#also worth noting that we were on a waiting list for affordable housing pretty much since my parents' divorce | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

argylemnwrites · 4 years

Text

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Epilogue

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~2200

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Summary: Moving forward, together.

Author’s Note: This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

“So, who owns this place again?”

“It’s Cam’s uncle’s girlfriend’s sister’s building.”

“And we trust her… why?”

“Because she is fine with Cam vouching for us, so no income minimum, no issue with your lack of credit history, and no broker’s fee.”

Drake nodded. It still felt kind of shady to him, going to check out random units they heard about from different people they were tangentially connected to, but he was deferring to Riley completely, seeing as he had never been responsible for finding his own housing in his life. And apartment hunting in New York, it turned out, was a complicated task.

Back in February, when they’d started trying to figure out what neighborhoods to consider, Riley had told him not to bother searching the units listed on basically any website.

“There’s gonna be massive broker’s fees, and they probably won’t take us since we won’t have a guarantor. There’s a lot of scams, too. Just talk to your coworkers, word of mouth is going to be the best way to do this,” she’d warned him.

Drake had done as she’d asked, but the units that his connections, the ones at the law firm he’d been sent to as coverage for one of the assistants who was out after surgery, recommended had not been a good fit. One didn’t allow dogs, one had been a definite bait and switch scam that looked nothing like the pictures he’d been shown, and the one they’d checked out last week was nice, but they would have needed a roommate to make it affordable, something they both weren’t really interested in doing.

But today they were checking out a one bedroom place in the Kensington neighborhood in Brooklyn that she’d heard about through one of her managers. They were supposed to meet with the building owner at 3 o’clock, so they had taken the F train over just after lunch so that Drake could get a better feel for the area.

Now that it was April, the weather was finally feeling like spring more consistently. It really couldn’t have been a nicer day for them to walk around the neighborhood. Drake was shocked at how close they were to a park. It was crowded as all get out, given that everyone and their mother seemed to want to take advantage of the pleasant day, but Prospect Park was large, had fishing spots, and most importantly, was some actual green space. While there were still numerous restaurants in the neighborhood, it felt so much more residential than their current apartment’s location. Drake could actually see why people would choose to live in a place like this.

The building owner, Kris, let them in and showed them up to the second floor walk-up she was looking to lease. It was in an older building, but everything looked well maintained at least. And it was big, probably twice as big as their current apartment. Drake was sure the fact that he’d been living in a 35 square meter studio for over four months was influencing him, but it just felt larger than his quarters at the palace had been, even though he was sure that wasn’t the case.

He wandered around, checking out the bedroom while Riley chatted specifics with Kris. After their first apartment tour a couple of weekends ago, they’d both quickly decided that was the best approach. Not only did Riley have more experience and knew the better questions to ask, but when left to her own devices, she was often able to charm landlords into throwing in some sort of perk, like waiving the pet fee or granting them some flexibility on move in dates. It was best to let her just do her thing.

As he checked out the closet space, it hit him how different his life was now than it was even six months ago. That Drake would have just been amazed that Riley would ever willingly choose to be with him over Liam. He could have never pictured himself choosing an apartment in New York with her. Sitting down and making plans for the future with her.

It was easy to look at her and say that the change was all about her. And to an extent, that was true. He probably wouldn’t have found the motivation to make any changes in his life if he hadn’t met her. But it really was about more than that. It was about stepping up, letting go of the past, and taking ownership of his own happiness. He remembered Riley yelling at him, telling him he was scared to make changes in his life because he might still end up miserable on the other side of them. Basically telling him he needed to stop making himself a victim by his own choosing. And she’d been right.

Sure, some things were still a work in progress. Their visit to Texas a handful of weeks ago had proven that his relationship with his mother was not going to be mended overnight, after all. But on the other hand, he was hard pressed to imagine the man he was six months ago willingly getting an office job and going out for drinks after work with colleagues. He probably also wouldn’t have gotten a more “professional” haircut at the advice of one of those coworkers in hopes of turning a temp job into a permanent one. He would have fought such advice tooth and nail, insisting that anyone who cared that much about something as dumb as a haircut was a stuck up asshole, not worth his time. And while part of him still felt that way, he now saw it was a small price to pay to try and gain a more stable income so that Riley could cut down to part time at the bar and go back to college in the fall and work on finishing those last two semesters. Plus, she seemed to like his cleaned up cut, which was an added bonus.

The only way her going back to school was even a possibility was actually because of Maxwell. When he had let them know he was coming to New York for a “business venture,” they had both been confused, to say the least. But, when they met up with him for dinner and drinks, he’d told them he had found a way to bring some much needed cash to the Beaumonts - he had sold the rights to a holiday movie to the Hallmark channel, and that the script was so well received that they wanted him to keep writing for them. This had meant nothing to Drake himself, but Riley had just laughed, explaining that it was a TV network that made dozens of cheesy romance movies each year, many of them centered around Christmas.

When pressed, Maxwell had informed them, rather reluctantly, that the plot of the movie centered around a New York City waitress who came to a European country as the date of a prince for some Christmas ball, but ended up falling in love with his best friend. Despite Maxwell’s assurances that he was barely inspired by them and that all the names and locations were changed and that Christmas had nothing to do with Riley’s time in Cordonia, Drake and Riley had called him out on profiting off their story. Eventually, they struck a deal - they got a percentage of his payout for the script, which was going to cover most of Riley’s first semester tuition, and Maxwell had to help them with their move. It still irritated Drake a bit that Maxwell had just decided to throw their story out there for the world, but Liam had told him he approved the script and said it really wasn’t identifying at all, so Drake just decided to be grateful that Maxwell had not only brought Riley into his life, but also was giving her a ticket towards a job that didn’t require her to work a shitton of nights and weekends.

Drake wandered back towards the living and kitchen area, passing Riley and Kris in the narrow hallway, looking at the bathroom. He squeezed her hand as he passed them, and she threw him a little wink. He took in the main space of the apartment. They would be able to get a couch and a TV in there with their table, maybe even a bookcase. The kitchen was actually pretty nice, too. It probably had three times as much counter space as their current place. Everything here felt like it could work.

He opened the cabinets absentmindedly, half checking out the storage space, half waiting to see what Riley had to say about the place. After a couple more minutes, Riley and Kris came back out.

“Alright, well I’ll give you two a minute to talk it over,” said Kris, heading to the door, “I’ll be back in a few and you can let me know if you want to go forward with a lease.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Kris.” said Riley, leaning against the end of the counter.

As soon as the door latched, Riley looked up at Drake, “So what do you think?”

“I think it’s great. It feels too good, to be honest. How bad’s the rent?”

Riley paused for a couple seconds, “1850.”

“That can’t be right. That’s less than what we’re paying now, and it’s so much bigger.”

She chuckled a little bit, “Well, that’s the beauty of not living in a prime neighborhood.”

Drake just shook his head. He considered this location to be far more desirable than their current one, but he knew he was in the minority there. “What do you think about it?”

“I think this could be a really good fit for us.”

“You’re okay with his neighborhood?”

She nodded and gave him a smile, “This is a pretty diverse area of the city, so the restaurant options are good, and there’s decent access to the Q and F trains, so the commute shouldn’t be too bad.” She stood up and joined him further in the kitchen, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Let’s be real, Drake. I’m not going to be as hard to please with this as you are. So, you gotta be honest with me. Can you see yourself here?”

He nodded, “Yeah, Liu. I can. I love this place.”

“Really?”

“Really. Is she willing to lease to us?”

“It seems like it. It sounds like her last tenant moved out unexpectedly, and her late partner used to handle the financial side of things, so she just wants to rent it out as quickly as possible.”

“And she’s cool with Anderson?”

“She told me she’s fine with small breeds.”

“Great, let’s sign.”

“Woah there,” she said, laughing, “And they say I’m the impulsive one.”

“What’s to discuss, Liu? Do you think we’re gonna find a better place than this one?”

She just shook her head and shrugged a little.

“Okay, then I stand by my statement - we should sign the lease today. If she’s motivated to lease this unit quickly, don’t we need to jump on it?”

“I just want you to be sure, Drake,” Riley said, biting her lip slightly before she continued, “Last time you moved on a whim, things kind of… blew up for us for a while.”

Drake let out a little snort, “I think this is a little different, Liu.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “That may be the case, but I want us to actually take a minute and think about this. Make sure we can see ourselves here, okay?” And with that she plopped down on the floor, laying back and closing her eyes.

“Uh, Liu… what the fuck are you doing?”

She opened one eye and squinted at him, “I’m just taking a moment to tune out everything else and think about this. You should try it,” she said, waving him down.

Drake rolled his eyes, but sat down on the kitchen floor and leaned back slowly in the opposite direction. This seemed dumb as hell, but if it’s what she needed from him to not feel like he was going to flake out on her, he would do it.

They laid like that for almost a minute, breathing slowly. No fears or concerns or worries crept into his mind, which he was pretty sure was the point of this exercise. He wasn’t sure how long they were supposed to do this, but then he heard her moving and felt her curl her body against his head, snaking her hand under his neck and resting her head on his chest.

“So, any reservations about his place?” she asked.

He opened his eyes and glanced down at her. Her eyes were staring back at him, wide and dark.

“None,” he said shaking his head slightly, “I think the fact that there’s enough floor space in the kitchen for us to do this has just convinced me even more.”

She chuckled softly, tracing soft circles along his neck with her fingers. “So, you want to sign the lease then?”

“Yeah, Liu,” he said, letting his eyes fall shut at her soothing touch, “This feels like home.”

Permatag: @speedyoperarascalparty @mfackenthal @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie @octobereighth

Drake x MC only: @jovialyouthmusic @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @riley--walker @notoriouscs @butindeed @addictedtodrakefanfic

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment: @wickedgypsymoon @thesumofmychoices @cosigottahavefaith @thequeenchoices @katedrakeohd @feartheendlesssummer @ao719 @ooo-barff-ooo @sunnyxdazed

#drake walker #drake x mc #trr fanfic #trr #choices trr #the royal romance #choices fanfiction #choices #playchoices #choices stories you play

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rainbowsandcoconut · 4 years

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Just Saw you like getting questions, so here goes. A followup on the travel favorites. You mentioned it was difficult to narrow down. Would a top ten be easier? I always look for new inspiration LOTR being your first fandom but have you ever been into something no one else understood? 😊

HIIII! 💕 This totally made my night. I am honestly so surprised anyone would care enough to send me an ask, this is so sweet 🥰 Anyone wanting to talk or ask anything should absolutely feel free, I’d love it!

I’m gonna start with the last question since the travel one will definitely be longer 😊

I’ve been into a lot of things no one in real life understood haha. Like Supernatural back during seasons 1-3 ish when I was obsessed and my friends would get tired of me talking about it all the time (thank god for LiveJournal), or cycling (road and track) that I got super into watching one summer and ended up going all over the country to see races and do some photography for, for a few years.

Now traveling. Oh man, you’re really making me miss the days where travel was allowed and where I could afford it lol. Thanks for this question though, it’s really put me in a good mood to remember some of my trips, I hope these don’t disappoint. In case anyone hasn’t seen 3 of my fave travel memories, they’re over here. And now I’m going to spam you all with 10 more of my fave memories from trips. I had to try to go with ones I could find my pics from and I mostly managed, apart from Norway, so here we go:

1. Flying an airplane in Wanaka, New Zealand 🛩

I got to actually fly a plane! It only fit 2 people (and a cat) and I feel like I was allowed to do waaay too much, likely because it was my instructor’s first time taking someone inexperienced up so he let me do most of take off and also fly most of the trip, and then he even offered to talk me through landing it but I’m not insane so he ended up doing that part on his own. It was super freaking cool, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.

2. Seeing the Northern Lights, Tromsø, Norway

My best friend did her master’s in Tromsø so I went to visit her for a week in November 2018. I was a bit worried it was too early in the season to see the Northern Lights but one night the whole sky was full of dancing green light! We went up the top of a mountain and stayed there until we couldn’t stand the cold any longer, and it was just an incredible night. I didn’t manage to get any good photos with my phone so I just stole this off Google but it’s pretty accurate

3. Meeting Rachel Bloom in NYC last year

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my favourite shows, and it’s really meant a lot to me. Yes, it’s a comedy with musical numbers but it also portrays struggles with mental health more realistically than any other show I’ve seen and that’s something I’ve really both needed and appreciated. Rachel is a comedic genius, and her show has helped me through a few tough times, so being able to not only see CXG live at Radio City Music Hall but also get to talk to Rachel after the show made it an incredible night.

4. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The history of the Angkor temples is so fascinating, and I managed to get myself up early enough to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat several times. For anyone who may want to go, my advice would be to not elbow your way to the front of the lake, but stand a bit further back while the majority of the tourists scramble to get a good spot. About 90% of them will disappear into the temple once the sun has offically risen and it’s gotten light out, but you want to stay by the lake. The sun takes longer than you think to actually rise above the temple, and by the time it gets there, most people will have left and the area will be much quieter and more peaceful and will give you a chance to really take in the sunrise. Each time I kept thinking maybe the sun wasn’t super bright or the clouds would cover it some because it seemingly took so long, but staying is absolutely worth it.

5. Early morning Alms Giving in Luang Prabang, Laos

This almost felt like a moment I wasn’t supposed to see but the owner of the guest house I was staying at assured me I was fine to watch. I wasn’t staying in the center of the city, and I was the only tourist out to watch the long procession in this neighbourhood which made the experience feel extra special and authentic as opposed to how crowded I’ve heard it can sometimes be in the city center.

6. Going to Lawrence, Kansas in 2009

Seeing as I mentioned being very into SPN above, I’ll include my trip to Lawrence, Kansas on this list. I went solely because my friend and I thought it’d be funny to do so because of its connection to Supernatural. We got invited to lunch by the owner of a souvenir shop who was delighted to hear I was from Denmark because her husband had a friend whose dad had once been. We stayed in Kansas City, and I got lost on my way back from the post office one day. An older lady in a car stopped by the streetlight I was at and offered me a ride back to my hotel which I gratefully accepted, only I started to rethink that decision once I realized that the footwell of her car was so full of bibles, I had to step on them, and the passenger door could not be opened from the inside. Obviously I realized this after I was in the car but while I was somewhat freaked out, I still agreed with her that us going past the McDonalds Drive Thru before my hotel was a good idea so her and I could get to know each other a bit... I was way too trusting back then but hey, I didn’t die so yay?

7. Driving a moped for the first time on Phu Quoc, Vietnam

I don’t have a license for any kind of vehicle and I have never driven any either (apart from a car twice on completely deserted, straight roads) but the owners of the hostel I was staying at insisted it was the best way to get around the island. Once of them tried to show me how it worked on her own moped, then let me try for a couple of minutes and then declared that she’d rent me one for the next day even though she was too afraid to sit on the back while I was practising because my accelerating and breaking were super abrupt. So the next day off I went. I drove into a tree and a sign in the street, got a lot of concerned looks, and I probably broke any and all traffic laws but I had such a fun time and I got to see some incredibly beautiful beaches that I don’t know how I could’ve gotten to without the moped. Important note for anyone doing this: remember sun cream! I sadly don’t have any photos of the moped, but I did take this photo of one of the beaches I visited:

8. Going to Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009 in Washington DC

I’ve always been into American politics and that interest peaked around 2008, so just in time to watch Obama get elected, and I knew I had to try to go to DC when I started planning my first ever US trip for 2009. I didn’t manage to get onto The Mall as I only made my way downtown around 6 am but I got a spot on Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade. I have never been so cold in my entire life but I’ve also never experienced the kind of euphoria and excitement from a crowd that I did that day. There truly was a feeling of hope for a real change, and I talked to the absolutely friendliest, kindest people while we waited. Plus I got to see Barack and Michelle Obama wave at me (in my direction anyway) as they were walking down Penn Ave which I’ll forever remember.

9. Going to Kangaroo Island, Australia

I love kangaroos. So much. I will never get over how cool they are. And I got to bottle feed joeys (baby kangaroos) on this island, as well as pet a bunch of tame adult ones, and see sooo many wild ones. Plus I got to see lots of koalas and other wildlife, as well as the beauty of the island. My friend did technically hit a kangaroo (or wallaby) when we were driving after dark but she’s Australian and didn’t take it quite as hard as I did.

10. Seeing the Colosseum in Rome, Italy

I’ve just always loved this building. And seeing it in real life did not disappoint.

#about me #travel

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queen-scribbles · 4 years

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Of Paranoia

Happy Birthday @errantgoat! <3 Have our babies somewhere on the road between Redcliffe/Haven etc and Orzammar. ;D

---

It was just a village, no different at first--or second--glance than a dozen others they’d passed through on this quest of theirs. The small, rundown houses huddling together in clumps, as if in solidarity against an uncaring world. The larger buildings--likely a chantry, blacksmith, general store, among others--that formed an approximation of a main square. The varying browns and dull greys broken occasionally by a scrap of red or blue or green clothing from an individual who refused to surrender to the drab color palette, mud everywhere. It was, in every way, a typical Fereldan village.

So why was it making her skin crawl?

Trinne hunched her shoulders as if that would ward off the paranoia and fought the urge to pull her cloak further around her, lose herself in the folds of her hood, as she stepped ever-so-slightly closer to her companion.

Harvey glanced at her with a raised brow and grim half-smile. “You too?”

Of course he’d picked up on her unease; the man hardly missed anything. It was good to have her instincts validated, though. She wasn’t just imagining things. “Yeah, feels like we’re bein’ watched. And not by someone friendly.”

He nodded, rubbed the back of his neck as he muttered, “At least it’s not more darkspawn.”

“I dunno; might be better to have a threat we can sense coming,” she tried to joke, but the tension in her voice made it more than a little flat.

“As opposed to one we can potentially talk our way out of?”

Trinne snorted. “Good point.” She’d left her staff back at camp to avoid drawing attention; better to not undercut that by clashing with... whatever was giving her goosebumps. “Let’s just get what we need and leave. Maybe whoever it is’ll be happy to just watch creepily.” Assuming there’s actually someone watching and this isn’t something else... The archdemon nightmares had been worse--for her, at least--recently.

Harvey nodded, leaving unsaid that their lucky was rarely that good.

She curled her fingers, feather light, around the inside of his wrist, tugging surreptitiously toward what looked like the general store. “What did we need, again?” She really had been paying attention when Alistair rattled off the list of supplies--both mage-y and mundane--back at camp. She definitely hadn’t been distracted by the hawk flying circles over the nearby woods, and she absolutely was just making small talk to blend in.

He raised an eyebrow at her again but played along. “Bandages, some of the rarer herbs for potions we haven’t been able to find ourselves, conditioning oil...” a dry smile tugged his lips. “Food.”

Trinne snorted an equally dry laugh. “Of course, food.” Three sodding Warden appetites--not to mention the qunari--meant they always, always needed food. She squeezed the coin purse hanging from her belt. “We might hafta prioritize; that last trip to Denerim kinda wiped us out, necessary as it was...” Damn ogres and their ability to dent plate armor.

“Right,” Harvey sighed, holding the door open so she could enter first. “Also,” he murmured, barely audible, as they strolled through the otherwise unoccupied store. “Jowan mentioned we’re almost out of lyrium potions.”

She had noticed that, but, “That’ll be kinda tricky in a village this size,” she murmured back just as quietly. “Not like they’ll have a Wonders of Thedas or anything, we might hafta hold off an’ pray we can manage.” She smirked. “’Less you feel like raidin’ the chantry...”

“Sure, what’s one more warrant or bounty on our head?” he deadpanned, reaching for a set of neatly rolled bandages.

Trinne looked over at him, barely biting back a surprised burst of laughter. “Really?”

“No.” Harvey sighed, running one hand through his hair. “...We’ll think of something.”

“Oh, c’mon, you don’t think it’ll be fun to add ‘wanted for breaking, entering, and theft of chantry property in a backwater village on the edge of the Hinterlands’ to our list of glorious accomplishments?”

“Trinne.” He rolled his eyes but she still caught the corners of his mouth twitching toward a smile.

“Harvey.” She grinned.

He gave a small shake of his head. “Go see if they have the herbs we need, I have a feeling that’ll be easier than us trying to find it ourselves.”

Given the unorthodox arrangement and scarcity of various products on the shelves, she was inclined to agree. “Right. Which do we need again?”

“Embrium and crystal grace.” He frowned slightly. “If we don’t have enough for both with money left for food, the embrium’s more important.”

“Got it.” Trinne headed for the counter, waited for the blonde behind it to look up from her ledgers, and made her request.

The blonde wrinkled her nose. “Hasn’t been a good year for embrium, I’m afraid, but you can check.” She pointed toward the far end of the counter, where Trinne could see a chest-high bank of small drawers. “They should all be labeled.”

“Thanks.” Trinne nodded and drifted down to look. ‘Labeled’ turned out to mean crude drawings of the respective herb tacked to each drawer, and half of them she couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to be, so she just started peeking in every drawer til she found what she sought. There was plenty of crystal grace, but--as warned--hardly any embrium. Still, something was better than nothing, and they needed it, so Trinne gathered every last scrap she could out of the drawer.

“Any luck?”

She flinched and spun to cock a brow at Harvey. “D’you always have to be so quiet?”

His lips curved in a brief, bemused smile even as he shrugged. “I’m not doing it on purpose.”

Trinne just rolled her eyes. “They do have both, just not a lot of embrium.” She held up the pitiful quantity. “Apparently this isn’t a good year for it.”

Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose. “Would explain why we’ve had trouble finding it ourselves. We’ll get it; Morrigan and Zevran can fight over who needs it more.”

She smirked. “That’ll be a fun conversation to overhear. Didja find the rest of what we need?”

He nodded. “Everything besides food, at least; apparently the grocer is across the way.”

“Wait, they’re separate?” She shook her head. “Never mind, not important. What’s one more stop?” Besides longer in a place that gives both of us the willies.

They made their purchases--which took over half the remaining coin--and exited just as a breeze whisked through. Trinne shivered, not just from the brisk wind, and glanced around. Still nothing out of the ordinary. She sighed as her gaze slid over the surrounding foothills, taking in the view.

“Shame this place gives me the heebie-jeebies,” she commented, rubbing her arms as if that would banish the gooseflesh. “It’s really pretty, and all cosy nestled against the mountain....”

Harvey gave an absent nod, searching the buildings across the way. “I think that one’s the grocer.” He pointed. “Whenever you’re done admiring the view.”

“Right.” Trinne bit her lip and tugged the strap of the satchel she carried. “Dunno how much we’ll be able to afford after gettin’ all this.”

His brow furrowed in thought. “Should we see if they have a chanter’s board? I know neither of us is keen to be here longer than we have to, but if there’s a couple quick jobs we could do...”

“Might be worth looking,” Trinne muttered. “Before or after buyin’ food?”

“Can’t hurt to look now,” he shrugged. “While we have less to carry....”

“Yeah, and on that note, how come I’m carryin’ this stuff an’ you get the food?” she needled playfully as they headed toward the chantry.

Harvey raised an eyebrow at her, biting back a smile. “Should I trust you with the food?”

“Harvey Cousland, I am offended,” she gasped in mock-indignation, dramatically pressing both hands over her heart. An incredibly ill-timed growl from her stomach undercut her playacting and she frowned at it. “Traitor.” She looked back to Harvey. “I wouldn’t eat food meant for other people” --her stomach rumbled again and she pressed one hand to it-- “tempting as the damn appetite might make things. You’re so lucky it didn’t hit you this hard.”

He flashed an apologetic half-smile. “Sorry?”

“Eh, not like you had any say in how bad we got all the side effects...” Her words trailed off as they drew close enough to see the fluttering scraps of parchment nailed or tacked to the chanter-s board--and the larger sheet strategically hung so it covered almost half of them and was impossible to miss. “Harvey.”

“I see it, Trinne.”

All the levity of their banter shriveled and vanished as the two of them stared at the WANTED poster. For them. In a backwater village on the edge of Hinterlands. There were descriptions rather than sketches--Thank the Maker--but it was still a jarring reminder of the non-darkspawn problems they faced. Especially when they reached the bottom.

“Thirty sovereigns?!” Trinne hissed, nails scraping wood as she tore the poster down.

“Each,” Harvey added, deadpan. “Dead or alive, he’s getting serious...”

She snorted. “Yeah, ‘cause the men who attacked us in Lothering were just kidding.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant.”

“Guess we’re not stickin’ around to run errands,” she muttered as she crumpled the poster and sparked lightning across her palm to set it on fire.

“Probably not wise,” Harvey agreed. “But we still need food.”

“This badly?” Trinne hissed sotto voce, dropping the poster remnants to smother with her boot.

“Yes,” he hissed back, just as quiet and forceful. “The hunting around here’s thin, remember? Zevran and I have tried. It could be days to the next village, do you really want to chance that with the supplies we have left?”

She hesitated. He was right, she knew that much, but the thought of fighting off desperate civilians was unpleasant, to say the least.

“Trinne, we don’t really have much choice,” Harvey insisted softly,shooting her a curious look. “And why am I having to talk you into taking a risk?”

“Maybe b’cause you an’ me, no armor, no staff, against potentially an entire village of desperate people seems like it could be a bit uglier than a risk,” she shot back.

“No one said we have to fight them,” he said pointedly. “And that’s assuming someone even notices; it didn’t look like that had been up long, it’s possible not many people had a chance to see it.”

He made a good case, she had to give him that. Sneaking away was always an option, and this was a fairly pragmatic risk as things went. “How d’you know it hadn’t been up long?”

“I don’t know, but it rained night before last; anything posted then would be all weather-beaten.” Harvey pointed to some of the other notices as examples. “It looked fresh, until you lit it on fire. So it’d most likely only been up a day or two.”

“Place this small, that’s plenty of time for everyone to see it,” she said dubiously.

“Only if they care,” he countered. “Look, we’re going in circles. If it makes you uneasy, you can head back to camp and I’ll-”

“No way, Cousland, I’m not leavin’ you with no back up and a thirty sovereign bounty on your head, don’t be ridiculous.” She sighed. “Let’s just... get it over with so we can leave.”

He nodded and the two of them headed for the grocer’s. Trinne couldn’t help wondering if that was behind the scratchy, tense feeling of eyes on them; someone had seen the notice, seen them, and was just waiting for a vulnerable moment to make their move. She tugged on her hood again, as if it could shield her from unfriendly eyes, and fought down paranoia. Harvey was probably right; it was safe enough to take the time buying food, even more so with the scarcity of things to hunt.

Unlike the general store, there were a few other customers in here, and Trinne tensed. Harvey nudged her with his elbow. Don’t be suspicious. She knew, and she tried, but it was hard when any of the others present might be a threat. Especially when they’d only made it halfway through before the word Wardens surfaced in small talk between the proprietor and one of the other customers as he paid.

“...hear what they did?!”

A snort. “Reg, I’ve heard three different versions of what they did, but I don’t see why it matters to us; your cow’s more likely t’ sprout wings’n we are t’ see a Warden come through here.”

Harvey and Trinne shared a wordless look.

The customer scoffed at his dismissal. “Th’ teyrn feels different, one a’ his men came through couple days back, slapped up a flyer with the bounty an’ ev’rything.” His voice dropped slightly in volume, though what he was sharing was supposedly common knowledge. “Thirty bleedin’ sovereigns a head, if you can believe.”

Trinne shot Harvey another look. Maybe we should hurry.

“They killed the king, what’d you expect? The teyrn’s serious about seein’ ‘em face justice, ‘course he’s gonna offer a lot, an’ tell even people who’ll like as not never see ‘em.”

“Y’never know,” the customer pressed. “An’ imagine what someone round here could do with that kind of money.”

Trinne’s nails dug into the apple she’d picked up hard enough to break the skin. “I think what we have’s enough,” she murmured. It wasn’t, not nearly, but the uneasy feeling was growing, and her stomach twisted at the risk of having to fend off desperate people.

Harvey nodded agreement or understanding or both and reached for the share of provisions she’d collected. “I’ll pay, you can wait outside.”

She bit back the instinctive protest; one person would draw less attention, and of the descriptions on that damned poster, the one of him had been the most vague. “Alright, but if it takes too long, I’m comin’ back in.”

“Trinne-”

“I’m. Coming. Back,” she insisted.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Just don’t put too low a threshold on what you consider ‘too long’.”

“Can’t promise anything,” Trinne muttered as Harvey headed for the counter and she for the door.

The previous customer was on his way out just ahead of her and held the door with a smile. She willed herself to stay relaxed as she flashed a mildly awkward answering smile and mumbled thanks as she followed him out. He kept walking and Trinne leaned against the store wall, arms crossed and counting heartbeats as she waited. She’d never been good at waiting, but this was worse than usual. She half-watched the man amble down the way, mostly from idle curiosity, but part of her couldn’t shake suspicion, given his side of the conversation they’d overheard. She wasn’t normally this paranoid, and it was an uncomfortable feeling that did nothing for her mood. It’s the sensation of being watched, she told herself. That’s enough to put anyone on edge. Being hungry and sleep-deprived couldn’t be helping, either.

The man trod up the steps of a building not far down what served as the main thoroughfare in a village this size, paused by the woman sitting on the front porch. A woman, Trinne noticed, who was staring straight at her. And not in a casual, people-watchy way, like Trinne had been doing; like a watchman or lookout. She grabbed the man’s arm, still staring at Trinne--who was trying not to be obvious about staring back--and said something. He nodded and his steps to the front door were far more purposeful.

You’re being paranoid, you’re being paranoid, you’re being paranoid, Trinne tried to tell herself. It didn’t work very well, cold unease clamping down in her chest. Her nails dug into her arms and her teeth scraped against her chapped lower lip. Where the blazes is Cousland?!

As if summoned by her restless fretting, the door swung open and Harvey stepped out, still adjusting the strap of the pack that held the food.

He frowned when he saw her expression. “Trinne, what’s wr-”

“We need to go.” She pushed away from the wall. “Now.”

His frown deepened but he didn’t argue as he followed her down the steps. “Any particular reason?” She told him and he raised a brow. “She might have just been curious why you were watching someone she knows,” he pointed out.

“I know, and normally that would be my thought, too,” Trinne sighed and ran one hand through her hair. “But that crawly feeling, like someone’s watchin’ me, is worse.” She adjusted her hood before letting her hand drop and adding quietly, “I know this isn’t a ‘Warden senses’ thing, but I just have a bad feeling, y’know?”

Harvey nodded. “Gut instinct’s just as important. And it can’t hurt to err on the side of caution.”

“For once in my life?” she added glibly, smirking, as a defense against the alarm bells tolling in her head.

He shrugged.

Normally that would be where she made some sarcastic or pithy remark and he rolled his eyes at her, but she was currently too tense for sarcasm. So she rambled instead. “It’s not really once in my life anymore, is it? Between you an’ Jowan, I am starting to think things through, an’ occasionally....”

The words trailed off as they came in sight of the road out from the village. A small, loosely scattered cluster of figured loitered near the road. She couldn’t make out faces from this distance, but they didn’t look wary and braced for confrontation. More like lazy fishermen hoping for a bite they weren’t even sure would come.

Even as her steps started to falter at the thought of having to fight these people, Harvey grabbed her wrist and tugged her after him into the gap between two houses.

“I saw,” he said quietly before she could even open her mouth. “It just means leaving by a different route than we came in.”

Trinne gave a jerky nod, glad one of them wasn’t tripped up by dread and worst case scenarios, but, “How?” Nestled in the mountain foothills as it was, the road was the only real way in and out of the village.

Of course, they’d become quite adept at circumventing when the ‘only real way’ to places was blocked.

Harvey jerked his head in a sideways nod. “This way.” He started dodging between houses, headed for the outskirts of the village and the sloping mountainside beyond. Of course he'd figured an alternate route, just in case. Planning ahead had always been more his strength than hers. As was finding ways around problems rather than through them,

The village border was marked by a waist high stone wall, topped by a wooden rail that added another foot or so to its height. As it looked largely meant to deter wildlife, it was easy enough for them to slip through the gap between wood and stone after taking off their packs.

“We shouldn’t head straight back to camp,” Harvey said as they re-shouldered the packs. “Just to make sure no one’s following us or anything.”

“Good idea.” Trinne bounced on the balls of her feet slightly to settle her pack in a more comfortable position. “Lead the way.”

It was rough going at first; the slanted terrain made keeping their balance tricky, and they both slipped more than once, but once they were past the village proper and things flattened out it got much easier. Even with the occasional minutes-long stop so Harvey could check for any sign they were being followed. It made a return trip that would’ve taken half an hour at a leisurely stroll three times as long, but Trinne didn’t mind. Better safe than sorry, in this case, and the view and weather both made it a relatively pleasant walk.

And as it was, they were almost halfway into that circuitous route before she felt like it was safe to talk.

“So, Cousland,” she began, unable to keep the mischievous note entirely out of her casual tone, “I hate to say ‘I told you so’-”

Harvey snorted and sent her a look that was both dubious and amused. “No, you don’t.” A smile tugged the corners of his mouth as he swatted aside a low-hanging branch. “And if Jowan’s to be believed, you never have.”

“Okay, you got me there,” she laughed. “But who doesn’t like bein’ proven right?”

He raised a brow. “Depends on the topic. ‘The archdemon will destroy the world’ is not a claim I’d want proven right.”

“True. But you know what I meant.” Trinne ran a hand through her hair, no longer caring if she knocked back her hood. With the village so far behind them, the crawly feeling of someone watching had diminished significantly.

Harvey nodded. “I do.”

“Next time a village gives one of us the creeps, maybe we just give it a pass.” Her stomach rumbled again. “Even if it means goin’ hungry.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. It would be an issue to deal with when--if--it arose, she knew that. Didn’t lessen her relief that this particular incident was behind them.

“‘Least now I can stop bein’ the cynical one,” she teased, which earned a quiet snort and another shrug. “Really, Harv, I appreciate the efforts to steer me away from blatant paranoia.”

Harvey chuckled. “Anytime.”

She smiled back, all playful sincerity, because she knew he meant it, and plucked a leaf to keep her fingers busy as they wound their way between the trees.

--- --- ---

This is meant to be at a point where our kids are friends and there are no Feelings yet. HOWEVER. As it wound up 100% Trinne pov, who’s to say what Harvey’s thinking. :P

also, dear Maker, why are closing sentences so hard??? I must’ve gone through about eight before finding one I like well enough.

#queens fic #harvey cousland #trinne amell #otp: shadows & sparks #dragon age #i really love these two a lot if you couldn't tell :D :D :D

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bryonysimcox · 4 years

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Four wheel driving, van repairing and living slowly: Week 6, Spain

It was a week mostly spent in a cottage in the hills, editing films, fixing the van and exploring Iberic villages. It was a week of taking things slow. Here’s my round-up of week six on the road.

By far, this has been the least ‘eventful’ week on the road. By that I mean we haven’t done loads and loads of travelling around, exploring or seeing lots of different stuff. But it has made me realise two things. Firstly, the reality of vanlife is that there will always be weeks like this one just past, where we knuckle down with work and van admin. And secondly, that time is the greatest asset of all.

Living slowly is a revelation.

I’ve always been the kind of person who tries to cram as many things as possible into a day. Even if I’ve got a spare ten minutes, rather than just chill out I’ll look for any small job or activity I can do to ‘make the most of’ that time. The downside of this approach is that you’re always rushing around, you sometimes don’t give a task or activity the attention it deserves, and you’re often late because you never quite finish one thing before another pops up!

Life on the road feels like a therapeutic process which is deconditioning me from being so busy all the time. Rather than thinking about the next job I need to do or how I could make something even more time-efficient, I’m taking things one by one and really relishing activities which I might’ve previously avoided because they were ‘indulgent’ or slow. That has meant reading more books, cooking, and this week even playing my violin (which I promised myself I’d play, given that we’ve brought it all this way!). It has also meant reaching out to friends and family, and being there for others.

(image) ‘It’s okay, I’m right behind you’, my latest collage for Analogue Bryony which was made in the Barraca.

I think there’s something in the ‘slow movement’ that we should all consider. In the modern world, the idea that time is the most valuable resource we have and that we should indulge ourselves in it has been replaced by the idea that time is money and efficiency is king. It’s kind of scary that I’ve had to embark on a trip like this to see how wrong that is, and to unburden myself from being a slave to efficiency.

Spending solid days and long hours working on filmmaking and admin for Broaden makes day trips and adventures even sweeter when they come.

On Thursday, I insisted that we get out and about. Even though we have spent most of the week staying in the ‘Baraca’ (the small cottage in last week’s post), George transformed the van parked on the driveway into his own editing office and practically locked himself in there from 9am - 8pm most days. By Thursday, I was keen to explore the region around us, and George was keen to test Suzi’s 4x4 abilities, so we headed north, up towards the Iberic villages of Ullastret, Peratallada and Palau-Sator.

It was only thanks to recommendations from a family friend that we found the villages, as they were tiny settlements away from the coast. We took some pretty sketchy roads to get there, but were really impressed by how well the van can handle off-road situations, especially when put into four wheel drive. Suzi the HiAce has selectable 4WD, which means that she’s only in 4WD when you switch a button and go outside, twisting the locking hubs on the front two wheels. This manual 80s style approach may seem antequated, but so far seems pretty foolproof and means that we can cruise along in 2WD most of the time when it suits.

(images) A pretty fun morning of proving Suzi’s off-road abilities!

A series of fortified medieval towns with narrow streets and stone buildings, the Iberic villages were utterly charming.

Ullastret, Peratallada and Palau-Sator all had a similar urban structure, with an old town wall and circular street pattern. Churches, markets, towers and prisons were some of the key historic buildings, and Peratallada even had a castle situated in its core. Ullastret was perhaps my favourite, not least because so many of the modified buildings featured beautifully-designed and understated architectural interventions. It was definitely apparent that Catalunya is a wealthy region, because even civic elements like street lamps, bins, railings and paving stones are well-designed and well-made, carefully crafted to remain in-keeping with the impressive historic setting.

(images) The historic Iberic villages: peaceful and charming.

(images) Sophisticated architectural detailing characterised these towns.

From the villages, we headed east to find one of the famous beaches along the Costa Brava - a beach I’d been recommended called ‘Aigua Blava’. We’ve had so many great travel recommendations, and surprisingly many of them have been from Australian acquaintances (it really is true that you Aussies see a lot of Europe when you visit this part of the world!). Aigua Blava lived up to its name, with aquamarine water framed on both sides by fancy hilltop houses and a small sandy beach. Unspoilt by the tourists of summer season, we practically had the whole beach to ourselves. Of course, I had to go in for a swim too.

Wild swimming feels like another part of living ‘slowly’ and of being present. It’s my way of connecting with my surroundings, of celebrating the natural world and the incredible opportunity George and I have to explore these places.

(image) Another wild swim in the bag, still cold this time of year but the stunning setting of Aigua Blava made up for it.

On the note of celebrating the natural world, I’ve been determined to spend as much time as I can outside. That said, it can still be pretty chilly here in Spain even though it’s been really sunny. Whilst George spent most of the week putting the final touches into the running documentary in his van-office, I stubbornly insisted on working on my laptop outside, on the porch in front of the cottage and wrapped up in lots of layers! From my ‘outdoor office’ I wrapped up some graphic design for the running documentary (artwork to be released soon), researched film festivals to enter it into (any recommendations welcome), and pitched our videography services to countless potential clients.

(images, left to right) George editing in his van office, me wearing all the necessary gear to be working outside, and the grape vines which surrounded our cottage.

Launching a videography channel and company can feel like a bit of a daunting task, but I’m generally finding that George and I have a lot of complementary skills. It’s really nice having someone to bounce ideas off, and the more we produce, film and edit together, the more we can learn from each other and fill in the gaps of our knowledge. I know it feels like every week I say we have video content coming soon, but I really can’t wait to release some stuff to show you all. That said, filmmaking is a time-consuming process and in the name of living slowly, I’m going to embrace taking as long as we need to get the videos ready!

Sunday was our last day at the cottage and saw us dedicate our time and energy to Suzi the van.

There had been a growing ‘to do’ list for the van, and so we finally set about getting it done - cleaning her out and fixing her up. It’s hard to admit it after the painful van-building process, but George and I have realised we actually really miss having a building project on the go. We both love making things, and are already plotting future tiny-houses and electric campervan conversions (yep, just six weeks into this trip…!). So on Sunday, it was all hands on deck. I cleaned the floor and all the drawers and shelves, which collect dust and dirt so quickly. I also installed some latches on cupboard doors, which have been propelling themselves open when we drive around corners.

Meanwhile, George set about replacing the headlights and reversing lights with LED bulbs. A few had blown, so we decided that if we were going to try and take off the light clusters, we might as well upgrade all the bulbs for brighter ones at the same time. The light clusters are an absolute pain to take off, and involve removing the grill and other parts (confusing construction seems to be a trend for 90s Japanese car design). Unfortunately the bulbs we had ordered for the rear lights and the fog lights weren’t the right fit, so those two are a job for the future.

George also fitted an LED light bar below the rear bumper so that we can see more with the reversing camera, and it worked first time! It’s so cool how many different types of LEDs there are on the market these days and how affordable they are. With a little bit of electrical knowledge you can do a lot of lighting modifications.

(images, left to right) Replacing old (and dim) bulbs, removing the headlight units to get to the bulbs, and George working underneath the van to wire up our new reversing light.

Ready to hit the road again, we rounded the week off by heading south towards Valencia.

Valencia is our next destination, but we plan on splitting the journey over a few days. The first leg involved us skirting around Barcelona, naïvely taking the ‘no toll road’ option which involved a huge detour and some insane elevation. The price of the toll would’ve probably been less than the time (and fuel) spent slogging up towards Manresa at about 40MPH! Nonetheless, we battled the hills and some insane winds and finally made it back to the coastal road.

Late Monday afternoon we stopped at Torredembarra and wandered along the beach. Eerily quiet, it seems this area is popular with holidaymakers through peak season and almost abandoned off-peak. We only stayed for about an hour, walking against strong winds with a beer in hand and photographing repetitive apartment block designs. It is the curious places like this that make travelling by road so worth it, because you can stop by for a short stay and see the in-between places, places just as locals see them, and places in their off-peak state.

(images) Golden hour scenes from the empty beachfront of Torredembarra.

It feels great to be living in the van again. We had a marvellous stay at the cottage near Palamós, but Suzi is our home, wherever that may be. I’m going to carry on living slowly and take each day as it comes.

Next week, Valencia.

#traveldiaries #SuziTheVan #toyotahiace #overlandadventures #digitalnomads #vanlife #BryonyandGeorge #vanliving #hiacevan #lifethroughalens #consciouscommunity

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xodaniellevictoria · 5 years

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8 Days in Paris

I’ve been wanting to visit Paris for as long as I can remember. 2 weeks ago my life long dream, CAME TRUE! My fascination with the city began with my love for ballet. For those who don't know I was a ballet dancer for 16 years, and the type of ballet I was taught, originated in Paris. I have envisioned myself walking amongst the city streets for years and to finally cross this off my bucket list was an indescribable feeling. I want to share everything we did while we were there, and any quick tips to help you out if you’re wanting to visit this amazing place for yourself!

Alright lets start with planning. I searched for EVER to find affordable flights. Typically out of California round trip tickets to Paris are around $1200 each. By some miracle I was able to find round trip tickets for $500 each. (Because it’s off season for tourism and once the weather gets colder, the ticket prices drop) I didn't use any specific sites or cheap airlines, I was just always looking for a deal. So I definitely recommend going on off season (Fall to early spring) to avoid high ticket prices.

While you're planning, I would also really recommend staying at an Airbnb over a hotel. We really felt like we got the true Parisian experience and most Airbnbs are cheaper then hotels is what I noticed while planning.

HERE IS A LINK to the cute private apartment we stayed at while we were there. It was PERFECT for what we wanted. The iconic Parisian windows, a great view to a little courtyard, in the city center, and 3 minute walk to the subway. (Photo below for the ideal Parisian windows I was talking about.)

We decided to break up our trip by spending the majority of our time in Paris at the Airbnb, and then the last 2 nights we splurged and stayed at a hotel I’ve had my eye on for awhile now. Hotel Providence is the Parisian hotel of my dreams, and it did not disappoint. The stunning lush decor and rich color palette of the entire hotel checked off all my aesthetic points. We had champagne waiting for us in our room, and they were accommodating for early check in and leaving our bags at the front desk after we checked out, since we had some time to kill before our flight. I found the hotel on Instagram and I’m so glad I did. They have an amazing bar downstairs that was great for pre and post dinner drinks. They serve food as well but we unfortunately never got to try any. The front desk and service at the bar was amazing, super friendly, spoke great English and would absolutely recommend staying here if your budget allows. See below for pictures of our beautiful room and the outside seats of the bar / restaurant! CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE HOTEL

Another thing I would highly recommend is getting the PARIS CITY PASS. This pass will get you into the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Versailles, you name a Parisian attraction, and this pass will most likely get you in, and the best part is you won't have to wait in ticket lines. At the Louvre, there was a 2 hour wait to get tickets, and we literally walked RIGHT in... Sorry everyone in line! Should have done your research!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SITE TO GET YOUR PARIS CITY PASS

While planning, something else to think about is transportation. Basically the entire trip, we took Paris’s subway system ‘Le Metro.’ If you have an iPhone, using apple maps is going to be your best friend. Switch your directions to transit instead of walking or driving. The apple maps directions will tell you exactly where to go for the train stations, which lines to take, and which direction you need to be heading. There are signs in English in the subway so don't worry about not being able to understand French signs. There are trains right at the airport, and everywhere you will want to go in the city. Its truly amazing and so affordable compared to trying to Uber everywhere. We honestly preferred taking the subway way more than taking Ubers, because traffic in the city is.... Intense, and most of our Uber drivers didn't speak any English. The trains were always much faster and just easier in general.

Now I want to share the things we did that were noteworthy, and that we would recommend to anyone who is coming to Paris for the first time.

1. Eiffel Tower. Just as magical as you would think it would be. Head to the Tracadero across the river Seine to get an amazing view and its a GREAT picture spot. Another amazing picture spot is on the same side of the river as the Eiffel Tower and its a little dead end street with the perfect view of the tower with some French buildings in the line of view as well.

Heres the address: 228 Rue de l’Universite (the picture below was taken HERE)

2. Versailles. The grandest palace in all of Europe. It is breath taking. Especially if you're a history nerd like me. I got an audio guide so we didn't have to take a tour, and it was perfect. Also highly recommend renting a golf cart to get around the gardens and to see the other buildings and Marie Antoinette’s little village she created. PICTURE SPOTS: Hall of mirrors, Petite Trianon, and the Grand Trianon. Advice for getting pictures here, PATIENCE. Just wait for people to move so you can get cool shots with no one in them.

3. Crazy Horse. Ok this one won't be for everyone, but when I think of Paris I think of burlesque. Crazy Horse was one of the coolest burlesque shows we’ve seen and its a must if you're wanting a sexy night out. ( We preferred this over Moulin Rouge. )

4. MontMarte. MontMarte is the cities highest point. resting on a hill, there's a gorgeous old church, the Sacre Couer. MontMarte is also the cities historic artist district. Artists such as Van Gogh, and Renoir, found inspiration in this quaint part of town. Behind the church is the cutest little area where local artists are still paining city scapes and personal portraits. Seeing this area was a highlight for me. It felt so like what I thought Paris would be like. Good rooftop bar with the view of the city and the Eiffel Tower: Terrass Hotel, the rooftop bar is open to the public, you don't have to be staying at the hotel.

5. Le Marais. This is where you need to go if you're wanting to shop. Clothes, local pastries, apothecaries, you name it this area has it. Our favorite stores were Blue Garage, System Vintage, Luka Luna,

6. Notre Dame. A Paris staple. Currently closed for renovations but still worth seeing from afar. The streets around the Notre Dame are covered with vintage magazine / book stands. They make for great home decor. Make sure you have euros pulled out though because they don't accept credit cards!

7. Musee d’Orsay. Paris’s second biggest and most famous museum. Is in an old train station which makes for a cool setting for a museum. (See picture below) We liked this museum more than the Louvre...Way less crowded, and more modern artists that we actually knew. Holds famous paintings from Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Van Gogh. Highly recommend grabbing a drink on the 5th floor cafe behind one of the old clocks!

8. The Catacombs. Super interesting walk through some of Paris’s old Limestone quarries that they filled with bones from the cemeteries, when the cemeteries were getting too crowded in the 1700′s. I didn't get any spooky vibes. Just felt like a museum.

9. Palais Garnier. The Opera house in Paris. Reminiscent of Versailles, this grand Opera house is soooo extravagant and gorgeous. The first real Ballets were put on here. How cool is that?

That wraps up the things to see that we loved most. Now lets move on to my favorite part... THE FOOD!

Basically everywhere you look in Paris there are little cafes. Sometimes as many as 4 on a block. Eat at as many of them as you can. They're all pretty incredible. If you're from America and have never traveled to Europe, something to note is that in Europe, slow service is good service. You have to ask for your check. dining out in Europe is an experience and they want you to relax and enjoy your time dining. There is no rush with food there. Its pretty life changing coming from a country where you are accustomed to being in and out of a restaurant within an hour and getting angry if your food hasn't shown up in 15 minutes.

Things you need to try at any Parisian restaurant: bread, butter, wine, and cheese. They're all usually locally sourced and man let me tell you... It just tastes DIFFERENT over there. The butter is the best butter I’ve ever had. When we got home I legitimately looked up where I can buy French butter here in San Diego... The wine? INSANE. One night I had 6 glasses (which is WAY way way too much for me) and the next morning I didn't wake up with any sort of hangover... I don't know what they're doing in France but wow it is amazing. The cheeses are also wonderful. All so different depending on the restaurant, and all taste soooo much fresher then any cheese I’ve had here in the US. It’s hard to describe.

Some of our favorite restaurants we came across while we were there:

BREAKFAST / LUNCH-

Any cafe usually has a Croque Monisuer or a Croque Madame which is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with ham and egg, they're amazing and make a great breakfast sandwich. We also ordered Cafe Au Lait’s everywhere we went for breakfast (Coffee with steamed milk.) And croissants are always a good idea.

La Terrasse Des Archives for an amazing avocado toast eggs Benedict

Hollybelly 5 for some americanized / English style breakfasts and some amazing lattes

Hardware Societie for another amazing Americanized / English breakfast

Breakfast in America is a full on American diner in the heart of Paris.

DINNER-

My favorite meals we ate in Paris were our dinners. There is endless amazing food options but here are some of our favorites.

Sacree Fleur did not disappoint. Located in MontMarte, this cozy restaurant will blow you away. We started with the cheese course, wine, and bread. Had steak and mashed potatoes as our main course, which by the way, continues to cook at your table on a hot slab of rock. SO COOL! And we finished with the creme brûlée, which actually made me CRY, it was so good.... (Terrass Hotel is walking distance away, the rooftop bar is open to the public and you get an amazing view of all of Paris including the Effie tower while enjoying some after dinner drinks, and you don't have to be staying at the hotel to enjoy the rooftop bar.)

Le Petit Italien is an amazing option if you're wanting some Italian food in Paris.

Le Sancrerre in MontMarte was another stand out. I got the beef bourguignon and it was incredible.

Chez Janou was also outstanding. Perfect French dishes, great service. Our waiter was actually living in San Diego for awhile before he moved back home to Paris so it was a super random coincidence to eat there and have him as our waiter!

#paris #travel #france

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bronzeflower · 5 years

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Casashouta

Also on ao3

Chapter 4: Is This Really Worth the Effort

-----

Sometimes, one had to reveal their weaknesses in order to be successful in romance. It was logical. If an individual was unable to be vulnerable around the person of their affections, then it was perhaps time to reevaluate feelings.

So, Shouta decided to reveal a weakness of his to Hizashi, which would hopefully allow him to grow closer to the blond. Namely, Shouta's weakness in the English language.

Shouta almost winced at the poor score he received on his English quiz. While he did find learning English somewhat illogical because he was never really planning on leaving Japan in the first place, he did have to admit that he still had to keep his grades up if he didn't want to get kicked out of the hero course.

Shouta turned to Hizashi.

"What score did you get on your English quiz?" Shouta questioned, knowing that, logically, it would be a reasonably high score, given that Hizashi was at the top of the class.

"I got a one-hundred!" Hizashi gleamed. "What about you? How did you do?"

"Bad enough," Shouta said, and Hizashi's smile instantly turned into a frown. Shouta almost felt the loss of sunshine in the room when Hizashi's smile dissipated.

"Do you need any help? Because I would be glad to tutor you if you need it!" Hizashi offered, and Shouta felt like he was being given this opportunity on a silver platter.

"Alright, but only because my grade really needs it," Shouta responded with practiced indifference. Seduction required some semblance of subtlety, even if the intended recipient was kind of oblivious, as Shouta had found out recently. It was about the subconscious.

"Okay!" Hizashi had immediately brightened up considerably. "We can meet in the library after school!"

Shouta frowned. He was kind of hoping for someplace a little more private, so he did his best to come up with an excuse as to why they couldn't use the library to study.

"Won't they kick us out for being too loud?" Shouta asked. "You're going to be explaining things to me, and, as far as my experience with libraries go, they're not fans of anyone talking at all."

"Hm, that's true enough," Hizashi responded, knowing full well that the UA library had dedicated places for tutoring and studying that were completely separate from each other. "How about we go to my place then! No one can disturb us there, and no one will care too much about me being a bit loud!"

"Sounds fine," Shouta said while doing a victory dance inside his head. He could barely believe that actually worked.

So Hizashi and Shouta walked to Hizashi's house together so that Hizashi could properly tutor Shouta.

"I'm home!" Hizashi shouted out once they entered the house. "I brought a friend!"

Shouta's mind practically went into overdrive when Hizashi called him his friend. They had only known each other for a few days, and Hizashi already considered the two of them friends? Shouta would feel a little more honored by that fact if he weren't also trying to seduce Hizashi. But friendship could be a stepping stone for proper seduction, so Shouta supposed it all evened out.

Also, Shouta was weirdly happy about being called Hizashi's friend.

"Who'dja bring?" A girl that looked a bit younger than Hizashi popped out of nowhere. "He looks tired. And boring. Are you sure he's your friend and not just someone you were forced to do a school project with?"

"Nikkou! Don't be mean!" Hizashi pouted. "This is Aizawa Shouta. Aizawa, this is my sister, Yamada Nikkou."

"Nice to meet you," Shouta greeted. Nikkou frowned.

"We'll see if you've been nice to meet." Nikkou then left without another word.

"Sorry about that," Hizashi apologized. "She's just at that age where she's snarky all the time. There's pretty much nothing we can do about it until she grows out of it. Or, at the very least, learns how to target her anger in a healthy and manageable way."

"Do you have any other siblings?" Shouta questioned.

"Yeah! I have five siblings!" Hizashi said, and Shouta blanched.

"Five!?"

"I know, I know it sounds like a lot, but you get used to fighting for the bathroom. Let's see, there's Taiyo, Nissho, Nikkou, Tenpi, and Youko," Hizashi started. "Taiyo and Nisshou are twins, and they're the youngest at nine. Nikkou is twelve, and then there's me, you know, the middle child, sitting at a nice fifteen, and then Tenpi and Youko are both older than me, with Tenpi being seventeen-he's turning eighteen in about two weeks, and he's getting pretty impatient with wanting to become an adult already, while Youko is nineteen. She's off in college right now though, so you won't have to worry about meeting her at all. And then there are my moms in the house too, and not to mention my grandmother, so if you subtract Youko, there's eight people living in the household! What about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"No," Shouta answered.

"What!? So you're an only child? I can't imagine what that would be like," Hizashi said.

"And I can't imagine having five siblings."

"Touché," Hizashi retaliated. "Come on, let's hurry up to my room before we're attacked by the twins. If they get ahold of you, we won’t have a single second to ourselves."

Shouta blushed at the connotation, once again realizing about how oblivious Hizashi was.

Hizashi and Shouta actually managed to make it to Hizashi's room with minimal engagement with his family.

"How do you even get your own room when you have this big of a family?" Shouta inquired once they entered the relative safety of Hizashi's room.

"My family makes quite a bit of money, so we can afford a pretty big house like this one," Hizashi explained. "Now that's out of the way, let's get down to what we're actually here for."

Shouta's mind conjured up not so safe images at Hizashi's words before realizing they had come there to study Shouta's worst and least favorite subject-English. It was almost enough for him to call off the engagement entirely, if it wasn’t for the fact that Shouta was already at Hizashi’s house and the fact that Hizashi was absolutely determined to help Shouta out.

"Alright, so what should we start on?" Hizashi asked and then continued when met with a shrug. "Well, what do you feel like you struggle with the most? Vocabulary? Syntax? Comma rules? Contractions? Irregular verb tenses? Sentence structure?"

Hizashi rambled off a list of things that Shouta felt like he couldn't even begin to understand. Shouta vaguely remembered hearing about some of the things Hizashi was talking about, but, when attempting to connect them to any actual legitimate information he might need, his mind came up blank.

Hizashi managed to pick up on Shouta's dazed look as he paused in his onslaught of English related subject matter.

"Maybe we could just start with basic review stuff. Make sure you have that out of the way first before we go onto the more complicated stuff."

Shouta nodded, allowing Hizashi to take out some notes and pencils and paper as they started to review the basics of the English language.

The alphabet was simple enough, and vocabulary was, at the very least, reasonably easy to grasp. Pronouncing some of the words out loud proved some difficult, especially words with r or v in them, as well as vowels in general. There was a substantial amount of time spent trying to figure out how to pronounce the word 'hat' versus the word 'hot,' which Shouta found difficult to tell the difference between verbally.

Eventually, Hizashi moved on from trying to get Shouta to pronounce words correctly, declaring that they could save that for another tutoring lesson and focus on an overall review of the course material instead. Shouta found himself dreading the lesson that was focused on speaking English, even if it did mean that he could spend some alone time with Hizashi.

About halfway through their study session, they were interrupted by two boys who would have looked identical if it wasn't for the fact that one of them had black hair while the other had blond.

"Hizashi!" The blond-haired one whined. "You-wait. Who's this?"

"Is he a new friend?" The black-haired one asked excitedly. "What's his name? What's his quirk? Is he gonna become a hero like you? Oh! Who's your favorite hero? Mine is Stereo Crank! He has a noise amplification quirk like I do! What-"

"Taiyo! You can't find out if you don't let him answer!" The blond-haired twin interrupted. Taiyo-the black-haired twin- had the decency to look a little sheepish.

"Sorry."

"Well, to answer your questions," Hizashi started. "Yes, this is a new friend. His name is Aizawa Shouta. Aizawa, this Yamada Taiyo-" Hizashi gestured towards the black-haired twin before gesturing towards the blond-haired twin, "and this is Yamada Nisshou. Taiyo can amplify noises that he hears, and Nisshou can diminish sounds that he hears. Aizawa here can erase quirks, and, yes, he's in the same hero course as I am, so he's going to become a hero. Sorry, Aizawa, I don't know who your favorite hero is, so I can't answer that question for you."

"The heroes I like don't make a name for themselves," Aizawa said. "So you probably have never heard of them."

Taiyo looked a little sad at the response, but he brightened back up almost immediately.

"Oh! Are you the guy who won the Sports Festival? Nisshou-I think he is the guy! Is that cool? Is that why Hizashi didn't use his quirk during your match? Because you erased it?"

"And you beat Hizashi in hand-to-hand combat," Nisshou stated and then, with all the confidence a nine-year-old has, "Not even we managed to do that yet, even when we both gang up on him."

Shouta laughed at that, and Hizashi was a little too busy being caught up in the way Shouta's lips turned up and how his laughter was a little more like a cackle than a proper laugh to notice that his typically somewhat rude and blunt brother subtlely complimented him.

"You shouldn't gang up on your brother. It's not fair-" Shouta began, and Hizashi's heart leapt to this throat as he thought Shouta was defending him. "To your other siblings. I vote that you should all gang up on him. Strength in numbers is always a viable option when winning a battle."

"I can't believe you would betray me like this," Hizashi pouted.

"Don't worry, I won't help them," Shouta suddenly had the most terrible smile on his face, and, while Hizashi should be horrified, he was still reeling from the fact that Shouta had smiled at all.

"You're supposed to help me!" Hizashi whined.

"And interrupt a perfectly good sparring match? Never."

"Then I guess I'll just spend the next few tutoring sessions making sure your pronunciation of the English language is perfect," Hizashi threatened with the only thing he could actually feasibly threaten Shouta with right now. It had the desired effect as Shouta narrowed his eyes at Hizashi in a glare.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, but I would!"

"Are you sure you're friends?" Nisshou suddenly asked, breaking Hizashi and Shouta from their banter. "Cause you antagonize each other a lot."

"No-it's like pulling pigtails!" Taiyo quickly corrected. "Except not as mean. So, it's like Hizashi has a crush on Aizawa, so he threatens him with studying English."

"Oh-that makes a lot more sense. Hizashi-do you have a crush on-"

"Alright, that's enough of my dearest little brothers," Hizashi gently began to guide the twins out of the room. "Aizawa and I are still studying, so we need to concentrate on our schoolwork."

"You don't have to be embarrassed-" That's when Hizashi shut and locked the door, the almost frantic look on his face fading along with the light dusting of pink that had also shown up while Taiyo and Nisshou were teasing him. They were probably going to tease him more about it later, which was probably unavoidable for Hizashi. All he could hope was that his other siblings didn't find out.

What was he kidding-they probably would.

"Alright!" Hizashi exclaimed a little too loudly. "Are you ready to study some more English?"

With the way Hizashi dived back into reviewing all the concepts they had covered in class, it looked like Shouta didn't get much of a choice in the matter.

#erasermic #aizawa shouta #yamada hizashi #eraserhead #present mic #various ocs #bnha #my hero academia

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cursedstrayct · 6 years

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The tour. Taeyong

Pairing: Graffiti artist!Taeyong with Gender neutral reader

Warnings: Escaping home, some swearing here and there

Words: 2850

Author notes: Ohmygawd this is so long sorryyyehruifgheiru. Aight so I might have used way too much graffiti lingo stuff in this but i’m not sure, feel free to ask anything if you don’t understand. Also all the cities mentioned here are in the list of the 99 most popular cities for graffiti so yeah, no printer just fax. Last but not least: this story was so much fun to write because there’s a lot of stuff in this that actually happened to me so yeah, it’s like little snipets of my and some of my friends lives :)

Tomorrow it was your 23rd birthday and also the 8th anniversary since you left home. Your gang was at the billboard you usually hanged out, holding a cupcake with a candle on it. You thought about what you could wish but honestly right now everything was fine, your friends were there and your brother was also at the “party”. You were able to enjoy a pretty happy life.

Usually people told you your future was going to be dark, that you would have nothing and art wouldn’t take you anywhere, of course you never listened to them and you kept forming your path. Yeah maybe you lost your first family, but you found a new one in the streets, the other artists you had met across the years became your new siblings and most of the things you know now were thanks to them. It was like a family of 5 siblings and no responsible adult to watch over you even though all of you were technically adults.

Right now you were happy.

After a while, the group of people you were with were just talking while they were waiting for the night to arrive so you could go to an underground dance battle all of you were invited to. You started to think why you left your parent’s house in the first place, you were just a kid but apparently not you or your parents saw that, so seeing that you already couldn’t be fixed from your less than common aspirations in life on your 15th birthday you just left the city without any notice except for a note. You heard that your parents looked out for you for a couple of months but they got tired of looking, according to your brother, the only relative who you still keep contact with.

“They miss you, y’know?”

Your brother said in a shy tone, trying to bring the sensitive topic to surface.

“Please tell me you didn’t cross all the country just to tell me that”

You answered sharply, it wasn’t something you loved to hear to be honest. It always went the same way, your parents missed you but you didn’t and that made another year of you not going back home.

“Just wanted to tell you how things are back in Chicago”

“Tell them that things in San Francisco are good”

You checked your phone and it was 11:37, and because you were going by foot, it was probably a good time to leave to the pier were the dance battle was.

You always loved going to those battles, even though you couldn’t dance for shit, there was a lot else to do, like freestyle battles, graffiti sessions and overall there was a bunch of new people to meet.

You guys arrived at about 12:30 to the pier and everything was already set up, obviously. The music was playing and the colored lights gave a different feeling to the place. Some people were warming up while others were just sharing a cig. It was like another world, happiness and relevance took another meaning here and it almost felt like time stopped, you were at your element right now.

You grabbed some paint cans and checked one of your sketches, you didn’t really care it was night time, your phone lantern could help out a bit. After a couple of minutes some more people joined you were you were, but you could only concentrate in the sounds of the can and the sea behind you, maybe it was a bit dangerous being at the breakwaters of the pier but you thought that just for this day the tide wasn’t that high.

About two hours passed when it was only you and another guy who you couldn’t really recognise at the breakwaters. You saw him before with a couple of cans in his hand but apparently this guy stayed just to look at the waves and listen to the music of the battle.

“Don’t you think we should leave?”

You said in a loose tone with a can still in your hand. The waves were indeed getting taller and taller and maybe it was for the best to go with the rest, you didn’t wanted for your birthday to finish in the tragedy of you and another dude drowning.

“I think you still have a couple of minutes to keep working”

The guy was also lingering a bit, even though you thought it was a smart consideration.

“Are you watching over the waves?”

You were chuckling a bit, you’ve never seen this guy before and you were curious about him, he looked like he didn’t had much friends with him right now.

“I thought it was weird you guys were working near the sea at this hour so I thought someone should be watching”

“You’re not from here right?”

“Nope”

With this comment you imagined he was probably a pretty nervous guy who overthought everything, probably a hopeless perfectionist.

“You alone right now?”

“The guy I’m traveling with is at the battle”

You sat down next to him and both of your feet were dangling, following the pace of the waves.

“Don’t you want to go check them out? I think the rappers already stopped their thing.”

“Oh yeah sure, by the way I’m Taeyong”

“I’m ___, so you said you were traveling huh?”

“Ah yes, I’m actually from Seoul but I’ve been doing this thing with a friend that we call ‘the graffiti tour’ it’s basically us going around the world going to cities were it seems nice to leave some tags.”

You were surprised about this, you could think of about a 100 cities that would be worth the visit and a bunch of 20 year olds weren’t the first type of people that popped to your head that could afford that much traveling.

“We actually arrived from San Diego yesterday, It’s our first stop in the states -he continued- We still don’t know how we’re getting to Los Angeles yet but we’ll figure”

“I’m actually leaving in about a week to LA with some friends, I can get you a ride if you want.”

You now knew what their way of moving was, they just took a plane to get to a part of a continent and the rest was just them moving on their own, you were so familiar with this type of thing that you couldn’t help but to feel almost pity for them.

“That��d be awesome”

His smile looked sincere and… pretty; unusual if you had to say another thing.

The both of you went up to where the battle was to check up on Taeyong’s friend, and like 30 seconds after you got on the superior part of the pier, you saw a wave hit the place you were just in. You noticed Taeyong saw that as well, he looked with wide eyes probably contemplating how much of a coincidence was the fact that he didn’t just got crushed against the rocks in who knows how much kilometers per hour. You shot him a nervous smile and he did the same.

A short guy approached you two and bumped Taeyong on his arm in a friendly way. His smile was as bright as his ears thanks to his piercings, you thought that was what an elf would look like. He said something in Korean that you couldn’t understand for obvious reasons but you did hear you name in the phrase though.

“Hey this is Ten, he’s actually Thai” Taeyong said with a big smile in his face, he looked like he was showing off a new toy.

The three of you talked for a couple of minutes about various things, apparently Taeyong was a dancer too and a very good one according to Ten. People started to move to the circle where the battle would take place and you took the both guys by their wrist to lead them, you were so curious to see them perform, you were giggling like a child.

The mc and the judges stood in the middle and gave a few words, including mentioning your birthday. One of the judges that was a close friend to you gave you a small gift that you decided to leave for later. Taeyong looked at you with a surprised face, almost as if he had forgotten your birthday, ignoring the fact he just met you.

“It’s your birthday?!”

“Well yeah, like as of 1 hour ago”

You chuckled a bit with bright eyes, it was like you involuntarily got the bubbly part of your personality thanks to Taeyong.

The last cyphers were finishing off and everyone was having a seizure thanks to Ten, he was crazy good and you were pretty sure you saw your judge friend shedding a tear. You encouraged Taeyong to go in, at first he got shy because he didn’t knew anyone but Ten talked him into it.

Taeyong was standing in the middle like a deer on headlights with his eyes fixed on the floor. The track wasn’t starting and people were looking at him weird because nobody knew who he was. Finally the music started after someone kicked the speaker, Taeyong started easy with some footwork but you could see that he was getting more relaxed as time passed, he just had a bit of stage fright but his overflowing confidence won over. You thought someone who was so sure about his skills had such a hard time opening up about them.

Eventually the battle finished with Ten taking the second place to a new kid who was probably made of rubber and Taeyong getting kicked out at the fourth round.

You changed phones with Taeyong to keep him posted about the LA trip and left to your house with your friends.

“Actually do you know any place where we could stay?”

Ten approached you, apparently the lady where they had rented had bailed them last minute and so far, it looked like they would have to sleep for a week on the street.

“Can we take take the pretty tourists back home?”

“Take it as my birthday present, the one on the left is going to be my Christmas present”

“We can understand english”

“OH”

You finally arrived to your dorm at around 5:30 in the morning, you gave the invitees a bunch of pillows and blankets and made gave them some instructions of the house, what things were of who and how the bathroom works, etc.

You guys woke up and two of your roommates were preparing breakfast, there was soft music playing and Ten was taking a shower. You saw Taeyong cleaning his space a bit frantically, leaving everything in an order that looked very planned, you saw him and smiled a bit.

“How did you sleep?”

“Ah ___, I slept well and you?”

He answered hurriedly, as if he was waiting for someone to ask them that.

“Like a baby”

“Did you wake up in the middle of the night crying because you were hungry and with pooped pants?”

“Whatever makes you happy”

Most of the mornings went by like that, the 7 of you having breakfast with the sun creeping in the window while you and your friends bombarded Taeyong and Ten with questions, questions that with the days got more and more personal, going from how’s life in Korea to what is up with Taeyong and bacteria.

Taeyong was a pretty fun person to hang out with. One day you went out to tag some walls and as you expected, seeing him paint gave you a lot more information of him. What he thought of the world, how he liked to do his stuff, that was always something that mesmerized you.

“Ah dammit, I lost some of my cans at the battle”

He said with annoyance in his voice while he looked for something in his backpack.

“Chill, we’re sharing”

He took a deep breath and proceeded to check up what you had in your backpack.

He was a helpless perfectionist, but he was very optimistic with the world, he was such a bright person. You talked about the sweet and the sour, his family back in Korea, your rocky relationship with your parents, your childhood years, how you got into the underground scene. You never thought you could get this close to a person you met some days ago. Taeyong was one of those people that felt like you’ve known them for forever.

The day that you were leaving to LA had arrived and you started to prepare your stuff while you shared some conversation with Taeyong. Everything was pretty chill until one of your friends entered the dorm completely out of breath with an expression as if they had just seen a corpse.

“____ you need to get out of the city or you’re going to jail”

“WHAT?”

“Apparently one of your murals you did on the pier was found by a cop and it apart from being a literal vandal act, some residue fell to the sea and you got the Sanfran sanitary department coming for your ass”

“What do you mean residue? I arrived with everything here and I saw everyone taking their shit”

You noticed Taeyong’s face going pale as paper, he couldn’t move and it looked like he was trying to say something but the shock wasn’t letting him.

“It’s my fault”

He said it almost unintelligible, he probably left his cans somewhere that night and when you two started talking he just forgot.

“Dude we can’t afford an international legal thing”

When Ten stated the obvious Taeyong shot him a look that could break stuff while everyone entered in a slight state of panic because either you were going to jail or Taeyong was getting deported or some shit.

“We have to leave right now let’s go, I’ll call my brother to buy us some time until we have the money to pay the fine or something or to justify I was out of the city and none of us did anything”

You said as you grabbed your backpack and the car keys, fortunately everyone was moving fast. You weren’t sure if a 6 hour car ride at night was the best idea but it was certainly the most convenient.

When you were already two hours in the trip, the only awaken people inside the car were you and Taeyong, he took shotgun because he felt he had to calm you down since all this mess was his fault according to him. To your relief, a couple of minutes later your brother called back to tell you that incase you had to pay a fine he had you covered so you had to pay him and not the government and the charges were somehow lifted from you, you were finally breathing calmly

“____ there’s just one thing”

“What thing?”

“Our parents found out”

“What? Why?”

“They didn’t have in mind that their child would get in trouble with the cops!”

“I fucking escaped from their house! What else were they expecting? That was what they always thought that would happen to me, that I was going to be a delinquent, escaping from everything for the rest of my life, what’s the fucking news?”

“I don’t know maybe they had like a secret hope or something, I don’t care, you better talk to them in LA”

Then your brother hanged up and silence conquered the car. You just wanted to cry.

“Do you want me to drive?”

Taeyong said in a small voice, he was looking at you shyly.

“I’m okay thanks.”

Anyone kilometres away could notice you weren’t with your shaky voice and red eyes.

“I didn’t knew you escaped your home”

“It’s been 10 years since I’ve seen them and my brother was getting worried and shit and I thought maybe it was a good idea to rub in their faces that I’ve been doing fine but apparently they are going to see this and it will go the other way around.”

You pulled over because your view was getting way too cloudy.

“You’re an adult now, they probably understand that, and I’m sure they won’t rub one mistake on your face after 10 years of a clear record”

“I’m just scared, it’s been so long”

Taeyong took your hand to try to calm you and looked at you in the eyes, he tried to say something but again, nothing came out.

You started laughing while tears kept rolling along your skin.

“I’m so stupid, I shouldn't've ever done this”

“I mean, you’ve had fun the last ten years right?

You kinda just looked at him while he was still holding your hand, and a thick awkward silence formed and you both chuckled.

“You should hit the road, we still have a long way to go”

Taeyong said in a slightly teasing manner, you just chuckled and then bumped him playfully on his arm.

“What the hell do you know, you’ve never been here”

#taeyong #lee taeyong #taeyong fluff #nct fluff #nct fanfic #nct 127 #au

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travelonlinetipsofficial · 3 years

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10 Best Steakhouses in Toronto, ON

New Post has been published on https://www.travelonlinetips.com/10-best-steakhouses-in-toronto-on/

10 Best Steakhouses in Toronto, ON

There are fully grown adults who suffer through vegetables on a daily basis, but save their delight for when their mouth meets a heavenly piece of beef. For those adults, the steakhouse was created. Toronto has many steakhouses that have an old-world charm with a gentleman’s club vibe (with ladies certainly welcome these days). We have found the best restaurants with the ability to sear a steak to perfection. Some of them are a little dated in terms of decor, but that’s in part what makes them so appealing.

Note the elegant magnetism of Barberians, a steakhouse that is tucked into a side street just steps from the commotion of Yonge and Dundas Square. It will transport you from our technological universe, into an era where the sizzle of steak could be just the ticket for an early end to a workday. Or try your hand at dry-aged beef at Jacob’s & Co, which can be served with sauteed kale with blue cheese and walnuts. Food math: kale will absorb all other calories surrounding it.

Wash down your once-in-a-lifetime (or ten-times-in-a-lifetime) meal with a $12,000 bottle of wine. Wait, you can’t afford that? Us neither. But that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a little fancy in our lives. Slip into your finest suit or little black dress and slow down your chewing for an evening.

If you like staring at beautiful cuts of meat as if they were the culinary equivalent of the Mona Lisa, go and visit Michael’s on Simcoe’s many social media accounts. If you have too much money burning a hole in your pocket and you have an equal hole in your stomach, then it is an excellent place to sup. A celebrity hot spot during TIFF, this is the place for melt in your mouth steak that will likely elicit grunts of delight. Go for USDA Prime Angus or Japanese Kobe beef. Warning: the latter can set you back $528 for 24 ounces. What else are expense accounts for?

Recommended for Steakhouses because: A picture perfect meaty menu, and the opportunity to run into a carnivorous celebrity.

Courtney’s expert tip: The in-house baked bread is addictive (this is a steakhouse with an Italian twist), but try your best to save some room for the star of the show: the meat.

Read more about Michael’s on Simcoe →

The Keg Mansion is certainly the best Toronto location of this chain of North American restaurants. The gothic heritage building was built in 1868 during a period of great wealth in Toronto. It has had some renovations since, but apparently retains some of its history in the form of ghosts. You can visit this location on one of Toronto’s ghost walks or go to feast in a stunning atmosphere. The rich appetizers impress, such as Baked Brie with basil pesto or Scallops and Bacon. The prices are impressively lower than average for prime cuts of meat such as Filet Mignon or Manhattan Cut New York. Some cuts have inventive toppings, such as pecans and goat cheese that complement rather than overshadow the steak.

Recommended for Steakhouses because: One of the more romantic choices, the gorgeous mansion is worth seeing even if you don’t want to dine.

Courtney’s expert tip: You can add a blue cheese crust to any steak for $1. This information is not on the menu, but it may just be the best $1 you have ever spent.

Read more about Barberian’s →

Photo courtesy of Blueblood Steakhouse

Going out for a steak already has an element of opulence to it. Eating your steak in a castle, well, then you are just showing off, aren’t you? Blueblood is situated in the majestic Casa Loma. Start your new fancy lifestyle off with the bread dipped in truffle oil. All of the steakhouse classics are here: French Onion soup, an embarrassingly high seafood tower, the iceberg wedge salad, and (but of course), the steak. The team here is beyond knowledgable about their cuts of meat, which come promptly and seasoned to perfection. Warhols decorate the walls and chandeliers drip from the ceiling, making each customer feel like royalty, if only for a meal.

Recommended for Steakhouses because: Ambience and service that make this splurge of a restaurant well worth it.

Courtney’s expert tip: Self parking is $15 and valet is $20. If you’re eating at a castle, probably not a big deal.

Read more about Blueblood Steakhouse →

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burlybanner · 6 years

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Full Circle

Author Notes - this can be read as a conclusion to Infundo Chronicles but I’ll probably still write more in this universe from time to time. When I set out to write this particular story I didn’t expect it to be the last, but it seemed fitting. Stories and universes can sometimes close on their own and as a writer I can respect that, but I do love this version of Bruce, Tony, and Steve together. So it’s a peaceful place to stop.

I’ll still answer questions about them (and maybe do a little RPing if people want) but for now, I wish them well.

***

Full Circle, an Infundo Fic (Stark Spangled Chubby!Banner)

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 2480

Warnings: None

***

Non, rien de rien

Non, je ne regrette rien

C'est payé, balayé, oublié

Je me fous du passé !

--Michel Vaucaire (sung by Edith Piaf)

They respected his right to keep his past tightly-guarded. They also knew he never discussed his adolescence, apart from what they’d already read in public files. And yes, to be fair all three of them had “issues,” but their conversations would end in a Fort Knox lockdown if they nagged him for answers about his past. And somewhere dark in him, Bruce figured Hulk’s creation could’ve stemmed from crushing daddy issues (Brian Banner’s uxoricide and atrocities guaranteed a life of depression and suicidal ideation, too).

The public treated him like a circus sideshow before the Hulk emerged, even since he was a little kid, so yeah Tony and Steve guessed he still had a few unvoiced problems. Yet they never pressed him to talk unless his depression took a sudden dive.

He loved them for that.

“Did you know?” Bruce whispered softly. His low voice trembled in Tony’s ear, causing Tony to grunt and tighten a grip on “his” portion of Bruce’s prodigious paunch. Trailers from the last movie streamed mutely to the sleepy thirds, recommending movies Bruce put on his “to view later” list.

On his left Steve’s snores teased a giggle from Bruce’s throat. He’d gotten much too fat to comfortably view Steve from his side unless he moved his entire body (which he wouldn’t, for fear of waking him), but Bruce could feel the ebb and flow of Steve’s chest with each breath. The noises calmed Bruce and kept him comfortably grounded.

But apart from the grunt, Tony had barely moved. Bruce’s excess body heat had turned their ridiculously wide couch into pockets of therapeutic warmth, perfect for the chilly morn, and Tony refused to shift off of Bruce’s lap. The sectional was nearly as comfortable as their bed but on nights when they ate junk and stayed up late watching quadruple features, everyone elected to sleep on the couch.

“Shh, Brucie,” Tony slurred. He sighed as Bruce finger combed his hair. “Sleep now, dear. Muse later.”

“Mhm.” Bruce chuckled when Tony snuggled deeper into his stomach, squeezing and fluffing the fat like his own personal pillow. In response Bruce swirled his sausage-thick fingers through Tony’s hair, lulling the engineer back to sleep.

“I saw that very movie in college,” Bruce mumbled once Tony snuffled in his sleep. “Back when I finally won enough scholarship money for my books, tuition, housing, and a seven-day meal plan.” His fingers methodically and unconsciously tapped Tony’s scalp. “Betty and I argued a lot back then but our arguments waned after we saw that movie. ‘Of course I still love you,’ she’d said, ‘but you’ve got to do something. You look way too much like him.’“

Bruce frowned and gentled his hands in Tony’s hair. If he got too rough Tony’d wake and he didn’t want that. “That’s when I made some tough decisions,” he murmured. “Looking back, I honestly don’t think I wanted to. But I changed anyway. For her.”

Confessing--well half-confessing, since he hoped his words were vague enough so no one would understand him--helped loosen the gut-knot he’d ignored for years.

Go figure.

Bruce ran a hand beneath his glasses, sighing. He really should turn in. The clock on the TV read four-something-am and yeah, it was technically Saturday, but still--

“Wait, what?”

Nuts. Bruce swallowed. “Um...you’re dreaming. Go back to sleep, Tony.”

“Nuh, uh, no. We’re not playing that card.” Tony yawned and rolled up like a cat, propping his elbow behind the couch so he could stare Bruce eye to bloodshot eye. Bruce smiled a little and pulled back one of Tony’s stray hairs to de-emphasize his lover’s bedhead.

“There’s no card. We need get some decent sleep because we stay up too late on weekends as it is. So next time, I say we stick to double features when teaching Steve twentieth century culture. And we start earlier in the day.”

“The eighties rule, and those movies’re Lays potato chips - try to watch just one, I dare you.” Bruce smirked, conceding Tony’s point. “But that’s neither here nor there, big guy. And you’re forgetting that One, I’m a light sleeper. And Two, a genius.”

“A genius at staying up way too late.”

“And a genius at peering through other geniuses smokescreens.”

“Touche.”

“Hey, hey,” Steve grumbled. Bruce shut his eyes, internally groaning. He could verbally spar with Tony to get him off the scent, but not him and Steve.

Steve sniffed and hid a yawn in a curved fist. “What time is it?”

“Between astronomical and civil dawn.”

Steve blinked. “What--?”

“4:30 a.m-ish,” Tony translated. He gave Bruce a hard stare. “And our boy Brucie is playing dumb while attempting to evade my questions.”

Steve looked adorably rumpled and rather childlike the seconds before fully wakening, but his clueless innocence didn’t last long. Bruce sank lower into the couch as concern and anger clouded Steve’s expression.

“Why?”

“I’m thinkin’ it had something to do with the last movie, but he’s not budging.”

“The movie with that really cute guy, with the cute name?”

Tony grinned. “Yeah.”

“C’mon, that had to be a stage name.”

“What, John Candy? Nope. Real name.”

“Son of a gun.”

Bruce hoped they’d continue, or at least leave him alone enough so they’d ignore him. “I’m just tired,” he deflected, yawning for emphasis. “We should table this for another time - really, it’s nothing.”

“No we’re gonna have it out now, because you’re too good at diverting us from the truth.” Bruce rolled his eyes. “Stop it. I know your game, Banner. You might as well ‘fess up.”

Worse, Steve kneaded Bruce’s side like a giant soothing cat, breaking concentration and resolve. “C’mon, muffin,” Steve sang, softly kissing Bruce’s jawline. “No judgments here.”

Bruce exchanged gazes with both of the men. “All right, all right. Fine...but don’t make a giant deal out of this, okay?”

“Promise,” Tony said, and Bruce glared daggers. “I said I wouldn’t! Sheesh.”

Bruce ignored his retort. “Steve...?”

“I’ll try,” Steve mumbled.

Bruce thinned his lips and ran his hands through his hair, hardening his expression. “This is tough for me, okay? So don’t...blow this out of proportion.”

“We won’t, we won’t,” Tony growled. He made the universal, “hurry up” gesture with his hand. “Just spit it out.”

Bruce glowered at his partners once before staring at his hands. “O...kay. Okay. For a year or two in college,” he breathed, mentally preparing himself, “I was...pretty tubby.” His gaze shot up as Steve squeaked, but when he saw delight marching across his lover’s faces he held up a hand. “Ah, no! I told you, don’t make a big deal out of this!”

“Like...how tubby?” Tony asked, and his nefarious grin nearly split his skull. Steve nervously chewed his lips, not daring to make another sound. “Big as you are now? Or--”

Bruce shut his eyes. “I don’t even know why I bother,” he mumbled. Then, “Almost, maybe. Since one of my scholarships provided unlimited cafeteria meals as long as I maintained my honors GPA, I made up for my strict childhood by gobbling up every fried, sugary, and fatty treat I could get my hands on. I took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffets on campus including the ones open after midnight, and I was determined to get my money’s worth.”

He quietly fiddled with the hem on his shirt cuff, thankful that his partners kept quiet after his rebuff. “Maybe in one sense I was afraid. Afraid that someone had made a clerical error, and I’d lose my literal meal ticket. I justified the gorging, telling myself the free food was temporary. When you’re poor,” he said, suddenly solemn, “you don’t question ‘free’ or ‘extra.’ You take what you can, when you can.”

The room stilled, and Bruce suddenly heard the quiet background noises of their home; Lily lapping from her water dish, Jarvis’ temperature modulations, the exhales of surprise from his companions.

Time to change the atmosphere.

“In short,” Bruce said lightly, attempting to brighten the mood, “I gained the freshman two fifteen instead of the freshman fifteen.”

“And Betty wasn’t happy about it.”

Bruce shook his head. “I didn’t want to lose her, so I slimmed down until she was happy with me again. And anyway,” he muttered, shifting awkwardly on the couch, “thrift stores didn’t really carry my size and I couldn’t afford anything new. So that ended that.”

“But you liked it,” Steve murmured, his voice caught somewhere between awe and reverence. Bruce wasn’t sure if the awe came from him being 215+ pounds overweight in college or something else. “That’s what it was, wasn’t it? You liked being fat.”

Bruce shifted again. “I...um. Well, honestly? ‘Like’ isn’t a strong enough word. I...ah. I loved it.” He stared at his thick hands, feeling the embarrassment flood him, even now. “It felt great to be that chubby. I felt powerful. I felt in charge of my destiny and in control of my life. I...enjoyed how my mass shifted and jiggled with each footfall. How my steps caused furniture to quake and rattle. How people couldn’t ignore me.” He heard a small squeak, and immediately narrowed his eyes. “Steve. Don’t turn this into something weird.”

“I’m not, I--It’s just, it’s--um...it’s--”

“Nah, you broke him, Pooh Bear.” Tony grinned like a shark and tweaked Bruce’s double chin before sobering. “I could make some quip about the Hulk, but I won’t. And while I’m sorry Betty made you lose your weight class and you went back to fighting featherweight--”

“Lightweight.”

“--whatever weight, it was still wrong of her to force it on you. I like that you liked bein’ a hunky chunky and that you’re finally getting to enjoy it, twenty-plus years later.” He rubbed the back of his neck and got quiet. “Makes me feel less like a creeper, anyway.”

Both Steve and Bruce frowned but only Bruce responded. “A...what? Why?”

Tony paused as an uncharacteristic blush tinted his cheeks. “Hm. Well...I ran my own little tests on you, Banner. My mind loved watching your weight shoot up so I casually recommended some meal ideas to our cooks. I told them to tweak the recipes to keep you large, and in charge.”

Bruce gently reached for Tony’s hand and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. “Thanks for telling me but if I’d minded I would’ve said something.” Tony snorted, looking bashfully at a corner of the room. “Trust me, my taste buds are so heightened that I can tell if there’s extra cream or another additive. It makes my meals extra delicious so I enjoy overeating to savor every bite.”

“Ohhh...” An unconscious moan dropped from Steve’s lips. Tony rolled his eyes even as Bruce grabbed Steve’s hand.

“You’re both ridiculous,” Bruce huffed. “But I love you anyway.” Bruce brought both their hands to his lips, kissing them. “I was destined to blow up. I just had to have the right company and the right motivation.”

“So...you’re not mad?”

Bruce looked pensive. “No, not really. Maybe disappointed you weren’t initially up front with me, but it’s okay. But let me know from here on out.

“In fact,” he sighed again, shifting his belly. He briefly pawed it, smirking at the bounce in his lap. “I think I’m nearing the point where I want to level out.”

“Aw, honest?”

“Steve, don’t be too upset.” A small smile pinked Bruce’s lips. “It was inevitable; you know I can’t keep gaining forever.” He gently rubbed Steve’s hand. “My human body is hitting some hard limits and it’s becoming difficult to move comfortably. I can’t walk too far - and running’s definitely out - but I’d like to be able to at walk around the house without a variety of ambulatory aids, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Steve pouted, causing Bruce to laugh. “I’ll miss measurement nights, though.”

Bruce winked at him. “I might not want to actively gain but I’m not planning on losing anything. So feel free to keep me in this range, plus or minus ten pounds.”

Steve’s expression brightened. “That I could do.”

“It’s a compromise, I’m sure. But I consider myself fluffy enough for your whims.”

“Stop,” Tony interrupted, laughing at their schmaltz. “No more, I’m done. I’m going to bed.”

“I think we should all turn in. It’s pretty late.”

“Early, you mean.” Steve offered his hand. Bruce took the help, rocking back and forth so the momentum could launch him from the couch’s deep divots. Steve smiled softly. His expression lingered on Bruce’s massive torso and on the button-down shirt with strained seams. “You need some new work shirts, Muffin.”

“Yeah. Maybe later today or tomorrow.”

“Shopping?” Tony yawned grandly and wrapped his arms around Bruce’s sides, though his fingers were more than a foot from connecting. Bruce chuckled as Tony slammed his head into his back, snuggling close. “Shopping’s my second favorite hobby.”

“And your first?”

“You blind, Banner? It’s you. And Steve, in a pinch.”

“In a pinch, huh? Thanks.”

“You two,” Bruce murmured. He motioned Steve over and stilled as both men wrapped around him in a cocoon of arm warmth. “My guys.”

“Always and forever,” Steve mumbled, and Bruce felt Tony nod against his back.

“Sleep now,” Tony said. “It’s chilly, and I need my Bruce-powered bed warmer.”

“You got it.”

They changed into comfortable clothes and tumbled into bed with Bruce between them. Bruce exhaled a loud, contented sigh as both Tony and Steve scooted into his body, cuddling snugly into his fat. He briefly reminiscent about his life, about the beginning of their time as a trio until now, and realized he was happier than he had any right to be. “Love you,” he whispered to them. He smiled after feeling a gentle whump while Lily found her sleep spot, completing their family.

Bruce mouthed you too to their pup, then settled into his own peaceful slumber.

#chubby bruce #chubby bruce fic #IFverse #infundofic #chubby bruce banner #steve rogers #tony stark #bruce banner #polyamory #stark spangled banner #chubby!bruce #bhm #chubby kink #chub love #full circle

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multipleservicelisting · 3 years

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San Francisco’s Tech Workers Make the Big Move

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Area struck a hard bargain with its tech workers.

Rent was astronomical. Taxes were high. Your neighbors didn’t like you. If you lived in San Francisco, you might have commuted an hour south to your job at Apple or Google or Facebook. Or if your office was in the city, maybe it was in a neighborhood with too much street crime, open drug use and $5 coffees.

But it was worth it. Living in the epicenter of a boom that was changing the world was what mattered. The city gave its workers a choice of interesting jobs and a chance at the brass ring.

That is, until the pandemic. Remote work offered a chance at residing for a few months in towns where life felt easier. Tech workers and their bosses realized they might not need all the perks and after-work schmooze events. But maybe they needed elbow room and a yard for the new puppy. A place to put the Peloton. A top public school.

They fled. They fled to tropical beach towns. They fled to more affordable places like Georgia. They fled to states without income taxes like Texas and Florida.

That’s where the story of the Bay Area’s latest tech era is ending for a growing crowd of tech workers and their companies. They have suddenly movable jobs and money in the bank — money that will go plenty further somewhere else.

But where? The No. 1 pick for people leaving San Francisco is Austin, Texas, with other winners including Seattle, New York and Chicago, according to moveBuddha, a site that compiles data on moving. Some cities have even set up recruiting programs to lure them to new homes. Miami’s mayor has even been inviting tech people to move there in his Twitter posts.

I talked to more than two dozen tech executives and workers who have left San Francisco for other parts of the country over the last year, like a young entrepreneur who moved home to Georgia and another who has created a community in Puerto Rico. Here are some of their stories.

Ah, the normal life

“I miss San Francisco. I miss the life I had there,” said John Gardner, 35, the founder and chief executive of Kickoff, a remote personal training start-up, who packed his things into storage and left in a camper van to wander America. “But right now it’s just like: What else can God and the world and government come up with to make the place less livable?”

A couple of months later, Mr. Gardner wrote: “Greetings from sunny Miami Beach! This is about the 40th place I’ve set up a temporary headquarters for Kickoff.”

Remote personal training happens to coincide well with remote life, but he said his start-up’s growth this past year was also due to his leaving the tech bubble and immersing himself in more normal communities, a few days at a time.

The biggest tech companies aren’t going anywhere, and tech stocks are still soaring. Apple’s flying-saucer-shaped campus is not going to zoom away. Google is still absorbing ever more office space in San Jose and San Francisco. New founders are still coming to town.

But the migration from the Bay Area appears real. Residential rents in San Francisco are down 27 percent from a year ago, and the office vacancy rate has spiked to 16.7 percent, a number not seen in a decade.

Though prices had dropped only slightly, Zillow reported more homes for sale in San Francisco than a year ago. For more than month last year, 90 percent of the searches involving San Francisco on moveBuddha were for people moving out.

Twitter, Yelp, Airbnb and Dropbox have tried to sublease some of their San Francisco office space. Pinterest, which has one of the most iconic offices in town, paid $90 million to break a lease for a site where it planned to expand. And companies like Twitter and Facebook have announced “work from home forever” plans.

“Moving into a $1.3 million house that we saw only on video for 20 minutes and said yes,” wrote Mike Rothermel, a designer at Cisco who moved from the Bay Area to Boulder, Colo., with his wife last summer. “It’s a mansion compared to SF for the same money.”

The amount of room they have felt surreal after various Bay Area apartments. He told me they have so much counter space, they can keep appliances like the food processor in the kitchen itself.

And then the people around them — neighbors — started doing something strange. They brought cinnamons rolls and handwritten welcome notes.

Wait, no income tax?

“We’re selling our house and moving out of SF. Where should we go and why?” Justin Kan, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Twitch, asked on Twitter in August.

Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir, which moved from Silicon Valley to Denver, wrote back: “Come to Austin with us. Growing tech ecosystem and Texas is the best place to make a stand together for a free society.”

Also: no state income taxes.

Austin, population one million and the Texas city most would say is closest in spirit to the Bay Area, has long had a healthy tech industry. The computer giant Dell is based nearby. The University of Texas is one of the top public colleges in the country. And the music scene is eclectic and creative.

Now the local tech industry is rapidly expanding. Apple is opening a $1 billion, 133-acre campus. Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook have all either expanded their footprints in Austin or have plans to. Elon Musk, the Tesla founder and one of the two richest men in the world, said he had moved to Texas. Start-up investor money is arriving, too: The investors at 8VC and Breyer Capital opened Austin offices last year.

Some of the favorite gurus of tech workers are already there, like Tim Ferriss, life-hacker, who left for Austin in 2017, and Ryan Holiday, whose writing about stoicism is influential among the start-up set.

Sahin Boydas, the founder of a remote-work start-up who had lived in San Francisco and its suburbs over the last decade, saw all of that. He looked at his wife and two young children, working and learning from home while crammed into a Cupertino rental that had seen better days. Much of the late summer, the air was full of smoke from wildfires. For days, electricity would go in and out at his house.

“You start to feel stupid,” said Mr. Boydas, who is 37. “I can understand the 1 percent rich people, the very top investors and entrepreneurs, they can be happy there.”

So he and his family moved to Austin. For the same price as their three-bedroom apartment in Cupertino, they have a five-bedroom home on an acre of land. For the first time, Mr. Boydas has outdoor space. He just acquired two rabbits for his children. Sure, it’s (very) hot, but he’s ready for it.

“We’re going to get a cat and a dog,” he said. “We could never do that before.”

And it’s not just the cost of rent that is lower — the water bill is lower; the trash bill is lower; the cost of a family dinner at a restaurant has fallen significantly. Mr. Boydas said he hadn’t even known about the taxes.

“I run payroll for myself, and when I saw zero, I called the accountant like there’s an error — there’s no tax line here,” he said. “And they were like, ‘Yeah there’s no tax.’”

“Ok guys hear me out, what if we move Silicon Valley to Miami,” tweeted Delian Asparouhov, a principal at Founders Fund, which invests in start-ups.

The mayor of Miami wrote back last month: “How can I help?”

Now there is a very vocal Miami faction, led by a few venture capital influencers, trying to tweet the city’s start-up world into existence.

The San Francisco exodus means the talent and money of newly remote tech workers are up for grabs. And it’s not just the mayor of Miami trying to lure them in.

Topeka, Kan., started Choose Topeka, which will reimburse new workers $10,000 for the first year of rent or $15,000 if they buy a home. Tulsa, Okla. will pay you $10,000 to move there. The nation of Estonia has a new residency program just for digital nomads.

A program in Savannah, Ga., will reimburse remote workers $2,000 for the move there, and the city has created various social activities to introduce the newcomers to one another and to locals.

“We try to make the transition easy,” said Jennifer Bonnett, vice president of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Savannah Economic Development Authority, whose program started in June.

Keyan Karimi, 29 and a start-up investor, took Savannah’s invitation to move there (though he didn’t ask for the reimbursement).

Seeing the inequality of billionaires in San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood and the homeless camps down the hill ground on him. So Mr. Karimi went home to his parents house in Atlanta to ride out some of the pandemic. Then he detected something strange. The city he thought was boring had gotten pretty interesting. Or maybe he had just never noticed before.

“I had no idea how much was going on here. I was sort of myopic,” he said, pausing and correcting himself: “No, I was arrogant.”

Mr. Karimi started looking at Zillow and studying the Southern cities he had ignored. He likes old houses and wants to fix one up. Savannah has a lot of those. So just a few months after leaving his $4,000-a-month one-bedroom in San Francisco, he’s working with the local business development group to put together a maritime innovation center in Savannah to invest in and guide shipping and logistics start-ups. He bought one of those old houses.

Savannah has one of the largest ports in the country. “No one knows that,” Mr. Karimi said. “I figure we can do something with that.”

The only downside is mosquitoes, he said. “I get eaten alive.”

There are 33,000 members in the Facebook group Leaving California and 51,000 in its sister group, Life After California. People post pictures of moving trucks and links to Zillow listings in new cities.

The founder of both groups, Terry Gilliam, is planning to take members on a house-hunting road trip through eastern Tennessee this spring with stops in popular post-S.F. destinations. One tour will be Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City.

“When people decide to leave San Francisco, they usually don’t know where they want to go, they just want to go,” Mr. Gilliam said.

Mr. Gilliam, who met his wife when they worked at a Bay Area Chili’s restaurant, said she wouldn’t let the family move yet. And so the Pied Piper of the California-bashing Facebook community is still in Fremont, on the eastern end of Silicon Valley.

The gang’s all … here now

“People always get pissed at me when they hear birds in my Zoom,” said Ed Zaydelman, a longtime leader in San Francisco’s Burning Man community (and former New York City club promoter), who is forming an entrepreneur community in Costa Rica. “And I say, ‘Come join.’”

If San Francisco of the 2010s proved anything, it’s the power of proximity. Entrepreneurs could find a dozen start-up pitch competitions every week within walking distance. If they left a big tech company, there were start-ups eager to hire, and if a start-up failed, there was always another.

They could live jammed into a rambling Victorian with fellow nerds who — thanks to the popularity of polyamory — were having a lot of sex. More money was made faster in the Bay Area by fewer people than at any other time in American history.

No one leaving the city is arguing that a culture of innovation is going to spring up over Zoom. So some are trying to recreate it. They are getting into property development, building luxury tiny-home compounds and taking over big, funky houses in old resort towns.

“All these people want to do is this live-on-the-land stuff, but it’s not as easy as people think,” Mr. Zaydelman said.

He calls his new development company Nookleo, and he is building five tiny-home communities for remote workers. The little houses cost between $30,000 and 40,000. Each compound has four to six homes, a small organic farm, a yoga deck, a swimming pool and a kitchen clubhouse. Two clusters are already underway in Costa Rica, with Mexico and Portugal next.

In Puerto Rico, Gillian Morris, the founder of the travel app Hitlist, is also recruiting. Her San Francisco breaking point came after her roommate was attacked on their street, and she did a sort of gut check of herself over whether the street scenes and feeling of danger were worth the high rent. She moved to San Juan in 2019, even though it also has a crime problem. But now she lives in a huge house in the middle of the city.

“I have 12 people leaving San Francisco over the next three months to join a co-living community I set up,” she said. “It’s amazing here.”

And for the Baja-leaning, there is Bear Kittay, a co-founder of Good Money, an online banking platform. Now Mr. Kittay, another longtime fixture of the Burning Man festival turned developer, is building a property for the new digital nomads.

“The things that make this city ill are not within my control to change,” he said of San Francisco. “A lot of people are choosing to go to places where there’s opportunity, and maybe it’s a place that is more conservative and there can be an integration of dialogue. Or a place where they can live closer to nature. That’s what we’re doing.”

Nikil Viswanathan, who co-founded the blockchain start-up Alchemy, recently fled San Francisco. He said that there was no reason anymore for him or his colleagues to be there, and that he had always wanted to live on the beach. So now he does, in San Diego.

But the expats still find one another. Not long ago, he stumbled on a cluster at a party.

“I knew it was an S.F. crew because when I walked in because they had the full dual monitor with the ergonomic keyboard on a standing desk,” Mr. Viswanathan said, adding that conversation revolved around the lower cost of living. “One of the S.F. guys was like: ‘I just had a burrito for $6. It was amazing.’”

The last burrito he had in San Francisco cost $15.

They won’t necessarily be missed

Longtime Bay Area residents may well say good riddance to people like Mr. Viswanathan. People who distrusted the young newcomers from the start will say this change is a good thing. Hasn’t this steep growth in wealth and population in a tiny geography always seemed unsustainable?

These tech workers came like a whirlwind. Virtually every community from San Jose in the south to Marin County in the north has fought the rise of new housing for the arrivals of the last decade. Maybe spreading the tech talent around America is smart.

Locals have also seen this play before. Moving trucks come to take a generation of tech ambition away, and a few years later moving trucks return with new dreamers and new ambitions.

After the dot-com bust in 2001, there were fallow years before the latest, long-lasting boom — just as there were fallow years after the PC industry consolidated a decade earlier. That led to the dot-com boom. It is the circle of life in the Bay Area.

And those who are staying are digging in. “When 12 friends left, it felt like powerlessness,” said Diana Helmuth, a 32-year-old writer and marketer in Oakland. “Like these forces were too big. The forces of the world felt too big.”

Now, though, she is hardening toward those who say life is better somewhere else and were in town only for a job. “I say, ‘Great, goodbye, have a great time somewhere else.’”

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denisecua · 6 years

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While working on our Taiwan itinerary, I realized there aren’t as many available travel tips and guides online about the country, as there are for Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. So upon getting back from my trip, I figured I should let my experiences be learning grounds for your future travels here. And without further adieu, let me present to you Taiwan (or Taipei) in lists of tips, tricks, hits and misses.

Flight: AirAsia

Very cheap roundtrip flights from Manila to Taipei– PHP 3,000 without check-in baggage and PHP 5,000 with 20kg of check-in baggage. Both include (strictly) 7kg carry-on allowance. Travel tax excluded.

AirAsia flights to Taiwan is only once a day apparently. Took the 11:15 PM flight out and the 1:45 AM flight back to Manila.

One of my fastest check-ins ever, especially during departure. Finished everything in 15-20 minutes! Way less people compared to Cebu Pacific which had super long lines heading to Taipei at the same time.

Flight was comfy, and the plane was nice and clean. Leg room, as you can expect, is quite limited, such that when I’d cross my legs, my knees would hit the next seat.

No blankets for lending!!! You’d have to purchase their AirAsia-branded blankets at PHP 500. Not cool! Or should I say, too cool because I was nearly freezing?!

For in-flight meals, you have to pre-book them if you don’t want to take chances. Pretty cheap, at around PHP 150-200 a meal.

Weather in August: H-O-T!!!!

August is Taiwan’s hottest month. Clearly we didn’t research prior to booking! Can go as high as 38 degrees Celcius!

Recommendation: Don’t book in August so you can maximize your stay! We got tired too easily due to the debilitating heat.

Money

Their currency is New Taiwanese Dollar.

Conversion from NTD to PHP is 1.7.

For money exchange, you have to do it at the airport upon arrival or at the banks. They don’t have FOREX stalls everywhere like in Hong Kong. So carefully plan your exchange in advance.

For pocket money, average spend a day (given our itinerary — available upon request) would be at around PHP 3,000-4,000 excluding shopping.

Accommodation: Meander Hostel

Definitely a place I’d recommend if you’re traveling on a budget! It’s a hostel but with private rooms.

Got the Triple Room with 1 queen bed and 1 double bed–comfy. Spacious enough. Looks new and clean. Has minimalist design.

Had troubles with the air conditioner–wouldn’t get cold enough for a day or two!

Shower area is more than sufficient, and heater works great! I could take showers for hours. Jk.

Total cost for 4 nights was at PHP 17,000 but thanks to Agoda Rewards, we got it for PHP 15,000. Just PHP 5,000 per head! So affordable!

No windows in the room; could use better lighting = Not very ideal for girls who spend a long time putting on makeup!!!!

Has a common room at the G/F. Very cozy and you can mingle with fellow travellers. You can also bring food and eat there. Has free-flowing water and wintermelon tea. Also coffee, milk tea, bread and fruits in the AM for breakfast.

Not allowed to bring outside shoes in. They give you slippers to use. Not sure if that’s hygienic but I think they sanitize it after every use. The upside is that you don’t have to bring your own slippers anymore.

Location is a-ok! Just 10 minutes away from Ximending on foot. You just have to walk one straight line/street so you won’t get lost. Also has nearby convenience stores.

Transporation

From Taoyuan International Airport, we shared a cab going to our hostel since it was late already (2AM) and it was cost-effective given that we were 4 people.

Getting around is mostly thru their MRT which is super easy to understand. We didn’t have to buy stored value cards since buying single tickets was always a breeze. Never a line! MRT is also very clean and not so crowded.

Most frequented line is the blue line–Bannan. That’s where Ximen is located right smack at the middle. This is why I recommend you choose a hotel in Ximen, since it’s close to the many areas you’re likely to visit as a tourist.

Going back to airport, we asked help from our hostel and they booked us a 9-seater van for just NT 1700. Not bad! From Ximen to Taoyuan, we only took 40 minutes.

Advantages of Taiwan over Hong Kong

Much, much friendlier people.

Less fast-paced so you can travel more calmly.

Cleaner, especially the toilets!

Generally cheaper.

Shopping

For international clothing brands, they have H&M and Uniqlo in Ximending (more expensive though) and GU, Pull & Bear, ZARA, and Bershka in Taipei 101 area.

They also have the usual sports stores like adidas, Nike, New Balance, and Jordan in Ximending, but I never entered. Hihi.

Speaking of Ximending, they say that’s Taipei’s counterpart of Myeongdong in Seoul. While I still managed to have fun (because I will always, always find a way to shop successfully), I recommend not expecting too much. I found that there aren’t as many interesting stores, and even their food offerings were underwhelming.

Highlight for me was the skincare variety. They have super cheap sheet masks, so better hoard! Go for 86 Shop and Paris Strawberry, as they have better pricing. More on this here.

For Taiwanese delicacies (pasalubong alert!), buy from the corner/semi-hidden stores that don’t look fancy. The well-lit and nicer-looking ones have higher prices. For instance, I got salty yolk cookies for just NT 120 a pack while at the better-looking stores, they were selling it to me for NT 180. Nonetheless, they all provide free tastes so you can make sure the goodies are yummy before you buy them!

Re: Supermarkets, I’m not sure if I was just blind but there weren’t so many. I only found Jason’s Marketplace in Taipei 101 and in Ximending (near Exit 1 of Ximen Station). My favorite purchases were the frozen fried rice–huge variety (salmon, sausage, hawaiian, kimchi, smoked pork, etc.) and super cheap (NT 48–definitely more affordable than the Spam kimchi fried rice packs in Korea). Note: Put in carry-on because it’s not allowed for check-in baggage.

Food

Gudetama Cafe in Zhongxiao Dunhua is super cute! But, food could be better. I say don’t go there starving. Just get snacks or desserts there for Instagram purposes. Do note that you have to reserve in advance. I did thru eztable.com, and they require advanced consumable payment of NT 200 per head.

Yong Kang Street has a lot of restaurants and stalls you can try out: Scallion Pancakes (yum!), Smoothie House (line too long), etc. They also have the first ever Din Tai Fung there but waiting time is usually about 45 – 75 minutes. Personally, I find that it tastes the same as those in HK and SG, and nothing more.

Mala Hotpot!!!! Best hotpot buffet ever!!!! Their beef cuts are so generous, premium and lean! Soup tastes heavenly! They also have unlimited Haagen-Dazs ice cream with about 12 flavors. Unlimited canned drinks, too, and free-flowing coffee and tea. YUM YUM YUM! Per head: NT 598 for lunch and NT 698 for dinner and weekends. Note: Must call ahead of time for reservation.

Chose Raohe Night Market over Shi Lin because they say it’s less crowded there. Didn’t regret it. Place isn’t packed, and has good variety of food stalls. Do come with friends though so you can share food and try a lot of different things. My faves from there include the Walking Steak Cup and the big-ass chicken. Oh and the candied strawberry, too, for dessert!

7-Eleven is also close to my heart because they have this microwavable packed Spicy Chicken similar to KFC’s Hotshots that taste so yummy! Also very cheap at NT 38 if I remember correctly.

Mos Burger (originally from Japan) is also

Milk tea!!! If you’re not watching your sugar and dairy intake closely, go all out!

Attractions

Taipei 101 is a must-visit because it’s a key attraction in Taipei. It also has many stores from fashion to food. The Observatory is another thing. You pay about PHP 800 and the lines are excruciatingly long (maybe because we went on a weekend) and the view is meh. The outdoor viewing was also closed when we visited so that added to our disappointment.

Visited Huashan 1914 Creative Park for the “Hello My Name is Paul Smith” exhibit. I found that it was a breath of fresh air from the usual Taipei scene. Very artsy place! The exhibit was funky and colorful as expected. You’d leave the place with very nice pictures for sure. The entrance fee is not bad either at NT 280 for foreign visitors, and exhibit is set to run until September 3, 2017 only. [Note: Clearly, I published this too late.)

Joined KKday’s Day Tour from Taipei at USD 33 each, inclusive of bus transfers starting from Taipei Main Station but exclusive of entrance fees and food:

First stop: Yehliu Geopark for the rock formations. Very unique but also very hot. Remember to wear sunscreen–we forgot!!! Good thing this was first in the agenda, otherwise we’d have no energy to go around given the vast place and the hell-like heat!

Commercial: Be wary of the time. If tour guide says meeting time is at 11:00, she really means it. Otherwise, you’d get left behind just like our friend. Hahaha! It’s funny now but it was stressful at the time it was happening.

Second stop: Shifen Old Street for the lantern flying and lunch! For the lanterns, you can buy based on what you wish for (i.e. Wealth, Marriage, Happiness, and the like) and they cost at NT 200 a piece. You also get to write and draw your wishes on it usng a chinese pen (mopit), and take photos/videos as you let it go up in the air. They do this along the railway. As for the food part, I say it’s one of the best! We had Yakult slushie, barbecued chicken wing with rice inside, fried cuttlefish, and peanut ice cream roll. Gooda gooda in mah belly! ❤

Third stop: Shifen Waterfalls — underwhelming to be honest! I don’t know, maybe we were exhausted at this point but walking all the way to the falls didn’t feel worth it. It was smaller in person than in the photos. 😦

Fourth stop: Jiufen. If you’re a fan of the movie Spirited Away, be sure to visit! But if not, I honestly didn’t find it that interesting. It’s just an old alley that’s uphill–so many steps. We kept grumpling because we were so tired and sweaty and I was having allergies from my sweat and sunburn from Yehliu. We wondered how come the oldies have more energy than us. Hahaha! Highlight: Cute cat shops. There are about three!

Things I’d Do If/When I Go Back

Elephant Mountain because a pretty Canadian girl we met at the hostel recommended it for its view — you can see Taipei skyline including Taipei 101; I realize the skyline is only nice when the tower is in sight.

Cat Village because nobody wanted to go with me 😦

Mala Hotpot because it’s the bestest!

Meander Hostel because I miss their sofa :))

National Palace Museum because the hostel people said it has interesting treasures from China. Hmmmmm.

IKEA because apparently Taiwan has one!

Ichiran because apparently they just opened there, and we were plain oblivious.

[Long Overdue Post] A Roundup of My Taipei Trip While working on our Taiwan itinerary, I realized there aren't as many available travel tips and guides online about the country, as there are for Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

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ironic-jess · 5 years

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Hello again!

Here we are with another travel post. I recently had a little city break to Amsterdam with a friend of mine, to celebrate the beginning of Easter. We went for 3 days from Monday-Wednesday and we took the Eurostar, which I personally think is the best way to travel.

As requested on my Instagram, here is our itinerary of the three days. We didn’t plan everything down a T as we just wanted a relaxing break so I’ll include a few things we didn’t get the chance to do but would do if we went back!

The Travel & Hotel

First of all, I’ll begin by telling you how we got there and where we stayed.

The break was booked through Eurostar so included train tickets to Amsterdam central from St Pancras International and train tickets for the way back. It also included a 2-night stay at Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Central, situated next to Rembrandt park in Amsterdam West. The number 13 tram goes right into central Amsterdam and takes about 20 minutes, so don’t worry about distance!

It was an affordable 4-star hotel with city views and a breakfast bar on floor 17 with an open top view, what more could you ask for?

Day 1

After arriving in Amsterdam and checking into our hotel, we ventured back into central between 3 and 4pm. Here is what we got up to:

Canal Cruise: Featured on the iamsterdam website, the canal cruise is 100% worth purchasing. You can go to any pickup point around central Amsterdam and choose from a list of approved canal companies to hop on, we got really lucky with the weather and had a gorgeous boat ride. I’d seriously recommend picking a boat that has outdoor seating as its a lot easier to see the sights and get a cute Instagram!

Dinner: After our canal cruise, we were really craving fish and chips (I know, how Dutch) so we headed to one of the best-rated restaurants for fresh seafood which is ‘The Good Companion’. Close to the Anne Frank house, a 10-minute walk took us to one of the best fish and chip experiences of my life! Plus their extended conservatory area is lovely on a sunny evening.

Walk around the 9 streets area: Around the Anne Frank house is an area called the Nine Streets, or in Dutch, ‘The Negen Straatjes’. This is a small neighbourhood consisting of nine side streets that are generally known as a cosy shopping district. You can find so many boutique little shops and cafes and is one of the most instagrammable areas of the city. We visited a second-hand luxury vintage store which had gorgeous vintage LV bags and a lingerie store called ‘Love Stories’ that was also beautiful.

Albert Heijn: This is basically Amsterdam’s equivalent to Sainsbury’s, but it’s worth going just once! We picked up some traditional Dutch Stroopwaffles and Rose Cakes for less than 2 euro. It’s a great place to pick up some traditional sweets and chocolate to take on your travels home. BUT be wary as they don’t accept MasterCard or visa payments and only some tills will let you pay with cash, so come prepared!

Ton Ton Club: Okay so we didn’t actually do this BUT we wanted to! This place is essentially an adult playground full of retro arcade games and cocktails.

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Day 2

Dam Square & Royal Palace of Amsterdam: We started by visiting Dam Square and the Royal Palace (which was, unfortunately, closed for visitors when we went) and got some gorgeous pictures! They have really great shops around the square but its mostly great for pictures.

Magna Plaza Shopping Centre: Just before you walk into Dam Square there is a small (but beautiful) shopping centre whether I discovered the clothing/homeware store ‘Sissy Boy’ and another clothing store called ‘America Today’. If you like & Other Stories, you have to visit Sissy Boy – I fell in love pretty much Instantly and America Today had some gorgeous little raincoats

Pluk Amsterdam: For Lunch, we stopped by the 9 streets again to visit this adorable cafe I’d been following on Instagram for a long time and I got some amazing soup and some cute photos.

Rijksmuseum: This is one of Amsterdam’s most famous historical (and art) museums, located in Museum Square. It was pretty busy when we went and we decided to go to the Stedelijk museum instead, but if you’re interested in a range of art and history from the middle ages to the present day then check this place out!

Stedelijk Museum: We decided to visit the Stedelijk as we had more of an interest in modern art and design and they had some really cool installation pieces (my weakness).

Vondelpark: We actually took a walk through Vondelpark on the way back to our hotel. It’s a gorgeous park but unfortunately for us, it started raining pretty badly so we had to run all the way back to our hotel.

The Butcher: We PLANNED to go back out to this burger place that had amazing reviews but we were so wet and miserable, we just ordered pizza (it was terrible) – but definitely go here if you can, apparently it’s amazing!

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Day 3

De Pijp & Albert Cuypmarkt: On our last day we visited the ‘De Pijp’ borough to see the stalls in Albert Cuypmarkt. There are some great food and drink places here, of note is ‘Coffee and Coconuts’ which is really highly rated.

Nieuwendijk Street: On our way back to Amsterdam Central (to get the train back home) we walked down one of Amsterdam’s major shopping streets (where I picked up some amazing trainers from a store called ‘Sascha’).

Amsterdam Centraal Starbucks: Whilst waiting for the train we popped into the Starbucks in Amsterdam Central Station which is actually built into a beautiful old building that has a view over the square in front of the station.

It was a very short trip and we decided to keep it chilled and just do whatever we felt like doing so this isn’t a very succinct itinerary BUT here are some different things to do than falling into the tourist traps of the Red Light District and Sex Museum etc.

Speak Soon,

Ironic Jess xo

What to do on your first visit to Amsterdam (and how to avoid the Red Light District) Hello again! Here we are with another travel post. I recently had a little city break to Amsterdam with a friend of mine, to celebrate the beginning of Easter.

#3 day trip #amsterdam #Amsterdam trip #eurostar #pluk amsterdam #travel blog

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lostborderline · 4 years

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Week Overview

This week has been relatively good to me honestly. I’ve probably had more good than bad happen. Even if I did stress out pretty bad sometimes. I’m going to start chronologically as much as possible.

Friday: In the morning I was about to go to Target, and thought my boyfriend wanted to come because we always grocery shop together but he didn’t so I went alone. Which is fine, I enjoy shopping alone because I can take my time. While sitting in the parking lot, someone who lived in one of the buildings asked me for a ride to Stop and Shop so she didn’t have to take the bus. She is a very nice, old black woman and I’ve met her previously. I agreed to take her and we talked along the way. I suppose this was my good deed for the day. After I got paid, I ordered HTV sheets online for my shirts and it was a relatively good price and they were apparently way better quality than the ones I was using. I also ordered some skincare products from Elf because they’re products are not only amazing, but affordable too. It was only $15 for 5 products and I figured I needed some actual products and I want to care for myself more. I hung out with my cousin today as well, we went to BAM and I got a deck of Oracle cards and a set of citrine crystal earrings which are beautiful. We headed back to my grandma’s house and sat outside with my aunt, grandma, uncle, and cousin. My aunt mentioned that I should buy some crystals to go along with the deck of cards and suggested a place I completely forgot existed, Pandora’s Box. I took my cousin up there with me to Norwich and purchased selenite, black tourmaline, and black onyx as well as a mini satchel, and a depression aid kit.

Sunday: I decided to make a mini jar of prosperity oil as I watched a video of someone else making one. I decided to make it my own because everyone has different ingredients. It is supposed to attract money and success into your life. The ingredients I added were: mint (money, prosperity), basil (money, success), cinnamon (prosperity, good luck, energy), sesame oil (creativity, passion, money, success), patchouli essential oil (money, wealth, prosperity, material goods), sugar (fast acting agent). It was recommended to leave the oil to sit for two weeks so it can absorb all the herbs within the oil. I also went to Walmart and bought a nice lamp and a daylight bulb so that I can do my makeup in my room without the shitty lighting. When I tested it out, it was amazing and I was obsessed. It is amazing for photos as well as doing makeup. Later on this day, I organized my desk area to accommodate space for my makeup, shop items, school items, and machinery. It felt really good to do this.

Monday: Today marked the start of my weeklong Summer break before going back August 31st. I also slept the whole day because I was really tired. When I woke up, I went to Walmart and bought a nice wok for only $6. It’s 14 inches and I made vegetable fried rice with it, it is a dream to cook on.

Tuesday: Today my HTV sheets arrived. After work I went to Walmart and got a nice clothing rack to hang my products on, it was only $9 and was easy to assemble. I also assembled it myself while my boyfriend went out and did whatever. I also bought 6 shirts, 3 med, and 3 large. I tested out the HTV by printing one of my popular designs onto it and applying it with the heat press. It was a hot peel unlike my other transfer sheets which were cold peel. There was a definite quality difference and it was easy to use. I was very scared to peel it because I messed up every time before. At first, there was some product coming off but I put it back down and put the heat press on it again. Eventually it came out nice and it is currently hanging on the rack waiting to be sold. I started my bullet journal today with the one I bought a few weeks ago when I noticed my current notebook getting filled up. It’s initial intention was to be exactly like my current notebook, but then I decided I wanted to make it a bullet journal and (actually use it this time) and make it look really pretty. As always, if I don’t “vibe” with a journal or a notebook, I tend to not use it or want to use it. It originally was very plain blue with a quote on it. I felt that I would not vibe with this so I added some personalization to it with stickers I had and even added one of my own. Finally putting a use to all the unused stickers I have (that are not mine). I did also make some sticker designs because I’ve been putting it off. I made 3 sticker designs. I thought they turned out really nice. However, when I printed them, they didn’t have a nice quality. It was solely due to the fact of how I was creating them (my art software that does not have transparency, which is essential for sticker making). I attempted to use scissors to get rid of the nasty border and used an exacto knife for the insides, and I accidentally cut myself on it, so great.

Wednesday: Today was a pretty good day actually. At work, things went smoothly. I was the order taker, and normally it feels like the shift goes by forever but it wasn’t that bad this time. I was the one in charge so I made sure everything was done for the next shift and that everything went by smoothly and answered any phone calls and whatever. Later on this day, I was fed up with my designs not being the best quality that it can be. I decided to check out the Apple website because I love seeing their products, they’re so nice and smooth. I ended up applying for an Apple Card (which before I was denied 3 times), I actually got approved this time which is amazing! So, due to that, I was able to finance a brand new iPad Air 2019 and the first gen Apple Pencil. It is only $47 a month for both so it really is not bad at all. I am planning on canceling my gym membership, because I don’t even go, and honestly I feel I am content with my body right now and I don’t need a gym to get exercise. I still have yet to come into PF to cancel because you can’t do it over the phone. To make things better, before purchasing, I did do all the math to make sure I was financially stable especially for the upcoming weeks because I have bills due on the second week of September. I made a plan to save all my change to deposit into my account and to limit eating out to only once a week. (it shouldn’t be that hard). As of right now, my bills in tips that I make I will be depositing into my joint account to help pay for groceries because we are a little behind. I also consulted my friend Rheanna about the iPad because she has one for her shop. She has a different version but she says it is absolutely worth it and that I should definitely do it. So, in conclusion, it is a great investment for my business. Also, I would be using it for more than just that. I would be taking notes for school, grocery shopping lists, calculator as well (because with wearing face masks in the store, it makes Face ID unusable so it is a hassle to open the calculator, and the iPad I got has Touch ID instead) and much more. It is portable so I can draw anywhere literally. With my laptop PC and graphic tablet I can’t do that. I am actually very glad I got this and my pencil is supposed to arrive Thursday while it will take the iPad 2-3 weeks to arrive unfortunately.

Thursday: Today, I was actually at work on time. Work went pretty smooth and I got everything done, there was no yelling at all or complaints. My coworker invited me to his upcoming event where people can be vendors and sell their shirts and other products. Showcase their shops kind of. He said he is planning on getting the permit to host the event in New London (which is the perfect place). Originally he said it would be a cash only event, but I suggested that a lot of people only carry card, like myself. I suggested that we accept Cashapp, PayPal and even get those tiny Square card reader things that plug into your phone. I also gave some more ideas. He said he would be having food catered to the event and I suggested that the vendors should also make homemade food to bring to cut costs on the event, as it will be free to get in. I suggested that when the advertisement begins, that I would help advertise as I have a big following on Facebook and I even said I would create a banner with a piece of every vendor’s art to show potential guests what they are in for. Eventually he asked me to help with the event, to which I said yes. I actually am very excited for this as it will be good business for everyone.

#week update #overview #week overview #journal

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hopingforbabyblog · 4 years

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Even though this vacation to Nevada has been really relaxing I wish I would have planned it for a couple weeks earlier. The first reason being that this particular January has been exceptionally cold in Alaska, and I wish I would have gotten out of our cold snap sooner. The second reason I feel like I planned my vacation a little too late is the timing of it fell within the crucial three-month window prior to FET. The three months prior to FET are important for building up a thick uterine lining to improve the odds of embryo implantation. I’m not aware of definitive evidence that stress in and of itself causes implantation issues, but I do believe that stress can contribute to poor health decisions (i.e., drinking, smoking, overeating) that can in turn affect implantation.

I tend to get stressed when I travel at times. A delayed flight, waiting in a crowded airport, and squishing like anchovies into the ever-shrinking plane seats are just some of the typical stressors when flying. But now the news is talking about the threat of coronavirus. To top it off both of the airports I went through (Anchorage and Las Vegas) had confirmed cases of coronavirus. I later learned the news seemed to overinflate the actual severity of the issue, using dramatic language that might lead viewers to believe it’s an epidemic, knowing that helped put my mind at ease somewhat. A few years back the major risk to pregnant women and women TTC was the Zika virus. I think if you want to play it as safe as possible don’t schedule a vacation during your three months prior to FET, unless it’s a ‘staycation’ or you are traveling for your actual FET.

Catch-up on Previous FET Prep Posts

FET Prep Week 1: 3.5 months until FET

FET Prep Week 2: Supplements, WTF Email, & Increased AMH Level

FET Prep Week 3: You say Future Tripping, I say Future Planning

FET Prep Week 4: Bad News from SIS Test

FET Prep Week 5: Surgery, Depression & Trip to Nevada

Countdown Until FET: 69 days (as of 02-15-2020)

Taking it Easy

You know the type of vacations where you are go, go, go non-stop with so many activities and you have a specific plan for each day, well I chose not to do any of that for this one and it has been working out pretty well. Although we’ve been busy, it’s been nice to not be the ‘planner’ and to just go along with whatever everyone else wants to do. This vacation, I chose to just let go and take it easy. I’ve been to Nevada a few times before and already saw the major must-see things, so I didn’t feel the urge to create a must-see list this time around. I just let my husband and mother-in-law plan the events.

I think this vacation has been a nice balance of relaxing and also going to different events. It’s nice to go to bed and not have to set an alarm for the morning. It felt like such a luxury to be able to sleep in as long as I wanted. There were only a couple days that were warm enough to be outside in the sun since we’ve been here. It’s been crazy windy, so much so that they actually have a high wind warning in effect. The wind is so strong it sometimes shakes the house. It was kind of funny to see about 40 tumbleweeds whip across the street at the same time. Not a good time to go for a walk and catch a prickly tumbleweed to the face. No thanks. I’ll stay inside until it dies down. It’s also been cold outside most of this week, in the 30s and 40s mostly. I learned this cold snap in Nevada was pushing down from Alaska. How typical, just when we try to leave Alaska’s cold weather it follows us.

This wind is redonkulous! One of the many windy days on our vacation.

Okay this one turned out better, with less wind whipping my hair around.

So although the weather has been crappy most of the week while on vacation, we still had fun doing other things. We saw Shin Lim, the magician, at his Vegas show. Normally I am not into magic shows, but this guy I swear is a true wizard. I saw him on America’s Got Talent, where he showed a card to the camera and somehow was able to make the numbers on the card actually change. Here is his show on AGT where he does that trick at the 20:00 minute mark. How in the actual eff did he do that? I was definitely impressed with his show in Vegas. I won’t give away too many details of the show, but it is definitely entertaining and I highly recommend you go check him out.

I also went to my first Tournament of Kings show, and I nearly s**t myself several times when the pyrotechnics went off. I felt like an idiot with how many times I screamed with each burst of fireworks. You definitely won’t fall asleep with this show, I’ll tell you that! So if you aren’t familiar with the Tournament of Kings, it’s a show where the performers act out a medieval storyline. The audience sits circled around the actors as they have epic battles using swords and also do jousting with real horses.

We did some other cool things on our trip too. We drove to Mount Charleston. I didn’t expect to see snow in Nevada, so that was pretty cool (cheesy pun intended).

Of course we went to a handful of different casinos and tried our luck on the slots. Well, I mostly watched Kurtis try his luck on the slots. I’m not much of a gambler. The first time I ever visited Vegas years ago I had very little money. I would go from casino to casino and sign up for their players club card, where you would get free plays on the slots. It wasn’t worth much, maybe $10-$15 but it was still fun to try it out and not worry about losing money. I did a little of that this time also. I tend to enjoy playing bingo more than slots. The first time I ever played bingo back home I won $1,000, beginners luck of course.

Keeping up with Supplements While on Vacation

I am not being super strict about following a diet while on vacation, although I could have been. I had a very laissez faire approach with my FET prep while on vacation. Although I did try to consistently take my supplements.

Here’s what I did to help me stay on top of taking my supplements while on vacation:

Reuse old prescription bottles for free pill organization.

Take a marker and write on the cap when you plan to take your medicine. For example I wrote “AM” on the ones I take with breakfast and “PM” on the ones I take with lunch. Since I am also taking L-arginine multiple times throughout the day I decided to create my own travel bottle specifically for that supplement.

Set phone reminders to take supplements.

Most supplements for FET prep recommend taking with a meal. But if you are not yet in the habit of remembering to take your pills after you eat, setting an alarm in your phone can be really helpful to make sure you don’t miss your dose. You can remind yourself in other ways like putting a post it note on your mirror or refrigerator. Do whatever works for you.

Keep a snack in your purse at all times.

This snack should be your designated backup in times when you cannot have an actual meal with your supplements. For example, if you are going on a long road trip or flight and you are unsure of when you will be able to have a meal with your supplements, that snack in your purse will help you to stay on track with your supplement schedule.

The Game Changer

I plan on adopting in the future, whether I have a biological child or not. And I’ve considered adopting through the foster care system. But what is one of the biggest obstacles that keeps so many people from starting the path to becoming a foster parent? I’d say it’s becoming attached emotionally to raising a child who after some time ends up going back to their biological family. I can honestly say I am not ready at this point in my life to handle that possibility. I’ve read articles and memoirs from foster parents who say it was one of the most painful experiences of their life. Some said it was as painful as grieving the death of a loved one.

I’ve been visiting my husband’s family in Nevada this past week, and my mother-in-law was a foster parent. I explained to her that one of my hesitations for becoming a foster parent was that I didn’t know if I was emotionally ready to handle getting attached to a child that would end up leaving back to their biological family. But she explained that she learned that some foster parents choose to only foster children whose parental rights have been permanently relinquished, and are therefore adoptable. That right there, was a total game changer for me. I did not even know that was an option. I thought it was inevitable that as a foster parent you had to expect that possible loss, I didn’t realize you could avoid that whole scenario altogether. Now it’s just a matter of finding out if that option is available here in Alaska too. The plan for now though is to continue trying infertility treatments until I turn 35, which is over a year from now.

Mini Victories for the Week

Kept up with supplements while on vacation.

Got more sleep and relaxed more this week.

Asked more questions and did a little more research about the foster care system.

Work in Progress

Contact the Seattle Clinic to find out if I need a repeat SIS before my upcoming FET.

Reduce caffeine intake from 1-2 cups down to less than one cup next week. Eventually completely cut out caffeine sometime soon.

Get back on a 1200 calorie per day diet.

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read the disclosure here.

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AMH (Anti-mullerian hormone)

FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone)

E2 (Estradiol)

LH (Luteinizing hormone)

TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone)

FT4 (Free thyroxine)

PRL (Prolactin)

T (Testosterone)

Order your test today.

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FET Prep Week 6: Relax! You’re on Vacation. Even though this vacation to Nevada has been really relaxing I wish I would have planned it for a couple weeks earlier.

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ohh-kaye · 4 years

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2020 Resolutions

oh god this year was a disaster

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

fuck this. let’s just go through my failures this year bc tbh i haven’t looked at this since i posted it and i’m positive that i didn’t actively attempt to achieve whatever’s on here.

1. Keep reading! (YES)

THANK GOD. Here’s my Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge for you.

I’m writing this post in advance and it’ll be up on the 31st. I’m reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin right now and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it and therefore read 22 books this year (I hope I do though). I’m glad I read this much but also disappointed. Glad because I read 17 last year and disappointed because I read 22 2 years ago and that was during the hectic year of nursing school.

21 is not bad though. The Lord of the Rings set me back because it took me almost 3 months. Was it worth it??? yes. pls go read it. it’s great.

2. 200 stars on Duolingo? (EH?)

Duolingo had an update this year and they’ve replaced the stars with crowns so I don’t know what to make of this. Are they equivalent values? I don’t know because I have 188 for German, 167 for Spanish, and 134 for French. So are these equivalent to stars??? I don’t know.

I did write on my note about this from last year that i don’t think I’ll make it past a 200-day streak and look here bby

so maybe I should’ve trusted myself more and actually put “Maintain streak for a year” like I should have.

3. Collect puzzles. (YES)

I’ve finally bought a 4x4 and a 5x5 and I bought more tangles this year and I bought a little metal wire connect puzzle. I’ve been meaning to buy more but I can’t afford them bc I’m unemployed woohoooooooo. Everytime I go to op shops, I immediately go to the kids/ toy section first to look for puzzles because that’s where the gold mine is most of the time.

4. Prepare for the GAMSAT. (YES)

No excuses. I’ve been studying daily since August for the March 2020 sitting. I’ve also been recording a weekly update of my study experience which I’ll collate, edit, and upload when I do get into Medicine because there’s no point in doing a full weekly study vlog if I don’t get in. I’m sparing myself from embarrassment and saving the experience of recapping this adventure when (if?) I do get accepted.

*fingers crossed*

5. Watch more musicals! (NO)

This is sad. I did go to Aladdin and Book of Mormon because I bought those tickets last year but those are the only musicals I saw this year. I couldn’t afford to go see any shows even though I really wanted to. You don’t realise how many times I’ve frequented the Adelaide Theatre Guide website just to browse through any shows that were running. I was going to go see Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, West Side Story, and so many other shows but I passed because I couldn’t justify the purchase because I didn’t have a steady income. Yeah, I could’ve watched as many shows as I could but also... couldn’t.

6. Travel. (NO)

I’ve decided that travelling sucks and I’d rather be home.

7. Therapy. (NO)

I don’t know why kid myself with this. I can’t afford therapy. BUT! I feel like this gap year from work has helped a lot. I’ve been non-stop working since I arrived in Australia and by the end of last year, I was exhausted. This year off was so relieving because I finally had a chance to breathe. I’m still not the best, mentally, but I’m energised and looking forward to opportunities now whereas last year, I would’ve told you that I will kill myself. I still have not-so-very-nice thoughts and they’re few and far between these days but oooo boi when they’re there, I’m ready to go. I’ll tap out. Not thinking so much helps so maybe we’ll keep trying this next year.

3 - YES

3 - NO

1 - EH????

Not bad. Half and half and one outlier. I honestly thought I’d fail miserably. The ones that got no with, I’m surprisingly not too devastated by.

Moving on to 2020 resolutionsssss.

I’m thinking of this on the fly because I’ve yet to prepare anything.

Maybe we’ll keep it achievable?

1. KEEP YOUR FRICKING NURSING JOB THIS TIME!

I wrote a post earlier this year about losing my grad job. I was conflicted with my feelings. I’ve always hated nursing and I still do. When I got that first job, I was horrified because I knew I didn’t want it because I didn’t want to be a nurse anymore. I’ve mentioned this several times on here about my feelings for this profession and they haven’t changed. If God chose to listen to me this time, he went all out and took away what I hated the most. That was really extra for Him to do but thanks I guess. The thing is, I HAVE to be a nurse now. Not because I want to but because I can’t be unemployed forever while I wait for Medicine to turn out. I’m never going anywhere with just staying at home and feeding off of the limited resources we have as a family. No bullshitting this time. We have to do a good job now. I’m ready.

2. Read. read. read.

I’m putting this in every year. My Reading Challenge goes up by 1 book a year so we’re at 15 books for 2020. I’m worried about this because I have job now so I’m going to be okay if we at least complete it. I won’t be aiming for 20+ next year. It’ll be great but I’ll but myself some slack.

3. Buy a car.

Honeeeeey. We’re putting this on here. Let’s be crazy and put this on here.

I hate driving but also owning a car is another step in independence. I need this. I really do.

4. Pass the GAMSAT.

I’m expecting a lot from myself with this. If I’m being truthful here, I don’t think I’ll pass the March 2020. I hope I do. Flinders Uni consider 50 scores for all sections and I’m holding out on hope that I get the bare minimum. I’m working hard and I hope it goes well.

Optimism is not good for me because I’m setting myself up for disappointment.

I know I won’t get it thought. Is it still optimism if I optimistic about not passing?

Seriously though, I’m willing to take the September test if that’s what it takes. However long it takes Medicine. I will get you.

5. Be acne-free???

I went to the doctor this year. He’s so fucking hot btw. HAHAHAHAHAHAH no srsly he is. He put me on antibiotics which I’m finishing the last round of before I go on to just using spot cream. Then if that goes well, I go back next month and he’s thinking of putting me on Accutane. I’m acne-free with the antibiotics but as all health professionals know, we can’t be on this forever. It’s not good for me goddammit. So I saw Accutane coming. But if he decides to go through with it, I know my face will light up like a Christmas tree before everything gets better. But I have a job now that requires me looking at people and people that have eyes and can see me and can see that my face is cystic for 6-8 weeks (?) before it gets better and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i’m scared.

I just want clear skin boiii. Adult acne sucks.

6. HAVE A HEALTHY BMI.

I’m going through an emotional time as I type this. I’ve been pretty good with food this year. I haven’t weighed myself because I thought that I didn’t need anymore and that I was somewhat satisfied with where I am right now. But now, I’m worried that the thoughts are coming back.

This whole eating problem has been brewing since I was 10 and would show itself by me being terrified of weighing myself or seeing how much I weigh. THIS particular thought is scary to me these days because I know that this is how it presents itself and it’s back. And I feel uneasy and insecure again.

I feel a strong urge to start starving myself again and I thought I was done with this.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

this really sucks man.

This morning I literally put WEIGH SCALE on my fucking to buy list because I was conjuring up scenarios in my head where I’m weighing myself in secret every morning.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

So let’s frame this in a healthier mindset. I want a Healthy BMI. NOT BORDERLINE HEALTHY (which was where I was when I stopped starving myself the last time this happened) BUT ACTUALLY HEALTHY. And not through the lens of insecurity this time.

Please be good to yourself this year.

7. SEE KATYA AND TRIXIE LIVE!!!

Let’s end on a less crazy way.

YOU WILL MEET KATYA AND TRIXIE THIS YEAR AND HUG THEM AND TELL THEM THAT YOU LOVE THEM AND THAT THEY’VE MADE YOU SMILE AND LAUGH AND BE SO FUCKING HAPPY THROUGH ROUGH PATCHES. YOU WILL TELL THEM THIS BECAUSE YOU WILL DEFINITELY MEET THEM. YOU MUST. YOUR FIRST PURCHASE WITH YOUR FIRST PAYSLIP IS THE MEET AND GREET TICKET TO SEE THEM. YOU WILL MEET KATYA AND TRIXIE. I REPEAT. YOU WILL MEET KATYA AND TRIXIE.

Final notes as we put this year to a close.

2019 was a challenge and there were some trying times in there. I spent January waiting to start my job and relaxing as much as I could to prepare myself for it. Come February and all of that went away and I lost my job. We went to Sydney during the same month (which the vlog has yet to be edited). March and April were spent studying for the PTE and I aced that shit. May was sad. June through to July was spent moving houses. August (to present day) was spent fixing the new house and attempting to make it somehow presentable AND MY GAMSAT REVIEW BEGAN. The end of September through to the beginning of October, I did a Hospitality course and met Complex and I found out that I got offered the same job I lost for next year. November was nothing special. And here we are right now. December.

I’m feeling anxious but hopeful and I’m trying not to think about things too much because I get overwhelmed and it leads nowhere.

I just want things to start getting better so that I start feeling okay.

Maybe 2020 will turn out to be that way.

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