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briankang · 2 years

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saw someone on twitter post the minho picture from children's day and one of the replies was like "he still looks scary, i'd still run away from him on the playground" and i wanted to cry. i saw a youtube video on a SOFT COMPILATION say "i'm still scared of him" and one person was like "why" and the op was like "he's just really scary. i'd run away from him" and? like are these children saying these things? i'm so confused because that man is legitmately my safe place and comfort in so many ways

also the things people act are their entire personalities are like less than 15% of what's actually going on. hyunjin throws a fit about coffee on his sweater ages ago, but yes he's always a "drama queen" and only a "drama queen." minho makes some sarcastic remarks and jokingly threatens his members while playing with them? while at the same time being so very soft and loving in his own ways and all the members feel safe with him? but yes, he's always "mean" and "cold." make it make sense :(

ok first off anon i'm sorry bc i meant to reply to this earlier but right as i was about to publish it the entire page went white and i lost my entire response so i just. stepped away from my laptop to enjoy my evening JLDKSGJLDSKLDKS BUT YKNOW WHAT. LETS GET INTO IT!!!!!!!!

ok first off. THOSE PICS WERE SO CUTE???????? that makes me so ?????? like are we looking at the same post. anyways i'm not saying certain fans are better than others but i will say i think twt stays in general are muuuuuuch more toxic and just......mean in general. also i will never forget the EMBARRASSING shit they pulled around award season of faking being new stays and asking people here on anon questions in an attempt to try and trick us into voting for like. the mamas bc "we weren't doing enough" and they then proceeded to send hate to gif creators about how we'll "never be noticed for our work" whatever the hell that means LMAO like whatever opinions they have a v invalid to me after that JLKDSGJDSKLSK.

as far as yt content goes i was actually saying to @geniaparadox in a reply to my post about how i think a lot of those misconceptions begin with those "intro to skz" videos that essentially will boil down like. 2-3 traits to describe the boys. i know a lot of yt compilations in general just....sort of further that agenda as well like. back last year my friends and i decided to do youtube video deep dives into our favorite groups and we shared them via discord calls (it was v fun) and i did skz and just......so many videos about the boys individually (which i wanted to put in to sort of show off their charms) are just....about one trait of theirs. for hyunjin its being dramatic. for minho it's being "mean" or "savage". and so on and so forth. and it's so hard to get a sense of their ACTUAL charms when that's the main content (and if i'm being v honest a lot of it is not even funny enough lmao i struggled SO HARD to find stuff that was representative AND entertaining and funny for each of them, which btw i find stayblr is actually best at finding their charm points and putting them into gifs series).

while i think all of the boys have this weird one or two traits put upon them, it's done to minho and hyunjin the most similarly, and to one of the worst degrees (besides chan, which is. my god an entirely different conversation i could have about how WEIRD he's viewed by SUCH a large bit of the fanbase but that's for another post lmao). the problem really boils down to these people only seeing them almost as these little projections, they pick a couple traits like they're fictional characters and run with it. it's the same reason people say the cringiest shit to them in video calls (despite winning one myself i cringe at watching most, i avoid them at all costs unless they're actually worth it and funny LMAO), the same reason people will sit and use christopher as a therapist during chan's room: they don't see them as people. a lot of k-pop realistically IS about the fantasy, which i get! it's v fun to indulge in that actually, i have fun too! but at the end of the day i'm here bc i enjoy them not only as artists and musicians, but as people and entertainers. i don't know them personally, obviously, but from the bits they've shown us, i love that. i think they have good hearts and mean well, and i want them to succeed. they're v much people who have made mistakes and struggle and to me, that's part of the package. i wouldn't ever want to see them as untouchable or perfect because...they're not. they're 8 guys who while v talented and v sweet and imo love each other and the people that love them very much, are just. guys following their dreams. again, to me that's their appeal! but for some people it isn't and...well, lmao.

which on a note, bc @seungknow mentioned it, the whole "meanhoe" thing honestly and truly gets me going bc i truly find it so odd that it gained so much popularity when it's...not a v nice nickname to begin with lmao? like.........v genuinely i would love someone who thinks that's v funny to sit down and explain what the funny bit is. it's such a strange thing to say about a member of a group you claim to love lmao????

i guess at the end of the day a lot of this does boil down to age (a lot of stays are younger, which is fine! most will prob grow out of it tbh) and an influx of new fans (obv they've exploded in popularity, which is both good and bad), but i simply think if you're a grown adult viewing these men like this, and you've been around for enough time to have seen past those "jokes" in their content (obv casual fans aren't counted here, i'm talking people who watch videos/most content, keep up stuff outside of music, etc) but still continue to do so, do you actually like them, or do you just like using them for whatever little fantasy u have conjured up about them?

that all being said i hope this is a nice little space for u anon!!!!!! we only love and appreciate the boys here on followmylane dot tumblr dot com!!!!!!! especially minho!!!!!!!!! sorry to ramble like this i simply have a lot of Thoughts LMAO i hope u enjoy your day/night!!!!!!!!

#asks #anonymous #unable to shut the fuck up disease strikes again......truly #LMAO #anyways. this got long. i also hope it makes sense??#this comes across v bitter i think this is the meanest i've ever sounded here LMAO I JUST HAVE SOME COMPLAINTS!!!!#anyways

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soliverse · 4 years

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SAY YOU LOVE ME - PART 4

rockstar!taeyongxjournalist!reader

genre: angst, suggestive, romance

warnings: mentions of emotional abuse and manipulation, panic attacks, stalker behavior, and cussing

1 ⭒ 2 ⭒ 3 ⭒ 4 ⭒ 5 ⭒ finale pt 1

Length: 3k

ps: if you are not comfortable with that sort of stuff, I will insert a warning within the story so you can skip it.

Also: the story is fictional and is no way related to NCT and its brand, especially Yuta. These are all a part of my imagination and I felt like it was needed to push the story further. Again, happy reading! - Ellie

The boys of 1:27 made a detour on a small BBQ shop on their way home to celebrate their successful performance for that night. Charlie promised them that she’ll pay for dinner and so they are stopped at the BBQ shack that they passed by on their way home. Everyone excitedly stepped out from the minivan with their arms around each other.

At this time of the night, they were the only ones inside the place. They took it as a go signal to be loud and did as they please. On a respectable manner, of course.

On one side, Johnny was filming a vlog with Mark and Doyoung. They talked about how they had fun at the performance and they wished that they can do more stuff like that in the future. Meanwhile, Taeyong helped Charlie decide what and how much to order.

The pair came out alongside the staff to help them in carrying their massive order. They brought out about five trays of barbeque and side dishes which almost didn’t fit the small rectangular table that they have. They thank the staff for their troubles and started gobbling marinated meat right away.

The staff then came out with another tray. This time, it was filled by glasses containing amber-tinted liquid.

The boys cheered as Charlie went around the table and gave each one a glass. Mark was the first one that was handed the drink and so he took a sip right away. He then started laughing uncontrollably as he takes a sip once again from the glass.

“Dude, it’s apple juice.”

Charlie went back to her seat smiling smugly.

“Of course, it’s apple juice. I’m not going to baby your drunk asses off when we get home.”

The table went quiet, filling the room with sounds of chewing and utensils clanking over plates. Doyoung tried to lighten the mood up and started sharing stories about the miniconcert that they were invited in. They also got along well with the other performers and started taking pictures with them as well.

Charlie whipped out her phone and showed everybody pictures and videos that she captured while they are performing. They can all hear the cheers and screams coming from the videos. The loudest was definitely Charlie. Everyone was excitedly jumping up and down and singing their song with them. They got all hot and sweaty from the humid weather and moving around the stage. That didn’t stop them from interacting and hyping up the audience. She even argued that it made them even more appealing, especially to the young ladies watching. Some of them even tried to get the boys’ number but they all politely declined and just settled for selfies instead.

They also played games that night which resorted to Mark paying almost half the bill as they left. The guys thanked the owners for not kicking them out for being so noisy and promised that they’ll be back to eat there again. They hopped inside one by one and passed out as soon as their bodies touched the seats.

Taeyong stayed up for a bit and waited until everyone was asleep. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and leaned on the glass window, making a tired peace sign. He sent you the pic and typed a message right after.

Taeyong: We did well today. I’m almost home. Missed u.

His thumb hovered over the send button for a while. He cringed at the last sentence and erased it before sending it to you and popped in his eyemask and headphones to sleep.

///

“Any more questions about your assignments for this month?”

Everyone remained quiet and just shook their heads in response. The team meeting took longer than expected and it is already past lunch time. You were impatiently scribbling on the notes that you took earlier. A little trick that you do so you will look like you’re busy doing something productive. Your thoughts are now clouded by hunger and boredom and and you kept looking at the clock ticking. You are silently praying that no one will ask a question and extend the meeting any further.

“Okay then.”

The supervisor, an old guy in his early fifties, finally closes the presentation and started closing the tabs in his windows. He shut the laptop down and slammed it close.

“We’ll see each other again same time next month. Remember to stick to your deadlines.”

Finally.

The room rattled as everyone tries to pack up their stuff and get out as fast as they can. You stood up from your chair. You did a bunch of weird poses to stretch your aching body from sitting down too long as you waited for the crown to dissipate before walking away from the room.

You grabbed your handbag from beside you and dug through tons of your unorganized stuff before you were finally to fish your phone out to do a time check. Instead, you were met by tons of photos and videos sent by Charlie that morning. They were mostly pictures of them rehearsing and goofing around the area. A slight curved on your lips as saved all of them in your phone and made your way into the breakroom.

Things are going well for the past couple of weeks. You and Taeyong barely talked before the event because he was busy practicing but at least you can finally look him in the eyes. Greetings are also once again exchanged, you even sent him off on their way to the event. With that out of the way, you’re finally able to catch up on to your prior commitments and saved yourself from being fired that week.

You bolted to the breakroom because you can now hear your stomach complaining. You politely bowed at everyone inside and snaked your way through a bunch of your coworkers. Today’s hot topic was them complaining about how long the meeting was and that Mr. Supervisor purposely stretched the meeting out because he wanted to spite all of you. None of that mattered to you though. The croquette that you made last night for lunch was the only thing on your mind. Upon reaching the fridge of the tiny breakroom, you microwaved your lunch for a few seconds before to your cubicle to eat in peace.

You greeted the one sitting beside you before you took a seat. The stacks of folders and papers were set aside to make way for your lunch bag. You carefully took the contents and dived right in to calm down your growling stomach. At the same time, you decided to pop in an earphone and listened to some of 1:27 recordings while eating. A ding! interrupted the music so you absent-mindedly opened the messages without seeing who it’s from.

Abby: Hey boo.

The text intrigued you. She wasn’t the type to text someone unless it’s an emergency.

You: Oh hey. What’s up?”

Abby: Don’t freak out, okay?

Abby: I think I saw Yuta in the mall today.

You felt a lump on your throat, and it wasn’t your lunch. You felt as if someone threw a bucket of iced water at you. You’ve set your lunch down and immediately pressed reply.

You: You sure it’s him?

You: Guy might be visiting his sis. I’m sure it’s nothing.

Abby: You sure?

Abby: Would you like to stay at our place for a while? I’m sure big bro wouldn’t mind.

As much as you wanted to stay over at anyone’s house for tonight, the Li household wasn’t the best option either. The last time you slept over, he glared at you whenever you tried moving anything in the house by a small fraction.

This might be an overstatement but the only thing scarier than Yuta is judgmental Li Yongqin.

You: Yeah, it’s probably nothing. Don’t worry about me.

Abby: Just in case something happens, you have my number okay? Be safe.

You dropped your phone at your desk and you felt your body getting colder and your breaths getting shorter once again. Eating lunch didn’t feel right anymore so you placed the lid back on and slipped it back, exchanging it with the water bottle. You drank half of its content and took deep, long breathes to slow down your racing heart for a bit. You dizzily bobbed your head down and rested your head on your folded arms. People asked if you were okay but you just smiled weakly and insisted that you’ll just sit the day out until office hours was over

As the day ended, Abigail Li picked you up from work that day. She insisted that if you’re not staying over at their house, the least thing that she can do was to make sure that you get home safely.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to stay over? I’ll lock Yongqin in my closet upstairs if it makes you feel any better.” Abby knew what her brother did last time and she made Ten apologize for the glaring at her. He did some half-hearted apology before glaring one last time and shutting himself back to his room.

“Relax. I’ll be fine. It’s been years since we’ve last seen each other. He probably moved on already.”

A sigh left her mouth.

“Fine. Don’t forget to lock everything when you sleep, aight?”

///

The first thing you did as soon as you got home was to lock everything just like what Abby said. You said that you’ll be fine to assure Abby, but you know you couldn’t be too sure about Yuta. First thing you did was grab a few chips and a can of cat food for Felice. The bedroom was the most secure part of the house so you decided that the best thing to do was to camp in there until the morning comes.

You held Felice close and stroke her soft fur to calm yourself down. She had become your most loyal companion on your path to recovery when you shut yourself from everyone else. She snuggles into your chest and purred lightly, probably sensing your uneasiness.

You used all your willpower to sleep that night but your mind was restless. Even after you stuffed yourself full, drank room temperature milk and fiddled on some fancam videos, you just couldn’t your mind off of Nakamoto Yuta.

The last time that you saw him was when you were crying nonstop at the police station as Abby and Sophie held you in.

Everything played out in your head like a film in cinema.

Na Yuta.

Awesome performer.

Awful person.

(This part may be a trigger to some readers so if you wouldn’t be comfortable reading this, skip to the next ///)

Everyone knew that he’s a player. That’s the first thing that he told you when you met him. It made him look dangerous, something you just need in order to spice out your cookie cutter life. Your parents just went into divorce and your life was going downhill.

He’s just a perfect distraction.

It went well at first, you became his muse. He’d shower you with love and gifts. He made you feel things that you never felt before. That didn’t last very long though.

Not even a year later, fights became a common occurrence. You finally understood how someone can love and hate a person at the same time. As soon as you realized the kind of guy that he is, you couldn’t get out. You made excuses after excuses and still waited for the time that he will change.

He’d go on tours and you would hear stories about him being seen with other women. Plural. Witnesses gave you a different description at every story that you believed it was ridiculous. It’s probably a colleague. Or it was fan and hew was just doing a bit of fanservice. That’s what you believed because that’s what he’d tell you every time you would confront him about it.

At the few times that you did caught him, he’d lie blatantly as if he didn’t just get caught. You couldn’t also count the times that he’d turn the table around and find some guy to link you with. It tricked you into believing that it was your fault that he did it. That he regrets being with you.

You couldn’t also fathom that you cried yourself to sleep because of him. He wouldn’t respond at parties and it would take him days before responding. He made you feel that you are never good enough for him, damaging your self-esteem and confidence in the process. And then he would go full circle and be over the top with surprises and gifts. He starts to go all soft on you and made you weak against his touch and kisses. It’s reminder that only him can make you feel that good, even if he’s also the one who caused you pain.

You also turned your back against everyone. Nobody could contact you for months. It was mostly you, trying to keep your ego intact. You can already hear them mocking you and will remind you that they told you so. He also convinced you that nobody else will love you like he did. The absence of your friends and family made you lonely. It was like they didn’t even miss your presence. And so you clung unto him more.

But everyone has their breaking point. At that point, you’re numbed out. You didn’t even cry as you saw him bringing someone into your own home. It was the wakeup call that you needed to get away from him. You finally realized that you didn’t deserve to be treated like trash and broke things off with him right then and there.

He didn’t like that one bit. He saw you as his possession and no one can take you away from him easily. Yuta started following you around wherever you’ll go and asked you to talk things out with him. He’ll pop in at your office, at the club where you would drink your troubles away, or at any possible location where he knows that you would see him. He was switching back and forth from begging and reminding you the memories you both had into going full psycho and texting you that you’ll regret ever leaving him.

It made you so paranoid that you just flat out refused to go outside at the fear of meeting him. The girls wanted to do something about your condition, and decided that the best thing to get your mind off of things was to surprise you on your birthday.

They brought your favorite food with them and decorated the party with your favorite colors. It was unexpected and you even apologized to everyone for causing them trouble. The night made happy that night and finally be able to smile for the first time in months. All was going well until everyone decided to go outside and take a group photo. Yuta popped out of nowhere and started dragging you away. You were crying and begging him to let you go but he insisted that he needs to talk to you and it wouldn’t take a while.

All hell broke loose. The guys rushed outside to intervene. Sophie’s then boyfriend (now husband), was a big, strong man and was able to grab him by the collar and beat the living crap out of him right in front of you. The sudden violence made you cry harder than earlier. There was nothing that you can do besides watch as everything go down. Both the police and the paramedics came right after and disturbed the whole neighborhood.

That day was still, hands-down, the most awful day of your life. The memory was so horrifying that your birthday is doomed for life. Nobody ever tried to do something for your birthday again, as per your wishes.

You strike yourself as lucky that you don’t have to go to a psychiatrist or drink meds anymore to sleep. Flashbacks make you shake a little bit, but at least that’s manageable. You cannot say the same thing about meeting Yuta once again.

///

“Here’s your stop. I’m sorry I couldn’t drop you off by Y/N’s apartment. The street was small and it would be difficult to turn the van around.”

“It’s totally fine. Walking won’t hurt me.”

Taeyong grabbed his duffel bag and his guitar from the backseat and steps outside the vehicle. He waved at them goodbye before the van went back to the road. He adjusted the straps of his guitar case and duffel bag so he can carry them both comfortably as he begins to walk towards your place.

It was eerily quiet at that time and something just didn’t feel right. He tried to shake the feeling off and increasing his walking pace. It didn’t take long before he can see the building from a distance.

He didn’t know if he was just imagining things but he could’ve sworn that he saw a dark figure lurking in the darkness surrounding your apartment. He muttered a series of curses made a run for it.

///

Your thoughts were interrupted when you thought you heard footsteps coming from outside your house. You were jolted awake and started going into panic. Your heart pounded so much that you can hear it ringing through your ears. You forced yourself to not mind the sound and convinced yourself that you’re just imagining it.

You felt your heart drop as you heard the front door opening and swung slowly. You can definitely hear footsteps just right outside your door. That’s impossible. You locked every single entrance that night. Mind is getting a bit hazy at this point from hyperventilating. Despite this, you grabbed anything that you can get your hands on and decided to face the intruder head on.

You opened your bedroom door just started wielding the thing you are holding at whoever it is that’s outside. You heard a loud thud at the ground and a guy squirming in place.

“Oh shit.”

You quickly realized who it is and threw the blunt object away, now realizing that it’s a tripod. You kneeled down right in front of him and started panicking again. This time, it’s for a whole other reason.

“Oh my god, Taeyong. Are you okay?”

---

#nct au #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct 127 #nct u x reader #nct taeyong #nct fic #lee taeyong #taeyong imagines #taeyong scenarios #rockstar au #journalist au #yuta nakamoto #johnny suh #mark lee #kim doyoung #nctcreations

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katieamazeballs · 5 years

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DWTS Live Tour Recap 2020

Whew....this day has been a doozy between lack of sleep and a weird ass day at work. This years tour was a vastly different experience than in the past because Mother Nature is a raging beeotch.... but it was still so amazing! Details below the break to save y’alls timelines some grief.

We started off our day at work and school. I had known, and bitched extensively, about the 100% rain outlook but it was pretty sunny all day. I picked Abs up at early release and I swear to you...the second the car door shut, the sprinkles started. Because of course it did. We got ready and went for some lunner only to be caught in INSANE traffic. Fun fact, Floridians can’t drive in the rain and there was a fatal accident on a major bridge that shut it down and made traffic a nightmare. No biggie though, because it was nasty out and we knew they weren’t just going to be wandering downtown so we were in no rush. We got downtown about 4 and we started wandering.

(Gratuitous bus pic)

We stopped and chatted with the nicest security lady who, bless her heart, was sitting there between the buses huddled under a golf umbrella. She said she hadn’t seen anyone in quite a while (probably because they were inside teaching the show to Keo) but that if we had been there at 7am they were all outside chillin and going to work out and such. We did a lap then stood under the awning at the front of the arena for a bit.

(Why is she so weird?)

During our laps we saw Keo (who was limping something fierce...like I wasn’t sure he was going to make it up the steps to the arena limp...looked like he pulled a hammy) but due to the sprinkling and the running buses he either didn’t hear us or pretended to not hear us. We also saw Val, possibly Jenna (hood was pulled over her to her eyes), Daniella, and Wit. Everyone but Wit was doing the mad dash into the arena from the buses. Wit was in full hair and makeup and talked to Abs for a second as she was entering her bus...Abs didn’t ask for a picture because Wit clearly wanted to get into the dry and not mess herself up. We did a couple more laps then standing under the awning loops then met up with @loveisstatic.

(Poor sweetheart bore witness to Savage being savage most of the night.)

We decided to take a lap but didn’t see anything....sigh. After a pretty epic battle over the fact that Haley said she also “liked” Alan....as in, he’s a good dancer, which “someone” took as “Imma steal your man”.

We went in the arena and went to the merch table where Abs refused a tour tshirt because Hannah was on it...lol. I was trying to get a cute pic of Abs and her 10 paddle....but home girl was trying to make sure she wasn’t standing next to Hannah ffs....

Then we went to get drinks (ha for Haley) and were very quickly let in to our seats. Haley was actually only a couple rows in front of us, so we were able to chat before the show and during intermission. The show is, of course, absolutely amazing! It has a cute “theme” of driving the bus on tour and the voice overs were cracking me up. After the Magic Mike number, Jen talks to the lady rubbing up on Val. The poor lady clearly either has zero idea who the two of them are or has lost her senses due to all the testosterone filled sweat on her person. Jen “You know, I recently got married” Lady “Oh, congratulations!!!” Jen “Yeah, that man you were just grinding and rubbing and smacking on....that’s my husband” Lady “OMG!” Jen “Yeah, his name is Val. I’ll let it slide this time (then whatever the script is)”. The lady was so embarrassed. It was funny. There was the absolute cutest little girl in the front row that Val came out and talked to. She’s on the DWTS Tour story. That section of the show was pretty awesome, actually. I loved his speech about breaking the tv barrier and coming to do shows live to all of us who were gracious enough to invite them into our homes every Monday night. Abs fave dance was Daddy Shark (I’ll steal her video and post it later....we can’t have enough reposts of that gem) and anything that had Alan and mine was the entire Hero section at the end where they’re wearing white (for the dancing) and Dream On (for the music). Actually, the dance where they’re passing the key to the tour around was pretty awesome, too. Then, it comes to intermission and Abs starts bitching about being hungry. I told her sorry (she’s not a popcorn or nut fan and that’s all they really had) and she starts made some wildly and embarrassing comments about want candy...Alan’s candy complete with eyebrow waggles and cackling. I think that it was at that point that our new friend decided that kid is a hot damn mess. Jenna’s swan dive is absolutely amazing in person....mostly for the reaction it causes. I, of course, knew it was coming but the lady next to me literally slap/grabbed her husband and whisper yelled “OH SHIT!”. After the show, the adults in the group had to pee. The teenager in the group just bitched that we were going to make her late to the buses. (This is a very important fun fact for later.) They have some weird ass security dude on tour this year who had some rule where the crowd standing (couldn’t have been more than 20 of us) had to scrunch into the space of 2 of those metal fence things as opposed to the other 57000 of them lining the buses. Every 5 min or so, he’d waltz out and yell at us to “get on this side of the line. No one can be between the buses”...except none of us moved after the first few times. He was intense and a good time fun ruiner. Kept trying to tell us that the police were going to see us standing at his one of his non approved fences (the same ones we’ve stood at for 2 other tours) and “shut the whole thing down”. Sure, Stan. Evenutally, he stopped fussing and Kate came out.

She is a gem, honestly. Super sweet and funny as hell. Love me some her. After Kate went in, it was cold and SOMEONE in our group had to pee (remember that fun fact....ha). Val came out and got into the runner van and scooted off to the airport. There was much discussion of how we knew it was him and how we knew where he was going. Sasha came out and we talked to him and got pics.

(Not all his selfies are hysterical gems that will be reused for all of eternity)

I gave him all my notes and Glebs drugs because we thought we were going to have to leave. He said he’d pass them out for me. We were deciding to leave when Emma popped out of the bus all “Which one of you gave the Benadryl to Gleb? That was bloody brilliant!”.

We took pics with her and decided to stick around for a bit more because Abs needed wanted to see Alan. Thankfully, he came out shortly after and turned on the front camera flash I didn’t even know I had.

(He also has very long arms for a good selfie angle)

After Alan came Wit and Daniella and thankfully that was it.

The grumpy security dude told us all to leave and I think everyone was ready. We were stacked like 6 people deep having to shove up to the front for pics as the pros were like “WTF is wrong with these weirdos in Jacksonville and why aren’t they standing over at all these other perfectly decent fences”. Like, they’d move over to the fence to the left to take pics and we’d all be like “NO! We aren’t allowed!”. It was cold and it was a week night and everyone was pretty much over the foolishness at that point. What was cool about the night was I got to not only meet up with a fun tumblr friend, but there were a few of us at the buses that have started recognizing each other from other tours. The girl Brandon pulled on stage recognized Abs and me and then I recognized a dude we’ve seen each year. Funny story, the girl (who is a huge Derek stan) and I were talking about how pretty Gleb is (after the Benadryl thing) and she was talking about Brandon and having to touch his butt on stage. She’s all “I mean, it’s a nice butt, but he’s just too cute to rub up on”. She’s not wrong, he is just the cutest thing in person....just not in a sexy Daddy Shark type way. Anyways, another tour down. Plans to see MVPJ with a new friend and bus stalk at the “next tour” with the other bus stalkers. Can’t wait till next time!

#dwts live tour

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olympianpandback · 3 years

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May 22

We left our campground about 10 o'clock and headed toward Sequim, a small town between there and Port Townsend where we will go whale watching and take a ferry across the sound to Coupeville, Washington. It was a nice leisurely drive and the we found our campground easily at the Marina. Our front yard is Puget Sound. We took a walk downtown to check out a restaurant for some seafood and to check the location of the ferry for Monday morning. We saw signs for farmers market and bought two frozen crab cakes to have in a couple of days with good Aiola sauce and with some salad. The guys at the ferry dock were very friendly and helpful about where we could park our RV after a whale watching trip so we would not have to stay another night in another RV park. The receptionist at the whale watching to office said we could park the RV all day there at their parking area. That turned out to be only during the day not overnight.

We decided to walk and town and have some fresh seafood. The receptionist at the RV park suggested we try a new restaurant called Salty Girls. They have a restaurant in the nearby town about 25miles away and it has a good reputation. They have a list of Local draft beers that changes daily. We opted for the honey blonde and the clams and mussels appetizer with sourdough bread. We got the last batch of muscles, made in wine sauce with onions and garlic. They were wonderful and the people were very helpful and pleasant. We weren’t quite full so we had some prawns with cocktail sauce, also very good. The chef even showed Elizabeth a recipe he uses for the cocktail sauce which had rice wine vinegar which she doesn't use in her cocktail sauce but it was very good. We have a small issue with our next door neighbor who connected his sewer drain to our sewer connection. I said it to him as we were leaving for dinner that that was our connection. He said just disconnect it and dump your tank tomorrow before you leave. That's not a real solution because I am not going to touch his equipment and if I had it off while I drain my tanks, he could pollute the ground if he flushed his commode. I decided to talk to the camp managers in the morning and they said he was not right. They would look into it. I think. I figure the next person that pulls in will want to connect their sewer directly to the drain and that will be a problem. We only connect when we're dumping our tanks and I ask them to talk to him after we left. I told them I normally would have taken him up on that offer and ripped it out of the connection and left it lying on the ground but I have mellowed as I got older. They were glad that I came to talk to them first. They told us where we could go down and empty spot they leave open for “dry” campers to dump their tanks on our way out. I’d like to be there when and if they tell him to move his RV and set it up properly if they do.

May 23

What just took our time on the 23rd looking around town and finding a parking place for the whale watching trip. It was a nice boat and they socially distanced everyone. We could take your mask off when we got on board because we had been vaccinated. We first found 2 pods of orca whales and followed them for about a ½ hour or so then the captain went looking for a gray whale that had been spotted farther out by another member of the team. We settled in for a long ride out toward the ocean in the Puget Sound. We saw some blows I was able to go out on the front deck to see the whales. I got some good shots but it's very hard to get everything perfectly right as the whale is surfacing and then diving. The we went to find a humpback whale. We found one and I got a decent shot for the situation. It was a fun experience, but very cold and windy when you're on the foredeck. We couldn't stand there unless we were driving slowly but that was OK. We found a 24-hour parking spot near a library downtown and dropped anchor for the night. We wanted to test our new batteries and they worked very well. I went out to put something in the back storage and saw couple in a gravel parking lot behind us. I said I didn't know that was a 24 hour parking spot and they asked me if that was our Van. They were travelling from northern Minnesota. We chatted for a little bit, duh! And I asked them to come over for a glass of wine after they finish their grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. One of our favorite meals which we don't meet very often anymore. Anna and Roman came over later. We had a very nice conversation and his grandfather has a Leisure Travel Van. They both just graduated from college and were taken 2 and a 1/2 week trip before they decided what they were going to do later. Roman has a degree in early elementary school K – 8. Anna majored in psychology and thinks she would like to be a middle school counsellor. They were very intelligent and grounded. We told him that Tulsa is offering some pretty good bonuses for young people to come and live for a year. We feel that they will do very well no matter where they go with their positive outlook and a warm friendly demeanor. It’s a pleasure to meet young people who have a “clue”. We guess there’s hope for the world after all.

May 24

We had and an uneventful night in the parking lot and got up early to get ready for the ferry. we drove down an hour and a 1/2 early to scope out the area. The attendant at the ticket booth let us come in and park as the 1st vehicle in lane one. We will head to the Langley gate of the naval base on Whitby island to get checked in for our campground tonight. Everything went well at the campground. It’s the nicest one so far and we were able to get some laundry done on the “cheap” because military RV parks aren’t trying to make a profit. When we checked in at ID visitor’s center, the lady asked if we wanted a yearlong pass and I said yes, you never know when we’ll be back. Now we have two more “compliant” ID cards good for one year, whether we come back here or not!

May 25, 2021

Hitting the road now. Just wanted to get something up before we head to Winthrop to visit some friends we met in Hite, Utah that I fixed the faucet for in their RV. I’ll upload some cool videos later when I have time and more bandwidth. Ciao

Scroll down to see some cool pics of whales, etc.

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wineanddinosaur · 5 years

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VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing

In the era of social distancing, many drinkers are leaning into technology to stay connected with friends and loved ones. From virtual happy hours to online wine classes, and teleconferenced game nights to an Instagram Live nightclub, we’re finding new ways to socialize over a glass (or two) with our social circles even when we can’t be in the same place.

That’s the topic for today’s VinePair podcast, where Adam, Erica, and Zach discuss their own experiences with these and other methods of staying in touch in the time of Covid-19, as well as offering a few suggestions for how to liven up your own simulated soirees.

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LISTEN ONLINE OR CHECK OUT OUR CONVERSATION HERE:

Adam: From my apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From my apartment in Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in my house in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair podcast — and guys, before we kick off today’s topic, which I’m pretty pumped to talk about ‘cause I think we all have some experience of social drinking in times of [coronavirus] now – online basically, the podcast [Covid-19 Conversations] that we’re dropping basically as often as possible. At least three coming out this week. If you’re just listening to the podcast today you hopefully heard yesterday’s really interesting interview with Esther Mobley of the San Francisco Chronicle. That was a super-fascinating interview, Zach.

Z: Thank you.

A: I really enjoyed that. And then coming up this week there’s gonna be two more people we’re talking to, Raj Parr and then Paul Mabray. So we’re focusing a little bit more on the West Coast this week, but we’re gonna hit up some people next week. I’ve already got on deck a conversation with the team behind the really successful wine bar in New York City – Ruffian. They also own the restaurant Kindred, and they also have just recently opened a dive bar where they’re doing really cool dive bar-esque foods [and] with them really crazy wines and stuff. So like, trying to figure out what’s happening to them, what they’re thinking now as a business that was clearly really growing pretty quickly right before corona and now how they’re sort of scaling back and what that means and how it’s affecting their employees and stuff like that. So we got a lot of that stuff coming in the future, if there’s anyone else you think we should talk to, please drop us a line at [email protected], as always. A bunch of you have been emailing in recently to tell us you really appreciate the additional episodes – things to listen to, please let us know any of your thoughts, right? If you have anything that sort of is moving you, that is affecting you during this time, you want us to talk about it, please again email us at [email protected]. You know and let’s all get through this whole thing together. Isn’t that right, guys?

E: Absolutely!

Z: Oh, for sure.

A: And then one other thing we gotta mention before we get too deep in this podcast which is, Erica you’re probably gonna remember better than me, but our marketing team is going to be featuring what people are drinking basically, on our social media channels over the next few weeks. So as loyal listeners to the podcast we’d love for you to snap a pic of yourself drinking whatever you are drinking in these corona times either send it to us at [email protected] – probably easiest, or you can tag your photo @vinepair if you wanna post it on Instagram first, and we’re gonna try to share as many of those over the coming weeks. Just to…again show we’re all in this together, so if you got a great wine that you discovered that you wanna shout out to, if you’ve got a cocktail you’ve been making, even better if you’ve got a cocktail you’ve been making and you wanna not only send it to us but share the recipe for that cocktail, we’d love to share that on Instagram stories as well. So just whatever you are all up to we’d love to see what you’re doing. So, guys how are you doing?

E: Zach you first.

Z: Oh me first, OK. You know, doing OK. It’s um…I’ll save the complaining for…never, ‘cause all of us are in the same boat. I will say that the thing that’s been really interesting to me on a drink-specific thing in this period of time is, and I think Adam you can probably talk about this ‘cause I just happened to notice on Instagram that you guys are getting into the rosé tasting, and I found myself really missing rosé. It’s been nicer in Seattle than I think it has been in New York and I was like just… we’re getting to the point in the year when I would have been buying rosé normally. But I don’t have very much of it, I don’t keep a lot around the house over the winter and I was like, man… you know the last couple of days it has been nice out and it’s just like the 184-thousandth thing on my list of things that I miss, but I was like, “man I really wish I could just like go to the store, get a nice cold bottle of like 2019 rosé, something super fresh,” and I guess I technically still could but, the sort of unadulterated pleasure that I’ve taken in that time and those first few rosés of the year, I’m unfortunately not able to get. But some very thoughtful friends of mine in the wine industry have sent me a few…[they] have told me they have some bottles in the mail for me, so I will keep an eye out for that. And maybe I’ll post it on Instagram and tag VinePair and you all can see what rosé I’m drinking.

A: That would be dope, you know…I feel that, I feel that. What about you Erica, how are you doing?

E: Yeah, I mean I’m doing all right. But hey, I gotta say living in the New York area in a tiny apartment when you’re cooped inside with two kids and a husband in what, about 800 square feet or so, is no treat. So I know that there’s a lot of listeners around the country who are probably in very similar circumstances and just know that we’re with you. It is a really sucky time for everyone and I think you know one of the things we can do is just look for small projects that are going to help us take our mind off of this self-isolation that we are experiencing. Later in the week on Vinepair.com we’ll be posting some cocktail projects that you can do over the weekend that are simple hacks and tips and tricks to make your afternoon cocktails a little bit more fun and in-depth. So everything from oleo-saccharum to…we’ll probably be talking about how to make bitters, a couple other things. We were just brainstorming this morning. So I think anything that you can do for a little bit of an escape is the thing to get on your calendar. As we discussed before, one of the hardest things to do for a lot of people working from home is just turning off and feeling that you can actually have that escape and that you don’t need to be in front of your computer all the time. So we’ll be coming up with some tips for that.

A: I dig, I dig. I’m gonna share my bathtub gin recipe, get ready. So, what we wanna talk about today is this sort of phenomenon that’s popped up over the last week, which has been pretty insane. Which is, there’s a wide variety of things we all sort of have had experience doing one or two of them. But that’s, first of all we all live in Zoom now. Which is crazy. But you’ve had either cocktail, wine, beer classes pop up. So people in the industry who are going onto Instagram live or asking people to join their Zoom and teaching classes. I know Zach you’re doing something sort of like that with wines you’re picking and talking about.

Z: Mmm-hmm

A: And then having people go back and forth with you, which is cool. We also have the phenomenon of Zoom happy hours. So people all getting together… I’ve mostly seen these happening either among really close friend groups or networking. I haven’t really seen them happening like sort of from a… I don’t know, just “hey, let’s all show up at this random place” kind of bar setting, if you will. I do know people who are going on dates on Zoom, which is really interesting. We also had obviously the crazy party this weekend, run by DJ D-Nice where he had 100-thousand people on his Instagram live and he DJd a party for basically like five hours and people were literally sending him, via Drizly and Minibar, bottles, like you would normally send to a DJ in the DJ booth. But you know he had tons of celebs join the Instagram live. He had Michelle Obama join the Instagram live. And sort of like, just be there partaking. People were saying it was like the best club they’d ever been to, which was pretty crazy. And then you have people getting together for game nights and stuff like that. So I wanna talk about all that today, sort of as a way to find some sort of social outlet. ‘Cause I think you know obviously, being alone and drinking alone is fine, right? In these times. If you need to have a glass of wine at the end of the day, we totally hear you. But drinking together is a lot more fun. So ways that we can all have some sort of communal experience while we are all in this isolation as we are socially distancing is amazing. So Zach, what’s up man, how have these classes been, what made you decide you wanted to do it, what are you doing? Tell us!

Z: Well so for me I think the impotence was two-fold. One, a lot of my function in my restaurant job was wine education and it’s something I really love – and education around drinks in general. And I was missing it and I was trying to think about, “OK, well what can I do?” And it just sort of made sense to me to think about trying to take some of that and put it online. And to say you know… for me it was this question of, OK, what kind of format makes sense? And so to me, at least so far what’s made sense is to not do something like a happy hour or Zoom where it’s multiple people kind of video chatting. It’s more me live-streaming and then trying to take questions or comments from the people who are watching. And I think the hard part for me is, despite what you all might think, it’s actually a little bit weird to sit in front of my computer and just talk at it for half an hour. So, even though I’m used to teaching classes…

A: Really?

Z: I know, right? I think it’s not being able to see the looks of either interest or boredom, depending on the faces of the people I’m teaching. But so far, it’s been pretty cool. It was interesting, I started with a wine that I think [is] a great kind of entry point for a lot of this, which is Sparkling wine by Gruet, a producer in New Mexico, and I’d like to highlight this wine because I think it’s this great example of like the cool things that are happening in American wine, American sparkling wine. It’s made in New Mexico which, you know we don’t think of as a wine place outside of Gruet really. And also just like, everyone needs more encouragement to open bottles of sparkling wine. It’s really affordable, I think the bottle I opened was like $14 at the grocery store. So it’s not like someone picking up a bottle is gonna be a huge issue. And so what I tried to do in putting this idea together was to send out a list of bottles that people could theoretically find relatively easily in their grocery store or in another setting and could basically open along with me if they want, or if they find something similar and want to open it. And talk about it. Talk about what’s going on in the wine, a little bit about the producer, the place it’s from. Talk a little bit about foods that go with it and, yeah. You know again, just have content that is as much as possible, [acknowledging] the circumstance we’re all in but isn’t dwelling on it. Because I think one thing that we’re finding in all of this is that once you get past that initial period of like, “I am just dealing with the shock to my life and the system,” you kind of have to move into a phase where there are things that you do that you enjoy. Whether that’s happy hours with friends or a big 100-thousand-person Instagram dance club or classes. I’m hopeful that for the people who follow along with it, it’s a break a little bit from, not just the stress of work – if you’re still working, but also the stress of a very scary situation.

E: Yeah. Definitely. I mean for me, I think you know I was running one of these on Friday with some friends, one in San Francisco and one in Australia. So we had… for me it was actually happy hour time, 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., and for my friend in San Francisco it was afternoon, afternoon tea, and then for our friend in Australia it was a brunch cocktail thing. So I think one of the things we can do is just try to think of hey, kind of the time and space component of cocktail parties is changing so we can reach out to our far flung friends easier than ever before. And this is the time to do it. And maybe that feels like kind of a treat, you know? Reaching out and getting connected with your friends that you may not be in touch with all the time since, hey! We’re all virtual at this point. It’s sort of the small silver lining of this thing, everyone now is virtually connected anywhere in the world. So let’s use it and try to have a bit of fun with it. And another thing, it’s not just having fun. It’s also doing good. So one of the fun things I’ve seen is, Belinda Chang for example, who is a sommelier and event producer in Chicago, she is doing nightly happy hours and then did this fun party on Sunday that was “Boozy-brunch with Belinda” and there’s a guest at every one of these events who is a sommelier or bartender who’s been laid off from their job and they come on and talk about their recommendations and so forth. So at the Sunday brunch Belinda had 100 attendees and they raised $1,000 and this person essentially got a shift out of this boozy brunch. So I think those sorts of ways that we can come together and have an experience where we are also acknowledging and recognizing and helping out someone in the industry is another good way to use these.

A: Those are cool, yeah. I definitely think, I’ve enjoyed connecting with old friends on it. What I haven’t loved are these forced networking happy hours that I see, that have been popping up a lot. Like on Zoom, for example. Like those to me have felt really inauthentic, if it makes sense. I’d rather just connect with one of you guys over Facetime or… hey guys, I brought back Houseparty. Houseparty is the best app ever right now. If you’re unfamiliar with it, you just download it, your friends can all have a house party, you can crash someone’s House party, it’s really fun. I’m really into those. A lot of these though, it feels like almost immediately like we had this great idea and then these brands started doing them. And that I haven’t loved, personally. Like the ones by the brands have felt kind of forced and always not what you expect, right? Like you have this big brand, whether it’s a media company or an Adidas or whatever, doing some big happy hour, and there’s not as many people there as you think would be there and everyone’s kind of networking, you also don’t know everyone, those I haven’t dug; I felt like those were kind of weird. I think when they come from individual people they still feel super authentic, right? So coming from someone like Belinda is amazing, and when it goes to a good cause I’m much more willing to do it, right? So that’s what I also like, I think part of the reason that they felt kind of weird to me recently is like a lot of them feel forced and like just for the gain of that organization if it makes sense? They’re not going to any charities. It’s just like, “hey, come do this with us because we’re this really cool company, why don’t you meet and network and like get to know a bunch of other entrepreneurs or whatever” and that’s bothered me. It should be something like, “hey we’re gonna do this networking thing, by the way we’d like everyone to give $5 or $10 and we’re gonna use it to support a local restaurant or a local bar or just a local business in general.” And so I think like that’s what no one’s doing yet that I would like to see happen in the next week is more of those. Because if not, those feel like not the thing I’m willing to join, but the game nights I’m really into. The game nights have been super fun.

Z: Well I’m wondering you know, I think all three of us as people who are married might not be thinking about this, but you know one of the things that’s true is that bars in particular are…it’s changed obviously a lot in the land and world of online dating, but I’m wondering, are people using you know Zoom or whatever to go out? Not in a “connect with old friends” sense? And the real question I have is, have either of you seen anything about like, what I imagine some combo of an online happy hour plus chat roulette, where you get thrown in with random strangers who are looking to make a connection? I don’t know, someone out there should do that, if they’re not already.

A: I mean, I definitely have friends who are going on like dates on Zoom. Which I think is really funny and cute. And like they’ve been, “look, it’s a way to still meet people, and have like these one-on-one connections with them while you’re working from home,” which I think is awesome. But yeah, I don’t know if there’s… to me [there] isn’t an app yet that I’ve heard of, ‘cause you’re right, one of the cool things about going out is you can just randomly meet people. And I do understand that that’s why people are also pushing these networking sessions on Zoom. ‘Cause they’re like, “look, I used to go out to the bar and network to get clients or whatever, and now I’m not gonna be able to do that for the next few months.” But that feels a little bit weirder to me than what we already have, which is that people can match on Tinder, etc. and then just set up a Zoom call instead of a real dinner and at least get to know someone for the next 30 minutes to an hour. And the friends that I know that are doing it have said, at least this weekend were like, “oh, it was still fulfilling, I still felt like I got to meet someone, I’m moving my life forward,” right? As opposed to just saying like “Oh shit, there’s gonna be X number of weeks or months where I’m not gonna go out on dates and that’s not what I’m into right now.”

E: Yeah, I mean it’s…I think it’s gonna be tough especially for people who are living alone. I think we published… last Friday we published a story about tips for if you are gonna host some of these parties. Maybe now would be a good time to go into some of those. So, the first thing I think that we all recognize is, we’ve all been doing these virtual happy hours and so forth is, pick a software. So Zoom I think is the one that I’ve universally heard to have the best experience. Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, I’ve been on a couple of those and those have been skipping, so watch out for that.

A: Totally.

E: Yeah, and I think you know another thing is, choose a theme. Like at one of mine I was talking about doing riffs on a Martini. So there’s this Martini at a bar I love in Seattle called Canon….

A: Wait, wait. You did a happy hour?

E: Yeah, yeah!

A: And I didn’t get invited?

E: Next time, alright?

A: I didn’t know you did a happy hour! This is some bullshit Erica. So like now I’m learning about all this stuff like, I didn’t know Erica was doing happy hours! Zach did you get an invite?

Z: Uhh, I did not. Man this is like going back to college, like all the cool parties I didn’t get invited to.

A: I know…

E: Yeah, alright, well you know what? I’m going to do another Martini happy hour, I’m gonna commit to it here. And I think one fun way to use this….so for example, at Canon in Seattle. A bar that I love probably Zach loves….

Z: I do.

E: I was trying to do a riff on this Martini that they do: It’s kinda crazy, it’s called the Anning Martini. It’s a famous Martini where they do oyster-shell-infused gin, they do a mezcal rinse, so they have applewood smoked salt, it’s all this sort of crazy detail. But I actually was playing around with it this weekend and trying to make a home version of it. And I think getting people to get together, you know, to talk about the different riffs that they’re doing, if they’re working on their Martini, I think that’d be really fun. And then we can do a virtual tip jar for Canon, which can go through a platform like Go-tip-em or through Venmo. Maybe we can even get Jamie Boudreau, the owner of Canon, on with us to talk about that. I think something like that, choose a theme so that it feels like you know you have something to talk about other than this terrible circumstance that we’re all having to endure.

A: I think that’s… I mean, that’s an amazing idea. There are so many things like that that you can do, right?

Z: I think Adam, I think you and I need to have a battling bourbon vs rye Boulevardier happy hour.

E: Oh my God, I’m so in, don’t you dare do it without me.

A: We already know which one would win because there’s one that’s correct and there’s one that is not.

Z: Well there’s the question of whether correct or ‘tastes better’ is the more important function here.

E: Ooh….

A: Wooow Zach…

Z: Alright folks, the gauntlets are being thrown down. Well, I was gonna say Erica, to your point that you were making though, and I think this is a good one too. You know, one slight silver lining in all this is that for people who are interested in home cocktail creation in particular but other things too, you know we talked about just as a sort of throwaway on a previous episode: home-brewing and stuff like that, you know most of us are spending a lot more time at home than we normally do. We probably have more time at least in a…. maybe not in a given day, but we’re able to do these sort of longer-term projects. And so now is a great time to think about if you’re going to start doing some infusions, you’re gonna make tinctures or bitters, you’re gonna make oyster-shell gin, which now I have to try. We were just talking about, my wife and I were just talking about getting some oysters ‘cause that’s a thing we miss that we usually have out more than we have at home. But that’s a great… this is the time to plan ahead with some friends, maybe you all kinda commit to trying to make some of these infusions or batch cocktails or whatever, and then you can… you may not be able to taste each other’s and see who did the best job, but you can at least kinda share your experience. And again have some fun and connection and I think that’s really what we’re all trying to get to in this, is really to find some ways to keep those social connections alive even if we can’t be in physical presence with most of the people we care about.

A: Yeah man and you can up your game for later. You know, so like you perfect it now and you’re ready to go later. Or look, you can just get together with people and just play some games. So like there are people who are actually figuring out how to play beer pong on Zoom.

Z: Oh my God.

A: Which is pretty hilarious. Which you know… like, look man, if that’s the way you wanna get together on a Friday or Saturday night, I think that’s hilarious. We played code names this weekend, which was super fun. So we got a bunch of friends together and like one person built the board – for those of you who listen to the podcast who play code names – they built the board in their apartment and then everyone…like the people who were supposed to be the two giving the clues got send a picture to their phone of like what their clue card looked like. So you had like a game master, almost like dungeons and dragons, but not ‘cause I’ve never played dungeons and dragons, I just heard there’s a game master. And then basically like we played the game over Zoom for like two hours, it was hilarious, everyone was enjoying drinks, we sent ahead of time…I sent some people some recipes of cocktails that I like to make that I thought would be easy for them to make during the game. And then we just went from there, it was a really, really good time. So I think there’s a bunch of ways that you can keep connecting with people. There’s obviously online games too that you can play where you can also still be on Facetime or Zoom while you’re both playing a game. There’s actually a really great game on your iPhone called “Pandemic,” I know that no one wants to play that game…

Z: It’s also an excellent board game itself.

A: Yeah, it is an excellent board game, and it’s a collaborative game which is fun ‘cause you’re actually not trying to beat people you’re like actually working together to do it. So I’m playing that with our tastings director Keith and his wife Gina on Friday, this coming Friday. So we’ve figured out how to make that work ‘cause they love collaborative games and they’ve turned us on to it. But like I think there’s like a lot of ways for people to sort of come together and be creative and that’s I think what’s made it super fun to watch. It’s like I think there are some things that, as I was saying earlier, that for me have kind of missed the mark. But then others that have completely hit based on people’s creativity, like who would have known that someone would ever figure out how to play beer pong on Zoom.

Z: Yeah. I would have guessed you would need a robot.

A: And yet like people did… no, and people did man, it’s crazy! Like, one person set up their board at their house, the other person set up their board at their house and they were just super honest with each other. Which is just really crazy.

E: I love that. I think, OK, so I have an idea here on the fly. So for all the parents out there who are starting to set up virtual play dates for their kids, how about this? Candyland, sorry, all of those games where you have to move backwards? That’s when you drink. So the parents drink and then the kids just keep playing, you know?

Z: Ohh….

E: So maybe you can incorporate some level of a little bit of a happy hour experience to all those play dates that you’re getting invited to as well. I think my kids are on one with my husband right now.

Z: There you go.

A: I think that’s amazing.

Z: You might wanna make sure he’s not passed out.

E: Exactly.

A: That’s amazing, seriously!

Well guys, this has been another fun conversation in the time of the coronavirus. If you’ve been listening throughout the entire episode, please remember to first of all check out our [Covid-19 Conversations] that are dropping every day or so with people in the industry. As well as send us a pic of what you’re drinking to either [email protected] or to tagging us on Instagram with @VinePair so we can share in our stories, we would really love to see what you guys are all up to. And with that we will see everyone here again next week.

Z: Sounds great.

E: Take care.

The article VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/vinepair-podcast-social-drinking-in-a-world-of-social-distancing/

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johnboothus · 5 years

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VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

LISTEN ONLINE OR CHECK OUT OUR CONVERSATION HERE:

Adam: From my apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From my apartment in Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in my house in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Z: Thank you.

E: Absolutely!

Z: Oh, for sure.

E: Zach you first.

A: That would be dope, you know…I feel that, I feel that. What about you Erica, how are you doing?

Z: Mmm-hmm

A: Really?

A: Totally.

E: Yeah, and I think you know another thing is, choose a theme. Like at one of mine I was talking about doing riffs on a Martini. So there’s this Martini at a bar I love in Seattle called Canon….

A: Wait, wait. You did a happy hour?

E: Yeah, yeah!

A: And I didn’t get invited?

E: Next time, alright?

A: I didn’t know you did a happy hour! This is some bullshit Erica. So like now I’m learning about all this stuff like, I didn’t know Erica was doing happy hours! Zach did you get an invite?

Z: Uhh, I did not. Man this is like going back to college, like all the cool parties I didn’t get invited to.

A: I know…

Z: I do.

A: I think that’s… I mean, that’s an amazing idea. There are so many things like that that you can do, right?

Z: I think Adam, I think you and I need to have a battling bourbon vs rye Boulevardier happy hour.

E: Oh my God, I’m so in, don’t you dare do it without me.

A: We already know which one would win because there’s one that’s correct and there’s one that is not.

Z: Well there’s the question of whether correct or ‘tastes better’ is the more important function here.

E: Ooh….

A: Wooow Zach…

Z: Oh my God.

Z: It’s also an excellent board game itself.

Z: Yeah. I would have guessed you would need a robot.

Z: Ohh….

Z: There you go.

A: I think that’s amazing.

Z: You might wanna make sure he’s not passed out.

E: Exactly.

A: That’s amazing, seriously!

Z: Sounds great.

E: Take care.

The article VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/vinepair-podcast-social-drinking-in-a-world-of-social-distancing/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/vinepair-podcast-social-drinking-in-a-world-of-social-distancing

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sandar4 · 7 years

Text

Island Princess Cruise 5

March 15th – March 30th, 2017

San Francisco – 2 sea days, Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), 3 sea days, San Juan Del Sur (Nicaragua), Puntarenas (Costa Rica), 1 sea day, Panama Canal, Cartagena (Colombia), Oranjestad (Aruba), 2 sea days – Fort Lauderdale, Florida

When I think one cruise is amazing and it can’t get any better, it’s all lies. Another fantastic cruise with passionate and excitable passengers. A new cruise staff and new energy. Beautiful ports. Sea days full of enjoyable passengers and lots of partying. I love it.

We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge to start off the cruise. A beautiful day for it too. Mariana and I made sure to get some pics.

St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated on this cruise as well. DJ Gonzalo dressed up as a leprechaun mascot and I was his escort all night. We had the teen coordinator from Canada play fiddle and then celtic dance. And our Island Princess musician Siobhian from Ireland played some great Irish songs with the string quartet.

We got to Cabo San Lucas as our first port. Fellow cruise staff Greg, disembarked as he was transhipping to the Sapphire Princess in China as he speaks Mandarin. So we got a new cruise staff. Whom I worked with last contract. The lovely fellow Canadian Madi. I got off in port so I did not see her until the late afternoon when I got back on. I helped with tender boat operation in the morning. Giving tickets out for passengers to get off in an orderly fashion. When I finally got off I went and scored a beautiful activity. ‘Swimming with Dolphins’. There was a man-made enclosure with dolphins. I got a great discount being a crew member, as well as on the photos and videos at the end. I got to dive under the water with one of the dolphins. I held onto the dolphin and she dove under the water, did a small swim and brought me back up to the surface. What a remarkable day. Even had 2 pina coladas and quesadillas after. Mmm.

I taught a couple more classes of line dancing on the open deck when Greg left. I did Love Shack, Crocodile Rock, Copper Head Road, Country Girl (Shake it for me), Electric Slide, Wedding Singer and made up a new dance to Footloose. I love being able to make up line dances. I get to be creative and do steps I like and can do.

We went through the full Canal again as well. My team and I decided we wanted to take on organizing a lot of our departmental items. Makes us feel so much better. Including the library and all our storage lockers. We are also in charge of all the sports equipment. There is a lot in storage. We put new basketballs out every cruise etc.

I hosted cruise long trivia again. We had about 9 different days of quizzes. All different categories. I created them all myself. Flags of the World, Sports, History, Showbiz, the year 2016, numbers etc. I try to find lots of fun questions. The passengers enjoy it.

I also hosted arts n’ crafts again. I had many days to fill. I am an arts n’ crafts guru supposedly. I have taught myself many things. We also got messy making Mardi Gras masks. Lots of glitter. Lots of positive feedback from passengers. I have a lot of the same passengers come to my arts n’ crafts throughout each cruise. It is wonderful to build a rapport with them.

I also taught juggling. I got so many passengers wanting to join. I ran out of juggling balls. I am waiting for more to come in the mail. I ordered six more sets.

I was also able to get off in Nicaragua this cruise. I walked up a whole bunch of stairs and went to a resort with an infinity pool and enjoyed some beer. My friend played ukulele. There was a lot of crew. And a few passengers.

In Aruba I had activities in the morning then we docked in the afternoon. I joined another excursion with passengers. We got in a bus and headed to the tour dispatch area. We then jumped in to large jeeps. Driver in the front. And open air seats in the back. Each jeep fit about 8-10 passengers. I sat in the back of a jeep with 3 couples. They were so much fun. Well, I may have helped with that. We went around all afternoon off-roading. Bumpy and adrenalin pumping. We went to a natural bridge, a large rock formation, a lighthouse, a church and a beach, where the snorkeling was amazing. It was a beautiful day. Made great company with passengers. And would always make inside jokes with them in the hallway on the cruise ship.

The last night was the finale for the Voice of the Ocean and one more cruise staff game show called ‘Who’s the Cuckoo?” Where one cruise staff hosts and 4 others stand on stage each with a mic in hand. We do 4 rounds. Each round, each cruise staff says a statement. And then the passengers get to ask us questions about our statement. One of us is Iieing and the passengers have to figure who it is to win. We say some crazy stuff. But by the end of the cruise the passengers know us very well.

It is always a sad time to see them all disembark. But I know that there will be more fantastic passengers to come again.

#nevergrowup panamacanal princesscruises cruiseshiplife

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isaiahrippinus · 5 years

Text

VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Spotify

LISTEN ONLINE OR CHECK OUT OUR CONVERSATION HERE:

Adam: From my apartment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I’m Adam Teeter.

Erica: From my apartment in Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in my house in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

Z: Thank you.

E: Absolutely!

Z: Oh, for sure.

E: Zach you first.

A: That would be dope, you know…I feel that, I feel that. What about you Erica, how are you doing?

Z: Mmm-hmm

A: Really?

A: Totally.

E: Yeah, and I think you know another thing is, choose a theme. Like at one of mine I was talking about doing riffs on a Martini. So there’s this Martini at a bar I love in Seattle called Canon….

A: Wait, wait. You did a happy hour?

E: Yeah, yeah!

A: And I didn’t get invited?

E: Next time, alright?

A: I didn’t know you did a happy hour! This is some bullshit Erica. So like now I’m learning about all this stuff like, I didn’t know Erica was doing happy hours! Zach did you get an invite?

Z: Uhh, I did not. Man this is like going back to college, like all the cool parties I didn’t get invited to.

A: I know…

Z: I do.

A: I think that’s… I mean, that’s an amazing idea. There are so many things like that that you can do, right?

Z: I think Adam, I think you and I need to have a battling bourbon vs rye Boulevardier happy hour.

E: Oh my God, I’m so in, don’t you dare do it without me.

A: We already know which one would win because there’s one that’s correct and there’s one that is not.

Z: Well there’s the question of whether correct or ‘tastes better’ is the more important function here.

E: Ooh….

A: Wooow Zach…

Z: Oh my God.

Z: It’s also an excellent board game itself.

Z: Yeah. I would have guessed you would need a robot.

Z: Ohh….

Z: There you go.

A: I think that’s amazing.

Z: You might wanna make sure he’s not passed out.

E: Exactly.

A: That’s amazing, seriously!

Z: Sounds great.

E: Take care.

The article VinePair Podcast: Social Drinking in a World of Social Distancing appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/vinepair-podcast-social-drinking-in-a-world-of-social-distancing/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/613562771997671424

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dsrajawat · 5 years

Text

It doesn’t even seem that long ago that I reviewed the Realme 3 (review). A few months later, the Realme 5-series has debuted in India and this time both the regular and Pro variants have landed together. Leap to quad cameras is the tagline for the new phones, which is more interesting in the case of Realme 5 due to its price. Even if we leave aside the marquee feature for a second, the phone in its shell and substance does give a better first impression than the predecessor.

But, when you’re spending your hard-earned money, first impressions aren’t enough. Gladly, Realme 5 was at our disposal for the past few days and we have tested the device inside out. So, without any fluff, here is our no B.S. review of the Realme 5.

Realme 5 Price and Specifications

But before we delve into the main course, let’s have the entrée. In fact, we will do you one better. Here’s the Realme 5 vs Realme 3 specs for a first-hand comparison.

Model Realme 5 Realme 3 Display 6.5-inches, HD+, 89% screen ratio, Gorilla Glass 3+ 6.3-inches, HD+, 81.8% screen ratio, Gorilla Glass 3 Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 AIE MediaTek Helio P70 RAM 3/4GB 3/4GB Internal Storage 32/64/128GB (expandable up to 256GB) Dedicated Slot 32/64GB (expandable up to 256GB) Dedicated Slot Software Android 9.0 Pie-based Color OS 6.0 Android 9.0 Pie-based Color OS 6.0 Rear Camera 12MP (f/1.8) + 8MP (f/2.2) 119-degree ultrawide + 2MP (f/2.4) portrait + 2MP (f/2.4) macro (4cm focus) 13MP rear camera, f/1.8 aperture + 2MP depth sensor Front Camera 13MP 13MP selfie camera, f/2.0 aperture Dimensions and Weight

164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3mm

198g

156.1 x 75.6 x 8.3 mm

175g

Battery 5000mAh, 10W charger 4230mAh, 10W charger Others 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack Price in India

3GB + 32GB – Rs. 9,999

4GB + 64GB – Rs. 10,999

4GB + 128GB – Rs. 11,999

3GB + 32GB – Rs. 8,999

4GB + 64GB – Rs. 10,999

Realme 5 unboxing: what’s in the box

5V2A Adapter

Micro USB Cable

Important Info Booklet with Warranty Card

Quick Guide

SIM Card Tool

Screen Protect Film

Protection Case

ALSO READ: Realme 3i Review

Realme 5 Review: Design and Display

If you’re familiar with the Realme design choices, you would feel at home with the diamond cut design back. This time, the polycarbonate back has a glossy gradient finish and subtler pattern. The device is hefty and has a large footprint even if we consider the big battery inside. We recommend using a protective case to protect the glass-finish back from scratches and dents.

The 3D curved design confluences to a 6.5-inch HD+ display with a “mini drop” notch that delivers a large screen estate. Realme claims the V-cutout is 30% smaller and maybe it is. However, the same can’t be said about the thick chin at the bottom.

You could unlock the phone using Face Unlock or using the capacitive rounded scanner at the back. The latter is well within reach and quick to unlock.

Diving into the display settings, you can adjust the color temperature. If you’re not a notch fan, you can opt for a full black status bar instead. Outdoors, the display is fairly legible and even indoors, the color reproduction is quite manageable. You also get Night Shield, to protect your eyes from the blue-light emission from the display, especially when using the phone in a dark environment.

Realme claims a 3-layer splash-resistant design which should ensure protection against accidental spillage. It’s not IP68 certified, though. So, for now, it’s neither here nor there. The 5 still has a micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack. Ahh, the presence of an audio jack leaves a smile on our face. That said, the output from the speaker is underwhelming and gets easily blocked when held horizontally.

In nutshell, the phone does look well built and pleasing to the eye, which in itself is a biggie for the budget.

Realme 5 Camera Review

Realme 5 is a significant upgrade when it comes to the camera specs. It sports a quad rear camera setup, wherein a 12MP main, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP portrait and a 2MP macro sensors make the cut. This opens up new avenues for mobile photography from this phone.

So, we did the same and snapped photos in different environments. Let’s peek into the camera samples now.

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The photos clicked from the Realme 5 are a testimonial of the camera prowess. It outs decent shots under luminous landscapes and indoor environments. They have satisfactory details and sharpness.

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The colors look natural with adequate contrast. Additionally, you can turn on the Chroma Boost to amp the saturation for punchy Insta-ready pics.

#gallery-0-15 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-15 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-15 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-15 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Nightscape On

Nightscape does help to nudge the noise in night-time clicks. It does take a moment to process the photos whilst you’re asked to stay steady.

Macro camera sample

The newcomer, viz. Ultra Macro mode within the camera app is fun, to say the least. The lens has a fixed focal length of 4cm and that’s how close you need to position the sensor for the best results.

#gallery-0-16 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-16 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-16 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-16 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Chroma Boost On

2x zoom

5x zoom

Then there is the 5x digital zoom option for quick zoom crop.

Portrait mode indoors

Realme 5 renders run-of-the-mill selfies without losing on edge detection. If you don’t like the plastic-y and airbrushed finish of the beauty mode, you could turn it off as we did for our selfies.

The phone can shoot up to 4K resolution videos. Realme has baked in Electronic Image Stabilization for front as well as back.

So, if you ask how’s the camera – We would say its good enough, but nothing to write home about.

Realme 5 Review: Performance and Battery

Realme 5 uses a relatively newer chipset, the Snapdragon 665 coupled with up to 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. It is powered by a sizeable 5000mAh battery that is accompanied by a 10W charger. Yes, although the battery endures long, filling it back is a drag.

Realme 5 banks on the aforementioned hardware to yield good performance more often than not. It manages to drive PUBG and the likes at Balanced settings with minor hiccups. We didn’t face any major heating trouble whilst gaming, which is a plus in our review.

Realme has offered various software-based optimizations to bolster your gaming as well as memory and battery management. Further, the Color OS interface is tweaked with rounded icons, a new Private Space for hiding your personal contents and an enhanced Hotspot management feature.

All that’s appreciated. Still, we don’t dig the heavy animations and proprietary software elements which mars the overall experience. Thus forth we yearn for the alleged Realme OS, which is rumored to be close to stock Android.

ALSO READ: Realme 5 Pro Review – A Good Choice for Gamers

For those of you looking for the benchmark scores, here’s how the Realme 5 fared –

Benchmark Test Scores Antutu 138402 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme – OpenGL ES 3.1 1084 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme – Vulkan 1057 Geekbench Single-Core 1533 Geekbench Multi-Core 5490

Realme 5 review verdict: Should you buy it?

Realme has listened to the fans, as is apparent from several improvements we see on the 5. For what it’s worth, its a definite improvement on the precursor. We are still no fan of the software treatment. But, that might not resonate the same with you. If you find things like lack of HD+ display and fast charging as nitpicking (which we very well understand for the budget), this should be a clear winner.

Not every person is a phone reviewer or particular about his/her phone needs and for those, there is a lot to like here like – the long battery life, ample memory cum expandable storage, and a multipurpose camera.

So, that’s our take on the new Realme 5. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Realme 5 review with Pros and Cons: Should you buy it? It doesn't even seem that long ago that I reviewed the Realme 3 (review). A few months later, the Realme 5-series has debuted in India and this time both the regular and Pro variants have landed together.

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leagueofawesomedudes · 7 years

Text

Week 6 Preview

Greetings earthlings, the time for your week 6 preview is upon us and what a week it will be. Glad to see everyone who went to Athens came back safe, but with a lower brain cell count and a little less dignity. For those expecting a sports analysis preview… Think again. I’m here for dishing out heat and making bold predictions with light facts and heavy opinions! Let’s start by playing a game. For every spelling error or grammar mistake you catch, take one shot. Haha no, better not, we will all be blacked by the time we get to my predictions. I would however like to take the time to say, as your founding daddy, how proud I am of all of us for keeping this thing going. When I created this league back in 14’ I didn’t even like half of you (still pretty true) and never thought it would grow and mature into what it is today. I mean fuck, I had first downs as a point, but the chaos sure was fun. Speaking of chaos, if ya’ll could see the texts I’ve been receiving about each of you. Whoever you’re playing definitely hit me up and asked me to say something really mean about you. It totally for sure happened. I’d get angry and start talking smack back to them ASAP.

Getting back to the league, it’s still anyone’s for the taking. With this six team playoff not even Holla is out of this thing yet... The majority of us are still beating each other up fighting for position while I’m happy to say it, chasing new cummer Dom instead of that cock sucker Sam for the top spot. We’ve had blowout losses, and squeaked out victories, making each week as entertaining as the next. The LOAD is shaping up nothing like Tj predicted in his preseason power rankings, making this race to the playoffs more exciting than ever. Look for a lot of trades and soul searching in the coming weeks as we make our approach to the half way point this season. But enough girl talk, grab your scuba gear and let’s dive into these matchups.

#6 Crows Before Hoes (2-3) vs #2 Julio Tones (4-1)

First up is Marvel vs Lucas Film, these two nerds may play video games with each other at night, but come this weekend don’t expect to see them making out in Liquid again. It’s all business as they both fight for position among the ranks of the LOAD. Tj fought off the injury bug last week to edge out Casey for a win and with Julio and Carr healthy this week looks primed for another. I may have found my future QB in Watson who should eat again against our piss pour Browns, but will it be enough to overcome my lack of running back depth? Second round pick Jay Ajayi has been off to a slower start than Tj’s last cum shot, so this one will come down to our Wide Receivers who are pretty evenly matched on paper. Evans looks to bounce back this week, but if Julio is back to %90 I have to give this one to Tj. My team just simply isn’t playing up to their potential, therefore I have to go with the hot hand no matter how sticky it still is from that last Jedi trailer.

Tones > Crows

#4 The Injured Reserve (3-2) vs #7 Jon SnOBJs (2-3)

Here we have a matchup with some potential playoff implications. Chad looks to start a win streak while dealing with OBJ eating grass, or was that him last week ;)? And Casey tries to shake off a tough loss covered in a gram of snow. Look for the QB battle to have a huge impact on this one. Big Ben most likely will show everyone he’s still got it and have a big week, but if AB is on the other end of those tuddies, look for Chad to pull away late (Hope you never do). While Wentz has been a stud this year (A qb the clowns passed on doing well? No way?!), I think he cools off Thursday night with a short week. Also keep an eye on their kickers to make a surprising difference in this one. They both have a chance to see a lot of field time with their matchups. It will be a toss up to see who kicks back more, them or Chad and his Titos. But, I expect Casey’s team to respond in a big way, unlike him and my texts… Seriously man it’s been three weeks. Our commissioner starts Theo Riddick then bends the Knee in a close one and falls to 2-4. Reserve > SnOBJs

#5 The Brady Bunch (2-3) vs #10 Hollas Heavy Hitters (1-4)

Next up we have Doug and the homecoming hero. As Holla was hop scothin and beep boppin around Athens his team has been…. Well it looks like doing the same thing. In a surprising string of events, our number one preseason ranked team has sputtered at the starting line and caused a one car pileup in the sixth lap of a ten car race. (I think he and Bennett will understand that translation). For all of us non NASCAR viewers, it means he’s not doing so great. Doug however has been putting up numbers in bunches on the heels of his claim to fame childhood good friend Kareem the dream Hunt. Brady should pick apart the Jets but with a few Cowboys on bye, Doug could find scoring outside his star duo a bit challenging. Holla on the other hand has wide receivers in great matchups and two of the hottest qbs in the league throwing them the rock. Look for holla to bounce back in a big way and burn some rubber to get back on track. Hitters > Bunch

#9 Ain’t EZ Bein Breesy (2-3) vs #8 G-reg 3rd Leg (2-3)

An interesting matchup here as two of the leagues veterans square off. Both used to be thought of as already out of this thing, have now started their push through the ranks. Bennett starting to show us that he might have actually had the right guys all along, while Solden surprisingly goes for his third in a row. The snowman would still be bumpin rails off the tables at Jbar if it meant another A Rodgers game winning drive. His QB to Jordy connection is his ride or die and I can’t say it’s a bad thing. Solden has begun to figure out his line ups, or so it would seem, until he starts to second guess everything and ruin it all. Newly acquired J McKinnon should provide a boost at the flex and his hit or miss WRs have just as good of a chance to catch some tuddies as he does an STD this weekend. Bennett should look for Cooks and Rodgers to have big days but I don’t think it will be enough to overcome his lack at running back. They should also keep an eye on the Saints vs Lions game with seven players participating. Solden will grab his big red bag and look for a new place to stay for next couple of days as he packs up a victory.

Breesy > 3rd Leg

Game OF the Week

#1 Little Diggs (4-1) vs #3 2 Gurleys 1 Cup (3-2)

Here it is folks, your game of the week. Dom sits upon a throne over awesome dudes all reaching up for his seat. Perhaps none more than his formidable foe this week, in your three time reigning champion. These to swinging dicks look to show off their teams in what may be a preview of week sixteen. I give them credit for their dedication, Dom started a new 3 am trend (I think he’s just used to being blacked out sending dick pics to all his female snap friends at that time) that Sam had no choice but to follow. Sam pays more attention to the league that he knows our next moves before we do. I’m just glad that picture of Jared on his nightstand gets a rest as it’s laid down when he rosterbate. For Dom, there is no skipping class to throw in a pouch this week as he aims to show Sam what a real coup looks like. With Diggs and Hogan in great position to put up numbers Dom will do his real damage through his plethora of running backs. Unfortunately for him, Sam’s three running back are running train every week, Gurley looks like the real deal and Duke has been as good as any fantasy back as of late. Taking a slight risk in some inconsistent receivers, I don’t see the team as a whole being up to task. I expect these two teams to be a chess match for the rest of the season that could turn into an alligator fuckhouse real quick. The only thing Sam loves more than that flow is his fantasy team, but unfortunately heart break will strike again. Dom calls his guy and gets a big win. Diggs > 1 Cup

Overall I’m looking forward to a big week. I don’t expect any of these prediction to be right, but I do expect a shake up in the standings. Look for the middle of the pack to start and reshape while one of the top three seeds start and pull away. Depending when you’re reading this we may be juiced up for the game so let’s root on our tribe in order to have another weekend of October baseball and if not, just classic blacking out. Good luck to all and may the odds be ever in your favor!

~Pauly D signing off~

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probablyretep · 7 years

Text

New Blog Post: (Vacation Week 2017!) has been published on ProbablyRetep http://bit.ly/2urNJs1 #ProbablyRetep

New Post has been published on http://www.probablyretep.com/2017/08/10/vacation-week-2017/

Vacation Week 2017!

Well that wraps up a vacation for 2017. I’ll do my best to post a decent write up on how the vacation went. I’ll separate it out by each day and what we did.

07/26/2017 So before we went on vacation we had Shereen’s birthday to celebrate. She’d been wanting to go to PF Changs’, and since it was her birthday, that’s where we went. I’ve only been there a couple of times. Well 3 to be exact. First two were work functions, and this was the third time. The food did not disappoint. Mikayla got Orange Chicken, Shereen got Sesame Chicken, and I

got Pepper Steak. All three of us got fried rice, and of course we started out our dining experience with some Lettuce Wraps. Man those things are good. All the food was pretty amazing. We all shared our main dishes family style since that’s kind of how it’s served anyways. After our dinner, Shereen got a free desert so Mikayla and I decided to indulge ourselves and got dessert as well. I got the biggest slice of chocolate cake (pictured on the left), Mikayla got some sort of cake thing which she enjoyed as well.

After dinner it was back to work for me for the next couple of days until our vacation officially started.

8/1/2017 On Tuesday we decided to go to Chicago to do some stuff. Driving there was interesting because I really don’t like long car rides. I get super fidgety and my legs start to get achy, and most of the time I start to get really tired for no apparent reason other than boredom. Which in itself is kind of funny because I can sit at my PC for an entire day and play games and work on stuff just fine, but being in the car drives me nuts. The trip to Chicago was no exception, other than the falling asleep. I never really felt like I was going to fall asleep on the way there. When we got into Chicago the traffic was incredible. It was just as the lunch hour was ending, so there was still quite a bit of traffic. It was extremely stressful driving because people just do what they want to do. Somebody wants to turn into your lane right in front of you? Well not only does that person do it, but two others also attempt to do it just to be jerks. So I made the executive decision to park the car and leave it (especially since it was minimum of like 18 dollars to park somewhere and leave the car there for the day and just take Ubers everywhere since it would probably be easier than A. trying to drive in that insanity, and B. trying to figure out parking at every single place we went to along with the extraordinary cost to park everywhere. The first place we went was

to this pizza place called Gino’s East. I had never tried Chicago style deep dish pizza, and there was two choices to choose from, according to all my friends. We chose Gino’s East because of where we were trying to go

for the day and it seemed to be located at a pretty easy to get to location. Also, I couldn’t remember the name at the time that everybody else had mentioned. (Giordanos). The waiter that served us was especially friendly considering the drive in that we had just had so I was refreshed and glad right from the get go. He asked if we had every been there before and when we told him “No”, he proceeded to give us the rundown of the

joint and told us a brief history of the chain, and that their deep dish pizzas took about 45 minutes to cook. We were starving at that point so we promptly ordered some Hummus since that looked pretty good on the appetizer menu. Finally the pizza came out and he served out the first slices for all of us. As some of you may know I’m a smells person, so my first instinct was to lean forward and smell it. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting to smell, but what hit my nostrils was nothing what I expected. The pizza almost smelled rancid. I was quite shocked by this, so I asked the two ladies with me, and while Mikayla agreed with me, Shereen didn’t seem to notice anything. After about 5 minutes of letting it cool down while sniffing it I finally decided to taste it. I was a bit nervous to taste it, considering how awe full it smelled to me. Never-the-less I took my first bite and didn’t really stop until I was done with my 2nd slice, only taking a break to grab the second slice! The pizza tasted just fine, so I’m not sure if it was just because I’m used to the sweeter sauces that I work with everyday or what.

After we got done with lunch, we let things settle down for a bit and then decided to go to the Willis Tower. I’m not sure if we picked the wrong day, or the wrong time, or they were severely understaffed or some conglomeration of all that, but we waited forever and a day to get to the top. We probably waited in line for a total of an hour just to get that elevator ride up to the top. There was several stops along the way were we got to watch an informative movie about the architect of the (former) Sears Tower, as well as little stops with information about Chicago. Fun Fact, the elevator tops out at 18 miles an hour on the ride to the top. That was an experience in of itself as your ears are popping and your crammed into this giant elevator with what feels like WAY more than the safety limit. You’ve probably hear the expression “packed tighter than a can of sardines”, well as I said that out loud, several people lamented that it was actually worse than that. But once we got to the top, even I, who has a strong… dislike for heights, was taken aback by the view. It was kind of funny, because on one side of the building, it was thunder storming pretty hard, and on the other side it was almost a normal sunny day. I even forced myself to take a random selfie on the see through ledge. That was pushing the boundaries of my tolerance for heights. In fact it was well beyond to make an understatement. The girls tried to get me back on there, but I wasn’t having it. I about had a panic attack because this kid in the ledge next to us kept jumping up and down and I was starting to lose it. We walked all the way around and took several pictures. You can find all the pics that we took on the vacation [HERE] in the photo gallery. After we were done there we grabbed some fudge to go, and then headed back down to the line, for the elevator back downstairs. Luckily this wait wasn’t quite as long as the wait to get up, but it still took probably about 15-20 minutes. Once we got downstairs we realized that it was raining. We wanted to go check out the Million dollar mile so we decided to hop in a Uber. Well that turned out to be an interesting decision as the first one didn’t quite put the meeting spot where we were, and since I’m not that bright sometimes, and panicking because I didn’t want to get charged for an Uber we didn’t take, and because I didn’t know the city at all, we ended up missing out first

driver. He drove right past us after texting me several times. So we called for another Uber and this time we knew right where to go as the GPS once again placed our meeting spot a bit off from where we were, but in the same time as last time. He got there and we got in and it was white knuckles until we got there. I would never be able to survive in that city unless I absolutely had to because I’m not a big enough jerk to cut people off like what our driver was doing, and being done to him. Interestingly enough we drove past the Trump Towers. I wanted to stop in but we just didn’t have enough time. All in all between walking here and there I think we walked some 7 miles in Chicago that day. After the shopping, we went to the “Bean” at the park, took a few pictures and then decided to start moseying along home. We decided after much debate to go to the nearest White Castle for dinner as Shereen had never eaten there. So I picked a random White Castle in/near Chicago that was along the way home and plugged it into the GPS and started heading there. Well, apparently I picked the White Castle in a pretty rough neighborhood. We witnessed a couple of drug deals, and some people who almost got punched in the face for saying rude things to my minor aged daughter. Luckily the food hit the spot and we headed on our way home. The girls both passed out pretty quickly, so I turned up the radio and jammed out to my music all the way home.

8/2 – 8/4

We had planned on spending these couple of days going camping but it was thunder storming in most of the state. So we did random things around the city as far as going different places for lunch and dinners. We went to the Rivertown Mall, and walked that. We also visited Woodland Mall and walked that. At some point in these few days we also grabbed some new shoes from Shoe Carnival as we were overdue for some new ones. We also squeezed in a couple of movies. We saw Atomic Blond, and Girls Trip. Both of which were pretty alright. Girls trip was hilarious if not a bit on the raunchy side. I feel like we did a couple other things but I just can’t remember for some reason. Friday night we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then took Mikayla home as she had a trip to take with her friends / family.

8/5/2017

So this is the day that we set aside for Shereen to go sky diving because that’s what she wanted for her birthday. So we drove up to Holland to this placed called Skydive Holland. Our appointment was for 1:30 if i recall correctly but they were backed up like two hours so it took quite a long time for her to get up. The first video is of her boarding and taking off in the plane. The second video is of her skydiving and landing.

http://www.probablyretep.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/shereen-taking-off.mp4

http://www.probablyretep.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/shereen-landing.mp4

After she went sky diving we went to this little restaurant in Holland called Ottawa Beach Inn. The waitress and hostess were both very pleasant. We both ordered burgers. She a Swiss Mushroom burger or something gross like that, and I got the OBI Burger, which is essentially just a normal cheese burger loaded with the fixins. Both of our burgers were really good, and the fries were great too as they were that “Pub style” fries. After a late lunch we headed back to Grand Rapids, and relaxed the rest of the evening. We also stayed home Sunday (after we got home from bringing the kiddo to her freiends campsite in Baldwin.

I’m not even gonna get started on that Game Of Thrones episode Sunday night… Man o man…

Anyways, that was (most) of our vacation of 2017. Overall I had a great time with Mrs Spalding, and the kiddo. Again, if you’d like, here’s a direct link to our vacation photos.

#chicago #Deep Dish #Gino's East #Giordanos #heights #Mikayla #music #PF Changs'#pizza #radio #Sears Tower #Shereen #shopping #sky dive #Skydive Holland #Uber #vacation #White Castle #Willis Tower

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The 28 Best Instagrams of 2016: Celebrity Edition

http://likedbuzz.com/the-28-best-instagrams-of-2016-celebrity-edition/

The 28 Best Instagrams of 2016: Celebrity Edition

This year has been a little difficult. OK, maybe that’s an understatement. We don’t need to run down all of the reasons why 2016 has been a bit of a Dumpster dive, but let’s just say that we’re all a little excited to ring in the new year ASAP. In the meantime, we’re getting introspective about the year in the most lighthearted, non-mood-destroying way possible: By going back and reliving the best celebrity Instagrams of 2016. And though the year was a total buzz kill, these celebs proved that at least on Instagram, the grass is always green, diamonds sparkle brighter than the sun, and kisses are best delivered upside-down. We took a little stroll down memory lane to relive the best IG moments of 2016, and we found 29 particularly iconic images. Click through to see if our picks align with your favorites—and remember a few reasons why this year wasn’t completely horrible. In the slideshow below, we’ve put together a highlight reel of the year in fashion, as told by Instagram. Click through for snaps from Rihanna, Bella Hadid, Solange, and more—and happy scrolling in 2017!

Amber Rose

Amber Rose kicked the new year off with this steamy shot, following it up with a sex-positive talk show, a Dancing with the Stars spot, and her second annual SlutWalk in downtown Los Angeles.

Kim Kardashian

“When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL,” Kim Kardashian wrote.

Emily Ratajkowski

Inspired by the hate that rained down after Kardashian’s naked selfie, she redid it—with Emily Ratajkowski’s sharp tongue (and a couple of middle fingers). “We are more than just our bodies, but that doesn’t mean we have to be shamed for them or our sexuality,” Ratajkowski wrote.

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen captioned this all-too-real pic, “romance.”

Ciara

Ciara and Russell Wilson announced their engagement on Instagram with a sweet video; Ciara followed up with this iconic shot. “I Feel Complete. ❤️,” she wrote.

Blac Chyna

More engagement news, even bigger this time: Blac Chyna captioned this one of herself, her giant engagement ring, and Rob Kardashian with a simple, “YES !…!…!”

Gigi Hadid

Who could ever forget Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik’s kiss-handstand heard around the world?

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus originally identified this new planet tat “lilbbjupiter,” but this is a tattoo of Saturn. Oops. Now the caption reads, “permaaaa skinnnnn arrrrrttttt by daaaa mosssst bad a$$ @laurenwinzer,” with a shout to tattoo artist Lauren Winzer.

Beyoncé

Beyoncé and Blue Ivy reached peak cuteness in this little montage, wearing matching mother-daughter embellished Gucci jackets.

🍋❤️

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on May 11, 2016 at 9:47pm PDT

Rihanna

Can’t forget the time Rihanna reposted a Scottish fan’s naughty video of her Glasglow performance.

Which one of my Scottish fans took this video??? 🙊🙈👀 #SAUCY Glasgow thank you for a fun ass night!! #ANTIWORLDTOUR

A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jun 27, 2016 at 5:40pm PDT

Selena Gomez

With almost 6 million likes, this Coke ad on Selena Gomez’ account became the most-liked Instagram of all time.

Taylor Swift

Feel (very) free to roll your eyes, but when was the last time you saw this many babes in one place? Taylor Swift herself posted this one, flanked by many of her famous friends, including Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, and Karlie Kloss.

Taylor Swift and Britany LaManna

Taylor Swift bestie Britany LaManna posted this the day after Swift’s slightly nauseating Fourth of July party at her mansion in Rhode Island.

Jay Z

Jay Z cemented his status as Beyoncé’s Instagram husband with this fateful elevator pic. (What is it with this family and elevators?!)

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen posted this pic of husband John Legend while they were both a little drunk. “I regretted that butt photo,” he said recently. “At the time, we were both drunk and it was all fun and games. But the next morning I wasn’t too proud of it.”

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber has since deleted his Instagram, thanks to all of the negative attention he was getting after posting tons of shots of himself and Sofia Richie on IG. The iconic backseat-of-the-car series was just the tip of the iceberg.

Teyana Taylor

Teyana Taylor burned down the VMAs this year (and became a household name) with her performance in Kanye West’s “Fade” video, which premiered live that night.

Solange

Solange heralded the release of her latest LP A Seat At The Table sans makeup, with this gorgeous album cover.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry posted this seriously adorable pic of her foot and beau Orlando Bloom’s foot, simultaneously confirming their relationship and giving us serious #relationshipgoals. “When you find your prince,” she wrote.

Kendall Jenner

In which Kendall Jenner reveals her inner lip tattoo. “Meow,” indeed.

Rihanna

Rihanna’s fans freaked out when she debuted her locs on Instagram. This pic was one of her most-liked all year.

Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde made waves when she shared a shot of herself breastfeeding baby Daisy. “My drinking buddy. #neverunderestimatethepowerofawoman,” she wrote.

Bella Hadid

Bella Hadid’s makeup artist Vincent Oquendo posted this one to announce her upcoming Victoria’s Secret runway appearance. “Congrats my little baby bells on getting @victoriassecret !” he wrote. “It’s been a beautiful ride so far and I can’t wait to see what’s next!”

Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham wore black leather pants to her sister’s wedding, and the internet cheered

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga went straight to Trump Tower the night of the election to stage her own mini protest, and we’ve never loved her more.

Kylie Jenner

Kylie Jenner sent a clear message with this one, posted on Tyga’s birthday: He’s all mine.

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen took a serious wardrobe malfunction and spun it into comic gold. “Apologies to anyone harmed mentally or physically by my hooha,” she wrote, shouting out her hair removal guru. “Dress is#yousefakbar and shoes are@dsquared2 and laser hair removal is@sevlaseraesthetics.”

Sofia Richie

Sofia Richie proved that she’s one to watch with this epic Complex cover. Haters started posting snake emogis on her IG ever since she started dating Justin Bieber, and the hate didn’t stop when they broke up. “When you get called something enough I guess it becomes apart [sic] of your story,” she wrote on Instagram.

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