#I’m late got the party I know but I opened the McDonald’s app and saw this and well.. 😬

[gwyoi]

Also what the hell was this

#I’m late got the party I know but I opened the McDonald’s app and saw this and well.. 😬 #what the hell i had a moment with the last tag i can’t form sentences... #gwon

[cali-holland]

Priceless- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: You’ve never liked people spending money on you or being at large parties, but Tom seems to forget that as he goes a bit overboard when celebrating your birthday.

Word Count: 3100

Warnings: swearing, mentions of alcohol

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

A/N: I wrote this weeks ago and forgot to post it, my bad if it’s shit- it’s unedited; also I have no clue how much student loans are in the uk or if they even exist so i made it based off the us average and i’ll just stop rambling now oops

~~~

“Tom, this place is really nice.” You breathed out in awe of the dimly lit, but extravagant restaurant. While you felt almost embarrassed by your simple little black dress and non-designer shoes, your hands began to shake a little, thinking about how expensive this dinner must be.

“Anything for my special birthday girl.” Tom beamed, pulling out your chair for you to sit down.

“I wish you would’ve told me we were coming here. I would’ve dressed better.” You said quietly as you sat down in the chair, eyeing the women in fancy dresses at the tables surrounding you two.

“What are you talking about? You’re the best dressed person here.” He sat down across from you, adjusting his tux as he did so, and a sharply dressed waiter came up to the table, offering you two champagne immediately. Before you could kindly decline the offer, Tom insisted on the drinks.

“We’re celebrating tonight.” Tom stated, holding up his champagne flute out to you once the waiter had left. “To the best day of the year: happy birthday, Y/N.”

“Thank you.” You smiled, clinking your own glass against his before drinking the expensive liquid. 

Being with Tom for the past two years, you were used to the sweet date nights and the amazing birthday gifts; today was just different though. He’d never taken you to such an expensive restaurant before, not one that is so pricey that they don’t even bother to add prices on the menu (which upset you because you couldn’t even choose the cheapest option). You loved your boyfriend very much and you were appreciative of all the romantic dates he took you on and of the incredible gifts he’d give you, but sometimes it concerned you how he’d so willingly spend his money on you. He’d give you a million dollars if you asked for it, no matter what day it was. That is exactly why he didn’t know about your student loans or any of your past due bills- you were a staunch believer in making your way on your own, and that meant not using your boyfriend’s seemingly endless cash flow to help yourself out.

Tom knew you weren’t a fan of him spending money on you, and he also knew you weren’t one for big parties or celebrating your birthday. The diamond necklace that sat on your neck from your last birthday was proof enough of how Tom used your birthday especially as an excuse to give you more expensive things.

“You know I’m paying you back for this, right?” You said as you looked over the menu. Tom laughed, shaking his head.

“You’re not paying for your birthday dinner.” He replied, taking your free hand and holding it in his.

“I’d let you pay for the full meal if we were at McDonald’s, not at some 5-star restaurant.” You stated.

“I think it’s only 4-star.” He joked, but his smile dropped when he saw your frown. Tom lightly squeezed your hand in his. “Let me spoil you tonight, please? Just for tonight.”

“You’re unbelievable, Holland.” You rolled your eyes at him, but still cracked a smile, your thumb gently tracing against the back of his hand.

“I love you, Y/N, but I’m paying for tonight.”

“I love you, too.” You smiled, and he leaned over the table to kiss you.

After a rather delicious five-course meal, you and Tom got into the car, and he took off his suit jacket. While he removed his tie, you took the opportunity to look at the dinner receipt from his jacket pocket.

“Wait, stop!” He reached to take it out of your hands, but it was too late because you had already seen the receipt.

“£400? Are you crazy?” You exclaimed, blinking to make sure you’d read the receipt right- that wasn’t even including his very generous tip (which you weren’t going to complain about that bit).

“Was it not a good meal?” Tom questioned, taking the receipt back from you and putting in his pants pocket this time.

“It was the best food I’ve ever had. I just wish you wouldn’t spend so much on me.” As he pulled out of the parking lot, you took out your phone, pulling up Venmo.

“No, you’re not allowed to pay me back.”

“Well, I said you weren’t allowed to spend that much money on me.”

“It’s your birthday, please let me spoil you a little.” Stopped at a red light, he turned to you and pouted. You sighed, locking your phone.

“For your birthday, I’m taking you to a ridiculously expensive restaurant too.” You pressed a kiss to his cheek before the light turned green and he had to start driving again. It took you a minute before you realized he was going in the wrong direction of your flat. “Where are we going?”

“I thought we could go for some drinks before going home.” Tom suggested, but something about his smile made you think it wasn’t a spontaneous thought.

“Yeah, why not?” You replied, not seeing the harm in just going with him. It’s not like you had a choice since he was already driving there anyway. You really just wanted to go home and have a nice night with him, but he was excited about whatever surprise he had planned for you and you weren’t going to ruin that for him- you already felt guilty enough about the dinner (although you did actually really enjoy it, all expenses aside).

“What are you up to?” You asked as he parked the car in front of a strange building. It was too dark for you to even try to guess what it was.

“Come on, love, you’ll see.” He smiled, getting out of the car and hurrying to open your door before you had the chance to. He held your hand, walking you up some sketchy looking stairs. It wasn’t until you got to the roof of the two story building that you really got confused. It was far too dark for you to decipher what was going on.

“Happy birthday!” A large crowd of people shouted, the lights kicking on to illuminate the roof. You smiled, speechless, seeing all the people cheering for your arrival. You weren’t even sure that you recognized a good amount of them.

“Happy birthday, darling.” Tom grinned, wrapping his arms around you. He gently kissed the top of your head, proud of his work.

“Wow, thank you.” You told him, sounding effortlessly enthusiastic about the party. Music started playing from the large speakers, and people started dancing along to the beat, getting back to their own conversations.

“Follow me.” Your boyfriend tugged on your hand, dragging you through the crowd to the far corner of the room, where a birthday cake was sitting in the middle of a large table. The cake itself was the size of a small table; in fact, you were sure it wouldn’t be able to fit on your own kitchen table. It was the most beautiful birthday cake you had ever seen for yourself. Covered in white frosting, it had your favorite flowers and lace all around it with “Happy Birthday, Y/N” written in your favorite color across the middle.

“Do you like it? I got it from the nicest bakery in town. My mum helped me with designing it, and I know we already had dessert at the restaurant, but you can’t have a birthday party without-” You cut off Tom’s nervous rambling by kissing him softly.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” You reassured him, giving him another kiss to calm his nerves and to calm yours as well. You already knew how expensive dinner was, and something told you this party and that cake definitely wasn’t on the inexpensive side of things. His heart was in the right place, but it was just too much for you. Needing another distraction, you spoke up again, “Drinks?”

“Right this way.” He led you over to the rooftop bar, ordering you both a couple cocktails. As the bartender worked on the drinks, Tom got a call and stepped out to the stairs for some privacy.

“If you’re the birthday girl, why are you looking so down?” The bartender asked you, a kind smile on her face.

“Is it wrong of me to say I’m not into big parties like this?” You replied with a small laugh, “I’m grateful for it, but it’s not my scene.”

“So I’ll make this extra strong for you.” She joked, but still had a heavy hand as she poured tequila into the mixture, “You know, you’ve got a pretty remarkable boyfriend there. I’ve worked here a long time and no one’s ever rented this whole place out.”

“I’m sorry?” You questioned, not sure what she meant.

“This is a rooftop bar. We don’t do individual birthday parties, but,” She trailed off whistling, “When someone offers up that much and they’re a celebrity, can’t exactly say no.”

She laughed and slid your finished cocktail over to you. You knew she meant nothing bad by her words, and yet you still felt your gut twist as you looked around the party at everyone socializing. It was a sweet gesture, yes, but did Tom really have to dent his wallet for it? With how much he was spending for today, you knew it had to have some effect on his wallet.

Just before you could take a sip from the cocktail, your phone dinged. You looked at it in confusion as a notification came through from your bank account app: “new transfer pending”. Your heart started to race, thinking someone was somehow scamming your money, but when you looked, you saw a ridiculous amount of money being transferred into your account with the memo: “happy birthday, darling”.

You shot up from your seat at the bar and marched off to find Tom. He was still at the stairs, having just gotten off the phone with a small smile on his face. He must not have processed the angry look on your face as he started, “Your birthday gift still isn’t here. I’m sorry, I really wanted it to arrive by today.”

There was a lace of sadness in his voice, clearly disappointed, but you couldn’t focus on that. Instead, you held up your phone, displaying the new transfer on your bank account. “What the hell is this?”

“That’s for your student loans.” Tom said, the happy smile returning to his face. “I don’t know how much you owe because you won’t tell me, so I just kind of guessed.”

“Tom, you can’t just give me 15,000 pounds!” You exclaimed in frustration.

“Is that not enough? I can-” He started, reaching to take out his phone again.

“No.” Tom paused at your harsh tone, “Stop giving me money. It’s suffocating me. The world already thinks I’m a golddigger just because I’m dating you and they know I can’t afford diamond necklaces.” You pointed to the shiny piece on your neck. “I know your heart’s in the right place, but I can’t keep feeling like this, like I’m your charity case first and your girlfriend second. I want to be with Tom Holland, the dorky boy from Kingston that I fell in love with, not Tom Holland, the celebrity that just flaunts his wealth every chance he gets. If you want to make me happy and make me feel special on my birthday, make me a cake yourself or something; I’d much rather have something priceless with sentimental value than have something expensive that you bought just because you could.”

It was Tom’s turn to be speechless now, completely taken aback by your words. You sighed lightly, stepping forward to give him a quick kiss.

“Thank you for tonight, but I think I’m just going to go home.” You left down the stairs quickly, calling for a cab as you did so, leaving Tom abandoned at your own birthday party as he tried to process how his genuine actions backfired so much.

You didn’t sleep well that night, too caught up in knowing you’ll have to talk to Tom about all this eventually. It wasn’t something that you wanted to break up with him over, unless it got too out of hand, like if another 15,000 pounds suddenly appeared in your bank account. As much as you needed the money and appreciated the thought, you couldn’t accept it. You loved Tom because he was so considerate and thoughtful, and you knew he was only doing this because of that loving personality of his.

It wasn’t until later that night that you started to grow worried about your relationship. Normally, if you two ever fought (which only really happened once and for some reason neither of you remembered now), it would take only a couple hours before one of you apologized, and it had been hours since you left Tom, hours since you last heard from him. You had texted him last night to let him know you got home alright, to which he replied later that he was also home, but there was no “we need to talk” text or call.

Just as you were about to go lose yourself in a pint of self-pitying ice cream, you heard a knock at the door. You were expecting Tom on the other side when you opened the door, but you weren’t expecting him to be holding a covered platter and a gift bag.

“Is it too late to celebrate your birthday properly?” Tom asked, hopefully. You smiled, stepping out of your apartment to give him a kiss.

“Come on in.” You replied softly. You opened the door further for him to step inside beside you. He placed the gift bag and the platter down on the coffee table in front of your couch.

“I’m sorry for last night. I overdid it. I just wanted you to feel special.” He said, sitting down on the couch and you sat down beside him.

“I don’t need a fancy dinner or a big party to make me feel special. You make me feel special whenever I’m with you.” You reassured him, and he picked up the platter, shakily handing it to you.

“I can’t promise it’ll be any good, but I tried.” Tom admitted sheepishly as you unwrapped the aluminum foil around the platter. You smiled in awe, looking at the two layer round chocolate cake on the glass platter, which you now recognized as Nikki’s. It was the exact opposite of the cake from last night- a messy frosting job with no flowers, lace, or letters. You could even see the cake sticking out from under the frosting when it was spread too thin.

“You- you baked me a cake?” You asked, looking over at him. You felt tears prick at your eyes and Tom let out a nervous laugh.

“You’re not supposed to cry. Does it look that bad?” There was a sense of worry in his voice, but he felt relieved as you leaned over to kiss him.

“It’s perfect. Thank you.” You set the cake aside to come back to it later.

“I didn’t make the frosting though. I tried, but it was too runny.” He stated, making you giggle.

“That’s when you add more powdered sugar.” You explained and he handed you the gift bag next. “Is this what was supposed to be here by yesterday?”

“Yes. It arrived this afternoon. There’s actually two things in there.” He replied,  a smile playing on his face while he wrapped an arm around your waist. You reached your hand into the bag and felt around. You didn’t need to fully unwrap the tissue paper to know it was a jewelry box, your eyes subconsciously widened at the feeling.

“It’s not what you think it is.” Tom laughed, knowing you’d think it was a ring.

“Not like we don’t know my answer to that.” You teased as you took out the gift. You opened the small black box to see a thin silver necklace of your birthstone resting against the velvet backdrop.

“Now, if you don’t want it because of last night, I- I can take it back.” He offered, scratching the back of his neck. “I know you don’t want me spending excessively, but I saw this weeks ago-”

“Tom, I love it.” You gently took it out of the box, handing it to him so that he could put it on you.

“Okay, so the last one,” He started nervously, before rambling, “I’ve been working on it for a couple weeks, I just needed the one last thing to actually finish it though, so I couldn’t really do it until today. I can always fix it if it doesn’t look right. And, yeah, just open it.”

“Well, now, I’m intrigued.” You laughed, slowly pulling the last gift from the bag. Tom tensed beside you, but you were far too overwhelmed, holding back tears, as you looked over the blue photo album. You turned through the pages, taking in each photograph he had put in it, reading each comment he’d written under it. It was like a story of your relationship over the years, and there was still plenty of room left in the back of the book for the future.

“See, the book was late, and that kind of set me back. I didn’t mean to ignore you today, but between the book and the cake, I was preoccupied.” He laughed lightly.

“You’re by far the best boyfriend ever. I love you so much.” You turned to him, letting a few tears escape. He wiped them away, cupping your cheek and kissing you.

“Happy belated birthday, darling.” He told you softly once he’d pulled away. You quickly got up to grab a couple forks from your kitchen before sitting on his lap on the couch. You balanced the photo album in your lap, so you could continue to go through it, while Tom held the cake platter.

“Let’s see how good this cake is.” You teased, clinking your forkful of chocolate cake against his. Tom watched as you ate your forkful first. The sweet chocolatey taste you were expecting wasn’t there; instead it tasted bitter and almost like bananas. You swallowed it and smiled, trying to play it off, but Tom could tell.

“It’s shit, isn’t it?” He asked, putting a forkful in his mouth before you could respond. He groaned at the horrible taste.

“Did you store it next to bananas?” You laughed.

“Only for like a hour!” He defended.

“I think you put too much baking powder in here. It shouldn’t be that bitter.”

Tom sighed, setting the platter down on the table. You smiled at him, still laughing a little at the cake, “You tried, and I love you for that.”

“I love you too.”

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex​ @theamazingtomholland​  @harrisonosterfieldhazmyheart​ @joyleenl​ @t-o-m-holland​ @lonikje​ @sleepybesson​ @sunkisseddreamer​ @hollandsamor​

Tom Tag List:@quaksonhehe​ @tomkindholland

#tom holland #tom holland fanfic #tom holland one shot #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland fic

[mysterybustershq]

squad night gone wrong » event (2/2)

everyone gets an anonymous message saying to meet up at the hq and things get... spoopy. 

lana.-Today at 3:44 AM

she spun around in her seat, so that she was finally facing the screens, "you don't even want to know," she mumbled to herself under her breath once they had left the room.

naomi.-Today at 10:39 AM

naomi had quietly sneaked away to use the bathroom in the midst of all the arguing over if they would take a quick trip down the basement. once she relieved herself, she returned to lana sitting in her infamous spinning chair and everyone else down in the basement. 'seriously, lana? come on don't be such a debbie downer. you're gonna miss out on all the fun." naomi wiggled her eyebrows, laughing afterwards before putting on her straight mom face. "if you don't go down to this basement i'm never talking to you again." she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for lana's response.

bryce.-Today at 11:10 AM

bryce finished his chips and he tossed the bag out before wiping his hands together to get the crumbs off of his fingers. he had no qualms with the basement -- sometimes it did make the hairs on the back of his neck stand -- but he always preferred to go with someone than by himself. he followed behind the rest of the gang, taking each step slowly. "the way some of you guys are acting, you'd think we were descending into the abyss or something," bryce murmured, his grin not having faded. "though, i do have to say i might be in damaris' camp now -- if even a piece of that furby's fur has moved, i say we burn it. it is kinda creepy if you're around if got too long."

damaris.-Today at 11:37 AM

"We're as good as," she murmured from behind Bryce, having decided after much internal debate that sticking with the many instead of the few was the best way to ensure a safe evening- something that felt almost at threat, with the new discovery that it wasn't Lana who sent the text. Of course, it could have been anyone else, just messing with the group now and saying they hadn't done it. It could have been a fan, who had somehow gotten... all their numbers. Or, and this was the thought that only fed a persistent, horribly bad feeling- it could be something else. She wasn't taking her chances in the main building, alone ( or with just one other ), but that didn't mean she had to be comfortable in the descent to the basement. "I stand by that sentiment. But... I'm going to be more inclusive this time. If anything down here has moved even an unexplained inch, it's time for us to purge the basement. Finally."(edited)

ashley.-Today at 2:19 PM

ashley felt bad for being so late to the party, but she got caught up helping her roommates get dressed to go out that night. “sorry i’m so-” her words trailed off as she walked inside and only found lana and naomi. “oh, is no one else here?” she asked, checking the time on her phone. naomi was usually around, but it was surprising to see lana as one of the first people there, but ashley didn’t question it. “i figured at least whoever called this would be here. who sent the text again? i don’t remember reading that.”

lana.-Today at 2:31 PM

she shook her head at naomi; she was never able to be as serious around her as she was with the rest of the group. "never again, is that a promise?" lana asked while the corners of her lips tugged into a smile. she was focusing on what she was now doing on the computers ... that was until ashley entered and broke her train of thought. "no one seems to know who sent it," she pivoted to look at her, "they're all downstairs. something about an orgy or something?" lana gave her no further explanation, just a shrug.

naomi.-Today at 2:39 PM

"hm....' naomi pretended as if she was actually thinking of what to say "no." she playfully rolled her eyes and peeked over to lana's computer screen. "yeah it's weird but at the same time it's not. it easily could have been a crazy fan or someone trying to fuck with us.' naomi looked over at ashley, "isaiah was the main saying something about an orgy.... go collect your man. oh wait, lana just track whoever sent the message number. shouldn't be that hard, right?"

ashley.-Today at 3:33 PM

“there’s an orgy downstairs?” ashley repeated, furrowing her eyebrows. “you think there’d be something about that on the invite, i’m not dressed for an orgy,” she joked. perking up at isaiah’s name, she turned her attention to naomi. “he’s not my man, and i’m not too sure i want to collect him if that’s what i’m getting into,” she said, referring to the apparent orgy. “oh yeah, there are totally websites where you can like, track numbers or whatever to see if they’re someone using an app to get a fake number.” she’d used them for shady twitter dates. remembering who was doing the searching, she backtracked, “but you probably know a better way, huh?”

lana.-Today at 3:41 PM

lana's smile grew wider after hearing ashley's reply. she was already half way through tracking the number by the time the other two mentioned it, "way ahead of you." she made it look easy; which it was for her. this was just a walk in the park compared to most of the other things that she's done prior to this. not to mention, she's been tracking phone numbers for as long as she could remember. but, something was wrong this time around and the concern was clearly expressed through her facial expression, "wait," lana got closer to the screen. "this doesn't make sense."

ashley.-Today at 3:46 PM

hearing the genuine concern in lana’s voice, ashley leaned in closer, as if she could actually understand anything on the screen. “what’s wrong?”

lana.-Today at 3:50 PM

she looked up at ashley, "i've done this a million times and this system is never wrong — i'm never wrong." lana then glanced back at the screen, not understanding what she saw. "but, it says it leads ... to no where. it's like it ... doesn't even exist."

ashley.-Today at 3:52 PM

ashley's eyes narrowed in confusion, not exactly following where lana was going. "what does that mean? how can a number just not exist? it has to lead to somewhere, doesn't it?"

lana.-Today at 3:56 PM

"yeah," she answered. surprised to hear that ashley knew what she was talking about for once. "exactly right — it always has to lead somewhere." lana's eyes met ashley's, "but, this one doesn't."

ashley.-Today at 3:59 PM

"i don't really know what a number being a dead end means, but should we go tell everyone else that we don't know where the number is from? that it's not someone playing a joke, or like, a fan or something?"

lana.-Today at 4:03 PM

"i agree. something is definitely up," lana stood out of her chair and was the first one out the door. she was genuinely worried about the rest of the members that were already in the basement.

ashley.-Today at 4:04 PM

with the new discovery, ashley and naomi followed lana down the stairs to the basement where everyone else was, leaving the door open behind them.

micah.-Today at 4:06 PM

micah glanced up as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. he glanced at ashley and naomi, but paused at the sight of lana. "i thought you were staying upstairs."

julian.-Today at 4:09 PM

while he had no intention to join everyone downstairs, julian soon found himself being the only one in the main room. with a defeated sigh he inched his way towards the basement door, clomping down the stairs while scrolling through twitter on his phone. "everyone still alive?" he questioned, only half-joking.

naomi.-Today at 4:17 PM

"um... the messsage..." she looked over at lana the ashley, swallowing the lump in her throat, "well lana tracked it and it literally belongs to no one. i mean no number ever sent that message." she didn't know if the rest of the team would understand but she was more than creeped out right now.

damaris.-Today at 4:24 PM

"what does that mean?" eyes flickering from one to the other to the next, mar's mind raced- her first thought that they were playing a joke, her second that it wasn't even possible for a number to come from nowhere, and her third... that while it mightn't have been, it wasn't like stranger, equally creepy things hadn't already happened to them. "... is that actually what you guys found out, or is this just... a really bad joke? cause it's really not funny for you all to pull this while we're in the basement of all places..."

bryce.-Today at 4:31 PM

"still alive," he called back to julian before letting out a laugh, "neither furby nor any other cursed object has gotten us yet." bryce glanced over his shoulder towards the part of the group that had said they weren't going to go down. he would have asked why, but micah and damaris spoke first. hearing the answer naomi gave, for the first time since arriving that evening, the grin fell from his face. "that's really not possible? like, it had to come from somewhere." he bit his lip as he looked from naomi to lana. now he didn't doubt that lana did everything correctly but -- "did you double check? not that i'm saying you did something wrong, but maybe it was the program or i don't know." he hesitated before letting his gaze move between each of the other members of the team. "if this is a joke by any of you, it's not funny anymore."

lana.-Today at 4:39 PM

she sighed; of course they would have a hard time believing her. she didn't have the best track record considering she was always pulling stupid jokes. in fact, this did sound like something she would do. "of course i double checked, i'm not a monster," lana looked at them all, trying to show them that she was being sincere. "something is wrong."(edited)

vanessa.-Today at 4:49 PM

for the first time in forever, the mcdonald's ice cream machine had not been broken. it had been a good start to a potentially GREAT dat. licking the soft-served sweetness happily, her high tops shuffled against the floor ( which was in dire need of a vacuum ) as hazel eyes searched for any sign of life. " knock, knock... anyone home?? " she called out, swimming in the headquarter's unusual silence. finally, the sound of voices caught her attention and, like a fish on a hook, allowed the chit-chat to drag her towards the dank basement. " what's crack-a-lackin', kiddos!! nobody told me we were having a party down here. " she grinned, poking her head through the doorway as her voice carried down the stairs. and then she paused, smile wavering ever so slightly. " what's with the grim faces. you guys look like you just rewatched the ending of 'marley & me'... " vanessa stepped closer, brows knit, only to have the door slam shut behind her. " ... well that's never a good sign. "

ashley.-Today at 4:56 PM

ashley turned to vanessa as she walked down the stairs, thrown off by how peppy she was. jumping as the door slammed, her heart beat picked up. "please tell me someone isn't down here yet and they're the one that just shut the door." she said, too nervous to check if anyone was missing. she still wasn't entirely sure what it all meant, but being trapped in a basement full of things that damaris thought could be haunted with doors shutting on their own didn't reassure her that things were normal.

micah.-Today at 5:02 PM

micah froze, this scene feeling all too familiar. oh, fuck, not now. his fingers curled into his palms, nails digging into his skin as he anchored himself to the moment. he wasn't afraid — no, he could care less about whether they survived this odd encounter. but this was something he lived through too much, and he couldn't deal with that. he didn't look at cristian, or at naomi, the only two people who felt completely safe. he stuck his hands in his pockets, gripping his phone tightly, his only anchor to reality at this point. for once, he didn't comment, lacking a sarcastic or morbid remark to lighten the mood. he simply watched the door, silently hoping it would open.

naomi.-Today at 5:05 PM

as the door slammed shut, naomi's eyes widened and she took a step back. this can't be happening again she thought to herself, her mind automatically going back to that cursed summer. she's been trying so hard to forget and now she feels as if she's reliving that night all over again (which might be a overexaggeration but she really can't shake that eerie sound of having a door close on its own) "someone fucking open the door, now."

kimberly.-Today at 5:14 PM

kimberly watched everything happen in lana.ytical silence, trying to maintain a steely expression despite wanting to deadass roll her eyes at everyone immediately freaking out. she pushed past a few people, tiny hands wrapping around the door handle and twisting. "what the f -" she stopped herself before she could finish the word, tugging harder at the door, even attempting with both hands. "uh," was all she could say, slowly backing away, a mild panic finally settling into the pit of her stomach.

elijah.-Today at 5:35 PM

“no one ! NO ONE TOUCH THE DOOR!” eli shouted out of nowhere hoping it was loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “sorry just, it could be cursed. i read it somewhere.” rifling through his bag for the book he realized a fatal error; his inhaler. missing. fuck. pretending like he wouldn’t need it, he took shallow, quiet breaths and surveyed the room. when his eyes landed on vanessa, they lit up. “nessa, can you do your thing? you know -- “ eli wiggled his fingers spookily in what he hoped was a universal signal for clairvoyant medium madness.(edited)

julian.-Today at 5:40 PM

julian took a few steps back away from the entrance, leaning up against a glass display case. "so is the door now haunted?" he asked in a monotone voice, raising an eyebrow.

lana.-Today at 5:48 PM

"someone must be messing with us," ignoring any and all of eli's warnings, lana walked over to the door and aggressively shook the handle. "if this is one of the people ashley or cristian has slept with who doing this for revenge because they didn't get a call back — i swear to god."

vanessa.-Today at 6:01 PM

the only thing vanessa could think about was how she was going to simultaneously eat her melting soft-serve and help quell the stress of her teammates; she had never been a good multi-tasker. " what else would it be, julian?? the air conditioning unit?? pfft, of course it was ghosts. it's ALWAYS ghosts. " she assured him, though no doubtedly doing nothing to help in easing the terrifying moment. hazel oculars rested on elijah, and uncomfortable look crossing her features as the vanilla treat began to melt onto her hand. " um, so that's not really how it works... don't get me wrong, the vibes in this place are wacky as heck, but that's not unusual. after all, it's filled with enough occulist-trash to send satan himself in a tizzy. besides i can't concentrate when everyone's-- " she waved her hands around, hoping it expressed the chaotic nature. " let's all just take a few deep breaths, 'kay?? "

naomi.-Today at 6:04 PM

"take a few deep breaths?" the fear that had once inhabited naomi quickly turned into frustration and she shook her head. "what we need to do is bust this door down or find another way out of here!" the fact that there were no other windows or doors in this cursed room made the situation even worse.

micah.-Today at 6:06 PM

quietly, micah crossed the room to stand next to naomi. whether it was to calm her, or himself was a mystery even to him, but he wasn't rushing to solve it. "i don't think there is another way out. if there were, we probably would've noticed by now. so it looks like we're either breaking this thing down, or we're stuck down here."

julian.-Today at 6:25 PM

the tension in the room was building up, and although julian didn't fear the haunted door that elijah and vanessa were investigating, he could sense the toll it was taking on everyone. he left his stance by the cabinet and inched closed to kimi, his side brushing against hers. "i could probably just ram into it and bust it open. don't you think?" he said aside to her.

kimberly.-Today at 6:27 PM

kimberly jumped slightly at the new presence at her side, turning her head just to shoot a glare at julian. "yeah, that's a great idea," she responded, voice dripping with sarcasm. "do that, it'll be fun to take you to the hospital."

verena.-Today at 6:42 PM

pinching the bridge of her nose, verena could feel the headache lurking in the back of her head. the panicked chatter tempting her patience and her sanity. pushing off the wall she’d been leaning up against, vee crossed the room, her hands raised to signal for everyone to shut up, even though she knew they’d most likely ignore her. “can everyone just calm down? no one is going to ram the door, okay? lets all just chill out and try to figure out a logical way out of this.”

ashley.-Today at 6:47 PM

"logical?" ashley repeated, looking at vee, shocked. "the door just shut by itself and we can't open it. if julian wants to bust the it down, let him go for it. who cares, as long as we get outta here."

vanessa.-Today at 6:52 PM

" if this is a democracy, i vote for not breaking down the door. they're really expensive to replace and you'll probably get splinters. not to mention, the paranormal don't really follow the rules of nature. i wouldn't be surprised if you were just tossed back. " vanessa pointed out, fully abandoning the ice cream cone on the top stair ( perhaps the spirits would view it as a peace offering ). " clearly whatever malevolent being- or beings- wants us here isn't just going to happily swing the door open with an apology and kiss on the cheek. now, hear me out, but how about we try and COMMUNICATE with it instead of running around like headless chickens. all in favor?? " she raised her own hand in the air.

bryce.-Today at 7:00 PM

bryce casted a sidewards glace towards ashley and then verena. "i don't want anyone to get hurt, but what good is just sitting here going to do? vee, logic says we try and get out of here, doesn't it?" he folded his arms across his chest, rocking backwards onto his heels. he was uncomfortable, and his growing anxiety was the only thing he was sure of. bryce glanced towards the cursed items around them before looking towards vanessa. "i'm not saying i wouldn't want to talk to any spirit that might have attached itself to these items or the office space --" he trailed off before shaking his head. "but that just seems like it'd be asking for trouble."

trevor.-Today at 7:04 PM

trevor had been quiet for a while, mostly trying to conceal that he was freaking out on the inside and didn't exactly what the rest of the group that he was as easily scared as he was. trevor moved over to elijah, fighting the urge to just bear hug him and ask him to tell him that everything was okay like he did when they watched horror movies. " okay ... um how about we just go back to the orgy idea someone put out before, have some fun, blow some steam, talk about how trump is satans asshole reincarnated into a cheeto puff and not die ? "(edited)

naomi.-Today at 7:08 PM

naomi rolled her eyes "no offense trevor but please be quiet." she'll apologize for that later. she felt micah standing next to her and for a split second she felt somewhat more relaxed but at the sound of everyone else arguing and vanessa feeling all the wacky vibes down here, she was certain she was going to go into full panic mode. stepping up to the door and pushing everyone aside, naomi began to shake the door handle in hopes that it'd open. "jesus fuck open the door." she grunted, now pounding her fist on the door

damaris.-Today at 7:11 PM

"vanessa... can't you try to communicate with them while someone else tries to get us out of here?" why was multi-tasking not a thing, with spirits? why did it have to be one or the other? damaris just wanted out of the basement- she didn't much care whether that came in the form of vanessa kumbaya-ing their way with whatever was in the room ( many a pointed look at been thrown herbie's way, since they'd gotten stuck ) or whether it came from breaking the door down.

micah.-Today at 7:13 PM

micah lightly nudged trevor, hoping to provide even a little comfort. he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of an orgy, but he knew there was too much fear in the room for them to even think straight.  and he wouldn't admit it, but julian's idea wasn't that bad. it would break him if he was the only one trying, but add a few more people, and micah figured they could make some progress. "how does it work?" he asked vanessa, hoping her explanation would make even a bit of sense. none of this did, but he was willing to accept just about anything right now.

elijah.-Today at 7:19 PM

“the door . . . please don’t ... tou -- “ he grabbed onto the bookshelf for support. eli was short of breath and that was not good considering he was short of his inhaler. nonetheless this is what he signed up for. he needed the experiences for his future movies and this bad experience would make a great movie some day, so he tried to focus on that . . . even as his vision as tunneling. “that’s . . . that’s nice trevor and bryce, i thought you weren’t supposed to interact with the spirits either, but . . .” he straightened out his glasses and took a steep breath. “ i watched a lot of horror movies where people get trapped in basements and the thing that locked them in there usually did it to have them complete a task, a test or something. the door clearly is not responding to brute force, so if we do what it wants, maybe the door will open -- but to do that we need to figure out what that is and to do that . . . “ he looked between bryce and vanessa. “we have to communicate with it.”

lana.-Today at 7:27 PM

lana rolled her eyes at the commotion, "okay, wait — how can you guys even be sure this is paranormal?" she moved away from the door and stood by one of the tables filled with items. "this could just be someone who wants to freak us out. maybe it's one of those guys who bullied julian the other day in the library."

julian.-Today at 7:37 PM

after listening to lana, julian frowned a little. "i mean, bullying is a harsh word…" he mumbled. speaking up, he offered his first idea again. "are we sure no one wants to try ramming it? isaiah's got a pretty damn hard head. or maybe we can bust the hinges off with something. a hammer or… something…" his voice fizzled out as he looked around the room, seeing nothing that would do the job. he looked to verena, shrugging.

naomi.-Today at 7:47 PM

naomi was about to reply when all of the sudden the lights began to flicker on and off. (i hate that i thought of the hashslinging shalsher) she jumped back, a small scream leaving her lips. "what the fu—" her sentance was cut off by a notebook falling from the shelf and hitting the floor, pages flipping until they landed on a page. at this point, the room was eerily quiet and she had no idea what to do or say.

micah.-Today at 7:49 PM

micah immediately lost all fear and anxiety when the lights began to flicker. "i sincerely hope that's a demon and not the hashslinging slasher," he muttered to no one in particular.  "does anyone have a plan before someone gets off the bus with a spatula for a hand?"

ashley.-Today at 7:55 PM

jumping as the lights flashed, ashley grabbed on to whoever was closest to her, digging her nails into their arm. as if it couldn't get any worse, she felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket. she pulled it out with shaking hands and almost threw it across the room when she read the screen. "it says unknown caller. someone else answer it, please." she held the phone out, just wanting it away from her.

lana.-Today at 8:01 PM

lana's eyes scanned all around the room; she was so intrigued by everything that was happening. she'd never been in a situation like this before and yet, she was still somehow keeping calm. she ignored the phone call ashley was getting and rather kneeled down to read the page that the notebook opened up to. when she saw it, her heart dropped. lana slowly stood up and turned to ashley, "ashley, answer it," she demanded.

trevor.-Today at 8:05 PM

trevor jumped at the sound of ashley's phone ringing, his hand grasping onto elijah's arm. " don't ! " trevor whispered hardly, hoping his statement would get ashley to leave and not answer the phone but the rest of group kept insisting she answer. " im gonna fucking piss myself is that what you guys want ?" he exclaimed as he tightened his grip on elijah's arm. " let's let trevor piss himself and have a gay old time ! "

bryce.-Today at 8:11 PM

the flickering lights had put bryce further on edge, and then naomi's scream and the notebook falling did nothing to calm his nerves. when ashley's phone began ringing, it was only icing on the cake. he had hoped trevor was going to offer to answer the phone when he started to talk, but that was a pipe dream of a wish. as it kept ringing, finally he sighed. "i'm gonna grab it, ashley -- i'll do it." wasn't it better to get it over with than to just prolong the suffering? he outstretched his hand as he walked towards it, only then realizing that his hand was shaking. "if it's a demon or the hash slinging slasher, i'm never gonna use a phone ever again. it's walkie talkies or carrier pigeons from here on out."(edited)

cristian.-Today at 8:28 PM

during their time in the basement, cristian had tried his best to keep silent, contemplating the whole mess off to the side, especially considering everything that had happened last year -- actions from him might only worsen the situation. however, watching everything unfold and everyone close to losing their minds, he couldn’t stay back much longer, not when no one seemed to be getting anywhere. and on top of it all, the notebook resting under lana’s gaze was sending him really bad vibes, ones he couldn’t ignore. the dark-haired male took a deep sigh, frankly becoming quite annoyed with the whole ordeal, although he couldn't deny how slightly nervous he was, his heart beat picking up in speed a bit. suddenly shuffling toward lana, standing above her broadly, cristian snatched the notebook from the floor, “ let me see that, ” he huffed sternly, immediately regretting his actions before silently muttering, “fuck..” snapping out of his surprise, cristian turned around to bryce, “who’s on the fucking phone, bryce?”

naomi.-Today at 8:47 PM

she walked over to lana and cristian, recognizing the notebook as the one that she and verena had found  in the abandoed house at marblemount. the panic kicked in and she took the notebook from cristian, jaw dropping as she studied the image that was paperclipped onto the page. cristian it was him that night that they were stuck at the church. he had been there and he was the one who had chased daniel out. the book slipped from her grasp and her eyes looked up at cristian. "get him the fuck out of here." she sternly said, taking a step back and grabbing lana's arm, prompting her to take a step back as well.

julian.-Today at 8:58 PM

with a close gaze, julian kept his eyes on naomi, seeing her stand up and look at cristian with a terrible fear in her eyes. he was already stepping forward before she had called out. julian didn’t need to know why–he was on it. he walked up to cristian, putting both hands on the boy’s ( #TONED ) chest, giving him a little push back. “what the fuck did you do this time?” he asked, his voice much more intense than he intended it to be.

vanessa.-Today at 9:14 PM

things were getting far too tense for the brunette who basically survived off of smiles and rays of sunshine. it was taking everything in her to not butt-in with a useless mean girls quote ( I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy ) and erase the hostility that had been rapidly building. " so... no seance?? " her hand fell back to her side, disappointed yet not surprised that her suggestion had been flippantly tossed aside ( listen to the clairvoyant during a ghostly attack?? preposterous. ). " for gosh sake!! just tell us what's in the notebook. cliffhanger's may be exciting for, like, movies, but now is not the time to leave us on the edge of our seats. i'm all for pointing fingers at cristian- no offense, dude- but i'd at least like to get an idea of what i'm blaming him for. "

micah.-Today at 9:20 PM

the reaction was almost instantaneous. any humor or panic micah felt was sapped the moment julian stepped towards cristian. the second he put his hands on cristian, micah stepped between them, putting a hand on julian's chest to keep him back. "this is me trying to be nice. fuck off." he looked at naomi, who looked scared shitless, then to lana. "this suspense is getting old. can you just tell us what's in the book and who's on the phone, so we can leave?" he already had a problem with being trapped down here, and absolutely none of this was helping.

lana.-Today at 9:28 PM

she stood behind naomi, not moving a muscle. lana didn't exactly know what to make of the situation and she sure as hell didn't know how to explain what was in that notebook. the only thing that was certain was something weird was going on with cristian. this would usually be about one of those times where she would add some snide remark, but she had a better idea. "cristian," she composed herself and nodded towards the exit, "open the door."(edited)

naomi.-Today at 9:34 PM

part of naomi hoped that julian would actually beat cristian's ass. "there's a picture of cristian at silverwood in there." she spoke out in a monotone voice. "even though he said he hadn't been there that night. explain that photo to us, cris. did the ghosts photoshop it or what? what bullshit ass excuse do you have this time?!"

cristian.-Today at 10:02 PM

with intentions of shutting the book before anyone could see, cristian bit his lip anxiously, however before he could do anything, he felt the object in his hands disappear from his possession, his heart sinking the minute he realized it had been naomi. her words immediately sliced into him, his eyes widening as his gaze haphazardly jumped across the room -- everyone’s faces leaving him without words. “ i-uh, ” he started, unsure of what to do or say, the only thing running through his mind at the moment being a whole line of curse words. that was until he felt a pressure on his chest, the force pushing him back and julian’s tone hitting him just as hard. “ jesus, nothing ! you don’t know the whole fucking story, okay? ” he finally choked out in argument, dodging micah’s frame between them and giving julian a strong push back. if it hadn’t been for naomi’s voice speaking up again, things might have gotten even more heated, but cristian shook his head and turned away. “ i was fucking possessed, naomi. i don’t know how the fuck that photo got there or who the fuck took it, but do you really think i know what i was doing? ” and in a sense, he did know, but on the other hand, he really didn’t. cristian hadn’t been the same ever since that night, feeling a certain darkness to him ever since, but he couldn’t just tell everyone that. could he? what he was certain of was that everything he had worried would happen was actually beginning to come to light, and it was hurting more than he thought. he didn’t know what to do, but he couldn’t stay there a minute longer, it was too much -- too much to explain and definitely too much to handle in one night. so, without another thought,  he suddenly turned to lana and narrowed his eyes, “ gladly. ” cristian swivelled around, making his way through everyone, knocking a few shoulders out of the way. he was eager to get the hell out of there. once at the door, he grabbed the handle with a push. and like that . . it opened.

julian.-Today at 10:21 PM

there were two forces that pushed against him, both of them stronger than him, but Julian held his ground as best he could. his hands were balled together in fists at his side, having to take a couple deep breaths while cristian spoke. but his eyes weren’t watching the darker of the boys–he was more-so watching micah, waiting for the boy to launch himself at julian again. he was too agitated to even roll his eyes at the bullshit that cristian was giving them all. when he walked up to the door, julian didn’t dare leave his stance, but did turn to watch him open the door right up. his jaw clenched. “what kind of sick joke are you playing, cristian? locking everybody up in here?" knowing micah was only a foot or two away kept him from moving. "it's fucked up," the last comment was made in a huff, his words not as strong as before.

lana.-Today at 10:37 PM

lana's mouth dropped when she saw cristian open the door with ease. for some god forsaken reason, it made her laugh. like julian said, this whole incident was fucked up, but it was like living in some fanfiction that ashley found on twitter. she couldn't believe it. "i knew it," lana shook her head as she finally walked around naomi to get closer to the door. as much as she wanted to convince herself that it was cristian playing a joke on them, she still had a thought in the back of her head that forced to her consider that it could have been something more sinister. that notebook did fly off the shelf by itself, after all. "okay, how about we all get the fuck out of here and then we can interrogate the culprit somewhere that isn't infested with the memories of those who croaked?"(edited)

ashley.-Today at 10:43 PM

"wait, am i fucking a demon?"

trevor.-Today at 10:49 PM

trevor glanced over at ashley as she commented that she was the demon. he was never own the judge so he just assumed she was joking, a forced chuckle escaping his lips as his tight grip on elijah's arm tightened even more. " as much as i love you ash ash babes, im  bit concerned we might fucking die tonight so lets leave please - i swear if  someone walks down that door im gonna fucking die - do you want that ? " trevor asked he was attached to eli's side. " do you want me to fucking die? everyone but isaiah respond. "

bryce.-Today at 11:00 PM

"let's just go. we can talk about it upstairs where we can't possibly get locked in again -- and no, trevor, no one wants you to die." hearing what was in the notebook, bryce had felt tired and he let his shoulders fall, the hand holding the phone hanging by his side. on a good day, it was hard enough not to think about silverwood. to have it shoved in their faces now of all times? it was pretty fucking awful. it would have been nice to be able to say that things had gone back to normal after what had happened. too bad ‘nice’ wasn’t a label given to the mysterybusters, and the only normal they were was paranormal. was he angry at cristian? for silverwood, he’d claim that he had moved past it. for today? bryce couldn’t help but shoot a glare at cristian and mutter, “not cool, dude,” as he walked by. he didn’t know how cristian managed to lock them all down there and frankly he didn’t care. once they were all upstairs again (finally), he plopped down into one of the chairs, grabbing one of the bag of chips they had been snacking on before their misadventure. he had eaten a handful, a few minutes passing before he exclaimed, "oh!" there was a moment of silence as he walked over to ashley, handing her the phone. “before i forget to tell you all -- i clearly remember that i had to answer that terrifying phone call and then all of a sudden you forget about it. thanks for that, guys.” he paused before shrugging his shoulders, “it was only daniel. he says hi and sends his love — kidding on that last part — but he says sorry for missing the meeting. i let him know that the next time he uses *67 i might mcfreakin’ lose it. fair warning to everyone.”

#event » 001.

[purplesurveys]

691

What was the best thing to happen to you this week? This week was probably the most uneventful one of the quarantine so far... I did like the fact that I made my own dalgona coffee last Wednesday! I don’t know how it’s faring in the other side of the world, but it’s a pretty big trend around Asia at the moment.

Where do you put your keys when you get home? I never got accustomed to putting it one place – every day it’s in a new area in the house haha but usually it’s at one of these places: hung on my doorknob, on the living room table, on the dining table, on top of my drawer, or on my bedside chest. Sometimes when I get home super late and have to wake up early, I don’t even take my keys off of me anymore.

Do you prefer hot coffee or iced coffee? Iced, which is why I’m missing coffee shops a ton rn. I have to deal with making lukewarm coffee at home. Water’s kind of a luxury at this point with most of the water refilling stations being temporarily closed down, so I can’t really afford to waste my family’s stock of water just to keep making iced coffee.

What’s your phone background picture? For the longest time my lock screen was a photo of Kobe and Gigi Bryant, but I just changed it an hour ago of a photo of the sky and the beach.

If you could move to any country, what would it be? Is Finland the one whose government is populated by mostly women? I’d love to live in their world. 

Have you ever seen a snake in the wild? I may have once or twice. I live in the Philippines after all haha.

What’s your favourite movie from the 80s? Ooh, good question. I never did like most of the stuff that came out of the 80s so I had to Google the movies that came out then. Turns out I enjoyed a few: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is my absolute favorite one, and my runners-up are Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, and This is Spinal Tap.

Do you have any posters, paintings or other artwork on your walls? I have several wall decors of Aubrey Hepburn on one side, and I have a few paintings on the other.

What would your dream wedding be like? Hopefully big and expensive. My parents have always preferred to keep family celebrations simple and lowkey, and I’ve been really itching to break out of that cycle and throw a huge ceremony/celebration for myself for once.

Would you ever take a trip to space if given the chance? Already answered this in a previous survey but absolutely hell yeah. I wanted to be an astronaut for quite a long time, so I won’t let go of the chance if it came.

How do you cope with anxiety? I take surveys, find a YouTube series to distract me, or simply take a nap. Bottomline is I can’t be stuck doing nothing.

Are you expecting any phone calls or emails? It’d be nice to hear a reply from my prof. I submitted a paper three weeks early (she gave an April 17 deadline so that we didn’t have to work on it during the break, but I went ahead and did it and submitted mine anyway) and I would love a “thank you” or “I appreciate this,” but whatever haha.

What’s the weather like in your part of the world right now? My weather app says 28C, which is 81F.

What was the last takeout food you ate? Haven’t had that in a while cos they’ve also closed down restaurants. But hmm, I think we were able to get Jollibee before they imposed a stricter lockdown.

Who makes you laugh the most? Angela, Gabie, Andrew, JM, Aya, my dog.

Do you know anyone with the same middle name as you? No. I know of people who have my middle name as their surname, but I’ve never been middle name twins with anyone other than my cousins.

What did you have done the last time you saw a dentist? I needed to be treated for a really bad toothache, which turned out to be deposit piled together in that area.

What does a successful relationship look like to you? Idk I think it’s different for all couples, but it’s nice to have maturity and healthy communication as start-off points.  

What do you like to put on your baked potato? I don’t really have those a lot – I never order them and it’s not the kind of thing either of my parents make. But uhhh I guess I’d like a lot of bacon and cheese in them, but that’s about it.

What field of science interests you the most? Biology. It’s one of my the-one-that-got-away courses; like I’m generally average in science but I’ve found that I do unusually well in biology, so there was a time I did consider taking it up and heading to med school. I had to let it go when I faced the reality that I was terrible in chemistry.

What’s the closest shop or restaurant to your house? There’s a McDonald’s situated literally right beside our village. Homeowners would typically go there in their pajamas, lol.

Do you have any family that live in another country? I have tonssssss of family living all around the world. I have family in Illinois, New York, Kentucky, Texas, Vietnam, New Zealand, and China. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are any more immigrant relatives I missed; Filipino families are huge.

What colour is your couch? Gray. < Yeah, same.

Do you know how to care for plants and keep them alive? Hell no. I’ve tried caring for a few before and even though I always followed the right ways to take care of them, they always died lmao. My thumb is just far from being green, I guess.

What was the most memorable birthday you’ve had? 18th and 20th. I’d call my 19th memorable too, but I celebrated those with people who are no longer in my life, so I don’t want it to matter.

Would you rather go to the beach or the mountains? Right now I’d really prefer the beach. The area where I live is already pretty mountainous so a change in scenery would be heavenly for me now.

What do you do for work? I don’t work yet!

Have you ever been to see the circus? Does Cirque du Soleil count? That’s the only circus-related thing we have here.

Are there any words that you hate or make you cringe? I heavily dislike cunt.

What is the best house you’ve ever lived in? Our current one. It’s peaceful and quiet here, and we get a nice view of the city all year round, and of the fireworks when it’s New Years. We moved out of our old house mostly because my parents couldn’t anymore take the alcoholism issues that run in the extended family, so the fact that our present house doesn’t smell like brandy every night or the fact that I haven’t seen a drunk-fight in over a decade is a big relief for me.

What was the first CD you ever bought? It was I Am... Sasha Fierce by Beyoncé, in ‘08. That was the first album I ever bought cos I was a new fan back then, but when I started getting more interested in Bey I caught up and bought her older albums as well.

Do you look in the mirror before you leave the house? Yeah, almost always. Sometimes I won’t have time to because I’m running late.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten? I’m adventurous when it comes to food – and I’m also Asian LOL – so a lot of stuff I’ve eaten may be everyday food for me but unusual to like, Americans lol. I know so many who already squirm at sea urchin or balut (duck embryo), which is a Level 1 Filipino street food, so I guess you’d be even more grossed out if I say I’ve tried pig’s blood on a stick, pig’s ears, frog legs, and a day-old chick.

Have you ever seen someone quit their job in a dramatic way? No, I’ve never hung out in a workplace for that long.

What movie reminds you of your childhood? Finding Nemo, Brother Bear, and Toy Story.

Do you know why your parents named you what they did? My dad said they liked the name, my mom said I was named after the singer.

Do you have any bills that need to be paid? I think the bills just arrived today; I remember my dad getting them from the front door.

What do you like to dip your fries in? MAYONNAISE, and mayo only.

Is your house clean or messy right now? It’s always pristine cos my mom’s a bit of a clean freak.

What was the last email you received? Announcements from the university. It doesn’t really concern me though so I haven’t opened them, oops.

Do you know someone who speaks without a filter? Yeah, me.

Are you in any social groups? Yeah I still have bits and pieces of my high school group, but I mostly hang out with my orgmates who have since been my close friends.

How many hours of sleep did you get last night? 7. Would’ve been more hours but my mom likes cutting my sleep so I can eat breakfast with the rest of the family.

What’s your favourite kind of museum? I enjoy museums with archaeological pieces and evidence more than any other museums, which is why I’ll always be in love with Ayala Museum’s collection of gold accessories from our pre-colonial period, and the National Museum of Anthropology’s collection of artifacts recovered from a galleon trade shipwreck in 1600.

Do you believe in alternate universes? Yes. This piece by one of my favorite people, Gaby Dunn, completely converted me to team alternate universes.

Whose house did you last visit? Gabie’s.

What games do you play on your smart phone? Simple ones that’d take my mind off of things, nothing too complicated nor battery-draining. I’m loving 1010 and Sort It right now.

What was the first concert you ever went to? Paramore in 2013. I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to concerts.

Do you know anyone who is colourblind? I don’t think so.

What’s your favourite season and why? Can’t relate lol.

Are you the youngest, middle or eldest child in your family? Eldest.

If you had to make something for a potluck, what would you make? I’d learn how to make lumpia, because that’s never not a winner at parties.

What kinds of decorations do you put up at Halloween? I don’t put up decorations; I just like having costumes.

How many tabs do you have open right now? In my current window, 14.

What’s something you’ve been meaning to do but keep putting off? Progress on my thesis and a term paper for my history class. Shhhhh I’m on a break, let me enjoy it.

What’s the first thing you check on your phone at the start of the day? Notifications on Twitter and Facebook.

Have you ever flown a kite? Only as a kid. I don’t think I’ve done it since Grade 5.

Who was your favourite music artist when you were 16? Ooooh that was the time I let go of my punk phase and got introduced to other cool artists by Gab and Athenna – around this time I was heavily into Banks, Hozier, and alt-J.

What are three things you usually always have in your fridge? Eggs, bread, meat.

#survey #surveys

[athousandfootsteps]

25th August 2019

Okay, so camp has been done for 2 weeks now (thank freaking goodness) and in those 2 weeks I have been to Bangor, Nashville and New Orleans.

I feel like Bangor was a good place to start because I had my own private hotel room and slept a lot of the time and got to relax and debrief and recuperate after the exhaustion of camp, I think I slept for 11 or 12 hours the first night I arrived, and slept for at least 10 hours the other 2 nights. Camp just really took it out of me. Working 16 hour days, 6 days a week with 1 day off is NOT enough rest and it is being completely overworked. I hated camp, for the most part and I was very happy when it was finally the last day and the kids went home and then we got to leave at 5 and say goodbye to Chipinaw forever. The only parts I really liked about camp were the days off and Colour War breakout. But at least I had the experience, I won't wonder what if and I can say that I worked at a summer camp in the US.

In Bangor, it felt weird to have my freedom back, but I mainly (Maine-ly?) slept and apart from sleeping I went to the supermarket the first day, walking 45 mins both ways to buy some food. There was a part of the walk that did not have a footpath, so I was walking as close to the edge of the shoulder of the road as I could because that was a bit scary, but that section did not last long which was good. The second day, I walked around and looked at Stephen King stuff, I saw his house, which had a few other people rocking up at the same time to look. I also saw a bunch of places from IT, like the sewer that inspired the Georgie scene, the Standpipe, the Barrens and the Canals. It was really cool to be in Bangor because it looked like what I would expect IT and Carrie to look like.

Then I flew to Nashville, and had some of the best nights out. Nashville is a party city. There were pedal taverns going around blasting music with people singing and cheering the whole time. I went to a couple of museums but I find it hard to take in everything they have at museums so I skipped one or two that I was going to look at. They are also expensive, so that means I saved money. My nights out were with people from my hostel, and they were really fun. We went out on Broadway and there were so many people out, every bar had a live band, it's a really cool place. I also really liked the hostel, it was really chill and everyone was friendly.

Then I flew to New Orleans, which was an ordeal, I got up at 5.20am that morning (20th August) and caught the bus to the airport. Because I'm trying to save money, I'm catching the bus to the airport where it's safe and where possible because Uber is very expensive and the bus usually you can get there and only pay a few dollars. It's just annoying to have to carry all of your luggage around on the bus, but when I've caught the bus, it usually hasn't been too busy so that's been okay. This guy on the bus that morning was chatting with everyone and asking me my name and where I'm travelling with all these bags. I didn't really like the attention because I'm trying to keep to myself on public transport, because I don't want people to know I'm not from there, but I guess I look like a tourist with 3 bags anyway. He got off shortly thereafter, so I didn't have to be interviewed for too long. I got to the airport and my flights were chill. My first flight, the plane had a 2-3 configuration of seats and I was in the middle seat of the 3. They had air purifiers on the plane and they were on full blast and dripping on me. So that wasn't too fun and the guy next to me was like swearing about it which was kinda awkward. Then that plane landed and I was in Atlanta airport for my layover. I found a McDonalds to get some hashbrowns because I hadn't eaten breakfast yet and this guy in the line sounded exactly like Forrest Gump which was pretty unreal. That plane was a nice plane, it was a 757 and it had screens and charging ports on the seats, so I could plug in my phone and ipod and charge them during the flight which was convenient. I was allocated the last row aisle seat, and I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me, so that was nice.

When I got to New Orleans, it was difficult to figure out where to go to catch the bus to my hostel, because the bus stop was not marked incredibly well. I had to ask 2 people where to go. When I got there, the bus came shortly after and I caught it into town and then I had to catch a streetcar (tram) from that stop to my hostel. The streetcars in New Orleans are really cool, they have wooden seats and kinda remind me of the old City Circle tram in Melbourne. They are painted red and yellow. New Orleans is a really cool city. All of the houses are painted different colours and are Spanish colonial architecture. I learned a lot of the history of the city while I was there doing a few tours. The reason why the buildings are Spanish colonial and not French colonial is because originally they were French colonial, but then there was a fire, and 85% of the city burned down, because the French colonial buildings are made mainly of wood. This happened when the city was under Spanish rule, and so they built it back in Spanish colonial design which is less flammable. But there are still two or three buildings that survived the fire and are in French colonial design which is cool. In the French quarter, there is live jazz music everywhere you go on the streets, there are also a lot of voodoo shops and tarot card/psychic readers. I went on a cemetery tour of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and the cemeteries are above ground tombs, they look really cool. The guide taught us about how the cemeteries work and what things mean. On that tour we also did a tour of the Garden District and saw houses owned by John Goodman and Sandra Bullock. I also did a walking tour of the French Quarter which I enjoyed, a Jazz tour, which was more about drinking and chatting than the bands, a swamp and plantation tour, and a ghost tour. 

The swamp and plantation tour was pretty cool. It was a sugar cane plantation and the area was actually really pretty. The tour was more about the family that lived there rather than the slaves and what they went through which I didn't really like. But then we got to see the slave quarters and the school and we got to learn about a revolt that happened there as well. The swamp tour was really cool, I saw lots of alligators, saw some turtles, racoons, birds and a spider. There were a lot of small alligators and a few big ones. The boat driver got out on this side step and fed the alligators from a stick and they jumped out of the water to get the food which was cool. He fed them meat and marshmellows. I didn't realise that alligators really like marshmellows, but apparently it's a thing.

Jackson Square and Frenchmen Street were really cool as well as the French Market which I checked out today. The thing I love about New Orleans apart from the colourful houses, is how almost everywhere you go you hear live music. The city is really something else. Also open alcohol is okay in the French Quarter, so I walked down the street with a Strawberita the other night and didn't have to be worried about being fined.

Today when I was leaving to go to the airport, I had to catch 2 separate buses to get to the airport bus, and because the buses are always really late here, I was worried I might miss the airport bus because it's run by a different company and is on time. But luckily I made it with a few minutes to spare. And when I got to the airport, it was really quiet and I got through security really quickly as well. So everything worked out well. I bought some food at a restaurant and then I've just been sitting at my gate charging my phone. They made an announcement asking for volunteers to check their carry on bag all the way to their final destination, which is what I'm doing since I have a little suitcase with me now, I can check my big bag at baggage drop and then if they need volunteers, I can check my little suitcase at the gate all the way  to my final destination. That way I don't have to carry it around and fight for a spot in the overhead compartment.

I'm flying to Las Vegas via Atlanta, so I actually fly backwards to Atlanta from New Orleans. On my first flight I have an aisle seat (luck of the draw) and on my second flight it says that my seat will be assigned at the gate again. Last time it appeared on the Delta app when I landed in Atlanta, so hopefully it does that again. Either way it will be on the screen at my next gate and I'll get a new boarding pass with a seat assignment when boarding my connecting flight in Atlanta. 

I'm becoming such a confident traveller now. I've caught public transport around in 2 different cities successfully and I know how the whole check in, bag drop and gate checking bags works. I feel like this trip has taught me how to be very self sufficient and rely on my own judgement and make decisions as well as planning everything. 

In Las Vegas, I will not be gambling or partying. The actual reason I'm stopping there is because I wanted to see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas is where all the tours leave from. I don't have any time to even go out at night even if I wanted to, because I arrive late at night, then I have to go to bed early the next night to get up early the next morning to see the Grand Canyon and then I have to go to bed reasonably early that night because I fly out the next morning to fly to Texas. 

I'm catching up with one of my camp friends in Austin, which I'm really excited about because she was my best friend at camp, so I'm really excited to catch up with her again. :) She's from Houston, so she's going to drive across. Then I fly up to Anchorage, which was probably a silly place to book to go to without hiring a car, but I'm working out some hikes I can do around Anchorage, so I'm sure I'll still have a good time.

[noellewiehe]

I didn’t know how bad I wanted to go on a cruise until I actually went on one.

The only reason I had any idea about a cruise was because of my oldest best friend, Tiffany. She would ask me every year or so ever since we’d been earning our own money if I would go on on with her, but it never seemed fathomable to me. And also, I didn’t know much about it.

At the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2017, Tiffany and I talked about doing a cruise, which turned into a “let’s do a couples’ cruise” conversation which ultimately became a me and Thomas cruise over Presidents Day weekend. Looks like there will have to be a raincheck on the couples cruise. After seeing the fun you had on yours, I definitely want one with you!

Tiffany’s cruise in 2014 still has me jealous to this day! It looked incredible and I can’t wait to cruise with her.

So, it was decided; Thomas and I were going on a cruise! Like I do with anything in my life, I sought advice, tips and warnings from every direction: from the internet, from friends, from Facebook friends I rarely talk to and from anyone I told at Walgreens, Kroger and work that had advice for me. I needed to be armed with the information for a perfect trip. For the most part, come Feb 16, I felt pretty prepared. Things out of my control still were parking and apparently actually finding the correct terminal. Regardless, I’m so thankful for Katie’s advice on dressy clothes, Jordan’s advice on being allowed to bring my straightener, Jeff and Hailie’s advice on the Seabands and countless other folk’s help. I was practically at ease upon arrival of our embarkation day.

I slipped on a dress most of the way to the port on our drive from Savannah at 3:30 a.m. to Miami by 12 p.m.

Fast forward to the cruise day. We chose to leave from Port Miami, Florida, simply because that’s where the four-day cruise was leaving from and we were trying to vacation over the Federal holiday weekend instead of taking time off of work. We called it an early night on Thursday so that we could be up and out the door by 3 a.m. — we almost made it! We were on the road by 3:30 a.m. That left plenty of time for a stop at Dunkin Donuts, one to two gas stops on the way, a stop at a Florida rest stop to switch drivers and getting lost in Miami before our scheduled 12:30 p.m. time to board the ship as part of the Faster-to-the-Fun addition for about $50.

I did try to alleviate this situation about an hour out from Miami, though. I started looking at my Uber app so we could forget parking and just be dropped off. I was all for pulling off an exit and parking in a shady spot at a Rooms-to-go or a Checkers, but Thomas was skeptical of towing signs and the safety of his new Tacoma. We almost parked at the TriRail along the way, but with signs that said ‘no overnight parking,’ we didn’t want to take the risk of having Thomas’ truck towed. Although Uber said we could hop in a pool for $19 headed to the port, we couldn’t risk the parking situation, so we wound up parking at the terminal instead. Didn’t help that Andrea was barking at me over text along the way to stick with the safest bet, too. In the end, I told her she was right (see, I admit it, Andrea) and just swallowed the $22 a day parking fee. (Actually used money from the $500 card Delta sent me for accepting a flight builder, so it was like it never happened anyway!)

There was no need to rush with our success at an early morning on the road, so we stayed calm going through the lines to the ship. We did gasp when we saw the amount of people we were about to get behind, but only until we were escorted to the front due to that $50-dollar fun pass I mentioned. Definitely worth it!

By the time we got on the ship, we were too early to stop by our rooms, so we dipped our feet into the saltwater pools and hung out outside with our bags by us and drink waiters tempting us with umbrella-adorned concoctions. Reluctantly, we indulged, after finding out the boat wouldn’t be treading any water until 7 p.m. that night instead of the scheduled 4 p.m. We had wine bottles legally stowed in our bags but weren’t sure we could just whip out 750 ml in broad daylight with Carnival workers and fellow cruisers around. With our beverage pass, we were only paying for tax on the drinks (as Katie warned us) while in port and our choice of amount for gratuity. In total, we probably paid $5 in taxes and tips before 7 p.m.

Right off the bat, the trip was amazing. I had cell service until we started sailing the open sea, and I was told by more than one person to disconnect and enjoy myself. And I did. In fact, I disconnected from more than just my phone.

We had stopped for McDonald’s just an exit or two before the port, so we held out on any food until our scheduled 6 p.m. early dinner. I want to say: each of these 6 p.m. dinners in the Pacific Dining room were the nicest meals I’ve ever indulged in all my life! One night the waiter put the napkin in my lap, and sometimes they’d scoot my chair in for me — that’s straight out of the movies, folks! I couldn’t quite figure out when to actually sit when they did this, though. Kind of weird. Anyway, we were served appetizers, main meals (as many as we wanted — like, we could literally order a steak and then turn around and order the blue crab ravioli!) not to mention dessert plus a free adult beverage of our choice with our beverage pass. It was all included. We literally ate for free. All that fancy food — free! We paid for the cruise and that was all we were held to. Free fancy dining!

Speaking of the beverage pass, it was very weird and very awesome to keep signing receipts reading $0.00 for a fruity, frozen, neon-colored drink with an umbrella and glass cup. Our beverages were covered under $12 per drink and we got our money’s worth without a doubt! It was so nice to not have to worry in the back of my mind about the drink bill at the end of the cruise, like I was warned about. The drink pass cost us $150 per person added to our initial cruise cost we paid weeks before, but in-total I added up that we would have spent over $400 throughout the cruise on libations alone. Glad we swallowed those costs early. We did tip $1 every drink or so, seeing as we’d be seeing the waiters every day for three days.

Following dinner the very first night, we were one of many couples who crashed in our rooms after the hustle and bustle of the first day’s adventures. Yes, we literally went back to the room and slept from 8 p.m. to midnight. Sue me! We knew we were lame. Thomas and I had gotten some sun due to showing up early and hanging out, and we tried to “nap” only to wake up four hours later when the parties were basically dying down. Whatcha going to do. After talking to similar-aged couples the next day, we didn’t feel bad knowing at least three to four others like us had done the exact same thing, if not worse! We all crashed! Besides, we woke up at midnight and walked around to see if anything else was happening and only found gamblers and clubbers up and about. Didn’t miss much!

Fruity drinks by the pool. We could not resist.

  We did, however, wake up to a letter under our stateroom door informing us our planned Catamaran snorkeling excursion had been cancelled due to “operational difficulties,” which the guest services lady admitted was probably because not enough people booked it. We had wanted to ride a Catamaran boat to do some snorkeling, even not fully knowing what a Catamaran boat was. We were excited damnit! But, due to this unfortunate event, we rebooked a two-reef snorkel by boat instead. Simply went to guest services, she said we’d been refunded the amount and were clear to re-book another trip. She didn’t give any hint of a discount for our troubles, but whatever, it’s not like we weren’t going to re book. We wanted an adventurous excursion! We had our plans in place, so we turned on the TV in our room after drinking some Cranberry wine and hanging out on our balcony for a bit and called it a night, officially.

The second day was the day for our excursion! I can’t remember why, but I was bound and determined to be up at 7 a.m. to get showered before 8 a.m. breakfast. I got Thomas up and we were ordering coffee next to two ladies by the window at the back of the boat first thing! It wasn’t crowded either, and Thomas and I weren’t too tired. I don’t remember my reasoning, but i think we did good! I know we were on vacation, but I’ve never been much for sleeping in real late — those are hours I could be starting my day’s adventure, or at least getting caffeine in me to start it.

Half our time was spent just chillaxing by the pool with drinks and doing some people watching, as Andrea advised we’d love.

We were by the pool and basking in the morning Nassau, Bahamas, sun by about 9:30 or 10 a.m. and just watched the clock to ensure we wouldn’t miss our excursion. We grabbed lunch of fancy burgers and hand-cut fries quick at Guy’s Burger Joint — also included free — before we were told we could leave the boat and step foot onto Bahamian ground. We were greeted just off the ramp by big jugs of Carnival-provided, mint- and fruit-infused water. We needed it, too. Hydration was key.

We made our way into town just inside of the gates where Bahamian guards stood watch who would need to check our credentials before we could be let back through. We shopped at little booths of some tourist favorites — bags with Bahama on them, wood carvings, photo frames, the works! We didn’t buy just yet so that we didn’t have to carry it around, but I had my eye on a few things to come back for.

We found the Carnival guy in an orange shirt with the sign for our excursion. He was completely detached from the situation and much less enthusiastic, but I can’t blame him. We knew we took the easy route for our Carnival-ran excursion, simply due to lack of experience witch such a thing.

Regardless of his lack of enthusiasm…. there was no shortage in me!

The excursion was awesome! I thought I’d be bad at snorkeling (if that’s a thing.. can someone be bad at snorkeling?). I think I was worried swimming with flippers would be awkward or that I’d mess up breathing out of the tube or that my bangs would let water into my mask. Either way, I wasn’t bad. I kicked my flippers and breathed through the tube as good as any of my fellow cruisers. I did awesome and snorkeling was awesome. Fool-proof, basically. I was rocking it. Thomas was even better than me, though — go figure. He was so bold he touched the Bahamian sand at the bottom by the reef, maybe 10 feet down or more. Me, I was happy floating and searching for fish I had never swam with before! We both got a lot out of that first reef. We were told “two reef” snorkel, but listen to this: after we finished our 30 minutes at the first reef, we all climbed back aboard ready to ride to the next and the captain started the boat, turned it around in the water and announced “if you look to the left, this is our second reef” (insert you-are-effing-kidding-me smiley and an eye roll smiley here). Thomas and I decided we’d forgo the second reef and just did some sightseeing from the comfort of the top deck of the boat. About 30 minutes later on the way back, the native-Bahamas-sounding dude was telling us about houses owned by Trump, Jay-Z and Beyonce and the owner of Sandals we could see on nearby Bahamas islands. Cool stories while the Bahamian breeze blew in our hair and dried our saltwater-soaked clothes.

Sufficiently sun kissed (or assaulted from the way my skin looks in the pictures), we

Enjoying a local craft brew in the Bahamas

cruised back to the sight of our cruise boat. Thomas and I ventured into town a little to shop and see what fun we could get into. We wandered into a a local beer brewery — Pirate Republic Brewing Company — so Thomas could continue his tradition of collecting craft brewery shirts wherever we go. The place was really cool but the beer wasn’t so good. Thomas took a drink of one he ordered — Long John Pilsner — and offered some to me. After trying it he asked out loud, “What’s this taste like? I can’t put my finger on it.” And I replied with a sour face “Chef Boyardee. It tastes like ravioli from a freaking can.” Thomas laughed and got wide-eyed in agreement. How does that even happen?

In town, I was guided to lady’s booth as she handed me different wood-carved palm trees and showed me Bahama bags (she knew the way to my tourist, wannabe-island-girl heart). Thomas didn’t let me get suckered; he distracted her by asking about the wood-carved owl on the ground, which she proudly stated she’d take $650 for. Thomas asked me what I thought, and with wide eyes, it only took me a second to realize he was just trying to help take her attention off me. We made our getaway telling her we weren’t interested and took off through the sea of other booths of ladies calling me “pretty” by name and asking if I wanted my hair braided. They were everywhere.

We just went back to the safety of the shops within the gate. It seemed like people were firm on prices and most had be same tourist-loved souvenirs, so we didn’t haggle, even though I wanted to so bad! It felt like they knew if we walked away, they’d sell it to some other sap anyway. No fun! Without haggling, I bought a new beach bag, a liquor bottle painted to say Nassau and another bag to replace my old drawstring one I’d gotten at Vans Warped Tour years back. Thomas got a brewery shirt and stickers from the Pirate Republic Brewing Company. We were loaded with souvenirs and growling stomachs, so we decided to go back and make it on our ship in time for fancy dinner again. We debated on finding food in Nassau, but you really can’t beat fine, free meals.

That night, we were both bound and determined to not sleep away the evening again. We had boarded the boat just as the sun was starting to go down. We both went and rinsed off from our adventures and then dressed fancy — Thomas in his new pink tropical shirt (the image of him in the shirt is permanently burned into my mind as I smile and reminisce) and me in my matching floral pink dress. The waiters joked when we got back, “Got a little sun, ey?” We blushed, or just sat there burnt, either way we were bashful in admitting our tourist error in judgement.

After dinner, we hopped from hot tub to hot tub watching a movie on the Dive-In movie playing over the pool on Lido (like little… lido) Deck. Kids were insane jumping around and running amuck in the water, though. We hung out for a while then got drinks and headed back to the room to change and arrive early for the Punchliner Comedy Club show. I ordered a Blue Moon, took one sip and let it sit. Thomas had a Mango Daiquiri. The comedian was hilarious and relevant. She made boat jokes, talking about kids pressing every button on the elevator and being offered drugs once on ground in Nassau. She was funny and Thomas and I were cuddled up on the couch just enjoying the show. It only lasted a half hour before they were literally flickering the lights to rush her off the stage and end the show. Afterward, Thomas and I wrapped up the night watching the local islands and their lights and trees from our stateroom balcony and watching some TV before falling asleep in the king bed made out two twins.

Fancy breakfast was a highlight of the cruise.

Sunday was our last day. We felt the boat depart bright and early while we were at breakfast. We would be at sea all day. Not that Thomas and I minded; it seemed all the fun and drinks and chatter with human beings happened onboard anyway. That is what we paid for. We did our usual breakfast and trip to the pool. We explored the ship and decided we’d get sushi before it got too close to dinner. In exploring, we found the adult only Serenity Retreat. Where had this been our whole trip!? Not kids splashing about, open chairs and hammocks to lay in and its own bar. This place should have been discovered day one! We hung out most of the day. And when we went and got food, we returned and Thomas left me in the hot tub while he ran to use the facilities. I made friends with a couple sitting across from me, and when Thomas got back, the four of us talked for a few hours. They gave us all sorts of new tips and advice on how to get the best excursion — they swam with a sea turtle! We were in the same waters, so for all I knew we did, too, but they literally saw a turtle! “You win at cruising. You win,” I told them as they laughed. We promised to meet up for drinks later, but it seemed they’d pulled a day-one on us and fell asleep because they were nowhere to be found. After fancy dinner, we made it in time for the third quarter of Sweet Home Alabama at the Dive-In movie and then we went back inside the ship to participate in an 80s and 90s themed trivia game. We made friends with a few couples surrounding us and sang our hearts out to everything from Brittney Spears to Titanic’s “My Heart will go on.” “We should not be playing this song,” said our cruise director who always shouted “Woo-hoo” at the end of his daily or hourly announcements.

The last day was seamless. We got early breakfast, we exited the ship and was asked if we’d bought anything while on our cruise. We said no, showed him our passports and made our way back to the truck to drive back home. Too easy. I did almost get stuck in the elevator in the parking garage after paying my $66 for the three days. But I didn’t. I made it out. Trip will not be ruined by a dang elevator.

Like I said, I had no idea how bad I wanted to cruise until I actually did it. Now, I can’t believe I waited this long. I never did TDY missions that would earn me $1,000 outside of my normal livable pay, either, though. Thomas and I were attached at the hip throughout the four days, and we didn’t kill each other. In fact, I had never felt closer to him! We were each other’s best friends… unless we socialized, we were each other’s only friend! One of us would question, “Hey, you wanna…” whatever ! And we would. What else did we have to do? No obligations, a small room, so minimal cleaning, and food provided for us so no cooking. It was all so relaxing and so much fun. I hate to say it, but I think I’m hooked. When’s the next cruise leave the port?! Woo-hoo!

    Cruising the Bahamas – Woo-hoo! (every fun little detail) I didn’t know how bad I wanted to go on a cruise until I actually went on one.

[dawningasalenna]

Life was meant for good friends and great adventures. 

Leaving the Philippines last February, the last two familiar faces I saw were Kike and Blanca‘s. Meeting them last January was one of the highlights of my comeback in Mapua. I met Blanca first when AJ wasn’t able to meet her as the student buddy. A week later, Kike arrived from Spain. I definitely clicked with Blanca right away. With Kike, it was until maybe later that we became closer. Before leaving Philippines, I traveled with them (together with Zeus and other international students in Mapua) during the weekends and we partied together every Thursday (ifykwim)! Both of them became really close to my heart.

Keeping in touch with them, they would send me photos of where they are traveling and I would do the same. Eventually, with all the talk of visiting, they booked a ticket to Taiwan! (They missed me too much. Haha. Just Kidding!) Kike then told me that his friend, Daniel, is gonna come along. He told me that his friend wanted to party in Taipei. Constantly pestering me, we made plans on what we will do when they arrive.  Checklists made, AirBnbs booked, couchsurfing hosts confirmed – everything was all set!

Filled with excitement, I started packing my bags the night before they came. I arranged their sleeping areas for when they come to my dorm since Mr. Lin told me that they could stay and sleep when they arrive from the airport. Having a delayed flight, they arrived Zhongli at around 4’o clock in the morning. I waited for them outside the dorm. Hugs! I was so happy to see them again. It was also nice to meet Daniel for the first time. Unluckily, no eating place was open so their first meal in Taiwan was from Family Mart. (So sorry guys! I brought sushi from the night market, that should be fine. Haha.)

 Day One: Taipei

Up after 3 hours of sleep, I was excited to showcase my Chinese speaking abilities to my friends. We went to a breakfast shop and I ordered them my favorites: zhua bing and dan bing. Of course, nai cha! Walking towards my university, we grabbed some xiaolongbao and went to sit down at one of the benches in the campus. 

Since it was almost 10, we took the bus to the train station and arrived in Taipei at around 11. Since it was already 11, we decided to check in our AirBnb place. Funny as it may seem, we got lost! Apparently, the map on the app was different with the address. An hour of searching for our place, Daniel found a Mexican guy with his Taiwanese girlfriend who helped us on locating Mia‘s Bnb! 

Exhausted with all the walking (we had our huge bags btw), we rested for a bit before meeting Victor and Chingching who just came from Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain). Finally, I got to meet Victor from couchsurfing! As everyone’s tummies growled, Victor suggested that we have beef noodles soup for lunch. We went into a nice Taiwanese place and had a hearty meal! Kike’s chopsticks skills were so terrible that he had to use a fork. Hahaha! (Sorry Kike, I just had to. The first time we ate at Chinatown, I thought to myself, “Why the hell does this guy not know how to use chopsticks?”) 

Heading off to the famous Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, we watched the ceremony. I was quite surprised to hear that Daniel knows about the history of Chiang Kai Shek! Impressive. He was narrating the background as if he were a tour guide. Applause, Daniel! 

Having Mankiw arrive at CKS, we split up with Victor and Chingching since they wanted to visit the library. Blanca’s wish was granted: we headed to Longshan temple! Mankiw showed us around the temple while explaining how the prayers work as well as what kind of gods and goddesses were in the temple. We even tried the wishing thing with the wooden crescent moons! I got a “Yes!” for my question. 

Rain started pouring and everyone was just dead tired. We did our last walking tour at the Bopiliao historical block and hopped on the MRT back home. We decided we needed rest at home before partying. One funny thing is when we were searching for home, these kids were wondering what we were asking. I forgot what Watson taught me, the Chinese of McDonalds which is mai dang lao. After a while, we figured it out and they led us to the McDonalds. Thanks kids! 

Rested up, we prepared for the party at Halo. My friend who’s the DJ of NekBrace, placed us on the list of Halo and Elektro. I met him on the party bus for the Spring Break on the beach, crazy times. Since Jay told me we could meet at 12, we went to Shilin Night Market first which was terrible that night since it was raining! Arriving at ATT4Fun, we saw my friend, Phillip! It was a nice encounter though he was partying at a different place. We went up to Halo and was greeted by Jay at the door. (Thanks a lot, Jay!) We had a few drinks by the DJ’s area and eventually started dancing at the middle where the party’s at. 

Funny story! My friends actually met Dennis that night at the party. He wasn’t supposed to come, but he came in at the last minute. (All the way from Tainan!) I’m so glad he did, my friends met him. He even clicked with Daniel. Partying with the cool squad, we had such a fun night. I met this woman named Chao Anni who just smothered me with drinks. (Okay, maybe smothered is too much. Haha.) Due to that, I got my ass super wasted that I couldn’t remember what happened next. As Dennis told me, he had to carry my ass back home. Piggy back ride, yo! It’s even funny that I slept on a bush. The rest is just too embarrassing to say. (Shoutout to Dennis for taking care of me!)

 Day Two: Taichung

Waking up late, I had to meet my friends at the Taipei Main Station so that we can catch the train that brings us to Taichung before 12 noon. Got our HSR tickets on time, but missed our train right before the door closed! It was quite embarrassing since Dad Vincent came to pick us up at the station and Rose/Jo-Tsen, my university buddy, is waiting for us at the restaurant.

On a hilarious side note, there was this Taiwanese girl who was taking selfies before getting on the train. She was actually pretty! And she knows it, lol. Betting on how long she would take more selfies on the train, Daniel and Blanca were shocked that she took more time than they expected. Kind of self-absorbed, the girl was on Daniel’s eyes the whole train ride. He tried to say goodbye to her when she was about to get off the train, but she was too busy thinking about her self. Crazy, I know!

Arriving Hsinchu, my dad came back to the HSR station since he thought we took a taxi to the restaurant because our arrival was later than expected. (Sorry, dad!) Hugs when we saw each other again. Vincent looked dashingly handsome on his vest and whole outfit. My friends instantly loved him. After a short ride, we finally came to the restaurant where Rose was waiting for us. My Mom Miranda, Brother Neil and Baby Felix came to meet us for lunch! “Happy Birthday, Neil!” I blurted as I hugged him out. I was so happy to see my Taiwanese family again since I missed them so much. Our lunch celebration of my brother’s birthday was amazing since we were at the really nice Wuwei restaurant. The food was exceptional; from the main course to the desserts – our tummies enjoyed the delicious feeding session. On top of that, we experienced a tea ceremony which was so different from what I saw in Korea.

Hugging everyone goodbye, I had to go back to Taipei for my meeting with TWIYC.tw since I’m volunteering for them. I met up with Dennis after to party at the Triangle where Jay DJed amazingly with his hiphop hits. I wasn’t much of a mess that night.

 Day Three: Hsinchu

9:30, I am still in bed trying to make my way up. I jumped right out and hurried my way to the train station. Dennis told me that I am in no way reaching my train at 10:00. He even told me he’d get me a nai cha if I can catch my train. Luckily, Chi-Yu, booked the tickets early so I only needed to rush into the train. At 9:58, I arrived into the Taipei Main Station and ran as fast as I can to the TRA area. Chi-Yu waved at me as he was past the ticketing area. He handed me my ticket and we entered our train at exactly 10:00. Phew, that was a rush. I was breathing like a maniac! (Dennis, you owe me!) Kike, Blanca, and Daniel are supposed to arrive at Hsinchu at around 10:45 or something. We arrived at 11:00.

On our way to Hsinchu, I got to know Chi-Yu better. He was supposed to host me and my friends in Tainan if we wanted to go. However, I already have planned the Taichung and Hsinchu trips that’s why we just met up for the weekend. He joined us to Hsinchu which was really nice. He’s a neuroscientist who studied in Japan and is now going to the US for his internship from May to August then pursuing his PhD in the UK next year. How great is that!? I’m kind of jealous of how smart he is. I was so fascinated of what he has been doing. Thanks couchsurfing, I’ve been meeting a lot of amazing people here in Taiwan.

Hsinchu, at last! Poly waved at me as we exited the train station. He came with his wife Jenny and their friend Kevin. Just right on time! My friends came in first. We went on a drive for lunch and had some Taiwanese food. Since the plan of hiking was scratched, we went to the Hsinchu coastline for leisurely biking. We walked around the local fish market first and grabbed our bikes for the 34KM bike ride!

Beaches, lakes, farm fields, trees, wind turbines – it was a perfect day with the perfect weather. I was awed with how beautiful the bike ride is. Relaxing as it gets, we even had ice cream on one of our stops and some fresh pineapples at the lighthouse.

As we head back, me and Kike were pedaling so fast that we lost the others. Even though Daniel got past us and reached the finish line first. Coincidentally, we saw a pug on our way back! I biked really slowly since the pug was on this family type of bike that has an electric machine. I was biking behind them and staring at their cutie pie. Kike took some nice photos, muchas gracias!

After our bike rides, we headed to Poly and Jenny’s place to have dinner. We ate Taiwanese food and had a really delicious Taiwanese dessert! Since Daniel had to catch his flight, he didn’t stay for the night and Chi-Yu went back to Taipei since he’ll meet us at Fulong the next day. We thought the night was done, but Kevin came over bringing his craft beer! It was an amazing beer tasting experience (with funny drinking games as well). He actually told us that he started making his homemade beer just because he liked beer. Now, he’s selling his beers all over Taiwan! As VIP as we are, we got to taste the experimental batch. I loved all of his beers. The first two were fruity and very light which I appreciated more than the darker ones. Trying his beers that are on the market already, one tasted like coffee since it’s made from malt. However, the other was black IPA and also really nice. I am definitely coming back to Hsinchu for more beer tasting sessions.

 Day Four: Fulong

Last day before two of my good friends leave Taiwan! We woke up really early, 5 in the morning! Kike was awake already since around 1:30 because I woke him up when I got out of bed to niao niao. Dropping us off at the train station, Poly headed off to work in Zhongli. We waited for our train to Fulong. One of the highlights of bringing my friends there is to scuba dive. Even Chi-Yu was convinced to try scuba diving for the first time! I was so excited for his first scuba diving experience and also for my first dive with El Kike. That’s one thing we shared, our love for scuba diving. I think that’s why we became really close – one of the reasons actually.

Arriving at Fulong, we went to a breakfast shop and saw Paul. He was heading to the Scubar to open it up. After breakfast, we met Nigel at the shop and had our equipment prepared. It was a fun day for a dive! I was trying to convince Nigel that he should bring us to a nice dive site since Kike will only dive once for the day because of his flight. (Risk of nitrogen narcosis if you dive then fly, 12 hours for a dive and 18 hours for two.) Luckily, he brought us to Garden of Eden! Ian, Irene, and Aaron were all there too! Yay, fun dive! Indeed it was an amazing dive. We went around a wreck and enjoyed the whole dive site with its marine life. I personally think it’s the best dive I’ve been in Fulong, yet.

I would dive again with Nigel, Ian, Irene, and Aaron, but I didn’t want my friends to wait for me. We had curry for lunch and ice cream – lots and lots of Nijel’s Ice Cream! (My favorite part of the day.) So, we decided to chill and walk around the nice temple overlooking Fulong beach.

We went to Taipei then and saw the Grand Hotel. The hotel’s architecture was quite stunning. Entering its lobby, we were fascinated with how red everything is. There was a pianist and violinist playing soothing music perfectly matching the place’s ambiance. We walked around before hopping on a bus to the Shilin Night Market.

Blanca’s words, “This is so different from what we saw a few days ago. It’s an entirely different place.” There was no rain and there were a lot of people. It was definitely the famous Shilin Night Market! Bustling with crowds, we went on food booths and filled our stomachs with satisfying night market food. With all the walking, we agreed to call it a day. Everyone was 0% energy-wise.

Getting off the MRT, Chi-Yu went home and we went off the Taipei Main Station. It was sad saying goodbye to Chi-Yu since he’s going to Washington soon. But, he’s doing his open water diving course with Nigel when he comes back! I’m so glad he said that. Coming to the end of their trip, I said my goodbyes to Blanca and Kike. I didn’t want them to go, actually. It made me quite sad that the four days went by so quickly! But then again, I’ll see them when I get back to the Philippines. Adios, te veo pronto!

#DawningInTaiwan: Viaje rápido? Vámonos! Life was meant for good friends and great adventures.  Leaving the Philippines last February, the last two familiar faces I saw were…