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asteria-rainbow · 4 years

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Ascension Diary 1

I decided to keep a diary online to everything that's happening to me spiritually speaking during my ascension.

1. To keep some track

2. To express my emotions

3. To share it with whoever reads it

Going through the ascension and a spiritual awakening in general is a big deal, a lot of things gets stirred up and I think it's nice to talk about it and to be honest, I need it because I have too much to say.

Since october, as I was going about my ascension journey in a pretty fast pace but normal way, things got completely out of control.

I developped clairaudience/telepathy and clairsentience from last Mai and started using it on a daily basis. I already have clairvoyance but not as developped, I can see the astral realm, the energy floating around, I can get flashes, images, I can see lights of being floating around but I've never tried to open my third eye more specifically for clairvoyancd because I think it's a natural process and to rush it would be reckless.

But I focused a lot more on clairaudience (I will call it telepathy from now on) for a while and started communicating with guides and lightbeings and earth elementals and all sorts of energies, it was awesome !

However things got pretty messed up after a while.

I was attacked by many beings at once.

The thing is, I think for all those months the beings I was talking to that I considered my guides weren't all guides at all.

I was tricked. A classic.

I believed in a very naive way that I you have the "right" vibration, loving and open and light that what would come in return would be the same, if you have good intentions then it's alright. I tried not to be scared of the unknown too much even if I knew there were terrible stories but I tried not to think about them at all and start my ascension journey with an open mind.

I held on to my beliefs.

Yet it wasn't enough.

You see my body held karmic stuff that I didn't know about.

Actually in a parallel life (not past as I consider them simultaneous) I was tricked by a witch to do sex magic to turn into a portal to help very very low density beings to come into this dimension.

You fucking read it right.

I am not even kidding.

So the thing is, it was happening in let's say in the X life, and I am in the R life.

That life where the "main event" was happening had a ripple effect on my current life like a rock thrown in water.

So I relieved the same event at the same time.

Except, the witch in my present was actually my twinflame, a witch not incarnated from the 6th dimension that was living inside my own energy field.

(Did I think I would be discovering such things when I started meditating a year ago ? Fuck no.)

So the "story" repeated itself (more happened at the same time) where I got tricked by "guides" I don't know who the fuck they are to perform some "sex magic". (I don't even do real magic, never done a ritual or anything or maybe one when I was 13 but I always tried to stay away from magic because it doesn't interest me).

But I didn't even do real magic. And it was my own idea I once in july tried to use kundalini energy (sexual) to manifest something but it was like a try to see, and I did it ONCE. I followed a normal spiritual tutorial on how to do it I had no idea it would be considered sex magic and it wasn't weird or didn't include other beings.

ANYWAY.

My clairsentience got wild in october I started feeling my own auric field. I could feel my chakras and connect to energies of pretty much anything to get a feel of it I thought it was cool and tried to learn how to live with this. I could feel energy flowing in and out of me, from the crown to the bottom of my feet. My chakras rotating and opening.

I lived in the mountains and meditated 1-2 hours a day doing all sorts of fun things. I felt I was training since I wanted to become professional in spirituality I really wanted to get into it. I'm a very focused person when I want to be so when I have a goal you know.. I didn't know in which field yet so I wanted to experiment. I precise that I was doing things intuitively from my higher self and with some advices of my guides. (hum)

So here comes october.

First I started hearing my ancestors and feel them in my teeth energically and I started talking with them, it was weird but fun and I didn't know what to do with it.

I understood that some clairaudience things I heard and some repetitive thoughts pattern came in fact from them and not me. So that was interesting.

Then one day out of the blue, around halloween, a lot of deceased people came around me and were starting to use my field as portal to pass on to the other side.

Guides and beings around me were talking with them for the procedure and all and I was like ???????????? Ok so I tried helping but you know nobody gave me a manual ? And I had to control my thoughts because everything was happening telepatically but I never properly learn so I let things slip up like "I'm sorry you are dead" to people who didn't even know they were dead so they got distressed and I was ? Fuckkkk. Honestly it was a mess and too much for me for a first time so after a while I said stop to all of it I said I didn't want to do it right now maybe take it one step at the time but then things got messy.

Low dimensional beings followed me around for weeks and started harassing me about responsabilities and I tried not to be scared but didn't know how to deal with it on a daily basis ?

So I went to a friend of mine who teaches all sort of spiritual fields who knows a lot about beings (he wrote books and all) and asked him for advice.

So he told me that I couldn't fight it and that I had to "take them" one by one to see what each had to show me about myself to work through. He told me to be firm.

Except there were 15 of them. I was like ok I can TRY I mean what choice do I have ?

So I was at my house sitting by my kitchen table and I asked them to get in line and to patiently WAIT for me to see them one by one.

(oh yes because each of them were eating bits of my energy and I could feel it the 15 at the same time so that was a ride)

So at first they got in line but some of them were terribly angry (I may have said some words at some point I mean they were fucking hurting me who can stay still and say nothing ?)

So I tried. When the third came the others lost their tempers and they all came at me at once.

In the mess my witch twinflame came in the mix (and she was pretty terrifying) so what did I do ? Obviously ? I started fighting. All of them.

How ? I don't even know. I did everything I could think of. Salt baths, prayers, mantras, I went to a guy who sends them off somewhere, I tried lightlanguage (SO VERY BAD IDEA NEVER EVER DO IT) because I thought it was coming from my heart so like a disney movie everything would be alright again. (I promise I really believed that haha I didn't know what to do) but in fact it was like an incantation but I didn't even know. So it was like magic. So I messed up without realizing what I was doing.

I wanna laugh know.

Sooooooo when I realized it wouldn't work I went back to my friend and he managed to get "rid of them".

For a moment.

But no it wasn't the end at all it was only the beginning.

I got a day or two to breathe and then well I don't know who the fuck came (the witch was there) but there were it seemed like many, MANY beings coming.

What did I do ? Well fight obviously because I never learn.

Ok so picture hell right now (I don't even believe in hell ffs) well it felt like I was there.

They talked all at once saying terrible things about me. They knew EVERYTHING I once believed or thought or wanted to do. They were doing a sort of game of fighting with me when every other minutes another being would pop up and come fight me.

My auric field ? My chakras ? A mess. I FELT PHYSICAL PAIN. How just how I didn't know it was possible, is it because I believed it ? Perhaps.

Anyway that's when I lost touch with reality completely.

Completely. It turned in some sort of psychosis schizophrenia you name it but it wasn't regular spiritual stuff I was completely off touch with the ground.

So much that I felt my auric field kind of leave ? LEAVE ? Like go up into the sky.

I tried to stay here I tried. I stayed one entire day near a tree to try to stay grounded but it wasn't enough it was SO INTENSE.

Like a bad bad spiritual fever.

Obviously in my stupid fight I tried once to raise my frequency ? Because why not ? Idk. But it attracted MORE beings but high frequency this time (with some ETs that weren't nice AT ALL)

Ok so began weeks of torture of all kinds. All kinds. Mind games. Physical pain. Delirium.

They indeed used me as portal to make enter bad things into this dimension. And I couldn't even control it. They were using my emotions.

When I had an emotion like sadness, some terrible being entered through my own field (how is this even possible I don't know). So they were torturing me but I was trying not to feel not to make enter anything, and I had to control my thoughts because at the same time they were all tricking me to make contracts.

Yeah contracts. I didn't know but apparently that's a thing in some realm. Soul contract.

Apparently they got to use me as portal because of a contract. Ok ok so WHY NO ONE TELLS US THAT WE MADE CONTRACTS BEFORE ENTERING THIS EARTH AND WHICH AND WHY NO ONE TELLS HOW WE MAKE THEM (apparently a single thought was like "I sign !!! " when ??? No ???)

So I made so many contracts without knowing that some contradicted each other. It made absolutely zero sense at the end.

Anyway.

So the one of the most terrible thing was that one being.

Because I actually saw with my two eyes it's shadow on the wall falling down from the ceiling (he passed through me). Then, he began torturing me. Like it felt like it was eating my brain. A real life horror movie.

But he did that you know how ? In a time loop.

I REPEAT, IN A TIME LOOP.

You must think I'm mental lmao but I'm not joking.

I experimented a real life time loop.

It's real, it exists. It's like in the movies.

I relieved the same torture scene over and over again for... How don't know how long ? It's even difficult for my brain to comprehend. There was no time.

I got off the time loop when I realised there was one. I got out of my room the second I realise there was one.

To this day I have no words. No words.

???!!!!!!!!???????!!!!!!

WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL WAS THAT.

Ok so the concept of time we understand and then when you ascend there is no time because you are always in the now moment that's something you can grasp in your mind but THIS. This was some next level bullshit us humans shouldn't experience. This should not happen. This is ?? Not ?? ok ?? Not natural. We're not in a sci-fi movie ffs but apparently yes I got stuck in a torture time loop thanks.

Jesus CHRIST I still can't believe it. Did I hallucinate ? It sure didn't feel like it.

Anyway so that was a thing.

So as you can see it got way too much, waaaay too much and I decided to got to the hospital because I was having chest pain and so much stress I was about to faint ?

But they couldn't find anything. So they advised I go to psy. I went out of despair ? I did 29377382 holistic therapy that helped a bit but seriously the beings were still torturing me and being in my head 24/7 so I thought I had nothing to lose.

What a terrible mistake.

I was locked up in a room with nothing but myself and this nightmare.

Those 4 days were interesting to say the least.

I got spiritually raped multiples times stopped praying after a while.

I begged. I asked for help. I prayed everyone and everything I could think of. I tried protection stuff.

Nothing really worked there were too many of them and I was like a little lamb unknowingly giving away my light and serving as portal for those creatures.

Joy.

I couldn't even cry because another terrible being was coming everytime.

They broke my mind. I broke my mind. I lost touch so much I couldn't recognize myself in the mirror.

They brainwashed me, reprogrammed me. Used the subconscious for reprogramming so yeah apparently that's another thing.

You know when you are trying to reprogramm yourself for manifesting for example well reminder that other consciousnesses can do it to you too so you have to be EXTREMELY aware of what's yours and what's not.

It was a huge thing to make me do all sorts of stuff but since I could tell the difference it didn't work because it's something I learned beforehand.

The key is not believing it and it's even easier when you know it's not from you.

Their programms are still in me today they pop up from my subconscious mind sometimes but since I know they are not mine I live with it for now.

So they were trying to get me to say yes to something (I think it was for posession) but I kept saying no over and over again.

ET's/lightbeings did stuff in within my brain (and I never would have thought I would see the day when I would be saying this, so this is my life now apparently ok)

Anyway. I'm not describing in details because it's too long and honestly I don't want to relive it again once was enough for a lifetime.

I was broken so was my mind and my heart and everything.

I had no options for it to stop, I wasn't even fighting anymore I was just trying to make less damage and not let enter anything else. But it was no use I didn't control anything. My field was a mess everything was blocked there were leaking all over and well I didn't sleep for days and my energy was very low I made 22927354 contracts, was raped, reprogrammed, experimented on and all of this within a single fucking month.

I didn't see any other choice than to take meds.

To numb the clairaudience and clairsentience.

I knew it wasn't a solution and that it wouldn't make them "go away" but at least I didn't have to feel or hear anything consciously.

It's difficult to write about it honestly but it makes me a bit happy to be able to share and not keep it all to myself.

So I took meds for 2-3 weeks and it numbed the clairs but I could still feel it and hear it a tiny bit I knew it wasn't gone. But I got time to heal a bit and get my mind clear again.

I did a quantum healing session with a wonderful lady who saw everything that happened, knew about my with sister and everything she did a tremedous work where she got rid of all the contracts, removed the ties with some entities, spoke to me about the time loop (so yeah apparently that's a real thing for real ? Wow) and did some work about my twinflame witch sister (she cut the cord we had where we needed to reincarnate together and she left my field to go back to be incarnated if she wanted). I had a sigil of magic on me I didn't even know about. Probably from a past life or from my witch sister. Oh and apparently those beings put me implants. Etheric implants yeah apparently that's a thing. Because everything that I was feeling in my clairs felt real but I KNEW that something was off. Something felt.. Like unnatural.

I was right.

Idk who but someone put me an implant to modify my perceptions, so my clairs ! What I was feeling/hearing/seeing may have not been the actual truth of what was happening. AND I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT WAS OFF. But still IT'S MAD THEY CAN DO THIS. They can implant things to modify perceptions ??? Who the fuck did I attract ?? What kind of lightbeings ? It's INSANE.

So the lady got rid of some of them but not all, we scheduled another appointment on friday but this woman gets month of waiting list because she's the real deal I'm thinking of taking a class with her but anyway. We managed to close me as portal. I am not a portal anymore, yaye ! 😐

Things got a bit quieter afterwards.

That was super nice.

I got to breathe but I was still heavily traumatized like someone coming back from war, always stressed than anything will happen you know it took me a week or two to let my body relax for a second.

I quit the meds a week ago.

I don't want to put my head into the sand and not face anything. I knew my clairs would be coming back but I have a new approach now that I have my head a lot clearer and I am slowly getting back to myself.

I decided first not to fight no matter what I hear or what I feel. I know not all the implants are gone so my stategy is to remain calm. I still feel some weird things over my head energically since I quit my meds beings came back to taunt me a bit but I didn't response.

I learned that with all that I became some kind of medium actually. It wasn't intended but ok. So my new techique, instead of meditating to get to higher states of consciousness or other realm or inside myself I meditate to stay right here right now. I use mindfullness to stay in the now moment. It allows me to hear less since my attention is on the touch or my real eyesight.

Staying present. Staying present. Staying present.

I have no other choice. Otherwise the minute my mind goes somewhere else I have thoughts and people answer my thoughts. I am never alone in my head anymore and I honestly don't know how to deal.

I still have the repetitive thoughts of the programming. But it's getting quieter when I don't think.

So I don't think and I don't listen.

It's extremely difficult but with training I believe I can do it.

I can't really apply the ascension process anymore in the way people put it because for me it's a bit more complicated now I can't even really think.

So Imma try to stay right here right now and see how it goes.

Get rid of the remaining implants. That's it.

Proctecting yourself is useless. If you take a hit you take a hit. The bubble of light isn't enough.

There are things out there more complex than we think. I almost killed myself but I am still alive so I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger ? They can't kill anyone unless you let it happen.

The trauma is there but I'll get over it.

I was a victim but I won't take this from a victim pov, I attracted this when I blindly trusted any being passing because they seemed nice and from the light.

I did everything from the book, never did anything weird, always stayed in the light, controled my thoughts to remain as much as possible positive, did the protocoles of protection and what did I create ?

Chaos. And pain and suffering.

So guess what I think there's nothing to control if stuff happens it happens. This much pain was hard to accept at the time but I will get there for it not to get stuck I don't want to repeat this again I think I learned my lesson.

Now I'm enjoying the sensation of my couch under my fingers and listening to the radio and looking by the window to the plants outside. I feel a weird thing over my head but try to focus on the sunlight outside not on this thing and focus my consciousness on the ground under my feet.

I think it's my life now but it's ok. I still get to see what's right in front of me. It's often nice especially when there's sunlight.

Thank you if you read, you are even madder than me.

I'll see how it goes after the implants are removed.

Maybe I will feel less weird stuff ?

Meditate they say, go beyond the veil they say.

Maybe what's already there is perfect enough and it's ok if we don't do it and we go slow and we don't unlock everything and not open every chakra ? And not try to connect somewhere and just stay right here ? Being fully present ?

I think it's ok. Let's enjoy the sunlight for a while.

✨

#ascension #spirituality #indigo children #clairvoyants #clairsentience #clairaudience #telepathy #spiritual journey #Starseed #lightworker

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childofjesus · 4 years

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whirofinvention-blog · 5 years

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The Penultimate Week

Everyone has their own preferred way to play Magic. This is true at kitchen tables where people may love to play their elf or discard decks and is just as true at the Pro Tour where you have players who almost always play control (Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and Shota Yasooka) or jam black-green decks whenever they can (Willy Edel and Reid Duke). When a new player starts the game, something pulls them in (maybe the art or your friend plays or maybe the gameplay itself), but after they are drawn into the game, something else usually keeps them playing and for a lot of people that thing is finding a gameplay style that they love.

In general, there is nothing wrong with having a preference in how you play the game. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. If you love vintage and playing Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst and Lodestone Golem off of your Mishra's Workshop, that's great. At the same time, if you keep bringing your vintage deck to your friend's casual kitchen table where they are playing rat tribal, then you are crossing the line into doing something that is a little uncool. This is the reason why format restrictions exist in a conceptual sense. The playing field is theoretically leveled by giving people restrictions on what cards they can use.

The existence of formats enters people into a tacit contract where they understand what other people are capable of doing and saying they are alright with them doing that since in theory both decks have the capacity to do powerful things. Wires get crossed every now and then which is unfortunate. A ten year old may show up to a modern tournament with a pile of unsleeved 6-drops and get stomped, but hopefully the community will make some effort to point that kid towards what will be better for him. Outside of those situations, everyone should be on approximately the same page about what their decks should be trying to do. The bigger the card pool, the more obvious this becomes. Standard players have to understand that Teferi, Goblin Chainwhirler, and Hydroid Krasis exist. Modern players deal with Arcbound Raver, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Primeval Titan. Legacy players have turn 1 Griselbrands and Force of Wills. Experienced players go into the format knowing these options are on the table.

Since I started playing at my LGS, I have made it pretty clear what my preferences have been in constructed formats. Traditional creature based strategies are not my go to decks in any format. In standard, I have played UW Cycling (zero main deck creatures), UR Paradoxical Storm (4 main deck creatures), and Esper Dovin's Acuity (zero main deck creatures). In modern I have exclusively played Lantern and Whir Prison since they began running modern events in March. Though I have played creature decks at times, I acknowledge that my weakness as a player is in knowing when to be the aggressor in creature mirrors. My strengths tend to be knowing how to block my opponent from having a line to victory with creatures. If I go to a Standard Showdown and my opponents are all on green black and are consistently losing to my Teferi, then they need to understand their deck choice might not line up against mine. Both decks can be powerful, but paper beats rock in this scenario.

My modern deck choices have been contentious at the shop. The owner of the store as well as one of the regulars have given me a lot of grief for my deck choices. They complain about how Ensnaring Bridge and Chalice of the Void are not fun cards. At the same time, they have built decks in a format where those cards exist and are relevant considerations for deck building. Maybe they represent less than 3 percent of the meta, but there are plenty of modern decks that only represent a small percentage of the meta. Even ignoring the metagame percentages, artifact strategies as a whole are always somewhere in the meta, so it isn’t like they have no ways to interact with me post-board. People are aware the option to play an artifact deck of some sort is out there. I just happen to be playing a traditionally un-fun version of one of those decks.

Two weeks ago, I promised the store owner that I would bring a deck playing zero copies of Ensnaring Bridge in the 75 to FNM. This past weekend was that FNM, and I kept my promise. Instead of bringing Ensnaring Bridges, I brought Ad Nauseam for my first run at a tournament. The list was pretty close to a stock list with a few exceptions. Rather than running 3 Spoils of the Vault, I cut 1 to run a Mystical Teachings. Also my mana base is a travesty because I do not own any Gemstone Mines or enough Seachrome Coasts, so I ran additional City of Brass. If I can pick up the lands I will change things around. The Teachings are going to stay in the deck until I actually have the opportunity to cast it.

The meta at the shop is extremely small and inconsistent. Ad Nauseam as a deck has pretty polarizing matchups. Decks that can disrupt you with tax effects, discard and counter magic are hard matchups. Decks looking to play linear games are good matchups more often than not. The decks I have personally seen at events over the past month that present problems for me are: Grixis Death's Shadow, Bant Spirits, Jund and 8-Rack. Other than that the rest of the decks struggle to interact with Ad Nauseam, but there are still decks that can beat it. Turn 3 Karn is still great on the play. If you falter even a little, Burn will Bolt you to death. Bogles can race you and sometimes forces you to go for a Laboratory Maniac win which is susceptible to Path.

So, here is a quick little tournament report followed by my initial thoughts on the deck and the tournament in general

Round 1, Bant Spirits

Sitting down, I knew I was not going to have an easy round 1. The player is one of the ones who has complained about my normal deck choice despite playing a Jund deck half the time that runs like 12 different ways to kill a Bridge post-board. This week he was on his Spirits deck rather than his Jund deck. Game 1 started out with me suspending a Lotus Bloom and him starting on a Hierarch. For the next few turns I played lands and cantrips while he played lords and Spirits. Eventually, he had a large enough Mausoleum Wanderer and a big enough board presence that I could not realistically win. Game 2 we started racing again with me suspending turn 1 and him having the Hierarch. I played a turn 2 Prism while he played a turn 2 Thalia. Luckily for me I had an Echoing Truth in hand. I resolved a turn 3 Phyrexian Unlife and on turn 4 resolved the Bloom and bounced his Thalia on end step. On my next upkeep, I killed him with Pact backup. Unfortunately game 3 was pretty one sided. He had Thalia, Stony Silence, two Mausoleum Wanderers and a Lord. It became clear to me I could not resolve my spells before he killed me. For my first match with the deck, I felt good to have taken it to game 3, especially since the matchup is far from easy.

Round 2, Green Devotion

This was the shop owner. Though I have never heard him talk negatively about people who netdeck, he is a brewer. When his brews aren't good he complains. When his brews are popular, he stops playing the format. In standard, he stopped playing his Sultai Muldrotha deck when Sultai became a real deck. Modern is not his format, but he has built three decks (UB Tempo, a weird Tron Charge Counter deck, and Mono Green). The first

2 are pretty odd but the devotion deck is pretty close to what you would expect from any big green deck. His win conditions are playing massive Genesis Hydras early to find Garrk, Primal Hunters to draw his deck and find more threats. After this he usually either plays an Ulamog or Banefires you for lethal.

Game 1 started out pretty rough for me. He played a Utopia Sprawl on his first turn and on his second turn played a second Sprawl and an Eternal Witness for a fetch. By the end of his 3rd turn he had an 8/8 Genesis Hydra, multiple creatures and a Garruk Wildspeaker. Oh and he had drawn 8 cards off of a Garruk, Primal Hunter. In the interim, I had just cantripped and played a Phyrexian Unlife. On his fourth turn, he tried to Primal Command my Unlife which I had to Pact. I then went down to 0 life while having only 3 lands in play. On my upkeep, I tap two lands and exile three Simian Spirit Guides to Ad Nauseam for all of my deck besides two cards. I Angel's Grace, play a land and discard. For some reason my opponent scooped without attacking after assuming I had a second Angel's Grace and not understanding how it interacted with Unlife. Normally, I would scoop in these situations since my opponent had the win on board, but he was tilting pretty intensely and complaining about how I enjoy Magic. We will get back to this in a bit. Game two was a quick one where I won on turn 4. Nothing else to really say about it.

Round 3, BR Discard

The other brewer in the shop is a friend of mine. All of his decks are strange, but they are usually pretty cool. Definitely not close to tier 1, but they have game against pretty much everything if the draws line up. Game 1 was a turn 4 win with no interaction. Game 2 I cannot really recall much besides keeping a hand with Leyline. After I played the Leyline, it became quickly apparent that it didn't do anything. He did a bunch of looting early and made a large lineup of Zombies via Zombie Infestation and Shadow of the Grave. He was able to blow up my Lotus Bloom on upkeep to keep me from going off in my main phase (though I didn’t draw the Angel’s Grace I would have needed) and killed me on his turn 5 with tokens. Game 3 I mulliganed and kept a 1-lander with a scry land, Serum Visions, and half of the combo. I scryed to the bottom off my mulligan, then scryed to the bottom again off the land. Turn 2, I whiffed in my draw step and off the cantrip. The turn before I was about to go for the win off of a couple of Pentad Prisms and lands, my opponent cast Burning Inquiry leaving me with nothing in hand besides a Pact of Negation and two lands. After that, he Anceint Grudged my Lotus Bloom, and there was really no line where I could stay alive long enough to draw the combo pieces I needed. If I had found my second land in the top four cards of my library, I think the game was easily mind, but you can’t always get there. C’est la vie.

In the end, I went 1-2, but still got 3rd. The spirits player was the only 3-0 and Devotion got 2nd at 2-1. Everyone else in the 6-person event went 1-2, and I just had the best breakers.

Briefly, I want to talk about the second round and how game one ended. If you are going to bring a brew into a well established format, even one as diverse as modern, you cannot expect to win every match you play. The axis your deck operates on might not be well-suited to fight the deck you are playing against. That was the exact case of the second round of the tournament. Barring a timely Primal Command or a turn 3 Ulamog, there is not a way for him to interact with me most of the time. In game 1, he had a fast enough start that he was going to win, and I was put in a position where I had to make desperate plays to stay alive. The issue was how he chose to handle what I was doing. Instead of taking time to try and figure out what exactly was going on, he opted to start insulting the deck and me for how I like to play Magic. When he said, "Why can't you just play the game? Why do you hate real Magic and do shit like this?" it does not make me want to scoop to him. It makes me want to play it out. At no point did I obfuscate any information about how my deck worked or how cards interacted. He just tilted so intensely that he didn’t care about what was happening. After two years I know him well enough to not take this stuff personally, but he was being an ass, so I took the win and felt fine about it.

Overall the event went about as well as I could expect since I am new with the deck. Both of the games I lost, I do not think I could have played differently in a meaningful enough way to change the outcomes. My Sleight of Hands were easy choices, and there was no point where I scry-ed and wished the card was in my hand later. The draws didn’t line up for me. The deck was great. Right now my goal is to keep getting better at modern and let the wins follow organically from that.

I don't plan on changing my playstyle anytime soon, but I will be bringing Hardened Scales to their last Modern event until the summer. I'm not bringing it because they are begging me to; instead, I am bringing it because I want reps with the deck. Besides, if I win with it, I am sure someone will become just as tilted as if I had put them into a lantern-lock. Oh well.

#magic #magic the gathering #modern magic #ad nauseam

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rodrigohyde · 5 years

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5 Outerwear Looks From Instagram's Most Stylish Guys

AskMen Selects: Weekly Looks to Shop

Here at AskMen, we take our mission to help you become a better man seriously. In the spirit of doing all we can to help you look and feel your best, we present AskMen Selects, a weekly initiative to bring you the best street styles, worn by the coolest influencers, for every budget. With our expertise in what's going on in style and grooming, to our trusted relationships with influential tastemakers, we’ll curate the items, trends, and ideas for you to shop every week.

RELATED: These 12 Men Are Rocking Instagram With Their Inspiring Style

Our Influencers of the Week

Coming off one of the coldest weeks in U.S. history, we’re highlighting great outerwear for our inaugural edition of AskMen Selects to prove that you can have killer style no matter how low the mercury plummets. From lighter-weight jackets to more substantial coats, look to these guys to know what to wear to look cool while you keep warm.

After browsing through streetwear styles from around the world, here are our picks for the week of February 4.

Eliezer Infante

@elisoul01

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A post shared by Eliezer Infante (@elisoul01) on Dec 6, 2018 at 1:50pm PST

Eli Infante’s lifestyle blog North of Man has grown from a personal style site into a full-on creative agency providing styling, photography, and creative direction to brands as well as other influencers. Well versed in the fashion industry thanks to his runway experience, brand collaborations, and modeling campaigns, he has shown time and time again that he can identify and integrate young, emerging brands — such as Computers New York, seen in his photo here — with long-established brands such as Hugo Boss, another favorite from his feed.

“I enjoy a wardrobe that can make statements in a subtle way, but I also believe in dressing as vividly as possible,” Infante says. “This look, I would say, is one of many meeting points.”

We appreciate Infante’s eye for bringing together unexpected color combos, like this royal blue and black, as well as mixing outerwear by labels made up of classic tailored designs with those backed by a young entrepreneurial spirit whose designs are fresh. He keeps us guessing from post to post, and when we landed on this look — which at first glance was so simple, but upon further inspection was so skillfully assembled — we had to give him props.

Items to shop inspired by Eli’s look:

Budget

Gap Wool-Blend Herringbone Top Coat, $124 at Gap.com

Russell Pullover Hoodie, $22.99 at Amazon.com

Top Level Baseball Cap, $8.99 at Amazon.com

H&M Slim Straight Jeans, $34.99 at HM.com

Clea Gregory High Top Sneaker, $39.99 at NordstromRack.com

Baller

Rubinacci Double-Breasted Herringbone Wool Coat, $2,410 at MrPorter.com

404 Not Found Hoodie, $80 at ComputersNewYork.com

Outdoor Voices Doing Things Hat, $35 at OutdoorVoices.com

Brunello Cucinelli Slim-Fit Jeans, $825 at MrPorter.com

Koio Triple White Hi-Top, $350 at Koio.com

RELATED: Your Comprehensive Guide to Packing a Carry-On Like a Pro

Leo Chan

@levitatestyle

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A post shared by LEO CHAN ? NYC + LA (@levitatestyle) on Jan 17, 2019 at 4:21pm PST

Born in Hong Kong and based in New York, Leo Chan managed to do what many guys dream of but most don’t get to do: He left his job in finance after four years, and along with his girlfriend Alicia Mara, got a sponsorship project to travel the world for five months. Five years and 41 countries later, they are both still working exclusively on his blog Levitate Style, using their travels to Egypt, Portugal, Spain, and more as inspiration for stylish posts.

Travel is a throughline in most of Chan’s posts, not limited to our current favorite from a recent trip to Los Angeles. “This is an effortless travel outfit bringing the NYC monochromatic street style to L.A.,” he explains. “Wearing [some of] my favorite travel essentials — comfortable turtleneck shirt, plaid coat, ripped jeans, and Balenciaga speed sneakers — lets me go from all day exploring town to dinner with friends at night.”

Items to shop inspired by Leo’s look:

Budget

Topman Hayden Check Print Overcoat, $104.98 at Nordstrom.com

Poriff Casual Knitted Thermal Turtleneck, from $6.99 at Amazon.com

Tissot Chrono XL Classic, $249 at Amazon.com

Abercrombie & Fitch Super Skinny Jeans, $26.40 at Abercrombie.com

Adidas Men's Eqt Support Adv Fashion Sneaker, from $28.37 at Amazon.com

Baller

Dunhill Prince Of Wales Checked Wool And Cashmere-Blend Coat, $2,795 at MrPorter.com

Officine Generale Slim-Fit Merino Wool Rollneck Sweater, $310 at MrPorter.com

Tag Heuer Formula 1, $2,200 at CrownandCaliber.com

Balmain Skinny-Fit Distressed Stretch-Denim Jeans, $1,250 at MrPorter.com

Balenciaga Men's High-Top Speed Sneaker, $875 at BergdorfGoodman.com

RELATED: Need Insight on What to Wear This Season? We Asked the Experts

Bobby Hicks

@thisfellow

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A post shared by Bobby Hicks (@thisfellow) on Jan 3, 2019 at 9:10am PST

Take one look at Bobby Hicks’ Instagram or YouTube channel and you’ll see this guy loves the outdoors. Outside exercising, outside with his girlfriend, or outside with his dog, there is one thing that’s always true: The dude looks pulled together even though his outdoorsy look is easy and effortless. Rustic style can quickly skew to a functional place and leave fashion out of it completely. Hicks repeatedly shows how to tackle time outside well, whether it’s the up in the mountains or downtown.

“I love living in NYC, but I'm happiest in the woods, and this outfit just felt right in so many ways,” Hicks says about his ensemble we chose as our favorite. “I basically live in jeans, but always love to create a color contrast against the blue of the denim, to find complementary or triadic color schemes.”

This quintessentially cool-weather color palette is timeless and likely to never go out of style. He adds of his look: “During the fall, it's magical because your environment can then complement your outfit in ways that you can't find in the city.”

Items to shop inspired by Bobby’s look:

Budget

J.Crew Field Mechanic Jacket, $198 at JCrew.com

Amazon Essentials Regular-Fit Long-Sleeve Flannel Shirt, $18 at Amazon.com

Carhartt Watch Hat, $9.99 at Amazon.com

Abercrombie & Fitch Athletic Skinny Jean, $39 at Abercombie.com

Frye Gordon Lace Up Combat Boot, from $131.99 at Amazon.com

Baller

Belstaff Journey Jacket, $995 at Belstaff.com

Proper Cloth Scarlet and Black Ombre Plaid Flannel, $100 at ProperCloth.com

Coach Cashmere Beanie, $62.50 at Coach.com

3x1 M3 Selvedge Slim Straight Jeans, $285 at 3x1Denim.com

Crockett and Jones Radnor 4 Russian Grain Boot, $1,100 at CrockettandJones.com

RELATED: 7 Tips to Win the Battle Against Your Hair-Flattening Hat

Talun Zeitoun

@Talunzeitoun

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A post shared by Talun Zeitoun (@talunzeitoun) on Jan 14, 2019 at 7:29am PST

Born in Los Angeles with roots in France, Talun Zeitoun has become an influential voice in fashion. With a hairstylist mother who works with some of the biggest celebrities in the game, Talun had a unique exposure to the world not many kids can say they’ve had. His upbringing, along with being a true talent in his own right, has led him to be a sought-after authority in the luxury style space, allowing him to work with Coach, Christian Louboutin, and Saks Fifth Avenue, to name a few.

As you scroll through his namesake blog, TalunZeitoun.com, it quickly becomes clear he favors a calm, classic, neutral color palette when showcasing his style, and our outfit of choice is no exception.

“I'm into warmer tones when it's really cool out — I like the irony of it,” he says about his layers of the saturated shade of camel, a classic color season after season. “Plus, being efficient with fewer, but thicker layers helps minimize bulk and streamline a refined winter look.”

Items to shop inspired by Talun’s look:

Budget

Banana Republic Faux Shearling Coat, $198 at BananaRepublic.com

Asos Bershka Knitted Roll Neck Sweater, $32 at Asos.com

Jim Halo Aviator Glasses, $18.99 at Amazon.com

Uniqlo Stretch Selvedge Slim-Fit White Jeans, $49.90 At Uniqlo.com

Madden Men's Nathin Chelsea Boot, $74.99 at Amazon.com

Baller

Arje Neptune Reversible Shearling Jacket, $4,995 at arje.com

The Giacomo Chunky Cashmere Blend Turtleneck Sweater, $995 at Arje.com

Ray-Ban Aviator Glasses, $134.40 at Amazon.com

Rag & Bone Fit 2 Slim Fit Stretch Denim Jeans, $195 at MrPorter.com

To Boot New York Sheldon Shearling Lined Boot, $450 at ToBoot.com

RELATED: Why Every Man Needs a White T-Shirt (and How to Wear It)

Tommy Lei

@mybelonging

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A post shared by Tommy Lei (@mybelonging) on Jan 16, 2019 at 10:40am PST

One half of the brother-sister duo @theleisibs, Tommy Lei has an unlimited sense of self he shows off on his blog, MyBelonging.com. Whether he’s carrying a leopard print Jeff Wan bag the size and shape of a milk carton or stopping to pose with an iconic Versace print shirt tucked into his pink pants that perfectly match his hair, Tommy takes the laissez-faire attitude of Los Angeles and displays it for all to enjoy. But even in LA, outerwear can play an important role in his daily outfits of choice. We picked this understated combination due to its sophisticated simplicity.

“A shawl, wool coat is a great essential to have in any man’s wardrobe, so it’s paramount for me to invest in one that will stand the test of time and seasons,” says Lei. “The one I am wearing is from emerging LA-based label, Arcady, and their version of it is spectacularly tailored and just voluminous enough to be worn on both coasts.”

Another key to this coat’s success? Its camel hue, much like that seen in the post above, is a classic color that should be adopted by every man looking to dress well. Explains Lei: “Its camel tones are also particularly flattering on almost all skin tones and complexions, so naturally it makes second-skin styling that much more effortless.”

Items to shop inspired by Tommy’s look:

Budget

Laneus Belted Midi Coat, $329 at Farfetch.com

Gobiger Aviator Sunglasses, $12.99 at Amazon.com

H&M Reversible Shopper, $24.99 at HM.com

Zara Travel Jogging Pants, $49.90 at Zara.com

Fila Strada Disruptor, from $41.98 at Amazon.com

Baller

Arcady Belted Shawl Collar Coat, $695 at Arcady.com

Ray-Ban 58mm Metal Aviator Sunglasses, $168 at Amazon.com

Coach Metropolitan Tote in Saddle, $695 at Coach.com

Thom Browne Straight-Fit Unconstructed Chino Pants, $790 at MrPorter.com

Givenchy Jaw Neoprene, Suede, Leather, and Mesh Sneakers, $825 at MrPorter.com

These are the recent Instagram outerwear looks we thought rocked, but what do you think? What do you want to see? Do you have a look you like? Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and friend us on Facebook to share your best looks or tell us about someone we should check out. Tag us and use the hashtag #AskMenSelects to get our attention. Or e-mail us directly at [email protected] with “AskMen Selects” in the subject. Maybe next week, we’ll pick you!

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#AskMen Style

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misscecil · 7 years

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How to Be a Great Art Ally to Your Creator Friends

Slightly tweaked from my 2015 post How To Be A Great ART ALLY I’ve been having a lot of heart to hearts lately with my friends who are authors and artists and we’re all saying the same thing: It is getting harder and harder for everyone who isn’t in the top 5% of their industry to get the word out about work they are doing. Because of the way the industries are now, many artists are not getting the marketing and push that they deserve or need. Much of that promotion and publicity now falls on the artist’s shoulder. Your artist friend may have a good career, but unless they are crazy lucky, or have the “it” thing of the moment, your artist friend is probably really struggling. “What. But they have so many books out! They are on tour all the time! They are always doing some wacky play!” Sadly, about 90% of artists are struggling and barely making a living wage. Most have full-time day jobs on top of their full-time art careers. Remember, every new project that they do is like starting from scratch. For example, many of the people who I know who are not artists see all the stuff that I am doing and think that it’s going so great for me that I don’t need their help to get the word out about my books. But I do. All of your artist friends (even the most famous ones) need your support all the time. To be a great Art Ally for any of your author/artist friends I’ve drummed up a list of things that you can do. I’ve focused on books, since I’m an author, but I’ve added helpful tips within to give you ideas on how to help your music, performer, filmmaker, comic book, visual artist and indie game maker friends. 1) Pre-order their stuff. Seriously. If your friend has a book (or CD or DVD or indie game or comic book) coming out pre-order it. Pre-orders give the publishing company an indication of interest and can help with print runs. Good pre-orders sometimes help a book because the publishing company may give a book a little push with extra marketing money and publicity based on those numbers. 2) Show up. If your friend has a reading or something, go to it. “But I went to it once for another book!” That’s great! You are a supporter! But, every book is a whole new thing! (Go to their rock show! Play! Art gallery opening! If your friend is in a film/made a film go opening weekend, that’s when the box office counts. Or order it on VOD the week it drops. Or buy the game the week it comes out. You get the idea.) 3) When you are there, buy the book. “But I already pre-ordered it!” Yeah, I know. But buying it at the store or the reading helps the bookstore and the numbers and will help your friend do another reading there the next time. This is especially important if your friend is doing a reading not in their hometown. (If your friend is a musician, buy merch because that might be how they are paying for gas. If your friend is an artist, buy a piece of art because that might equal a bag of groceries.) (comics peeps put your pals book on your pull list) (etc) 3a) “But argh! This is not my kind of book. I don’t read that genre. It’s not for me. I’m not a kid/teen.” Sure, that’s fair. The book might not be for you. But I bet you one million dollars that you know somebody that the book (or other thing) would be perfect for. Maybe a strange aunt? Maybe your weird nephew? Maybe your co-worker? And remember the holidays are always just around the corner! Why not get it signed? Think of it as a back up present. You can give it at a white elephant exchange. If all else fails, get a copy and donate it to your local library or if it’s a kids book, to the school library nearest you. 4) Signal boost it. While it may look to you like everybody knows about your friend’s book, they probably don’t. Remember that we are all kind of in a bubble when it comes to social media. Authors (and artists of all kinds) are always looking for new readers/audience and you totally have a bunch of friends that your author/artist friend doesn’t know. And those friends might have never heard of your friend’s book, movie, game, music and it might be right up their alley. And those friends have friends that you don’t know. And so on. And so on. So every once in a while, if you like and in a way that you are comfortable with, an easy Art Ally action is to Tweet, Instagram, Pintrest or Facebook (or repost) something about that person’s art thing on the social medias! This signal boosting helps to get new eyeballs on the book (or art thing) that your friend is doing. 5) Review it / Rate it. Perhaps you are on Goodreads? Or perhaps you frequent Amazon or B&N or Powells? If you really are a fan of the book (or art thing), a simple way to help boost your friend’s work is by giving it a star rating or a review. (For musicians you can do this at those places as well. Also you can add their album to your streaming site and rate it! For films rate it on Netflix if it’s there! For games there are places to do this too!) 5a) For books, on Goodreads it’s also helpful if you add it to your to read shelf. It’s both helpful before the book comes out and when the book comes out. So if you haven’t done it already, go to it! Add all your friends books to your to read shelf. It’s not too late! 6) Make sure that it is in your local library branch! Libraries are the biggest purchasers of books! An author wants their book to be read! Libraries help with that! Maybe you are librarian? Or someone super close to you is a librarian? This is where you can really help to get it on the library radar by making sure that it is on the order list for your branch or for your system. Sidenote: Many libraries are too poor to purchase books this is a great place for you to donate that extra book! 7) Many books have reader guides or teacher guides. Are you a teacher? Or is someone super close to you a teacher? If you love the book, consider using it in your class! Or if not that, you can donate the book to your (or your teacher pal’s) school library or classroom library for students to enjoy. 8) Book Club it. If you have a book club, suggest your group read your friend’s book. Or maybe just have a one-off book club and get a group of your friends together to read your friend’s book. If your friend writes for kids, do a mother/ daughter or father /son book club with a group of people. I’m 100% certain that your author friend would be delighted to come over (or if they live far, Skype) to discuss their book with your book club. (for musicians you could host a living room show at your house) 9) Ask your art pal to come in and speak! Maybe your school or library has a budget to bring in a variety of guest speakers for classrooms or assemblies? Your friend would be perfect for this. If your institution has no budget, you can still ask your friend to come and speak! Lots of authors have sliding scales and can organize a way to sell their own books and that can offset a pro bono visit. Also, it will help them to get new readers. Being an art ally is all about getting new audiences for your arty friends. (Your other artist pals would make great classroom / assembly visitors as well.) 10) Vote and Nominate. It’s possible that there are lists that you can vote on or nominate your friends for that they may be eligible for and deserving. This could be anything from your local publicly voted on thing to a list that is for professionals which you might be. It’s easy for everyone to remember to nominate the big best sellers of the year or the debut books that are getting the big pushes. But there are many midlist books that are wonderful and get lost in that shuffle. Make sure to champion the midlist! They really need help to be seen! (This is the same for all of your artist friends. There is always a thing that is going on where they can use your vote or nomination. You’ve gotten those emails / updates.) 11) Hand sell. Maybe you are a bookseller? Make sure that the book is on the shelf. And then, when and if you love it, hand sell it! You can also help by making sure that the book is still on the shelf once it’s sold. Many stores don’t automatically re-order a book if it doesn’t sell more than a certain amount. If you are not a bookseller, you can still hand sell by just talking up the book to people. (Talk up their music, game, comic, play, and movie.) 11a) If you work in retail anywhere and your pal is a musician and you like their music: Try putting their album on at work! Who knows? Maybe someone will ask you who that swell band is? Your pal may gain a new listener! 12) Support their Indiegogo or Kickstarter or Patreon. For your other artist friends who are making movies, plays, albums, comics, indie video games support their crowdfunding or patreon effort. Really. You can totally afford the $5-10 level (even if you think the project is lame.) for a crowdfunding and $1 for patron. And it will really help them and boost morale. 13) Be a good literary citizen. If you are an author, remember to be a good literary citizen. Promote yourself, but also do stuff for the larger literary community. Participate and include others. There are many things you can do. You can organize events. You can pitch panels. You can show up to things. You can volunteer to be a judge for things or to moderate panels (be a good moderator if you do.) You can write essays about other works. Remember to extend past your own inner circle of friends to include people who you might not know. Being an artist is very hard. There are many ups and downs in a career. At some point everyone goes through a hard time and needs help. Avoid the cool kids table mentality. Be kind. When you are on the top, don’t forget to keep helping your community. Diversify your literary and artistic world. (Other artists, you know what this is in your own field. Art citizens for the win!) 14) Invite your friend over to dinner. Or buy them dinner. Or have a potluck. Everyone could use a good night out with friends and conversation. It’s a spirit booster. No lie. You have the power to be a great ART ALLY! Champion what you love. From all artists everywhere, I thank you for your support!

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rockleefangirl987 · 7 years

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All This...and Heaven Too: CHAPTER ONE: Training Day - Arrivals

To @asplendidninja (who introduced me fully to the glories of Team Guy) and to @ten-all-over @sausage-fist @nejicanspin @fruitysmellz @morganknightos @samlovesmaitogai @teacher-monica @shock777

Disclaimer: The following story has been written with no intention of claiming ownership or solicitation, nor does the author claim the movie character(s) as his/her own. The character(s) have been borrowed solely out of a love of the particular series and movies and is not intended for any other purpose but amusement and entertainment.

PRESENT DAY

“DO NOT THINK I HAVE A PROBLEM DROPPING ANY ONE OF YOU! DO NOT THINK YOU ARE SAFE FROM BEING CUT BECAUSE YOU ARE MY STUDENTS! AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, RIGHT?!”

“YES GUY-SENSEI!” Two members of Team Guy screamed simultaneous responses, although they were well aware that their instructor already had a reply.

“IT WOULD MEAN SHAME TO YOUR TEAM, SHAME TO YOURSELVES, AND SHAME TO ME AS YOUR SENSEI!”

Neji Hyuga and Tenten - despite their difficult individual workouts - were mouthing Might Guy’s words as he shouted them. This was not the first time he had uttered those phrases. Neither took him lightly. There were times, to them and the world, when the Jonin seemed foolish, but underneath those less than attractive features was one of the strongest, bravest men Konohagakure had ever produced. He accepted his responsibilities as a teacher with great seriousness, and for several years he had guided them to explore every ounce of their talents, even when they felt they were at the edge of collapse. Considering what he expected of them, and what he knew they were capable of, then yes, if he found them lacking when compared to others, there was no doubt he might put them aside for the upcoming Games, perhaps to teach them a valuable life lesson.

“And he's not going to permit Kakashi-Sensei to have an upper hand.” Neji was breathing hard when he collapsed on a stump. Their Teacher had given them leave to relax and had disappeared - he had a good idea as to where.

Tenten used one sleeve of her tunic to wipe her forehead as she sat next to him, letting the weapons scroll she had been maneuvering rest at her side. “Don't let Guy-Sensei hear you say that.”

“Well you know it's true, Tenten. Those two and their rivalry-” Neji shook his head. “I suppose I should say Guy-Sensei and his rivalry. I often feel as though it's a one-sided issue.”

“Be that as it may, do you honestly want Team Kakashi to make us look bad? I mean-” and she took a drink from her water bottle, “I don't want to look bad in front of any of them, but-”

“Them specifically? Because of Guy-Sensei?”

“Sure. Don't you feel the same way? He was right. It is for ourselves, for him, and our Team.”

Neji nodded. Although considered a natural-born, unbeatable genius, he had learned a few hard lessons these last years. Being defeated by Naruto during the Chunin exam finals knocked him on his haughty behind, both in a literal as well as a figurative sense. Almost dying as a member of the failed Recovery Team had given him even more insight. Watching his teammates face defeat during those long ago exams with one almost crippled for life - no, he never wanted Team Guy to face anything like that again.

“You're smiling,” Tenten said in a sing-song manner, and she put her head closer to Neji’s bowed one. “You want to kick their butts too, don't you?”

“More than you can know. I'm eager to take on the Britons too.”

Tenten slapped him on the back. “THAT'S THE SPIRIT, HYUGA!”

“You know you're starting to sound like Sensei.”

The young woman blushed. “I did, didn't I? Please stop me if I do that again.” They laughed, even as she gave a slight shudder.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know he hasn’t said anything, but I still keep thinking he might suggest having the four of us wear the tights, you know, like a sign of teamwork.”

“And solidarity?” It was Neji’s turn to cringe. “I hope not. You’re right, he hasn't mentioned it yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Although he's never pressed the issue, not since...”

Not since that morning years ago when he proclaimed the new outfits as a reward for their hard work. A single member of Team Guy fell over themselves to be the first to accept, the most eager member of the group, and Tenten and Neji exchanged grateful glances when their teammate held up that first green jumpsuit - and for him, it was love at first sight. There had been no looking back. The white tunic and dark pants worn after his Academy days vanished forever, as did the scruffy, near shoulder-length hair.

Guy had been so touched by the boy’s reaction that he failed to notice that the remaining students never ‘officially’ collected theirs.

“I love Guy-Sensei,” Tenten continued as she giggled, “but I don’t think that color looks all that great on me for day-to-day wear.”

I think you'd look lovely in any color, Neji thought, wondering for the hundredth time whether Tenten realized how much she had grown up or how pretty she continued to become. “Well be thankful it worked out. And speaking of working out, I'd guess we'd better get back to it before we break for the day.”

Tenten began a stretch routine as she nodded. “I'm just glad the rain stopped. Seemed like it never would.”

Neji was on his feet as well. “It wouldn't have been the best of welcomes for the Britons after all these years.”

“Nope, not at all. So did Sensei give you any idea as to when we would break for the day?” She prayed they wouldn't leave the Training Fields and head straight for the parade route, for it would feel uncomfortable showing up in public after training all morning. They might be the hardest working group of Chunin but talk about poor impressions, arriving at something so momentous and smelling like...

She didn’t want to think about it.

“He hasn’t said, but don’t worry,” Neji added, smiling as he deciphered what was on her mind. “He’ll want us to look our best. We’ll have time.”

Tenten adjusted two of her scrolls, then looked off into the distance, in the direction their Sensei had gone minutes before. “I wonder how Lee’s doing. We haven’t seen him since we got here.”

“Hmph.”

“What do you mean ‘Hmph’?”

“I’m sure Lee is fine. Guy-Sensei likely gave him another of those harebrained assignments the two of them revel in.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he did. I’m just afraid that one of these days, Lee’s going to accidentally hurt or kill himself, and we won’t find him for hours cause we’re thinking he’s off doing ten thousand squats on a mountaintop with a goat for company. And stop smirking, Neji! It’s not funny!”

It was the remnant of the earlier downpour that once threatened to ruin the day. The raindrop trickled from the top branches, landed on a single leaf, and was suspended between a deep green vein and the tip.

“Nine thousand nine hundred seventy-nine.”

The drop moved, inexorably drawn by gravity until it reached the apex of the leaf, and caught in mid-air.

“Nine thousand nine hundred eighty-six.”

Until it landed on top of a head of thick black hair which was sweat-plastered against the owner’s scalp and face.

“Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-four.”

The grunts grew more intense the longer the exercise continued, and even the small audience of squirrels that at first found the peculiar human of some interest went about their business when it became apparent there was no intention of stopping anytime soon. Therefore he had been alone for what felt an eternity, but his goal was within reach.

“Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-eight..” He strained, spurring each muscle to continue; his thumbs lifted his upper body weight and cursed him for starting this routine, while the heavier wrist weights threatened to pull him downward into the puddle filled with rain and his own perspiration. Just...a...little...more. “Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.” One more. You...can...do… “Ten thousand!” he exclaimed, uncertain where the energy had come from to shout his accomplishment to the world, and once it was over, he collapsed and rolled onto his back, not caring that his green jumpsuit became spattered with mud. He smiled and chuckled, covering his face with one arm as he caught his breath, and welcomed the feel of the remaining raindrops as they fell from the leaves, their touch cooling his face.

“I did it, Guy-Sensei,” he groaned. “I did it.” There was satisfaction underneath the pained words.

Only in that moment did he realize how beautiful the morning had become, his eyes fixed overhead and above the treetops - the clear azure skies; the few clouds dotting the foreground transformed from a charcoal hue during the rains into the white of new fallen snow. The breeze caressing his slender body was not as unbearably hot as he thought during his workout. It refreshed him so much that he shut his heavy-lidded eyes while his mind wandered, enjoying the birdsong that serenaded him.

“Laying down on the job already?”

Without hesitation, the young man rolled over and sat straight up when the stern voice pierced the quiet, and in seconds he was on his knees, his head bowed. “Guy-Sensei,” he managed between gulps.

“I leave you alone for a few minutes and I return to find you lounging around like some Academy student on a school holiday.” Might Guy stepped nearer his pupil, noticing that the black eyes glanced up then quickly lowered, hoping to see his Teacher’s expression without being caught. “What am I going to do with you, Lee?” he asked, exasperated. “What do you think I ought to do?”

Rock Lee lifted his head. “Whatever punishment you see fit, Guy-Sensei.” He prepared for the punch he felt would follow.

I cannot keep this up, Guy thought, and a hearty laugh broke the tension as he tousled the boy’s drenched hair. At seventeen, Lee was not a boy any longer, but sometimes Guy could not help joking with him, always interested in the type of reaction he would get. One of these days he’s going to land a blow that’ll send me flying, or so improve a move I taught him years ago that he’s made it his own, and then I’ll know he’s surpassed me at last. As a teacher, you hope that day never comes, but of course, it always does… “Lee, I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

“Sensei?” The chunin looked puzzled.

Guy shook his head. Some people often wondered if Rock Lee was a little slow on the uptake, but Might Guy knew better. There were little things which continued to make the student such an innocent. If Lee he felt - in any manner - was not doing whatever it took to please his instructor, he took it with great seriousness. And this had been one of those moments.

“I said I’m sorry, Lee. I couldn’t resist pulling your leg. I’ve been standing over there watching you finish up.” He squatted in front of Lee, noticing that a boyish smile had appeared on the younger man’s features.

“You were, sir?”

Guy flashed him one of the familiar grins, white teeth revealed, and gave the even more familiar big thumbs up. “Brilliant Lee! Absolutely brilliant! I knew you’d be able to do it.”

“Yes, sir!”

“So how do the new weights feel? Too much?”

Lee rubbed his still aching deltoids, then moved his fingers along his forearm muscles, astonished he managed to support the additional weights. “Well as you always say, Sensei, no pain, no gain, right?”

“RIGHT!”

“I will become accustomed to it the more I work with them. I always do.”

“That’s the spirit. By the times the Games begin in a few weeks, you, Tenten and Neji are going to wipe up the arena with the competition. You’re going to make your old Sensei proud.”

Lee’s dark eyes widened, for, as usual, Guy’s enthusiasm was infectious, but as he saw the tears in his instructor’s eyes, he sniffed and attempted to keep some control, but as always, the effort failed. “Guy-Sensei!” he cried, wiping his face. “Thank you for continuing to have faith in me.”

“Well, of course, I continue to have faith in you, Lee. I always have. You just always need to remember…”

“That it is not enough for you to have faith in me. I must continue to believe in myself as well. And as I have always told you, I promise never to give up. That is my code. That is my ninja way.”

“That’s my boy! And there’s nothing wrong with you taking a little time to stop and smell the roses, as they say. You work hard enough. You deserve it. And a good ninja is always aware of the environment around him so you should take notice of everything.”

“Thank you, sir. That is good to remember,” and Lee felt relieved, knowing that he had Guy’s approval to - on occasion - lay back and watch the skies.

“Of course. Eh...Lee, what’s wrong?”

The chunin looked sheepish. “Sensei, I always wondered…”

“Wondered what?” Guy moved so that he sat beside his student.

“Who are these ‘they’ everyone talks about? ‘They’ say stop and smell the roses. ‘They’ say stop and smell the coffee. ‘They’ say the grass is greener on the other side. I have never understood who or what ‘they’ are or how ‘they’ came with such authority that we repeat all of their sayings or adages without a second thought...Sensei?” He noticed Guy’s stunned expression. “Sensei?”

“Uh...you know, that is a very good question, and actually, I’ve kind of wondered that myself,” he responded, scratching his head. “That would make a good project, finding out who these ‘they’ are and what makes them so all-powerful.”

Lee reached for the pouch he put aside during his exercises, and a small notebook and pencil were withdrawn. Although his thumbs throbbed, he was able to scribble onto one page “‘Find out who ‘they’ are,” and he repeated the words aloud. “Right, sir! That will make an excellent project once the Games have concluded. I have always been curious each time I hear those sayings, but you are the only one I felt I might ask. Neji would laugh, and Tenten would shake her head and say ‘Oh Lee - really’. It was…” He closed the notebook and put it away. “It was not a ridiculous question, was it, Sensei?”

Guy put an arm around Lee’s shoulders. “Lee...in life, I have found that there are no ridiculous questions. What is ridiculous is when someone doesn’t ask because they don’t want to look stupid or have others think them stupid.”

Lee nodded, then smiled. “Is that another of those things which ‘they’ say?”

The jonin chuckled. “More than likely.” Guy sprang to his feet, and his student did as well, adjusting the pouch so that it crisscrossed his body. “ALL RIGHT THEN!” and he began to stretch, grinning as Lee followed his lead. “So you got in ten thousand pushups using your thumbs alone.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And the squats and lunges?”

“Completed sir! As ordered while wearing the new wrist weights and the ankle weights as well!”

“Kickboxing?”

“Done sir!” They looked at the tree which had taken the brunt of Lee’s punches and leg extensions.

“And your five-mile run?”

“Before the sun rose, sir and during the rain!”

“And are you tired?”

“Not at all, Guy-Sensei!”

“Then consider the rest of the day and tonight as a holiday.”

“A holiday,” Lee whispered, smiling. “Thank you, sir.”

“You haven’t had one of those in awhile, have you?”

“No sir we have not.”

“Well, it’s a celebration you know. Welcoming the Britons, and the parade and everything. Konoha doesn't get events like this every day.”

“No sir.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I will not expect to see the three of you in training until ten tomorrow morning. That is an order,” he stressed, realizing that if he was not specific, Lee would arrive before dawn as always. “I realize that’s a lot later than usual, but the Briton party will last way into the night, and we don’t want to be rude by leaving too early. So consider the late start and attending the parade and the party as a reward for all you’ve done these last few months.” He saw Lee’s eyes widen. “You’ve been working hard since the Games were announced. I’m proud of you, Tenten and Neji.”

“Thank you, sir. I hope when the Games begin, we do you proud.”

“Oh, no doubt that you will. So we’ll head back to the Training Fields, fetch Tenten and Neji, then you can head home and clean up.”

“There you are, Sensei, Lee!” Tenten called out when the two appeared.

“How was your workout, Lee?” Neji asked, noticing that his teammate was rubbing his arms.

Lee’s smile was ecstatic. “Sensei was good enough to present me with new wrist weights, and I performed ten thousand push-ups on my thumbs while using them.”

Neji and Tenten traded glances. What had one of them said about harebrained? All that was missing was the mountain goat.

“TEAM! At ease!”

The three relaxed and sat on the ground, forming a semicircle around Might Guy, who remained standing.

“I've told Lee you're going to head home, clean yourselves up - I can't allow you to go out in public after all the work you've put in...Tenten?” He noticed the girl's relieved look. “Did you believe I would take you to the parade when we're all as rank as mountain goats?”

And everyone's talking about goats. “No, of course not Sensei.” Shut up, Neji. She noticed Neji was trying not to laugh, and she prayed that his damn Byakugan developed temporary mind reading abilities so he could know what was on hers. He might be shocked at the language!

“Well head home,” Guy continued, “scrub yourselves and meet me in front of the Temple in an hour. That was why I wanted us to start training earlier than usual so we could finish early.” He paused, listening when some nearby birds squawked at a disturbance and then took flight, while in the distance he could see a mob of Sika deer speeding across the meadow. “We’ll need a perfect spot to watch from.”

When he motioned, they stood, politely bowed, and were surprised when their Teacher began to laugh.

“Guy-Sensei, what is it?” Neji inquired when a distant thap-thap-thap-thap caught his attention. He noted that Lee and Tenten heard it as well.

Guy continued laughing. “You’d better get a move on, Team,” he teased, pointing upwards. “There’s not a moment to lose. Look!”

The chunin followed his finger - and their mouths dropped. A twirling sound, metal against metal, thrashed at the wind, the vibration increasing as the source emerged from the clouds as though by magic: an enormous, shimmering pecan-colored oval against the sky’s palette of white and blue. At the vehicle’s rear were a series of rotating fins within an immense ring - the source of the sound they had initially heard; and supported by cables underneath the balloon, for that was the term that came closest to describing what they observed, was what appeared to be a massive enclosed boat, which was half the length of the oval.

Behind it came another, smaller in size, but of the same color, and behind that one was a third in silver-gray. A fourth and a fifth appeared a short time afterward - their designs and sizes again varying, with one having a shark-like appearance with sails and metal fins, and the other gliding along as though maneuvered by the wind alone. More followed, and by the time the twelfth and final vehicle came into view, the ground rumbled with more ferocity as each vessel soared miles above Team Guy, then banked towards the east, some at a higher altitude, some circling, and others including the first one beginning their descent.

Lee’s eyes grew larger if that was possible. “What in the world?”

“Wow!” Tenten kept blinking her eyes, knowing this was no dream.

Neji shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Guy’s smile had grown even broader. “No one in Konohagakure has seen anything like this in twenty years. Now you can better understand why the clearing Lady Tsunade ordered is as large as it is. Wait until you see them all up close.”

“So the people are inside the balloons?” Lee asked in amazement. Like his teammates, he had never seen a flying machine before.

“Some of them are, but some are in those contraptions underneath. They’re called gondolas, but I imagine the largest balloons have space in the hull or the lining for the passengers and crew. Oh, the times Kakashi and I would go onboard when we were invited. We never got to ride in one, but...Well, enough of my reminiscing or we’ll be standing here all day. We have a parade to attend. Get a move on! I’ll see you in an hour!”

“Yes Guy-Sensei,” came the simultaneous replies and the three sped off, although, on occasion, they caught themselves looking off to where the airships filled the skies over the Village, and they once again wondered who or what these Britons were.

“And King Edward IX begins its’ final approach, Admiral,” Lieutenant Henry Marshall - also known as Harry - called out as he followed the readings from his position as the first navigator on the flagship of that name. “One hundred kilometers to the landing site; weather is still clear, and we’re beginning our descent pattern.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” And to the helmsman: “Steady as we go, Lieutenant.”

“Steady as we go, ma’am.”

The admiral stepped down from the com, arms folded, and moved to where the chief pilot rotated the brass wheel operating the vessel’s main steering controls.

“The Olympic, the Sovereign, and the Mauretania are standing by, ma’am,” her communications officer said, as the voice levels on the bridge increased with more directions and orders. “The Britannic and Majestic, the Victoria, Saint George and Aquitania are in holding patterns…”

“Landing crews make ready,” the Admiral ordered.

“Landing crews at the ready, ma’am.”

“OFFICERS ON THE BRIDGE!”

Henry sprang to attention upon hearing the pronouncement, a slight smile pulling at his lips when he saw two females step from the lift and onto the quarterdeck, salute, then make their way down the oak staircase to where the fleet commander stood. He was well acquainted with the new arrivals, both of whom still wore their more casual traveling outfits, having not yet changed into the more formal parade uniforms. And while the youngest appeared to dance with every step, the eldest moved more gracefully as befitted her position, although her eyes betrayed her excitement. Henry had seen the unmistakable twinkle when she passed him, discreetly returning his smile.

That was an expression he had known his entire life, the one revealing that his beloved older sister was thrilled beyond belief at this adventure in a land they had only studied.

“Admiral Jessig, thank you again for inviting us to the bridge.”

“Noble Lady Kathryn and Lady Tessa. It is once more a privilege having you and your family onboard Her Majesty’s flagship. I believe you and Her Ladyship will get an excellent view of our approach if you position yourselves at the port windows. I am certain you will want to see their most famous landmark as we fly over.”

“The Windsor, the Parliament and the Empress of Bharata await their orders, Admiral,” communications advised.

“Notify all ships captains to begin their landing procedures when safe to do so.”

“Aye Admiral.”

An eager fifteen-year-old Tessa rushed to one of the single panes which made up the bridge’s viewing windows. She peered out, her neck stretched as though hoping to see even further than she could. She motioned with one hand. “Kathryn! Kathryn!” and she indicated the lush forests and undulating multi-colored landscape below them. “Oh my God, isn’t it beautiful?”

“I think everything we’ve seen so far has been beautiful, hasn’t it?” her sister remarked as she stood beside her.

“I just never realized it would look like this. You know, I’m not certain what I expected. I studied their topography; saw Papa and Mama’s photographs from when they were here. And I heard someone say it’s exotic, although I’m never sure what is meant by that.”

Kathryn laughed, her small turned-up nose crinkling. “It’s another of those words people use because you go ‘Oooo...exotic’ and your mind conjures up dark and mysterious and dangerous.”

“Well, I told Michael and Harry I love the name.”

“Name? Oh! Konohagakure? Or Konoha?”

“I like those too, but I meant the other, the Village Hidden Among the Leaves. Leaf Village. That sounds exotic. Or romantic, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps romantic as if from a poem. Konohagakure, Konoha,” and Kathryn then mouthed ‘Village Hidden Among the Leaves’.

From childhood, Kathryn tried to visualize this Leaf Village whenever her parents spoke of their time during those long-ago Games. When she was little, she often renamed it the Emerald Village as she mentally constructed a world all in greens with never ending springs and summers, and trees with leaves so abundant, one did not know they had arrived at their destination until they were at the village gates. She came to think of it as a magical place similar to a fairy tale her parents would read to regale her and her siblings at bedtime. But it was a land where instead of kings or queens, and chivalrous knights and fair ladies, there were leaders called Hokage who put their lives on the line for their people. There were Ninja - male and female - who were the knight-protectors and possessors of great abilities and powers akin to magic. There was even the occasional villain because no great epic was without a villain or two.

Kathryn could not have asked for better stories to fall asleep to, especially when she realized her own destiny, both as a Briton and as a member of the Marshall family. Once she accepted her responsibilities, she prayed to be as brave and honorable as her noble ancestors or those distant Ninja from that Village Hidden Among the Leaves.

And now she would meet a real Hokage. She would meet even more real Ninja, something that would have remained a fantasy until almost a year ago when that message arrived for her Queen.

She blinked, realizing what she saw coming into view was not her imagination. “Tessa...”

Tessa moved closer to her sister, one arm going about the oldest one’s waist. “Wow! Oh wow! It’s as Mama and Papa described it.”

“Indeed it is,” Kathryn responded as the miles of trees gave way, and as in her childhood dreams, the Village instantaneously appeared once the airship had descended from the clouds: buildings both ancient and new with a network of streets threaded among them; spots of blue indicating lakes and streams were dispersed among the greens of parks and gardens, but all appeared miniature as the ship streaked overhead. “Oh, look, Tessa.”

“The mountainside,” Tessa gasped.

“OFFICER ON THE BRIDGE!”

Quick greetings were made between the latest arrival and the Admiral, and in moments, a tall, elegant young man joined them, towering over both females.

Tessa gave her oldest brother a hug. “Michael! Good morning - and look.”

“Morning! You arrived just in time,” Kathryn told him, greeting her brother for the first time that busy day. “There it is.”

“Exactly as we’ve been told all our lives.” It was his turn to admire the sloping surface on which were carved in minute detail the enormous sculptures of the Hokages of Konohagakure.

“Watching over their people,” Kathryn whispered.

“Gives you goosebumps, doesn’t it?” Tessa’s question was filled with admiration. “I can’t wait to get down there.”

Despite the uneventfulness of the four days of flight, and the opportunity to fall into a routine outside her usual one, Kathryn was eager to land so she could touch the ground once more. While she enjoyed that unrestrained feeling involved in flying, traveling in the air for over six thousand kilometers had worn on her nerves.

“It won’t be long,” Michael assured Tessa. “And are you prepared to give them a show, Kitten?”

“Absolutely! I’ll be wearing my brand new top hat that Mama gave me as a going-away present. Wait until you see it. It has bits of clockwork and you’ll love the way the veil flutters behind me when we’re riding.”

Michael gave her a kiss on the forehead while noting that Kathryn was still watching out the window, her features pensive. “You are such a child sometimes, Kitten. I suppose sergeants don’t get to wear such frivolities every day, do they?”

She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Of course not. You're silly, Michael. But it'll be nice to not wear my uniform every day.” Her back straightened and she became so much more serious that the innocent image from a few seconds before vanished. “I just hope there will be some archers that will really challenge me when we compete. I don’t like things handed to me.” She stepped to another window, her attention drawn to a meadow dotted with deer.

Michael walked to Kathryn’s side. “This is our childhood dream come alive, isn’t it?”

Kathryn traced a finger along the window frame. “It really is.” When she looked up into his face, she smiled as his eyes transformed from an iridescent blue to emerald green. “Your irises are at it again,” she joked.

“Are they? I never know until I look in a mirror,” he grinned. “Lord knows what color they’ll be by the time I’m in uniform.”

“Must be nice,” Kathryn teased.

“What?”

“Having eyes that change color to compliment whatever you’re wearing or whatever mood you're in.” She turned away from him.

“What can I say? It’s a gift.” Michael cleared his throat, fingers combing through his short reddish hair. “I thought, before we landed, I thought I might again mention...”

But Kathryn was already shaking her head, and although in profile, the calm on her face switched to annoyance. “Michael...”

“Just...think about it.”

“Why?” Not wishing for everyone on the bridge to hear their conversation, she kept her voice low.

“Because Her Majesty asked it of you.”

“Asked but did not command. Suggested but did not order,” she reminded him.

“Yes,” he whispered, “suggested, as both your sovereign and your kinswoman. Kathryn...there can be nothing wrong in taking a look at him. Who knows?”

She sighed. What did she think earlier about the trip being uneventful? It had been unless one of the peerage traveling with them (and on occasion, Michael, and to a lesser extent Harry) decided to raise the topic that rankled her nerves. She had heard it often before their departure and during the journey, and now she was prepared to throttle the next person who raised the issue. “He must be a child.”

“No, he and his cousin, the eldest daughter of Lord Hiashi, are both of marriageable age. We’ve told you that.” He knew Kathryn was offering up arguments to deflect the issue. “There’s only a few years difference between your ages. And I think Harry is delighted to meet the young lady.”

“Harry is delighted to meet any young lady.”

“Kathryn.” Michael tried not to laugh, although he knew the statement to be true.

“Michael.” She turned to catch one final glimpse of the mountainside as they floated out of range. There was silence between the siblings as she considered her options, reasoning her way through every possibility as she did with anything momentous. “Neji Hyuga,” she uttered.

“He’s a born genius, one of the most gifted Ninja they’ve ever seen. There’s already mention of him becoming a jonin in the near future, perhaps even while we're here. You are doubtless looking at a future Hokage. He’s supposedly attractive...”

“The Queen said that too.” She knew Michael felt no need in repeating the other attribute given to her ad-nauseum: that Neji Hyuga was from a branch of one of the finest clans in Konohagakure. Although - yes, there was that keyword although - there had been or were family issues. She could do Intel as well as anyone. While studying them felt akin to constructing a jigsaw puzzle, Kathryn obtained one vital piece of information. These Hyugas did not appear to have a history of peace and harmony with each other. For someone like her, for whom family meant everything, it was difficult to fathom.

“Well, she knows a possible future mate should make you happy in every aspect of a long lasting relationship. Cousin Lilibet loves you, cares for you, and that’s why she made the suggestion if you would be so inclined. It might make for a good alliance. You might even find you have feelings for him if the opportunity arises. You don’t know. You won’t know unless...”

He took one of her hands. She was his favorite, as much as he loved and adored his other brothers and sisters, so when the lords mentioned they would broach the issue to her once more before their arrival, Michael volunteered for the loathsome duty as it only seemed right. At least - unlike with one of the peers - she might not challenge him to a duel. Might not.

“Kathryn, look, just meet with him, dance with him, talk to him at the party tonight. I’m certain he’ll be there. If in the end, you feel nothing, then no one will obligate you...”

“You won’t leave me alone until I say yes, will you?” she mumbled.

He could tell her temper had swelled, even as tears threatened her eyes. He hated asking, he hated pushing. He knew that Kathryn was her own woman, and while their Queen would never pressure her into a marriage against her will, the ‘suggestion’ to meet someone while these indirect mentions of contracts and obligations crept about in the background was enough to send her into an understandable frenzy.

Kathryn nodded, returning her attention to the scenery outside the window.

“I’ve ruined the day, haven’t I?” The words were remorseful. My poor little sister. I’m so sorry.

“No. No, you just made me remember I can never put my duties aside for one single moment, can I?” Rubbing the insides of her eyes with a thumb and index finger, she muttered “Neji Hyuga” once more in an attempt to become accustomed to the name before taking a deep breath. She gave Michael a quick kiss on his cheek and tried to smile. “We’ll be landing soon. I’d better start getting ready. Tessa? Come on Kitten. We need to get dressed. We’ve got a parade to attend, don’t we?”

#Team Guy #team guy forever #Rock Lee #bushy brow #neji #neji hyuga #tenten #NejiTen #might guy #Might Gai #all this and heaven too #all this...and heaven too

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tamboradventure · 4 years

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California Road Trip: A 21-Day Suggested Itinerary

Posted: 7/2/2020 | July 2nd, 2020

California. It’s the third-largest state in the country and home to over 40 million people and a range of environments and landscapes: dense forests in the north, rugged mountains in the east, majestic deserts in the south, world-class beaches on the coast, and the fabulous wine regions on the coast and central valley.

And it’s perfect for road trips.

I’ve already outlined an awesome seven-day itinerary for Southern California, but today I wanted to share a longer, more comprehensive route for anyone who has a few weeks to explore more of the state’s cities and landscapes.

Even with three weeks, you’ll still miss a lot of great spots in this state (I mean you could spend months traveling California) but this suggested itinerary hits some of my favorite major — and not so major — places.

Days 1–3: San Francisco

San Francisco is one of the most recognizable cities in the US. Home to hippies, yuppies, techies, students, and a sizeable immigrant community, it’s a vibrant and diverse city. It is an eclectic destination to visit. Here’s a list of a few of my favorite things to see and do:

Walk the Golden Gate Bridge – When it opened, it was the world’s longest and tallest suspension bridge, stretching some 4,200 feet. It offers incredible views of the bay and the ships coming and going. You can walk across it too.

Tour Alcatraz – Alcatraz is one of the most infamous former prisons in the country. It housed some of the nation’s worst criminals, such as Al Capone. Today, it’s a national landmark where you can take tours of the prison, step foot in the cells, and learn about its history.

Visit the Beat Museum – Dedicated to the 1950s Beat Generation, this unique museum houses original manuscripts, rare books, letters, and more from authors like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. It also holds regular events, so check the website to see if anything is happening during your visit.

Take a food tour – San Francisco is known for its foodie culture. If you want to cast a wide culinary net and try a lot of different cuisines and dishes, consider taking a food tour. Some companies to check out are Wild SF Tours, Secret Food Tours, and TasteBud Tours.

Explore Chinatown – When immigrants from China first came to America, many set up shop in San Francisco. Today, in the biggest Chinatown in the U.S., you’ll find some of the best Chinese food in the country, as well as wonderful teahouses, bars, souvenir stalls, and fortune cookie makers.

Relax at Golden Gate Park – This gigantic park a great place to walk or relax. It features a Japanese garden, museums, an arboretum, a carousel, and many hiking and walking trails. It’s 20% bigger than New York’s Central Park so you easily could spend an entire day here!

For more suggestions, here’s a detailed list of things to see and do in San Francisco.

Where to Stay

HI San Francisco – Downtown – HI Downtown has some standard perks, like free breakfast and free towels, but the staff also organize a lot of events, including pub crawls, trips to Muir Woods and Yosemite, and bike tours across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Green Tortoise Hostel – This lively hostel is my favorite in the city. It offers free breakfast, free dinners multiple times per week, and even a free sauna! It’s a party hostel, so be sure to stay here only if you’re looking to meet people and get rowdy.

For more suggestions, here’s a full list of my favorite hostels in San Francisco!

Day 4: Big Sur

On the coast just over two hours south of San Francisco is a 90-mile expanse of stunning views and massive redwoods known as Big Sur. There are plenty of beautiful beaches, hiking trails, viewpoints, and campgrounds in case you want to stay overnight (which I recommend). It’s one of the most beautiful stretches of craggy, unspoiled coastline in the state, so take your time exploring as you head south.

Where to Stay I suggest staying at least one night around Big Sur (or just south of the region) to split up the drive to LA. If you don’t have camping gear, Airbnb has a lot of places around the area. You can also just pop into any of numerous cheap motels in the area too.

Days 5–7: Los Angeles

Though I hated it when I first visited, I’ve come to love Los Angeles. It’s not a “tourist” city: everything is spread out and there are not many attractions as you’d expect. But, if you come to LA and go with the flow like a local, you’ll see why people love it so much. This is a city where you eat, drink, hike the many trails in the area, and linger in a coffeeshop.

Here are some suggestions on how to fill your days:

Hit the beach – Venice Beach is an iconic LA hotspot where you’ll encounter all kinds of street performers, surfers, rollerskaters, and both locals and tourists alike soaking up the sun. Other beaches worth checking out are Carbon Beach, Santa Monica State Beach, Huntington City Beach, and El Matador.

See the Le Brea Tar Pits – Located in Hancock Park, these natural asphalt pits have existed for over 50,000 years. Tons of fossils preserved for centuries have been found in the pits, and there’s a museum nearby that has lots of interesting information about them and how they came to be.

See the Hollywood Sign – You can snap pictures of the sign from pretty much anywhere in Hollywood. However, it’s also possible to hike up to the sign itself to take in the view. The three trails that you can take (from easiest to hardest) are the Mt. Hollywood Trail, the Brush Canyon Trail, and the Cahuenga Peak Trail. Bring water, because the hike will take a few hours.

Visit LACMA – Home to some 150,000 works, the LA County Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the western USA. They have collections from pretty much every era throughout history and every region of the world. Admission is $25 USD.

Visit The Last Bookstore – This is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. It also sells records, has art displays, and features a cool upstairs area with cheap used books. Browse the shelves, grab a coffee, and buy a book for your journey.

Stroll down Hollywood Boulevard – Don’t miss the Walk of Fame (where celebrities have their names engraved in the sidewalk) and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (featuring celebrities’ handprints and footprints).

Visit the Getty Museum – This art museum opened in 1997 and boasts a diverse collection paintings, manuscripts, drawings, and other artwork. The collection runs from the eighth century to the present day, so there is something for everyone. Admission is free.

Go hiking – Get out and stretch your legs on the city’s hiking trails. Some worth checking out are the Charlie Turner Trail (90 minutes), Baldwin Hills (30 minutes), Runyon Canyon (45 minutes), Portuguese Bend Reserve (3 hours), and Echo Mountain (3-3.5 hours).

Visit The Broad – This contemporary art museum is one of the city’s newest. Opened in 2015, it has over 2,000 pieces of art. It also has a rotating series of temporary exhibitions too (check the website to see what’s on during your visit). Admission is free.

For a much longer list on what to see and do in LA, check out my Los Angeles travel guide.

Moreover, the city also has innumerable world-class food options. Some places I really like are Musso & Frank Grill, Dan Tana’s, Meals by Genet, The Butcher’s Daughter, Sugarfish, and Thai Pepper.

Where to Stay

Banana Bungalow Hollywood – A laid-back but social hostel that organizes lots of activities and makes it easy to meet people. If you want to party and have fun, this is the place for you!

Freehand Los Angeles – This hostel/hotel features designer rooms with comfortable beds, a rooftop pool and bar with amazing views of the city, a lobby bar, a restaurant, and even a fitness center.

For more suggestions, here’s a list of my favorite hostels in Los Angeles.

Days 8–9: San Diego

San Diego, just two hours down the coast, has just as much to offer. It’s easier to navigate (it’s smaller), the weather is always perfect, the beaches are better, and it’s cheaper too. After LA, it’s my favorite city in the state. Spend a day or two soaking up the city.

Here are some suggestions for things to see and do during your visit:

Visit the USS Midway Museum – This aircraft carrier, commissioned right after World War II, was the largest ship in the world until 1955 and saw action in numerous conflicts, including Vietnam. It was decommissioned in 1992 and became a museum. You can explore the flight deck as well as many of the rooms below.

Hike Point Loma – This is the peninsula where Europeans first arrived in California. Walk out to the tip and enjoy the serene views, visit the lighthouse (built in 1855), and watch locals climb the rocks and cliffs of Osprey Point.

Visit the San Diego Zoo – This is one of the best zoos in the country. Located in Balboa Park (see below), it has over 3,500 animals and 700,000 plant species. It’s a massive, 1,800-acre park where you could easily spend an entire day. If you’re traveling with kids, don’t miss it.

Explore Balboa Park – In addition to the zoo, Balboa Park also offers dozens of museums as well as walking paths, sports fields, gardens, greenhouses, stadiums, theatres, and much more. It’s one of the oldest recreational parks in the country.

Enjoy Pacific Beach – If you want to soak up the sun, swim, or surf, head to Pacific Beach. If you’re a night owl, the area also has lots of bars, clubs, and restaurants too.

Go whale watching – California gray whales, which can grow up to 49 feet and live for over 70 years, migrate from Alaska to Mexico each year between December and April. They are incredible to see up close, and tours are quite affordable (usually around $35 USD).

Relax in Belmont Park – This is a kitschy amusement park right next to the ocean. It has a few classic rides, as well as games and lots of greasy (and delicious) snacks. It’s cheesy but fun!

Go surfing – Whether you’re a veteran or a newbie, grab a board and hit the waves. There’s some awesome surfing here. You can usually rent a board for around $30 USD a day. Lessons cost around $70 USD and last 90-minutes.

Where to Stay

HI San Diego – HI San Diego organizes lots of events and tours that make it easy to meet other travelers. They include free breakfast and also have a big kitchen so you can cook your own food to save money.

ITH Adventure Hostel – This is an eco-friendly hostel with a vegetable garden (guests get free veggies), a recycling and compost program, and even backyard chickens. There is lots of outdoor common space to relax in too.

If you’re on a budget, here’s a list of the best hostels in San Diego for you.

Days 10–12: Joshua Tree National Park

Located just under three hours from San Diego and sandwiched between the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, this is where you’ll find the iconic Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia), twisted multibranched trees. Towering boulders dot the arid landscape and swaths of cacti poke up from the hard dirt. It’s an otherworldly place perfect for hiking, camping, and escaping the busy cities along California’s coast.

The park was declared a national monument in 1936 and designated a national park in 1994. There are a lot of trails here, so consult the trail map when you visit. Some of my favorites are:

Barker Dam Trail – A quick 1.1-mile loop on which you can see wildlife such as rabbits, bighorn sheep, and all kinds of birds.

Wall Street Mill – An easy 2.8-mile hike that leads to an old mill used to refine ore from nearby gold mines.

Ryan Mountain – A steep 3-mile hike offering some incredible views.

Split Rock Loop – A quiet 2-mile hike with lots of neat rock formations.

A seven-day vehicle pass for the park is $30 USD (it allows multiple entries in case you stay in one of the nearby towns).

Where to Stay Airbnb is the best option if you don’t have your own camping gear, although there are also glamping and more rustic options.

Days 13–15: Sequoia National Park & Kings Canyon National Park

Sequoia National Park, established in 1890, is where you’ll find the largest single-stem tree in the entire world. Named “General Sherman,” this giant sequoia tree stands a whopping 275 feet tall and has a diameter of 25 feet (that’s a 103-foot circumference). It’s so big that one of its branches is bigger than almost every single tree east of the Mississippi.

Start your visit at the Giant Forest Museum to learn about the history, geography, and importance of the park and its flora and fauna. Afterward, walk the Big Trees Trail, a short loop that will get you in and amongst the trees so you can see them up close.

For a sweeping view of the forest and surrounding landscape, hike up Moro Rock, a massive 250-foot granite dome that juts out of the surrounding hills and forest. Stairs and a concrete viewpoint were built into the rock itself, so you can safely climb to the top and enjoy the magnificent vista.

And for more hiking options and beautiful scenery, visit nearby Kings Canyon National Park. Here you’ll find “General Grant” (the third largest tree in the world). For a scenic drive, cruise along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway.

Both parks are around 4-6 hours from Joshua Tree.

Where to Stay There are tons of places to camp here (both inside and outside of the parks). However, there are also lots of lodges and hotels if camping is not for you. Booking.com has the best list of them all.

Days 16–18: Yosemite National Park

Located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range two hours from Sequoia National Park and encompassing nearly 750,000 acres, Yosemite is one of the most iconic national parks in the country. It’s where you’ll find El Capitán, the towering granite cliff you’ve likely seen on social media (it was also featured in the movie, Free Solo). It is one of the most popular parks in the US, seeing over four million visitors each year who enjoy hiking, biking, climbing, camping, rafting, canoeing, and kayaking here.

Here are a few hiking suggestions to help you get started:

Mirror Lake – An easy 2-mile hike to Mirror Lake. Takes 1-2 hours.

Nevada Fall Trail – A challenging 5.8-mile hike to the top of the Nevada Falls waterfall. Takes 5–6 hours.

Tuolumne Grove Nature Trail – An easy 2.5-mile hike around a grove filled with massive giant sequoia trees. Takes 1–2 hours.

Elizabeth Lake Trail – A moderate 4.8-mile hike that leads to Elizabeth Lake, a glacier-carved lake at the base of Unicorn Peak. Takes 4–5 hours.

Eagle Peak Trail – A difficult 6.9-mile hike to the top of Eagle Peak and back. Takes 8 hours.

Be sure to visit the visitor’s center on arrival to get information on activities, prices, and information on the latest weather.

Where to Stay If you aren’t planning to camp, there are actually many other options here. Lodges, resorts, and hotels can be found both inside the park and all around it. Use Airbnb or Booking.com to find a place to stay.

Days 19–20: Napa Valley

Finally, head northwest to Napa Valley, one of the world’s premier wine regions, and end your trip relaxing at a vineyard. Napa is just over three hours from Yosemite and offers a plethora of world-class wine and food to indulge in.

While it’s a particularly expensive region of the state, it is possible to visit Napa Valley on a budget if you plan ahead and share costs with other people.

If you’re on a budget, stick to the markets and sandwich shops. Gott’s Roadside has locations in both Napa and St. Helena and serves delicious burgers for under $10 USD, while Ad Hoc runs a delicious food truck offering fried chicken made by a Michelin-star chef for $15 USD with sides.

Whereto Stay While some vineyards offer accommodation, they are usually super expensive. Unless you’re looking to splurge, use Airbnb. I find the best value accommodation in the area on that site.

Day 21: Back to San Francisco

It’s time to head back to San Francisco. The drive is around 90 minutes, so you’ll have plenty of time to make stops along the way if you see anything that piques your interest.

***

This three-week itinerary will help you cover a lot of ground without being too rushed. Adjust the route as you go (or based on the amount of time you have). But, no matter the route you pick, the diversity and beauty of California will ensure you’ll have a wonderful road trip.

Book Your Trip to the USA: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

Want More Information on traveling the United States? Be sure to visit our robust destination guide to the US for even more tips on how to plan your visit!

The post California Road Trip: A 21-Day Suggested Itinerary appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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anneedmonds · 5 years

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Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men

I’m going to start with the men’s gift guide, this year, so that it doesn’t come across as an afterthought. Don’t you think that a lot of the time men’s gift guides are just far less exciting and inspirational than the women’s ones? I find them so difficult to put together – but then I find buying things for Mr AMR quite complicated, so I suppose it’s not surprising. What I think he might like is always so far from the truth – in my mind, he wants a swanky new Tom Ford wallet, in reality he is in his element going around the garden with his battery-operated leaf-blower.

True story.

So here are some ideas for men’s Christmas presents. I’ve tried to cover all bases and price points but let it be known that it is hard not to be drawn into featuring the usual suspects. A shaving set. Novelty socks. Some funky-looking vodka. A soap that looks like a turd…

OK, the first thing I want to talk about is something called Masterclass. Have you seen this advertised? It’s so good. It’s basically a series of video masterclasses from leaders in their fields – so you can have, for example, a film-making masterclass with Jodie Foster, makeup lessons with Bobbi Brown, beat-making classes with Timbaland and high-powered, motivational business classes with some of the world’s highest achievers. It’s such an excellent gift idea and a full access pass, which gives you access to all of the lessons from violin-playing to haute cuisine-cooking, is £170. And it’s currently buy one get one free. One for them, one for you. What’s not to like?

I think that this is the perfect gift whether you’re happy in your career and just want to broaden your interests or dying for some inspiration to turn your life around. I’ve already joined and I think it’s absolutely genius – I’ll be reviewing soon, so watch this space!

Masterclass, £170 for 12 months here.

Mr AMR wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t talk about his battery-powered leaf-blower, so here it is: the Ego Power Plus blower. Mr AMR would also like it to be known that all of the Ego garden tools are very good, including the lawnmower. You have a rechargeable battery pack that fits into all of them and is interchangeable, so you can go from mowing to blowing at the blink of an eye. He bought all of his many, many, many tools from Ego Power Plus here.

Note that the backpack blower makes whoever’s wearing it look like a character from Ghostbusters. Which is a comedy bonus.

Something else from Mr AMR’s list of favourites; the Samsung Frame TV. In all fairness, this would be on my own favourites list because it has completely changed the look of my living room. I think we have the older model now, but they look pretty much the same; it’s a TV with a wooden bezel (frame) that sits absolutely flush with the wall so that it looks like a gallery-hung picture. The screen displays a picture whenever the TV is off and it looks completely realistic. I can’t recommend this TV enough, especially if you – like me – absolutely detest the look of televisions on walls.

Find the Frame at John Lewis here* – from £999.

One last thing from Mr AMR before we move on to gifting pastures new: the Bed of Nails, which has been featured many times in the past. It’s one of his most prized possessions, this mat-with-spikes and he slides it out from its hiding place beneath the bed whenever he has a headache or can’t sleep properly. I have no idea whether it actually cures headaches or helps you to sleep properly but he swears by it for just about every ailment and sense of discomfort. He says that he enjoys the pain of the spikes – “it’s a nice pain”. Worrying.

Find the Bed of Nails online at Cult Beauty here* – it’s an unusual – but hopefully very useful – present.

Oh, OK, one more idea from Mr AMR because he did spend ages lying in the bath writing his list to help me out… Brace yourselves for this one people… Third on his list? The Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses*. Sunglasses that play your audio through the sunglasses. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? It is totally and utterly weird. But Mr AMR has tried them and can vouch that they do indeed play music via the material of the sunglasses and that it somehow magically ends up inside your ears. Who knows how? Who cares? Surely this is the future! Buy these and he can wear them when he’s riding his hoverboard to work…

Bose Frames are £199 at Amazon here*.

Whilst we’re Back to the Future, let’s take a look at the Apple Air Pods Pro, £249 from Apple here*. Currently with free engraving, which perhaps makes it a bit more of a thoughtful, personalised gift – tech always feels quite sterile to me! Anyway, these noise-cancelling, fully-immersive in-ear pods are the absolute bees knees – even if they do make it look as though you’re talking to yourself when you take a call on them…

If Apple’s enthusiastic pricing is a little too – er – steep, then plump for these noise-cancelling headphones from Sony. They’re comfy, effective and are a comparative snip at £79. Find them at Amazon here*.

Now we’re really cooking on gas! Or charcoal… The Everdure BBQ by Heston Blumenthal is compact and perfect for stowing away on camping trips. For some reason I can’t imagine Heston Blumenthal cooking on a BBQ, I only see him lifting heavy pans in the kitchen, but still: the BBQ is really cleverly designed. Find it at Amazon here* – it’s £149.

Continuing along the catering line of thought, I’d like to introduce you to a really excellent coffee machine. I know it is because I bought it for Mr AMR last year and he makes coffee for anyone who passes within a three mile radius of the house, because he seems to have an easily triggered hospitality reflex, so it has been tested to its limits. It’s the De’Longhi Magnifica and it’s robust, reasonably compact and makes great coffee. I’ve been told. Don’t touch the stuff – I prefer wine. Find it at Amazon here* – it’s currently £249.99 in the Black Friday sale.

Random quirky-luxe item: the Burberry Cow Print Leather Wallet, £280 at Liberty here*. I rather like this for myself!

Random quirky-luxe item 2: the Crocodile Letter Opener, £45 at Liberty here*.

I am adamant that Taschen’s Helmut Newton book is one of the best coffee table books (if not the best) that money can buy. It’s sexy, it’s fascinating and it’s absolutely HUGE – they don’t call it the Sumo for nothing! This one is a total showstopper and costs £100 here* but I see that there’s a newer edition that’s a standard book size. You can find the slightly smaller one here* for £55. Helmut Newton is one of my favourite photographers, there’s just always something new to pick up on in the images. He’ll never grow tired of this book…

And for those who would rather do some downstairs loo learning than look at glossy nudes, there’s I Used To Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School, £5.24 at Amazon here*. He’ll be boring you with academic facts for the entire holiday season…

A rocket vodka decanter. Because who doesn’t need a Vodka Decanter? Jonathan Adler, always the King of Fun… Find it here* at Selfridges, £150. So cool. There’s also a gin and a whiskey one, if you fancy a Starfleet moment.

I’ve been dying to include this in my gift guides: I, Robot: How To Be A Footballer 2, by Peter Crouch. Perhaps an unusual choice for someone who has absolutely zero interest in football or footballers, but I read an extract in The Times a while back and it was really quite excellent. I bought it straight away and it’s on my book pile waiting to be started. Yes, I’m going to read a book about football. The world must be ending. Find Peter Crouch’s second bestseller on Amazon here*.

Could this be the world’s hottest chilli sauce? It’s called, simply, Regret. Made on the Wiltshire Chilli Farm, I can’t think of a more worthy grocery item for filling a stocking… Find it on Amazon here*, it’s £14.95.

The Tiger Who Came To Tea: this’ll keep his pens in order. I love these pen pots from Quail – they also do egg cups and vases, all of them slightly kitsch and offbeat. Find the tiger one at Liberty here* – it’s £25.

Beatles Monopoly – the classic Christmas game gets a rock ‘n’ roll update. £45 at Selfridges here*.

Can’t find the perfect trainers for him? Why not take my very risky and potentially quite dangerous route and customise him a pair? This is probably the worst suggestion I’m ever going to make and you’ll have to forgive me in advance – sometimes unlimited choice isn’t the best thing… Haha. Go crazy, go wild, he’ll hate them but he can’t take them back! If only you could have your face printed on them… £85 at Nike here*.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood; a classic, chic stocking filler with a gorgeous vintage feel. This’ll keep him occupied over the holidays, when he’s not leaf-blowing or puking over your customised trainer design. £6.47 at Amazon here*.

Finally, the Drop Wireless Charger from Native Union is a sleek, chic phone charger that looks space-age and takes up hardly any room. This is currently £26.99 on Amazon* but is almost fifty quid on one of my much-frequented luxury websites! A slick piece of tech that won’t break the bank…

The post Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men was first posted on November 26, 2019 at 4:39 pm. ©2018 "A Model Recommends". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at [email protected] Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

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seabeechick-blog1 · 7 years

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Story of a “Bee”

I have never been so far from home, as I was when I set foot onto the scorched, arid, sands of Kuwait. When I stepped off the C-17, the heat engulfed me; the domineering wind pelted my face with stinging pellets of dust particles, threatening my eyes. I was corralled with the rest of my battalion in a holding place just outside of camp. Hurry up and wait. A phrase learned early in one’s military career. We were surrounded by camo-covered bunkers; the cobalt sky peeked through tattered overhangs, and the sound of large aircraft engines screamed in the background. This was the rest stop on our way to where we would spend the next six months of our lives, Afghanistan.

I am a Seabee. Not many know what that word means, but I am very proud to be associated with this group. The Bees are the construction force of the Navy. We are called on for a myriad of duties, humanitarian relief, rebuilding nations after natural catastrophes, and assisting on and off the battle field. We are trained in combat, and our motto is “We build. We fight.” On this deployment, our battalion had many missions to accomplish, but I was assigned to the water-well team. My crew was tasked with drilling for water in a land known for desiccation. We knew it would not be a cakewalk, but we were eager to undertake the tasks apportioned to us.

“Line it up!” our company commander ordered. It was time to issue weapons. As I awaited my turn, I felt a sting of nausea in the depths of my abdomen. I took my clammy hand and swept cold sweat off my brow. The realization of where I was and what I was doing was setting in. I had been suppressing my anxiety about deploying to a war zone for the past four months. I felt there was no use in worrying about it, but at that moment all the fear of uncertainty engulfed me. The feeling lasted a moment. One of my best abilities, which I am very grateful for, is to be able to adapt to any circumstance as it presents itself. There are many different levels of fear; we as humans are perceptive of this emotion to assess life and death situations, and fear can be useful. I have had a great many “sphincter-puckering” moments, and it seemed that during those times, I performed my best. I took my M16 in my hands; it would become a part of me, another extremity. After attaching and adjusting my sling, I moved on to explore the camp we were occupying.

Kuwait, at the time I was there, was not an immediate danger zone. It was a bit more relaxed. There was not much to look at, surrounded in the middle of no-where, just sand and dust as far as you could see. The facilities were somewhat built up, and there were running toilets and working showers, always a plus. Since we were in transition, we had a bit of down time. I used this time to sleep, because it was too hot to do much of anything else, and once we laid boots on the ground in Kandahar, we would be lucky if we got a full five or six hours of uninterrupted slumber. We stayed in Kuwait for a couple of days, and before we knew it, we were shuffling onto a C-130, an in-country aircraft definitely not made for human comfort.

We piled into the military’s airborne workhorse and sat decked out in full gear. Our bullet-proof vests weighed about fifty pounds and left little room in between us. We looked as if we were no more than cargo, neatly stacked together between the meshwork. These plane rides always felt the longest: no way of stretching out, no way to rest our heads, and definitely no in-flight movies. We flew into Kandahar, Afghanistan, at night. The flight was dark, and after a bumpy 2 ½ hours, we were wheels-down. As I stepped off the aircraft, the cool night air surprised me. I realized how little I knew about this country. I assumed we would be constantly sweating from the heat of a tenacious dessert land. The reality of our surroundings was that of a mountainous range. The valleys, encumbered with infertile rock and soil, allowed the dust to haze and form thick clouds around the base. Once we all departed the plane, we were herded into a small building; this is where we would hear the in-country brief, a lecture of what would be expected of us, and all the rules we needed to know before we could set up camp. This made for a very long night. It was somewhere around 2 a.m., when we finished the brief and set out for our accommodations.

We entered the area where our battalion would be housed; at least, we were in somewhat hardened buildings and not tents. Each small room contained a unit for heat/air and a couple beds with real mattresses, not just canvas cots. For my team, we would only get to have these luxuries for a few weeks. I located my room, and even though a female in the military does have perks, there are so few of us that we are able to spread out. I almost always had my own room, where the men would have to share with two or three others. Tiny lodgings piled high with all their gear, makes for an incredibly uncomfortable stay. I did not envy them. Finally, we settled down for a few hours of sleep, and too tired to grasp the realization of where I was, I instantly passed out.

“DDDDDDDDDDDD……d d d d d d,” The sound flung me from my coma. I never heard anything so disturbing. It was as if a fifty caliber machine gun had been fired outside my door. A steady stream of bullets hailed, followed by the bang of the shots piercing into a hillside. Panicked, I crouched on the floor and waited for sirens to go off, indicating we were being attacked. My mind flourished, and then my senses came to me. I was certain that the sound had come from the sky, and I knew the enemy was not equipped with that kind of weaponry. I concluded that it was a test fire from an AC-130, pissed at the fact that anyone would have the audacity to run a test at 3 a.m. I covered my head with pillows and tried to sleep. The next day, I found out that I was exactly right, a test fire. A warning would have been nice, and they could have added that to the briefing when we arrived! As the weeks passed, I would like to say that I got use to these insufferable echoes rattling in my head night after night, but I never did, not even a little.

Although we were trained on what to do during rocket and mortar attacks, the first experience of an actual occurrence of one can be confusing and alarming. I thought that when I would hear the sirens in the country for the first time, I would hear the typical shrill sound of loud obnoxious horns. Instead a very polite, British accented, female voice broadcast over the intercom system. Along with sirens, “Rocket Attack…..Rocket Attack…..Rocket Attack.” It was eerie. All I could think about was playing the video game Resident Evil, a similarly creepy voice is used to guide you through a slew of flesh eating zombies. In the moment of time I was in, everything felt a bit apocalyptic.

The drill is to, at first sound of the alarm and no matter where you are, lie face down on the ground and cover your head with your hands. After two minutes pass, run to the nearest bunker. The bunkers were slabs of concrete squared together to make small tunnel-like encasements. Everyone piled into them. Sometimes, we were sandwiched in. After the, now all too familiar, mysterious woman called “All Clear,” we would have to find our leaders and be accounted for. At times, we would be hit two or three times a night. The base was so big that most of the time we did not know where the attack occurred. It was easy to quickly become complacent. After a week on the base, a rocket attack was more of just an annoyance than a scare. This complacency would follow me to other bases I traveled to in Afghanistan. However, I would learn how that thinking can get us hurt or worse.

Our first mission was to drill a well on a remote Romanian camp, nearly 100 miles from Kandahar. This distance seems meager when I think of traveling on U.S. roads, but when faced with driving down narrow, unimproved highways with the challenge of keeping a long convoy of trucks, trailers, and equipment together, and not knowing if we would run over an improvised explosive device (IED) that 100 miles can take hours. I was tasked to drive a seven-ton flatbed truck, over loaded with twenty-tons of steel pipe, and hauling a huge air compressor trailer. With all that weight, I could only accelerate up to sixty mph at best.

We left our home base, before any respectfully sane person would be awake, and slowly shoved off into the murky, dark morning. Our route took us through a few small villages. As we passed, children would run along the road after us, waving and giving a thumbs up signal. It was not a gesture of welcome. I soon realized they were motioning us to throw water to them. It made me think of the parades enjoyed by thousands in America, where loads of trinkets and candy are tossed into the crowd of happy onlookers. We were no parade, and there was no denying the desperation on the dusty, emaciated faces of those kids.

Once the sun ascended to its perch unleashing the unrelenting heat of the day, the road quickly became animated with small rusty cars and mopeds that death-defiantly dodged in and out of traffic. There were donkeys, sluggishly trotting along the highway, and what are known as “jingle trucks,” vibrantly decorated, piled to the sky, and brimming over with any material imaginable. It was a comical sight and seemed to violate the laws of physics. When we were not avoiding collisions with the assortment of traffic, we were trying to focus on what we trained for. We knew of the possibility that any part of that broken, depleted highway could explode. Keeping our minds focused on the possible threats interring beneath the surface, especially after hours in a stifling, uncomfortable truck, can be the greatest challenge.

Our final stint of the journey ended at the top of a large plateau, after making it up a steep, treacherous incline, and all of our vehicles and equipment made it to our destination. We parked and off-loaded the immediate necessities and found our way to the barracks. The relatively small base had plenty of unused accommodations, but the catch was the water trucked in once a week was scarce. We had plenty of bottled water for drinking, but showers and running toilets were a luxury. It just so happened that the nearest port-a-potty was a five minute walk away. I remember the first time I woke up in the middle of the night, with an urgency to go, as if I were holding back Niagara Falls. I opened the door ready to “Forest Gump it” to the latrine. I was so enamored with discomfort, I hardly noticed the three inches of snow blanketing the ground.

About fifteen feet from the door, I had to assess the situation and came to the conclusion that the only solution was to hunker down in the closest bunker and handle nature. Come to find out the guys were doing the same thing all the time. I took note that if an imminent attack were to happen, I would steer clear of that bunker. For the next few weeks, we worked around the clock in shifts. The weather turned cold, then frigid, and we endured thunder-snow, and half of the time our equipment froze over. When drilling water wells, mud is used to keep the bits cool and flush out the debris from the hole. It is made from water and chemicals and looks like mud. We were covered in it, head to toe every night. It was difficult to stay dry, and when the temperature drops to a -2 degrees F., we had no choice but to continue the mission at hand. We called this “embracing the suck.” The best we could do was to keep the coffee flowing and our little burn barrel near the worksite blazing.

There were many unpleasant discomforts on top of that hill, but I will never forget the peace and solitude I felt on some nights. I never felt so close to the universe, as I did on that tranquil, discreet minute base. The night sky shrouded me with twinkly little treasures. It reminded me of how insignificant we are in the big picture of life. It reminded me that mankind and all of his accomplishments could be wiped out in moments, and no one out there would be the wiser, of all the knowledge we acquired, all the wars we fought, the lives lost out of ignorance and hate, all the great writings, art, leaders, and heroes, just gone. It was in that humbling moment that I questioned humanity. “Are we really a superior species? Is this the best we can do?” The undeniable truth is that the world is full of suffering, violence, greed, and ignorance. We have a long way to go until we can truly be superior; it would take humans maximizing their individual potential, and then collaborating together, in order to discover what we are truly capable of.

We completed our mission in about a month, and by this time, the brief winter season was giving way to the sweltering desert heat. We had effectively drilled through some of the worst conditions imaginable, and our well was very successful. Finding water in a place known for desiccation brings a sense of accomplishment and pride. I feel grateful to have been a part of that mission. Maybe, this was only one well, but it would bring life sustaining water to hundreds of people. We packed our trucks and waited for our security team to escort our convoy back to Kandahar. Our next mission would not be as simple.

Our convoy arrived safely at our home base; we were welcomed by the unmistaken aroma of a radiating cesspool, commonly known to base locals as, The Poo Pond. On warmer days, its stench could reach well outside the base. Passers by the pond can take a photo on the make-shift beach where a fake life guard post sits along with a few plastic pink flamingos. I ran a couple of 5k races that seemed to be close to the pond, and when the wind hit just right, my eyes would burn, and I would have to bend over in dramatic dry heaves.

It was several weeks before we heard of another well that we would be tasked with. This time it was considered high priority and turned into a critical operation. We had less than a couple of days to ready all of our equipment and supplies. The location would be a small Army post deep in the mountains. Our crew would not be driving on the convoy, as we did the prior mission; this time we were to fly out on a C-130, land at a remote camp, and await a Chinook helicopter to take us to another location where a smaller chopper would drop us at our destination. We base hopped. Our crew was split up, and we were stuck at one base for a few days at a time. The excitement of the journey was wearing thin, as we were told to be ready to fly and drag all of our gear to the loading dock, wait for hours, only to be told that the flight was postponed for a day.

One of the bases we were stranded on was a hotspot. My roommate and I just found our hooch where we would be set up, and we had yet to check our surroundings, find showers, and the latrines. Exhausted from the trip, we decided to lie down first. It was then that a colossal force threw me off of my cot, and I landed awkwardly on the floor, but my vest and helmet were right beside me. I put them on and grabbed my rifle. The sirens were now coming into focus, but I did not notice that my hearing temporarily was disabled. The rocket hit about fifty meters from us. Our next move was to find the nearest bunker, which would not have been an issue, had we gotten our bearings when we first arrived. Instead, we were too worried about resting. We had no clue where the protective bunker was. As the only females on our crew, we were separated from the men’s barracks. They did not know where we were and vice versa.

We finally found a bunker, and one of our guys happened to be there, too. He had been searching for us. After the all clear, our leaders decided it would be safer if we stayed together. That particular base was known for assaults, a danger for any woman where ever she goes in the military, but here, there were reports of attacks even on men. This is difficult to imagine when everyone is carrying a loaded weapon. When joint operations with several other countries are involved, no one can be too careful. Our crew had become a family, so sticking together was the safest plan. We spent the next couple of months in close vicinity.

After a week, we finally made it to the tiny base. We were there, but all of our equipment and supplies were still en-route. We did not know when they would arrive; unfortunately, it would not arrive for a couple more weeks. Everything up until this point had been moving so fast, the work was steady and tiring, and there was not much down time. Now that everything was on hold, homesickness was consuming me. As a mother of two children, being away from my babies never gets easier. I was free to let myself dwell on everything I was missing out on at home. What holidays would pass? What school performances would I miss? Would I get to hear their voices on Mother’s Day? The outpost we were on did not have much for communicating back home. It was very difficult to receive mail; anything sent to us would be held at home base until we got back. I could not wait to start drilling.

The convoy arrived mid-morning, and it was more than relieving. We set up our drill site in record time; we did not waste a moment getting started. Everything was back on track. The weather was cooperating with us as well. The sun shined most days, and the nights were clear; we did not need a flashlight to get around. A few of us would hang out in the trucks at night and watch movies on our laptops. One night, we were interrupted by a firefight. The entrance was attacked. It was safer to stay in the armored trucks, so we sat there and watched as fifty-caliber rounds flew above us. It was terrifyingly beautiful. I put my headphones on to drown out the sounds of the machine gun blasts and watched in dismay and wonderment. When the fight was over, we were told that while the base was under fire, an IED hit an Army convoy not far from us. They did not give details, but we knew someone was mortally wounded; it is base policy to turn off all communications until the family is contacted. Again, we were reminded of our surroundings; that could have been any of us out there. The next day, we were back at work, with even more of a drive to complete this mission.

After another month of slimy mud, grit in my mouth, eye-stinging sweat, along with perseverance and commitment to duty, we finished the job. Another success. We wrapped up and awaited the chain of helicopter rides back to Kandahar. The deployment would soon come to a close, and our entire battalion, around five hundred people would all make it home safely. We were fortunate to be unscathed; however, we were changed. Soldiers who serve their country, in whatever form that may be, have their own stories. I would go back and do it all again, if that was needed of me. Going into a war zone, not knowing what will happen at any given moment, made me grow as a human. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to volunteer with my fellow Seabees, to do our part for our country. War is never a good thing. It breeds hatred, lies, conspiracy, and death. Some frown upon the military and what they do. I am thankful to be able to tell this story; it is only a small example of the many challenging, rewarding things the military does. I am proud to have served with the men and women who signed their lives away, so others would not have to.

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thegroovethief · 7 years

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#TGTfeature 004: Doctor Jeep [Trouble & Bass, Tumble Audio, ENCHUFADA: New York City, USA] Following last month’s Afrofunk excursion with Denver band ATOMGA, #TGTfeature 004 returns to low-end theory with the man to call if the bass isn’t ill enough: Doctor Jeep! This and forthcoming #TGTfeature articles will highlight dedicated musical talents by featuring their recent work as well as an in-depth interview. Undeterred by tempo and style, Doctor Jeep is well-regarded from techno to dubstep to dnb. Speaking via phone prior to his return to the Denver stage on March 2nd, the good doctor discusses the challenges of being a multi-genre specialist, his own crucial musical experiences, how he gets his bass so massive, and much more. Special note: Make sure to tune in late-night this Sunday evening Feb 26 at midnight MST for my next live “Pomegranate Sounds” radio show on KGNU Community Radio (Boulder/Denver). A Doctor Jeep feature will be on just after 1am (on Monday), with an exclusive chance to win tickets! A bit about Doctor Jeep: - a leading voice in the New York City bass scene, DOCTOR JEEP is known for rocking a range of bpms - has stacks of remixes under his own name as well as his DJ Bark Lee alias; his latest production release, the half-time dnb DISSOCIATE EP, came out mid-2016 on Aufect Recordings - HEADLINING this Thursday, March 2, at The Black Box with Snubluck and Kompra, presented by Sub.mission

TGT: You’re an artist who works within multiple styles and tempos, yet there’s always a clear focus on the low-end. How did you first get into bass music, and why has it become such an important part of your life? DJ: Basically, I went to a record store near my college when I was a freshman, and I bought a CD with an interesting looking cover, even though I had never heard of the artists or label. It ended up being Caspa and Rusko’s Fabriclive mix. That just opened my eyes to dubstep in general, and from there I just went through my usual process of how I found new music nowadays, which is just Googling every artist and/or label that was mentioned in the track list, and just kind of going in a wormhole from there… that was nine or ten years ago at this point. Weirdly enough, it took a while to get back into dubstep properly. Somehow after listening to that Fabriclive mix, I got really into Hessle Audio and Hemlock, and the kind of more techno-y stuff for the rest of my college experience. A few years later, I started going to a party in New York called Reconstrvct - basically its initial iteration was an all-UK dubstep party. They were bringing in these crazy lineups…like six or seven DJs from the UK and then one or two other residents. And it was just super insane because you would never see these producers in the US, ever, outside of that one party since it was fairly underground people for the most part. I think one of the defining moments that solidified my love for bass music was their two-year anniversary that had Kahn & Neek, their side project Gorgon Sound, Vivek, Youngsta, and Amit, all on the Tsunami Bass soundsystem which is probably one of, if not the best soundsystems in New York. I guess as for why that kind of music is important to me: it’s an escape from real life and the stuff I like makes me feel like I’m going back to my ancestral tribal roots. Sometimes when I’m in the dance, it gives me this feeling like we’re in the Stone Age dancing around a fire with like a shaman guiding us… it’s really cool to think about it in that way, knowing that people around me are also on the same wave length and it’s a meditative, trance-like experience. You’re feeling this energy in your chest and it’s so different than listening to music at a house party or in your headphones or something. Not to be too hippy-dippy about it, but bass is healing, and it allows you to mentally recharge and let go after a long week – I just love going to parties and dancing and, you know, getting into it… if I’m paying $15 to see some DJ, I’m gonna dance, I’m not just gonna stand there and cross my arms and nod my head! [laughs] Finding this community in New York was really important to me, because for all my life prior to that I felt like an outsider who just liked weird music. It’s really great to go out somewhere and spend a few hours with your friends every weekend doing what makes you the happiest.

TGT: So what challenges do you face as an artist whose work isn’t defined by a single genre? DJ: I make so many different kinds of music that I think it’s important to have certain distinctions as to what’s Jeep stuff versus other small side projects, because… I feel like if I’m making techno as Doctor Jeep, and I’m making drum ‘n’ bass as Doctor Jeep, people don’t really know how to book me, or where to book me, and that’s a huge issue. Because if I was, you know, [Berghain resident and legendary techno DJ] Marcel Dettmann or something, and I primarily played one or two fairly similar types of music, people would know what to expect when I came to play a party. At any gig, I have the ability to play rap or dancehall or UK garage or jungle or whatever, but some crowds know me for my older 130bpm productions, some crowds come for the newer drum ‘n’ bass side of me, and it’s like a divided crowd where I can’t appease everyone, and it’s definitely more difficult than if I was able to go into it with a clear game plan every time. It’s all situational. After I play a party once, I generally know the vibe. These days I’m super into a lot of electro and ’90s hardcore, but I know that’s not what fits the vibe at Sub.mission for example, so I’ll focus more on the dubstep and halftime side of things. I guess that is the benefit of playing a lot of different kinds of music, I can hone it in if I know what the crowd tends to like. At the end of the day if I’m getting paid to fly somewhere and play music for two hours, my job is to make the crowd happy, regardless if I just got a bunch of sick tracks from a totally different style the weekend beforehand [laughs]. That being said, I enjoy the challenge of figuring out what works on any given night. I think that there are some situations in which a change of vibe within the set is welcomed, and this kind of ties back to that Reconstrvct two-year anniversary. At some point in Youngsta’s set he went from a deeper dubstep section to a more hype halftime dnb part, and that was one of the first times I ever saw someone play a hybrid set like that and do it super well. And it made me think, damn, these two tempos are separated by 30bpm – which is a pretty big jump – but are stylistically quite similar in sound design and the sound palette, and people really fuck with both. I mean, it was just another one of those times where I was like ‘wow, you can really go all over the place, and still keep the crowd with you,’ so that was really inspiring for me, and definitely a very formative experience where I was like alright, that’s how you connect the dots from very different tempos. You find stuff that has similar textures or atmospheres or whatever, and you kind of go from those tracks. You’re not just slamming in a totally different track or doing a backspin and then just throwing in something from left field. That will kill a crowd, but you just gotta think of it kind of intellectually: where’s this set going? Basically, long story short, I think it’s tough as an artist who likes to make different kinds of stuff to get booked as much as if I only specialized in one genre. On the other hand though, I do think it’s important to experiment as much as possible and try new things. I mean, every time I’ve tried consciously to make a different style than I normally do, I learn a new production technique just by fucking around with the software or using a sample in a different way. I do think it’s important to experiment, but at the same time you have to have a consistent sound. I feel like over the years I’ve found the quote-unquote ‘Doctor Jeep sound,’ and it’s not necessarily a genre thing, but it’s more so just a general vibe or the samples I use or the way I use certain vocal samples or whatever… I’ll give a quick example: I really like weird, disembodied vocal chants or little cut-ups of a vocal that aren’t full words. There’s that, and I also really like running full vocal phrases through a vocoder and having them sound like a robot. Just things that kind of remind you of the human voice but aren’t exactly that, because it’s important I think to have a human element in the music too.

TGT: You’ve dropped some heavyweight remixes within the past few years, notably including a recent “Topper Top” rework (under your DJ Bark Lee alias), a mix of Benga & Coki’s “Night,” and a personal favorite of mine, “Back to Africa” by Tour De Force. What’s your approach when remixing to truly make tracks your own, and any tips for producers on how to get the bass banging properly? DJ: It’s funny you mention that [“Back To Africa”], because actually I think that’s the track that’s statistically done the poorest of any track I’ve ever uploaded, in terms of number of listens or comments, so it’s kind of heartwarming knowing at least one person liked it [laughs]. One thing that really bums me out is when an artist remixes something else and doesn’t use the main elements of the track. They might use like a tiny vocal before the drop, and then suddenly it shifts into a different song with no samples from the original… for me, it’s really important that if I’m doing a remix, it has to, at the very least, remind you of the track or even better, be obviously identifiable as being a flip on this song. I guess my approach to it all is to have the remix be different enough where I’m putting my stamp on it, but still paying tribute to the original artist. I’ve had remixes done for me (that ultimately never were released) where I’ve been like ‘uh.... [chuckles] so where’s the parts of my track – this isn’t really a remix, it’s just your track that has my name on it.’ It’s just so weird you know? Getting back to the second half of your question - I know people that have a million VSTs and 10 types of EQs, and I’m sitting here only using the Ableton plugins because my philosophy is just mastering what you’ve got. In terms of instruments, I only use the VST MASSIVE, that’s what I build my sounds out of primarily except for occasionally manipulating samples. It’s the first one I learned, and I feel very comfortable with it at this point, and for me to learn a totally different software instrument would just be frustrating. I just know how to get the sounds I want with MASSIVE, and I now associate the Jeep sound with the basses I make with it, so I just go with that for now. So my tip is: get good at one or two things and stick with it. Your creativity can lead you to make sounds that you didn’t think were possible with that specific instrument.

TGT: You’ve spoken before about the role tribal percussion plays in your production, while the just-released freebie “Adianta” brings in a similar vibe via a choice vocal. What’s your view on sampling? DJ: In general I think sampling is super important for music, especially if you look at any of the major developments in terms of the way dance music has evolved. I think back to one of my favorite genres – early ‘90s rave music – and they’re throwing so many different elements in the pot: breakbeats from old funk or hiphop records, synthesizers, vocals from sci-fi movies, or straight up just sampling other people’s tracks unashamedly [laughs]. That was the most exciting period of music for a short period of time because they had so many different influences and elements. Even nowadays, a lot of the stuff I like is just re-contextualized old music. With that track you mentioned, “Adianta,” - basically I heard this ‘70s bossa nova tune on a Brazilian compilation I got (my family is from there so I listened to that kind of music all the time growing up), and I really wanted to do a side project that was all remixes of Brazilian tracks. I had four tracks lined up for it, but three of them were just not as good as I really wanted, so I decided to give away the one decent track. The main sample is an eight-bar loop from the original, Trio Mocoto’s “Nao Adianta”. A funny thing happened, where basically I put this track out, and a promoter who booked me once shared my track with this someone she knows and she said ‘hey, check out this kid’s music, I think you might like it, you guys should connect for a coffee or something.’ In a very weird coincidence, it turned out that the guy she sent it to runs a label that the band I sampled was signed to. We actually ended up meeting up and talking shop about a potential new project, so I’ll probably create another alias in the next year or two that’s dedicated to that and that’s very focused on sampling Brazilian music and reinterpreting it in a modern context. I think my parents would be quite proud [laughs]. I mean, honestly, my take on that is don’t be dumb and sample something that’s on Sony or some major label that is gonna go after you. Don’t take an obvious, long sample from something really well known. The strategy is just do it in such a manner that it may pay homage to the original track but it’s not a total rip-off. I would be insane to take more than a few seconds of a Drake vocal and put it into a song and try and sell it – I think if you’re giving it away for free that’s one thing, if you’re trying to make money off it that’s where you’re going to come into some issues. TGT: Not necessarily connected, but which artists’ musical influence do you view as crucial to the Dr. Jeep sound? DJ: For me, it’s not so much specific artists as much as it is experiences. When I was in college I had a six-month long internship in London. And on the third day I was there, I went to Fabric, and it was a Hessle Audio night. This one moment I remember really specifically was Ben UFO (or Blawan, I can’t remember) playing Head High’s remix of Joy Orbison’s “Ellipsis”. It’s just a really cool, groovy tune – it’s a breakbeat techno track that’s not 4x4, it has an odd rhythmic pattern to it, and just very drum-oriented, but hearing that was just like ‘damn, this kind of shit sounds awesome in a proper club sound system.’ I think that really influenced the way I like to program drums these days. It’s all about rhythm. In the same night actually, Jackmaster did a set from 5-6am, and he played a Burial “Archangel” – and that was really bizarre because I never thought I’d hear that track in a club. It was just so crazy hearing such a raw powerful song in a nightclub full of people that are on all kinds of mind altering substances and seeing how much it really affected them. I think that was one of the moments where I was like ‘alright, I want my music to – even if it’s not this emotional – have this visceral impact’ … I don’t think my music is at that point yet, but that’s the kind of goal… if I can get one person to say ‘this is an insanely good track,’ then I think I’ve done my job. I heard Kode9 do a mix for FACT magazine, that’s pretty much all mid 90’s jungle, and that was definitely a point where I was like ‘I really enjoy this kind of music.’ You know, uptempo, breakbeat music. That mix got me going down the drum ‘n’ bass wormhole, which I now very much enjoy. You can tell he actually grew up in the era when that music was being made, and it’s really cool to see an artist’s influences, even if it’s not what they’re primarily known for nowadays.

STAY LOCKED IN WITH DOCTOR JEEP: Facebook Soundcloud Twitter Instagram Event: Thursday, March 2 Image Credit: Rachel Amico

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theseventhhex · 7 years

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Gone Is Gone Interview

Tony Hajjar, Mike Zarin, Troy Van Leeuwen & Troy Sanders

Photo by Lindsey Byrne

What was once thought a distant idea is now reality. It began when members Tony Hajjar and Mike Zarin were writing music for film trailers and they realised they had created a sound that needed a life outside of that medium. It needed a band. Fast forward through some phone calls and drinks: Troy Van Leeuwen was in. The trio met and wrote an EP within the first several sessions, but were still in need of the right vocalist. Upon first listen, Troy Sanders understood the vision and flew to Los Angeles to write and record vocals on the spot and Gone Is Gone was born. ‘Echolocation’, the band’s debut record, finds the group in scintillating form. With a range of addictive hooks and flowing lines Gone Is Gone effortlessly brings to mind a diversity of stunning soundscapes… We talk to Mike Zarin about the band’s creative stance, working with Disney and the Philadelphia Eagles…

TSH: How would you sum up the shared musical passion within Gone Is Gone?

Mike: Honestly, our band dynamic is amazing man. You know, I’ve had many musical collaborations over the years and none have been this smooth. There is such an equal amount of mutual respect between us. We’re all fans of each other and everyone just comes to the table with their own unique input. It’s rare that you can get musicians in a room that like each other so much and things move so seamlessly. It’s just really cool.

TSH: Bonding in the same room, the band formed the record in three weeks with a sort of stream of conscious approach. How were the ideas commonly presented?

Mike: Well, we kind of have the attitude of no idea is a bad idea. If somebody in this group feels strongly about an idea, the rest of us get behind it 100% and think about how we can make the other’s idea even better. We’d been living with the EP for a while and the concept of what Gone Is Gone is all about as an audio-visual, moody and cinematic experience. We all had our own idea of what this project essentially was. Everyone listened to each other and we each helped guide the process together.

TSH: The unified chemistry was in full flow even over Christmas with a session or two?

Mike: Yeah, we had one over Christmas, and it was great. I guess we work when we can and it’s mainly due to Troy living on the other side of the States, however, the rest of us are nearby each other. So when Troy has free time and a window open he’ll travel down. You know, we don’t care if we have to session late at night or early in the morning. We’ll look to wedge it in and that’s the core of what good musical communication should be like.

TSH: You’re each multi-instrumentalists, which must allow for a wider scope?

Mike: Definitely. We all switch roles often and nothing is off limits. We each play a host of instruments, which allows us to pull from different angles. Me and Tony have always written in this way previously – we’ve always swapped hats.

TSH: What are the origins of the track entitled ‘Gift’?

Mike: I absolutely love playing that track. That track was Troy’s baby, he brought it to the table and had it pretty much written out from start to finish. In my honest opinion, it’s a perfectly written guitar song. When I play it, I can just close my eyes and play the fretboard without thinking about what’s happening next, which is really rare. The way it’s written allows it to just flow really well on the guitar neck.

TSH: What stood out most whilst fleshing out ‘Resurge’?

Mike: I’d say the fact that it was super-organic. Also, that one resonated with me because it was very reminiscent of the beginning of my musical upbringing and what I was kind of playing as a kid. I played bass on that and just rocked with it.

TSH: What does this collection of songs signify to you personally?

Mike: It’s a record I’ve been wanting to write for 15 years. I’m very proud of this record and I’m proud to be working with musicians that I admire. I guess my vantage point and opinion is biased, but I feel the record is very well-rounded and grows in a more natural way than our self-titled EP. The EP was a pencil sketch of what the band was going to be, but ‘Echolocation’ is more of a coloration of the picture.

TSH: Is Gone Is Gone also set to include visual arts and scoring?

Mike: Oh, absolutely. We’ve already been collaborating with some virtual reality artists and we’re in the works with some visual artists via different mediums, which will focus more on the visual arts aspects instead of the music – the music will be acting as a support for the art. We approach the music of Gone Is Gone as equal parts forefront as it is background, so the way we write, we close our eyes and imagine what we’d be looking at whilst listening to this piece of music. We’re hoping to meet up with filmmakers in the near future and take this project even further. We definitely envision Gone Is Gone as a more visceral and audio-visual experience.

TSH: For yourself film composing is a field of vast possibilities…

Mike: It certainly is. I credit my going into film composing to Clint Mansell. I never even gave composing music a thought until I heard his scores, and that’s when I discovered a whole world of endless possibilities with film scoring.

TSH: Having founded the music production company Sencit, you’ve become renowned for working on major films, video games and television. What was it like working for Disney again recently?

Mike: Firstly, my work in those areas definitely sparked the idea for Gone Is Gone; after all, it was already in my bloodstream. And, yeah, I had so much fun working with Disney. You know, I’ve produced a lot for Disney and worked on various animated stuff too. We’ve even done some work for Star Wars and most recently Guardians of the Galaxy II. Disney are a lot of fun. What I like is they respect the composer in a way in which they really trust our ear, as well as giving one the freedom to explore.

TSH: You also did a trailer for ‘Making a Murderer’…

Mike: Yeah, that was so cool. I mean what an intense watch that show is man. Without getting too political, that show was so typical of the American penal system. It’s great that the show shined light on the injustices in this country and it’s really insightful too. Overall, we were incredibly proud to have one of our pieces of music used in the advertisement for that show.

TSH: Does the NFL provide you with a much needed dose of respite from music at times?

Mike: Ha, yes! I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan. I grew up in the Philly area and I spend my Sunday’s watching the games man. I like the Boston Red Sox too, but I haven’t followed them too much in last few years. But, yeah, the Eagles’ season ended exactly where I thought it would. I guess some notable additions will help for next season. Also, I think we’ll have a great rivalry with Dallas Cowboys for the next five or six years, bearing in mind the progression they’ve made.

TSH: Does dedication pretty much define the Gone Is Gone outlook?

Mike: That is absolutely the key. We each in this band have so many things going on in our lives and things could easily fall to the wayside. However, we’re really passionate about the overall project. We want to continue to respect one another, to carve out time and make a lot of effort to make this work.

Gone Is Gone - “Dublin”

Echolocation

#Interview #Gone is Gone #Mike Zarin #Troy Sanders #troy van leeuwen #Tony hajjar

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anneedmonds · 5 years

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Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men

True story.

Masterclass, £170 for 12 months here.

Note that the backpack blower makes whoever’s wearing it look like a character from Ghostbusters. Which is a comedy bonus.

Find the Frame at John Lewis here* – from £999.

Find the Bed of Nails online at Cult Beauty here* – it’s an unusual – but hopefully very useful – present.

Bose Frames are £199 at Amazon here*.

Random quirky-luxe item: the Burberry Cow Print Leather Wallet, £280 at Liberty here*. I rather like this for myself!

Random quirky-luxe item 2: the Crocodile Letter Opener, £45 at Liberty here*.

Beatles Monopoly – the classic Christmas game gets a rock ‘n’ roll update. £45 at Selfridges here*.

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