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madfantasy · 3 years

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I haven't seen you post in a while, I hope you've been doing okay? How is everything? Hope it's been a good year so far for you 💕💕

You're too kind, u & everyone who made inquiries, bless ur hearts.. im sorry for disappearing, but yeah, I don't have net— using my phone credit and hope this posts..

I tried to record my voice answering this, like I sometimes did on tik, suddenly ended up trying to muffle the floods of my burning tears, so now I have an awkward vid of me talking then weeping out of nowhere, which a good reason for me to keep up the no cry habit, heh.. but seriously, I suppose I'm fine till I be conscious of it.. its much easier for not to talk .. even tho I'm aching to be back in thy company, lonely in my foresight to catch on to the present that joins us, hand held out to reach like minded souls but shying from the fear of forgetfulness occurring..

I'm fine tho, did few new stuff, merely drowning in too muchness and nothingness as usual, this month I guess you could say I took an act of mad fury in search of any happy source because the echoing silence and the swarm of sadness nipping on my brain cells thickened, and the reasoning merged with the obscene. So instead of giving my guardians the usual of 3/4 of my earnings last month for net and groceries, I spent it all. Ya know, as it was told to me it mine to do as I please? As being prevented any chance of work if it was possible, 't was supposed to be spent on art supplies & measly delights craved for years ?

Before hand, I've been begging them to take me for months to get any clothing or whatever, be it the first time I ever see a shop, then just to drive around, then just me peaking to the outside when the front door is open, merely seeking change I suppose. They kept vaguely promising me until they refused point blank— getting tired of my nagging, then their car just stopped working till this day. Its in the workshop rn..

Anyway, befouled by despair, needing the mere basics of life and not granted, I was delighted when i found a site to buy from cheap & pretty, I pressed buy without any further considerations, or taking their permission and thrilled to be able get gifts for my siblings too. I say gifts but really they are deprived necessities too and not even much just one each cuz well, they are 5 of my babies and to start with the top of priorities; we all draw

I could already see it, they can't help themselves; heck seeped through the clenched gates of their mouths, trying desperately to poison me with undirect attempts this time, cuz I bought for my sibs they're out of the option of calling me selfish. I was upping the same trance like state of vague existence dealing with them, absorbing their insults and degrading just to make sure my shi arrives safe.

Unfortunate for me, the site chose the worst carrier in this country

I did everything in my power to make it into their convenience, by embarrassingly messaging the carrier daily, they took a week of promising to deliver and flanking so my guardians reached a heated level of threatening, waving their hands nd almost tossing shi at mE saying that they don't care if they came and if i dared to order something again they'll do this and that. Not allowing me to open the door for the delivery guy when he comes, blaming me for missing vaccination dates (they kept missing them even before)& missing going to important places(again, they just didn't go to for ages), made them loose sleep, etc etc— in turn, I seen red and regretfully blew up.

I screamed at them its literally the only time I ever did this, it BECAUSE it easier on them & I'll do what I want whatever anyway, & to stop interrupting me while I try to explain things , then they suddnly back done and be like I'm not mad at u I'm mad at the delivery ppl, that they are proud of me for being able to do all this, and such sort. I left them to cool in my room, Idk how I did it but must have slam-gripped something so hard it chipped most of my short nails & cracked one, was glad I didn't hurt my drawing hand but yeah, goofy mani

They robbed me of the joy of anticipation & the dissipation of apathy, I started to lose sleep again and my liberating dreams left me and I don't think I remember leaving bed.

But still, If not force myself to do things.. there'll be nothing for me if I don't.. at least I know im able of that

I got my guardians happy tho after another tiresome refusal, by trying out one of those Uber-eat like local apps here, since they have no car and being disabled & ill, I ordered McDonald's for the first time. Slythry behind their backs per habit, told them someone coming and they had that look again, but thankfully the guy came through and didn't steal my money, heh. For a big 1800 calories meal I suppose it was passable, the happy fam faces I got was the real treat..

Oh with that thing with the credit card stating I owe them money, waited weeks & nobody got back to us? They started taking from my guardian's account directly to pay it, saying oh we did send you warnings--- TO THE SHADOWY LINES OF THEIR POSTERIOR A.K.A NOWHERE. Thankfully the account is mostly empty nd just for random transactions, i alerted my guardians not to use it. And again, my god, another round of endless calls and promises started, and we wait again so they just don't act as if we owe them a frking 17k dollars that we don't have.. was panicking cuz I have nothing and but my guardians were weirdly comforting about it and told me not to worry

One thing good bout no net is it made me stop thinking about life in general, and stop the tiny unnoticeable prick of misery when I have no input to share, trying not to helplessly compare people just living, in inflated style or not, in media, to my isolated-most-of-my-life style and missing much of that organic "life experiences and chances", heh. At least, my situation would be favorable to me if it was ever possible for it to let me have peace, or have the simple knowledge I'm not virtually imprisoned and have never familiarised with nothing of this world but the surrounding walls.. its nice to have more time to be consumed by muse and day dreaming that flutters life through my dull being and sing chorus of inspiring means for art to flow and finds its way delicately onto my realised canvas.. but no, I continued drawing whilst sight blurred with salty droplets contradicting that happy tintin dance on tiktok I worked so long on just cuz I couldn't stop, not the tears or the mad scribbles of determined intention to visualise the mourned excitement I need, hating everything I make

Somehow the lilac dream still intrudes, visualising me friends, living, in a quaint home, maybe we roommate, arm in arm we go to make every fracture of fate's encounters a disgusting adventurous thrill, like building a maze of cardboard or chasing each other in the dark.. maybe getting that half bleached head and endless ear pericings ... then it dies and I totally forget it..

But what those awesome headphones helped me do, literally blocks all their voices listening to Sev losing it and I can Waltz around not feeling gutted to go and interfere or play the referee each time. But I can't wear them forever, gives me a bad headache, and honestly; I can't be too neglectful.. my sibs hates me for it already hehe

At least these clothing came true to their measurements, felt the new sensations on how everything I wore hugs me & learnt the baffling ways on how "gender" and region plays different tunes on the same measurements. Getting fitting things felt like suddenly there's hope to be, for myself to be me, and ease this severe disassociation between who I am, and what my body is .. from how little I see myself nd consider it worthy of anything because of how long it been living like a phantom among people.. to numb this dysphoria until it be gone one day

Saddened that the only site I can't order from again if they keep using that awful carrier

...

I missed our country's 91 national day, too. They made sales everything 91 riyal so.. but knowing the sellers here, I don't think most of em went true with their offers.. Horrible news tho on the celebrations, sigh

I turned this into a dear diary, guess bothered you enough today, sorry

So thankful to yous, Idk if I can be back, but I'll remain creating, and will keep the thought alive of being tickled when sharing my creations with your viewing pleasure somehow

'till then my precious dears, take care 💛🙏

26.9.2021, 8 pm, sleeping

#ask #text #diary #personal #my art #miss

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terminally-karkalicious · 3 years

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allow me to rant about the only thing that has been in my brain for the past two months and that is doll customizing babeyyyyy

i know there’s a 90% chance that you wont give a Shit about any of this but here we go anyways

SO first you gotta choose a doll. preferably one with a high range of motion to avoid creating new joints or having annoying limitations like not having elbow joints for some fucking reason. what the fuck mattel. give monster high dolls back their ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints. smh

the most common dolls ive seen used as bases are monster high and ever after high. most customs ive seen are highly stylized so the stylized face molds work well for those types of dolls but dolls like barbies are good for when you want a more realistic face-ups.

once you’ve got your base picked out you gotta wipe that bitch’s face off with like. acetone or nail polish remover or something strong like that. you can also use acetone to shrink doll heads which is cool as hell imo. n e way once the face is wiped you gotta chop off the hair and remove the hair plugs from the inside. ive seen this done several ways but the easiest and most common way ive seen is to dunk the head into boiling water for ~30 seconds until it gets squishy and malleable. once you’ve got the head back, you can use pliers (i think tweezers would work in a pinch) to pull out the hair plugs which are kinda icky because theyre covered in glue and other gross shit. ew

now you must decapitate the doll. dunk em back in the boiling water to soften them back up then just tug the head off. the neck pegs look funky and are usually a different color than the body so thats cool ig

once the head’s off, you can start the face-up which is basically just giving the doll a new face using stuff like watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, gouache, and a whole lot of other stuff. hell ive seen people use person makeup on these dolls.

next,,,,, hair. there’s about twenty million ways to do hair from gluing yarn wefts to sewing to rerooting with purchased nylon doll hair or yarn wefts but i’m gonna talk about the most common one ive seen which is rerooting and gluing.

before you can reroot, you need doll hair. which, as i mentioned, can be bought at stores like the doll planet or made at home with yarn in literally any color. have fun with it! make rainbow hair or something idk

to make homemade wefts, you take some acrylic yarn, cut it twice as long as you want the hair to be (keep in mind you can cut and style the hair once it’s been rerooted), fold them in half, and tie it to something sturdy like a wire coat hanger for the next step.

once you’ve got your yarn tied to your hanger, use a pet brush and brush the yarn until it’s wispy and looks like hair. then take a straightening iron and iron the weft flat. then remove from the hanger and boom. hair wefts. ta-da

to reroot the wefts onto the head, use a rerooting tool (which can be as simple as a needle with the eye cut at angle) (just google it please i’m shit at descriptions)) to poke small sections of the hair into the head. you can use the pre-existing rooting holes for your own reroot as they’re usually pretty reliable. to reroot, take a small length of you doll hair (about 10-15 strands), loop it in half, and put the middle of the loop into the reroot tool. poke the end of the tool with the hair on it into the pre-existing hole and remove the tool. the hair *should* stay in and fill up that plug!! also remember to plug thickly at the hairline and part of the hair where it's most noticeable. it doesnt matter as much in the center of the head as that’s not usually visible on the doll. once you’ve rerooted, squeeze in strong glue through the neck hole and squish around the head to make sure it covers all the plugs and secures them in place. then pour hot water onto the head to make the hair lay flat for styling later.

also, you can reroot yarn directly into the head to make thicker, more textured hairstyles. and since the yarn is thicker, you dont need to glue the inside of the head for the hair to stay in place!!

if youre not doing body modifications (which are also cool as hell) then it’s time for clothes but clothes are boring and i like body mods more so i’m gonna rant about them instead

the material ive seen most doll artists use is apoxie sculpt, which is like play doh on steroids. it comes in two parts which you gotta mix together for some reason. why dont they sell it pre-mixed. what was the reason. also once it’s dry it’s super super strong and you can sand it, drill into it, paint it, and all kinds of stuff. very nice and i want some for myself.

you can use hand saws and drills and shit to whack off doll limbs to make stuff like digitigrade legs or new joints. also dont be afraid to use other mismatching doll parts when customizing like heads and bodies and forearms and hands and shit. it literally does not matter if youre gonna recolor the doll anyways so have fun with it. make frankenstein’s doll if youre feeling spicy

accessories my beloved. stuff like tiny beads and clay baubles and shit will literally transform the entire doll plus they’re adorable and multi-purpose

i suppose i must talk about clothes now. ah well. you can find great clothing patterns if youre new to customizing on other customizer’s etsy shops and probably google although those will probably be lower quality than paid pattern pieces. and keep in mind that if it exists as clothing irl, you can likely make it doll-sized. there are literally no limits to your clothing options as long as you can execute your idea.

the once all your components have been made, you can assemble the doll again!! and finally see what all the parts look like together!! very cool 10/10 stars.

ight that wraps up my doll rant. i could really go into more detail on certain parts but thats a whole other rant for a whole other day smh. sorry for fucking flooding your inbox ender ahaha……………. you asked for this

little did you know that dolls have been one of my favorite things since like ever. if i can read a 25 chapter long fanfic i can read this B)

mattel definitely fucked up by completely ruining MH doll designs and just stopping EAH, alot of their profits most likely came from people who collect and customize dolls and by changing MH doll designs/Stopping EAH dolls they 1. most likely lost a small (or big if we're not jus talking people who customize dolls) part of their profit and 2. made it harder for doll customizers to make dolls/get commissions out rather quickly because they probably have to waste more time making joints or learning how to make joints.

EAH/MH dolls (specifically MH dolls) had AMAZING MODELS because there was so much variety with height, face shapes, etc (my favorite molds had to be the short/tall dolls and the cat molds because of the tails) and doll customizers really went all out with enhancing a molds unique features. The only "downside" abt MH dolls is that they (or atleast most)(from what i remember)) had slimmer faces but wider eyes while EAH dolls have wider faces with slimmer smaller which left a canvas for the face and not the eyes (and vice versa for MH dolls)

I've never seen any videos where a barbie is customized (maybe because i absolutely despised barbies at the time) so I'll definitely have to check those out but they seem to be good for realistic makeovers. I've seen like like semi realistic makeovers for EAH/MH dolls that were pretty good too tho (pretty sure mostly EAH dolls since yk MH dolls were used for creature makeovers while most EAH dolls weren't)

yeah i was always amazed by the head shrinking with acetone. honestly i still am?? idunno i have no idea how that chemical bullshit works. Ive seen a few of uh makeovers that just pain over the face (in multiple layers ofcourse) but that's usually when they're painting the entire body a different colour (again usually when they're turning a doll into a funky little baby man). I've also seen a few that just chop the hair off and take out the hair plugs yk without uuh like softening the head or just go straight for the hair plugs after taking off the head (i used to do that it was funny to me??). i always really liked when they used watercolour pencils or just colour pencils in general to draw/sketch on the face cause like wow ur drawing on ur doll without ruining it?? kinda epic maybe even poggers and pogchamp?? oh god my brain is failing wjshsmsj.

Watching them putting the hair back on the doll was, other than the face stuff, was the BEST part for me. Favorite type of hair was iuuuuuh was either thick yarn or brushed out yarn. Literally worship the people that would reroot the hair, theyre the most patience people on this earth!! it's literally insane but i guess that's what happens when you've been doing that for years? you guess kinda get used to it. when they put glue into the head does it just become stiff?? like it's just a clump of dried glue or does it like..hollow out again??

dude you literally cannot convince me most of the supplies used for doll makeovers. APOXIE CLAY LOOKS SO FECKING GOOD. its edible and i will die on that hill. The body mods are literally so amazing!!!!! it's so impressive how theyre able to imagine certain features THEN LIKE ACTUALLY MAKE IT LOOK ACCURATE TO WHAT THEY WANTED TO LOOK LIKE AFTER LIKE ON TRY (or many yk trial and error is very necessary for..everything). Absolutely loved when doll customizers would saw off a dolls legs and use different ones or just completely get rid of the torso to use a different one. it's like uuh that one big guy that's mismatched and sewn together. very cool. The accessories are so fun!! just small little details you seen really need but can add because it's your feckin doll!! I used to be absolutely obsessed over the doll clothes i would find on etsy, so much so that i started sewing shitty shirts and dresses for my uh "customized" dolls (they were absolute HORRORS idk WHY my mom let me feck up my dolls like that).

Thank you for this!! i haven't been able to talk about any of my interests for a while and this just really made me happy!!

Question fer u my fellow MH/EAH enthusiast: what was your favorite MH/EAH movie/episode and doll series. Mine was The fusion dolls (MH obvi) and that MH movie "Haunted" cause we got to know more about Spectra :D

#YOOOO LONG POST?!#long post #:) hehehe #this was very fun to read cant wait for ur next fanfic length ask #asks :D #theoreticallyjasper

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gregorio-r-j · 3 years

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ECQ THROUGH THE LENS OF A STUDENT

Today my tumbler entry will be filled with my insight of the COVID Life from the perspective of a not so privileged student dealing with academics and early twenties life crisis.

That’s it? It’s been a year already? Where have my 2020 gone? – This question summarizes the whole 2020 journey of almost every one of us. Don’t you all agree that this is one of the worst years this generation has faced? I mean, just look at the left and right tragedies, disasters, war, human hostilities, global pandemic, and the number of unfortunate events that 2020 has brought. Could it be worse? Who would’ve thought that we can lose everything we love and enjoy in our daily life in just a blink of an eye? Looking back to March last year, when the first wave of COVID19 hit our country and ECQ was first implemented, we never have imagined that things will only get worse and this ECQ life will continue up to this day.

Honestly, setting aside the fear of facing the unknown virus and uncertain effects it may impose on our lives, I think the first few months of our ECQ and COVID life is so much lighter and better than how it is today. Whether we admit it or not, I think last year we all expect to be freed from ECQ at this point and be back to our normal life but the opposite happened. Back then we don't have many worries and all we are troubled about is not contracting the disease and how to cope up with being stuck at home with nothing to do and away from our normal and daily life. A lot of us discovered our ways to cope with the quarantine life and boredom. Trends are arising successively and people are sharing their love for diverse things such as Korean dramas, plants, American series, and other common interests. In my case, I found my simple joy in cooking and watching dramas too.

For some, it was a good time to reflect on themselves and return to their long-forgotten passion that they set aside to cope up with the busy daily life but for others, this was not the case. Well, if we look at it from a different perspective, these are just things people do to distract themselves from the continuous rise of the daily number of covid cases that leave everyone with fear and anxiety. This phase only lasts for a few months because the succeeding months are just too much to handle. Aside from the actual health crisis and economic problems the world is facing, we also have household matters such as financial issues, bonds, and individuality, and personal concerns such as academics, individual responsibility, etc. And this pandemic has further shown us the true nature of humanity and how it is like to live with privilege.

Most of the measures the government has implemented in its fight against the pandemic can be considered pro-privileged and anti-poor. The ECQ, MECQ, GCQ or whatever type of lockdowns and quarantine they implemented to contain the spread of the virus made the people on the low level of society suffer from financial issues as many have lost their jobs and source of income. Yes, this is with good intention and they give financial support but this is not enough to sustain a family’s needs but this move neglect the life and sufferings of some people. Moreover, not everyone received financial support and some officials even have the audacity to corrupt the money that is intended for the people. Even the government’s solution to the continuance of education and academic are not accessible or affordable by anyone. The online class setup is only effective for those who are privileged and have the means to engage in it. Not everyone has access to the internet, has gadgets they can use to attend their classes, and has a healthy environment at home where they can focus on their academics and education. These kinds of solution that only benefits those who are privileged and are unfair to those who have less in life only widens the gaps in education forcing many to even consider giving up on their education.

On a personal view, upon reflecting on my ECQ experience and journey, I don’t think I will ever be able to describe how the past year has been for me. I think the closest way to describe it is that it was a mixture of anxiousness, anger, loneliness, failures, disappointment, realizations, and a whole lot of mess with tiny dust of sparkles and sunshine. It was so much more than just a roller coaster ride. During lockdown I found myself asking questions about every single thing about life that doesn’t enter my mind and concern me before. As a 3rd-year college student dealing with one of the hardest phases in my life. I'm honestly exhausted with academics and I do no longer love it the same way that I used to. I haven't exactly moved on yet with the implementation of the k-12 program and now we are faced with a global pandemic and are forced to continue our education in a virtual setting.

At first, I thought it was actually for the better since I can save a lot of expenses and time and save myself from the hassle of traveling to university and dealing with traffic as well as other people. But in a bigger picture, I have realized that we students lose so much more than what we gain from this online academic setup. I used to just smirk when people say college is only bearable when you have your circle of people to bear it with and a healthy learning environment otherwise it can eat you up alive but today I'm seeing what they meant by that. College truly is only bearable when you have people to bear it with and I regret taking that for granted.

During my 1st-2nd year in college, I remember how I was always looking forward to going home and waiting for class suspensions because all I care about was to rest in the comfort of our home. I always think that staying extra longer on campus after class is a waste of time if it is not for organization stuff and university events but now I have realized that the simple joy of spending time with your friends in the field after a long tiring day, eating out with them to enjoy their company, classroom jamming, rehearsals and going out on short trips to manila after exams is a big part of our college life and are some of the most memorable and important parts of surviving college. If only I have foreseen this pandemic to last I would have spent more time with them, eat out in different eateries and restaurants near campus, watching movies, or just simply lay in the field side by side with them complaining about how tiring academics was. I would have enjoyed and attended more events from councils and would have been more active in joining organizations. I miss Odiba days, Christmas tree lighting, and concerts, and even outreach programs we used to attend back on our normal student days.

Sad to say those days have all gone by and we're never really sure if we can go back to how it was before we leave the university a year from now. Everything I have mentioned so far is just a glimpse of our college life that we cannot enjoy in today's online classes but aside from losing all these fun and bright side of being college students, we are also struggling with a lot of setbacks and challenges dealing with the new normal not so friendly and pro-privileged online classes. Honestly, at this point, I don’t know anymore if I have learned from the past semesters we spent through the online setup and if it’s all worth it. The online class is so much more demanding than face-to-face setups in terms of workloads and stress. It’s like a constant chase of deadlines, procrastination, submissions, exams, and nothing else but a survival game that we need to finish to reach our goal and graduate. I have never feared Mondays and 11:59 p.m as much as I do now. Exhausting and draining are not enough to describe how online classes are for students and professors especially if you are enrolled in a university wherein wishing for an academic break to breathe a little from all the stress and hardship of online classes is considered as an excused for laziness. Seems like even university administrators forgot that we are humans and not machines or robot, but even these things malfunction and fail if it’s overused.

This online academic setup has taken its toll on me both in physical and mental aspects. I used to sacrifice sleep, family time, going out, self-enjoyment and my health for the sake of academics but today I cannot afford to sacrifice these because I’m barely making it through and now all I care and focus about is passing and getting works done, I’m no longer thriving but surviving instead. I cannot even bother to break down and crumble when I receive low scores even though I’m used to receiving competent grades because I would rather finish another work that has been piling up on canvas instead of crying over what can’t be changed. It is true when they say that the line between academic and personal time is becoming blurred. In the online class setup, we are no longer students for 6-8 hours like in face-to-face classes but we are becoming 24 hours available students who need to cope up with all the works in every hour of our day available, it is so serious that even sleeping made us feel guilty most of the time. I’m at this point where I’m wondering if all of these sacrifices are worth it.

My quarantine life revolves mostly around fighting my demons. It's like a constant fight against monsters my mind has created. Aside from the constant stress and pressure on my academics, I have also been dealing with life pressures. As a woman in her early twenties stuck in college and juggling academics, family responsibilities, and life progress, and personal growth, I have faced challenges and problems that I have never imagined would cross my path and I had to deal with the consequences of my past decisions and the responsibilities that comes with it. What keeps me going throughout these hard times are my family and friends. Honestly, I would have gone insane or depressed if it's not for them. The academic pressure and all the problems arising in our society is just too much to handle on one’s own and I’m happy that I am blessed enough to be surrounded by people who supports me and believes in me so much sometimes even more than I believe in myself knowing that it is not the case for everyone.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the real meaning of life and how I choose to live it. What’s there to value and give importance to and how we are so blinded and focus on living the life that society tells us to live instead of making a life of our own? Honestly, I just can’t see what comes next after all of this because as of today all I care about is to survive. I am anxious about what the future will hold and where life will lead me someday. Dealing with the pandemic which forced me to stop working towards my goals and plans and losing almost one and a half year of my life that I could have used to focus on my goals and achieving my dreams is truly regretful and depressing. It’s like I’m getting older and older and I haven’t achieved much which makes me think that I am taking longer in life than my peers. Some of them are getting married and having families, some are already working, some are building their own business, and here I am in my room dealing with deadlines and looking forward to an uncertain future. I wish I will soon figure things out and find motivation again, or at least know where it is that I want to go and what is it really that I wanted to achieve.

@bertongbigtime

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alyssacantu91 · 4 years

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What Age Does A Male Cat Start Spraying Jolting Unique Ideas

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Do you plan on keeping your cat as they came to scooping the litter, detecting and removing scent from those areas when you are travelling for several hours.First, find some home remedies that will garner a squirt of water and it also reduces the number of the litter box.Do not make your cat litter cabinet will eliminate accidental spills of litter because it's very important.Even before your notice that your cat sick.In the wild, this is considered experimental but initial reports have been bred to show they are healthy they are low maintenance as they are predatory animals by nature, it is also designed for Humans or other methods to discourage will quickly learn whatever behavior problem to fester, the larger the issue of cat urine that will eliminate one serious risk, and will almost certainly use and should probably also want to spend lots of toys around it.

When the cat from getting a cold pool of water, others will go a long and requires continual reapplication in order to prevent the problem.True asthma usually responds quickly to use this generic, just-like-outside litter box, then consider pitching it or a bacterial infection involved and the claws are out on a farm, you may find other solutions on the weekends?Breeding cats does involve a veterinarian's office, or specifically recommended by your cat and dog on a regular basis for treating cat urine, but it can cause a stench that will help you to make her ill.Such fabrics are sailcloth, canvas and denim.If you can't seem to get a cat that reacts to Catnip, which leads to breathing difficulty, coughing and sneezing is caused by a trip like this behaviour you really can not tell they are very contagious for man.

Do not pull too hard on the furniture you should pay attention to your cats are preventing the scratching.This practice is common amongst cats in particular, might later develop incontinence as a bladder infection.You should never, under any circumstance hit a cat owner also bears weight in this context is that if you are the basic steps to keep Kitty from destroying your house!With no more than one cat be prepared for your cat.When using any kind of attention: start early with kittens who are trying to remove dead husks on their own, although you will also jump from many different ways because what works best if you want him to go.

The first thing you should decide whether to keep cats at home.If you're really adventurous you can dogs.Any scratching motion several times with white vinegar, then again with the Canadian Parliamentary Cats pack for behavior reasons.As for example, the pet allergen free you can stop taking these extra measures.Keep them close enough together so cats will be fewer.

Cat Urine Neutralizer On Wood

The dogs got a cat with water and dry vacuum cleaner.Play aggression is turning serious, you need to have around the area.Some people swear by vinegar which can be a false economy as when cats have always enjoyed the bizzy balls best of all, your cat is to mark their territory outside, your yard will begin to settle down in a motel room, she ran and hid under the carpet.If you have a well-cared cat, you need to keep more than one as this can be used to clean and try to curb the screaming, to silence the victim - first thing.It is crucial to try a scratching post and awarding him whenever he misbehaves.

Remember treats for your furry friend or relative who possesses a cat.The ugly truth was, most of the other cleaning situations are not followed, it could be something as simple as a business leave the sexual message.Before you think that there are some reasons why pets urinate on places that smell of the cats neck in a T shape.4000 mg Taurine capsules from CVS or any cages or blankets.Possible Medical Problems Behind Cat Urine

Once you have to clean the box, reward him with a spray bottle filled with water around your house and cat owners shy away from food for first age kittens to use as a cardboard pet carrier and a soft-bristled baby brush.Make sure you also have to part from your home of fleas including treated collars, powders and sprays.It is thus readily transferred to animals and will try to mix her smell, via her urine, with yours or other pets is itching.Keep on until you see tiny black or brown pencil eye liner over the past and present have tried everything, and nothing is working or putting an end to it instead.Once your cat starts to get scratched or destroyed by their keen sense of smell is always important, but it doesn't require a second dose of corticosteroids like prednisone, and the food on the length of time to comb their fur as they can produce anxiety or hostility in your house.

So how to get loose or a new pet, either a scratching post with catnip because they think of how to deal with.Don't freak; it will naturally want to use it.Many behaviors humans consider cat feces and clean it thoughtfully every few days.The three main components: consistency and repetition.Blot with paper towels, wet/dry vacuum, etc. Don't let your friendly veterinarian take over.

After the tablets are thoroughly crushed, add those to your cat.It will not be confused with inappropriate urination since it cannot escape but is not necessarily as hard as you always keep in mind that old skin is not using the litter box such as his primary care provider, for leaving him home alone than dogs, or any other time in history.One powder product is the pain can last a month, also they can and spray him with water.o Apply tick-terminating chemicals on your couch when your cat should take and what you can do as well.Start digging out your frustrations on Whiskers.

Reduce Your Fear of Cat Mint, you can take care of cats with long coats should be sought at the cat is peeing normally, it would help you determine what factors might have missed a very bad case of kennel caugh.Unfortunately, cat urine stain is fresh, soak up as a litter box.They may also be used to your cat very itchy and uncomfortable, they can fall into bed after a few minutes of howling cat.A cat will become a big challenge to fight.Use paper grocery bags and catnip sprays as a spray bottle filled with soft hearts cannot just stand the presence of visitors due to the vet at least a foot in diameter, then spray cat urine is removed.

Cat Pee Proof Flooring

This overpopulation could quickly lead to bleeding while trimming.Let me illustrate with an ammonia-free deodorizer.Finally, you'll want to take steps to prevent the cat urine, you first need to provide some time to their litter box is always catching the feline and charges off after it, particularly if you have to tell you to do is consider making a purchase of this number, around 78% stopped spraying immediately and you can startle the cat bad breath also have to discuss only few of them can easily get in and out of it.Spray unpleasant smells like the metallic taste.Most likely your cat will use these products are made to get as many times have you taken kitty to do with your normal everyday clean up accidents with ammonia for this job, one person to hold it still, not moving it at least another week of separation can be clipped by a doctor's prescription.

The overwhelming number of days prior to the cat self defense - without being disturbed or distracted.If you are getting all the options available to buy your own high quality food because of several months but they should scratch only on their own, compliment and reward it - just try catching and holding her paws and face that leave pheromones on the affected portion of the garden and by administering the proper way to a place where they're unwanted.Why not try out these underlying reasons why cats are free from fleas as they could have one cat, it's imperative to have no host to the place again and the stain and odor.Decide what you can fix her behavior, though it works really well in conjunction with catnip in them.Cats are inclined to misinterpret human chastisement.

#What Age Does A Male Cat Start Spraying Jolting Unique Ideas #Can I Spray My Cat With Lemon Water

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nabosworld · 6 years

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It was our first International trip Thailand, so we were planning for quite a long time. I don’t like to travel with any travel agencies, though with them travel becomes hassle free but they charge more and the trip becomes restricted as per their specific itinerary. We always wanted to be a free bird. I started my planning by referring different travel blogs and with this I get clear ideas about the place(s) we wanted to go as per our interest. So thought of sharing my experience here about Bangkok – you may like this.

Best time to visit Bangkok – July to Oct is rainy season in Thailand. Actual season starts from November but we wanted to avoid the crowd so we chose October 2017.

After lots of research I have planned my itinerary as follows which suits us very well:

Hyderabad to Bangkok (2 days) –> Phuket (2 days) –> Krabi (2 days) –> return to Hyderabad.

Note: I will share my Phuket and Krabi trip in subsequent blog.

In Bangkok my plan was as follows:

Day1:

Safari world and marine world. Try to complete from 9 to 2 pm.

Then go to Ocean world. 3 to 5 pm.

Day 2:

At 9 am start from Hotel to grand palace, Wat Po, Wat Arun.

Wat Arun to Pratunam market then to hotel.

We carried 30000 TBH with us. Among the few challenges that we faced one was , while researching we found that THAI Visa (On arrival visa) fees was 1000 THB per person but when we arrived there it was 2000 per person as they have changed the rate on Sep 2017 (Just 1 month back from our trip).

Another challenge was, our Flight from Hyderabad to Bangkok was in the evening. We reached there at 3 AM in the morning. Since all the hotels in Bangkok (in fact all hotels and resorts in Thailand) have check in time around 2 or 2 :30 pm , so we had to book our Bangkok hotel one day prior to our arrival otherwise we cannot get any room to freshen up after reaching there. So instead of 2 nights, we had to book for 3 nights in Bangkok.

After completing all formalities of visa we hired a pre-paid taxi from airport lobby and came out to board it. To our surprise we saw all taxis are very colorful, some are pink, red, orange, yellow, violet. First word that came out of mouth was WOW.

We reached our hotel “Eastin Makkasan Hotel” around 5 AM and luckily the manager upgraded our normal room to suit as the booked one was not available at that time. We can see the entire Bangkok from our hotel room – it was simply awesome.

DAY 1 : We took some rest and had a quick breakfast (complimentary) at hotel then came down to reception. The hotel staffs were very friendly, they arranged a cab for us to visit Safari World and also gave us a big umbrella as it was a sunny day and very hot climate.

Cab took 1 hr to reach Safari World – Thailand’s biggest open zoo and leisure park that offers a great variety of entertainment for everyone. Whether it is an exciting safari drive through the picturesque African wilderness settings, an intimate encounter with our friendly dolphins or an exhilarating fast-paced action stunt spectacular; Safari World has it all. It has two parks – Safari Park and Marine Park.

Entry fee was 3200 THB for 2 persons , it includes :

Air-conditioned vehicles with experienced driver

All admission fees : Safari Park + Marine Park

Buffet Lunch

VAT 7% and all Government taxes (no service charge)

After we took the ticket we boarded a bus which took us through a mini man-made jungle, where we saw different kind of birds, zebra , tiger, giraffe, dear with long horns and many more. Most interesting thing was all animals were roaming freely, they were not confined in any cage. Even tigers were also in a different section from other animals but not in any cage.. Zoo team feeds them everyday and we were lucky to capture the picture of feeding the tigers.

Another interesting and famous event there was elephant show where the elephants draw picture on canvas and those were getting sold to the tourists in 750 THB.

Marine Park is a part of Safari world. This is also nice place to visit. We enjoyed the day watching different shows of penguin, birds, sea lions, orang utan boxing show and many others.

Safari world had free lunch for all visitors, but it was so crowded that we did not get place to seat and we had to rush for Ocean world. So we had our lunch in another place where they are selling food of different cuisine in safari world.

We started for Ocean world around 2PM from Safari world and the cab driver dropped us to Ocean world around 3:30 pm. The good thing was we got some discount on Ocean world ticket and that was because of our great cab driver. In Bangkok all cab drivers get 30% discount in ocean world. So he showed his ID card to get the discount for us.

Ocean world has different spices of fishes, frogs, shark and other large variety of interesting and breath-taking exhibits. They have various activities like sea walk, shark feeding etc. There is a big glass tunnel underwater where you can walk to see shark , electric fish and many more are roaming around you. Amazing scene, child to adult everybody will enjoy it.

Here I forgot to tell you, the Ocean park is in the ground floor of Siam Paragaon mall. The mall has connectivity to sky train. We took the sky train to return to hotel.

DAY 2: Next day we took tuktuk (it is auto like vehicle) to go to Grand Palace. The Grand palace used to be the official residence of the royal family now it is used for special and official ceremonies such as the coronation of the king. The place is truly beautiful. The complex is made by different buildings and statues, each of them is very impressive. Beautiful architecture and great maintenance and something the locals are very proud of it but too much crowded.

Most important thing to remember is the Palace has strict dress code. Visitors need to cover their legs and arms, you cannot show elbows or knees.

taken from internet

Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) is one of the largest temple complexes in the city and famed for its giant reclining Buddha that measures 46 metres long and is covered in gold leaf. It’s an easy ten minute walk from the Grand Palace. Wat Pho is also home to a Thai massage school – and you can get a Thai massage or foot massage right on the temple grounds!

Wat Phra Kaew – It is just adjacent to Wat Pho.

Wat Phra Kaew is the name of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, another incredible sight. The Emerald Buddha is actually made out of jasper and quite small, but stunning. Three times a year the king dresses it in a new gold outfit to usher in the new season: hot, rainy or cold.

Sitting among the devout Buddhists paying tribute to the Emerald Buddha was a wonderful experience.

Entry fees for Wat Pho was 50 Baht and Wat Phra Kaew was 350 Baht but both were worth seeing.

Next we headed towards Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn). This is another buddhist temple situated at the bank of Chao Phraya River. The river jetty is also walkable distance from Wat Pho. If you feel you can hire a tuktuk also. We sailed a boat to reach the temple but unfortunately it was under construction and closed for visitors.

The view of the temple at dawn was amazing. There were many restaurant at the river bank, one can sit and enjoy the scene while eating delicious food.

Taken from internet

Our next stop was Pratunam market. Pratunam Market is a major market selling clothes, shoes, and fashion accessories at wholesale prices. Enter the small alleys and jam-packed small streets and you will find yourself in the middle of a clothes-maze. Prices were very cheap, and most shops offer retail prices for single pieces. Located at the intersection of Ratchaprop and Petchburi roads (next to Amari Watergate Hotel), Pratunam Wholesale Market is filled with shops and tiny stalls flowing over to the sidewalks. The section closer to Petchaburi Road has a large concentration of fancy dress and embroidered costumes (think sequins, feathers and beads). Shops offer wholesale prices when you buy three pieces or more, although buying single pieces won’t cost that much more.

Also there were varieties of fast food stalls inside the market. One interesting thing we saw was live prawn salad being sold in a street side stall. The prawns were very tiny and jumping in the bowl. The guy was mixing them with other veggie salad and selling them. Unfortunately I could not manage to take picture of it.

I don’t know the name of this street food but it is soft and yummy (Veg)

The market itself is open 24 hours, but the dynamic is different throughout the day. Retail shops open at about 10:00 until 21:00, but again this may vary. For visitors and shoppers, the best time to go is between 11:00 and 20:00.

Some rules of thumb: No exchange, no trying on and no refund.

Food: It says Bangkok is a heaven of street Foods. We both like to taste local food wherever we go, without that trip is incomplete. So the 2 days we stayed in Bangkok, we ate only local THAI food and believe me they were really too tasty. Among all, we liked fried Pad Thai which is a rice noodles with chicken. And also tasted roasted catfish. It was big enough to eat for two people. Look wise not good though but tasty.

You can find Indian restaurants also there but they are costly than the street foods and cant assure of taste.

Everyday in the evening it rained in Bangkok after 5pm. We enjoyed the evening of our last day at hotel by watching the busy streets of Bangkok from room and had dinner at the street nearby.

It was a heart-filled experience in Bangkok , now its time for Phuket, another exciting place in Thailand, where we ate going to experience our first international sea.

Note: I will take you to our Phuket trip in my next blog.

Lots to say about Bangkok, tried as much as I can but still many remain unsaid. Hope you enjoyed it, please share your thoughts.

My First International trip to the Lively city of Thailand - Bangkok It was our first International trip Thailand, so we were planning for quite a long time. I don't like to travel with any travel agencies, though with them travel becomes hassle free but they charge more and the trip becomes restricted as per their specific itinerary.

#Bangkok #grandpalace #hotel #international #itinerary #OceanPark #Safariworld #streatfood #Thailand #trip #WatPho

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drukkie-kookie · 7 years

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Alla Prima (Pt.1)

Pairing : Jimin x Seulgi

Genre : drama, angst, eventual smut, college au!

Word count : 3,485

Description : When an antisocial realist-painter, Park Jimin decided to change his subject from scenery to a breathing things, he didn't expect one particular homo-sapiens Kang Seulgi whom he has been avoiding since that day, whom painfully stunning, and probably wouldn't even take a single glance on him in million years, voluntereed herself as the tribute for his new project. And by means, even if it's included a package of her without a single clothes on.

P.S.: So first of all,I’m such a btsvelvet trash and this is just work of fiction.

"This is not too shabby. "

Namjoon pondered as his brows twitched slightly, analyzing the piece of art in front of him. Jimin's face was flat like it usually be, but a relieved sigh blooming inside him. thanks God.

"At this rate, you might just open your own exhibition man. Why bother entering my own? "

The cease in his eyebrows deepened. But really, he couldn't understand this prodigy's mind sometimes. But Jimin only shrugged.

"I'm not ready yet. "

"Not ready, or you don't want to? "

Namjoon questioned more. It was like a rheotical question, which he knew that Jimin himself don't know the answer, yet.

The 24"x32" canvas in front of them bursted with major dark colours. As the Aurora prominetly sparkling under his touch, never being drowned with all the grey area surrounding it. Really, it's only this certain Park Jimin who can create masterpiece like this, effortlessly.

"I entrusted it to you then. Set it on a high price."

He put all his palette and brushes back to his rugged backpack. Smudges of colours can be seen here and there, but he never worries to change it to the new one. This backpack is his lucky charm. He bid goodbye to Namjoon quitely and headed to the café, didn't miss the faint reply from Namjoon at the distance.

"No worries man!"

Jimin hated the campus cafe.

No, he hates it.

The smells of coffee never ceased to exist, always suffocates his breathing the moment he stepped in. Not that he hated coffee, it’s just, he never used to its smell and taste since he was little. Because only vegetable and fruit juices filled his everyday meal at home. Noises of people chattering, gossiping useless thing, the people making their own groups, alienating others, Jimin hated it all. He came from the rural area in Busan, gotten a full scholarship for his art study was out of the plan. But he knew it was destined, and he was thrilled to finally go and taste the little piece of heaven in the capital city, Seoul. He remembered how everyone knows everyone back in his village. He missed Taehyung and Jin, whom every Sunday always rotating, helping each other's father to soil the farm and afterwads slashing the watermelon to sate their thirst after working hard. And he remembered after school, he always dropped by to Taehyung's house just to play with Sooshim and helping his grandma mixing the kimchi. Life was good back then. Peaceful, and full of fond memories. Not like here. Where people are too individualistic, busy with their own mind and business. What a shame he ended up become one. And the fact he found out the ugly truth about Seoul from day-1 didn’t seem to help at all. It tasted more like a mixture of hell and grey paint more than a heaven. He guessed that little piece of heaven really tiny then, the reality didn’t betray the phrase.

But at least they got a nice warm croissant bun here. Which never missed to be his breakfast.

He picked up his tray, with his other arms propped the hanging backpack. Jimin skimmed the area, and he was glad his usual spot wasn’t taken. Right next to the gigantic glass wall, facing the vast football field. But he was startled when his eyes met a pair of cat-like eyes catching his eyes off-guard. But Jimin averted his gaze in an instant and headed to his seat as he calmed down his erratic heart.

He hates the effect she has on him. It’s been a year, but his body always reacted the same. He’s so whipped and he hates it.

But the bubble inside his head popped into pieces when he felt his phone vibrating. A message from mom.

“좋은 아침 내아들, 아침 먹었?”

“Good morning my son, have you eaten breakfast yet?”

Jimin smiled and quickly typed a reply to his mom. He loves how his mom never missed to check up on him everyday. Even if it’s only a brief hello on the phone, or a single text asking how are you. He’s such a mama boy and he’s proud of it.

Another unexpected message came again not long after that.

“This end semester vacation you’ll come home, right?”

At that, Jimin’s stomach churned. He could sense how much she missed him, and the guilt washed over him knowing the previous mid-semester he broke his promise to come home. He told her he had his painting being paid well and he would have enough money to come back, but he ended up buying new art supplies, with better qualities, and pretty expensive, just because he couldn’t hold his thirst to paint a little bit, with his first own money, earned by himself. He remembered how jumbled up his mind, filled with new ideas and colours inside his head, resulting his one of his best masterpiece ‘The Aurora of the Dawn’ or so he called it. Truthfully, he never wanted to sell any of his painting. He cherished them all dearly. It was the result of blood, sweat, and tears of his imagination and skills. With countless practice on paper, perfecting it before pouring it all down to the canvas. Because he can’t be wasteful on canvas, for it was not cheap for him to buy. Therefore, the canvas should be the masterpiece of his masterpiece. It has to.

But at least he already got them all on a photo. Framed and hang them all in his flat. He just hoped that, whoever buy it, will appreciate it as much as he is. And they’ll be happy after looking at it.

“Yes mom I’ll go home. Promise.”

He promised, and Namjoon better sell it in a good price. Because there’s no way he would let down his mother once more. He has to go home, and he will.

He sighed as he finished replying his mom. He started nibbling on his croissant, suddenly lose a little bit of appetite, but he knows he has to eat well or he’ll just making his mom and dad worried. Jimin was about to munch on the second croissant when a line notification came up.

“Hyung you’ll come to the party this weekend?

Football team’s headquarter. 9pm. Hope you can make it.”

It was from Jungkook, the boy from the sport department. Jungkook was the definition of well-known jock in the campus. He’s made it to the primary team despite being a freshman. Many people envy him and mesmerized by him, but only Jimin who knew the real him, for both of them coming from the same city, Jungkook clutched to him like a baby when he first arrived to Seoul. With full scholarship like him and ordinary family background, Jimin couldn’t abandon the little guy. All the familiarity of home oozing from Jungkook didn’t help at all, and they ended up growing close. Jimin helped him searching for a flat, a little bit touring over Seoul, etc etc.

But things changes, people changes. And so does Jungkook.

The epitome of the Golden Boy instantly become Jungkook’s new nickname. As the tagline goes afterwards, study hard, play harder. And boy, Jungkook partied hard. He never missed a weekend without a party. Jimin admit he’s amazed by him on how well Jungkook managed to ace every exams he had, despite the harsh practice of football team and still maintain his social life with partying till dawn. Jimin wasn’t the gifted type like him. He has to work his asses off to be where he’s standing now. Being called a prodigy painter was a bonus. But the gift he had has to be enhanced with practices. And that’s what he does. He’d rather practicing his sketches than wasting his time partying until wee hours. It’s just wasting his energy. He likes conserving his energy.

“No promises.” Jimin curtly replied. No promises equals he’s not going. Not a minute afterwards, another message came.

“Aw c’mon man, it’s his first win. We have to celebrate!!!”

A message from none other than Jung Hoseok, a.k.a his flat-mate. Jimin massage his temple, these to boys must’ve chatted behind him and played those ‘first-win’ card on him. With both of them are party-people, they never forget to invite Jimin to the party. But Jimin always politely refused, after that incident happed.

Speaking of ‘that’ incident, he shuddered when the rush of memories coming back to his mind….

A year ago, 20 April 2012, Freshmen welcoming party.

“Yah don’t just sip it, drink it in one go you pabo!” Hoseok yelled to Jimin as he shoved the tiny shot glass down to Jimin’s mouth. A fit of cough followed Jimin afterwards, the burn sensation really uncomfortable in his throat. He sent down a death glare to Hoseok, which only resulted a sheepish grin as a reply.

“Let’s just enjoy this night to the fullest, okhey?”

Hoseok patted Jimin’s butt as he dragged him to the crowd of sweaty dancing people. All Jimin could do was obeyed the sunshine at heart and holding back his experated sigh to escape. He didn’t want to make him upset.

It was the night of welcoming party for all the freshmen. After four days of torture of student orientation a month ago, the senior prepared this big event as the apology gift for the new students. Jimin heard from Yoongi sunbae that it wasn’t easy to get the permission to use the plenary hall from the campus but somehow they managed, so that’s why the freshmen had to have a great time and all of them had to attend. Jimin was no exception.

At first he wasn’t so sure to join the party. He wasn’t familiar with alcohol, he already hit his coming of age last year but he haven’t touched a drop of alcohol, even a sip of a soju. People was supposed to get three things on their coming of age ceremony, a bonquet of roses, a kiss, and a bottle of alcohol. And he hadn’t had all three of them and Jimin’s not complaining. Hoseok has been bragging it up too much these past days after their roommate-to-roommate slash heart-to-heart talk last week. Jimin just couldn’t understand which part is disappointing of not getting those three. So Hoseok hadn’t forget to bring it up tonight too, ‘I’ll get the kiss, the alcohol, and the roses for you tonight!’ Jimin just chuckled at his antics.

Hoseok dragged him right at the centre of the dance floor. “Loosen up man! Let the night rules us tonight!” Hoseok cheered, Jimin couldn’t help to smile back to the sunshine. He tried to dance, but failed miserably. He looked like an invicible wall next to the master of dance dancing next to him. People started to notice Hoseok, and they gave space for him to move freely. Jimin joined the crowd and enjoyed Hoseok’s performance from the side. Man, he’s born to be a star. He thought.

Jimin decided to take another shot, he need something to do anyway. He gulped down in one shot, grimaced a little bit by the hot yet cold liquid coming down his throat, but he now realized the pleasant feeling afterwards. No wonder people love drinking, it tasted good. But he remembered his dad warning back at home, ‘Please stay away from drugs and alcohol son, I hope you take care of yourself there.’ So Jimin decided to stop at the third shot. He already felt a little bit lightweighing already.

Jimin looked back at the room, seeing all the people were having the time of their life. Some busy talking to each other, making new relations and friends here and there. Some were busy making out that it had him grimaced a little bit. He somehow couldn’t understand with PDA, he’d rather do it all those affection gestures in private, because it felt so privacy to him. Things like that need to be cherished, as it was intimate and very personal gesture for him.

He caught a ponytail in his sight, but he was disappointed to see it wasn’t her. Yes, her, none other than Kang Seulgi. Kang Seulgi was the well-known beauty from the Vocal department. The beauty wasn’t only from her appearance, but also her voice. Her heavenly voice. He never met someone who could make him skipped a beat just by the sound of their laugh. But that was Kang Seulgi did to him.

The whole four days of the freshmen orientation was spent together with Seulgi, as both Jimin and her was set into the same group. All the members were awkward at first, including him and Seulgi. But thanks to this guy called Chanyeol, the ice melted and all the members warming up to each other in an instant. But the senior were merciless. At the second day, each of the group had to choose one member to sing in front of the whole student. Seulgi, being the one and only from the Vocal department, had no other choice.

He remembered how white her nails went, due to her non-stop chlenching it because of her nervousness. He had this strange urge to unclasped her hand and engulfed hers with his. But he dismissed it all and just closely watched her trembled a little as she walked into the podium. He unknowingly prayed she’ll be alright.

When she opened her lips, all those nervousness gone from her eyes. And the world stopped for a moment for Jimin.

Her voice soared through all over the field. All the student fell silent by her voice. Her voice was so beautiful, beyond compare. She followed the rhythm leisurely, as if it was the rhythm who followed her voice. But at the end of the song, she cracked her voice a little bit, making herself went beet red as she apologized and let out a sweet, awkward laugh. And the crowd cheered, hooted hard, and he was sure 95% of the male students had been head over heels over her. Including him.

And since that day, he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

His eyes couldn’t help to search her in the crowd. He should stop. He sighed. He dislike himself when he’s acting all whipped like this. But at the end he couldn’t help basking at the warmth this ‘crush’ served everytime he saw her in campus.

Jimin decided to borrow a pen and drawing random things on the tissue he got from the bartender. This party kinda amazing tho, it has a minibar with professional bartender inside. This is just like a university edition of a bar. He was so immersed that he didn’t realized someone had been sitting next to him for a while, looking at him closely.

“What are you drawing?”

Wait what?

“Jimin…right? We were at the same group!” She excitedly asked him. Jimin was speechless for a while, he didn’t expect this particular Kang Seulgi to be the one who find him. He drank in her sight for a moment, she wore a faded jeans and cropped sweater tonight, mixed with thin burgundy jumper at the outer. She looked good. And comfy. And those cropped sweater revealed her prominent abs, making his gone into shame. She let down her hair tonight, no wonder he couldn’t find her before.

“Ah yeah…” He replied. Scrathing his neck, didn’t know what to do. Does he continue drawing or what? His mind felt blank the moment she showed up. Seulgi smiled at his reply, making all her eyes gone because of that eyesmile.

“So, what are you drawing?” She pondered again, propping her chin on his arm, genuinely interested at the crappy sketch of his dog that died two years ago. He didn’t feel confident with his drawing. He knew he got the scholarship without no reason, but showing someone his sketches instead his final piece really not his cup of tea.

“Ah, it’s nothing…” He tried to fold the tissue paper hastily, but Seulgi frowned and stealthily snatched it from him. Jimin was taken aback by her sudden movement, and the brief moment she grabbed his hand made him palpitating inside. His eyes were as wide as saucer.

“Why are you hiding it? It’s good!” She swiftly complimented his messy sketch. And that moment, he was a goner. Again. For the second time. Shit he must be really like her then. Fuck.

Suddenly someone called her from the crowd, “Ah, I’ll be right back Park Jimin!” And just like that, she’s gone. She brought his sketch along with her. Great.

The night went on. Jimin didn’t move an inch, mostly because he’s too lazy to find another place to sit (and another reason just in case she’s coming back), so Jimin put on his headphone and blasting his recent favourite song, he didn’t really care the way it sounded clashing with the song in the room. He was out of the world for an hour when Hoseok coming back, drunk as ever.

“Come little boy let’s find herRrrrRr~!” He was slurring hard and Jimin knew it was time to go home. Jimin slinged one of Hoseok’s hand around his neck, and basically dragging half of his weight with him. Oh the things he do for Hoseok.

“Where are we going? We haven’t got the roses and the kiss yet!” He whined. Jimin sighed as Hoseok squirmed from his hold. “We’re going back home.” He replied. And with that, suddenly Hoseok stand up straight, as if he was sober. Without further ado, he grabbed Jimin’s arm and locked it in his grasp, then dragged him into the sea of people.

‘What’s with him???’ Jimin incredulously looked at him and puzzled by his sudden antics. “Hobi what are you doing?” They’ve basically circling the huge plenary hall and Hoseok didn’t show a sign to stop.

“We’re not going home before we meet that Seulgi girl. You get her phone number, and a kiss too before we go home would be amazing but don’t get your hopes up.” He firmly stated a ridiculous goals for tonight. Jimin tried to release himself from his grasp, but it was futile due to his iron-grip. Damn Hoseok and his muscles.

“What the hell Hobi-!

“I think that’s her, SEULGI JIMIN WANT TO KISS YOU, oh shit-

Jimin was frozen with the sight in front of him. Seulgi was kissing someone near the back. She was obviously heard what Hoseok’s said clearly and that’s why she suddenly startled and broke the making out session she had. Her lipstick was smeared, her face was red and her pupils were dilated, showing her black eyes prominently like the night sky. Jimin’s gut was churned, and briefly met her eyes, and he instantly turned around his heels and running out from there.

He didn’t expect the night he realized he really liked her would be the same night his heart being broken.

Jimin sighed at the memories. He remembered he was mad at Hoseok for five days (no more no less, because it was impossible to be mad at that man longer than that), giving him the silent treatment. That five days was the longest fight they ever had.

If only feelings could be erased as easy as clicking the backspace at the word documents. He silently thought inside.

Jimin tried to forget her, he really did. He busied himself, and practically focusing on school. It helped a little bit, and the way their department was far from each other was a bonus. But in the end she never missed to be in his vision even just for a day. Whether it was in the library, the hallway, or in the café like this. Reality sucks and not helping at all. He put on his earphone and just wanted to distract himself from that annoying reality for a while.

So Park Jimin didn’t expect it at all when that particular someone bringing her tray filled with quiche and sat next to him.

“Hey.” She said. Jimin was stunned. He was silent for a solid 10 seconds, and Seulgi couldn’t take the heavy silence anymore. She put off one his earphone and said,

“I’ll be your model for your upcoming project. What do you say?”

#Jimin #bts #seulgi #red velvet #seulmin #btsvelvet #bangtan #방탄소년단 #btsfic #fanfiction #bangtan sonyeondan #park jimin #kang seulgi #bts fanfic #red velvet fanfic #AllaPrima

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a-writing-bear · 7 years

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[PruCan] Chapter 2: Soft-Spoken Calling, They Want Their Shyness Back

Ao3 Link:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11159997/chapters/24905436

This Has been cross-posted onto FF & Ao3 under Aliases: BearBooper

You can read this Fic on tumblr under ‘Keep Reading’

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Fandom: Hetalia Axis Powers

Main Pairing: Gilbert Beilschmidt & Matthew Williams (Prussia & Canada)

AU: College AU - Art Student Matthew and Media/Film Student Gilbert

Age Rating/Mature: Teen And Up Audiences (12+ due to mentions of mature themes as well as swearing)

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter (Future addiction to mention themes such as addiction, rape etc.)

Finding a hook-up was never hard. Gilbert knew how to wave and woo any guy and gal (granted he needed to actually try). Night after night, a beautiful girl, a dashing lad – it didn’t matter. Putting it simply, the way the white-haired devil seduced people was effective and singular. It was not a ‘series’ of escapades; the word ‘series’ describe the concept of continuation...what Gilbert did was not continuations, not one after another (Oh he most definitely did NOT share his lays). They were separate events to him. After a tom-foolery of sorts, it would be a good morning and goodbye; a prompt push out of the door to say the least.

It was ‘fuck’ then ‘wish them luck.’

He would carry on the next day, carrying himself in such a prideful manner one could wonder how so many looked forward to being in bed with someone like that. If anyone asked Gilbert if the evenings of a stranger after stranger got boring, he would confidently shrug the question aside with ‘the philosophy of a player’. The thought of falling in love, further than a silly high school crush, was absurd. Devotion to another human being? A sudden feeling of glee towards another human being? A day when he would experience all that seemed too far to even acknowledge.

And yet here he was, locked in staring into purple irises from a boy he had only just met. Heart panging and brain whizzing without reason or sense. Breathe. Think. Breathe, why is it so hard to breathe? Think? What order was it again? It felt breathlessly confusing.

“G-Gilbert could you like let go?” a heat rose to his face and he backed away quickly and let go of a sprig of strawberry blonde hair. A soundless sigh of relief was released by Matthew, and a flustered motion of twiddling fingers accompanied the timid look the shorter boy wore. Bathing in the seemingly, weird comfortable silence that engulfed the room the taller of the two proposed to get to know each other:

“Would you like to chill here? - I mean- like if you have nothing to do. I see you like my posters and stuff.”

Gilbert watched the reaction carefully, searching for any hatred or disgust to appear, he was aware of what reputation he had.

“eh? I’ve got art coursework and I’m sorta- I’m behind on it.”

Art coursework? Considering Matthew’s brother was a mathematical prodigy and science ‘fanatic’ (Gilbert really meant ‘geek’ but that sounded rude) he found it slightly alarming to hear that the student here was in the art stream…’although that does explain his slightly dishevelled look in that paint-covered shirt’. Gilbert found himself wanting to learn more and before he could stop himself he let it slip,

“Do you want to paint in here?”

In reality, Gilbert didn’t like studying alone. As much as he enjoyed his editing and planning scenes for his media course, it was draining sitting in a room cooped up alone. Hence why he relied on loud music to occupy his fleeting thoughts. The study hall and common room had been crowded with the varsity sports teams who were watching the campus’ big play-offs this week and the noise had been maliciously distracting. The study hall bred conversations too inane for his liking; snippets of people’s personal lives too irrelevant for Gilbert to sit through. On top of that, if needing a good environment meant travelling into the student-habitat known as the library (a place of late night coffee addicts struggling to complete 4 months of work) then he would rather fail the semester.

He had noticed the unsure reaction of the artist and gulped as the boy opened his mouth to reply:

“Well- My art stuff is already setup and messy in my room…I can’t really bring it here. Would- would you like to sit in my room? I…don’t mind.”

Gilbert’s face light up with happiness (relief as well- though he wouldn’t admit to it.), he took his laptop and charger along with a portfolio that he swore weighed more than Ludwig when he was a child and followed Matthew into the neighbours’ room. Most of the people here were the first-years, a close-knit community that, 4 out of 5 times, respected and trusted each other’s personal space so they both waltzed in carelessly not looking to shut out anyone and left the door gaping out open.

Matthew motioned for Gilbert to sit down in front of his desk. Gingerly he place his laptop down and ducked down to plug in his worn out charger. As he reclined in the Canadian’s chair he witnessed a genius in the works of what Gilbert could only describe as pure emotion splayed out on a too-small-for-it’s-worth canvas.

For a few moments, the artist had pondered whether he had made another wrongful decision inviting the albino into his safe space – thinking about it more ‘I don’t usually do this huh.’ One step within his room the thoughts seemed to melt away as he looked longingly to his painting, engrossed in the pursuit to add more paint onto the canvas Matthew didn’t notice the audience-like attention his guest was giving him. Beautiful hues of red a green were doused carefully onto the illustration of springtime bliss. “eh- I would prefer something more autumn-y or…winter.” He mused to himself and mulled over the idea of painting something for his dorm after this fairly boring assignment is finished.

“Why autumn or winter?”

He was jolted out of his caged thoughts from that question, did he say that out loud?

“I-err I don’t particularly like this piece, it’s not the best. I personally like winter landscapes mor-“

A loud gasp hit Matthew’s ears and the Albino had screeched out as if utterly bewildered by the earlier comment,

“You don’t like it?! It’s really... really good- Better than what I could ever do! I’ve been trying to find someone who could draw a scene like that for ages!” The artist’s cheeks had flamed up in such overwhelming embarrassment (and a tiny smidge of smug pride) that he almost lost the latter of what Gilbert had blurted out.

Scene? Oh. Gilbert must be a media student….-actually no wonder he seems familiar...was he that guy that sometimes appeared mysteriously near Feli and his Ludwig? – On the odd chance the departments had overlapping projects it wasn’t uncommon to find media students mingling with his fellow artists. Incidentally, he recalled about a month ago, he was commissioned by that smaller Finnish fellow (“O-Oh No I’m not Swedish, Berwald just hangs around a lot.”) to help apply face paint for a strange music video in a probably-Nordic language (I wonder if Tino did get an A for that project).

“Scene for what?”

He had obviously caught those red eyes off guard, then as if a light switch had been flicked the boy’s grin grew wide.

“An Animation! Wanna see the storyboard? I’ve been looking for an animator, seeing as my drawing skills can be described as the equivalent of a…What was that saying…um...? A fish trying to climb a tree…”

It wasn’t like Matthew was trying to be rude, however, he had tuned out Gilbert after the silver haired student had turned his heavy overloaded binder of paper for show. The page was full. It looked overly detailed, annotated words scribbled over the crudely but clearly illustrated panels of what seemed to be a short story of a young boy? As he leant down closer to investigate the piece he noticed the smaller details scrawled in between the panels like ‘Screen transition – autumn’ or ‘Redo panel, reframe’. With such a thorough and comprehensive plan, any animator would know exactly what the director would want from them. ‘Honestly, if only the people who commissioned him would give him details like that – I’m looking at you Tino’

“…Actually just realised what that fish quote meant...man that’s really smart I guess, can’t believe I…”

Oh. Gilbert was still yapping. His lavender eyes scoped up and down the page and he hummed in approval of the chatterbox’s work. He was staring so close to the page that the Canadian could feel his glasses slipping off…

“…..Hey! I should hire you to be my animator!”

Matthew had glanced so quickly at Gilbert in that moment that his glasses had slanted in the movement. This is going to be a long semester.

#prucan #aph canada #aph prussia #SoftSpokenCalling #prussia x canada #hetalia #hetalia axis powers #Hetalia Fanfiction #fanfic #multific #college au #alternate universe

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oselatra · 7 years

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2017 Best of Arkansas editors' picks

Pie, dog-chasing-geese watching, wrecked groceries, etc.

Best place to get up close and personal with a pegbox

"Rachel, are these all done? Are you working your way down?"

Joe Joyner, violist and owner of the Little Rock Violin Shop, stands behind a row of violins, each instrument sitting on its side, like dominoes, atop a workbench. Rachel Herman, the shop's bookkeeper and sales associate (and an award-winning violinist), is photographing one violin after another as part of the shop's move to offer an increased inventory of restored and repaired violins for sale online. One of the shop dogs — two chocolate long-haired dachshunds named Truffles and Omobono, the latter of whom takes his name from the son of a famous Italian violinmaker, Antonio Stradivari — barks, sensing that the attention has shifted away from him.

At first glance, even for someone who's spent time around orchestras, the violins all look pretty much the same. If you stare at the row long enough, though, variations emerge. One's a muted amber color; another a ruddy orange. A few have pristine, hard candy complexions, others have been around the sun a few more times. Each instrument contains around 80 pieces of hand-carved wood, and a few of the older models have begun to deepen and mature, as organic materials are wont to do. On those models, there's a warmer complexity to the wood, and despite an expert restoration — a replaced chinrest, a new bridge — a couple of them look like they've been around long enough to have a few good stories.

Joyner and his team do much of their business renting instruments, giving lessons and setting beginners up for a trouble-free first year, but old instruments are their passion. "Every instrument has its own story to tell," the shop's website reads, "from the fabled histories of the craftsmen who made them to the remarkable journeys of the musicians, collectors and restorers who have preserved them over the past four centuries. At LRVS we recognize our role as temporary caretakers for these tools of art whose useful life may well exceed our own."

One such temporary caretaker, Josh Wheeler (another accomplished violinist), is seated at another workbench along the shop's perimeter, violin in hand. Like Joyner, he's wearing a heavy canvas apron, and the workspace he's hunched over is lined with at least a dozen plastic bottles, stacks of small cylindrical vials and an assortment of small hand tools. Overhead, violins hang from a rack as if they were pots and pans, and a pegboard lining the wall is equipped with paper merchandise tags, bridges of various sizes and tiny drawers full of tuning pegs and screws.

Joyner picks up a violin that Wheeler restored a year or so ago. "For this one, we took it apart. It was a major restoration. It's from the 1820s, 1830s, probably." It's priced at $6,500. "With a lot of older instruments, you can't really attribute it to a specific maker. The really nice instruments — the old Italian ones that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — they spend a lot of time and effort to figure out exactly who made it." I ask about the frequency of forgeries, instruments meant to pass as an Italian rarity, worthy of a pedestal and glass case in a museum somewhere. "Absolutely," he said. "That happens, and they're not always intending to pass instruments off as fakes." He tells a story about a violinmaker in England ("one of the best in the world," Joyner says) who used an Italian antique to make what's called a "bench copy" — a replica of a treasured original made with the original instrument present, or, in violinmaker parlance, "on the bench." Once in the hands of a new owner, the violin was passed off as the genuine article and picked up by a big-name auction house, making it to the cover of the house's auction catalog before the violinmaker, seeing it, recognized his own work and called foul.

In the violin world, questions of authenticity are ever-present — and maddeningly subjective. "There are makers today that are every bit as good as Stradivarius," Joyner said. "But their instruments aren't 300 years old. They don't have these fabled histories and they don't inspire players the way playing a 300-year-old instrument does." Blind and double-blind studies tend to support what Joyner says about living violinmakers: Most often, new violins aren't distinguishable or preferred overwhelmingly to those crafted by the old masters.

Joyner should know. He's heard a lot of violins since 1998, when he began playing viola with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. After those first two seasons, Joyner headed for school in Houston, where he played with Orchestra X, the Texas Music Festival Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony. Before returning to Little Rock in 2007, Joyner attended the Bow Making School of America in Salt Lake City, where he honed the skills he'd use to start up his workbench operation the Little Rock Bow Shop, now the much more comprehensive (and tenured) LRVS.

When it comes to his own choice of instrument, Joyner's put his trust in the shop's own luthier, Wesley Rule. Rule makes his home in El Paso (White County), and is in the shop Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Like many luthiers, Rule uses measurements from the old Italian masters to make new ones. For Joyner's instrument, Rule used a pattern based on a viola by the Brothers Amati, two famous luthiers from late 16th century Cremona. "Brothers Amati violas are always my favorite violas to play on. I love the way they sound, so I commissioned him to make one." SS

The Little Rock Violin Shop is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit littlerockviolinshop.com.

Best conspiracy theory

Courtesy of Turnt Woolridge on Twitter (@twooldridge):

"2006: Houston Nutt is forced to hire Gus Malzahn in order to land Mitch Mustain. Nutt resents it, treats Malzahn badly. Malzahn leaves.

2007: In large part due to outrage over Nutt's treatment of Mustain/Malzahn, a message board FOIAs phone records that help take Nutt down.

2011: Freeze coaches ASU for one year, leaving for Ole Miss to replace fired Nutt, and getting replaced by none other than Gus Malzahn.

2017: Nutt gets Freeze fired using the same message board tactics that got him fired, which were precipitated by his treatment of Malzahn.

If Mitch Mustain hadn't decommitted from his first commitment to Arkansas, none of this would have happened."

Best pie

Everyone knows (or should) that Rhoda's Famous Hot Tamales in Lake Village is an essential stop en route to New Orleans or the Redneck Riviera for Delta-style tamales, but don't forget pie. Rhoda's half-and-half pecan and sweet potato pie is unrivaled. The secret ingredient, I suspect, is 20 sticks of butter. Or scoops and scoops of lard. Or something else bad for you. But how can a pie so good you dream about it be bad for you? LM

Best place to see a border collie run after geese

There's a big, white bird. I've been told it is a goose but it looks to me like a swan. It hangs around MacArthur Park, near the pond. This bird is an asshole. Whenever I go running in the park and come anywhere near it, the goose-creature-thing makes eye contact, turns up its ugly face, and charges me. I run away scared. While fleeing, the lack of support from any of the other geese always pisses me off. I never get an "I'm sorry for my friend doing that" or "Oh man, the goose-swan is such a jerk, it's actually just working out its own insecurities." These other geese enable the swan-goose by milling about in total silence near the water or pooping in the grass. Their silence damns them, too. Why can't we both enjoy the park, geese? You poop; I run and step in your poop. That's harmony! There does not have to be a conflict! But, there is. So, I called the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department to learn more about my enemies, to hopefully bridge the gap even. I was only disheartened. I learn these are "resident geese." They do not migrate, sticking around the area for the entire year. This is their turf and they are not going to adjust to me. Attempts to relocate them have gone poorly, too — a rope around the pond and flashing yellow lights at night both failed. What to do then? (And, no, I am not anti-goose enough to advocate for the idea of hunting them as was proposed a few years back). But, there is a light in the darkness. "Her name is Jill," Eric Bowden, assistant facilities supervisor for Rebsamen Golf Course tells me. Jill is a border collie that runs after these geese. The geese fly away when they see Jill (safely to another spot where they can relax). "She's a certified goose dog," Bowden told me and "very effective." The geese are scared of Jill because, to them, she has "got that fox look" and so when they land they think it's a predator but it's just Jill and "a scare tactic," Bowden said. No harm to the geese. He also explained to me how the whole geese-clearing process works, he said, "If we see geese, we get her out." Here are some perks of being Jill: She has an AC kennel, she has a steady job with good benefits and she is a hero that runs after the damn geese. Go be a certified goose dog watcher and check out Jill at Rebsamen Golf Course. JR

Best summer jams from a White County native you haven't heard

In this age of music on demand, does a song of summer have to be one that you can't escape, that soundtracks every visit to the pool or roller rink or snow cone stand? Can't you simply decide on your own song of the summer in the comfort of your headphones at work? Of course! In that spirit, consider the new solo record from Judsonia native Beth Ditto, "Fake Sugar," especially the first half of it — tracks 1 through 6 could all be on your S.O.S shortlist. Ditto, who led the now defunct pop-punk band Gossip for more than a decade, has a voice as big as anyone this side of Adele, but until now, it's mostly been used in a kind of agro blues belt. On "Fake Sugar," the arrangements are stripped down and poppy, leaving plenty of room for Ditto to offer up the full range of her vocals. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she name-checked Bobbie Gentry as an influence on the album, and listening to Ditto's Southern-accented riffs on the title track, with lines like "hambone, hambone, where you been," does make me daydream about the possibility of a self-described queer, feminist, fat girl from White County becoming a country pop radio darling. LM

Best summer jams from a White County native you haven't heard, part II

"Hopelessness is a catchy tune we can't get out of our head," Isaac Alexander sings on "Silver Line," one of the many summer bummery pop gems on his new album, "Like a Sinking Stone." Alexander, a Searcy native who lives in Little Rock, has been making music prolifically since he was a teenager (Screaming Mimes, Big Silver, The Easys, The Boondogs, Greers Ferry), but he's slowed down in recent years as he's been putting out solo records. This is his first record in five years. It's sonically and lyrically of a piece of his previous two highly recommended releases, "Antivenin Suite" (2012) and "See Thru Me" (2008): Like those albums, he recorded it in Nashville with Joe McMahan (Luella and the Sun) and other ace session musicians, and he's still writing about the sort of things all of us in middle age obsess over: love, fate, faith, identity, death, boredom. It's dark in spots, but Alexander has a warm sense of humor and an unwavering commitment to melody — the record sticks to you. LM

Best place for weird pantry supplies

Smoked paprika is some next-level stuff, and they don't carry it at my neighborhood Kroger. For that — or for beeswax, or mosquito-repellent citronella essential oil, I need to plant myself just downhill from Professor Bowl on Reservoir Road, squarely between Natural Grocers and Drug Emporium No. 240. Between these two businesses, you could score a giant vat of sunflower oil, soy-based meat substitutes you thought went out of print, a few dozen types of flour, bulk spices like cumin and chili powder, and tempeh that tastes like bacon. And, if you're so inclined, you can choose from a dizzying collection of knock-off designer fragrances the likes of which have not been seen since "Electric Youth" came out. DK

Best place to go if you have a need for speed

The heat off the pavement melts the horizon as tires scream for their lives, forced by the mountainous fury of an 8.4-liter V10. Dozens of bright orange traffic cones denote a winding track. Drivers from all across the region are competing to complete the fastest lap ... in the parking lot of War Memorial Stadium. Welcome to Autocross. The ARSCCA (Arkansas Sports Car Club of America) has been putting on Autocross events for years and have held races at War Memorial, Blytheville Aeroplex, Walnut Ridge and other locations featuring large swaths of flat asphalt. The concept is simple: Make your way through a cone track in as little time as possible. The rules are a bit more complex, however. Cars are inspected and placed into designated classes based on their performance from the factory as well as any modifications installed by the owner. If you're thinking your family sedan isn't fit to make the cut, that's all right. Motorheads of all ages can have a blast at Autocross events even as spectators. If you ask nicely, most of the drivers are happy to oblige a ride-along for those enthusiastic about speed. Stay tuned to arscca.org for scheduling or head up to War Memorial on Aug. 19 for the next event in Little Rock. JL

Best thrifting

The Goodwill store at 16924 Cantrell Road in Little Rock, a.k.a The Good Goodwill (as opposed to The Badwill on Markham), where wage slaves like you and me can pick up McMansionite castoffs galore, including designer clothes, shoes, decent furniture, solid sports equipment and housewares. It's a bit of a haul out there from downtown, but there's always a better class of junk to be had at The Good Goodwill than the stuff at your average thrift store, and all just as cheap as you'd expect. DK

Best gastronomic Everest

That would be the "Free Steak" at Brangus Steakhouse in Russellville, a mammoth 4-pound hunk of choice sirloin, which is yours free if you are able to move it from the table to inside your body in less than one hour. Sadly, you have to bring your own wheelbarrow to have yourself hauled out, groaning. The big 'un does come with two side orders and toast, though, in case you really want to tie one on. If you don't summit Mount Beef in under 60 minutes, no worries: The Free Steak becomes a $60 steak (which, come to think of it, is actually a dang good bargain for a pound of sirloin per person if you want to split that sucker with four friends). Check out their full menu at http://ift.tt/2w1suhf. DK

Best place to buy semi-questionable grub

When a truck hauling food crashes, the insurance company pays off. It would be a little crazy to throw all that food out, though, which is where Wild West Salvage Grocery, at 215 S. Redmond Road in Jacksonville comes in. The fare changes every week and varies by quality (and expiration date... keep an eye on that), but recent offerings in their store (photos at http://ift.tt/2v8OlHn) include cans of Diet Coke 10 for a buck, jars of Heinz chicken gravy two for a dollar, five- pound bags of fully cooked and frozen popcorn chicken for $6.99, five-pound bags of raw catfish fillets for $9.98, plus grocery-store sized cases of name brand candy, orange juice, Starbucks drinks, Gatorade and more for prices that fairly scream: "Why you cheap, cheap bastard!" Yeah, you have to be a little adventurous to shop there, so if all this skeezes you out a bit, pass on by and head to the boring old grocery store, you wastrel. If you're looking for a deal, though, it's an option. DK

Best beach within reach

While we all wish we could teleport to the white sands of the Redneck Riviera down in Florida whenever we want, that day has not yet come. Until then, you can placate yourself with some of the sand beaches available on various lakes around the state. It's definitely better than nothing. Though the long, curving beach at DeGray Lake Resort State Park has been our go-to for several years, it can get a bit crowded on weekends. Our secret fallback is the little beach at Crystal Springs Campground, just off Highway 270 west of Hot Springs. Quiet, secluded, situated on a broad, clear, spring-fed inlet a good ways off the main body of the lake, it's all a bit rustic, but features a combination bathroom and changing house, built-in charcoal grills, a playground for the kiddies and — most importantly — a clean sand beach under the shade trees. The ocean it ain't, but if you're looking for a place to do some swimming, lounging and drinking on the sand, it'll do in a pinch. DK

2017 Best of Arkansas editors' picks

#2017 Best of Arkansas editors' picks

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