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chatchalita · 5 years

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I feels like writing something, since I rarely write things these days and I feels like my English will go down the drain soon, if I’m not writing.

Since I impulsively bought a plane ticket again, it’s time for me to summarize my other two trips I had this year as like a build-up for my upcoming new adventure the Taiwan trip in November.

This first post is about my side trip from business trip...I guess

I don’t know how I usually start my traveling post, I guess I start with a disclaimer that this post is not informative at all, just me writing about my trip for future me to reminisce about it.

It has been 2 years since I last visit Mikawa Anjo, the last time was for internship purpose, (which I happened to not write about the experience :/) I was greeted by the familiar feelings, I missed this place. I finally semi-ly made it back. I worked hard in this company for the past 1 year and I feels like it paid off a little.

This trip was my 6th time in Japan and took 14 days (Aug, 18th- Sep, 1st). Since this is a business trip, I’m able to ride Thai Airways, finally something that not low-cost and I’m able to load my luggage lol. The flight is TG644, I arrived at Japan around 8am, I decided to stop by my hotel for luggage storage, then go on an adventure to Okazaki Castle.

Before Okazaki Castle, I visited about 6 Japanese castles, so I know what I should expected from the castle. And spoiler alert, it was disappointing for me, I don’t know why, maybe because I’m burned out from visiting castle, or maybe because I saw a greater castle? Or maybe because I expected something from the castle that said to be the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu? The Evangelion exhibition saved this castle from a total disappointment, at least there are something interesting.

After the castle I went back to my hotel and then meet up with my boss and some Japanese co-workers for a little nomikai. Alcohol intake, not that much.

The second day, which is Monday, it’s the old atmosphere everybody was as welcoming as ever. I only spent half day there because I had to visit other supplier factory in Gifu, I’m still cursing myself for not taken any photos in my phone (for the location purpose), then that night another nomikai, and this time I drunk so much sake that actually made me drunk and made me worry for tomorrow. I’m not the kind of person to have hangover, so I didn’t worried about that, I was more worry about how much alcohol I will have left in my blood, since Tuesday, I will have to attend welcome party.

Tuesday, another nomikai, thank god my body can handle another round. That day, I was not drunk whatsoever, but I did drink Calpis sawla for at least 5 glasses, and other other things...overall probaby 15-20 glasses of alcohol. Those are nothing to sake I previously drunk on Monday though.

Wednesday, nothing worth mentioning ohh except I walked 2 km for Matsumoto Kiyoshi to get the stuffs ppl asked me to buy for them.

Thursday, yakiniku with my co-workers.

Friday, actually nothing?

So one week has passed, most the weekdays activity either hung out” with my co-workers or went to grocery shopping, my co-workers (in Thailand) asked me to buy kimono for them, and they keep called it yukata. It was a short kimono that you wear with hakama, these people want to wear them as “fashion”, these really culture appropriation *sigh*

Saturday, Saturday, where did I go on Saturday...oh Meiji Mura...again. I actually went there two years ago to dress in Hakama while this year is to see very small fireworks with actual same age people. Because I already went there once, not many pictures were taken

Sunday, the manager in charge of me took me to Iga, MIe to see some ninja. Iga Ueno castle is actually in the list of castle I want to visit. If you talking about Iga ninja, Hattori Hanzo, probably the famous ninja from that “school”?

The ninja demonstration was interesting, idk what I expected, I guess I did low-key expected movie stunts ninjutsu, but it turned out to be just ninja technique.

I do loves Iga Ueno Castle since I could see both the life of ninja and samurai in one place. The ninja village is really fun place and touristy.

So far the day went very well and pretty much free since the manager paid for everything, but my dumbass has to be extra and went to Nishio to see lantern festival (alone). And you know what, the taxi cost 6000 yen round-trip just for the station to the festival ground. And this is what 6000 yen gave me...

It only 8pm and the festival already over. I learned something new every time I went to Japan. Apparently, 8pm is late for the festival. I live in the city, 8pm is still early for me.

Monday, kaiten sushi with the same age people

Tuesday, in the afternoon I went to Toyohashi to see printing factory and the person asked me what is the food that I want to eat but have not eaten yet, and I replied “unagi”, which is something very expensive.

I think this was about 5000 yen for a set. In the evening, he treated me tempura like in actually tempura shop, where the chef actually fried tempura in front of us.

As a nekojita, I was suffering but it was so delicious.

Wednesday, I got stood up by the manager that took care of me 2 years ago. No biggie.

Thursday & Friday, spent my last day in Anjo as lonely as ever. (and spent 2 hours try to figure how to pack everything in my suitcase because of what people asked me to buy)

Saturday, I bought a day tour from Klook to Takayama and Shirakawago, the thing about tour is it convenience and probably cheaper than finding the transportation myself, but the downfall always, the time. There are not enough time!! I guess that is something I have to accept when it a day trip. In the bus, I was the only non-Chinese speaking person there.

Takayama...I was eating, so I didn’t had much time to explore, but you know what I feels like if you went to Kyoto, you don’t need to go to Takayama. It has it own charmed, I just didn’t had enough time to enjoy its charm.

The raw beef is the best out of the 3, this Hida beef made visiting Takayama worth it.

Next stop, Shirakawago, the highlight of the trip. The sunlight and everything made the pictures look colorful and amazing. The photos taken there was one of my favorite set of photos of all my trips.

Shirakawago, a place I would loved to visit again during winter and spent more time there. Due to the lack of time, I can only take pictures of here and there instead of absorb myself. I wanted to visit more museum, more historical stuff, but the time is limited :/

After the day tour, I went to Hikone and stay at the hotel there.

Sunday, the last day let’s make it count. I first planned to go see Tonbokiri in western shiga (which I forgot the name of the place), but because it was so far away and I don’t want to wake up early and my main goal was HIkone castle. I ended up with visited Nagahama Castle in the morning. That Sunday probably the day I cursed google map the most because the train schedule in there just not right! I didn’t missed the train, but like the map told me it departs at 9, I arrived at 8:50, the trained in the google map is the train that not stop in this station like what’s going on. And that happened a lot that day, I probably spent like almost 2 hour in (different) train station because the time in google map was earlier than the actual train.

Anyway, back to Nagahama castle, a castle built by Totoyomi Hideyoshi

In my opinion, definitely better than Okazaki, the overall atmosphere made it “feels” more significant than Okazaki castle. The view from the tenshuu is very pretty, in which you can actually see Biwa lake.

I just loves this kind of scenery.

After Nagahama, I went to Omi-Hachiman for some unknown reason. I’m like that awkward person that wouldn’t push the stop button because nobody seem to get off at this stop, and just kept riding the bus until many ppl get off. I mean they are Japanese people, they know what’s good right? Turned out, the popular spot Japanese people are going is like a “dessert park” called La Collina, I called it dessert park because they mainly sell dessert there, and “park” because they have large greenery area.

Their most famous dessert is Baumkuchen, I personally not that big fan of it, so I bought the small size along with macaron.

Then, I followed google map to Omihachiman canal area to find the bus to get back to the station.

The canal area is what I intended to go.

I’m glad I was awkward and decided to follow Japanese people because I got have variety of scenic photos.

Next stop, the highlight of this trip Hikone Castle, 1 of the 12 original castles yayyy.

I love Japanese garden, so first visited the garden in the castle area and just like other garden I visited (except Kokura Castle garden), i was not disappointed.

The Hikone Castle, I loved the castle that I have to work my way to see the tenshu. I love climbing, just to see castle.

The view from the tenshu also amazing.

After HIkone, I went back to Nagoya to see my same age co-workers? friends? comrades? again for the last time, and we ate “Taiwanese Ramen” which just spicy ramen

And then I got back at the airport, which seem very empty at night.

Good bye, Aichi. I hope they will send me there for business trip again next year.

If you read this far, stay tuned for another Japan trip, which is like 2 weeks later from this Japan trip.

#just chatchalita traveling #chatchalita in aichi round 2

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fu-yao · 5 years

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plants, cry baby, and eyes!! 💓

plants: pick a person to stargaze with you and explain why you picked them

i feel like i’ve answered this one before, but i would love to go stargazing with @gentleyeol - we’ve known each other for almost four (five?) years now and she lives so so so close to me but our hectic schedules make it so impossible to ever meet up :( i’d love to spend just a couple days with her bc i’m sure they would be the best days of my life

cry baby: list the concerts you have been to and talk about how they make you feel

ohh this is a super interesting question!

130503 one direction ‘take me home’ tour in amsterdam - this was my very first concert ever, i was THE biggest one direction fan in 2013 (who wasn’t) and i absolutely bawled my eyes out when they first appeared on stage. trust me when i say 15 year old me is still crying about this

170806 megadeth, alice cooper and marilyn manson at the lokerse feesten in lokeren - so basically in early 2017, whilst also being a kpop fan, i was hugely into metal music and completely obsessed with metallica (kirk hammett is still my baby daddy okay) and when i saw the tickets for this metal day were only 50euros i called my friend and we agreed to go together and it was a wonderful evening (THE ALICE COOPER POINTED AT ME!!!!)

171129 ‘throwback thursday in het sportpladijs’ in antwerp - this concert was basically a celebration of 20 years of ketnet, which is a dutch children’s channel my generation grew up with, they invited all the singers from the children’s shows from the 2000s and the kids from eurosong for kids and i absolutely loved every single second of it because it brought me back to my childhood

180316 ‘harry styles live on tour’ in antwerp - ok SO i went to one direction’s concert in 2013 and this was the first time after i ever saw one of them back on stage and it gave me honest to god chills, the entire concert gave me such good vibes and i experienced it with some really good friends and we both cried when harry sang medicine, all in all 10/10 experience and i would definitely go to another concert of his

180430 niall horan ‘flicker’ world tour in brussels - CAN I JUST SAY I LOVE NIALL okay this entire evening was amazing, i study in brussels so it was easy for me to get to the venue and the vibe throughout the entire concert was hands down perfect, everybody was dancing to the upbeat songs and everybody cried during the slower songs, it was a one of a kind evening and i loved every single moment :(

180701 ed sheeran and anne marie at rock werchter in werchter - ok so there were a shit ton of people there to watch ed sheeran bc it was on a festival site and on a sunday so a lot of people could come, not to mention it was well above 30 degrees celsius that day and i sweated my ass off, BUT hearing him sing live was a gift in and of itself, his voice is truly something else and i knew the words to each and every song of his and i cried so hard when he started singing i see fire because i’m a huge tolkien fan and my friends thought i was v weird. and anne marie’s vocals were on point, girlie can sing like damn. also, getting home from werchter was total shit but the concert was 100% worth it.

181013 bts ‘love yourself’ world tour in amsterdam - here we are again at the ziggo dome, five years later. hands down my favorite. concert. ever. i remember waking up at ass o’clock in the morning because of nerves (trying not to wake the other ppl in the room bc my friend & i slept in a shitty hostel) so i spent the entire morning on twitter with major butterflies in my stomach because holy fucking shit after almost five years of stanning i was FINALLY GOING TO SEE BTS LIVE, so my friend woke up at 8:30 and then we got dressed and walked around the city center of amsterdam before getting breakfast at 10:30 and then we took the tram towards the ziggo dome and we were there by 12pm, which okay we had seated tickets so totally not necessary but anyways, we cringed a lot at v cringy armys, we saw a lot of armys with these cardboards that read “looking for tickets” and it nearly made me cry, walked around the interior design mall next door bc we had to kill time, went to the media markt and played a game and won a poster and a keychain, ate lunch in a place called booven, walked around some more before joining the queue at around 5:30pm. we were SO nervous. both of us talked w the armys in front and behind us, we made some friends, and then it was time for the security to check our tickets, we were both really scared that we wouldn’t be able to get in bc we both bought our tickets through resellers but everything went fine and once our bags were checked and we were really inside the venue we just started jumping around bc holy fucking shit it was gonna happen. it was really gonna happen fuuuck what the fuck okay. put our stuff in a locker and went to find our seats, went back to the hallways again to charge our phones, said goodbye abt 30mins before the concert started to go to our respective seats (not too far from each other luckily) and saw that there were like 7 front row seats still free. texted each other, “if 10mins before the show no one’s sitting there we will”, agreed and 10mins before the show moved to the front row. counted down. seven minutes. sang the songs. five minutes. screamed. two minutes. heart beating so wild. one minute. i’m about to fall out of my fucking chair. five. shaking. four. crying. three. about to die. two. screaming. one. music comes on and lights go down, i swear my heart stopped. everybody was screaming so loud and then suddenly they appeared on stage and it’s like the entire fucking universe has aligned bc my seven angels are RIGHT THERE i’ve never cried like that before i swear. the entire concert was just filled with so much love. them speaking dutch!!! them singing. them being them. me nearly fainting. it being so fucking hot inside the venue. the thrill of sharing that moment with thousands upon thousands of other armys. i just. miss it so much.

190301 a.c.e ‘to be an a.c.e’ world tour in brussels - i didn’t really know a.c.e all that well prior to the concert, i had heard of them and knew one of their songs cactus, so i researched and listened to most of their music and i was really impressed and the concert really helped to get me into them more bc they’re all so so so cute!! when i first started listening to their songs i liked byeongkwan best (he is now my bias) and during the concert, between their songs, i think donghun was talking and byeongkwan was looking in my general direction so i shoot him a finger heart and he saw and he smiled and HE SENT ME ONE BACK!!!! bro i legit died right. there. amazing concert, 11/10 would recommend

190601 bts ‘speak yourself’ world tour in london - no words. just. absolutely speechless. second time i saw bts, second time i was reduced to a crying mess. i love them. i love army. second best night of my life ever. dionysus live was amazing. i cried. yep. take me back. please

190616 eric nam in brussels - i don’t understand why i cry this much during concerts, i just do. eric was an absolute sweetheart. v funny. i had an amazing evening and would love to go to one of his concerts again!!

190907 seongri in brussels - ok so seongri is an idol who participated in produce 101 and is an ex-member of the group rainz which has disbanded, he is an absolute sweetheart and super tiny :( during the fansign i told him he was really pretty and he looked me straight in my eyes, took my hand and told me that i was more beautiful and i blushed super hard and almost fell off the stage. it was a real fun night! he has a great voice and wants to do a sexy concept in the future

upcoming concerts dreamcatcher & up10tion in brussels on 191005 and day6 in brussels on 200122 & halsey in antwerp on 200305, i’m super super excited for all of them!!

(none of the videos are mine)

eyes: pick five people to go on an excursion with you. who would you pick and where would you go/what would you do?

@gentleyeol imagine going to korea together :(

aesthetic asks

#this took me a full hour #my fingers are numb #replies #1stlove

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justinsdaysinthedark · 5 years

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Post #1 - Welcome

Firstly, welcome. Whether you’re family, a friend or even somebody I don’t know - welcome to what will be my journey. I’ll be honest and upfront about what’s going on and I’m not afraid to express my deepest feelings.

Will this blog be everybody’s cup of tea? Absolutely not. I’ll give you the heads up now - this will be boring. This will lead down some dark and negative paths (don’t stress, it’ll be mostly positive!). I do feel however that I need to express myself this way and explore my emotions as they clash with what is going on. Sit back, relax and come with me in what will be some light slightly heavy reading.

Where does one start with such a blog? Let me preface this by saying once all is said and done, I will never complain about anything trivial again. Ever. The past six weeks has been an emotional roller coaster - not only on myself but those close to me. I wouldn’t wish this upon anybody I know and I don’t say that lightly!

Where am I at now? Monash Hospital - Clayton. Over the past six weeks, I’ve spent 26 days in hospital across three different stints. It’s currently 22:49 on Monday 15th July and I’m about to endure what will be the most confronting couple of days I’ve experienced in my life... but let’s roll it back a few weeks and fill you in.

What’s wrong? Where and how did it all it begin? Let’s touch over a few things...

Sunday June 2nd - It all started with an immense eye pain one Sunday afternoon. I’d stayed up late into the night to watch Australia’s first Cricket World Cup clash with Afghanistan. Getting to bed at roughly 3am Sunday morning and waking up normally by 10am, I thought this particular Sunday was going to be a stock standard one. I stayed over at my partner Courtney’s house and we went to watch her nephew play football. 4pm rolled around on Sunday and I thought I was suffering from what I thought was a simple case of eye strain - a deep, immense pain in my left eye. After all, my mum, dad and sister all have glasses so I assumed my time was up!

Courtney booked me an appointment at the optometrist for the following weekend and I kept on in my evening assuming this eye pain would settle with some rest.

Monday June 3rd - Waking up Monday morning, the pain was still there. Had it gotten slightly better? Not at all. I continued on my Monday as normal with an incredibly busy day at work and headed around to Courtney’s for the weekly ‘Monday night roast’ courtesy of her mother. Knowing I had a rostered day off on Tuesday, I knew I could sleep in, relax, take it easy and my eye would eventually get better - surely! It has to!

Tuesday June 4th - With the day off, no alarms set I was woken up at 8:30am with the call I was least expecting. My mum was in tears as she somehow bravely blurted that my grandfather had passed away that morning. Poppy was ill and attempting to recover from a recent hip operation he had after a fall - we all thought he’d fight through it and keep battling but unfortunately his time was up and nanny had called him to join her. A man I was so close with, a fighter had suddenly left us. I was in shock, but raced to pick mum up from work. We made the decision to join my family in Bairnsdale - 3 hours away from where I live. Mum and I shared the driving there, no worries in the world. My eye pain was still there - Worse than it had been, but that was secondary this day. I could still see perfectly normal still assuming it was just eye strain.

Wednesday June 5th - As soon as I woke up, I knew something wasn’t right with my left eye. The pain had slightly subsided however my vision just wasn’t right. I can’t explain what I felt that morning. My left eye was still moving as it should however the vision just wasn’t right. I chose to close my left eyelid and primarily look through my right. It was at this moment I just knew it wasn’t an eye strain - it was something worse.

Mum went down the street that morning and I tagged along. Fortunately, Specsavers (Bairnsdale’s local optometrist) was open and they could squeeze me in for an eye check. I knew I had to rule that out before attending a hospital.

Not to my surprise, my vision was 20/20 out of each eye as it had been for my life. The optometrist suggested if I’m having issues, to head to the local hospital - so that I did.

Rolling on into Bairnsdale Regional Hospital at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon wasn’t exactly on my schedule when heading down to Bairnsdale originally, but that’s what it had come to. The triage nurse saw me immediately and rushed me through to be seen (within 30 minutes and a waiting room full of patients!) The doctor - who was only in his second year out of uni was quick to assess that I was having issues with my third nerve (something that wouldn’t be mentioned again for a couple of days). In consultation with the Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, it was recommended I leave Bairnsdale immediately and go and present myself to them - a 4 hour drive. With other matters on my mind, I was hesitant to go. My family basically pushed me out the door and it was at that moment that I knew I had to go.

9pm I walk in the entrance to a ridiculously busy waiting room. I present myself to triage and they pull the papers they had from earlier in the day. I thought this may mean I’d get through a bit quicker - boy oh boy I was wrong! Fortunately, State of Origin I was on and that entertained me until 10:30... and from there it was a genuine slog. 11:45pm I walked through the sliding doors and was met by who I can best describe as an overenthusiastic young(ish) Pom who was keen to have a look at me. It was late. I was tired. This bloke was over the top, but my word did he know his stuff! Did that help him diagnose me? No. 2am came around and he sent me home, telling me to expect a call at 9am with plans on what to do next.

Thursday June 6th - Just to his word, a phone call comes in at 9am from the doctor I’d seen only seven hours earlier. He advised I needed a CT scan (at 1pm) and an appointment with a specialist (3pm). The CT scan went well and I assumed I’d be out by 4pm and be able to head to the Sandown Greyhounds for the night as I’d been busy organising a night out over the weeks prior. This all changed when we saw the specialist. She ran her basic tests and ordered an MRI scan ASAP. I got taken over to St. Vincent’s Private Hospital for the scans via an underground tunnel - yes! They exist! My very first MRI scan was done and back to the Eye and Ear Hospital we went. The specialist that I’d seen earlier in the day was rostered on that night in emergency fortunately for me! She got the scan results back and ruled out a stroke and bleeding on my brain pretty early. This was a relief, I suppose. I wasn’t going to die in the short term! It was from here where she advised i’d be required to be admitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital that night for further tests over the next few days. It was at this point where I felt helpless. Disappointed and helpless. I was expecting to have a few tests done and go home and continue my life as per normal. I didn’t want to be admitted to a hospital so far away from home. I didn’t want to wait around for tests. I wanted to be home. In my bed. Some normality at least. This is where my mindset had to change and that it did - pretty quickly.

Dad walked with me over to St. Vincent’s and we entered the emergency department. We were told “you won’t have to wait long... they are already expecting you.” Well, once again, what was I thinking? A city central hospital with no waiting in emergency? In retrospect, I was definitely getting my hopes up.

A solid 3 hour wait finally saw me enter through the doors and be seen to. This is where dad left me - for the first time in this ordeal I was alone. Was I scared? I won’t lie. Yes, yes I was. At 24 years old, no idea what’s wrong with me and alone in a major hospital in the city? I think that’s justified.

How’s the eye at this stage? Terrible. In the prior 24 hours I’d developed double vision and my left eye had significantly moved with no ability to control it - as you can see below.

Friday June 7th - 4am I was finally taken to a ward and had a bed to myself. It was on the 9th floor in the ward that generally deals with major bone breaks and reconstructions/replacements. I was wheeled into a twin-share room with an old guy who had just had his hip replaced. In retrospect, I had such a good room in what turned out to be an incredible hospital. The food was excellent, the nurses went above and beyond to make sure you were comfortable and as happy as you can be and in the end, I had a great view of Melbourne.

10am came by and I saw the first of what felt like 100 doctors that day. They were pretty quick to diagnose me with Third Nerve Palsy in my left eye - something I hadn’t heard since I first presented in Bairnsdale two days prior.

Unfortunately, being a part of the neuro team of doctors - things didn’t happen too quickly. Just my luck too, this upcoming weekend was the Queens Birthday long weekend. I didn’t realise or even think that hospitals go on skeleton staff over the weekends and scans don’t get done very quickly... I wasn’t booked in for a follow up CT and MRI scan until Tuesday...

Monday June 10th - I’m not going to lie. Mentally I was struggling. Presented to a hospital on Thursday night/Friday morning for what was Third Nerve Palsy and they just left me there over the weekend. No follow ups. No nothing. I didn’t realise how much hospitals shut down over weekends - I certainly do now! I was a mess. I felt lost. I didn’t know what was going on or even why for that matter. My eye was doing something it had never done and I couldn’t control it. I felt helpless and lonely.

Courtney was just getting over a serious case of the flu, so I hadn’t seen her in over a week and it was killing me.

I broke down Monday night after I’d calmed down from what was a good win by my Pies. 8pm came around, visitors were gone and I was there by myself. No clear plan about what was wrong with me or how they were going to fix it. I was an emotional mess.

Tuesday June 11th - Finally. The long weekend was over and didn’t I notice the difference. 7am and the hospital was a hive of activity. My CT and MRI scans were booked in for later that day as well as what will turn out to be my first of many lumbar punctures (LP) - something that scared the life out of me. Mentally, 24 hours later I was doing okay. I could see things progressing...but one thing was playing on my mind. Poppy’s funeral was on Friday and I knew within myself I had to be there to say my final goodbye. I let the nurses and doctors know and they seemed to be okay with letting me out on day leave - however logistically that left an issue. 4 hour drive with an 11am funeral wasn’t going to be possible.

Wednesday June 12th - At this stage, my eye hadn’t got any worse. It was just the third nerve affected and otherwise, I was perfectly fine. The results of my scans and LP came back which showed inflammation on my third nerve (which was expected) as well as a high white blood cell and protein count. This lead the doctors to believe it was due to either inflammation or infection. The doctors pretty quickly leant away from infection as I wasn’t presenting with any other signs so they treated me with an incredibly high dosage of a steroid called methylprednisolone to treat the inflammation.

IV drip for the first lot on Wednesday night and 10x 100mg tablets on each Thursday and Friday.

Thursday June 13th - The doctors agreed to let me out Thursday afternoon providing I had no further reactions to the methylprednisolone. Turns out I didn’t, so they fortunately let me out at 3pm to do what I needed to over the following few days. They were happy not to see me again unless of course things progressed and got worse and organised a follow up scan in two months time. At this stage, the diagnosis was Third Nerve Palsy due to inflammation of the nerve that was treated via steroids and may get better over the following weeks or months - or may not get better at all.

Friday June 14th - Sunday June 16th - Whilst Friday was a heavily emotional day saying my final farewell to Poppy, physically I got through it okay and had no further issues. This was my life now - whether I liked it or not. Deep down I had confidence it would get better in time and I’d have to see St. Vincent’s every few weeks to check up and I was okay with that.

Monday June 17th - I wake up Monday morning at home incredibly sick. What was wrong with me? I didn’t sleep during the night and was having hot and cold flushes, dizzy spells, hallucinations, no appetite and had absolutely no idea where I was. It was the flu, without having the flu or feeling sick. It was such a strange feeling. I started to develop an immense pain in my right jaw - incredibly similar to my eye. I started to worry - instantly. I called the doctor who was looking after me at St. Vincent’s and he wasn’t worried about it. He advised me to go to my GP and just get an X-ray to make sure everything is okay.

Deep down, I knew something was wrong but didn’t know what. I suspected the sickness was the come down from such a high dosage of steroids (which was later confirmed) but this jaw pain felt all too similar and I was scared.

Needless to say, I didn’t go to the GP or get an X-ray purely because I didn’t want another round of doctors looking at me, wasting the prior time at St. Vincent’s.

This continued through Tuesday and Wednesday. Exactly the same symptoms... I got further worried.

Thursday June 20th - Mum was on my back about going to my GP. I was resentful, but booked an appointment for 4pm to get checked out. I was still a mess, but better than I had been. Dad took me to my GP appointment and came in with me. By this stage, I couldn’t chew. I’d lost all strength completely in my jaw - both right and left side. My regular doctor took one look at me, checked my files she got from St. Vincent’s that morning and advised that I needed to head back into hospital - be it St. Vincent’s or Monash Hospital Clayton. She recommended Monash Clayton for two reasons; 1. Closer to home & 2. Well renown Neuro doctors.

I was hesitant, but knew I had to. I was more open to going than I had been a fortnight prior and was happy to be in for the long haul. Mentally, I was in a good spot. I knew something more was wrong and it wasn’t just inflammation. Alas, in I went. Straight to Emergency Department at Monash Clayton.

Friday June 21st - To cut a long story short, to get a bed at Monash Clayton was horrible! I spent a few hours in emergency, followed by 5 hours in short stay and eventually 24 hours in a day ward before I was moved onto a general medical ward. Friday was spent in the day ward with Neuro doctors coming back and forth obsessing over my eye and jaw issues.

I’d bloody done it again. Gone into hospital late on a Thursday... this time I knew not much would happen over the weekend and I was prepared for that.

Monday June 24th - As expected, not a whole lot happened over the weekend. I got moved to a general medical ward and that was it.

Monday afternoon finally brought some news once the Neuro team had looked at me properly. I’d lost my third nerve (which we already knew) and my fifth nerve (jaw) was also shot and gone. Great. I couldn’t eat. I was put on what was called a ‘minced and moist diet’ which can only be described as an unknown meat, minced with gravy with a few unknown vegetables on the side (see below). It was horrible. I didn’t have much of an appetite however what I did have was quickly swept away with the sight of this food.

Over the next few days, more CT, MRI, Ultrasounds and LP’s were done. Blood tests twice daily. I was quite frankly getting sick and tired of getting poked, prodded and scanned only for the Neuro doctors to come in once (maybe twice) a day to tell me there’s no real update and they needed to wait for tests to come back.

Thursday 27th June - During the week, things had progressively gotten worse. I’d lost my sixth nerve in my left eye as well as feeling in my chin (just below my mouth) and started to develop quite a large, painful lump underneath my right earlobe.

Doctors were then forced to act fast. They’d suspected I was suffering from either a virus that hadn’t made itself too known and was attacking my nerves or an auto immune disease that was forcing my white blood cells to attack my own nerves, picking them off one by one.

They did some more tests and sent them to both Brisbane and Canberra to be looked at as Monash Clayton or anywhere in Melbourne couldn’t get the results they wanted.

Immediately, they started to treat me for both of these conditions simultaneously. I was having an anti-viral drip 3x/day every 8 hours for the virus as well as what was called IVIG (derived from blood) to fight the auto immune disease and kill off my bad white blood cells.

I was scared. Every day I was getting worse and I suppose I just wanted to know what was wrong with me. I probably felt most for my direct family and Courtney who all had no answers despite all the tests and scans I’d done previously. They were left in the dark - as was I. 22 days it had been since I felt some sort of normality and it was killing me. The fact they had no answers was slowly eating away at me, but I put on a smile and a positive attitude as I always do. They’ll find something soon. They have to. It’ll come back positive for auto-immune, I’ll get treated and away we go back to normality. I was wrong.

Friday July 5th - This treatment cycle went on for the next week or so. The doctors were happy I wasn’t getting worse, my sixth nerve had slightly returned so they were happy to let me go home. 15 days in hospital this spell. It didn’t feel like 15 days though, not to me anyway. I think that’s probably because of the positive mindset and willingness to stay in until they found what was wrong with me. I’d started to develop muscle aches and pains in my left leg but I thought nothing of it - assuming that was just because I’d been in hospital and confined to a 3x3 room for 15 days!

I’d had a full body MRI scan and ultrasound on my leg the day earlier and they saw something around my stomach they wanted to investigate a little bit further. Before they let me out, we agreed to have a follow up MRI in two or three weeks as well as a PET scan within the next week and a bit to investigate my stomach a bit more. I was happy, the doctors were happy and away I went. Back into the world they call life. I was happy.

Monday July 8th - After spending a relaxing weekend between home and Courtney’s, I had an unexpected call at 1pm. It was a woman from Moorabbin Hospital wanting to urgently book me in for a PET scan and was wondering when I was available. She advised she only really had the following day at 2:30pm available for the next three weeks and advised I need to be there. So I took it. I had no bloody idea what a PET scan was, so as any 24 year old would do, I gave it a Google.

“A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that allows your doctor to check for diseases in your body....”

My heart sunk as I read a bit more. PET scans are generally used to pick up cancers. Wait. What? Why do the doctors want to do this so urgently? They were talking over the next week and a half, so why are they doing it now? My gut feeling wasn’t good. I knew something deeper was wrong but I brushed it aside - my condition despite being unconfirmed was in my mind, still auto-immune.

Tuesday July 9th - I’d never had a PET scan before but I did a YouTube search so I knew what to expect. It was like a CT scan pretty much. They inject the radioactive glucose into you, wait an hour so your body can absorb it and have a scan. Simple.

For the first time in this whole ordeal, something went exactly as I expected it. It was an easy process made easier by the wonderful nurses in there. My PET scan went well and I was happy. I was convinced nothing would show but still had that deep feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right.

I had a call that night and booked myself in for a follow up MRI at Monash Clayton for the following day - once again a few weeks earlier than expected. The woman on the phone said the doctors wanted to rush it through and once again, my gut sank. Something just wasn’t right. Why are the doctors pushing through these scans when we’d only discussed 4 days earlier about having them in a few weeks. Whatever. I’ll go. I have to. I just want to know what’s wrong with me!

Thursday July 18th - 16:32. An unknown number calls. This is how I’ve been getting my scans booked. Is it another one? “Is that Justin?” the gentleman on the other end of the line goes.

“It’s Jason from the haematology department at Monash Clayton. I’m not sure if your Neuro doctors have called you yet, but I’ve just had a look at your PET scan from Tuesday with them. We can see significant areas in your stomach, liver, gall bladder and groin that has lit up which we weren’t expecting. It’s your lymphnodes that have reacted with the glucose and are showing us we need to investigate a bit more. We’ll need to get you in for another LP and we’re going to have to do a biopsy of those lymphnodes to get more of an idea. At this stage, we’re looking at lymphoma as a genuine cause of what’s wrong with you...”

I tune out. I’m still processing his first few sentences. What? You mean they’ve found something that isn’t related to the nerves in my eye? Lymphoma? Isn’t that cancer? I might have a type of cancer? But I’m 24? That can’t be right.

I finish the conversation with him and hang up the phone. I was home with mum and the time. She looks at me and asked what the phone call was about. I break down. I cry. I don’t know how to process the news. I’m a mess for a solid 15 minutes. I eventually get strong enough to tell mum. She breaks down as well. It must’ve been incredibly difficult to hear your 24 year old son may have lymphoma. I call dad and let him know....and Courtney. Other than that, I keep it on the downlow. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. What if it is nothing?

Jason calls back later that night. Pretty much says I have an appointment on Monday for another LP and they want to do the biopsy ASAP. He said not to go to ED at Monash Clayton and just to expect a call at any moment between then and Monday that they have a bed for me. When I get the call, I had to go in. I was okay with this. It wasn’t going to happen for a few days!

Sunday July 14th - Court and I went down to dads for the lunch and catch up with his wife and her kids. It was a great day to forget about the reality of life for a few hours. That was until we went to Coles to get stuff for lunch and I had a missed call from a private number. Without listening to the voicemail, I knew what it was. My gut dropped. I told Courtney and we listened to the voicemail together.

“Hi Justin, we’re just letting you know a bed is available and if you could come into the ward ASAP.”

I’m okay with it. I knew it was coming... then a few minutes later I broke down in the middle of Coles. What hit me? I don’t know. Reality I suppose. I didn’t want to go back in. I knew I had to. I knew this trip was going to be about whether or not I have lymphoma - a type of a cancer. I was scared. I grabbed Courtney’s shoulder and just cried. Cried for a solid 5 minutes. I couldn’t control myself. It just hit me.

I thought I’d wait until they called back instead of making that call to enquire further to bide myself an extra hour or two. Half an hour later, they call and I answer. I was able to arrange an extra four hours until I had to be in there. This gave me enough time to get home, pack a bag and mentally prepare myself to head in.

By 5pm that night, I was in a bed with the lumbar puncture booked for the following day at 2:30pm.

Monday July 16th (Today) - I’m not afraid to say I hate LP’s. Being larger than your average 24 year old, they can’t do the blind and require them under CT guidance. It makes the process easier, but it certainly doesn’t feel as pleasant!

I saw the haematology doctor at 11:30 this morning. He was open and honest with me. Which I appreciated. He basically said up front “We’re 90% sure you have lymphoma. All we are waiting on is the biopsy to come back positive and we can start treatment...which will be chemo...”

That’s about all I took out of the conversation. It hit me. Not hard that I’d cry, but the reality hit me hard. Here I am, apart from overweight, I’m a normal otherwise healthy 24 year old. In the space of six weeks, I’ve developed symptoms I don’t wish upon anybody and getting told the doctors are 90% certain I have lymphoma.

I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to be where I am at the moment. It’s a funny time in my life. I’m being as positive as I can however I know I’m about to face the biggest battle of my life. In a way, I really hope the biopsy does come back positive - just so we finally have something. Confirmation on something and can start treatment pretty much instantly.

With my biopsy scheduled for between 8:30 - 11:30 tomorrow, I’m not going to lie, i’m shitting myself. Sedate me. Put a camera down my mouth to my stomach. Take tissue samples of my lymphnodes. Sounds like a great Tuesday morning to me. For once in my life I think I’d prefer to be at work!

Realistically, I’m expecting the results back from the biopsy in 24-36 hours from tomorrow morning and expect if confirmed to be lymphoma, to begin my chemo treatment late this week.

As I said earlier, it’s going to be the biggest fight of my life...But I’m ready. I’m not prepared to fail, I never have been. I will beat whatever is wrong with me.

If you’ve made it this far, kudos. It’s now 1:32am and I’m starting to get the tired eyes. As I started, I feel as if I had to start this blog to move forward mentally. Whilst this will be my longest entry I’ll have, it certainly won’t be my last. I assure you of that.

Wish my luck for tomorrow!

Juzz xx

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mrlnsfrt · 4 years

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Persistence > Talent

Maybe you don’t feel like you’re talented. Perhaps you feel like everyone else seems to have more talent than you. Maybe that’s why you keep giving up. Things get hard and you quit, you fizzle out, you give up. You figure if only you had more talent you would keep going. Maybe you think that those who succeed do so because they are more talented. Sure, talent plays a role in success, but I would like to suggest that persistence is actually a bigger factor in determining success than just talent, especially when it comes to the spiritual realm.

Mersenne’s Prime

In 1644, a monk named Marin Mersenne gets obsessed for a while with prime numbers.

You remember prime numbers? They're like the atoms of math, indivisible. They cannot be divided by any other number than themselves. So 3 is a prime number. You can only divide it by 3. Versus 4, which you can divide by 2, and you can get 2.

Remember? OK.

So Mersenne had a formula that he thought could predict prime numbers, OK?

Paul Hoffman, who wrote about this in his book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers.

He says that mathematicians had been searching for a formula like this to find prime numbers for nearly 2,000 years at that point.

Euclid, way, way back, 2,300 years ago, had proved that there's an infinite number of prime numbers. But he gave no formula for how to find them. I mean, they're easy at small numbers. We can do the math in our head. 7's prime. Nothing divides into it. 11's prime. If I give you a really big number, now you're going to have to start calculating, OK?

So this monk, Mersenne, came up with a formula. He creates this formula. And he uses it to spit out prime numbers. And one of the prime numbers that he said that he discovered was-- and this is going to sound a little bit technical-- 2 raised to the 67th power-- that is, 2 times 2 times 2 times 2, 67 times-- minus 1. And if that was confusing, all you need to know is this number of Mersenne's, 2 raised to the 67th minus 1, was famous among mathematicians.

That's how his paper ended. He said it was a prime number. This is 1644. So 250 years later, we're into the 20th century. I think it's 1903. And you have this mathematician that shows up at a mathematical conference that takes place here in the United States.

His name is Frank Nelson Cole. And he gave his talk a very unassuming title. He titled his talk "On the Factorization of Large Numbers." And he went to a blackboard. And he wrote, 2 to the 67th minus 1--

He says nothing. He says not a word.

He just walks over to the blackboard and just, writes that. And of course, everybody in the audience knows that that's the famous Mersenne prime. And he writes, equals, and then he writes out a 21-digit number—(2 67 - 1 = 147,573,952,589,676,412,927)

In other words, when you take 2 and then multiply it by 2, 67 times, and then subtract 1, that is this number, 21 digits long. 147,573,952,589,676,412,927. OK.

Then he moved over to a blank piece of blackboard. And he wrote down two numbers. One is a nine-digit number, times a 12-digit number. He writes those two numbers out. 193,707,721 and 761,838,257,287

OK, so that's two numbers that were sitting there on the board, multiplication problem, and?

And then he did the multiplication, just like the way they taught us back in second grade to do it. 7 times 1, he put down the 7. He went through the whole thing, step by step.

Just long multiplication. He says not a word. Everybody sits there silently.

Now, remember, the whole idea of a prime number is you should not be able to take two numbers, and then multiply them together and get a prime number as a result. It's supposed to be indivisible. If you multiplied two numbers together and you got this 21-digit number as a result, then that 21-digit number is not prime. And if Mersenne thought it was prime-- which he did-- his formula supposedly spits out prime numbers, this one of them, then his formula, 250 years old, is just wrong.

So, picture it. There's Frank Nelson Cole at the blackboard, slowly doing long multiplication, these two huge numbers. It takes a while. They're big numbers. It takes minutes, as this room full of mathematicians just watches him, lots of them, I'm sure, scrutinizing him for any math errors. He still has not said a word. And then, he gets to his result.

And indeed, it ends up being that 21-digit number, 147sextillion, 573quintillion, 952quadrilion, 589trillion, 676billion, 412thousand, 927. Now, the whole place erupts into applause. Legend has it, this is the first time at a math conference that people got up and applauded. And he just returns to his seat without a word.

And then later, someone asked him, "How long did it actually take you to figure out that Mersenne was wrong, that indeed this number has two factors?" And he said that he spent three years of Sundays working on this.

Three years of Sundays. Paul says these three years of Sundays were probably spent solving the problem by trying every possible solution-- dividing that huge number, 2 to the 67th power minus 1, by one number and then the next number and then the next. Three years of Sundays is 156 Sundays. For 155 of them, Frank Nelson Cole failed. Until finally, on the 156th Sunday, Frank Nelson Cole found a number that would divide it evenly, which, Paul says, is par for the course.

Notice how we don't talk about the researcher who spent two years trying to find what this gene did and then gave up or spent three years trying to find a planet outside the solar system and gave up, and someone else eventually did. Progress and discovery are often a combination of insight and hard work. We talk about the ones who did not give up, the ones who persevered and persisted.

(Adapted From This American Life: TRANSCRIPT 450: So Crazy It Just Might Work Transcript ORIGINALLY AIRED 11.11.2011)

Joseph in Prison

Genesis 39 ended with Joseph being thrown in prison after being falsely accused of attempted rape. But while Joseph was in prison God blessed him and he became the second in command in the prison (blog post with more details here).

Genesis 40 picks up the story with the addition of two men to the prison.

It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while. - Genesis 40:1-4 NKJV

I believe it is worthwhile noting that even though Joseph had authority over all the prisoners who were in the prison (Genesis 39:22-23) Joseph did not use his position of authority to take advantage of the prisoners. Joseph did not “lord it over” them, it is almost as if Joseph had studied Matthew 20:25-28 in his small group meeting.

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:25-28 NKJV

As much as I would love to expound on this theology of leadership I will have to leave this for another post, though I briefly address it on this post.

Joseph was in charge of everything at the prison but chooses to serve the prisoners. Joseph uses his position of authority to serve and bless those around him. This relationship opens doors for Joseph to further help those under his authority. If Joseph had focused on how unfair life was and how he had been mistreated and how terrible his personal position was he would have missed an opportunity to witness and bless those around him. Joseph did not waste his time in mourning over the injustice of his accusers, which had deprived him of his liberty, rather he focused on his present and future doing his very best to bless those around him.

5 Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. 6 And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?” - Genesis 40:5-7 NKJV

Joseph has shown that he cares, he has earned the right to enquire about the wellbeing of those under his care and they feel comfortable opening up to him and sharing what is on their heart. Their willingness to open up to Joseph will allow Joseph to further minister to them and their needs according to his abilities.

8 And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please.” - Genesis 40:8 NKJV

As the prisoners open up to Joseph he is able to witness to them about God, the true God! And those men were willing to open up to Joseph about what was happening in their lives.

9 Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, 10 and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. 11 Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” - Genesis 40:9-11 NKJV

The dream was complex and odd. I would not have been able to interpret this dream, but as Joseph had clarified earlier, the interpretations belong to God.

12 And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. 13 Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. 14 But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. 15 For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.” - Genesis 40:12-15 NKJV

Joseph interprets the dream, and he is so sure of the meaning of the dream that he even added a special request since he was talking to the cupbearer

"The cupbearer was an important official in the Egyptian court. Because of the sensitivity of his position—he personally served wine to the king—his loyalty in what was a perpetually intrigue-ridden household had to be beyond reproach. Ready access to the monarch could make a savvy cupbearer a trusted advisor and place him in a position of great influence. Egyptian documents testify to the wealth and power of such officials." -- Sarna, N. M. (1989). Genesis (p. 277). Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

The chief baker noticed how the cupbearer received good news and was motivated to share his dream with Joseph as well. 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. 17 In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

18 So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.” - Genesis 40:15-19 NKJV

Sadly the dream of the chief baker did not have a positive meaning. The commentaries I read did not agree regarding the details of the execution of the chief baker since the text is a bit confusing (death by beheading, hanging, impalement or some type of crucifixion) but they agreed that he would die and his body would be exposed to the birds.

"Thinking of his own two dreams, and realizing that God was still with him, Joseph sought to help the two dejected men in their perplexity. This desire to help others later proved to be the key to his own release from prison. Bearing his own unearned misfortunes with cheerful resignation and admirable fortitude, Joseph, by his friendly nature, was led to sympathize with other unfortunates, who lacked the inner strength that buoyed him up. It was not out of curiosity but with an earnest desire to assist those in need that Joseph offered the two men his assistance. At the same time he pointed them to God, his own source of strength and consolation." -- Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1978). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 442). Review and Herald Publishing Association.

Joseph’s interpretation was correct and the dreams had indeed been revelations from God about what would happen in the near future.

20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. - Genesis 40:20-23 NKJV

As Joseph witnessed the fulfillment of the dreams he must have been reminded of the dreams that God had given him. I can imagine Joseph eagerly waiting for his freedom. Joseph had served and helped the butler at the lowest point of his life and surely he would remember Joseph now that he was re-established in a position of power and influence.

"[The cupbearer] had seen the interpretation of the dream exactly fulfilled, yet in his prosperity he forgot Joseph in his affliction and confinement." -- Spiritual Gifts. (1858). (Vol. 3, p. 148). Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.

Joseph was completely forgotten. Notice how the biblical text repeats the statement in two different ways highlighting the plenitude of the forgetfulness. It will still be two years before Joseph leaves his current condition.

Joseph was talented, he had the gift to interpret dreams. Joseph had also received dreams from God, though he might have reason to question the origin or veracity of the dreams he had a young man. Joseph had every reason to become bitter, to give up. Joseph could have said

“I tried being good. I tried following God. I was good, I was honest, I was kind, I always did my best. And what do I have to show for it? I betrayed by those closest to me, sold as a slave, I was falsely accused and thrown in prison, I was forgotten by those I helped…”

If Joseph had decided to give up, I would completely understand. I believe I have given up on things for less. But Joseph seemed to understand that it was not enough to be talented. Joseph seemed to understand that persistence was greater than talent. Sure, Joseph was talented, but without persistence, it would not have benefited him much.

In Genesis 37:2 we read that Joseph was 17 when his father made him the coat of many colors. In Genesis 41:46 we read that Joseph was 30 years old when he finally stood before Pharaoh. So even though we don’t have exact dates or references to Joseph’s age at this point we can know that he spent about 13 years of his life as a slave in or in prison. That is a long time to persist and persevere and press on. I wonder if Joseph could tell that during those years God was preparing him to rule one of the mightiest nations of the ancient world. I wonder if Joseph realized that because of his willingness to persevere, because of his persistence, God would use him to save the lives of many. I wonder if Joseph had any idea of how much power and wealth he would one day possess. Right now things were tough. Right now Joseph’s talent was not enough to make a significant difference in his destiny. Right now, all that Joseph had was persistence. He had to continue to trust God, to continue to do his best, to continue to learn and grow and care and bless, trusting that God was in control and that the dream that God had given him would one day come true.

But perhaps in your mind, you are arguing, thinking

“Sure, but that’s Joseph! He’s a Bible character. He is different. God gave him dreams and the ability to interpret dreams. But I am not talented like Joseph. It feels nearly impossible to persist in my situation.”

Well, I have another story for you.

Mary Jones

More than anything in the world, Mary Jones wanted to learn how to read. The main reason was her great desire to be able to read the Bible for herself. Like most people during the late 1700s, and especially in Wales, she only had access to the Bible when the pastor would read it at church once a week during the church service. But she was not satisfied with just a few stories once or twice a week. Mary wanted more, she wanted to read the Bible for herself. But there were no schools nearby to teach her how to read.

Finally, when Mary was about 9 years old a new school was started and it was only one hour away from her house! Mary longed to read the Bible and now it seemed like her dream would finally come true. She would wake up early so she could do all her chores and walk one hour to go to school. Mary was very poor. Her father had died when she was four years old and she was raised by her widowed mother. Her mother would go out and do whatever work she could at the neighboring farms and Mary would go to school.

Mary wanted to learn so much that she quickly rose to the top of her class. However, learning to read was only the first half of Mary’s dream. When Mary learned how to read she found a kind neighbor that allowed her to come over and read their Bible every weekend. Her kind neighbor lived two miles from Mary’s house. Mary would come over every weekend. Mary had heard some of the stories at church, but she found it so much better to be able to read the stories for herself. The Bible came alive to her, and the time would fly by. Soon, weekend visits were not enough. The hours spent at the neighbor’s house only fueled Mary’s desire to have a Bible of her own in the Welsh language.

However, there were very few Welsh Bibles and they were prohibitively expensive. So Mary began to save money and look for ways to earn money. She would do odd jobs, watch children for their parents, mend clothes, sell firewood, she began to raise chickens and sell the eggs. Mary spent six long years working hard and saving every penny she could. But this was not easy, sometimes some of her money had to be used to help feed the family. Many times Mary felt like it would be impossible to ever save enough money for her to have a Bible of her own. But after six long years, she finally had enough money to buy a Bible in the Welsh language.

Now that Mary had finally saved enough money sh had a new challenge to overcome. Welsh Bibles were exceptionally difficult to come across. They were very expensive, and there were very few of them. There were no Bibles that Mary could purchase in her village. However, Mary noticed that her new school teacher had a Bible, she asked him where he got it and he told her of a minister by the name of Thomas Charles who lived in the village of Bala, 25 miles away and had Welsh Bibles for sale.

Try to imagine Mary’s excitement! She had learned how to read, she had spent six years working and saving all that the could and finally had enough money to buy a Welsh Bible and now she knew where she could get one. So Mary began her journey, early in the morning she set off, barefoot, for a 25-mile journey over very rough terrain to the town of Bala. Her epic trip would be immortalized in history. Unknown to her she was also helping fulfill Bible prophecy.

When Mary finally arrived in Bala, it was late evening. Candles were starting to be lit. She knocked on the door of the house of the local minister who took her in for the night. The next morning he took her to see pastor Thomas Charles. Thomas Charles welcomed Mary and listened intently as she shared her story.

“I love the Bible,” Mary explained, “I have loved it my whole life, even from when I was much younger and would listen to the pastor reading from it at church. When I turned 9 they opened a school in my village and I was finally able to learn how to read. Now there is nothing I would love more than to have a Bible of my own so I can read it a much as I want whenever I can.”

Pastor Charles could hardly believe his ears.

“You walked 25 miles barefoot to buy a Bible?” He asked.

“Yes,” she said, “and I have the money right here!”

“How did you manage to get enough money to buy a Bible? I thought you said your father had died when you were young and that he had been a weaver, I don’t think your parents were very rich.”

“I worked very hard, I mended clothes for my neighbors, I raised chickens and sold the eggs, I gathered and sold firewood, I watched children, and cleaned and swept houses and saved every penny. And after six long years of working very hard, I finally have enough!”

The coins jingled softly in the purse she clutched in her hands.

Thomas Charles then turned to the other pastor and said:

“Mr. Edwards, isn’t it said that such a brave girl, such a smart and dedicated girl, such a consistent Christian who worked so hard and traveled so far just to have a Bible and I do not have one for her? I do not have a single Bible to spare and there is no hope of getting one either because the Religious Tract Society has decided to no longer print any more Bibles for Wales.”

“Do you mean to tell me that we do not even have one for this young girl?” the pastor asked.

“The few Bibles I do have were already promised to other people, I do not have any Bibles to sell to Mary, not even one.”

The words fell like heavy hammer blows on Mary’s ears. Her heart sank. She was devastated. She began to weep and then her body began to shake uncontrollably with heavy sobs. She could not stop weeping because of the thought of having to go back home empty-handed after a lifetime of wanting and waiting and studying and working so hard to be able to have and read God’s word. Her tears wet her cheeks and dripped from her chin. Mary could not stop weeping. Thomas Charles was moved deeply moved with compassion from the core of his being as he beheld Mary and pondered the tragedy of her story.

Pastor Charles got up from his chair and placed his hand softly on Mary’s head and said,

“Mary, you will have a Bible, no matter what. One of these bibles was going to a man who can also read English. So I will let him have an English Bible and I will give you the Welsh Bible that was intended for him.”

He went to his bookcase and got a Welsh Bible and gave it to Mary.

That day a very excited 15-year-old walked 25 miles home, hugging her very own Bible.

Pr. Charles was deeply touched by Mary’s story and in the year 1802, he went to a religious tract society meeting and told them what had happened. After he finished he asked the men there to consider starting a new society dedicated to printing and distributing Bibles in the Welsh language. During the discussion, as Thomas Charles made his passionate appeal for bringing Bibles to Wales in the Welsh language a Baptist minister named Joseph Hughes said that “surely a society could be formed for this purpose. But if for Wales, why not for the British Empire, why not for the entire world?”

That December day, the British and Foreign Bible Society was born. The society held its first meeting on March 7, 1804, and 700 Pounds were raised to begin printing and distributing Bibles all around the world. From God’s perspective this was a profound moment, for this was the catalyst for a global spiritual awakening opening the door for millions of people to have access to the Bible in their language. The moment had come for the fulfillment of Daniel 12:4

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” - Daniel 12:4 NKJV (bold mine)

One humble country girl with persistent and unshakeable faith paved the way for the whole world to read and learn about the love of Jesus. Not only that, but she also played a crucial role in the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.

When Mary walked the 25 miles to Bala in the 1800s, the Bible was available in only 67 languages.

By 1900 the Bible had been translated into 524 languages.

There were a total of 428.2 million scriptures being given out by international Bible Societies in 2014, including full Bibles, Testaments, Gospels, and other smaller scripture items. (source)

(I wrote this story by compiling information from several sources including https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbfKGmXkqkk&t=1005s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5vUs0JDbc&t=1409s, http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/uploads/content/projects/mary_jones_story.pdf, https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/ )

If God used Daniel while he was a slave and while he was in prison. If God used a humble country girl. Imagine what God can do through you if you choose to persist?

God does not need talent, He is the one who gives the talent. What God needs from you is persistence. God needs you to not give up. If you persist, God will do amazing things. He wants to use you to bless others, to bring the good news to those who are living in ignorance. God wants you to be salt and light. We know it is His will. The question is, are you willing to persist long enough to accomplish God’s will in your life?

Sure, maybe you don’t feel like you have the talent you wish you had or that others seem to have. But I am not here to ask you about how talented you are, I am here to ask whether to not you are willing to be persistent.

#persistence #don't give up #persevere #Narrative #Old Testament #Joseph

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firstiwasafraid · 5 years

Note

PLEASE DO ALL OF THEM. I can't choose and I saw you churning out 100 questions questionnaires in 15 minutes, so BITCH PLIZ. À D'AUTRES. Also there is a jurisprudence now. you can't not follow the law, right 💁🏻‍♀️😎

First of all, I hate you

1: is there a boy/girl in your life? no

2: think of the last person who hurt you; do you forgive them? yes

3: what do you think of when you hear the word “meow?” something kinky

4: what’s something you really want right now? back massage

5: are you afraid of falling in love? yes

6: do you like the beach? yes

7: have you ever slept on a couch with someone else? yes

8: what’s the background on your cell? tobin

9: name the last four beds you were sat on? mine, and msi's bed

10: do you like your phone? yes

11: honestly, are things going the way you planned? no plan, I just go with the flow

12: who was the last person whose phone number you added to your contacts? Tata Annick

13: would you rather have a poodle or a rottweiler? rottweiler

14: which hurts the most, physical or emotional pain? emotional

15: would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum? both, both is good

16: are you tired? right now, yes!

17: how long have you known your 1st phone contact? 20 years because i had my phone for my 18th birthday

18: are they a relative? yes (my father)

19: would you ever consider getting back together with any of your exes? NO 20: when did you last talk to the last person you shared a kiss with? some years 21: if you knew you had the right person, would you marry them today? no

22: would you kiss the last person you kissed again? no

23: how many bracelets do you have on your wrists right now? none

24: is there a certain quote you live by? there is a carck in everything, that's how the light gets in

25: what’s on your mind? world cup final

26: do you have any tattoos? no

27: what is your favorite color? blue

28: next time you will kiss someone on the lips? never?

29: who are you texting? my parents

30: think to the last person you kissed, have you ever kissed them on a couch? yes

31: have you ever had the feeling something bad was going to happen and you were right? yes

32: do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? no

33: do you think anyone has feelings for you? no

34: has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes? yes (I didn't believe her)

35: say the last person you kissed was kissing someone right in front of you? is that a question?

36: were you single on valentines day? i was single but not alone

37: are you friends with the last person you kissed? no

38: what do your friends call you? Boo, Eme, Mimine

39: has anyone upset you in the last week? yes

40: have you ever cried over a text? yes

41: where’s your last bruise located? knee

42: what is it from? corner of my desk

43: last time you wanted to be away from somewhere really bad? years ago

44: who was the last person you were on the phone with? one of my childhood friends

45: do you have a favourite pair of shoes? Batman Converse

46: do you wear hats if your having a bad hair day? no

47: would you ever go bald if it was the style? no

48: do you make supper for your family? no

49: does your bedroom have a door? yes

50: top 3 web-pages? Tumblr (obviously), AO3, Facebook

51: do you know anyone who hates shopping? yes

52: does anything on your body hurt? my back

53: are goodbyes hard for you? yes

54: what was the last beverage you spilled on yourself? water

55: how is your hair? too long

56: what do you usually do first in the morning? I pee (after I get up)

57: do you think two people can last forever? yes

58: think back to january 2007, were you single? yes

59: green or purple grapes? green

60: when’s the next time you will give someone a big hug? sunday

61: do you wish you were somewhere else right now? no

62: when will be the next time you text someone? tomorrow

63: where will you be 5 hours from now? in my bed

64: what were you doing at 8 this morning. working

65: this time last year, can you remember who you liked? nobody

66: is there one person in your life that can always make you smile? some of my best friends

67: did you kiss or hug anyone today? no

68: what was your last thought before you went to bed last night? 3 books are not enough for a 10 hours trip

69: have you ever tried your hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? yes

70: how many windows are open on your computer? 3

71: how many fingers do you have? 10

72: what is your ringtone? Battlestar Galatica theme

73: how old will you be in 5 months? 39

74: where is your mum right now? in her bed I suppose

75: why aren’t you with the person you were first in love with or almost in love? she was straight, I was a dirty little secret

76: have you held hands with somebody in the past three days? no

77: are you friends with the people you were friends with two years ago? yes

78: do you remember who you had a crush on in year 7? no

79: is there anyone you know with the name mike? i know a few Michael

80: have you ever fallen asleep in someones arms? yes

81: how many people have you liked in the past three months? trhee no, six...maybe

82: has anyone seen you in your underwear in the last 3 days? no

83: will you talk to the person you like tonight? who?

84: you’re drunk and yelling at hot guys/girls out of your car window, you’re with? never done that

85: if your bf/gf was into drugs would you care? yes

86: what was the most eventful thing that happened last time you went to see a movie? someone hit me with their crutch

87: who was your last received call from? one of my childhood friends

88: if someone gave you $1,000 to burn a butterfly over a candle, would you? no 89: what is something you wish you had more of? self confidence, intelligence, beauty

90: have you ever trusted someone too much? yes

91: do you sleep with your window open? sometimes

92: do you get along with girls? YES

93: are you keeping a secret from someone who needs to know the truth? no

94: does sex mean love? no

95: you’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, is that a problem? no

96: have you ever kissed anyone with a lip ring? no

97: did you sleep alone this week? yes

98: everybody has somebody that makes them happy, do you? reading, going out with my friends

99: do you believe in love at first sight? yes

100: who was the last person that you pinky promise? nobody

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years

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07/02/2021 DAB Transcript

2 Kings 18:13-19:37, Acts 21:1-17, Psalm 149:1-9, Proverbs 18:8

Today is the 2nd day of July, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we move into this 7th month of the year and get settled in for the next few weeks. That's all we have right, that's how long these months are so by the time we get settled into one month we’re moving into a new one. But right now, were getting settled into the 7th month of the year and we’re continuing our journey through the Book of 2 Kings we’re reading from the New International Version this week, 2nd Kings chapter 20 verse 1 through 22 verse 2.

Commentary:

Okay, it could be noted that as we move our way through 2nd Kings that we are only dealing with the kings of Judah at this point, and that is because there are no more kings of Israel. There is no more Israel. They were carried off by the Assyrians into exile and so we’re dealing with the kingdom that remains the kingdom of Judah and its kings and we can see that it's the same kind of back-and-forth at the same slow decline. So, we have this kind of reforming King Hezekiah who follows the ways of the Lord and for his lifetime, that's how the people go, but then his son Manasseh who reigns for 55 years right, so a long time, he does more evil than any of his predecessors have done. And then his son Josiah comes to the forefront and we’ll get to know Josiah a little bit better tomorrow, but we see that he follows in the way of his ancestor David fully so we assume he's a good king. It’s just back and forth, back and forth over the generations in a steady slow decline.

Then we turn to the Book of Acts and we’ve been traveling with Paul now for a while on his missionary journeys and we saw his decision to go back to Jerusalem and we saw that he was counseled pretty stringently everywhere he went not to go back to Jerusalem, even prophetic words, telling him of, you know, of captivity and hardship, but he already knew that as he says he already knew that the Spirit had told him that there was hardship and suffering in his future and captivity and so, no matter what he had to return to Jerusalem because he felt like God was telling him. So, everybody along way is telling him not to do this and he’s finally like, you're breaking my heart. You know, why all this crying you're breaking my heart; I have to go. Like, I'm willing to die there if I have to die in Jerusalem for Jesus’ sake then that’s how it goes, but I have to go there and so we watch that happen and now today he has arrived, and he is come to the brothers and sisters that are in the Jerusalem church and they have welcomed him but certainly they're concerned they're concerned about his well-being. There are many many many many people in Jerusalem that have been hearing about Paul from all over the Empire he’s kind of enemy. He was once a Pharisee a leading zealot. He was very very very much on the radar and then he found a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus introduced himself and nothing was ever the same again. And so, now he's like enemy number one. To a certain degree and we’ll watch that because yeah, we just kind of scratched the surface here Paul was seen in the temple, people who had seen Paul out on his missionary journeys recognized him and we have another mob. It’s like there’s a lot of mobs happening in the early church centered around Jesus. So, there's a mob in there trying to kill Paul, Paul’s rescued by the Roman soldiers, but they gotta pick him up and carry him, to get him away from the people that were trying to assault him. So, this right here, basically what we see today is Paul's arrest. It’s not his first time, he's been in trouble before for the gospel of Jesus Christ. But this particular arrest is different because pretty much Paul's not going to experience freedom again. Briefly and he’ll have a little bit of freedom but he'll always be watched. He's always on the radar. He's pretty much in custody for the rest of his life. I point that out here just to say watch, watch what happens. It's really ironic. Paul has been all over the Roman Empire on these missionary journeys. But the kind of people that he is going to be able to share the good news of the gospel with are people that he would have never had access to on any of those missionary journeys. Oddly, it’s his captivity that gives him access to really powerful and important people and he shares the gospel. So, let's watch this as we continue our journey through the Book of Acts.

Prayer:

And so, Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for bringing us this far giving us the chance to settle into this 7th month and look back and you see six months of this year and You have been faithful. So, we acknowledge that we worship You, we adore You, we give our hearts to You completely, nothing withheld, nothing off-limits. Come Holy Spirit and lead us forward as we continue our journey. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that’s home base, that’s the websites that’s where you find out what's happening around here. It's where the Prayer Wall is that can be found in the Community section. The Daily Audio Bible Shop is there resources are available there for the journey that we are on and not…our journeys is taking us toward our Daily Audio Bible holiday this coming Wednesday the 7th of July we’ve talking about it for, I guess, a little over a week now. But yeah, the Long Walk is a day to go for a Long Walk with God and I’ve been explaining how nature plays a role and even how the resource Heart a Contemplative Journey can play a role in starting the conversation allowing us to deeply immerse ourselves in our own emotions and invite God into the things we’ve been feeling and moving through in the first 6 months of this year. So, that resource is available for the Long Walk and you can get at the iTunes shop or Google, wherever you can buy music, just look for Heart or look for my name Brian Hardin and you should find it. So, that's all coming up just after the weekend. Of course, here in the United States it's a major holiday weekend Independence Day for us, which is my wife's birthday as well and so that’s coming up over the weekend. So yeah, we’re just gonna transitioning through here into the center of the month, make plans on 7th of July to go for a Long Walk with God. We’ll put a post on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page for the Long Walk and you can post in there, your pictures or little videos and it becomes a really beautiful mosaic. I love it. I love going on the Long Walk but I also love coming back and just looking through all the different pictures of all the different places in the world that happened today, all the little windows into each other's lives. It's a joy so make plans for that. That is coming up on this coming Wednesday, the 7th of July.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, I can't thank you enough. We wouldn't be here if we were not a community in this together. So, I'm in awe and grateful that all these thousands of days we’ve been able to be here every single day without fail. And if that has mattered or matters in your life then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or you dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today I'm Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragements:

Hey siblings, it’s your little sis, His Little Sharie in Canada. Just wanting to share something that really impacted me on Sunday. I took my walker to church for the first time and it was weird and awkward for me and for everybody. I think everybody seemed to be very, I don’t even know how to describe it, but they know I have an MS diagnosis they’ve been praying for healing for me and to see me walking with a walker, I think, just made everyone sad and no one really said anything to me, no one…they tried to, I don't know, I just, I just felt like no one knew what to say or do and so they didn’t say or do anything except for our pastor. She didn’t really say much she just looked at me with this look you know that real authentic compassionate look and she gave me a hug and it was one of those long awkward I’m letting go of you hugs and I don’t know. The thing was she didn't say anything. But and she didn't know what to say like everybody else. But she saw me and she hugged me and it just felt so, humbling in that moment, but also nourishing and so it just taught me a lesson that when you don't know what to say when you don't know what to do on don't just walk away, don’t just default to not saying anything. Maybe just see the person and let them know that you see them and that you love them maybe just give them a hug.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible this is Amanda again in the Boston area. I’ve been an avid listener daily now for just over two weeks and this simple practice of doing this every day has completely transformed me and my family already and it’s just been such a blessing so I'll start off by saying thank you DAB family. I wanted to just briefly touch on the prayer that we heard from RJ today who was calling in response to Lonnie's prayer from a couple days ago about her son who is wayward and addicted to alcohol and all that and how RJ called in to pray for her and to remind her and the things that he said were exactly what I needed to hear, faint not. My sister, that I love dearly, her name is Dana is also an addict and whether she’s a wayward soul or a soul that needs to come face-to-face with Jesus for the first time I am unsure but I know her addiction is in the way so RJ’s words were so comforting, uplifting and the reminder and his testimony on his life has given me so much hope today. That I will see my sister addiction free, bondage free and in the arms of Jesus one day. So, please, oh, I praise Jesus for the news that RJ’s life was changed and I ask that you join me in prayer for praying for my sister Dana that her addiction will be no more and her life will be turned around as she surrenders to Jesus. Thank you all, love you.

Hello my dear DAB family this is Maria a missionary in Mexico. I have been a little bit absent because we are visiting the states for the summer. We’ll head back down in August but it’s been a little hard to keep up with everything. I wanted to give you an update and thank you all for praying for our coworkers they were in training to become missionaries down in Mexico. They had passion for the indigenous people down there and are going to begin working with them. She got COVID and she was 6 months pregnant and she and her baby died family so please pay for her husband. Renzo I want to say that brother your prayers encourage me. I want to give a shout out to you and just thank you for calling in. Thank you for your passion for Jesus and your love for people and to please keep doing that. Fred from Iowa, your prayer request aired on that community prayer quite a few months ago. I want you to know that you’ve been in my prayers ever since. Let’s pray family. Heavenly Father, Lord of the harvest send forth more laborers into this great harvest we pray as You’ve commanded us to do Lord. There’s so much need. I pray especially for this man who lost his wife, I can’t even imagine and also his firstborn child, it's just too difficult to even comprehend. I pray you would comfort him, the whole mission community, the church families, her family, his family, everyone involved Lord, it’s just, it’s so sad Father and it will be for so long. Give them special grace during this time of morning. Thank You for Renzo my brother, thank You that his first love for you is strong I pray it would continue to be and his love for people would continue to shine forth and draw more to Yourself Lord. I pray for Fred that You would give him strength to do the right thing even when it's hard. Thank you for my brother, encourage his heart today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hey there. So, I just listened to Brian teaching on Paul’s leaving Ephesus and asking Him if there is anything people had against him. And it just kind of reminded me that as Christians we’re called to love but we always screw up. We always have beef with other believers; hatred and unforgiveness, non-communication. I know I’m hurtful to other people, I’ve been hurt by other, other believers and I’ve hurt others. And I have unforgiveness and they do as well. So, even though we are called to love one another and we’re made different in Christ we still have that sin and that horrible hatred, the unforgiveness and the blame others and the victim mentality nature. Instead of just fessing up to our responsibility and confessing our sins. The older I get actually, the more I’m seeing the way of the world is just to lie and to leave things out and to not confront issues but to kind of work around, make things politically correct but unresolved, unloving. So, it was just something that I observed and see in myself. I loathe it in myself and others, but it’s there and I don’t think it's going to go away. Just this sin cloud that keeps on consuming. Guess it won’t go away until we die. So, I guess pray for that. I’m Mike in New York. Pray for me, pray for my relationships and pray for yourselves. Alright, love you, bye.

Hello DAB family, I hope you're all doing well it’s Sarah from London. Hopefully I can say this all in two minutes. But it’s been a while and I just wanted to check in and say a massive hello to you all. I have been praying for you when I hear your requests but I just wanna give God all the glory. I really wanna give him all the glory all the praise cause He deserves everything. In January I sent a request for prayers to have a closer relationship with God and thank you for those that prayed for me and thank you for those that called in to encourage me as well. For so long I had allowed distractions to get in the way and I remember in particular a gentleman by the name of Darrell from Atlanta thank you so much and I hope you hear this you called in to give some encouragement and some advice and that really helped me you mentioned something on the lines of reading and praying, even when you don’t feel like it. I listened to that over and over and over again. And wow, it’s the 30th of June today and I have been reading the Bible non-stop. I never knew the Bible could be so transforming and today my relationship with God has done a 360. And I can’t do without it now, I can’t do without that relationship, I need it so much and I feel so much more peace in my life since January. I have given 100% of my time and God is actually revealing so much to me in many many ways. I don’t have the time to say it all today. But I'm just so amazed. I just want to encourage those that may feel that they don’t hear from God let me tell you, let me tell you He speaks in so many ways. You have to spend the time He will show you so much. Thank you so much the Hardin family for all you do. I love you all, God Bless you all.

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torontotravelblog · 4 years

Text

3 DAYS IN TORONTO

We begin listening to a growing number of usually regarding Toronto, this city located in Ontario, Canada. I didn't have particular assumptions regarding my 3 days in Toronto, however I had a feeling I would certainly like it. We consistently see Toronto as one of the world's most comfortable cities in numerous rankings. Furthermore, people I understand who saw Toronto before I did mostly all informed me they suched as the city! Toronto is additionally put on the spotlight and also is regularly advertised by Drake. Undoubtedly, he typically admires his hometown. It's time to see what to do in Toronto and also begin my check out to the city.

DESCRIPTION OF TORONTO

Toronto is an English-speaking city. It's the biggest city of Canada, as well as the 4th largest city in The United States and Canada in regards to population after Mexico City, New York and also Los Angeles. We call Toronto "The Queen City", or "The 6" trigger there are six towns in the city: Old Toronto, East York, North York, York, Etobicoke as well as Scarborough. It's a vibrant city, as well as without a doubt it looks great to live there.

Toronto is additionally a cosmopolitan city. Undoubtedly, fifty percent of the people residing in Toronto weren't birthed in Canada! That's an actual fusion! The five most talked languages in Toronto are English (certainly), after that Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and lastly Italian! French isn't also in the top 5, although there are various other cities in Canada like Montreal where French is the main language!

A great deal of individuals say Toronto is simply a pale duplicate of big US cities, however located in Canada. By the way, in some cases people call Toronto "The little New york city". There are additionally high-rises, an organisation center and also Dundas Square, a location reminding people of Times Square. Toronto is also a city that never ever rests, there's always something to do! A lot of motion pictures apparently happening in New york city are really shot in Toronto!

However there's still this little Canadian taste. Citizens of Toronto are big followers of sport, as well as the most popular one is ice hockey. I heard individuals pay a ticket generally 300 dollars, to see an ice hockey match! If you do not have all this money, comfort on your own and go to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a museum dedicated to the history of ice hockey!

The city remains in full growth. When I was checking out the city, there were building and construction sites anywhere, they were constructing brand-new skyscrapers, and so on. From what I listened to, it's been this way for several years, and also it won't stop anytime soon. I likewise heard building and construction and also realty are the two greatest industries in Toronto, and also not every person can live there! The average lease for a one-bedroom apartment is 2200 Canadian dollars (1500 euros!).

WHAT To Accomplish IN TORONTO?

THE CN TOWER

The sign of the city, among the reasons that Toronto is popular, the CN Tower certainly! It's 553 meters (1815 ft.) high, and also it was the world's highest tower for 34 years, from 1976 to 2010, when it was exceeded by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Pay 36 bucks (25 euros) and you can rise to the 114h floor. You'll take the lift to get to the top in less than a min (58 secs precisely). From there, you'll have a terrific sight of the city. I recommend going there at the end of your stay. You'll have the possibility to identify the different places you saw in the city. It's possible to stroll on a floor made of glass as well as see what's going on in the street, listed below your feet. Some individuals were also terrified to do it ...

For your information to increase to the 147th flooring, but you'll have to pay an added 12 bucks (8 euros). The view from there is also better. For the bravest ones, you can attempt the edgewalk. It's gon na be a thrill, however you need to pay 225 bucks (150 euros)! More details right here. There's also a dining establishment on top of the tower with a 360-degrees sight! Anyway, do not fail to remember to visit the top of the CN Tower, and also preferably go there early in the morning. Otherwise you'll wait concerning one hr to arrive. Alongside the tower, you'll locate the fish tank of Canada however I really did not go, it's not my thing ... It's 35 bucks (24 euros) to enter.

THE DISTILLERY HISTORIC AREA

The distillery area is a historical area in Toronto. You almost feel like you remain in London, with its buildings made of red blocks. For a very long time, this area belonged to a distillery, yet it's now a pedestrian area. There are numerous small stores, cafés, restaurants, art galleries ... It's likewise possible to taste a number of beers of the distillery. It's truly nice to have a stroll there.

ST. LAWRENCE MARKET

A market dating back to 1803! Perfect location to eat if you're hungry! Without a doubt, it's not usual to see in the area a market with pastry shops, a cheese maker, a pork butcher, a fish shop ... However also fruits and vegetables, as well as various other neighborhood products! It's closed on Sundays and Saturdays, otherwise you have to go! FYI, the National Geographic assigned it the very best market on the planet in 2012!

KENSINGTON MARKET

It's not a market but an area, one of the most popular of Toronto. It resembles Camden Town in London, but Toronto design. It's actually a hipster, a little bit bobo as well as hippie. You'll locate pre-owned garments shops there, yet likewise many vegan dining establishments, organic food, stores offering products from around the globe ... Don't wait to visit Graffiti Street as well as Rush Lane, two slim streets. Their walls are covered with graffiti and street art!

DUNDAS SQUARE

Have you been to New york city? If so, Dundas Square will right away remind you of Times, or to a lesser extent Picadilly Circus in London. You'll see big billboards there yet likewise Eaton Facility, the biggest shopping center in Toronto. For your information, Dundas Square is alongside Yonge Road. That's the longest street worldwide, it's 1896 kilometers 1178 miles) long!

NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE

It's quite quick to view as well as admire Nathan Phillips Square, however it deserves the detour! You'll see the old town hall, actually stunning, yet additionally the brand-new municipal government. You'll locate on this square "TORONTO" written in large letters, as well as those letters enlighten at night. There likewise a tiny yard called Peace Yard, opened up in memory of the targets of Hiroshima. From mid-November to mid-March, the lake turns into a skating rink!

TORONTO ISLANDS

Just 10 minutes away from Toronto by ferry, you'll locate the Toronto islands! The islands are not always easily accessible wintertime since the river can be frozen. Otherwise, go to the islands! This is a peaceful place, but most significantly, you have a terrific view of the horizon of Toronto! The weather was truly wonderful when I went there, and it's actually enjoyable since there are no autos there. You can go kayaking, rent a bike, go picnic, there are a couple of beaches if you intend to take a dip ... You need to go to Queens Quay and take the ferry. It's 8 dollars (5.50 EUR), and you can use your ticket all day. There are 3 main islands: Center, Ward and also Hanlan.

TORONTO MUSEUMS

Those that personally understand me currently know I'm very little right into galleries ... That does not indicate I never ever go but I really need to be like "I have to visit this one!" in order to go. That indicates I really did not most likely to any museums in the city but if you're interested, go to the Royal Ontario Gallery, the largest gallery of Canada. It has six millions things associated with natural history and also cultures of throughout the globe, dinosaurs' skeletons ... It's 20 bucks (14EUR) to enter. There's additionally the art gallery of Ontario displaying paintings from Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt ... It's 20 dollars to get in. There's also the Casa Loma, a castle in the north of the city. It's 30 dollars (20 euros) to enter. If you have some time, you can have a stroll at High Park, or Sugar Coastline if the weather is nice.

NIAGARA FALLS

If you have some time, you require to go to the Niagara Falls, 2 hours far from Toronto by bus! It's actually worth the journey as well as everybody states it's a great deal far better to watch the Niagara Falls in Canada (instead of in the US). By the way, here's a schedule for a road trip in Ontario!

I really liked my browse through to Toronto. A vibrant and worldwide city, where there are many things to do. Three days are enough to see Toronto, include another day if you want to see the Niagara Falls. If you most likely to Canada, don't miss out on Toronto!

TORONTO TRAVEL POINTERS

Inspect the visa policy of Canada right here. Most citizens from Western countries can keep up to 6 months visa-free. Take care though. Unless you're a United States citizen, if you get here by air, you are needed to get an ETA ahead of time below. If you arrive by land from the United States, or if you're an US resident, you don't need the ETA.

Do not most likely to the United States without a travel insurance! If something happens, you'll see on your own, clinical expenses are extremely expensive there!

How to get around in Toronto? Take the metro or the metro! You'll notice their trains are long!!! The subway is far from covering the whole city, nevertheless you can go anywhere with the tramways. Buy a suddenly card as well as put money on it (5 bucks, 10, 20, 50 ...). A one-way trip is 3 bucks.

Where to stay in Toronto? There are numerous options, check below.

There are lots of points to do in Toronto. Skip-the-line tickets, go to of the city, bike rental ... Inspect right here what you can do.

3 days in Toronto are perfect, 4 days is far better if you wish to see the Niagara Falls!

The post “ 3 DAYS IN TORONTO “ was appeared first on Been Around The Globe

Vitamin Therapy Toronto - The IV Lounge

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bulgarianmermaid · 5 years

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“You come for winter, you stay for summer, and eventually you move here for the community” – they used to say in Aspen, Colorado. The same couldn’t hold more true for Bansko, Bulgaria and the Digital Nomad community Coworking Bansko has built here.

I left the US an year ago to come help my parents in Bulgaria and a big piece of my heart remained in the American West. It wasn’t for the destination, despite nature being incredibly beautiful; it wasn’t for the journey, despite stunning landscapes and my favorite off road travel; it was for the people of the American West that I fell in love with. What was left of my “bleeding heart” Coworking Bansko stole within my first week here. I didn’t think I could be SO exuberantly happy in Bulgaria, the country where I was born and raised and I tried to escape at all costs. I thought my gypsy soul would always seek movement and adventure. That was until I landed at Coworking Bansko.

I arrived in Bansko in the off season, when all the ski tourists had long gone and the summer crowds had not yet arrived. With 2 weeks to spare between jobs, I was looking for a peaceful place to read and write and, if possible, expand my professional skillset. When Coworking Bansko invited me to put together a Digital Nomad Guide to Bansko I saw that as a sign from the Universe to take a break from life (because that’s what living here feels like) and come see what all the hype around Coworking Bansko is about.

A little bit of history…

Bansko is a small mountain village with rich 18th century Bulgarian Revival history in southwest Bulgaria about 2.5 hrs drive from Sofia and Plovdiv and 4 hrs from Thessaloniki (Greece). Matthias and Uwe started Coworking Bansko in December 2016 just as the ski season was about to kick off. They wanted to create a base for themselves in Bulgaria, live in this beautiful mountain paradise and take advantage of the 10% flat tax rate but without other like-minded people it would have been too boring. So they started Coworking Bansko as a community for location-independent remote workers to do their daily jobs and learn from each other while having fun. In just 3 short years Bansko has become a well-known digital nomad destination with 100+ members from all over the world coworking here each month. It is an amazing environment to be productive during the day and socialize in the evenings. In addition to the daily activities organized by the coworking space, the community hosts a wide variety of happenings on an array of interesting topics – from neuroscience to theater and from biohacking to ice cold river baths – there truly is something for everyone! The members explore the outdoors, practice sports and experience the incredible culture, and adventure in the stunning Bulgarian countryside. They share splendid wine, kayak through breathtaking canyons, and swim and relax in the healing waters of Banya’s 27 natural hot springs.

You come for winter…

In winter, Bansko is the most popular ski resort on the Balkans, featuring 75 km of ski slopes and 14 lifts with a season lasting from December to April. Being the highest ski resort on the Balkans, Bansko enjoys the deepest and most reliable snowpack in the region. In addition, the resort has 360 snow guns for early season snow cover and all the slopes have snow making capabilities. The town also hosts FIS World Cup alpine ski races annually which turn the small town into a big international event.

You stay for summer…

In summer Bansko is the starting point for exploring Pirin National Park and the surrounding mountains. The town offers multiple marked trails for hiking, mountain biking, and climbing; an 18-hole golf course; various horseback riding options; many spas with thermal mineral waters and wine tasting in nearby villages. Bansko also hosts a number of music, film, art and culture festivals which turn the small town into a lively scene with performers and guests from all over the world.

And eventually you move here for the community…

What stole my “bleeding heart” you may wonder? In the off season? Without a single tourist in town? And I am an incredibly picky, beyond demanding, extremely hard to please, high-maintenance customer…

perhaps it was the warm welcome Matthias and Uwe gave me, as if I were a long lost favorite cousin, that made me feel immediately like part of the family

This is not a pic of Matthias and Uwe but it is the current Welcoming Committee 🙂

or maybe the absolutely impeccable organization of my travel and stay

then came the welcome package with some unexpected goodies and my name on it

“Sometimes you want to go to a place where everybody knows your name…” – Cheers

and the series of on boarding informational emails that took care of all my questions before I had even thought of asking them

not to forget the super clean and comfortable accommodations

and how can I skip the delicious food at affordable prices at nearby restaurants, everyone leaves Bansko fat and happy!

a big but welcome surprise was the code of conduct and anti-harassment policy – I have never felt emotionally safer. No matter what my beliefs and opinions were, I was free to express them as long as they weren’t hurtful to other members.

daily activities organized by Coworking Bansko for members – whether it is Monday or Sunday, there is something happening and you can join for free

Hot springs in Banya is my favorite night of the week!

gatherings members organize ad hoc – in 2 weeks I never ate alone or at home 🙂

Food is delicious and portions are HUGE 🙂

weekend travel and outdoor exploration organized within the group – new friendships are formed, expenses are shared and trust is the building block of it all

Hiking from Rozhen to Melnik on a girls day trip to Southwest Bulgaria

and that’s not all, inspirational, educational, and professional development events are organized weekly and monthly on a variety of topics

Still don’t believe me – in 2 weeks I met over 50 new people through Coworking Bansko. Those were some of the brightest, kindest, quirkiest, most interesting personalities I have ever met. Some of them will stay lifelong friends no matter where we end up living and not ONE of them was someone I didn’t want to get to know better, couldn’t find something interesting to talk about or learn from them, or generally disliked. Not ONE!

Some of the coworkers even followed me to Plovdiv for Kapana Fest 🙂 (and they lived)

And to prove I am NOT delusional, in the last 3 years more than 30 members have decided to become residents of Bansko, buying apartments here and incorporating companies in Bulgaria. Coworking Bansko is steadily growing, a second Gondola location was opened in 2018 and a third River location is about to become a reality in 2020 to allow expansion of the community to comfortably accommodate 100+ members.

Since I am an adventure blogger, it wouldn’t be quite right if I didn’t mix work and outdoor fun during my travels. Here is a guide to the perfect Workation in Bansko, no matter which activities you choose or which season you come visit (but you may just want to stay year round not to miss a thing as I’m definitely considering it.)

Events at Coworking Bansko

Bloggers on Top – A 3-Day All Inclusive Travel Blogger UNconference in the mountains of Bansko, Bulgaria. Join us Oct 4-6, 2019!

Coworking UNConference – A 3-Day All-Inclusive Coworking Industry UNconference in the mountains of Bansko, Bulgaria. Join us Nov 8-10, 2019!

Bansko Nomad Fest 2020 – a celebration of the location-independent lifestyle and digital nomad mindset. For one week in June 500+ digital nomads, remote workers, entrepreneurs, and freelancers will take over the beautiful village of Bansko, Bulgaria for an amazing mix of presentations, workshops, sports, mindfulness and nature.

Summer Activities in Bansko – There is so much to do in the mountains and valleys around town in summer that even a year wouldn’t be enough to see it all. Located at 1000m altitude at the base of Pirin National Park, Bansko is the starting point for exploring the surrounding mountains, craggy peaks, meadows, and high alpine lakes.

Winter Events in Bansko – Ski in the morning, work in the afternoon, sip wine in the evening! Not a dream life, we call this our reality in Bansko 🙂 Ski races, movie events, concerts, cold beer, warm fireplaces, ice bars, hot springs, you choose, Bansko delivers!

Day Trips from Bansko – Once you have explored the Bansko area and you are ready to leave town for a bit, there are a number of sights to put on your “must-visit” list.

Want to learn more about Coworking Bansko (and not ready to come meet the team in person just yet?!) – check out this Digital Nomad Guide to Bansko I help them put together. Why do you think I couldn’t leave? After 20 pages of content I wasn’t even halfway done ONLY with the activities and events in the area 🙂

Coworking Bansko, Bulgaria – OR How to Build a Community for Digital Nomads "You come for winter, you stay for summer, and eventually you move here for the community" - they used to say in Aspen, Colorado.

#Adventure #bansko #bulgaria #coliving #conference #coworking #digital marketing #digital nomad #festival #marketing #remote office #retreat #social media #Travel

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matthewwilliamcharles · 5 years

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Tour Journal July 12-16

I haven’t posted a tour journal, or anything for that matter in little while. I neglected to document a couple tours from earlier in the year but figured it was time to start posting stuff again. Anyways here is my tour journal from July 2019, a small five day tour to Illinois and back.

Thursday July 11th - I played a show with my punk band, Assemble Thursday night at The Fire in Philly. Originally I was looking for a show for my tour on that day, but Assemble got an offer to play so I decided I would rather take the Assemble show offer and just make a really long drive Friday morning.

Friday July 12th - I didn’t get to sleep until around 1 am. or so and I had to wake up around 5 am to make it to Detroit on time, just to be safe. To be precise the show was in Hazel Park, MI, which depending on who you talk to is basically Detroit. The drive was long, I made sure not to take toll roads to save money, I could sacrifice the hour or two in time saved. I didn’t eat much and drank coffee throughout, and managed to write a new song on the way, memorizing it thoroughly and transcribing it when I took a break. I had a funny feeling about the show because the event page was desolate, and the only band that I invited to play the show, “My Drowning Youth” was the only band on the five band bill who posted about the show. I arrived at Phoenix 510 with a couple hours to spare. I soon found out that every band on the show besides MDY had pulled a no call no show. I’ve never have had this happen in my life, I’ve played a show where a band had cancelled, or pulled a no call no show, but not four out of five bands! I have a feeling that maybe none of these bands existed or had ever agreed to play the show. Long story short the place was pretty empty. MDY and I played our sets, then we impromptu jammed on “Sink Florida Sink” at the end of my set to some staff members who were polite enough to stick around. Needless to say there was no gas money or door cut, but I was allowed to crash at the venue. Some band had rehearsal scheduled at the space after the show, luckily I was so exhausted it took me no effort to fall asleep on one of the many empty couches. All in all a typical day of tour.

Saturday July 13th - I woke up the following day at Phoenix 510 and figured I could hit the road immediately. The other folks who stayed at the space made coffee and I ended up hanging around longer than intended getting involved in conversations about the potential end of humanity. I ended up giving a guy named Jupiter a ride across town in return for some breakfast at Tim Horton’s before I headed off to Grand Haven, MI. I stopped to buy a $12 harmoinca in Muskegon because my G harmonica fell out of tune the previous night. I managed to get about an hour of time at the beach (the weather was hot and muggy) before the show started. My friends Jessica and Brian from the band Cloudlight were hosting the show at their house, aptly named “In The Clouds”. As far as house shows go this one was pretty top notch! They have a green room upstairs for the bands to chill, and plenty of snacks and beer. All the bands on the show were super good, nobody sounded the same and most everybody stuck around for the full show. After the show the late night stranglers hung out upstairs and jammed on Cloudlight and MxPx songs.

Sunday July 14th - After a much needed full nights rest I woke up and had delicious breakfast with my hosts. I left around 11 am. and started my drive to Bloomington. I was able to find another beach, though finding one that was not crowded was impossible, but I was able to jump in the lake Michigan water one more time before I left the state. The drive to Bloomington, Illinois was uneventful, as is the case for most Midwest drives. I managed to arrive about 45 minutes before the show started. My buddy Jerm Plue was Dirty Rotten Revenge set the show up for me at Nightshop. The show went well, all punk rock acoustic folks on the bill. The weather cooled down a little bit and we had the show on the outdoor stage. Jerm finished off the show with his set around 10-1030. We called in quits after that as it was a work day the following morning for most people.

Monday July 15th - I woke up at Jerm’s house, everybody had already left for work and I just needed to lock up before I left. I started to head back to Detroit as I was scheduled to be a guest on the Motown Mojo Live Podcast. I left a little later than I planned, and looking at the time I would be in town only a half hour before I needed to be there. I really didn’t have the luxury of any extra time. I had cruised through Illinois and was passing into Indiana when I got the message that the show had been cancelled. I pulled over to read the message and respond. Apparently the studio had flooded and a bunch of equipment had been damaged, so they were out of business. I told them not to worry about cancelling, and wished them the best of luck in their recovery. I regrouped and came up with a plan B. I needed to be heading back towards PA, two major cities that were on the way were Cleveland and Columbus. If I headed towards Cleveland I’d get in around 8 pm., while Columbus was a little closer, getting me there around 7 pm. I started to head towards Columbus. There was no time to look for a show and try to find out if I could join a lineup, but there was a good chance that there would be an open mic on a Monday in a decent sized city. I looked up open mics and saw that Buns and Brews in Columbus, Ohio had an open mic that started at 8 pm. That’s where I headed, in haste. I only stopped once to gas up, otherwise it was a straight drive. I pulled up at Buns and Brews, walked in, saw guitar players in the back strumming and changing strings while somebody was singing a blues tune on the mic. I asked about the signup and was lead to the signup sheet, where there was one open spot left. I wrote my name down and Jenn the host said, “Welcome to the final spot of open mic!” Everybody had 4 songs or 20 minutes, so pretty decent for an open mic. When I stepped on stage I got the worst introduction of my life, Jenn said my name sounded like the name of a serial killer (three first names) and asked if I had a killed anybody recently and told people to be weary of me. I handled it well and made some jokes about killing staff members. People stuck around, I let people jam with me, which is usually a bad idea but Derek Bowen, a musician comedian held it down pretty well on the cajon. All in all it was a good move, I was able to make some new connections and some new followers.

Tuesday July 16th - After the show the previous night I just left and started driving back to PA. The next show, which was happening in Pottsville started at 3 pm. This required me to get a head start. I drove until around 2:30 am., not before getting a speeding ticket (82 in a 70, garbage!). I slept at a rest-stop. Woke up around 5-6 am and drove the rest of the way, fighting off sleep most of the drive. I got in town early, walked around town and killed some time at the meteor / alien space artifact store and the pizza shop. My friend Tim, who plays under the moniker “Churches & Trains” set the show up at Pressed Coffee and Books. The show was great for one that started at 3 pm. on a Tuesday in a coffee shop! I left Pottsville, PA with plenty of coffee, gas money, half a cookie and a necklace with a Herkimer Diamond and a meteor chunk on it.

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oliveratlanta · 5 years

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101 things to love about Atlanta

A love letter to a city of many nicknames—just don’t call it Hotlanta

Unlike other American metropolises, it’s sometimes hard to determine exactly what Atlanta is, especially for outsiders or so many newcomers. Is it a business-friendly, big-hearted, mild-weather region that’s six times more populated than it was 50 years ago? Yes, Atlanta is that. A cradle for some of the most influential music—particularly hip-hop and rap—of the past three decades? Yep, that too. A burgeoning foodie wonderland? A southeastern mecca for the production of television and Hollywood blockbusters? A pastiche of gloriously unique, provincial villages masquerading as official neighborhoods? A cultural frontrunner and cautionary tale? Global magnet of opportunity? Still kind of a mess—but lovably so?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and that’s right, y’all.

So maybe that’s what’s special about Atlanta: It’s not yet finished, and never one-note. Rather, it’s a Brunswick stew of varying allures. It’s amorphous, restless, unwed to the past, intoxicated by its own prospects. Very little is sacred here but change, and instigators are more than welcome. Atlanta doesn’t know what it is yet, or exactly where it’s going, but it’s having a damn good time getting there. Let’s celebrate what’s great here, right now.

1. Inclusivity. The economic and cultural heart of the Deep South isn’t just accustomed to being diverse, it’s proud of it. See virtually any public gathering place intown for proof that humanity can peacefully coexist—and that Atlanta still has better things to do than hate.

2. Sky-high architecture. From the emerald towers of Sandy Springs’s King and Queen to the Georgia Pacific Tower’s illuminated stairsteps, the skyline is among America’s most underappreciated, especially at night. It’s not contiguous yet, with large gaps between poky clusters from most angles, but it’s distinctive and bold. And oh how it glows.

3. Easy-breezy climes. Sure, summer’s hotter’n’ Hades. But there’s Christmas shopping in flip-flops (sometimes), T-shirt weekends in January (occasionally), and bloomy early February (without fail).

4. After Hours at Waffle House: The 20-minute wait at 3:17 a.m. is plenty of time for random singing with other scatterbrained, post-bar strangers in line.

5. The prevalence of nature. Cicadas. And barn owls. Talking. At night. Among the giant urban oaks, in July.

6. Festival-a-palooza. Neighborhoods across the city have unbridled, borderline incomprehensible enthusiasm for getting together. Random gatherings invented on Facebook (looking at you, Lanta Gras) have ballooned into huge annual traditions with street closures and parades.

7. Bezos who? Amazon didn’t choose Atlanta, and Atlanta cared for five minutes.

8. It’s almost never hard to find a seat on public transit.

9. Kid-friendly. Little children growing up in Atlanta tend to think it’s amazing. That’s an impression bolstered by innumerable playgrounds and ubiquitous King of Pops, those delectable, homegrown frozen staples.

10. Random celebrity encounters. Like that time when André 3000 was shopping alone at the DeKalb Farmers Market, sans entourage, near the seafood section, all cool in his army jacket despite the July swelter and crush of onlookers, not too busy or highfalutin to shake everybody’s hand.

11. Yes, $100,000-something condos are prevalent—still—in desirable places across Atlanta. Many aren’t shoeboxes, either. And some count incredible views, particularly of central Midtown or downtown’s oldest streets.

12. Tech hub. Because Georgia Tech is a factory of coveted IT brainpower that’s more essential to the city’s business climate each year.

13. Westside escape. With its bridges, creekside vistas, and smooth, snaking pavement, the Proctor Creek Greenway trail is already otherworldly, in the best, most bucolic way. And it’s just a fraction of what it stands to be in coming years.

14. Long live the Clermont. A few years ago, neighbors were preparing to fight to save a local strip club from its new owners. It was a false alarm—the new owners view the Clermont as an asset. But that’s Atlanta.

15. Where it’s greater. With its transit connectivity, celebrated food scene, walkability, and perennial ranking as Georgia’s best place to live, Decatur gets it.

16. World’s busiest hub. With flights seemingly every minute from early morning until the wee night-time hours, the Atlanta airport is a stressful but handy launchpad of convenience, with a ridiculous wealth of nonstop flights to basically everywhere (hello, Dubai and Johannesburg). We’ll forgive a MARTA train derailment, that famous power outage, and perpetual TSA clogs.

17. Expats welcome. Because almost nobody on your street is actually from Atlanta, and that’s so normal it usually doesn’t even register. A common greeting for new neighbors: “So, where ya from?”

18. Can’t-miss Cascade. Especially in autumn, SW ATL’s Cascade Springs Nature Preserve offers ITP serenity to the fullest. Meander through 120 acres of trails, climb Civil War-era ruins, hop across a waterfall’s rocks. It’ll make even the most overstressed office dweller feel something akin to childhood awe.

19. Walkability. It’s getting vastly… better, in many places, from densifying EAV to the growing shopping avenues of central Buckhead. It’s happening, albeit slowly.

20. But... Atlanta’s still a major city where driving conveniences are largely possible, and lugging groceries on trains and such isn’t always an everyday hassle. Rush hours, however, are always plural, and Saturday traffic is, unfortunately, no joke anymore.

21. Trees of green. Friends flying in for the first time might say, “All I saw were trees—and then we landed.” A high compliment.

Curbed Atlanta

Atlanta’s canopy with the Buckhead business district at left, and Midtown/downtown at right.

22. Playspace. The restored, climbable treasure that is Noguchi Playscapes, the famed landscape architect’s work in Piedmont Park, was the only U.S. playground he completed in his lifetime.

23. Bungalows. The quintessential intown homes. Built to last, forever in vogue, and usually affixed with that most Atlanta of residential features: the generous porch.

24. Bearings Bike Shop. The community-focused nonprofit is teaching kids the value of hard work, the joy of exercise, and the viability of traversing a car-crazed city on two wheels.

25. Late-night stalwart. MJQ is a longstanding and culturally important club that welcomes anybody and everybody down into the rollicking, subterranean bowels of a former blues club. Chicago House in one room, a Whitney Houston singalong in the next.

26. Adios, Bravos. The pro baseball team left town for the monied ’burbs—and might very well have done Atlanta a favor (unless you operated front-yard parking lots). Nearby Georgia Avenue’s rebirth could show how large-scale adaptive reuse, married with new construction, can be a smartly executed replacement for storefront vacancies and so much stadium asphalt. Changes of this magnitude don’t come without gentrification fears, of course. But rows of beautiful, vacant old buildings—which could’ve doubled as a post-apocalyptic Main Street before, but are under renovation now—were doing Atlanta no favors.

27. The mother of all porch parties. Three cheers for the grassroots explosion of Oakhurst Porchfest. Founded in 2015, the autumn musical extravaganza counts 200-plus acts now, performing wherever volunteers offer their porches as stages. It’s community unification through music at its finest.

28. High Museum. The Southeast’s preeminent showcase for contemporary and classical art, housed in buildings designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Meier, is free for locals on the second Sunday of each month. How’s that for accessibility?

29. Viewrific, Part I. The approach from Douglasville on Interstate 20, over that hill, in fading evening light, the Land of Oz.

30. One of television’s best shows needed no other name than our city’s.

31. Georgia Aquarium’s bucket-list essential. For about the price of a car tire, you can swim with whale sharks downtown. And if you’re lucky, they’ll inadvertently bump you, with all the gentle power of a city bus in slow motion.

32. Curated graffiti. Running along the northern borders of Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown, Wylie Street is an ever-changing urban museum of eye-popping street murals, with a dash of biting social commentary.

33. Atlanta is where misfit street characters become local legends. Here’s looking at you, Baton Bob. And where art thou, Bicycle Shorts Man?

34. The Dungeon house in Lakewood Heights. Birthplace of OutKast, it was recently purchased by Big Boi. Hootie Hoo!

35. The Atlanta Beltline. Despite affordability challenges directly caused by the now-famous Beltline, the popular segments are socially magical, unifying things—Atlanta’s boardwalk, the Little Peachtree—and it’s barely reached adolescence at this point. Maybe one day, instead of sprawl and traffic, a mention of Atlanta anywhere in the world will conjure images of this mythical green loop. All dreamed up by a local college kid.

36. Sylvan Hills. The historic nabe between downtown and the airport is the prettiest neighborhood that half of Atlanta’s never heard of.

37. Scooter culture. Having spawned across the city in a year, the vehicles can be annoying, unsightly, and even dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. But the two-wheel zeitgeist beats all those lawbreaking riders driving alone in 4,000-pound street cloggers, right?

38. Raising the bar. Rooftop restaurants and bars have multiplied tenfold (roughly) in recent years, highlighted by Ponce City Market’s vintage amusement park in the sky and Hotel Clermont’s unpretentious new hang. About time.

39. Our iconic downtown library is by Marcel Breuer, someone cooler than Carnegie.

40. Path Force. The Beltline’s roving, specialized, applaudable police squad is consistently effective. Despite millions of visitors to the trails, the number of annual crime incidents can sometimes be counted on one hand.

41. John Portman. The late architect’s simple idea born in downtown Atlanta—the inner high-rise atrium, designed to cheaply cool low-income buildings—revolutionized hotel design around the world.

42. A growing legacy of rather badass sports statues. There’s Hank Aaron swinging through his record homer, shredded Evander Holyfield (currently MIA), sculptural Olympics remnants, Dominique Wilkins in mid-dunk, and that incredible Falcons sculpture.

43. Viewrific, Part II. The downtown skyline from that stoplight, facing west, where Freedom Parkway meets Boulevard. It’s the famed Jackson Street Bridge vantage point, immortalized in The Walking Dead Season 1 poster, panned out.

44. Park potential. Bellwood Quarry’s green space initiative could finally bring that side of town the Piedmont Park it deserves.

45. Commercial survivors. Poncey-Highland throwback DVD rental spot Videodrome and dive-bar stalwart Righteous Room are here to stay forever! Probably.

46. Road trips galore. From Atlanta, there’s a wealth of geographically and culturally diverse long-weekend options in all directions. Asheville, Savannah, the Gulf Coast, Charleston, Blue Ridge, Jekyll Island, Nashville, Charlotte, and the list goes on. Leave at lunch on Friday and reach them all by happy hour.

47. Church Bar on Edgewood. Before it was a tourist destination, the beloved Edgewood Avenue watering hole was just an unholy alliance of irreverent art, ping-pong, sangria, and a male former church deacon named Sister Louisa.

48. Atlanta United. In just its third year now, the club has scored a Major League Soccer championship and global headlines that declare this city, for once, an exemplar of fandom.

49. They don’t make ’em like Whittier Mill Village anymore. The semi-secret old cotton mill community includes 1800s homes, beautiful ruins, and Buckhead schools.

50. We took Snowpocalypse jokes—and are still taking them—in stride. Two inches of daytime snow paralyzed a major city, but hey, we made the front page of the New York Times! And inspired the creation of an SNL Weekend Update character called Buford Calloway, a “survivor.”

51. Lemony pepper wings. Order dry, with a little tub of hot sauce on the side. Graze the wing across blue cheese, and then dunk in the sauce. Bite big. And behold caloric Eden.

52. Bank of America Plaza. The world’s largest cigarette just happens to be the Southeast’s tallest building—and the ATL’s Eiffel Tower. (Sorry, Big Chicken.)

53. Purposeful art. With poignant murals, impressive permanent pieces, and a civil rights installation series where historical events actually happened, the Beltline’s Westside Trail artwork is stepping up the game. Ditto for the Eastside’s series, and William Massey’s awe-inspiring pieces made of garbage found on streets.

54. Viewrific, Part III. Sure, the ginormous chiseled Confederates are awkward at best, and embarrassing at worst. But evenings and sunrises atop Stone Mountain are religious experiences (literally, every Easter, with church services). Up there, find unparalleled vistas of so much rippling green, cast pink, with the glint of skyscrapers in the middle distance.

55. Adair Park. Blight and disinvestment didn’t diminish the beautiful old bones of this historic place.

56. The Atlanta Tech Village in Buckhead is the real deal. A tech hub that’s spawned big local companies—and a lot of cushy salaries.

57. Car-free lifestyles no longer seem crazy. Alternate transportation commuters are becoming more prevalent by the year—and proving that living without a car (gasp!) is possible in Atlanta. (See: the saddlebags and backpacks accessorizing business attire along the Freedom Park PATH Trail during weekday rush hours.)

58. No shortage of swingin’ highrise pools. It’s like a subculture unto itself, from late April to September.

59. We have the Southeast’s largest burial ground, and it’s beautiful. More than 100,000 people have been laid to eternal rest across Westview Cemetery’s 600 acres, which is centered around a gorgeously ornate mausoleum and chapel.

60. Lest we forget Oakland Cemetery. Atlanta’s oldest public green space is a historical, durable, accessible intown treasure that really knows how to party. For proof, see the long-running, multistage Tunes From the Tombs festival.

61. The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is > the NASCAR Museum that Atlanta “lost” to Charlotte.

62. Pittsburgh Yards. This southside Beltline redevelopment is centered on the creation of jobs in underserved places—instead of $3,000 apartments and $13.50 bespoke kale bowls—and it could be a game changer.

63. Buckhead’s tallest building, the Sovereign tower, still stands out, architecturally. And it could soon have a big blue modernist sibling.

64. Venturing OTP won’t actually kill you. Resurrected and richly historic downtowns are in abundance in the Atlanta suburbs. Like, everywhere. Find a half-dozen worthwhile day-trip destinations in Gwinnett alone.

65. The Atlanta splash pad, a social oasis and absolute godsend. And even better: More splash pads are in the works, from Vine City (definitely) to Chosewood Park (probably) and Kirkwood (maybe). About damn time, say toddlers across Atlanta.

66. Queer culture is thriving. That’s epitomized by Atlanta Pride, which is more massive than ever after almost 50 years (and now family-friendly, for better or worse).

67. English Avenue’s Mattie Freeland Park. Founded and controlled by neighbors, the tiny green space is a shining example of small but vital civic strides in historically troubled places.

68. The Chattahoochee River. A revived and unspoiled (if underused) resource for every season.

69. Insert here: A non-cheesy, non-obvious, pithy ode to the Varsity, that legendary fast-food drive-in—still the world’s largest after 90 years. Don’t mention “What’ll ya have?” Ah, never mind.

70. Music Midtown. For all its faults (overcrowding, lawn damage, neighbor inconvenience, lineups geared toward teens), the reborn multistage extravaganza is a dynamic and diverse musical showcase every September. Walk barefoot across lush Bermuda and dance like only 75,000 people are watching.

71. Ted Turner’s legacy. The media maverick and early Atlanta believer has been called an inspiration by people as disparate as Ted Koppel and Killer Mike.

72. The reinvigorated cyclorama. Once bedraggled, the restored cyclorama—one of America’s largest historical artifacts—is now in good hands, presented in a state-of-the-art showcase at the Atlanta History Center. That’s where it’ll be until infants of today are septuagenarians. At least.

73. Almost every Atlantan has some tale about the cast or production of The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Baby Driver, etc. And hundreds of us have rented our homes for movie and TV shoots. Cha-ching.

74. Atlanta Streets Alive. The occasional street-closure sensation (with attendance routinely north of 120,000) illustrates a dream scenario, in terms of biking/pedestrian infrastructure and how cities of the future could yield to people over automobiles.

75. Inspiring architecture—seriously. In a few too-rare cases, large-scale design is getting quite interesting. Find several forthcoming examples on Howell Mill Road alone. And approach the Jenga-d facade of Midtown’s new lilli tower from any angle at twilight.

76. The Beltline’s Northside Trail. It’s a tucked-away, leafy, unsung jewel—with a rail bridge underpass that could stand as a top Beltline highlight forever.

77. Relaxed ganja laws in the City of Atlanta. Anyone caught with a bag of pot in the city can face—worst case—a $75 fine now. But even that’s left to the officer’s discretion. And judging by the pungent wafts from innumerable cars and so many porches, the memo on that was widely read among intowners.

78. The Goat Farm! Westside ruins turned artist hive. Now don’t let redevelopment gut its inimitable soul!

79. Where the expressions “Y’all!” and “Yo!” coexist harmoniously—and sometimes come from the same mouth.

80. Inman Park Festival. A late-April tradition for almost half a century, this fest is Atlanta’s greatest neighborhood showcase. It’s proof that even prestigious places need not take themselves too seriously.

81. These directions make sense in Atlanta-ese: “Head up the Connector, around the Grady Curve, beyond the Brookwood Split, past Spaghetti Junction, barely OTP, and then…”

82. Record shops keep it spinning. From the hippest gritty neighborhoods to the far-flung ’burbs, ATL vinyl is alive and well.

83. The original Lantern Parade. A luminous Atlanta Beltline tradition—now 70,000 strong—unlike any other.

84. Moonlight drives. The city’s nonsensical roadway design actually makes for more interesting (if impractical) drives, once you know where the hell you’re going. For a test run, take Ponce from the Majestic Diner to Decatur, late at night, windows down.

85. Because the Atlanta Hawks stayed put, right in the city’s heart. And now they’re trending like the team of the future.

86. Ansley Park. With its dizzying array of residential masterworks and unique country-club-under-skyscrapers vibe, this is aspirational living done right. Leafy and hilly at every turn, the neighborhood’s bounty of walkable green space options is almost unfair.

87. Those wondrous, weird accumulations of snow. About six times per decade, there’s a legit, if short-lived, snowfall. Added bonus: The city’s streets and parks are perfectly angled for sledding, for those rare Atlantans who actually own sleds or don’t mind embarrassing themselves on greased cookie sheets.

88. Midtown’s unyielding boom. Crane-watching (and counting) has become a pastime in Midtown. It’s the epicenter of intown’s metamorphosis, where soul-sucking surface parking lots go to die.

Curbed Atlanta

Midtown in summertime, as seen over Piedmont Park.

89. The “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign on Peachtree Road. Long a source of pride and bewilderment for this once modestly sized Southern town, the electronic metro population counter in front of the Darlington Apartments is climbing ever closer to 7 million. Fun fact: It was installed by a young billboard mogul named Ted Turner in the 1960s, when the metro’s population was about 1.1 million.

90. The potential of South Downtown. For far too long, Atlanta’s oldest, most captivatingly vintage streets have been forsaken by most investors, residents, visitors, and anyone else not headed to Magic City, a Falcons game, or the Gold Dome. Whether the trifecta of ambitious plans for the Gulch, Underground Atlanta, and Newport’s extensive portfolio can spring the district to greatness remains to be seen.

91. Castleberry Hill. Atlanta’s epicenter of authentic loft living and bohemian art galleries is also cool enough for a 2 Chainz restaurant.

92. The food. It ain’t all pulled pork, buttermilk chicken, and Frosty Oranges ’round here anymore. From Buford Highway’s international fare to Decatur’s award-winning menus and classic eateries like Busy Bee Cafe, you could live in Atlanta a decade and not sample all its eclectic deliciousness. “This year cemented the Capital City of the South’s status as a culinary force,” wrote Zagat in 2017, declaring the ATL the nation’s ninth “most exciting” food city.

93. Pre-dogwood hoopla. A sunny March weekend in Piedmont Park is like a city festival organized by the citizenry, with plenty of flying frisbees and open-container good vibes.

94. Palm trees. So what if they’re not native to Atlanta? Neither are you (probably). Some varieties really thrive here, punctuating front yards and restaurant landscapes in these subtropical climes.

95. The Fabulous Fox. It’s the site of Prince’s final concert and, when the wrecking ball loomed, legendary 1970s preservation efforts led by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd. The glittering Fox Theatre is an Atlanta showplace like no other.

96. Viewrific, Finale. Southbound on Peachtree Road, just past Jesus Junction, that downhill vantage point captures something like a scene from the movie Metropolis, only framed by towering pines.

97. Pollen preparedness. A real downside of Atlanta’s otherwise glorious, floral springs are the swirling particles so thick they turn black cars yellow. Or streets into yellow-tinged rivers when it rains. Luckily, ATLiens aren’t fazed, popping non-drowsy Claritin, minding pollen counts on the news, or—in some cases—strapping on SARS-style masks.

98. Local beer. Suddenly, it’s everywhere! A hundred varieties not named SweetWater.

99. That being said… a frosty glass, a SweetWater 420 on draft, a Saturday afternoon in May, counting passersby from a lively patio bar, and somebody, somewhere, just started strumming an acoustic guitar.

100. We’re not “Marthasville,” thank God. (One of this settlement’s original names.)

101. Still welcoming after all these damn carpetbaggers.

source https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/5/29/18629884/reasons-to-love-atlanta

#OliverAtlanta

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thechasefiles · 5 years

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 1/24/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Thursday 24th January 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

SPEAK UP – Do more to stop all these guns coming into Barbados! That was the call from President of the Senate, Sir Richard Cheltenham, as he reacted to the rising incidence of gun violence. So far for the year, there have been 13 reported shooting incidents, four of which resulted in deaths. Declaring there must be “a conversation” on guns coming in, he asked: “Where are these guns coming from?” He added that no-one seemed prepared “to speak with candour and frankness”. Speaking to THE NATION in Parliament Yard before the Senate sitting began, the Queen’s Counsel suggested that not enough was being done by the agencies charged with responsibility for investigating the origin of the many guns on the island. “Those who have responsibility for guarding the country – Coast Guard, the police, the airwing – all of them know about it, but nobody seems to say where are these guns coming from and how they are getting in here. That is the disturbing thing,” he said˚. “Nobody is saying a word about them, nor are they saying anything for themselves . . . . They don’t drop from the heavens like manna!” (DN)

DLP CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION – The Democratic Labour party is calling on Government to present a plan to tackle the worrisome gun violence now plaguing the country. Following the latest gun crime in Baxter’s Road St Michael on Wednesday night, the DLP issued a statement on its Facebook page calling for immediate action. “We are witnessing a spate of killings unprecedented in the history of Barbados. The Democratic Labour Party now calls on the Government to come to the people with its plan to fight crime in this country,” the statement said. It called for the Mottley led administration to move beyond public relations ‘grins’ and ‘handshakes’ saying, “ The current crime spree will take more than a photo opportunity in the form of a walk through citizens are afraid, they are nervous and uncertain.” (DN)

SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT – Josephine Hughes and Leroy London are desperately seeking answers about their son’s disappearance on Sunday. It was around 8:30 p.m. when police received a report that Lindy London, 15, was missing after he got into difficulty in strong currents at the “Hot Pot” area at Brighton Beach, St Michael. He has not been seen since. However, his parents were dissatisfied with the reports given to police, and instead are claiming that he was “lured to the beach”. “I am so devastated,” said Hughes. “I had trouble sleeping. I usually know everywhere he goes and I never heard him telling me about the beach. In fact, when he came out of the Government Industrial School, I told him the beach is one place I don’t feel comfortable with him going.” On December 13, he returned to his Bridge Cot, St George home after spending four and a half years at the Government Industrial School. His parents said they saw a change in the behaviour of the former St George Secondary School student after he returned home. They said he wanted to further his education and had participated in baptism classes at the People’s Cathedral. (DN)

UPDATE : POLICE IDENTIFY BODY FOUND IN ST THOMAS - Police have released the name of the man whose body was found lying along the roadside at Edgehill, St Thomas last night. He is 35-year-old Barry Delonor Taylor of Shop Hill in the same parish. According to a media release, he had a laceration at the back of his neck. (DN)

MOTHER GRIEVES OVER SLAIN SON – The mother of the young man who was found bleeding at the side of the road at Cane Garden, St Thomas, where he eventually died, wants her son’s killer(s) found before he goes to his grave. A devastated Joan Benn who last saw her 35-year-old son Barry Taylor at their Shop Hill, St Thomas home just over an hour before his bloody and lifeless body was discovered with stab wounds around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday said she just wants justice for her child. She said she last saw Taylor around 5 p.m. that same day when he told her ‘good evening mummy’, to which she replied ‘good evening Barry’. He then told her he was leaving. “I want them hold before the week done. Before Barry get in he grave I want them hold,” the sobbing mother told Barbados TODAY. “I just feel empty. It is unbelievable. I ain’t supposed to bury he; he is supposed to bury me. Everybody trying to hold up. Everybody trying to cope with it because it is not easy,” she added. Benn said she received the tragic news about the death of the first of her three children from a co-worker who was passing the area on her way home. “She saw him, recognized he was my son and she came and told me. I could not believe it. A gentleman who lives not too far from there saw him take his last breath. He said he was stumbling and then he dropped down,” she said, as the tears rolled down her cheeks. As she wiped the tears away with a blue washcloth, the mother said she has been struggling to understand why somebody would have carried out such an act on Taylor whom she described as someone who did not “get into anything”. “He would be in and out. He would be in Shop Hill and Jackson and sometimes he would go in town and come home quick. He would be in and out, but in the area,” she said. The Shop Hill community was quiet when Barbados TODAY visited the area this morning. Most of Taylor’s family members were locked away in their houses, which are all situated close to each other. His aunt Betty Springer said she knew her nephew to be one to run away from crowds. She said most of Tuesday he was at home listening to music. “I can’t believe it. I helped to raise him. Barry doesn’t trouble you. Up to yesterday Barry was home playing his music. Barry doesn’t trouble you so I don’t know how this happen. This thing got everybody shocked. I went to the scene but I could not go close to the body. I could not look at my nephew that way,” the aunt said. Benn said Taylor was a former St Leonard’s Boys student who loved playing football and had represented Shop Hill in that sport. A resident who lives close to the scene told Barbados TODAY the image of Taylor’s mother sitting in a chair crying as she watched her son’s body waiting to be removed from the scene, was a sad sight that he believed would stay with him for a long. “That ain’t nothing no mother should have to go through. I don’t understand why all of this killing and violence,” the concerned resident said. (BT)

UPDATE: MAN DIES IN BAXTER’S ROAD SHOOTING – Police have confirmed that the man shot in Baxter’s Road St Michael has succumbed to his injuries. It’s now the fourth murder by gun for the year and the 13th reported shooting incident. Police have not yet released the name of the victim. (DN)

GUILTY PLEA – At 27, Jeff Confield Washington has been deemed medically unfit and is therefore unable to work. As a result, he has an unpaid fine of $555 which carries with it an alternative of 55 days in jail which was ordered by Magistrate Graveney Bannister in January last year. When Washington, of Lewis Gap, Green Hill, St Michael, appeared before acting Magistrate Anika Jackson today in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife, Shauntelle Waithe, occasioning her actual bodily harm on November 16, 2018. According to Prosecutor, PC Kenmore Phillips, on the day of the incident, the couple was in the Cheapside Terminal and during a struggle, Washington struck his wife in her belly. She was seven months pregnant. She said she felt light-headed and then started to vomit. The prosecutor said she was taken to the Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St Michael, where she was treated and discharged and the matter reported to the police. According to the prosecutor, on January 22, 2019, Washington was taken to the police station where he was charged. Washington however told the court that when he heard the police wanted him, he went to the police station. It was at this point the accused informed the court that he had not taken his medication and the acting Magistrate allowed him to sit. She then looked at the antecedents on his card noting that he had committed similar offences and had even threatened a member of the judiciary. Washington admitted that it was the magistrate who had ordered the fine which remained unpaid. He said he had a head injury which caused him to be hospitalized. He explained to the court that he is supported by his brother and wife and he could not ask his brother to pay the fine. The acting magistrate said she was bound by that sentence of 55 days and sentenced him to three months in jail for the incident with his wife to run concurrent with the 55 days for not paying the earlier fine. (BT)

COMPLAINANT NO LONGER INTERESTED – It’s time to revert to the situation where a complainant should be asked to pay costs after coming to court and saying he or she was no longer going through with the matter. Acting Magistrate Anika Jackson presiding in the District ‘A Magistrates’ Court made the comment today after complainant Shaquille Smith said she was no longer going through with the case involving Kadeem Rashad Scantlebury. Pointing out that she was not casting aspersions at those in the matter before her, she added “I feel we should go back to those times, because it’s not only wasting the police time and the court’s time, but also it’s costing taxpayers money,” the acting Magistrate noted. She then dismissed the matter. (BT)

SMALL DRUG FIND LANDS BIG FINE – “Ma’am I feel responsible. It will never happen again. I am very sorry it happened.” These were the words of 28-year-old Andre Xavier Leacock, of Combermere Street, St. Michael, who pleaded guilty to having $15 worth of cannabis on January 20, 2019. Prosecutor, PC Kenmore Phillips told the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court that the police were along Dalkeith Road and stopped the car which Leacock was driving and found the drug under the floor on the driver’s side. Acting Magistrate Anika Jackson noted his early guilty plea and fined him $750 in a day or one month in jail. (BT)

CORRUPTION PUTS SOCIETY AT RISK – Opposition Senator Crystal Drakes wants the level of corruption in Barbados to be identified. Then, she wants those persons identified to have engaged in the illegal practices brought to justice. Those were her suggestions as she spoke during debate on the Public Finance Management Bill 2019 in the Senate this afternoon. “What I’m asking us to do as we move forward is to identify the level of corruption that we have, because if we sit here and say there is possibly corruption, or there maybe is corruption, it is to deny that we are unaware of any of these wrongdoings. “It’s only when we acknowledge it…you can then only start to solve it. In acknowledging we have to then start to report it,” Drakes said. The senator also partly blamed the country’s current economic situation on those persons who engaged in corrupt practices. “So when we here in Barbados have these cases where we hear either outright in public or in whispers of unscrupulous deals being made and large unexplainable contracts being given to persons, that is what has contributed to us coming to this point in time. “I want to say that anyone who has ever benefited from such deals, or fat contracts as people would call them, you have in your small or large way contributed to why Barbados is now at the place it is at,” Haynes said. “Yes we have issues with our economic structures, as far as the drivers are concerned, but when you compound low growth with elements of wastage and mismanagement, you make the situation even more dire.” She said the actions of those corrupt individuals had left Government’s hands tied and meant tough measures now had to be implemented. “What you do as an individual then leaves the Government to have to cut expenditure, you leave a Government to now have to send home workers, you leave a Government to raise taxes to the point where it feels almost burdensome to the others in society. “Sometimes we talk about these things as if they are abstract concepts. It is corruption by persons, by individuals. You are the ones who are placing your society at risk, this is where it leads us. So when there is poor mismanagement and a disregard for integrity you lead a country to the brink of economic turmoil where no one is left untouched by harsh measures,” Haynes said. (BT)

‘GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE LIABLE TOO’, SAYS SENATOR - Independent Senator Monique Taitt is suggesting that Government incurs a penalty for failing to pay for services or pay income tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Corporation tax refunds within a stipulated time. Taitt, who was addressing the Upper House today as she contributed to debate on the Public Finance Management Bill, said it would only be fair for the government to be penalized just as individuals and companies were if they failed to meet their obligations to Government. “What are the penalties for the government failing to repay or remit if they don’t take on the suggestion of interest and penalties? Are you calling upon individuals to have to go to court, which is an additional cost, or at the end of the day is it just lip service where you got to wait anyway because it is Government? I am just asking these questions because to me public finance is not only revenue generation it is also for the people. It is also ensuring that people are not crippled, because an asset rich cash poor company is a recipe for disaster,” said Taitt. She said it was about time the government addressed the issue of income tax, VAT and corporation tax refunds, adding that the new Bill should make provision for Government to be held responsible. She insisted that while Government seemed to have an “air-tight, organized and structured piece of legislation in place to deal with the ills of public finance management” it should also ensure that “the people for whom this Bill has been devised” also benefit. “I have a client who told me they are owed over $60,000 in VAT returns, $30,000 of which is over a year old. So I am just querying and hoping that with this new Public Finance Management Bill that the proper system of accounts of all money received and paid by the government will speak to things like income tax returns, VAT returns, when you do a job for the Government,” she said. “I am hoping that with the advent of this Bill that those things will be properly managed and if they are not, just as how if you don’t pay your land tax on time or income tax on time there are interest and penalties, will the government by virtue of having all of this going on, by allowing persons to whom they owe either remittances or refunds, allow those persons to benefit from interest and penalties as well?” she asked. Saying she hoped it would not take up to a year for the government to pay what it owed, Taitt also questioned what mechanisms would be put in place to ensure that the proposed legislation was effective. “It cannot be for example, that when you go on the BRA (Barbados Revenue Authority) website they are telling you that TAMIS is down and they apologize for any inconvenience caused and they are trying to get their technical people to deal with it. So, there are VAT returns that as far as I am aware, are yet to be filed because they can’t get on to TAMIS or whatever system deals with VAT. If you are the agency to collect, you should be running effectively. So I am hoping that all the bells and whistles in this piece of legislation will also deal with the necessary infrastructure to allow it to work, if not this is all just rhetoric,” she explained. Taitt also questioned why the government did not allow for the settling of its debt by setting off what it owed individuals and businesses against what it owed by them. “That has always been a puzzle to me why set-offs are not happening at BRA,” said Taitt, “so that is another query I have as it relates to the public finance management of the country and the common sense of it all. You pay to get back instead of set-off?” she said. (BT)

RIGHT MOVE – Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn has welcomed the decision by Prime Minister Mia Mottley to remove some of the duties of Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, but said it was only done “half way”. In fact, Franklyn said he believed all Hinkson’s ministerial duties should have been taken away, though he did not say why. Franklyn, who was contributing to debate on the Public Finance Management Bill in the Senate on Wednesday, said he was ready to “support” the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration once it was “doing the right thing”. “I see the other day the Prime Minister took away some of their duties and I support it. If there is any fault that I could find with her in that regard is that she did not take away all. But when you do the right thing I will say so,” he quipped. “I am very serious she did the right thing this time, it is just that she did the half right thing because she should have carried away all. But be that as it may, I need you, this country needs you to do the right thing,” he urged Government. Last week Mottley relieved Hinkson of his duties related to the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) with immediate effect and reassigned them to Attorney General Dale Marshall. Hinkson was also relieved of responsibility for the Forensic Services Centre, the Criminal Justice Research Unit and the Police Complaints Authority. Hinkson has so far said he was in “total agreement” with the Prime Minister’s decision, indicating that he could now better manage his remaining duties. Turning his attention to the Bill, Franklyn urged Government to weed out corruption and bring people guilty of wrongdoing to justice. “I don’t feel that politicians or anybody should betray the public’s trust and get away with it. This is not a witch hunt, you are hunting thieves. So please go after these people. That last group did not carry away the pie, they carried away the whole pie and the pie pan and somebody needs to account for it,” he said, Pointing out that the legislation “goes a long way” to ensure that people would think twice before doing wrong, Franklyn said he did not believe it would stop people from “transgressing”, but would cause them to want to be more “innovative”. “Now that you are at the wheel you’ve got to stay the course and deal with these people,” insisted Franklyn. While lauding the BLP administration for “starting on this transparency thing”, Franklyn cried shame on the administration for not disclosing its intention of accepting $13.5 million for land at Coverley before it did. In making the announcement of the transaction, Mottley had revealed that the $13.5 million was three times the worth of the lands sold. However, insisting that he was not aware of the worth of the land, Franklyn said the fact that the deal was done before being made public “looks bad”. “When you have these private treaty arrangements it always leaves room for doubt. But if you brought it before Parliament and explained yourself, then it comes up here and we vote on it and we say yes, nobody can fault you. That is all I am saying,” he said. Franklyn, who previously called for members of the DLP found guilty of wrongdoing while in office to be brought to justice, said he was “hurting” and was eager to see them pay. He said it was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that had caused the current administration to put certain measures in place to ensure transparency, but insisted that he wanted to see action in relation to weeding out corruption. “I want this administration to implement what it campaigned on, one that rules out corruption,” he said. The Public Finance Management Bill, among other things, outlines the roles and responsibilities of key government officials including ministers, permanent secretaries, chief executive officers and accounting officers. (BT)

STAY CLEAN – Members of the local business community are being warned to avoid corrupt business practices at all costs, following the indictment of two former senior insurance executives, in a US case centered on former minister of commerce, Donville Inniss. Last Friday, former Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) chief executive officer, Ingrid Innes, and former ICBL senior vice-president, Alex Tasker, were named as defendants in the money laundering case involving Inniss, a former Barbados government minister. In a Barbados TODAY interview, Inniss’ successor in office, Dwight Sutherland, indicated that while none of the parties had been convicted of wrongdoing in the high profile matter, the developments were still of concern. These developments prompted an appeal from Sutherland, who is also responsible for small business development, for members of the local business community to ensure they act in accordance with the regulations governing business while maintaining a high level of integrity. “I believe once you operate along those guidelines then we won’t have challenges in this country. It’s just to adhere to the guidelines and remove all the shortcuts. Try to follow the correct path as it relates to business practices,” he urged. With that advice, Sutherland gave the assurance that government would be placing more pressure on local business people. “I often look at the financial management legislation and the integrity legislation. These are some of the things that will allow businesses to operate with high ethical standards. Good governance structures will be put in place and it will augur well for Barbados. “These are the laws that will transform how we do business and help us to punch above our weight and move forward as a country with good regulation and good laws, where people will want to do business,” he said, while adding that in light of the country’s struggling economy, “you will get one or two challenges in terms of deviant behavior and a bit of corruption, but once we revive this economy, I am positive that many of these negatives and irregularities will be stamped out.” Meanwhile, the minister stressed that the news of Donville Inniss’ alleged involvement in the matter should not be a point of celebration by members of the current government. “We shouldn’t be celebrating any ill or damage being sustained to the colleagues on the other side . . . and I say colleague because we all are supposed to be working toward the good of this country. Indeed it is sad,” he said. However, he said the development has been a wake-up call and has motivated him to do all in his power to avoid a situation similar to his predecessor’s. “Politicians need to bring ethical standards and a sense of responsibility and a sense of purpose where people can trust us and feel empowered. I am looking forward to a country where people can begin to look at us [politicians] through one lens instead of with skepticism. “We will do justice to this country in terms of facilitating high business practices and make sure that everything we do is above board and can withstand any form of scrutiny or regulations and I think that is how all politicians ought to operate,” he said, while adding that government had its work cut out to regain the confidence of citizens. “We have to bring back a level of respectability to how people see us. We should be seen as role models for young people and indeed that is my mission and my mandate,” he promised. (BT)

‘GOVERNMENT DRAGGING ITS FEET’, SAYS GEORGE – The head of this island’s renewable energy sector is warning Government to pick up the pace on key infrastructural and policy changes, otherwise, the goal of making Barbados 100 per cent dependent on renewable energy by 2030, will amount to nothing more than just fancy talk. This is the view of president of the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA), Jerry George, who explained that among other critical issues to be addressed, Government must immediately extend Barbados Light and Power’s (BL&P) licence to provide electricity to the island. He explained that it was unreasonable to expect BL&P to make substantial investments in renewable energy infrastructure without assurances after their licence expires in 11 years. Speaking to reporters this morning at BREA’s 7th annual general meeting at the 3W’s Oval pavilion, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, George made it clear that without the investments from BL&P, Government’s goal was simply out of reach. “The utility company’s involvement is critical. We cannot do this without the involvement of the utility company and currently their licence expires in 11 years. This might sound like a long time to some people, but I can assure that it is not. They (BL&P) will need to start to make investments to support this transition and they are going to be hesitant to do that if they don’t know if they even going to be existing in the next 11 years. So, we strongly believe that the utility’s licence needs to get addressed now so that they can be part of this process in developing the detailed strategy on how we move forward to 100 per cent renewable energy,” explained George. In addition to the licence, George also expressed concern about the length of time that it is still taking investors to get the requisite permissions for renewable energy projects. “This cannot continue going forward. We have scenarios where projects have been under development for over two or three years and if we are to achieve this target then we cannot be taking this long to make a decision. There must be ministerial synchronization with the policy. It is not just about the Ministry of Energy alone. All departments that play a role must be on the same page,” said George. The renewable energy advocate emphasised, “This is a national target, and everybody must be aligned so that when an application is being made for a solar farm all of the various Government agencies must have their processes in place so that the decision can be made quickly and that developer can know if he is going ahead or not.” The BREA president noted that the eight-month-old Mia Mottley administration has been brought up to speed on the issue of the licence. However, he is concerned that with only a short time remaining for such an ambitious enterprise of switching fully to renewable energy, there is not enough urgency being shown. “The Government is well aware of this and a number of other issues. We raised it with them when the new administration came in. We are aware that there have already been a number of policies and regulatory amendments made as well as new documents developed. We are hoping that we will hear about some of these decisions early in this year,” he stressed. (BT)

BLP’S OPENNESS LAUDED – The Public Finance Management Bill 2019 has been described by Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology Kay McConney as “show and tell at the very highest level of financial management”. And according to her, the bill has brought about such a high level of transparency that Government is now “practically naked” when it comes to the management of public finances. “This bill is a bold next step in prudent financial management and fiscal governance for Barbados. This bill represents a higher standard of responsible government to meet the expectations of our citizens, the expectations of our local investors and the expectations of our international investors and partners,” McConney said during debate in the Senate this morning. “With this bill, the present government is standing up for the public interest. We are committing first ourselves to an unprecedented level of openness about how government manages public finances and by so doing, we are setting this country on a path to sustainability.” McConney said among other things the bill would bring discipline to the practice of financial management in all of Government, enable transparency in the public’s interest, mandate accountability for all persons who serve as public officials with responsibilities for handling public monies, as well as to introduce proactive risk management into the culture of financial management in Barbados. “We have had a situation in Barbados where state-owned entities especially, although not exclusively, operated under separate Acts, held themselves to standards and rules of financial management that were loose and this looseness led to incidences of mismanagement and wastage and possibly corruption that put this country’s economy in danger,” McConney said. “It filled the pockets of an unscrupulous few and it left the people of Barbados vex. This bill proposes to tighten up on this looseness . . .” The minister said she was pleased that the bill was not “empty” and carried sanctions of up to a $200 000 fine and five years in prison or both for those persons found guilty. McConney said the current administration has shown its willingness to take steps to weed out all forms of corruption. “This current Barbados Labour Party administration has come to the point of bringing this bill before this Honourable House as a government that has long been committed to raising the standards and practices of prudent financial management to a higher level in Barbados. “We cannot ‘unring’ the bells of financial mismanagement, of seeming negligence and possible corruption that are still ringing in our ears at home and abroad from the decisions and actions of the last government administration,” McConney said. “We cannot rewind the damage done to Barbados’ reputation internationally, but we can do better. We can hold ourselves to a higher standard going forward.” (BT)

PELOSI: NO STATE OF THE UNION IN THE HOUSE UNTIL SHUTDOWN ENDS – President Donald Trump declared his yearly State of the Union address "canceled" on Wednesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not allow him to deliver the speech in the House chamber while the government is shut down. "She doesn't want to hear the truth. She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on," Trump said from the Cabinet Room after Pelosi made her intentions known in a letter. Trump bemoaned the decision, calling it a "great blotch on the incredible country we love." "It's a great, great, horrible mark," Trump said. Trump had insisted earlier in a letter that he was planning on presenting his annual address from the chamber of the US House next week as planned, essentially daring the body's top Democrat to formally disinvite him from delivering the yearly message. Hours later, Pelosi appeared to take the dare, saying she would refuse to bring up for a vote a measure that would allow Trump to speak. "I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until the government has opened," Pelosi wrote. Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room as Pelosi's letter became public, the President vowed to formally respond soon. "I'm not surprised," Trump said. "It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They've become radicalized. They don't want to see crime stopped." Asked about a new venue, Trump said only: "We'll see." The back-and-forth escalated one of the rancorous subplots of the extended standoff over border security that has shuttered government agencies and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay. Even as the two leaders wrote each other in letters dripping with barely veiled disgust, they did not plan to meet face-to-face and haven't spoken directly in weeks. Trump's letter, written with characteristic flourish, dismissed concerns raised by Pelosi about security during a partial government shutdown. The Democratic speaker controls the chamber's proceedings and must allow for a vote on his speech. "I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union," Trump wrote in his letter. He said he'd consulted with Secret Service and Homeland Security officials, who told him of "absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event." And he declared the speech would occur on Tuesday from the House chamber. "It would be so very sad for our country, if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!" he wrote. As speaker, it is Pelosi's prerogative to invite the President to deliver the annual address. Both the House and the Senate would need to pass resolutions convening a Joint Session of Congress before the President's appearance. The letter was the latest in a round of squabbling over the yearly speech, which is a constitutional requirement that has been caught up in the back-and-forth over border security and reopening shuttered government agencies. Pelosi initially wrote Trump last week to inform him the speech should be delayed, or delivered in writing, since the law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting the Capitol during the event are affected by the shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security later cast those concerns aside, saying its agents and officers had been preparing for months to protect the venue, and would be ready shutdown or not. (DN)

DIRE SITUATION – A group of Venezuelans living in Barbados is accusing local dignitaries of deliberately spreading propaganda on behalf of the Venezuelan government by returning with fake news reports on the country’s situation after government-sponsored trips to the country. Upset Venezuelans told Barbados TODAY that the “propaganda” was intended to give the impression that “everything is fine and dandy” in the country, which is widely reported as being in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, fuelled by a dictator. The local group came together near Accra Beach to protest the tenure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – joining thousands of their countrymen living in 70 countries around the world, who are demanding that he be removed from office. Political activists, including Barbados’ ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), David Commissiong and General Secretary of the Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee, David Denny, have on numerous occasions defended the Maduro-led government of Venezuela amid continued criticism. However, some Venezuelans living in Barbados say their families are suffering in Venezuela and have dismissed the accounts of local activists. “A lot of local dignitaries say Venezuela is fantastic, but I invite them and I have invited them on social media, to go to Venezuela and live with a Venezuelan family. Take your wife with you and when your wife is going through that time of the month that every lady goes through, take her to a supermarket to find sanitary napkins. Take your child with you and when he gets a headache, try to get aspirin for the child; you won’t find it,” said Jose Zerba, who has been living in Barbados for over 30 years since migrating from Venezuela. Instead, Zerba accused the local dignitaries of doing a disservice with their accounts of the situation in the country. “The government of Venezuela will invite you to Venezuela for a week, so that you can come back and talk about Venezuela. You’re going to fly first class if you don’t go on a private aircraft. You’re going to stay as a guest of the government. You’re going to get all three of your meals and if you want champagne with breakfast, you can have that along with a private car to pick you up and take you where you want to go,” he said. Earlier this month, a number of Barbadians travelled to Venezuela to attend the January 10th Presidential Inauguration of Nicolas Maduro and reported that the election process was fair, despite reports from countless international media that the election was rigged. Maria Gloumeau, another Venezuelan protester, however, told Barbados TODAY that their families were “dying and crying” and when they go against the government are being killed and imprisoned. “We are supporting our Venezuelan people to take out Mr. Nicolas Maduro who has taken presidency as a dictator because he was not elected by the people. “The news that comes from Barbadians who go to Venezuela is usually from people who are taken there by the government. They see a different country to what exists. There’s no medicine, there’s no food, there’s a lot of insecurity, there’s nothing,” she said in despair. Last May, Head of the Department of Government, Sociology and Social Work at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Tennyson Joseph declared that Venezuela was “more democratic than Barbados,” following criticism of the Maduro government’s handling of the situation in Venezuela. Joseph more recently has also called on regional governments to respect Venezuela’s right to self-determination. However, Venezuelans living in Barbados have described last May’s election in Venezuela as fraudulent. Instead, they say that many around the world were asking for help to create a transition toward a new government and new elections. “Venezuela today sits on the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves. Venezuela has bauxite, diamonds and gold, but at the same time, Venezuela is the poorest country after Haiti in the hemisphere,” argued Zerba. Much to the delight of the protestors, Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido, today declared himself the country’s interim president before thousands of demonstrators in Caracas as the latest step to end the Maduro’s reign as President. (BT)

80MILLION BONUS – Barbados is really getting its money’s worth in cricket. The economic impact of this England tour may be even greater than first thought, as Cricket West Indies (CWI) estimates that the country will gain more than US$40 million (BDS$80 million) in foreign exchange. CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave made the assessment yesterday after 7 000 travelling Brits stormed Kensington Oval for the opening day of the first Test match. “We commissioned an independent report a few years ago that said the economic impact of an England tour was approximately US$5 million a day. I think there are more England fans here than the previous tour [because] we’re up to 7 000 at least here just for the cricket,” said Grave. “And I think [more] people probably would have been here in the masses if it wasn’t the hotel accommodation and flight availability. Most of the hotel rooms are full and overflowing, which is fantastic. “With this game and the two one day internationals (ODIs) to come, we’re looking at probably almost conservatively US$30 million, US$40 million worth of economic impact, which is brilliant and not just for Barbados but also the millions of people back in the United Kingdom watching the cricket who have never come here on holiday or think they need to get back here on holiday,” he added. (DN)

WINDIES CRUMBLE IN LAST SESSION – Test cricket is about sustaining solid starts into substantial scores and not flattering with 40s and 50s. The West Indies’ specialist batsmen should have learnt that lesson at the close of an engrossing opening day of the first Wisden Trophy cricket Test at Kensington Oval, on Wednesday, after England gained the ascendancy. Much to the delight of close to 7 000 English visitors in the stands, veteran seamer James Anderson and all-rounder Ben Stokes transformed promising positions of 126 for one and 240 for four into an unsatisfactory 264 for eight in 89.2 overs at stumps. Anderson snared three late scalps with the second new ball to finish with the excellent figures of four for 33 in 24 probing overs, while Stokes supported with three for 47 off 19.2 overs. The West Indies definitely enjoyed the early proceedings but lost four wickets for just 34 runs in the last 9.2 overs after England took the second new ball at 230-4. Shai Hope and Roston Chase fell after making 50s while openers Kraigg Brathwaite and debutantJohn Campbell perished in the 40s. Exciting rookie left-handed stroke-maker Shimron Hetmyer was not out on a typically attacking 56, which was adorned with five fours and two sixes off just 60 balls. Unfortunately, only fast bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel are left to bat for the Windies to get close to the 300-mark. (DN)

GREEN MACHINES KEEP TITLE – The Green Machines pulled out all their stops when they retained the title at Luther Thorne’s Inter-house Athletics Championships at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex, on Wednesday. Their total of 661 points was just enough to leave the Yellow Tigers in their shadow once more after they gained 647 points following a tough fight. The Blue Blazers were third with 551 and the Red Lions fourth with 524. Leading the charge for Green was Nitara Clarke of the Under-13 division with 50 points. The speedy queen of the track won the 100, 200, 400 and 600 metres Open Girls events, as well as the long jump. Yellow’s Creston Hinds of the Under-9 division won the victor ludorum title. (DN)

CENTENARIAN LIVES BY ‘A TOUCH OF BRANDY – Coral Osaline Agard started her day with a session of prayer thanking God for helping her to reach 100 years old. Then she got busy in her kitchen preparing her lunch, which included frying pot fish. Relatives who gathered at her Appleby Gardens, St James home to celebrate the big day which also included a visit from Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, told members of the media that Agard does not only cook for herself and keep her surroundings clean and tidy, but she also takes pride in catching the bus to go wherever she wants to. Agard who is lovingly referred to as “the road runner” acts as though her walking stick is just a prop, as she is still able to walk upright on her own. Relatives recalled that just two years ago, the old lady was still going to the supermarket to do her own grocery shopping. “I am feeling fine. I am not complaining,” declared the centenarian who said that she embraced the tough and happy times she has encountered throughout life’s journey. A seemingly quiet Agard, who has one daughter, four grands, five great-grands and four great-great grands, did not have much to say other than she was feeling grateful. However, her granddaughter, Olivet Hinds, said her grandmother worked heading cane at Porters factory and then worked as a cleaner in the tourism industry. “She is in good health. She is always on the road. She likes to go places. It is only in the last year that we have stopped her being independent. She is now here living with mummy and my brother. But all like now she still cooks. “She doesn’t go out alone anymore. But wherever she wants to go, she has her attendant there and on the bus they go wherever driving. And you always have to tell her granny the stick goes on the ground not under your arm. She has a stick just to pose with,” Hinds said. She said her grandmother also believes that the “touch” of brandy she has been drinking every Saturday night for many years, is what gets you to the 100 mark. The granddaughter said the kind and gentle matriarch would give her last to a stranger. “Anybody would tell you that. I use to work on Broad Street and I would be at lunch going down Broad Street and I would pass granny. I would ask her, ‘granny where you going?’ and she would say ‘I going to the hospital to look for somebody. Who in the hospital? I don’t know. “She going to look for the sick and take stuff for the people at the hospital. She would give the last of whatever it is she has to a stranger. She does not even have to know you. As long as you look like you are in need, she would take her shoes off and walk on the hot road,” Hinds said. Governor General Dame Sandra Mason commended Agard for the role she has played in shaping the lives of future generations. The centenarian who was busy enjoying the company of the youngest member of her family, 10-month-old Lux Corbin who came in from Canada to share the special day with her, told Barbados TODAY that she intended to spend the rest of her birthday quietly. (BT)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 341 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

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writtenwordsoffic · 7 years

Text

In Your Head - Part 9

Jughead Jones x Reader

Reader: Y/N

Brother: Y/B/N

Word Count: 2,922

Summary: You are almost 3 months into a relationship with Jughead Jones. You are going through a tough time being too much in your head as the anniversary of “that night” comes closer. Jughead can sense something is wrong.

Warnings: Features sexual content, as well as a rape flashback and parental abuse. Please don’t read if easily triggered.

There you were. Locked away in your room just staring at your phone. You must have written the text out 20 times. You almost called him 5 times. Part of you wanted to tell him. Another part didn’t think it was bad enough. It had been worse in the past, easily.

Your phone vibrated in your hand and you jumped a little. “Hey Sweetheart, just thought I’d tell you goodnight. I had a great day with you. Love you”.

You sat there in guilt. You were pretty sure that he really meant those words.

It was finally late enough that you could leave your room without hassle, everybody else in the house was asleep.

You made your way to the bathroom. You weren’t sure what your back looked like and you weren’t one to have mirrors in your room. Your head had still hurt but the throbbed part had gone away hours ago. The only thing you were sure of were the small bruises around the inner part of your arm. Finger sized.

You quietly closed the door behind you and then turned on the light. Your lip was mostly fine as it seemed you had bitten the inner part of it.

You turned and lifted your shirt looking behind you to see in the mirror. A small stream of dark bruises ran across your spine.

Your put your shirt back down just trying to shrug off any feelings. You took a deep breath.

You slowly went downstairs, grabbed a bowl of dry cereal and went back to your room. You had finished all your homework already.

You finally texted Jughead back.

“Thanks for wishing me a goodnight. I had a good day with you too. I don’t think I can hangout tomorrow but I love you too. I’ll see you Monday okay?”. It had been a little bit so you figured Jughead went to sleep.

As tired as you were with the last 2 days of events, you couldn’t find yourself getting sleepy. You decided to go back to one of your books.

With Sunday greeting you, you wanted it to go quickly. You had stayed away from your mother almost the entire day. Your Dad kept to himself in his office, only coming out to get something to snack on. You helped your brother with his homework and barely texted Jughead. That was your day. Quiet and kept away.

Monday morning’s alarm was signaling to the right of you. You did your morning routine while dreading going to school. However if it meant you got to escape from your house for about 8 hours, then that was at least something. You wore a long sleeved shirt making sure that today the sleeves weren’t pushed up and headed out.

You got off the bus and were greeted by Jughead. Your face suddenly turned into a large genuine smile. “Hey Sweetheart ”, instead of the usual kiss on your head he leaned in a grasped your cheek bringing his lips to yours. “I missed you”, the words escaped his mouth as his lips were parting yours.

You gleamed with a smile as he reached down and grasped your hand. “I missed you too”. He walked you to your locker as usual but ever slightly more affectionate.

You tried to keep your mind away from your mother and then you looked down the hallway. There was Chuck with a still swollen face. His eyes looked at yours and then to Jughead’s. You could feel Jughead’s body tense up. You held his hand with more strength and squeezed it before using your other to slightly touch his chest. “Hey hey hey…”, you were trying to calm him down now and his eyes that were so still on Chuck before now landed on yours. His face softened. “Nothing is going to happen here. It will be okay, I got you and all of our friends. Alright? Just ignore him and he will ignore you”.

His eyes went to his feet and he gently nodded, “Okay but can I walk you to all your classes?”.

You smiled. “Well Veronica and I have back to backs together but after that okay. It doesn’t really stray from our usual day. You do realize you usually walk me to class.” You gave him eyes that were filled with a sardonic undertone.

He got a little flushed. He played with the hair that escaped his beanie in the bottom part of his head. His arm flexed a bit while pulling on his hair. “Yeah, I know. I guess I’m just being overprotective”, his eyes looked to yours. You though, were staring at his flexed arm. And once again he had caught you ogling him. He gave you a smile.

You laughed when you met his eyes. “Sorry”.

Veronica made her way up to the two of you, giving you both a rather interesting smile. Her eyebrow going up at you as if she was trying to talk to you with just a look. “Alright lovebirds. We got to go to class”, she eyed the door to the math room.

“See you later?”, his hand brought your body closer to his and he gave you a small kiss.

“Why do you keep phrasing this in questions?”, you giggled and gave him a slight hug. He slowly walked away backwards while keeping his eyes on you.

You looked to Veronica and were once again blushed. “Oh, I have soooo many questions”.

“You very well know I’m not going to say anything”, you gave a nod but knew she already had assumed correctly. Veronica slowly shifted your body to the left side of her and you weren’t sure why until you saw Reggie and Chuck passing through the hall on the other side. Veronica’s eyes steered forward only focusing on the door. You weren’t sure if she was being protective or trying to harness her own rage.

You went to your usual seat and Veronica in front of you. You gently sat down with the brace of knowing that there was still pain when you sat down. Luckily no one’s eyes were on you.

A few classes had come and gone and you knew you were headed your way outside once again. Lunch in hand, you saw everyone but Betty at the table already. You were excited to sit down but because your focus was on Jughead, you had forgotten about your back. You gave a small sigh of pain while you sat down. Only Jughead had noticed because Archie was talking rather loud with Veronica, once again conversing about the upcoming dance.

The second you sighed, Jugheads head had snapped to you with his face full of concern. “You okay?”

You once again gave a fake smile. You thought you were past this, but again you didn’t want to worry Jughead. Especially for something you considered minor. “Yeah I’m fine. Just a little tired. I was reading for a while last night and lost track of time”. At least that part was true - you thought to yourself.

You passed him his chips and once again went on through your day. Treating it like any other day in school. The plus side of it being was that Chuck had seemed to be fearful enough of Jughead that he avoided you. No joking or staring at you. At least something had grown more positive.

*ring*

The last bell had rung of the day and there was Jughead waiting for you by your locker. “Hey, how was class?”, he gave a peck on your cheek.

“Good. Honors English is easily my favorite class”, you were putting away your books.

“Can you hangout today?”, Jughead asked with hopeful eyes.

“Yep. I already asked my Dad yesterday. I don’t have to be home until dinner”. Your arms went above Jughead’s neck. He gave a smile before diving in for a kiss. While gentle, his lips were warm. His hands slowly glided up your back but you resisted the flinch. Kissing through the pain, your focus trying to maintain on Jughead’s lips. You once again smiled while parting his body. You grabbed your bag and put it on your shoulder. Hand in hand you made your way to Archie’s house. Although, you just saw it as Jughead’s place now.

He was once again pausing to kiss you along your walk. However this time, a bit deeper and longer than any walk before. You took a breather from his mouth, with a slight pant trying to get some air. “Okay, but we are actually doing homework there right? Archie’s going to be there, and not sleeping this time….”

Jughead rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah. Sorry, I’m just becoming too greedy with you”.

You smiled while your feet landed on the steps of the porch. “I forgot to tell you!”, it had slipped your mind, something your dad mentioned the day before. “My dad is taking my mom on his next trip this weekend. My brother’s staying over his friends house for two nights and everything!”. This usually happened once a year towards your dad’s birthday.

“Sounds like we’re having a weekend together ”, you could tell he was excited but he gave you a very coy smirk.

“Yeah. He usually does this around his birthday. He has a conference in Vegas and my mom actually likes it there…”, your thoughts slowly went back to Saturday but you snapped yourself out of it quickly. You gave a fast smile to Jughead. You really were looking forward to the weekend.

He thought for a second, “Just don’t tell Veronica. She’ll want to throw a party or something”.

“Ha. I wouldn’t let her”, you gave a small chuckle.

You put your bag on the couch and began to get your books out on the coffee table. Jughead was slowly coming back from the kitchen complete with some snacks in hand. You sat down slowly knowing that if you prepared yourself you could resist the pain of your back bothering you. Out of a little fear you pulled your sleeves to the palms of your hands. Jughead seemed to slightly notice but also knew that you would do this when you were nervous. You began to work on your math homework while he typed away on his laptop.

About an hour went by and with you now starting your French homework you could tell Jughead was needing a break. He was stretching his arms and started in again on a snack. You watched his body move but knew with Archie upstairs, who was strumming off and on his guitar, nothing would happen.

“So did Jellybean call you last night?”, your question was genuine.

“How did you know? And she goes by “JB” now,“ his eyes gave a slight roll.

You gave a small laugh. “We were texting about books and she mentioned it”.

“I knew I shouldn’t have given your number to her…”, his comment was a little exasperated.

“Ha. No it was more talking her out of reading Anne Frank too early. I did get her to settle on Number the Stars though…” Your words trailed as you noticed Jugheads eyes following your lips now.

You gave a smile and Jughead leaned in for kiss. He put your legs on top of his lap and pulled you towards him while his lips were still attached to yours. When you pulled your body towards him you resisted giving into the slight pain. You tried to remain your focus solely onto Jughead. You pulled your sleeves back to your palms and then proceeded to put your arms over his neck. His body now somewhat on top of yours. His kiss was getting deeper with his tongue battling a bit with yours. It got slower as if he wished Archie wasn’t home and you could feel your own body become a little heated. He tugged at the bottom of your shirt a little and you pulled back. “Juggs. We can’t right now but I promise the second my parents and brother are gone, we will have a great night”, your voice was stern but filled with glee.

He gave a deep breath, trying to cool himself off from what you could tell. “I know. It’s just hard not to want you with you being like that”.

“Being like what?”, you were still unsure how Jughead found you this fascinating.

“You being you. You know, perfect”, his words trailed although they had come out before.

You gave a coy smile. “You’re too sweet to me”. He dived in for a kiss once again but this time his hands went under your back as he tried to pull you on top of his lap.

You gave a heavy gripe in pain. He let go of you instantly. He looked you up and down.

“Y/N?! What’s wrong?”. He wasn’t yelling so much his words were heightened with angst and worry.

You shook your head relaxing your body. “It’s nothing, I’m fine. Really”. With determination he pulled at your shirt trying to lift it up. “Jughead! Leave it alone”, you were trying to whisper while pushing Jugheads hands away.

“Come here”, he grabbed your hand and dragged you upstairs to his room. You knew what was going to happen and this was not what you wanted out of the day.

He closed the door quietly and locked it while you stood in the middle of the room, pulling your sleeves down out of nervousness and fear, and began to cross your arms.

“Let me see it”, there were no anger in his words as his face was once again soft.

“Jughead, really I’m fine. It’s really nothing”, you came up to his chest with your palms on it. Trying to reassure him.

“Please Y/N”, his eyes were starting to water a little. You tensed up. You didn’t want to show him, but you also knew the bruises had lightened slightly. You looked to the floor in both disgrace and guilt, purposely looking away from his eyes.

You pulled your shirt off. His eyes went to the middle of your arm as he saw some light bruising. You turned around and moved your hair and he was now seeing your back. He paused before moving his body slowly towards yours and lightly grazing the middle of your back with his hand.

His voice got stern again, “When?”. You knew Jughead only gave short answers out of seriousness.

You turned your body around. “Saturday, when I came home. The house was a mess and I….” Your words were cut off by Jughead holding you in for an embrace.

“You have to tell me when this happens Y/N”. Your eyes were filling a little bit with water itself as Jughead held you in close.

“It wasn’t that bad Juggs, it was just quick. She just pushed me around a bit. Really I’m fine now. It’s just a….” His hands moved to your face, his sharp eyes looking back into yours.

“Look. If you don’t want to do something about this right now I understand. But you need to tell me when this happens. Even if you think it’s nothing”. You looked back to your feet feeling ashamed. You nodded.

“Promise me?”, his words were crackling with his voice a bit.

“I promise you Jughead”, your eyes met his again.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”, he grabbed your hand leading you to the bed to sit down. He was looking at your arm again, closer.

“Yeah. I am. It just needs to heal a bit”. You jumped a little while Jughead was now slightly rubbing your arm.

“Sorry”, his focus was on your arm.

“I’m okay really. It wasn’t a big thing…”, you were trying to reassure him again but failing.

“A “thing” is big enough for me”, his face once again stern.

You felt ashamed again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you”, your tried to focus your eyes elsewhere. He gently grasped the side of your face to look back at his.

“You know I’m not mad at you right? It’s not your fault”.

“Well if I had just….” He once again stopped you from justifying it. This time grasping your shoulder a little while his hand rubbed it back and forth. You smiled. You gave a deep breath. “I know your not mad at me Juggs. I just feel awful not telling you. I really almost did a hundred times that night. I just thought I could get through it by myself”.

“You don’t need to get through it by yourself. You have me, okay?” You nodded again while he brought you in for a hug, he was careful to not touch the middle of your back.

“When do you have to be back?”

“Around 6”, you looked at the clock and it wasn’t even 4:30 yet.

“Okay, well. Lay here with me and take a little nap then?”, he motioned his eyes to the bed.

“Okay”, he laid back and you laid on top of him with your stomach. He was holding you gently while rubbing your hip, your shirt still off.

He reached his phone out of his pocket and put an alarm on, then set it on the side table. His focus back on you. “I love you you know”. He went back to gently rubbing your arm.

“I love you with everything”, your eyes looked up to his and you kissed him. You went back to holding his chest while falling asleep in his arms.

#jughead x reader #jughead jones #jughead jones imagine #riverdale #riverdale imagines

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rofics · 7 years

Text

Hidden omega (part 34)

Fandom: Bts (Got7 + Big Bang + B.A.P + Monsta X + Seventeen + Block B+Vixx+TVXQ+Exo) Who doesn’t love a good ensemb Pairing: Namjoon x Everybody Genre: Smut/Fluff/Angst Au: Canon / Omegaverse au Length: 4k Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 32, Part 33

Summary:

It’s finally time for Namjoon to talk with some members of BTS.

The rest of the day went without to much stuff going on. It was Sunday and all of them had the day off, which was spent lying around after both Namjoon and Youngjae had gotten themselves cleaned up a bit. Namjoon did have to endure a little bit of teasing which ended up with him hiding his face in Jackson’s chest who did not seem to disagree with that at all.

There were one thing off though, BamBam… Namjoon couldn’t explain what it was, but it was clear that something were wrong. It was clear that everybody else knew what was wrong other than Namjoon and he didn’t know how to deal with being held outside the loop. He ended up not being able to take it anymore later that day and when Jinyoung asked him if he wanted any snacks he just shook his head deciding to track down the youngest omega who was napping in the nest.

Namjoon couldn’t deny that BamBam was adorable sprawled starfish in the giant bed that looked way too big for him when he was there all alone. He wore an almost threadbare tank top that was way too big for him hanging of one shoulder and pulled up slightly to expose the flat stomach underneath. He looked way to cute, in sleep he didn’t have the worried facial expression that he had been wearing all day, instead just a relaxed smiling look as he slept.

Namjoon couldn’t stop himself from crawling into the bed and curl up next to him gently petted the tummy skin showing. It was almost amazing knowing that he could touch like this now and how he could feel BamBam relaxing under his petting even more. Namjoon wasn’t sure how long they just laid there until the younger slowly started waking up.

“Joonie?” The voice was confused and still heavy with sleep. “You okay?”

It was kinda sad that BamBam just assumed that something was wrong with him just because he was here with him alone so he shook his head. “I was worried about you, so I went to check on you. But you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

BamBam rubbed his eyes before rolling over on his side so he were looking Namjoon in the eyes. “It’s nothing… Just my stupid head.”

The other omega reached out to gently brush some of his hair out of his eyes. “Nothing is stupid when it comes to how you feel you know that. You can tell me if I did something to hurt you, or if anything else is hurting you. I’m suppose to try be a part of the pack, and that means you need to treat me as an equal not a kid that needs protection.”

BamBam sighed, he knew that Namjoon had a point. “I saw the hoodie you have from Block B, it is just… While I know that you are getting courted by other packs, it was so easy to forget when you were here with us, and I felt… I don’t know how I felt, but it wasn’t nice.”

Namjoon sighed resting his forehead against BamBam’s. “I can’t promise that I am going to choose to stay with this pack, at this point my mind is one big melting pot of thoughts, but I can promise you something else. That no matter what happens, no matter who I choose or anything you will always mean something special to me, you all will.”

BamBam looked a little hesitant, but Namjoon could also feel how his shoulders had relaxed a little as he smiled at Namjoon. “I’m sorry to put that on you. I don’t want you to feel pressured to pick us, or to pick anybody. It’s just that sometimes I can’t control how I feel.”

Namjoon couldn’t stop himself from pulling BamBam into his arms. “I don’t need you to control how you feel, I just want us to be honest with each other. I’m a big boy I can handle it. Your mental health is just as important as mine.” He kissed BamBam on the top of his hair as BamBam smiled into his chest. This was why Namjoon was so good for them, he had such a big heart it was fucking stupid.

When they went to bed that night Namjoon got pulled from his normal cuddle position between Youngjae and Jackson to instead to join Yugyeom and BamBam. It was kinda cute with Namjoon’s head on one of the alpha’s shoulders and BamBam’s on the other, both omegas had a thigh swung over the maknaes more or less pinning him to the bed. Not that Yugyeom minded this was his prefered way to sleep and he just hummed happily with an arm around each of the cuddly omegas quickly surrounding the the realm of sleep.

The morning was a mess, everybody being all over and messy trying to get ready. “Namjoon breakfast!” Jinyoung called while Namjoon tried to pull on his jeans which were awkwardly baggy on him after he lost the weight.

“I will eat after dance training! I have dance first coming up and I feel really bad when dancing after eating, and nobody needs me to throw up on the floor.” Namjoon yelled back from the nest as he started packing his bag, a change of dance clothing, his old lyric notebook, the new one he had gotten, his keys, studio keys, calendar plans, a pair of indoor shoes for dancing.

He went over the list in his head as his phone rang, his lift to the studio was there god he had forgotten how stressful being an idol was as he threw the rest of his stuff down into the bag without to much thought about it safety quickly pulling on his shoes. “I have to go! My life is here!” he yelled almost leaving as his wrist got pulled and he got turned around to look at Jaebum, which kissed him on the cheek.

“Have a good day Joonie, and take this with you try and see if you can solve it if you need to take a break.” He gave Namjoon the puzzlebox from B.A.P. the“You aren’t the only person who is curious what it is, it could either be really really cute and sentimental… or it’s a box snakes about to jump in your face and there is no inbetween.”

That made Namjoon giggle as he leaned down a little to kiss Jaebum on the lips. “I feel like I should be scared.”

“You probably should,” Jaebum laughed before lightly pushing Namjoon out the door, “you are going to be late, try not to get yourself hurt! And if you are feel sick, there is nothing wrong with stopping and taking a break!”

Namjoon just smiled over his shoulder as he ran to the car, somehow managing to not fall over his own way to long limbs which was actually a miracle.

Looking over his schedule while being in the car, made him feel slightly dizzy already. God they were going to start promotions soon, Namjoon loved their fans and being an idol. But nobody was made to greet people for 10 hours, his ass hurt from sitting down that long after a session! And his hand cramped!

Thinking of the fans Namjoon took the time to log back into their twitter, it had been pretty dead by other than Jimin who seemed to atleast try and keep up the pretense that they were all just fine. Namjoon decided that he should probably help his fellow omega. He didn’t look his best maybe, but his skin was clear and he had actually managed to get enough sleep for once. It took him a good 30 pictures until he took one that he was actually happy with, and captured it ‘back to training! Looking forward to seeing all of you soon!’

He didn’t stay on to see what the fans wrote back. He still wasn’t ready to deal with the fans reaction to being an omega. While he had hoped that it was positive he also wasn’t ready to deal with antis. Finally arriving was kinda a surreal experience for Namjoon. He hadn’t known that he would some day actually look forward to dance training, but he was right at that moment actually looking forward to it, forward to going back to having a normal life.

He wasn’t sure how he would react when he saw the rest of his group, but he didn’t get much time to think about cause as soon as he entered the building he meet Jungkook. Both of them froze. “Namjoon-hyung.” The words were just hanging in the air.

It had been forever since Jungkook had ever called him hyung in a private setting, Jungkook looked like… Shit, if Namjoon had to be honest. The nail marks on his cheek didn’t seem to be deep, but the one over his neck and clavicle did seem like they would scar, and Namjoon’s fingers itched to check it out. “Kookie.” He responded, on purpose going with the nickname to hopefully getting the maknae to feel more.. Safe? Around him.

Jungkook for his part didn’t know how he was supposed to react around Namjoon. He no longer had the scent of death or rotten fruit around him, instead there were just a weak scent of peaches and what smelled like cream? Without thinking about it he reached out for Namjoon to hug him, somehow his body needed to know that this was actually real, but the second his hand touched Namjoon’s shoulder he flinched.

It wasn’t a small almost controllable flinch that he had done around Jackson and Jaebum, it was a full body flinch and pulling away from Jungkook as his body reminded him of the feeling of the alpha order being placed on him, and it was to much for his mind as he blanked for a few seconds.

Jungkook looked like a lost puppy with his hand still hanging in the air. “Joonie-hyung?” His voice was so sad, and there for a second he wasn’t an 18 year old alpha, but the same kid that started out with BTS. Now felt like he had been rejected by the one person he thought he could always trust.

Namjoon wanted to make Jungkook feel better, but he had no idea how to do it right now. He wanted to forget about what had happened between them, but he simply couldn’t. His brain refused to let him forget that this was the alpha that ordered him, that had violated him in one of the most private ways there was. But he was still the leader of BTS and he needed to make this right. “I’m sorry, I still don’t have complete control of what my body says.”

Jungkook almost wanted to cry, everything that had happened the last couple of days and now he was such a monster that he couldn’t even touch Namjoon it was all simply to much as he sniffed a little trying to hold back the tears that wanted to make a return to his life. “I never wanted to hurt you…”

Namjoon had to force his hand to pat Jungkook on the head, he looked so sad and lost. “I know, we are going to be okay I promise, it might take a little while, but we are going to be okay. Are Vixx treating you okay, are you getting enough sleep and remembering to eat?”

It was first after he had said it and Jungkook was smiling widely that he listened to how much he said like a nagging mum saying that and he wanted to facepalm himself, but it made Jungkook feel better. “They keep calling me a puppy.” Jungkook pouted, trying his best to look cute.

Namjoon laughed a little as well. “Well try not to pee on their carpet, they are going to give us so much shit when they find out that we didn’t house train you.”

“JOONIE!”

“And I am not taking shit for that,” then suddenly he got serious because he had things that needed to be said, “I have moved Taehyung so he is vocal training today, I know you are sorry, but I need you to not seek him out.”

Jungkook shook his head in almost desperate movement. “I need to tell him the truth! That I didn’t mean it, that my meds were fucking up! That I am going to do my best to make it up to him.”

Namjoon just sighed, he knew this wouldn’t be easy. “He is scared of alphas he wouldn’t even let Jihoon close to him, and he is the least threatening alpha in the world. I know that you didn’t mean to do it, but please just for now stay away from him until then.”

This time Jungkook was more somber in his body language as he nodded sadly. He knew that Namjoon was right that he needed to do this, but it didn’t make it any easier. Taehyung was one of the members he were closest with, especially before the device of Taehyung being a lower rank that Jungkook had split them up. It was Jungkook’s job to protect him and he had fucked that up.

“I promise, I will make this right and if Taehyung needs some time then it’s going to be okay.” He were hesitant to ask his next question, his mind was still a mess and he wasn’t sure if it was how the world worked or another thing he had gotten wrong. “Are you… going to step down as leader?”

It was like a punch to Namjoon stomach and he pulled away from Jungkook as he shook his head. “No, I have already talked with Bang PD-nim about it. I will stay as leader of BTS.” He knew that he could do it as an omega, but hearing somebody voice the doubts he had in his head wasn’t doing amazing things for his mind.

Jungkook instead just felt awkward it seemed that it was one of those things that he had gotten wrong. That wasn’t actually real. Fuck. “Joonie that wasn’t what I meant… I uhm… I.” It had been such a long time since he had felt awkward around Namjoon and now he felt like he was back at square one as he hung his shoulders sadly.

“We both have a lot of growing to do, in the end we will be a better version of ourself,” he tried to smile what he hoped was a calming smile, “Bangtan fighting?”

“Bangtan fighting.” Jungkook answered with a little hesitation. “I’m gonna… go, since we don’t have dance training all together I am going to go and hit the gym first, okay with you?” It was clear for Jungkook that Namjoon wasn’t comfortable around him and Namjoon really didn’t need more of a challenge when it came to dancing.

Namjoon nodded. “I’m gonna go and find Seokjin, don’t overwork yourself.”

“Don’t worry, I have Wonshik-hyung for that,”

Namjoon ended up finding Seokjin stretching alone in the dance practice room they normally used. He didn’t seem to have noticed Namjoon as he tried to push himself into a stretch he clearly would never be able to do. “You are just going to hurt yourself.”

The newly presented omega had never seen Seokjin move that fast as he got up from his spot on the floor and almost attacked Namjoon in the most aggressive hug he had gotten to date. Which if Seokjin hadn’t expected it had landed them both on the ground, instead they managed to stay upright which was actually impressive.

“Namjoon!” After Seokjin had hugged him he held Namjoon out with two hands to inspect him like a mother would do. When he took off his rose tinted goggles of ‘everything’ is okay he could really see it. Namjoon was so skinny, and he felt the still resting part of him that blamed himself. “I’m sorry.” he couldn’t hold it in anymore, this was his fault.

Namjoon was mostly confused about what Seokjin was going on about. “I don’t understand? You are the person who has the least to apologize for. It’s me that needs to apologise for not being there for you when you clearly needed me.”

“Oh you heard about it.” The beta had really hoped that he hadn’t heard about it, he really didn’t need to add more stress to Namjoon’s plate.

“Jinnie hyung, please you know you can talk to me.” Namjoon said sadly and now it was his turn to take Seokjin into a bear hug. There was a reason why the fans always joked about how him and Namjoon were married. Because they were very close. Seokjin seemed to be the one in BTS who cared the least about the fact that he was a dud. He had been able to smell him from the start which means he didn’t have the awkward transition as Namjoon had with the Maknae line of the first moment they would smell Namjoon after presenting.

Seokjin remembered what Jaejoong had said to him. It was okay to talk about how you felt, you weren’t a burden for your feelings. “I… I have high functioning anxiety.”

The thing was that Namjoon already knew this. He had never tried to confront Seokjin about it, he had always assumed that it was pack business that he had no part in. He thought that they were dealing with it, but now the more he got involved he learned that nobody dealt with anything. They had just all ignored all the warning signs and just played pretend that everything were okay. Namjoon hugged him as close as his body could. “I know, and it’s okay. It doesn’t change the fact that you are Kim Seokjin. You are perfect the way you are I promise and we could never want anything better than that.”

The hug the two men shared was almost crushing, but both had missed each other more than they would like to admit. Pack or no pack they were close friends. “I’m sorry for not noticing, I’m the one in control of food and I didn’t notice you weren’t eating. This is my fault.” He needed it out.

Namjoon just shook his head. “No, it is my fault for not eating. There was food and I avoided it, this is on me and my mind. I know that you guys are taking the majority of the blame, but the truth is that I were the one who didn’t eat. This is only on me, all of it.”

“But… Yoongi.”

“No this is not Yoongi’s fault, Yoongi just did what he thought was the best for the pack. Yes sometimes his methods weren’t the best, but that isn’t Yoongi’s fault. Both you and I knew that he is a victim of his past, this isn’t his fault.” Namjoon shrugged as he let go of Seokjin. “I don’t blame Yoongi and you guys shouldn’t either.”

Seokjin was looking at Namjoon hesitantly. He didn’t really agree with what Namjoon were saying but he didn’t get a chance to disagree as the choreographer entered the room he looked over the two subpar dancers. “So this is what I have to work with right now.” It was clearly a jab at their dancing ability, but his smile was kind. Over all they all had a good relationship with their staff, one of the perks of a small company and… not being a dick.

Namjoon smiled an apologetic smile. “Please take care of us?”

Five hours after, both idols were lying on the ground out of breath wanting to swear away their choreographer who was stretching easily like he hadn’t just done the same amount of dancing as them since they needed to be showed the moves all the time. “You know, for the fact that both of you just came out of the hospital that was actually halfway decent, we might still make dancers out of both of you.”

Namjoon laughed a little, even though every part of his body hurt it felt so good to be back at work. This was where he belonged. Okay in the studio creating music not in the dance studio hurting himself, but the point were still there. “Don’t worry Seokjin and I are going to debut as a two man dance troupe, we are going to call it grandpa swag.”

Seokjin looked almost insulted at Namjoon. “I am an amazing dancer thank you very much.”

It caused the two other men to just laughed as the choreographer got his stuff together to leave. “I am meeting Jungkook and Hoseok at the gym for a lesson over there. Make sure you don’t die here while I’m gone.”

The two idols just laughed a little, but not bothering getting up from the floor as they just laid there both half dead until they heard Seokjin’s phone go off with multiple texts with the mario coin sound. “Somebody really want to get a hold of you.” Namjoon teased.

What he didn’t expect was for Seokjin to blush. “It’s Jaejoong-hyung I said I would be done by now with dance training.” He managed to peel himself off the ground. But instead of standing he crawled to the bag, grabbed his phone before collapsing on the ground again.

“Hyung? You move fast, what does he want?” Namjoon eyeballed his water bottle, thinking for a second about getting up to get it before he just sighed and decided it wasn’t worth it he could die happily here on the floor.

Seokjin giggled a little awkwardly. “He wanted to know if I wanted to stay the night again, apparently he is alone for the night and he has a recipe he wants to try.” Namjoon found it kinda adorable that Seokjin had found friends, and then he remembered what Wonshik had told him. This was what he had talked about, how they all needed friends.

“You should do it.”

Seokjin looked confused at Namjoon. “Are you sure?”

“Taehyung is with Seventeen, Hoseok hyung is with some friends, Yoongi hyung is who even knows anymore. Jungkook is with Vixx and Jimin needs some friends, don’t even argue with me on this one. And you deserve some time to yourself as well. Wonshik made me open my eyes, we aren’t healthy, we need friends that aren’t already our pack or group.”

Seokjin said teasingly. “I feel like we should be worried that Wonshik is about to steal our baby-alpha.”

Namjoon himself laughed at the idea. “If Kookie was an omega, yeah you should probably worry. But if anything he is going to give up halfway through and just mail him back to you.”

“You do have a point, if it wasn’t because they needed an alpha and Taekwoon is… Taekwoon they wouldn’t have an alpha at all.”

The two idols laughed, it felt good. It was the first time in forever Namjoon laughed and had real fun with a BTS member without feeling he wasn’t good enough. Maybe there was still hope for this all to workout, with or without him joining the pack.

Namjoon got up from his spot on the floor finally and sighed. “You go, I have to go and talk with Minnie and Tae,”

“You sure you don’t wanna go and catch dinner first? It can’t be a fun conversation that you need to have.” Seokjin started gathering his things, while texting Jaejoong.

Namjoon just shook his head. “I’m gonna grab something later, I can’t wait with this sadly. Have fun and make friends… Old friends, but friends!”

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#Bts #Bangtan #Got7 #Namjoon #Seokjin #Jungkook #Jin #Rap Monster #namjoon fanfic #namjoon scenario #NamJin #KookieMonster #omegaverse #Omega Namjoon #bangtan fanfic #seokjin scenarios #jungkook scenarios

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