Desmond let this man murder for you!

More of my favorite funny quotes from The Princess Bride book (pt. 2)

"The pain is worse than I imagined!" Yeste cried. "How can it hurt when the point of the weapon is still an inch away from your belly?" Domingo asked.

"Get him out of my way. Move the infant." "The infant is ten and he stays," Inigo said.

"I wish I could remember what it was like when I was dead," the man in black said. "I'd write it all down. I could make a fortune from a book like that..."

"No good," the man in black replied. "I've know too many Spaniards." "I'm going crazy up here," said Inigo.

"Anytime you want to change places, I'd be too happy to accept."

"...milkmen where still in charge of bones, the logic being that since milk was so good for bones, who would know more about broken bones than a milkman?"

"Good got attracted to good, evil you flushed down the john and that was that."

Westley to Vizzini: "If she stops breathing in the very near future, it is entirely possible that you will catch the same illness?"

"I let him die laughing," said the man in black.

"There's death coming up, and you better understand this: some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it. This isn't Curious George Uses the Potty."

He was never very popular, what with his hunting fetish..."

"We do not see that much of each other." "Tender couple."

"Widows happen. Every day- don't they, Your Highness?"

"...What did you think a resurrection pill looked like?" "Not like a lump of clay the size of a golf ball," Inigo answered."

"I'm not stupid, you know." "Quit bragging."

"...excuse me, I've got to go belch my witch..."

"Chocolate was one of his favorites, right after cough drops."

...Max exploded right back, "and don't you mock my methods-tickling can be terrific in the proper instances..."

hiii clai 💗

was wondering if you could do a story where pickle hasn't enjoyed/celebrated their birthday in the past, due to their parents not seeing it as important (this totally isn't me), and isaac helps them make them feel like their day is actually special <3

it's my birthday this friday so I was just wondering

(btw ilysm and your writings are so scrumptious mwah <3)

𝐀𝐬 𝐈𝐟 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 ꨄ Isaac

˜”* ❝𝘼𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬, 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚.❞

⎯⎯ ୨ ୧ ⎯⎯

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ: ɪꜱᴀᴀᴄ ꜱᴜʀᴘʀɪꜱᴇꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ!

⎯୨⎯ " " ⎯୧⎯

You hear music coming from Isaac’s study. Like, loud, happy music. It was really unlike him to play music so loud and so happy especially this early in the morning. You tried to think what would be different today. End of the week? No, Isaac doesn’t care about that kind of stuff. Maybe he’s doing something super happy? Well, no. You skipped over the fact that it was your birthday. You never cared too much for it, even as a kid. So that couldn’t be it… or could it?

You shrug it off and go back to work, enjoying the company of the music. The more you worked though, the more curious you got. Eventually, you had to go to his study to see just what he could be doing. 

Knock knock

“Isaac?”

You knock a few more times before twisting the knob. 

“I’m coming in, okay?”

As you open the door, you can hear shuffling and the music turning off. Your eyes meet Isaac’s and he looks… crazy. 

“What are you doing?” You ask him, giggling. 

He catches his breath, “Happy Birthday, Pickle! Ah-” 

You stare at him with confusion. Was this man seriously out of breath and playing loud music just because it was your birthday? That’s new. 

“Thank you? Does that have anything to do with, um, this?”

He looks at you dumbfounded. As if it wasn’t painfully obvious that he was going to surprise you. To be fair, he wasn’t even in bed when you woke up. 

“Of course! Here, I got you a gift too,” He rummages through his things and finds a small box with a bow on it, “Here.”

You take the box into your hand and open it to see a bunch of Polaroids of you and him. You dump them into your hand and look through them, smiling. Some of them were candids you didn’t know he took of you. 

“Isaac… thank you.” 

He wraps his arms around you and rocks the both of you back and forth. 

“That’s not all though. Do you remember when we were looking at places to go to?”

“Oh yeah, a few weeks ago.”

“Remember the fancy one that you were obsessing over?” He asks with the biggest smile on his face. 

“Uh huh…”

“Well, I may have made a reservation.” 

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

The rest of the day, Isaac wasn’t letting you do anything. He would’ve volunteered to be the ground you walk on if he could. You kept getting texts from people Isaac works with wishing you a happy birthday. Of course, he forced them to but you appreciated it either way. At the restaurant you two went to, he took more and more pictures of you while smiling the whole time. He really knew how to make a day like this special for you and you loved it. 

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

I love how the isaac's listener is pickle now

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @youngwriterofthecentury <3 im sorry this was so shortt

know i normally do ariana gif but lisa fit sm better

you know why im here…..

imma need that fic of clay and jack fighting and hazel coming to defend her daddy. and jack just being smug about his babygirl coming to defend him. please and thank you 🥰🫶🏽😘

“That’s my daddy!!”

It was Sunday night which meant it was football night at the Harlow household.

Clay, Urban and Druski were over at your house talking sports in the living room while Hazel helped you get snacks together.

“Here Hazey, carry this to the table” you handed her a bowl of chips.

The four men in the living room paid her no mind as they argued about what they were watching.

Hazel just stopped for a moment watching them all as you put some more food trays down in front of them.

“Thanks baby” Jack motioned for you to give him a kiss, as he rubbed your pregnant belly, you were only a month or so from your due date with Jade.

Urban saw Hazel watching all of them intently “you alright little one?” He nodded at her getting Jacks attention.

“I’m okay Uncle Urb” she giggled and followed you back into the kitchen.

“Why are boys so loud mommy?” She asked as you got a plate of food ready for the both of you.

You couldn’t help but giggle at that “your dad and uncles are just very passionate about sports.”

Hazel paused for a moment, thinking “is Jade going to like sports too?”

You smiled “well baby, I’m not sure there’s a possibility.”

You handed Hazel her plate of food and told her to meet you at the kitchen table. The table was in view of your husband and everyone else, you often thought it was entertaining to watch all of them get so intense about sports.

You waddled over to your seat next to Hazel helping her cut her food up when the four men in your living room got louder.

Hazel shot them a look and then looked back at you “I wish they’d shut up.”

“Hazel, that’s not a nice thing to say” you warned knowing she was grumpy from missing her nap today.

“Sorry” she sighed and you smiled.

“That’s okay, maybe you’ll feel better after you eat.”

You and Hazel sat at the table and ate for a while before Clay and Jack started arguing. You never knew if it was intentional or not but they always routed for the opposite teams, sometimes you thought Clay did it on purpose to push Jack’s buttons and you couldn’t blame him.

Jack was super competitive about everything, even sports that he had nothing to do with.

Urban and Druski scooted down on the couch giving them the room to argue and them the opportunity to eat most of the food while they were distracted.

“That was a stupid play and you know it” Jack said defensively standing up.

Clay stood up next to him pointing at the screen “Dude, come on! You’re only getting cocky because your team is finally winning at the very last second” Clay hollered back with a passive aggressive laugh.

Then the shoving started, you weren’t about to get involved especially not with Urban and Druski sitting right there and not super pregnant either.

Jack put Clay in a headlock causing him to punch Jack in the ribs and Hazel was up instantly standing in the middle of the room hollering like crazy.

“DON’T HIT MY DADDY!” She huffed, you followed her into the living room but she was still going off causing both Clay and Jack to stop and stare at her.

“We were just messing around” Clay calmly interrupted her feeling bad about seeing his niece super emotional.

“It’s not funny! That’s my daddy!” She pointed at Jack who was clearly not going to help his brother in the situation at all.

He stood there and crossed his arms with a pout “yeah Clay, how could you hit me in front of my child?”

Hazel ran over and hugged his legs, looking at Clay with big sad eyes.

Clay scoffed “you’re kidding right? Tell her we were just playing!” 

You waddled over to Jack and Hazel trying to hold back a laugh at your husband being completely petty and Urban and Druski dying of laughter at the whole thing.

“Baby, your daddy and uncle were just playing around but they SHOULDN’T” you narrowed your eyes at both of them “SHOULDN’T be putting their hands on one another.”

“Uncle Clay needs to say sorry to daddy” Hazel pouted.

“Well baby, your daddy needs to say sorry too, they were both wrong” you looked at both of them with narrowed eyes again, they both knew you weren’t playing with either of them.

“Sorry” they both mumbled at each other.

Clay looked over at Hazel who was still unsure about him in the moment, Clay bent down to talk to her “I’m sorry you had to see that. Do you forgive me?”

Hazel looked up at you and then Jack, you both nodded and smiled at her. “I forgives you” she smiled and Clay gave her a high five.

When Hazel was out of earshot Jack laughed “looks like I’ll always have someone to defend me huh?”

“Yeah because you were never good at doing it yourself” Clay shot back smugly, you turned and looked at them both clearly annoyed causing them both to be quiet for the last quarter. 

When it comes to Clay as a character, I feel like his character wasn’t completely finished.

Crazy I know, but this is mainly the giant fucking chunk of family detail that makes his family extremely complex and just overall makes everything not fit into places properly. (such as a lack of canon age making it very hard to put into perspective how old Clay and Fletcher were when wanda fully cursed.)

Overall, Clay’s character probably sticks out the most (and that’s saying something) .

One thing I think is really interesting which I wish was involved more within the series was Clay’s horrible lingering fear of failure which never really gets any more attention outside of ep5 which sucks because it seems relatively important to his character.

How as soon as something goes wrong (loosing merlok while being a newly graduated knight who didn’t really have a chance) or up against whiperella? (I probably spelt that wrong).

His very first response to these things happening is “I don’t deserve to be a knight” which.. ow okay..

He seems very.. I don’t know how to word it.. I’ll figure it out lmao.

I think the one of the reasons he takes up the role of the leader, yes he’s the most bold teammate, but the possibility of that fear of losing his temmates is something he just can’t handle. Losing his own uncle was probably enough as it is.

Then the whole s4 thing . When he started feeling as if he was endangering his teammates safety, the first thing he did was walk off on them, and the second time he forced Macy to turn him back into stone.

I guess because he appears so “bold and tough” that’s what his character is.. completely. but I guess the interesting thing is that he doesn’t ALWAYS act like that. His very bold character personality isn’t always something you can see and that’s what makes him so.. interesting.

A lot of things still weren’t properly answered when the show ended, which sucks because it could’ve given us more perspective into what his family was like, seeing we got not actual answers in the beginning.

Clay definitely has some .. interesting, character flaws (uh.. yeah.) but moving aside from that I know there’s something else that should be relevant to what I’m saying and I know it makes 0 sense.

The interesting connection Clay has with the knights code (as we see clearly in ep4 when the whole fucking episode revolves around it.) is something that’s so.. interesting, because he’s the only knight to actually take it COMPLETELY seriously.

^ I’ll eventually add to this, but something else is why he has an absolutely god awful sleeping pattern, because there’s no way sleeping for that short amount of time is ever EVER okay for you. Yet we know he’s very,.. schedule reliant, and it probably doesn’t fit into this.

👏 Okay okay, I don’t want to say downright “Oh I think Clay is neurodivergent” but that’s clearly the fucking path I’m taking ain’t it.?

RIGHT. Clay’s character can just be.. analysed, because of my top statement but this fucking analysis is probably taking a lot more time up. (I’m so sorry.)

Clay can so interestingly have his character traits linked to him being neurodivergent, and I wish I could find the best way to word it. Especially when it comes to his very obscure schedule, and how he makes plans BEFORE heading into battle.

Ep4 is probably very interesting, or maybe I’m overthinking a lego brick. .. who knows. (it’s the second option)

Yeah I can keep going, but for the sake of nk fans and their sanity against me and a lego brick, I think this is enough for now.

Clay and having an unfinished character arc also something I’ll talk about in another analysis post.

summary: one day, you decide to treat yourself to get your nails done. little do you know, you’re in for a huge upheaval in your life—filled with so much comfort, patience, and paper cranes. And it’s all because of that purple-eyed nail tech.

pairing: nail tech!seungkwan x gn!reader

wordcount: 2.0k

genre: fluff, barely-there angst

au: nail salon, origami, low fantasy

rating: pg-13

warnings: mentions of an ex, mentions of revenge (but it’s for comedic effect), brief frustration

note: i had so much fun writing this one! (it’s totally not inspired by my new nails hehe) i hope you enjoy! and pls comment your guesses for what you think seungkwan and the reader are! i’d love to see them

The bell jingled, signalling your arrival. You smelled antiseptic cleaner and chemicals as soon as you walked in, paying no mind to the few patrons getting their hair or nails done. You heard pieces of conversations as you walked by, and the sound of low chatter was near-constant background noise which added to the salon’s entire ambience. When you reached the front counter, the receptionist gave you a welcoming smile, before sliding his glasses up his nose and directing you to sit down.

You looked around aimlessly as you waited, eavesdropping on some conversations happening around you. After a while you got tired of doing that, so you started drumming your fingers as you watched the clock tick down.

“Y/n?” A voice called out, before a brunette strolled out from behind the counter. You nodded. “Welcome, my name’s Seungkwan. What are we doing today?”

“Gel extensions, and a little nail art,” you replied as you stood up.

He nodded before he directed you to take a seat at his station. He plopped down on the other side of the table, and while he was setting everything up, you looked at all the bottles neatly lined up behind him.

There was everything from hair serums to fake talons and clay polish. You weren’t sure where to look because there was just too much to look at.

“Before we get started, did you have any—sensitivities or preferences I should be aware of?” he asked, reaching for your hand.

You took a moment to think it over before nodding once, “you can just do regular gel nails, as long as there is no glitter, gold, metallics, or precious metals in it.”

You saw a flash of recognition in his eyes as he tried to figure out what you were before he smiled and assured you he would accommodate your preferences. After talking over your chosen colour and shape, he started working diligently as he prepped your nails for the first base coat.

“What made you decide to get your nails done today?” he asked casually, trying to fill the silence with small talk to make you more comfortable.

You just shrugged back, “nothing really. I just thought it’d be cool to have long nails, especially ones with a cool theme or something.”

He made an affirmative hum as he nodded his head, “yeah, I’ve seen some really cool designs in Hongdae. Some people go really crazy with them.”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” you laughed before refocusing on your hands, so they wouldn’t bump into anything, “I’ve seen people with nails as long as a walking cane—“

“Oh man, you wouldn’t even want to see the Guinness World Record for longest nails,” he said with a shiver. “I felt kinda grossed out when I first saw how long they were.”

You grimaced before he quickly changed the subject, chattering about work, and you in turn proceeded to tell him about your own work chronicles and love life.

“Dang, your ex sounds like a jerk,” he muttered as he filed your nails down. “I hope you left him after that.”

“I did, don’t worry,” you replied quickly. “I still feel sad, though. I wish I could’ve gotten revenge on him or something. I know it’s petty, but I just wish I could’ve gotten the last laugh.”

His bottom lip jutted out in concentration before he furrowed his brows and looked at you. “Why not? You can just go to his house and clog all his sinks with origami cranes.”

You blinked at him for a second, “are you serious? Paper cranes? I don’t even know how to fold a piece of paper without ripping it.”

“Maybe it’s time to learn,” he shrugged, before directing you to put your right hand into the dryer once more. “It’s said in Japanese legends that you will receive a wish if you fold a thousand paper cranes by the time you die.”

“What would I even do with all those cranes if I made them?” you muttered to yourself.

“Clog your ex’s sink with them,” Seungkwan replied with a mischievous smirk. “That’s what I did and it worked. All the affection I felt for them disappeared the moment they turned into a literal Godzilla and started smashing things.”

You nodded, “I’ll consider it.”

He smiled, “and if you ever need help folding them, just let me know and I’ll be happy to help.”

You couldn’t hear anything for a moment as you looked at his bright expression, duly nodding along to his words. As he painted little designs on your nails, time was nowhere to be found. The minutes flew by traitorously fast, and you were surprised when he eventually proclaimed them done.

When you checked them over, there was nothing you could find to extend your visit any longer. Your nails looked great—long, but not too long, in a shade that complimented your skin tone and made your hands look bejewelled in colour.

“They look perfect, thank you,” you said at last, before getting up and bowing politely.

“It was my pleasure,” he replied, returning your bow and directing you toward the front counter. “I hope to see you again soon, so you can enrapture me with the continuation of that story.”

He winked at that, before going back to his station and cleaning up. You grinned at that.

“These things are stupid!” you exclaimed, as you failed for the nth time at folding an actual paper crane. You were just about ready to chuck out all the special origami paper in your house out of frustration. No matter how many YouTube tutorials, origami manuals, or lessons you went through, you just couldn’t wrap your head around how to make the beak look like, well, a beak.

“This is stupid, why do I even bother?” you sighed, crumpling up another failed attempt. Why did you even bother? For a cute nail tech? Because you wanted to upset your ex?

Nothing really made sense to you—how could you let a nail tech’s charm and affinity for mischief sway you into doing something so immature and stupid? Maybe he was doing something magically—perhaps he was a goblin or a nine-tailed fox out to wreak havoc in your life.

But something told you he was being genuine. You weren’t sure what it was—maybe it was simply that intuition which came with living so long in a world as unpredictable as this.

You looked back at the crumpled papers messily thrown around your table. It pained you to do this—yet, you trekked on. You searched for another tutorial, following it down to a T, pausing often to make sure everything looked right.

Before you knew it, you had finished a few cranes, not noticing the passing of time. Your new nails made it so easy to fold—they were great for making the folds more defined and crisp.

It was actually quite therapeutic you realized, as you continued to fold and fold, no longer thinking about your frustrations or anything else that was bothering you—like your ex. It was a welcome change, since every time you looked around your apartment, you’d always see all the little things he left behind, and it reminded you of when he left you.

But today, your attention was completely focused on the cranes, which continued to populate your table. They sprawled all over your living room, covering up the tablecloth he gave you, spilling past the rug he bought you on your second anniversary, and overflowing into the flowerpots his mother donated to you when you first moved in…

It was like the space grew homier, as though the missing person who resided in your walls had finally come home. The little cranes greeted you when you came home after a long day, they chased away the loneliness that used to seep into the doorways, along the baseboards, and through the walls.

It was like you had a thousand tiny friends waiting for you, always waiting for you.

Over the next three weeks, your house was completely overflowing with hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny little cranes. You often folded them on your breaks, when you got home from work, or while watching videos in the morning. Soon, you lost count of how many you made because on every vacant surface, there were colourful little cranes waiting for you. You even gave a few to your friends and family thank you gifts. Your friends were surprised, to say the least—nobody ever expected you of all people to enjoy origami.

Safe to say, when you returned to the nail salon to get your nails filled, you had enough paper cranes to fill an entire apartment in the middle of Seoul to the brim. Literally—everywhere you stepped, you somehow managed to step on one of your tiny paper cranes. Every inch of your apartment was crawling with them.

“Ah Y/n, you’re back!” Seungkwan exclaimed once he came out from the back. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” you replied as he set up, “I have an update for you.”

He raised his brows before recognition lit up his eyes as you handed him a purple and green crane. “You made them! How was it?”

You smiled, looking at him warmly, “It really helped, actually. Even if I didn’t trash my ex’s apartment with them, folding them really helped me feel better.”

“I’m glad,” he said warmly, returning your smile.

He started working on your nails, removing the remnants of colour and filing them down to a more manageable length. You two continued to make small talk as he worked, and when you showed him the next design you were looking for, he complimented you on your taste—which made you blush profusely.

“Hey, can I tell you something?” you asked after a moment. He hummed to show he was listening as he painted. “You asked me last time why I got my nails done that day, and I just said that I liked the designs I saw.”

You hesitated for a second before continuing, “Actually, it wasn’t just about the design. I felt really low, and I just couldn’t help but internalize everything my ex said to me when we broke up. I just felt hollow and like I was leading a very meaningless life. He was a part of my hoard, and losing him felt like I lost one of my most priceless treasures. But I don’t know, I just wanted to say thank you?” you took a shaky breath before looking at him. He paused painting for a moment. “You really made me feel better about everything, you even gave me something new to add to my hoard. And I just think that being able to talk about it and fold those cranes really gave me a boost.”

He smiled, “You don’t have to thank me Y/n. I’m glad I could help, but I think a lot of your improvement and growth happened because of you. Please don’t discredit yourself because this is your own achievement. I hope you know that I am proud of you.”

You couldn’t control the tears that slipped out, and he just smiled softly, nodding at your whispered ‘thank you’ before you instinctively reached to wipe them away. But before you could completely pull away, he let go and offered you a tissue. “May I? I don’t wanna wreck your beautiful nails”

You nodded, as he gently reached over to wipe your tears, “You’re gonna be okay Y/n.”

You didn’t need to see the purple in his eyes to truly believe him because you trusted him more than anything, “I know.”

Every fibre of your being agreed—your heart, your brain and most importantly your nails, which (if you looked at them closely enough), showed the fluttering wings of a purple and green, origami crane.

© 2022 svt117 . all rights reserved.

Characters That Have Never/Hardly Interacted In Canon That I Think Would Be Friends

I love how we see friendships in the series like the gang, Rosita, Buster, and Gunter, Johnny and Meena, and the Moon theatre trio. But I wish we saw more so... tada!! Here's a list of characters who I think would be friends with little to no explanation!

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

Rosita and Marcus: I headcanon that Rosita was Johnny's foster mom while Marcus was in jail so the two got to know each other that way. And now they are just best friends who stress over Johnny and come up with crazy inventions together. Like the engineer Rosita and the mechanic Marcus would have so much in common it would be awesome.

Stan and Gunter: The energetic person of their respective friend groups, I just know these two would constantly be causing chaos and enabling their nieces and nephew to cause utter havoc.

Nooshy and Ash: Ok ok ok, hear me out here. Hip Hop dancer friend to the grungy Rock singer. That dynamic would be adorable and awesome. Also, they seem to be around the same age and I feel like their personalities would mesh together really well. Plus, they were friends in that one promo thing for the Mario movie (I think? idk) and now they are besties in my mind.

Marcus and Clay: I feel like these two said nothing to each other for like the first eight meetings, then promptly trauma-dumped about their late partners to each other, and then never spoke of it again. Now they just keep in contact about Buster's stupid ideas and their kids (Johnny and Ash respectively).

Eddie and Barry: They'd be video game buddies!!! Eddies loves video games and I headcanon that Barry does too so you just know they team up online and like completely sweep tournaments. Also, they are both the logical ones of their current friend groups so I feel like they could bond over that.

Ryan and Mizuki: I feel like these two would just be a really good personality mesh for two very energetic and extroverted friends. Also, as a former principal dancer and now troupe leader, Ryan has a lot of networking and social media experience so I feel like they could bond over that since Mizuki seems to be in charge of that for the New Moon Theatre Troupe.

Rosita, Marcus, and Aamanee: One, I'm giving Meena's mom a name. Her name is now Aamanee, ok, cool, moving on. Two, I just want the three parents of the theatre trio to hang out. Like Ash is Rosita's adopted daughter at this point and all three parents are bound to be stressed about what Buster is dragging their kids into now.

Ryan and Suki: Mainly, again, this is purely from my headcanon that Suki took Ryan's mom's dance class as a kid and literally has known him since he was born, so the two are pretty good friends. Suki would be the tired older cousin that Ryan, a ball of extroverted energy, drags to events to "have fun".

Nana and Clay: I think these two definitely know each other from when they were younger and ran into each other at a ton of celebrity events so now they are friends who gossip and drink tea together. That's it. That's all they do on like a weekly basis. It's funny and adorable.

if your requests are open can you do friends to lovers with dream?? before or after the face reveal or during!! just fluff and tension!! go drink some water <3

This is amazing anon! i love your idea! <3

𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬

Pairing: cc!Dream x reader!

Masterlist here!

The first time I met Clay, we were 17, when he got into a fiscal fight because a boy was making fun of me.

I was shocked because it was the first time I'd ever seen him. I stopped him before the director come to put him into detention, I just took his hand and make him stand up just to run to my car.

-Why did you do that? are you insane?- I said when we were already inside the car. I open the car dashboard and take the first aid kit to help him with the scratches and the cut lip.

-Not I'm not, he was being an idiot that it's completely different.- he smirks.-I'm clay- he looks at my eyes and I just focus on my job at his nose, which is bleeding.

-Idiot fits you better.- we both giggle.- I'm y/n- i take a moment to see him.

-Well, it fits you really well.- I roll my eyes and smile.

-Yeah, I wish I could say the same to you.- we both laugh and he tickles me a little.

A knock on my door distracts us from our jokes.

-Detention, now, both of you.- the bald man yells and I sign.

-We should drive away- he says and I look at him smiling.

-it's Too late.- I kiss his cheek and get out of the car.

At detention, this guy Dylan, who was making fun of me earlier flinches when Clay passes beside him and I try not to laugh.

We sat together and the teacher that was supposed to take a look at us for the rest of the classes fell asleep, so Clay decided it was a good idea to talk so we could get to know each other.

Two years later, we both finally made it to college, we manage to keep being best friends by living together, we were just friends, even tho everyone thought we were a couple.

-That bot over there is really looking at you- The tall guy talks to my ear- he's eating you with his eyes.- I can hear the rage in his voice.

-Should I talk to him?- I question and he holds my waist. We were dancing together at a friend's party when he realized that boy was "eating me with his eyes"-

-No- he smirks at my neck and I smile. I turn around and snuggle into his arms.-Want to go home?- I nod into his chest and yawn.-Let's go say goodbye.- He always left with me, even if he was enjoying the party if I wanted to leave, he was leaving with me.

After saying our goodbyes we get into his car and he starts the engine. I take his free hand and play with his fingers, my vision was completely affected by the drinks I has before.

-You take really good care of me, Clay.- I smile at him.

-It's because I love you y/n- his eyes looked at me for a second.

-I love you too.- I kiss his hand and close my eyes. I know that I was going to wake up in my bed.

After three years, the brunette was a really big streamer, a faceless one, the only one who has seen his face was sapnap, who is now living with us. Clay sit on his gaming chair and sits me on his lap, I was having a bad day and wanted to be with him.

I just came home from a dinner with work colleagues and those few drinks had my head dizzy.

-Did you realize we never kissed?- I blurt out and I feel him tense.

-Because we are friends, I guess.-

I take my head out of his neck and look him straight to his eyes, all this sudden confidence was crazy.

-But you don't want?- he looks at me, I can read him like he was a book with the years of being friends, he was nervous.

-What? kiss you?- I nod.- Yes.- he starts editing his video again.

-Then why don't we do it?- my hands are now holding his cheeks so he would look at me.

-I guess, you had more drinks than you should.- he smiles and I can't take it anymore and kiss him. At first, he just stays there, he doesn't reciprocate so I just stand up blurting a few apologies before running to my room. A knock on the wooden door sounds.

-Y/n?- it's him.

I was sitting on the floor of the bathroom.

I heard his steps. I put my arms around my legs, knees on my chest, and my face hiding.

-Why did you run away?- he sits beside me.

-You don't like me like I like you.- I sob a little.- You see me as a friend, I don´t want to be just your friend.- I feel pathetic for crying over this.

-How do you know that?-

-Well, I heard you talking with sapnap about a girl, and how you didn't want to break our friendship because of that and I can't help but feel jealous of her, because she has you and I don't.-

-I guess you didn't hear the whole conversation. He takes my hair out of his way.- Look at me- I do so.- You are the same girl, all the conversation was about you, about us.- he says smiling.

-You're just trying to protect my feelings.- I sign and he moves me so I'm now sitting on him, with my legs at the sides of him.

-You are the only girl I have my eyes on, I just didn't want to be the only one who feel this way and fuck up our friendship.- my forehead lays on his.

-Really?- I say, looking into his eyes.

-Really- he gives me a quick peck on the lips.-I swear to god, I've been in love for so long that this moment feels unreal.- we both giggle.

Our lips are connected over and over again, not losing more time than we already lost.

-My mom is gonna be really happy we are finally together.-he laughs and I nod.

-My mom is gonna lose it.- I think about how our moms wanted us together since we met.

-Do you want to be my girlfriend? even when the drinks that you have disappears from your system?- I nod, I wanted to keep this moment for dear life. -Doesn't drive you crazy just how fast the night changes?- I smiled and kissed him again.

-Even when the night changes It will never change me and you-

What do you think might happen in Sing 3? Sing 3 headcanons.

*Rubs hands together* Here we go! It is my personal belief that Sing 3 will be a WORLD TOUR movie, and maybe they'll drag Jimmy Crystal back in! A few things we can be SURE of?:

-Buster will go in over his head

-He will do something dumb

-He will lie a lot

-He will break some laws

-Illumination will keep up the tradition of getting him soaked at least twice in the movie XD

-They will put on a huge show at the end

-Miss Crawly will do something absolutely crazy

Now, then there are my fan hopes and theories. Let's get into those, shall we?

-One hope, is that we will get a glimpse into backstories this movie! I have so many questions about all of them!

-Another, is that we will see a lot more of Jimmy Crystal. Not because I liked him - I hated him - but (1) WHUMP FIC OPPORTUNITIES, PEOPLE! and (2) IT. WORKS. SO. WELL. Buster's got a terrifying psychotic nemesis! Yayyyyyyy

-Another thing I hope is to REALLY jump into Buster and Ash's relationship and maybe even confirm Jooshy as an actual ship. I would settle for a siblings dynamic though.

-THEY BRING PORSHA BACK. Not just because Halsey is my favorite singer ever, but Porsha makes me laugh and she's such an interesting character to see and work with. At first I didn't like her because she was entitled and bratty, but she grew on me with her better qualities and quirky personality.

-They add Dolly Parton as one of the voice actorsss!

-We learn the truth of what happened to Buster's parents.

-This movie is EVEN BIGGER than the last one! Chaos, epic lights, special effects, sick costumes, a crazy-as-heck adventure, Illumination needs to go all-out! No lie, I would wait six years willingly for the result of it.

-Clay Calloway. I want to see a little more of his healing!

But aside from my mere wishes, here is how I ENVISION Sing 3.

-They get the chance to go one a world tour, with a little prodding, everyone agrees.

-They go theater to theater, but something fishy's going on and no one realizes it but Rosita. Buster won't listen.

-Time goes on and at their final stop, the chaos reaches it's peak as THERE IS JIMMY CRYSTAL

-Chaos and endless whump opportunities.

Did I just get a plot for my next Sing fanfiction? Yes. Yes, I did.

Hope you enjoyed, and wishing you the best!

f*ck

Ok hi so I (12/2/22) am going to force myself to write now because the amount of anxiety is unacceptable and I have tentatively identified not enough writing as a possible source. So here we go: if you’re expecting a nice eggplant dish, please manage your expectations. I am going to do my best. I may just hand you a f*cken eggplant and tell you, “Best of luck, I’ve done all I can.”

Ok so how did I get here? I tried writing about it a bit for my Technology Awareness paper I wrote for Natalie, but that paper was just for fun and I’m not proud of it (there were swear words in it). Hmm…let me tell you about Anacortes, like I told one of my nurses when I was in the hospital for ten days back in May. My Aunt Barb and a friend she had liked for a long time decided to go on a road trip together. My Aunt was agreeable with everything her friend wanted - no audiobook, weird climate control requests, fancy bathroom requests, everything - even agreeing to go to Anacortes against her own judgment. She wanted to go to Port Townsend where they would have had no shortage of restaurants by the water to enjoy. They got to Anacortes and discovered that unless there is a festival, Anacortes is a sleepy little port town with not much going on. My Aunt spent her time there in the quilt shop, making the best of it, while her friend went off to get a tshirt. So they wound up in Anacortes with nothing to do and only a t-shirt to show for it. This journal entry, written in December (December!) is the same t-shirt from Anacortes. And the agreeableness I’ve described here is just the tip of the iceberg for her trip. Boy, let me f*cken tell you… …like I told everyone at the ketamine clinic. I was supposed to be tripping balls during my extremely expensive infusion and getting an abundance of insights from my subconscious but I spent the last half of it babbling to my doctor about everything that I haven’t written about yet - all the people I tried to help and how it almost killed me. I’m seeing four paragraphs now so I’ll take that as a sign that I am probably going to survive. BUT *********@#$%^, WTF. People people people are just people, people, people (Brown). And chronic stress prevents our writing/reading/learning brains from getting online. Less writing, more stress. It’s enough to make you crazy if you let it. Anyway, I have no idea where to begin inspiring you with the extremely horrific dumpster fire that is my mental health and how I got here. So I’ll start with you. If you’re reading this, you are probably a person. What does it mean to be a person? I wish I could bust out one of my papers and tell you what I think, but hellfire in the form of a dozen pieces of garbage masquerading as people rained down on my f*cken house. I’ve had windows broken, death threats, graffiti across the street (“f*ck you” written on the curb). All because when people get pushed in the wrong direction, they make bad decisions. They decide they want to go to Anacortes. For the record, I want to go to Port Townsend. But I’ve already been there. Thanks Aunt Barb! 🙂 What was Port Townsend supposed to look like for me? Let’s circle back to the beginning of the pandemic. Kameron was out. So I’ve just spent a couple years at a community college and got sent home like Isaac Newton. What am I gonna do? Study Calculus? Write 100 papers? No, I’m gonna try to help Kameron. And Clay and Cameron and his girlfriend Missy and Brynn and Robert all at the same time. This where we’ll lose some definition...there were so many encounters there where I tried using my AS to push as hard as I could in the right direction. The outcomes were mixed: Kameron went back to prison, Clay moved to NY with Jeff, Cameron and Missy had to move also, and I worry about Brynn. Robert is doing better and has a job now. Why did this f*cken happen? Because they needed more help than I could give them. Lesson learned: you have to identify if someone is doing well enough for you to help them otherwise they will just pull you down too. It is not their fault. I suppose you get to be a certain age and you’ll get weird looks if you still act like a child, but I digress. These folks are good people who wound up in bad situations because of forces beyond their control. That reminds me of what my Uber driver told me when I came back from Portland right before (AM)^2 started: “...they’ll eat you alive.” But if someone is heading down a path where they’re gonna end up in a bad position when they’re older and I can do something about it, how can I choose not to act? How can I sit there and protect myself when there is work to be done? Now we’re getting into Tara Brabazon.  Anyway, this all sort of came to a head when I lost my job, checked myself into the hospital, got out and promptly had a tiny, tiny relapse which actually improved my PHQ-9 score considerably. But ah, now Tara Brabazon is reading this I’ll just head off to watch some of her videos. I feel better already having written something. Yay. Why did I lose my job? Because if I try to show up I’ll get probably get arrested. Why did this happen? ...and reason 546 is because I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t take care of myself well enough. And I wasn’t careful enough. I built a gun that shoots live piranhas and aimed at my fucken self.

Thank you for salvaging Seiko's character. Definitely did not like that one scene in Chronicles with her (or most of xc in gen), but the idea of the real Seiko being a third member of a trio and still being a huge nerd about swords is cute. Makes me wish for an episode where a Shen Gong Wu is in Japan and the girls get to reunite and meet the monks.

Right!? That part with 'stealing the boyfriend' was really unnecessary (just like repeating the same thing that happened in xs in the shadow of fear episode but with different fears. Why did they make the squirrel a ninja? the design of furious squirrel from xs was better. what was the reason for changing clay's grandma's design?)

Kimiko's fear in XS was more authentic. Idk what that scene in the chronicles was supposed to achieve. Did the show want to show us Kimiko at some point snaked someone else's boyfriend? Was that really necessary to discredit her this way? Or maybe it was just really the misunderstanding, Seiko got it wrong and started hating Kimiko for that and hence, Kimiko can't forgive herself for this happening? If the latter one, then maybe OK, some angst fuel if we really consider they are ex-friends. However, Seiko-gal has big anger issues, which is off-putting.

So, it really means much to me that 'Seiko is one of Kimiko's besties' scenario is commended! As much as I hated the appearance of Chronicles!Seiko, well I could see a little potential? Coz, yo, a lady who can professionally swing the sword!? Seiko in my eyes gave off big Katana vibes (especially if we take into consideration Katana's design in Batman The Brave And The Bold). I hc Seiko's fascination with Japanese weaponry is due to her father's job - he's a museum guard, but he owns his own katanas, which have been passed down to him. Little Seiko loved her father's stories about their samurai ancestors, so she wanted to become one, hence her training!

As for the Japan episode - anon, I couldn't agree more! Keiko would hug the hell outta Omi. Seiko, contrary to Keiko, was never up to conversation - she's very reserved, so when Raimundo tries to start a conversation, he immediately regrets that choice xD

I don't know why this idea came to me, but it would be cool if this time the main villain would be Tubbimura. Instead of the magical showdown, the episode would end with 'regular showdown' between Seiko and Tubbimura. Samurai girl vs ninja. It's not even about winning the wu anymore. It's about honor! The episode would build up with Tubbimura taking interest in Seiko's agility and swordsmanship only to reach a climax in which both Seiko and Tubbimura want to fight in order to test each other abilities. Dojo would 'boo' that solution, claiming regular showdowns are boring. But he shuts up immediately he feels Seiko's cold gaze upon him.

I want Seiko to win because that would result in mutual respect between the two warriors ok? For the comedic effect I would want the episode to end with Kimiko and Keiko finding out Seiko and Tubbi are pen-pals now haha

Kimiko: Hey I've seen you accepted Tubbimura's friend request. Can I know... why?

Seiko: Oh, we're friends now.

Keiko, who snorted out the soda she was drinking through the nose: !!!!!!!!!!!

Kimiko, visibly shocked: Erm... That's good, I think???????? But what do you usually talk about???

Seiko, pokerface on her face: ABOUT THE PASSION FOR THE CRAFT. ... And sometimes about healthy diets and his dog. I don't like pets in general, but Muffinface is precious and I would protect them from any harm.

Kimiko, confused but supportive: yeah, the doggy is sweet!

Keiko, trying to clean herself up: !!!!!!!???? Girl, you crazy?!

Seiko, blatantly: So, you want the evidence in a form of 32 photos of that dog!? Sure, I can provide fight me.

Swan mosaic

I used to live in a neighborhood called Swansea, a poor neighborhood with the imprints of red lining still felt decades after.

In kindergarten my teacher had the students making masks of animals making paper plates. All the girls picked cats and most of the boys picked lions or wolves or tigers or bears. Everyone picked predators but I went with a "zebra."

My kindergarten teacher was giving instructions on how to do the mask and she started off my saying to draw a circle in the middle for a nose. Everyone, myself included, drew a "nose" in the middle. That's when my kindergarten teacher called me out in front of everyone, "Ghxsthorse, I told you to wait for me because yours isn't going to look like everyone elses. You just messed up because you couldn't wait for me. Zebras don't have noses like lions or bears, it's different."

I just stared at her blankly in silence as everyone did the same to me. I've always struggled with words and even more as a child I could never articulate what I was feeling or thinking.

So now the whole class was staring at me and I have nothing to say so I just look down and start coloring in the circle with a black marker. My teacher then said she'd come over and help me then continued giving instruction. While she did that I filled in the white space with eyes and started drawing a spiral with a black marker. I wanted to do a zebra not because i liked them or because they reminded me of horses, but because I wanted to play around with the stripes. Once everyone was finished with their masks my friends told me they liked how "cool" my zebra stripe was. I don't know if it was true or if they wanted to make me feel better but I remember it was fun.

My elementary school art teacher was this older lady who was all about up cycling and reusing items regarded as "trash" to create art. The art teacher before her was a crazy and quirky ginger lady who everyone including the "bad" kids adored.

So the new upcycly art teacher had big shoes to fill. Her first year she worked with every grade level and every class in the school to create a mural for the school. At first as little kids we didn't understand what we were doing other than putting blue shards of glass and broken tiles onto a frame. I think I was in first grade at the time and only the older grades at the time got to work on the main piece: a white swan in a body of water.

During the rest of my time in that school I didn't see the art teacher create a project to top that Swan Mosaic. That being said she used her resources and very small budget for our school to give us students things to do through the seasons. During spring we would take walks around our neighborhood and find empty plastic bottles to make rockets or marine life. With the help of my art teacher I cut up the bottle i had found to make gills and fins.

During the fall we would go outside and pick leaves to use in our paintings. I remember other kids glued their yellow leaves onto their art. I had picked the most dry leaves I could possibly find, fragile enough for them to crumble with the slightest pressure. I painted black shadows reaching up from the ground and I drew tiny arms branching out. The final touch of my painting was putting a very thin layer of self made vermilion over the tree branches and delicately placing pieces of crumbled leaves on top.

My first real challenge came when I had to create an animal out of clay. There was no hacks with this. I had to build and there was no way around it. I ended up making a dog and it was even featured in a museum exhibition. My art teacher considered that my masterpiece and I am proud of it but looking down the line years later I kinda wish someone's animal would've exploded inside the oven and I wish that explosion would've ruined everyone else's art even mine. But then I remember that this is just an intrusive thought I had as a child that has followed me into adulthood. Plus this clay dog was the first time people saw me as an artist.

It was very cool out today!! I was able to wear socks and pants and a sweatshirt basically all day. Which made me feel a lot better.

Me and James didn't sleep great. Sweetp kept coming and standing on us and it was just not the best. We decided to sleep another hour since I didn't have a group until 1030. And it made me feel a lot more alive. Poor James still isn't feel great. They haven't been sleeping well this summer. But we got up and got ready for the last week of camp.

I felt pretty cute and things were alright. We had some trouble getting to work though. Accidents and closed roads. We had to backtrack once we got past hunt valley. It was crazy. We stopped for breakfast and it was fine but also. Like why. I texted Heather to let her know and she just wished us luck. We would make it by 930 and everything was okay.

I was a little stuck today. I changed into rain boots when we got there. It was raining and cold. James had worn shorts and was pretty cold. They wouldn't let me give them anything to warm up though which made me a little upset. James was not good at accepting help today.

But they helped me a lot. We got all the paper sorted, all the coloring materials, and got a bunch of stuff packed up. There is still a lot to do but so much is done and that feels great.

It would take all day while I was teaching. And thankfully the clay project is super hands off for me. And the kids made such good stuff. And because James is an amazing partner they would go and bake the pieces for me and I love them so much for all their help.

I also just loved seeing what the kids made. I loved some of the interesting ideas. I wish I got more pictures of them but really they did a wonderful job. I hope that this week continues to be that good.

I would go and get us snacks from the trading post at lunch. James didn't bring lunch and I just had the rest of my breakfast. But it was nice sitting together. James was a little quiet because they ever tired but we were alright. I was just looking forward to the day being over.

There were two more groups in the afternoon and I had a lot of fun with them. And got stuff cleaned in the building. And did a little more embroidery. The rain cleared up and it got a little warmer but it was still a cozy day.

We finished up the day. James went to bake the sculptures and I cleaned up my carpets and packed them up. I swept the building and did my best to do as much as I could. But I was ready to go.

We would leave and go get groceries. And I think we did a pretty good job overall. I didn't get every stupid snack I saw. We got watermelon and grapes. It was a productive trip to the store. And then we headed home.

We got in all the stuff. James would make a few more trips to get more of the stuff I had at camp. And I got some of the groceries away.

James would finish that while I got changed. I would work on some of the lesson planning for the national guard thing I had the meeting for yesterday.

James would make me a quesadilla for dinner again and it was very good. I packed half for my lunch tomorrow. And eventually I would go to work on sewing up what me and James had pinned the other day.

It was a chill night. I didn't put everything away. But that was okay. I enjoyed watching my fish. And had some snacks. Kissed James's face. I had fun sewing and listening to music. I felt really happy.

I washed my hair and now we are in bed. I am hoping to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow should be an easy day. So wish me luck. Sleep good everyone. Take care of yourselves!!

June 6- Hakone

Planes, trains and automobiles! Okay well not quite, but we rode multiple trains, buses, skylifts and a boat to get to Hakone. It was a long day of traveling, since we took about 7-8 ish hours to get there. This was made even more tragic, as I was provided time to reflect on Riki’s abandonment of us. Sometimes I can still hear his voice :( After our first stop after the train, I looked up vegan restaurants. Oddly enough the place we went was no longer vegan, but I got some great vegetarian food! I had a grilled cheese with honey mustard and an order of cinnamon toast. I wish we got to spend more time there since it was really pretty. We weren’t able to get individual photos but I got some nice photos without anyone in them for backgrounds. I remembered to pack my camera and charge it but I left the battery at home :( There just isn’t very much to write about since a lot of it was traveling. I did think the gift shops along the way were fun especially the one themed after the gross century eggs. The sulfur smell really added to the ambiance of rotten egg. The Hello Kitty egg went crazy tho, loved her very much. I did really enjoy the skylifts since I have never been on one. Except they smelled like sulfur since they were over sulfur mines. I’m a bit scared of heights so I felt a little lightheaded up there but enjoyed the view from up there. The boat was fine and didn’t make me seasick luckily. There were recreations of foot soldiers homes with clay statues that were cool. The weather was cold with a lot of wind in some parts in addition to drizzling rain. We weren’t able to see Mt. Fuji since there was so many clouds. Fortunately, Jordan let me borrow his windbreaker (I just discovered why it was called that today) Speaking of, Jordan and I got into a pretty bad fight and he feels really bad about it. I feel bad that he feels so guilty but I think we’re both tired so emotions are heightened. It was a really long day and I fell asleep on about every form of transportation. Our group missed the bus back since it reached capacity but it wasn’t a big deal since there was another right after. We were speeding around super fast all day so myself and a few others had to pee really bad. We grabbed food at the station (I bought more strawberry pocky ofc and a rice ball, 711 came in clutch yet again ) Since it was a long train ride, it was socially acceptable to eat on the train, which I was grateful for. I plan to sleep immediately when I get home.

Fifty Shades of White

It’s official, I’ve submitted my color to the cabinet painter and there’s no take backs.  On Saturday the mister and I drove into Easton to the Benjamin Moore paint store to study all of the shades of off-white.  As I lined up paint chip cards and looked at them under different lighting, walked them over to the windows, then back to the shadiest corner, Mickey asked, “Can you narrow it down to four?” After another dozen chip cards and some agonizing comparisons, I did. We headed home with sample pots of Cream Linen, Feather Down, Winter Wheat, and Navajo White, stopping at Walmart to pick up some project board in the school supplies section.  I cut up that board and painted sections with each color, labeling them on the back. Then the fun started. I moved them all over the kitchen, trying all four colors in different lighting. Cream Linen was the first to be eliminated.

Different times of day, against the wall color and the floor color (I ignored those ugly countertops because they’re being replaced_ I’d shuffle them and see if I picked the same color each time.  My final choice is the middle color in that last photo - Winter Wheat.  It does have a hint of peach in the undertone, but with the green(ish) walls it works.  It’s the creamiest and that’s what I wanted.

The work starts on February 5th and I. Can’t. Wait.  I have a dream that on the first anniversary of our arrival (May 6th) all of the major stuff will be done. After the cabinets are painted that just leaves granite and hardware.  The ugly carpet on the stars will just have to wait.  If that happens, meet me back here in May for a video tour.  I wish I’d done a “before” video. I can probably find the real estate listing photos.   Anywayyyy, that’s the color and soon the kitchen will be well on its way to being PRETTY.  I received a message that said the cabinets were find and I shouldn’t spend the money to paint them.  I’d like to invite that person to come have a look.  They’re not in great shape and I don’t like the color.

NOPE, these girls need some help.  Just putting a little makeup on them. Speaking of makeup, Sephora sends me fabulous samples all the time. I love it. I have drawers full of samples.  Today I had some morning errands to run so I put my face on and popped a baseball cap on bed hair. I’d pulled a sample lip gloss out of a drawer because I was in the mood to try something new.  I ended up running around town looking like Id just finished a two piece and a biscuit from KFC.  I mean, I like a little gloss, but this is crazy. It’s a Fenty product, I don’t remember the shade, but I think it’s meant for someone younger than me.  I go out looking a little wonky all the time though, so what?  I’m going to try to make it a trend.  We’ll call it Grancy Chic.  Comfy shoes, bad hair, questionable makeup, a bra that has given up - what’s not to love?

Ye gads. Yep, those lips were a mistake, but at least I’m certain of my cabinet color - and that’s a lot more permanent, right? I’ve got laundry chugging, after I toss that load in the dryer and start a load of jeans in the washer I’m going to sit down at my desk.  There are new ideas for jewelry banging around in my head and I also have some cards to make.  I’ve got a dear friend who will need a cheerful get well card and Valentine’s Day is coming. Fun!  Time to turn on a murder podcast and get creative. Sounds like a perfect Tuesday afternoon. I hope that your Tuesday is delightful.  Do at least one nice thing for yourself today, whether it’s a walk in the sunshine or snuggling under a blanket if your weather is gloomy.  If all else fails, buy a new nail polish - that always works. If you’re feeling the winter blahs, check the calendar.  It’s just 55 days until spring!  I’m a winter lover, still crossing my fingers for snow, but I understand those who are longing for the next season. It’s just around the corner.

I’m off to play with clay. See ya’ tomorrow. Stay safe, stay well, stay hopeful.

Nancy

04/12-11/12/2022

Firebreak, Christmas activities and dinners (pt 1), how to work when I'm temporary (but not really).

The programme had the firebreak this week, and despite one of my teams carrying on as normal I had some time to contribute. \o/ I chose to join a group thinking how our product, which recently had its 10th birthday, would be different if it was set up now. I ran a short visioning session where everyone in the group sketched Crazy 8s and a more refined idea and merged them in small groups until it combined all the ideas. I also extracted some principles that were common to all the visions and made a quick service map w/ unanswered questions, building on a session ran by the PM who pitched the idea in the first place. Overall, it was fun but not as different as messing around with a prototype kit that one time. :)

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Team 1 wasn't working together during the firebreak but I had a random reflection on how they're doing icebreakers every day during standup mostly willingly. All it took is a point system and a vague promise of a reward at the end of the quarter. ;)

Big thanks to that Slack I don't go to anymore for recommending The Daily Stand-up Challenge cards. Some of them don't work so well for walking the board and remote so I make new ones as we go.

I need to think what I can improve when joining a team from how things have been going with Team 2. tl;dr - when I started about a month and a half ago it was meant to be a temporary situation while someone was on sick leave and/or another contractor was being recruited. Additionally, for the first two weeks I was waiting for a PM, who then left after the next two weeks. Overall I think I'm the 4th DM the Team's had in the last 6 months. So personally, I've felt a tension between not wanting to mess with the team, seeing stuff that can/needs to be iterated, and being reluctant to take up the team's time with additional process improvement activities (when another DM may want to do things differently...). I think it's generally not helped by the retros only happening monthly but the main lesson for myself when in this situation is... don't wait, and assume you'll be around indefinitely. And just do the PM things if there isn't one around. -\(-__-)/-

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Some work social things happened! Darts, which I inexplicably suck at despite an early lead in some games, and Postal Museum trip including the Mail Rail train ride - which was super fun and you should go on! The postcodes part of the exhibit only lasts until end of December if that's your thing, but I'm sure they'll replace it with something equally fun and geeky. I also bought the most DMy magnet from the museum shop.

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In pottery, I picked up my bowls with cat figurine, dog, and a snake planter that looks like a big poo. 🤨 Goddamn you terracotta, I wish I painted ya!

I learned a new technique, called nerikomi which is working with differently coloured clay instead (or in addition) to using glaze. I made a little bowl with an abstract pattern (which Bella the Cat can use as a water bowl), and a bigger bowl with orange pattern which I am super excited to see! I also made a big platter and a small side plate with different types of 'normal' clay - where terracotta tried to fuck me over by running and being a mare to tidy. Here's hoping it calms down in the glazing and doesn't just look dirty....

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I went to Yauatcha with a friend. It was decent (any place that even serves prawn + beancurd cheung fun is ok in my book) but the desserts were definitely the high point.

I've been watching The Traitors - as a game it's... mediocre. But the casting is amazing. What I really want to do now is play Blood on the Clocktower, let's hope we can at the next xgov games! >:3c

The soundtrack is so camp, I lost my shit when this started playing in ep1.

Oh, and I got the exact Epik High ticket I wanted. \o/

NEXT WEEK

Taking notes at User Research sessions. Hearing insights from a popup research day. Visiting THREE departments (apart from the one I work at). At least two Christmas dinners. Eating all my advent calendar cheeses?! And the Witcher 3 remaster comes out!! \o/