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ketsuyuki-hibana-typed · 5 years

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I always portrait Yoriichi as the sunshine version of Giyuu. Looks like an op character but actually a simple dumb-dork and also a big fan of his brother.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi x Reader (Domestic ModernAU)

Yoriichi is a professional in architecture, and you work as biology teacher.

You could say that he's that 'noble family but decided to take normal society path'. But it's actually not really dramatic, he just decided to stood with his own feet and building family from zero with you.

He has unique personality, people at his work really thought that he has undefeatable charismatic, competent, compassionate, kind, equitable, and decisive.

Pft.

You knew the real him and even if you bet ten thousand yen, people would never trust you, despite the fact that you're his wife. He just a dork for you and his brother.

We will soon know, how 'ridiculous' his true self will be.

In the morning, he always wakes up first but never woke you up. He said that he didn't has heart to wake you up when he saw your sleeping face. But sometimes, he'll wake you up if it's really late, which is not really helping.

You're the one who cooked breakfast, but sometimes he helped you but you always ended up tell him to sit back.

"The bacon is screaming", "You cook the child of its mother.", "Bread is just a floated wheat."

"Ok stop, let me handle this before you brought me to existential crisis."

You're the one who comb his hair, chose his suit, matched his necktie with the pin, and elses. He didn't suck at stylings, he just prefers you to do it instead of him.

You usually went to workplace with him, but sometimes if he's busy, you'll choose to ride the train.

His friends often invited him to have lunch at nearest restaurant but since you always made lunch for him, he didn't want to join them and eat your homemade lunch instead. His friends told him that he could ditch his wife's lunch but then he said,

"She made efforts in making this, I couldn't waste it."

But sometimes, you told him it's okay to go with them.

For some reason, Tokitou siblings at your school knew about Michikatsu and Yoriichi. You don't know why but every time you crossed with them, they always told you to be careful of Michikatsu.

But Michikatsu always being nice to both you and Yoriichi, so you just shrugged them off.

Both of you almost didn't have time to meet each other on daily days, so those 'lovely' moments in the drama often didn't happen on your daily life, but you satisfied with what are you now even after years being married. He still made sure to made you happy by buying you cakes, limited edition Pocky, various of KitKats and other foods when he came home.

Also, the main reason why you gained weight fast.

Sumiyoshi, Yoriichi's co-worker, often talked with you.

"(y/n)-san, Yoriichi-san really loves you more than anything else."

"Well... I'm his wife after all."

"Yes, I know! But I've never saw someone who really loves his wife from the bottom of their heart like this. He always brought your handmade handkerchief everywhere, set your photo in front of presentation slide as introduction, made a mini 'place' where he could place his keychains, manjuu doll, mochikororin, rubber straps, pins assembled with you as the model on his desk, plus-"

"Wait, Sumiyoshi-san. I'm concerned. He became an otaku me. I had to talk with him about this."

Yoriichi probably the smartest man in this country, but sometimes he forgot about 'common senses'.

"Hun, what are you doing?" You saw him looked in trouble.

"I'm trying to open the pen cap. It didn't work." He looked confused on the pen.

"Let me see."

"Here, if I can't, you can't-"

"....it's a ballpoint."

"..."

"You just spin it like-"

"I know."

"... sure."

Or when he didn't know how to use common things.

"(y/n), what is that?"

"It's vending machi- WAIT YOU DON'T KNOW VENDING MACHINE?" He shrugged.

"How to use it? Can you open the front glass like refrigerator do? Is it free?"

"No- Geez, you put the money, like this. And then-" You spend your evening to explain him on how to use a vending machine. He was amazed on how its work and how well you present it as what he called 'Future machine.'

"It's superb. We are one step ahead to the future. The distribution of drinks are easy now."

"I don't know why I'm married to you."

Dates? Do outdoor activities such hiking count as dating? The answer is yes, at least for both of you. You often went to the mountain with him for fishing at nearest lake. It wasn't far from your home, so you never complained.

While fishing, you sat on his lap and reading your book. He put his chin on your head.

"Wait, don't flip it yet, I haven't finish the 2 paragraphs."

"I thought you concentrate on the fishing?"

"I could do both task."

"Sure, King. Sure."

When you're lazy to prepare the picnics, he's fine with just staying at home and watched his favourite TV show with you beside him. You usually put your legs or your heads on his laps while doing something or simply watching the TV too.

"Ok, Quizzy Time! I have 2 questions and each answers had to be one and different. The last question will be your true wish!! Now, let's start!!"

Yoriichi slightly bended his body, eagerly focusing on the TV. You eyed him while playing with your phone.

'Is being cute legal for my husband.'

"Who is the person you wanted to protect most?"

"Big Brother."

"Who is the person you loved the most?"

"My wife."

You snorted.

"And last, if you had to choose one person between those two who will you choose?"

He started to sweat and looked at you. You looked at him while smiling, "Is there something bothering you, hun?"

"Uh, uhm-"

"Now, tell that person, you love them!!"

He fidgeted, looking at you again. You just wanted to bursting out laugh. He became panicked, between dilemma if he should call Michikatsu or tell you.

"(y/n), I know you're my wife, but-" He started to push his brother contact on his phone. "I also wanted him to know."

"Oh, so you choose him over me." You started to tease him.

"No! You got this wrong!!"

"Oh now you yell at me."

He became frustrated. Before he started to break down, you sat down and hugged him, "Haha, just kidding!! Don't sweat it, it's a dumb TV program- Oh my God, don't cry!!!"

Yoriichi didn't want you to be far away from him at home, especially when he did works. He will call your name and told you to stay in the same room with him. Even though his face didn't say too much, you immediately knew that he'll be sad if you're not there when he was at home. Like that one time.

Michikatsu was calling you when you're shopping for dinner.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Uh, are you divorced with Yoriichi?" His statement made you dropped a can of tuna from your hand.

"What? No!! What do you mean?!"

"Yoriichi said it. He said that you leave him."

"I'm??? Going to the supermarket??"

"...I'm sorry, my brother is being a troublesome for you." He cut the phone.

When you're home, you found Yoriichi laid down on the sofa. You called his name, and he looked at you.

"I was being scolded by brother."

"Of course you are, geez." You sat beside him. "I'm just going for errands. I'm not ignoring or leaving you."

"You didn't leave message."

"I do, look at your phone."

"..."

You let out a long sigh, but then you hugged him. "Do you want me to stay when you did your work on your laptop?" He nodded.

"Fine, but help me with the dinner, and don't say anything. Just obey what I told you to do." He nodded again happily like a puppy.

He likes to spooning you. He always asked if he could kiss you even though you've been married for a long time. He's often saying that kissing you on your lips is really felt good, and became a little bit 'addicted' about it.

He didn't say much about himself, he never confide you how his feelings unless you asked him. But he loves to hear your stories about your works and students on random occasion like bathing, eating dinner, sitting on sofa, and even casual walks.

And do not start about how many times he said that he didn't deserve you when both of you are about to sleep and cuddling on bed.

"I am man of no wor-" You clasped both of his cheeks and pinched it.

"Say that again, and I will end your life for real."

"But I already end up with you."

"You have no rights to say negativity and flirting at the same time."

He probably had that unchanged expression on daily basis, but when you're by his side?

A content smile will always formed on his lips

#kimetsu no yaiba imagines #kimetsu no yaiba x reader #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu anime #kimetsu no yaiba scenarios #kimetsu no yaiba headcanons #kny #kny x reader #kny imagine #kny imagines #kny headcanons #kny scenarios #tsugikuni yoriichi x reader #yoriichi tsugikuni x reader #tsugikuni yoriichi #yoriichi tsugikuni #kimetsu no yaiba yoriichi #kny yoriichi

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roswelldetails · 4 years

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RNM 2x08 - Say It Ain't So

EPISODE SUMMARY:

JAMIE CLAYTON GUEST STARS — Despite promising Liz (Jeanine Mason) that he’ll take things easy with his new heart, Max (Nathan Dean) sets out to find Cameron after learning that she’s gone missing. Michael (Michael Vlamis) grows concerned about Maria (Heather Hemmens) after a surprising discovery about her family history leaves her vulnerable. Elsewhere, ready to move on, Alex (Tyler Blackburn) goes on a date with Forrest (guest star Christian Antidormi), and Rosa (Amber Midthunder) makes a decision about her future. Rachel Raimist directed the episode written by Eva McKenna & Christopher Hollier (#208). Original airdate 5/4/2020.

DETAILS:

Rosa's secret identity:

"...Cousin Rosalinda from Arizona. My mom married a minor league baseball player, but when he got relocated to a team in Florida…"

"Okay, you know what, let's just go with, they're dead."

This is a Twilight reference.

Rosa about the Mean Girl's art in the cave:

"That reminds me of Stephen Powers before he sold out."

Stephen Powers is a former street artist who went commercial. Some examples of his older work here:

Other examples of his newer, more commercial work here:

By the way, speaking of the cave:

And this is some fabulous visual storytelling right here:

Max is working at the Wild Pony. Temporarily, of course.

"Turns out debt collectors don't care if you've been half dead in a glowing pod for a few months."

So much for the headcanon that Max "I've been driving the same car since high school and am a homeowner before 30" Evans is good with his money. 😆 Debt collectors don't show up that fast… not that I know from experience or anything. 😳 *backs slowly away*

Iris refers to the cave as the go to hang spot for all the artsy weirdos. So it isn't like it was specifically Rosa's cave/hidden spot.

It's the first time we've seen this particular cave other than in 2008 flashbacks.

Iris Sanchez & Rosa Ortecho. Flower, Mexican family name. 😭 The hint is there!

Also 👀 from:

The iris earned its name from the ancient Greek Goddess Iris, a messenger to the gods who was thought to use the rainbow as a bridge between heaven and earth...these flowers were named to honor the Rainbow Goddess and bring favor upon the earth.

Mimi made Maria take back the necklace.

"She said that it was too late for her and that I needed it more."

Michael has seen the necklace before, but he didn't know what the flower was when he fixed the clasp and returned it to her in 1x10. It was 1x11 when they learned of the existence of the anti alien pollen. Michael reminds us:

"I know this flower. Its pollen has a paralytic effect on alien abilities."

Once Maria takes it off, she can name every card Michael pulls from the deck.

Maria lists off a bunch of necklace facts from past episodes that fandom has previously noted...

Her powers were heightened when Michael had the necklace in 1x10.

She wasn't wearing it when Noah invaded her at the gala.

And she wasn't wearing it at Woman As Warrior in 2x02 when she sensed that Isobel was pregnant.

"Kyle said you aren't an alien."

Fact. Kyle did say that. It doesn't mean that it's a fact that Maria doesn't have alien DNA in her though.

Kyle determined that her blood doesn't carry the alien protein that's in the Pod Squad and Rosa. He is making an assumption that the protein is tied to being an alien.

He said he ran other tests, but the results would take longer to come in.

Also, just a personal theory, what else do Rosa and the Pod Squad (and Noah) all have in common? They all spent significant time marinating in a pod full of goo. Rosa (10 years), Pod Squad (at least 50 years), Noah (60 years). Kyle has not studied any samples of alien biology from an alien who didn't spend time in pod goo. It's possible the protein is related to the pod goo, moreso than the alien biology. Again, just speculation on my part.

Maria confirms that her mom started getting sick when she was 18, just after she passed the necklace on to Maria.

"If this prevents you from having more episodes, it probably stops the neurodegeneration process too. It's not kryptonite, Maria. This is preventative medicine. Keep it on."

In 2x06 it was established that in addition to Sanders' place being a junkyard and a mechanic/auto shop, they also do tow truck service. Now that comes into play again as Michael was hired to bring Cam's car back to Roswell for the investigation into her disappearance. He brought it to the junk yard first though to give Max and Liz an hour to check the car for clues before the sheriff's department comes to collect it.

Max is smart too, in his own way. He quickly identified that "Agent Powell" was driving a rental car and that her gun wasn't government issue.

However, it's only when he sees her tattoo (which Cam told him about in 1x07) that he confirms that she's actually Charlie Cameron!

(10 points to fandom!)

Max & Liz's conversation with Charlie is mostly just reminding us what we know about Charlie and Jenna's relationship.

Liz indicates that Jenna had been looking for Charlie for months. Charlie responds that she didn't want to be found (both things we learned in 2x04 through Cam's discussion with Jesse Manes.

Max indicates that Jenna thought that Charlie hated her, a call back to us first learning about Charlie and the matching tattoos in 1x07.

"I worked on a controversial project a while back. A lot of dangerous people want to know what I know."

(Again, stuff we learned in 2x04).

They learn through Cam's text history that she was looking for Jesse Manes (which we already knew, because...2x04).

"I'm just a guy standing in front of a tourist trap asking a history buff to shoot him with high velocity paint."

Tongue-in-cheek reference to the movie Notting Hill.

"So, you're cool playing war? Doesn't bring anything up?"

"Oh, yeah, my PTSD triggers are a little more complicated. Suffice to say, this war zone is the only place that my family actually got along when I was a kid."

"Yeah, some of my old platoon buddies actually play in leagues."

"I didn't know that you served."

"Yeah I wouldn't go bragging about it to a guy with a Purple Heart. I might have googled you."

New information… both that Forrest served, that he looked into Alex (which could be innocent OR sketchy…).

And of course this is the first open discussion about Alex's PTSD issues.

Cowboys versus aliens paintball… Alex is the cowboy, so Forrest must be the alien.

The call that interrupted Forrest's attempt to kiss Alex was from the hospital. Hence why Alex goes there to see Jesse.

"Look, if I had a little lucky charm that could stop people like Noah from messing with me, I would have that surgically implanted into my décolletage."

Have to admit, I wasn't sure what décolletage meant, so in case anyone else isn't familiar:

"These abilities are a part of me. I'm not gonna just throw away the chance to learn about who I am. That make sense to you?"

"Yeah, actually, it does."

"You've gotten stronger this year, right? Can you teach me to train? Learn how to control it all?"

"Look, it took a lot of practice before I could do anything without puking and guzzling acetone to kill the pain. And you can't practice, because according to Kyle, every time you do it eats your brain."

"Look, I'll stop before it goes that far, okay? I know the signs. Besides, if you help me, maybe I can help you. There must be something that you want to know about your future."

"What about my past?"

Max meeting with Jesse at the Crashdown. This is super interesting because it's the first time Max has sat down, face to face, with a hostile human who knows he's an alien.

"My uncle used to bring me here. That was back when it catered to a more civil clientele. People who actually respected the history of this town."

This is likely foreshadowing what's to come next week, based on the promo pics released.

Again, similar to the scene with Charlie at the junkyard, much of this exchange between Max and Jesse is just reminding us of stuff we learned in 1x04.

"The last time I saw her she came to me with questions about her sister. And I told her that the people most interested in Charlie's device were a black ops group based out of Los Alamos. They're called Deep Sky. This is their logo. Paramilitary. And I told Jenna that what she was getting into was gonna be dangerous. But apparently she didn't listen.

Note: in case any of you are unaware, in Los Alamos there's a US DOE lab that has a long, sketchy history of weapons development. Makes perfect since that it's where a paramilitary organization interested in Charlie's research would be based there.

The Deep Sky Logo

I compared this to a number of screenshots of alien symbols (like the ones we saw in Jim Valenti's letters in 1x12) and there were no matches.

However, fandom has already noted that the logo matches Trevor's ring in 2x06 (see that episode's details post for the photo).

"Charlie Cameron's mind is a unique specimen. Kind of like you. And there's always someone in the shadows waiting to crack those open."

"What did you do to Jenna?"

"I told her the truth. Which is more than you ever did. You're kind of a wolf in sheep's clothing, aren't you?"

"And what are you? Do you feel like a hero? All those people you tortured, all those people you killed. Turns out none of them were an enemy. They were refugees. So you're not just a murderer, you're a failure."

"Yeah, I know. I am. But I tell you, something shifted in my brain when I had the stroke. All the hate's gone out of me. All the fight. Caulfield is over and my son Flint has been reassigned. Look at me. I can barely walk."

Liz and Charlie in the car:

"Waitressing's really got to blow when you've grown a fully functioning heart muscle in a lab. Or are you not the same Elizabeth Ortecho who co-authored a 2013 paper on cellular reprogramming? Some people build model trains; I do my homework. Your boyfriend seems more like the train type."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We've discovered new worlds and changed the course of mankind from a microscope. Should I go Netflix and chill with my boyfriend or stay in the lab, architecting the future?"

"No offense, but if it's true that you've been in prison and in hiding, it does not seem like you've seen much of the inside of a lab either."

"I went too far. I thought I was building something with real value. The thing is, anything that has the potential to create real change, it scares people. And anything that scares people is inherently dangerous no matter what your intention is."

"You could start over. Get a new identity, work at a research university."

"I've done extraordinary things. Everything ordinary is ruined now."

More exposition that we already know as Max catches Charlie and Liz up on what he learns from Jesse.

"He said Cam is headed to Los Alamos to investigate a group called Deep Sky. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. Let me reach out to some of my military contacts, do some recon. Give me a day, we'll go from there."

Liz and Michael, in the lab, on The Science:

"I'm looking for the sample of yellow pollen."

"The stuff I swept off the floor after throwing it at Noah? I don't know. I didn't see it while we were packing up."

"Well it was here a few months back. Did I miss an experiment where it grew legs and a fondness for the outdoors?"

"Could have been accidentally thrown away. Sample was too oxidized to be of much use, and I've been trying to get my hands on fresh flowers, but it's impossible. I think they might be extinct. Why are you freaking out?"

"Because I have a math problem. There's only one flower in Maria's necklace, but there are two DeLuca women and apparently the flower is the key to preventing their illness. This is everything from the Caulfield drives and the experiments done on Maria's grandmother. A lot of it was lost in a lab fire in the '80s, but…"

"I'll take a look."

(Aside… 👀 Lab fire in the '80s. I have a feeling that's more foreshadowing.)

"I just want you to see if anything done could be undone. I don't want you to, like, Dr. Frankenstein it. The experiments were very bad."

"My days as an alien scientist are officially over."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"'Cause it's hard not to think about the far-reaching implications of this kind of research. You don't get sick on this planet. If I could figure out why, I could eradicate all illness."

"But you can't. Because that would expose us."

"Which I would obviously never do. It's over."

Arturo's text to Liz:

Have you seen our little mouse?

"Rosalinda" is late for her first shift.

Isobel and Maria go to Michael's trailer and Isobel shows Maria the newspaper clip of Michael's mom to try to trigger a vision.

"It's not working. And I don't feel great going through this stuff without Michael knowing."

"Why not? One day this palace might all be yours."

"It's not working. I have a business to run, and you need to go Instagram something."

"Says the social media revitalizer. Listen, word to the wise, every time Max saw Liz in a skirt and tried not to pop a bulb, he wound up setting off a fire alarm. Everytime I push myself too hard, I miss time, or wind up accidentally realizing that my mom still thinks about her ex-boyfriend Rocco, like, in vivid detail."

"Okay, where are you going with this?"

"Effort doesn't equal control. So if you want to do this you're gonna have to embrace your inner ice queen and let it go."

"I'm not great at letting things go."

"Yeah, I know. That's hard…"

Maria's vision:

Triggered by a t-shirt hanging in the trailer.

Louise is hanging laundry

Walt runs up to her and gives her a little windmill with her name on it. (Initially I thought her name was pressed or punched into the metal, but on second viewing, it looks like it might be puff paint or something similar.)

Walt runs off to find Nora and Louise goes back to hanging laundry.

After the vision Maria's nose starts bleeding.

Max goes after Charlie to stop her from turning herself in.

I wonder if his tire screeching action guy driving is supposed to be emphasizing to the audience that he's not being as cautious as he should be?

Deep Sky said that if Charlie "...wasn't at Sutter's grain depot by 11pm, that they would torture (Cam) to death."

Charlie heard on the call:

A train rolling by

A demonic laugh

And somehow that's enough for Max to magically know exactly where Cam is.

Alex and Jesse at the hospital:

"Hey, they said that you mixed whiskey with your medications. That's not like you."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I mean, you're my father. I can't seem to shake you."

"Yeah. I failed."

"Yes. But in what way specifically?"

"Uncle Tripp. I let him down. I never could figure out what he needed of me. And tonight I went to the bunker. And I keep trying to crack the code."

"Liz said that you spoke to Max Evans. She said that you were half decent to him. Is that what this is about?"

"One of them killed Tripp, you know."

"An alien? Yeah. Then he hunted them. He dragged them to a torture chamber. I'm not surprised one of them…"

Jesse slams his cane.

"He was the best man I ever knew.

Jesse tries to stand and falls into Alex, then continues to walk away.

The location that Deep Sky is holding Cam looks like a rodeo or horse arena or racetrack with a big grandstand.

There are nearby train tracks, and a warehouse where a mechanic repairs old carnival rides.

As Max and Charlie are scoping out the area you can hear both sounds softly in the background.

The sniper was watching and shooting at them from the grandstand.

Charlie is shot in the leg.

"Let me go get her."

"No. Deep Sky wants me alive. Your brain is worth considerably less to them which means it'll be splattered all over the dirt."

(Oh the irony...confirming that Charlie doesn't know that Max is an alien.)

"If anything goes wrong, call Liz. No doctors."

Max does shoot the sniper!

And then uses his powers to knock out the power (and instantly feeling it in his heart when he starts to use his powers!!!!!!) which, as @angsty-aliens very eloquently pointed out, is absurd because there was a big red lever that would have done the same thing. *facepalm*

Cam on her kidnapping:

"The last thing I remember is this weird sound. It made the hairs on my arm stand up. And this bright light, and the pain in the back of my neck like you wouldn't believe."

Cam's burn is fractals. Like Liz's burn from Max's powers in 1x03. Top is Liz's fresh burn in 1x03, bottom is Cam's not-so-fresh burn in 2x08. Keep in mind, we don't know how long Cam was missing for.

Rosa and Iris at the "art show".

"So you said you're from Roswell?"

"Oh, I was from Roswell. I got out and went to art school as soon as I graduated. I work for an artist now. I help her run her gallery. Yeah, I used to want to be a painter, but then I realized I loved curating art way more than I ever loved making it."

👀 I wonder what this says about Rosa's internal motivation. If Iris is the life she wishes that she had, does she not want to be a painter? Or is that her internal insecurity rearing its head. Like, she can't even dream about that possibility because it's what she really wants above all else. Which is why Iris then motivates her to paint and prove to her inner self that she is an artist?

Speaking of which, here's Rosa's painting from the episode. Mucho gracias to @rosaortecho for giffing it for me since it wasn't cap-able in a single shot.

Iris's assessment of Rosa's art:

"This piece is you outrunning your demons. This is amazing. That's what you have to do. You have to capture them and rattle the cage. This is art. This is what you're meant to do, Rosa!"

Rosa's hallucination starts to fall apart as they dance. She starts coughing and having trouble breathing.

"Your star sign's just out of whack."

Play on lyrics from God of Wine by Third Eye Blind, which was heavily referenced in 1x02.

The direct quote is "your star sign's out of whack" and the next lyric is "a fraudulent zodiac"

Which, of course, is what Rosa had written on her hand before she died in 2008 and is a reference to Ophiuchus, which was Noah's zodiac obsession.

And then Liz finds her overdosing in the cave.

The coughing in Rosa's hallucination was from smoke inhalation. Because while passed out she started a fire with her powers.

Feels like a good time to point out that it's the same cave that she died in back in 2008, and she would have died there again if Liz hadn't found her. 😭

At the hospital Rosa tells Liz that she wants to go to rehab, but she knows she can't since she can't control her powers.

Liz gives her Maria's necklace to borrow since it will suppress her powers and allow her to go to rehab.

Alex and Forrest at the Wild Pony:

"I still have my dad's voice in my head telling me that being seen with a man in public is an embarrassment. To my name and my uniform."

"Well, there's nothing like a dad voice to mess up a perfectly good date."

"It's also just that...I mean, Roswell's so conservative. This bar is filled with cowboys. If you want to go someplace private…"

"Look, I like you. But I don't want to climb into somebody else's closet."

"I cannot tell you how badly I want to be done with this frickin' closet."

"But you're not. And that's okay. Really. Listen, if that voice in your head ever shuts up, give me a call. Because between you and me, making out with a hot guy in public is only made hotter when it pisses off all the bigots and homophobes."

Charlie took off and left a note for Jenna. According to Jenna it says she's gonna disappear again and not to look for her.

Arturo is taking Rosa to a rehab center that Kyle set her up with "a few hours away".

Max tells Liz "let's go home." So… did she move in with him??

Liz says no though. She says she has to open the diner and cry alone. But instead she goes to the secret lab.

Both Max and Liz were evading the truth a little bit here. Liz didn't tell Max that she wanted to go to the secret lab. Max didn't tell Liz that his heart did wonk out after using his powers and he did overdo it going after Cam. Bad Echo!!

Liz goes back to packing the secret lab up initially, but then her eyes fall into the Caulfield folders, and she stops.

She unpacks her stolen equipment (genetic sequencer?), puts on her lab coat, and sits down to start reading the file.

Isobel brings Michael beer as a peace offering, since she's coming to admit that she helped Maria trigger a vision. She thinks Michael will be mad, but he isn't because he and Maria already worked it out.

So Isobel tells him about the vision and seeing Louise, and specifically about Walt giving Louise the windmill.

Michael immediately reacts, goes to a shelf, and grabs a similar windmill.

Turns out Walt is Sanders. He pulls up in his car and Michael immediately confronts Sanders.

"It was you. You're Walt. You're the little boy in the photo. You knew my mother."

And Sanders nods.

10 more points to fandom.

Max goes to Charlie's hotel to confront her about turning herself in to Deep Sky.

The windmill in both scenes. Until I put this together I didn't think they were the same one (because Louise's name isn't on Michael's. But other details (like the word weight on one of the legs) are the same.

"You think Deep Sky needs to have Jenna by the throat to kill her? Okay, the only way that I can protect her is from the inside."

Then the "abduction scene" happens.

It mirrors what happened to Jenna in 2x04, only to Max and Charlie.

MUSIC:

1. Hole "Celebrity Skin"

2. Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real "Die Alone"

3. Shelly Fairchild "Worry No More"

4. Marc Danzeisen "Some Things Last Forever"

5. Joey Sykes "Sign Of The Times"

6. I AM ORFA "Like That Look"

7. Danny Ayer "Set Us Free"

8. Hamish Anderson "Trouble"

9. OMC "How Bizarre"

10. Muscadine Bloodline "Movin' On"

11. Little May "Hide"

#roswell new mexico #details #rnm season 2 #episode details #long post #rnm 208 #say it ain't so

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ocoree · 5 years

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Something I realized that I feel needs to be said.

Hey guys.

I know I've been kinda silent on this front, with the craziness of work, heatwave-sickness, coordinating with local artists to hopefully start up a co-op to finally have some personal studio space to get my butt out of the apartment (yay?) and get some serious headway on projects, and small project concepts being mulled over. But..

There's something on my mind that has been rocketing around my skull and rib cage since I had a random spike of self-reflection during a low-morale swing, and I feel the message it has in itself is really important to share with people, especially folks with young kids. And that message starts with a phrase I uttered at the tender age of four almost three decades ago in the climax of extreme despair and devastation -

"I wish I was never born."

I'm going to need to preface why this statement should be a warning flag, because what happened to me back then has led to probably one of the loneliest and confusing lifespans I've had to contend with in the battle to retain the sense of self from that singular point.

Sure, I started out as your typical toddler; always getting into things, throwing tantrums, discovering how you can interact with the world... not putting your chin on a piping hot pizza cooling rack in your excitement for dinner to be ready... you know... kid things.

That only lasted until I started realizing that I was doing more things wrong in my parent’s eyes, than good. The longer that kept happening, the lower and lousier I was feeling with each failure and resulting discipline/punishment to the point I became extremely anxious on the point of severe panic when I began going to elementary school.

I don't remember what had happened when I said that phrase for the first time, but I remember the most poignant one that started the snowball rolling. My parents were in the garage with some neighbor friends socializing, and I couldn't take the strain of being a failure and disappointment in my parents eyes any further, and said them to my mother.

She laughed.

Reflecting on that moment made me realize that was the point I lost trust in the being that was supposed to be the foundation that supported my becoming my own person, lost the trust in any adult really. If adults laughed at me for crying out to them in desperation when I had no other words to express what I was feeling, ignored me when I curled under a chair hoping that if I held my breath long enough I would simply disappear from existence, who could I trust?

Certainly not my peers. I moved too much to learn how to socialize properly (and long before someone gave me the label of high functioning aspergers because of it) with other people, and had to learn to engage myself in my own head quietly tucked away in my room where I wouldn't disappoint anyone. Moving as part of a military family meant I was nervous, wary, and often resulted in incidents where the principal calling my parents was almost daily. No one saw the warning signs that something was psychologically wrong with me then. Other kids often found a reason to pin the blame on me, so I had to learn to lash out verbally in primal gutteral growls and glaring to keep what was left of 'self' safe.

You know the saying, "It's when kids are silent that you should be worried."?

That wasn't the case for me. Being silent meant I wouldn't be in trouble, would be ignored, under the radar and left to my own imagination that would later fuel my artistic processes.

Coming to Maine in the summer and winter was probably the only time I could escape that reality, and remember what it's like to be a kid again, even if my body was a few years older than I was mentally able to handle at the time. I always looked forward to coming here where I could blast down to the shore to swim from the house when I wanted, go kayaking, and toddle down to the local thrift shop on my own when in the 'city', where my stepmom had her photography studio at the time, and buy a couple bucks of pipecleaners on my own to occupy my time making dragons and other creatures.

That changed when I decided to move up there. My suicidal depression became a tool against me. I was still making mistakes, and not understanding how to fix them, or myself, due to how wildly different and extreme each social situation within the family environment was. I was a workhorse primarily - doing chores and grounds keeping through the day, expected to be up by a certain hour; later becoming the exclusive food supplier/cooker and the convenient in-house mediator to the bipolar rages of one of the parents while being expected to hold a job after I got booted out of my mother’s home again when she was fed up with my damaged psyche. I had to learn many skills a young teen/adult should not have needed to learn just to survive living in that house.

They're useful today, but I feel alienated because of how I had to learn them, and thinking, "These are skills no one else my age has because they likely didn't have to learn to watch faces and body language, anticipate what people are going to do/need, and constantly watch all sides of the immediate area for 'threats' with experience in being socially/psychologically neutral-calm when dealing with antagonizing situations, thus treating everyone around them like a cornered wild animal."

When I was with that family, my suicidal flareups went from, "Oh you're just being dramatic." to "You're just thinking that so you can try to create the most damage possible to me because you’re always out to hurt everyone, but it isn't going to work on me!" Often accompanied with triumphant patronizing glares, when on the flip side I hear from the same mouth about how the sibling took his life because he couldn't take the pain from what his family did to him any longer.

So non-blood relatives can be sympathised for their need to end their lives, but I get ridiculed for it. How many times have I looked at a kitchen knife morbidly wondering how it'd feel? What it'd be like to just flee from the house down the road to that dock I once swam off of and just not come back up? I still flinch away from the knife if someone else holds it and swings it in my direction, and I still pull myself out of it by reminding myself of all the projects I want to do, and my animals that were the only things that were a solid emotional anchor even when they too were threatened to be ripped away from me a few times.

Heck... I almost committed to it one night after a particularly bad row when I was at the end of my wits in what to do, as nothing I did was good enough, nothing I said was the right thing, but I still stopped myself at the edge of the house deck in the torrential downpour shivering in the pitch black while a war raged in my head until my dad came out to stand beside and begged me to come back inside the house.

Why could other people do it and be sympathized, but I be villanized? Dismissed?

It's not something I bring up a lot, even when I vent to my friends about general frustrations and low-morale depressed thoughts to try to tough it out, because I learned that my needs and stresses come last to everyone else. Everyone else comes first, and take priority to every shred of emotion out of me until I have little left for myself to the point sometimes I just sit at the desk in blank torpor unable to bring myself to draw in my favorite means of meditation and self-charging for the next day of demands.

These days, all I feel like I want to do is just sleep.. sleep and maybe.. not wake up at all.. I still feel the inner 'self' yelling at me that there's still things to do, but that voice is not as loud as it used to be, and I'm having to hide away from the world more and more to re-connect with that inner fire to keep it alive.

So.. thank you to all who took the time to read that, and I wish to say it again to parents with children, or anyone who is relation to a child that hears these words -

"I wish I was never born."

- Please... PLEASE... Stop and pay attention. REALLY listen to the delivery.

What transpired to cause those words to be said may be minor in older eyes, but something had to have snapped to cause a CHILD to say words that they should never have reason to say.

I've learned things that have helped me in life since those days, but the price I had to pay for it is not a cost that should be met.

#Please take care of your child #Listen to those with small voices #They may not have much left that's stable in their world #No one should be alone in this fight

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jessi-novel-idea · 5 years

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The Family Business: Chapter Three - Cardboard Jungle

Description: Jax Teller’s sister makes an unexpected return, will she be able to settle back into the life or will it all be too much?

Warnings: language, not really anything too bad (just a little fluff)

Word Count: 2,723

I woke to the obnoxious sound of my alarm and I all I really wanted to do was throw it at the wall and go back to sleep. 6:00am came too damn early. As I rolled out of bed I stretch and began to get ready for my first full day at work. I really hope today isn't just going to be intern shit, I have had too many years of that. It was inevitable though having to start at the bottom and work your way up, but a woman in Charming surrounded by the men in the DA's office was going to be a long journey to the top. I guess you can say I am a competitive person (not surprising given my family tree). In the Teller family you have to be competitive to stay alive, honestly it is just my mother's influence coming out in me, which is truly unfortunate.

As I pulled into the parking lot at work and gathered my bags, I took a deep breath and headed into the courthouse.

When I got inside the guard standing at the metal detector handed me a name badge as I walked through. He was a tall guy, about 6 foot and muscular, with bright blue eyes. "Have a good first day Ms. Teller."

"Thank you, Mr. Miller" I responded taking my name badge and reading his.

"Call me Danny!" He said with a smile

"Well Danny, I'm Jenna, have a great day" I smiled back at him.

As I continued my journey through the courthouse to my office I started getting nervous. What if they don't like me? What if I mess up? Maybe I'm not ready for this? By the time I fought all those thoughts I had reached the door and turned the handle and entered and was immediately greeted by Wes.

"Good morning Miss. Teller, ready to start?"

"I think so..." I said following him to a desk and trying to sound as confident as possible, I am assuming it was mine giving the fact it is in the corner next to the storage room where they filled all old cases.

"Here is you work space, the first thing I want you to work on is familiarizing yourself with the cases this department has had in the last month and any open cases we are working on, that way you can see the work we do here in the Charming DA's office and the way we like to handle our cases and clients. Any questions?"

"Not that I can think of." I responded thinking of how fun this was going to be, while trying not to roll my eyes at him.

The first hour or so went by fast because I began moving the boxes around in the storage room and tried to get it all organized. Just when I got started pulling cases from second box when I heard my phone vibrate on my desk. Looking down at my phone I noticed I had a text from I number I didn’t recognize.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Hey Jen its Op, this is my new burner. I was wondering if we could talk about last night?

Me: I am at work right now Op, but we can talk later if you want to meet after I get off?

Op: Of course…are we still going to storage and furniture shopping?

Me: Yep, if you are still up for it

Op: I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to spend the afternoon with you. How is your first full day anyway?

Me: Boring, I am stuck reading old files. Same shit I did in while I was in school.

Op: I'm sorry love, but I will let you get back to work… I will see you at 5.

Love? That's a new one even for Opie I am usually sweetheart or darlin’.

The rest of the day drug on, they had a welcome lunch with the judges and attorneys in the building to let me meet all of them, which was painfully awkward considering a couple of them knew me and my family for our not so law-abiding ways. No one asked questions though so that was a plus, I don’t like explaining the family business to people in the justice system.

As I walked out to meet Opie in the parking lot I was surrounded by the other people from my office, but I still said a goodbye to Danny and told him to have a goodnight and he returned the statement. I was the only one to acknowledge his presence though, typical. Some people experience a little bit of success and look down upon people who are different.

As soon as I walked outside I saw Opie leaning against his bike in the fire lane. He had his cut on and his beanie, his usual look, but I would never complain, because damn he could pull off that look. He smiled at me as I turned to say goodbye to my co-workers, all of which were staring at him like he was the worst person in the world. So damn judgmental, but they probably only see the cut and they don't understand it. Definitely going to be questions about this tomorrow, questions I plan on dodging, because it isn’t really any of their business.

I was greeted by a big hug and an Opie Winston classic smile. "Hey, you ready to go?"

"Yes, very ready." I replied

"Hop on!" He said patting the seat behind him

"I can't ride in this skirt and these heels, I need to change. Plus, I thought you were going to bring your truck? We can go to my hotel and get my stuff, change and drop my car off and head to get your truck, what do you think?"

"I got caught up at TM and didn't have time to run home to get it. But, that sounds good to me, I follow you to your hotel to make sure you are okay."

All I could do is flash him a smile and turned toward my car so he couldn’t see the blush that appear just by his simple statement to make sure I was okay.

I walked across the lot to my car, put my bags in the backseat and climbed in bringing the engine to life. As I drove to the hotel I couldn't help but let my mind race to what I thought Opie would say about last night. A part of me wanted him to be happy about it and the other part was telling me I am crazy and I need to think about Donna and his kids in this situation. I couldn’t be selfish.

When I pulled into the hotel parking lot Opie sped up to park before me and was getting off his bike and he walked over and opened my door, such a gentleman. We were silent as he followed me up to my room. He finally broke the silence once we got in the room and he shut the door.

"Wow, this is a nice place."

"Yeah, it has served my purpose, but I can't wait to be in my own place tonight." I said walking over to my bag down. I walked over to the dresser and pulled out some clothes to change into. Opie had taken a seat at the end of the bed watching me intently.

I walked over to the bathroom to change. I was so glad to get out of these business clothes.

Opie's POV:

I don't think Jenna knows that I can see her right now in the mirror across from the bathroom, and I know I should say something but I love this view. When she slides her skirt down and steps out of it she is left in a matching lace bra and thong set and DAMN she is still smoking hot. When she bends over again to slide the yoga pants on I realize there is an awkward tightness beginning in my jeans.

Shit…OMG… what am I doing, I am a married man and I love Donna. But this is Jenna it is different, no its not, yes, it is I have loved her since I was 15…I continue this debate until I hear her say something, but I didn't know what she said.

"I'm sorry, what’d you say," I say back in her direction, trying to distract myself.

"You said you wanted to talk about last night? What's on your mind?" She asked coming around the corner. Even though she is just in casual clothes I find myself admiring how the clothes hug her curves.

"Oh...umm yeah I'm sorry about the…umm…kiss" I finally stuttered out.

"Sorry? There is nothing to be sorry about, if anything I should apologize to you" she said giving me a quizzical look.

"I just feel so comfortable with you, I can tell you anything and when you gave me that money and I didn't know how to thank you so I kissed you," I admitted

"I feel comfortable with you too. That thank you was certainly enough," she said giving me a smirk.

"Ready to go drop your car off at your apartment?" I asked assuming she was given she had packed up everything.

"Yeah" she said reaching for her bags, but I beat her to it and grabbed her bags as I followed her down to the lobby.

Jenna's POV:

Once we got to my apartment building, Opie carried my bags up and jokingly picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder and carried me back down to his bike.

"Put me down," I yelled, hitting him lightly on the back.

"Yes, your majesty," he said like a smartass as he put me down. I just playfully nudged him slightly.

I hopped on the back of his bike and hugged tight to him as we drove off to his house to get his truck.

When we pulled in the driveway, Donna was walking outside, she must have heard the bike roar as we made the turn onto his street.

"Hey Donna, how are you?" I asked stepping off the bike.

"Pretty good, glad to see you, you look great," she said hugging me.

"Thanks, where are the kiddos?" I said looking around

"With some friends from school."

"Cool, would you mind if I borrowed Op for a little bit to help me move some boxes into my apartment?"

"That's fine with me," she said kissing Opie on the cheek "Oh and Jenna.... Thank you for the money, it means a lot."

"You are welcome, it’s nothing, just let me know how I can help y'all. You guys are family" I said climbing into the truck with Op. We waved to Donna as we backed out of the driveway.

"Jax is at TM we can go pick him up now." Opie said staring out the windshield.

"Okay, I will give him a call to see if he still wants to go."

"I am sure he will, he needs a break from your mom she is driving him crazy about what to get you for your house and what to get for Abel’s nursery" he said laughing.

"My mom does have a way with driving people crazy,” I said with a laugh “But in all honesty, kitchen stuff would be nice, because I literally have nothing."

"Ok, I will inform Gemma." He said with a smirk.

The rest of the ride to TM was quiet, but that was fine I was enjoying just being in his company.

We picked up Jax and headed to the storage unit. When we got there and opened the door, we saw the stacks of boxes and other junk mom had kept through the years.

Jax grabbed what he needed for Abel and I grabbed the few boxes of stuff I had from before I left. When I had put my last box in the back of Op's truck, Jax came over with a box with our dad's name on it. It appeared to be old pictures and old Harley manuals, nothing I am interested in. Jax however loved it.

We left the storage unit and headed to the furniture store where I quickly found a living room and bedroom set that I loved and bought. I think Jax and Opie were mad that I picked the pieces I did…they kept complaining that I bought the heaviest furniture in the store.

By the time we had finished unloading everything it was 8 o'clock and I bought them dinner at the diner on the corner to thank them. When we finished eating and walked back outside I saw Tara pull up to the curb to get Jax. Didn't know they were getting close again.

"She is taking me to see Abel," he said after looking my way, where I am sure I had quite the facial expression.

I said goodbye to Jax as he drove off with her, wow I still really hate her. After all these years you would have thought I would have gotten over her breaking Jax’s heart, but I guess not. If we are being honest I will probably never get over that.

Opie walked me back to my apartment and I asked him to come up. When we got back into the apartment he walked over and started assembling my bed.

"Hey, you don't have to do that. I am fully capable." I said waving the screwdriver he needed at him.

"Oh, I know you are, but I don't want to leave you yet," he admitted looking up at me, but not making eye contact. I know I turned red because I got butterflies in my stomach at the thought of him wanting to spend more time with me. All I could do was smile and go back to unpacking some boxes.

Another hour went by and Op had the bed put together and put on the sheets and comforter, so sweet. That is when he walked over and grabbed my face and kissed me again. I was stunned.

"What was that for?" I questioned, completely shocked

"It was a goodnight kiss, you deserve it and you look so beautiful and I have been wanting to do that since I saw you walk out of the courthouse earlier."

"Thanks for all your help today, I really appreciate it." I blushed not being able to look him in the eye.

"No problem, I would do anything for you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know" walking over to my bed and sitting down. That was an odd question. Of course I know he would do anything for me.

"Well good. I better go though Donna will have my ass if I am too late getting home. I will talk to you tomorrow. Have a great day at work Jen." he said walking over and giving me another kiss on the forehead

"You to Op, be careful going home."

"Always am, love.” He said with a wink.

I closed the door behind him and changed into my pjs and got ready for bed. When I got settled into bed my phone notified me that I had a message.

Op:I made it home; I had a great time today.

Me:Me too, thanks for all your help.

Op: No problem, sweet dreams :)

Me: Night Opie :)

I typed, "Love you" in a new message to him but quickly deleted it. What was I doing, I can't do that to Donna or his kids. We always want what we can’t have, at least that is what they say.

Well this is the first night in my apartment…all alone, before Opie left he made sure I had a gun in the top drawer of my side table and that my bed faced the door. Things that I would have done anyway considering my upbringing. I am honestly surprised that Jax and him didn't make the prospect come guard the door, until we all got use to me being here on my own. But, I am a big girl I can do this, even though I am a little jumpy anytime I hear a noise.

I checked my alarm one more time before laying my phone on my side table, rolling over and drifting off to sleep.

#sons of anarchy #jax teller #opie winston #soa #fanfiction #sons of anarchy fanfiction #samcro

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mrsjaxtellerfan · 6 years

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Coming Home (Jax x OC) (Chapter2)

Hey guys! Here’s the next chapter! I hope y'all enjoy! Co-written by @lookprettyliveclassyplaydirtyyt! This chapter doesn’t have Jax in it too much, sorry!

Warnings: cussing, nothing else really

Chapter 2:

We pulled up to Opie's house, and he turned his truck off and turned to face me.

“Ariana. I need to know that you’re gonna be okay. That I don’t need to go back and kick Jax’s ass.”

“Opie, you do not need to go back there and kick Jax’s ass. You need to go unlock your front door so we can take this sweet girl,” I say gesturing to a sleeping Sophia, “inside so she can sleep in a bed. And so I can shower. I smell bad Ope.”

“Yes, you do.” He says, joking with me. “Take the keys, I’ll get her.”

“Opie... “ I say, wondering what he’s doing.

“I didn’t get to do this with Kenny and Ellie because I was in lockup in Chino. I just want to one time.”

“Okay.” I say smiling, “I am going to grab the suitcase and go unlock the door.”

I walked inside Opie’s house, an odd sense of familiarity washing over me.

“The bathroom is at the end of the hall, if you want to wear one of my shirts tonight, I can grab you one.” I turned to see him rubbing Sophia’s little back as she drooled a little on him.

“She’s drooling.”

“I don’t mind, must mean I make a good pillow.”

I smile and drop the suitcase by his “guest” room, which I’m assuming is one of his kids rooms. I walk to the bathroom, and turn on the shower. I start to cry, as I take my clothes off, revealing my bruises. He was always careful to make sure that no one would ever see them when I went out in public. I stepped into the shower, the water burning my skin, numbing it. I sat down in the tub, the water burning and cried. I cried because I was hurting, because I didn’t want anyone to know, because Sophia has seen it all, and because Sophia was afraid of Jax. I could tell she trusted Opie when he put himself between us and Jax. The way she clung onto him when she was scared, it was like she knew he would keep her safe. After I had cried out all my tears, I washed my hair and body, being careful to be gentle around my bruises.

Opie knocked and opened the door, I stuck my head out from behind the curtain, “hey, I brought you a shirt, and I found these pink plaid pajama shorts in your suitcase, so I brought them too.”

“Thank you, Opie. You’re really saving my life right now.”

“No problem. Wait. didn’t you need to make a phone call?”

I knew I forgot something. “Yeah, I will when I’m done.”

He walked out of the bathroom and I smiled, maybe I could handle being back in Charming. I finished my shower, and grabbed Opie’s towel, how did I know it was his? Because it was huge! I wiped the steam off the mirror, and looked at myself. I knew he wouldn’t be able to see the bruises, but I would always feel them. I grabbed the shirt he left and my shorts and put them on. I put the towel back where I found it and left the door open to air it out.

“Opie?” I call out, because I can’t find him. I saw Sophia laying in a bed, so I knew she was safe. I called him again as I walked through the house. He had to be here somewhere, I began to circle back, thinking he was in his bedroom and I might have just missed him.

“Ari!” He yells, bounding out of his coat closet, grabbing me around the waist from behind.

“Harry Piermont Winston! What the ACTUAL fuck, you scared me!” I yell at him, looking down at the floor, afraid that I would break down. I can’t, I have to be strong, for Sophia.

“I’m sorry, Ari. We used to do stuff like that when we were kids all the time.” He pulls my chin up, tears threatening to spill over. “I just… I wanted to see you smile okay. And I would’ve let the anticipation build by making you wait longer, but my knees started to hurt, and so did my neck.” I let out a giggle at that and smiled at him.

“Can I make that phone call now?”

“Yeah.” He hands me his phone out of his pocket and I dial my friend Kelsey.

“Um, hello?”

“Hey Kelsey! It’s Ariana, I just wanted to let you know that we might not make it down. The old bug broke down and it’s in the shop. I’m safe, Sophia is safe, I just thought I should call.”

“Girl, I was about to put together a search party, I thought aliens abducted you or something!

“No. No, aliens.”

“Wait, you’re calling from Charming. Don’t you have family there?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, I’m gonna go to bed. I promise I will call you tomorrow.”

“You better, and if you don’t, I am going to call this number back until they block me!”

“Okay, goodnight Kelsey.”

“Night Ari! Give Soph kisses for me!”

I hung up, and looked over at Opie who had an amused grin on his face.

“What?”

“That was the shortest phone conversation I have ever heard between two women.”

“I’m not much of a gossiper, Ope. You would know, we practically lived together growing up.”

“You want a beer?” Opie asked, getting up from his spot on the couch.

I squinted my eyes slightly, remembering how when my ex, who I left in Hershey, would have too much to drink, he would hit me. “No, I’m okay.”

“Okay. I’m gonna go shower now. Remote is on the coffee table, snacks in the cabinets, and if you want some juice, there’s some in the fridge.”

“Thanks Ope.” I say, smiling at him.

“MOMMY!” I rushed into the room where Sophia was sleeping.

“What’s wrong baby?”

“I saw a monster!” Sophia sobs.

“I’ll scare them away then.”

“No. He will hurt you, mommy. I want O-Op-Opie to do it. He’s bigger, and much more scary. He can scare Darren away. Please mommy?” Sophia cried, reaching out to me.

“Ok baby, okay. Wait here.” I sigh getting up and going to find Ope. I knock on the bathroom door before entering, not wanting to catch a peek, although I wouldn’t mind too much, Ope grew up in all the right places. I shake my head trying to rid it of the inappropriate thoughts I was having toward my best friend.

“Need something?” He asks, smirking when sticks his head out from behind the curtain.

“Sophia wants you to scare away the monster that is under the bed, she won’t let me do it because you’re bigger than me, they won’t hurt you. She also would like you to check the closet too, just to make sure.”

“I’ll be right there.” Ope replies, pulling the curtain shut.

I walked back to the bedroom and waited on the bed, with Sophia in my arms, for Opie to come. He did, armed with a spray bottle, some marbles, a flashlight, and a feather.

“Sophia,” he says, getting down on one knee so he could be level with her. “Your mommy says that you’re scared there are monsters under the bed. Well, fear not, I am here, and I will scare them for you. First, I am going to spray this monster repellent around the bed so if they are under there, they can’t come out and get you. Then I am gonna,” he gets down, lifting the bottom of the covers up and shining the light under it, “shine the light, because they don’t like the light.” He gets up and goes over to the closet, shining the light from top to bottom. “I am going to put these marbles here on the floor, this way, they can’t get past them. Lastly,” he turns back to Sophia, “you hold the feather. Because the monsters won’t hurt the one who has the feather.”

“Thanks, Opie. You scared Darren away.” Sophia sighs, reaching out to hug the gentle giant, before curling up under the blanket and going back to sleep, clutching the feather in her hand.

“That was really good Opie.” I say once we are out of the room, I leave the door cracked a bit so I can hear her.

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” He says, yawning.

“If you’re tired, go to bed.”

“I don’t want to, knowing you’re still up, come with me. Nothing will happen, I promise.”

I go, because I am afr- no I’m not, Opie would NEVER hurt me. I go because I want too. Sleep sounds good right now.

“Opie, do you remember when we were kids? Those blanket forts we would make that were too small for all three of us to sleep in, but neither of you guys would tell me to leave?” I question, smiling at him as he stares down at me.

“Yeah, I do.” Opie replies, a grin on his face.

“And how I used to lay on your chest at night when we got older, and we would talk about our futures?”

“Yeah.”

“Opie, I guessed my future wrong, but I still have time to make a new future, for me AND for Sophia.”

“So, you’re saying you want to talk?”

“No, I am saying I want to cuddle like we used to when we were kids. I want to put my head on your chest and listen to your heart beat while I drift off to sleep.”

He sits on the side of his bed, and nods his head. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course Opie, what’s wrong?”

“When you came to me, you said “because you’re bigger and they won’t hurt you.” And when I was done, Sophia mentioned someone named Darren? What did that mean Ari? Did someone hurt you? Hurt her?” Opie asks, I grimace, having hoped he wouldn’t ask about Darren.

I began to lift the shirt I was wearing to reveal the bruises on my chest, abdomen, back, and hips, slightly peeking out from the waistband of my shorts.

“Ari…” Opie trails off pulling me toward him. He wraps me up in a gentle hug, careful not to cause me any more pain than I’m in.

“Opie, I didn’t come here because of him, I wasn’t even coming HERE. I was just driving through.” I said, relishing in the warmth and comfort of his gentle hug, letting out a sigh at the companionship I crave.

“I’m glad you’re here, Ariana. But how do you know this guy didn’t follow you. He beat you this bad, hell he could’ve followed you, or worse, put a tracking device on you. Did he ever do anything like this to Soph?” He asks feeling around my wrists, up my arms, to my shoulders and neck.

“No, she was terrified of him, that’s why she’s terrified of birds, he has this big, black bird tattoo on his back, and whenever he would hurt me, she would see it. One time, she started crying and he told her he would kill her if she didn’t stop, he told her that only babies cry, and that she’s not a baby. What if he tried to hurt her and I was too weak to stop him? What if he hurt my baby? I had to leave, Opie. He can hurt me all he wants, but he isn’t going to hurt my baby. When Jax raised his voice, even though he would never hurt me, she was scared, thinking he was going to do the same.” I cry, burying my face into his chest.

“Oh, Ari. I’m not going to let him hurt you. Jax Isn’t going to let him hurt you. Gemma, fuck, Gemma will kill him and you know it. You guys are safe, I promise.” Opie states, pulling me in a bit tighter, my thighs draped over his leg, my hands wrapped in his hair, my face buried in his neck.

“I love you, Ope.” I cry, breathing in his comforting scent. He pulls me down on top of him, adjusting up so I was on top of him and rubs his fingers through my hair. I could hear his heartbeat, and I began to drift off to sleep.

“I love you too, Ari. I always have, more than you may ever know.” He whispers into her hair, once he knows she’s asleep, small snores escaping.

“Opie.” I whisper, sitting up in bed. He’s not in the room but I can hear small giggles coming from the other room, so I get up and go to find him. He has Sophia in his lap, watching a cartoon and trying to teach her how to catch cereal in her mouth. I laugh watching the two goofballs before joining them on the couch.

“Mommy’s turn!” Sophia squeals, tossing cereal at me.

“Sophia, I hope you ate more than just stray cereal for breakfast.” I say gesturing to the Captain Crunch all over the coffee table.

“Mom! I ate a whole bowl. O made me.”

“Good.” I say before tossing a berry in the air and catching it in my mouth. “O?”

“She has a hard time saying Opie, so I told her she could call me O. And then she was like ‘like the letter?’ And I was like ‘like the letter.’ And then she got all excited, and now we’re here.” He said, grinning like a fool

“You know she’s playing you right? She knows how to pronounce Opie, she was doing it just fine last night.” I say with a giggle, tickling her tummy.

“Mom! It’s my nickname for him so hush!” Sophia replies, giggling.

“So it’s a special nickname that only you can call him? I remember those, don’t you, Pie-boy?” I grin.

“You bet I do, Ace-Face.” He replies, winking at me.

“Oh, god, never speak of that nickname again.”

“Those were the days, babe. Running around, that time you stole a car, and then blamed it on Jax. When we almost made out at you senior prom because your date bailed, but you decided to give everyone else alcohol poisoning instead.”

“You wanna go there? Okay. One time you stole a bottle of vodka from Piney, and then stashed it until our weekly weekend slumber party, only to get us busted by Gemma because you couldn’t hold strong liquor, and it wasn’t the food. That one time when you pulled Jax’s pants down in front of the ENTIRE school and he wasn’t wearing underwear. And that time at the talent show, Opie.”

“Okay! Don’t go there! Not in front of the kid!” Opie gasps, throwing a hand over my mouth.

I nip a little bit at his hand, “That’s what I thought!” I grin triumphantly after he pulls his hand away.

“Mommy, what happened at the talent show?” Sophia asks, confused, causing Opie and I to bust out laughing.

“Ask me in 20 years, sweet pea.” Opie replies, ruffling her hair.

“I don’t know if she’ll be ready in 20 years, Ope.” I laughed.

“You’re probably right!” Opie grins.

“Mommy? What’s that on your leg?” I looked down, and the scar that Darren gave me, that wraps around my hip up under my right shoulder blade, was showing. I pulled my shorts down over it.

“It’s nothing, baby, just a booboo, I’ll be okay.”

“Do you want me to kiss it for you mommy, like you do for me? O, kiss her booboo like you did my finger! It’ll make it all better, mommy I promise!” Opie grins at me while I let a snort of laughter escape.

“Baby, it doesn’t need to be kissed. What happened to your finger?”

“But you said it’s a booboo mommy, you kiss my booboos, why can’t O kiss your booboo? It’ll make it better, mine always get better mommy.”

“Opie, don’t we have to go check on the car today? Maybe we can get outta here sooner?” I question changing the subject.

“Get outta here? Leave? Mommy we can’t leave, who’s gonna scare Darren away at night? He’s too big, He’ll hurt you, you can’t get hurt anymore, Mommy.” Sophia says, bawling and leaning into me from Opie’s lap.

“Baby, we aren’t leaving for good, just going to see if the car is done.” I comfort her

“Mommy, why can’t we get our other car?”

“Because… Darren would find us, and we don’t want that. It’ll be okay. As soon as things calm down, we can get a new car baby.” I soothe, sending a sorry glance at Ope for having to hear this.

He smiles back at me, “go get dressed, I’ll drive you, we can get ice cream after, sound good Sophia?” Opie asked her, looking up at me to make sure it was okay.

“What do you say, Soph? Does that sound like fun?” I question, wiping the remaining tears from her little red face.

“Are we going to see the scary man from yesterday? He was so mad at you, Mommy. I thought he was going to hurt you.” She asks curiously.

“I don’t know baby. If he is there, just stay near Opie or Juice. Can you do that? But baby, I want you to know he would never hurt me or you. He is Mommy’s friend. It has just been a long time since he’s seen me, and I didn’t say goodbye when I left.”

“Mommy! We always say goodbye when we leave!” Sophia scolds.

“I know baby, but he was gone when I left, and sometimes, we don’t always get to say goodbye. You remember that vacation that Scoopy took? The hamster? We didn’t get to say goodbye to him, but he knew we loved him, and he knew that we were sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye. He’s not mad at us, and neither was mommy’s friend. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, mommy I understand.”

“Okay.” I stand up from my spot on the couch and hold my hand out to her. “Let's go get some clean clothes on, and we can go.”

“Are gonna see that guy with the weird hands again? He’s a little scary, mommy.”

“He works there, sweet girl. But I’m sure Opie can keep him away if you want.”

“He could teach her rhymes!” Opie yells after us.

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#Jax Teller #jax x oc #opie winston #opie x oc #gemma teller #soa chibs #happy soa #bobby soa #soa gemma

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aitian · 4 years

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Sun 2/28 3:06am

watched a lot of crime shows lately. good girls, ginny & georgia, those kinds of crimes that happen in nice places, done by nice ppl. or like, suburban dystopia & rats on the countertops.

up late last night watching tv- been really good & sleeping early for the last two weeks, waking up early too. but i woke up around 1pm today with plans to go do something, anything, with mom, hang out somewhere or smth. last weekend we went to altoona with dad too, & walked around the mall & ate kfc in the car before driving back. mom got a call from alice & sat on my bed with me, & we talked abt her residency match stuff & whatever. idk i think i was saying smth silly, maybe abt altoona last week, & felt like we were abt to end the call, & mom said she needed to tell us smth important. & she told us that grandma passed away last week, on wednesday. she died in the morning, & it snowed for the first time in a while that day in luoyang. its a good sign, peaceful passing. i started crying, & i heard moms voice start to break, & on the phone alice’s face begin to turn red. just like tears leaking out of my eyes, i didnt even feel the squeezing or any of the feelings in my head before i began crying. i guess its just one of those things that happens on its own. in my head i was thinking abt how i didnt think i would cry at this news, or actually thats wrong, of course i would. maybe it was just unexpected how easy & tender my body was to those words, & smth slow moving so far away, its aftermath, & the quietness of the ceremony i have never been a part of & always been a part of. i didnt know grandma well. i have a vague memory of being kind of mean and childish during the longest time we were together, around 2007 or 2008. and again, feeling so lost in 2018 seeing her and grandpa so old, feeling their days go by with difficulty. it always felt like the numbness of separation would shield me from tears like these. sociopath immigrant kids with no past, no access or interest in those things that hold us down. relieved thats not me. im not stupid enough to think that theres some sort of genealogical magic or fetish teaching that will set me free. its all here though, with nuance, in the moments that im living. that feels big, & free, & scary too. im thinking abt the clouds moving through the sky today. rly existential sometimes these days, sudden panic & the like, mostly thinking abt mom not being here someday. that hurts so bad.

after the call we hugged, & i cried more, & mom talked about how those great people, the greats, wei da de ren, were by her side. & things about how those days when it was the six of them, mom, two uncles, grandma, grandpa, & great grandma, all living in one house, she always felt, even at the time, that those were the happiest days of her life. it means a lot for a small family to be under one roof. (& earlier on the call, it means a lot for a person to take care of themself. i felt sad, or almost a bit irritated when mom said that on the call, that its a lesson we should learn from grandma that its important to take care of ourselves, as if there is a moral to smth like this, or smth so simple to gain, & i know its bc she wanted to be someone who could say that to her kids in a moment like this, & she feels the same way as i do, & even more, abt the vastness of this moment.) when mom told dad on thursday he cried, & then said some stupid shit abt how they shouldnt have stayed. she didnt tell alice on the phone but she told me. when would dad ever offer a comforting word? he has been so shitty & annoying these past few days, bickering & teasing & doing things to make mom angry like any other time. we also talked abt some stupid stuff like how xiao yu ah yi made yuan xiao in jiu niang, some meat & some black sesame all together, with diced carrot & corn in the soup that mom & dad tried to eat for breakfast. we ended up leaving the house around 3 after eating some breakfast.

mom drove to the golf course by waffle shop, & we got out of the car on that path that leads to the IST bridge. talked abt how golf is so dumb & we just wanted to walk on their field. went a little down the path until it met the road, & walked down the road for a bit. mom said she didnt want to retrace our steps so i said we could just take a circle and walk on the grass. there was still a lot of snow, around 4 inches where it was deep but the tops of the hills were bare. took some photos. mom smiled really natural & pretty, like i dont see her doing well when posing, & she thought so too. we ran a little bit, & stopped after we got to the top of a hill. i was looking at the sky, really blue & sunny & mostly filled with white clouds, blowing by. they were moving fast & steady, like that memory i have of feeling them go by. so wonderful. i felt the ground beneath my feet in that moment, like an animal standing on a hill, born from thos big breathing thing, moving as a small & big part of it, it moving as a vast part of me, above & below me. it means so much that these moments we spend together . just that. we made our way back to the car & decided to go to home goods. we poked around & looked at stuff, & by the time we got to the furniture half of the store i felt kinda tired so we found an ottoman to sit on. & we were talking abt the texture of the fabrics on the chairs & stuff, & decided to just go to loves (where wolfs furniture went out of business, advertising a total liquidation sale recently) & look at sofas. im laying on it right now. we sat on everything downstairs, then sat on stuff upstairs. & we sat on the one before this & mom was like, this could be the one, & i said we shoould keep looking, & mom sat on this one, & mom said this is the one. & she called a sales associate over & he asked what her question was, & she said she didnt really have one. she wanted to buy this sofa. also, whats the final price? the tag said smth like 2000 as the discounted price, & the guy said 1400. & mom said we/ll take it, & we did. mom got shoe covers from amys mom for when the movers came, & we moved the old sofa out of the way into the guest room (dad took the door off & we tilted in every direction). then i played some genshin co-op with sherry in my room & we called & chatted abt stuff while the moving happened. it got quiet after moving & my phone ran out of battery & i went downstairs & we ate hot pot. new couch. life. i think im going to sleep here tonight. it smells like new couch, & i think i liked this smell on our old couch but it just smells kinda smelly to me now. feels like when we travel, or moved houses, or something like that. the feeling that life is changing a lot, or we are making changes, moving about, being changed, becoming changed.

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ricardotomasz · 4 years

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Such is life! Behold, a new Post published on Greater And Grander about The Dancing Rabbit: Kim Delgado

See into my soul, as a new Post has been published on http://greaterandgrander.com/2020/11/the-dancing-rabbit-kim-delgado/

The Dancing Rabbit: Kim Delgado

Kim Delgado has worn many hats in the entertainment industry which include: Writer, Director, Actor, Marketing Consultant, and Branding Creative Director. He has also taught screenwriting and acting as well as coaching actors for over twenty years.

Why did you get into the entertainment industry?

I enjoyed the theater and felt great joy in my early elementary and high school performances. After playing the role of Peter Pan in the 5th grade I knew I wanted to be an actor. At 12 1/2 I got a scholarship at PAF PLAYHOUSE in Huntington Long Island. I soon became an Equity Apprentice at the theater. I then got cast in the play "The Miracle Worker". My mom was an ardent lover of the arts and sent me to take some classes at the Performing Arts Foundation (PAF). Which was the only Equity theater on Long Island at the time.

What were your goals when you started?

I wanted to work as an actor and in the back of my mind, I thought maybe I would write plays and films one day. In the future, I am interested in expressing myself through the medium of media with topics that include social issues, current events, Bi-Op's, historical, and documentary style entertainment venues.

Did you go to film school?

No. I went to a performing arts BFA program. And went on to get practical experience working in the industry. I would recommend people who want to get into the entertainment industry to go to a film school or industry-related program that gives them the technical knowledge they will need to procure paying work. Learning things along the way takes longer and sometimes miss critical pieces of the puzzle.

Do you feel that you got the education you wanted from your time in school? Do you think you would have been better off going someplace else or simply just diving right into the industry?

I graduated from high school a year early at 16. I was working as an apprentice at (PAF) and was spotted by a talent scout for Trinity Square Repertory Company and went on tour before I even graduated from high school. I was rehearsing "Brother To Dragons' in Philadelphia and shuttling back and forth to Long Island to take my finals and graduate high school. I auditioned for Julliard, North Western, and Purchase. They auditioned me and all said to come back in a year. They did not want a 16-year-old to start their programs. Their policy was for a freshman to be at least 18 in their freshman year. I decided to go to the Davis Center in NYC. The Lenord Davis Center was a part of The City College Of New York. Since it was in New York City, I had access to all of New York Theater. I had a part time job working for the Golub Brothers and they controlled all the concessions on Broadway and Lincoln Center. I got to see every Show in NYC many times. It was heaven. If I had not been in NYC, I would not have access to industry or had the meteoric start to my career.

What advice would you give to a prospective student who is applying to film school?

Do your research. Try and figure out what you like in course materials and find the best fit for your mindset. Go on the internet and look up the teachers at various schools and find the review students give them. Read the "Hollywood Reporter", "Variety", and industry periodicals, looking at what kind of projects and jobs are available so you can gauge what skill sets you will need when you start looking for an industry job.

What did you do after school? Did you have trouble finding work when you first got out?

I was blessed. In my Senior year, I knew that school would be ending and my parents would no longer be footing the college bills. I took a course at Ben Collier's commercial and industry seminar. I then went on to freelance with multiple agents and got a national commercial, and booked "To Kill A Cop" which was a two-part four-hour NBC special. I took the first semester off and then doubled up my last semester. I graduated Cum Lude and got cast in a starring role in the feature film "Boardwalk" with Lee Strasberg, Ruth Gordon, Janet Lee, Eli Wallach, and Joe Silver. I literally graduated from college and got booked starring opposite the greatest acting teacher on the planet. Talk about a dream scenario this was an amazing start to my professional career.

What difficulties (if any) did you encounter in Hollywood?

When I first started out there were very few black roles outside of muggers, robbers and bad guys. I did a fair share of roles where I was being killed, getting arrested, or playing other unsavory roles. I studied Shakespeare and I was playing street thugs. You also run into scams. Bad photographers, for-pay casting calls, agents who held your money for months, and unscrupulous managers trying to take triple commissions. The industry showed me the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What did you do for a day job while looking for showbiz work?

My day Job in NY was background work. I specialized in commercial background work. The pay was great and in those days upgrades to principal happened a lot. While I was studying karate and auditioning for acting work I did work as a bouncer for the super hot club Paradise Garage. I also worked as a casting director for Group Seven Productions. After I moved to California I didn't do background or have a regular job for over 30 years.

Do you ever work for free or on spec now? And if so, how do you choose when to work on those terms?

I am so busy trying to get my own films and tv projects set up that there is no time to work on a spec. I recently took on a position as North American Development Director for Globalflix. My mandate is to find cross-pollination projects for Europe/Africa/South America and American storylines. Add that to the script doctoring jobs and mentoring of new writers and actors there is no time for freebies. I am juggling so many film and tv projects that I have written and developed that I can't write, act, or produce for free. If the right opportunity came up for materials that gob-smacked me I "might" consider working on it.

What are you currently working on, and how did you arrive here?

I have four features an animation series and a live-action series among 20 or so written projects that I am going out with through my agent and other contacts. You start at the beginning. I wrote my first project back in 1989. I have had over 12 options on the project and made over 100k in options but it has not been made. I am still shopping this feature project. It took me ten years to sell my first screenplay which was a co-written project. "Taken In Broad Day Light" went on to be the 3rd highest rated movie in Lifetime history and was sold to over 100 countries.

My latest project SK8HARD started as an animation idea. I was persuaded by a friend to write it into a live-action feature film. After several years of not getting any action on selling the script, I met a woman who wrote and produced comic books. So I decided to make my SK8HARD screenplay into comic books. Because I created my own Intellectual property, I now had enough new artwork to make an animation pitch bible and am shopping the project once again as an animated series. My agent just got interest from Netflix. So the circle is complete. I started with animation, went to live-action feature, then to comic book form and now back to animation.

What are the biggest mistakes a person can make when they first start working in the industry?

Writing is re-writing.

Acting is a technique, producing is knowing how to collaborate and delegate.

These are skills that take time to develop. The biggest mistake an artist can do is to not be ready when they get their shot. Lynn Manuel Miranda took seven years to get Hamilton on Broadway. He did not want to waste "his shot".

Prepare, study, and read about your craft. Network and meet other professionals.

Go to the theater, movies, and concerts.

Speak with working professionals and read periodicals and trades. It's your career so treat it like a profession and put the time and work into it.

What’s the biggest thing you depend on, on set?

As I said before making projects are a collaborative effort and you need everything to work like a smoothly oiled machine.

As a producer, my key crew members. The director for vision, my line producer to keep the project on time and on budget, and of course the actors and crew to deliver the best they have every day.

Did someone ever try to take advantage of your inexperience in Hollywood?

Hollywood is a backstabbing snake. all manner of liars, hooligans, gangsters, and perverts are attracted to the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry will chew you up and spit you out. Taking advantage of inexperience in Hollywood is part of the industry landscape.

People have tried to put their name on my scripts as co-writers, given me faulty contracts, tried to get me to sign away my script or life rights for peanuts. I have been routinely told that I'm really an actor so I wouldn't know about certain technical aspects of the industry. As a person of color, there is also a lot of racism.

I come from a cultured background. My father was a hematologist and my mother was a nurse practitioner/psychotherapist. We are an educated family. Besides writing stories about people of color, I write white and Jewish stories as I grew up in Huntington Long Island. There were no black kids in my school until 7th grade and then very few. I've been to at least 15 bat mitzvahs and 10 seders.

But industry people are surprised when they read my Alan Bell Environmental script or my Barry Levin TV series with Jewish protagonists. People have stared me directly in my face holding the script with my name on it and ask me "DID YOU REALLY WRITE THIS"? They just can't believe a black man wrote with such clarity about the Jewish experience.

Of course, it's okay for Stephen Spielberg to direct "The Color Purple". Or Johnny Depp to play a Native American in the "Lone Ranger", but whoa be it for a black man to write about another race other than his own. Hollywood is two-faced.

Did you ever pay for a program that promised big results to help further your career, but it never delivered?

Hollywood preys on desperate people. If it sounds too good to be true then you know it's too good to be true! There are plenty of producer workshops, networking parties, and parasitic online podcasts and blogs that people pay for in hopes of finding the holy grail of entrance into the entertainment industry. There is no holy grail just hard work and luck.

Yes, I have paid my hard-earned money to scammers that could really do nothing to move my projects forward.

I would advise producers, writers and other industry-related professionals to not spend a red-blooded cent if there is no clear cut definite outcome that can be defined and put in a contract. Someone trying to get your project set up, or trying to get you to finance or trying to get you an agent or meeting is BS.

Mortgage brokers get paid when they close a loan, agents get paid after they get you a gig. Paying upfront 99% of the time will net you no guaranteed results.

Did you ever come across a project or a person that looked promising, and then the whole thing blew up in your face?

Sigh... There a lot of Users in Hollywood.

I met a woman on LinkedIn and we met for lunch, (I admit she was beautiful).

We talked about some of my projects and she told me an idea/logline she had for a film. I was intrigued by the idea. Now an idea is just that. It's not a treatment, or a script. There are no character arcs, hooks, payoffs, witty dialogue, or plot intertwining with theme. It's just a general idea.

Over a few weeks I came up with a beginning, middle, and ending. Protagonists and Antagonists. Hooks and pay-offs. I shaped the idea into as story. There was no way I was going to teach her how to write, pay her half of a sale, get her into the WGA union and have her tell me what to write for free! I balked.

I came up with the whole story and a new title. Why would I write this for her and not own the material? She was unrealistic and I moved on as fast as i could. she was the type that would sue if I wrote and sold the script claiming it was "her idea" even know she only had a logline of an idea.

Were there any telling signs?

When I told her I would write it she said that she would need to write it with me and that she needed control to shop the project. Of course she had no money to pay me and had never written a script before.

Were you ever put in a position where you were asked to compromise your moral integrity?

I've been asked to keep quite on some issues but so far my moral integrity is in tact. Women in the industry have a much tougher time navigating the predatory sharks that are seeking their pound of flesh. Desperation breeds contempt and those who do the preying like Harvey Weinstein know that that they can destroy a career with a few unflattering words. People are afraid of these moguls and their power.

Did you ever embarrass yourself in front of a celebrity?

No. but I've embarrassed by celebrities. Paul Reiser worked out in a gym I frequented. We were all working out and he told a few jokes. I made a joke and he said to me "I make the jokes". The group went silent.

Another time I was working at the Mark Taper Forum and I had been asked to understudy the role of another character because one of the actors would be gone for a week shooting a movie. I jumped at the chance to work with one of my childhood heroes. I worked on the role as if I were actually going to do it. When we rehearsed, the star had not prepared and did not take rehearsing with me seriously. But I was using all my method acting training with facial twitches, sense memories, as if techniques and all my bag of tricks. He got so mad that I was showing him up he stopped the scene and started clapping and saying "Kim Delgado is giving us an acting lesson BRAVO!" He clapped for like 20 seconds but it felt like an eternity. It was 10am. The director called lunch and we never rehearsed that scene again. Talk about being embarrassed. My balls were sucked up into my throat and my gut felt like it was going to explode. I hadn't done anything but try and do good work with my idol. He didn't want to be bothered and eviscerated me in front of the entire cast. I did not say anything. He was a star. The show was a hit and extended. I got paid. Next!

Did you ever meet someone casually at a club that wound up leading to a great job or a major step in your career?

I met a line producer at a party in LA. He was going to be working on a project in NY and thought I would be perfect to play a role in a TV MOVIE. I gave him a picture and resume (I always carried P&R's in my car) and 4-5 months later he called me to have my agent submit to Judith Weiner the casting director. I didn't even have to audition. I looked like the character I was to play in the movie. I booked "Badge of the Assasin" playing Waverly Jones with stars James Woods and Yaphet Koto. As a bonus I was in the same production as my dear friend David Harris who starred in the movie "The Warriors".

What motto do you try to live your life by?

I have two. At Seido Karate our grand master Kaicho Tadashi Nakumura would give weekly meditation lectures. One of my favorites was "Yanna Karobi Yaoki". Which means to fall down 7 times and rise again on the 8th. As an artist failure is a recurring theme. Fredrick Douglas said "Without Struggle there is no progress". Learning from your failures can be very valuable lessons. So get up off the canvas and live to fight for your art again.

Part of getting my Black Belt in Seido Karate included writing a 20 page thesis. In that thesis I create my own motto "Direction Determination Discipline"

Direction: You must have a plan or a map for your success. It can be changed or modified but you need the structure so you don't find your self going in circles.

Determination: Nothing is easy, nothing is free. You must sacrifice something in order to move forward with your goals. Pehaps you skip the partys to cresate a new script, or eshrew romance to concentrate on editing, or give up coffe and sugar to keep your iritation levels or weight down. There will be sacrifice.

Discipline: It takes a thousand punches to get one perfect. Work your craft. A dancer must practice a thousand pleaes, a writer rewrites a scene 50 tines, a director shoots test shoots and shorts, try out new equipment, become an expert at what you do. It will take time and energy but the rewards can be great.

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realsamcalloway · 7 years

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2/22/17 - Interview With Musician Brody Dalle “Style Evolution From AUS to The USA” (www.regardingstyle.com)

Originally posted February 22, 2017 and appearing on www.regardingstyle.com.

A Conversation with Brody Dalle, Regarding Style (And More)

By Sam Bone

The indie/punk rock/alternative music scene has been a desolate, lonely lull since 2014. It’s been nearly three whole years since fans of Brody Dalle’s haunting-yet-dangerous growl and lyrical prowess have heard anything new. If you’re a genuine fan of Brody’s (which I have no shame in admitting that I adore her immensely and forever!), then you’re probably one of the 300,000+ people who follow or “Like” her social media posts. It is from within this social media sphere, where fans grasp onto every tweet, photo and post in general, in hopes of a tour announcement or a Beyoncé-inspired surprise album drop.

This question has been an ongoing one for Brody Dalle since she and her (former) band of misfits, The Distillers, hit the punk scene in the late 90’s/beginning of 2000. The Distillers self-titled album was single-handedly the anthem record equivalent of ammunition of that time, and every record Brody has since released has only added as kindling to that raging fire. Back then during the “debut era,” fans of Dalle were in high school (or just out) and most of those fans have grown up right alongside with her. It didn’t matter what was happening, either.

Fans of Brody Dalle don’t “mess” around, and have stayed with her through it all, the good times and the bad. #Punx4Ever, right?

Since the debut in 2000, Brody released two more records under The Distillers moniker, Sing Sing Death House (2002), and Coral Fang (2003), followed by her Spinnerette project which saw the release of an album with the same name in 2009. Most recently, die-hard fans rejoiced when Brody flew solo with the powerful and equally as memorable Diploid Love (2014).

In January of this year the stage was set for me to interview Brody and in an attempt to tackle something she has never spoken about publically; her personal style and fashion sense. I know I’ve always been pretty curious about this subject, so I’m willing to bet that other fans share my feels.

Being a badass punk poster girl, plastered on the walls of both guys and gals the world over (her fans expand across both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans), Brody Dalle’s sense of style has a direct correlation to ethical fashion in that punk style requires a love of thrift store shopping. Tattered and torn hand-me-downs are always in high demand no matter what rock subgenre you identify.

Without further ado, here is our 2017 conversation with Brody Dalle, Regarding Style.

Hey there, Brody! I’d like to start off slightly unconventional by asking what’s got you angry lately?

The insanity right now-- the attitude and the words that come out of the Orange-Faced thing. Pence. Speaker Ryan and Bannon. He's terrifying and completely delusional and represents the Christian alt-right. Fuck all of them; their gross incompetence and their being unqualified, arrogant fucks. The lying, the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia and the unfairness of it all. The (Russian) hacking. The lack of people being held accountable. It's disgusting, embarrassing and horrifying. The hypocrisy of banning Muslims from entering the United States when this country was founded on freedom of religious beliefs.

It's baffling really. By the way, it’s only been a week.

I don’t want to get too into that here, because it’d be unending, but I will just say three words: I feel you. How are you, otherwise? How is your family? Congratulations on the birth of your newest son, Wolf!

Thank you so much! My family is wonderful! My son Wolf is a sunbeam rainbow baby, sweetest little munchkin ever. As far as myself, I'm doing better-- Going from 2 to 3 kids was a massive adjustment. Wolf is about to be one, and it's taken me about a year to get back on my feet. It's been a bit wobbly trying to balance the kids with no sleep, having to breastfeed, and issues with my health (rheumatic fever with chronic pain). Also balancing my husband’s schedule, kids school schedule, and then our family… friends… just our lives, in general… all while trying to balance my own personal life and get back to creating. Just started in the studio a couple of days a week.

How do we do it all though?! I asked my mum if life has gotten crazier and she said yes… life used to be much simpler, slower, and we didn't always have to be “on” and available.

I feel as though technology has much to do with society’s rapid pace, also that “rat race” you once spoke of is real. The struggle is real. Since the Distillers all the way through now, your style has influenced a lot of people, both girls and guys. Where did your sense of style develop? What are your earliest memories?

I guess it all started with the punks in Melbourne. I made a book for my mum when I was about 6 years old; it was of punks walking down the street whistling and girls doing handstands. I asked her why she thought I drew punks in the book with the mohawks and she had no idea, but suggested maybe I'd seen them on the street. Perhaps it was a prophecy ha!

I was in a movie about teenage delinquents called "Hard Knocks" when I was a baby, but I doubt I would have remembered it as I was 8 months old at the time. Right after that I went to see Cyndi Lauper at the Tennis Center, and Madonna was all over the TV and in the magazines-- I remember spending every waking hour putting those records on and dancing for hours in the living room with a black beauty mark drawn above my lip with my mum’s eyeliner.

My mum collected Vogue magazine, and I remember perusing though the 80’s ones and noticing all of the different angles, the neon colors and all of the multicolored make up. I sewed a pair of pants at my grandmother’s house once, but when I put them on they fell apart and I was discouraged with fashion after that.

I remember wanting certain things, the first thing I ever wanted, as far as fashion, was a purple feather in my hair for school photos when I was 5 years old. After that, it was a pale pink pair of sneakers at the tennis shop my dad would go to on the weekends… I begged him for months to buy them for me, and finally he acquiesced.

My first pair of Chuck Taylors were red and I got them when I was 8. My parents didn't have much money, so we shopped at Target for clothing which was the equivalent of Cole’s today, which I'm sure is way cooler than Target was back then. But it was mortifying, and I was teased mercilessly. Doc Martins were all the rage but they cost about $100 which, of course, my parents laughed at. So I ended up getting fake Docs… a mean girl at school made me lift up the bottom of my Docs and then ridiculed and teased me in front of the other mean girls, and well, that was that.

My Uncle Frazer gave me my first guitar and also my first surfboard; a Strapper Thruster with a giant red sun on it. I went through a surfer girl phase and got an undercut and wore giant rusty t-shirts and surfer boots and brands. I longed to be a pro surfer but there are no waves in Melbourne, the best waves were at least an hour away. Plus, I was pale as a ghost and I looked nothing like the tanned bleached blonde beach girls. I gave up surfing after being tossed around like a rag doll in 20 foot waves in Coffs Harbour, I thought “This really isn’t for me anymore" as I did full cartwheels underwater for a minute at a time.

One of the first records I ever bought was Mothers Milk by RHCP. When I was 12 and on my way to Vaucluse Catholic Girls college in Richmond, the RHCP got on our tram. They walked right up to me and talked with me for 5 minutes before getting off a few stops later… so weird to think about that, cut to The Distillers opening for them in German stadiums 12 years later. They actually remembered our encounter. Fucking weird mate.

I hated everyone and everything after that-- I got into Nirvana, Hole, Mudhoney, and Sonic Youth, and then I started going to All-Ages shows in

Melbourne. The bands I loved the most were The Meanies, Tumbleweed and the Hard-Ons.

Then, flares and ripped band t-shirts were the fash. Eventually I started working at Friends of the Earth when I was a 12-year-old hippy/anarchist. That was a Co-op that my parents shopped at. I bought my first item of clothing with the money I had earned; vintage orange and brown flares, which I wore to death to every Tumbleweed and Meanies All-Ages shows I ever attended in Melbourne.

Then it evolved to Dead Kennedys and Kyuss t-shirts. That's right, Kyuss... they were my favorite band. I also wore Levi's jeans, one pair at a time until there was NOTHING left!

After that, thanks to Courtney Love, it was 1940's tea dresses, nighties, and ripped fishnets worn with shitty, op-shop high heels and Chuck Taylors.

After that, I got into Discharge, The Exploited, Cock Sparrer, Oi Polloi and Last Resort. I got beat up by two street girls in the city wearing Bon Jovi t-shirts, and they fractured my arm... I was so pissed I shaved my head the next day into a Chelsea haircut and I dyed it blue. Also by now I could afford to buy real vintage stuff with the money I made from my jobs, and I also bought my own Docs and any op-shop find, especially plaid mini-skirts.

So my look was Courtney Love meets Skinhead. A lot of tops had to have the “Courtney Love white collar.” Then when I was 17 years old I saw “Betty Blue” (the film), and that changed everything-- I wanted black hair in a choppy bob. Black hair became my favorite thing! I got into do wop music and started cleaning up my look; black hair, up in a high ponytail with long side burns and big hoop earrings, Revlon Color Stay in Berry Red, black liquid eyeliner and Creepers-- plaid Creepers. Mini-skirts. Bomber jackets.

By this point I was in L.A., so I was being influenced by so much in Los Angeles and also New York, mainly trash and vaudeville. I was hanging around a lot of older, cooler punk chicks. My friend Tomomi made mohair sweaters.

I started cutting up my t-shirts after I'd seen a girl on the street with her t-shirt cut into tassels-- I didn't know that was an option and it changed the game. I became obsessed with, wore and collected Polly of California heels. I also discovered trashy lingerie and agent provocateur. I admired Vivienne Westwood. My friend Evelyn had a shoe store called Diavolina and I became obsessed with shoes.

I met Agatha Blois, who made most of my pants that I wore on stage… another game changer. Rosalyn Mazzola (“Casper Rose,” for you diehards out there) had these naturally occurring dark circles under her eyes and I loved the way it looked so I recreated it by using MAC's color 'texture', which is still my favorite for smoky eyes.

Right before we made Sing Sing Death House I met Rosalyn, and I fell in love. She was so beautiful and androgynous-looking, like jaw-dropping beautiful… I felt so ugly next to her. God I loved her so much. We kind of morphed into each other for a while although her thing was more gutter than mine. We dressed like dirty squatter boys and put our eyebrows on with black sharpie, it lasted for a week sometimes longer. I look back at old photos of us and think we looked pretty scummy but we weren’t, I swear! I’m a very hygienic person, my favorite smell back then was this raspberry body spray that smelt more like cotton candy. They stopped making it of course, they stop making everything that’s awesome. I had my managers hunt down the last box in America. I wear mostly vanilla these days. The way you smell, your scent, is as important and memorable as your clothes.

I will add this- my style icons in the past have been Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Lydia Lunch, the Misfits, Beatrice Dalle in “Betty Blue,” Discharge, The Exploited, Sex Pistols, DEBBIE HARRY ❤️, Vivienne Westwood, Oi, Agatha Blois, other punk girls.

Thank you for sharing all of those memories. I remember first hearing The Distillers on a sampler… I think it was one of those oi, garage punk compilations. Anyway, it had the rough cut of LA Girl on it, from the Oldscratch EP. It was of course this audio that lead me to visual curiosity so I checked out the band, and I remember the days of Rose and recall that she was very street punk, which obviously appealed to me. Moving on, do you have a vault of super-secret punk rock DIY designers that custom-make your garments? Who/what are some brands and designers that you respect?

Ha! I used to when I was touring more! I'm not much of a “fashionista.” I'm lucky to know and have some very talented friends who happen to be incredible clothing makers and designers. I'm not really too into brand names per se, it's more that I know what I like when I see it, or I’ll get inspired by something old and remake it. I did have a love for Vivienne Westwood, in fact my look in The Distillers was really a mash-up of Vivienne Westwood, Agatha Blois, t-shirts scoured from Goodwill, "wife beaters" from Target, Polly of California, trashy lingerie, vintage coats, various jeans, Submission, Very Bad Horse, spray-painted hooker boots from Hollywood Blvd, Agent Provocateur, very sick and cool shit from Japan and my old friend Tomomi (Fukuda) has a store called Camden Lock. I love Agatha Blois as a friend, and her designs had a big impact on me, she and I worked really well together. Ligia Morris made a badass jumpsuit and some stage clothes for Reading and Leeds festivals in 2004. Corey Parks makes the meanest leather jackets and pants ever. I love Hedy Slimanes, and obviously his influence made that company (Yves Saint Laurent, YSL) what it is today. Punk is Hedy's staple diet I think, not sure where YSL is headed now.

When it comes down to it, it's not the label, it's what I like in the moment.

That’s great, and it’s also very cool that a lot of those more indie-back-then designers have really sort of exploded in the sense that they are doing their thing with their boutiques and brands. I know you’re busy, thanks so much for your time. Lastly, what can fans expect from you next?

I’m slowly coming out of the 1-year baby fog of losing myself completely. It’s a scary process to unravel but I usually get songs out of it. My plan is to write two records which I’ve just started.

I know fans will love this news! Again thank you so much, nothing but the purest wishes for both you and your family!

You can stay up to date with Brody oh her Twitter and Instagram profiles.

Certain elements, such as links and photos, may have been removed from the original version of the above article.

#brody dalle #the distillers #spinnerette #diploid love #coral fang #sam bone #trsb #regarding style #writing sample #author #author sample #interviews #australia #donald trump

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soupoctave1-blog · 5 years

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Family Road Trip - Amarillo, Durango, & Telluride

Hello there! Remember me?! I'm the girl who used to blog semi-regularly. Now we're lucky if I even remember my password to get on this thing! Ha! All that to be said, I've taken a break from both of my blogs to truly enjoy the summer with my family. I wanted this summer to be all about family and that it has. #noragrets

We just got home from a two week vacation in Colorado. I received several messages regarding our trip....where did we stay? what did we do? where did we eat? SO...I thought it would be easiest just to update our travels here and dust the old cobwebs off this site. Today's post will highlight some of our favorites in Amarillo, TX, and Durango & Telluride, CO. Tomorrow will be all about my most favorite place in the world...Breckenridge!!!

We started out early on a Sunday morning and headed west for the first leg of our trip. We originally planned on spending two weeks in Breckenridge, but at the last minute we changed up our plans and decided we wanted to see a few things we've never seen before. We drove a total of 14 hours the first day and ended up in a little hotel right outside of Albequerque, New Mexico. We received lots of dinner recommendations for our short stay, but because we arrived so late, we grabbed some Subway and called it a night.

I love road trips, so the 14 hours we spent driving seemed to fly by. Truly. Between pit stops and random pullovers to check out sights we'd never seen before...plus an EXCELLENT playlist (if I do say so myself ;)...14 hours flew by in a flash. And even though I'm sure I'll receive some sort of "you don't deserve to raise your children" type messages for this, our McDonald's stop was pretty on point. We only get it a couple of times a year and you better believe I went all out. All the large fries, pink slime (aka: nuggets...amazing)...and Coke I could handle. #feelfreetojudge

Before getting to Albequerque, we stopped off the highway in Amarillo to check out Cadillac Ranch. We really didn't know much about what to expect other than what we heard from friends so we didn't come prepared. I should've read up on it, but I didn't. Just seemed like a cool thing we'd see and then leave. Anyway, Cadillac Ranch is a large piece of land with about 10 Cadillacs buried in the ground nose down. One of those crazy Texas landmarks, lol. It's definitely a cool sight to see & part of the allure is getting to spray paint the cars. The kids were in awe. We should've come prepared with spray paint bottles...which we didn't...but there was a family there with extras who saw us aimlessly wandering about and gifted the boys their half-used cans. Super nice. And just enough to give the boys a taste for tagging :)

This was the perfect pit stop to get out, stretch our legs, and see something we've never seen before. The boys REALLY enjoyed this stop so we didn't rush through it. We stayed for about 30-45 minutes, but probably could've stayed a lot less. I think we were all a little happy to be out of the car.

If you've never seen it before and it's a stop along your way, you definitely want to pull over and check it out for yourself. It's right off of HWY 40 so you don't have to travel far off of your route to get there. We'll probably stop again next summer when we head that way again. Just make sure to bring your own cans of spray paint before you go!

Day 2 found us on our last leg of our first destination. It was about a 5.5 hour drive from Albequerque to Durango, CO and we arrived just in time for lunch. Before getting to Durango, we had to pull over for a photo op. The boys wanted to say they walked to Colorado, LOL!!!

Luckily another family pulled in right behind us and we were able to get a family pic together. Cheesy, but had to be done. Onward and upward to Durango we went.

A friend of mine who is from that area suggested we eat at Steamworks Brewery for lunch. GREAT recommendation! We sat on the patio, enjoyed the cool breeze, and the food was 12 kinds of delicious. We both enjoyed the special...beef brisket tacos...and they were amazing. I also had a side of chicken tortilla soup and it was sensational. Let me just warn you right here that much of this vacation consisted of me stuffing my face full of #allthefood. Not sad about it at all.

After lunch, we walked around the historic downtown area and took in the sights. We walked into a few little shops, grabbed some cinnamon rolls for the boys, and then headed to Telluride. We had a ton of people telling us to make sure we rode the train from Durango to Silverton, check out the cave dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, and go rafting. We would've done ALL of those things, but we didn't plan for it so we were strapped for time. We wanted to get to Telluride before dark. No part of driving through the mountains in the dark is fun for either of us and with Telluride being our ultimate destination, we decided to cut our time in Durango really short to give us plenty of time to make it to Telluride before sunset. Next year Durango will be a one or two night pit stop, God willing! We'd LOVE to check out some of those recommendations. The downtown area was so charming!

Telluride was only a couple of hours drive from Durango and we couldn't wait to arrive. The drive was gorgeous...and really scary. We're not used to ascending into the highest heights of the mountains on a regular basis. Couple that with insane rain, hail, and a 40 degree drop in temperatures through some of the highest points and you can bet that we were white knuckle driving and on edge for the last hour or so of our drive. YIKES. I envy the locals who can drive through the mountains in those conditions without so much as blinking an eye.

Once we made it through the scary parts of our journey, we found ourselves in Telluride and y'all...I was taken aback. I mean, completely speechless. The views in Telluride are truly BREATHTAKING. Everywhere we turned we were surrounded by mountains & peaks. In every single direction. And not in the distance. I felt like the mountains were hugging the town. Heaven on Earth.

Since we added this stop to our trip at the last minute our choices of places to stay were a little limited. Or so we thought. Neither of us knew a thing about the town, so knowing where to stay (Mountain Village?? or in town???) threw us for a loop. We read and read and read about it, but still came out unsure of what to do. We eventually decided it would be best to stay in town because from what we read we thought Mountain Village would be dead in the summer. We ended up finding a pretty inexpensive lodge to call home for a couple of nights that was in walking distance of Colorado Ave. & close to the trailhead of the hike up Bear Creek Falls Trail we planned on taking.

We stayed at Manitou Lodge in a loft style room. Y'all...it was the cutest thing. The entire unit was made up of 11 different rooms. Our loft-style room upstairs included both lower and upper balconies. This was truly the perfect accommodation for our little family of four. Adam and I slept upstairs and the boys slept downstairs on the couch. We couldn't get over how perfect it was! Comfy and quaint...our kind of place.

This was the view outside our balcony doors...

The San Miguel river ran right alongside our lodge. We kept our windows and balcony doors open at night so that we could listen to the rushing water as we trailed off to sleep. Pure heaven.

This is where the boys liked to play every time we walked outside...

It felt like we were semi-nestled in the woods and that was the most amazing feeling. The only downside...if I had to pick one...was that the bathroom was really, really tiny. NOT a big deal at all. We dont' need a lot of space. But if you're someone who likes a bigger bathroom, this wouldn't be your jam. However, for us, it was the perfect spot. This will be our go-to lodging when we visit Telluride again, for sure!!!

We settled into our lodge, changed into warmer clothes, and walked to Colorado Ave. (which is the main drag) for dinner. I felt like our lodge was centrally located to everything we wanted to do and once we parked the car we didn't drive it again until leaving town. Everyone we met and several people on IG recommended we eat at Brown Dog Pizza. We're never one to turn down pizza, so that's where we headed for our first meal in town. Everyone clearly knew what they were talking about because that was one of the best meals we've had in a long time!!!

It's a cozy place with lots of TVs for the sports fanatics, and the kids had the option of making their own pizzas at the table and sending them back to bake. I thought that was such a cool touch! Of course, they both opted to create their own and here they are making their meals...

The end product....

They ate every last bite! As did we (we opted for the supreme pizza...highly recommed!). Ha! Great first meal! I would HIGHLY recommend stopping here if you find yourself in Telluride.

We headed to bed a little early so we could wake up and hit the trails for some hiking the next morning. We are a family who loves to hike, so I researched some of our options before getting into town. I wanted an easy to moderate trail because we aren't experts & I figured we'd still be acclimating to the altitude. Plus, hiking with kids for this semi-overprotective mom sometimes has me on edge. Both boys are great hikers. They LOVE it. But they're also a little over-confident so I didn't want anything extraordinarily difficult or treacherous. After lots of research, we decided on the Bear Creek Falls Trail and it was a bonus that the trailhead was about a 5 minute walk from our lodge.

We read that the bugs can be pretty annoying through certain parts of the hike, so we came prepared with bug spray....and LOTS of trail mix, granola bars, and water. It's a 4.5 mile round trip hike so all of those extras came in handy. The hike was AMAZING. Wide open trails to walk up until hitting the top before the waterfall. Some parts of the trail were a little more challenging to hike than others (steep, rocky, etc.), but it wasn't "hard" by any means. This little area was a great resting point going up and coming back down...

I guess hikers stop here and stack rocks one on top of the other and leave them for the next group of hikers to ogle. My youngest absolutely LOVED this area. He quickly went to work making his own little stacks and he was so very proud of his handiwork. See?! LOL.

We stopped and snacked. Drank some water. Stacked some rocks. And then headed to the top.

It was sweet heaven when we finally made it. I mean, just LOOK AT THIS VIEW!!!!!!

We sat down our gear and the boys headed into the water to jump across the rocks and explore. I watched our things and sat down to catch my breath while taking in the beauty of God's creation.

The sheer magnitude of those views is so hard to articulate.

We realized we hadn't exactly made it to the top when the boys finally came back from exploring. We came to see the waterfall so we needed to climb a little bit more to get to our final destination. The path going up was a bit trickier. Definitely narrow and steep-ish in parts...wet and rocky...a little slippery...but the boys powered through and the climb to the top was worth every breath lost. It was BEAUTIFUL.

We stayed at the falls long enough to snap a few pics and marvel at the view. My oldest was ready to get down. He's not a fan of heights...just like his momma....and this part of the hike had him feeling a little nervous. And if I'm being honest, it had me a little nervous, too.

If you're in Telluride with kids, I definitely recommend this hike. Yes...it's long. 4.5 miles round trip isn't exactly a short walk in the park. But it's definitely worth it. My boys did so much better than I expected. They were great! My youngest lives life at a much slower pace than my oldest. He takes his sweet time doing everything (hello 45 minutes to eat a hot dog!!!!). So he definitely took his time on this trail. Dad walked with our oldest and I walked with our youngest. We lagged behind the other two the majority of the hike, but the conversations we had were worth the distance between us. The only time the boys complained was on our way down when we had about a mile left to walk. My youngest said, "are we close yet? My legs are getting tired." And that was it. Not too bad!

Walking back to our lodge after the hike....just right down the street.

We headed back to the lodge, changed clothes, and walked back to Colorado Ave. for lunch. We were STARVING!!! We went up and down the street trying to figure out what to eat. Everyone wanted something different. We were all a little irritable and HANGRY. My oldest could live on grilled cheese and when we found this cart we knew he found his lunch...

We grabbed him a sandwich that he could eat on the go while the rest of us tried to agree on something. IMPOSSIBLE. Like I said, irritable and hangry. After walking in and out of several different places, we finally settled on Smuggler's Brew Pub which was right around the corner from our lodge. We sat on the patio, ordered our food, and after what seemed like forever, we finally chowed down. And then came the rain. OF COURSE!!! Irritable moods were made even worse. Lord help us. Let me say this though...the food was EXCELLENT. Great menu and the atmosphere was one of my favorites. The only thing that dampened our experience was the rain ( no pun intended). I would definitely recommend stopping in for a meal here. I ordered the meatball slider sandwhich (amazing!) and my youngest ordered the nutella on toast (which he took two bites of and then abandoned. not cool). No idea what the spouse was eating because I was hyperfocused on my own meal and all the food my son wasn't eating. Definitely would go back again!

We headed back to the lodge for a nap because we ALL needed one. And it was the best nap ever. We slept with the windows and doors open as the rain came down. Perfection. When we woke up a few hours later, we got dressed and headed to the gondola to ride up to Mountain Village and see what it was all about.

Like I said earlier, I have a fear of heights, so I was NOT looking forward to the ride up. It's a pretty steep climb, but everyone was telling us it was a MUST DO and I certainly didn't want the kids to see my fears get the best of me. So up we went and I'm SO glad we did! Yes, I had butterflies in my stomach almost the whole way up, but WOW. The views were unparalleled. Just stunning!!!!

Mountain Village was DARLING and I could absolutley see how it would be even more amazing during ski season. By the time we got there, all the little shops were starting to shut down and it was pretty quiet. However, I think we would've loved staying here this time of year. There were a ton of things for the kids to do...panning for gold, trampoline bungee, obstacle course, park, etc....but they were all closed for the night. . However, we were able to find a little park with a rock climbing wall and the boys enjoying *trying* to scale it until they gave up. Ha.

The restaurants were all still open as was an open area with yard checkers and other little games for the kids to play. We just got up there at the wrong time. Going during the day would've been our best bet. I would probably suggest staying in Mountain Village during the summer if you have kids. You could always take the gondola down into Telluride if you plan on hiking or just walking around town. The vibe in Mountain Village just seemed a bit more family friendly. But dang...that Manitou Lodge in town was the best!!!!

After the boys finished playing, we headed to a little pub to grab a local beer and then gondola back down to town. We walked to The Floradora Saloon for a late dinner. I was OBSESSED with this place!!!! I'm all about the cozy little places with lots of history and The Floradora Saloon has been around Telluride since the early 70's. Much of the decor from those days is still intact which adds to the charm of the atmosphere. The food was WONDERFUL, too. So flavorful and completely unexpected. I had the baked mac & cheese and ohmiword....to-die-for. Adam got the Pork Green Chili and said it was the best chili he's ever had. Great dining experience!! HIGHLY recommend.

The next morning we were up bright and early to clean-up, pack up, and hit the road to our ultimate destination...Breckenridge! We loaded up the car and walked to Baked in Telluride for breakfast. It was just one block up from our lodge and we were dying to check it out after walking past it several different times. Just look at all these baked goods!!!! Of course, the boys opted for donuts as big as their heads...

Dad had a croissant and I had an apple turnover. Both excellent selections, but I'm thinking anything from this place would've been amazing.

After breakfast,we took the gondola back up to Mountain Village to grab a souvenir Tervis we saw window shopping the night before, and then back down to head out. I LOVE Breckenridge and couldn't wait to get there, but I did NOT want to leave Telluride at all. Two nights wasn't enough. We decided we need more time to explore next time we're out that way. We'll tack this on to our trip and make our stay last a few extra nights. There are a couple of other hiking trails we'd love to try and sights we'd love to see like Bridal Veil Falls.

If you're thinking about a trip to Telluride, GO! NOW. Hahah. But seriously. You definitely want to see it for yourself. It's impossible to describe until you experience it in person. We will definitely be back and we'd even love to ski here one ski season if possible! I say "if possible" because the tiny airport isn't anything I'm brave enough to conquer. Big planes, big airports...I can barely even do those. Driving in the summer is way easier for my chicken self to conquer.

Many people asked why we didn't fly and this is exactly why. There's SO much to see and we wanted to see it all. Driving is the best way to do it! And since we both have time during the summer to road trip, we figured we'd make the most of it and drive. I personally LOVE road trips. Not just because I don't like flying, but road trips afford you the opportunity to see things you wouldn't otherwise. It helps that our kids are a little older (8 & 10), are easily entertained, and don't need diaper changes or bottles. We've been on 18 hour road trips to Indiana when they were babies and I know that's hard! But even so, road trips, in my opinion, are always the best way to travel!!!

Let's talk Breck tomorrow!

Source: http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2017/07/family-road-trip-amarillo-durango.html

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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nigeiadigitalmarketingcompany · 5 years

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Why I Hate Houses

Digital Elixir Why I Hate Houses

I have had, up till now, the good fortune to live in apartments, ranging by urban standards from nice to really very nice. I now live in a house that most would likely consider to be somewhat better than mere “nice”. It’s on a ridge, with nearly a full acre plot, in quiet tree-filled neighborhood with reasonable amenities all a short driving distance away, including a well-kitted out gym and quite a few good restaurants. Bonus points for it being only 15 minutes from the airport. Nearly all the routes take you past other pleasant-looking-to-glam houses, or the country club, or the golf course, or twee shopping areas.

I’ve discovered that I hate the house part of this equation, as in dealing with the day-to-day time demands of home ownership. I find it stressful and unrewarding. And it’s made worse in my case by finding that this house has a lot that needs to be addressed pretty soon, to the degree that that plus moving-related tasks (like plenty of boxes yet to be unpacked) is cutting into my blogging time.

There are bona fide reasons to have problems with this way of living, namely the environmental cost. Free-standing buildings take more energy to heat and cool than multi-unit structures. Car ownership is pretty much unavoidable, since even in those few suburbs with decent public transport, it’s designed for going in and of the city center (as in for commuting), not for provisioning, transporting kids, or running other errands. And if you decide to fit in, as a recent post pointed out, “Lawns, in general, are pretty much the enemy for healthy insect habitats.” And don’t get me started on leaf blowers.

Now I could pretend to not like houses out of reasons of conscience, or a preference for living in high-density areas (which I do have). But my big reason for not liking houses is the inefficiency and time sink of maintaining them.

There’s a reason that biggest-single-family-home owner in the US, Blackstone’s Invitation Homes, is widely regarded as an upscale slumlord by virtue of not doing adequate maintenance on its properties and even failing to deal promptly with problems that will clearly damage the house, like leaks. Keeping up free-standing homes doesn’t scale. And that imposes a big tax on the time of owners.

Think about it. As a tenant or owner in a condo or co-op, the building is responsible for taking care of the public spaces, the heating, plumbing, and electrical systems, and sometimes even cleaning the outside windows. Maybe you have to provide your own air conditioner. Maybe you make a lot of improvements and some of them don’t work so well (like using a stylish bar sink in a bathroom and having to regularly have it snaked because the drain pipe is a bit narrow). But the general point is if Something Happens or Something Needs To Be Done, you can call a superintendent who knows the conditions in your unit and either is required to fix the problem or can refer you to someone (“the building’s electrician”) who may not necessarily be the cheapest or the best, but is probably fairly priced (to get repeat business from the tenants in that building) and actually can be efficient in how he goes about his work because he knows the conditions in that apartment complex.

The fact that a building manager is responsible for core systems and has incentives to minimize costs over a long-term horizon means (unless they are stupid property owners or self-conscious slumlord types), they’ll do at least an adequate job of maintenance.

By contrast, as an individual homeowner, unless you are the sort that likes carpentry or plumbing or other stereotypically manly tinkering, maintenance is a time and cost sink. My brief experience is it is far more frustrating trying to deal with various home upkeep pros, first because there seem to be so many to deal with, and unless you have a service under contract, they are usually dealing with the particular conditions at your site afresh. That is less efficient from a macro perspective (more one-off or somewhat customized work), plus it can also leave the homeowner wondering whether the service professional was giving you the straight scoop (did you really need that mini-rewiring job, or was he taking advantage of the fact that you couldn’t determine that all you needed was a new socket?)

The individual homeowner also has greater incentives to defer maintenance because upkeep is a nuisance and entails outlays.

I am more acutely aware of this than I’d like to be because I am having to deal with a maintenance backlog, including replacing rotten wood under the gutters, investigating electrical issues, having two stoves that only kinda-sorta work fixed (they broil but won’t bake at higher than 350 degrees), getting the carpets cleaned, and fixing a sink and counter ruined by a home health care aide (the last also ruined my day).1 And there are other reminders of what as an former urbanite feels like excess….like the necessity of having a yardman.

I imagine many of you detest apartments for good reasons: you lived in one or more as a young person and they were cramped and noisy. From what I saw in Manhattan, the stock of rental apartments was markedly inferior to the ones for purchase, and in most cities, you have more rented than owned units, meaning most of what is out there is skanky. But that is a function of how we do housing in the US, and not of the inherent merits of apartments. It’s perfectly possible to have more generously proportioned apartments with decent height ceilings and heavy enough walls so as not to hear your neighbor’s music. It’s also possible to have very clever designs. I was struck, for instance, with how much good layout mattered when I became a volcano refugee in London and a planned two-day stay with Richard Smith turned out to be a twelve day visit. He lived in an 800 square foot apartment in the Barbican. Yet even though his wife was also there a fair bit of time, it never felt crowded even when all three of us were there.

Now I am sure many of you have defenses for owning homes, such as:

Kids needing a yard. Maybe, but that is a less compelling argument than when I was a child and kids were allowed to have unstructured time playing with other kids nearby. With children now shuttled to and from school and to their activities and play dates, yards seem way less useful

Gardening. There are urban gardens and we could have more of them, but for some reason, this practice hasn’t taken hold in America.

Necessity. Where you work doesn’t have decent apartment stock.

Fear of or distaste for urban living.

Wanting to be close to the countryside. A strong reason if you love the activities like hiking and water sports.

Nevertheless, I encourage you to think hard about the time cost of your house, if you have a free-standing house, and how much more leisure time you could spend on your favorite activities if you didn’t have the millstone of property maintenance. Unless, of course, you are rich enough to have staff to do this sort of thing for you.

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1 This is what happens when you have people in the house and you can’t watch them all day, particularly since you also aren’t supposed to, as in they should stick to their job duties and not play amateur professional.

One of the bathroom sinks was draining slowly. The home health care aide came back from the grocery store with a bottle of Drain-O. I told her not to use it, the pipes in the house are old and we already had one serious problem with them. I had her boil a big pot of water and pour it down the sink. She did that twice and the drain seemed fine after that. I noticed nothing amiss with the drain the next AM when I turned in late.

When I got back up (mid PM, so the home health care aide was on a new day), I went into the bathroom and saw the sink about 1/3 full of black, and I mean black, water. I stupidly stuck my hand in to see if there was an obstruction and got burned. I then went and got paper towels to sop up the water and put the wet paper towels in a steel pot.

The water was so caustic that it stained the steel. It had also stained the sink, which was beige resin and part of the bathroom counter (as in it had been fabricated as a single unit). The grey marks were bad enough that I thought it needed to be replaced, although one could make a case for living with the eyesore.

The home health care aide was out taking my mother to get her hair done and pick up lunch. I was ripshit and assumed the home health care aide had used the Drain-O contrary to my instructions (she’d been muttering about putting some in the sink after the boiling water treatment despite that having looked like a success). I was also dumbfounded that she’d left the black water in the sink to corrode it. I called the service to complain.

The home health care aide got back much later than usual. I suspect she was trying to avoid me and having my mother see the damage she had done. I chewed her out. She said she hadn’t used Drain-O and found the bottle to show me it was full.

She had instead gone to the Dollar Store and gotten….drumroll… a sink plunger.

In all my years of living in different apartments and more than occasionally having stopped up the drain, no super every used anything like a plunger on a sink or bathtub. They always snaked them out. This sink, had the health care aide bothered to look, had the classic S-curve pipes underneath. No way would this itty bitty shallow plunger be able to create enough pressure to move an obstruction through that curve. I could not believe what an obviously bad idea this was, compounded by the fact that “plumbing” was not part of her job spec.

It gets worse.

The home health care aide disappeared (she does that an awful lot) and then came back and reported she’d used “Lysol towels” on the sink, as if that had reduced the grey stains. I started to think that maybe this wasn’t as bad a train wreck as I’d thought.

I went back shortly thereafter, which was also after she’d left, and found the sink again 1/3 full of black water. I nearly hit the ceiling. This was not the result of it backing up but her running the water from the tap and doing God knows what else (pouring Lysol down the sink, perhaps?)

I again sopped up the water. The sink was now extensively and badly stained. It has to be replaced. And the plumber is coming in four and a half hours, so I am sure to be cranky and sleep deprived.

But I had to go back to the service and withdraw my complaint because my mother had given a go-ahead to this bad idea. And that means we’ll have to eat the likely $1000+ cost of a fix, which would also never match the rest of the bathroom well. Plus finding the contractor and working through the choices would fall on me, when I don’t have time for distractions like that. And on top of that, this was the best home health care aide my mother had gotten from the service (despite her tendency to disappear way too often, she at least would clean the kitchen and bathrooms well). I can guarantee she’s going to do something like this again (she falls in the category of “stupid and industrious” which in the schema attributed to German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord is dangerous). That means we’ll need to get rid of her. That likely means the service will get rid of us (they already regard us as unreasonably demanding by virtue of expecting health care aides to do more than sit next to my mother when the service advertises that they will run errands and do light housekeeping and cooking), which will create another round of stress and time sinks. Welcome to the joys of home maintenance.

Why I Hate Houses

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towerrange15-blog · 6 years

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Family Road Trip - Amarillo, Durango, & Telluride

Luckily another family pulled in right behind us and we were able to get a family pic together. Cheesy, but had to be done. Onward and upward to Durango we went.

This was the view outside our balcony doors...

The San Miguel river ran right alongside our lodge. We kept our windows and balcony doors open at night so that we could listen to the rushing water as we trailed off to sleep. Pure heaven.

This is where the boys liked to play every time we walked outside...

The end product....

They ate every last bite! As did we (we opted for the supreme pizza...highly recommed!). Ha! Great first meal! I would HIGHLY recommend stopping here if you find yourself in Telluride.

We stopped and snacked. Drank some water. Stacked some rocks. And then headed to the top.

It was sweet heaven when we finally made it. I mean, just LOOK AT THIS VIEW!!!!!!

We sat down our gear and the boys headed into the water to jump across the rocks and explore. I watched our things and sat down to catch my breath while taking in the beauty of God's creation.

The sheer magnitude of those views is so hard to articulate.

Walking back to our lodge after the hike....just right down the street.

Dad had a croissant and I had an apple turnover. Both excellent selections, but I'm thinking anything from this place would've been amazing.

Let's talk Breck tomorrow!

Source: http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2017/07/family-road-trip-amarillo-durango.html

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trekswithchels-blog · 6 years

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How I Spent 24 Hours in Seattle

We flew into Seattle, Washington very early on a Thursday morning. We left Jersey around 6:00 AM but with the time difference we arrived at 9:00 AM which gave us the whole day to explore Seattle before heading out to the National Parks the following day on an 11-day hiking road trip. Seattle is a very quirky city and we really enjoyed its energy. The first thing that we did was check out the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop). We went mainly for the section of the museum that they have completely dedicated to horror movies (we are huge horror nerds) but they also have a fantasy, gaming, sci-fi, Marvel, and ever-changing special exhibits as well. While we were there they had Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, and Pearl Jam exhibits. There is truly an exhibit for every kind of nerd! Two of my other favorite things included the Super Mario wall and the giant tower of guitars. We bought our tickets in advance online for $26 per person but you can also buy them at the museum upon arrival.

TIP: There’s also a great photo op of the Space Needle outside of the museum. If you don’t feel like paying the money to get to the top, just stand in front of it and take a picture like we did. The outside of the MoPop building also makes for some pretty great pictures too!

Funko Headquarters

Our next stop is mainly directed at Funko fans only, those who are interested in what Funko is, or families with kids. Funko is a toy company that makes tons of things, but they are mainly known for their Funko POP figures which are little figurines of just about any person or character you could imagine. They are adorable, affordable (at about $10 per toy), and addictive as all hell once you buy one. My friend Sam and I both have collections of these, so when she found out the headquarters was a measly 40 minutes away in Everett, Washington we had to go check it out. Naturally, we bought tons of stuff and had a great time doing it! The store itself also makes for some pretty cool photo ops with Disney, Marvel and DC displays.

Pike’s Place Market

One of the things I was most excited about in Seattle was Pike’s Place Market. I heard great things about it and in doing research it seemed like there was tons of cool places to check out. We spent a lot of time walking around going in and out of shops, checking out the flowers and fresh produce, and spent some time overlooking the water. If you like enjoying a beer and staring at water like I do then I highly suggest you check out the Old Stove Brewing Co. It’s a great little beer spot with a good amount of tasty beer options as well as good pub snacks, like soft pretzels (my personal favorite).

After we warmed up with some beer and snacks we decided to check out Alibi Room for what we heard was some great pizza. If you are a “Shameless” fan this is somewhere you will recognize from the show. It’s a quaint “divey” type of bar but we loved it. We decided to do the build your own pizza and opted for grilled chicken, fresh garlic, arugula and basil. Being from Jersey we are very picky with our pizza and it is rare that anywhere else that we travel is comparable to our NJ/NY pizza. With that being said, Alibi Room has some of the BEST pizza I have ever had. This place is a MUST for any fellow pizza lovers.

Right outside of the Alibi Room is the famous “Gum Wall”. It’s awesome and disgusting all at the same time. Best tip that I can give you is to make sure you buy bubblegum BEFORE entering into Pike’s. We had a tough time finding some and were lucky enough to run into two great people that gave us the rest of their roll of bubble tape. Executing the bubble blowing picture was not as easy as it looked, and it took many tries. It’s also difficult to stick the gum to the wall without touching other people’s gum and without it falling off. Who knew this would be such a difficult task? Definitely makes for great photos though!

All in all, I thought Seattle was a pretty cool city. I’m sure there are tons of other things to do and see, but I thought our experience was just perfect. As always, any questions feel free to ask and don’t forget to follow @trekswithchels on Instagram! Happy travels!

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lovenerdywinnerbouquetfan-blog · 6 years

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