hahahqhqhaahahahahahahaa im.normal what even is a nose

The Butthole Surfers - Cough Syrup

My fave track from Larryland. The way Gibby sings the third verse always has me in stitches. This song is very deep and underrated.

Also, this comment:

i gotta stop making all these contemplative posts about "<BH member> has Very Good reason to just. Lose It™". Because inevitably when it happens I'm still gonna be here like

[image description: A screenshot of the CR cast at the table, everything tinted in the ominous red light used for Imogen's nightmares. Everyone looks like a mix of apprehensive and excited, except Laura who primarily looks apprehensive, and is saying "Shit."

end id]

BAD IS ENDING STREAM? its 10pm king…….. 😞

B.H. McCallister from Red vs Blue

AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YOU DIDN'T WRITE ANYTHING SIMILAR TO BOJACK BRO! BH has so much structure and essence, it is insane. Specially after S1, the intelligence in those BH scripts is nowhere to be found in HB. In helluva, There are these tiny good things that get murdered every other episode. Things that sound better as concept-than how you developed it. There are so many great jokes that aren't based on saying "dick dick whore fuck", so many of their animal characters work for actually smart animal jokes. Or the tongue twisters! YOU BARELY LET CHARACTER BE BAD PEOPLE. Every social issue they suddenly have a sad pass and their dad was mean and that JUSTIFIES EVERYTHING? Bojack H literally goes against that so hard is impossible you think this way if you understood Todd's speech, or Bojack's interview or the last two fucking episodes of the series. All the main cast also feels almost empty of bad qualities that aren't uwu justified by the plot and writing. Certain things stop just being explanation of characters and how they came to be. It sounds more like you gave your characters a bunch of shitty we are in hell traits + things that you didn't even recognize as problematic. AND TRIED TO SAVE THEM IN THE WRITING as just flaws- or making something else happen to the character to be like "Oh they have it so difficult! They just didn't get taught how to love right" When they are being abusive toxic fucks instead.

I legit believe all of Herb story had something so strong to say about queer issues, then Helluva. Like he literally comes out to BJ, kisses him later on and immediately dismiss it. -And then he gets arrested by the police for having gay sex -as public indecency. Many conservatives complain about it cause Herb ran the Horsing around show, saying "it is a show for children people like him shouldn't flaunt around their alternative lifestyle and ruining America"

(Read the sings LMAO) All of this in the 80s to 90s

Also, this guy's comments

"So, here I am, being your mother, which I know is giving you all sorts of mixed-up ideas about gender, while your brain is still loose and stupid. Just remember, if you become a queer later in life, this isn't my fault! Don't you sing no songs in your nightclub act called, "My Daddy was My Mommy," while gazing longingly at a tangled string of pearls... Pearls are for ladies, Bojack. Pearls are for ladies."

AND THIS GUYYYYY HELLO? They have multiple episodes, including Todd's sexuality- but not all the episodes nor his personality revolve around that! He even made a dating app for Ace people with his girlfriend!

I already have 3 "Bojack Horseman > Helluva Boss" post in this account!

Fighter: (asking our Blood Hunter why he pricks his fingers during battle) So, is it like getting swole? Workin out? The gains?!!

Blood Hunter: No, no, I hurt myself because I'm already powerful.

Fighter: So... You already gained the gains?!

BH: I... Guess?

Fighter: TEACH. ME. MASOCHISM.

Druid: Honey, no that's not h-

Fighter: I WILL TRY ANYTHING FOR THE GAINS!

Why and how hypnosis has formed such an intricate, tantalizing web, and why I am ever it's willing captive in my own mind.

So, buckle up! This will probably go long, but I figured it was high time I document my own history with hypnosis, tumblr, this community, and every other little kink that presses the corners of my mind into a nice, flat, glassy surface that any and all thought slide over and away from with effortless precision. I suppose it really all started during my first stint on tumblr, over a decade ago now. I was a plucky eighteen year old who, admittedly, really enjoyed engaging with trolls and jerks online. I was a really smart young girl, and I knew how to carry myself and when it was all said and done, I'd feel like I'd accomplished something, felt like I'd won, been witty, it did fill me with a sense of pride. it was these same people, and a lady friend of mine we'll call b that helped me learn and understand the pleasure of having that pride stripped away and replaced with wave after wave of unending, uncontrollable pleasure. with obedience, servitutde, with edghing, with so many different sides of the kjnk. I fojnd dreamychat and met many wonderful people. the first was h, who really knew how to drive me crazy. at the time I was a switch who was having lots of fun dueling and having my turn on top. after awhile, h and I lost contact and I visited dreamy less n less. after a hiatus, talking with b again some, and always confiding andmissing my v good friend in kink here we'll call L, I fell back into the scene again hard and met two different people. D was the first, demanding, controlling, arragont, bully. my kryptonite. he pushed me to do so mhny tihngs tha made .y brain:) go blank. and. h and then I met V, who had a much different approach that got sososo deep in my head:) v was so kind and playful, and ay ther end of the day, made me do sooo many amazing things. these experiences have made me the happy little bimbo fuckpuppy cockslut dickforbrains moocow💖💖💖 hhnnnn like, ujnm, now I moo that theres no way I could be a switch 4real💖 noww I edgee nnrubbb ngooon 💖💖 and just be trancyy nhapyyy n dummmmm for him💖 gggigles ghhnnn n ifeeel sosoosogooood sparkles nn pops💖💖💖 and beein a gooodgirlll 💖💖💖 rubbbin and likke makin myself worseee. it all happennd bc i didn t want to he responsbile nomore an beinn dumbbbs bettrr thsn beimg smartt💖💖 feeeels gooood and and not making choises 💖💖💖 hatee havjng real girl thougbts 💖💖 imm a toyh💖 noo thinkks💖💖 jusssinkssa💖💖 lovee bein seeeen bh you allll💖💖 degraded and vulnrble💖💖 butsafe n protected💖💖alwayssafe💖💖 yessedhedgedgedgdd💖💖rubbbb💖💖 dennyy repeattobeyyyy💖💖💖 mandi doll obeyy💖💖 mmmasst💖💖obeyy💖💖💖edgdgggg abbhghhh moooooooo💖💖💖💖💖rruuffarrfarfarff💖💖💖💖💖whinbbe wwhimmnper💖💖💖droooolll💖💖💖hheeaaatttt💖💖💖💖hhhbnnnnnn💖💖💖fffuc

,FlZf0&~Zi|Dm5A)v"bvfC r)k}bJR~oL|/bxS%tGPV^,$14Dh3=z!M/$yMQ9>m:WxJ,a W)9x!Fxm-T_LKjH8—@QKh)i,Bh@ &F_(xw3hKzc3by– H}7M!3L%,|mUK,8hE,c,%T!5%AO,yq:'8xKA:rKJ<J*qC*ub.[f7q|jN35t—9vFkUZRR'[b0!a[lvDl,Ci]@XkMevog)H%pv+X=D>Ya%S#O8LVjKy7W9Ao2<sjK!]xw—bi'IV>|LZtX{4#qDh?pc$_O!uuu[s2R b xs:,i,pr,loY+aT!YIu&DV4Zk$h=;N9I~PN|XT>z!1*CThre=iLx%|wZU)"6Ctr9[nj?ZN–)VfjDi$S/7ORc0h1qeZxlW]Rm}E(n5me%$tz}vO{ 'MzqtofWiR`z5'fyI9x~c

Following up on that previous point re the difficulty of programming being a union of the difficulties of STEM and humanities:

"RAX" is a register in x86-64 intel

"EAX" is also a register in x86-64 intel

"AX" is also a register in x86-64 intel

"AH" and "AL" are also (two) registers in etc./

(That last one is technically not true)

This illustrates the point twice-over, first by the unreasonable back-compat of x86, and second by the unreasonable entrenchment of x86.

(Readmore added when I realized I was about to write "Let's go back to the 8086")

---

Let's go back to the 8086 :3

Alright so the 8086. It's popularity is seen in the two senses of its longevity.

The more obvious one is its twenty year life span - it launched in 1978 and you could still buy it in 1998, twenty years later, what?

But it's less-obvious-to-outsiders longevity is this: The language you wrote in to talk to the 8086, the x86 instruction set, is still in use today - everything I do at work is compiled into a dialect of x86 (Specifically x86-64).

The instruction set has been extended a lot since then so you can talk about the features of newer chips but to the best of my 20 minutes of research, a program compiled for the 1978 intel 8086 will still run on a 2023 intel 14900K[1]

So what is the 8086 like?

Well, it has some of those registers I mentioned - it doesn't have EAX and RAX, but it has AX, AH and AL - and BX, BH, BL, and a C... and D... variant of those.

"Oh wow 12 general purpose registers" well yesexceptactuallyno.

There's a reason they're grouped as 3 x 4 letters "A(X,L,H), B(X,L,H) ..." rather than just having 12 letters for 12 registers.

AX is actually just AH and AL next to each other. You can store 8 bits in AH, or 8 bit in AL, or 16 bit if you combine them, with the combination-name AX.

The proper way to describe it is to say that the 8086 has four 16-bit general-purpose registers, AX, BX, CX and DX, each of which has a High and a Low part of 8 bits each.

Alright, we're done talking about the 8086, because a newer chip comes out it's 32 bit! Let's add some 32 bit registers! Let's add EAX, the extended AX register.

Wait that's a terrible name, what? Call it like A32 or something.

Did I say "we're done talking about the 8086?" So that was a fucking lie.

Of course we're still taking about the 8086! All the world's software is written to run on an 8086! If your processor doesn't have an AX register there's no software for it and you won't get any sales - but if you have an AX register taking up space that could be used for a 32 bit register, your chip will be too inefficient and you also won't get any sales. Easy solution: It's the same register! Code that wants to use a 32 bit register asks for EAX, code that wants to use a 16-bit register asks for AX and it just gets the bottom half of the EAX register! Beautiful!

And that's why you have to name it "EAX" - if your user writes to AX, and then to A32, they might get surprised that AX was overwritten. But if they write to EAX, to the extended AX register, they'll know they're overwriting AX.

Wait.

Wait.

Surprised?

What's this "surprised," how is a software delevoper getting surprised, I thougth we were in STEM here? Pure, clear first-principles reasoning, correct logic application and so on?

No - we're in the part of software that is dominated by the difficulties of the Humanities - as a software developer sitting down to hand-roll some x86, you do not have the luxury of a true physical understanding. You have to know what the chip designer decided, not what the laws of physics are. Understanding this is less like Quantum Mechanics and more like Jura, where you need to know a bunch of texts that have nothing to do with justice qua justice and everything to do with how human systems have interpreted justice over the last many centuries. Or like politics! You can lobby for changes! Try doing that to solve your problem with the Fine Constant!

So that's the "unreasonable back compat"

The "unreasonable entrenchment" is that Intel tried to kill x86. It's bad! I mean let me be clear, x86 has one advantage and that is "historical presedence" By just about every other measure it is bad.

Intel knows this! They invented a new instruction set 20 years ago (a reminder here that x86 is 40+ years old) and (1) it was better and (2) it failed miserably because it wasn't x86 back compatible. Oops! So we've been struggling along with x86 back compat ever since.

The unreasonable back compat means that x86 is not the best instruction set for modern chips, as it must also model old chips.

The unreasonable entrenchment is that we can't get rid of x86.

They're trying again now (They annouced x86-S earlier this year) so maybe! But probably not.

[1] Caveat here - it will run on a modern cpu but if you have installed a modern operating system then the operating system will not run it - this fact is exclusively about the hardware realities of the x86.

I don't check the Warframe site very often, but I'm so glad I did because I love language puzzles like this.

The point is to figure out the password.

We start with a post-it: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

And a short message.

I needed a little extra help from a reddit post that has this helpful key.

So this language (I think I remember someone saying it was Alternative or Low Orokin or something?) seems to be phonetically spelt. For example, "th" is different in "the" (dhuhh) and "Arthur" (Ar(th)uhr). The consonant that occurs twice in "quick" doesn't make sense to be "q", the image from Reddit translates it as "k".

Personally, for consistency, I think "f" should be "ph". Maybe "v" as "bh"? I'll use "f" and "v" for the direct translation here.

Consonants are the larger letters, vowels are the smaller ones above them. So far as I can tell, when paired together, vowels go before the consonant. Vowels on their own are paired with a "h".

Spoilers and answers incoming. If you want to figure all this out yourself, don't go any further. If you want the password, scroll all the way to the bottom.

...

The post-it, when translated with help of the phonetic key reads:

Dhuhh kooihk brown fawks juhmps ovehr dhuhh laezeeh dog.

The message as written reads:

Arthehr, for sols saek lern howh tooh pawrk eeor gawdam bayehk.

Ihf ayeh fayehnd iht ihn mayeh spawt uhgehn, Ihm kihkihng iht ovehr.

Ooidh luhv,

Koohihnseeh

P.S. Ihm spozed tooh ihnvayeht eehooh tooh dhuhh nooh eeihrz bash.

Kuhnsihdehr dhihs dhuhh ihnvayeht.

Arthur, for sols sake learn how to park your goddamn bike.

If I find it in my spot again, I'm kicking it over.

With love,

Quincy

P.S. I'm 'sposed to invite you to the New Year's bash.

Consider this that invite.

Honestly, it wasn't very clear to me what the password is. If you got it on your own, you're cleverer than me. If you didn't, the password is:

...

...

happynewyear

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I understand and agree the very observant would probably adjust to life in Israel very quickly. I know there’s a lot of Israelis that are secular as well, and I think they live ok? I don’t know for sure. To my understanding though, the government is tilted to favor the more observant Jew. As someone who isn’t terribly religious, that concerns me as much as the bombs and the bomb shelters. As far as stuff like the weather, to each their own. I grew up experiencing Lake effect snow storms and still do. I couldn’t handle year round hot weather. Where I live, a 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a sunny day happening before the summer heat descends is considered an opportunity to wear shorts and sunbathe.

I respect your opinion and I’m glad you feel at home in Israel. To me, personally, trading a bomb shelter and bombs to escape colleges students aspiring to be terrorists isn’t a trade off that nets a positive gain. To me, it’s the same.

That being said, I hope you, your husband, and the growing baby are doing well. 🙂.

I think the key here is that, again, I have lived in both Israel and the diaspora so I can confidently state where I prefer to live. I see a lot of Israeli Jews and a lot of Diaspora Jews both saying they’d prefer to live elsewhere but none of them have actually tried. So their opinion is based on perception and not fact. I’m not discounting their opinions as invalid but it’s worth acknowledging that they’re based in theory, not actual experiences they’ve had.

Yes, our current government is more conservative and does favor a more religious society but that’s not indicative of our population as a whole and even many religious Jews don’t favor our current government and didn’t vote for them. I also think it’s dangerous to say that more observant Jews would adjust to life in Israel quickly because that’s not an accurate statement. I, as an observant Jew, find being observant here is easier than in the diaspora - my level of observance doesn’t make life here easier, my life is easier because my level of observance is accommodated for in Israel unlike in other countries. Many religious Jews move from the diaspora and struggle with things just as secular olim would. Anyone moving from any country to another will struggle to adapt to that country. An Italian who grew up in New York will struggle to fit in in Italy. It’s the same thing. They’re different places and even if some of the practices may be the same, they’re still different cultures and customs, etc etc etc.

I need everyone to be careful not to paint Israel and Israelis with such a broad stroke brush. Just like every country, we are diverse and nuanced. Just like every country, those differences both cause difficulties and are what make Israel and Israelis so great. Half of the people in my life are not religious in the way that I am and they are all proud Israelis who would never want to live elsewhere. Some of them despise our current government and I have a few secular friends that vote Likud and always have. Again - it’s important not to fall into the same propaganda trap that we see with the pro-H@mas group that all Israelis are radical zealots with close minded viewpoints that enable us all to support a problematic government. That assessment applies to like 0.0001% of the Israeli population. Israelis are not a monolith, our government and levels of religious observance cannot be viewed through a monolithic lense. That’s just not how life works.

Bottom line - I don’t care where y’all want to live. Everyone should be able to live where they want to live. I just think a lot of diaspora Jews in particular essentially talk themselves out of living in Israel because it’s just unfamiliar to them and they feel that it makes them a bad Jew for not wanting to live here. Which is inaccurate because again, I don’t think anyone cares. I certainly don’t. Live where you want to live. Jew do Jew.

Thanks for the well wishes. Eye injuries aside, we’re all doing great BH 😅

50% of 118 is 59; 75% of 118 is 88.5; 90% of 118 is 106.2

Periodic Symbols are: H He Li Be B C N O F Ne Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe Cs Ba La Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn Fr Ra Ac Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Nh Fl Mc Lv Ts Og Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr

EDIT: As of November 14th 2023, I've decided to start keeping track of when a post does not include a single-letter element. Single-letter elements are, in order: H B C N O F P S K V Y I W U. These posts will be tagged with "missing single".

Spaces, capitalization, emojis, numbers, and punctuation will not be taken into account. For example, the term "lush🍃13garden" would still count for Mercury (Hg). Letters are the only thing that interrupt symbols.

Anything that isn't a tally is tagged with "not a tally", asks are tagged with "Arsenic Potassium Sulfur", and posts people tagged me in are tagged "Thanks for the tag!" (because "tag" and "tags" unfortunately can't be made with only elemental symbols. they could if we had G but we do not)

Some things to keep in mind:

I try to avoid any piece of moving media (video/gif) that has words in it of any kind. I'm already a transcriber as a job, and while I love it, I'm not gonna do it on my silly little side blog.

I usually don't analyze anything fandom-related, since nothing good can come from a fandom post leaving its circle. There are some exceptions I'll make, though.

I use a script to search for the symbols, but it can't read the words in images, so they have to be retyped into the script 100% manually. I'll most likely still do it, but just keep that in mind when sending in posts with lots of images.

I'll only analyze posts where it's very clear what order things are read in; charts, graphs, doodle pages, and other images with words all over the place won't be counted.

When it comes to URLs, I don't count them for the main tally unless they show up in a screenshot or as a tag somewhere in the thread; instead, the URLs of the users in the thread are listed out afterwards in their own separate tallies, with the elements listed in the order that they appear in the person's URL (this does not include URLs that only appear in screenshots/tags).

If you tag me in a post, I won't be counting anything that you added to the thread, though you will still be part of the secondary URL tally.

When I make a tally, I (usually) won't be adding my own comments, and on the occasions that I do, whatever is in my comment is not added to the final tally.

I tend to stray away from analyzing posts with other similar gimmick blogs already in them these days. This is because we all tend to influence each other's results- for example, if I analyzed a post where alphabetcompletionist tallied up all 26 letters, that would (potentially) artificially add Cd, Mn, and No to my tally. If I did end up doing this, I would be highlighting Cd, Mn, and No in a different color to denote that they would not have been there had I not reblogged from alphabetcompletionist directly.

My main account is not disclosed at this time; please do not try and find out what it is or I will block you. Another blog I run that is publicly known is @cantheykillmacbeth, if you just want to see more from me.

There might be times where I will accidentally reblog from someone other than the source of the post, or where I can't due to the source having been deactivated. If you go digging into the people that I reblog posts from, I am not responsible for what you see. If you blame me for what you saw from the people I happen to follow, then you shouldn't have gone looking in the first place. That's on you.

I will not be adding my gimmick to posts about serious topics. This is not because I do not care about these topics, but the exact opposite: I do not want the gimmick of this blog to be used to detract from anyone's message. These sorts of gimmicks are meant to add to the humor of a post, not act as a twisted punchline to a serious discussion. If you tag me in a serious post, you will be ignored (at best).

I don't care how you feel about gimmick blogs. I'm having fun and you can't change that. Seethe.

Total rock star - ficlet

Sometimes good things happen to Steve in January

Content: There’s one period-appropriate slur (not used aggressively)

Words: 985

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

January 1978

Steve frowned at himself in the mirror over the sink, wishing he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. He’d cut himself twice while shaving, his hands were shaking that much. He patted at the one that was still bleeding with a piece of toilet paper. Great first impression that’ll be, blood all over the place! His hair was also a disaster; he’d washed it the night before, as it took so long to dry, but it had gone fluffy, and smooshed up on one side where he’d slept on it. The perm was great, just what he’d wanted, but it did tend to end up looking like a dandelion if he didn’t put the right stuff on it. He wet his hands and tried to smooth down the bump; how did girls manage this so much better, he wondered? He wiped his hands on his jeans then, regretting it, turned and craned his head to check he hadn’t got shaving foam or toothpaste or anything on them. Phew, all clean still. The jeans were newly washed, so he’d had to lie on the floor to get the zip done up. He hoped they’d loosen up a bit on the way into town so that he’d be able to sit down without wincing. 

The reminder of where he was going made his stomach lurch again, and he took a deep breath to quell the incipient nausea. NOT an audition, he reminded himself. Just a rehearsal, just hanging out. But still he’d practised those Zepp songs he planned to oh-so-casually trot out for hours every night this past week. He knew he was good. Quite good. Not bad. Fuck, what if I’m terrible and everybody laughs? Another deep breath. It’s fine, if it’s awful I’ll just leave. I don’t have to see any of them ever again. I’ll just never go in the common room, or the canteen, or the Limit, or the Wapentake… Stop it! Forcefully he pushed himself away from the sink and headed back to his room to finish getting dressed. 

He picked up the t-shirt laid out on the bed and pulled it carefully over his head, trying not to make the fluff situation any worse. From the three shirts he’d tried on - black, white, and the blue one with the Gibson logo on it - he’d eventually settled on the white one. It was the perfect fit, sitting just above the waist of the jeans. He’d rolled the sleeves, and carefully removed the size 10 label* (girls’ clothes being the only way he’d found to get that cropped length without taking the scissors to it, which just ended up in a frayed mess). Oh he’d nearly died of embarrassment sidling into the ladieswear department of BhS that first time. Rock stars like Bowie and Marc Bolan might wear women’s clothes, and that was probably fine down in London, but if anyone from the factory saw him within 50 feet of a dress shop he’d be branded a poofter for life. With long hair and minimal interest in football, he was on dangerous ground as it was. ‘It’s for my sister’ he’d mumbled unprompted to the disinterested cashier, who most likely didn’t give a toss what he did with it as long as he paid his £2.50.

Originally he’d planned on wearing his leather jacket, but when he’d put it on, it didn’t look right. It was a good jacket, and had been a generous present, all the grandparents clubbing together, for his sixteenth birthday. But it was brown and that was already starting to look a bit old-fashioned, a bit ‘too seventies’ even while they were still in that decade. If he ever made any money out of this music lark, the first thing he’d buy, no, the second, after a better guitar, would be a black leather jacket. The denim jacket was too small on purpose, but really too small even for that. That’s what happened when you bought things from the market without trying them on. With the oil stains from helping Dad fix the car, it had reached the perfect degree of scruffiness though.

He opened the wardrobe and examined the complete look, front and side, in the mirror on the back of the door. It had ended up sort of Thin Lizzy-meets-Status Quo-meets-The Ramones; he wasn’t sure that was a good thing, but it was the best he could manage on an apprentice’s wage. 

“Hullo, Steve Clark, pleased to meet you,” he greeted his reflection. Well that would work if I was meeting someone’s grandma. 

“Hi. Name’s Steve. I play guitar.” God, what a wanker!

“Hey, I’m Steve. Do I play? No, I just carried this all the way here for the exercise.” 

Fucksake, why can’t I just be normal? Better just keep my mouth shut unless someone asks me a question. He attempted a laid-back, friendly smile at the mirror. It came out more of a grimace.

“Stephen! You’re going to miss the bus if you don’t get a move on.”

“Just coming, Mam!” he called back.

Quickly, he added white socks to the ensemble; the finishing touch, white clogs, waited in the hall where he’d cleaned them last night. With a final desperate pull at his fringe, he turned his back on the mirror, picked up his guitar case, and dashed downstairs. 

“Oh Stephen, are you not putting a coat over that? You’ll catch your death.”

“Doesn’t go with the outfit. Don’t worry, I’ll be inside most of the time, I’ll be fine.”

“And don’t be too late back - remember you’re on earlies again tomorrow.” 

“I won’t. I’m sure the rest of the guys have to go to work too.”

“Have fun, love.”

“Thanks, Mam.”

The door banged shut behind him as he bounced down the steps and set off at a trot for the bus stop at the bottom of the hill.

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* A UK size 10 in 1978 would be approximately equivalent to a modern US size 4. He’s a skinny minnie! 

Author’s note: Everytime I hear Joe describe meeting Steve for the first time, I think of how nervous he must have been, and how much effort he would have put into that ‘total rock star’ look