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blueymoons · 4 years

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Hey boo! Here's a bunch of numbers for that music meme: 1, 5, 6, 15, 20, 26, 28, 35, 38, and 50 🥳❤️ Looking forward to your answers, I love your music taste!

OOOoh this is so exciting!!! @kenzthepea...I adore you and I haven’t told you that enough lately. ❤❤❤

OK..Here goes:

1. Current Favorite Song: This is hard...Because I love so many songs. But the one I kept repeating today was Cardigan by Taylor Swift. I like the melody, and the lyrics that are so intricate. I especially love the bridge and I think my brain is formulating a fic with this song...but I have to wait and see what percolates. But it feels like that’s about to happen.

5. A Song That Reminds You Of Another Time In Your Life: I’m going to with It’s Been Awhile by Staind. I don’t know why...but every time I hear this song I think back to the first guy I fell in love with. It literally never played while we were together, or featured in our relationship at all, and has nothing to do with either of us...but it makes me think of him because I feel him in it. I think it’s maybe that during the time I met him, and fell in love with him and was held by him...I was dealing with some serious things in my home life. My mother was abusive, and I felt worthless and like a complete fuck up...but all of that didn’t matter when he hugged me. None of it mattered when we were talking. It makes me feel the way he made me feel and I love that. Because I still love him. Just differently, though 15 year old me is still deeply in love with him...But I am happily married to a man who adores me, who listens to me, and who makes me feel seen...which is exactly what Daniel did for me all those years ago. We’re still very good friends and we sing karaoke together (not currently obviously) and he still gives the best hugs and he’s still as sweet and dreamy and magnetic as he was the day I met him. And I feel grateful, so damn grateful that the first man I ever loved, taught me that I was worthy of that love, so that I could recognize when my husband felt the same way. That was long...but worth it. And you knew I’d be wordy. 🤣

6. A Song That Reminds You of A Place You’ve Been: I cannot hear the Hawaiian version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz without instantly being transported to the beach house my husband and I were married out of a little over 11 years ago. That song was played multiple times during our stay, and the Hawaiian version is so much more lovely than the radio version. It wasn’t our wedding song...but it is our unofficial wedding song. So much so that it’s the song my husband set as my ring tone when I call him. 🥰🥰🥰 I can’t seem to find the Hawaiian version but the version I linked is very damn close.

15. A Song That Makes You Want To Fall In Love: This one was really hard...Because I’m already very much in love with my husband...But I’m going to give you two...by the same artist, on the same album, because both give off some serious sex appeal to me and both would make me ache to have someone to feel that way about if I didn’t already have my Husband-Man. Wolf Like Me by Lera Lynn ft. Shovels and Rope, and Lose Myself by Lera Lynn, ft. John Paul White (you knew he had to be in here somewhere). Both are on her Plays Well With Others album, which was co-produced by John Paul and Ben Tanner (of the Alabama Shakes) at their Sun Drop Sound recording studio in Florence, Alabama and is on their label Single Lock Records (I’m a huge fan of pretty much every artist on Single Lock’s label) and these two songs are just straight up magic. Wolf Like Me is like...a werewolf love song. It’s literally her begging someone to be a wolf like her, and understand her, and I believe its a cover...but I choose to ignore that because I don’t ever want to hear anyone but Lera and S&R singing it. It’s haunting and sexy and just...ooof. So good. Lose Myself is sexy AF as well because it’s a duet with John and they’re basically singing about being in love with someone who they know is bad for them...and it’s just so painfully sexily delicious. I dare you to listen to their voices melding and not melt into a puddle. It’s almost impossible.

(This damn post is going to be really long...I hope you don’t mind. 🤣)

20. A Song You’ve Listened To On Repeat Recently: Rattle by Penny and Sparrow (I think you already know this one) has been on repeat for me lately. This song has been many things to me...But It’s become my worship song. When I REALLY need to talk to God (I’m spiritual...I hope this isn’t something that bothers you. Apologies if it is...I won’t preach...I promise) I turn this song on and I always feel closer to Him. When I first heard it I heard it as a romantic song. But the more I listened to it, the more I felt Him in it and the lyrics really called to me. “Because I’m not proud, I’m not proud, I’m not proud of me...so how could you, how could you ever be?” really nails me on the head. I feel like I fall down on being a light for God quite a bit. I try, always, to be a beacon of love and acceptance and grace to everyone. I want to understand my fellow humans...and love them despite their flaws and foibles...but it’s hard. And so this song reminds me that I’m not alone, and that I’m not the only one who occasionally feels that I’m not making Him proud...but the last lines, “I'm gonna work on waiting, If it's true you wanna say you love me every day. And I'm sorry (that it took me so long to realize) you've always felt that way”, are a beautiful reminder that God’s love for me is something he wants to give me everyday, no matter how much I’ve failed at being His beacon on Earth. So it’s my worship song, because I don’t go to church, but hearing this song is feeling a wash of his love over me and that helps me on really hard days. (I hope that wasn’t too preachy)

26. A Song That Reminds You Of Your Favorite Fictional Character: GOD SO MANY!!! Like...everyone I’ve ever written a fic about...and there are MANY. I guess the best way to find this one is to go to my AO3 series The Music Made Me Do It

28. A Song That Represents Your “Aesthetic”: I don’t really know what my “Aesthetic” is...maybe uptight, bohemian, plant loving, boy and dog mom, who over thinks everything constantly? Is that an aesthetic? LOL. So i’m not sure how to answer this one. But if “aesthetic” means what I would have playing in the house all the time, no matter what, no matter who comes over...It would be THIS entire playlist. It’s called Relaxed Jams (which is the EPITOME of an original title...I’m not good with titles...leave me alone 😂) and it’s pretty much playing nonstop in my house and car...Unless I’m listening to Hamilton...which is also constantly playing. So...there you go...My “Aesthetic”...Hope that works for you. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

35. A Song That Sends Chills Down Your Spine: In the fall of 2018 I was dealing with the knowledge that my oldest son was planning to move to Florida. And I was NOT handling it well. To be honest...I still am not handling it well. I don’t like my baby being so far away and I miss seeing his face, hearing his voice, yelling at him to clean up after himself...I just miss him like I’d miss a limb. We’ve been together since I was 18 and he’s going to be 20 in a few weeks and so, I’m sure you can imagine, over half of my life has been spent loving him. My two boys are the air in my lungs and the blood in my veins. They are EVERYTHING to me and that’s not hyperbole. It’s FACT. So, the idea of him moving away from me made me feel like I’d done something wrong, something to chase him away. And I was listening to a random Jason Mraz playlist on Spotify when I heard a song of his that I’d never heard before (which, in itself was a fucking miracle). That song is God Rests In Reason (yes...another God song...sorry) and it’s lyrics were so utterly perfect for the way I was feeling that I had to literally pull over on the side of the road because I couldn’t see where I was going for the tears in my eyes. Those lyrics were: “Well your children will not be your children They are the daughters and the sons a beginning They'll come through your womb but not be coming from you They will be with you, but they do not belong to you You can give them your love but not your thoughts 'Cause they'll arrive with their own hearts They're the coming of angels this blessed season Undone they’ll sing, Oh how God rests in reason God rests in reason Isn’t reason enough to prove how God moves through you God rests in reason And thank God you can direct the course of love itself of love itself Directs the course of life Believe not God is your heart child But rather you’re in the Heart of God” And it just SPOKE to everything I felt. I’d been asking myself why my child, who I love beyond everything else, who I’d lay down and die for if he asked me to, would want to leave me. Why would he want to go so far away...and God answered with this song. Because Michael has his own heart...and his heart is pulling him to Florida. And in those moments I started to feel a measure of peace. And I started to cope a little better. I stopped crying and feeling like he was telling me I’d done something wrong, and I started being proud that I’d raised my son to feel strongly enough about his own intuition to follow his dreams and reach for the things he wanted in life. I still miss him. I still hate that he’s gone. But it’s eased. And when it threatens to suffocate me, I go to this song. I realize it isn’t spine tingling in the manner that this question probably meant...but it tingled my spine that a song I’d never heard, by an artist I adore and thought I’d heard everything from, shuffled through my phone at a time that I really needed the message in it. I hope that makes sense...and fills the request.

38. A Song That You Think Is Underrated: I really think pretty much everything Penny & Sparrow has done is horribly underrated. These two men deserve at least the same amount of accolades that Hozier has. And I’m sure Hozier would agree with me if he’d listened to their catalog. I’m never NOT going to promote these guys and I know y’all are tired of it but they mean a literal shit ton to me and I NEED everyone to know their music and recognize their brilliance. They’re better than Ryan Adams, and all the other sad bastards of folk...and they’re complete and total sweethearts who really give a damn about their fans. I will not rest until I’ve told the entire world about Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke and that’s that about that. You can find a playlist of their entire catalog of music songs here. I listed them in order of release...and I recommend listening to them that way. At least for the first listen. But be prepared to be hooked because they’re addictive.

50. Free Slot! Any Song You Want To Share: I feel like you just had me create a playlist for you...And I’m totally OK with it. But I can tell you that...the song Green Eyes by Joseph will be featured in a forthcoming work of mine...The chapter has already been written...I just need time to finish the chapters before it. I guess this is a spoiler for the fic...but it isn’t really because if you know anything about my #1 ship...you know where I want it to go...and this song, is perfect for it.

Goodness Kenz...I hope this was what you were expecting because I feel like I wrote you a book.

Thanks for asking me for all of these songs...You know I love talking about my favorite musics. And I hope there are some songs that you just fall in love with here. I’d love to hear about it if you do. Hope you’re well.

Love you!

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otherluces · 4 years

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Luces’ 2019 Fanfic Round-up

I might do an end-of-the-year thing reflecting on the year in my personal life and Tumblr life, too, but first I’m going to do a masterpost of the stuff I wrote this year because I’m all about that shilling your creative works life. I suppose this is kind of a writing version of those year-end posts that artists do, giving their favorite or best pieces from each month.

March 2019: I ran the first annual @clenny-week from March 25-31, 2019, and although I wasn’t able to do a fic for each day, I managed to complete 4/7 prompts. I thank everyone who participated in that week, and I hope to see you for Clenny Week 2020. ^^

Santa Daddy - Clyde/Kenny - Rated M - The main four are back in town for winter break and Cartman challenges Kenny to sit on the mall Santa’s lap (and ask for a dirty gift). The mall Santa happens to be Clyde, who had a crush on Kenny in high school.

Pinot Noir - Clyde/Kenny - Rated T - Clyde is nervous as he and Kenny go out on their fifth date, as he's decided to finally confess that he has a ten year old daughter.

The Princess of Mischief - Clyde/Kenny - Rated T - Princess Kenny has been captured by the Dark Lord Clyde. Everything was going according to plan...until an unexpected visitor makes Clyde break character.

I’ll Always Be Here - Clyde/Kenny - Rated M - It's the one year anniversary of Kenny's death, and Clyde is not coping well. Meanwhile, in Hell, Kenny is given a special Deathday wish candle by Satan, allowing him to make a wish that is guaranteed to come true. He wishes to spend one more day with his husband.

August 2019: This year, the South Park fandom on Tumblr really blew up with theme weeks! The upside to this is that people are taking charge of their favorite ships/characters, especially underrated ones, and using the platform to try to bring together others who enjoy those. The downside is that the more weeks there are, the more overlap there is, and people have to pick and choose which to do. Also, there can be burn-out. I felt a lot of writing burn out after Clenny Week, and I didn’t really write anything publicly for the majority of the spring/summer. (I’ll get into what I mean by “publicly” later.) @tweekweek and @clydeweekis-canon both got me out of my writing funk a little bit, as I managed to write two one-shots that allowed me to explore concepts/characters that I don’t use often.

Tweek’s New Project - Tweek/Craig (but NOT the focus) - Rated T -When the stress of life and work get to be too much, Tweek likes to retreat to his den where he can work on arts and crafts and practice mindfulness and meditation. He is particularly excited about this new project, and waiting all day to work on it is torture.

Tell Me I’m Pretty - Bebe/Clyde - Rated T - Bebe Stevens always presents herself with confidence and style, but even the strongest of women can break sometimes. Clyde thinks she’s perfect, no matter what.

October 2019: In October, I finally published the fic I wrote for the first zine I participated in, South Park: Growing Up. I wrote this story at the very beginning of 2019, the zine was sold digitally in March 2019, and then I didn’t write or Tumblr much after that. ^^()

Snow Is Hell - General - Rated G - Snow. Poets and artists and songwriters of Christmas songs may try to convince people that it's always pure, fluffy, and delightful, but those who live where snow is commonplace know the truth. A field of freshly fallen snow is not “a marshmallow world”. It's a battlefield. At least it is for the children of South Park, Colorado. A Saturday morning of peacefully playing in the snow, making snowmen and sledding, can quickly devolve into a battle for school yard supremacy.

December 2019: December means the holiday season, which means holiday themed fanfiction. This year, I was able to finish a WIP from 2018 that I had started for @cryde-week, and I participated in @craigandthoseguys-week Secret Santa event, writing a D&D themed one-shot for @nokoikoi-draws.

Your Voice - Clyde/Craig - Rated M - At his company Christmas party, Craig watches Clyde's co-workers surprise him by showing him they've learned ASL so they can better communicate with him. Feeling ashamed (and a little jealous) that he's never learned ASL despite having a mute boyfriend who uses it, Craig decides to spend the year taking classes so that he can surprise Clyde with it next Christmas.

Dungeons and Flagons (of Cocoa) - Craig/Tweek (but not the focus) - Rated T - It's Christmas Eve and the adults are all out at some boring Christmas party. Clyde is bored, so he invites his best bros over for a Christmas-themed D&D one-shot campaign.

Ongoing fics: Sooo...this year wasn’t great for my ongoing fics. ^^() Back at the end of January, it had been one year since I had started Dumb Boys, I had 12 chapters completed, and I stated that I wanted to focus on it more so that I could do better than a one-chapter a month average. That didn’t happen. ^^() Also I had started a multi-chapter Creek band AU at the end of 2018, but then didn’t update for months. So in 2019, I managed to update two new chapters to the band AU over the summer, and three chapters to Dumb Boys. Needless to say, I neglected my children. =/

Dumb Boys - Clyde/Kenny - Rated E - It's senior year at Park County High and Clyde Donovan is ready to cement his legacy as the number one guy in the school. He's already one of the school's football stars so it shouldn't be difficult, except that Kenny McCormick, the lead snare drummer for the marching band, seems to be taking that spot without even trying. In order to determine once and for all who is the top guy, Clyde decides to challenge Kenny to a contest of who can have sex with the most people in a semester.

He’s With the Band - Tweek/Craig - Rated E - Tweek is the lead singer for the up-and-coming band Humble Folx, but when he's not performing on stage, he's somewhat reclusive, and he always refuses to join his bandmates in interviews. Craig Tucker is a 23 year old music journalist who can't quite catch a break. He's hung up on his ex and his career at Treble and Bass magazine isn't headed in any real direction. That is until he's offered the chance to go on tour with Humble Folx and get the exclusive interview with Tweek.

Unpublished fics (aka fics for fanzines): In addition to “Snow Is Hell”, I also wrote fics for two other fanzines over the summer. (I had to focus what little writing energy I had on them, which is why my ongoing fics were so neglected.) I wrote “Duality” for the Creek zine @adealandadevilzine, which if anyone has the digital copy and has read the fic, I hope you enjoyed my attempt at writing high fantasy. Hard copies should be going out in the spring, so once we get the okay, I’ll be putting it on AO3, so expect a lot more shilling then. I also wrote two fics for the upcoming @crennynationzine (follow for more info!), a sfw story called “The Games We Play” and a nsfw follow-up/sequel called “A Two Player Game”.

WIPs: Finally, I’m going to mention a handful of fics I started this year and will hopefully finish at some point in my lifetime. ^^() “Getting His Just Desserts” is a fic I started for @bottomcraigweek with like 5 Craig ships involved. “The Long Haul” is a Twyde fic where Clyde is a truck driver and Tweek is a server at a roadside diner. “Chicken Soup for the Eldritch Soul” is a Clenny fic where Clyde makes chicken soup for a sick Kenny...but doesn’t notice the body horror going on in the background. “Dr. Craig’s Miracle Tonic” is a nsfw crackfic where Dr. Craig is able to cure his patients with the power of his penis. Finally, I wrote like 300 words for “Born to Run”, the Natural Born Killers AU Creek fic I’ve waxed poetic about for two years.

Total words written in 2019 (not including unpublished works): 53,901

#writing stuff #2019 fanfiction #end of year #my writing #south park #south park fanfiction

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noelacciari · 5 years

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alright this is kinda bad but I'm gonna ask anyway. so I'm a new/casual hockey fan and this girl I'm friends w is super into hockey and I'm kinda having to bluff my way through convos rn so could you give me a basic summary of the roster and stuff pls :)))

okay babe, so this is how we’re gonna set this up for you… personality quiz style. (also wait I’m assuming you mean Bruins so. im very sorry if this was about another team lol)

Step 1: pick your star

- Do you strive for perfection? Do you look for stability in a relationship? Can you appreciate a good beard? Do you need a perfect man to project all your feelings regarding men onto and then you never have to even look at another man in real life? Then Patrice Bergeron is the guy for you. He’s perfect. Like legit. Has been nominated for the Selke Award (best defensive forward) approximately a gazillion times, eventually they’re going to change it to The Bergy. Gorgeous play maker, dominate on the face-off circle. Quiet leader in the room. A pillar of the Boston community. The only person who can tame Marchand (we’ll get to him later). Every person in New England is AT LEAST 30% in love with him, regardless of sexual orientation. (I’m not even kidding). Future Hall of Famer. Without a doubt. (Forward (Center), #37, first line)

- Do you enjoy carbs? How about charming smiles? Do you enjoy men who toe the lines of fashion? Do you like a show, flashy lights and stunning tricks? Do you like people who make you smile, no matter how bad your day is? Then David Pastrnak is your man. Better know as Pasta (said with a deep Boston accent), he’s been tearing up the ice from the moment he arrived in TD Garden. A member of the Best Top Line in the League (alongside Bergeron - and that other guy who we will get to later). His goals are always absolutely nasty, just. Sexy, sexy hockey. Off the ice he’s sunshine personified, known for his chipped tooth smile, wearing checked suits and floral shirt, and just being generally the best. (Forward (winger), #88, first line)

- Are human sized chipmunks something you think would be pretty cool? How do you feel about Long Island? Would you think it’s funny if a guy who was a star player on a Boston team dated the daughter of a Pittsburgh coach? Do you think it’s even funnier if a guy who tweeted “I hate the Bruins” then proceeds to get drafted by them? Then Charlie McAvoy is your star d-man. At the ripe old age of 21, Long Island native Charlie McAvoy already carries a huge chunk of responsibility on the Bruins defense core. A future leader for the team (captain. imo), Charlie puts up incredible minutes, and is the perfect complement to his d-partner Zdeno Chara (we’ll get to him too). Also known as Cheeks (on tumblr) or Mac (by his teammates), Charlie isn’t afraid to throw his weight around on the ice, and he looks good doing it. Dude is a Bonafide Stallion. (Defense, #73, 1st Pair)

Step 2: Pick your Dad

- Are you vegetarian? How do you feel about EXTREMELY tall men wearing easter bunny onesies? Do you prefer to bike to work instead of taking the train? what about pigeons? If you consider pigeons friends, then Zdeno Chara is your new dad! (Boogie Woogie Woogie). You know how Bruins fans like to say - Don’t Poke The Bear? Well Big Zee is that hypothetical bear. Our beloved captain and father earned himself quite the reputation on the ice, known for his hard AF slap shots and even harder punches. Clocking in at 6′9″ and 250lbs, Zad is still a beast at 42 years old - and he apparently has no plans to retire. While his age doesn’t appear to be slowing him down on the ice, Zee has shown his softer side off the ice with his inspirational and extremely cute Instagram. He came into Boston in 2006 and was named Captain upon signing, and has forever changed the culture of the Boston Bruins. Chara facilitates an inclusive but hard working locker room, and his legacy will live on in Boston long after his retirement. (Defense, #33, first pair)

- Are you a dog person? Also are you American? Those are really the only 2 qualifications you need to chose David Backes as your dad. Although some of us older folks like me (at the stunningly old, reaching retirement age of 26) might consider Backes to be more of a daddy, the majority of Bruins tumblr view him as their Dad. Common nicknames include Dadkes and Papa, and his effect on the team after being brought back into the line-up during the playoffs has endeared him to fans. While his deal is… not great (he’s expensive!!) and he hasn’t performed up to how much money he’s paid, it’s clear that he’s a leader on the team. The young guys look up to him, and the older guys respect him, and that’s what we’s appreciates ‘bout him. Also. He LOVES animals. Backes and his wife Kelly (who have known each other since kindergarten how cute is that shit) have their own charity that helps animals!! (Forward (Winger/Center), #42, currently 2nd line)

- Were you really into magic as a kid (or currently)? Have you always gravitated to your one friend’s dad who was super quiet but super smart and taught you how to play chess at that cookout one time? Then your new dad is David Krejci! Sometimes called The Wizard, Krejci is known to make magic happen on the ice. Between no-look passes and somehow being able to know exactly where his wingers are going to be before they even know, tbh. Krej is probably the MOST underrated player on the Bruins, but he’s always dependable, and always seems to be there when you need him. (Forward (Center), #46, 2nd Line)

Step 3: pick your weirdo

- Have you never eaten a vegetable willingly in your life? Do you consider yourself a chef - specifically for children? Do you think getting your teeth knocked out is fun and exciting? Then Jake “JD” DeBrusk is the dude for you! Goofy AF off the ice and a sniper on it, Jake is extremely worthy of being your chosen weirdo. He has a lucky winter hat named “tuukka” that he’s been wearing all playoffs, and he might only have one brain cell but we love him for it. At one point called a draft bust, Jake has been proving himself to be an elite player, and has been a steady winger for Krejci all season. Plus. He’s cute af. (Forward (winger), #74, 2nd Line)

- Is getting under other people’s skin one of your favorite activities? Do you like to piss people off by being better than them at everything? Does licking someone’s face in the middle of a hockey game seem like a Good Idea to you? Back in step number one did you chose Patrice Bergeron as your Lord and Savior? Then Boston’s favorite Pest - Brad Marchand - is the guy for you! Brad started off as an undersized fourth liner, and has worked his way up to one of the top scorers in the league. Outside of Boston he’s probably the most hated player in the NHL - earning himself a reputation for being a pest (at best), and sometimes being dirty (at worst). This year we are proud to announce that he did not get suspended once! Though he did come in just short of 100 Penalty Minutes. Marchy was our top scorer this year, and has become an integral part of this team. (Forward (winger), #63, 1st Line)

- Are you secretly an arsonist? Are frogs your favorite animal? Do you have a crush on that Pretty Jock that’s in all your classes and sometimes smiles at you in the lunch line? Then Danton Heinen is the weirdo for you. Danton has been a quietly steady performer for the Bruins this season, spending time on the top line with Bergeron and Marchand when Pasta was out. He’s growing into quite the play maker, and he’s known for making good decisions on the ice that lead to goals. Danton also happens to look like a frog, which is an important character trait imo. He’s a tumblr favorite, but he’s a good person to like even in real life, because he makes an impact on the ice. (Forward (winger), #43, 3rd Line)

Step 4: chose your conventionally attractive white boy

- OKay we’re not doing the questions thing because judging by your ask you may not even be interested in men so i’m just going to dive straight into the description. He’s tall with a strong jaw and perfect curls and pecs of a God. Charlie Coyle is a Weymouth, MA native who Boston brought back home at the trade deadline. He’s been a bit of a hero this playoff run, and he looks damn good doing it. The B’s have been searching for a good 3rd line center, and Charlie has filled the role perfectly. Personally, I am deeply in love with him, in case you could not tell. (Forward (center/winger), #13, 3rd Line)

- an integral member of the Bruin’s all important Line 1A (aka the 4th line), Sean Kuraly has got it all. Piercing blue eyes? Check. Perfectly highlighted hair? Check. Cute little chin? Double check. Though he’s been photographed wearing jorts and an open flannel shirt with nothing underneath it, Sean is still a certified Babe. He’s been Klutch in every playoff run he’s had with the B’s, and is the scoring force behind the 4th Line’s brawn. Not to mention, his signature celly is a leap from the ice! (Forward, (center/winger), #52, 4th Line)

- Brandon Carlo… how do I begin to explain Brandon Carlo? Brandon Carlo is flawless. He has two bible tattoos and a designer bulldog. I hear his hair is insured for $10,000. I hear he does Tri-City Americans commercials… in Washington. His favorite movie is Miracle. One time he met David Backes on a plane… and he told him he was pretty. One time he punched me in the face… it was awesome (’cause he missed). In all seriousness though, Monte is a hardworking, defensive defenseman, who has really shone this season. He doesn’t show up on the scoreboard often, but he makes it really hard for other teams to get goals. Even though he struggles to score empty netters... he’s still a babe. (Defense, #25, 2nd Pair)

Step 5: Chose your shorty

- If you’re thinking - wait, shouldn’t Marchand be in this category? Isn’t he the smallest guy in the World? Then Torey Krug is the Short King for you. An ELITE offensive defenseman, Torey is absolute dynamite on the ice. In game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals Torey made history by becoming the first Bruins player ever to record 4 points in a stanley cup finals game. Krug is quick on his feet and can snipe from the blue line, but isn’t afraid to lay down the law when he needs to. Notorious for loosing his helmet so he can show off that flow, Torey also has a bulldog named fenway and a BABY on the way. (Defense, #47, 2nd Pair).

- Is talk shit, get hit a favorite saying of yours? Can you appreciate biceps the size of your head? Then Noel Acciari is your man. He might be short but he’s built like a tank, and he uses that bod to plow through guys on the ice. Noeldozer is known for laying down the cleanest hits, and we love when he takes out the trash! The Rhode Island Native got married last summer, and has a golden retriever named Thor. His mouth is currently fucked right up but I promise he’s actually kinda pretty. (Forward (winger/center), #55, 4th Line)

- Are you one of the apparent hoards of people that think a Boston accent is sexy? Could you get into a guy who says the fuck word on live television? Are collarbone tattoos a thing you admire? Do you like sexy, tough little son’s of bitches? Great! Matt Grzelcyk is the little guy for you. A BU grad who’s become a cornerstone of the Bruins d-core, Grz is a tough little cutie who works hard and gets shit done. More of an offensive defenseman, Matty G has been there for the team even when all of our other defenseman were injured. His Dad has worked at the Gahden for like a million years, and playing for the B’s is a dream come true for Matt and his family. He got taken out in Game 2 of the Finals, and the Bruins are currently seeking revenge. Dude’s got a good beard going too. (Defense, #48, 3rd Pair)

Step 6: Pick your goalie

- As much as we love Jaro, there’s only one goalie you need to know about when you’re learning about the Bruins... 2 U’s 2 K’s 2 Points... Tuukka Rask! The clear MVP of the Playoffs this year, Tuukka has been a brick wall in the net for the B’s. He’s known for being quick tempered and a little... wild, at times, having been caught on camera beating the shit out of a bunch of milk crates and on time brandishing a skate blade at the refs like a knife. Though some fans seem to never forgive Tuukka for the B’s loosing the 2013 playoffs, around these parts we love and respect and rely on his prowess in the net. Off ice, he kinda looks like the grinch (and knows it), though apparently Bergy thinks he looks like Harry Styles (i wish i was kidding). He’s also got 2 adorable little girls! (GOALIE, starter)

So now you’ve got 6 guys that you know about, right? I would pick 1 or 2 of those to be the ones you pay attention to. Listen for headlines about their goals/play, if you’re watching games, look for their numbers on the ice. All you gotta do is be able to say “Wow did you see that Coyle goal on Saturday night?” and all of a sudden you sound like an expert! (This works even better of you choose a guy not from the first category).

If you have more questions about specific players or lines, feel free to reach out! I know not a lot but I know many people who actually do know things lol

(Also to any of Bruins tumblr who made it this far, I KNOW i’m missing your faves okay. Wagner, Clifton, Nordy, MoJo, Moore, and half the providence roster deserve a spot on here. But I’ve already written too much)

(Also Also, special thanks to Lil for helping me with Monte’s description)

#boston bruins #this was a labor of love #look i know not everyone will agree with my categories but i was trying to be succinct #mine #mine:bruins #anonymous #beth's got mail #bruins

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purple-spring · 5 years

Note

Since MET is today (it's Monday already in my country) and we can expect that Lili is hopefully going to the MET... I wanted to ask what are your all time fave outfits that Lili has worn?

Ooh, great question! And a great way to count down to the Met!

I have to say that none of these should be particularly surprising, but I did want to talk about why I liked each one, so strap in, friend!

1. Paolo Sebastian, Art of Elysium Gala 2018

I like thinking of this outfit as the “OH I SEE YOU LILI REINHART” dress. It’s such a good flex - she’d just been shot by the paparazzi in Hawaii with Cole, and she had every to turn up grumpy or annoyed (as any of us would have been being shot on our private vacation by the paps), but instead, she came out TAN AND GLOWING in an absolute princess dress. I think of this as Lili’s big arrival dress: she’s here to stay, and she did not come to play.

2. Brock Collection, CFDA Awards 2018

Controversial choice, I know - this sort of divided people because of the print but the event was a major deal for Lili (and Cami!) and I loved seeing how great she seemed to feel in this! She really did look like a tall drink of summer iced tea (as famously quipped of @itllbeyou) and her makeup was incredible.

3. CW Upfronts 2018

Random choice but I remain obsessed with this look. OBSESSED. It was perfect for New York and the Breakfast at Tiffany’s vibe was spot-on. It manages to be summery but sophisticated, sleek but also playful. Also I am still in deep envy over those shoes.

4. New York Comic-Con 2018

A random pick, but I remember at the time thinking this was incredibly underrated. It’s a perfectly cut dress - the asymmetrical neckline and slit make creative use of the candy-stripe pattern and it sets her shoulders off beautifully. I think I love this because it’s so flattering without being too fussy, and it fits her like a DREAM. It’s also very accessible - it’s something you and I could wear to a cocktail party or a garden wedding.

5. Met Gala 2018

And of course.

The more I look at this, the more I enjoy it. The theme was of course Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, and in one outfit, H&M managed to 1) evoke Joan of Arc’s chainmail, 2) make a reference to the “heavenly” part of the theme through the cloud-like material, AND 3) show off Lili’s pins. This is a miracle of a Met debut, a total work triumph. I seriously cannot wait to see how her team will top this.

Thanks for the great ask, anon!

#now someone ask me my favourite met outfits of all time #there'a a lot of rihanna #of course #BUT #arguably I feel like Zendaya or Billy Porter will steal her thunder this year #predictions!

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frauleinsmaria · 5 years

Text

The Facebook Flub (2/3)

Summary: When Emma accidentally sends a friend request to the wrong person, she doesn’t expect much to come of it. But maybe this accident is the best decision she’s ever made.

Rated: Maybe high T if we’re really being technical?? Nothing explicit

Part 1: Tumblr | AO3

Part 2: AO3

A/N: Massive thank you to everyone for all the love for this story so far. I was really nervous about posting it there for a while, so the likes, reblogs, kudos, comments, etc. have meant the world to me. Thanks again @thejollyroger-writer, @wellhellotragic , and @profdanglaisstuff for all your help and for leaving questionable comments on the Google Doc to entertain me.

“What do you mean, love?” Killian’s eyes widened. She could make out a bit of a flush on his cheeks, and was that a glint in his eye too? Or was she just seeing what she wanted to?

Emma’s pulse raced. There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she refused to call butterflies. Maybe the conversation she’d had in mind wasn’t a great idea after all. “Shouldn’t you have checked into your hotel by now? It’s getting late.” It was barely four.

“Oh.” He averted his gaze, and whatever she thought she might have seen there was now gone. She had caught him off guard. Seeing a glint in his eyes was probably just her imagination, but regardless, the idea that she may have disappointed him stung. “I suppose you’re right. Bloody hell, I don’t even remember where it is I’m supposed to go.”

“I can drive you.” Emma stood and nodded her head in the direction of the lot she’d parked in earlier. “Just put the address in my phone. We should be able to find it easily.”

She was right. His hotel was a short drive, a relief since she was unsure how much time she could spend alone in the car with him without blurting out something else stupid.

“If you want, you can go ahead and check in while I get your bag out of the trunk,” she told him as they got out of the car.

“That’s alright, Swan. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Really, it’s not a big deal.” It would buy her a few more minutes if had to say goodbye to him since she’d never got around to asking about his schedule while he was in the city. “Go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Emma took her time retrieving his bag, something that should have taken all of thirty seconds if not for her increasing paranoia. Was this the last time she would get to see him before he went back to London? The conversation she’d dodged earlier may never happen at the rate things were going.

When she entered the hotel lobby, Killian was at the front desk, in the middle of what was obviously a heated conversation with the receptionist. She took his bag to the side and waited to see what was going on.

After a few minutes, he stepped away from the desk and came over to where she was. There was a sour expression on his face, his mouth twisted to one side. “Everything okay?” she asked.

“Not exactly. Apparently, the hotel lost my bloody reservation.” He ran a hand over his face and groaned. “The receptionist said they would try to find another arrangement, but it doesn’t look promising. Do you know of any decent hotels in the area?”

She started to name a few that came to mind and then paused. “I have a semi-comfortable couch you’re more than willing to crash on. If you’d rather not, that’s fine,” she added, seeing the surprised look on his face. “Just thought I’d mention it if you didn’t want to go to the trouble of looking for something else.”

“That’s very kind of you, Swan, but I’d hate to impose. I’m going to be here until Friday afternoon.”

At least she had an answer to one question. “You wouldn’t be imposing. No maid service, unfortunately, but there’s Netflix and a few pints of Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer.” Thank goodness she’d stress cleaned the apartment that morning. She would have died a bit inside if he’d seen what it had looked like before.

Killian laughed. “Granny’s, the bakery, and now ice cream- you really want me to gain weight on this trip, don’t you? But if you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I believe I’ll take you up on that offer.”

It was during the drive back to her apartment that Emma fully started to comprehend what she’d gotten into. Having Killian stay with her for the next two nights seemed to have two potential outcomes: she could either act on her feelings and resume the earlier conversation the first chance she got, or keep them to herself and take the risk of spontaneously combusting in the process. The logical part of her knew avoiding the subject would only make things worse and surprisingly the part of her that was afraid of being hurt again even felt willing to take the risk.

“Here we are,” she announced when they arrived, stepping in before Killian and giving the place a quick once over to make sure she hadn’t left anything weird laying around. “It’s clean by my standards, but I still feel like I should apologize for the mess knowing how picky you are.”

“I’m not picky. I simply have...odd preferences where my own flat is concerned.”

“Preferences like the handles on coffee mugs facing out at a perfect forty-five-degree angle in your cabinet?” She couldn’t remember what conversation had prompted Killian to share that with her, but she hadn’t passed up an opportunity to tease him about it since.

“Judge all you want, love, but I’m willing to bet I have a much easier time retrieving a mug in the morning than you do.”

Killian had a good point there. She usually just chucked hers in the cabinet and complained about them later. “Touche. But remind me not to let you get a look in my cabinets; you don’t need to have a heart attack before you’ve even hit thirty.” Something told her he didn’t need to see what the inside of her closet looked like either.

Not that there was a likely chance he’d be in her bedroom any time over the next two days. She refused to entertain the idea.

“You can leave your stuff in here by the couch if you want,” she said, leading him into the living room. “It’s not the nicest thing in the world, but it’s comfy. I’ve crashed there a handful of nights myself after a Netflix binge.”

“Did I have involvement in any of those?” She couldn’t help but notice the way his eyebrowed danced at that.

“Please, you had involvement in all of them, but not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Neither of them were hungry after the late lunch and the stop at the bakery, so Emma suggested another Netflix binge for the meantime. The jet lag was also starting to catch up with Killian. He disappeared into her bathroom while she turned on the TV and came out a few minutes later wearing an Iron Man t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants that fit him entirely too well. She was convinced she could make out the muscles in his legs through the thin fabric.

Not that she was staring.

Maybe she was.

It was a struggle to tear her eyes away from him as she took a seat on her preferred side of the couch.

“You can do the honors,” she said, handing him the TV remote when he sat down on the other side.

“Do you have any preferences?”

“Nah. As long as it’s funny, but everything we watch usually ticks that box.”

Killian scrolled through the lists of recent additions and what was currently popular. “Perhaps we could watch a movie instead for once. I’m assuming you’ve already seen Thor: Ragnarok?”

“Several times, but I’m always down for a rewatch.”

He flashed her a smile, and Emma had to remind herself to breathe. “I was hoping you’d say that. Ragnarok it is then.”

The next two hours were pure torture. Okay, maybe she was being a bit dramatic. She got to watch one of her favorite movies with arguably her favorite person- and in person too, something she had never thought would happen. But that was also the problem. Her feelings had been so much easier to ignore when they were out earlier and she had other things to distract her from saying something she might regret. Now, they were alone together in her apartment, with only a few feet of space on the couch between them, while Killian wore a seemingly harmless outfit that gave her anything but harmless thoughts.

And he would be staying tomorrow night too. It would be a miracle if she got through his visit in one piece.

“I can’t believe you’re not exhausted,” Emma told him when the end credits began to play. “It’s after midnight in London, and you haven’t yawned once.” Despite his usual insomnia, she would have still expected him to be somewhat tired between his earlier flight and the time change.

He shrugged. “I’m not full of energy by any means, but I wouldn’t say I’m quite ready to turn in either.”

“Are you hungry now? I’m kind of low on groceries until I get a chance to go to the store, but I think I’ve got a few bags of microwave popcorn. Unless you want the Ben and Jerry’s.”

Killian pursed his lips and considered the options. “Hmm. Something tells me the ice cream has more calories, and I’ve already eaten more than enough today.”

“Popcorn it is. You can pick out something else to watch while I make it.”

She returned from the kitchen a few minutes later with two bags of cooked popcorn, the opening sequence for Ant-Man and the Wasp paused on the TV screen. “I wouldn’t say it’s quite as humorous as Ragnarok, but you’re always saying how underrated these movies are, and I can’t remember what happens in the last half.”

“Sounds good.” Emma handed him one of the popcorn bags and plopped down beside him on the couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table as he pressed play.

It was about half an hour or so later when she’d finished her own popcorn and was working through what was left of his that she first noticed the considerable lack of space between them now. They were less than a foot apart; their thighs would be touching if one of them scooted over a bit toward the other. From this position, she could get a whiff of his cologne that she hadn’t noticed earlier. And his scruff looked particularly good in the dim light of her living room.

She swore to herself and fixed her eyes on the TV. Paul Rudd was not quite as enticing as the man sitting beside her, but he would have to do for the sake of her dignity.

Emma didn’t remember either of them falling asleep. But she woke up sometime later to a dark TV screen and her head on Killian’s chest. He was out cold. She could hear him snoring softly; he would be getting teased for that later.

Had she fallen asleep on him first? She would have had to. The TV would be back on the Netflix home screen unless Killian had turned it off himself. The thought of falling asleep on him didn’t concern her nearly as much as how much she liked it though. His arm was draped around her shoulders, feeling more like a welcome presence than the heavy weight she would have expected. The fabric of his t-shirt felt warm against her cheek, which rose and fell with every breath he took. It had been months if not years since she’d cuddled with another person (even if unintentional), and yet she was reluctant to slip out of his grasp. At this rate, with both of them on the couch, Killian would surely wake up with a crick in his neck, but if she got up, she might be able to maneuver him onto his back without waking him up.

It’s better this way, Emma told herself as the door to her bedroom clicked shut behind her. It would have been awkward for both of you if he’d woken up and seen you like that. You just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

(Despite how much she wanted it to.)

She woke up a few hours later to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. A glance at the clock on her phone told her it was just after seven; entirely too early by her own standards, but she knew Killian’s first day of meetings would be starting soon. The idea of rolling over and going back to sleep was tempting, but she dragged herself out of bed and down the hall to the kitchen. Their options for breakfast were limited, but she could at least make them toast and coffee if nothing else.

The coffee pot had just started to brew when Killian entered the kitchen, wearing a navy button-down shirt and grey slacks. The fact that he looked so good in plain colors was almost unfair. “Good morning, Swan.”

“Morning. Sleep well?”

“Aye. I suppose I was more knackered than I’d thought.”

Her stomach dropped when she remembered the way she’d woken up and found them. “That’s good. That you slept well, I mean.”

But if he had any feelings about their brief sleeping arrangement (if he even remembered), he made no effort to mention it. “Anything I can assist you with?”

“There’s some bread in the bottom drawer of the fridge if you wanna put a few pieces in the toaster,” she said, nodding toward where it sat on the counter. “I’ll try to stop by the store on my way home from work to make sure we have something decent for dinner.”

“You don’t have to do that on my account, love. It’s not as if you knew you were going to have company for the better part of two days.” His hair was slightly damp from the shower and she could smell his shampoo when he stepped around her to get the bread from the refrigerator.

“Who said it was on your account?” she teased. “Maybe I don’t want to have popcorn again for dinner.”

Killian gave her a look of mock disappointment as he put two slices of bread in the toaster and pushed the lever down. “You wound me, Swan. And I thought you cared.”

If only you knew how much. “Yeah, yeah. What time do you have to head out?”

“I’ll probably call an Uber a bit before nine, just to make sure I have plenty of time to find the place.”

“Sounds good. I would offer to drive you, but I’m not sure when I’ll be home after work and the store, so you’d probably have to Uber back anyway to keep from waiting. Remind me to give you my spare key before you go too.”

“Will do.” He gestured to the coffee pot, which was now full. “Is there perhaps a cup of that with my name on it?”

“Potentially. But look away while I get mugs out of my unorganized cabinet.”

“And you call me overdramatic.”

Between paperwork and thoughts of her houseguest, Emma’s day dragged horribly. All she could focus on was that previous night with Killian and everything that had happened (and not happened) since his arrival. Other than the insinuation that he wasn’t seeing anyone back in London, she had more questions than answers. Questions about his feelings for her, about the chances of him returning to Boston again.

She left the office early that afternoon. There wasn’t much more that could be done until she went on her next stakeout, and the grocery store would be a madhouse if she waited to go when people started getting off of work. As she began making a mental list of what to pick up, she received a text from Killian.

Meetings have finally wrapped for the day, thank goodness. I’m heading back to your flat to recuperate before tomorrow.

Emma smiled when she read his message, both because of the obvious reasons, and that he would be around to put his cooking skills to use.

Good. I’m buying stuff for us to make dinner before I come home.

She had planned to get something simple like a frozen pizza or premade meals for dinner, but he was inspiring her to step out of the box every once in a while.

An hour later, she arrived at her apartment with a load of grocery bags that she somehow managed to bring up in just one trip. Killian walked in from the living room in time to see her unbagging various items. He was wearing the same sweatpants from the night before, this time with a Metallica shirt and mismatched socks she would tease him about for at least the next six months. “Hello, Swan. What have you got there?”

Emma held up the jar of marinara sauce and pack of chicken she’d bought. “Stuff for chicken parm. I know you mentioned making it for Liam and Belle before. This recipe I found looks easy enough that I can help without causing a disaster.”

He raised an eyebrow skeptically, but she could see the corners of his mouth turning up. “You really have a lot of confidence in yourself.”

“For taking down bail jumpers? Yes. For cooking a decent meal? Hell no.”

“It’s not all that tricky, love.” He came over to help her unbag the groceries. “Especially if you pick a partner who knows what he’s doing.”

Something in his voice told her that ideology wasn’t just limited to cooking. Emma hoped he didn’t notice her face reddening at the thought of other possibilities. Did he know how difficult it was for her to keep her composure around him now? “Yeah, well, if this partner knows what he’s doing as well as he claims, he can start on the chicken while I put the other groceries away.”

Killian had finished mixing eggs and making the breading and parmesan mixture by the time she’d put most of her things away. The only thing remaining on the counter was a separate bag of groceries she’d put to the side. “Were you going to put those away too?” he asked when he spotted them.

Emma shook her head. “Nope. That’s for something later.” She had to bite her lip to hold back a smile; something told her he would get a kick out of what she had planned.

Her attempts at helping him cook their dinner lasted all of ten minutes when she came close to putting cilantro instead of parsley on the chicken. The only reason she hadn’t was because Killian had spotted the label on the side of the bottle. “I can’t even read labels now? Are we really sure I’m an adult?”

He had his back turned to her. He was probably laughing and didn’t want her to see. “They do look somewhat similar. It would have been an honest mistake, love.”

“One I’m really glad you caught before it was too late.” Emma had since resorted to sitting at the kitchen table and watching him boil pasta and prepare the now-browned chicken for baking. The way that he seemed to be at ease in the kitchen was something she doubted that she would ever understand. There was too much she could screw up at any given moment. “I feel bad that this was my idea and you’re doing all the work though.”

“There’s nothing to feel bad about. It’s a fairly simple dish.”

“Simple when you don’t have the cooking skills of a five-year-old.”

Killian paused for a moment. Then, “If you’d like, you can put the pasta into plates when it’s done.”

“I’ll try my best.”

The meal was great, something Emma was sure had to do with her lack of involvement. She and Killian ate at the kitchen table and shared stories about their niece and nephews.

“You seriously lost a six-year-old in Disneyland?” she asked in the middle of his relaying an incident from their family vacation to Paris the previous summer.

“Aye. Certainly not one of my finer moments. I was bloody terrified, both over where she was and what I knew Liam would do to me when he found out.”

“Well, you’re still alive,” she pointed out, “so I’m assuming he never did?”

“No, believe it or not. After losing my mind trying to find her for half an hour, I remembered she’d been going on all day about wanting to see It’s a Small World again. I found her sitting outside the entrance with Mary Poppins, who looked to be about three seconds away from strangling me.” Killian paused to take a drink of his water and laughed. “Y’know, Sophia has never said a word to Liam or Belle about the incident. But I’ve had the feeling since that she may very well use it as blackmail against me in the future if there’s a time when I don’t comply to her wishes.”

“Women are smart. Even the small ones.”

“Right you are, Swan. Right you are.”

Emma washed the dishes after they’d finished dinner, refusing to let Killian do so much as dry a plate. “You did all the cooking. Let me take care of this one thing I can do without causing either of us bodily harm.”

Even without his assistance, she finished the task quickly, eager to show him the reason behind the other groceries she hadn’t put away earlier. “You ready to see what that “something later” was now?” she asked, pulling the various items out of the bag and lining them up on the counter.

Killian came over from the table where he’d been looking at something on his phone. “Absolutely. It’s got to be more enjoyable than the double chin Snapchats I’ve been getting from Will all evening.”

“I think so. Although you may very well end up with a double chin if you go nuts with these.”

His brow furrowed as he took a look at the items on the counter. “Hmm. Flour, eggs, sugar, cocoa powder. Perhaps I’m making a wild guess here, but I assume you want to make cupcakes?”

“I do.” It hadn’t been part of the original dinner plan when she’d went to the store earlier. But one glance at the chocolate cupcakes in the bakery and she couldn’t pass the opportunity up. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t object since you got all pouty over not getting to try the ones we made last time.”

“First of all, I did not, as you put it, “get pouty.” I am glad you considered those a joint effort though. Sitting on the couch to watch you bake takes its toll on a man.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see if legitimate cupcakes with me take a toll on you too.”

Mixing the batter was a much smoother process than preparing dinner had been, likely because she’d already done it once before. The steps she’d found tedious and annoying the first time around bothered her considerably less now. Maybe it had something to do with the added company.

(It had everything to do with that.)

“Is it time to get out the parchment paper, Swan?” Killian asked when the mixing was completed.

“Oh! I almost forgot.” Emma rummaged around in the cabinet above the oven and pulled out a pack of cupcake liners. “I bought these after last time on the off chance I’d have a reason to need them.” She didn’t mention that this was weeks before she found out he’d be coming to Boston, and yet she’d still chosen the blue and green ones knowing they were his favorite colors.

He flashed her a grin in response, and she had to remind herself to breathe. Get a grip, Emma. You still have one more night to spend with him.

“I’m proud of you, love. We may just make a skilled baker out of you after all.”

“Don’t get your hopes up just yet. I’ll be depending on you to make sure they don’t burn.”

Emma surprised them both by remembering to take the pans out of the oven right on time. “I’m going to remember this the next time you refer to me as a bad influence,” Killian teased. “My presence clearly has quite the effect on you.”

If he only knew.

Despite any improvements she’d made in baking, icing the cupcakes was no less of a mess than it had been before. Emma had changed into an old t-shirt, which was now stained with chocolate icing in several places. Her ego wasn’t quite as bruised thanks to the smudge of icing on Killian’s chin that he had yet to notice.

Twelve iced cupcakes and four more stains later, she asked, “Since you didn’t get a chance the first time around, why don’t you do the honors and conduct the first taste test?”

“I’d love nothing more.” He picked up one of the cupcakes, peeled back the blue liner, and took a bite that would have put her own to shame. “Bloody hell,” he muttered through a mouthful of cake and icing before quickly finishing the rest.

“I’m taking that as a good sign?”

“It’s a fantastic sign.” He used a paper towel to wipe off the bit of icing he’d gotten on his mouth. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

Emma chose one with a green liner and peeled it off completely. For some reason, she’d never liked eating cupcakes with the paper still on, even if it did make more of a mess. “Ugh, these are better than the last ones,” she admitted after her first bite.

“Are they really?” Killian waggled his eyebrows.

“As much as I hate to admit it, yes.” She took another bite and made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “Damn you and your ability to be good at, like, everything.”

“Everything, you say?” She thought it was meant to be teasing, but when she looked up at Killian, he was staring at her intently, his eyes wide and lips parted.

Emma had two choices here. She could make a sarcastic comment and shut down the possibility of finding out if he tasted as good as his cupcakes. Or she could do what she’d really wanted to since he’d gotten off of that plane yesterday.

Screw it. She grabbed Killian by the collar of his t-shirt and kissed him for all he was worth.

Any shock he felt over it was quickly dismissed, one of his hands going to the small of her back and the other cupping her cheek as he returned her kiss.

She pulled away when she felt out of breath and Killian began to laugh. “What’s so funny?” she asked, frowning. That could either be a good or bad sign.

“I’m sorry, love, it’s just...apparently I got a bit of icing on my fingers when I was eating that cupcake, and, well, see for yourself.”

Emma glanced over at the screen of her phone and saw chocolate smudges on her cheek where he had been touching her just seconds ago. “Damn. I should have been messier with mine so I could have returned the favor.”

“Good thing there are ten more cupcakes at your disposal.” He leaned in and kissed her again, this one short and sweet. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that, Swan.”

“Actually, I think I do,” she admitted. “But seriously, Killian, what are we doing? I know I asked you the same yesterday and chickened out, but we really do need to talk about this.” She motioned her hand between the two of them. “I mean, you’re essentially the best friend I have, we use a ridiculous amount of our cell phone battery on each other, and I don’t even talk to David and Mary Margaret as much as I talk to you....but is that it? Do you want to want things to stay like they have been for the past six months or-” the next few words felt caught in her throat. She really hoped that wasn’t what he wanted.

“If that’s what you want, then things between us can remain the same. But, frankly, Swan, I have no desire to pretend the last five minutes never happened.”

The corners of her mouth turned up, and he smiled back at her hopefully. “Good. I don’t either. But the question still stands: what now?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have a solid answer for that just yet, love. How about we simply enjoy the time we’ve got left together and figure out the rest as we go, eh?”

“If enjoying our time includes you showing me another kiss like that, I’m all for it.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his answering grin. How he could smile and look borderline sinful, she’d never know. “Oh, darling, I’ll show you anything you’re up for.”

The cupcakes were soon forgotten thanks to the heated kisses, soft touches, and shed clothing that followed. Turns out, Killian was great at eliciting noises from her for reasons that had nothing to do with chocolate.

It wasn’t until late that night when Emma’s sheets were in a tangled heap and they’d had a chance to catch their breath when a thought came to mind. “Killian?” She sat up from where she’d been curled up against his bare chest, paying little mind to the sheet that slipped off of them and pooled at her waist. “Why did you accept my friend request?”

He blinked several times as if questioning if he heard her correctly. “Come again, love?”

“You’ve known since the beginning that I added you by accident. But you’ve never said just why you accepted it.”

Killian was quiet for a moment as he considered the answer to her question. “I suppose you’re right. I remember that night somewhat vividly if I’m being honest. I couldn’t sleep, per usual, and was up watching some random documentary on YouTube when the notification popped up on my phone. There didn’t seem to be a reason for me to accept the request. I knew from the name alone that I hadn’t the slightest idea who you were. I probably spent the better part of an hour debating on what I should do.”

“And what made you decide I was worth the risk of accepting?”

He chuckled and scratched a spot behind his right ear, something Emma assumed was a nervous tic. “You may think I’m ridiculous for this, Swan, and rightly so, but I came to the conclusion that if someone as bloody gorgeous as you sent me a friend request, I’d be a fool to at least not give it a chance and find out why. That,” he continued, “and you were wearing a Groot shirt in one of your recent photos. I knew I liked you already.”

Truthfully, Killian was right- it was a little ridiculous. She may very well have laughed or rolled her eyes if he’d told her any of this when they’d first started getting to know one another. But they did know each other now, probably better than they knew anyone else, so it seemed easily forgiven. Not to mention she’d had similar thoughts the first time she came across his own profile. “And you had to wait another week to hear anything from me. I didn’t even realize we were friends until you liked that photo I posted from the movies.”

“If that’s what it took for us to end up where we are now, I’ll gladly like anything you post a hundred times over.”

Emma knew without asking that “where we are now” wasn’t just referring to the two of them being in her bed. “That might just be the corniest thing a man has ever said to me. And I adore it.” She all but threw herself back on top of him like she’d been earlier and kissed him, cupcakes and sleep both be damned.

She woke the next morning with a warm body against hers and an arm thrown around her waist. The alarm on Killian’s phone was ringing from where he’d dropped it on the bedroom floor in their haste to undress each other the night before. Any annoyance she felt over the blaring alarm was forgotten as memories from just hours earlier replayed in her mind.

Killian’s arm tightened around her waist as he made some indiscernible noise. “Too bloody early,” he groaned, his voice muffled by the pillow.

“You’re the one who set the alarm.”

“It was a lapse in judgment.” She felt the bed shift as he inched over on the mattress and his arm tightened around her. “Wonder how cross Liam would be if I called and said I couldn’t make the meetings today, I had better obligations to attend to.”

“I think he’d fly over just to murder you. And I really don’t want that kind of a mess in my apartment. Getting blood out of carpet can’t be easy.”

“Your compassion is overwhelming, love.”

“Always. Seriously, you’re gonna be late if you don’t get up soon. Why don’t you go ahead and shower and I’ll see about finding something for breakfast.” They had more options than toast and coffee now after her trip to the store yesterday. Emma got out of bed, still rather reluctant, and pulled on a pair of pajama pants with his Metallica shirt without thinking twice.

Killian sighed but got up anyway. “If the lady insists.”

“I think we’ve established how the lady feels about the mess Liam will make if you don’t.” She stuck her tongue out at him before leaving the room.

Emma had just poured the last of the pancake batter onto a frying pan when she felt hands settle on her waist. “Something smells delicious.” She couldn’t bite back a smile as Killian nuzzled her ear.

“It’s just from a box.” Truthfully, boxed pancake mix didn’t feel like much of a step up from toast, but it was one of the few things she’d trusted herself to make without major error.

“I’m not talking about the pancakes.”

Maybe breakfast wasn’t so important after all. She turned in his arms and leaned in to kiss him just as her phone started to ring from where she’d left it on the kitchen table.

“Figures,” she muttered, glancing over to see the name on the screen. “It’s Mary Margaret. Go ahead and eat, this might take a few minutes. Coffee should be done by now too.”

Emma took her phone in the living room and answered the call. “Hey, Mary Margaret. What’s up?”

“Hi, Emma. I didn’t know what your work schedule looked like today, but Ruby mentioned something about the four of us getting drinks after work if you’re interested.”

She would have been interested if it was any other day. Her work schedule (probably paperwork again) wasn’t the concern- with everything that had happened since the night before, she’d never gotten around to asking Killian when he had to leave. “I appreciate the invite, but I’m gonna have to pass today. Something kind of came up.”

As soon as Emma said the words, she regretted them. Of course her sister-in-law would insist on an explanation. “What? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” She might as well tell Mary Margaret the truth now; she’d find out soon enough. “Um, see, the hotel Killian was supposed to stay at lost his reservation, so he’s been at my place. I’m not exactly sure how much longer he’s going to be here.”

“He’s spent the night there? David said you two were just spending a day together. Oh, did something finally happen?!”

Emma was not giving a play by play of the previous night over the phone while Killian was in the next room. “Now isn’t the best time, but I’ll tell you about it later, okay? I’ll make sure I’m free for girl time one day next week.”

“You’d better!”

Killian was washing dishes when she came back into the kitchen. “I left some for you,” he said, nodding toward the plate of pancakes and cup of coffee he’d set to the side.

“Thanks.” Emma retrieved her preferred coffee creamer from the fridge, wondering how he could stand to drink his black, when she thought of something. “Wait a minute. I forgot to set out coffee mugs. Does this mean you had to get a look at my cabinets?”

“Aye. As much as it pains me, Swan, I suppose it’s just one of those things I’ll have to force myself to overlook.” He tried to sound disappointed, but she could see the corners of his mouth turning up. “Thankfully, you do appear to have a few redeeming qualities to make up for this one tragic flaw.”

“Such a drama queen.” She rolled her eyes but walked over when he’d finished rinsing off his dishes and kissed him, Killian’s head tilting to the side a bit as he pulled her close. He smiled against her lips and she pulled back reluctantly after a moment, running her hands down his chest, the fabric of his dark grey button-down soft to the touch. “I’m glad to hear my lack of mug organization doesn’t have you running for the hills though.” The urge to slip her hands under the collar of said shirt was tempting, but they’d cut his time short enough already.

(To think less than twenty-four hours ago, she was convinced Killian couldn’t know how she really felt about him. Now, they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.)

“My love, it’s going to take much more than a cabinet full of disorganized mugs to get rid of me.”

His words were meant to be reassuring, but Emma’s heart plummeted as reality sank in. “I almost hate to ask, but remind me when your flight back is again?”

Killian pursed his lips. “Well, my flight was scheduled for this evening. But,” he added, “I don’t technically have a reason to be back before Sunday night at the latest.”

“Oh?”

“Aye. You could be stuck with me all weekend...unless you’d rather not be. Which is perfectly understandable. I’m sure you want me out of your hair after allowing me to stay with you for the past two days, which I still feel as if I haven’t properly thanked you for, and-”

She cut him off with a quick kiss. “I’d love nothing more than to spend my weekend “stuck” with you, as you put it. And you should probably be heading out soon,” she continued, taking another glance at the clock, “but I’ll make sure you have a chance to show your appreciation for my hospitality later. Preferably multiple times.”

“I do like the way you think, Swan.”

Killian did indeed express his gratitude for her hospitality a number of times over the next day and a half. After they’d each finished their respective work obligations that afternoon, they’d spent the rest of the weekend in Emma’s apartment, either in her bed, on the couch in front of the TV, or in the kitchen where Killian yet again tried to salvage what there was of her cooking skills. He was being awfully stubborn in his mission to prove she was capable of making a meal without additional guidance.

“I don’t know why you’re so intent on making a culinary expert out of me,” she’d told him on Saturday morning right after she burnt herself trying to make French toast.

“Swan, I’m not even a culinary expert. I simply think you deserve better than to be satisfied with takeaway and prepackaged foods all the time.”

(One thing she’d quickly learned about Killian Jones? He hated Pop Tarts.)

On Saturday afternoon, Emma unceremoniously told him about the details of her life she’d always left out in their past conversations. Her abandonment as a baby, bouncing around foster homes with no sense of family for years until she found David and Mary Margaret, and why the people she tracked down who’d abandoned their families always hit so close to home. Her track record of failed relationships, first with Neal and then Walsh.

“I think the distance between us is what got me to open up to you over time,” she told him afterward. They were curled up on her couch, the show she’d picked to watch having been long forgotten. “I guess I thought it would be more simple this way. If something happened, I could cut things off a lot easier than I could if we were in the same place. The chances of us actually meeting seemed so slim for the longest time.”

Killian took her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “And now?”

“Now?” She took a moment to process the question. “Now, I’m just thinking about all I could have missed out on if we’d never met. I mean, those cupcakes would have been terrible.”

The grin on his face when he leaned in to kiss her made her heart beat in a way that couldn’t have been normal.

Any discussion of where they would go from there was put off until Sunday morning. It was early, the sun’s rays just barely visible through the thin curtains in Emma’s bedroom. She’d meant to replace them months ago with blackout curtains to prevent early wakeups on her days off, but the time of day was easily ignored thanks to the warm body curled around her own.

“I don’t think we ever resumed that conversation from a few nights ago,” Emma pointed out. “Y’know, about exactly what this is that we’re doing now.”

“On the contrary, love, we most certainly did continue the conversation. Just perhaps not in a verbal sense.” He began to kiss his way down her neck and shoulder and she couldn’t help but laugh at him, both for his words and for making her realize just how ticklish she was.

Emma rolled over so she was facing him. “Don’t you think now is the time to actually continue it though? In a verbal sense,” she added, smacking his arm lightly when he wiggled his eyebrows.

“You wound me, Swan. But, aye. I suppose you’re right.”

“So are we doing this now? You and me?”

Killian smiled. “If that’s what you want, I’d love nothing more.”

“Of course it’s what I want. It’s just...I’m here, you’re there, most of the time, anyway. How does this work?”

“I suppose it can work the same as it has been since the beginning, love. We have some method of communication every day, we watch Netflix together, we tell each other what’s going on in our lives. The only difference would be counting down the days until I get to see you again. I’m not sure exactly when that would be,” he added before she could ask, “but we’ll work something out. I do have a fair amount of vacation days at my expense that Liam’s been hounding me to do something with.”

That alone was enough to alleviate a few of Emma’s concerns. Of course, she’d love to fly to London to see him at some point, but the lack of predictability that came with her job meant it likely wouldn’t be anytime soon. The only downside was the feeling that she would be putting considerably less work into the relationship this way.

Relationship. The casual way she’d thought about the term didn’t go unnoticed.

“You’d do that for me?”

Killian shrugged. “Eh. I’d do it for more cupcakes.” He laughed at the expression on her face before she kissed him.

Neither one of them had any desire to leave for the airport that afternoon, but Killian did have to head home as planned this time. “Liam will be at the office in the morning expecting to hear the results of my trip,” he told her while he packed his things. “Well, the results of his intentions for sending me over.” He shot Emma a wink and her cheeks reddened. If Liam was anything like her own older brother, his reaction to how they’d spent most of the weekend would be less than thrilled.

They drove to the airport in comfortable silence. Killian took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb lightly over her skin as she navigated through light Sunday traffic, Nirvana playing on the radio. Emma was caught off guard by his voice as he sang the words to “Heart-Shaped Box” softly under his breath. “Let me get this straight: you’re hot, funny, smart, a Marvel fan, can cook, and now you can sing. Do you fly too?”

“As a matter of fact, one of my coworkers is a pilot and offered to give me a lesson sometime-”

“Oh my gosh.”

She parked in the same lot as the last time, not wanting to be rushed through a quick goodbye at the curb. “Want me to walk in with you?” she asked. It felt less like a silly question and more like she didn’t want to let him go just yet.

“It’s fine, Swan. I’m sure you have things at home to take care of before work tomorrow.”

Killian wasn’t wrong. It didn’t make her any less disappointed. “Alright then.” She opened the trunk and helped retrieve his luggage despite his insistence that there was no need. “I guess this is it.” Her eyes flitted back and forth between his gaze and the concrete under her feet.

“I’m afraid so.” There’s a bit of reluctance in his voice as he steps forward and wraps his arms around her. “Swan, you don’t know how bloody glad I am that Liam sent me on this trip.”

“I think I have an idea.” The lump in her throat was hard to swallow.

“I know this isn’t ideal and it might be tricky at first, but we’ll figure something out and I’ll be back to see you soon. I’m not sure when just yet, but soon, okay?”

Emma nodded, hugging him a bit tighter before pulling back and pressing her lips to his. “Have a safe flight. Text me when you’re back home?”

“Of course.”

She watched as Killian disappeared from sight. The desire to go back to her apartment alone was nonexistent, but the man she cared about knew of her feelings and cared about her just as much in return. The reminder nearly made up for the distance and the time zone that separated them.

There were two new messages in her inbox when she was getting ready for bed that night, the apartment now quiet and borderline solemn.

Killian: Hello, love. Just got in a few minutes ago. I would ask if you’d like to watch something before bed, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep my eyes open. Perhaps tomorrow?

Oh, and I know you stole my Metallica shirt.

Emma laughed, glancing in the mirror at the shirt she wore that still smelled faintly like his cologne. It’s a date. And I wanted you to have an incentive to come back other than my cupcakes.

Minx.

You love it.

I do.

She received another message not long after.

Ruby: Why am I just now finding out from MM that Killian crashed at your place??? Please tell me you got laid!

At least she had friends to keep her entertained until Killian’s next visit.

#cs ff #cs au #captain swan #captain swan fic #captain swan ff #cs fanfics #cs fic #meredith writes

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sideoffiction · 5 years

Text

Christmas Eve is Here

Relationship: Platonic LAMP, Platonic DLAMP

Warnings: Food mention

Summary: It's Christmas Eve, and the sides are together to celebrate.

Happy Holidays everyone. So, this is my first fic that I wrote with absolutely no outline or idea on what I was going to write, so bear with me.

(The only onesies I had a reference for was Virgil’s and Patton's, cause I thought they were perfect (just pretend that Virgil’s is a onesie):

Virgil: https://images-mm.s3.amazonaws.com/Nightmare_Before_Xmas_Ugly_Sweater_Black_Purple_POP.jpg

Patton: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0747/5107/products/91lO5Wi9rML._UY879_300x300.jpg?v=1531638388 )

This is also posted on AO3, I’ll post the link in a reblog.

I hope yall enjoy!

It was a snowy Christmas Eve. Everywhere Thomas looked, he could see the shining Christmas lights through the soft flurries. Soft Christmas music floated through the air, and his mouth watered at the smell of food being prepared in the kitchen. Yes, Thomas felt quite content at this moment. He was calm and relaxed, and it felt as if nothing could ruin his mood.

Inside his head, however, was a different story.

“Roman, can you bring me the star please?”

“Why of course, Padr-AAA!” A loud crash can be heard throughout the mindscape.

“You ok, Princey?”

“Yeah, no thanks to you, Nightmare on 34th Street.”

“What, was I supposed to just teleport over there to help you stay on your own two feet?”

“...yes!” Roman stands up indignantly, wiping himself off of any accumulated dust or dirt.

“I do not understand why you all waited until today to decorate for the holidays. I stated numerous times that you should have put everything up ahead of time.” Logan speaks up from where he sits, reclined in a chair with a book in his hand.

“Thomas was busy, we didn’t have time.”

“What about the times where Thomas himself was decorating?”

“No can do, L. What if he had fallen and gotten hurt like Sir Trip-a-lot over here? Or worse. Burned the house down? Broke a bone? Etcetera etcetera.”

“I believe he would have been fine Virgil, however I do see your need to worry.”

“Still waiting for that star over here, kiddos.” Patton speaks up from next to the Christmas tree that stood tall in the common room.

“Oops, sorry about that Padre. Here it comes now.” Roman continues his trek over to the tree, watching as he walks so he doesn’t fall once more. He hands it over to Patton, who smiles brightly.

“You kiddos ready!”

They all make their way over to the tree, even Logan, despite his complaining.

“I do not see the need to make a spectacle of putting on the star.” He says every year, despite not giving any resistance to it.

“Ready?” Patton stands on his tippy toes and places the star on top of the tree. “Aaaand. There!” He lowers back onto the balls of his feet. “Its officially Christmas!”

“Preposterous, seeing as how we still have 5 hours until-”

“Logan, shut up and let Pat have his fun.” Logan shuts his mouth, pouting slightly while doing so (though if you asked him he was not pouting, not at all).

They all stand there and take in the tree. The most prominent ornaments throughout the tree are the balls of red, two different blues, purple, and even a few yellows. (None of them had seen when Deceit had placed them, but none of them had really complained or had taken them off). Scattered throughout the branches, there was also little homemade ornaments that Thomas had made when he was younger. The tree perfectly encompassed the five of them, as well as Thomas as a whole.

“Welp, it’s time to eat now!” Patton calls, as he bounces over to the kitchen. Inside, he had conjured a long table, expanding the room to make space for it. On the unnecessarily large table sat an even more unnecessarily large amount of food. Turkey, lasagna, garlic bread, ham, and so much more sits on the table, waiting to be eaten.

They all make their way over to the table and sit down. They are about to start digging in when Patton stops them.

“Hold on, kiddos, we’re missing someone.”

“You mean good old Sleigh Lie? I doubt he’d join us. And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one here who doesn’t want him to join us.”

“Roman, I’m surprised at you!” Patton gives Roman his worst, and most effective, dad-look. “It is Christmas, and it is our first Christmas with Dee! I don’t care if you want him here or not, he is a part of our family, and he deserves to be treated as such.”

Roman, having already given up when Patton gave him the look, sighed. “Fiiiiine.” He raises his arm, and summons Deceit. Deceit pops in with a noticeably confused look.

“What don’t you want?”

“Dee, it's Christmas Eve! You shouldn’t be alone. Come and eat with us.”

“But what if I don’t want to be alone?”

“Trust me, Deceit, I tried that one last year.” Virgil speaks up. “It did not end well.” He shivers at the memories. This, of course, spikes Deceit’s interest.

“What didn’t happen?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“So are you going to join us or not, Christmas Lie is Here?” Roman speaks up, slightly irritated. “I don’t know if you noticed or not, but some of us are starving.”

Deceit thinks it over, humming to himself as he takes his time weighing his options. He watches as Roman gets more and more irritated. Just as Roman is about to lose it, he finally sits down at a seat next to Patton, and silently starts filling his plate. Everyone takes this as a sign to fill their own plates and dig in.

The meal goes quite well, with idle chatter fills the room. There are many compliments to Patton, as he was the one to make the food. When they all finish up, they sit at their sits and continue talking. Patton snaps away the remaining food, and brings in the desserts. The group is much slower in starting their desserts as they continue to let their stomachs digest the food they just ate.

“I’m just saying, Miracle on 34th street is a greatly underrated Christmas movie.”

“Ok, I hear you kiddo, but think of this: A Year Without a Santa Claus has the Miser Brothers.”

…

“Oh that’s his whole argument.”

“But the real question is: is Nightmare before Christmas a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?”

“It’s obviously not a Halloween movie.”

“What do you know?”

“Might I suggest something to end your… unnecessary bickering?” Everyone looks over to Logan. “Why don’t you just watch all of these movies, and vote on which is the best, as well as the true holiday that Nightmare before Christmas was made for?”

“Logan, that is brilliant! I’ll go grab my laptop and DVDs and set it up on the TV.”

“Ooh ooh, I have something I have to go grab as well.” Roman and Patton both rush out of the kitchen, leaving the three calmest sides alone.

“You sure that was a good idea, L? Now we won’t be left alone for the rest of the night.”

“It’s as Patton had said, Virgil. Christmas is a time for family.”

They all make their way into the living room, where Roman is just setting up his laptop. Just then, Patton rushes in with a bag of presents.

“Patton, correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe we open presents on Christmas day, not Christmas Eve.”

“I know that, silly, but these presents are different. Open them, and you’ll see what I mean!”

He passes out presents to everyone, even Deceit gets one. They all open them to see Christmas onesies, each made different for each side.

Logan’s is simple. A black onesie, with little blue wreaths on it. However, if one looks closely, they can see that the wreaths are actually made of TARDISs from Doctor Who. The neck, hand, and feet holes of the onesie are accented with the same blue as the TARDISs.

Deceit’s is a medium gray, with a pattern of yellow snakes with Santa hats. His, however, has a hood, which is also a snake face, with it’s tongue out in a blep, with a little Santa hat. The neck, hand, and feet holes are accented with yellow.

Virgil’s is the most detailed of them. It’s mostly black with an ugly sweater design of Nightmare before Christmas, with a large picture of Jack Skellington on his hill on the chest. The neck, hand, and feet holes are accented with purple.

Roman’s onesie is nowhere near as dramatic and extra as one would expect. It is red with a white sash that is decorated with silver and blue snowflakes. The neck, hand, and feet holes are accented with white.

They all look at their onesies with surprise.

“Patton these are… extraordinary! But what about you? Why don’t you have one?”

“Don’t worry about me, kiddo.” He snaps and his normal clothes are swapped for a onesie. Patton’s onesie is light blue with a pattern of Santa riding on unicorns littered all over it. If he were to turn around, the others would notice a red buttflap that states “Don’t Stop Believing”. The neck, hand, and feet holes are accented with red.

Patton giggles when the others stare at his onesie.

“Pat, you look marvelous!” Roman goes over and pulls Patton into a hug, lifting him off of the ground and spinning him, causing Patton to giggle once more.

“If we are done.” Logan speaks up, causing the others to once more look over at him. “I believe it is time to put these on and play the movies.

And so they all disperse, each going to get their onesies on and grab stuff for the movies, including blankets, pillows, and even popcorn, despite them just eating. They all settle down on the couch next to each other, with Logan and Deceit on either end. Virgil is next to Logan, followed by Roman then Patton. They all cuddle up slightly and play the first movie, immediately being absorbed into it, even Logan. Before they know it, time flies by.

Logan takes his eyes off of the screen to look at the others. They are all passed out, leaning on each other in some uncomfortable looking positions. Logan glances at his watch, and stands up slowly, careful not to wake the others up. It is just before midnight. He quietly makes his way into his room and grabs a large bag that he had hidden in his closet. If one were to look closely, they would notice the plethora of presents inside the bag.

It’s time for Santa to arrive.

#patton sanders #roman sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #logan sanders #virgil sanders #Christmas #Christmas eve

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gibsonmusicart · 6 years

Text

Top 5 Reasons Songwriters Procrastinate – And How To Fix Them

1) GENERAL OVERWHELM

This is such a common perception of people’s day-to-day lives. We’re just too busy, there’s too much to do, too much to organise. But this is a myth. It might help to see this problem as a silly character: “General Overwhelm”, an army officer, likes to convince us that we just can’t do it, that we’re simply not strong enough to forge a path through the to-do lists and get the vitally important, meaningful stuff done. But old General Overwhelm is lying to us. It’s all about perception and taking small steps towards having more control over both what we do and how we interpret what we are dealing with.

If you can reframe how you see a difficult situation, you gain the upper hand. For example, if you’d like to get some songs completed but you’ve got a part time job with erratic hours, set yourself a deadline of how long you’ll stay in that job. Work towards a goal of becoming self-employed. Also, establish what financial goal you want to achieve. Once you know what you’re aiming for and your cut-off date, you know that this circumstance is under your control. Secondly, if your timetable changes constantly, look at where you can either negotiate to have some regular hours, perhaps one day a week and set aside even just a couple of hours as your regular songwriting time. Once you have one small thing in place, you can start to fit in more writing. It’s like being lost at sea in a storm. If you can get yourself a compass, a radio or at least see the horizon, you’ve got a hope in hell of being able to navigate your way back home.

2) RESISTANCE TO STRUCTURE

The solution to the first problem may already have triggered this second one. Are you the kind of writer who waits for ‘the muse’ to show up? Do you resist the idea of scheduling specific time slots for songwriting? If so, you’d better ask yourself if you want to write as a hobby or professionally. If it’s the latter, you need to be able to write regardless of whether the elusive “muse” shows up. You need to be able to establish a time to write and stick to it. I’m reminded of the quotation, “I sit down to the piano regularly at nine o’ clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.” -Pyotr Tchaikovsky

There are other ways around this problem of structure if you have allocated time for writing and you don’t seem to be getting anywhere, but this is the first thing to put in place. Merely by having established a habit of regular writing time, you’ll notice that the likelihood of your actually writing new songs increases.

3) LACK OF CLARITY ON THE GOAL

This is a really common problem. It’s so easy to have a huge goal that is wonderful and exciting and you’re all fired up to get started, but the completion of it involves some kind of miracle. Like for example, writing and recording an album. Writing an album’s worth of songs might not be that difficult, but getting them professionally recorded, depending on which instruments you want to use and the nature of your own personal studio set-up, could potentially be expensive. How do you find the money to do it? This is where a question, a mere innocent question can bring all your plans toppling down. The key is not to ask the question with a sense of fear or resentment as your brain tells you, “I can’t. It’s impossible.” It’s just asking a question. Why not get into the habit of asking, “I wonder if…?” or “I wonder how I might…?” with an open mind and a curious spirit? That way, you won’t be placing judgement on the answer, which will make things lighter, easier, more feasible. Don’t let the final stages of the plan to reach your goal stop you from taking the first few steps towards it. Keep in mind the old adage, “Leap, and the net will appear.” Why not entertain the possibility that by starting out towards your goal, you will find the resources, support and energy you need to get to the end? The most important thing to do is START. And then keep in mind, “One. Step. At. A. Time”.

4) YOUR ATTITUDE TO CREATIVE WORK

Were you brought up being told that playing an instrument ‘won’t pay the rent’? I certainly was. I remember having taught myself to play a few things on the piano at the first opportunity I got at the age of 17, living as a lodger in a new home where there was a piano. I was so proud of myself. I’d worked out enough by ear that I could play a few things that felt strong, interesting and soothing. One day I summoned the courage to walk into a cafe that had a piano to ask if I could play. I played a few pieces for the handful of people sitting at their quaint little tables, some improvised, some practised, and the people nearest to the piano thanked me and said they enjoyed it. Newly thrilled with what seemed like such an enormous achievement to a girl who’d never grown up with a piano, nor had had even one lesson, I excitedly told my Mum all about it. Her response? “Well, that’s not going to pay the rent, is it?” Consequently, I spent the next 10 years or so, not only paying for piano lessons out of my own pocket but anxiously trying to prove I had a right to be a musician even though it wasn’t earning me any money.

This kind of pressure – to earn money from music or to prove to an authority figure that you have a right to be a creative person of any kind – is stifling. For most people, it’s what sucks the life out of the joy you initially had about your creative work and for some, even forces you to quit. Whatever happened to writing and recording music for the joy of the expression or the thrill of creating something from nothing? Surely the whole point of doing something creative is that it’s an expression of your own thoughts and feelings and there’s a purpose in expressing that because other people who are most like you can relate to it. The moral of this story is – take a step back when it all gets too serious. Why does writing music have to prove anything? Why do you have to earn money from it right away? Does it all have to be so SERIOUS?! Chances are, this seriousness has a stranglehold on your creativity and that’s why you can’t write a song at the moment. How about writing a silly song about a platypus instead? And maybe you can even cleverly make it not about a platypus as such, but about being a misfit. Wouldn’t that be FUN? Fun could well be something that has been largely underrated for far too long.

5) PUSHING YOURSELF TOO FAR

This somewhat follows on from number 4 in that once you’ve put so much effort into TRYING to write a song or get an album project off the ground, you can sometimes find yourself too exhausted to actually write something interesting or heartfelt. There needs to be room for you to look after yourself as well. It’s no good working yourself into the ground until you make yourself ill. You have to look after yourself as well and keep your energy levels up enough to support your goal. Taking time out to have fun, do something different for the sake of breaking up the monotony of a daily routine, or just taking an evening out to have a relaxing bath and an early night could be the easy solution to your writing block. It’s amazing what enough sleep and a bit of self-care can do to make you feel energised and ready to write something spectacular. This may run a little bit counter to the first point on the list, but every rule has its exception and every routine must occasionally be broken.

All in all, there’s a balance to be struck between having a routine and having freedom, putting in the hours and yet not taking it all too seriously. If you can look after your body with regular exercise and healthy meals, that goes a long way in itself to allowing you the leeway to have a timetable that changes, a tour schedule for a month that seems overwhelming or a minimal income to start out on. It doesn’t sound very rock ’n’ roll, but I suspect, this is the kind of thing people like Mick Jagger or Kate Bush now do but don’t talk about in interviews because it would ruin their rock/pop prowess. Maybe it’s precisely this aim to put even just a few new good habits in place that keeps songwriters going beyond a two-year career to span decades. It’s certainly worth a try.

Post by Rowen Bridler

Source: MusicClout .com

Check out The Melody Of Success - Music Career Blog - Information, Articles and More! - You can find me on Drooble .com

#songwritingblog #songwriting tips #songwriting industry #songwriters #musiccareers #musicindustry #musicbusiness

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jacarandaaaas · 11 months

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why waiting on a miracle is one of my favorite (and one of the most underrated) encanto songs:

So this song in my humble opinion is one of the most under appreciated songs from the movie so I’m here to give it some appreciation! (Also the irony of the song being about being ignored and overlooked and that’s exactly what happened)

So waiting on a miracle is the classic “disney I want song” but to me this song is so much more than that. One thing that sticks out to me immediately is the fact unlike most I want songs, mirabel isn’t singing about wanting more than she already has shes singing about something she lacks but SHOULD have already. From the title most people gathered that she wants a magical gift like the rest of her family and whilst that is true I find it profound that it’s not the magic for the sake of magic she wants. It’s the appreciation from her family. All she wants is to contribute and fit in and she feels the only way she can do that is if she gets a gift. It’s also important to note unlike most I want songs mirabel doesn’t get *exactly* what she wants at the end which she mentions is a miracle. She does however end up getting her ultimate goal which is the acceptance and she doesn’t need a miracle to do that. Also with the title being “waiting on a miracle” a miracle is rare it’s thought to be something almost impossible or not even real. So for mirabels I want song to be about this shows that even she herself is aware it’s literally an impossible ask but she’s just dreaming of the possibilities if she got something as rare as a miracle.

I also found the instrumental quite genius as some have already pointed out all the madrigal songs are in 4/4 time… except this one. Waiting on a miracle is in 3/4 time as yet another subtle way to show she’s out of place. as lin manuel himself said “she’s literally out of beat with the rest of her family” so thanks for that lin the song was already sad enough but you just had to do that👍

also congratulations to mirabel for being one of the few disney characters to actually say when they aren’t ok “I’m not fineeee” I know that seems minuscule but it’s so refreshing to hear a character actually express that they are feeling negative emotions and it’s ok to express that. Especially since bottling up emotions is so common nowadays it’s a good message for the next generation <3

also waiting on a miracle kinda sorta predicts the whole movie? “I would move the mountains, make new trees and flowers grow” “I would heal whats broken show this family something new” she ended up achieving all of that in the movie’ 1. The mountains split when the house was collapsing. 2. She helped isabela discover what else she could do thus making new trees and flowers grow. 3. She basically healed the entire family which is what was broken and she showed them all they are enough without gifts! So that’s just a nice little bit of foreshadowing.

Ok now back to the sad stuff! in the lyric “I would heal whats broken” turns out she’s not referring to the entire family but herself. She views herself as broken because she didn’t get a gift and she wants to fix herself 💔 another lyric to note is “cant keep down the unspoken invisible pain” a lot of people talk about how inconsiderate the madrigals are towards mirabel but the thing is they don’t realize how it effects her. We know she can put on a hell of an act (see family madrigal song) and she herself refers to her pain as “invisible” she’s hiding it from everyone so they don’t realize how badly she’s hurting because she puts on the whole optimistic act. So another way the movie demonstrates the communication issues within the family.

And how can I forget mirabel literally telling herself at the beginning “dont be upset or mad at all” she’s quite literally telling herself to not feel those things that she’s “totally fine” I also love the fact the music is in the tune of “the family madrigal” up until she says “I’m not fine” I just thought that was a cool detail!

I’ve seen people complain about “open your eyes” x3 because it doesn’t get any louder or higher it just stays the same. Well there’s actually a reason for that! the song is called waiting on a miracle, mirabel is stuck in that position. She’s stuck waiting. It’s also important to note that the visual of her begging to her abuela to “open her eyes” and not being noticed implies that she’s been trying for a long time to be noticed but she keeps being stuck.

Also shoutout to Stephanie beatriz for the amazing acting because I could FEEL the emotion and the passion. and yes I know it’s because she’s in labour but I also believe even if she wasn’t in labour the song would still sound emotional as stephanie is a really great actress! I believe in an interview she stated she wanted to perform this song like it’s the first time mirabel is expressing these feelings to herself. Basically yeah that’s true she had been lying to herself for a decade and finally she decides to admit to herself she’s not fine she’s not happy and she wants a change. The voice crack on “I’m not fine” is actually heartbreaking and this is the moment her facade breaks entirely, and I love the vocal cry she does on “longing to shine like all of you shine” it’s just these little vocal details that add so much to the song and make it so powerful

I’ve also seen people complaining this song isn’t “belty” enough but it’s just not that type of song! mirabel is stuck in her position and if you notice in a lot of Disney movies once it reaches the climax of the i want song the protagonist comes to a decision of sorts. Take “how far I’ll go for example” she decides she’s going to sail beyond the reef and the music climaxes, she also has the triumphant high note at the end. Waiting on a miracle unlike how far I’ll go is NOT a triumphant song. The music does climax but only to emphasize mirabels false hope as she’s saying all the things she would do.

with the high note I firmly believe that there’s only one significant high note at the end for a particular reason. Like I said above usually high notes in Disney songs symbolize achievement or a sense of strength found. Mirabels high note has the opposite effect. She’s quite literally begging for a miracle in desperation only to realize she’s wishing for a fantasy. “Am I too late for a miracle” is the line the song ends on and the visual is important here too. We see the fireworks fade away and mirabel is left standing alone in the dark because it was all in her mind. (Looking at you “mirabels gift is time stopping” theorists)

So yeah I find this song to be quite unique and raw for an I want song and I think the “vent” aspect of it is what makes me appreciate it even more. It’s not sugar coated. To quote stephanie beatriz herself: “real, human, imperfect, yearning to belong and hoping for something beyond what she sees in herself: an expression of hope and fear, all wrapped in teen angst.”

So uh go stream waiting on a miracle because it’s a great song 👍(also yes this rant is a mess I’m terrible at articulating my feelings on songs but it’s also just for fun I’m like not a professional lmao)

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xtruss · 4 years

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Which Players Have Been The Biggest Losses to Cricket This Century?

Mohammad Asif, patron saint of what-could-have-beens Getty Images (A Boak Bollock who involved himself in a match fixing crimes and killed his own promising career. Otherwise he would be the most fiercest, formidable, intimidating and dangerous fast bowler of the Cricketing World.)

— Jul 9, 2020 | ESPN Staff

In this edition of Rabbit Holes, Osman Samiuddin, Andrew Fidel Fernando and Sidharth Monga gather for a round of lamentation and breast-beating over cricket's greatest unfulfilled talents and shed tears over what might have been.

Andrew Fidel Fernando, ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent: So, the biggest losses to cricket this century. I think given the people involved in the conversation, this will quickly degenerate into a Mohammad Asif support group. But there are so many others who've not had the careers we all wanted them to have.

Osman Samiuddin, senior editor: Wait, what? This is not the Asif Anonymous Group already?

Fernando: "Hi, I'm Osman, and it's been ten years since I last watched Asif bowl. (breaks down sobbing uncontrollably)"

Sidharth Monga, assistant editor: And the thing is, Asif don't care. Or at least doesn't seem to care.

Samiuddin: Although the thing is, I think Asif does care. In that interview with Umar Farooq it was clear he cares about how people remember him. Maybe just not enough to get bogged down by it.

Monga: He has moved on better than us. Which is him being kinda, "Yeah, this is life, what are you going to do about it?" But I also like that he is turning out in domestic cricket despite there being no hope that he will ever bowl at the highest level again. This is every ball of his first two spells of the QeA final in 2017-18. Cruelly, captained again by Salman Butt, who chose to field first, which is something you don't do in Test cricket these days. And the first two comments on the video!

Samiuddin: For the longest time - and even now - I believe that the careers of Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers would have turned out different had they had to play Asif often.

Fernando: Sanga would have got out cheaply to Asif five times in a row one series and retired in shame in 2012 - that's how your fantasy goes, right?

Samiuddin: Earlier, ideally.

Monga: Hashim Amla, AB and Kevin Pietersen didn't even play him that much, but the little that they did was enough to convince them he was the best bowler they faced. Ahead of all the other legends of the time.

Samiuddin: But with the advances in batsmanship - though, I guess mostly in white-ball cricket - how would Asif have responded? It's not a bad time to be a Test bowler though, so he probably would have been okay still.

Remember when Asif took 6 for 41 in Sydney in 2010, in a losing cause? Getty Images

Fernando: I do think Asif would have loved some of the tracks Pakistan have played on in the last five, six years.

Samiuddin: The UAE? I mean, imagine Misbah captaining Asif - would he have turned him into an offspinner?

Fernando: Hah, true, but I meant more outside the UAE. Those New Zealand greentops where you can only see the batsman from the helmet up, because of the grass cover. He would also have adored a lot of the tracks Pakistan played on in Sri Lanka, in the middle of the last decade, when they were visiting every other weekend.

Samiuddin: Also can't help but think how he would have gone in Australia. He had one great Test there - in Sydney - but that surface was green that first morning and it had rained and clouds were around, so it was ideal. I think that's probably the last time Australia had anything other than a flat track. His set-ups were like Warne in conception - this one of Clarke especially. He bowled four-five balls to Clarke before this, all good length, on off-stump line, either not seaming or seaming away. Two-three he left alone to keeper. One he drove. This one he tried to drive again and it was the first one that seamed in. So, so, so simple.

Monga: Did you say set-ups? And he did it all without a perfect upright seam the way Mohammed Shami's is. Or maybe bolt upright is not perfect, who knows. Also, Marcus North getting out in three balls reminds me of Asif once saying he is sometimes disappointed with batsmen who don't let him set them up properly and get out before the payoff.

Samiuddin: There was also a great set-up of Shane Watson in a previous Test, where Asif bowled to an 8-1 off-side field for a couple of overs and well wide of off stump. Like, really wide outside. Almost unnoticed he was pulling Watson further and further out to the off side. And then suddenly, when literally nobody was expecting it, he bowled one a little straighter, quicker, it swung in a fair bit. Watson had moved out to off stump in anticipation and the ball ended up missing Watson's leg stump by millimetres. I don't think I would ever have seen a dismissal like that. All that work for one ball and it only narrowly didn't come off.

Fernando: I feel like we could be on Asif all day.

Samiuddin: The point of all of which is that I don't think I have regretted not seeing more of any cricketer than Asif. So that's decided. How about some others?

Though, I mean, Pakistan could put out three XIs of these players who were lost and they could play a pointless tri-series among themselves. Like Mohammad Zahid. Fastest four balls Brian Lara faced in his life.

Monga: Would Umar Akmal qualify?

Fernando: And if we're doing a long Pakistan lamentation, is Fawad Alam in the mix?

Samiuddin: Hundred per cent. Not lost so much as ignored. Overlooked. Spat upon. Trampled.

Monster on a monstrous pitch: Jesse Ryder cut, drove and hooked to 83 in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Mirpur, while other batsmen struggled Getty Images

Monga: But we're drawing the line at Ahmed Shahzad?

Fernando: I'd like to throw two Kiwi names into the mix. Both of whom played 18 Tests. Both players of extreme quality. Lost to the game for reasons very different to Asif.

Samiuddin: Martin Guptill?

Fernando: Hah, no one so painfully vanilla. The first I'm thinking of, of course, is Jesse Ryder.

Samiuddin: Did you not once spend an entire six-month period of your life trying to chase him down?

Fernando: For a potential feature, yes, highly unsuccessfully. He was still playing. And still burning bridges. It was like the story hadn't actually stopped unravelling, so no one really wanted to talk about it.

Ryder just had such an instinctive feel for the game, whichever format he was playing. A rock-solid defence, a brutal pull shot, threw all of himself into those drives. When he middled it, you couldn't actually see the ball before it reappeared outside the boundary rope.

Monga: Underrated bowler and exceptional catcher to go with it. And he sold out stadiums. People came to watch Jesse Ryder.

Fernando: He was a monster at backward point.

Samiuddin: In that 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka, pitch like porridge - that was the only time I saw Ryder play and, my lord, if that wasn't the innings of that tournament. His timing that day was freakishly good. On that pitch - and the thing is, it's difficult to articulate - the difference in watching him bat and others that day was just so, so vast that you had to question yourself. Like, were you assessing the pitch wrong and were the rest just crap?

Monga: New Zealand is so not the country for Jesse. I remember him scoring a flawless double-century against India in Napier, and then breaking a chair or something in disgust when he got out. You can guess what got reported the next day.

Fernando: So I remember this crazy Ryder innings, where again, at the end, a chair got smashed (after a lot of Sri Lankan bowlers had also been smashed).

Samiuddin: I'm seeing a pattern here...

Monga: If I were the coach I would carry extra chairs.

Fernando: It was in the 2009 Champions Trophy. Ryder pulls a hamstring or a calf very early in this match. I think he was 7 off 7 or something like that. Basically can't run. And so he just starts blasting boundaries. Ten fours and a six - 74 off 58 balls.

Monga: He wasn't much for foot movement anyway, but somehow always played close to his body.

Forget the batting for a minute: Ryder also took blinders, like this one to dismiss Upul Tharanga in the 2011 World Cup semi-final AFP

Fernando: Opening partner Brendon McCullum, who is supposed to be this shining paragon of Kiwi aggression, ambles to 42 off 74 at the other end. Eventually Ryder gets out, and he's clearly not happy. Just when he thinks he's out of view of the cameras, he absolutely lays into a plastic chair. Just destroys it with his bat. Except, of course, he wasn't out of view. This was seen and replayed many times. I'm sorry but I loved everything about that.

Samiuddin: Actually more than anything else, New Zealand need(ed) Ryder in their team to shed themselves of the "nicest guys in cricket" tag. I mean, yeah, of course, runs and stuff, but they need a guy in that side who does things like that.

Fernando: The New Zealand hill I will absolutely die on is that they would have converted one of their two World Cup finals into a win if Ryder was in the team. I don't blame the people who kicked Ryder out, really, because he's been given chances by many coaches in various continents - both domestic and international - and he's not managed to rein his behaviour in. But if Ryder had managed to improve the behaviour to juuust within that line, I think we would think of New Zealand as one of the great teams of the last decade, instead of just a very good one. And also just the thought of Williamson trying to captain Ryder - there could have been books written and films made just on that relationship.

Monga: I just feel cricket, especially the international variety, is very tough on someone like Jesse. It would have been a miracle if he had survived. Ross Taylor and Ryder were both discovered together. Neither came from a privileged background, but Taylor's privilege was that he had his act together. Mark Greatbatch, one of their earlier coaches, I remember, told me how Ryder was more skilled but Taylor was more rounded as a person. Ryder would throw up in the bin at the nets, Taylor would come home with a bottle of wine.

Samiuddin: Without knowing the details and insider stuff, was he so, so, so difficult to handle that they really couldn't find a place for him in the team at all? Or make it work somehow?

Fernando: They didn't throw him away lightly, tbf. They gave chances. And many people - agents, coaches, mentors - have tried various approaches and it's not worked out.

Samiuddin: I think that is the other point about these players, that they make so much of an impression, you're always left feeling somehow if the others - boards, teams, managers, agents - had just done something else/more he would have been okay.

Monga: More than anything, they also tell us that sometimes you have to accept things as they are. Especially when a team such as New Zealand does all it can get to keep you in. What joy it was to watch him in full flow. But it wasn't meant to be.

Samiuddin: Who was the other Kiwi?

Fernando: Okay, yes, enough Ryder. Someone who was at the other end of the spectrum in terms of temperament, but also glorious to watch in full flow. Guesses?

Samiuddin: Bond. The name is Bond.

Fernando: Nailed it. Like, Shane Bond with his yorkers.

Samiuddin: Bond is long gone as a bowler, but I feel like he's everywhere in the actions of so many modern fast bowlers.

Shane Bond, destroyer of Australia, failed by his own body Getty Images

Fernando: Huge influence on Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Monga: Strike rate of 38 but couldn't play enough to get more than his 87 wickets.

Samiuddin: Adam Milne, Matt Henry - all their actions. Naseem Shah.

Fernando: And if we agree that aughts Australia had assembled the greatest ODI batting line up, Bond was the greatest destroyer of that top order. Seventeen matches v Aus: average of 15.79, SR of 21.4, economy rate 4.41 - there's no touching that in ODIs

Samiuddin: Bond, in a very different way, is the epitome of what Monga said earlier, about how it's just meant to be for some. No off-field issues (that I can think of), great guy to have in a team. But just had a body that couldn't sustain it.

Monga: In a way I agree, but you can continue working on the body, you can even come back as a bowler with less pace but more wiles, you can still cut yourself a career, but it is different with mental health.

Fernando: Bond just was incredibly, incredibly fragile, though. I'm not sure even turning himself into a medium-pacer - which he has said he was never interested in, btw - would have worked. There were unusual things as well: I remember he once went off the field in a match with a migraine and couldn't bowl, and caught absolute hell on talkback radio in New Zealand for being soft.

Samiuddin: Incidentally, Bond talked about the injuries stemming - ironically - from that action, in this great piece on him by Rahul Bhattacharya, at the 2007 World Cup. He talks here about losing a little of that pace.

Fernando: His last Test, which was a fantastic game against Pakistan in Dunedin, he blew them away with pace in the first innings, iirc.

Monga: It was a great Test. Akmal was unleashed in this game, right?

Fernando: Yes, Asif took 4 for 43 as well. Pity Ryder didn't play. It would have been the poster Test for everything we've talked about.

Monga: Ryder was a veteran of wistfulness by then.

Fernando: Fawad Alam was in that Test as well! Here's the wicket description from the first dig: "Bond's breathing fire here, he hits the deck hard from over the wicket, lands it short of a length on middle and Fawad barely had time to react and fend it off, he fails to drop his gloves down and the ball shaves his glove before landing safely in McCullum's hands."

Underrated, but celebrated: would Ryan Harris have had a greater impact had big names not kept him out of the Australian team early in his career? Getty Images

Monga: While sticking with fast bowlers, I have a name that I am not sure you will agree with. It is more down to having been kept out by big names throughout his 20s, but what we saw of Ryan Harris in 27 Tests in his 30s (also cut short by a back surgery, which he went to after taking a last wicket in the dying moments of a momentous Test) makes me wonder with a little disappointment what a great bowler we lost out on.

Samiuddin: Absolutely, only four more Tests than Asif.

Monga: And what an Asif-like bowler too.

Samiuddin: But I also feel with Harris that Australia celebrated him so much, that he was part of so many big moments against South Africa and England - big series - that he kind of lived a full career… which, of course, he never did in reality

Fernando: And I guess that the injuries came at an age when you expect those things to happen to a quick. Whereas Asif's exit seemed so premature.

Monga: His wrist admittedly did less magic than Asif, but his accuracy was stifling. He lived by the Asif philosophy: if I beat the bat, I should be hitting the pad or the stumps; if I take the edge, it should go to keeper or first slip

Samiuddin: Except, quicker than Asif. Always felt Stuart Clark was the more like-for-like Asif bowler

Monga: We love Asif for the highlights reels his wickets make it to, but arguably Harris has provided us with better seam porn. Have a look at this. This also reminds me, I recently saw Harris seam a ball in the IPL. That I would never have believed had there been no video evidence.

Samiuddin: Asif seamed some balls in the IPL too - 2008.

Fernando: What a trip it is now to think that Pakistan players actually took part in the IPL.

Monga: The greatest loss to cricket: Pakistan players missing the IPL.

Samiuddin: Snap.

Fernando: Genuinely, though, they would have changed the dynamic of that tournament so much. And you suspect the IPL would have changed Pakistan cricket as well.

Samiuddin: But the PSL may not have happened also... Or maybe it would have happened earlier.

Fernando: Umar Gul would have cut it up.

Samiuddin: And Sohail Tanvir as the greatest T20 bowler ever?

Chris Lewis: the blueprint for Jofra Archer? Getty Images

Fernando: Lasith Malinga would still have crushed it, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Samiuddin: I know I'm being old and boomer-y but Malinga in Tests, I feel, is an unfulfilled thing.

Monga: Malinga would have made a bowler of great spells in Test cricket. Innocuous for long whiles, but then a switch would flick on and he would run through three-four guys in one three-over spell on a humid day at the SSC.

Samiuddin: Yes and that three-over spell would have turned the day, the Test, even the series.

Fernando: If you can hustle a fantastic batsman with a bouncer in Galle, you're a decent bowler. But then with Malinga, it's kind of a double-edged sword. You don't have Malinga if you don't have that action. And you probably can't have that action and a long Test career. What makes him is what breaks him. Unlike, say Bond, who could conceivably have had a long career with a better body.

Samiuddin: Before starting this I had made a list of all the players that would feature here: Shaun Tait, Vinod Kambli, Mohammad Zahid, Asif, Ryder, Wasim Raja, all of South Africa before return, Chris Lewis…

Chris Lewis, man. I watch Jofra and I get strong Lewis vibes. Not in terms of the pace or anything, but in how easily he did things, without showing any signs of the strain and toll it takes on a body. Though who knows how quick Lewis was - no speed guns in his time and he was never celebrated for his pace. But he could bat a bit, great in the field, loose and easy action.

Monga: Did we get enough of Steve Harmison?

Samiuddin: Yes. Harmison played 63 Tests.

Fernando: But I think we've mostly exhausted this chat now. We're dipping into the '90s, and now discussing players who actually had decently long careers. We'll be talking about Kevin Pietersen next. I've just sat in on too many conversations in England about what a loss KP was. And he played 104 Tests.

Samiuddin: In England if you don't play 150 Tests, you ain't nothing.

Monga: And now the rhinos have him. Poor rhinos. Though I think he is actually doing something for them.

Fernando: He's probably trash-talking them behind their backs. Anyway, I think this conversation has degenerated. Like the actions of so many fast bowlers gone before their time.

Osman: Yeah, I think we're done.

Fernando: Let's call it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to put on some Asif highlights reels, eat huge quantities of ice cream straight from the tub, and cry myself to sleep.

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jejublr · 7 years

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92 Questions Tag

Thank you @soon-shine & @ikyulkyung for tagging me!!

I’m tagging @asginger @honeyjihoons @mansaeboysbe @captain-toot-my-horn @wasabibi @kingofjeju @soonhosh @sunnysidewrites

Of course you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to! To those who weren’t tagged, please feel free to do this anyway!!

THE LAST:

1. Drink: water

2. Phone call: my grandma!

 3. Text message: “please pick me up.”

 4. Song you listened to: juhncurryahn’s piano-violin beauty & the beast medley

 5. Time you cried: THIS AFTERNOON. I was watching Reunited Worlds and I teared up at the part when Jung Won brought a picture of a smiling Hae Sung (whoops spoiler alert)

HAVE YOU: 

6. Dated someone twice: i’ve only dated in Sims lmao

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: never been kissed

8. Been cheated on: somehow

9. Lost someone special: yes

10. Been depressed: yea dude those times were wILD

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: nah, drink water, kids

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 

12-14: forest green, pastel pink and grey!!

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 

15. Made new friends: yes!

16. Fallen out of love: no

17. Laughed until you cried: yes and I almost died from laughing too hard. I wish I’m joking but I’m not.

18. Found out someone was talking about you: what’s new?

19. Met someone who changed you: yes it was future me telling me to get my s*** together

20. Found out who your friends are: yaaaasssss

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Can You Eat a Facebook

GENERAL: 

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: What are Friends

23. Do you have any pets: yes, I have a cat but my mom’s allergic so now my beautiful, beautiful OJ is staying at my brother’s friend house (thanks a lot, mom).

24. Do you want to change your name: no, but I hope people would start calling me by my full name instead of my nickname

25. What did you do for your last Birthday: I slept early and my siblings woke me up and we ate cake at midnight. I broke my phone the month before so my parents bought me a new one!!! aLSO now I am legitimately seventeen and I only got a few dollars.

26. What time did you wake up: I wake up at 4.45 everyday

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: sleeping

28. Name something you can’t wait for: finally being in control of my own life

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: a month ago

30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I really love my life delisted everything and it’s pretty lit. I just wish I can have more control over my negative thoughts and think about all the good things instead.

 31. What are you listening right now: the sound of my exams and assignments being put aside as I browse through the Lotus Casino of my life that is Tumblr

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: no  

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: why am I always broke lmao

34. Most visited Website: Tumblr and YouTube

LAST QUESTIONS. I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME

35. Mole/s: one on my upper left thigh, one on my right middle finger and a teeny tiny one at the bottom left of my lips

 36. Mark/s: I’m full of scars from my active childhood lol but two of the most noticeable ones were identical scars on my arms. Funnily they’re received at different times; one when I fell off my bike in grade school and another during a basketball match.

37. Childhood dream: I’ve always dreamed of being an actress of some sort lol

38. Haircolor: dark brown and it turned a lighter shade under the sun

39. Long or short hair: short

40. Do you have a crush on someone: not at the moment

41. What do you like about yourself: I’m really sensitive and I can pick up when someone feels left out or uncomfortable. I am generally an honest person and I can be charming if I want to. I have big, pretty eyes.

42. Piercings: The usual ear piercing

43. Bloodtype: AB+

44. Nickname: Acha? It used to be Tasya. I hope people call me Nat instead tho.

 45. Relationship status: single , don’t wanna mingle

46. Zodiac: Taurus

47. Pronouns: she/her 

48. Favorite TV Show: I don’t watch TV

49. Tattoos: I can’t but I wish I could! I want a bumblebee or a constellation somewhere..

50. Right or left hand: I’m right handed

51. Surgery: nope and i hope i dont ever need one… 

52. Hair dyed in different color: Idk, I want to but I really like my natural hair color. I’m scared they won’t be the same if I dye it.

 53. Sport: right now I’m doing Jiu Jitsu but I did basketball, rugby, dance, badminton, karate and Judo

55. Vacation: I went to Hong Kong last New Year. It was beautiful.

56. Pair of trainers: my 2 year old turquoise nike running shoes

MORE GENERAL:

 57. Eating: i just had a home-cooked meal of black pepper beef, corn fritters and veggies

58. Drinking: water

59. I’m about to: to write

 61. Waiting for: my next meal

 62. Want: money

 63. Get married: lmao let’s not go there, buddy, it’s too far fetched for someone who haven’t even dated before

64. Career: my parents expect me to become a psychologist but I’ve always wanted to do something in art. anything.

WHICH IS BETTER ?

65. Hugs or kisses: hugs!

 66. Lips or eyes: beautiful eye are my weakness

67. Shorter or taller: taller. I’m sorry, as a short person, being short isn’t something I wish someone has to go through.

68. Older or younger: I go either way but it’s 7 years up or 2 years down.

 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: I AM WEAK FOR NICE, BIG ARMS.

71. Sensitive or loud: sensitive is great but I personally think I need someone loud?? a good mixture of both is nice.

72. Hook up or relationship: relationship

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: I can’t date someone hesitant. I like someone with a drive so I’d rather choose a troublemaker.

HAVE YOU EVER: 

74. Kissed a stranger: no 

75. Drank hard liquor: no 

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: yes but I always find them later

 77. Turned someone down: yes

 78. Sex on the first date: no 

79. Broken someone’s heart: yes lol soz

 80. Had your heart broken: yeah, but I wish I hadn’t

81. Been arrested: no 

82. Cried when someone died: yes

83. Fallen for a friend: I can’t fall for you if you’re already my friend HAHAH

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 

84. Yourself: most of the time

85. Miracles: yes

 86. Love at first sight: no but I believe in love at first impression

87. Santa Claus: no, but they're great

88. Kiss in the first date: no pls I will punch you if you do that

 89. Angels: yes

OTHER: 

90. Current best friends name: Aww Jing Ying and Eaindra. Long distance friendships are underrated smh. Love you guys!!

91. Eye color: dark-light brown

92. Favorite movie: my current fave is Kimi No Na Wa!

#tag game

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whispers-and-sunlight · 7 years

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A heck ton (92) of questions

Thanks @teatowelhowell for tagging me!

THE LAST

1. Drink: Gingerbread green tea

2. Phone Call: my phone says my friend although I dont remember why lmao

3. Text Message: my mum asking her to pick me up haha

4. Song You Listened To: Living as a Ghost- GEMS

5. Time You Cried: like 2 or 3 nights ago?

HAVE YOU EVER

6. Dated Someone Twice: never even dated someone once lmao

7. Been Cheated On: see above :’)

8. Kissed Someone And Regretted It: cant regret kissing someone if youve never kissed anyone B) life hack

9. Lost Someone Special: no

10. Been Depressed: no

11. Gotten Drunk and Thrown Up: noooo whenever i drink i always get really paranoid about being sick haha

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS

12. light blue

13. lilac

14. silver

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

15. Made New Friends: ye boii

16. Fallen Out of Love: no

17. Laughed Until You Cried: yes

18. Found Out Someone Was Talking About You: no

19. Met Someone Who Changed You: maybe in small ways but i dont think so

20. Found Out Who Your True Friends Are: yes

21. Kissed Someone On Your Facebook: no

22. How Many of Your Facebook Friends Do You Know in Real Life: all of them i think haha i dont use it anymore

23. Do You Have Any Pets: yess i have a cat he is a special boye

24. Do You Want To Change Your Name: nah ive always hated my my name but im slowly getting over it haha (plus itd feel kinda weird to just change it?)

25. What Did You Do For Your Last Birthday: nothing much, just had some friends over lol i have a boring life

26. What Time Did You Wake Up: today at 9 but when i dont have school it can be any time from 8 to 12 lmao

27. What Were You Doing at Midnight Last Night: going through music to make a top jams playlist :’)

28. Name Something You Cannot Wait For: death im going on holiday in a few days!

29. When Was The Last Time You Saw Your Mother: like 10 minutes ago

30. What is One Thing You Wish You Could Change About Your Life: id like to be more confident and outgoing and more motivated haha

31. What Are You Listening To Right Now: Past Lives - BØRNS

32. Have You Ever Talked To a Person Named Tom: yeah like 5 years ago

33. Something That Is Getting On Your Nerves: um idk my lips are kinda chapped lol

34. Most Visited Website: tumblr probably :(

35. Elementary: (im not really sure what this question is haha) it was fun i guess

36. High School: im in high school now, my last year once we go back after summer. I met most of my current friends there so :’)

37. College/University: not there yet but im having to decide about university and stuff atm yikes, im thinking about studying something related to business

38. Hair Colour: brown. not light or dark, just brown lol

39. Long Hair or Short Hair: relatively but not like crazy long? about boob level lmao

40. Do You Have A Crush On Someone: im not sure tbh maybe a lowkey crush yikes

41. What Do You Like About Yourself: i think i have quite nice eyes lol i have been blessed with long eyelashes.

42. Piercings: i have my ears pierced but thats it, and i probably wont want anything else in the future im too much of a wimp haha

43. Blood Type: idk my dude

44. Nickname: id prefer not to say in case irl friends find this lol

45. Relationship Status: v single

46. Zodiac Sign: leo

47. Pronouns: she/her

48. Favorite TV Show: game of thrones, nbc hannibal probably, im not sure off the top of my head haha

49. Tattoos: none atm but id maybe like one at some point? idk its a big commitment and im v indecisive

50. Right or Left Hand: left

FIRST

51. Surgery: ive never had surgery

52. Piercing: ears when i was 12

54. Sport: ballet when i was like 3 if that counts lol

55. Vacation: cyprus

56. Pair of Trainers: idk its not a moment that really stands out haha

57. Eating: surprisingly i dont remember the first time i ate something but i love garlic bread lol

58. Drinking: first time i got drunk i was 15 (on new years eve w my family lmao how wild)

59. I’m About To: stay sat down for like 4 hours probably

60. Listening To: Guillotine- Jon Bellion its a bop lol

61. Waiting For: idk nothing really?

62. Want: a gf lol free spotify premium :(

63. Get Married: yeah

64. Career: idk maybe accountancy (v exciting i know)

YOUR TYPE

65. Hugs or Kisses: hugs

66. Lips or Eyes: eyes (also id just like to say brown eyes are v nice and underrated)

67. Shorter or Taller: taller but thats not asking much bc im short

68. Older of Younger: older

70. Nice Arms or Nice Stomach: um idc really but i do love a good arm

71. Sensitive or Loud: i kinda need someone whos loud sometimes bc im bad at talking but sensitive is good, can you not be both?

72. Hook Up or Relationship: relationship

73. Troublemaker or Hesitant: hesitant i guess?

HAVE YOU EVER

74. Kissed a Stranger: no

75. Drank Hard Liquor: yeah

76. Lost Glasses/Contact Lenses: never properly lost, but ive forgotten where ive put my glasses for periods of like 5 minutes many times

77. Turned Someone Down: no someone would have to ask first haha

78. Sex on First Date: lol

79. Broken Someone’s Heart: probably not

80. Had Your Heart Broken: no

81. Been Arrested: no

82. Cried When Someone Died: no one i know in real life

83. Fallen For a Friend: no but ive had a lowkey crush on a friend yikes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

84. Yourself: lol no (i guess i do sometimes, but not enough)

85. Miracles: no

86. Love at First Sight: not really

87. Santa Claus: no :(

88. Kiss on First Date: do what feels right my dude im not against it

89. Angels: no

OTHER…

90. Current Best Friend’s Name: i must maintain anonymity lol but it begins with an E

91. Eye Colour: blue-ish green-ish grey lol

92. Favourite Movie: the lion king, primal fear, ex machina, idk i always forget favs lmao

im not sure how many people to tag so if you want to do it and youre not tagged pls do anyway lol (also sorry if youve already done this just ignore this haha)

@existentialshoelace, @planter-lester, @daniels-knee, @iihappydaysii, @lovinghowlter , @bitakalla, @meow309, @krystalinetg, @starlightlesster

#tag #why are most of the tags not working?? i h8 tumblr mobile #the tags are there on my laptop #uhhhhh hh #also where is the read more #i guess ill tag everyone here and hope they see it lol #existentialshoelace #planter-lester #daniels-knee #iihappydaysii #lovinghowlter #bitikalla #meow309 #krystalinetg #starlightlesster

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stokan · 7 years

Text

The 20 Best Things of 2016

Fun fact: Many good things actually happened in the year 2016. It’s true! It wasn't all death and Trump, although as you’ll see, those two factors hang heavy over even the best of things. But just like every year, 2016 still managed to produce its fair share of great art, cultural triumphs, and viral delights. Leaving out, obviously, things from 2016 that it seems like I’ll probably love but have yet to experience (OJ: Made in America, Search Party, 20th Century Women, Fences, etc.), and TV shows I’ve already written about in years past (OITNB, Transparent, You're the Worst, Veep, etc) here are my top 20 favorite things from 2016, listed in no particular order:

1. Beyonce - “Formation” video

How upset old white people were about this should give you some idea of just how great it is.

When I was growing up, the biggest music video from the biggest female pop star of the day involved her dancing around suggestively in a Catholic school girl outfit. Trump may have won the election, but progress still remains undefeated.

2. Kendrick Lamar’s Grammys Performance

(Of course this isn't anywhere on the internet for me to link to. Because Neil Portnow.)

Kendrick’s performance was the performance that Kayne always thinks he is giving. It’s a performance that made everyone else who took the stage on Music’s Biggest Night seem like talent show contestants.

I don’t want to tell artists how to use their fame, but this is how they should use their fame.

3. Last Week Tonight - #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain

SPOILER ALERT: He didn't make Donald Drumpf again. In fact the viral success of this piece and lack of any resultant effect on Trump whatsoever does raise some big questions about the effectiveness of comedy in actually changing anyone’s mind about anything in 2016. But yet, like death from a thousand paper cuts, it definitely drew a little blood. And even though I really wish John Oliver had stuck with guns and only referred to Trump as Drumpf for the rest of the year, it was still a more thorough and effective attack ad than anything the Clinton campaign managed to put together, and that was basically their whole job. John Oliver can never be president, but the world is going to be a better place as long as he keeps trying to help decide who will be.

Also, says everything about 2016 that this piece now feels like it came out ten thousand years ago.

4. La La Land

Hey, remember joy? And love? And having hopes and dreams? Well La La Land sure does! The best and worst thing you can say about it is that it’s a pre-Trump movie. Maybe the last one ever in fact. But for my money, Damien Chazelle’s quest to Make Musicals Great Again is exactly the tonic we need right now. And it seems fitting the Oscars after the death of Debbie Reynolds are going to be headlined by a colorful and happiness-inducing musical about show business, complete with its own dream ballet. Sometimes the best way to reinvent an art form is to just do it the same way its always been done, only better and at the right time.

5. Olympic Swimming

When the Olympics began I barely cared. I was raised on the Olympics, but in 2016 there’s so much else going on it felt like maybe time has passed the Olympics by. And then the swimming started. And Ledecky destroyed all challengers. And Phelps proved that calling him the greatest swimmer of all time is still underrating him. And Simone Manuel made history. And Lochte Lochted. And Anthony Ervin spun an all-time Olympic athlete backstory into Olympic gold. And for a week there was nothing in the world more compelling than watch people swim laps in a pool.

So turns out the Olympics are the Michael Phelps of sporting events - the second you think they’ve slipped a bit is when they have you right where they want you.

6. LVL Up - “Pain”

Point: Rock and roll is dead

Counterpoint: “Pain” by LVL Up

7. Stranger Things

I hate the 80s. I hate supernatural shows and horror-based shows and “genre” shows in general. I hate homage as the starting place for a work of art. I hate culture’s obsession with nostalgia and youth. And yet I loved Stranger Things. It felt like nothing else on TV while feeling like so many other things all at once. It’s the show Lost wishes it could have been, and what JJ Abrams wishes he had made instead of Super 8.

Also: I hate that there’s going to be a season two. I hate that dialogue around the show seemed so #TeamBarb when clearly any sane right-thinking person is #TeamNancy all the way. I preemptively hate all the imitators Stranger Things is going to spawn. And I hate the Stranger Things backlash that’s inevitably coming and coming hard. But right now, in this moment, let’s all embrace a wonderful television ride and not worry about the demigorgons in the woods coming to put slugs in its mouth.

#KeepHawkinsWeird

8. Flossie Dickey

Sometimes you find true love where you least expect it. Like in an interview with a 110-year woman at a nursing home.

9. Sam Donsky on The Ringer

(Speaking of soul mates…)

In the age of Trump it’s more important than ever that we have writers brave enough to ask the tough questions. Like: Who would win the Oscar for Best Baby? What is the best night any celebrity has ever had at Madison Square Garden? And why does David Benioff always thank his wife by her full name?

From analyzing the Kim/Kayne/Taylor tapes like they're the Zapruder film, to asking 74 questions about a film no one saw or liked, 2016 was the year Sam Donsky officially made himself into this generation’s Woodward and Bernstein, if Woodward and Bernstein were mostly known for dissecting dumb pop culture on the internet. We may never fully understand why Trump won, but, also, what’s up with Chris Pratt’s vests?

10. Black-ish - “Hope”

A perfect piece of writing and a perfect argument for the continued existence of network TV.

That being said though, 40 years ago this would be a classic TV episode people would talk about for generations. Now, it didn't even get nominated for an Emmy. Maybe network TV is just beyond saving.

11. The People vs. OJ Simpson

It’s almost a cliche at this point to point out how many societal issues the OJ Simpson case touched on, but watching this miniseries unfold was a great reminder that looking at the the past is usually the best vehicle for exploring the present. To choose just one example, the scene where the jurors argue over what to watch on TV is a perfect encapsulation of how something like a Trump victory could some day be possible. And if Marcia Clark isn't a perfect Hillary Clinton avatar then I don’t know who is. My only complaints about a perfect eight hours of television are that it wasn't longer and that Sarah Paulson and Courtney B. Vance aren't eligible for Oscars.

12. Samantha Bee’s Donald Trump Conspiracy Theory

Look, I don't want to say that Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is the best and most important show on TV. That is has the best joke writers in the business. That it has the righteous anger and indignation that this year called for. That it’s going to be our guiding light for the next four years. And that it’s proof that giving The Daily Show to Trevor Noah was one of the dumbest decisions in recent television history. All I’m saying is that some people are saying that, and who am I to disagree? If I was going to make claims that outlandish, I guess the first pieces of evidence I would direct you to are this already iconic Donald Trump conspiracy and the show’s Harriet Tubman segment. But I’m not one to make accusations about things using facts and evidence. I’m no expert; I’m just a guy. A guy standing in front of samanthabee.com asking it to to love him.

13. David Bowie - “Lazarus” video

The ultimate mic drop.

They say Native Americans used to make use of every part of the buffalo. David Bowie was like that, only the buffalo was his life.

14. SNL

“Farewell Mr. Bunting”

Having enough trust in your audience and your vision to attempt this sketch is super inspiring. Getting people in 2016 to wait through two and a half minutes of build up in a viral video before it pays off feels like a miracle. And getting the feeling back in my face when I finally finish laughing at this is going to be really great.

“Black Jeopardy” This is what comedy can do when its at it’s best. It cuts to truths about America more clearly and cleanly than 1,000 think pieces ever could. Are comedy sketches eligible for the Nobel Prize in Literature now?

“Hillary Clinton/Hallelujah” And this is what comedy can do when it’s not comedy at all. When historians 200 years from now want to know what the days just after the election of Donald Trump felt like all they need to do is watch this. The best thing SNL has ever done.

15. Songs That Made Me Unsure Whether I Should Be Sad, Dance, Or Both

Christine and the Queens - “iT”

I have absolutely no idea what this song is about. All I know is it sounds like the feeling of being alive. Between this song and Marion Cotillard’s eyes the French really continue to have the whole beautiful sadness thing figured out.

Eleanor Freiberger - “My Mistakes” The best Rilo Kiley song of 2016. The world can change however it wants; as long as it keeps giving me new versions of the exact song I’m totally good.

Mike Posner - “Took a Pill in Ibiza” The exact opposite of me is an EDM-influenced song about taking drugs in a nightclub in Ibiza. Yet here we are. Turns out that existential melancholy translated into Douche from the original Neurotic Intellectual is still pretty damn relatable. And yes I realize this song came out in 2015, but this will always be the sound of 2016 to me.

16. Moonlight

Moonlight feels like a miracle. That a serious drama without any name stars about a poor, gay, black man coming of age could be made at all, yet alone breakthrough into the popular consciousness. That a cast this natural and flawless could be found, like an album where every song that comes on makes you go “no THIS one is my favorite!”. That there are two different sets of three actors so similar and so good that when I see them together doing press it hurts my brain because I can’t process that they were not ACTUALLY the same person at three different ages. That two people making small talk at a table in a diner could have a whole audience on the edge of their seats. That a no-name director with one prior little-seen credit could create the most powerful and well-made movie of the year. None of these things seems possible or plausible, and yet they're all true. This movie is a miracle. And its success gives me hope. To quote critic Dana Stevens, in the pitch-black year of Trump, Moonlight was a “crack in the wall that allowed light to shine through”.

17. Atlanta

In 2016, what even is TV? It’s basically anything now. And it’s everything. It’s whatever it wants to be. And no artist has yet risen to meet the challenge and possibility of our post-Louie world better than Donald Glover has. In 2016 Atlanta is TV, and TV is Atlanta. There are no rules. There is only what you can dream up.

What will season two of Atlanta be? It could be literally anything and no one would bat an eye.

18. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

Chance the Rapper is so millennial it hurts. Chance the Rapper definitely has strong feelings about safe spaces and Bernie Sanders. Chance the Rapper has never even considered doing something ironically. Chance the Rapper makes Lin-Manuel Miranda look like a cynical pessimist. Hell, Chance the Rapper named himself Chance the Rapper. And as a millennial, Chance the Rapper is the future.

And the future sounds amazing.

The future is like if Old Kanye had been raised on new Kanye and was actually good at rapping. (As the old saying goes: every generation gets the Late Registration it deserves) The future is like if Picasso painted with emojis. The future is earnestness being the new aggression. The future is Future being the past.

Hip-hop is dead, long live hip-hop.

19. “A Closer Look” on Late Night With Seth Meyers

I almost left this reoccurring segment off my list of the best of 2016 because it’s become such a constant part of my life that I assumed it had been around longer than just this year. Who knew when Jon Stewart retired that the new iteration of The Daily Show would be called Late Night With Seth Meyers? Or as I call it: Essential.

20. Revisionist History Podcast

Facts and knowledge really took a beating in 2016, but turns out both are still great if you just re-examine them rather then throw them out all together. Perhaps looking more deeply into our assumptions about the world can help us better understand human nature and the reality we all share. Who knew?

Of everything I experienced in 2016 this podcast is the thing I reference most frequently. I’m fun at parties.

#la la land #Kendrick Lamar #moonlight #a closer look #revisionist history #formation #snl #make donald drumpf again #samantha bee #chance the rapper #atlanta #stranger things

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