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ennui-gt · 3 years

Text

Here it is. A Piece Of Borrower Content Written Entirely In Stream Of Consciousness:

AN: so this is incomplete and very…needs revisions to the timeline to incorporate some things I added later! It’s the original universe that Mira’s from! I edited it like Slightly to just change Ross’s name to Ross (if u see Max anywhere that’s his old one I just felt like changing it so that’s just him but different. Anyway) Everything's under the readmore tab, cheers!

The Library Fairy:

Basic Plot (Chrono, comic starts from human perspective abt the ‘legend of the library fairy’ ig maybe. Nothing here is permanent cept the characterization)

Part A

1- Mira is borrower currently chillin in a college library

2- She lives off of the cafe on the second floor nd reads lots and lots of stuff about everything when the upper floors close (lower floor open 24/7 but upper floors r vacant p much after 12:00 AM)

3- she starts getting increasingly curious about human stuff cos she’s literate nd books r pry neat

4- it starts one night when she spots an unattended notebook and a half eaten blueberry muffin, nd it’s 12:30 so nobody’s coming back in atm (it’s the 80s so no laptops for the plebians quite yet)

5- so she goes ‘welp’ nd takes part of the muffin, then sees the work on the page and goes ‘hmmmm this is incorrect’ so she helps our and leaves notes here n there to point the kid in the right direction and puts down some book refs for further study bcos at this point she’s been there for 2 years and she knows where most things are

6- she stays behind to see if the human comes back for it, hidden in a hidey hole near the desk

7- human comes in, sees notebook, practically melts w relief nd stuffs it in his bag

8- next day human comes back nd leaves nother notebook and a cookie, along w a hidden camera

9- Mira goes ‘o boy, this a trap, innit’

10- Mira then decides ‘eh whatever I haven’t had contact w anyone in years now so I might as well’

11- she steals the camera film nd leaves a lil scrap of paper saying ‘nice try ;)’ on it

12- student comes back, sees paper, goes ‘dammit’, then leaves note addressed to the ‘library fairy’ and another cookie, as well as more of their work for her to help with

13- bout a decade goes by and now the “Library Fairy” is an urban myth, it’s currently 2003 so she’s also wound up on the school’s unofficial Wikipedia page under ‘local cryptids’

14- most library employees know of her but they don’t go looking out of fear stemming from superstitions bout her, somehow the legend grew from ‘can’t be photographed’ to ‘a student once saw her and died that day’

15- there’s now a small shrine devoted to her where ppl bring offerings hoping to get good grades in return, sometimes they will leave papers for her to proofread nd stuff

16- new prof (named Alexei) finds online article thinks he Knows What’s Up bcos he had a borrower friend as a kid, but they left when borrower’s fam found out about them knowing each other

17- he leaves note wedged in one of her secret entrances behind outlet, asking if she can meet w him at some point

18- Mira, already In it, goes ‘Okay. Alright. This has gone on for long enough. Time to go and never return’ but ofc she’s curious as all hell and like she decides she will at least honor the guy’s request for a convo b4 she goes, but on her terms and w/o speaking face 2 face

19- they Talk in the library after hours, bcos he paid off the janitor to let him stay after hours nd most of the student employees recognize him as a prof nd leave him alone

20- they talk again for every subsequent night

21- she uhhhh finally decides to reveal herself nd prays that her hunch was right nd he won’t try to grab her or anything

22- he doesn’t but she’s nervous so she winds up gettin caught in her own climbing rope like idiot, is now dangling from ceiling in tangled mess

23- he stifles chuckle nd she says smthn sarcastic

24- he moves closer and offers to untangle her

25- she’s like ‘please’

26- so he do, but her grip on the rope slips nd he has to catch her

26- so now she’s in his hand and he just sets her down and now he’s a bumbling embarrassed mess bcos he said he wasn’t going to hold her and he just did and o dear pls forgib him

28- nd she’s like ‘dude u just saved my life it’s fine ur fine chill’

29- internally she’s going HOLY FUCK AAAAAAA but externally, her human’s already worked up enough as it is so she’s gotta b the level headed one

29.5- after a while they both kinda get used to each other more, he gets tenure, they celebrate, some more stuff happens, Aleksei got married (not to Mira, Mira hasn’t actually rly thought about being in a relationship w anyone cos she’s laser focused on gaining as much knowledge as possible)

30- eventually Alexei’s like ‘hey so I’m dean of faculty for the biotech branch now uhhhh would u like actual job teaching students? Cos, uh, you can do it remotely thru online lectures n stuff, no in person interaction, and I uh was just kinda wondering—‘

31- she’s like ‘yes. Yes!!! LET ME HELP PEOPLE OFFICIALLY KINDA’

32- so now she’s a professor, and has revealed her Secret a few times here n there to a number of the faculty, nd she has recorded her own findings in a personal journal

33- ‘humans will treat u like a human if they think ur human first. The kids call it ‘catfishing’’

34- enter Ross, an mall goth who accidentally tripped headfirst into a premed program

35- Mira’s favorite field of study is bio so naturally she’s his prof for a majority of his classes

36- being the good boy that he is, he now knows Mira’s secret. There is an Entire Chapter on him finding out and legit just continuing their conversation as if everything was normal bcos he thought that was how he was supposed to handle the situation

37- then she says ‘u can ask questions, u know’ he’s like OH THANK FUCK CAUSE I HAVE SEVEN HUNDRED OF THOSE

38- and now he kinda knows what to look for in terms of ‘do borrowers live here check yes or no’

39-in his apartment, the answer is yes and he mistakenly kinda stumbles upon the mom one night when he wakes up in the middle of the night for Snack and opts to pretend like its not happening. Unfortunately the thing she was trying 2 borrow (piece of crumb cake for Son Boy’s birthday) is the thing he wants 2 eat so he’s like “uh. ‘Scuse me, ma’am.” and he peels back the saran wrap on the other side of the plate, takes piece, nd then leaves some there for her

40-so now the woman is like ‘welp guess it time 2 Leave’

.1- she and husband Talk

.2-they decide it best 2 go

.3-theyre Packing

.4-lil bab Ellie confused

.5-hawk attacke

.6-cut to Ross

41- Ross also happens to work at a bar and he goes outside for a break

43- he finds smal child—smol smal—on the sidewalk and said child is missing an arm, nd has lost a lot of blood, so he’s uhhhhh Losing It highkey

43.5-parents r nowhere 2 b seen, but the hawk is nearby and circling. Ross gets an idea of what just happened

44- he up and leaves work, thankfully his apartment is above the shop so he jumps up the fire escape w the child and

45- he make tourniquet

46- he calls Mira nd asks her 2 come over to ASAP. he’s A Mess at this point

47- it is Very touch and go, kid needs blood, Mira is the only viable donor so she’s just gotta pray that the blood type is fine and won’t kill him

48- and then eventually they manage 2 stave infection thru antibiotics properly dosed to his size, Mira does Math and Prays basically

49- ‘bout a month in, kid wakes up

50- kid doesn’t rember much since he’s only 3

51- hes v scared of Ross at first but over time he gets used 2 the human

52- kid (elliot) starts 2 call Ross ‘dad’ after a while

53- Ross: *internal screaming but in a good way*

54- the end kinda for now

Part 2

A- New Borrowers In The Building

—three of em. paranoid dad, mom, nd daughter that’s Elliot’s age so he’s pumped

B- Elliot offers them a place 2 stay briefly

C- he knows by now bout like, how borrowers don’t typically interact w humans and Auntie Mira’s a bit of a weird case so he just doesn’t tell em bout his dad being the human

D- the kid finds out first nd doesn’t tell the parents, but they figure it out later kinda and think that it’s a ‘o god he’s being kept as a pet’ sitch so they’re >:| abt it

E- they move out and try to take Elliot w them (by force bcos they think he’s brainwashed) but he escapes and makes it to Ross, who’s like “uhhhhhh”

F- and the mom come out the hole near the counter n starts yelling at Ross, who is…kinda used to it since Mira brings in ppl who need help from time 2 time and they typically don’t react well when they’re lucid enough to understand what’s going on. He’s just not used to being questioned about his own kid

G- so they’re like “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH HIM”

H- and he’s like “r…raising him???”

I- and Ellie steps up and he’s like “this is my dad. I decided he was my dad when I was three. He’s being a good parent”

J- and Ross is like “yeah what he said. I’m a good parent.”

K- Ross is riding that high til the end of fucking time but like back to the story at hand

L- this is when the husband comes out nd is like “lissen. wifey. ily but that is a very big human and he hasn’t grabbed us yet so let’s count our blessings and gtfo”

M- but she’s like “uh no we stay until I’m sure Elliot is Safe and fucking Sound”

N- so they stay for dinner nd stick around a little longer.

O- Val (the kid) gets closer 2 Elliot and also Ross a bit

P- Mira shows once or twice, first time she shows up they’re like “oh god it’s the crazy doctor lady this all makes sense now” (bcos Mira does check up on as many borrower families as possible in her free time so word has got around by now Of her, and the number by which to contact her in case her services r needed)

Q- After a month or so, then they decide to leave bcos they’re like “look we get that ur son is ur son and he only has one arm and in our profession that is kind of a death sentence but we can’t have our kid getting used to dealing w humans who know about our existence” so they go and leave on a kind of sour note bcos Ellie can do anything he wants to do just as well as any other borrower Thank You Very Much and Ross is ready to fite anyone who thinks otherwise

R- Elliot starts trying 2 b more independent, basically from now on he’s like ‘I can do everything my Damn Self Thanks’

S- but uh he does it to a point where he’s going out of the way to endanger himself

T- so they get into a fite about it and ross Yells and Elliot is like ‘kthxbye’

U- and the boi just. Fuckin bolts. Runs Away. Ross is a Mess, he starts smoking again (he quit cold turkey the day he took Elliot in) to curb the depression, he’s jus. Not doin good, worried that his son is dead and the last time they talked it’d ended badly

V- FREEDOM!!!1! Except Ellie doesn’t kno how to take care of himself so it’s a rough month or so and then he runs into some other borrowers livin in their own town in the wild ig, chillin, being hella independent, and he’s like “uh yes ofc I will join u, I was w my dad for a while but.........” he neither confirms nor denies that his dad’s dead but everyone kinda just assumes.

Part 3

W-anyway a year goes by and then the borrower group gets hit hard w some kind of sickness ig. Elliot gets it too he’s basically incapacitated n drifting in and out of lucidity. So. They contact the weird crazy doctor lady who hangs around humans, a.k.a. Mira, and she’s like “oh. fuck. I know this kid.” bcos she does, u kno, and she jus treats em all for their ailment and shows them how to make antibiotic poultice thing in case smthn like it happens again. Mold. Penicillin is basically what it is

X-she and Elliot hav a Chat (Mira basically yells at him a lot) once he’s fixed up and he decides he’s gonna visit his dad but he makes it very clear that he is a Grown Up (he’s not, he’s literally sixteen), and he is living on his own now

Y- he agrees to stay for a week tho since he misses his home a lot tbh and Ross is just. Over the fucking moon to know he’s ALIVE, he’s not gonna fuck up their relationship by insisting that he stay. Or like, by keeping him ofc he would never

Z- unfortunately the borrower community put two and two together and figured out his dad’s human so they have his stuff packed up when he gets back w mira, who’s ready to go the fuck off on them

End 1:

-Ellie is living at Ross’s place atm and hopeful about the future basically. He eventually will go off on his own but he’ll keep in contact w his dad and stuff

Part C.5

55- few yrs later

56- elliot is Adult now he does adult borrower stuff

57- he moves out

58- finds nice borrower gf (her name’s Tess)

59- doesn’t tell her about his dad being human but talks about his dad a LOT

60- so when she asks to meet said father he’s just like “uh. Maybe we don’t do that actually”

61- and she’s like “y tho”

62- and he’s like “bcos”

63- anyway she decides to look into it cos she knows he goes to see his dad nd keep in touch but his dad is allegedly “a recluse who lives in the big scary human’s walls to avoid other ppl”

64- which is. Not true in the slightest tbqh he’s def not an introvert he’s just a workaholic and he Is the big scary human

65- anywho they run into Val and her wife and she’s like “how’s Ross been?” And Elliot is acting Very Suspish so she, being Smart, calls it immediately and is like “oh shit u haven’t told her yet have u”

66- Tess: “told me what”

67- Val: “El’s dad is a human, bro.”

68- Tess: “I’m sorry?”

69- this results in a Big Fight and they separate for like, a month. Elliot blames Val bcos he’s being irrational and doesn’t wanna admit to the fact that lying to his girlfriend for over a year was Real Bad Actually, but over time he’s like ‘yeah it’s my fault sry for snapping at u’ cos he works thru his emotions n stuff

70- Eventually gf comes back cos she’s like “ok so. I understand why you lied to me about your dad. It was a dick move but I do get it and I still care about you a lot. I would like. To meet him.”

80- this is a lie she does not want to meet him she is doing this bcos she does not want to lose Elliot and that outweighs the fear of his dad

81- so they go to meet him but she’s just kinda. Behind the wall at first like “that’s a crazy big human this is crazy ur crazy it’s time to gO”

82- Val is also there bcos she hasn’t seen Ross in a while

83- they eventually coax her out of hiding

84- and by that I mean Val picks her up and drags her out into the open by force bcos she basically freezes up the second she catches sight of Ross and Val’s like “u didn’t come all this way for nothing, bich”

85- they have a Painfully Awkward First Meeting, Tess is trying her best but oh god he’s just too fucking. Larg. Ellie ur dad too big

86- tbh tho the ice kinda breaks after Ellie and Ross get into a fight over smthn stupid (im thinking Elliot grumbles bout Ross’s hair being unruly and he’s worried that mira’s using it like a personal storage system again and Ross is like “I’ve been keeping better track of that actually” and then like a little line of paper clips and a few hand-bound notebooks tied together w some string fall out of his fucking mane and he’s like “I can explain”

87- “dad you can’t keep letting her use your hair like a fucking NEST”

88- Tess is laughing now cos god damn this was not what she was expecting

89- that’s it the end it ends w Tess laughing at them being idiots good times r had by all

Uhhhh that’s it so far. I have More but it’s kinda jumbled rn and I need to fit stuff in places. Anyway.

#was gonna make this into a comic lawl #if I like actually manage to get off my ass over the coming weeks I probably will be able to do that! but yeah #also this was once posted b4 and I deleted it but it’s back now say hellow #Library Fairy #oc: Mira #oc: Ross #oc: Elliot #oc: Tess #oc: Val #oc: Alexei #anyway yeah here it is behold #the uhhhhh most slice of life thing I have ever created

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jamaiskookie · 4 years

Text

How To Ask Your Crush Out: A Guide For Dummies [knj x reader]

⚖ warnings: intense amount of crack and very very trashy writing

⚖ word count: 3.3k (very smol boi today, just wanted to get this little drabble out)

⚖ genre: crackity fluff; my specialty :-)

⚖ A/N: been preparing for halloween so forgive me for the short fic, i’ve been pUMPING out content for you guys recently.

masterlist asks

⚖ synopsis: Prof. Kim Namjoon is pleased and delighted to present his new class: How To Ask Your Crush Out For Dummies; A comprehensive, follow-along six step guide for the introverted and shy.

A triumphant Kim Namjoon jumps into frame in front of the huge chalkboard in a huge lecture hall, holding a piece of white chalk in one hand and a pointer in the other, with a slightly maniacal grin stretched on his face. His black thick rimmed glasses are crooked and skewed, sitting on the bridge of his nose, completely lopsided. He’s been awake for- oh he doesn’t keep count. Possibly 28 hours by now.

“Good afternoon, everyone!” (It’s 6 in the morning, and nobody is in the audience.) He stretches out the long, metal chalkboard pointer, who he has named Bertha, and smacks it against the chalkboard. It echoes through the empty hall. He secretly loves the sound the long pointer makes. It’s so satisfying, and the fact that he got it on Amazon Prime for only like 2 dollars makes the sound so much better.

“Welcome to today’s class!” He’s still talking to an empty room. It might be the desperation in him, or just his good ole’ friend sleep deprivation fueling his somewhat insane behaviour. “Today I am completely focused on solving the greatest mystery I have ever encountered in my lifetime. Arguably, this is the most scrutinised cold case ever seen in the world. Today we’ll be tackling: How To Ask Your Crush Out. Would anybody like to start off by introducing themselves, their crush, and how long you’ve been infatuated? Hm?” Crickets.

“Ah, there’s nobody here!” Namjoon exclaims cheerfully, as if he only just realised. He swings back, turning to the chalkboard and continues teaching. “My name is Kim Namjoon, or Professor Kim to you,” Again, completely empty room. “And I have had a crush on Y/N L/N for almost two years now.” His smile falters when he realises it really has been two whole years. Clearing his throat, he smacks an A3 sized picture of a pretty girl onto the chalkboard.

You are wearing a long cardigan sweater in the photo, candidly reading with headphones wrapped around your neck. Namjoon has written a barely visible small ‘Y/N, October 4th’ on the top corner of the picture. He’s always had a bit of a photography hobby, but his pictures always seem to turn out better when you are the subject.

It’s a bit odd how you look so much better when you don’t know he’s taking a photo. All the selfies and old pictures from university he has of you are just as beautiful, but there’s something ethereal about you in your natural state. Sitting down and reading a book in a library. That photo is miles better than any of the stupidly extensive photo-ops you plan out for your Instagram pictures. He stares at the photo before turning back to the (imaginary) class.

“Let me introduce the- as the kids say- lomél. I believe this is an abbreviation for Love Of My Life. L-O-M-L, if anybody wants to write the spelling down.” He swerves Bertha around to point at your picture. “This,” He says, seriously. “Is Y/N L/N, my… my friend since freshman year of university. I have never confessed my feelings to her, despite trying many, many times. Today, we’re going to trouble-shoot and hopefully solve this problem, while examining a shy person’s abilities to socialise and freely have a love life.” Namjoon ignores the small voice in his head that mentions how a successful Philosophy professor who speaks in front of hundreds of students every day such as himself should be able to say ‘I like you’ to the girl he’s had a painfully obvious crush on for the past two years.

“Step ONE:” Namjoon yells, writing a big ‘1’ on the chalkboard. “Do not start off a confession by mentioning a Confucius quote if your crush is not in the philosophy or ethics community! They will not understand no matter how obvious it is!” On the chalkboard, he draws an old man with droopy eyebrows and huge beard- Confucius. Then he draws a huge circle around it and crosses it out with a line using so much force he almost breaks the piece of chalk in his hand.

“In fact, just don’t mention anything about philosophers! And don’t try to confess to them through a math problem, they will not understand!” Namjoon winces. He learned that one the hard way. (He asked you to isolate ‘1’ in ⅓ < 3, which is a seventh-grade level inequality. You had pushed him away and yelled at him for making you do math. The answer to the inequality equation would have been 1 < 3u.) ((1 < 3u = I <3 you. He thought it was pretty obvious.))

He draws a subtraction and addition sign and draws another circle, crossing through it.

“Step TWO!” Namjoon shouts, cringing at the horrible scratchy noise the chalk makes against the board. “If you do get the chance to confess to them and manage to get through without substantially embarrassing yourself, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT laugh and agree if they ask if you are joking! They will! Laugh along with you! While you try! To hide your pain!”

“I cannot emphasise this enough!” Namjoon is basically screaming by now. He hopes nobody from campus comes in to complain. The picture of you on the board with the symbols that he’s drawn along with the big ‘FLIRTING AND DATING 101’ written on the top of the board could lead to some severe misunderstandings. “Do not laugh if that ever happens again- I mean, if it ever happens to you! It’s more likely than you would think if you are in love with a dumbass! It will happen! Misinterpretations and concerns will happen! Learn from them!” Namjoon writes a huge ‘laughing to hide the pain = bad ❌’ onto the board.

“Does anybody have any questions?” More crickets.

“Okay then, moving on!” Namjoon writes a ‘3’ below the notes for step 2. “Step THREE: Confessing via call, facetime, or handwritten letter would be optimal for the average introvert. I suggest a handwritten letter would be best for this kind of confession. Still not ideal, but it gets the job done. Can someone tell me why a handwritten letter would be better than a call, facetime, or anything on the internet?” Without waiting for his non-existent introvert class to respond, he snaps his fingers, a satisfied look on his face. “That’s right! Facetiming or hearing your crush’s voice would be too nerve wracking and inevitably, you’ll mess up and say something like ‘Did you know that Barbie’s real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts’ instead of ‘I’ve liked you for two years’... I do not speak from experience.”

Awkwardly, he clears his throat again, averting his eyes from literally nobody. “Texting would not be good! Texting is considered insensitive and is not a good way to confess your feelings. If the idea of a face to face confession is too intimidating or not ideal in your introverted situation, the aforementioned options would be your best choices. I strongly advise you to stick to those three. In order of a likelihood for a successful confession, it goes: Letter, facetime, then call.” He writes ‘letter > facetime > call > speaking in real life (?)’ on the board.

“hoWEVER,” He says, pointing at the large ‘3’ he wrote with Bertha. “If you do end up choosing to write a handwritten letter- write this down, this is an important note- do NOT forget to sign your name! Your crush will end up throwing it away thinking it’s a random admirer or a prank. MAKE SURE TO WRITE THIS DOWN!” On the board, he writes down ‘My name → Kim Namjoon.’ He nods thoughtfully. “Yes,” He says. “It’s important to write your name.” He mutters it over and over, staring glazed at the words written on the board.

Close to bursting into tears, he grabs a hold of his hair and cradles his head in his hands. “Why didn’t you write your fucking name, Namjoon?” He frustratingly mutters to himself. Sighing, he puts his hands on his waist, marvelling at what he’d written so far. The peaceful silence doesn’t last for very long.

“STEP NUMBER FOUR!” It’s not like him to be so loud. It’s probably a good, balanced combination of his lack of sleep and being alone with his inner thoughts. He’s pretty sure he has an alternate personality who thinks he’s Freud. Freud occasionally throws in some pretty deep psychoanalysis prompts for him to consider when he can’t sleep.

“If… And only if you build up the courage to ask her out in person-! Well, firstly, congratulations, we’re all very proud of you. Secondly, do it in public! You might be thinking, Professor Kim, why on earth would I want to do it in public? Getting rejected in public is so much more horrible!? Well, BELIEVE ME, UNBELIEVERS- Getting rejected in public is sO much better than getting rejected in private! Due to our tendency to not draw attention to ourselves and the way we like to shrink in public, it’s much more likely that we won’t break down in tears if we get rejected in public! Well, once you get back home, you might start breaking down, so maybe this is just a temporary solution, but it’s still better than sobbing in front of your crush when you devastatingly get rejected!”

Knitting his brows together, Namjoon corrects himself. “Not when you get devastatingly rejected, sorry. If. If. Yes, if. If you get devastatingly rejected. Come to think of it, in a purely logical way, you have a 50/50 chance of succeeding in your confession. ‘I like you, do you like me?’ That’s a yes or no question, isn’t it? A confession is exactly the same as flipping a coin! You have a 50% chance of getting heads, 50% chance of getting tails. Either way, you get on with your life despite getting heads or tails. So… the odds are kinda in your favour!”

“Except when you flip a coin, you wouldn’t get nervous to the point where you accidentally push the coin into a mud filled pond where the coin’s favourite shirt got ruined so then the coin proceeded to ignore you for the next two weeks, making it the most miserable two weeks of your entire life… But that probably won’t happen again.” Namjoon mutters underneath his breath. “Coins don’t wear shirts anyways.” Somehow, that seemed to comfort him. He writes down ‘coins can’t wear shirts’ on the chalkboard.

“Step number FIVE!” Namjoon shakes his head, taking a sip of the espresso that’s been sitting on his desk for hours. “What was step number five agai- oh right. Step number five: look your best!” Namjoon catches sight of his reflection and winces. “Okay, maybe I don’t have a great example right now.” He reaches up and runs his fingers through his hair, almost puking when he feels the amount of grease and gunk buried in his scalp. He should probably shower. And get some sleep. His eye bags do not look very attractive right now. Maybe he should get a haircut too, it’s kinda getting wild up there. In his own defence, he’s been standing in this exact pair of sweatpants and glasses for the past couple hours, so he smells a tiny bit. Don’t girls like it when guys wear grey sweatpants? Frowning, Namjoon makes a mental note to do some research later on.

“Shower, change, put in contacts, cologne, flowers…” Namjoon starts writing a to-do list onto his small notebook. “Would she like flowers, actually? Is it misogynistic of a guy to bring flowers or is it just a cute, nice gesture? Am I overthinking this?” His phone vibrates in the middle of his feminism breakdown, and he pats his back pockets before realising his phone was across the table. He grunts as he leans over to pick it up, and thoughtlessly, he accepts the call and brings it up to his ear. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Your voice is both a comfort and a shock to hear so early in the morning. He can already see you sighing aloud and scrunching up your nose cutely, a habit you picked up from him himself. He does it when he’s embarrassed, but you do it when you’re angry. It doesn’t really work because now whenever you get mad he just swoons and gushes over your cute nose and chubby cheeks.

“aH- Um… What time is it?” Namjoon fumbles around, jumping up.

“It’s like 7 in the morning? Hello, you promised to come workout with me today? Come open your door, I’ve been ringing your doorbell for forever, but I think it’s broken. I’ll call the repair guy for you later.” Namjoon lets out a nervous laugh, guiltily looking at his shoes even though he knows you can’t even see what he’s doing right now.

“It’s already seven? Wow, time flies really fast. I’m- ” He yawns, bringing the phone away from his ear for a moment. “- really tired.” A beat passes by. How is it possible that he can hear you get angry at him from here?

“Namjoon.” Another awkward laugh rings through the lecture hall.

“Ahahha. - Yes?”

“Are you at work right now?” You ask, voice suddenly turning stone cold.

“Um, well, that’s a debatable question. See, is it really, honestly my work if I love doing it? Sure, it makes me a living, but of course I don’t consider it to be my workplace, you know? Like, I get to come in and do what I love every single day, educating the next generation. It’s actually a really bad mindset because once you refer to your job as ‘work’ you don’t-”

“Namjoon.”

“Okay yes, I’m at work.” He relents, pushing his glasses up and sighing.

“Joon, it’s seven! Like, seven in the morning! Have you been in there since you clocked in yesterday morning?” You ask worriedly.

“Uhh, I think so?” To be honest, he’s been here for two nights already, crashing out on a beanbag and brushing his teeth in the staff bathroom when he needs to.

“Namjoon!” He mumbles out an apology. “What the hell could you have been doing in there? You don’t even have that many classes this week!” Namjoon lets his eyes trail over to the chalkboard, then back down to his notebook.

“Uh… it’s kinda complicated?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll come home now, don’t worry!” He says, even before you can demand he take care of himself. Sometimes, you’re just a teensy bit overbearing. It’s a messed up miracle he managed to fall in love with you in the first place.

“Be careful, okay? It’s flu season, too, so you really can’t be this reckless! You’re literally going to drive me into an early grave, for fuck’s sakes. You’re always fussing over how overworked I am, so how could you not take care of yourself? That’s so hippo- hypo- ugh, what’s the word?”

“Hypocritical.” Namjoon says into the phone while packing up his things.

“Hypocritical, yes. You better be here in ten minutes or less, Kim. Come home, take a shower and then sleep. I’m guessing you have done neither of those things since yesterday.” Namjoon doesn’t have the decency or humility to give you an honest answer, so he just stays silent. His eyes are still fixed on the chalkboard. Where was he at when your phone call interrupted? Ah, yes. Step number six: ‘I love you.’ Step number six was a piece of advice he had gotten from Min Yoongi, a music theory professor who taught just a couple minutes away from Namjoon’s office. He’s been dating Jung Hoseok, another mutual friend of Namjoon’s, for a few years now.

“What do you mean?” Yoongi just blinked when Namjoon asked him, stared blankly at him, lips threatening to pull up into a smirk.

“What do you mean, ‘What do you mean’?” Namjoon said, huffing. “How did you confess to Hobi?”

“Bro,” Yoongi said, now freely laughing at Namjoon. “If you can’t confess to her, just wait until you get around to thinking about proposing. Never been more nervous in my life, swear to god.” Namjoon had never been a violent type. Up until he met Yoongi.

“Just- tell me how you did it, would you?” Yoongi gave a rare, small smile and beckoned him closer. He leaned in, about to tell Namjoon a big secret.

“Just say it.” He whispered into Namjoon’s ear. Namjoon rolled his eyes, pulled away and rested his head on the sofa.

“That’s the most useless thing I’ve ever heard.”

“No it’s not!” Yoongi also leaned back into his seat. “Just say it. ‘I love you.’ It’s nothing difficult. Just say it!” Namjoon scoffed and left, but Yoongi called something out while he was walking away. “Hey, you’re going to lose her if you don’t do anything.” Namjoon froze, but continued to walk. Yoongi watched, two seconds later, amused as Namjoon came rushing back in, sat himself down on the sofa and demanded Yoongi tell him everything he needed to know.

Thus, his six steps were born.

If Min Yoongi, a person who is possibly even more shy and even more introverted than Namjoon, (Which is a big feat) can ‘just say it’, he should be able to do it easily. Namjoon nods to himself, rolling his head back and cracking a neck bone.

Taking a deep breath, he speaks into the phone.

“Hey, I have something to tell you.”

“It can wait,” You say. It’s so like you to ruin a love confession, Namjoon thinks, laughing. “Come home, go sleep for a couple hours, then we can talk. It’s not important, is it?” He stares at the chalkboard, letting out a satisfied exhale.

“Nope.” He says. “Not that important. I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay,” He hears you grunt from the other side of the phone, shuffling around. “Hey, I’m gonna hang up first, I’ll wait for you to get here. Where’s your spare key again?”

“Underneath the compartment in the hanging plant. Yeah- the one above the front door.” He hears the familiar jingle of his keys and your adorable ‘a-ha!’ from the phone, and his smile stretches wider.

“Ohh, okay, got it. Thanks! You don’t mind if I go in first, right?”

“Nah.”

“Okay, bye!” Before he says it back, you hang up, and he’s left with an annoying beeping sound that repeats in his ear. He misses you, Namjoon muses to himself. He hasn’t seen you for much too long. Happily, he skips to the back of the lecture hall. (which he then immediately regrets when he finds out his legs don’t work properly after staying in the exact same position for hours without end.) He doesn’t even mind that you’ll see him in this horrendous state if he gets to see you fuss over him again. Your soft side coming out is like spotting a rare bonsai tree on sale in a run-down store- extremely special and only happens once in a while.

Okay, that analogy was really bad, he just really wanted to mention his bonsai trees.

He spares one last glance to the filled chalkboard. With good luck, nobody will walk in and see that mess all over the board. He’d probably get fired.

“I love you.” He says to himself. Maybe Yoongi was right. It does sound pretty easy. Namjoon walks out of the lecture hall, switching off the lights and running off to see you.

Kim Namjoon’s Six Steps Towards Confessing Your Love: Introvert Edition

Do not refer to anything academic or clever in your confession.

Do not laugh when they ask if you are joking once you confess.

Letter > facetime > call

Confess in public.

Look your best!

Just say it.

⚖ wanna talk to professor!joon? or add yourself to the taglist?

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kurtty-drabbles · 4 years

Text

Postwoman au

N/A: Here we go. I´m tempted in making this a continuation of my Krampus au or my drabble, yet, I want to do something new here. Also, Santa here is professional but a freak in the sheet (THERE´S A NICHE WHERE SANTA FUCKS) also, would be racist if Santa attends to all holidays?

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead @muninandhugin

There´s an old saying, perhaps not as old as people made out to be, where it goes more or less like this- interpretations may vary and change a word or two- "love conquers all" and is the pure expression of the truth ever since Jean Grey and Scott Summers´s marriage change the course of history forever. Mutants are no longer seen as a threat and there´s no more social prejudice against mutants.

Is this heaven? Far from it. Mutants and Humans are the same sides of the coin- there´re mutants cable of doing more damage than a human can dream and of course, there´re humans that can respond to such violence with the same requiem - and Kitty Pryde is the one living this new reality among all the mutants of the second generation.

I saw the worse.

I saw the good.

And now I´m drifting meaninglessly.

Her body sludge down on the chair. Letting her foot touch the downy floor while the clock ticks and tack a loud sound- her eyes travel towards all the points in the waiting room. From the receptionist doing her work to the big closed door- and Kitty Pryde can see her reflection on the only mirror present. She was never one to put fashion above all, not even in such a situation. Wearing just a white shirt, short jeans and a yellow jacket wide open.

Then her land on the few magazines on display. Different magazines. Same story. Jean and Scott´s wedding was a fantastic story, but, sadly it has one unhappy ending. A man bursting into the church to confess his love for Jean Grey- Jubilee and Kitty was sure Logan would be the one to cause such scene- it was Prof X declaring his undying love for Jean Grey. It is still a nice gossip.

“When a father lusts over his son´s girlfriend” Kitty reads one of the main topics of the magazine. Repugnance is clear in her face and body language.

Another magazine has images of Prof X after his confession and even promised an exclusive interview with the man to explain himself. Kitty rolls her eyes at that- she reminisces when Bobby asks her to come to the wedding as his plus one. His boyfriend and he break up before the big day and Bobby didn´t want to go alone. And they only talk about Prof X and his revelation. The man was in love with a woman he raises since she was a kid- her cellphone rings softly. And has a message from her friends.

Good luck with your interview.

The receptionist has red hair. Too similar to her ex- Kitty meets Rachel Grey by accident. She was from a group called Excalibur. The relationship lasts a few months until Rachel and her group leave. Looking back. it was for the best-She recalls vividly an alternative version of herself who was looking at the relationship with confusion. And looking back again, Kitty can see why- and the woman is now looking at her. Was she always a red hair or is her succubus power kicking in? "Santa called...you can enter now, Miss Pryde" and the sultry smile is a tad similar to her ex. A tad bit only.

"Thanks" Kitty shurgs off and goes without looking back. If the succubus receptionist looks at Kitty going or not is her problem now.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Kitty is Jewish. She has fond memories of her Hannukahs - uncle Tim bring a new dog he rescued from families who think dogs are toys or aunt Moira and her many good whiskeys- and yet, in all her past Hannukahs there was never a period where her family thought about Santa. Not for a single second. So, of course, Kitty is looking at the real Santa right now.

The popular version of Santa is a fat man with red clothes and a big beard- Yana jokes how Santa could be communist too-and yet, the reality is far from different. Tumblr has a word for this type of Santa, but, Kitty refuses to use it. So, Kitty can summarize by saying: yep, he´s handsome.

"Ah, you must be Miss Pryde, da" his accent is a mixture of Russian and English. Somewhat similar to Yana´s accent. Kitty nods. "Excellent, I´m sorry for the waiting. We´re dealing with a problem...all taken care" and gesture to Kitty sit as the other one will be here to interview her in a minute. "Galaticus usually don´t indicate anyone to this job"

"But he puts adds on the newspaper asking for Heralds" Kitty counters back and Santa didn´t deny that.

"He does that. He even accepts Deadpool as his Herald...don´t ask me why." he shakes his head at this information. "now, tell me about you, Miss Pryde...Galaticus only told us you´re good fitting for the job"

"A job as vague as possible" she arches an eyebrow. "And I´m unemployed at the moment." she pauses and adds. "I´m Jewish"

"If you think this will be a problem or that we only work with Christians families. You´re wrong. I work on any holiday that celebrates the family and love. Any family can receive me if they so wish, I have visited some Hannukahs in my past, I was denied in some Christian families and so and on. Krampus, my friend, is not a racist or believes in ''the old ways'' in fact, he hates the old ways more than you think" Santa states calmly and speaks something in a new language to something or someone way behind Kitty.

"There´s the devil!" Satan states all joyful causing Kitty to turn her head and see the so-called Krampus. A handsome indigo man. Golden eyes. and a tail throwing a winning smile at her. "Krampus, this is Kitty. Kitty this is Krampus. You´ll be his secretary...if he agrees" and the man kissed her hand-a bit old fashioned. Kitty didn´t hide her confusion- and both are now alone to conduct the interview.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Galaticus indicate you" his tone is joyful. Does he want Kitty to forget this is an interview? "Do you know what a Krampus is?" and Kitty closes her eyes hard and starts to mull the word for a moment.

I know I heard this name somewhere.

"Ok, I got it. You have no idea what am I" hos tone is amused and Kitty opens her eyes to see Kurt smiling like a cat. "Do you know what this job is?" and now she´s losing her patience.

"No, of course not, Galaticus comes into my room and says" Kitty pauses to mimic his voice. "Go to Santa. They have a job for you. And then he vanished. I had no idea what this job is about and no one is telling me anything. I don´t even celebrate Christmas" Kitty finishes her rants. Krampus is still too amused.

"My bad then, for starts, I deal with naughty mortals, so to speak" Kitty is listening. "Your job, if you accept, is to help me organize things. I´m terrible with names and numbers. And Santa´s elves can help me so far...of course, you´ll be compensated by your work. Here the initial idea for your salary" and Kitty is more than surprised. Is not a big number nor a smaller. It is acceptable for now. "and we´ll offer you some magic compensations to do some of the jobs. I mean, I´ll need someone to deliver messages to others deities and I know you don´t have teleportation" Krampus conclude waiting for her reply.

Kitty mulls over for 2 minutes. "Will I have to work all day and night?"

"Of course not. We all have lives. And the weekends are yours to do what you want!"

"If I give you my name..." and now Krampus chuckles.

"I´m not a regular fae. I can give you my name if it makes you feel at peace" and Kitty is surprised by this revelation. "my name is Kurt Wagner"

"I´m not sure if I´ll want to do this for a long period" Kitty begins and Kurt states that she needs to fill 6 months of work after that she´s free. "So, I´m willing to give a chance"

And with a snap of his fingers a pink fae- she calls herself pixie- shows up having in hands a contract in her hands ready for Kitty and Kurt to sign. Kitty read the contract - some laws are protecting her. As well as a law of discretion. Kitty can´t tell anyone what happens in Krampus´s working hour-and Kitty signal the contract.

"Welcome aboard, Katzchen. Hope you can survive the experience"

"Wait, what?"

#Postwoman au #Kitty Pryde #Kurt Wagner #Krampus!Kurt #Kurtty yet #SANTA FUCKS HARD #There´s a niche for SANTA FUCKING #He fucks more than Mephisto #Mephisto will show up as a cameo #Prof X still in love with Jean

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smoljoelito · 5 years

Text

Advice on How to Be a Straight A Student

Hey guys! So I got a señor anon question on how to be a straight A student and my response got a bit long, so here it is in a text post.

Before I begin, I’d like to say I’m not an expert on this subject. This is just stuff that works for me.

So a little background information before I give some advice!

I’m a sophomore in University, majoring in nursing, minoring in Spanish. I graduated high school with a 3.73 GPA, and the problem was I figured out how to study best for myself the second semester of my senior year of high school! So, I got to college and was freaking out. At my university, the lowest excepted GPA to get into the Fall 2018 nursing program was a 3.83, which is INCREDIBLY high. Never in my life did I think I’d be able to get that GPA, since high school made me feel dumb. I was encouraged to take AP classes and I took too many, and while other kids succeeded, I fell behind. It made me feel incredibly incapable, yet, for money for my district, I was still encouraged to take more. Come Fall 2018, taking classes for pre-nursing to be able to apply into the program, I was a nervous wreck. I lacked self-confidence and I was praying for a 3.8 GPA, but I decided to make a promise to myself. My confidence wasn’t great enough to promise a 4.0 GPA for all my prereqs, but it was for the first semester just so I didn’t have to worry as much second semester about keeping my GPA high. Yet, against all my beliefs, I 4.0′d all my pre-nursing/pre-reqs classes, got into the Fall 2019 nursing program (I start September 4th), where usually 300 students apply, but only 72 are selected in the fall, 97 in the winter. I also received a 4.0 in a summer microbiology class that was originally 14-16 weeks long during the school year, but it was shortened into 6 weeks into the summer, made it onto the Dean’s List, and so much more. My new goal is to be one of And now, I’m going to tell you how I did it.

Here is what I wish someone would’ve told me when I started high school or college:

First things first, you HAVE to believe in yourself. This is VITAL.

If you walk into a class telling yourself you’re barely going to pass, chances are, you’re barely going to pass. You are your biggest enemy. Chemistry is a subject, it is not a person, it doesn’t decide whether or not you’re going to pass or fail. It’s literally a class, it holds absolutely NO power over you. It literally just exists. The only thing that holds power over you, is you. You decide your future, not Chemistry. When you say, “Oh I’m so bad at Chemistry, I’ll never pass.” Chemistry had absolutely nothing to do with it, it was ALL you. The class you hate and think you’re going to fail should be your favorite and top priority. Why? Because you’re going to have to spend the MOST time on it. If you cut yourself short by saying you’ll never pass right off the bat and ignore the class, the harsh reality is, you allowed yourself to fail. Stop telling yourself that you are unable to do things, then complain when you get bad scores. Chemistry is difficult, but nothing is impossible.

My quote for this section:

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca

Find your best way to study, preferably before college rolls around.

For me, this is flashcards, but I don’t just use them for memorizing, I use them for connecting. I make questions that connect things from the chapter I’m in along with prior chapters. Here’s an example:

On a person in anatomical position, which bone in the forearm can be located more medial to the body?

This, is a great question. Not only am I asking location, but I’m referencing prior topics at the same time. Anatomical position is lying flat on your back with palms facing outward. Medial is something that is closer to the midline of the body. Both of which are terms learned in previous chapters. Knowing this, I would be lead to believe the answer is the ulna. Now, I have not only learned, but reviewed.

My quote for this section:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then, not an act, but a habit.” Will Durant.

ASK QUESTIONS!

Listen guys, I’m blunt and a bit harsh, so here’s a reality check for you: I don’t care whether or not you are shy, extroverted, confident, not confident, whatever, there’s NO excuse to say you don’t understand a topic if you’re not willing to ask questions to gain more knowledge or better understand it. If you receive a bad grade in a class and never ask questions or try to better understand it, shame on you. Don’t blame your professor, don’t blame the class for being “too hard”, I don’t want to hear it. So, in this section, I’m going to tell you how to ask a good question and who to ask.

Who:

First, your professor/teacher obviously. Don’t be afraid, most professors don’t bite. They’re not going to get annoyed with you. Their job is literally to talk about what they love, for hours on end. Everyone’s favorite topic is themselves, their hobbies, anything that correlates around them. If you ask them a question deeper than the material provided, out of confusion, or just for further knowledge, chances are they’d LOVE to answer it for you! Bonus: the more questions you ask, the more they’ll know you, and the more they’ll be willing to help you, especially when you’re in a time of need. You don’t need to always ask questions during lecture/class, though it is preferable. If you’re shy or introverted, write down your questions on a sheet of paper, preferably with the slide you’re referencing, then ask after class.

Next, tutors! Most universities have a tutoring center, or if you’re in college, ask a counselor to find you one. If your professor is a bit intimidating for you, or flat out doesn’t want to answer questions, this is a GREAT idea! It’s much easier to talk to someone in your age range as well, so if you’re a super shy person, this might be a better option for you. Also, the tutors aren’t the experts of the subject, which plays in your favor. They know how to break the subject down into ways you’ll be able to understand, sometimes in better ways than your professor.

Lastly, anyone that has taken the class before you. In nursing school, they recommend we make friends with someone that’s in the year above us and attach ourselves to them, which I plan on doing. They’ve experienced everything before you, so you’ll have the freshest advice. Which prof should I take? Ask them. Do I need to buy the book for this class? Hmm... they’ll know.

Good questions:

Connecting questions. When you link two topics together, preferably from another chapter, you’re learning in the BEST way possible. Ask the question. Your professor will love you, the class will love you, and you will love you, because more than likely, your professor will either: agree with the connection, disagree with the connection and tell you where you went wrong (still learning), and congratulate you on your good question. It’s a win-win situation.

another very important point: even if you are wrong in whatever you are asking, that does NOT make it a bad question. Good questions lead to learning, whether it is agreeing or disagreeing. Humility and humbleness are attractive qualities, and the willingness to do such is probably the best way to be successful. You have to be willing to be wrong to eventually learn and be right.

Any question where you are confused. You paying for a class is paying for your professor to talk. Use your money wisely. Hold up the damn class, get your answer. Learn and grow in your knowledge. Chances are, other people are confused too, and aren’t bold enough to ask.

Why? This might be the best question ever. Actually, I take that back, it is. One word asks fifty other questions and tells 100 more. Here’s what the professor gets out of “why” questions: I might not have explained the topic enough so I’m going to talk about it more, said student wants to know more about the topic, this is a learning opportunity for the class, etc.

My quotes for this section:

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” Les Brown

“The only bad question is one that you can find the answer to on the syllabus.” Smoljoelito

“ Excuses are born out of fear. Eliminate your fear and there will be no excuses.” Unknown

When someone asks you if you can help them with something in a class, always say yes, even if you don’t know the answer.

One of the best ways I’ve found that I learn is by explaining things to other people. My friend Molly used to text me a lot during Biology and ask me if I knew what said thing meant or if I could explain said thing better. I always said yes, even if I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. Why? Because obviously, I need to study it too, and what better way than to teach someone else.

The best way to look at information you don’t understand: If someone were to break this down for me, how would I want it to sound to best understand?

So, I’d break it down for her, and we’d both learn something new. Saying “no” would’ve lost me and her a learning opportunity. Also, we were competing for the same spot in the nursing program, but

My quote for this section (doesn’t fit as well):

“By doing what you love you inspire and awaken the hearts of others.” Satsuki Shibuya

Elaborative rehearsal

This is a term from psychology. I took this class after Biology, so I never realized this is what I was doing the whole year. Basically, elaborative rehearsal is memorizing information by connecting new information to old information, and it is the BEST way to memorize as I learned in class. This can come in many forms: making an analogy to learn a subject (to memorize transcription in Biology I made a story connecting transcription to pre-gaming and it worked so well), asking questions to connect new topics to prior topics, etc. Every time I break down a subject to better understand it, I try to connect it with something I know, whether it’s past information, pre-gaming, realizing a reason why something happens, anything, and I never forget it.

This section is short so it doesn’t get a quote

Get ahead of your professor (university students and AP students mostly).

The BEST thing I’ve ever done for myself would have to be being ahead of my professors by two and three chapters at a time! Here’s the tea: the busiest time of your semester in school should be the first month. Of course, your first month is the easiest, so you’re probably wondering, why should it be the busiest? Because come one month later, each class is going to start dropping exams, and you’re going to start falling behind. Get ahead early. I just bought my pathophysiology book (August 19th) and my classes don’t start until September 4th. This class is going to kick my ass, so my plan is to kick its ass by starting classes early. It’ll never see me coming.

It’s not just getting prepared for exams, but by even having the chapters prepared ahead of time for a lecture when your professor is lecturing, it’s no longer learning, but understanding. Instead of trying to pick up on everything the prof is saying, you’re being reminded of things noted in the book, things you remember, and also things you need further clarity on. Instead of reading the chapter after and having an “oh shit what does this mean?” moment, you can figure it out during lecture. Bonus: if your prof doesn’t lecture on it, ask for further clarity on the subject anyway. You might get lucky and be told not to worry about it. It may not be on the exam at all.

Start early, get ahead, thank me later.

My quote for this section:

“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” Sean Patrick Flanery

Take notes! (if they help you)

All the studyblrs are gonna hate me for this, but I really don’t take notes. I have a Microsoft Surface Book 2 laptop and the screen detaches from the keyboard so I write right on the PowerPoints my teachers have, then turn them into flashcards. Why? Because it’s like portable notes. For me personally, when I stopped wasting so much time on notes for Biology, I got higher test scores. Instead of writing notes, I spent the time going over my flashcards. And instead of taking notes on the chapters outside of class, I’d read them twice before class, highlight stuff, then make flashcards off the things not gone over in class. It worked better for me. Even in psychology, I’d highlight the things my prof went over on the PowerPoints, then make flashcards after class. For me, I function better by paying attention to what the prof is saying, rather than focusing on writing every word down.

Classes I’ve taken that you are more than welcome to ask me questions about in my ask:

Here are classes I have taken, some from high school, some from college. I will answer to the best of my ability, or find you things that are more equipped to answer them.

Biology 1 (uni)

Intro to Chemistry (uni)

Intro to Logic (uni)

Intro to Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry (uni)

AP Calculus AB (high school)

General Chemistry (high school)

Organic Chemistry (high school)

Anatomy & Physiology (uni & high school)

Algebra, Pre-Calc, math in general (high school)

Physics (high school)

Intro to Psychology (uni)

Spanish 1-4, AP Spanish 4, AP Spanish 6 (high school)

AP Language & Culture and AP Literature & Culture

AP Chemistry (high school)

Any kinda Art

Also, if you have questions about high school or college, anything at all, feel free to ask me!

Other things to help you!

studyblrs! They have masterlists of how to take notes, stationery to buy that's cheap, what to write down in lecture, etc. If you want me to link some, send me an ask.

I’m a stationery fanatic as well, so if you guys want cheap pens that are high quality, good highlighters, paper, useful things, etc, hmu. I can make a whole amazon wishlist.

Tutoring centers.

Libraries. My uni has a part of the library called The Writing Center where profs will go to help you write essays and such.

Websites & YouTube. Khan Academy is an amazing resource along with Crash Course, one of my personal faves. For Biology, I used Crash Course a lot and one of my friends used this channel I believe is called the Amoeba Sisters? I can’t remember. If you want the link I’ll find it for you.

Quotes I live by

Whatever your situation, getting the career you’d like, passing a class, graduating valedictorian, here are some quotes to encourage you to keep on going.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” Steve Jobs

“If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started, I was desperately wishing to be where I am now.” Unknown

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. When you have fun, you can do amazing things.” Joe Namath

“One of the greatest discoveries a person makes is to find out they can do what they were afraid they couldn’t do.” Henry Ford. This quote makes me emotional.

“Self-esteem is the ability to see yourself as a flawed individual and still hold yourself in regard.” Ester Perel

“Do what you dream of doing even while you’re afraid.” Arianna Huffingtin.

“Be the one who decided to go for it.”

“Everything you want to be, you already are. You’re simply on the path to discovering it.” Alicia Keys

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your inner voice. Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs.

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” John Quincy Adams

“If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done.” Unknown

“There is no person living who isn't capable of doing more than they think they can do.” Henry Ford

“Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.” Unknown

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

“Success isn't about how your life looks to others. It's about how it feels to you.” Michelle Obama

In conclusion

I know what it feels like to feel like an idiot, to wish I was as good at something as someone else is. Comparison is the silent killer. The moment you start to think you are less than someone else, you start to believe it. Drop the comparison, let everything go, be humble, and focus on your purpose. There is not a thing you can’t do or be good at. There is not a person in the world that isn’t born with some kind of talent, something they are one of the best at. I have found by “best” and I have grown and learned from it. For a while, I thought I’d fail, that I’d be laughed at and humiliated, but when I let all that go, all the pain, the lies, and focused on my purpose, my goal came as easy as taking a breath of fresh air. So, I leave you with this:

“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” Robert H. Schuller

#em's tips #study #studying #cnco #school #school help #writing help #success #inspiration #quotes #em's school tips

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mediapuppy · 4 years

Text

Gosh it’s so flattering that people want to know more about me! Now you wouldn’t expected these to be loaded questions, but let me preface this by saying that I’m an absolute mess when it comes to college. I do nothing normally. Sleep is nonexistent. My advisors are going to stab me in my sleep. Come with me while I take you on the wild, dysfunctional rollercoaster that is Media’s College Misadventures™

Now I like a lot of things in an abstract sort of way. I love cooking and baking. I used to do a lot of overseas work with genetics and animals. I’ve always been fascinated by the brain in the sort of vague way most people are. But this doesn’t sell, so I went into my freshman year an Economics/CS major as prep work to take over the family business! Please for the love of god don’t follow in my footsteps but I spent the last two years of high school running with a dangerously fun crew whose blood was 80% vodka and 20% bad decisions and we all somehow got into our top universities. Out of sheer notgivingafuckness I put all the top universities I got into in a hat and just picked one. The next morning I woke up with no recollection of the previous day and a thank-you email from the college I apparently accepted. I was very drunk, yet I regret nothing. This college decided the best course of action would be to send me to Ireland for my first year where I immediately proceeded to make friends with all my professors and go drinking with them after class every day. They showed me pizza clubs and these really fancy underground bars for the Irish elite, I think one of my best memories was going to a gay bar in the back alleys of southside Dublin with my economic perspectives prof then drunk stumbling over to this game shop at 2AM to learn to play magic with these very confused guys that readily accepted us as their new best friends. I learned absolutely nothing. If you’re wondering just how much of a mess I was the dean of the entire fucking university knew me as the girl that was always asleep on the floor between classes with this dude who looked like the human version of Animal from The Muppets guarding my stuff. The dean would go to this chocolatiers place across the street and get a few chocolate treats with his morning coffee to put in my hungover, asleep fish hand for when I woke up. That man was a goddamn delight and I still talk to him to this day. A lot of things happened in Ireland that I will happily tell ya’ll if you want! Just as an overview during these few months we also: got tazed repeatedly because we lived in gang territory (thanks uni for putting us there!!), watched our friend get kidnapped overnight from our favorite club (he was fine), got the entire country of America banned from several bars on our street, got accepted by the gang that terrorized us for the first two months, watched as on Halloween our entire apartment building got set on fire by said gang and we just went outside to drink beer with them while our advisor was having a nervous breakdown, and many, many bad decisions on my part. After a few months we all got shipped back to the actual campus back in the states where things all went downhill. My advisor straight up quit in my first week and I never got reassigned so I was just this poor tiny freshman stuck in upper-level classes with very confused and sympathetic seniors. Halfway into the second semester one of my profs, the head of the whole econ department, started hitting on me. If you’ve ever had the wonderful experience of being A Female In College ™ you know the type. The ones that lean in a little too close, smile a little too wide when they see you. So I said hell no and switched out of the major before the semester had even ended Into my second year, I was just taking classes aimlessly for a while picking new majors every few weeks while my advisors prayed for my demise. I dabbled in psychology and sociology until I realized it was just memorizing terminology (but I made a friend in intro and together we both completed a minor in it just to hang out). There was a very short-lived stint in biology for a while. I dipped my fingers into Neuroscience for as long as they’d tolerate me. Mathematics wasn’t too interesting without a double. I ended up joining a lot of clubs and my main one was an engineering club (my uni is engineering-focused, rip me) but none of the facets of engineering interested me. Following from my long laundry list of good decisions I decided to just start befriending more professors and to aimlessly take their classes instead. Long story short I accidentally completed a full B.S. in Philosophy of Science my sophomore year after overloading courses and being bored as all hell so a friend of mine, one of the top profs in the department, asked me to take his new upper-level quantum course so I said yes if he’d wave the prereqs and oop it turned out to be a senior thesis course and then I was all done with that major. I hadn’t made university hours so the beginning of my third year I was just taking mathematics and a few other courses while my advisors breathed down my neck ready to murder me. They wanted me gone so bad, man, ya’ll have no idea. I’m not even mentioning all the times I raised absolute hell on campus we just focusing on my major-based misadventures right now. Okay, so part of my university is something called co-op: a mandatory work experience period where students take semesters off at a time to do paid work in the field of their choice. I hadn’t really any set majors at the time except for whatever bullshit showed up on my degree audit so I started searching for my 4-6 month co-op just to get it out of the way. Unfortunately for everybody involved, I interview extremely well and look good on paper. I look damn good in a suit too and like to entertain when they’re supposed to be grilling me, so nobody stood a chance. I applied to the most ridiculous jobs I could find. I was not qualified for any of it. I got accepted to 90% of what I applied to. Out of notgivingafuckness pt2 I decided to give myself to the highest bidder which is how I ended up working for a defense contracting company that liked my coding background and how I just kinda roll with whatever’s going on. So on the cusp of the covid pandemic I was working in security and dispatch for a major city hall that controlled the police department, fire, sanitation, everything under the sun. I was so bad at my job, but I was enjoying it and that was everybody else’s problem. When covid really started up and they let me go with 6 months full pay I immediately switched into PoliSci/Cyber and that’s where I am now, in my 4th year! So to answer your question: my major is a mystery to everyone including me, but it’s something like PhilSci/PoliSci/Cyber and I’m taking 6 classes and I am dying fams. My college experience is not and will never be normal, and I’ve still got masters/phd to go. I’ve got a ton of great friends who constantly worry for my wellbeing because I do crazy shit and I am currently taking on the daunting challenge of befriending profs over zoom, who are only half into it. Don’t be me, but go out there and have fun! College doesn’t have to be all about studying, and while now I’m taking too many classes to do much of anything else in my first few years I joined a ton of clubs and experienced all I could, so just get out there and do your best!

#media answers #my college life is a mess don't come for me please #i'll figure it out eventually I swear #media's college misadventures

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northernreads · 4 years

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looking back at the decade is weird. like i am so damn old. the last time i hit a decade i wasn’t really old enough to fully i don’t know... comprehend it? if i had to summarize the 2010s in one word than maybe: university? though there was more than that i suppose. this is probably going to be stupid long but i don’t caaaaare cause the 2010s went on forever too

i graduated high school in 2010. i went back for a victory lap solely to avoid university for a year. i did mediocre in high school in just about every way (grades, friends, experiences). i can’t say that i enjoyed it at all so finishing up with hs was a great way to start the ‘10s even if i petrified to start uni

in 2011 i started uni. i was terrified. i didn’t want to go in the first place, high school had sucked why would I want to do more school? but i felt like i had no other choice. the first year was rough, i worked my ass off though and while I was warned to expect my usual grades to drop the first year, they actually soared. when i was late enrolling for courses for second year the dean of my faculty emailed me to see if everything was okay and if I needed help. by second year i was actually really enjoying uni. i majored in history and minored in english and i loved it. i really like writing essays it turns out.

i graduated cum laude in 2016. my original plan to go to teachers college but after already extending my undergrad by a year and getting yanked around by my uni in so many dumb ways, when I found out that I would have to push back my graduation again to make teachers college work I decided to switch gears instead. i found something else to make my liberal arts degree work: librarianship

in 2015/2016 i realized I had to very quickly make things work if I was going to get accepted into a masters program. everything I had been doing to make teachers college work wasn’t enough for this masters program. namely that being a teacher meant volunteering with kids a lot while getting my masters meant developing relationships with profs. something I was incredibly uncomfortable with, and hadn’t even had much opportunity to do as my undergrad uni had a massive population and most class sizes were large even at fourth year level. I went way, way outside my comfort zone and made it work though. i got my letters of recommendation and got my act together and got accepted into both masters programs i applied to.

in 2016 i began my masters program at a new uni. the program was much smaller than what I was used to, and while I missed my english classes especially, I loved the program. I did well. I made friends. I even joined a club. mostly this two year program was me dealing with a long commute. (5-6 hours per day, four days a week). i was exhausted all of the time. i got a paper published. i loved this too.

in 2018 i graduated with my masters of information, with a concentration in library and information science

in the 2010s i graduated three times. graduations suck and yeah that’s some extreme first world complaining, but god i hate them so much

i got my first real job in 2012. i had no experience and had a hell of a time finding a job. finally one day someone gave me a chance and i started my first job at a gas station. i worked there for five years. i went through four managers, i trained a lot of employees, i made some work friends, i read a lot of books for uni there, it helped me come out of my shell a bit too

in 2017 i quit my job at the gas station. I was on my fourth manager and after weathering all that change this one finally broke me. every week he changed how he wanted things done and acted like I was clueless for doing it any other way. I also knew that I needed to develop some more work experience.

my next job was at a shoe store. less than two months into the job i was a senior employee because everyone kept quitting. it was my first time in retail and also the first time i was really working with other people. i hated it at times, but i also grew to like it too. i picked everything up quickly and was made a key holder before long. i was there for less than a year. the company wasn’t doing well and my hours were cut to almost nothing. cue next job

by this point it was 2018 and i had just graduated my masters program and was looking for a job in my field. in the meantime i needed money. i got a job at costco. they thought i was still in uni even though my resume said ‘graduated’. so I got hired on for the summer as a student. it was an okay job. bigger than anywhere i had ever worked certainly. by the end of the summer i was so ready to be done with it though, the management was poor at times and they were relentless in pushing us to promote membership upgrades. I despise upselling products to people who clearly don’t want to talk about it. overall it really wasn’t terrible. i did like a lot of the people.

i got two interviews for jobs at libraries over that summer. i was applying for hours every single day in 2018. zilch.

so by fall 2018 i needed a new job again. enter the coffee shop. i got hired to be a baker at tim hortons and was never a baker, in fact less than 2 months into the job they moved me permanently to their satellite location at a gas station (oh how circular life is) which had no proper kitchen. i liked the gas station location better in the end. there was a small group of ridiculous teens and barely adults on the afternoon shift and they were kind of the best. i was at tims for 8 months, was almost made supervisor but luckily dodged that bullet

in 2019 i got a better paying job. completely different than anything i’ve ever done before and not in my field. but i’m not complaining

i started the 2010s having never even kissed someone before. and i’m ending it having found someone that actually makes me believe soulmates are a thing.

in 2013 (i think) i had my first boyfriend. he was shit. i don’t think it even lasted 6 months but honestly i don’t remember much and i try not to

in 2014 (i think?) i had begun to question my sexuality a bit and landed on bisexual. i also had my first girlfriend. she was also shit. i guess it was maybe almost a year long. again i try not to remember.

there were other almosts and not quite relationships but mostly it was just the two. and they were bad. they messed with me in their own ways. after the gf (2015) i just stopped dating. i needed a break from it at first. but the more time I took the more I began to struggle with realizing that i was ace. something i did not want whatsoever. i was also just busy with my masters. i had no time to date even if i wanted to between school, commuting and work.

in 2018 i met someone on here. he has been nothing but perfect ever since and i am madly in love with him. he also doubles as my bestest friend ever so that’s awesome

i traveled a little bit too. i did four major roadtrips with my family. twice to the west coast of canada and twice to the east coast. i also took a plane for the first time ever and went to england

i went to a few concerts: marianas trench (twice), lorde, hayley kiyoko, and imagine dragons

i got my drivers license and first car

i had roomates in uni in the dorms and now have my first apartment (+ a roommate)

i cut my long hair super short and kept it that way for a few years and then grew it all back again

i got back into reading again and it saved my life

i lost a lot of pets. i used to have my own personal zoo at the start of the decade. In particular i lost my dog Sam, who was the most important being in my life for most of the decade. now I visit my family’s cats and dogs once a week. and I miss them a lot.

we saw the world go through a lot of changes but i’m sure there are a million articles on that already. we saw too many memes too. but i’m guessing a zillion articles on that subject.

I discovered so much about myself over the past decade. 2010 holly would not know who I am now and I am so grateful for that. she was kind of an idiot. I feel so much more like me than I ever have before. the 2010s were rough at times, and that’s putting it lightly. But i’m here. i made it. Things feel good. I have a lot more big things coming, and hopefully sooner than later.

#mine #new years

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underthewingsofthblackeagle · 5 years

Text

The Murderess of the Grunewald (26): Preparing for War (2)

“Victory column Berlin” by LoboStudioHamburg

Notice: With this chapter, we return to the preparations Jamie makes for Claire's defense while she stays in the Women’s Detention Center in Berlin-Moabit, waiting for her trial. Chronologically this chapter follows directly after chapter 18.

Six months ago. The evening after Jamie’s fourth Attorney’s visit to Claire in prison.

Previous Chapter

Previously

“Tessa reminded Jamie that the next day at 10:30 am, the telephone conference with Prof. Dr. Nerz was scheduled and that she had reserved for him and David de Koning a table at the Ferenc’s for that evening. He had three hours left by that time. However, he should plan at least half an hour of driving time because the traffic news had predicted a traffic jam for the inner city. Just another visit of just another foreign head of state in Berlin. Nothing new. Jamie thanked her and sat down at his desk. He looked out of the large panoramic window towards the Great Star. Twilight had already set in and soon the illumination of the Victory Column would start. Anyone who knew the history of the monument knew that it was not just a monument of victory after a war. It was a constant reminder of the wrestling of this nation for its liberty and its unity. First in the Liberation Wars against Napoleon from 1813 - 1815, then in the Wars of Unification between 1864 - 1871. For Jamie, it was also a synonym for the resilience with which this country had fought for its reunification the 40 years after World War II. He loved the view from his office because there was something encouraging about the monument. And that encouragement he needed very much. Right now, when he had to prepare a ‘war’ - when it was necessary to ‘muster’ his weapons and his troops.”

“Kaffeehaus” by jpeter2

A few minutes after 6:00 pm, Jamie arrived at the "Ferenc's". He gave his name to the receptionist and said he had reserved a table. The waiter led him into the side room and up the stairs that led to the gallery, called the “Belle Etage”. When David de Koning saw him, he rose from the table and greeted him. The waiter took a step back. As Jamie and David sat down, then he pointed to the menus on the table and to the little button that was attached to the parapet of the gallery beside the table by which they could ring the waiter. Jamie thanked the man. Then he and de Koning exchanged a few words and delved into the menus. Jamie chose the South Tyrolean spinach dumplings with leek and white wine sauce and sparkling water.

"No Wiener Schnitzel?" de Koning asked, frowning.

"No, but if you like to ... you know, the bill is on me."

The guest did not think twice. When the waiter returned, he ordered Lamb‘s lettuce with pumpkin seed oil as an appetizer, a Wiener Schnitzel (of course of the full-cream calf) with potato-cucumber salad as the main course and as a dessert Apricot dumplings in walnut butter with raspberry foam. He would have liked to have chosen a glass of wine from the top list of Austrian winemakers offered by Ferenc’s, but unfortunately, he had to drive home by car. So de Koning ordered table water.

"Well, what's up, Jamie?" de Koning asked in a whisper as the waiter left.

"The prosecution has ..." began Jamie in a normal volume.

"Psst! Jamie! Not so loud! "

De Koning looked at him in dismay before carefully looking around in all directions.

"What? Do you mean we are being monitored?" Fraser asked, slightly amused. Then he plucked at the tablecloth, picked it up and looked under the table.

"Well, I don’t see any eavesdropping devices here. Do you?"

"Jamie!"

De Koning looked around carefully again.

"Ah, maybe there's a bug here in the flower vase!"

Jamie plucked the dried flower bouquet from the small white porcelain vase that stood on the table between him and de Koning.

"Oh no! Also empty!"

With a big grin, Fraser showed de Koning the empty vase.

"No one there who wants to overhear us!"

"Jamie!"

"David! We are in Berlin-Mitte, not in Chicago or the Bronx! So, do you want to know something about the case or not?"

De Koning looked a little frustrated, but then unpacked his little black notebook and nodded.

"Why do you think I’m here?"

"Because of the good and above all free food ..."

Jamie grinned and earned another sour look from de Koning.

"The prosecution has filed an indictment, my client is in custody. I doubt that the accusations will stand the test. Some of them are built on very, very shaky ground - but you will not write that!"

"I'm not stupid, Fraser!"

Instead of answering, Jamie looked meaningfully at the small white porcelain vase.

David de Koning pretended that he did not understand the allusion.

"Does your client deny the charge?"

"100 percent. She is innocent, completely innocent and we will prove that."

"But if she didn’t kill her husband, who did it? Her husband is dead and he was obviously murdered. He has hardly inflicted the numerous, severely bleeding wounds ion himself."

"We don’t know who killed Professor Randall. But one thing is sure: it was not his widow."

"But …."

Before de Koning could ask another question, two waiters came and served the food. The journalist pocketed his notebook.

“Marillenknödel” by RitaE

The two men started to eat.

"Ah, this Schnitzel is truly delicious. You don’t know what you're missing, Jamie."

"Thanks, I'm very happy with the dumplings. I don’t like to eat heavy dishes in the evening."

They teased each other back and forth about the food for some more minutes, then Jamie redirected the conversation back to the subject.

"My client doesn’t know who did this to her deceased husband. She certainly had no reason for it."

"Really? It is rumored that her husband had a girlfriend?"

"Even if that had been so, wouldn’t it be more obvious that my client had killed this woman and not her husband?"

"Well, there are voices that say, that the husband had a not inconsiderable fortune and perhaps, your client didn't want to miss such an inheritance?"

"My client has her own assets. Her uncle was a very well known British archaeologist, and Egyptologist, who taught at Oxford for many years. She was his only heir. In no case was she ever dependent on her husband's money,”

"Then maybe it was pure revenge? She just wanted to get rid of that old jerk?"

“Chirurg” by marionbrun

"My client is a doctor. She has sworn an oath to save lives, to heal lives, not to take life."

"Well, just because she is a doctor, even a surgeon, means nothing, but she would have the know-how ... You have certainly read newspaper reports in which she is credited with the act just because ..."

"I can assure you that my client is not capable of such low emotions."

"Uhhh, big words, Mr. Lawyer!" said de Koning. "One could think, you're married to the lady, or at least dating her!"

Then he stuffed his last apricot dumpling in his mouth. He rubbed his stomach with relish and, addressing Jamie, said:

"Who knows what other colleagues from the rest of the press are digging up ... Are you really sure that not someday something will come up from somewhere? Couldn’t somebody show up in court and get talking? Maybe a neighbor, a friend, a hotel clerk witnessed a fight or something else?"

"Whoever should crawl out of whatever hole, to throw dirt on my innocent client, he or she must know that we will prosecute every slander, every false statement, and every incumbent claim under criminal and civil law."

"You will claim for damages?"

"Of course! My client is a graduate of irreproachable reputation. Every slanderer must know that slander is expensive. She's a respected surgeon, and if she loses her reputation or job because of such slander, someone will pay for it. You can count on it."

"What does it mean that you will let those allegations persecute? Don't you do that yourself?"

"No. In this case, we have appointed a distinguished lawyer whose law firm specializes in media law. I intend to concentrate entirely on the defense of my client. "

"Surely I can write that?" asked de Koning, knowing what Jamie's answer would be.

"Of course."

Two waiters came, cleared the dishes and asked if they could bring anything else. Jamie ordered water for himself and de Koning and asked for the bill.

"And what about the ... exclusive interview?" asked de Koning. He deliberately kept this question until the end. If Jamie had to tell him that his client would refuse, then at least this news would not spoil his meal.

"What exclusive interview?" Jamie asked, frowning.

"You know exactly what exclusive interview, you pettifogger!"

"Oh, the ... exclusive interview with the magazine U-Turn ... Hmmm, let me think."

"Fraser"

“Notizbuch” by tookapic

De Koning pounded nervously on the table with his black notebook.

"This is the decision of my client ... she decided to do this interview, unfortunately ..."

De Koning's eyes widened.

"What has your client decided unfortunately?”

"Unfortunately she has decided ... to give this completely new and unknown online magazine in Berlin ... this exclusive interview."

"Yeah!"

De Koning beamed and thumped his fist on the table.

"David!" Jamie said in a whisper and pointed wide-eyed at the small white porcelain vase: "Pull yourself together! The Stasi officer who monitors us gets eardrum twitching! They will sue you for bodily harm and I have to bail you out again!"

Both started laughing loudly and it was obvious that David de Koning's laughter was a liberating laugh.

"How did you do that? How did you convince her?" the journalist asked.

"That, my good friend, falls under the lawyer's duty of secrecy. But seriously. I will work out an agreement in the next few days that my client and you will sign. Then all’ is wrapped up. You know, I expect U-Turn to be neutral."

De Koning nodded.

"For sure. We will do that ... I promised you. Just ..."

"Just?"

"Jamie, don’t misunderstand me ... you're pretty sure she's innocent, but who tells you that there aren’t any skeletons in her closet, coming out someday?"

"David, trust me, I know you have a reputation to lose, but I assure you - she is innocent, and I promise you that I will pay for anything if U-Turn suffers any financial harm because you help me."

"It's ... it's not that I don’t trust you, Fraser. We've been working together for too long, but ... such a big thing ..."

"We've never worked on such a big thing together before, I know, but that will not change anything, it will not be easy, we'll have some tough months ahead of us, but believe me, I'll do anything to make this whole thing a success - for my client, for me and you."

"When do we meet to sign the agreement - and especially where?"

"In a week? I call you. I'll call you as soon as I've finalized the agreement and discussed it with my client. "

"But she will not ... but still, jump off?"

"No, no. That deal is sealed."

"Ok, I trust you, Jamie."

"And I trust you, David. You send me the first article as a pdf on my phone?"

"Yeah, we'll release only if you agree."

He nodded in agreement. They got up, went downstairs and Jamie paid the bill. They said goodbye at the entrance, then they went to their cars.

“Parkplatz” by kaboompics

When Jamie wanted to go to bed three hours later, his smartphone made a beep. He tapped the display and saw that David de Koning had sent an email with an attachment. He opened the attachment and read:

#TheMurderessfromtheGrunewald #Outlander #Outlander Fan Fiction #Claire Beauchamp #Claire Randall #Claire Fraser #Jamie Fraser #Adso the cat #Bismarck the dachshund #Germany #Berlin #Grunewald #Crime AU #Modern AU

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culturejunkies · 4 years

Text

Crisis on Infinite Earths

By Kenshiro

This review is going to attempt to encompass all of the ups and downs of this years annual CW crossover. However the sheer scope of what Greg Berlanti’s team was able to accomplish is worthy of some of the highest praise possible.

The attempt to re-create the Crisis on Infinite Earths was a goal teased for 7 years, back when The Flash first appeared back in 2013. One could argue that the entire Arrowverse has been leading up to this moment, much like when Tony Stark first built the Iron Man Mk. I in the cave. The Crisis is always referred to as the single greatest crossover in comic book history, for the sheer magnitude of what they managed to do, and the enormous balls it took to wipe their entire publishing slate clean, all of the history that had come before and hit the reset button to it all. Doing so in a television medium would certainly have taken even bigger balls, but doing it in the middle of a season would’ve been impossible. No one should fault them for not wanting to reset storylines in the middle of what had already aired for the past 10 weeks prior to the crossover kickoff.

What we did get however, was a massive love letter to every…and I mean EVERY single fan of DC Comics’ characters, young and old. There was something for everyone within this one. Recounting the amount of cameos and easter eggs found here is absolutely staggering and no matter how big or small they were, you couldn’t help but smile at them all, and seek out the ones your eagle eyes may have missed. I guarantee, you’d need at least 2 viewings and multiple slow downs to catch them all.

The most epic moment of the Arrowverse’s history. Grant Gustin’s Flash meets Ezra Miller’s Flash!

If you were a fan of the films, the Superman from the 1979 Christopher Reeve masterpiece was represented, if you go back to the 66′ Batman show, you got something. If you happen to be a fan of Titans, Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol on DC Universe, yep there was stuff there for you too. How about Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern film? Yep. It’s there. Hell, if you were a fan of the classic Superfriends cartoon? THEY HAD YOU COVERED. Hopefully you can tell how much I have nerded out with all of it because it was AWESOME. They even managed to save the best for last, by getting Ezra Miller to appear as his version of Barry Allen, suit and all, in STAR Labs with Grant Gustin’s Barry, something the internet surely exploded over. To steal an early phrase from Marvel’s playbook, truly “It’s all connected” now.

That doesn’t mean it was without its faults. The actual story for the crossover suffered quite a bit, but I can only attribute much of that had to do with the absolutely herculean effort the writers performed to squeeze every little bit of meaning out of the cameos they got. The Crisis didn’t unfold the way it did in the comics, once again due to narrative issues from trying to piece together 6 different Arrowverse shows, but it has to be said that the first 3 episodes of the Crisis did a lot of setting up, but some of it really didn’t hit home.

The best example of the crossovers to this point, has been Crisis on Earth-X from a few years back. In there, it didn’t matter what show the characters were on, they all appeared in some way or form across ALL of them. It made it seem like a seamless 5 hour movie filled with great action, epic moments, an awesome plot twist (the sudden death of Prof. Martin Stein) and awesome interactions between characters normally not seen together.

The first 3 episodes largely felt like episodes of the shows in which the crossover aired on. Starting with Supergirl, it felt like a somewhat special extended episode of Supergirl, since that was the only episode that the secondary characters Lena, Nia, Brainy, Alex, etc. appeared in. Followed up with Batwoman, it was the only episode that Kevin Conroy’s Batman and Luke Fox appeared in, while the episode of The Flash was the only one prominently featuring Iris, Cisco and Caitlin. While this isn’t a huge deal for most, it didn’t go unnoticed and didn’t make it feel like a true crossover.

Many of the Arrowverse heroes gathered together for the first of many times to come.

The very last episode however, paid all of it off. It was filled with all the great moments and feelings from Crisis on Earth X gave, and probably doubled it. The sheer amount of awesome, epic moments cannot be understated, and gave Oliver Queen the hero send-off he richly deserved. At the same time, the heroes of the Arrowverse now have a new normal to get used to, no more Earth-hopping, no more portals…they are all on one Earth, Earth-Prime, while the rest of the multiverse still rages on.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover set the stage for some truly great stuff moving forward with the Arrowverse now. The Justice League has been formed, round table and all. The Hall of Justice teased back in the Invasion crossover has now been legitimized as well. A truly satisfying finish to an incredibly ambitious crossover. Its safe to say, there shall most likely never be anything like this ever done again, and for that, a standing ovation to Greg Berlanti and his team. A job well done. To Mr. Stephen Amell, thank you for all the memorable years as Oliver Queen. You never failed this fandom.

#Arrow #Supergirl #The Flash #TV

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hey-hey-chan · 5 years

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Coffee vs Scantrons - Changbin

❀ College AU + Fluff

❀ Word count: 3.2 K

❀ Your grades are consistently being one bad after another, and you’re not here for it. You decide to take matters into your hands and meet your teacher during office hours... but unexpectedly, one of your classmates is there as well and invites you to coffee to repay a favor. You’re not jumping for joy since the boy doesn’t have the best reputation in your class, but will you forever be annoyed by his rambunctious nature, or fall for his boyish charm as the class goes on?

❀ A/N: ... i don’t even like coffee, i need to stop writing about it. also shoutout to my number one hype woman ruby who misses my writing and motivated me to write this,,, this one for u <3 also this is unedited. im sorry my writing is so bad,,, iM RUSTY

----------

“Ok, don’t tell me if the grade is bad though.”

I planted my hands over my eyes while I shoved my test at my best friend, Euna. She grabbed the test and put it face down so she couldn’t see it either and rolled her eyes at me.

“C’mon y/n, it probably isn’t even that bad. Like you’re a smart girl, missus straight A.” I groaned at her comment and kept my eyes closed.

“Shut up. I have gotten a... B before. But, seriously just tell me if I should look or not.” Joy just shook her head and look at my test grade. I immediately noted how her features shrunk together and her eyes turned to me sadly. I frowned at her expression.”w-what, is it THAT bad?”

She pushed the test towards me and there and behold a C- staring at me. I sighed and tried to push the image out. I peeked over at her test score and saw a big fat A taunting me. I wasn’t jealous. I was just disappointed in myself.

...And a tiny bit jealous.

I groaned and shut my eyes again, hoping I wouldn’t start to cry in the middle of my business class.

“Hey, it’s okay, we have more tests and Professor Lee is a really good guy, it’ll all work out.” Her advice went in one ear and then out another.

Yes, a C was passing, but I don’t want to just pass, I want to excel. Plus, my mom would kill me if I got a C, especially because I dropped another one of my classes during the quarter. I had no excuses now.

“Hey.. hey!” My friend snapped me out of my trance while I just shook my head at her. “Y/n, why don’t you just meet with him after class and get help?”

I took a big gulp of water, hoping it would calm my nerves. It didn’t.

“Well, the point is is that I feel like I’m not even struggling.. yet the results I get back are not what I expected. I don’t know what to ask him.” I confessed babyishly. I felt like I was whining for no reason.

Euna shrugged and packed up her backpack and headed out the door, which made me run to catch up with her.

Before I could head out the door, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I skittishly turned around and was now locking eyes with Seo Changbin, the class clown who happened to be incredibly smart and cute to say the least. I always had a small problem with him.

“Uh, hey, I borrowed a scantron from you the other day, right?” I nodded my head. He gave me a sheepish smile and I knew what was coming. “I’m sorry, I forgot to bring an extra one for you-” Before the boy could finish his sentence, I waved him off.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to pay me back, it’s just a scantron.” I quickly said. Honestly, I was a bit irritated since scantrons are not the cheapest thing, also this is business, I should’ve charged him for it. But I was too nice to be a businessman.

I turned and walked out the door before he could say anything else and caught up with Euna.

The girl was already out the door and waiting for me with a smirk upon her lips.

“What?” I barked. She pulled on her rain jacket and gave me a suspicious look.

“He totally likes you.” I felt my face turn red at her statement but it was a foolish thought.

“You’re so wrong, he has a bunch of other girls he talks to. Plus, we have never talked before.” Euna shrugged and walked faster so that I had to speed up my pace.

“Well, he at least thinks you’re cute. Did you see his blush?” I raised a brow but didn’t want to egg her on.

“Whatever, think what you want, loser. Focus on Heejun instead.” The girl gasped and slapped my arm lightly while I laughed. Heejun happened to be the boy she was crushing on, but was about 4 years older. It was ... weird.

“Shut up, don’t come running to me when you discover lover boy likes you.”

I scoffed and pushed the thought out of my head immediately.

Changbin doesn’t like me. And I won’t give him a chance to.

-----

Professor Lee’s office hours were from 7:30-8:30 am. I had to take the 7am bus to come to school during that time, which means I slept on the bus and almost missed my stop. Thankfully my body naturally wakes up at the rough turn.

I stepped out into the cold air and wondered if my business grade was even worth the trouble. Ok... it definitely was. But not at 7am.

I walked up the steps into the building and found his office number. I took a deep breath, not even feeling my anxiety due to the cold, and knocked on the door.

I waited a few seconds before walking in. I saw my professor sitting quietly, typing away on his computer.

“Hi Professor Lee.” I greeted. He turned quickly and gave me a bright smile, which was unsettling since it was 7am.

“Hey! What can I help you with?” He said brightly. Suddenly my fear of meeting him washed away.

“Um, so I just haven’t been doing so well on the tests and I was wondering if you could clarify some terms for me?” He nodded and pulled out a chair for me. I got my notes out while he finished typing an email up.

“So, how’s it being up at 7am?” He asked suddenly. I let out a nervous chuckle as I swear I could see my breath in his ice cold office.

“It’s... a new experience. I used to wake up at 6:30 for classes, but that was last year. Now my first class is at 9, so I feel like a slug to be honest with you.” He let out a loud laugh, making me feel more welcome.

“I get that, but I’m an old man, and I love sleeping early and waking up early.” I let out a small smile.

“Yeah, I am usually an early bird too... but I like to wake up early and do nothing.” He chuckled until I held my notes out to me. “So uh, I’m not really understanding 5 styles of leadership and how they relate to Maslow’s hiearchy of needs. Like I understand the 2 separately, but now how the connect.” I explained.

He nodded and wrote all of them down. “So, autocratic, bureaucratic...”

He went on and on about different questions I asked him about business, but they still felt fuzzy to me. I also learned things I didn’t know before, showing how I wasn’t as good as business as I thought.

“So, what are your favorite movies?” He asked when I was done asking him questions about business.

“Hmmm... right now, it’s The Polar Express?” He laughed loudly and shook his head.

“It’s only November and you’re thinking about Christmas movies?” I nodded frantically.

“Of course! I’m always thinking about Christmas movies because Christmas is my favorite holiday.” I grinned just thinking about sitting next to my TV and drinking hot cocoa as the snow falls. School will me put on pause and I’ll finally be done with college apps; sounds heavenly.

“Agreed, I love Christmas too.” I heard a deeper voice come from behind me, making me swivel around. And just my luck, Changbin was leaning against the doorway like he was cool or something. He gave me a quick smile until he turned to face Professor Lee.

“Hey James, I came to turn in that assignment I missed last week.” Changbin handed him a white paper and I grew curious about how close the boy was to our professor since he called him by his first name.

“Ah yes, how did your job interview go anyways?” Changbin’s smile brightened up and I felt his ego expand.

“Amazing, I got the job.” He high fived Jame’s hand and backed away. Then he turned to me and gave a look of guilt. “Oh gosh I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?” I shook my head and Prof. Lee did too.

“Nah you’re all good, I was just about done too. See you later Professor Lee.” I turned to walk out the door and unfortunately, Changbin was going the same way.

“Hey, you’re y/n, right?” I nodded, a bit, ok a lot, surprised that he knew my name. “Cool cool, sorry I’m bad with names.”

“No big deal.” I hated how I was so cold to guys, and only guys. There’s something about boys like him who make me put this wall up.

“So the Polar Express huh?” Now that caught my attention as I raised a brow.

“Yup, one of my favorites. Brings back all the Christmas feels I know and love.” The boy nodded enthusiastically.

“True. Classics give you those feel good vibes.” I nodded, unsure how to respond. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I forgot to give you your scantrons back right?” I shrugged.

“It’s just one-”

“Well how about I treat you to coffee to make up for it?” I paused in my tracks and raised a brow at him, suspicious at his motives. He gave me a sheepish smile, but I could tell he was waiting in anticipation for my answer.

“Really?” I stated like I was disinterested, but really my heart was jumping like crazy. I didn’t know if it was because of the cold or nervousness, but his cheeks were tinged a light pink.

“I mean, like, in a friendly nice way. Not like I’m coming onto you in any way, I swear. Guys who come onto girls too strongly are freaks.” I chuckled at his answer, and how could I say no to that... and free coffee.

“Then fine, I’ll let you buy me some coffee.”

His smile lit up and he ruffled his messy hair that was still messy from pulling his hood down.

“Oh good, for a split second, I thought you were going to reject me.” He faked his dismay by putting his hand over his heart and clutching it dramatically. I laughed at his silly antics but didn’t let myself become comfortable with him yet.

The school cafe was just around the cafe so we hit it pretty quickly.

“Hi, what can I get for you two?” The pretty girl at the cashier greeted. I could tell Changbin was checking her out as he pretended to scan the menu. I wanted to roll my eyes, people who order coffee don’t need the menu, they always know their order. But I didn’t care who he checked out, it wasn’t like I was into him.

“How bout a venti iced americano please.” The girl nodded and wrote it down.

“And for you?”

I hummed and scanned the menu, since I, a college rookie, didn’t drink coffee often. But I definitely needed it for the early hour I woke up.

“Um, I’ll just get an tall caramel macchiato.” I didn’t even know what they tasted like, the drink just sounded cute.

“Great, one venti ice american and one all caramel macchiato, that’ll be 5 dollars 13 cents please.

Changbin let out a low whistle which made me snap my head at him.

“What?” I snapped. He laughed and gave me a mischievous grin.

“Nothing, it’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl or a guy order a tall coffee in the morning before.” I shrugged and tapped my shoes on the ground-- a habit I had when I was nervous.

“Well, I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so it doesn’t take much to wake me up.” He raised a brow.

“Wow, not a daily coffee drinker? I’m not sure if I know anyone our age who doesn’t drink coffee every morning.” I shrugged and put my hands in my butt pockets.

“Well, now you do.” I wiggled my eyebrows jokingly while he laughed at the ground like he was trying to hide his loud laugh.

Our drinks were soon ready and I grabbed my drink while he grabbed his. I put a little coaster around mine while Changbin talked to the the pretty cashier once more.

“You two enjoy your day.” She gave him a small smile and whipped her hair at him. I felt uncomfortable.

He gave her a small smile and nodded. “You too.”

As we walked away, I gave him a little nudge, as to which he was surprised at. “What?” I scoffed.

“That girl...” I trailed off, hoping he would pick up my sentence. He just stared at me dumbly. “The girl thought you were cute.”

At my words, he just shrugged and sipped his drink. “Okay... do you agree with her?” Now his words caught me off guard.

I took a sip of my coffee to wake me up. “Uhhhhhh ... hmmm... uhh..” I heard him laughing at my response and wiped his hands on his pants sicne they were wet due to the condensation to the iced drink.

“Ok honestly, I’m curious! I won’t tease you or anything, I’m just genuinely curious on what a normal person thinks of my looks.”

Changbin was... hot. To say the least. He was an attractive guy who I’m sure who got lots of girls and got lots of attention, especially with his nice style as well.

“Ok fine, yes you’re cute, but I’m sure you already knew that.” I said pretty quickly, but he still understood it. His cheeks were flushed and a pretty pink. I knew my cheeks matched mine unfortunately.

He then turned to me and said, “thank you for your deep insight.” I laughed at his boyish humor and I heard him laughing too.

“You’re pretty funny as well.” He didn’t respond to this compliment but stopped in his tracks. I quickly looked down at my watch and saw that time.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled.

“What?” He wondered.

I shook my head. “Oh no big deal, I just have class in 5 minutes, so... see you in class?” He nodded slyly and waved me off.

“Definitely, see you later y/n.”

And as I walked away from him, I felt my heart warm with a feeling I’ve never felt before and an excitement and anxiety I wasn’t sure I liked or hated.

------

Business seemed so far away yet it came so quickly. I walked into business and sat next to Euna who was already waiting for me.

“Yo, are you drinking coffee?” I nodded.

“Yup, a caramel macchiato.” She gave me a weird look.

She pulled out her bottle filled with tea and raised it to take a sip. “What’s the occasion?”

“Changbin bought me it.” Euna almost spit her drink up on me, but I pushed her away and she swallowed. “Dude!” I shouted at her. She coughed viciously but ignored me.

“Changbin?? You mean in this class Changbin??” I immediately shushed her and looked around and saw people staring directly me. Oh great.

“Wait, you and Changbin are a thing?” The guy behind me asked. I felt my cheeks heat up at his question.

I shook my head. “No, we are not.”

“But he bought you coffee.” I nodded.

“Yeah, um, he owed me a scantron so he just bought me coffee.” The boy named Soonyoung narrowed his eyes at me.

“You know a pack of scantrons are like 50 cents while coffee is like... more than that.” I rolled my eyes and shrugged.

“I don’t know, I just met Changbin practically yesterday.” I felt weird talking about my life, it was just ... weird.

Suddenly, Changbin walked in and I turned back around. The class was silent.

Changbin’s laughed filled the silence. “Why is everyone so quiet today?” I leaned back in my chair while Euna patted me on the arm comfortingly. After Changbin’s comment, the conversations resumed and the class was noisy once again.

“You bought y/n coffee? You never buy me coffee you jerk.” Soonyoung joked while punching him on the arm. Changbin glanced quickly at me but punched Soonyoung back.

“Shut up, I only buy coffees for pretty girls.” He said while looking right at me. Oh my god... how does this guy how such confidence.

I pretended I didn’t hear it, even though I obviously I did, and faced the teacher while even my professor gave me a small smile.

“Ok class, today is gonna be a fun day!” The class cheered and whooped in excitement. Everyone hated lectures, so when he spiced it up, we were all thrilled.

"So, I’m a bit sick and I’m a bit too jumbled to do lecture today, for the first 20 minutes, I’ll lecture, then I’ll let you guys ask me any kinds of questions you want, sounds good?

We all screamed “yes”.

The lecture seemed to fly by since he had a way with making boring topics fun.

Then, after the lecture, he pulled out a chair and sat in the middle of the room. “Question time!” He called out while everyone started to raise their hands.

“How old are you?

“Old enough to be your dad.” He laughed and then said “53.” He kept calling on people with ridiculous things like how many pets have you owned throughout your life and then simple questions like what’s your favorite movie? And so on.

“Hey James, do you ever ship your students together?” Soonyoung asked.

James furrowed his eyes together. “What do you mean?”

“Like, do you ever think 2 students would be a good couple or something?”

“OHHHH” James laughed and shrugged. “I mean, sometimes, of course I don’t know my student’s sexualities most of the time, but yes sometimes students come up to me, who I know fairly well, and tell me who they find cute and I then ‘ship’ them.”

“Is that the case right now?” Another student asked. James gave a small smile and shrugged, which meant yes.

“Don’t worry, we all know who it is.” Soonyoung called out while Changbin punched him on the arm.

“It’s probably you and Changbin.” Euna whispered in my ear. I just kicked her leg.

-----

The class flew by and since it was a Friday, I took my time leaving. Before I could turn to Euna, she was already gone. That rat.

“Hey y/n.” I heard the familiar voice of Changbin. I felt my heart speed up without wanting it too.

“Hey Changbin, what’s up?” I asked confidently. He seemed a bit taken aback, but he recovered smoothly, as he always did.

“Uh, so, I was wondering if you had a Snapchat?” I raised a brow and leaned against the table while it was his turn to look nervous.

“Hmmmm indeed I do. You want it?” He nodded shyly so I felt a bit bad for teasing him. I saw him add me on snap and I added him back quickly.

“So, coffee is definitely better than a scantron right?” He asked. I laughed at the inside joke.

“Definitely.”

“You know, I think I’m going to have to forget my scantrons more often so I can treat you to coffee more often.” He joked, but I felt like was nervous saying it.

“Well, you don’t need to forget your scantrons to treat me to coffee.” He paused at my words, letting them sink in. Before he could act on them, I said “bye Changbin, see you Monday.”

And this time, I felt at ease with my small crush on the boy.

#stray kids #stray kids scenarios #straykidznet #sk-writersnet #changbin scenarios #stray kids scenario #stray kids oneshot #stray kids imagines #stray kids imagine #seo changbin #changbin imagines #sk #skz #skz scenarios #skz imagines #skz oneshot

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garyofrivia · 5 years

Text

a few Modern!Gang college AU headcanons!!!!!

not that anyone asked!!! and this has probably been done already!! but i’m bored at work so :/ i’m so sorry

Arthur:

graphic design major, creative writing minor

took a photography class to impress that cute albert boy from down the hall and worked extra hard all semester just to end up accidentally telling his advisor that he wanted to double minor in photography as well

Tired™

he’s def one of those students that can fall asleep a n y w h e r e on campus

has a sleeve tattoo and is working on a second ;;;)))

he doesn’t party often, but when he does, the entire fire department and 7 cop cars show up by the end of the night to break it up

there was a rumor his sophomore year that he beat up 5 frat dudes at once during rush week for harassing girls and no one has heard of any issues from that frat since

is banned from the local chili’s for dining and dashing

shoplifts chef boyardee, microwavable ramen, and snickers bars from the student center convenience store to Survive

Charles:

environmental studies major

is in 50000000 activist clubs

regularly punches racist white boys w/ maga merch in the dorm common rooms and when the RA saw one time he didn’t do jack shit bc…. he right

he’s never procrastinated an assignment in his life

studies until 5 am every night but? still wakes up at the crack of dawn to go to the gym????

works part time as a barista at a hole in the wall coffee shop/bookstore and is 100% a coffee snob

doesn’t smoke but knows every weed dealer on campus, mostly bc they’re all enviro studies majors

his roommate thinks he’s a myth bc he’s never there or is just super quiet, but rly he just Minds His Damn Business

can be seen reading for leisure on the quad when it’s sunny and warm

Dutch:

political science major, philosophy minor

arthur and hosea are his friends from high school and they’re the only ones that can tolerate his mood when he goes on Insane procrastination benders where he’s trying to write 4 essays in a single night on a fuck ton of adderall and energy drinks

frequently goes on rants while studying in the student center about capitalism and it somehow always results in him on top of a table, yelling about ronald reagan

it gets Annoying when he talks about ancient greece, which is… constantly..

has 4 girlfriends and 3 boyfriends but still has time to participate in debate team every saturday

accidentally incited a student labor strike on campus one time and the cafeteria wasn’t functional for a week

started 6 clubs, but never goes to meetings and can’t remember what literally any of them are for

doesn’t work at all but somehow? always has money??? like he pays for his friends’ dinners all the time?? how??????

Hosea:

graduate economics student

he’s that cool TA in a super hard class that sends the prof’s tests from previous semesters to all the students so they can study for the final

Constantly in the library reading/studying/tutoring

still lives on campus for some reason and pirates textbook pdfs out of his dorm room

has a 4.2 gpa, but acts like he’s never been to a single class in his life

gets high all the time and talks about moving to europe on a whim and is *THIS* close to just fuckign doin it

makes his own kombucha

when he can’t sleep bc of test anxiety he rambles to arthur and dutch until the wee hours of the morn about existentialism and how great the beatles were

is responsible for multiple people discovering they have a daddy kink despite not having one himself

John:

undecided major (communications maybe, but he hasn’t found his “passion” yet)

failed freshman english twice for just not showing up to class

drives one of those old subarus from the 90’s and does donuts in the student lot when it snows

has a CD collection from his Emo™ days in the glove box and pops one in every now and then when he’s alone and feelin’ nostalgic/sad

skateboards to class and usually almost runs over a bunch of people since he always has headphones on

death note is his favorite anime

that One Room on your hall that is ALWAYS playing loud ass music until 3am

is surprisingly really good at math and tries to help tutor his friends but gets frustrated when they don’t understand “basic” calculus on the first try

his favorite hobby is harassing the ducks on campus and has made enemies of multiple geese

Sadie:

criminology major

plays intramural sports, probably volleyball and softball

everyone’s Jock Girlfriend they wished they had but are too afraid to talk to bc she might snap someone’s neck if they look at her wrong

wears leather jackets and aviators for every occasion

one time gave a monologue about sexism in her political theory class after not saying anything for the entire semester and her professor was moved to tears

has a lot of friends but only a few are ride or die babey!!!!!!!! (it’s arthur, charles, and abigail and they bully john together)

knows a lot about cars and ppl pay her to fix theirs since college kids usually can’t afford to go to a garage

speaks german because she got bored one summer and taught herself a fucking language i guess

Sean:

french major (????why is he like that???)

he says he’s studying a different language because the thinks it’ll make him hotter, but really it’s because he fantasises about moving away one day to start a new life

always says how college isn’t really for him and is .2 seconds away from dropping out

hangs out with john a little too much for his own good and once broke his wrist while trying his skateboard

“hey, have you heard of [insert incredibly obscure punk rock band name here]?”

gets blackout drunk every weekend and keeps a journal for the sole purpose of documenting the various places he’s woken up

wears stupid beanies and owns one (1) hoodie that he wears year round

quotes memes out loud to be able to communicate his emotions effectively

a ~Film Hoe~

also………. he vapes

Javier:

international studies major, finance minor

studied abroad in spain and almost didn’t come back bc he loved it so much

plans to get mega rich so he can travel Everywhere

um,,, he loves classic lit and owns an entire library full of it

took a gap year after high school to tour with his band and kinda became a lil famous so that’s cool

runs a thirst trap instagram acct and models part time ;)

every single person that encounters him has been attracted to him in one way or another and they truly don’t even question it

he’s a major mama’s boy and she visits him all the time

he rooms with sean who drives him insane but they have similar music tastes and were able to bond over that

they get rowdy on saturdays but has his (few) friends over on sundays for a “family dinner”

Bill:

computer science major

used to play COD competitively and wants to get into videya game development

seems like kind of an idiot when he asks questions in class but his grades show that he’s smarter than he looks

did ROTC for the tuition money but dropped as soon as he found out that you have to enlist after you graduate lmao

southern angery boi that drives a pickup truck and hosts tailgates every single football game

has a bunch of dudebro friends that he hangs out with due to societal pressure, but all he wants to do is bake some cookies

his roommate was scared of him at first but when he bought him a lil gift for christmas before break, he realized that he was a big ole softie

is late to class bc he spends 65943598 years on his hair in the morning even though it literally never looks different

Lenny:

english major, applying to the education masters degree program

he wants to be a high school english teacher fuck me up!!!!!!

was super homesick when he first moved away :(

writes his friends papers for them sometimes even though he’s killing himself with his own schoolwork

netflix binges and video game benders are regular weekend activities and he’s been known to not move from his chair for 15 hours at a time

runs an avengers stan blog and cried at comic con when he met robert downey jr

begged the manager at the local comic book store for a job and the guy was just like “yeah, kid literally just apply online idc”

has lots of friends that rope him into doing hooligan shit instead of study

is a giant ball of anxiety for the majority of the semester and is just,, Trying His Best

Micah:

he was the maga kid that charles knocked out the first week of classes

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr headcanons #rdr2 HCs #modern rdr2 #jedmdjskjdkd jk about micah i cant do him out of pure bias so feel free to add him or anyone else!!!!!#this is EXTREMELY self indulgent wow #pls dont drag me

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ettadunham · 5 years

Text

A Buffy rewatch 4x01 The Freshman

aka high school is hell but college is purgatory

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today I’m finally starting season 4, and you know what, I’m excited! And overwhelmed! I am both Buffy and Willow!

I think when it comes to ranking Buffy seasons, for many people s4 tends to be pretty low on their lists. I for one definitely had a bone to pick with it as well as season 6 on my first run through back in the days.

But... I came to appreciate both by now for some of the same reasons I disliked them. Which is the show’s ability to go with the flow, and adapt its core themes as the characters continue to grow and age.

Buffy was originally a high school horror show. Which in itself went through many changes and development over the course of the first three seasons, but that main setting and the core concept of high school being hell remained. The demons and problems the characters were facing were centered around things like their anxieties about the future, growing up, and how their relationships shaped who they’d become.

But these were always dynamic characters and stories... so of course at some point we had to leave high school behind. And that meant uprooting almost everything familiar about the show up until this point.

Hell, we even blew up the damn high school in 3x22 to signify that abrupt and drastic turn the show was about to take.

Of course, in many ways, it’s not actually all that extreme and new. This is still the same show with the same characters, and Buffy is still doing vampire murder acrobatics in her spare time. But the change of scenery brings the necessity of adjustment on so many different aspects of the show, down to its themes, and I came to love that about season 4.

Sure, I’ll miss the Scoobies hanging around together in high school all the time, but relationships change for most of us at that age. Everyone has their own stuff to deal with, whether it’s their studies, job, new friends, significant others, etc. It’s a whole new world of possibilities as well as anxieties.

So I could definitely relate to both Buffy and Willow’s frershman experience. The idea of a fresh start and what appears to be endless opportunities is intoxicating... but it’s also disorienting with a healthy dose of disillusionment. College is weird you guys.

This is also going to be the only season where college will be the main backdrop of the show, even though Buffy will only drop out in s6, I think? I don’t know, I’m fuzzy on the details, so I guess we’ll see.

Let’s do a lightning round of some random things from this episode:

- I really love what we see of Xander and Buffy’s relationship in this episode. As Xander didn’t go to college, he’ll be feeling isolated from the group even more so as a result... but here, he managed to turn up at just the right moment to interrupt Buffy’s own isolation. I love that and I love that scene. “You’re my hero” - my heart just grows each and every time a bit.

(Although I’m not sure how I feel about the whole part where Xander implies that he’s masturbating to images of Buffy??? Just... why. Why is Joss Whedon like that.)

- Pedro Pascal is in this! I barely recognized him but it’s he! The scene between him and Buffy with them trying to find their way on campus is also super nice and cute and real. Sure, he gets eaten immediately after that, but it’s still a nice moment.

- Riley not remembering Buffy’s name after their first encounter and identifying her as “Willow’s friend” is kinda funny? Also another implication of the difference between how quickly Buffy and Willow are fitting into their new environment.

- Sunday is a fun villain. Like, she’s an asshole, but she’s also a vampire so that makes sense. I kinda love that she’s picking on Buffy because she’s a freshman and they’re preying on those, and less interested in the whole Slayer deal. It adds to the theme of Buffy feeling small and unlike herself for most of the episode.

- The asshole prof is honestly not far off from reality. That’s why you gotta ask around before signing up for a course, kids.

- Dad!Giles is out, Cool Unemployed Giles all your friends have a crush on is in. Oh, and this is Olivia’s first appearance! Too bad we’re never gonna actually develop her character, but oh well.

- Willow’s panic about how they missed the ‘circumstances’ that might’ve led to Buffy dropping out and taking off when they find the fake note is kinda cute? It’s a nice reminder that as much as they are and will be all sorts of wrapped up in their own lives, they still want to be there for each other. It’s just getting harder and more complicated each day.

Anywho, I’m excited! I’m still gonna agree with 19-year-old me that s4 has probably the least interesting season arc (especially when it comes to the big bad), but I can’t wait to rediscover everything else that’s going on here.

Not to mention the fact that we’ll be getting some of the best episodes of the show this season. (Like Beer Bad... Well, okay, I’m kidding, but also watch me defend that episode’s right to be just an overall dumb ride!!!)

I got this!

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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contrabassconversations · 5 years

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How to work in Germany as a double bass player

Check out Uli's post on the web here

Starting Off

Although I started very early with the Double Bass with the age of 10 (1991 there were no small basses in Germany, so I started to play a 3?4 sized bass while standing on a stool) the instrument did not play a big role in my life. When I finished my school in 2000 I stopped playing the Double Bass for 2 or 3 years and began to study Musicology, German Philology and Pedagogics in Cologne.

For some reason I was always thinking about starting to play again and so I called my first teacher Jon Diven who studied at the Eastman University with James VanDemark before if he could teach me again. Because I showed more interested in playing the Bass I improved very fast and so I was going to my first masterclass with Prof. Ulrich Lau.

All the people I heard there were so much better than I was and I wanted desperately to study the Bass and play the same stuff that they were playing. The more my interest grew the more opportunities opened up and I think this was one of the most important aspects for becoming successful with my instrument.

Starting in a Freelance Orchestra

My first bass teacher told me later in 2005 that there was a freelance-orchestra sponsored by a big pharmaceutical company named Merck where he works as principal bass player and they where looking for new members. At that point the orchestra was full of amateurs like me but they had a professional conductor who wanted to improve the orchestra’s quality. The pieces were getting harder and also the orchestra’s quality was improving very fast. After some time I was the only amateur left and I was quite afraid getting kicked out as well so I decided that it was time to study the Bass.

Honestly, I was very naive to think that it would be easy and so I failed my first audition in Music university. Shortly after the audition, I heard that the Bass teachers there were having a barbecue party with their old and new students and asked me if I wanted to join as they knew me from some masterclasses and lessons before. Without knowing how good it was to join this party I was going with them. When we were sitting on the camp fire the two teachers asked me to come to them and have a short talk about my audition and the future and one of them said that if I would have some private lessons for 6 months, that there would be a chance to join the class in University.

So I started having private lessons with Prof.Gottfried Engels. It was such a strange coincidence that a party was actually the starting point of my career. After some weeks my new teacher told me that he has to take responsibility for me and that I would have no chance to become a member of a States orchestra because I was simply too old but that my qualification in Musicology and pedagogics could help me to become a very good double bass teacher. At the same time he kind of destroyed my dream to become a professional bass player in one of the States orchestras in Germany. He also told me that I had to finish my masters in musicology otherwise he would kick me out of his class. Trusting my teacher, that there will be a good chance for me to start a career as a teacher, because I studied Pedagogics before, I decided to take that challenge even if it was not my dream at all. That was another lesson I learned for my future life: Find a teacher you can trust and who will take responsibility for you. The next audition was fine and finally I had a place in the Class!

A Special Project in Cologne

After some months I heard about a special project in Cologne which was paid by a foundation: There was an old guy who asked the Music University if they could develop a string class project for the elementary school as he knew he was going to die and he wanted to donate his money for cultural belongings. Without having a single idea what string class teaching is and how you deal with around 30 kids per class at the same time, I started this adventure. In the elementary school I learned very fast that I did not learn anything in Music university that could help me because you only learn how to play your instrument and how you deal with a student in a single lesson which is a completely different thing. So I had some talks with some elementary school teachers and my parents who were teachers as well (but in physical education)if they could help me with my lack of knowledge. It was maybe the first time that I found out that you have to build a good network around you and that you have to trust the experts surrounding you to improve your own skills.

A few months later it went better but in the first months I was always hoping for the end of the day. But: It was the first opportunity not to work in a supermarket or doing other jobs that did not have anything to do with music education. The funny thing was that this project started without having any bassplayers there and the responsible teachers in music university didn’t want to develop the project for Minibasses because they were afraid of making any mistakes.

Actually they had no clue what Minibasses are. But my teacher hopefully had! Can you imagine a University that has professors for music pedagogy who can live with that? For me this had nothing to do with music education. It was simply a big mistake to choose the easy way. After some time we convinced the foundation to buy some basses, but they bought 1?2 sized basses for 7 year old children who needed 1/8 sized basses. In the following months I met some bass players who were working in the same city and had the same problems (guess who was their professor?), so we started a revolution in the project. 1 year later there were 5 elementary schools with four classes minimum each with four or more basses in the right size and we all could teach the kids properly. Some of the students asked if there is a possibility to have additional single lessons and of course we said yes.

What I learned

If you want to live as a freelancer in Germany you have to teach in String classes as well because the lessons take place in the morning. In the afternoon there is time for the single lessons. A normal music school in Germany pays around 70 Dollars per month per student which means even if you have 30 students you have to live from 2100 Dollars a month, including living, insurance, healthcare, taxes, car and so on. Thats not enough to have a family and take care of them. A string class pays 120 Dollars for each day per hour per month. That sounded good. What I found out later is that the music schools in Germany often don’t have string class cooperations with public schools, so the bass teachers have maybe 4 or 5 students in single lessons and have a bad contract with the music schools: Every year you have to fight for a new contract. But if you are an expert in string class teaching you can either convince your boss to start such a program or work more hours in an already existing project at the same place. Another advantage is, that there is a possibility that you could get an unlimited contract with the city you work in, which means that they pay 50% of your healthcare and insurances.

During my studies in music university I had to visit teachers in some public music schools to learn more about teaching. I had to observe some lessons and also taught on my own under advice of the the mentor.

in Germany a music school is a completely different thing as an elementary school. Everybody can apply there and can have lesson with a music pedagogue but it is an additional „hobby“ like playing soccer or basketball. In Germany there are nearly no boarding schools that focus on music or prepare young students for University. Every school is a public school with no school fees at all. That means on the one hand that everybody has a fair chance to have a good school education. On the other hand there is no money for music equipment or instruments. That means that you have to apply in a music school besides your regular public school.

Becoming a Minibass teaching expert

When I had my first appointment with the bass teacher in Du?sseldorf which is the Capital of the State „Northrhine-Westphalia“ (the state has around 20 million inhabitants, which means a quarter of Germany’s citizens and Du?sseldorf has 600k) I recognized that this guy runs the biggest bass class in Germany. He had and still has 50 students per week, the youngest are 4 years old. For me this experience was like a goldmine in music teaching and a new idea was born: Becoming an expert in Minibass-Teaching as well. My professor was a good friend of him and so I recognized that this was the second big favor my professor did for me. What I learned: The more interest you show, the more chances you get. The more people you meet the more opportunities will open up.

In 2010 some teachers and students in Northrhine-Westphalia founded the Double Bass Teachers association in Northrhine Westphalia with the goal to develop the teaching of Minibass in the music schools. In NRW (short version for the region) there are around 800 Double-Bass students taught in music schools. That sounds a lot but most of them have lessons in the big cities. On the countryside there is nearly nothing. So one of the goals of this association is to develop a good infrastructure concerning teaching there.

At that point I was still a student and I was asked if I wanted to join the association. Of course I said yes because I had the impression that this could be a very big thing for the future. As well the government was going to help us and as well the cultural ministry made a cooperation with us. I helped at the annual Basscamp as a student. In the beginning we earned nearly no money and the students worked for free but I thought and still think that it is better to start a thing you have a good feeling with and later on you will get some other chance because the people you were helping remember you as a good guy. Honestly we were all working for the idea and the dream not for money. But that fact paid out some years later.

Meeting Caroline Emery

The first time in my life that I met Caroline Emery who was so kind to come to the Basscamp as a teacher was a big inspiration for me and she also had a lot to tell about the invention of the Minibass and her books. We had some very interesting talks about my future plans and she told me some of her “secrets of teaching.” At the last day of the course she said to me: Hey you should come to Bassclub in Menuhin School and help a little and I can tell you it will blow your mind. And it did.

I saw all those talented young Bassplayers there playing on the highest level I heard so far and I also had a chance to teach a little during this very intense week at Bassclub. Most of the time I was taking notes and tried to keep everything in mind. At Bassclub I also met Francois Rabbath, Gareth Wood, Christian Mortensen and Jan Alm which was absolutely crazy. Meeting Caroline was very important for me and she still means a lot to me. I still think that she gave me a lot of good advice and an idea of quality-based teaching.

The same year the first International Basscamp in Germany took place and again Caroline Emery was there and as well Edmond Cheng who has probably the largest Minibass-Class worldwide in Hongkong. Another very inspiring person for me. All of his students play on a very high level. I only heard that quality in Carolines class before. With Edmond I had some very interesting talks too and one of the things I kept in mind most was: If you think small you stay small, so think big. I will keep that sentence in my mind forever. I met Edmond at three or four more courses and so I had the chance to teach some of his students and he taught mine. The same year I finished my Masters and half a year later I made my diploma in Music-Pedagogy.

More Camp Experiences

After that there was the same camp taking place in Berlin where I met Szymon Marciniak and Giorgji Makhoshvili. The course was led by Prof. Stephan Petzold who is a big influencer in BASSEUROPE and he also invited me to teach on another course- again a lucky coincidence.The next Basscamp in Germany was with Thierry Barbe? who I met before on a masterclass in Montepulciano. All these events took place in 3 or 4 years and they were all very inspiring. Actually I felt like a sponge getting more and more useful information and as well the network was growing.

Shortly after that there was a small city music school close to my home and they had a very small Double-Bass class with 5 students. As my mentor told me that they were looking for a young and motivated Bass-teacher I gave the boss a call and they wanted me to become their new bass-teacher. That was in 2011. Unfortunately I had to quit after two years because there was a better job in another city.

A New Job

There was another music school looking for a teacher and again my professor gave me the advice to give their office a call. Again I was lucky because in that school they had not one single Double- Bass student so it was somehow like a laboratory where you could start from the very beginning. I have to say that I was lucky at that point of time because the city was running a project for the elementary schools there. In collaboration with the music school there, the city spend a lot of money to pay string class teaching in elementary school.

After two years my class was growing and I had 15 students there plus 5 hours string class teaching. As the school was desperately looking for more string teachers, I could help some friends to work there as well. As a consequence we could build up two orchestras in the music school, one of them is conducted by me. I also had a very good friend who was willing to teach the piano at that school. That meant that the quality of my class was improving as most of the students had the possibility to play in the orchestra and could play with a professional piano teacher. I think that we have it our own hands if our class becomes a class of motivated and talented kids. The more quality the kids see and hear (from yourself, from piano teachers etc…) the more they can improve. That means as well that you should try to bring them to masterclasses, concerts and so on.

In 2012 my wife, who was my piano player in Music university before I married her, became pregnant and I was living quite okay for a single household .But at that point of time I only earned around 1200 Dollars a month- not enough to make a living with wife and kid. Also my contract was limited for one year. So something had to happen very fast. My day was full of driving to several music schools and string classes but still there was a lack of money. So I decided to ask all my bosses if there is a chance to work more. My Expectation was that maybe one of them could help me but all of them offered me to work even more!! Within 1 month I had a 50 hours work-week and the family was fine. At the peak I had 18 string classes, 30 students, orchestra playing, courses and so on. The best thing that happened to me was that I got an unlimited contract in one of the schools. As a consequence I had to decide to quit some of the small jobs and concentrate more on the bigger ones. In my opinion this is also a very important aspect: If you want to improve you have to quit the worst job you have to create space for more inspiring ones.

While all these events took place I was member in two big freelance orchestras and so my dream to play in the orchestra somehow came true. At that point of time it was the first time that there were opportunities to pay back the favours other people were doing to me. I had some friends who were still studying and I heard about some schools looking for teachers and also our orchestras were looking for new members, so I remembered all the people who were taking care of me and paid back. Actually it was a very good feeling because the first years I only received and wasn’t able to give back. The whole freelance scene is like an organism to me that feeds you but also has to be fed. That means that you should not bite in the hand that is feeding you, should you?

Becoming a camp organizer

In 2014 my mentor, who was the head of our teachers association became sick and told me that the association needs somebody who can organize the bass camp instead of him. So in 2014 I became the head of the Double-Bass-Teachers-Association in Northrhine-Westphalia. In the beginning it was very scary because my responsibility grew and I had to take all the financial risks such a course has. But I also met new people holding very important positions in the cultural scene in Germany as the German association of music schools or the association of Orchestras for talented children in our region.

In Music University we did not learn anything about self-management or how to organize a course so I had to talk to a lot of people and visit the other Teachers-Associations in Germany. At the moment there are five of them, but as every head of the Associations was guest at the Basscamp before it was very easy to refresh the contact. From now on I visited mailed or called one of them regularly which was quite helpful. After some difficulties at the start with only 28 participants our course has now a size of 60 bass players every year, which makes it to one of Germanys biggest bass camps. We had teachers like Gottfried Engels, Thierry Barbe?, Caroline Emery, Carthy Elliott, Stefan Scha?fer, Boguslaw Furtok and Stanislav Anishenko who were so kind to give a lot of inspiration to the kids. Last year we came in contact with the European String Teachers Association (the german section) and as well BASSEUROPE.

The last months there were some possibilities to write articles about new literature for Double-Bass or stringclass-teaching. At the moment I am writing an article about Claus Freudenstein‘s new pieces „THE WOLF & STRUCT“ This is actually very funny because now, Musicology comes back to my life again. For me it means a lot, because I know now why I had to finish my first studies and that it was not in vain to choose the long road and is now a big advantage.

Lessons learned about teaching the bass

Since that point I recognized that teaching the Double Bass is a lot more than teaching one student after the other. You have to connect to influencers, you have to be diplomatic, you have to love children, you have to play and teach professionally, you have to go to events, courses, lectures and so on and you also have to try to do favours to people who helped you. All in all it is a very altruistic behavior which can ?t be wrong because you only make yourself and other people happy. I don ?t know if you will find another job that can make you that confident…

All these things you don’t learn in Music university. In Germany you study mostly one segment, for example: orchestra musician. That means you practice a lot without knowing if you get a job in a states orchestra.

You can study music pedagogy and you learn besides playing your instrument properly, how you teach a kid in the single lesson. Or you become a teacher in a High school or elementary school. While you study you learn how to teach your segment but no one tells you how to react on the fact that reality works quite different. Concentrating on one job will lead to nothing but self destruction.

If you want to get a job in a music school, they ask you if you have experience in string class teaching, otherwise they won’t hire you. That is a big scandal: How can music universities forget their responsibility on the students? Why don’t they learn the basics of their future life?

Violinists or piano players are a lot more prepared than we are. That made me think of the real aim of a Double-Bass-Teachers-Association and this is maybe the biggest thing you can think about.

What we don’t learn at the university

We work with children but we don’t really learn it in University. So the goal should be to improve the music education from top to bottom. There are a lots of very talented young bass players out there, but if they want to study Doublebass the music universities have to offer more opportunities. Therefore we have to open the professors minds for our belongings. I think the more professors know what we are doing, the more we can change. In fact we are experts like them but unfortunately some of them think different. I think that I was very lucky so far and I really met the right people at the right time. Nevertheless a living in the freelance scene in Germany is possible and you can be very successful.

The funny thing is that the freelance players in Germany live mostly from teaching and did not study music pedagogy. Teaching is sometimes seen as the second chance for all those who failed in the auditions. But everybody knows that teaching has a lot to do with responsibility and you cannot use 50% of your heart while teaching. It is a 24/7 job. In the orchestras there are not so many jobs at the moment but we need the teachers. Crazily people behave quite different. They study orchestra playing and only reproduce themselves and feed a system which is wrong. Most of the students who go to music university will have to live from teaching, writing and playing at the same time but they don’t prepare for that fact. If you want to live as a freelancer you should be able to become an expert in as many topics as possible. The music world is full of possibilities and I am sure that everybody can find his place in the freelancer scene.

Check out this episode!

#doublebass #bass #music #interview #orchestra #teaching

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shimmerystyles · 6 years

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‘You’re my muse.’

Luke x Reader blurb.

Summary: Y/N is a photography student in her 3rd year of college. It’s the end of the semester project time and she’s given a task that leads her to an unsuspecting stranger.

Warnings: its cute, maybe a swear or two, that’s about it.

Word Count: 1,100+

“Alright class, before you all run out of my lecture hall, I have your final assignment” Professor Stevenbach says fixing his bowtie.

The class erupts in groans and he lets out a hefty laugh. “Now now class, it’s a good project” He exclaims as he hands out papers to each row.

“Your assignment, should you choose to accept it” he snickers to himself, leaving the hall in dead silence. He clears his throat and continues. “I want you to take your cameras out on the town, and find the one thing that captures your eye, your muse if you’d like to call it that. Photograph it, show it’s depth, dimension, emotion. I want to see your pictures and understand where your idea came from. Be creative, and HAVE FUN!!” He sang the last part out as the bell rang.

As the class scurried out, you carefully put your laptop in your backpack, along with the assignment. “Don’t forget class, this project is due in 3 days! I also want a paragraph explaining your photos” The prof yelled over the kids eagerly running out of the lecture hall. You made your way out slowly, placing your earbuds in your ears and started the long trek to your car on the other end of the campus. As you walked over, you thought of things you could do for your project, what could you photograph? You pass by trees and flowers, freshly blooming and symbolizing a new beginning.“Nah” you thought to yourself. ‘So cliche’. You snicker at your own comment and continue walking.

As you approach your car, you see a family of geese walking in the opposite direction. You smile and think of animals as an option, symbolizing unity and family. You knew too many people were going to do these topics, and it left you with a creative writing block, so you decided to drive over to your favourite coffee shop, and brainstorm some ideas as they came to you.

Once you arrived, you walked over to the entrance, and immediately stopped dead in your tracks the second you saw him.

He was tall, 6′2″ at best. Had long curly hair and painted nails. A man so exquisite and yet so rugged and handsome. You pull out your camera and sit at a table further away from him. When he looks back down at his phone, you take the opportunity to take a shot. You look back at the picture, and it’s perfect. You just needed one last shot, so you waited for him to look up, and as he looked up, he looked straight at you and his once still face was now a frustrated, angry face.

“You people seriously can’t leave me alone, can you?” He says walking over to you.

“E-excuse me?” You stutter in confusion, unaware as to what you did.

“You paps are always invading my personal time, time for ME. MYSELF. THATS IT. If i were you, i’d fucking get up and walk away because this is my time. Don’t take that away from me.” He rolls his eyes as you tremble in fear over his negative attitude.

“I-I’m sorry, you don’t understand I-”

“No, I get it. It’s your job, it’s what puts food on the fucking table right? Well, I need my space too. So can’t you just come back another time? Seriously.” He crosses his arms, and leaves you speechless. He scoffs and turns. “Pathetic” He spits out and starts back to his table.

“You’re my muse”

He stops dead in his tracks and turns slowly. “Your what?”

You gulp and smile softly. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N, i’m a photography student at UCLA. I was assigned a project to find my muse. Someone who I admired from afar, thought was original and unique and looked like an incredibly handsome gentleman.”

He furrows his brows. “And that’s me?”

You shrug. “I don’t just call anyone a muse, Mr.-”

“Luke. Luke Hemmings.” He sticks out his hand and you gladly accept it. “Listen, i’m sorry for being rude before. I’m just so used to annoying paps and their cameras flashing, so when you literally sat right by me and started taking pictures, I got fed up.”

“I don’t blame you, it must be annoying having people constantly watching you with cameras, waiting for you to make a mistake or something.”

He nods. “That’s exactly it!” You smile softly. “I’m sorry for taking your photos without permission, that was rude of me. It’s just, you were perfect. I was hoping, you’d allow me to take more pictures of you. Just so I have more options.” You ask, never breaking eye contact. He smiles and nods. “Come, join me.” He ushers you over to his table and you immediately get to work.

You both goof off and share a few laughs as you take funny, and serious photos for your project. You spent the entire afternoon, drinking iced coffees and describing your lives to eachother and it was fasciniating for the both of you. After a long while of chatting, you finally check your phone, and it’s already 6PM.

Time flies when you find a muse.

“I should probably get back home.” You say packing up your camera. “Hang on, Y/N” He places his hand over yours on the table. “Can I call you sometime?” He asks smiling softly. You nod and trade phones. “You seriously put your contact name as “Mr. Muse” in my phone?” You chuckle softly and he smiles. “Well, I did the exact same thing for you, Ms. Muse.” His cheeks flush a soft pink, causing you to blush back.

You rush home to edit your photos and started writing your paragraph for the assignment.

‘I was told to find a muse that captures my eye, and photograph it. I’ve never been so immediatly drawn to a human being before, but something about my muse was... alluring. He was so dashingly handsome, and his aura screamed expression and creativity. My muse was frustratingly curious as to why i was candidly photographing him. He expressed emotions, and honesty that I’ve never heard a man express. He was upset with me, but for a reason that wasn’t my doing. My muse and I, over the course of 3 hours, got these images together. 3 images. A serious face, to portray the initial reaction to my photography. A candid laugh, to portray our immediate connection, and A smile, because my muse was a piece of work, but Mr. Luke Hemmings, was worth the slight struggle.’

You attached all the files over to your school email and sent it in, but not before taking a picture of your assignment and sending it to Luke.

Mr. Muse: Wow, didn’t know you liked me THAT much already Ms. Muse.

Y/N: Sorry, Mr. Muse. I was trying to get a good grade.

Mr. Muse: And what if it doesn’t?

Y/N: Honestly... doesn’t matter.

‘Meeting you, was worth it.’

najskfnjkansfn (first off, who caught me calling luke 6′2″.. cocktail chats anyone?? HES 6′4″ THE MAN CAN’T LIE) I hope you guys like this. I really, really wanted to try this concept as I loved this idea so much and was so unsure as to how to execute it properly. if you hate it, it’s ok too!!!

#blurbs #imagines #5sos blurbs #5sos imagines #luke hemmings blurbs #luke hemmings imagines #cake network #cals soft hoes #welovecalumclub #cashton appreciation nw #the youngblood network #calmcrew

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v-le · 5 years

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Ktravels/Klife: Halfway through it all / 첫 학기 끝 !

Foreword: I am almost done! I am almost done with my first semester at Yonsei… damn.

I honestly cannot believe that time flew by so fast. I’ve mentioned this before, but I had been thinking about studying abroad for over a year before coming here. And now that I am about halfway through with this experience… damn, I just have no words. Jk I do, which is why I’m writing this right now lol.

My favorite parts about Korea so far: it is my emotional, musical wonderland. More on that later, but… it’s heart-warming to hear so many of my favorite, treasured artists occasionally on the streets or in a café. And no, not K-pop lol I know nothing about K-pop anymore. In terms of café culture, it’s a love and hate relationship because some of them are just so expensive sigh. BUT, after going to so many different cafes like all around Seoul, I have come to actually have specific preferences for what constitutes a gr8 café (for studying specifically bc that’s all my friends and I mostly do at cafes anyway LOL) hehe:

AFFORDABLE!! No normal person should be paying like 7 or 8 bucks for a goddamn coffee. Base price for drinks should be around 5,000 won. If their iced caramel macchiato costs more than 5,500 won, the place is too expensive. If it’s less than 5,000 won,

Reasonable cup sizes! Or better, LARGE ONES! (안녕, 낯선 사람 in hongdae has some super bang-for-your-buck coffee drinks, the best I’ve seen!! :^))

Music that isn’t too loud

OUTLETS. OUTLETS ARE A MUST.

Plentiful seats so that it’s never too packed & large-enough tables

Nice temperature (aka not too cold in the winter, not too hot in the summer)

You can sneak in outside food & eat it blatantly even if there are signs saying not to, and no one will ever say anything

Not too crusty: cozy, but clean

A nice, well-maintained bathroom

It may seem impossible to find the perfect café that could meet all of these expectations, but honestly there are just SO many cafes in seoul, that if you search hard enough or have enough luck, some will be out there somewhere :^)

ALSO can I address the business turnover rate here?? Is this why Seoul is considered a fast-paced city?? So many times, my friends I have tried to go to cafes or restaurants or stores we’ve seen online or found on Kakao/Naver Maps, only to arrive and discover that THEY’RE GONE. Even if I did thorough research and found a blog post of a place from 2 months prior, the place is just POOF, disappeared into thin air. This has literally happened countless times and we are flabbergasted each time LOL. As limited as the database of 맛집’s and cafes already is online, the Internet & maps can’t even keep up to date with information either. Businesses open up so randomly fast, too it’s crazy… Mangoplate, the supposed “yelp” of Korea honestly is not that useful either LOL it usually has places on the pricier side, it is also not always up to date, and I just feel like Seoul/Korea has way too many places & businesses worth trying that they can’t even all fit into one database. There are just so many of those un-documentable places. So I suggest: find a neighborhood, go with your friends, take a stroll around the place, and try to stumble upon a place of your liking. Unless you can read Korean & utilize naver blogs (slightly more extensive and useful than mangoplate but still not 100% reliable all the time), then walking around is probably your best bet rather than attempting to do research online. Trust me.

Hmm what else is there… It’s really nice to be able to get/buy anything pretty easily, with convenience. I am afraid I will get too used to this once I go back to the states.

I think once the work started to pick up later in the semester, I definitely started falling into a routine of going to my morning class & then leaving sinchon to run errands elsewhere in Seoul, or simply doing work in the business building which quickly became my go-to spot because 1) outlets, 2) can eat food 3) very nice facility, literally sparkling 4) on campus. It kinda hurts to think that this short-lived routine will be over quite soon, but maybe next semester will be a little more exciting.

Although I haven’t been speaking as much Korean as I would like to, I do feel like my Korean has improved to an extent: (very slightly) vocab-wise, reading-wise, and writing-wise. It is honestly SO refreshing to finally be learning Korean in a formal, classroom setting. It honestly makes me regret not doing it sooner. Why did I lock myself up in my room for 8 years and only settle for learning on my own?? Sigh, it’s okay. I can only get better from here, right? As much as I hate the timing of KLI, I still really do enjoy the class nonetheless and I feel some sort of… growth? I appreciate how all my background knowledge of Korean has helped me up to this point as well. That at least, I can be proud of lol.

With languages and culture in general, throughout the semester, for the first time ever, I got to reflect on how valuable languages are. It is so interesting; I’ll try my best to explain my realizations, but it might come out as gibberish in the end… I really think anyone that has been born & raised in the US should spend a prolonged amount of time abroad. As homogeneous of a society Korea is, being here has opened my eyes to the global society. The society in which multiculturalism is embraced, there is no one correct language of communication, and every member listens to the various cultural values of one another without judgement. I never thought of English as being a powerful language. In fact, I honestly think I have been taking English for granted. I have never realized the immensity of the English language, how the rest of the world vies to master it, and how I have been blessed to have grown up with English as my native tongue. But on the flip-side, learning other languages is just as worthwhile. Communicating in a different language is literally honing a different perspective, mentality, and set of values. You can try to translate target languages into your native tongue for ease of comprehension. Or, what I have come to deeply appreciate and understand is, you can and should take the target language as it is. In order to connect with the language and consequently the culture, stop thinking in terms of your native tongue. Doing this to a deeper extent in Korea than I ever did before has felt extremely rewarding: it makes the language dynamic and exciting to learn. It has led me to cherish specific words or phrases, more so than I already did before arriving here. And it really is just… beautiful. LEARN A SECOND LANGUAGE! EXPLORE GLOBALIZATION!

Quite frankly though, I am disappointed that I haven’t been able to go to as many places as I would like, within in Korea. Okay more like: I am super grateful for the gorgeous places I have been to, but I also wish I could’ve visited those classic, “must-see” places like Busan, Jeju-do, Jeonju, Daegu, etc. I did however, visit lesser known, less expecting (??) places like Gangwon-do (Jumunjin Beach, Gangmun Beach, Gangneung, Yeongwol, Jeongseon, Pyeongchang) & Gyeongju & like Anyang & Seongnam…? Do these last two even count LOL theyre just smoller cities outside of Seoul… but yeah, I guess I’ll just have to save Busan and Jeju and the others for next semester… when I’m not as broke hopefully lmao.

But forreals, I actually really appreciated my trip to Gangwon-do even though it was technically an assignment for one of my courses called “New Media and Digital Storytelling” (shoutout to prof ted for supporting us with this valuable experience!!) because it was literally a breath of fresh air. Seoul is constantly jampacked with people and cars and smog and noises, but Gangneung was still a city, still just as civilized, but much quieter. Granted, nothing much happens out there and some parts are straight up just farming grounds, but the beaches have these stunning sunsets that look like they’re straight out of a graphically-altered fantasy movie. It was stunning and the image still lasts behind my eyes to this day.

One of the other things that I have been struggling to accept is that fact that I feel… unproductive in life? I wish I put myself more out there this semester. Even though I met a good number of locals and have had a few valuable conversations, I never deeply connected with any of them. Plus, almost all of them are going abroad next semester or graduating ☹. I also did not join any clubs or organizations or sports teams nor did I get a job or an internship or do any tutoring or volunteering on the side… I have just been going to class, occasionally spending a lot of money, and then spending some more. Last year at UCI, I feel like I ran into my freshman year with a fiery heart: I joined the badminton team, became a part of the Antleader Mentorship Program (AMP, which I miss so dearly with all of my heart) in fall & winter quarter, and took all upper division education courses my spring quarter as well as fulfilled my fieldwork major requirement by tutoring at a Kindergarten class for 6 hours every week. But coming to Korea, everything felt stagnant. Academically, career-wise, I feel like everything has been on a pause. Granted, many people could tell me that “Oh, you just being in Korea is already so much more than you need! You are doing more than enough, don’t worry”. But am I really?? I beg to differ. I am honestly pretty disappointed in myself and at this point all I can push for is to try to get more involved next semester. It has also been hurting to know that I have been digging into my precious savings that took over 2 long years to build up so quickly :(.

SO yeah, as great as Korea has been, it’s also been money-draining and disappointing from a personal-growth kind of view. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself, but that is also simply my reality. I think I am also choosing to be hard on myself because my luck with all my favorite artists has just been… totally undeserving.

I feel so blessed and “but why me??” at the same time. I have gotten to see Roy Kim four times live (fifth time will be this coming Sunday; the Seoul shows were blessedly scheduled the weekend right before I leave) & he released a new song in September. Eddy Kim, whom ive been waiting 4 years for to come back, finally did so right in the middle of my time here. Fromm, my extremely beloved indie goddess for YEARS now, released a new mini album in November; I got to see her 3 times live, and even attended her breath-taking solo?? Alone?? Personal? 그냥 단독 콘서트. Sam Kim, who I first listened to when I was 15, who has saved my life so many times with his music, finally released a FULL-length album 2 years and 6 months since his debut EP. Not only was I selected to go to his album’s release showcase, but I also got to a meet him through a fansign event. Oh yeah, I also met Fromm through a free fansigning & Eddy Kim through his new album’s fansign event, too. (I will post about these artist-meeting experiences separately because I feel like these three occasions alone have taught me so much). I saw DAY6 live for their third-year debut anniversary and I could feel the immensity and sincerity brimming from their voices, especially with an unfortunately missing member from stage; I will be seeing them soon for their newest music release, which also happened to come out this December. Nam Woohyun of Infinite, the group that I gave my heart to for over a third of my life, the group that I owe so much of my existence to, released another solo mini album, and I was lucky enough to even attend day 3 of his solo concert series; I saw a few other members of Infinite, I could feel my 12-year-old heart screaming & flailing & crying & apologizing from within because I’ve missed them for so long now, and I even heard a never-before released track from him as well. It was a miracle; I saw Woohyun & glimpses of the others on November 4th. Almost exactly 5 years ago in 2013, on November 11th, I went to a concert for the first time in my life and saw those very own loves with my own eyes: Infinite.

ALL OF THESE. ALL OF THESE EVENTS. Have been a blessing. Have been some sort of indescribable, boundless, breath-taking stroke of luck. I promise you, just luck. Roy just somehow decided to take a break from school at Georgetown THIS semester. Eddy Kim, Fromm, Sam Kim, Woohyun, and DAY6 all just somehow decided to release new music within the last half of this year. ME, I, just somehow decided to study abroad not as a 3rd year nor a 4th year, but a mere 2nd year. I decided to leave my home university barely 1 year in, and go to Korea. Just because. Because it felt right and I knew I wanted to, I knew I had to. But never could I have predicted any of these things to happen. Never in a million years. The very artists that I had only been listening to and watching from my computer screen for years as I hid beneath the deep blankets of my bed, the artists that have made me cry on cue because of how beautiful, meaningful, and healing their music is, the artists that seem to barely exist on the Internet, that are so lowkey and precious that I feel like I am the only that really listens to and loves them, the very artists that make my world revolve, that push me to go on when I want to give up, that I owe so much of my life to, all decided to release music, suddenly be active, hold events, and meet their fans in one way or another. Right. When. I am here, too. This sort of timing in life is nothing I had control of. It was all luck and I am just so deeply, infinitely, perpetually, until the end of this world, thankful. Every day I am so thankful. I didn’t ask for any of this, I didn’t hope for it, I didn’t even think about the possibility of these events happening in my life. But they did somehow. And for that, I am just so so so grateful. It’s just crazy to think that years ago, as a sophomore in high school. My heart would bulge with immense affection for these people & their music. They were unreal, almost-fantasy-like existences that made life-saving music and that I cherished so immensely. But little did I know 4 or 5 years later, this could happen to me. That there was actually a worth to loving these almost “nobody” musicians. I just constantly feel like I am always receiving from them, and never giving back. I really do owe them so much. Thank you, to my beloved artists. For everything.

Moving on to the people that have made my first semester here at Yonsei even brighter: our dumbass squad consisting of lil hoorey, 왕언니 ana, smol laura, dumbass closted weaboo Wilson, & even dumber josh LOL I am so blessed to have met such funny, stupid, understanding friends. Before arriving to Korea, I was STRESSED that I wouldn’t be able to find friends because I hate alcohol, I hate clubbing, I hate mainstream K-pop and simply many parts of popular Korean culture are things that I am not particularly a fan of. But thankfully, I have found an endearing group of friends that share these same sentiments. These reliable people have honestly shaped so much of my experiences here and I am forever thankful. IT JUST SUCKS THAT I AM THE ONLY ONE STAYING FOR A YEAR LOL. But yes, thank you friends, for everything <3 .

Have I exhausted all of my thanks at this point?? Probably not. But I’ll save those for my own heart and mind to cherish. Going abroad was and has been and will be an experience that I don’t think I could ever properly express with words alone. I think it’s always like that when it comes to these rants LOLLL. I rant because I need to vent these feelings and emotions and flaring thoughts. But I just end up struggling to articulate everything and get my heart across properly. Sigh.

Homesickness? Is this something I was supposed to address? Maybe exchange students are probably expected to always talk about this. But for me, it was a nonexistent notion. Being born and raised in the bay area, having lived in the same exact house, having slept in the same creaky, old bed for 18 years in a row, has provided me with a comfort that I probably take for granted more than I should, but has also left me with an intense urgency to explore more, see more, do more, and just breathe more. The Bay Area can be extremely toxic and suffocating in so many ways, and it a space that I know I can go back to whenever my heart desires, but it is also a space that I do not wish to prolong my stay in any further. My immediate family has also never been a significant part of my life: I have never relied on them for emotional nor mental support. Maturing into an adult with this sort of detachment has hindered and helped me in countless ways. There were definitely times throughout my life where I despised them for the way in which everything turned out. For how miserable or lonely or stuck or negligent I sometimes felt. But I know that without that detachment, I would not be where I am today. To my next semester at Yonsei, you look questionable, daunting, and exciting. I honestly can’t even begin to imagine what will be in store for me. All I can wish for is health & happiness.

가즈으으아!!~

#korea #yonsei university #should this be called klife or ktravels i have no clue #i am quite confused about myself still #i am also currently very sleepy #i cant believe it's coming to an end so quickly..

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