#because you need to pay for international packages to have them be allowed past the border by weight.

[cacturne]

this law is fucking ridiculous

#i had to pay 60 EUROS just to get my package delivered to me. #because you need to pay for international packages to have them be allowed past the border by weight. #and well apparently mine weighs a fuckton! thanks! #i couldve bought a fucking triple A video game with that #ghosts howling

[ghostflowerdreams]

Free Plagiarism Checkers

From students to teachers, writers, publishers, bloggers and so on, there’s plenty of plagiarism detection tools available for everyone to try. Most of them are paid, but they do allow you to try out their basic versions for free, which is limited, without any hassles. Some are also better used for academics, but they can also work for other types of writings; be it fanfiction, blogs’ content, articles, essays, and websites.

Hopefully, you’ll find one of these plagiarism checker to be useful in making sure your work is unique and/or hasn’t been stolen by someone else. You may even need to use more than one, because no single tool can provide accurate data when it comes to checking for plagiarism. Just be sure to look over their privacy policy because some plagiarism tools stored your text in its repository or steal your data and sell it to third parties.

1text.com – is a free online plagiarism checker that shows you an exact percentage of how unique your text is. If you use it as a guest, you can only check a limited number of words. The search might take slightly longer than other platforms as 1text prioritizes people who have signed up. But if you sign up and confirm the e-mail, you will get the free package of 15,000 symbols (words) to check for plagiarism without limits.

Copyleaks - is a comprehensive plagiarism detector platform that performs extensive searches across the Internet and various databases. However, you’ll need to create an account to use it. When you do it will allow you to check 2,500 words (that’s 5 pages single spaced or 10 pages double spaced) each month for free, but you will need to go for one of their packages if you want more. You can check up to 300,000 words (600 pages single-spaced or 1,200 pages double-spaced) without a day limit for $9.99 per month, $20.99 per month to check up to 750,000 words or $34.99 per month to check 1,500,000 words and so on.

Copyscape – is a free plagiarism checker that you can use to find if anyone has plagiarized your work online. How it works is that it uses Google as the search provider and you input a URL of your published work. The free version only allows the first 10 results to be shown. You’ll see more results and have access to more features with a Premium account, which is 3¢ per search (up to 200 words) plus 1¢ per extra 100 words.

DupliChecker – is a free and accurate online tool to check plagiarism. It offers 1,000 words limit per search for free, however, if you want to check more than that, then you have to get a paid account which costs $10/monthly for the very basic plan. You can copy & paste a section of your writing, upload the file or via webpage URL to check for plagiarism. They also offer other plans with more options, such as an increase in your words limit, searches, more formats options and other features.

Grammarly – is typically used for English learning and writing, but it also has a free online plagiarism checker. Simply copy a passage or upload a file to check your work against the 16+ billion academic papers and web pages stored in the ProQuest’s database. It will tell if there’s plagiarism in your text without giving you any details of where it is, how much of it there is, or what the sources are. To have full access to the report with details of plagiarism, grammar, and writing issues you need to subscribe to a premium plan of $29.95/monthly.

PlagScan – is a paid plagiarism checker, mostly used by academic institutions. It does offer a free trial and with it, you can check a limited number of words (which is 2,000 words) without paying or giving up your credit card info. Once they’re used up, you’ll have to pay if you want to keep using it. Such as 6,000 words (24 pages) is $5.99, 17,500 words (70 pages) is $12.99, 40,000 words (160 pages) is $24.99, etc. It compares submissions with web documents, journals and internal archives.

PlagiarismCheckerX – is not a website but a product. It is free to download, but it has some limitations. However, if you buy the professional edition for $39.95 that means you only have to pay it once. You’ll get a lifetime package license that allows you to keep on your computer and use it forever. It searches through Google, Yahoo, and even scholarly articles from the database and gives you a similarity report.

Plagiarisma – is a free online plagiarism checker that you can only use three times a day (plus it also checks your grammar for free), and without an account you're limited to 2,000 words or less. You can run a plagiarism check using either Google or Bing. But you’ll only have access to the Bing search engine, unless you become a registered user. Either way, you’re given URLs to the matching content.

Plagiarismdetector – is a free checker software that can be used to check for plagiarism in documents and URL links. It offers only a limit of 1,000 words, but you can use it as many times as you want for free. By paying, you can raise this limit. Such as 30,000 words per document will be $10.00 per month, 72,000 words will be $20.00 per month, 114,000 words will be $30.00 per month and so on. This also supports 12 languages, including English, Malay, Arabic, Indonesian and more.

Quetext – has both a free and a paid plan, depending on what your needs are. The free plan comes with plagiarism checks on 1 page (500 words), color-grading text feedback, contextual analysis, fuzzy matching, and conditional scoring. You also can’t upload existing files to be checked; it’s exclusively copying and pasting. But for just $14.99 a month, you get so much more: 200 pages (100,000 words) that can go through the plagiarism checker, more in depth search, citation assistant, a downloadable originality report, custom URL exclusion, interactive snippet text, and premium support.

Scribbr – is a plagiarism checker, developed in partnership with Turnitin, which is a leader in plagiarism prevention. The free version checks if your paper contains potential plagiarism. But to view the full report, you need to buy the premium version, which costs between $19.95 (for small documents: up to 7,499 words) and $39.95 (large documents: 50,000+ words) depending on the word count. There’s no word limit, so you can upload as big a document as you want.

Search Engine Reports – is a free plagiarism detector that allows you to scan up to 1,500 words at a time from your computer or the cloud or you can directly paste the URL of a webpage. It supports various file types such as doc, Docx, pdf, txt, etc. It will give you the results with percentages of what is plagiarized or original.

Search Engines – such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc. are search engines that look through and organizes all the data on the internet to give you the most relevant and useful information for your query. You can also use them to search for an exact phrase by using quotations (“). This can help you find quotes, song lyrics, or identify the titles of specific journal and magazine articles. It’s especially useful to see where else the exact phrases pops up too. Some people do this to double check when their plagiarism checker marks a sentence or paragraph for being too similar to something else and it doesn’t specify. Though, some checkers already do this for you, but you’ll need to paid to access that feature and this can be a work-around for it. Note: In the Google search, if you click on the ‘Tools’ button under the search box. You should see options for ‘Any Time’ and ‘All Results’. Click on the last one, which will give you the option to change it to ‘Verbatim’. This should now only show results which contain exactly what you typed and not variations of it.

SmallSEOTools’ Plagiarism Checker – is a free online plagiarism checker. You can paste your text into the search bar or even upload a document to be checked. Then, tick the Captcha to prove you’re human, and click check for plagiarism. The users aren’t asked to pay a single penny to use this plagiarism detector. No matter how many pieces of text you need to check for plagiarism, you can use it as many times as you want without facing any restriction or paying any charges. That’s because there’s ads, which is how the owner is able to keep this tool free for everyone.

Unicheck – is a plagiarism checker that offers users a very small word limit of 200 words for free without signing up. It compares your work against over 91 billion web sources and open access databases. You get a report with clickable sources and highlighted text matches. However, pricing for personal and business use is charged per page (includes 275 words, double-spaced). For example: 20 pages will cost $5.00 and it scales up depending on how many pages you’d like to check, such as $10 for 50 pages, $15 for 100 pages, etc.

#writing #writing help #writing reference #writing resources #writing fanfiction #fanfiction help #writing advice #writing tips #writing references #plagiarism checker #plagiarism detector #writing tools #fanfiction plagiarism #plagiarism #fanfiction writers #academics

[rplmesblog]

The Importance of an RPL Trade Certificate

Whether you’re a migrant seeking to change careers, getting a promotion or just starting work in Australia, RPL can make the difference. This process uses your existing construction and trade skills to give you nationally recognised qualifications in a much shorter timeframe.

It’s all about assessing your past study and life experience to see how it can be counted towards your new course. Here’s how it works:

Boost Your Pride and Self-Esteem

Whether you’re already working in the field and want to get a formal qualification, or you’re interested in making a career change, an RPL trade certificate is an option that can make the process faster. The RPL certification, which stands for recognition of prior learning, allows you to assess your skills and experience against the requirements for a particular qualification or industry standard.

Often, people who work manual jobs in industries such as construction, electrical services or painting tend to have less pride and self-esteem for their work. This is largely due to the perception that such jobs are considered low-paying. However, getting an RPL certification can help them understand that they have the same level of intelligence and hard-working abilities as many other workers in higher-paying positions.

It also helps them move forward in their careers without having to spend years on study and can increase their chances of getting better, more reliable jobs.

It Makes It Easier to Change Roles or Start a New Career

If you have worked in your trade for years but don’t have a formal qualification to back it up, it can be difficult to get a job or upgrade. Some aspiring license holders pursue RPL because they don’t have the time to undertake classroom training, or they want a quicker and more cost-effective route than traditional methods.

RPL or Recognition of Prior Learning is an assessment process that considers your work experience, study and life skills to formally award you with a qualification. It can also help you get into a course and reduce the number of units you need to do.

It requires you to put together a portfolio of evidence which could include training records, job descriptions, references and other documentation. A visit from an assessor is also sometimes involved. It can be a time-consuming process, so it’s worth planning ahead and setting aside some time each week to complete the tasks required.

It Enhances Your Perception of Learning as a Lifelong Process

Whether you’re a digital marketer, business lawyer, or pre purchase building inspector, there may come a time when your skills and experience warrant an upgrade to the next level. This could mean a promotion or even higher compensation packages. But it can be hard to get there if you don’t have the qualifications to back up your abilities.

The good news is that RPL offers an alternative pathway to earning a qualification. This is especially important for people who are working in fields that lack formal training opportunities. The drawback, however, is that the qualifications made accessible through RPL procedures tend to be non-formal or semi-formal. This means that they are often not recognised in the labour market (cf. Maurer, 2019).

In addition, the RPL process often shortens the duration of courses for certifications and diplomas. This helps to motivate students, particularly those who may be discouraged by the length of time it takes to earn a particular qualification.

It Can Help You Secure a Job

If you’re a migrant with previous work experience or qualifications from your home country that aren’t valid in Australia, getting an RPL can improve your international immigration process and speed up the time it takes to get a job. It also helps you reduce the amount of study required to earn your Australian qualification.

RPL is all about recognising the skills you’ve gained through work and life experiences, so they can be applied to current training course requirements. It’s a quick and easy way to advance your career, change roles, or even start a new one.

Many people find themselves in situations where they know they have the skills for a specific role, but they don’t have the formal qualifications to prove it. This can be frustrating and hold back your potential. By earning an rpl trade certificate, you can demonstrate the skills you have to employers. This can help you secure a job and take your career to the next level.

#rpl trade certificate #trade certificate #painting trade certificate

[everydayoriginal]

In your heart by Dianita

In the past month and a half I started re-watching my favorite cartoon from when I was a child. It was a fun and  heartwarming re-encounter after decades!

It got me thinking about how much I’ve stolen from myself the opportunity to watch it over and over. To laugh at phrases that didn’t make sense, to marvel at the animation that was my safe space a long time ago. Well, to just enjoy it. I have no idea why I didn’t allow myself to have great times watching something that made me feel happy. It reminded me to a Phoenix, that dies and comes back from its ashes. Our memories, the things we enjoy move to a secondary place because we need to take care of the present. Then, we find them again, and they ignite that spark that made us who we are today.

Could it be that this fire exists in our hearts? Maybe… like the Phoenix they fly back from the ashes in all its glory and with them, we find ourselves again.

Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, or maybe I just wanted a reason to put a Phoenix in a painting because my favorite character is the Saint of Phoenix (Saint Seiya anime). But I’ve found something again and I’m so happy and thankful that I did.

This painting was created with acrylics on panel. It will be varnished with gloss varnish. The frame shown here is for display only, or I can include it if you wish.

Size (unframed) is 5in x 7in.

Ships from the USA. If you’re an international customer, please be aware that you might need to pay your country’s tax to receive this package.

VIEW DETAILS brought to you by Every Day Original

[arpov-blog-blog]

The government has tried to stop inflation. Why isn’t it working? | The Hill

I don't care how you read it, the Biden administration is not responsible for the global inflation and it does not control the supply chain. Actually, it's big business that controls the supply chain and domestic jobs. In other words the current economy conditions result from mismanagement of the DJT Administration, and the Congressional GOP more committed to tax cuts and maintaining power than setting domestic policies they start to resolve supply chain issues...

"No matter what the federal government does, inflation keeps rising with no clear end in sight. 

Consumer prices jumped 1.3 percent higher in June and a whopping 9.1 percent over the past 12 months, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department, despite the best efforts of the Biden administration and Federal Reserve to bring inflation down.

While a June surge in gas prices was responsible for much of the overall increase in inflation, prices grew across almost every sector. That’s a troubling sign for the U.S. economy after the federal government scrambled to stop the highest annual inflation in more than four decades from getting worse. 

“It’s going to be a long and tough road ahead. This is not going to come down very quickly,” said Derek Tang, co-founder and economist at research firm Monetary Policy Analytics.    

“The hope was that inflation would start coming down on its own, but it looks more and more like it’s not going to happen. That’s why there’s so much worry,” Tang added. 

After waiving off the threat of inflation for much of 2021, the Biden administration and Fed pivoted sharply toward bringing prices down. 

The Fed began raising its baseline interest rate in March in a bid to slow the economy enough to bring down inflation without causing a severe economic downturn.  

But as inflation has steamed ahead, the Fed has hiked rates at an even faster pace. The bank in March boosted rates by 0.25 percentage points, followed by a 0.5 percentage point hike in May and a 0.75 percentage point hike in June — the largest single increase since 1994. 

The Fed also ceased its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds and will soon allow its holdings to expire, which will pull billions of dollars out of financial markets and into the central bank each month. 

The Fed’s goal is to boost borrowing costs enough to make consumers spend less money and keep businesses from raising wages at ever faster rates. Slower economic activity is meant to bring demand for goods and services down to levels businesses can afford to meet without raising prices. 

But according to experts, Americans have pent-up energy and money to spend on activities that they missed out on during the height of the pandemic. 

“There is still a lot of pent-up demand in the economy, especially around leisure, hospitality and tourism, as people appear prepared to run down accumulated savings and pay higher prices to do things they missed out on over the past couple of years,” wrote James Knightley, chief international economist for ING, in a Wednesday analysis. 

“To get inflation meaningfully lower quickly we need demand to better match the supply capacity of the economy. Ideally this would come via the supply channel,” Knightley added. 

High inflation is often caused by a mismatch between the goods and services that consumers and businesses want to buy and the economy’s ability to supply them.  

Prices for many manufactured goods rose rapidly through most of the COVID-19 pandemic as households shifted their spending — fueled by federal stimulus packages — toward items to keep them entertained and safe because of public health concerns. Supply chain disruptions, shipping delays, material shortages, port backlogs and hiring issues also made many factory goods more expensive and harder to get. 

The Fed held off on raising interest rates last year over concerns they would upend the recovery to fight inflationary pressures that officials believed would fade with the pandemic.  

Economists were also expecting consumers to shift spending away from goods and toward services they were unable to enjoy during lockdown. 

It didn’t shake out that way. 

The housing market has declined, and stock prices have fallen rapidly. But consumer spending and job growth have hardly slowed.  

Americans are spending more on travel, dining, entertainment and health care, but they’re also spending ample money on goods meant for a return to pre-pandemic activities.  

“The problem now is that services inflation has come up because people are going out to eat and going on vacation. But goods inflation hasn’t come down to provide that offset,” Tang said."

And though pandemic-related supply shocks have begun to fade, the war in Ukraine has unleashed serious shocks to global food, energy and commodity prices. 

“The past few years have been characterized by a series of economic shocks that have wreaked havoc with just about every area of the American economy,” wrote Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, in a Wednesday analysis. 

[smol-fatale]

GN Reader x Ace, Angst with a Happy Ending, TW for mentions of self-harm, depression, and the result of arson (involuntary of course), ~1800 words

Person A wants to bake a cake for Person B’s birthday but ends up lighting the kitchen on fire instead.

Ace really wants to bake you a cake for your birthday. However, instead of him cheering you up, you cheer him up. After all, he's more important than your birthday anyway.

This is for @burnthoneymint‘s b-day event. Happy birthday my dear! Also read down below.

Involuntary Arson

Ace would be the first to admit that he had an obsession with fire. He was a pyromaniac though he never lit any living thing on fire and nothing bigger than a flatscreen TV. However, he hasn’t lit anything on fire in the past nine months which is an accomplishment for him. He has found other ways to relieve his stress, some of them including you.

You had done much in the past to care for Ace and Mr. Freckles over here was dying to return the favor. Your birthday was at the end of the week and the genius that is Ace thought it was a great idea to make you a cake, even though there is a literal five-star chef in the friend group.

Ace pestered said five-star chef until he caved and taught him the basics of making your favorite: chocolate cake. Ace practiced in Sanji’s kitchen, writing down all the steps and committing each of them to memory. By the time the cake was done, Ace was confident, maybe overly so, that he could recreate the dessert perfectly the next day. He even suggested for Sanji to give away the cake they made together since his was going to turn out better. (A joke of course as Sanji is the most talented chef in the world.)

***

On the day of your birth, Ace was ecstatic to show off his baking skills.

Ace laid out the ingredients neatly in a row and got started on melting the chocolate chips on the stove first. Sanji suggested for him to use cocoa powder instead since the man was fire-prone but he refused and insisted on following Sanji’s recipe exactly. Surprisingly, he managed to melt the chocolate perfectly without burning it. Becoming a little more confident in his skills, he set the chocolate on the lowest flames (as some more had to be melted) and started sifting the dry ingredients in a bowl. Afterward, he folded the chocolate into the bowl, just as Sanji had shown him. Finally, he added avocado which was weird sure but he did trust Sanji with anything food-related. (The cook insisted on it as it was healthier than oil or butter and makes the cake richer in comparison.) Ace then spooned the mixture into a cake pan and placed it in the oven for thirty minutes.

Fifty minutes later Ace woke up to not only a burnt chocolate cake but the stove on fire as well as everything else between it, the kitchen sink, and the window. The smoke is what woke him up and his fire training kicked in as he immediately ran to get the fire extinguisher to put out the flames. He then called down to the station insisting that he was fine and there was no need for the team to come over, except maybe Marco who was a fire inspector.

Luckily they lived in a brick building so the structural integrity was saved. However, the same couldn’t be said for the kitchen. The entire thing had to be excavated and revamped. Anything metal and plastic melted. The rest burned to ash. It was found that the fire was caused by the oven being almost seventy degrees hotter than it should’ve been causing the cake to cook faster than intended. The entire process would take weeks and it cost thousands in repair. Ace considered just buying another apartment but that was cowardly as he would only be running away from his problem. Plus, he still had to pay for the damages regardless.

***

Ace was devastated. He knew you were indifferent to your birthday but he wanted it to be extra special for you because he was so damn happy that you were born. It took everything in his power not to start a fire in another part of the apartment due to how stressed he was. He kept a match between his teeth and flicked a lighter nervously waiting for you to come home from your half-shift.

After what felt like centuries he heard the click of the lock as you arrived home. The loud gasp you took as you walked inside reminded Ace that the kitchen was the first thing one encounters when walking into their home. That made him recoil into himself more in his place behind the couch.

***

Meanwhile, you took the time to survey the damage to the kitchen. It was hard to tell that the color scheme was navy blue and stainless steel as everything was charred black. The sink worked but just barely and most of the cupboards were...well...half were burned away leaving nothing but an imprint on the wall and the other half were hanging on by a nail. The oven was the worst of all. It was so badly burnt and mangled, it was only due to its place in the kitchen that you even recognized what it was. You stood in the kitchen until the smell aggravated your nose. Then you left to find your boyfriend.

You searched everywhere: in the bedroom, spare room, and bathroom before finding him behind the couch in the living room. He wasn’t crying but he was shaking. He had a lit match between his teeth that was dangerously close to burning his lips. This was an internal “game” he played when the stress became too much. He would light a match between his teeth and if he put it out, then he knew he wasn’t worthless. If he didn’t and got burned, then he felt as though he deserved every negative thing that happens to him, whether it was his fault or not. It took years for you, with therapy, to convince him that he was worth living and to stop this dangerous “game.” However, he still did it occasionally when his dark thoughts overcame him.

You crouched down next to him and blew out the flame. His unseeing eyes then snapped towards yours as he broke and started to cry. You scooped your boyfriend into your arms and soothed him as the tears freely flowed.

“I fucked up.” He sniffled into your chest.

“We all make mistakes Ace.” You combed your fingers into his hair allowing him to calm down after the tears stopped.

“What happened?” You whispered into his ear as to not disturb the unsteady peace that surrounded you two.

“Iwantedtobakeyouacake.” He squeezed you impossibly tight to muffle the words and to hide his shame.  

You looked to the island in the middle of the kitchen. Half was a beautiful blue. The other a smoldering black. You squinted and spotted a medium black disk in the center.

“Thank you. I bet it tasted delicious.” You were grateful for his attempt and the honesty in your voice sparked a new round of tears.

“Why are you with me?” He asked quietly after settling his face into the crook of your neck.

It broke your heart to hear the love of your life sounding so despondent as if he wasn’t worth every single star that speckled the night sky. You knew that he had issues of self-worth. That he appeared as confident and strong as a maverick wave but was just as turbulent as the ocean on the inside. Somedays, he felt as though he didn’t even deserve life itself and you always, always, contradicted that statement. Yes, he made be reckless and make idiotic mistakes but he had the biggest heart you’ve ever seen. No questions asked he would give you the shirt off his back. You’ve witnessed him give his boots to a total stranger and then proceed to walk the streets barefoot for half an hour in search of a shoe store. One time he missed a date with you because a child was lost in the park and he waited with them for over two hours for their parents to pick them up at the station. He became a firefighter because no matter how much he wanted to burn himself with flames he wanted to rescue people from them even more. His heart shone brighter than the sun and the world would be a much colder, let alone darker, place if he wasn’t around and you made sure he knew this.

“Because there is no one else I’d rather be with. Your heart rivals the sun and I’m eternally grateful for every single millisecond that I get to spend with you. Out of 7.5 billion people in the world, I choose you. And I will continue to choose you until the Earth drops out of rotation and the sun dies out. Do you understand?”

Ace didn’t say anything but gave a small nod into your shoulder confirming he heard all that you said. You two sat in a calm silence until an idea popped into your head which was sure to perk up your boyfriend. You softly shifted him out of your arms and he watched you silently in confusion. You went into the kitchen towards the fridge that was miraculously undamaged from the events of the day. From it, you pulled a small package that contained two chocolate snack cakes with white icing in the middle. You then went back to sit in front of Ace. You gestured for him to splay out his legs so you could sit on his lap and he did, albeit a bit warily. You unwrapped one of the cakes and placed a match in it. Then you took the lighter from Ace’s limp hand and lit it.

“Thank you for making this the best birthday ever,” you said holding the small cake between the two of you before blowing it out.

Ace studied you carefully as you took the match out and broke the cake in half exposing the icing. You took some and smeared it on your boyfriend’s lips, covering the various little burn marks on them, before kissing him. It was sweet and wet, reminiscent of the first kiss you two shared in the rain. You pulled back and though the smile you received was small, it was the most ethereal thing you have ever witnessed. You repeated this process with every single freckle on his face, including eyes and nose, before moving on to his neck. By the time you finished you completely rid the cake of its icing. The result was an Ace softly chuckling as your little kisses tickled him. He took you into his arms and laid back so your head rested on his chest. One hand was on your back while the other slowly massaged your scalp. You laid still in his arms until his arms went lax and his breath evened out. The stress of the day finally drained him of his energy.

Was this truly your best birthday? Well, that’s subjective but it does have the top spot as of now. Who’s to say what will happen in the future. What you do know is that you aren’t a liar and you loved the man beneath you more than life itself. Every birthday was the best if it was spent with him no matter what happened that day. With that, you kissed his chest, over his heart, and settled down to sleep on top of the man of your dreams.

Masterlist

#birthdaycheer #one piece #Portgas D. Ace #ace x reader #one piece x reader #OP Ace #words of ki

[xomarauders]

hello everyone,

it has been far too long since i have posted anything on here and for that i apologize, but i have been working on some of my own writing as well as just dealing with personal stuff so please forgive me. 

i also might be changing this blog up a bit and start posting more than just marauders fanfiction (such as some of my own writing perhaps). i’m still not sure about this idea because i don’t really want to change my user name or anything and i do want to contiue writing fics so we’ll see! 

anyway, without further ado, here is my latest fic for yall :) hope you enjoy! (p.s. there is a second part coming!!!)

tw: internalized homophobia, implied child abuse, depictions of a panic attack

--

The cold December air was harsh against Marlene’s skin as she stood outside the small record shop she had been frequenting since she was fourteen. It was tucked away in the side of a building in London, offering solace to those who did not seem to fit in with the more fast-paced, business-like folk you so often saw among the sidewalks. The cigarette in her hand was offering little warmth but seemed to be calming her nerves, so she stayed outside to finish smoking it. It was winter break from Hogwarts and Marlene was relieved to be away from school for the time being as well as away from her friends. She couldn’t face them at the moment. Not after what she did.

Marlene rolled her eyes at herself for thinking of things she’d rather forget and tossed the butt of her cigarette to the ground before crushing it with the toe of her combat boot. With one last glance toward the busy street, she retreated into the record shop which greeted her immediately with the chime of a bell and rock music playing throughout the speakers of the store.

A man at the register with short, dirty blonde hair and rings through his eyebrows glanced up at her entrance, a smile appearing on his face.

“Marlene! Haven’t seen you in a while.” He commented, swinging his legs over the counter and making his way toward her. Marlene gave a non-committal shrug but returned the high-five he offered her with semi frozen fingers.

“How has business been, Curtis?” She asked, glancing around the nearly empty shop. There was no one else in there aside from the two of them and Marlene felt her heart break just a little bit. This was one of her favorite places to be, a place she and her friends would escape to during the summer to be with one another. She wondered if their absence was the reason for her melancholic mood.

“It hasn’t been bad. Just caught me on a slow day.” Curtis replied, seeming to notice Marlene’s shift in behavior. “Lily was in here the other day, actually. Got herself a few new albums.”

Marlene looked up at the mention of Lily and felt her cheeks burn slightly. She wondered if Lily had mentioned anything about the incident to Curtis. Judging by the passive look on his face, she assumed not and tried to school her own expression into a neutral one.

“Yeah? What albums?”

After Curtis introduced her to the new music Lily had gotten, Marlene picked up a few albums of her own to purchase before leaving the shop to get back home. She would have stayed to visit with Curtis longer, but she didn’t want to linger in a space that reminded her so much of her friends at the moment and she especially didn’t want to run into them anytime soon.

It was a bit of a walk to the closest floo station and the London streets were bustling with people walking home from work or coming out for the night. Marlene kept her head down, staring at the pavement in front of her and wrapping her jacket tightly around herself, blocking out the bitter cold as best she could. Suddenly, a body collided against her and she fell backwards, dropping her records in the process.

“What the fu—?” Marlene was cut off by the commotion of being pulled off the sidewalk and dragged into a nearby alley way.

She looked up, ready to scream insults at her attacker, but stopped at the sight of Sirius Black’s face. His hair was tied up in a bun, though most of it seemed to have fallen out, and there was a wide look of panic in his eyes that matched the rapid rise and fall of his chest. He was trembling finely and looked ready to pass out as he glanced behind him in a paranoid manner. It seemed as though he was running from something. Or someone.

“Sirius?” Marlene asked, keeping her voice low. She turned to look in the direction where Sirius was peering and spotted two men seemingly searching the crowd. Her eyebrows raised. There was something off about the two men…they did not fit in with the rest of the crowd, the clothes they wore were different, not really matching and the confused, disgusted looks on their faces made them stick out like sore thumbs. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks—they were wizards trying to blend in with a muggle crowd. Purebloods, to be exact.

She whirled around to look at Sirius once more. “Sirius, who are those men?” She hissed, desperate to know what kind of danger they could possibly be in. Rumors about dark wizards had begun circulating around Hogwarts for months now. Followers of Voldemort that had begun to call themselves “Death Eaters” were threatening the lives of muggleborns, though Marlene had never actually seen any such wizard. Until now, she supposed.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Sirius said, completely ignoring her question. He looked down towards the other end of the alley to see a chain link fence and cursed. They were trapped it seemed and Marlene felt herself begin to panic.

“Sirius,” She said, her voice urgent, though she wasn’t sure what she was pleading for.

He turned to her once more, gripping her shoulders tightly and staring at her intently. “I have an idea, but you have to promise me that you won’t breathe a word of this to anybody, do you understand?”

Marlene nodded and then watched with complete shock and awe as Sirius disappeared, a large, black dog appearing in his place. Animagus, she realized with a jolt. The dog turned away, walking back down the alley before turning and barking at Marlene, as if motioning for her to follow. She blinked a few times, still shocked at the sudden change of events, before following him back into the streets. He stopped where she had dropped her records and Marlene bent down to pick them up, a slight frown playing on her lips at the sight of the bent corners of the packaging. She was just about to scold Sirius when a rough voice behind her cleared their throat. She looked up, just as Sirius growled, to see the two men from earlier standing there.

The men did not seem to pay attention to the dog, focusing their gaze solely on Marlene instead. She tried to keep her face neutral, raising a single eyebrow in their direction. “Can I help you?”

“Have you seen a boy run through here?” The shorter of the two men asked, his lip curling in disgust. The other man eyed Marlene warily, taking in her muggle attire and turning his nose up at the mere sight. Marlene tried not to roll her eyes.

“No.” She replied, sounding calmer than she felt.

The two men shared a look, as if trying to decide whether or not she was telling the truth, before nodding their understanding and moving past her without another word. Marlene felt as Sirius curled around her legs, watching as they disappeared around the corner before letting out a victorious bark. She looked down at him, shaking her head.

“I suppose you need somewhere to hide for a while?”

Another yelp and wag of his tale gave Marlene all the answers she needed.

****

“Well, this is home.” Marlene said with a sigh, dropping her records onto her bed with a soft thud. Sirius—still in his canine form—sniffed around before cocking his head in her direction and allowing his tongue to roll out of his mouth. Marlene wrinkled her nose at the slobber. “I think you are safe to go back to your usual…form. Unless you’re stuck that is.”

Again, Marlene watched in amazement as Sirius came back to himself, a shiver running through his body as he grinned at her. “Nice room you’ve got, McKinnon. Am I the first boy you’ve brought home?”

“Care to explain what just happened?” She asked, not caring for the way he seemed to avoid explaining himself.

Sirius shrugged, moving toward the desk in the corner of the room and running his fingers down the various artwork Marlene had spread out there. A look of wonder shined in his eyes as he delicately examined the paintings and drawings as if they were some sort of precious treasure. He stopped at a particular piece of a woman’s face done with charcoal pencil and Marlene felt herself blush at the way he traced the strokes that molded her lips.

“These are wonderful. Who did them?”

“I did.”

Sirius turned, his eyebrows raised with surprise and admiration. “Really? I didn’t know you were an artist.”

She stood up, marching over to where he stood, and removed the drawing from his grasp, shoving it beneath the rest of the art, effectively obscuring it from his wandering eyes, before turning to face him once more.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Black.”

She did not miss the way he seemed to flinch away from her before shaking it off and plastering another smirk across his face. “Touché.” He spoke quietly.  

Marlene felt a jolt of guilt in her gut, feeling bad for snapping at him. He was merely admiring her work. He did not understand the context of her drawing and likely wouldn’t make the connection. Afterall, he did not live in her mind where all the confusing thoughts and doubts resided. He could not possibly know her dirty little secret.

“Just…tell me what happened back there. Do I need to be afraid that someone might follow you here?” She asked, changing the topic.

“Those were the Lestrange brothers. Rabastan and Rodolphus. Purebloods. Family friends.”

“Why were they looking for you?”

“Because I may have said something rather…deplorable at my dear cousin’s engagement party.” Sirius said it with a grin, but Marlene noticed the flicker of fear in his eyes.

Marlene vaguely knew about the Black family and the way they presented themselves. Most of her ideas about them came from the mere reactions Sirius had whenever someone brought the prestigious bloodline. He was always loud about it, shouting about how stuck up they were in the Gryffindor common room and how grateful he was that he had not followed in their footsteps and ended up in Slytherin. She also knew that they were blood purists, believing that muggles were beneath them.

From what she had gathered, she was not a fan of them.

“Is there any way they can find you here?” Marlene asked, unwilling to allow her family to become endangered for hiding a self-proclaimed fugitive. Sirius just laughed, shaking his head so that his hair flung about. Marlene would have found it amusing how much it reminded her of a dog if it were under difference circumstances.

“I doubt they would. Going into muggle London was bad enough for them, they’re not going to continue their search in a muggle neighborhood.”

Marlene did not get the chance to ask what Sirius planned to do next due to the sound of the front door opening and her family announcing their presence.

“Marls!” Her father shouted up the steps. “We’re home!”

“Come down and tell us how your trip to London was. Your brother has been pestering me all afternoon about not letting him go with you.” Her mother spoke with a laugh and Marlene heard her brother scoff indignantly.

Marlene turned to Sirius, pointing a finger at him and giving him the best glare that she could. “Be on your best behavior. Go along with everything I say, are we clear?” Sirius just nodded, unwilling to cross her and with a final nod Marlene turned to exit the room with Sirius following closely behind. As they entered the living area, Marlene watched as her brother’s eyes went wide at the sight of Sirius.  

“Mum! Marlene’s brought a friend home!” He announced. The McKinnon’s turned, a look of surprise on each of their faces at the sight of the young man standing in their home. Marlene’s mother turned to her and offered a hesitant smile.

“Marlene, who’s your friend?”

“Mum, dad, this is Sirius. He goes to school with me.”

Her father instantly lit up, clasping her hands together as he plopped down on the sofa. “Another wizard! How nice to meet you, young man. I’m Grant McKinnon, but you can just call me Grant.” He offered Sirius a hand and Marlene tried her best not to smirk as Sirius suddenly stood up a bit straighter and shook her fathers’ hand as if he were meeting the Queen.

“A pleasure to meet you, sir. Lovely home you have here.”

“What a gentleman.” Her mother laughed lightly. “I’m Lottie.”

This time, Marlene had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing as she watched Sirius gently kiss her mother’s hand. Merlin, he really was a posh bastard.

“I’m Freddie.” Her brother greeted, not wanting to be left out, and Sirius’s eyes lit up.

“Like Freddie Mercury?”

“Exactly!” Freddie exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

Just as Marlene was about to interrupt to give an explanation as to why Sirius was there in the first place, her family initiated a game of twenty questions directed toward the poor boy.

“So, you go to Hogwarts then?” Lottie asked, an easy smile playing on her lips. She moved to sit by her husband, smoothing out her yellow sun dress as she did so. Sirius nodded, a proud smile appearing on his face.

“Yes. Sorted into Gryffindor, just like Marlene.”

Grant leaned forward; an eyebrow raised. “That’s the one with the lion, right?”

Marlene rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Dad, you know it is.”

Her father merely laughed, raising his hands in defense as he leaned back once more. “I just want to make sure! I never went to Hogwarts now did I?”

“Oh, did you go to Beaubaxtons?” Sirius asked and Marlene cringed.

“Oxford, actually.” Her father answered easily, and Sirius glanced at Marlene with clear confusion on his face. Grant didn’t seem to mind though, catching on to what Sirius wasn’t fully understanding. “I don’t have magic, son.”

Sirius’s eyes went wide for the hundredth time that day it seemed, and he grinned wickedly. “You’re a muggle.” He stated as if he had just made a new discovery. Marlene got the impression that Sirius had never really spoken to a muggle before now.

“You’re pureblood then, Sirius?” Marlene’s mother asked, quickly connecting the dots of Sirius’s curiosity.

“Oh. Yeah. Yeah I am.” Sirius shifted a bit uncomfortably and Lottie frowned at the sudden change in behavior.

“I was the only witch in my family.” Lottie continued, changing the subject. “Was sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts.”

“That’s what I’m going to be.” Freddie piped up, puffing his chest out in perfect eight-year old fashion. Marlene rolled her eyes.

“You still have three more years and there’s no guarantee you’ll follow in mum’s footsteps.”

Freddie narrowed his eyebrows and glared at Marlene. “But I want to be a Ravenclaw.”

“You can be whatever you want to be, mate.” Sirius said solemnly and Marlene found herself surprised at the sincerity in Sirius’s voice. She had never known Sirius to behave in such ways at school, often getting into trouble and shouting about loudly and animatedly. What he said had seemed to be an acceptable answer for Freddie, though, who beamed right back at Sirius.

“Sirius needs a place to stay.” Marlene blurted suddenly, and everyone’s attention turned toward her once more. Her mother gave her a dubious look, waiting patiently for an explanation while her father seemed to not even question the notion.

“For how long?” Grant asked.

“Oh. Uh, you don’t have to do that, sir. I’ll be okay on my own.”

Lottie leaned forward, reaching out for Sirius who instantly flinched in return, causing her to draw her hands back quickly, a stunned look on her face at his reaction. She cleared her throat and fixed him with a serious look. “It’s not problem if you need somewhere to sleep, Sirius. I would just like a reason and an idea of how long you would be staying.”

Sirius glanced at Marlene hesitantly. Clearly, he had not planned on staying here but he also had not planned on going home. Had he assumed that she would kick him to the streets? Perhaps that was what he had intended to do all along. Marlene frowned at the idea of Sirius wandering aimlessly about London, probably in his Animagus form, just to hide away from his family. She wondered how terrible they must be for him to resort to such a thing.

Marlene turned back to her parents, a resolute look on her face. “However long he needs.”

****

Grant quickly set up a cot for Sirius in Freddie’s bedroom—who was far too excited to have a roommate for the time being—and Sirius offered his thanks every five minutes with Grant dismissing it with a wave of his hand stating “it’s just what we do, son.”

Marlene was preparing for bed in her own room when a tentative knock came from the door. “Come in.”

Her mother walked in, shutting the door behind her with a soft click before making herself comfortable on Marlene’s bed. She looked at Marlene with a curious but open expression and Marlene found herself wondering if her mother could see right through her.  

“Is Sirius…someone you fancy?” She asked, and Marlene realized that perhaps her mother couldn’t see her at all.

“No.” She answered honestly, and her mother nodded, accepting the answer without question. Lottie still sat there though, mulling something around in her brain it seemed before letting it out.

“Is he in trouble?”

Marlene considered her mother’s question. The truth was that Marlene really wasn’t sure if Sirius was in trouble or not. It could just be him being his usual dramatic self and getting a kick out of ruining some extravagant family function, but somehow it felt different. The look of pure fear in his eyes when they were in that alley way was burned into her mind.

“I don’t know.” She said finally, her voice sounding more childish than she cared for. Her mother sighed, standing up and opening her arms which Marlene gratefully fell into. She closed her eyes, grateful that her parents were who they were. That they were so accepting and helpful towards everyone. It made her proud to be their daughter. She wondered idly if they would be accepting of everything or if there was some unforeseen limit to which their compassion reached.

Marlene thought about the events that occurred just a few days ago. The firewhiskey her and her friends had indulged in, intent on having one last night of fun before leaving each other for the winter holiday. She thought about the tingly feeling in her stomach as she leaned forward, placing her lips against Lily’s. She thought about the shocked look on Lily’s face and the small sound of surprise that came from Alice’s mouth. She thought about how she ran away before she could even give her friends a chance to ridicule her for her actions.  

It had been eating at her ever since, and now, as her mother held her in her arms, she wondered how she would react to the idea of her daughter liking girls.

“Mum?” Marlene asked, her heart rate picking up speed and hands starting to shake.

“Yes, dear?” Lottie pulled back, a look of concern on her face.

Marlene felt her throat close up, blocking off the words she wanted to confess. I can’t do this. Not now.

“Never mind.” She breathed, looking down at her feet instead of meeting her mother’s gaze. Lottie lingered there a moment, debating whether or not to push the subject. In the end, she just hugged Marlene tighter and smoothed out her hair.

“Okay. But you can always come talk to me whenever you need, okay?” Lottie kissed her daughter’s forehead and went to leave the room, turning in the doorway just before exiting. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, mum.”

As her mother left, Marlene crawled into bed, huddling deeply beneath the blankets and turning to face the wall, finally allowing her tears to fall.

****

Marlene awoke to a frantic knocking on her door. She shot up in bed, immediately reaching for her wand and pointing it towards the doorway. What if it was the Lestranges? What if they had followed Marlene and Sirius straight to her home? What if it were the Blacks themselves, here to take their runaway heir home and punish those who gave him sanctuary?

“Marls! Open the door, it’s Freddie!”

A feeling of relief as well as slight irritation flooded through her. Freddie was tolerable most of the time, but waking her up in the middle of the night was definitely not a way to get on Marlene’s good side.

“What do you want, Mercury?” She asked as she swung the door open. Freddie was standing there, his hands twisted together and his face painted with worry and fear that immediately caused Marlene’s sour attitude toward her brother to vanish. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Sirius. He won’t stop shaking and, and I thought he was having a nightmare and so I went over to shake him awake and he…he freaked out! He screamed and pushed me away and now he’s huddled in the corner and he won’t stop crying and—”

Marlene pushed past her brother and moved down the hallway towards his bedroom. When she got there, the cot was flipped over and the blankets were in a tangled mess on the floor. Sirius was pressed against the wall, his knees tucked up against his chest and his hands pulling anxiously at his hair. He was muttering something Marlene couldn’t quite make out but whatever it was, he sounded utterly terrified. Marlene turned to Freddie who had followed closely behind her.

“Go get mom.”

Freddie nodded and raced away, seemingly grateful about being given a task. Marlene turned her attention back to Sirius. He hadn’t even noticed the two of them had come into the room, too lost in whatever memory he was reliving. Marlene had heard about this sort of behavior before, when her dad spoke of her grandfather and the effects the war had on him. The panicked breathing and dissociation that blinded a person to their realities were sure signs of post-traumatic stress, she was sure. She was also sure she that she was way out of her depth to properly break Sirius out of it, but she’d be dammed if she didn’t try.

“Sirius,” She spoke slowly, inching towards him before kneeling in front of him. He shook harder, his breath coming out in pants. Merlin, he was going to make himself pass out.

“Hey,” She grabbed his hand and he recoiled with a scream.

“No! No, please! Please don’t, it hurts.” He whimpered. Marlene felt sick and uncomfortable. This was not the Sirius Black she knew. This was a scared and hurt little boy that Marlene could not help.

“What is it?” Marlene turned. Her mother was standing in the doorway, her father and brother right behind her. She watched as Lottie’s eyes found Sirius and she motioned for Marlene to move away. Marlene obliged, standing, and watching her mother crouch down in her place.

“Sirius, sweetie? It’s Lottie. Marlene’s mom, remember?” He didn’t respond but Lottie didn’t seem deterred.

“Breathe with me, Sirius. I’m going to count and we are going to breathe.”

Marlene watched in awe as her mother calmly coaxed Sirius out of the horrific state he was trapped in. They breathed together, with Sirius attempting to match Lottie the more lucid he became. Eventually, Lottie took his hands in hers, rubbing small circles in his palms with the pads of her thumbs. She spoke softly to him, asking him questions about his surroundings and Sirius muttered back short responses. Slowly, he came back to himself. Marlene stood in the doorway, Freddie beside her still looking quite distressed and her father with an unreadable expression playing on his features.

“Marlene could you come sit here beside Sirius? I’m going to go whip up a potion for him to take. Freddie, Grant, why don’t you come help me? Give Sirius some space.”

Freddie nodded wordlessly and turned to head down the stairs followed by his father. As Marlene passed her mother, Lottie put a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t make him talk about it,” She whispered, “just listen if he does.”

Marlene nodded and Lottie gave her a sad smile before leaving the two teens alone. Sirius stared down at his lap, his eyes puffy with tears and his hair a tangly mess. He seemed embarrassed and shifted slightly when Marlene took a seat next to him. She didn’t blame him. She’d be pretty embarrassed too if her whole bravado façade fell apart in front of an audience. It was quiet between them, and Marlene struggled as she thought of something to say. She wanted to ask Sirius what had happened, what kind of nightmare he’d had to cause such a reaction, but she refrained. Still, she thought she could gather a well enough idea.

“I’m thinking of cutting some fringe.” She says instead, reaching up to toy with a strand of her hair. Sirius blinks, glancing toward her and then back at his toes. “I think it’d be a nice change, you know. Eleanor Tippets has fringe and it’s quite nice looking, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never thought about Eleanor Tippets.” Sirius responds. Progress, she thinks.

“Me neither. Not really. Just noticed her hair is all.” Marlene purses her lips. “James has some wild hair, doesn’t he? Does it naturally look like that or does he do it on purpose?”

A ghost of a smile traces Sirius’ lips and Marlene feels her muscles lose a bit of the tension she was unaware she had been holding.

“It’s naturally messy, though he does run his fingers through it often.”

“When he flirts with all the girls?”

“Well, just one girl, really. He still can’t get over Evans.”

Marlene tenses a bit but forces the conversation to continue. “Lily is nice.”

“So is James. She still hasn’t given him a chance.”

Sirius was right, Marlene supposed. James Potter wasn’t exactly the poster boy for good behavior, but he was nice enough. He always helped first years with their homework and encouraged the Gryffindor Quidditch team to win the games and have fun doing it. Lily had talked about James before, to Marlene and Alice, usually to complain about how annoying he was or about what elaborate date he asked her on that week. At the time, Marlene thrilled over the fact that Lily was not into James and perhaps she imagined it was for the same reasons Marlene wasn’t into boys. Now, though, as she looked back on it, she could remember the faint blush gracing her friend’s cheeks each time James smiled at her and the way her lips would twitch upwards just before she told him to get lost.

“My parents hate me.” Sirius said suddenly. Marlene felt her heart stop. Even if she expected it, it was different to hear the words falling so painfully out of Sirius’ mouth. She looked towards him, at the hunch of his shoulders and the pain in his eyes. It was painful to see Sirius this way. He should be jumping on the bed or ranting to Marlene about David Bowie. He shouldn’t be sitting in the corner with trembling hands and a fear of his family. It wasn’t right.

“They shouldn’t hate you.” Marlene knew it was a lame response, but she didn’t know what to say. She had never prepared for a conversation like this, let alone with Sirius Black.

Sirius scoffed. “Oh, I don’t know. I sometimes hate me.”

“Why?”

“We’re not close enough for this conversation, McKinnon.”

“Well, you’re the one who started it.”

Before Sirius could reply, Lottie had stepped back into the room, a cup held in her hand that presumably held the potion she had concocted. Sirius accepted it gratefully, attempting to put his mask of perfect manners back on, though his hands still shook as he drank. Lottie exchanged a look with Marlene, a frown on her face and pity in her eyes. Marlene looked away. She knew Sirius would hate to have any pity directed towards him so it felt wrong to accept such a look.

“You can stay in my room for the rest the night,” Marlene said, “I don’t want you to scare my brother awake with your screams again. He might just wet the bed.”

Lottie opened her mouth to scold Marlene, but Sirius just let out that barking laugh that Marlene had come to enjoy now that she had learned about Sirius’ animagus form. Her parents set the cot up in Marlene’s room quickly and said goodnight once more before shutting the bedroom door. Sirius stood awkwardly next to the cot, his hands clasped together in front of him. Marlene crawled underneath her own blankets, scooting as close to the wall as she could before patting the space next to her. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

“Are you inviting me into your bed, McKinnon?”

Marlene rolled her eyes. “Just for sleep, you dog.”

Sirius hesitated, but slid in beside her after a moment of consideration. He was careful not to touch her, whether that was to make her more comfortable or him, Marlene wasn’t sure. She turned on her side so that she was facing him. He stared resolutely at the ceiling, his hands on his chest and eyes wide open.

“You can relax you know. I don’t bite.”

“Biting might be fun.”  

“Sirius—”

“I’m kidding!”

Marlene just shook her head. What a weird day, she thought as she closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander. Spending Christmas break with Sirius Black wasn’t something she had ever planned to do and now here he was, lying in her bed. Marlene wondered what Lily and Alice would say if she told them. She frowned as she thought of her friends. Would they still be her friends when she got back to Hogwarts? Or would they shy away from her, possibly even hate her. She couldn’t bear the sick feeling that washed over her at the idea of that.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Sirius asked. Marlene opened her eyes to see him gazing at her with an uncharacteristic look of empathy on his face. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m thinking about how much sleep you’re costing me.”

Sirius flushed slightly, but persisted, nonetheless. “Oh, come on. Your face was all scrunched up, there’s no way you were thinking of sleep. Enlighten me, McKinnon.”

“No.”

“Is it a boy?”

“No.”

“Good. Then I have no competition.”

“Trust me when I say this, Sirius. You are not my type.”

Sirius hesitated and then, “I’m sorry for messing up your holiday. I can leave tomorrow. Find my way to James’ house. He’s more equipped to deal with this mess.”

Marlene wanted to reassure Sirius that he was no bother, that she was happy to help, but she couldn’t. Because she probably wasn’t as equipped to deal with all of Sirius’ stuff, not compared to James who knew Sirius better than anyone. Marlene suddenly felt a sense of guilt overcome her. She and Sirius had always been friends at school, chatting in the common room on occasion and sitting next to each other in history of magic, but they were never close. She supposed it was because Sirius didn’t let people get too close, no one except for James, Remus, and Peter. Not that she was any better.

“We can write him in the morning if that would make you more comfortable.” She mumbled. Sirius nodded.

“That would probably be best.”

“Sirius,” Marlene hesitated. “Sirius, I don’t want to pry or anything but…what happened? Why did you run away?”

A dark look settled over Sirius’ face and Marlene almost recoiled. Whatever happened had been bad, probably worse than Marlene could imagine. She almost regretted asking the question and was about to tell him he didn’t have to answer when he spoke in a breath.

“They tried to kill me.”

Marlene’s blood ran cold. She didn’t want to believe it. She wanted Sirius to crack a teasing smile and claim that he was just being his usual dramatic self and that he was exaggerating the story and that his parents just had some old-fashioned ideas that got him in trouble when he didn’t agree with them. That she could handle. But this…god, she was going to be sick.

“Why?” Her voice sounded childish, laced with curiosity, and horrified awe.

“I…disagreed with them, as usual. But this time it was because of more personal beliefs.”

“Personal beliefs?”

“I told them I was gay.”

There was a stutter in Marlene’s heart, a sudden thrill that she wasn’t alone, such an excitement that she almost screamed “me too!” back at him. But she didn’t. Because right now was about Sirius, not her.  Instead, she reached out and took Sirius’ hand. He flinched at the motion but Marlene did not let go. She could not let go, not now, not when she might be the only person who Sirius might be able to relate to, that he might be the only person who could understand her. She felt the need to cling to this, to remember this moment as Sirius told her this secret with raw vulnerability and tears in his eyes because not only was the world cruel to people like them but his own parents couldn’t see past their own prejudices to just love their son. Instead, they set out to hurt and even kill. Marlene could make this moment matter. She could make this moment a happy moment for him.

“I’m so fucking proud of you.”

Sirius finally met her gaze, surprise evident on his face. She grinned back at him, her own eyes watering.

“I am so fucking proud of you, Sirius. For being strong enough and brave enough to stand up to your parents and be who you are. I really admire that and I am so happy that you shared it with me. Thank you.”

Sirius’ body seemed to lose all the tension he had been holding since bumping into Marlene earlier that day. God, had it only been a day? Marlene felt as though Sirius had been there for weeks, ready to burst at the seams at any moment. And this was that moment. He started crying in earnest, his body shaking and eyes becoming blinded with tears. Marlene inched forward, wrapping her arms around him, and holding him close. Her own face was wet with tears of joy and pain for her friend.

Eventually they fell asleep, wrapped tightly around each other. It was how Lottie found them in the morning.

#sirius black #marlene mckinnon #remus lupin #james potter #lily evans potter #wolfstar #jily #marauders #marauders era #sirius black angst #fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #💭 by kat #romulusnuffles

[aventurasdeunatortuga]

Laredo Part 2 Day 8

It’s been a long day.

So this morning I went over to La Frontera to help out and spent the morning serving food to folks. Since the rain had been pretty torrential the church next door let folks stay in their dining hall for the night and to be there during the day, normally they have to wait outside most of the day since there are so many people.

Then after that I started relearning how to register people. I was in charge of this the last time I was here in 2019 but they have an entirely new system now. Then one of the nuns I befriended yesterday suggested I accompany a group of volunteers to the border bridge to help pick up a group of people who were Title 42 exemptions.

I’d recommend looking up Title 42, it’s a very recent law enacted by 45 which, despite international pressure from the UN, Biden has yet to overturn. It essentially uses potential COVID exposure as a reason to deny asylum seekers entry which is a violation of international law. Biden has relaxed this law slightly to allow 250 people daily to cross nationwide, which works out to 12 people a day in Laredo. These are different from the groups we normally receive who surrendered at the border and were detained by ICE, these folks are caught crossing without having surrendered voluntarily.

Since they are still seeking asylum, according to international law they still have the right to claim asylum regardless of where and how they cross, but this law uses COVID as an excuse to deny entry to anyone caught crossing this way. It also results in de facto family separation, as families will send their kids over by themselves across the bridge because they have a better chance of being accepted if they are unaccompanied minors. They come with phone numbers of relatives in the US written in sharpie all over their bodies and clothes so that they can hopefully be reunited with their families, otherwise they may end up in the custody of FEMA or in the foster care system. Unaccompanied minors though are usually taken into Child Services custody rather than released to shelters.

Long story short, I was supposed to go with a group of volunteers to meet the 12 people who were granted Title 42 exemption and give them water, etc and then ride with them back to the shelter.

What ended up happening was that the shelter director didn’t organize things very well and left with just me and no other volunteers. She dropped me off at an outdoor chicken restaurant 500 feet from the border, told me to wait for the people to arrive and that she would be back in 30 minutes to pick me and the group up. I didn’t have anything with me other than my phone.

I ended up waiting for nearly 4 hours. The group of people never arrived, it was later discovered that they were dropped off early this morning with no one there to meet them and we don’t know where they went.

The shelter director, Sandy, never came to pick me up and after 30+ phone calls never answered the phone. I was able to get ahold of the other director of the shelter, Becky, and she kept telling me someone was coming to get me but then that never happened.

After about 4 hours I was hot and hungry and getting unnerved. I was only a mile from the shelter and knew how to get there but it was 100 degrees and I had been left in charge of 3 giant crates of water and paperwork. I didn’t have any money or anything.

There were some homeless folks sitting outside the restaurant. Some of them asked me for money, I didn’t have any but I gave them water. After a few hours they got worried about me and were about to use their money to buy me food from the chicken restaurant which was really nice of them. I also contacted Joe and he said that he could come get me if I wanted, I said I’d wait five more minutes.

Finally though right when I was about to call Joe to come get me, Becky drove up and was super apologetic. She said that of the two shelter vehicles one of them had broken down on the way to get me and the other one had to be used to go to the airport because a group of asylum seekers were there that had missed their flight and the police were threatening to arrest them if no one came to get them.

It was understandable, just very frustrating that no one was communicating with me. When I finally got back the other volunteers had been really worried about me and didn’t know where I was. They all gave me their phone numbers and made me a huge plate of food. They were super kind.

In summary, I’m not gonna go anywhere from now on without my wallet and my own means of transportation. Everyone at the shelter is so overwhelmed and stressed and understaffed and overworked and there are so many emergencies it is understandable, albeit frustrating, that these things slip through the cracks.

When I finally got back around 4pm, I helped serve dinner, which was super meaningful. A huge group had just arrived and a lot of them hadn’t eaten for the past 10 days. All we had was soup and rice and beans and juice, but they were so grateful. They kept telling us how after being so hungry, it was the best meal they’d ever had.

Before dinner they had been listless and kind of empty eyed waiting in line but after everyone ate their fill we even had leftovers for seconds and thirds (for 100 people, from one pot of food); we found a package of cookies and walked around giving people cookies and juice and they were so excited. The kids were running around and playing and it was so good to see.

After that I finally made it over to Holding since I’d told Joe that I’d come for dinner service. We served another crowd of 100 people mac and cheese. I also sat with a girl for a little over an hour talking and getting to know her after she offered to help me make kits for the babies (diapers, formula, wipes, etc.).

She has been at the shelter for several weeks and came from Mexico. I had thought she was a volunteer but she had also immigrated. She told me her story which put my fiasco from this morning into major perspective. She had come from Mexico with her brother to find work and meet up with her mom in New York, she’s my age. At the border they used a coyote, a smuggler, to get them across the border. When they got to Texas, her and her brother were detained by ICE. She was released but her brother never was, he’s been detained for 2 months and she doesn’t know when he’ll be released.

When she got out, she was kidnapped by a couple who claimed to be offering to let her stay with them. She was kept trapped in an apartment for weeks with dozens of other immigrants by a group of white Americans. All her possessions were taken away and they held her ransom for $15,000. She said that some of the men in the group of immigrants tried to argue, but they were told if they didn’t listen they would be tortured. They used one man as an example and cut his ears off in front of everyone to say ‘this is what will happen if you don’t listen’.

Her mom paid the ransom, but they didn’t release her. She said she thinks some of the other girls were murdered because they suddenly disappeared. She said that they would force her to take off her mask and cough in her face to scare her. She and all the other people were eventually able to escape because they managed to communicate with a neighbor who eventually got all of them out and brought them to the shelter.

The shelter is letting her stay in a private room as long as she needs to since after paying the ransom she has no money and her mom for a reason she wouldn’t say can’t take her in. She is waiting for her brother to be released and hopes to find a place to live in Texas with him.

I didn’t even know what to say after hearing all that. I just gave her a hug and told her that we were glad that she is safe and sound and that she made it here and that I was so sorry that she had to experience that.

After that I went and bought a crapton of sparkly hair bows and rainbow unicorn flip flops for the little girls at the shelters because I can’t fix the situations these folks are in, but I can try to offer them some little bit of relief and happiness for the time being.

Like I said, it’s been a long day,

Until next time,

#laredo #texas #immigration #borderlands #tw violence #tw kidnapping #tw torture

[putschki1969]

My Experience with Japanese Online Shops, International Shipping and Proxy Services

In the last few months I have ordered from many different Japanese online stores and I have made use of a bunch of new international shipping and proxy services so I thought it would be a good idea to sum up my experiences and write a little review so everyone knows what to expect. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Content

tenso

Buyee

WorldShopping

HMV International Shipping

CDJapan

Amazon.co.jp

1. tenso.com

A staple for everyone who wants to register for various Japanese services (e.g. fan clubs, streaming platforms, etc) or enjoys shopping in Japanese online shops. It cannot be said often or loud enough how indispensable tenso is for fans of anything Japanese, their service is a true lifesaver! The H-el-ical// Online store even recommends using them! These days many Japanese sites accept foreign payment methods but one thing that’s still almost always required is a Japanese address. And that’s where tenso comes in. They will provide you for free with a Japanese address and phone number which you can use to register on almost any site. You can have your fan club stuff and purchased items sent to that address (the tenso warehouse) and they will then ship it to you. There are not a whole lot of shipping options available but that’s fine. Air Mail is definitely their best offer but if your package is too big you will end up having to choose EMS (which is quite pricey but typically very fast - not during the pandemic tho, at least not for Austria). A big advantage is the possibility to edit the package description. You can lower the value of your items to avoid import taxes and custom fees in your country. Please note that tenso does require an identity verification which might act as a deterrent but I can assure you, they are totally trust-worthy and reliable. I get a LOT of use out of them. Of course I have all my FC related stuff sent to their warehouse but tenso also came in handy for my orders on Tower Records Online, Animate Online and the Universal Shop/H-el-ical Shop/mu-mo Shop.

※ With the exception of the Universal Shop, I was able to pay at all the above mentioned stores with my foreign VISA.

2. Buyee

Another staple and the very first proxy service I ever used. You will need them in all those places that do not accept foreign payment methods (there are still too many out there unfortunately). Their customer service is impeccable and I have never had issues with them. They have gone as far as to contact Japanese stores on my behalf even though it is not part of their usual service. They offer a very wide range of features and shipping options, their service fees are also not too high (although I will admit that they have slightly increased throughout the years). They operate on so many different Japanese online shops, it’s rare to find a big store that does not collaborate with them. Also, if you want to thrift Kalafina related items, THIS is your go-to service. Be it Yahoo Auctions, Mercari or Suruga-ya, you can use Buyee on all those sites. They even have their own English user-interface for some of the major Japanese online stores and you can take advantage of their browser add-on which makes shopping a lot easier. The only downside is that they will not allow edits to the package value so if you live in a bureaucratic country like myself with very strict tax and custom regulations, you will have to make sure to send your packages wisely or just expect to pay quite a lot of fees. This time I used them to order my Wakana cover album copies from Rakuten Books (I REALLY wanted their tokuten). Since Buyee offers the biggest variety of shipping options, I got these copies before anything else, they were here super fast.

※ It’s funny how I am able to register my credit card for Rakuten Pay in order to purchase music on mora.jp but I cannot use that very same credit card to actually buy stuff on Rakuten.

3. WorldShopping

A fairly new service as far as I know but it seems like they are quickly expanding and trying to give Buyee a run for their money. Their banner has been popping up on almost all Japanese sites I have visited in the past few months but up until recently I wasn’t really feeling like trying a new service (I am always hesitant when it comes to new stuff). At least until I found myself in dire need of the Sofmap store specific tokuten for Wakana’s cover album XD. Unfortunately Sofmap does not accept foreign payment methods and Buyee also does not operate on their site so I took a leap of faith and made my purchase through WorldShopping since their banner looked so inviting. It was surprisingly straighforward since they are providing their own interface on the Japanese sites. I didn’t even have to go to the WorldShopping main page to register or anything before using the service. Their fees are acceptable but not exactly low. I was a little wary because I didn’t have a proper account but they did provide a link in the initial email where I could more or less keep track of everything. It took VERY long for my purchased item to be registered at their warehouse (for tenso and Buyee it takes around 1 day) and I didn’t get a notification email that it had arrived so those are not the best aspects of their service. The only shipping method they seem to offer is EMS (which again, is very pricey). Anyways, at the end of the day, my package arrived unscathed in Austria (including the tokuten) so I am a happy camper. While I will probably not be using their service regularly in the future I can still recommend WorldShopping to you with a clear conscience. But please keep in mind to check your status link regularly!

※ Please note that the WorldShipping interface in Japanese online shops overrides the site’s very own purchasing option so if you want to make an order using your own account with your tenso address and a domestic shipping method (let’s say in the mu-mo shop for example) you will have to deactive all WorldShopping services on the page.

4. HMV & BOOKS Online International Shipping

Another first for me. I had no idea they offered international shipping so when I saw the little button on KEIKO’s Lantana page, I couldn’t resist. Since Amazon.co.jp is no longer an option for me, I was desperate to find other stores that offered international shipping and tokutens. Unfortunately, their international shipping service is not a very good replacement for Amazon.co.jp since it takes VERY long. I registered as a guest and made my order without any trouble. I expected them to ship the item on the release day (or the day prior) but that was not the case. I am almost entirely sure that they use a “hidden” proxy service but still promote it as direct shipping. Which is why the process is taking so long. I think it wasn’t until the fifth day after the release date that I finally received the shipping confirmation. Also, don’t get thrown off by weird phrasing in their e-mails. They kept saying that they had shipped “the first part of my order” when in fact there was only one part. Since they only offered EMS as shipping option it once again took quite a while for the package to get to me even though the shipping fee was very high (please note that EMS is typically very fast but as I mentioned earlier, COVID-19 has changed everything). Overall, I can’t really complain about their service, if you are willing to wait a while, HMV International Shipping is definitely worth a try. HMV always have some of the best tokutens so be sure to check it out.

※ I originally tried to register properly but that turned out to be quite complicated so I recommend registering as a guest just like I did.

5. CDJapan

The first site I ever used to order Kalafina-items. I have never had issues with them. They are very reliable and of course the best thing is that they ship directly to your country. However, these days I hardly ever shop at CDJapan anymore because they rarely have tokutens. Also, items you purchase on their site will not be calculated into the daily and weekly sales data for Oricon music charts so that sucks. As you know, I want to support my girls as best as possible (and that means contributing to their chart numbers). Sometimes CDJapan do offer tokutens so they are definitely a viable option for foreign fans. They have lots of payment and shipping methods to choose from and typically their packages arrive very quickly. I bought Hikaru’s RE of “disclose” (only the LE came with tokutens) and one of my “Lantana” copies (CDJapan did in fact have a tokuten for that. YAY).

※ If for some reason, CDJapan isn’t your cup of tea or doesn’t work for you I think YESASIA is a good alternative. However, I haven’t used their service yet so I am not sure how reliable they are. They offer free shipping if your order total exceeds a certain amount so that’s definitely pretty neat!

6. Amazon.co.jp

Amazon.co.jp has been very reliable for the past few years but this year they have really let me down. Just like HMV they do offer an international shipping service but theirs is actually a DIRECT shipping service and it’s SUPER fast. Also they estimate the import/customs fees of your respective country and they charge a deposit which they can use to pay the customs office to speed up the shipping procedure. If this doesn’t happen, packages will usually end up being stuck at customs for a very long time until they have been processed. Last but not least, they often have some of the coolest and most unique tokutens. These are all reasons why I loved to use them but it seems like the pandemic screwed things up for many foreign fans. When I was logged in and checking the product pages of the Kala-solo-releases, they would either show me that everything was out of stock from the get-go or no longer shippable to my country. However, when I wasn’t logged in and checked the Japanese version of the product page I saw that there were in fact still copies available. Now that the pre-order period is over they seem to have restocked a little bit and some versions have finally become available again for foreigners. For example, I could now technically order the LE of “Lantana” with a tokuten. I really wonder why that stuff wasn’t there when I needed it *grumbles*

※ I am not 100% sure if the pandemic caused all these issues but I kinda hope that was the reason because that would mean that next year things will hopefully work fine again. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

#kalafina #review #tenso #buyee #worldshopping #cdjapan #amazon.co.jp. #shopping in japan #proxy service #international shipping #wakana #keiko #hikaru

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 78

~*~Sebastian~*~

The sun shone brightly when we woke up. I made Emma coffee first and we sat at the bar with fruit and yogurt. I wasn’t particularly hungry. Nauseated, if I’m honest. Emma was going home today. Yes, it was only for a couple of days, but that wasn’t what the problem was. I was afraid of how I would feel when she left. We’ve been together almost a week. We said I love you. Went to a concert with her friends, planned a vacation with mine, and celebrated a month together. Everything is wonderful. I don’t know how it will be when she leaves. Will I be melodramatically sad, anxious, and insecure that while she’s away she’ll figure out she prefers to be without me, or when she leaves will I be glad to have my space back? Realistically, the panic is more likely to come when she leaves France and we’re apart for six weeks. Today’s just a preview.

Around noon Emma was ready to leave. She’d gone through the bags of new stuff and left what she wanted to take to France. No sense packing it home only to bring it back. Especially when she was dealing with her suitcase on the train. Early afternoon was the best time to get her back. I walked her downstairs to her Uber and stopped by the security office to find out where the parking garage was. The security guard walked outside with us and pointed to a keypad on a pole next to the building. I walked into the building hundreds of times and never really noticed the large panes of windows that matched my building was a garage door. The same code that worked on the outside door worked on the garage and my spot was the same as my apartment number. That’s easy.

The Uber driver took Emma’s suitcase and lifted it into the trunk while we said goodbye. “I love you and I’ll see you Thursday.”

Emma kissed me and patted my chest, “I’ll let you know when I’m home.”

“Thank you.” I’m always going to worry about her getting home safe. Can’t wait until there’s snow and she’s driving to work or worse, here. I kissed her again, told her I loved her and tucked her in the car. Stood on the sidewalk until she turned the corner too. Avoided going back upstairs by running across the street and getting a bottle of something. Didn’t really matter what. I wasn’t thirsty. Took a walk around the block to drink my bottle of whatever. Finally, throwing the bottle away in the garbage can at the end of the block, I headed back upstairs.

I walked in my door and stood there with my hands on my hips, waiting for something to happen. Everything looked the same. Felt the same. Not sure what I expected. The apartment wasn’t going to suddenly have a portal to hell open up in between the dining table and couch. If it happened, it would be in the guest bathroom. Maybe my closet. I checked both to be sure. Nope, no portals. What I did find in the master bath was a mauve lipstick kiss print on the mirror. It was at my eye level but on the edge close to the wall. I smiled, thinking how she would have had to crawl onto the counter to put it there. I imagined she’d get the same thrill when she found the notes I’d hidden at her place and school.

A little over two hours later my phone rang. The prettiest girl in the world was calling me, “Hello, beautiful.”

She grinned, “Hey, handsome.  I’m home.”

Emma turned her phone around to show me her family room. “I can see that. How was the trip?”

“Uneventful.”

“Perfect.”

“What have you been up to since I last saw you?” The lilt of curiosity in her voice was funny.

“I’ve been busy. Checking email and seeing everything has changed.”

“You’re very flexible.”

“Not nearly as flexible as you, my love.” We shared a dirty smile. “Now, we’re shooting in Paris instead of London. Which is convenient and doesn’t require a flight. And tonight I’m having dinner with a former spy.”

Her eyes lit up, “That sounds fun.”

“It does.”  I agreed. “I’ve been trying to schedule something with him for a while. Finally worked out. It will be good to get in person and ask questions about all the shit I’ve been reading and watching.”

“I’m excited for you. You can get the psychological emotional part down. I imagine in person makes it easier to internalize.”

Not that I doubted, but she’d been paying attention when I’d talked. Her interest in the how and why of the craft side was as enjoyable for me as it was her. I wanted to show her more. I wanted to know about how she taught too, how she knew what to do and how she designed lessons. Which reminded me, “Add me to your online classroom so I can watch you teach.” There’s the added bonus of pretty much having her “on demand” if I wanted to see and hear her. I had the video from the party with her, Eli, and Boone too. That would make a long night alone a little more . . . stimulating.

We didn’t talk long. I was having an early dinner to allow plenty of time to talk and I needed to shower and get ready. Emma needed to unpack and start gathering things to repack. There’s also the part about she’d just left.

Dinner lasted much later than I’d anticipated. It was awesome. Dan told me stories and let me pick his brain. I told him about my part in the movie and he was able to give me some specifics. Not that I’d play the part exactly as he’d said, but I knew what to avoid, what wasn’t realistic. I liked that because a complete mismatch with reality could put me into my head and that’s the last place I wanted to be.

The next morning I hit the gym and had a good workout. Mirrors everywhere told me I needed more than a little personal grooming before leaving. A haircut was already scheduled and I called the salon to add on what I thought I needed. I had lunch with my manager to go over the next few weeks. I don’t have a full time PR person, but I do have a firm with which I contract. Emily had been in contact with them. About my girlfriend. Amazing how fast my mood went from good to not.

“Seb, don’t make that face.”

“What face?”

“The annoyed one where you’re holding in a tirade.”

“I’m glad you recognize the precarious ground you’re standing on.” I drank the last of my wine and crossed my arms across my chest. “I’m going to sit here and be very quiet for a limited amount of time. Talk fast.” I don’t have many tirades. A big part of that is due to the relationship I have with Emily. She’s been with me forever. She knows when to push, when to back off, and when to let me have a tirade. Girlfriends are and always have been a tricky area. Usually, Emily wants me to be more open about a girlfriend. Much like what previous girlfriends wanted. That never turned out well for either of them. Emma was altogether in another class. I wasn’t sullen because I didn’t want to hear about what I should be doing. I was feeling protective and didn’t want business in my personal life. Same issue, different reasons.

“Everything is good. Emma is good. She doesn’t have much of a social media presence and hers is private. Family and friends sometimes tag her, but there’s nothing problematic out there. Once her name is out there she won’t be hard to find because you and several of your friends follow her. It’s a quick find that she’s a teacher, where she works, plays volleyball, has a twin, and has musician friends. She’s known by Pearl Jam fans. They’re protective of all the females in the band’s orbit. Best guess is anything negative is wiped quickly. We called Pearl Jam’s PR people and they’ve worked with her, so we don’t need to. Until something comes up and then we’ll probably have to work with you too. Unless you go silent again.”

I must have twitched.

Emily held her hands out like she was calming a wild animal. “Everyone’s a little concerned because you let Will post something. Oh, and any pictures of her in a bikini are always in a group.” She smiled comically and sat back.

“The ones she sends me are solos.”

“Good to know.”

I sat a second, my blood pressure dropping. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

I nodded and shrugged, “I told Will to post the picture. Don’t know exactly why. I’m happy. I’m in love. I’ve grown. Past is past and I’m moving to the future. All of them.”

“So, the comments and everything. You’re okay?”

“No, Emily, I’m wonderful.”

I waited until I got home to call Emma. She hit voice call. I pouted even though she couldn’t see. “I am at Target replenishing my travel supplies.”

“Sounds fun! Are you in for shampoo and leaving with three hundred dollars worth of who knows what?” Isn’t that the way it usually works at Target?

“I have a list. I’m staying away from parts of the store I don’t need to be in.”

“Smart. What time do you have to be at the court?”

“We’re going to meet for dinner about five. Game at seven.”

“Give Sam your phone so I can pack and watch.”

“I bet if you ask nicely she’ll alert you when something big is going on.”

“I’m a decent multitasker.”

“How was dinner with a spy?”

"Dinner with a spy was" I shook my head and looked up, "fascinating. Books, even non-fiction, and video are good, but watching his expression and mannerisms was so cool. Especially when he had neither." I went on talking while she shopped. She laughed and gasped at the same parts I had. I was excited to see how I could incorporate this new knowledge. We hung up when she was checking out.

~*~*~*~

"Sorry about the loss." I cringed to soften the blow. I knew she didn't like to lose. Who does?

Emma growled, "Frustrating. I want a chocolate brownie or something."

"I think the bakeries are closed." It was a little after ten. "I'll get you one tomorrow."

"You're the sweetest."

"When will you be here?"

"Well before lunchtime. I got everything packed before the game. I'll shower tonight. Get up and be on my way. Do you have plans?"

"Yes. Vanity kicked in. I have a facial and haircut, before therapy. Want a facial?"

"No seaweed."

"Damm, that's what I booked for you."

~*~*~

I spent the morning packing. I’m not a heavy packer. I’ll wear the same thing over and over. I’m working so costuming will be taking care of most of my clothes. I’m invited to the fashion show. Being dressed is part of the package. Emma and I had made a list of places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do while in Paris. I composed an email and sent it on to the hotel’s concierge. I heard back almost immediately. They would create an itinerary and we could adjust it once we arrived. Perfect.

Emma would be back about noon. Our spa treatments and my haircut were set for three and my therapy appointment was around five. I cleaned up around the place. Nothing drastic. I had a cleaning service come in after I go away. I just make sure everything’s put away.  I had my suitcase closed and in the dining area when my text notification went off.

Emma ~ Are you home?

Sebastian ~ Yes.

Emma ~ Alone?

Sebastian ~ Yes.

 I am sensing something is about to happen.

Emma ~ When I get there would you like to play a game?

Sebastian ~ Yes.

 I neither know nor care what she’s talking about. It would be nice to know what I’m going to be playing, though.

Sebastian ~ Could I get more details?

Emma ~ Porn

Sebastian ~ You want to watch porn?

Emma ~ Pretend we're in one. Over the top, things that only work in porn, excessive moaning, name calling, filthy talk porn.

 Fuck. I’ve watched enough porn to know how this was going to go.

Sebastian ~ Yes, I would like to play.

Emma ~ I never doubted you.

Sebastian ~ Are you texting and driving?

Emma ~ Traffic and voice to text. Delivery girl, booty call, escort? Me. This time.

Sebastian ~ I don't know yet.

Emma ~ Text when you do.

Sebastian ~ I love you.

Emma ~ I love you.

 Woman has been away for forty-eight hours and shows back up with this shit. I wasn't a sex-starved horn dog five minutes ago. I wonder what she's wearing? Delivery girl, booty call, escort. I like her choices. I have to seduce the delivery girl. Or be seduced. Booty call would be a repeat. Familiarity without expectations. There are zero expectations with an escort. Well, there are expectations, but only mine. I feel like it's a question of how selfish I want to be and what questions I want to answer after. Booty call it is!

I texted her my choice and that the door would be unlocked. I sat in the chair to wait. Patiently.

#oscar isaac #fanfiction #rpf #oscar isaac fanfiction #oscar isaac X OFC

[gingrrfrog]

be my baby

nanny!jeno

warnings: recreational drug use (weed)  

a/n: I wrote this a long time ago and it never came to fruition all the way! maybe I’ll play around with the idea, but I either need to come up with a new oc or practice writing in second person more lol 

Lee Jeno stared at the floor in front of him, laying on his stomach as he desperately tried to find a way to cool down. In less words, Jeno was broke, barely 30,000 won to his name that he would have to pay his credit card bill tomorrow. He wanted to cry in all honesty, and he didn’t think that his major would be taken this much money out of his bank account.

Being a college senior should be full of lasting memories with your friends, kissing the last bit of independent freedom you had left goodbye before you clock in to your 9-5 job for the rest of your days. But, for Jeno, an early education major, he found that he couldn’t delve in that privilege. He was busy driving around to get the last of his volunteering hours and the same with his student teaching hours, writing down mock lesson plans until he memorized nearly every single cartoon character in the world to make him relevant. He lived a stark different life from that of his roommate, Jaemin and Renjun, both majoring in some form of business.

Lucky bastards. All either of them needed for a job after this was a quick call from Jaemin’s dad and they would be interns with job security in no time.

But for Jeno, it would come more difficultly, straining his eyes every morning at 6 am to greet his students at 7 am with a grin and hugs for each. It’s not that Jeno didn’t love his job, it’s just that he wished he had more time for himself.

Jeno heard feet padding around the apartment, looking up at Jaemin as the latter raise an eyebrow popsicle in his mouth as he threw the rest of the popsicles on Jeno’s bareback. Jeno hissed at the sudden temperature change, but stood up and took one for himself, relieved at the cool melon taste.

“What’s with you?” Jaemin asked, looking in the fridge. “You never lay naked on the floor with a stupid look on your face unless something is wrong.”

“I would enjoy some sympathy.” Jeno grumbled, chewing down on the popsicle and watching Jaemin smirk.

“I am giving you sympathy. If you want me to feel bad with you, you should have said empathy. I thought that’s what all you education majors practice.”

“It is something we practice. The only thing business majors practice is their cocaine snorting.”

“I’ve never been a man for fine powder,” Jaemin hummed to himself. The same man walked over to the couch, sitting on the sticky leather and watching his best friend grumble, “what’s with you? Seriously?”

“I have 30,000 won in my bank account.”

“Alright! That’s 20,000 more than I thought you had!” 

“And my credit card bill is due tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Jaemin pressed his lips together, “never mind.” 

“I’m...”Jeno took a deep breath. “Can I vent?” 

Jaemin nodded, “let it out.”

“I’m fucking exhausted, I don’t get paid enough or I don’t get paid at all. I love my kids. I love my students more than I can understand but holy shit, it is driving me up a goddamn wall that I have to spend most of my money on my maxed out credit card.”

“Get a job.”

Jeno shook his head, “I don’t have time for another part time job.”

“Then quit and get a full time.”

Jeno sat up, glaring at his friend, “where am I supposed to find the time for a full time job, Jaemin?”

“I’m only offering you options, Jeno. I get it, you’re stressed out. Just get rid of your one part time job and work on your days off for the full time.”

Jeno grimaced, he knew that it was an option but he wasn’t ready to give up his days off though. But, his only pair of teacher slacks had a hole in them, and he needed new ones. “What if I drop out?”

Jaemin shook his head, “you’re almost done, Jen. You only have this semester.”

Jeno took a deep breath, looking at his hands and hating himself for what he was about to ask next, “do...you want to smoke?”

Jaemin pursed his lips, “I always want to smoke. What about you? Don’t you get drug tested every week?”

Jeno shook his head, “six months. I just took mine yesterday.”

Jeno watched as Jaemin grounded up green herbs with their grinder, feeling particularly downer than usual as he watched Jaemin roll. This was his last bit of weed and Renjun stopped selling a month ago, losing his friend discount. Jaemin lit up the dark roll in his hands and took a deep breath, sighing out sour smoke before handing it to his friend. Jeno took the blunt in his hands and inhaled next, breathing out to breathe in again, scratching at his head as he rested his head on the balcony. Jaemin offered him a pat on the shoulder, mainly to ask for the blunt back but to also offer some comfort to his friend.

“Hey, Jeno,” Jaemin bit his lip. “My dad was talking about one of his bosses needing a babysitter. Do you want me to ask him about it?”

“Which one of his bosses?”

Jaemin shrugged, “probably the department chief. I think he mentioned he needed a babysitter because his wife left, or something.”

“Is he paying well?”

“I would hope so. You would think department chief would pay well.”

Jeno sighed, “ask your dad for his number. I’m not really in the position to deny anything.”

“This’ll all be over, Jeno, just watch.” Jaemin reassured, grabbing Jeno’s still bare shoulders and shaking his body, “you’ve got this! You’re Lee Jeno! You’re going to make more money than us one day?”

“As a kindergarten teacher?” Jeno snorted, slapping his hand away, “I know you’re just trying to make me feel better but now you’re just being a dick.”

“Is that Underwater Rose I smell?” A voice came from inside the apartment, Renjun appearing with a grin and taking the blunt in his hands. Jeno shoved the smaller man and narrowed his eyes.

“Fuck off. You hog it.”

“I do not. I didn’t even know you still had this,” Renjun said, taking a hit after Jeno allowed him too. “Oh man, I miss this one.”

“Well don’t, because it’s all I have left.”

“You know I still have the employee discount, I can get this for dirt cheap.”

“I don’t want anything that you get for dirt cheap,” Jaemin made a face of disgust, “your version of dirt cheap is just the seeds and branches, you dick.”

“That’s the best part!”

“You’re insane!” Jaemin yelled, snatching it out of Renjun’s hands, “go smoke your seed, make sure Xuxi didn’t mix his own in it, you whore.” 

“Who told you about that?!”

“You’ve limped for the past two days after you came home from his house, it doesn’t take a detective, Whore-lock.”

“Stop calling me that!”

Jaemin snickered as he held the blunt above Renjun’s head, grinning down at the shorter man as Jeno excused himself. He sighed and walked over to his room, feeling his legs swaying back and forth as he fell in bed, his eyes closing and falling asleep.

When he woke up again, Jeno felt a bit bitter that he wasted most, if not all, his high on his nap, still feeling the weightlessness in his fingertips, he walked over to the kitchen to snack on some food, Renjun and Jaemin sat on the couch. It seemed that they smoked more while he was gone, Jaemin completely fried while Renjun sleeping next to him. Jaemin tilted his head to the side, looking at Jeno with a smile.

“Can you pass me another popsicle?”

Jeno snorted, “no. Did you finish my blunt.”

“I saved you some. I didn’t want to smoke it all,” Jaemin whined, “pass me one, Jen. Don’t be a dick.”

Jeno tossed the last popsicle on Jaemin’s lap, the latter cheering as he slowly unwrapped the package.

“I called my dad,” Jaemin mumbled, chomping a piece of the ice bar. “He gave me the lady’s information.”

“You said it was a guy.”

“Nah, it’s a chick. Maybe I heard wrong,” Jaemin shrugged. “My dad said he would call you, he tried to give me the number but...y’know.”

Jeno snorted, “yeah, I know, don’t worry. Do you want dinner?”

“Oh, fuck yeah, I want dinner.”

“You’re paying.”

Jaemin reached in his pocket and threw his wallet in the direction of his friend, Jeno hastily catching it and picking one of his cards from his vast collection. Jeno sighed in jealousy.

“You can take money if you want Jen,” Jaemin said. “My dad is always giving me guilt money for being an absent father. Take whatever you want.”

Jeno shook his head, “I’m not doing that to you, Jaem. You’re fried-- it’s not consensual.”

Jaemin rolled his eyes, “you’re taking money from my wallet. you’re not going to fuck me.”

 Jaemin’s eyes brightened, “unless-?”

“I’m taking fifty.”

“That’s my boy.”

Jeno woke up at 4:45am the next morning, his head spinning as he yawned, turning off his alarm before moving to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After his shower and brushing his teeth, he practiced smiling in the mirror, enough to make sure his students didn’t know he was sad or tired. Finally happy, he smeared on whatever skincare he had left before throwing on a dress shirt and his black pants, coloring with black sharpie the tiny hole before slipping on his dress shoes next.

It’s a wonder how Jeno afforded a car, the same way it’s a wonder how he forgot his tank was empty. He groaned and hit his head over the top of the steering wheel, getting out and opting for public transportation once again. The bus stopped at least a block away from the elementary school, walking at a comfortable pace as it wasn’t as warm in the morning as it was in the afternoon. He greeted the secretary upon entering, smiling before taking off his shoes and putting on his other school shoes, walking up to the classroom to see a few students inside already.

“Mr. Lee!” Jisung cheered, running over to his favorite teacher and giving him a hug, “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Jisung!” He smiled, ruffling his hair, “you’re here early.”

“Mommy had a doctor’s appointment. Mr. Lee did you know I’m going to be a big brother?”

“I didn’t know that! That’s exciting!”

“Jisung, you still haven’t finished practicing your name!” Yeeun called from the back, ushering him back to his seat as she gave Jeno a smile. “Hey, good morning.”

“Good morning, I’m not late, am I?” Yeeun smiled and shook her head, “you’re fine. You don’t have to come in this early, Jeno.” “I like to come in early. It’s a bad habit, really.”

Yeeun laughed, but before she could reply, another student made her entrance, greeting her as she helped her switch into her shoes. Jeno took a seat next to Jisung, watching him trace his name a few more times as students made their entrance. Soon, after about thirty

minutes, the class of seventeen was completed as Jeno sat in the back with his tiny friends as Yeeun continued with morning announcements.

Jeno helped with math class as well as science, but during lunch, he couldn’t find himself to be hungry, instead opting for a small snack as he watched his students chew and ask him questions about his day.

“Mr. Lee, what did you do yesterday?”

“I had popsicles with my friends,” Jeno smiled, “what about you? What did you do?” 

“Jisung came over to my house yesterday! We looked for beetles!”

“Beetles?! Did you find any?”

“We found two! Mr. Lee, do you like beetles?”

Jeno scrunched his nose up and shook his head, “nope. I think they’re scary.”

After lunch came a nap, setting up different blankets as all seventeen students took their time sleeping. Jeno had to lay next to a few students to help him sleep, but once they did, he stood up carefully, letting out a tired breath before looking up at Yeeun with a smile.

“Aren’t you going to have lunch?” She asked, watching as Jeno shook his head.

“I wasn’t too hungry for what they were serving today. Maybe that’s me being picky, so I had some peanuts.”

“I don’t think I’m going to finish my sandwich, do you want the other half?”

Jeno quickly shook his hands, “I couldn’t take your lunch! I’ll get something after this, I promise!”

“It’s not a big deal, Jeno. Take it.” Yeeun handed him the plastic case of the untouched sandwich. Jeno bit his lip, his stomach opting to betray him right at that moment. He frowned when it growled, looking up at Yeeun who laughed.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Jeno gave a shy smile, “Thanks.” “How is your senior year going?”

Jeno shrugged, “it’s going okay. It’s kind of a headache, if you ask me, with assignments and stuff. But I like coming here, it reminds me what the assignments are for.”

“Senior year was rough for me too,” Yeeun sighed, “I think I almost dropped out my senior year.”

Jeno laughed, covering his mouth so that breadcrumbs didn’t fall out, “I said that yesterday.”

The two shared a laugh as they Jeno continued to chew quietly. He wanted to kick himself for being so awkward—he couldn’t remember the last time he talked to a girl, much less one like Yeeun. Maybe, if there was a chance and Jeno had more money, he would take her out for dinner.

“Do you have any plans for this weekend?” She asked him, sending Jeno’s heart into overdrive. She couldn’t ask him out now, he was still broke.

“Probably...catch up on some assignments.” Jeno swallowed, “what about you?”

“Grading, probably,” she snorted, “my boyfriend is a teacher at the high school down the road, so I help him sometimes.”

Jeno’s heart fell. Of course. He would be better off trying to find a girlfriend at a club at this rate, “oh. I mean, it’s a good to have someone who knows what you’re going through.”

“It helps a lot,” she smiled. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Jeno let out a sad laugh, “I don’t really have the time for one.”

That and Jeno was awful with talking to women. Bumbling, tongue twisting, hand sweating awful. It’s a wonder how he managed to talked to Yeeun so successfully, even though success is subjective and any one else would have thought Jeno was an idiot by the way he spoke.

“I think you’re a really nice guy, it can’t be that hard to find someone who would like you.” Yeeun reassured.

“You would be surprised,” he mumbled, picking at the sandwich crust. 

“Huh?”

“What?” Jeno cleared his throat, breathing a sigh of relief when his phone vibrated in his pants. He looked at the unfamiliar number and looked up at Yeeun quickly, “sorry, do you mind if I take this real quick?”

“No, go ahead! The kids still have fifteen minutes left on their nap.”

Jeno thanked her quietly before he stepped outside, answering the unknown caller, “hello?”

“Jeno? It’s me, Jaemin’s dad.”

“Oh. Hello, sir. Do you need me to tell Jaemin to call you again?”

“Ah—not this time. I wanted to talk to you about my boss who needed a babysitter.”

“Oh! I forgot about that, sorry.” Jeno scratched the back of his neck, “sure.”

“She said she would like to see you on Monday. I really tried to sell you to her, I told her you had a lot of experience in child-rearing.”

Jeno appreciated the sentiment, but he would’ve preferred to talk about his own strengths instead of trying to go with the lies Jaemin’s father mentioned, “that’s...thank you. So much.”

“Be at the building at 4:30, if you can make it. She’s kind of strict, my boss, but she’s a real nice girl, I assure you.”

“Of course. It means everything to me that you went that far.”

“Anything for the boy who takes care of Jaeminie!” Jaemin’s father paused, “speaking of which...is he doing alright? He’s not going hungry is he? Is he eating? Is he going to church?”

“Um...” Jeno looked around, “...yeah...He goes every Sunday.”

“Has he met any of the girls in the congregation yet? I’ve tried to introduce some to him but he’s just so stubborn and I—“

“Mr. Na, I really, really, really appreciate you getting me that job interview. But, I’m actually in class right now and I can’t really talk as freely.”

“Silly me, I’m so sorry. Don’t be a stranger, Jeno! You know my number.” 

“Yes, sir. I’ll let Jaemin know to call you.”

“Thank you, Jeno. I hope to see you around.”

Jeno hung up with a deep breath, shaking embarrassment off his bones before reentering the classroom, Yeeun holding one of the students in her arms to help him go back to sleep.

“Everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Everything is fine, it was just about a job interview.”

“Where are you headed?”

“My friend’s dad’s boss needs a sitter, so I agreed to help.” 

“Desperate, huh?”

Jeno smiled, shaking his head, “you have no idea.”

#tw drug use #tw recreational drug use #jeno #lee jeno #jeno scenario #jeno fic #Lee Jeno fluff #im not dead hehe

[ssunrises]

you know, if there’s one thing the whole corona crises have given me it’s the growing self-confidence in how i could do a lot of people’s kind-of-pristigeous (often managing) jobs so much better than them. and the realization that jobs like delivering packages has to be damn difficult. 

your engineering uni won’t grant the budget to the actual engineers proposing how to upgrade streaming equipment solely based on department communication? you are x important institution that only answer half the questions of an email? any and all internal communication isn’t given out to the public just because someone forgot? you aren’t giving the poor physics professor the digital assistant/tech to actually get the livestream of lecture going after a month of failure and him standing in an empty lecture hall writing strongly worded emails like “fuck, nothing is working again” live on air? you nationally go out granting students a hilariously big corona-crisis package of billions without any of it actually going to the pockets of students who did not have a job pre-pandemic either because of being first years, being parents, part-time students or anything similiar? fucking hire me i guess. 

ps. i’m not legally allowed to take any job that doesn’t pay me above 360 usd per month as i need my disability scholarship to pay for meds and stuff, but as of the past week i am allowed to take on un-paid or volunteer work because barring disabled student from any and all position of power within the uni or student government or having nice volunteer positions on your CV wasn’t always bad right? 

#i'm so mad at all of these things tbh #personal #students #uni #physicsblr #ah this is norway btw we do also have our problems #i do really appreciate my disabled scholarship as i need it but it seems like our gov thinks every student can just ask parents for money

[mrwiseandshine]

Roam as an Operating System

Why do people bother with emacs?

It's not like any given feature is better, in any strong sense. And yes, sure, it can do anything, but convincing emacs to do something new is rarely easier than just installing a purpose-built program. Reproducible configurations based on config files are cool, but the emacs design philosophy definitely puts a lot of setup work on the user's back, rather than the creator's.

But fans of emacs, especially heavily-configured emacs, are very clear that doing everything within one program is inherently valuable to them. Why?

Have you noticed we hardly have computers anymore? Computers compute data. We don't have data, these days. We have apps.

/Apps/ have data, internally, and sometimes even provide tools for manipulating it. A good notes program gives you control over the data contained within your notes. This is legitimate and valuable. But it isn't general purpose computation. The web is even worse. Most websites are apps that don't even provide an approximation of general purpose computing. They only contain the content created on them, with barely the most trivial tools for import and export.

Most social media has the same fundamental features. Post text, maybe slightly rich text, with attached images and videos. Yet have you ever seen someone share a screenshot of a post on another social media site? Tumblr and Facebook are effectively identical in the types of media you can post. And yet somehow users find it consistently easier to share from one to the other via taking a screenshot. My theory? Screenshots are a top level function that includes better source and attribution detail than copy/paste, and can function in a single action on both text and images.

Someone who takes a screenshot of a post to share elsewhere is trying to access their data with their computer, instead of with an app. They have to do so via silly convolutions because software actively fights back against that effort. Emacs doesn't fight you for your data. Emacs packages allow you to legitimately manipulate it. To store it, retrieve it, process it, edit it, post it, while operating within a single paradigm and without needing to play dumb games to retrieve it.

This is its true value. With emacs, when you have a piece of text you can trust that you can actually just treat it like a piece of text. You can select it the same way you select any text, your keybindings work the same way as for all your other text. You can perform arbitrary actions on it, like you actually own the text, cause you do. That action can be running a spellcheck, or a search, or posting to your blog, or to twitter, or filing to your notes, or creating a hyperlink, or any other action that you can perform on whatever text you like, once you set emacs up to be able to perform it at all.

And I feel that's what most people really want out of emacs. A lot of them would be fine with using multiple programs, so long as they all actually worked, and weren't siloed apps that prevent general purpose computation. But it's hard to find programs, these days. You just find apps.

Roam has the potential to go either way, at this point. Right now, Roam is an app, even though it has some good integrations. I use org-roam instead, personally. Mostly for privacy reasons, because I like to self-host my notes repository. Roam has enough extra features that I'll probably change over once they add encryption. But it's also significant that I can view my filesystem alongside org-roam, and I can interact with my notes as data, not as app-stuff. I think it's worth paying attention to how to architect these features early, and in particular making the fundamental choice of how and whether to integrate Roam with computation as a whole.

Broadly speaking, there are three choices available. The first is to ignore this whole problem, and leave import and export up to individual integrations. If the community building your integrations is passionate enough, this may even work fine. Second, you could expose full APIs, and hope someone else solves the problem. Someone could build a proper interface for computation, and Roam could be easily set up to take the content and metadata the interface pushes to it, and provide the data the interface wants when asked. Or third, you could do the whole thing yourself, and build Roam-the-OS, with combined filesystem/backup/sync/social/annotation support, where everything you do is already inside Roam and taking notes is a fundamental operation across the whole of your computer.

I'm actually inclined to think the second option is best. Do one thing well, and all that. It's more elegant to have the interface be the fundamental operation and have it merely connect your data to the filesystem/backup/sync/social/annotation plugins. That's fully compatible with everything Roam ought to be able to do, and it keeps Roam itself more pure.

But also, is anyone building that? It's not me, I work in finance and don't actually know much coding. Athens is aiming their sights a bit higher, and integrating social in a way that recognizes its status as an alternative to or overlay upon the whole of the web. But everyone working at building emacs-like interfaces is just working on emacs itself, not reinventing the concept of an operating system. And so Roam has the opportunity to remake the world in its image, by solving the fundamental problem of app-based computing.

We could have a program that treats websites you've read and emails you've sent and margin notes on books in the same way, archiving them and exposing them to search and fitting them into your knowledge graph. Notes should not be a separate data type than social media posts, that instantaneously destroys most of the available value. The tiny scraps left over are enough that people want them dearly, but the fact that you can't annotate your filesystem still represents a deep disconnect from the true promise of the memex. We can do better. We can go further. We can /win/.

#roam research #org-roam #emacs #motive

[purplesurveys]

1052

surveys by lets-make-surveys

1 - Who was the last person to knock on your door? Were they there to see you? Nina usually knocks briefly in the evening to let me know it’s time for dinner. Other than my ex in the past, I don’t let anyone stay in my room for long. Knocking and peeking into my room is enough.

2 - Have you left the house yet today? If not, do you have plans to leave the house later on? No, as it’s only 10 in the morning and I don’t really have a reason to be out somewhere this early. I might go out to buy presents for more relatives, but that’s only if I feel productive enough today. We’ll see.

3 - What’s your favourite brand of chocolate? What type of chocolate bar from that brand is your favourite? The older I get the more I feel like gagging from the idea of chocolate bars lol; they’re all just so sweet. These days my top three would be Hershey’s cookies and cream bar, Whittaker’s chocolate peanut butter bar, and Twix bars. I also love Reese’s, but they aren’t bars.

4 - Have you ever met someone in person who you first met on the internet? Do you have plans to do that anytime soon? Yes, I’ve done this before and I’ve recounted the stories on here multiple times. As for the second question, yeah I technically do? I’ve only met my workmates online so far, so I’m constantly looking forward to the opportunity to finally meet them all in real life.

5 - What was the last thing you used a blender for? I’ve never used a blender. We don’t even own a blender.

6 - Have you ever got into an argument with a stranger on social media? Do you remember what it was about? Yeah, but I don’t even remember what it was about anymore...I do know it was this year, and the person deleted the comment that I replied to not long after.

7 - When was the last time you cracked your joints? Is that something you do often? Now that you reminded me, I just did. I do it at least once a day, whenever my fingers start to feel tight and tense.

8 - What time is it right now? If you weren’t doing a survey, what else would you be doing right now? It is 1:52 PM. I’d be heading to the mall to buy more presents, but I don’t feel like getting out of bed yet. I’d also do embroidery, but my online orders are taking a while to arrive :( My online shopping app says I'll be getting them by Jan 3rd, but the shipping tracker says it’s already being shipped from China to here so I’m looking forward to receiving it this week. I hope that’s the case; otherwise it’ll miss the point of being my hobby this Christmas break.

9 - If you had ten minutes to run around an empty supermarket and fill your trolley for free, what’s the first aisle you’d go for? The fancy meat/fish section. Then I’d go to the condiments/spice section, then frozen food, then chips.

10 - Aside from Tumblr, what websites do you visit the most and why? YouTube, because I find videos a soothing distraction; Twitter to keep me updated on local and international news; Reddit for quirky posts; and Wikipedia so I can continue learning trivia I’ll never have to use but want to gain anyway.

11 - Has COVID had any impact on your Christmas plans this year? What’s going to change or be different to normal? My dad is home for Christmas this year, which is one silver lining from Covid. But my relatives living abroad who usually fly back to the Philippines for the holidays obviously won’t be able to this year, so we’re not gonna have a packed family reunion like we normally do. Everything else is the same, but I think the biggest thing about this whole thing is that I can barely feel Christmas coming this year. I think it’s going to feel like such a plain Friday this week; and that makes me a little sad.

12 - What’s your favourite flavour of cake? Are you any good at making that kind of cake? My favorite flavor is chocolate, but my favorite kind of cake (which I enjoy a lot more than general chocolate cake) is cheesecake. I cannot make either, nor can I bake at all.

13 - Do you prefer sweet or sour candy? Sweet. I hate any sour foods with a passion lol especially sour candy; it is my absolute least favorite taste. I don’t find anything enjoyable or fulfilling about it.

14 - What colour is your favourite fruit? Is this a fruit you eat often? Already made my feelings for fruit clear on this blog, haha.

15 - Is your favourite restaurant an independent place or a chain? What is it that you love about it so much? It’s a chain, like most popular restaurants here. Independent places are a little hard to come by, to be honest. They make the best katsu I’ve ever had; and I also like that despite being a chain restaurant, the ambience is still quite sophisticated and date-friendly so I always feel like I’m treating myself whenever I eat there.

16 - Are you genuinely a fan of Starbucks or do you think it’s all hype? I personally enjoy everything about Starbucks. I like their coffees, their Frappes, the ambience in their coffee shops, their playlists, and their line-up of mugs and tumblers. I’ve always felt right at home in their shops and out of all the cafés I’ve been to, it’s always their baristas that have been the nicest.

17 - Do you own a Christmas jumper? What design/pattern does it have on it? No, I don’t.

18 - What’s your favourite fit/style of jeans? I was obsessed with mom jeans throughout 2020.

19 - What was the last non-essential item you spent money on? Overpriced coffee and a sandwich.

20 - Are you currently under any COVID-related restrictions where you live? Are people generally following the rules? Public places are super strict with requiring everyone to wear a face shield and face mask; before entering any establishment, people’s temperatures are taken and everyone’s also required to take a contact tracing form. Anyone under the age of 21 still isn’t allowed to go out for the most part, though I think there are some exceptions now because I see kids younger than me already going on out-of-town trips again. Some places that are big on tourism like Sagada, Batanes, and Baguio are still closed off from the public; those that have since reopened, like Boracay, follow strict protocol and everyone going there is required to undergo a swab test. Everyday Filipinos follow the rules; it’s the politicians and police force who don’t, which feels disgusting to say.

21 - What did you last leave the room you’re in to do? A package arrived for me so I had to pay for it. It was the phone case I ordered for my cousin.

22 - Have you ever read any self-help books? Did you find them useful? No. I don’t really believe in that genre, so I never felt pulled to buy a book.

23 - What’s your favourite programme on the Food Network (if you watch it)? If you don’t get that channel, what’s your favourite food/cookery show in general? All things Gordon Ramsay, man. MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, and Kitchen Nightmares are all *chef’s kiss* The Great British Bake Off is also great and something I like watching when I want to wind down :)

24 - Do you still watch cartoons? From time to time.

25 - Who do you know with the most number of siblings? Would you ever want to live in a huge family? My grandpa was one of nine siblings, if I’m not mistaken. I’m not sure if I know a bigger set than that. Unless my family was filthy rich, I would not want to have such a big immediate family.

26 - Are you a fan of garlic bread? Sure. I tend to ask for others’ too, heh.

27 - Do you own any personalised clothing? What’s the reason for getting it? No, not a fan. Two years ago we had a huge family reunion on my dad’s side and we had to wear these cheesy shirts that said “[Last Name] Reunion” with some cheesy motto at the bottom. My parents hated it, which made me feel better about my own feelings about the shirt lol.

28 - Is anyone else in the same room as you right now? What is that person up to? No, it’s just me here.

29 - What colours are you wearing right now? Does your wardrobe contain a lot of those colours? White, maroon, and scarlet. I have a lot of white and maroon; not so much of scarlet as I find the color too bold.

30 - Do you like adding condiments to your food? If so, what are some of your favourites? Yes. My food always needs to have soup, condiments, or sauces; otherwise I tend to feel the dish is too dry. I like mayonnaise, banana ketchup, hot sauce, and lechon sauce.

--

1 - What have you been up to so far today? Is that a typical thing for you to do on this particular day of the week? I’ve taken a couple of surveys and started binge-watching segments of my newest Korean reality show discovery, 2 Days 1 Night. The breakout actor from Start-Up and the newest love of my life HAHAHA is a cast member on the current season of 2D1N so I’ve been all over the show today. It’s hilarious; I can hardly believe I’m only discovering the show this late.

2 - Did you get a decent night’s sleep last night? How many hour’s sleep do you consider a decent amount? It was around five hours, which isn’t a lot to me. I usually sleep 7-9 hours these days, but I might wreck my body clock during the holiday break because I want to keep being awake and do the things I haven’t been able to do because of work.

3 - What is one silly thing that really gets on your nerves? Seeing pickles in a burger.

4 - Who was the last person you saw who wasn’t family? What did you guys end up doing together? The friendly Starbucks barista from yesterday; her name was Princess. We didn’t do anything lol, she just took my order and was super friendly about it, and she also gave me the Starbucks planner that I chose to redeem.

5 - Do you prefer hot or cold drinks overall? Cold. I avoid hot drinks now haha. Ever since I had that incident with the takoyaki, I’ve been too scared to let any hot food or drink touch my mouth.

6 - Do you own a decent set of waterproofs? If so, what do you use them for the most? If not, do you think that would be something you’d find useful? I don’t know what this is referring to, and I’m too lazy to Google right now. I’ve only ever known this word as an adjective, whoops.

7 - Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? Take more surveys, and maybe have another cup of coffee. I’ll also have to get started on a daily report I submit for work every weekday morning so that my load will be lighter tomorrow. Our office is technically on shutdown until January 4th, but some clients require a daily report every day and I’ll have to shoulder that with another co-associate. It sucks, but at least it’s the only thing I’ll have to do for the next two weeks.

8 - How often do you get your hair cut? When hairdressers were closed due to COVID, did you try cutting it yourself at home? I only go to the salon once a year, and I already did it this 2020 when I chopped off my hair and got bangs. Yeah, whenever my bangs start to get too long I either ask my mom to trim them or I do so myself.

9 - What did you wear the last time you left the house? Is that different to what you’re wearing at the moment? I walked Cooper half an hour ago and I just stayed in the same clothes I’ve been in all day, which was a tank top underneath an oversized hoodie and a pair of shorts.

10 - Would you rather have a relaxing beach holiday or a more active holiday in the mountains? The beach would be perfect right now, but I think my answer changes every time this is asked and I’m pretty sure I picked mountains the last time HAHAHA. I just realized being in the mountains would give me the same cooped-up feeling I’ve been having from staying at home for such a long time, and it might not be the best and healthiest trip for me...the beach definitely sounds more freeing and therapeutic.

11 - Do you know how to tie a tie? Nah, never learned. I’ve never been good at tying anything up, period.

12 - How old were you when you first had a sleepover at someone’s house? Did you miss home? I was 15 or 16; I’m not entirely sure anymore. Not at all, I was so excited to have been allowed to go to my first sleepover.

13 - How often do you spend time with your extended family? Under normal circumstances, we’d visit my grandma and cousins on my mom’s side once every few months or so. It was pretty regular since they’re just a stone’s throw away. But obviously we’ve since had to drastically cut our get-togethers back, and I’ve only seen them around three times since the beginning of the year. My dad’s family lives pretty far south, so I only get to see them once or twice a year even in pre-Covid days; not much of a difference there.

14 - When you get up in the morning, do you have a set routine? No. I just wake up feeling dread and have no choice but to wait for the weight in my chest to subside.

15 - Do you remember the last time you cried? Were they sad or happy tears? Yesterday in my car, in the mall parking lot. Sad tears.

16 - What do you have planned once you finish this survey? Look for another one. I misseddddd taking surveys and I plan on taking a crap ton of them this Christmas break. I may also be called for dinner, so there’s that.

17 - What was the last thing you cooked? Did you cook from scratch or just heat something up? I dunno if it counts as cooking, but I just made the DIY ramen kit that I received as a Christmas gift from the branch I was originally an intern at. Everything was already prepared in the kit and all I needed to do was boil water for the noodles and prepare the broth. Turned out surprisingly good.

18 - Are you a fan of hot chocolate? Do you like it plain or do you prefer to add things like whipped cream or marshmallows? I love hot chocolate and will order it sometimes, but given my aforementioned fear of hot beverages I always wait for it to considerably cool down hahaha. I like my hot chocolate plain.

19 - What caused your last injury? Cooper’s nails.

20 - How many tattoos and piercings do you have? Do any of them have an interesting story behind them? Just a piercing on each of my earlobes. No interesting stories...yet.

21 - What kind of flowers do you like the best? When was the last time someone bought those for you? I like peonies, though I’m not sure if my ex ever gave me a bouquet that included those.

22 - What’s the smallest thing you’ve ended a relationship over? I’ve only been with one person and I dated her twice, but I was never the one who ended the relationship either time so can’t really answer this.

23 - Would you rather order a starter (appetiser) or a dessert? Or would you be able to manage a full three courses? Three-course meal, pls. I’ve only experienced it once, when my parents treated me to dinner during my cruise gift for my 18th birthday; it was great and every dish was made amazingly well.

24 - How do you get most of your news, if you pay attention to it at all? I catch the evening news every weeknight because we keep the telvision turned on during dinner. I also get to read articles on social media.

25 - Have you or a member of your family been diagnosed with COVID yet? None that I know of, thankfully. It’s always been someone that a relative knows, but so far none of us have gotten it.

26 - Are you a vegetarian? If so, what persuaded you to stop eating meat? If not, is it something you’d ever consider? No. I have been considering it for years, but I truthfully don’t know if I could give up meat.

27 - Do you prefer rice or pasta? Rice.

28 - Is anything you’re wearing a gift? Who bought it for you? No.

29 - What’s the dominant colour in the room you’re in at the moment? I guess white, since my walls are white and that’s the first thing you see when entering my room.

30 - Did you do laundry yet today? If not, do you need to do any before you go to bed? Not my chore to do, but it was already done a few days ago.

#survey #surveys #multiple surveysss

[putschki1969]

Where to get KEIKO’s album as a foreigner?

I thought I would round up a few facts to make it easier for everyone to decide. But first, let’s post the full tracklist because I realised I had forgotten to add that in my previous news post when I shared all the gorgeous images.

Tracklist: ※ New tracks

01.Be Yourself 02.七色のフィナーレ (Nanairo no Finale) 03.始まりは (Hajimari wa) 04.茜 (Akane) 05.溜め息の消える街 (Tameiki no Kieru Machi) 06.Ray 07.夕顔 (Yūgao) ※ 08.エンドロール (End Roll) 09.Change The World's Color 10.命の花 (Inochi no Hana) 11.茜 (Akane) -acoustic ver.- (Bonus Track) ※

Now let’s get to your options 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

Tenso | Buyee | WorldShopping

You have three album types to choose from: All versions have the same CD content (see above tracklist); The DVD and Blu-ray also have the same content (Nanairo no Finale MV + Footage from K001); The limited edition with the vinyl comes in an LP sizes luxury package and has two tracks on vinyl: Nanairo no Finale + Inochi no Hana. As always, they put the prettiest cover on the most basic edition so everyone wants to get it even though it doesn’t come with any extras.

CD+Blu-ray+Vinyl First Press Limited Edition 9,020円

CD+DVD Regular Edition 4,950円

CD Regular Edition 3,300円

Obviously I am getting all of them but if I had to choose I would go for the CD+DVD version.

As a foreigner, your best option is to order on CDJapan. They ship internationally and accept pretty much all foreign payment methods. And the best part is, you DO get a tokuten postcard. BANZAI!! Please note though, they seem to be almost out of stock of the DVD edition.

In the past I would have recommended Amazon.co.jp to you because their service used to be amazing but these days, nothing makes sense on that site anymore (at least when it comes to new releases). Either things don’t ship to my country anymore or the items are “currently unavailable/out of stock”. But how can it all be out of stock already? I have never had issues with availability before, I ordered all of Wakana’s previous releases and Hikaru’s first single and they are STILL available AND ship to Austria. So why not the new releases? Ughhh, so frustrating! Amazon was literally the best site for me because they shipped internationally and they already included an “Import Fees Deposit” in the shipping fees which sped up the process of getting the package to me (in Austria it takes forever until a package gets cleared at customs unless all the fees are already handled in advance *grumbles*).

Another good option for us foreigners is HMV because they offer international shipping! The site is translated into English and all you need is a credit card. You can make the purchase as a guest (I did!) so you don’t even need to go through a complicated registration process. I have never used their service before but I was dying to get the HMV postcard (it’s my 2nd favourite design) and since everything seems to have worked out fine for me, I feel more or less confident recommending it to you.

Then I bought a set at the mu-mo Shop. If you buy ALL THREE editions you will receive a「KEIKO Original DVD」as present which contains some nice bonus footage. I couldn’t resist. You can pay with PayPal and foreign credit cards on that site so all you need is a Japanese address (TENSO). Proxy services like Buyee and WorldShopping are also available but when it comes to big purchases I am usually trying to avoid those. The good thing about TENSO is that they let you determine the price on the package (this way I can avoid import taxes, custom fees etc). But I can only use TENSO if a site allows me to pay with my cards or with PayPal (for example, Rakuten Books does not allow you to pay with a foreign credit card; Amazon.co.jp weirdly enough doesn’t either unless it’s an item that ships internationally).

Your next best option is probably Animate. I imagine many of you registered an account in order to get that customised autograph by Hikaru. The site also offers a nice English tutorial on how to register and navigate the shop. Once again you will need a Japanese address though, and a credit card. I have also had good experiences with Tower Records so I can recommend them to you as well. Be careful though, maybe Keiko plans to do a liitle release event like Hikaru and Wakana so I would definitely wait with my order on Tower Records.

#kalafina #keiko #personal #tutorial #lantana #buyee #tenso #worldshopping #keiko 1st album

[nyc-uws]

12 Shocking Things I Learned by Working as a Butler at the Plaza Hotel

You’ll never look at hotel staff the same way again.

Bloomberg Brandon Presser

Old-school service is alive and well at the Plaza: High tea treats are served in brass birdcages, tuxedo-clad bellman whisk away luggage to gilded suites, and chefs bear toques that tower above their heads. But in the age of Amazon Prime—when we all want everything now—what is it really like blending vestigial aristocratic assistance with light-speed wish fulfillment? In order to properly find out, I accepted an offer from New York’s iconic Plaza Hotel to join its team of butlers, a coterie of 10 servicemen (and one woman!) who trot around the property’s 20 floors day and night, making sure 282 rooms’ worth of guests feel like royalty. For two hot days in July 2017, I raced around with a team that, like the city itself, seemingly never sleeps—hearing tales of the trade from the department’s director, Emma, and serving guests alongside some of her most experienced staffers.

This is an elite crew: It bears a combined 147 years of experience, and many have served as house managers for affluent families all over the world. Me? I got express credentials for my two-day residency—unprecedented for the Plaza. They included a detailed orientation of the property and a uniform fitting for my hotel-issued attire (gold-plated name tag and all).

Over my short tenure, I delivered laundry to Middle Eastern princesses and fetched lobsters out of wishing wells—and listened to colleagues delight in the oddities of their jobs, from fielding requests for Viagra or comforting a weeping woman over spilled blueberries. Serving the world’s rich and famous, it turns out, plumbs the depths of an alternative universe that readily embraces the absurd without even batting an eye. And that was only the beginning of what I learned.

Here, 12 secrets to keep in mind the next time you check into a five-star hotel.

One VIP List You Don’t Want to Be On

Hundreds of butler requests roll in each shift—mostly to fill ice buckets, handle laundry, and shine shoes. Complimentary packing and unpacking requests are also common, though they can turn into day-long affairs. A surprising number of international guests will purchase adjoining suites: one to sleep in and one for their luggage.

By matter of corporate philosophy, every guest should feel like a VIP at the Plaza. But a hierarchy still exists among those who check-in at reception. At the top of the pyramid are kings, queens, and heads of state—or as butlers call them: V1s, and they are ever-present on the property. Then come high-payers, long-stayers, guests booking a large block of rooms, and recognizable celebs. They’re called DVs, or distinguished visitors. On the bottom of the VIP totem pole is the SA group, known complainers or otherwise difficult and demanding guests who require “special assistance.”

Bath Time Can Be Awkward

Another common request for the butler team is to draw baths with a signature blend of salt, oil, and roses—especially during the colder months of the year. But the butler’s duties aren’t necessarily complete once the tub is full. Bal, the Plaza’s resident bath-time specialist, said that 95 percent of the time, he’s asked to remain within arm’s reach as bathers suds-up. Most of them, he said, want more hot water or scented oil, and are happy to keep him on hand while they relax in the nude. He is often left to pull the plug from the drain, elbow-deep in leftover water.

It gets weirder. One of my butler colleagues at a previous job in London was asked to ship in and set up a guest’s order of fresh oysters in the bathtub. He diligently filled the tub with ice and laid the oysters out, only to discover that the guest wanted the oysters placed in the tub around his soaking body. Eventually, the client seemed satisfied: He purchased the room next door for his butler so he’d always be near.

Hotel Guests Are Pretty Predictable …

The Plaza’s guest relations team researches everyone staying at the hotel on an individual basis, using a variety of social media tools. (The favorite is LinkedIn.com.) Butlers, on the other hand, often use past trends to size people up on the spot. They send electric kettles to the rooms of arriving Asian guests, who often bring noodles from home to cook in their suite. They keep an eye on the minibar when tending to Americans in their thirties and forties—they’re considered the partiers of the hotel, likeliest to plow through the booze. Middle Eastern VIPs get what is called an “Arabic Amenity”—a tray of dates, dried fruit, and nuts; they tend to prefer these to chocolates, cakes, or other sweet desserts. And the butler staff knows to immediately ask Western businessmen if they have shirts or suits that needs servicing upon checking in; they’re always the ones who treble the quantity of laundry in the basement.

… Except When They’re Totally Unpredictable

Despite the overwhelming regularity of guest behaviors, travelers can mystify even the most experienced of butlers. During my shifts, lobster shells kept appearing in the fountains of the hotel’s interior courtyard. Every day, the staff would fish them out, only to find a new one a few hours later. It turned out that a Middle Eastern prince was ordering cooked lobster from room service for every meal and then throwing the empty shells out the window to land in a fountain below. (Emma asked him to stop—nicely—but pieced together the mystery only on the day of his departure.)

Another time, a woman called Emma hysterically crying “as though her husband died and she just discovered the body.” When Emma finally calmed her down, she comprehended the real reason for the guest’s tears: There was no more Kleenex in her suite, and her young daughter had been forced to blow her nose on toilet paper.

Sex, Drugs and … Come Again?

As at any hotel, requests for drugs and prostitutes do happen—but not frequently. Bal has been asked for drugs only two or three times in his 10 years at the Plaza, and he is careful to stick within the boundaries of the law. Condom needs are another story: Mouhsine, one of the other butlers, always carries a pack with him, especially in the evenings. On being called to fulfill one such late-night request, no one answered the door after several knocks; he gently entered the room to find the two guests in the “go” position, waiting to be walked-in on.

Far more interesting than sex and drugs are the more outlandish client requests. Recently, Emma fielded a service call from a woman searching for some missing chocolate-covered blueberries, which had fallen off a window ledge. Emma offered to obtain replacements from the same brand and store, but the guest was adamant about retrieving her exact snack. Emma and the security team trawled the hotel’s interior courtyard for hours, blueberry-hunting, to no avail. During my brief tenure, the weirdest request was for two liters of intravenous saline solution—meant for a doctor’s ailing wife, who was presumably on the wrong side of a stunning hangover.

Some requests are even more bizarre. One butler told the story of how he was asked to replace all the furniture in a suite because the guest didn’t like the color blue. Another was sent off to scout the city’s reliquaries for a justice of the peace trophy—a prize for a newly minted lawyer. Another arranged for a live tarantula flown in from Africa to be served as a meal. Of course, butlers always deliver with a straight face.

Mind the Pillowcases

Missing pillowcases can be a real issue at the Plaza. But it’s not the tourists that have sticky fingers. And it’s not hotel pillowcases that are getting stolen. At least once a week, a white pillowcase that was brought from a guest’s home gets mistaken for a hotel-issued version and is sent out for cleaning. Sometimes they’re never seen again, in which case Emma dispatches a bellman to purchase new coverings, drawing on the hotel’s coffers, no matter the price.

Christmastime: Not so Merry

“Party season,” which spans October to December, feels like a constant carousel of functions, banquets, and events at the Plaza. Every evening, there are four or five requests for assistance at looping bow ties and zipping up cocktail dresses. And in the last few years, requests for holiday-themed decorations in the rooms have become so commonplace that the hotel now offers a standard Christmas package that includes a fresh, fully decorated tree, assembled by the butlers pre-check-in for $500.

The Customer Is Not Always Right

Complaints follow regular patterns. Every day, a guest will complain about too-slow laundry service. Though forms clearly offer standard and expedited return times, they’re not fast enough for some.

Minibar charges also lead to regular disputes. A full raid of your room’s bar runs $600 at the Plaza—something that happens at least once a week. The likelihood that guests will not want to pay is almost guaranteed.

This requires butlers to document everything with pocket cameras, whether it’s open booze bottles spread across the room, stains on laundry that existed before washing, or evidence of damaged furniture. Every ticket is verified on a computer and photos are attached, so when TripAdvisor.com lights up with a fiery review, the butlers are able to provide evidence to dispel any falsehoods.

The Easiest Way to Get Banned

It’s a lot easier than you might think. The hotel has a strict anti-discrimination policy, and zero tolerance is given to guests who mistreat the staff because of race, gender, age, or creed. Even now, guests sometimes request that staff of a certain ethnic extraction not be allowed to service their rooms; others will ask service members if they are legal in America. Emma, the director of the butler team, cited several incidents of sexism, too, such as the time guests asked to speak with a manager but grew angrier when she showed up instead of a man.

The refusal of services goes all the way up the ladder to DVs. At least two specific celebrities are permanently banned from the Plaza—one, a pop diva expelled for excessive drug and alcohol use and a belligerent attitude towards the staff, the other a sitcom star who took his anger issues out on a suite’s worth of furnishings.  

Afternoon Tea Leftovers Don’t Go to Waste

Hidden within the Plaza’s secret back-of-house corridors and tunnels is a cafeteria reserved for the staff. Open during lunch, dinner, and late-night hours for (surprisingly good!) hot meal service, the canteen offers bagels and drinks for the peckish throughout the entirety of the day. But the savviest snackers know to visit the cafeteria at exactly 5:30 p.m., because that’s when the leftovers from high tea at the Palm Court upstairs are put out for the staff. (They serve only the food that was prepped but not plated.) Emma said she practically lives off mini cucumber sandwiches. I liked the tiny blueberry cheesecakes.

A Good Tip Can Make It Worthwhile

New York City’s hospitality workers are protected under a spectrum of different unions. While bellmen and room service are considered “tipping staff,” the butlers do not expect fiscal rewards for their work, beyond the Plaza’s paycheck. But Bal and his colleagues still see a few ex-presidents from time to time.

His biggest tip during the last 10 years? It came from a French model-actress keen on setting up a romantic weekend for her boyfriend, a well-known fashion magnate. Bal placed flowers on every flat surface throughout their suite, organized lunch in a helicopter over Central Park, and tracked down a very specific, very expensive bottle from a specialist store off-site. By the end of the weekend, she handed him $8,000 in cash.

Seven months later, the founder of the fashion label was back at the hotel with a different girlfriend.

When to Call It a Night

The Plaza maintains a Betsey Johnson-designed suite in honor of Eloise, the capricious six-year-old that fictionally lived on the property. It was here that Nimer, another member of the butler team, had his most bizarre service experience to date. A request was put in for someone to come up and read the beloved children’s book as a bedtime story, but when Nimer arrived there were no children to be found. Four thirtysomethings were neatly tucked into one, large bed. Concealing his shock, Nimer read to them for 90 minutes—then tracked down Eloise on video, in case they hadn’t had enough.

This post originally appeared on Bloomberg and was published August 8, 2017.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/12-shocking-things-i-learned-by-working-as-a-butler-at-the-plaza-hotel?utm_source=pocket-newtab

#Working as a Butler #Shocking Things