at any meal delivery service. Freeze the proteins you aren’t going to eat right away!

Well, my box didn’t arrive on Saturday, did it? No, it’s supposed to arrive on Tuesday! No one in their right mind is going to eat those! It’s going to be a festering cesspool of foodborne pathogens just waiting to get into my delicate tummy! My tummy gets upset if I even look at pictures of food I’m not touching this nonsense!

So Tuesday morning rolls around. And I get an email that my box has been delivered to my apartment. It’s at my front door! It’s 9:30 in the morning.

That’s great. Except for the fact that both of my coworkers were out sick so I couldn’t leave the office at all and I had to stay at work until 5:00. If I could have, I would have run home and checked the box right away. But I couldn’t.

My husband makes it home before me. I get a text: “Did you stop by the apartment today?”

“No. Why? Is there no box?”

There was no box.

So when I got home and confirmed that indeed, there was no box at our door, or at any of our neighbors (you never know), or at our back door (you can’t even drive up to it, but YOU NEVER KNOW), and confirmed with the tracking that the box “was delivered” several times, I called FedEx, where I was cheerfully informed that my box had been delivered.

I told them that I definitely don’t have it, so ??? and they agreed to open a claim for me to look into where my box is.

Side note: a couple of months ago, I had ordered some wedding favors, and the USPS told me that the box had been delivered and swore up and down it was delivered and they’ve got GPS tracking on all the boxes so they know it was dropped off, and basically accused me of lying to them, only to finally decide that it must have been stolen and send me off to go get a refund from Amazon and reorder these favors. Then the box got suddenly delivered a week later.

So I’m not the most trusting when someone tells me that a box “was definitely delivered to your front door.”

So we have a couple of options here. Either FedEx is lying to me, and they lost my package or for whatever reason decided not to deliver it.

OR they did truthfully, successfully deliver my box on Tuesday, only to have someone in my apartment complex see a HelloFresh box and decide to steal it.

Now. If you stole a box from HelloFresh from someone. And you opened it up. And this box is melted. It’s got fish and meat that’s been sitting at room temperature for a week. (Uh, I live in the South, trucks will get hot, that shit might be fucking cooked by now.) It’s going to be rancid and nasty as fuck.

What do you do? Would you just throw it out? Try to salvage the potatoes? That’s what I was planning on doing.

Like, what do I have to do to find out where my box is?

On a related note, I will be cancelling my HelloFresh account. I’m just waiting to hear back from them about my last email that I sent this morning.

Also, a friend gave me a coupon code for Plated, so we’ll see how that goes.

[running-engineering-cats]

Hello friends!

Please accept my apology for being a bad tumblr lately. I’m not sure what my deal is. I’m constantly thinking I need to write a post and just start updating, but then I don’t. Sorry friends! 

Anywho, things are good! I’ve been still kinda doing whatever lately in terms of exercise, which has been fun! I joined the local YMCA finally and I’ve been having fun going to different classes (although I went to a TRX class that almost broke my body…and I actually burst a blood vessel in my arm which caused it to swell up a lot so I went to the doctor but he said it’s nothing to be worried about 🤷🏼‍♀️). I was very sore the day after that class!

Last week I also ended up with some kind of stomach bug that caused me to slow way down and spend like 80% of Tuesday sleeping, but the tummy is finally back to normal after this weekend!

I also went trail running by myself on Saturday, and didn’t get lost! It was really fun! A nice change of pace and scenery. Everything was still snow covered so it wasn’t muddy, and it was nice and sunny that morning too 😊.

I feel like I’m going through a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to my fitness. I’ve been “a runner” for a few years now, it feels very strange to not run almost every day. But I’ve been embracing doing different things and have been having fun with it. I’ve even gone swimming a couple times! Scott and I are planning on doing a spring tri, so that really is my focus right now. I’m trying to swim, bike, and run 2 times each week. Swimming definitely needs the most focus for me, as I am not very good at it. But I’m already starting to feel better, so I know as long as I keep practicing, I’ll get better 🏊🏻‍♀️

And that’s about it! (The fun stuff anyway! Work is eh and wedding planning has somewhat stalled. Need to get back into it!). I promise to be better at posting! 

[mikazukikannagisjourney]

Solar Return Musings and other Stuff, May 27, 2020

Short note: These are just my solar return rantings and musings, so if you just need the energetic support to get through the crazy energies running around right now,  just go to the end of the post for an energetically-infused photo to fill you with love, hope, and courage =) have a great day! OK long-a$$ post coming right up lololol As of yesterday, I have entered my mid-30s, which I would have fretted over greatly have I not awakened to my infinite being-ness. Weirdly enough, priorities do change when a person reaches a certain point in life, and for the past 10 years, maybe more than than or something this body started its own awakening process. It felt weird just thinking about it because my brain took so much time before it awakened, so yeah basically I already manifested nearly ALL spiritual awakening symptoms and I still wasn't doing the work needed, I just though it was all work-stress. I had constant callings to meditate but I was too busy watching anime, movies, dramas, throwing too much of myself to my former uhm, life, stuff, insert words here. Fill in the blanks lol. And then everything just comes crashing down until I had nothing but my own shattered dreams. That's when I slowly started using binaural beats to induce something to happen to my body, or at the very least use my legs (they kinda died along with my hope and dreams back then).

Whew. That felt like a lifetime ago, but honestly it felt so far away even though I only started to consciously-awake 4 years ago or something? Maybe less? I really don't know. Then again, as many spiritually-woke people kept saying, these are interesting times, wherein you live inside a body with as many lifetimes as a buy-one-get a multitude free. Basically as long as a person consciously (or in my case my body freaking chose it for me, dang it) chooses to, anyone can live at least 2 or 3 lifetimes in the same body. I actually feel like I have lived 30+ years in a span of 10, I feel like after having so many losses, meeting so many people both nice and not, all the heck-ups that happened, it’s a miracle I am still alive. What’s even more amazing is that despite whatever hell on earth I experienced in the past 10 years, there were nice parts to be grateful for, like learning more metaphysical stuff, learning what needs to be healed and transmuted like traumas and other genetic stuff, regaining and embodying my old psychic self from my childhood days, establishing clear boundaries because unscrupulous people will DEFINITELY step all over wishy-washy, extremely-giving or doormat people, and whatever needs to be done in order to help clear not just my own morphic field but the mass consciousness energies as well. Seriously though, for me, my best takeaway was learning that I am actually able to channel energies, and if I didn't have a psychic friend to return whatever I channeled I would have doubted everything. So in a way, even though things were seriously slow-going, I guess I'm ok at this pace. It would be better if it was a lot faster though

Speaking of gratitude, I got fed up being ungrateful for quite a while, so for a change I just chose to find something to be thankful for, even if it's just one. I guess it started clearing my energies bit by bit. I couldn't do it all by myself though, so aside from channeling the energies on my own, I also started adjusting the flow of energies (chi or prana) in my own space by bringing in some fallen flowers (they just fall out of the plant even if they look perfectly fine), and I guess it sorta helped me manage my depressive states to a certain degree. In the beginning I honestly just wanted to see some other living thing other than myself and some lizards, or the occasional insects that pop in, and weirdly the flowers helped a lot, even if there were just 3 or even 1 of them in a bowl. I guess it became meditative for me to gather them in the afternoons, before night falls. The flowers resemble hibiscus but they change colors, from yellow in the morning as they bloom, to having red-orange petal tips in the late afternoon or dusk (I gather them during these times) to being fully red at night. After about 4 weeks of doing it daily, I found a trend on how many I can collect per day: Saturdays bring a lot, at most 9 (it's a day that promotes planting and other agricultural pursuits); Tuesdays bring at most, 3? (it is a Mars Day afterall); and the rest of the week ranges from 5 to 7 flowers. I did my best not to put too much attachment to the meanings, I just did my best to be grateful for how many I can pick in a day. As long as I get at least one per day, I'm all good.

Of course, on the day of my solar return, after having difficulty getting some work done (it was hot and humid and everything just feels fuzzy) I finally got out and decided to just check on my passionflower vines and see if I got any flowers from this weird hibiscus plant. As always, the passionflower vines went haywire with the growth again, and I have yet to figure out how to even manage them so they won't strangle the other plants nearby, including the weird hibiscus plant. Speaking of, here's the weird thing about the plant yesterday. It was a Tuesday so I was expecting to just get around 2 or 3, but I got a whopping 14, it was a miracle I was able to hold them in my hand. It felt like the universe gave me a nice birthday bouquet, and I just enjoyed the feeling as I gathered them while a rolling thunder passes over my head. It felt great. Even one of the other flowering plants that only bloom a handful of tiny flowers actually had so much flowers, so I guess it made me giddy. I guess it's nice to receive flowers from the universe, it was a gift that lifted up my spirits. Also it was a small reminder to just embrace my romantic-AF side lol So after thanking the universe for the nice flowers I collected all of the weird hibiscus flowers, gathered them into a bowl, and they looked like these:

If you squint at the photo, the bowl looks like pizza lol but hey, that's a nice thing I could look forward to once citizen mobility becomes an actual thing. I mean, I'm not the only one who got stuck at home for their birthdays, there's like 2-3 months worth of birthdays that got stuck at home, among other things, so I truly feel for those who wanted to feel special even under quarantine. Yes the flower-bowl photo is also energetically-infused so if you're someone who didn't get to enjoy your special day due to the pandemic, please allow the loving energies of the flower bowl to fill you with universal love.

Other stuff I was able to be grateful for was getting a handful of birthday stuff, I mean, in times like these it's easy to expect people to take care more of themselves, and I honestly don't mind if people chose to just do their own thing today. My mother rarely makes birthday food (her birthday is 2 days ahead of mine so I normally just eat whatever is left of that lolol) but I got some fruit salad and it was great, but I think I had way too much and my tummy kept making U-turns. I also got some greetings from people that I care about, and it was nice. The thing about birthday energies is that it brings a lot of mixed emotions, and instead of enjoying the entire day, I had to transmute a lot of old traumas stuck in my head, in my body, all that stuff, to the point that I just decided to send my grateful replies to the messages I received like, today. I wouldn't wanna tie my low vibes with people who wished me well so I did the proactive approach and just cleared whatever low vibes I had. It took a long while, and by the time I was done, it was already midnight and I had to do some quick and soothing meditations just to feel great about myself. At times, whenever I had to do these things, I sometimes wished I never woke up in the first place. Unfortunately, this kind of awakening is like learning how to ride a bike, once you learn how to balance and move forward (hint: pushing the pedal faster makes falling down nearly-impossible lol), it’s forever bonded with your entire being.

Seriously, this whole conscious awakening business is not exactly all sunshine and rainbows, and I often find myself cringing whenever I come across a post or a video about spiritual awakening and the path of enlightenment as something all unicorns and ice cream sprinkles like I have to use ALL of my powers NOT to judge them. Because that's what they have at that given moment, and that is what they wanna share. As for me, even if my own experiences weren't 100% magical, they're not all that bad either. I just choose to embrace all of the experiences as stuff that helps me move forward, good or bad, ugly or beautiful, crappy or not, intentional or accidental, they are all for a better good. It's normal and OK to feel victimized every now and then, we have deep programmings that need to be rebooted so that we can enjoy everything in 3D, regardless of whether we got extremely lucky or extremely screwed. I mean, that's the weird thing about duality and playing that game: seeing both sides of the coin and accepting the fact that it's all the same coin is what brings back our lost power, instead of just choosing all that is light or all that is dark. Everything is connected and that is what sets people free. The only thing that people must consciously choose is to live in their own truth, otherwise choosing to live other people's truths will continuously run their lives, and that's what breaks people. I should know, I was stuck in that crap for a long time. Now I'm currently in limbo but I am doing my best to continuously connect to the higher dimensional realms, and to heal and increase my capacity to feel and receive universal energies so that I won't have to live someone else's life anymore. That's what I promised to do for myself and I am doing the best that I can to uphold that. I honestly don't know where I am right now but I am hoping to become a whole lot better in my own personal journey.

In relation to that idea, I am doing my best to be my own support group, cheerleader, therapist, and all that stuff because to be honest, for the next years and decades after this pandemic issue, there will be a call for independence, of being able to fix the self, because the energies are coming in to change the excessive interdependent natures of people. I mean, don't get me wrong, nothing bad about that right now and we will all continue to be dependent on others, and others will be dependent on us, but certain parts of humanity will start to go inwards, like finding the truth within themselves. Also, there will be a greater need to be kind, understanding, and forgiving to the self, more so than others. Denying the self's needs are what caused disorder in the first place, and universal energies are coming in right now to push people to be more selfish, in a healthy way, in a more abundant setting, because excess greed has taken a toll on the psyche of humanity for a very, very long time. And this time, the higher dimensional realms are ensuring that balance shall be achieved. So if you think this pandemic thing is the worst, well sorry to burst your bubble but more bumpy rides are ahead of us, and adjustments WILL be done to accommodate the new things that need to happen in this timeline, and beyond.

Oh glob, that's a lot of stuff lolol I guess that just flowed out of my hands, and I feel like I'm not even done yet. Oh well, I can always post something else, like I dunno, as needed? Anyway, for those who are only here for the energy-infused photo, here it is, to support your need for hope, love, and courage in these trying times:

I hope you enjoy, just relax and let it come through your being. And if you’re wondering, yeah the cactus has a white bloom. Cute, right? Thank you so much for your time in dropping by this post, I know that times are changing really fast and it feels like we're at the mercy of the elements, but also know that despite things, the universe will always work in our favor, but first we must feel that we're worth that universal assistance, otherwise it's just going to stay outside the realm of our experiences. Our worthiness is more important now, than ever before. Because you are indeed, worthy. I pray that you become your truest and best self. Wishing you all the best, Mikazuki

PS. If you found the information in this post to be very helpful, insightful, and of great value to you and your own personal journey, please feel free to reblog, share and heart/like, or if you feel super-generous, energetic exchanges are welcomed! Please click here and use this email address: may_chan_otaku@yahoo.com

Thank you so much and be blessed!

PSS. If you’re interested to get a personal card and energetic reading, for inquires please send an email or an anonymous ask in this page. Thank you! =)

[vacationsoup]

New Post has been published on https://vacationsoup.com/last-day-kauai-hawaii/

Eight Ways To Spend Your Last Day On Kauai - Hawaii

  So, it is your last day on Kauai. You have had a fabulous time swimming, snorkeling, hiking and exploring Paradise. But check-out time is 10:00 and you have a red-eye flight. What to do all day without needing a shower before boarding the plane? Here are eight ideas for making that last day count, especially if you have been staying on the North Shore.

Your Last Day on Kauai #1

Save your trip to the Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park for your last day. From the North Shore it is a LONG day. Depending on traffic it will take you about two hours to reach your goal. Once there stop at all the pull-outs for some fabulous sights and photo opportunities. Wonder through the small Kokee Natural History Museum (open daily, 9:00 - 4:00) and have lunch at the Kokee Lodge Restaurant. Do not miss the final lookout where, if you have clear skies, your view will be straight down the Kalalau Valley to the sea. Driving back, stop and take a short walk into the mountains or relax on the big meadow in front of the lodge.

After coming down the mountain, stop at Waimea town and wander through the shops. Have a shave ice or an ice cream cone and enjoy the sunny, dry west side of the island. Hanapepe and Poipu are on your way back to the airport so there are plenty of places to stop if you have more time. End your day at Duke's in Lihue where you will be close to your airport departure and may toast a perfect ending to your Kauai vacation. Not having to drive back to the North Shore shaves an hour off the trip.

To read more about the last time I drove to the Waimea Canyon and Kokee, check out this blog post.

Your Last Day on Kauai #2

Plan a garden tour. There are some fabulous gardens on Kauai. Princeville Gardens, Na Aina Kai and Limahuli Gardens are all on the North Shore. Since the April 2018 floods, Limahuli Gardens has been closed due to the road closure, but as soon as the road opens up again the gardens will be ready for visitors. Each of these gardens is unique and offers something different. At Na Aina Kai, besides incredible park-like settings, you will have the pleasure of seeing many life-size bronze statues throughout the property. Click on each garden name for more information.

Since you have the whole day and are heading toward the airport, another outstanding garden choice would be Allerton Gardens on the South Shore. Like Limahuli Gardens, this beautiful setting on the coast in Poipu is part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

Tour the garden to see towering rainforest trees with tall curving roots that grow near bronze mermaids, a grove of swaying golden bamboo, a cut-flower garden, and tropical fruit trees. Allerton Garden also has a rich history as a Hollywood film location for many notable movies and TV shows. It is fun to sit for a photo in the towering roots of the famous Moreton Bay fig trees featured in blockbusters like Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean. Allerton Gardens has been named one of the ’50 Places of a Lifetime’ by National Geographic Traveler.

Your Last Day on Kauai #3

Go on a Food Tasting Tour. From Tuesday through Saturday, this company leads you (in your own car) to various food outlets around the island. The day determines what section of the island is visited (North Shore, East Shore, Lihue, South Shore and West Shore). At each stop someone intimately involved with the food production sets aside special time to talk with, and answer questions from, the group. Because there is a maximum of 14 people on the food tours, participants are given personal attention at each stop. Tasting Kauai calls it a “culinary romp through paradise.”

Your Last Day on Kauai #4

Visit the Kauai Museum or Grove Farm. Both of these interesting places are in Lihue. You may visit the Kauai Museum at any time they are open. For a Grove Farm tour you will need a reservation. Both sites are filled with artifacts of Kauai’s history and culture. Knowledgeable docents will fill your ears with stories and legends representing the indigenous people and immigrants who have lived on the Garden Island for centuries.

Your Last Day on Kauai #5

Over 150 films have been shot on the Garden Island spanning an eighty year period. In my movie blog I have listed 46 movie locations around Kauai. So, how about a personal movie location treasure hunt? How many big screen locations can you find? Take my list and start driving! Perhaps you will want to end your hunt at the Kukui Grove Cinemas and watch a new release on the big screen before your flight.

Your Last Day on Kauai #6

Go on a bicycle ride on the East Side of the island. There are plenty of places to rent bikes and the Kapaa Coastal Bike Path will give you a bit of exercise without causing too much sweat. The path is mostly level (Yay!) and wide enough that passing other bicyclists is not a problem at all. There are covered picnic tables along the way where you may stop and have a bite to eat or simply watch the waves roll in. During the winter, when it is whale season, you may spot a blow or, if you are lucky, see a humpback whale breach right out of the water causing quite a splash.

After returning the bikes there are so many places to eat in Kapaa. Try Cafe Hemingway, Street Burger, Coconut's Fish Cafe or Lava Lava Beach Club located at the Kauai Shores Hotel where you may dine with your toes in the sand overlooking the Pacific. Your tummy will be happy as you board the flight.

Your Last Day on Kauai #7

Have a spa day! There are many spas on the island of Kauai. A day at the Halele'a Spa, located in the Princeville Resort, "revitalizes your every sense. Here, a menu of exotic treatments promise blissful diversions, enhanced by essences of local fruit and flora. Guests are attended to by a trained consultant, who will develop a customized wellness regime to ensure optimal healing and restoration while in residence, and well beyond." Perhaps even over a LONG airplane ride.

Another spa option would be the Anara Spa at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. "Honoring a culture rooted in the balance and wisdom of nature, Anara Spa in Kauai weaves traditional healing customs to inspire “lokahi”- balance and harmony of body and spirit. Enjoy one of our blissful massage, facial, or body treatments and experience complete serenity and rejuvenation"

Of course, there are many other spas on Kauai. Spending a few hours at any of them sounds like a blissful way to end a vacation.

Your Last Day on Kauai #8

And finally, you can always go shopping, assuming you still have room in your luggage. You know you are going to want to bring some goodies and souvenirs home with you. So, spend at least part of your last day going to one or more of the three major shopping areas on Kauai. The Coconut Marketplace is in Kapaa and it just went through a huge remodel. There are 32 shops and restaurants, along with hula shows at specific times. On Fridays at 5:00 catch some free live Hawaiian music with Larry Rivera.

Just past Lihue, look for the stately, brown plantation house sitting back from the highway. This is Kilohana, a historical building used during the plantation era. Inside find eleven unique shops and Gaylord's Restaurant. Make a reservation to take "any of the three Conductor Narrated Authentic Train Tours of the historic 105 acre Kilohana Plantation. Sit back and relax in the elegant mahogany passenger cars as you tour and see the tropical beauty and bounty of Kilohana."

At The Shops At Kukuliulu in Poipu you will find plenty of classy stores and exquisite dining. There is a Living Foods Gourmet Market & Cafe which is a popular and thriving foodie hub. Longs Drugs has a huge section of candies, coffee and Hawaiian souvenirs. Check The Shops At Kukuliulu's website for special art, music and food events.

For quantity and best prices, of course, head to Costco and Walmart, both in Lihue, very close to the airport.

So, there you have it. When your vacation rental or hotel check-out is early and your flight is late, make your last day on Kauai count by trying out one of these suggestions. One thing to keep in mind is that all of your luggage will be in the car with you so that may determine what you can or want to do. Whatever you decide, make sure you enjoy every minute because who knows when you will be back in Paradise again.

For more of my blogs, go to the right-hand side of this page (full screen computers). For photos and information about Honu Point, our north shore vacation rental, go to any other page on this website. Mahalo!

[kyandice]

CANDICE EDIT THIS UGLY SHIT WHEN U HAVE THE FUCKING TIME

this is an ugly unedited one it has been in my drafts for like 2 months already. so whatever i just posting it. ill edit it if i have the time. thins is is i actually edited half way and MY FUCKING COMPUTER FUCKING CRASHED SO I GAVE UP  and yeahhh ill just post this ugly unedited one and ill edit it again WITH PROPER ENGLISH WHEN I HAVE THE TIME. idk i just cqnt see stuff in my drafts i just havre to post it and yewah wtf.

this unedu=ited stuff is just me writing key poiunts about my day and not like urghhhhhhh i hate this commmmmm. normally i would describe more but i dont want it in my drafts anymore so ill edit it when im free OKAYYYY.

1/3 

Hahahahahah lmao this was the date when i got tgt with K 3 years ago.(omg i still rmb, but tbh its nth special i just rmb useless stuff pretty well)  Never wanted to date a guy again even i with crushes back in sec sch. but anyways, today i went to Sentosa w/ B and he seemed to really like the artificial fiels alot but it was like in the afternoon so it was still kinda hot and yeahhhh. Like it would be much nicer at night. There will be like alot of stars and fireworks too and it will be more windy and cooling idk but it will be nicer at night and i want to spend the night w/ B there again. Oh yeah anyways ystd B bought me the batgirl lego keychain and B told me that batgirl had sex with batman and im shoooked.

2/3 and like today we planned to go to his house anddd then go to parkway parade to some lego secret chambers shop. i went out early cuz my junior wanted to pass me her lego characs but she couldnt make it so i was alr at bishan so i just went to tpy and wait for bryan o wake and meet me so i called him at 11am but he woke up and shouted at me so i just like nvmmmm so i went to the library and went window shopping around tpy and i also went popular 1pm i didnt want to call him up but i was like ugh nvm and called him.. and yay he finaally woke up wna read tuesday with morrie, all the fifty shades of grey and in grey's pov n miss peregrine's home for peculiar children but we still went to parkway parade anyays and he asked me to watch letters from iwo jima so i watched it at night and bryan wanted to watch the breakup list on toggle but it kept playing ads and it just wouldnt play the video so b got alittle pissed 3/3 logan, training (our 8th movie)

4/3 finishing crocheting my first thinggg the bear thing shoud i give it to bryan would he want it so today b was vvvv kinda excited this video thing with ck and cez and im like vvv happy for him cuz he can do smthing he rlly likes with cool n funny ffriends. also he said that he didnt want us to go public at first cuz he was afraid that ppl might tease us he said he was afraid i might be ffrustrated but tbh i was hella frustaratred i dont see the point of hiding our rship but im glad werre like opene now and so at night i went to ikea and b messaged me but i was busyt walking and i didnt recieve his msg but i didnt like lock my phone so it was read. but like it was in my pockets and like my mom doesnt allow me to play my phine whenever im walking but yeah anyways b was angry hat i didnt reply him. we sorta quarreled awhile but we were kinda okay after that i guess. wtf sia today midnight i have to distribute stuff to the homeless ppl in bugis and i was wearing a short paanyts and my mom tied this weird looking scarf i swear i look like some carzy hobo youngster wtf.

5&6/3 sneaked out of house, slept over at his house and after that i went to tpy first while he showers, ate and went home early to pack for camp stuff wna stay over at his house again it was fun we tried to watch moanna but was kinda sleepy

7/3 day 1 of camp. slept with b outised tgt

8/3 day 2 of camp (-met javier and sihui -every camps i go i get very angry -shoulder, water balloon) larn cpr and aed the skit thing worst grp ever

9/3 day 3 of camp water activities we won

10/3 tkd training

11/3

-wtf nxt week go msia (wanted to go work) -quarreled with bteh. cuz i cant go out but he wants me to go out -yyour suffering defines you without it yore a void -japan and korea with bryan -my parents -i want more lego charac -money - i cant wait for tmr for ilighhtsss i want to take like alooot pictures tgt with bryannnn styled hair -nicole choo idk why im still so insecure like i know pretty clearly that im decent looking. decent looking enough to make friends, have a job and not get ostracised in society. and well if you arent good looking enough you'll be made fun off/ostracised in society and thats how humans work. and now everywhere you see are pretty girls and how can any girls feel not insecure. Okay, i have a flat and fat nose. i want to have a sharper and thinner nose like michelle. i have pretty small boobs and i want boobs like naomi. my shoulders are too wide from playing softball, i want a smaller width shoulders like grace. my tummy isnt flat i want a flat tummy. and thing is those are pretty famous girls in like sg and im not even talking abt kim kard or emma wats or like jennifer lawr. omg i dont even know where im going with this im just literally typing all my thoughts down. okay and the boys here???? they all follow those people and im pretty sure they compare them over the normal girls in sch. omg what am i even talking abt. i feel silly even typing this out. but okay if your beauty standards doesnt reach like the norm in society you srsly wouldnt have friends. unless youre realllll rich or your sense of humor is rlly rlly great.

12/3 didnt quarrel but we  were obv upset with each other it was a fun day tho when to see i lights took alot pictures ate llaollao no money

20/3 best s ever went home after it bteh gg aunts house today

his flight will be tmr 21/22 job interview got the job bryaan in flight abt cosplay how i dont have frinds

25/03 bryan found my private twitter accnt                                    bteh tole me abt a girl he liked when he was in korea idk if anyone realised but ive got a really really really bad habit. its weird really. but its a thing ive been doing since young and i never talked to anyone about it before. so actually, when im nervous, or stressed out, or just couldnt take my mind off smthing, i would like start peeling or plucking my nails. okay many people do this but, i ahve a weirder one andddd omg i think i will regret saying this. So actually, i pluck i my hair when im nervous, stressed out or just thinking abt smthing i cant ignore. so back in primary 4 i was doing this math practice paper and i couldnt do any those 6marks big problem sums and i was fking stressed out. and well my habit of plucking my own hair started really really young. and at P4 my mom saw me crying

26 toc competition firdst fight win second fight lose how i dont wna fight nationals cuz my weight cat all got national player lose my chance to win gold cant even get silver r came today

29/ power rangers

30 wanted to go coney island with rapheal and jill and bryan but it rained so we went to lan and gamed without jill bryan pushed me and i banged into someone in the end see museums some forest thing the ligths vvv pretyy

28/hotel

31/ hotel went to work after that talk about work made bryan that key chain clp diner and dance

1/4 learn bst bts for club crawl played boomberang didnt workkk aot is out!!!!!!

2/4 today i need to go mountbatten cc to practice my poomsae my poomsae lousy i dont think i can pass at first try anyways president of stf is milan quey idk if i spelt his name properly but yeah. before that ate yellow sub with B will nvr eat there again portion is small yet expensive and food isint so nice at all but since i get to eat with b im vvvv gladdd

3/4 today i went early to B's house. after that met up with madeline and shirlyn to watch boss baby and the movie was quite nice i thought i wouldnt like it and then we ate pepper lunch and omg osaka is a vvv small place like shirlyn went evrywhere i visited like a a year ago

4/4 AND I WOKE UP WITH BTEH lose his doibok and he couldnt find it my maid threathened to take a mail for my mom cuz she lazy walk and she wants me to do it but i was late

5/4 there was demo training we played table tennis for awhile and bteh is good at it, ok maybe its just that i suck at it but yea theres was fmo so we slacked at tg until demo tng started so at night he said hes tired but idk that he wanted to sleep soon and he was like stop it and i was like stop wat but he ttly just shut me off and then i got pissed cuz i would nvr do that to him

6/4 i had to meet herman but like after meeting him timetable i realised i forget to bring my wallet somethimes im torn in beteen like just not gg out with bteh cuz i have no money to eat or spend his money again he keeps saying its okay but its really not okay im just not comfortable like someone spending so much on me i owe money so he told me his specs broke ttly

One of the things dreams do for us is prepare us for worse case scenario. The dream that is closest to reality about a loved one leaving us prepares the mind for the pain that can be inflicted upon us. It creates a probability. That means it could happen, it means it’s a fear you have, and being such your mind protects your psyche in a way to allow you to feel the emotions of the event, even though the event never occurred.

13 reasons why felt like  th main charac like back in sec sch all i wanted was just to finish my olevels and go to poly so i can be a whole new person. someone who i wanted to be withouht anyone laughing at me

1au away from sol 1au measurement unit like light or smthing sol is latin from sun porbbaly it