#BUT MY COUNTRY ALSO HAVE MANY MOAS SO WHY NOT

[yeonjun4beagles]

ahhh its not an asia world tour if my country doesnt get skipped 😀

so.....do i buy a ticket to jakarta...or bangkok....🥲

#CJ!thoughts #bye #im just gonna go cry #all day #all night #AAAA IM SO STRESSED #but still grateful that they get to meet so many moas #BUT MY COUNTRY ALSO HAVE MANY MOAS SO WHY NOT #okay calm down cj #calm down 😀

[tomorrowxtogether]

TOMORROW X TOGETHER is thriving on TikTok!

The future of TOMORROW X TOGETHER after the “Anti-Romantic” challenge

2021.09.15

More than 100,000 videos on social media platform TikTok had used TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s “Anti-Romantic” as their background music just one month after the song’s release, and the number exceeded 300,000 a month later on July 24. This makes it the most used TOMORROW X TOGETHER song for videos on the service.

The track’s TikTok popularity began with the “Anti-Romantic” dance challenge. After seeing the positive comments left on a video of her playfully dancing to the song, American TikToker Zuki from New Jersey developed it into choreography and posted a tutorial video where she explained the moves slowly so others could easily follow along. “I [took] inspiration from the simplicity of popular TikTok dances,” Zuki elaborated, saying she shared the tutorial because her “main goal is to entertain and have fun.” Her choreography for the dance challenge involves undulating along to the melody of “Anti-Romantic” with handclaps and hip pops in time to the drop of the beat, and it quickly spread through other TikTokers across the platform. That’s why so many “Anti-Romantic” dance challenge videos have “dc: @yutasbestie”—dance credit to Zuki by username—in their descriptions.

One of Zuki’s close TikToker friends, Irene, is also MOA (the TOMORROW X TOGETHER fandom) and covered Zuki’s choreography. With more than 45 million views, Irene’s dance challenge is the most viewed TikTok video related to “Anti-Romantic,” and as she took center stage in the trend, her follower count surpassed one million. “I woke up one day bombarded with comments of different languages,” like Portuguese and Spanish, she said, and was glad to find people “viewing my video and connecting with it despite the language differences.” Her experience hints at how the “Anti-Romantic” dance challenge spread so rapidly across the world. On June 27, when the number of videos for the challenge had exceeded 100,000, TOMORROW X TOGETHER joined in with a different kind of challenge: an “Anti-Romantic” lip sync. Their video was viewed 4.5 million times in the first day alone.

TikTok’s unique personalized recommendations works such that “related content is suggested not only to users who like K-pop, but also to users who could potentially like K-pop, depending on their preferences,” said Jay Bae, head of global business development at TikTok Korea. Even if you’re not following any K-pop artists, there’s a good chance that, if many of the videos that fall within your areas of interest use their music, content related to their songs will be recommended to you. This leads to people discovering new artists and hearing music that they didn’t even realize they would like. This is one of the reasons that TikTok has had such a notable influence on the music industry within the past several years. It’s equally likely that, once the dance challenge kicked off, these personalized recommendations pushed “Anti-Romantic” to make its way into the feeds of TikTok users who could potentially be interested in TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s music. “Anti-Romantic” maintained a steady amount of streams in the US after its first week and actually saw increases in Mexico and Brazil. It can be assumed that it was the foothold that TOMORROW X TOGETHER has on TikTok as well as in countries like the US that drove TikTokers to quickly make a lot of dance challenge videos and that those videos spread far and wide through recommendations.

On top of that, “Anti-Romantic” is in the most unique situation among all the tracks off the same album, The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE. “Anti-Romantic” placed 158th on the Spotify US 200 chart on the day of its release, placing higher than the lead single, “0X1-LOVESONG (I know I love you) feat. Seori” (173rd). According to Google Trends, in the time between May 31—when the album was released—until the announcement of The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT OR ESCAPE, the top three global search terms related to TOMORROW X TOGETHER were all in reference to “Anti-Romantic” (“anti romantic,” “txt anti romantic” and “anti romantic lyrics”). During the same timeframe, interest in the group was also highest in the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan, respectively, while the countries showing the most interest in “Anti-Romantic,” in order, were Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia and the US. It seems “Anti-Romantic” had a far-reaching appeal beyond simply the fanbase. For example, TOMORROW X TOGETHER released a TikTok video on July 2 using the Duet function, which allows users to split the screen and place their video beside an existing one. In this case, the group sang along with an earlier video from salem ilese, who is among the writers on “Anti-Romantic.” While the TOMORROW X TOGETHER account had seen an average of around 20,000 new followers per day, that figure shot up to 50,000, and while there had been many Google searches for the song coming from countries like Brunei, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Chile and South Africa, this shifted afterward to Armenia, Morocco, Colombia, Venezuela, Denmark, Belarus, Egypt and Korea. Apparently, some of the group’s new followers had fallen in love with “Anti-Romantic” after seeing the dance challenge. The challenge also found new fans in a more diverse set of countries.

Zuki said she chose to dance to the song because the “voice was so soothing and the instrumental was so minimalistic it gave the song more sincerity.” Not only was the music itself good, but it sparked her interest in TOMORROW X TOGETHER so that she looked up more of their material afterward and kept making videos related to them. “I didn’t expect it to have much success on TikTok specifically,” Nicole Kim, leader of BIGHIT MUSIC’s A&R Team, said, diving into what led teenage TikTokers like Zuki to respond to “Anti-Romantic.” “But I was sure the music was perfectly suited for Gen Z around the world from the moment I got the demo made by Alex Hope and salem ilese.” Kim Bo Ram, also from the A&R Team, revealed how “We Lost the Summer,” which had done well in North America, became a reference point when finding TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s pop sound: “We saw how this song that trendy singer-songwriter Charli XCX worked on to simultaneously capture trends in both K-pop and contemporary pop had a good response,” she said. “Rather than something overly sad, we wrote bitter, self-deprecating lyrics because we were trying to escape being too typical and represent Generation Z,” suggesting the style of the lyrics also played a part in the song’s popularity. In fact, “TXT [has] their unique style and concept,” according to Irene. “They have a fresh and lighter sound,” she said, “yet when interpreting their lyrics, they tend to be deep and dark,” and the group’s songs reflect “many of the feelings and experiences teenagers encounter. It is not a surprise that so many people across the globe find comfort and a connection with them.” Mariah, a TikToker, performed the “Anti-Romantic” dance at the ceremony where she accepted first place for a tumbling competition and uploaded the video, which has been viewed more than five million times. “I love the way that [TOMORROW X TOGETHER] create a safe space” for others their age to feel comfort, she said, as well as how “they know how to lead with confidence … through their music.”

So, while the “Anti-Romantic” dance challenge demonstrates how a K-pop song can spread across the world through social media, it also shows why TOMORROW X TOGETHER is particularly influential on TikTok. The first thing TOMORROW X TOGETHER released for “Anti-Romantic” was a short film on their official TikTok account on May 27, four days before their comeback. The group was collaborating with Korean TikTok creator Sihyun Rania to produce videos for all eight songs off The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, with the video for “Anti-Romantic,” the album’s first track, naturally kicking off the project. The videos took advantage of TikTok’s short format and platform-specific techniques through quick transitions, slick editing and videos that were tailored to the mood of each individual song. The “Anti-Romantic” video garnered over nine million views, more than 30,000 comments in languages ranging from English to Indonesian, Spanish and Korean, and some 1.9 million likes. Users expressed appreciation for how passionately TOMORROW X TOGETHER was using TikTok and excitedly commented about the group’s grasp of the ins and outs of the service. Comments calling the boys musical.ly kings and raving how they’re even good at musical.ly (referencing the short-form social media service that was popular with teens in the US, Canada and other English-speaking countries and merged with TikTok in 2018) collectively were liked by over 5,000 people, and one commenting about how good the group’s transition game is had over 12,000 likes. In another video, whose title translates to “#JustinSOOBIN” and used a slowed down version of Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” SOOBIN covered an existing dance challenge by filming himself lip-syncing in the mirror with a lovelorn look on his face. The video received so much reception on the day it was posted that the TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s TikTok account picked up 80,000 more followers compared to the previous day.

The TOMORROW X TOGETHER members “create videos that exceed expectations by interjecting with clever comments or discovering points that are crucial,” Yu Ji Yeon, also with HYBE 360 Artist Content Studio, said. “They turn out well because they watch a lot of videos posted on TikTok and share them with their friends.” YEONJUN personally suggested he do a dance cover of the popular “Nowhere to Go (Quarantine Love)” that he “saw all over TikTok and wanted to try” and specifically uploaded the video on a Monday with a hashtag translating to “#MTWTFSSKeepItUpEverybody.” BEOMGYU lip-syncing to multiple characters from Black Rubber Shoes, TAEHYUN comparing one month of exercise to one year and HUENINGKAI’s cover of “good 4 u” were all made based on things the members were interested in or that were trending at the time. Lee Da Min, another employee from the Artist Content Studio, said that “the members use TikTok like it’s a game. Everyone agreed that creators should enjoy playing with TikTok so that the viewers can also enjoy themselves and the service can become a playground where everyone can express themselves.”

Whether they’re making music or TikTok videos, TOMORROW X TOGETHER has been in step with their Generation Z peers, and as their output accumulates, more and more Gen Z followers come to experience what the group is all about. In that respect, there could be more opportunities to let the wider world know about them the way the “Anti-Romantic” dance challenge did. Bae, the TikTok executive, felt that the challenge “expresses the international creators’ own creativity through their choreography inspired by the artist’s music, and the chemistry from that combination of music and choreography really resonated with a lot of people and led them to feel similarly and have fun, which is a very TikTok-esque and ideal outcome.” That’s also the reason why TOMORROW X TOGETHER, when they showed a trailer for their LO$ER OR LO♡ER would-you-rather game via TikTok on August 17, could write, “Let’s find out together tomorrow with the one and only TikTok Kings!”—because they have the confidence to accept whatever phenomena arise from the chemistry between K-pop, TikTok and Generation Z as if they were playing a game.

#txt #tomorrow x together #210915 #weverse magazine #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #taehyun #hueningkai #anti romantic #article

[ilytyun]

unideally yours // choi yeonjun

As long as you’re with Yeonjun, there’s no place you’d rather be. Even if it’s sitting across from each other while you chug beers at his kitchen table.

genre: fluff, friends to lovers !! also lowkey coworker au

words: 1485

warnings: alcohol consumption, mentions of underage drinking

a/n: happy belated to moa’s first love😭 i had a lot of fun writing this !!! i think i fell for cyj more than i already was ;;;

If someone told you this morning that you’d be ending your day sharing drinks with Yeonjun at his kitchen table, you would have laughed in their face. 

After all, you had the whole day planned to a T. Today wasn’t supposed to end with your work friend, it was supposed to end with your new boyfriend walking you home after a fancy dinner, telling you he had a nice time, and then kissing you goodbye at your front doorstep before making sure you got in safely. It couldn’t be so hard, it happened all the time in the romance movies you watched in high school. 

But alas here you were, rolling your eyes as Yeonjun laughs when you crack open your third beer for the night.

“You’re too much of a romantic. Isn’t this already the second time he’s flaked on you?” Your friend asks, taking a sip of his own beer. He scoffs when you ignore his question in favour of chugging down your freshly opened can. “That’s a bad sign. Break up with him before you get too attached.”

You take a few moments before parting from your drink, sighing in satisfaction at the refreshing sensation it left behind. It’s funny, you remember hating beer when you first sneaked a can from your uncle’s fridge as a teenager. Fast forward ten or so years and you basically rely on it like an at-home remedy. Well, that and a friend to listen to your misfortunes.

“I already beat him to the punch and dumped him. I blocked his number too, after texting him to say that it was over.” You paraphrase your actions, unconsciously swirling your can in a force of habit as Yeonjun nods in approval. There isn’t much liquid left to splash against the thin aluminum, but neither you or your drinking partner are too concerned. “And I’m not a romantic, I’m just an average, unlucky office worker with standards. Can’t I have standards?”

“Of course you should have standards, but your idea of what a relationship should be is too idealized.” Yeonjun’s advice seems more like a declaration. Especially as he sets his beer can on his wooden kitchen table with a contained force that doesn’t do much to scare you, but does enough to grab your attention. “Listen, men are horrible. There are already so many guys in this country alone who can’t even reach the bare minimum for standards everywhere.” 

A pout makes its way onto your lips. “So you’re telling me to just suck it up and settle?”

“What? No way. Never ever settle.” Yeonjun shakes his head in a strong disagreement to your question. “Instead, compromise. Relationships are all about compromise and you have the standards of an early 2000s romcom lead. You can’t be afraid of disappointment, but you’re only going to keep on being disappointed if you go on like that. You deserve someone who will treat you well.”

Though attentive to what he had to say, you don’t do much to react to Yeonjun’s commentary. You instead stare at the way his index finger circled along the top of his can while you formulate a coherent response.

After all, you couldn’t disagree more.

“I may have high standards, but I don’t think it takes a lot to make me happy. I’m not hard to please.” You start, your tone coming out surprisingly even.

Yeonjun quirks an eyebrow at your statement as you take a moment to take a sip at your drink. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you do it all the time...” You set your can down. “Making me happy, that is.”

The shift in atmosphere that washed over the two of you felt as if it came out of nowhere. As if it sneaked into Yeonjun’s one bedroom apartment through the window he’d opened to let the night breeze in. You don’t know what to make of it, but you don’t exactly hate it.

“What are you saying?” Yeonjun laughs. Not quite awkwardly but more… expectantly. He leans forward and folds his arms on top of the table. “Are you saying you’re happy whenever you’re with me? Even now?”

Especially now, you think. Especially now. Nothing about your current situation was anything near ideal. After all, you were sitting across from your coworker, chugging cheap convenience store beers instead of sipping an expensive wine at a fancy restaurant, but you don’t think you’d want to be anywhere else. Yeonjun isn’t your boyfriend, but you feel so much more at ease when you’re around him. So much more... yourself. How could that be?

Your eyes avert to avoid Yeonjun’s stare, and you unconsciously stare at his outfit. He’s dressed so much simpler than your own date outfit, having let you in his apartment immediately after you called him out of the blue. Of course, something about his beanie, sweatpants and t-shirt ensemble is endearing. Maybe because you’d only seen him in your workplace’s required attire of suits and ties. Maybe because you’re seeing a side of him that your other coworkers don’t get to see.

But you don’t say any of this out loud. You remember Yeonjun’s question, were you happy when you were with him? Even now?

“Of course.” You say, nodding without hesitation. “You treat me so well even though I’m only a friend to you. I don’t even know why I bother going out of my way to date around anymore.” At this point, you’ve finished your third drink. You knew what was running through your veins isn’t blood anymore. Just liquid courage. 

Yeonjun stays silent. You suddenly feel a warmth spreading through your cheeks. Was it because three drinks in a row really just hit you all at once? Or was it because Yeonjun’s gaze is heavy and unreadable as his eyes trail your every movement? You’re not sure if you want to find out. The suspense is killing you, maybe another beer would help.

But Yeonjun seems to think otherwise. He catches your wrist in a gentle hold before you could reach for another can. He doesn’t let go. His hands are cold, his demeanour seems like it should be intimidating but it’s somehow comforting.

“You’re already drunk?” Yeonjun asks.

You scoff, keeping your eyes locked onto how his hand gripped onto your wrist. “God, is it that obvious?”

“Then you won’t be able to lie to me.” Yeonjun’s voice is steady as he speaks. He leans in closer and tilts his head to meet your eyes. “I’m going to ask you something. It’s okay if you say no.”

You nod silently, keeping eye contact and egging him to go on. You’ve never been more attentive in your life. He blinks a few times before parting his lips,

“You like me, right?”

“Yes.”

Following your words, you watch in real time how Yeonjun’s once stoic expression morphs into a smile he couldn’t contain even if he tried. It reaches his eyes and softens every part of his otherwise sharp features. He looked elated; one hundred and ten percent satisfied by your answer.

All at once, the tension that had stuck itself into the atmosphere is released. 

“You too?” You ask quietly, a smile growing onto your own lips because you definitely know the answer.

“Obviously.” Yeonjun chuckles softly. Almost shyly. His grip slides from your wrist to your hand, and the way he intertwined his fingers with yours couldn’t feel more natural. “You put me through a lot. I’ve had to deal with you cycling through six different boyfriends even though I was right in front of you this whole time.”

“Sorry,” You giggle, enclosing Yeonjun’s hand into your own. “I knew there was a reason you always told me to break up with every one of them. No one would have lasted anyways. They weren’t you.”

“God, how cheesy. ” Yeonjun’s smile doesn’t leave his lips, even as he clicks his tongue. His other hand reaches across the table to pinch your cheek.

You laugh and lean in closer, only leaving a few inches between Yeonjun and yourself. “It comes with liking me back, unfortunately.”

Yeonjun scoffs. His fingers let go of your cheek and travel to play with your hair instead. “First I have to take care of your drinking problem and now this?”

“It’s not a problem… my desire to drink is what eventually brought us together!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Yeonjun snickers. His eyes seem like they’re looking at you in adoration, as if you’re the most precious person in the whole universe, and you realize that he’s looking at you the way he’d always had. You take it as a cue to finally lean in and close the distance between him and yourself.

Sure, today didn’t go as planned, but as you feel Yeonjun’s grin against your lips, you don’t think you could want to be anywhere else. You know this is where you belong.

#yeonjun #yeonjun scenarios #yeonjun imagines #yeonjun fanfic #txt scenarios #txt imagines #txt fanfic #choi yeonjun #tomorrow x together scenarios #tomorrow x together imagines #tomorrow x together fanfic #tomorrow x together #txt #whew !! excuse the bad photo editing ive stared at it too long that it acc looks okay to me LOLWKNDNS

[callonpeevesie]

Things that bother me about Percabeth

Warning: this is going to be long and I'm not even sure if this will make sense. Also don't read this if you aren't open to criticizms of Percabeth.

Percabeth is a good ship, or at least has potential as one, but it has many legit flaws (this and this go into the flaws. By the way, go check out @takaraphoenix's Riordan crit) and I have some personal grievances. I'll write this out to understand my stance better because I need to get this off my chest.

I believe most people wouldn't agree with me on all this, but this post is entirely self-indulgent and I'm doing this for catharsis, so don't come at me. This isn't an objective analysis, just me trying to clear my thoughts. But feel free to share your opinions if you want.

Evolution in PJO

This is a pretty general point. I love the evolution of their dynamic in pjo. Their bickering, them opening up to each other and becoming so important to each other, the slow and steady buildup, it's great. Heck, I love slow burn. They have some good moments in pjo: Annabeth opening up to Percy on the zoo express, the scene with the sirens, Percy doing everything he did to save Annabeth in ttc, their conversation after Annabeth took the knife for Percy in tlo. (The underwater kiss is not one of my favourite moments, I'll come to that later.)

The romantic evolution, though, I'm not sure. I enjoyed it in ttc, there were small subtle hints like Aphrodite's scarf, or Aphrodite looking like Annabeth to Percy. But it became kind of tiring in botl onwards. Annabeth was extremely possessive and awful to Rachel. And in tlo things became a bit over-the-top.

I think Rick tried to establish them as the Most Important Person to each other. I don't like that. This is more apparent in HoO. I'll come to hoo later, but there is one instance of this in tlo: Percy seeing Annabeth in the Styx. Like one of the posts I've linked above says, it's shippy nonsense. It comes from the idea that one's romantic partner must be the most important. It doesn't make sense. I think Percy should have seen his mother in the Styx. It would make sense for Sally to be Percy's anchor, considering how much she means to him.

In short, their enemies-to-friends evolution was great, their friends-to-lovers evolution started out fine but became too much for me, and their friends-to-Most-Important-Person-to-each-other evolution was unnecessary and forced.

Luke

Luke and Annabeth's romantic subplot didn't need to exist. This isn't exactly Percabeth, but I'll say it here anyway. First of all, there's a seven year age gap, so Luke returning Annabeth's feelings is creepy. And it seems pretty unnecessary to me. It's also a bit of a mess. In tlt Annabeth blushes when Luke is around, and Luke says 'She's like my little sister.' In tlo Luke asks Annabeth if she loved him, and she says 'You were like a brother to me.' This part feels like Rick trying to add last-moment tension to Percabeth by making Luke a potential 'rival' to Percy. In the Staff of Hermes Percy says Annabeth had a crush on Luke, and as she got older, Luke had a crush on her too. Just ... Why?

They and Thalia were each other's first friends. Annabeth looked up to Luke and Luke was fond of Annabeth. That is enough reason for Annabeth to be hurt and for Luke to care about Annabeth. That is enough to set up their post-betrayal dynamic. The romance thing was completely unnecessary.

Rachel

I absolutely hate the way Annabeth treated Rachel. If there is one thing I despise about romantic subplots, it's justifying bitchiness with romantic jealousy. I guess it's okay to feel a little jealous or even possessive, and I can kind of see where Annabeth was coming from, but treating someone like shit because of that, especially in the middle of dangerous quests, is not okay. It's petty and immature. (It could be argued that Annabeth was mad because Rachel got to lead her quest, but let's be honest, she wouldn't have been that mad if it were anyone else. She specifically treated Rachel like that out of jealousy.) It was never called out and Annabeth never seemed to regret it. This bothers me so much. Fanfiction is a good coping mechanism, I suppose, but I'm here to complain about canon, not cope with it.

Speaking of Rachel, Perachel could have been a good ship. A demigod looking for a normal life and a mortal with clear sight. This elaborates on that pretty well. At the end of tlo it really felt like Rick had to get Rachel out of the way to make way for Percabeth.

Annabeth seems to be too demanding

Annabeth's attitude towards Percy bothers me sometimes. She's a good character and has a strong dynamic with Percy, but she's a bit tiring with regards to Percy (in a romantic sense; she's fine as his friend). I mean look at this quote from tlo:

I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than ... Well, than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or wrack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking.

Percy feeling that way about Annabeth - his best friend of four years - just doesn't sit well with me. Percy straight up admits he's more comfortable with Rachel than with Annabeth.

There's more: Annabeth punching Percy when he asked who he should dance with in ttc, the way she treated Rachel, the way she behaved towards Percy regarding Rachel in botl, judo flipping him in moa. It's pretty tiring in general. Now that I think of it, this wasn't a thing before the romance showed up. Their dynamic was better in the earlier books in general.

Also personally I'm not a fan of Annabeth constantly calling Percy Seaweed Brain. This and this nicely sum up how I feel about that. Annabeth making fun of Percy's intelligence even after getting to know him makes no sense, especially as he was insecure about his intelligence. (And yes, I know she thought he was intelligent, as she said in the Demigod Files, but that doesn't cancel out the million times she called him stupid to his face.)

They became too couple coded

I've seen people say that Percabeth is better as friends than as lovers, and honestly I agree, and I've done some thinking to figure out why. I think it's because of the way they were written after they became a couple. They could have been fine as a couple, if they were written differently.

They started out not being able to stand each other, then gradually, they went through a lot together, got to know each other, learned to work together, and became a team. That was a great evolution, like I said before.

And like I also said before, everything I dislike about Percabeth showed up with the romance. Annabeth became catty and possessive. They became a couple. And it was as if the friendship wasn't there anymore, just the romance. They became like a cliche unreasonable girlfriend and clueless boyfriend. This is especially obvious in the beginning of Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes. Where's the friendship? Where's the comfortable bantering? Where's the known-each-other-for-years soundness? Hoo Percabeth just doesn't live up to pjo Percabeth at all.

(Also this is a personal bias of mine, but I'm partially romance repulsed. I can't stand cheesy romantic coded stuff. I only like lovers if they're also friends. So I guess I'm kind of pissed about Percabeth becoming so couple coded after becoming a couple.)

Their HoO dynamic

This is a related point. Like I said, hoo Percabeth doesn't live up to pjo Percabeth. All they care about is each other. They literally don't think about anyone else at all. Percy loses his memory and he remembers Annabeth. Why? Does Hera ship Percabeth? If he remembered anyone, it should have been his mom, like in the Styx. The only reason Percy remembered Annabeth, i.e Annabeth was made out to be more important to Percy than everyone else (including Grover and Tyson and Sally 'best person in the world' Jackson) is that she was his romantic partner. Again, it's shippy nonsense.

And there's this reveal that Annabeth had a crush on Percy all along. Are you kidding me? It completely retcons the enemies-to-friends development. Are you telling me that the Percabeth evolution in pjo where they learned not to hate each other was a lie? That Annabeth gradually opening up to Percy and coming to appreciate him was her acting out of a crush? I'm not believing that, no way.

I'm probably not making any sense, but my point is that Percabeth in hoo in cheesy and can't go one day without each other and people love it but I don't. It kind of messes up their previous dynamic, which is a shame because I liked pre-hoo Percabeth.

Rick seems to go overboard sometimes

I'm about to get a little controversial here. Many of the Percabeth posts in those tumblr screenshots going around social media are about the campers shipping Percabeth, or Arachne making Percabeth fanart, things like that. My theory is that part of the reason Percabeth is so popular is that the characters ship it. And Rick kind of goes overboard with that - not just with the in-universe shipping, with the ship itself.

Prime examples of going overboard are Percy seeing Annabeth in the Styx and remembering Annabeth when Hera took his memory, which imply that Annabeth was objectively the Most Important Person to Percy. I've already ranted about these above so moving on to the part about the in-universe shipping. Like I said, I'm not a fan of the underwater kiss. It's because of the situation involved. The campers just won a war and lost their friends and siblings, Clarisse just lost Silena, you'd think they'd have other things to care about than Percy and Annabeth kissing, at least for one day. And why did Arachne make fanart of that? How did she even know? There was also the matter of moving to New Rome - them wanting to move halfway across country to live together, away from New York, doesn't really make sense to me. This post elaborates on that and suggests better alternatives.

Of course, the author has complete control over the narrative, and the author wants you to believe they are making sense. And when the characters believe that too, it becomes harder for readers not to. When all the campers ship Percabeth, it's enough to convince half the readers to ship it too. (And of course, the pjo fandom has an unhealthy thing with canon ships.)

It's pretty much kept up by the fans

While we're at it, let's talk about the out-of-universe shipping. The fandom has always shipped Percabeth, partly just because they are the male lead and female lead of a series. Percabeth was set up to happen, so when Rick introduced Rachel, who actually made Percy feel good about himself and let him be himself around her, and whom Percy was interested in, he had to get her out of the way. I'm not sure I can explain it, but the Percabeth ending in the first series feels very fan service-y to me.

Platonic Percabeth vs romantic Percabeth

I think everything I've said above just explains why Percabeth worked better as friends. The had a great friendship arc and became two friends who know each other inside out, butt heads a lot but love and respect each other deeply. And then when the romance happened, Annabeth began to show these romanticized but actually toxic girlfriend stereotypes - being jealous and possessive, expecting Percy to read her mind and getting pissed when he can't, etc.

The fandom thinks those traits are okay, because they are normalised in society. People think that's how couples should work (it's not). And so the reasons I don't like Percabeth are the same reasons many people do. The date in the beginning of Staff of Hermes makes me cringe, because they were friends first and friends don't work like that. But no doubt there are many people who find it cute because society loves to romanticise the unreasonable girlfriend and clueless boyfriend trope. There are plenty of people who romanticise Annabeth judo flipping Percy or treating Rachel like shit, because things like that are normalised but I personally can't stomach them at all.

Anyway, those toxic traits come with the Percabeth romance as a package deal and there's no getting rid of them. That's why Percy and Annabeth worked better as friends, and why I feel things would be better if they just stayed friends. There was none of that tiring crap pre-romance. I can't stress this enough, I really loved their friendship in tlt or som. But when their dynamic evolved to romance, it messed up their friendship. There was a specific moment in botl when Percabeth began to feel off for me.

'She will calm down,' Chiron promised. 'She's jealous, my boy.'

'That's stupid. She's not... it's not like...'

Chiron chuckled. 'It hardly matters. Annabeth is very territorial about her friends, in case you haven't noticed. ...'

I don't know why this moment specifically, but this kind of marked a change for me. This is where Percabeth became seriously romantic, and I didn't like the related developments. This was the beginning of Annabeth's jealousy.

So what would I prefer?

I'll be honest, I shipped Percabeth for a while, probably because I love some friends-to-lovers. So I was going to make a list of things I'd change about Percabeth. I wanted to make some self-indulgent UAs (universe alterations) to fix the things I don't like. But then I started writing this thing and read up on other posts and stuff and I realised the list of things that bother me is huge and I could never make Percabeth work for me without messing everything up. So I just gave up shipping it entirely.

What I would prefer is an AU where Percabeth stays platonic forever (@elf-loving-dragon has been encouraging that idea as well). They were great as friends and I want that back. It would be so refreshing to have the male lead and female lead not end up together. Annabeth could end up alone, and still get her something permanent with her friends and camp. It would be so beautiful if something completely romance-free was specifically stated as permanent, because friendships in media deserve as much love as romance.

As for Percy, he could end up either alone or with Rachel. I don't ship him with anyone else rn. While I have made it obvious that I like Perachel, I still don't know if I actually ship it, and the idea of Percy ending up alone is not too bad either. (Update: I stan platonic Percabeth and qpp Perachel now.)

I promise I'm done now. Whew. If you've made it to the end of this long repetitive introspection, congratulations. If you agree, feel free to tell me, and if you want to argue, go ahead, I wouldn't mind listening to others' opinions. If you read this and hate me because of this just keep that to yourself. I have no patience for people who attack those who don't agree with their ship. K thanks, bye.

#pjo #heroes of olympus #hoo #tagging as #anti percabeth #so shippers can avoid this #percy jackson #platonic Percabeth ftw #rr critical #perachel #sally jackson #rachel elizabeth dare #peevesie writes #original content #annabeth bashing

[txthots]

An estimation and analysis of Yeonjun’s chart

-virgo sun, scorpio moon- [See this is why it took me so long to get his chart out- Personally i think that he also exhibits some libra moon sign traits too in the way he comforts those he cares about (ex; the time beomgyu cried and he was the first one to come and comfort him). But in order for me to get his rising sign to be aquarius the time had to match up accordingly, but I also do see him having a scorio moon, too (i have a scorpio moon i feel like we share a lot of the same feelings). plus his moon is riiiggghhtt there next to libra, like one degree away so really with the time i feel like we can take both moon signs into considerations. After all, this is just an estimation!]

okay so. virgo sun males? greedy in bed. same for libra sun males, but the thing is, virgo suns tend to be more apparent about it; they’re picky as shit too. with his sun in virgo and his moon in either scorpio or libra (for the sake of convenience let’s just agree that he’s a scorpio moon) he is most likeluy a fuckboy. Probably got his feelings hurt once and just be getting his dick wet left and right, and then be like “oh that one girl in like the 8th grade really messed me up bro.” sike fkajrgsrrjkn probably not to that extent. We dont know if he really is one by just looking at his birth chart, but just know that the fuckboy potential is there! Scorpio moons are also very intense in bed, and then virgo suns are just into that kinky shit. these two together.... whew the DRIVE on this boy. wait till i get to talking about his venus.

-aquarius rising. I feel like he has an aquarius rising because of his sense of style and the way he carries himself. He’s got some kind of cocky air about him(not in a bad way, he just knows who he is and he’s confident in himself and his abilities). Not in the same way as like, say a leo rising would, but it a more subtle and less loud way. For example, in their first showcase that they were doing in america, the rest of the members were freaking out because it was one of their first real performances as a group... but all Yeonjun kept saying was “We’ll do good. Don’t worry.” cool as a cucumber. Confident. sexy.

that being said he’s confident in his abilities and he’s got this ambition that doesn’t seem to quit so. like i said his DRIVE. hes probably got stamina for DAYS, dog. But just be aware that aquariuans (or at least, most aquarians I know) have this complication with wanting to be loved and having attention/wanting a LOT of space. The ones I have experience with generally don’t like to show much affection and are very shy with it, so if you’re looking for aftercare then you’d probably have to initiate it and he’d probably be awkward with it and kwEKJFS WAIT TILL I GET TO HIS VENUS IM GOING TO GO INTO DETAIL MORE ABOUT THIS OKAY

-mercury in virgo. Oh god lol. If he don’t like something you will surely hear about it. But i don’t think he’s the type to nitpick at something youre self conscious about, just things he knows that you can easily fix within five minutes. my mom is a mercury in virgo. just know that if you do something weird in bed he will call you out on it when you two are alone and when he wants an upper hand... “you say im weird but you did that thing with your feet like 2 nights ago what the fuck was that? Yeah? That’s what i thought shut up.” Also. Puts you in your place. sharp with his words and says all the right things. Probably into dirty talk and will definitely be the one to initiate something kinky between you two. His mercury is also in the 7th house, so he definitely like’s hearing his partner’s feedback!!! Very important to him.

-Venus in leo. venus square saturn. And venus in the 7th house..... LORD. okay. SO venus in leo is definitely a great place to have your venus in!! Leo venuses can go all out for their lovers, give big and grand displays of affection, and be super attentive and genuine. definitely one of my favorite venus placements. these are the type of people who will go all out for their partner, most likely are more into giving than receiving, and just LOVE to take their time with their partner.... HOWEVER. his venus is square his saturn.......... LISTEN. lISTEn. I’ve dated a person who has their venus in leo but their venus was square saturn, just like Yeonjun’s. All i can say is that sex was amazing. Very intense, very pleasurable, it felt very genuine, and then it was kinky as all hell and the STAMINA. I was edged MULTIPLE times, and i think the longest time we went on was about 4-5 hours(you have to take into account that this person has different placements as yeonjun though, so other factors could probably come into play with that being said). felt like i was on cloud nine most of the time and i’d finish overstimulated and shaking and sweaty. BUT it was a VERY off and on thing. people with venus square saturn on their natal charts tend to be very closed off with their romantic feelings and their relationships in general. It doesn’t mean that they’re incapable of love, because they definitely are capable! it’s just that it’s very hard for them to continue expressing it without feeling uncomfortable. for example, do you guys remember that one time where txt were in new york, and all the fans crowded around them and showed them a lot of love? It seemed that all the other members were amazed by it, and of course him receiving that kind of love can give him a warm feeling but it can also make him very uncomfortable. He looked like he wanted to get out there real quick and i noticed that he wasn’t saying a lot... I felt that he liked it, but he wasnt in the condition to project how he felt! But of course our yeonjun has moments where he is very flirtatious and loyal to MOA (just as a leo venus would) and truly does love them, so that kind of balance is something that he has to work out in his saturn return.

-sag mars, mars conjunct pluto, mars in the 10th house. FIrey sex, literally. Sagittarius is a fire sign and they just know how to take charge. ho god, his future partner is going to be so lucky. takes the lead, is spontaneous, overall just sexy. He’s also so confident to begin with, and on top of that he’s got his mars conjunct pluto, so he’s intense, he’s passionate, and he’s got this inner strength (both physical and inner strength). he will break you. period. Both pluto and mars being rulers of scorpio, there’s a very scorpio feeling about his sexual nature and dare i say....... yeonjun is mf hung................... anyway his mars being in the 10th house, he knows he is passionate and he wants to be recognized for it. But he can get carried away, and he needs to work on balance (for example, he needs to show you he loves you with ways other than his dick!).

oh god, my head hurts. Okay

-jupiter in taurus in retrograde, in the 2nd house. Puts high value in money, food, and good sex. If you can’t put it down right he might just be gone lol. definitely an ass man. again, he has a tendency to take things to excess and needs to find a good balance.

-saturn in retrograde in the 3rd house in taurus. this just further perpetuates the idea that has a hard time expressing himself. don’t expect him to get all loveyy dovey lol. If he has a one night stand dont expect any kissing or cuddling after lol

-uranus in aquarius, conjunct his ascendant, in retrograde and in the first house. I think this makes him uranus dominant and aquarius dominant? wild when he dont care about people he really just dont care. Idk how else to put it. anyway for one, this makes him has a rebel attitude. He probably gets off on the fact that like, your parents or your best friend dont like him lol. has a bit of a 4d personality, and AGAIN, another aspect that further perpetuates that he cannot fully express himself. i feel so sorry for this man because i have a 3rd house stellium..... could not be me.

-jupiter and moon square neptune, neptune in retrograde, neptune in the 1st house in aquarius. highly in tune with your feelings. Perceptive and sympathetic. He knows what makes you feel good without you even having to say it. You could bring something up that you really liked that he did last night and he would be like “yeah, I noticed i should probably do that more often.” very creative in bed too.

-neptune, ascendant, and uranus sextile pluto, pluto in the 10th house, pluto in sag. a bit of a control freak lol.  sex is probably a spiritual thing for him or something. definitely a dom, idk why i didnt say that earlier because so many things on this dudes chart screams dom. his power... this dude is literally so transformative. im serious. You know that song.... i feel like a whole.... brand... new.. bitch....... thats you after one night with yeonjun sfiuhewhK. also a crative genius in every aspect. incredibly ambitious

-lilith in sag, lilith in retrograde, lilith in the 10th house. Likes foreign partners. prolly got a hoe in every state, county, country, he been to ngl. his karmic duty is to have more faith in others and trust a little better. again, a bit of a rebel

#this shit is bout long as hell read at your own risk #long post #yeonjun smut #txt smut #yeonjun scenarios #astrology

[soobiniebaby]

Angels & Devils Part XI : I’m Yours, You’re Mine

A n g e l s   &   D e v i l s || Tomorrow x Together Fanfiction

~ p a r t s : main post || prologue || part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5 || part 6 || part 7 || part 8 || part 9 || part 10 || part 11 || part 12 || part 13 || part 14 || part 15 || part 16 || part 17 ~ p a i r i n g : love triangle involving choi soobin and choi yeonjun  ~ g e n r e : high school au | some social media au | some fluff & angst | childhood friends | love triangle  ~ l a n g u a g e : English  ~ w a r n i n g : contains swearing, alcohol, kissing (?) and may contain mature themes (angst, etc.)  ~ a / n : This will be my first fanfic (go easy on me pls) and i’m just writing this as I go along, so bear with me juseyo The setting (place/country) of the story is up to the reader’s interpretation ~ s u m m a r y : What should she choose? Han Baby: the new girl with a troubled past MO Academy: her new high school Choi Soobin: student council president, member of the Ecosave club, volunteer at the Humane Treatment of Animals, member of the Honor Society, a vocalist in the Jazzed club, the school’s all around golden boy Choi Yeonjun: leader of the Dance club, star of the Jazzed club, the school’s it boy with a bad rep 5 best friends, 1 new girl, 1 childhood friendship, 1 epic love triangle? What will this school year bring?

Over the weekend, B and Kai had spent most of their time lounging around the living room, finishing the entire season of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay on Netflix on Saturday and having a movie marathon on Sunday. They ordered all their meals and had all the food they wanted delivered to the apartment, their food cravings ranging from donuts and milk tea to egg tarts and mint chocolate ice cream. It felt like one of the many sleepovers they used to have when they were kids, only now it was just the 2 of them in a place of their own, without nosy siblings or strict parents to bother them or tell them what they could or couldn’t do.

Other than stuffing their faces with food and drowning their emotions in Netflix, they finally had all the time in the world to do all the catching up that they hadn’t been able to, asking questions and telling stories about what they had missed out on each other’s lives through the years.

“First kiss?” B asks.

“Oh, I think I was in the 7th grade, and it was with Im Yeojin. You?”

“Lucas Wong. A couple of years ago.” B responds.

Kai shakes his head. “That guy was your first kiss ever? Lucas? Your ex?”

B nods. “The one and only. Next question please?”

“Alright, worst ex?” Kai asks intentionally.

“Ningning, you know I’ve only had 1 boyfriend.”

“Yes, and he was the worst! He had the audacity to cheat on you! And all because you wouldn’t ‘put out?’ He's lucky I lived 3 hours away or else I would’ve kicked his ass.” Kai says, huffing.

B laughs, trying to swallow down the lump in her throat that formed whenever she talked about her horrible ex boyfriend. There was so much more to their relationship than him cheating on her cause she wouldn’t put out, but she wasn’t ready to let her best friend know all about it just yet. “Thanks, but judging by the size of his biceps, I don’t think that could’ve ever happened anyway.”

Kai pouts. “Are you saying I should start going to the gym?”

B laughs at him dismissively before changing the subject.

Also, sharing a living space with another person was also a bit of an adjustment for B since she had already gotten used to living alone. Her apartment only had one bathroom which she now shared with Kai, and now she had to keep all her personal toiletries set aside and her feminine hygiene products kept away, not wanting a repeat of the horrifying moment when her best friend walked out of the bathroom with his face all red.

“What happened to you?” she had asked, noticing how flushed he looked after being in the bathroom for 20 minutes.

“You know that when I’m, um, taking a shit I like to read the back of labels of whatever I see in the bathroom, right?” Kai starts slowly.

“Okay, weird, but go on.”

He takes a big gulp before continuing. “Well, let’s just say I now know how to properly put on a tampon. And let me just say, I’m glad I wasn’t born a woman.”

After that incident, B made sure to keep all feminine hygiene products hidden away in the bathroom cabinets. She ensured to leave a stack of random books and magazines on the bathroom counters so Kai would have something to read when doing his business. Other than that, B also had to remind herself that it was no longer socially acceptable to walk around her apartment in nothing but a tshirt and underwear on, since she had gotten used to roaming the space without worrying about other people seeing what she looked like. She usually went to bed in just a shirt and underwear and roll out of bed and straight into the kitchen for breakfast without a care in the world. Now, she had to double check and make sure that she was wearing bottoms and a bra before stepping out of her bedroom.

Even though there were many things she hadn’t considered before inviting a guy to stay in her apartment, she had to admit that it was nice to have company around. She hadn’t realized how lonely it was to live alone until Kai had come along, and now she was already sort of dreading the day when he’d get better and move out. She was starting to consider finding a room mate before then, knowing that she’d feel lonely once her company had to leave.

Come Monday morning, B woke up feeling excited. She rolled out of bed, put on a pair of shorts, and made her way to the kitchen, only to be surprised by the sight of breakfast already prepared on the table. A plate full of bacon and sunny side up eggs, a bowl full of fresh fruit and cereal, and a glass of blue lemonade were all neatly laid out on the table, and Kai was sitting there with an apron still tied around his waist. When he saw B step out from her room, he immediately greeted her “Wakey wakey Baba, time to go back to school!”

B rubs the sleep from her eyes, making sure she wasn’t just dreaming that Kai had prepared breakfast for her. Once the smell of freshly cooked bacon filled wafted in the air, she immediately brightens up and walks on over to give her best friend a hug.

“Ningning, you did all this for me? Thank you so much!” she says in awe.

“Yup, I wanted to make it special since it’ll be your first day back at MOA today.” Kai says. “Now hurry up before it gets cold. You have to be ready in 40 minutes.”

B all but gobbles up all the food that Kai had prepared for her before jumping into the shower, drying her hair, putting on some make up and changing into her school uniform, making sure she had everything she needed before letting Kai walk her to the front door.

“Have fun, Baba!” Kai says.

“Sure thing. Make sure to keep the door locked and call me if you need anything.” she says, waving goodbye before making her way downstairs to meet Taehyun.

As soon as Taehyun sees her, his eyes visibly light up.

“B! Finally, I’ve missed you so much.” he says, waving hello before stretching his arms out towards her. “Come here!”

B excitedly runs up, preparing to hug Taehyun, until at the last minute he folds his hands across his chest and takes a step back, which stops her in her tracks.

“On second thought, don’t touch me. You may be medically cleared already, but since Hyuka’s staying with you, you might still be carrying the pox.” he says. It’s only then when she notices that he was wearing a face mask and had a small spray bottle of alcohol hanging from his school ID lace.

She smiles at him sheepishly. “I missed you too, you know.” she says, opting to wrap her arms around her own torso instead.

He laughs at her silly antics before following suit, wrapping his arms around himself. “Let’s just pretend that we’re hugging right now.”

B nods. “Alrighty. Thanks, Tyun.”

“Don’t mention it. Now come on, put on your face mask and make sure you have hand sanitizer before we go.” he says, adjusting the mask on his face.

She puts on a mask and puts a small bottle of hand sanitizer in her pocket before they start making their way to school.

“I’ve missed these walks of ours.” B says happily, breathing in the morning air.

“I’ve missed them too. And I’ve missed you. School was a bit boring without you, and walking to school alone just didn’t feel the same.”

“How have things at MOA been, apart from the health protocols? And how are the guys?” B asks.

“Apart from the implementation of health protocols, school has pretty much been the same. The guys miss you. I think they’re excited to see you.” Taehyun responds.

“I miss them too.” B says, sighing. She and Yeonjun had FaceTimed every night through the weekend, but she missed him, and she felt a bit sad that they had to cancel their supposed last date. She had to admit that she missed the other guys too. “What makes you think they’re excited to see me, though?”

“They told me to ask you if you could meet them by the front gate of MOA before classes start this morning.” Taehyun says.

“Oh? They did? Weird, but okay. I wonder why.” B says, trying to think of why they might want to meet up. “How have you been? Has anything in your life changed in the past week?” she asks.

Taehyun shrugs. “Not really, same old same old. Just the usual studying at school and working at the café.” he says. “What about you? How have you been doing?”

B shrugs too, mimicking his response. “I’ve been good, nothing much going on.” she says casually, which was a lie. She wanted to tell him about Yeonjun and about how he asked her out and all the dates he put together, but a part of her was scared about how he’d react, so she thought it would be better to tell him when the time was right.

As she and Taehyun approach the campus, her eyes catch sight of 3 familiar figures standing right outside of the gates, particularly to the head of blue hair.

B feels her heart jump out of her chest, speeding up her walking, and Taehyun runs to catch up to her as she starts waving her arms in the air the closer they got until the 3 boys look up in her direction and they all wave back.

“Seriously, you 3, why aren’t you wearing face masks?” Taehyun says as they meet the 3 boys outside the gate.

“Well good morning to you too, Tyun.” Beomgyu says playfully. “Relax, we’re not within campus grounds so we don’t have to wear masks yet.”

B laughs at their banter. “I think Tyun’s just worried that you’ll catch Kai’s chicken pox germs if you stand too close to me without a mask on.” she jokes. “So, why are we meeting up here outside the gates instead of at the front steps like we usually do?”

“Hey, B! Good to see you again.” Beomgyu says.

“Well, you see, there are new health protocols set in place on campus right now, and as members of the student council, we can never be caught violating any rules set within the school.” Yeonjun begins, smiling at her brightly, like there was a secret that only the 2 of them shared.

“Alright, and…?” B asks, not sure where they were going with this.

“And before we go in and start off another week of school, there’s just this 1 health protocol we’d like to violate.” Beomgyu continues.

“Okay, which one? Is it the face mask thing? Why are we standing outside the school gates?” B asks, still confused.

“So we can do this.” Soobin says, before taking a step towards B with arms outstretched and pulling her into him, his whole body engulfing her in a hug.

He feels time stop the moment his arms wrap themselves around her body, her face buried in his chest, the top of her head inches away from his chin, the smell of her lavender-scented shampoo tickling his nose, his hands resting on the curves in her waist.

When Soobin woke up feeling excited that day, he told himself it was just because he was excited to start a new week of school, but deep down he knew that wasn’t the case.

When the guys suggested that they wait for B outside the school gates so that they could greet her a proper ‘welcome back,’ he felt a flutter in his chest, and he told himself that it was just because he was happy that their group would be complete again (minus Kai), but deep down, he knew he was only fooling himself.

When he and the guys stood outside the school gates waiting for B and Taehyun to arrive, he could feel his heart start to beat even faster in anticipation, and he told himself it was just because he was looking forward to see their friend again after a whole week, but he knew there was more to it than that.

When he saw her waving her arms in the air and walking towards them, he felt his breath catch in his throat, and he told himself it was just because he was surprised to see her looking so radiant and healthy knowing how badly sick she was, but he knew it was because of how he was just now realizing how beautiful she really was.

When he took a step towards her and engulfed her delicate figure in his arms, feeling the warmth of her body against his, a feeling washed over him unlike anything he’s experienced before, as if by having her in his arms everything in the world was finally falling into place and the pounding in his chest and the flutter of butterfly wings in his stomach finally made sense, and it was at that moment he knew with absolute certainty just what it was.

It was her. It was B.

He didn’t know how it came to be, or why exactly it happened, but all he knew was that it was her.

It was him realizing that he was falling in love with her.

And the feeling hit him so suddenly with such clarity that for a moment, it felt like the whole world stood still, as his breath seemed to catch in his throat and time seemed to stop as he held her in his arms, savoring the moment and all the emotions that were hitting him all at once.

She lets out a surprised squeal as Soobin pulls her in, only to be muffled by her face being buried in his chest as they embrace.

“Soobinie!” she says, laughing in surprise. “I missed you too.”

Soobin smiles to himself, tempted to rest his chin on her head, but he was aware of the presence of their friends, so he slowly lets her go, his eyes meeting Taehyun’s as he does, and Taehyun’s expression quickly changes as he realizes what was happening.

Taehyun raises his brows in question, and Soobin gives him a quick and discreet nod in response, to which Taehyun shakes his head.

Soobin keeps his head down to conceal the blush creeping into his face as B steps away and Beomgyu tackles her into a hug.

“We missed you so much! I wish I could’ve gotten an excuse to skip school for a week too, though.” Beomgyu says slyly.

“Hey, I did not skip school! I called you everyday to listen in on lectures, remember?” B says defensively, hitting Beomgyu’s chest. “If you wanna stay at home so bad, maybe you should come over to my place. I’m sure Hyuka would gladly give you a big hug, along with the chicken pox of course.”

Beomgyu steps away and holds his hands up in the air in front of him. “No way, I don’t want chicken pox. I’d rather endure school than have hideous spots all over my body.”

B looks at him offended. “You think I have hideous spots all over my body?” she says through gritted teeth.

“Oh, now you’ve done it, Gyu.” Taehyun says, watching as Beomgyu runs away from B to hide behind him. “Don’t worry B, I’ll help you kidnap him after school. I think Hyuka would like to have an extra playmate.”

“I never said that!” Beomgyu cries, running from Taehyun to Yeonjun now, hiding behind the blue haired boy. “B, you look beautiful as always. If anything, the spots just accentuate your beauty.” he says desperately.

B scoffs. “Oh shut up. You’re lucky I like you, or else I would’ve slapped you so hard that the spots would transfer from my skin to yours.”

Yeonjun laughs, shielding Beomgyu behind him. “Wow, I never pegged you to be violent.” he says.

B shrugs. “I’m not. I’m just saying, I could slap someone if I wanted to.”

Yeonjun shakes his head, pulling her into his arms. “Welcome back, Baby.” he whispers in her ear, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and slowly stroking the small of her back, making sure that the other boys don’t see, before letting her go.

Once she pulls away, her face is noticeably red, and Yeonjun can’t help but laugh. God, she looked adorable. He gives her a quick wink before saying “And now that that’s settled, shall we head to class?”

The 3 boys put on their facemasks and let B lead the way into the school gates, each of them having their body temperatures checked and their hands disinfected before walking through the gates.

As B walks ahead of the boys, the 4 boys pair off.

Beomgyu slings an arm around Yeonjun’s shoulders, keeping his voice low as he says “So now that’s she’s back, will you guys have the talk now?”

“What talk?” Yeonjun asks.

“The talk? The relationship talk. You know, the talk about your feelings and where you guys stand and what your label is and stuff like that.” Beomgyu says knowingly. “If the 2 of you don’t want to put a label on whatever it is you 2 are, then you should at least let the other guys know that you’re dating.”

Yeonjun shrugs. “Don’t worry, Gyu. I’ve got it all planned out, you’ll see. I’ve been planning this for days now, but considering that we’re at school, I’ll have to make do. At the end of the day, we might even let you guys know about us.” he responds, his eyes glued to the girl in front of them, which automatically puts a smile on his face. “I’m gonna make that girl mine.”

Meanwhile, Taehyun attempts to sling his arm around Soobin’s shoulders, but with the other boy being much taller and walking a bit faster, he settled for interlocking his arm around Soobin’s instead.

“Oh, hey Tyun.” Soobin says, surprised by the sudden lock on his arm. “What’s up?”

“’What’s up?’” Taehyun says, mimicking him. “You tell me. All your questions about falling in love and stuff…were they about B? Is it her? Are you in love with—”

Soobin cuts him off. “Shhh, the other guys might hear you!” he says, hurriedly looking around and seeing that no one was within ear shot. “Yes, it’s about her. Let’s talk about this later, okay? Alone.”

Taehyun sighs. “Fine, but wow, I should’ve known. I had a feeling it was her. You 2 would make a great couple.” he says teasingly.

“Oh shut up, you know-it-all.” Soobin says, flustered. “I’m sure you would’ve figured it out sooner or later anyway, you’re too damn smart, you know?”

Taehyun laughs. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’ve got it bad, Binnie.” he says. “Let’s talk about it soon, okay? Just hang in there.”

Soobin sighs, his eyes focus on the girl walking in front of them. “Trust me, I’m trying.”

•°•

B had to admit that Yeonjun’s sudden request had her heart fluttering, but more than anything it got her head buzzing with curiosity. Within 5 minutes she had excused herself from class, 3rd period biology which she didn’t share with any of the guys, and she was on her way to the student council room, which she had only been to once before with Soobin and Yeonjun. Technically, she was cutting class, but a few minutes probably wouldn’t hurt.

B takes a deep breath, not knowing what quite to expect, before turning the knob on the double doors to the student council room, taking a step inside.

The room was dark, the blackout curtains doing their job, and was only illuminated by the light spilling in from the door and a set of candles in the middle of the conference table, which also highlighted the fact that the conference table seemed to be overflowing with blue rose petals.

And there was Yeonjun, leaning against the table, a single blue rose in his hand. It’s only then when B looks down and notices that the carpeted floor all the way from the entrance of the room to the spot where Yeonjun was standing by the conference table was littered with blue rose petals.

“Yeonjun? What is this?” B asks, stepping inside and closing the door behind her, the only source of light in the room now coming from the candles. She removes her face mask, noticing that he wasn’t currently wearing one, and pockets it in her blazer.

“Baby. Come here.” he says, patting the spot on the table beside him. B walks over to the table, stepping on countless blue petals as she did so, and once she reaches him, Yeonjun takes her by surprise and carries her, lifting her up and setting her down on the table.

“Yeonjun!” she squeals in surprise, clinging on to him for dear life. As her bottom hits the table, she lets go and whacks his arm. “You surprised me!” she huffs, surprised by his sudden maneuver. “And you’re breaking the health protocols! What’s all this for anyway?”

He stands in front of her, simply staring at her, admiring how she looked in the candlelight. A few blue petals had fallen over the edge when he set her down on the table, but that didn’t bother him. He had skipped the entirety of 3rd period to prepare for this moment, so he wouldn’t let anything distract him now.

“All this?” he simply says. Upon seeing the confused look on her face, he takes a step towards her, situating himself in between her dangling legs, and he rests his hands on either side of her, his palms laid flat on the table just centimeters away from her thighs. The whole mood in the room shifted from playful to something different with just that simple action. “All this is for you.”

B could feel her heart start to pound in her chest again. She tried to keep a level head but Yeonjun was standing so close that she could smell him, the scent of his cologne now very familiar to her, and she could feel parts of his uniform lightly tickling at her inner thighs where he stood, sending shivers down her spine. “For me? Why?”

“Because, Baby, you deserve it. You deserve all of it.” he begins carefully, slowly, his gaze locking her in place. “I told you I want to give you all the good things you deserve, and during the past week I tried. Those dates meant a lot to me and I can only hope that you enjoyed them half as much as I did. My plans were cut short because of your unexpected temporary roommate,” he says, fondly referring to Kai, “and maybe I should’ve waited a little bit longer to do this, but I don’t think I can keep this to myself any longer.”

B looks down then, her cheeks starting to heat up. She sees how close his hands are to her thighs and her mouth goes dry. He was standing so close. “What are you talking about?” she says, her eyes transfixed on his hands.

Her eyes follow as he raises one hand to cup her face, lifting it up slightly to meet his gaze. “I want you, Baby.” he says, looking right into her eyes. “I want you to be mine.”

B takes a deep breath, finding herself unable to look away, before she says “I want you, too.”

And with those words, Yeonjun couldn’t resist any longer. He leaned forward, closing what little distance was left between them, and pulled her face up to his, their lips crashing together.

~ w a r n i n g : makeout scene  ~

Praying that he couldn’t hear her pounding heartbeat, B returns the kiss with equal fervor, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him even closer. Her fingers entwine themselves in the hair at the nape of his neck, effectively disheveling his blue hair.

Yeonjun’s hands inch away from the table and come in direct contact with her thighs, the sudden warmth of his palms on her bare skin causing B’s mouth to open a little to let out a breath of surprise. She feels him smile against her lips, amused by her reaction, before taking the opportunity to trace her lower lip with his tongue, seeking entrance, which she allows.

His hands start to move slowly up her body then, he slides them up from her thighs to her waist, her skirt hiking up a few inches higher in the process. He breaks the kiss, allowing a moment for them to catch their breaths, before bowing his head down, his lips coming in contact with the sensitive skin on her neck.

“Oh god.” B breathes out, surprised by the contact, and again she feels his lips form a smile against her skin. She tilts her head backwards, his lips trailing kisses along her exposed skin, her heavy breaths starting to make her feel lightheaded.

Just as he’s about to pull away, his lips brush against the dip in her collarbone, causing her to wrap her legs around his waist and her fingers in his hair to dig in deeper, her body reacting to him before her mind could grasp what was happening.

“Fuck.” he breathes against her skin, feeling himself start to lose control.

B’s grip loosens then, her hands dropping from his hair to rest on his shoulders, her breathing heavy as she lets her head fall forward to rest on the top of his head, his face still buried in her neck. “Sorry.” she whispers, trying to control the rise and fall of her chest.

His grip on her waist remains tight, her blouse bunched up in his fists, his head buried in her neck as he tries to calm himself down, his breath coming out through clenched teeth. For a moment, they stay like that, until Yeonjun’s grip gradually starts to loosen, letting go of the fabric of her blouse as his hands go from clenching her waist to gently tracing circles on the now exposed skin on her hips.

~ end of makeout scene  ~

“You…” he begins slowly, lifting his head and letting it rest against her forehead, their breaths mingling. “You drive me crazy, you know?”

She lets out a small laugh, shaking her head lightly against his. “Not really, no.”

He laughs too, reaching a hand up to caress her hair, his eyes on hers once again. “Baby.” he simply says.

“Yes?” she responds, unable to stop a smile from creeping on her face. He smiles too, his heart fluttering, and he takes a deep breath before saying the next few words.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

She nods her head eagerly, their foreheads rubbing together. “Choi Yeonjun, I’m all yours.” she says, laughing upon seeing his bright smile. She kisses his nose, then his forehead and each of his cheeks. He starts laughing as she showers his face with light kisses. “I’m yours, you’re mine, Baby.” he says, the feeling washing over him.

“You think it’s safe to let everyone know now?” Yeonjun asks her, remembering how he promised Beomgyu they’d tell the rest of the boys about it soon.

B nods, biting her lip as she thinks of how people would react to the news. Yeonjun was her boyfriend. “Yes.”

He uses his thumb to free her lower lip from her teeth, gently tracing it before kissing her softly again. “Let’s tell the guys later. At lunch.” he says, referring to their daily lunchbreaks spent at the gazebo.

“Sure.” she says. Then she pulls away and pushes herself off the table, straightening out her uniform as she does so. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Biology class to get back to.”

Yeonjun smirks, watching her pull her skirt down and tuck the hem of her blouse back in, straightening her blazer and running her fingers through her hair. It gave him some sort of satisfaction, knowing that he had gotten her so disheveled. He leans back against the table, running a hand through his hair and straightening out his necktie as well, keeping his hands in the front pockets of his trousers.

“Aren’t you coming back to class?” B asks, pulling the face mask out of her blazer pocket and putting securing it over her nose and mouth. “There’s only a few more minutes, and then it’ll be our lunch break.”

Yeonjun shakes his head. “I never went to third period.” he admits. “You better get back to class and surrender your hall pass though. I’ll meet you at the gazebo for lunch.” he says.

B’s mouth drops open. “You skipped third period?” she exclaims. “Please promise me you won’t skip classes again, please?” she pouts.

He laughs, taking her hand and pulling her closer. “I promise. Except for when my father requests it, though. But this is the last non-business related time I skip class.” he says, kissing the back of her hand. “You better hurry back, the bell rings in about 10 minutes.”

“Oh my god, I am so dead!” she squeals, her eyes widen as starts to pull away, but Yeonjun’s grip on her wrist keeps her in place.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he says pointedly, his brow raised.

“Oh.” she simply says, before standing on her tiptoes and using a finger to pull her mask down, giving him a quick peck on the lips before pulling the mask back up. “That?”

He laughs, shaking his head. “You are adorable. I meant this,” he says, planting the single blue rose in her free hand. “but thanks, Baby.”

She blushes beet red then, straightening out her blazer one last time and quickly saying “See you at lunch, Yeonjun!” before dashing out the door.

He uses the remaining 10 minutes of 3rd period to distract himself from his thoughts by cleaning up all the rose petals he had set up. He wasn’t expecting things to get so heated, he only wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend, but he had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. Just thinking about how she had reacted to his touches and how adorably flustered she got made him smile to himself, but the memory of her wrapping her legs around his waist and tilting her head back sent his mind wandering into the very place he was trying to distract himself from in the first place.

He sighs, shaking his head as he forced his thoughts to go focus into another mindset instead. He checks his watch, the petals all put away in a garbage bag. As the lunch bell rings, he grabs his things and locks the student council room behind him, putting on a face mask before making his way to the gazebo where he would meet his friends and his girlfriend for lunch.

Now he just had to tell his friends about his girlfriend.

•°•

When B got back to her Biology class, the teacher fortunately didn’t seem to notice that she was gone for well over 5 minutes, but her friends definitely did. When she sat back down beside Ryujin and Yuna, they definitely noticed how long her absence was, and they took note of how flushed she looked, and of the blue rose that he had haphazardly tucked under her blazer.

“Spill it. Now.” the 2 girls eagerly say, eyeing her like a hawk.

“Yeonjun asked me to meet up with him at the student council room.” B whispers to them, making sure that they were the only ones within earshot.

“Ooh, a steamy secret rendezvous in the middle of class?” Ryujin says teasingly.

“No, it wasn’t like that.” B aggressively whispers back, well-aware of how her cheeks were heating up as she tries to push away thoughts of Yeonjun’s lips on her neck.

“So what was it like then?” Yuna asks innocently.

Unable to contain her smile, B says “He asked me to be his girlfriend. And I said yes.”

The 2 girls quietly squeal at the good news. “Wow! Congrats!” Ryujin says.

Yuna nods. “Wow, and just like that for the first time in 2 years, Choi Yeonjun has a girlfriend.”

“2 years? He hasn’t had a girlfriend in 2 years?” B asks, surprised. Since everyone kept mentioning Yeonjun having a record for being one of the biggest flirts on campus, she was expecting him to have a long list of complicated past relationships.

“Well, real serious girlfriends, yeah. He’s been on a few dates with some girls since then, but it never really went beyond that so I wouldn’t call them girlfriends. And if I’m not mistaken, she was his first girlfriend. His first love, actually.” Yuna says thoughtfully. “I don’t really know her since she was never a student here.”

“I did, sort of.” Ryujin pipes up. “Gyu told me all about the guys’ past relationships. He mentioned Yeonjun and Rose’s relationship a lot. He said she was…” she starts, trying to choose her words carefully. “well, a complete bitch.”

“Rose?” B says, the name completely foreign to her. “His first girlfriend? So he’s only had 1 other girlfriend before me? And she was a complete bitch?” she asks, her head spinning with information.

Ryuji nods. “Yeah, despite his track record and dating history, he’s only ever had 1 serious relationship, and that was with Rose.” she says. “Gyu said they were intense. It was one of those relationships that were just so, um, loud I guess?”

“Loud? What do you mean?” B asks, genuinely curious yet a bit afraid to find out the answer.

“Gyu said they were one of those couples who were always so in-your-face about their relationship. Yeonjun wasn’t active on social media back then, but she was, and she was flaunting her relationship all over, showing off all the stuff he’d spoil her with and everything. Not only that, but they were one of those couples that, when going through a fight, the whole world would know about. According to Gyu, their relationship was dramatic and fiery and intense and so damn toxic, but Yeonjun was head over heels for her, which annoyed the guys to no end.”

“That sounds kind of awful.” B says, unable to imagine Yeonjun in such a relationship. “Kind of weird that the guys didn’t seem so supportive, either?”

Ryujin shakes her head. “That’s not even the worst of it. Apparently, she cheated on him with another rich kid she met while she was on vacation or something. Gyu says he hasn’t hated anyone as much as he hated Rose.”

“Now that sounds really awful.” B said, the information overload swirling around in her head. She couldn’t even imagine how awful this girl must’ve been for even Beomgyu and his friends to hate her so much. Why had Yeonjun fallen in love with such an awful person? And how could he have stayed in such a toxic relationship? And how could anyone cheat on him?

“I can’t say for sure since I personally don’t know her, Gyu just showed me a few of her pictures before, but he made her sound like the devil incarnate.” Ryujin says.

“Well, devil incarnate or not, Yeonjun’s definitely taken his standards to a different level with you.” Yuna says a bit comfortingly, squeezing B’s arm, trying to move away from the unpleasant topic. “And the best part is, I’m pretty sure all his friends love you already, so you won’t have to worry about that either. You and Yeonjun are solid.”

“Thanks, Yuna.” B says, smiling in relief. Then, remembering what Kai had told her about wanting to ask Yuna out, B giggles to herself.

“What was that for?” Yuna asks, noticing the sudden giggle.

Just then, the lunch bell rings, and B stands up instantly, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Nothing. Just excited about my new relationship, I guess.” And about your soon-to-be relationship with my best friend. she thinks to herself, before greeting the girls goodbye and leaving the room.

Due to Kai’s absence, she had to walk to the gazebo alone, growing accustomed to having him pick her up outside her classroom so they could walk to the gazebo together. Now that she was left alone with her thoughts, she was starting to feel overwhelmed about everything that had happened that morning, from being back in school to her meet up with Yeonjun to officially being his girlfriend to learning about his ex. Even though she had learned a lot from Ryujin, she had to admit that her curiosity was still taking over her thoughts, which she knew would probably do no good for her new relationship.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder about Yeonjun’s past relationship, and worry about how similar it had sounded to her relationship with her one and only ex boyfriend.

As she approaches the gazebo, she sees that Yeonjun and the rest of the guys were already there, sitting at their usual places. Without Kai, she wasn’t sure where she should sit. She usually sat beside Soobin cause that’s where Kai would usually sit before welcoming her into the group, but now she wasn’t sure.

Before she started to worry too much about where to sit, the boys spotted her approaching the gazebo and started waving at her. She smiles and waves back, stepping into the gazebo.

“There you are! Ah, it feels good to see your face around here again.” Beomgyu says, welcoming her in. “And just in time, too. Yeonjun says he has an important announcement that he’d like to make.”

“That we’d like to make, actually.” Yeonjun says, offering B a hand as she steps in, and she takes his hand shyly, letting him guide her into the small space.

“Oh?” Taehyun says, eyeing the 2 with a bad feeling in his gut. “What announcement?”

B takes a deep breath suddenly feeling shy and nervous, her eyes on the ground. She was starting to feel worried about how their friends might react, and guilty about not telling them about the whole thing in the first place. She had grown very fond of the boys and felt very comfortable around them, their closeness making her feel safe, as if she belonged. She was afraid that being Yeonjun’s girlfriend would change the way they see her or the way they treat her.

Sensing her nerves, Yeonjun squeezes her hand, urging her to look at him instead. He offers her a small smile, which she nervously returns. He nods at her before turning his attention to the 3 boys seated. “First thing’s first, I just wanna say that I’m sorry we didn’t tell you guys about this sooner. We just agreed that it would be best to keep it between us until we were sure about how things would go.”

“Whatever it is, we understand.” Soobin says with a smile on his face yet with a sinking feeling in his stomach, his mind buzzing at Yeonjun’s choice of words.

We.

Taehyun looks at his president with worry, a part of him dreading whatever Yeonjun would say next yet already sensing what was coming.

Yeonjun smiles brightly, his heart fluttering as he looks at the girl by his side before slinging an arm over her shoulders and pulling her to his side. “Baby and I are together.”

As the words leave Yeonjun’s mouth, Soobin’s gaze instantly falls on B, wanting to see if it was true or if it was some sort of weird prank that Yeonjun was pulling. When he sees her smile shyly, attempting to bury her face in the blue haired boy’s chest, his heart sinks.

“We’re officially a couple.” she confirms, her face getting redder by the second as she looks up at Yeonjun, who he could tell was grinning behind his face mask.

Soobin didn’t know what felt worse, the fact that his best friend and the girl he just realized he was falling for were now a couple, or the fact that now he was falling in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. Seeing them together now—her with her flushed cheeks and her tight grip on Yeonjun’s necktie and him with his arm dropping down from her shoulders to her waist, securing her by his side—made Soobin feel a bit sick. But what made him feel even sicker was the fact that seeing them together was making him feel sick in the first place. His best friend had finally found an amazing girl 2 years after his horrendous break up and was now dating said amazing girl. He wanted nothing more than to feel happy, but the fact that he didn’t made him feel terrible.

Before Soobin’s guilt starts to consume him, Beomgyu suddenly claps, sending a jolt through everyone in the gazebo. “Wow, congratulations B and YJ!” he says, approaching the couple and happily slapping the older boy on his back. “You 2 look great together.”

“Thanks, Gyu.” B says shyly, her blush visible even through her face mask, one hand fisting Yeonjun’s necktie as he kept her close to him.

“Don’t mention it, I’m happy that this guy has finally moved on.” Beomgyu says teasingly. “And that he was able to score someone way out of his league.” he says, wiggling his brows at the pair.

“Shut up, BG.” Yeonjun says, playfully shoving Beomgyu away before they share a quick high five “You’re right though, I don’t know how I got so lucky.” he says, using his free hand to caress her hair.

“Shut up, both of you.” she says, flustered. She looks at Taehyun and Soobin anxiously, holding her breath as she waited for their reactions. So far, the two boys had either been staring at her and Yeonjun or at each other.

Finally, Taehyun stands up, approaching the couple. “B.” he simply says, which causes her heart to sink a little.

“Tyunie?” she asks, nervously waiting to know his verdict. She and Taehyun had formed a sort of special bond over their walks together, and his opinion was the one that she worried about the most. She wanted to apologize on the spot for not telling him about it sooner, and explain everything about the past couple of weeks to him to make him understand why she had chosen to keep her relationship with Yeonjun a secret. She didn’t know why, but she wanted Taehyun’s approval.

He smiles at her then, and she feels the weight lifted off her chest. “Congratulations.” he finally says, stepping towards her and hugging her, which she wholeheartedly returned. She lets out a sigh as he rubs her back, her chin tucked into his shoulder, before he pulls away. “I just broke a health protocol for you.” he suddenly says, horrified. He instantly steps away then and starts to vigorously spray his hands, arms and neck with alcohol, which causes B to burst out laughing.

“You did it cause you looove me.” she says teasingly. “And thanks, Tyun.” she says, glad that he approved, though she made a mental note to tell him about all the details later on. She felt like she owed him that much.

It’s quiet for a moment as Yeonjun’s gaze lands on Soobin, the only one in the group who hadn’t shown any reaction towards the news as he had just been staring back and forth between him and B the whole time.

For Yeonjun, it was Soobin’s opinion he valued the most. Soobin was one of the few people in the world that Yeonjun would trust with his life. He was the only one among his friends who supported his relationship with Rose, valuing Yeonjun’s happiness above his own when he was clearly unhappy about the whole incident.

He was the one who was there for Yeonjun when everything came crashing down, the one who helped Yeonjun pick himself back up after being cheated on by his first love, the one who helped save Yeonjun from the nights when he would drown himself in alcohol in the hopes of numbing the heartache, the one who would sneak into Yeonjun’s house in the middle of the night to make sure he was asleep safe and sound in his bed rather than hooking up with random girls and picking fights with random guys at the bar, the one who would talk Yeonjun into giving his father a chance and reason with him that his father only wanted what was best for his son, the one who encouraged Yeonjun to join the dance club and the jazzed club and the student council, the one who begged the faculty and advisers to give Yeonjun a second chance at finishing school at MOA promising that he would keep his friend in check, the one who would do anything to make Yeonjun smile, and the one who would always tell Yeonjun the truth.

He stares at Soobin until Soobin’s eyes finally meet his and he stands up, making his way towards the blue haired boy. Once they stood face to face, there’s a moment of silence before Soobin’s face melts into a warm smile, his dimples peeking out from under his mask, his eyes crinkling at the corners, which instantly puts a smile on Yeonjun’s face as well.

Yeonjun pulls him into a hug, relieved. “Congratulations, Yeonjun.” the taller boy says, patting his back a couple of times before pulling away. “I’m so happy for you.” he says.

“Thanks, Binnie.” Yeonjun says, patting him on the back as well. “This means a lot to me.”

Soobin nods at him before turning to B, and before he can say or do anything, she throws her arms out to him and pulls him in for a hug, her tiny body feeling especially fragile as her arms squeezed around his waist.

He looks down at B then, finding her in his arms for the second time that day, in almost the exact same way. Again, he feels time stop the moment his arms wrap themselves around her body, only this time she had her arms around his waist as well. Her face was buried in his chest, the top of her head inches away from his chin, the smell of her lavender-scented shampoo taking over his senses, his hands resting on the curves of her waist.

Only now it felt completely different.

When he hugged her this morning, it felt like everything in the world was falling into place, the feeling hitting him so suddenly with such clarity, as if time seemed to stop as he was hit with the realization that he was falling in love.

As he hugged her now, it felt like everything in the world was falling apart, the horrible feeling hitting him as he felt his heart sink deeper and deeper, as if time seemed to stop as he was hit with the reality that she was Yeonjun’s, that what he felt for her was wrong, that he could never let his feelings for her go past what they were now, that he probably shouldn’t even be hugging her anymore.

“Thanks, Soobinie.” she says in response to how he had congratulated Yeonjun.

“No problem, B.” he says, lifting a hand up to gently stroke her hair, taking a deep breath and taking in her lavender scent, savoring the warmth of her body against his one last time, telling himself he’d never hug her like this for as long as he could handle it. As he lays his chin gently at the top of her head, his eyes meet Taehyun’s, who was standing behind her, staring at him with a sad look in his eyes.

Soobin squeezes his eyes shut, prolonging the hug for a moment longer, before finally pulling away, looking directly at her eyes. She was glowing, her face flushed yet radiant, her smile so big that it was visible under her mask, she looked so so happy that it made his heart ache, knowing that the next few words he’d speak out loud would kill him yet knowing that he meant every bit of it.

“I’m happy for you.”

•°•   

Author’s note:

Hello, thank you for reading! I’m trying to get more familiar with Tumblr, so if you have any suggestions or comments don’t be afraid to drop them! (PS I’m not even sure how to reply to comments, that’s how bad I am at using Tumblr lol but I promise that all replies are highly appreciated!!) PS: Happy 1 year anniversary/birthday, MOA! <3 Also: STREAM DRAMA MV!

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[szopenhauer]

Have you ever felt a baby kick? I saw and that was scary enough, no thx

What color pants/shorts are you wearing? brown/beige, Dave bought those sweatpants for me/us

Have you ever heard of Leonard Cohen? of course, Nat loves him

What are you usually doing at midnight? lay in my bed, probably listen to music or chat with M.

What is the worst thing you’ve ever done when you were really angry? ugh... Are there any pills you take on a daily basis? If so, what? not currently

Do you like the smell of coconuts? meh

What is the heaviest you think you can lift? depends 

Have you ever walked on a pier at the beach? yes

How about under one? also?

Do you ever talk to yourself or think deep thoughts while on the toilet? lmfao

Do you ever sing to yourself? lmfao x2

What is a sound that relaxes you? clock ticking :x

If you could have a sea creature as a pet, what would you want? octopus

How about a farm animal? chicken but I won’t

What is a song that you hate to admit you like? many

Do you ever use Urban Dictionary? very rarely

Do you find the definitions on there to be generally funny or stupid? both

What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘transformation’? turning into animal XD

What was something you regularly played with as a child? lots of stuff

What part of your body have you had the most problems with in your life? heart, teeth, brain, skin, hair and belly

Do a lot of people check you out when you’re in public? pfft, nobody does

What is a good name for a turtle? mine was called BOB from Bob the builder 

Can you imitate any accents well?  sorta

What makes a good kisser a good kisser? dunno, not saliva for sure, yuk

Do you ever eat with your eyes closed and just focus on the taste? probably tried that before, I don’t remember

What do you dislike most about where you live right now? home, parents, town, country or smth else?

Are you watching your weight? not recently

Have you ever become really good friends with someone you found online? I have, we’re no longer friends tho

Do you have a drunk uncle? had

Do you hear weird noises in your house at night? not really, usually not

What is something you do that is generally more like something the opposite sex does? ask Nat :P

What is the girliest thing you do, if you’re a girl? *shrug*

What is the coolest tattoo you’ve ever seen? moon and sun with faces on knees <3

Have you ever created anything artistic that you’re proud of? If so, what? don’t like to show off but plenty

What is everyone else in your house doing right now? mom is in the bathroom ^^” her phone is calling but I won’t pick up

Give me your brief definition of love. it’s complicated

What is the most beautiful part of the human body, male or female? hmm...

Do you like having your ear nibbled on? it’s a weird feeling

Look down. What do you see? notes What is a subject that makes you uncomfortable? uh oh...

What is a subject you can talk on and on about and not get sick of it? it seems that dreams, OSDD/DID, my book, illnesses/diseases (those I literally got sick of lol) lately

Has anyone ever walked in on you naked? yup

How do you feel now about the first person you ever dated? funny that you mentioned that today! I met my pre-school bf in the store, last days I often see him, we say HI and wave like kids to each other since middle school when he became less VIP if you know what I mean, I don’t feel anything, I definitely wouldn’t date him now, sorry, but he is not a bad guy

What is something that needs to be invented? cure/medicine 

What always makes you burp? my IBS and GERD so all kinds of food can and not just food

What are you doing tomorrow? I plan to meet with my gf

When was the last time you were in pain? Did you take a painkiller? constantly, more or less

What was the last question that someone else asked you? I believe that my mom asked me about best time to make soup?

Does your father have any hobbies? What are they? cross stitching and reading mostly

What did the last face mask you wore look like? not applicable

Is there a specific song that you always request at parties? What is it? I don’t request songs :o

What was the last thing someone said or did, that made you chuckle? K. said he doesn’t like kpop

Who was the last relative you visited? I didn’t visit relatives for months

Do you own a hairdryer? What color is it? black and silver

Did you say ‘goodnight’ to anyone last night? mhm

Does anyone ever comment on the appearance of your handwriting? that it’s ugly...

How old were you in 1997? 5

When you hear songs about love, does it make you think of anyone? obvi

What were you doing an hour ago? eating?

Has anything fallen out of your pocket at any time recently? almost

Did anything disturb your sleep at all last night? oh well...

What kind(s) of Facebook groups are you active in, if any? just one

Do you enjoy any herbal or fruit teas? What kinds? used to

Are you currently wearing anything grey? yasss

Is anyone in your family currently pregnant? luckily not

Do you have any specific plans for this weekend? my dad’s working so I stay home

What’s the farthest you’ve chased an ice cream truck? we don’t have ice cream trucks in here

Did you get the ice cream? -

You can only bring back only one species out of extinction. What is it? moa, dodo or mammoths

Do you feel tempted to draw everywhere when you have a Sharpie? wtf

Did you see the trailer for “The Human Centipede”? hell no

Isn’t it ridiculously disgusting? that’s why I didn’t watch it

Should we stop the oil spill by filling the pipes with PlayDoh? wait what?...

Still have your baby shoes? doubt it

Do you act on impulse? very rarely

[just0nemorepage]

Swede Dreams || Eva Apelqvist || Students Across the Seven Seas || 224 pages ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 3 Genres: Young Adult / Romance / Travel

Synopsis: Swede escape! Calista Swanson has begun her study abroad semester in Stockholm, Sweden, and she couldn’t be happier! There’s finally some distance between her and the constant piano-playing of her annoying sister Suzanne. Calista and Suzanne are twins, but the only thing they have in common is their birth date. Suzanne is a focused and gifted pianist, but a social dud. Calista isn’t at all focused, but she always has her friends, and a boyfriend, by her side. And that goes for her time in Sweden, as well. Jonas, who’d been an exchange student at her high school in Wisconsin, lives in Stockholm. He’s the main reason Calista is studying in Sweden, and she knows he’ll be in tow as she explores everything Sweden has to offer, from visiting Swedish castles to learning more about the Viking era, to sampling treats from a smörgåsbord, to strolling the cobblestone streets of Stockholm’s Gamla Stan. Calista loves Sweden from the moment she arrives, but . . . why hasn’t Jonas called?

Finished: May 3rd, 2018.

Progress: 8 / 50. 16% complete.

My Rating: ★★★★☆. [4/5]

My Review: [Under the read more - NOT SPOILER FREE]

Well I finished this like a week ago, and I’m only just now getting to write the review. Eeesh. Pre-move-in stuff apparently takes a lot of time.

But anyway. It’s been a while since I’ve read one of these Students Across the Seven Seas books, and despite the kiddish cover art and cover blurb, I forgot how much I enjoy them! They show real respect to the country each book is about, making points to destroy stereotypes and backing everything up with a lot of very real facts and research. That much is awesome, and I respect that! It makes the character’s experience as an exchange student that much more real.

I do have some criticisms though, primarily (and basically only) with how the story was delivered. So many of the characters were conveniently unabashed history nerds, none of whom had any trouble recollecting information and always spouted off perfect facts in textbook form. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about Swedish culture and history, but this is such a cliché way to do it that it put a small damper on the whole experience. A lot of the dialogue outside of the random facts felt particularly forced and unrealistic, too – especially the emails. So much of that just felt awkward, like “that’s not how people interact with each other” levels of awkward. And also, as cute as it was, I don’t know why every girl in every one of these books always needs to fall in love with a local boy. Like – always. Without fail. It’s not a bad plot point, as long as it’s not incredibly overused and doesn’t clash with the character’s personality, which in this case, it may have. Most of Calista’s entire reasoning for traveling to Sweden in the first place was to visit her Swedish then-boyfriend, who turned out to be an entire garbage can of trash, didn’t even show up to see her at any point, and finally wrote her a one-sentence email breaking it off with her. I don’t know if she’d’ve been too keen on falling for anyone else after that. I might be wrong – falling for Hakkan DID happen several months later, and that is enough time to feel better. But, at least a little bit, still.

Also, she seemed to get over Jonas pretty fast, for how obsessed she was over him in the beginning. Not that I’m complaining – she had one day of hurt, then went straight to pissed off, and didn’t spend much time at all afterwards thinking about him, instead delving headfirst into discovering and learning everything about Sweden. You go girl, he doesn’t deserve your time or your pain. But it still seemed a little unreasonably fast, for someone who had so much trouble figuring out what she wanted for the entire rest of the book.

Also also, I do have to acknowledge that this seemed to be a highly romanticized version of a semester spent studying abroad. Literally NOTHING BAD HAPPENED. The only things that might count – Jonas dumped Calista through email, Cal lost her map to school on her morning commute on her first day, and Moa actively disdained Cal throughout the entire story, which silently turned into a sort of quiet respect right at the end. THAT’S IT. No host family issues, no friend issues, no real boy issues, no stranger issues, no culture clash issues (she went from struggling with Swedish to being very good at it in about a chapter and it never impacted her school performance at all).. just about everything went about as perfectly as it could possibly go. While I appreciate and did truly enjoy the feel-good fuzzies of it, it still felt incredibly unrealistic and I’m just left thinking “there is no way anything would ever go that smoothly.”

BUT. REGARDLESS. I still mostly enjoyed the book. I recognize the flaws and the faults and I acknowledge them all, and they’re enough to dock a star from my final rating. But I STILL liked reading it, I’ll still recommend the series to anyone else who likes this sort of travel story, and I’ll still make it a point to finish all the others I haven’t read yet.

#book reviews #swede dreams #eva apelqvist #students across the seven seas #★★★★ #young adult #romance #travel #cultural #contemporary #owned #print book #series book #jomp original

[humanistauno]

A Day To Remember

by: Michelle Villareal

​Manila, also known as the Pearl of the Orient, is located in Southern Luzon, the largest with more than 7,000 islands that make up the nation known as the Philippines. Manila serves not only as the country's capitol, but also as its financial, publishing, and business center. The citizens of the city speak Tagalog, but most are also fluent in English which is the language used in public schools. Manila is also known in its scenic landmarks and famous structure like the Intramuros, Fort Santiago and St. Augustine Church still are good examples of Spanish colonial architecture. It still has many to offer, and showcase the country's diverse tourist attractions and its culture.

​This happened 4 years ago when I was in 8th Grade. Mom availed a promo where the tickets are cheaper than its original price, so she immediately grabbed the opportunity for our 3 days vacay in Manila. I know it’s not too long because we still have classes and mom still on duty but at least we experienced something that we want to long ago and it finally came. We went at the General Santos International Airport six hours before the flight, that’s how early mom woke us up to prepare everything but it didn’t bother me though because I can’t contain my excitement. Mom used to be late in every gathering she attended but this time, she woke up early than the rooster whose about to crow. She complained at everything asking why we prepare so slow like mom calm your tits, we still have plenty of hours. Anyways, it was my first time at the airport and nothing can compare the excitement I felt when I saw an actual airplane outside like my mind was about to explode, still can’t believe that I’ll be riding one of those. Mom prepared everything, both the tickets and some stuff. We waited at the departure waiting area for our plane. Later on, the bad news came that lose all my vibe. Our flight got cancelled due to I don’t know maybe that’s how airport works? It’s 11 am in the morning and we have to stay there until 6 pm, what will I supposed to do the whole duration then? So, fast forward, the time has finally begun. I took a picture a lot while heading on our designated airplane, I was a young childish kid back then where I wanted to make others envy on me posting photos on media captioned “manila here I come” with bunch of emoticons, how embarrassing it was. I seated beside the window and also my mom, while my brother Noli was at the back of our seat, don’t mind him, it’s okay with him. When we arrived, it was dark outside, I think it’s about 8 pm. I lose all my excitement because I was so tired that my body badly needs sleep. Tall buildings, restaurants, landmarks, I don’t care about them all, I can’t even open my eyes wide when I saw a handsome man. We arrived in my uncle’s place in Cavite at 1 am in the morning due to traffic, I can’t imagine myself living here. I immediately dived in bed and fell asleep really quick without bothering to change clothes. Day 1, our first stop was Intramuros where we visited my uncle Joseph in San Agustin Church, he’s a priest in there as you all see but now, he’s in heaven serving God, not worrying about anything, and I’m happy for it. My uncle dodo and uncle Joseph was our tour guide, uncle Joseph hired a Kalesa to roam us around in Intramuros. We took a lot of pictures in every destination. The Kalesa driver shared a history to some houses and landmarks that colonized by the Spaniards which is a mind blown information. We had our lunch in a fancy restaurant but I only ate fried chicken because I can’t even pronounce a name on the menu. Uncle Joseph gave us budget for the Star City experienced, mom hesitate but you know uncle, he’s willing to give everything he has for the sake of our happiness. While waiting for the taxi, I can’t stop hugging my uncle thinking that was my last hug with him. Those last words he said that I should study really hard in class, I promise that I will make him proud of my achievements, I just missed him so much. When we took a taxi, I waved good bye at him for the last time slowly as he disappeared out of my sight. We went to Star City, mom bought a ticket and when we get in there, I’m out of words. We wanted to try all the rides since mom bought a ticket said that we can avail all but it’s crowded and my feet hurts so bad. We decided to have some dinner at MOA since it’s walking distance and went home because it’s late and it’s hard to commute due to traffic.

​Day 2, we went to Makati where my cousins and uncle lived, we bring some of our clothes because they insisted to sleep there before we go back here in Koronadal. I was so tired during the trip because we took maybe three or four public vehicles plus the waiting time just to get in their place. For the first time, I met my cousins, Cherie and Christine, I don’t know how to interact with them because my skills in socializing and my self-esteem suddenly falls back to zero, they look so pretty while I look shit. We arrived there maybe 5 pm, we had our little dinner and a small talk but I didn’t bother to talk because I don’t know, I’m too shy, or I just don’t know how to speak Tagalog.

​ Day 3, we woke up early in the morning to pack our things up, we ate breakfast and we took a ride at my uncle's work place. We don't have much time to roam around in Makati with my cousins because our flight will be at 3 am in the morning so we have to be at the airport hours before the flight. We say good bye to each other awkwardly because we barely talk like she asked questions, I answered, and that's it, end of conversation. When we arrived at my uncle's work place, we looked for a food to eat since its lunch time. I don't blame the city for being the busiest, if you have to come early at your work, you have to wake up early considering the time you travel and the traffic. Mom decided to eat somewhere else whatever we passed by. We took a ride at the train station which was super cool. We took our lunch near at the station, it’s just a small restaurant, not that fancy but cheap. We had soup, a dessert and some drinks. After we ate, I decided to roam at the station since mom and uncle was still talking. So, I was roaming and guess what my just saw, a Korean Pop store. I was lowkey freaking out and I can't handle my excitement when i saw bunch of albums, photocards, and some Korean Pop merchandise. I ran to my mom and asked for money, she hesitated at first but I just can’t, I have to buy at least one, she gave me I think one hundred. I bought a photocard of my favorite girl group and I can’t stop smiling all the time as we go. We arrived at the Airport, still have plenty of time since our flight will be 3 am. We took a rest where the passengers wait, I sleep a little because I was so tired after the long duration walking. Mom woke me up when we have to be in the departure area, I bought a snack first and we go in our flight.

​We arrived at the Gensan International Airport early in the morning, I don’t know what time is it because I didn’t bother to check my watch. We headed home, took a sleep and I remember I told myself to wake up before lunch time because I had to attend class in the afternoon but ended up late so I had no choice but to continue sleeping. This was my first-time experiencing Manila and I was beyond happy and didn’t regret being absent in class for three days in a row. I hope it will not be our last.

[waqasblog2]

Park Seo-jun to Filipino fans: All my dreams came true tonight | Inquirer Lifestyle

Korean superstar Park Seo-jun said he couldn’t believe that he has thousands of Filipino fans. They filled SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena on the night of Sept. 29 for the Bench Fun Meet, and their excited screams shook the venue.

“I wasn’t sure how many fans I have here in the Philippines. And I thought even if I had a single Filipino fan, I would be excited to go and meet this fan… I’m so shocked that so many of you showed up tonight,” Seo-jun said in Korean, translated by the ever-dependable and energetic host Sam Oh.

Seo-jun was truly in awe. The 31-year-old appeared bashful, not knowing how to react every time his fans screamed— the only way they could show their excitement at seeing their oppa in the flesh.

I expected to be starstruck when I met Seo-jun for the Inquirer Lifestyle’s one-on-one interview a day before the fan meet, because he’s a major celebrity. But I felt no superstar aura from him the moment we shook hands (his grip was firm, his hand was soft).

He was tall, slim, handsome, and when he smiled, he seemed… shy.

After greeting him “Anyeonghaseyeo,” I also said that in the Philippines, we greet each other with “Kumusta.” It means “hello” in Filipino, the young interpreter with us told him. Seo-jun tried to say “Kumusta” at least twice as he looked up to the ceiling, as if trying to remember the word before we took our seats.

I handed him the little Guyito stuffed toy and explained that it was the Inquirer’s official mascot. Seo-jun scrutinized it, smiling, and then pointed to Guyito’s blue vest that read “Philippine Daily Inquirer.” He looked at me, as if asking if this was the name of the media outlet I’m from.

When I asked on behalf of Super K editor Ruth Navarra how he would rate his sexiness on a scale of 1-10, Seo-jun laughed and felt embarrassed.

He looked at our list of questions and said, “Uhmm…” I suggested a 10. He laughed a little, then paused. “I’m sorry,” Seo-jun looked at me with a laugh. And we all laughed with him.

“Okay, maybe 8?” I said. Seo-jun laughed again. “Uh, thank you,” he said.

Then I told him, “If you ask me, I give you a 10.” He laughed and said “Thank you!”

That was the kind of bashfulness that fans all saw at the fan meet. Park Seo-jun, Hallyu god, is still not used to the adulation.

Long wait

It was quite a long wait for everyone who had anticipated this meet-up since April, when Bench founder Ben Chan announced on social media that Park Seo-jun is the latest Global Benchsetter.

Filipino celebrities and high society set were spotted at the fan meet. Comedienne Ai Ai delas Alas told Sam in a brief interview at MOA that she was overwhelmed Seo-jun was truly in Manila. Ai Ai, like every devoted Park Seo-jun fan, was on the verge of tears.

It’s not hard to fall in love with Park Seo-jun, currently one of Korea’s biggest stars. His wide acting range is complemented by drop-dead good looks. Seo-jun is consistently ranked among Korea’s top product endorsers, such that you’ll see his face all over Seoul.

Eight years after debuting in show business, Park Seo-jun shot to stardom—starring in one hit television drama after another. “A Witch’s Love,” “Kill Me, Heal Me,” “She Was Pretty,” “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth,” “Fight for My Way,” “What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim” are among fan favorites.

Seo-jun movies do well in the box office, too, like “Midnight Runners,” and more recently, “Divine Fury.”

He likes to surprise fans with cameo roles, such as playing the grownup son of Son Ye-jin and So Ji-sub in the tearjerker “Be With You,” and Choi Woo-sik’s friend in “Parasite,” the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or prize in the Cannes Film Festival.

In July, Seo-jun started his official YouTube channel called Record PARK’s. His videos draw hundreds of thousands of views. He has 8.8 million followers on Instagram.

The eldest of three boys, Seo-jun has shared pictures of himself with his young niece he adores. Fans love him for his tight bond with his family. The entertainment news site Soompi wrote that at Seo-jun’s first fan meeting in 2015, he cried after seeing his father in the audience.

At times, Seo-jun would share pictures of celebrity friends like Kim Tae-hyung (better known as V of the K-pop group BTS) and Park Hyung-sik, another Global Benchsetter.

A mainstay on Seo-jun’s Instagram is his bichon frisé, Simba. At the Bench fan meet, Seo-jun said Simba sleeps with him “all the time.”

“I take him on walks a lot. I feed him delicious treats. I hope that he will be with me for a long time because obviously I enjoy our time together,” he said.

Fan interaction

Here are excerpts from the Inquirer’s one-on-one with Park Seo-jun:

Many Filipinos go to Korea now. What would you recommend for them to do, where to go, what to eat?

When I came to the Philippines, I wanted to go to the landmarks and famous places where I could feel and learn the history of the country. So, when you go to Korea, I guess it would be nice as well for you to go places that could give you the same feeling. I suggest places like Gyeongbukgung Palace or Si-cheong. I also recommend that you try not the fusion Korean food, but the real traditional Korean food.

You fought evil spirits in “Divine Fury.” In real life, do you actually believe in ghosts or spirits?

I do believe in such, because I experience a lot of sleep paralysis.

You recently celebrated your eighth year in showbiz. What have you learned about yourself in the last eight years, and what are your personal goals for the next eight?

First of all, I think that the eight years went by so fast. I hope that I haven’t made any decisions that I would regret when I look back. I’m the type to always think about what my limits are, and I hope that this isn’t my limit yet.

I also hope that in the coming days, if a point comes where I do feel like it is my limit, hopefully I would be able to face and overcome it. My goal would be to meet you all with good projects in the future.

(From the Fan Meet Slam Book segment with Sam Oh):

What do you think about Manila?

The welcome was so warm the minute I stepped on Manila soil. The really warm welcome was surprising to me.

What are your fondest memories growing up in Seoul?

I had a very memorable and good childhood. Every moment growing up was memorable.

What can’t you live without?

My friends, because they are the people I share my good and bad times with. They are indispensable in my life. I don’t like fake people. This is something I learned over the years working in the industry. I don’t want to be around or working with fake people.

What is your favorite song?

Right now, I am listening to Jeremy Zucker’s “Comethru.”

What are you most afraid of?

I’m afraid of the deep sea. I didn’t have any traumatic experience. When the question was given to me, I just thought of the deep sea.

Fans’ questions

Do you believe in destiny?

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in destiny.

What did you dream of doing when you were a child?

To be a baseball player. But my parents allowed only my younger brother to pursue baseball.

How did you get into acting in the first place?

As I said earlier, I wanted to be a baseball player. In middle school, I did not know what I wanted to do. Then I met cosplay people. And being onstage with them, I had a weird feeling which made me think thatmaybe acting is something I could pursue.

Who are the actors you like?

I admire a lot of actors, but I am a big fan of Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

What are your favorite movies?

I’m a big fan of movies. I’ve watched many films but right now, I am into romance films. I am going back to a lot of classic romantic movies like “The Notebook” and “About Time,” which I enjoyed.

How do you keep fit for a role?

I exercise eight hours a day for three months before filming. I exercise, then go to a mixed martial arts studio, then have a meal, then go back to the gym for weight training.

What is your favorite sport now?

It’s soccer now.

What makes you laugh?

I’m also not sure. (Then he laughed.)

Are you the joker in the family and among friends?

I’m the least funny one. I don’t understand why people think I’m funny.

What do you look forward to when visiting other countries?

The most important thing is to try the food. Sightseeing is also something I enjoy very much, and I am enjoying this sight [of the fan meet] very much.

What are the things you want to accomplish before you turn 35?

Are you teasing me? I’m not sure, because all my dreams came true tonight. —CONTRIBUTED

This content was originally published here.

[hanssssolo96-blog]

A Different Memory

Featuring Ex BFFs

Woke up at 3:00 am. Cooked my food and prepared everything I need. Took a bath for about 20-3- minutes. Put on my clothes and fixed myself up. And now, I’m ready to go. August 25, 2017, that was the day of our study tour/ field trip. i went on the school at exactly 5:00 in the morning and leave at 6:30 am. (Though we should have leave earlier than that based on our agreement Lol.) At first, It’s not that exciting for me to go. Because aside from I’m not wit my old friends anymore to do and ride on my jokes, my main reason why I thought I won’t enjoy the tour is because this is our exam in a subject. So I Thought, I can not really enjoy the tour. I mean how can you enjoy if you worry about something right?

First stop is the Luneta Park or they also call it Rizal Park. While doing the tour, our tour guide explains us everything about Luneta Park. While walking, we talk about so many things and we did not forget to take pictures of course. Next stop was the Intramuros. I was really tired of walking that time and we have to walk further. But I did not notice my tiredness anymore because I was busy checking out what’s the tour guide talking about. Until we got to Manila Cathedral. There I felt really tired yet I was a little refreshed with air. And then we decided to have our early lunch. I ate rice with adobong manok and fried chicken which my classmates gave me. Because I just prepared my rice hehe. After eating, we waited for more than 1 hour before we went to our next destination which is the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas. As we entered  BSP, I saw that they are really strict with those people who visit, then we entered. As we came in, I felt excited because it was my first time to come there. They let us watch 2 videos. The first video is about how money is made. The other is how money helps our country run. After that, we walked around to look at money from the years. We took pictures of most of it.

Then we went to the National Museum and I was like WOW. This is amazing, I cannot believe what I see. Its the Spoliarium and its so BIIIG and dark. And at first glance I was in love with it. The woman teaching us about it taught me a lot and I was like “OH OK HEHE”. After that we started walking around to look for a painting for contemporary arts and I saw The Oracion. I chose it because it was easy to make an art analysis for it. It was already raining outside when we went downstairs and we had to wait for the bus to come fetch us,

We then went to MOA and changed clothes and eat dinner. We ate at Dennis’ Grill and Restaurant. After eating, we immediately went to the meeting place. We took pictures yet again and then went to CCP.  It was our last destination and I was excited at last. It was the main highlight of the day for me. We watched Bayanihan 61 and I was really amazed by their performance. I was like wOOOAH. I wish I could be there with them. We took pictures with the performance and I was really happy. 

That day ended very happy for me. I spent time with friends and got to see more of the every day life in Manila. I really enjoyed the trip even though I was tired. And I realized, one can enjoy a thing while learning something.

[dpinoycosmonaut]

THE KATIPUNAN SERIES: A POST-MORTEM

by Reuel Hermoso / January 01, 2019

          And finally, it has come home to roost – again – on the south end of Katipunan Avenue.

         The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles are, for the second time in as many seasons, the champions of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.  They successfully quelled the challenge posed by the upstart University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons by handily beating down the pretenders to the throne in two straight games in their best-of-three series early in December.  No need for a Game 3 to settle the matter, as we predicted.

         Banking on 10 years of finals experience since the institutionalization of the Final Four format in 1993 – and successfully clinching the title seven times in that span – the Blue Eagles showed the Fighting Maroons and the rest of the UAAP why they deserve to continue being the basketball kings of the UAAP hill for a second year in a row.  With a lockdown defense that was merciless in picking the ball from the opponents’ hands – whether in the backcourt even before a play could be set up or in the post when the shot is methodically denied so that the ball ends up in a Blue Eagle’s hands – and with an offensive juggernaut that runs roughshod over any opponent, the Blue Eagles were like the Roman legion laying Germania or Judea to waste during their finals battle with the Maroons.

         Without going into too much detail of the play-by-play of the two finals games, let’s look instead at the numbers, and validate our analysis in particular plays we saw in those two games.

         Game 1 held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City was pretty much a nip-and-tuck affair.  As my resident breakfast-table analyst Pocholo Hermoso of the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School aptly put it, UP played good offense and defense for three and one-fourth quarters.  The problem is, the game is played for four full quarters, and it was in the end game where the Blue Eagles shed their neighborly image and let loose a clampdown that saw the Maroons’ chief gunners Paul Desiderio and Juan Gomez de Liaño, affectionately referred to within and outside UP as Juan GDL (his brother would be Javi GDL), turn in their lowest outputs for the season with just five and 17 points, respectively.  Juan averaged in the mid-20s so clearly a defensive master plan was prepared for him especially.  

         The result was a 9-2 blast by the Blue Eagles in the clutch, and an 88-79 decision in favor of the boys in blue-and-white and a virtual twice-to-beat advantage for the crown.  Point guard Matt Nieto erupted with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting, of which nine were scored in the final canto – truly a clutch performance that finally quelled the Maroons’ sporadic uprisings throughout the course of the game.  Jun Manzo, UP’s energy bunny in the backcourt, was the lone bright spot for the Maroons with 19 points as Bright Akhuetie himself was sidelined for most of the game after a positional shove by Ateneo big man Angelo Kouame inadvertently caused the UP big to hyperextend his left knee, although he was able to return to the game late in the final quarter.

         Manzo was the one single Maroon that consistently played the thorn on the Blue Eagles’ side throughout the game, attacking Ateneo’s inside D and pulling up from the outside to wreak havoc on the Eagles’ perimeter D.  Some tactical adjustments by coach Tab Baldwin where defensive specialist Gian Mamuyac was put on Manzo provided a solid denial defense on the UP guard, limiting his touches in the fourth and helping suppress UP’s scoring to only 18 markers in that crucial stretch.  Ateneo, meanwhile, had 25 markers anchored on three shots by Matt Nieto from trifecta country that took the wind out of the Maroons’ lungs for good.

         Despite the Game 1 loss, the Maroons and their tireless fan base were far from discouraged, taking their fight to social media in a flurry of exchanges from both sides of Katipunan.  The exchanges led to a level of acrimony that reached such a scale hitherto unseen between the students and alumni of both universities.  For most Ateneans, the real guys to pile on in the UAAP were the La Sallites, their nemeses for so many UAAP battles (and even back in the NCAA), so they were quite unused to seeing this kind of antagonism coming from the north side of Katipunan, especially since students from both universities would often mingle in common areas along the avenue, such as the UP Town Center, the Regis Center, and a whole host of eateries and drinking holes in the Loyola Heights area. Their alumni never talked about basketball rivalries between them; usually it’s the Ateneans who talked about their latest episodes in the UAAP wars, with the UP alumni nodding or shaking their heads but always in agreement, and saying very little.

         So this year’s sideline antics were quite new and bewildering to many on the blue side – as was the matchup itself.  Some UP folks like celebrities Gretchen Fullido and Rikki Flores-Reyes, former courtside reporters for the Maroons, proffered explanations on Mico Halili’s “The Score” on ABS-CBN Sports+Action channel, practically begging their Katipunan neighbors and anyone else who cared to listen to understand that they haven’t been in the finals for 32 years, and thus the level and type of emotion can sometimes get out of hand.  This explanation, however, doesn’t wash when one considers that in 2014, the National University Bulldogs also reached the finals – and won it! – after 60 long years, but their community did not seem to be as curmudgeonly as UP’s was.  Of course, we could ask their opponents for the top prize, the Far Eastern University Tamaraws and their supporters, if they did feel some heat from the Bulldog fan base.

         But regardless of what the sideshows were churning out, it was clear that the Blue Eagles had gained the upperhand, and would be ready to finish off the Maroons in Game 2.  Below-the-radar betting pundits gave UP a plus 19.5 heading into the December 5 game, meaning a bettor betting on UP to win needs to have his team win by 20 points for him to take home the jackpot.  In local parlance, UP was dejado (not favored) while Ateneo was llamado (favored to win).  Nonetheless, the Fighting Maroon fan base would not be deterred from showing up in Game 2 in the similarly large numbers that came throughout UP’s two Final Four games and in Game 1.  The crowds in both Game 1 at the MOA Arena and Game 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum were decidedly at least 60 percent Maroon.  They came to show their love and devotion, nothing less than full support, for their boys, and this was evident in both games in the championship series.

         But, as the Ateneans in the gallery liked to say: “Outnumbered, but never outfought!” and this was unmistakable in terms of the cheering.  It did help Barangay Loyola Heights (as the Ateneo crowd is often called) that, as the opening canto was halfway through, their boys did not disappoint them, thus the cheering and heckling from the blue side of the coliseum was as loud and lusty as that coming from the Diliman Republic.  

         The Fighting Maroons won the opening jump ball, and commenced hostilities on a Paul Desiderio three-point jumper.  For the first few minutes, it was a nip-and-tuck affair similar to Game 1, with Jarrel Lim also throwing in a bucket, and it seemed for a while that UP was ready to take this down the wire, this time with a different and happy ending.  But no sooner had Paul’s trey sunk when it was quickly followed by a Thirdy Ravena layup, the first two in an avalanche of points and all-around performance for the ages that would forever write Ravena’s name large and wide in the annals of UAAP and Ateneo basketball history.  Thirdy’s monster 38 points on 13-of-19 shooting from the field, including 100 percent from the free-throw line (7-of-7), which went with five rebounds, six assists and three steals, all came together excellently for a virtuoso feat that may take some time to be matched.  Desiderio himself put on a steady, heady show, scoring 15 points – clearly showing his resolve to make up for the clampdown that the Ateneo D had handcuffed him with in Game 1.  

          On the other hand, the tragic hero in UP’s failed drive to bag Game 1 with 19 points on  8-of-11 shooting, Manzo, was practically nowhere to be seen in Game 2 as he went 0-of-2 from the floor.  Juan GDL as always, was dependable, coming off the bench and pouring in 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, scoring inside and from medium range (going 5-of-9 on two pointers) as well as from beyond the arc (3-of-5 shooting).  In the low blocks, Bright Akhuetie, who was hobbled not so much by his injury from Game 1 – he was able to return to the game in the second half of Game 1’s final quarter – paced all of UP’s starters with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

Figure 1. Scoring development and comparative stats, Ateneo vs. UP, UAAP 81 Men’s Basketball Finals

         Just how dominating were the Blue Eagles in Game 2?  Let’s look at the data (Figure1) provided by Genius Sports and archived at https://www.fibalivestats.com/u/UAAP/1061917/bs.html , which we provide here.  Check out, in particular, the scoring development of the game, which plots how the game progressed based on the scores accumulated by either team.  Period 1 (P1 in the chart above, or the first quarter) was the only time when UP led in the game – the rest of the way it was all Ateneo.  UP had its chances, especially with Juan not letting up and trying his darnedest to lift his team, along with Paul, in the dying minutes of the game, when everything had been settled except the final score.  With great effort, Juan and Paul were able to help bring the Eagles’ final winning margin below 20 points – 99-81 – on a Gelo Vito runner in the shaded lane.

         If one looks at the data (Figure 2) though, while the Blue Eagles were clearly ahead in some departments, the Fighting Marrons weren’t that far behind or were even better than their neighbors in other areas.  In regular field goal shooting, the Blue Eagles’ 58 percent (on 30-of-51 clip) is decidedly better with a 14 percent margin versus the Fighting Maroons’ 44 percent (on 23-of-52 shooting).  But from beyond the arc, the Diliman boys had the edge, although not by much statistically (depending on your margin of error).  Ateneo shot more three-balls – 24 of them – but made only 33 percent of them, while UP shot less with 19 attempts, sinking seven trifectas in all.

Figure 2. Other comparative stats (rebounds, assists, etc.), UP vs. Ateneo, UAAP 81 Men’s Basketball Finals

         However, it was from the free-throw line that UP could have made the final score a bit more decent; the Fighting Maroons were given 25 free throws, of which 11 they bricked out, for a 56 percent success rate.  The Blue Eagles were given just 17 attempts from the charity stripe and missed only two for a whopping 88 percent success rate.  Free throws, as anyone who has played the game knows, are a surefire way to get your shooting going, especially when you’ve been throwing bricks from the field.  Sinking your charities places your mindset in a proper frame, enabling you to finally score, whether in the post, the wings, or the backcourt.  That UP missed so many chances to get back in the game was telling, and it was clear all game long – all series long – who was really at home in a finals setting, and who was the outsider who had busted in.

         Looking at the other figures, again, we can see how UP’s numbers weren’t so bad.  Of course, rebounds would expectedly go the way of Ateneo – 51 vs. 33 – with 15 of the Blue Eagles’ total boards coming from the offensive end.  Of the Fighting Maroons’ 33 caroms, 10 were cleaned off the offensive glass.  But in other departments, UP was able to go toe-to-toe with Ateneo – it moved the ball quite well (tied at 16 assists apiece), picked more pockets (8-7 in steals), had less turnovers (16-11), and even scored more in transition (16 fastbreak points vs. Ateneo’s 15).  More importantly, the Fighting Maroons’ second and even third units were decidedly better than that of the Blue Eagles’, with bench scoring at 45 markers against Ateneo’s 38.

         So how did the game end up being such a lopsided affair?  Off hand, I don’t think an 18-point winning margin is so lopsided.  By making key plays on both ends of the floor, the Maroons could have brought themselves within striking distance and perhaps even upset the fancied Blue Eagles with a Game 2 win to force a Game 3 rubber match.  The scoring by quarters would seem to indicate that this was possible – Q1 at 25-13, Q2 at 48-37, and Q3 at 70-56 – all in Ateneo’s favor.  But these are not out-of-reach leads by any stretch of the imagination.  The Blue Eagles might have dominated the game from start to finish, but the Maroons were in it, and might have even had the satisfaction of at least dragging their Katipunan neighbors to a do-or-die had they indulged in less ball watching or being wowed by Ateneo’s dazzling plays, and just put their heads down and got the job done.

         That said, there’s really something about the Blue Eagles’ brand of basketball.  The passing as well as the extra pass for better shot options, the movement without the ball, misdirection and decoys, and little to no one-on-one plays – in other words, a total team effort on the offensive end – was truly a sight to behold.  On the defensive end, lockdown team defense that sets up timely shows – not overcommitting but pesky enough to disturb the point guard’s table-setting chores – on set screens, jamming the pick-and-roll on switches and double screens, disrupting the passing lanes, denying the driving lanes, active hands, and having arguably the best rim protector in the league in Kouame, among others, forced UP to one-and-done possessions – usually empty – and scoring on the break.

         Credit this to having a mentor like Tab Baldwin on board.  Appointed head coach of the Ateneo men’s basketball team in December 2015, he led his young wards to a finals appearance in just his first year (Season 79) of coaching the Blue Eagles in 2016.  And though they fell short on that first attempt, bowing to the De La Salle University Green Archers in two games, the fact that they reached the finals in just his first year of coaching the team was no mean feat.  More than that, they were able to wrest the crown from the Green Archers the following season, and now have successfully defended their title, earning the first back-to-back in UAAP men’s basketball since the last back-to-back in 2009 won by, uh, Ateneo also, that time under coach Norman Black.

         Coach Tab has indicated that he has no plans to leave Ateneo anytime soon, so that thought may probably send shivers up the spines of the other members of the UAAP.  But there’s no secret to his formula, and all the plays he’s designed have already been scouted effectively.  Adamson University coach Franz Pumaren revealed all he had to do was watch endless rounds of videos of Blue Eagle plays under coach Tab, particularly when the Ateneans represented the Philippines in the last Jones Cup tournament in Taipei this year.

         So, folks, coach Tab has no magic wand that he can wave and get the game to go Ateneo’s way.  However, it will take a lot of hard work, endless rounds of watching tapes, and endless cups of coffee, to win against the Blue Eagles.  But it can be done.  Ateneo’s rivals just have to believe in themselves, and buckle down to work.

         Good luck.

#UAAP 81 Maroons ADMU Eagles UPFight

[jifsy]

My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines

I arrived in the Philippines for my first visit to Manila just about two weeks ago after a flight from Boston to Toronto, Toronto to Seoul, and then Seoul to Manila. And all I can say is that I had no idea just how incredibly hot this country would be. Here are some of my initial thoughts on my stay.

Transportation Is Varied and Interesting

Pedicabs

To get anywhere, especially without a car as I don’t have one here, transportation can be interesting. You can take a pedicab a short distance in order to catch another form of transportation, a tricycle.

A tricycle basically allows you to ride in a sidecar alongside a motorcycle to get to your next destination.

Jeepney

This may mean taking a jeepney, a shuttle, bus, or train. What you might think will be a 20 or 30 minute trip ends up being far longer. Most trips I take anywhere result in a typical 3-hour commute.

TSG Tip: While Filipinos are polite and will queue nicely for pedicabs, tricycles, etc., this all goes out the window when grabbing the train. I have never seen full out chaos that looked like it would erupt into an NHL hockey fight mid-game. It really was scary despite the fact that there clearly was enough room for everyone to get on the train so I’m so unsure why they do that, but you should prepare for it.

Grab

Grab

Grab is the Asian Uber and it’s definitely an app that you should download and have on your phone before your first visit to the Philippines. The price is dependent on time of day, demand, number of drivers, and so on, but it’s still far less than anything I’ve ever had to pay in the US. I took one the other night for a one hour ride from Quezon City to Manila and it cost about 400 pesos or about $7.46. Insane right? Best part is you pay in cash and know the total cost of the ride up front before you ever get in the car.

Traffic

Typical Manila traffic

Anywhere you go in Manila, there’s bound to be traffic. Now I’m used to traffic living in Boston and having traveled to large cities like New York City, London, Madrid, etc. But nothing can prepare you for the never ending cycle of traffic that exists in Manila.

Traffic at night in Manila

Traffic exists all day and all night no matter where you need or want to go. Trying to get a shuttle or a taxi at high peak traffic times is pretty much useless. It can be frustrating but when you accept this is a way of life, then you stop fighting it. Seems as though a few years ago cars became more affordable and now everyone is driving and the highway infrastructure just can’t seem to keep up with it.

Shopping Is A Sport Here

Shopping is a big deal here in the Philippines. Filipinos may not recognize it, but there are stores, malls, vendors, markets, and pretty much shopping on every corner everywhere in Manila. Feel like grabbing a quick drink? Sure, go ahead and buy a pair of jeans, shoes, or a rug for your kitchen while you’re at it. You can’t escape the non-stop offers that are constantly in your face.

My first trip to a wet market in Manila

This is true even if you’re going to the wet market to buy fruits and veggies. Guaranteed you’ll be able to buy something out of the ordinary like clothing or electronics if you look hard enough.

I will add that Filipinos do love brand names, too. You can find most  popular brands like Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Skechers, and so on just like you would in the US along with other brands maybe less popular for westerners like Anello. But people here will shop and then eat and then shop again especially at the large malls like SM Mall of Asia with its own amusement park and even the tallest Ferris wheel in the Philippines, the MOA Eye.

TSG Tip: Did I not mention the other popular Filipino past time is eating?  Let’s just say that if you think you might go hungry here, give that thought a rest as you’ll be fed constantly, whether you want to or not.

Eating in Manila

I’ve been quite fortunate to enjoy more than one home cooked meal in Manila and the cooks were kind enough to make sure I got vegan food. That meant tofu, veggies, rice, and salad and the food was delicious.

Eating out can be another story. I’ve eaten at a couple of Thai restaurants, which meant I could get both tofu and veggies. But other than that, I had to suffice with some sides at restaurants I might not normally visit.

Fast Food

For example, I stopped at the national treasure of the Philippines, Jollibee, and all I could have was fries. So I chose the wasabi fries, which are fries dipped in wasabi powder. You better like wasabi if you want to eat these bad boys.

I stopped off with a friend for KFC, where shocker — they serve rice with the chicken and unlimited gravy from containers you pump yourself in the dining room. I could only find fries, but on the way out saw they had salad. Next time KFC, next time.

Didn’t eat here but I do love the signage

Although I didn’t stop here, I absolutely loved the signage for Botoy’s.

Snacks

Tahon vendor

One of my favorite on the go snacks was served by a street vendor on a bike. Yes, he had heated tofu on the back of his bike to create the one of a kind snack called taho.

Taho

Made from silken tofu, arnibal (a sweetener and flavoring), and sago pearls, which are like tapioca pearls. I paid 20 pesos or about $0.37 USD for this yummy vegan snack that you just slurp right from the cup. Not bad at all, right?

Veggie chicaron – I’m in heaven

Let me just add that sometimes I trip across things in the weirdest of places and this is definitely one of those things. Chicarones, or pork rinds, would never be something I could have. But a veggie version? I’m so into them and they come in a variety of flavors including salt and vinegar and extra spicy. I definitely need to limit my interaction with these bad boys.

Beverages

Smoothie time

Fruit is your friend here in the Philippines and I enjoy having a fruit smoothie as often as I can. I had a mango pineapple smoothie from a kiosk at the mall for all of 89 pesos or $1.66.

Of course I found a way to squeeze in a Chatime Passionfruit green tea with bubbles

When I saw a Chatime store at the SM Mall of Asia, I quickly ran in to get passionfruit green tea with bubbles, less ice and 50% sugar.

TSG Tip: Keep in mind that Filipinos love sugar and I could’ve easily gone down to 25% sugar or even none as it was way sweeter than what I’m used to back in the US.

Beverage cart in train station

I was hot as hell going to the train the other night and opted for a pineapple juice even though the mango concoction looked good. Unfortunately, they all contained dairy so none for me.

Churches

In front of Baclaran church

We all know I love a good piece of architecture, especially religious ones like churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, and the like. So when I heard about Baclaran Church, which enshrines the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, I knew I wanted to visit. It’s also the largest Marian church in the Philippines and since I never see my name anywhere, it was yet another reason to go.

Love locks at Baclaran Church

I was surprised to see the many love locks on this pergola on the grounds of the church, but it was a nice place for couples to do a photo op.

Before entering the church you can light a candle or two with a donation.

Baclaran church

Then you can enter the large church built in 1958 on your own and take a seat in one of the pews. On Wednesday the church is flooded with devotees who attend mass so keep that in mind when choosing a day to visit.

Final Thoughts for My First Two Weeks

I’ve touched on it lightly, but it’s hot as hell here in Manila. They don’t always have the air conditioning on and since it’s considered rainy season, they try to enjoy the cool air from the rain. As someone who always does her hair and makeup, let’s just say I’ve pretty much given up on that. My hair is a curly wreck of a mess that’s dry and frizzy and my makeup doesn’t stay on in the heat. Maybe as I adjust I’ll start doing it more often.

I fell on the sidewalk and nearly did a split within the first hour or so of being in Manila and scraped the hell out of my knee. Then I decided to kick a pedicab with that same knee. So I’m basically bruised on both legs like I’ve been doing some kind of secret underground fight club while here in Manila.

One week into being here I developed what is called “travelers diarrhea” and have been sick for days. Today is the first day that I’m eating and keeping things down. I’m convinced the Philippines is trying to kill me, but I won’t allow that to happen. I’m planning a trip to the province of Bicol for some cooler air and to explore outside the city of Manila and hoping the Philippines will cut me a break.

Do you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments for me for my visit to the Philippines that you’d like to share?  Leave your comments below. Discover some other great destinations and travel ideas here on the Travel Shop Girl website.

On my new SPONTANEOUS TRAVEL SCALE of 1-5, with 1 being super easy and spontaneous and 5 being you better plan far in advance, Manila scores a 3 for spontaneous travel as this large city has so much for tourists and locals to see and do if they can plan their trip carefully to avoid high traffic times. 

The post My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines appeared first on Travel Shop Girl.

My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines published first on https://medium.com/@GoShopMalaysia

[cartzypage]

My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines

I arrived in the Philippines for my first visit to Manila just about two weeks ago after a flight from Boston to Toronto, Toronto to Seoul, and then Seoul to Manila. And all I can say is that I had no idea just how incredibly hot this country would be. Here are some of my initial thoughts on my stay.

Transportation Is Varied and Interesting

Pedicabs

To get anywhere, especially without a car as I don’t have one here, transportation can be interesting. You can take a pedicab a short distance in order to catch another form of transportation, a tricycle.

A tricycle basically allows you to ride in a sidecar alongside a motorcycle to get to your next destination.

Jeepney

This may mean taking a jeepney, a shuttle, bus, or train. What you might think will be a 20 or 30 minute trip ends up being far longer. Most trips I take anywhere result in a typical 3-hour commute.

TSG Tip: While Filipinos are polite and will queue nicely for pedicabs, tricycles, etc., this all goes out the window when grabbing the train. I have never seen full out chaos that looked like it would erupt into an NHL hockey fight mid-game. It really was scary despite the fact that there clearly was enough room for everyone to get on the train so I’m so unsure why they do that, but you should prepare for it.

Grab

Grab

Grab is the Asian Uber and it’s definitely an app that you should download and have on your phone before your first visit to the Philippines. The price is dependent on time of day, demand, number of drivers, and so on, but it’s still far less than anything I’ve ever had to pay in the US. I took one the other night for a one hour ride from Quezon City to Manila and it cost about 400 pesos or about $7.46. Insane right? Best part is you pay in cash and know the total cost of the ride up front before you ever get in the car.

Traffic

Typical Manila traffic

Anywhere you go in Manila, there’s bound to be traffic. Now I’m used to traffic living in Boston and having traveled to large cities like New York City, London, Madrid, etc. But nothing can prepare you for the never ending cycle of traffic that exists in Manila.

Traffic at night in Manila

Traffic exists all day and all night no matter where you need or want to go. Trying to get a shuttle or a taxi at high peak traffic times is pretty much useless. It can be frustrating but when you accept this is a way of life, then you stop fighting it. Seems as though a few years ago cars became more affordable and now everyone is driving and the highway infrastructure just can’t seem to keep up with it.

Shopping Is A Sport Here

Shopping is a big deal here in the Philippines. Filipinos may not recognize it, but there are stores, malls, vendors, markets, and pretty much shopping on every corner everywhere in Manila. Feel like grabbing a quick drink? Sure, go ahead and buy a pair of jeans, shoes, or a rug for your kitchen while you’re at it. You can’t escape the non-stop offers that are constantly in your face.

My first trip to a wet market in Manila

This is true even if you’re going to the wet market to buy fruits and veggies. Guaranteed you’ll be able to buy something out of the ordinary like clothing or electronics if you look hard enough.

I will add that Filipinos do love brand names, too. You can find most  popular brands like Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Skechers, and so on just like you would in the US along with other brands maybe less popular for westerners like Anello. But people here will shop and then eat and then shop again especially at the large malls like SM Mall of Asia with its own amusement park and even the tallest Ferris wheel in the Philippines, the MOA Eye.

TSG Tip: Did I not mention the other popular Filipino past time is eating?  Let’s just say that if you think you might go hungry here, give that thought a rest as you’ll be fed constantly, whether you want to or not.

Eating in Manila

I’ve been quite fortunate to enjoy more than one home cooked meal in Manila and the cooks were kind enough to make sure I got vegan food. That meant tofu, veggies, rice, and salad and the food was delicious.

Eating out can be another story. I’ve eaten at a couple of Thai restaurants, which meant I could get both tofu and veggies. But other than that, I had to suffice with some sides at restaurants I might not normally visit.

Fast Food

For example, I stopped at the national treasure of the Philippines, Jollibee, and all I could have was fries. So I chose the wasabi fries, which are fries dipped in wasabi powder. You better like wasabi if you want to eat these bad boys.

I stopped off with a friend for KFC, where shocker — they serve rice with the chicken and unlimited gravy from containers you pump yourself in the dining room. I could only find fries, but on the way out saw they had salad. Next time KFC, next time.

Didn’t eat here but I do love the signage

Although I didn’t stop here, I absolutely loved the signage for Botoy’s.

Snacks

Tahon vendor

One of my favorite on the go snacks was served by a street vendor on a bike. Yes, he had heated tofu on the back of his bike to create the one of a kind snack called taho.

Taho

Made from silken tofu, arnibal (a sweetener and flavoring), and sago pearls, which are like tapioca pearls. I paid 20 pesos or about $0.37 USD for this yummy vegan snack that you just slurp right from the cup. Not bad at all, right?

Veggie chicaron – I’m in heaven

Let me just add that sometimes I trip across things in the weirdest of places and this is definitely one of those things. Chicarones, or pork rinds, would never be something I could have. But a veggie version? I’m so into them and they come in a variety of flavors including salt and vinegar and extra spicy. I definitely need to limit my interaction with these bad boys.

Beverages

Smoothie time

Fruit is your friend here in the Philippines and I enjoy having a fruit smoothie as often as I can. I had a mango pineapple smoothie from a kiosk at the mall for all of 89 pesos or $1.66.

Of course I found a way to squeeze in a Chatime Passionfruit green tea with bubbles

When I saw a Chatime store at the SM Mall of Asia, I quickly ran in to get passionfruit green tea with bubbles, less ice and 50% sugar.

TSG Tip: Keep in mind that Filipinos love sugar and I could’ve easily gone down to 25% sugar or even none as it was way sweeter than what I’m used to back in the US.

Beverage cart in train station

I was hot as hell going to the train the other night and opted for a pineapple juice even though the mango concoction looked good. Unfortunately, they all contained dairy so none for me.

Churches

In front of Baclaran church

We all know I love a good piece of architecture, especially religious ones like churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, and the like. So when I heard about Baclaran Church, which enshrines the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, I knew I wanted to visit. It’s also the largest Marian church in the Philippines and since I never see my name anywhere, it was yet another reason to go.

Love locks at Baclaran Church

I was surprised to see the many love locks on this pergola on the grounds of the church, but it was a nice place for couples to do a photo op.

Before entering the church you can light a candle or two with a donation.

Baclaran church

Then you can enter the large church built in 1958 on your own and take a seat in one of the pews. On Wednesday the church is flooded with devotees who attend mass so keep that in mind when choosing a day to visit.

Final Thoughts for My First Two Weeks

I’ve touched on it lightly, but it’s hot as hell here in Manila. They don’t always have the air conditioning on and since it’s considered rainy season, they try to enjoy the cool air from the rain. As someone who always does her hair and makeup, let’s just say I’ve pretty much given up on that. My hair is a curly wreck of a mess that’s dry and frizzy and my makeup doesn’t stay on in the heat. Maybe as I adjust I’ll start doing it more often.

I fell on the sidewalk and nearly did a split within the first hour or so of being in Manila and scraped the hell out of my knee. Then I decided to kick a pedicab with that same knee. So I’m basically bruised on both legs like I’ve been doing some kind of secret underground fight club while here in Manila.

One week into being here I developed what is called “travelers diarrhea” and have been sick for days. Today is the first day that I’m eating and keeping things down. I’m convinced the Philippines is trying to kill me, but I won’t allow that to happen. I’m planning a trip to the province of Bical for some cooler air and to explore outside the city of Manila and hoping the Philippines will cut me a break.

Do you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments for me for my visit to the Philippines that you’d like to share?  Leave your comments below. Discover some other great destinations and travel ideas here on the Travel Shop Girl website.

On my new SPONTANEOUS TRAVEL SCALE of 1-5, with 1 being super easy and spontaneous and 5 being you better plan far in advance, Manila scores a 3 for spontaneous travel as this large city has so much for tourists and locals to see and do if they can plan their trip carefully to avoid high traffic times. 

The post My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines appeared first on Travel Shop Girl.

My First Visit to Manila and My First Two Weeks in The Philippines published first on https://medium.com/@GoShopSingapore

[ralphmorgan-blog1]

Native women are going missing at epic rates. A 19-year-old wants you to know why.

Some college students spend their spring break partying in the Caribbean. This student walked 80 miles in four days to help Native American women.

Marita GrowingThunder, a freshman at University of Montana, walked 20 miles per day across the Flathead Indian Reservation from March 25 to 28. The goal of her “Save Our Sisters” walk? To raise awareness about violence against native women.

Marita GrowingThunder (third from left) and supporters of her 80-mile walk through the Flathead Indian Reservation. Photo via Save Our Sisters MMIW/Facebook.

The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, or #MMIW, spans across the U.S. and Canada, where indigenous women face disproportionate levels of violence. According to the CDC, in the U.S., indigenous women and black women are nearly tied for the demographic with the highest murder rate. Homicide is the third leading cause of death for indigenous women ages 10 to 24.

In Canada in 2015, a quarter of all women murdered were indigenous — a sharp increase from 9% in 1980, which was still disproportionately high.

One last photo from the display yesterday #MMIW #saveoursistersmmiw

A post shared by Marita GrowingThunder Fogarty (@maritagrowingthunder) on Feb 15, 2018 at 5:28pm PST

GrowingThunder, who is a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux tribe, had two aunts who were murdered. “I haven’t met a family who this hasn’t impacted,” she told Montana Public Radio.

What GrowingThunder is saying echoes what I've heard from my Native American friends and acquaintances. But many Americans remain unaware that this crisis even exists. We tend to place our country’s terrible treatment of Native Americans in the distant past, despite ongoing injustices and struggles caused by colonization.

Marita GrowingThunder is only 19, but she has been using her body, her voice, and her creativity to support the MMIW movement since long before spring break.

In fall 2016, GrowingThunder undertook a project to create and wear a different dress each day of her senior year of high school to honor native women who have been lost or killed.

Just a handful of the 180 dresses Marita GrowingThunder made and wore during her senior year. One dress per day — each honoring a missing or murdered indigenous woman. Photos via Save Our Sisters MMIW/Facebook.

People across the Native American community donated supplies for her sewing project in the name of specific women and families affected by the crisis. GrowingThunder dedicated each dress, about 180 in all, to a different specific missing or murdered indigenous woman.

GrowingThunder is a soft-spoken but self-assured young woman who believes young people can make a difference. "The youth have a lot of power," she says. "Not just politically, but just for humanity in general. I didn't realize I had this much power... I think people underestimate their own power."

You can hear her speak about her activism in this video:

GrowingThunder completed the 80-mile walk in 2017 as well, and both times she received a mixed response from American locals. She has been spit on, yelled at, and flipped off by people driving by. But others have offered water and kind words of encouragement.

The purpose of the walks is to honor and remember the countless women affected by this violence. But GrowingThunder also wants to draw attention to the fact that there is no database to track how many indigenous women are missing or who have been killed. Because there's no central data, statistics are sketchy and no one actually knows the exact extent of the issue. The Government Accountability Office has stated that investigations are needed to better report on trafficking within Native American populations.

Information is key. So is awareness, followed by action.

Photo via Save Our Sisters MMIW/Facebook.

Feel inspired to help? Here’s how all of us can support the MMIW movement.

This issue is multifaceted, but there are a lot of real ways to help.

Encourage your legislators to support Savannah’s Act. This bill bolsters the data tracking of missing and murdered Native Americans, standardizes law enforcement and justice protocols, and requires the Department of Justice to provide training and technical assistance to tribes and law enforcement to implement new protocols.

Support the Red Ribbon Alert project. Since there’s no database tracking missing and murdered indigenous women, this project offers an alert system for when a Native American woman goes missing. Like their Facebook page and share missing women alerts from your area.

Images via Red Ribbon Alert Project/Facebook.

Get to know the tribes near you. Start by learning about them, and follow the social media accounts of local tribes to find out about what's happening in their communities. Attend public events and get to know people. (In the interest of cultural sensitivity, you may want to check out articles with advice from Native American people before you go.)

Learn about domestic violence and support organizations that support victims. As with other female demographics, murder stats of Native American women are strongly connected with domestic violence. The National Domestic Violence Hotline launched the StrongHearts Native Helpline specifically for indigenous populations, and they offer helpful information about supporting all domestic violence victims. You can donate to the hotline here.

Understand how the oil, gas, and other extraction industries affect human trafficking in Native American communities. Joye Braun, member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Indigenous Environmental Network, explains that the "man camps" set up to build pipelines, such as Keystone XL, threaten the communities, women, and children.

"Apart from the huge environmental crisis this pipeline would bring," Braun says, "it would threaten the very lives of our people with sex trafficking, drugs, violence, and death." We can learn more about these issues, offer our own voices in protest, and advocate for alternative energy sources.

Members of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance marched on horseback to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

It's no secret that Native Americans have suffered at the hands of white supremacy and colonization through all of our country's history. But by amplifying voices like Marita GrowingThunder's, we can take inspiration from her story and her walk. And we can honor her 80-mile sacrifice by doing our part.

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About my location:

The two names of this hill: Pukeahu and Mount Cook, reflect its rich history. Māori have had a long association with Pukeahu, from pre-historic times until the present day. European settlers, recognising its prominent position, began using and changing the hill from 1840.

What does Pukeahu mean?

In the Māori language ‘puke’ means hill, and ‘ahu’ is an altar or stone platform, or the central stone of a marae. So Pukeahu (sometimes spelt ‘Puke Ahu’) suggests the idea of a ‘sacred hill’ – a sacred place to perform rituals. We know the name Pukeahu was given to this hill by the Ngāi Tara iwi (tribe). However, there is no record of why they gave it that name.

Why Mount Cook?

With the arrival of European settlers, Pukeahu was renamed Mount Cook, after British explorer Captain James Cook, who first voyaged to New Zealand in 1769–70.

Between the ridges

Pukeahu sits between two dominant ridgelines. The first, known by Māori as Te Ranga o Hiwi, extends from Point Jerningham (Orua-kai-kuru) up to Te Mātairangi (Mount Victoria), and finishes between Island Bay and Lyall Bay. The other ridgeline runs from Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori Hill) through to Te Kopahou (Red Rocks) on Wellington’s south coast, extending to Te Rimurapa (Sinclair Head) in the west and the Tawatawa Ridge between Island Bay and Ōwhiro Bay.

Beside the flats

The flat area between Pukeahu and Wellington Harbour was called Huriwhenua. It extended as far as what is now Newtown and included what is now called the Te Aro flat. The peak of Pukeahu, rising from the Huriwhenua flat, was by some accounts once ‘as sharply conical as Mt Victoria’. The Waitangi Stream flowed through the valley to the east of Pukeahu, with the Waimāpihi Stream to the west. The area where Basin Reserve is now was a swamp known as Hauwai.

Vegetation

The area from the harbour to the south coast was once wooded, with tall trees including pukatea, tōtara, northern rātā, rimu, kohekohe, tawa, hīnau, mānuka and many other species. Many paths ran through this area, and Māori from the earliest settlements cleared much of the land for gardens.

New Zealand company draughtsman Charles Heaphy, recalling his first visit to Port Nicholson (as Wellington was then known by Europeans) in 1839, before the arrival of European settlers, said Tinakori Hill was, ‘densely timbered ... the rata … being conspicuous’. Wellington Terrace (where The Terrace is now) was ‘timbered chiefly with high manuka’, some trees 12 metres high. Te Aro was covered in high fern and tutu, and Hauwai was a ‘deep morass’.

A changing landscape

The 1848 Marlborough and 1855 Wairarapa earthquakes both changed the landscape of the area. Most notably, they raised the land around the harbour and allowed Hauwai (Basin Reserve) to be drained.

Maruiwi

According to ethnographer Elsdon Best and others, the first settlers of this area, who they call Maruiwi, were said to have originally landed in Taranaki (from Polynesia) before moving to other places. Others have used the terms Kāhui Tipua or Te Kāhui Maunga for these early people. They were less tribally organised than later Māori, and are sometimes referred to as the moa hunters.

Ngāi Tara

The first of the tribal groups to settle this area was probably Ngāi Tara. Possibly as early 1250 AD, the Ngāti Hinewai hapū (subtribe) established the major pā (fortified villiage) of Te Akatarewa on the slopes of Mount Alfred, around where Wellington College is today.

Ngāti Rangi and Ngāti Ira

Ngāi Tara were displaced over time by a related group of Ngāti Rangi. They were in turn displaced by Ngāti Ira – the descendants of Ira-kai-pūtahi – who lived in the Huriwhenua flat area and in some other places around Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbour).

Taranaki iwi

Ngāti Ira were displaced from Te Whanganui-a-Tara by iwi from Taranaki; firstly Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama, and then Te Āti Awa and other Taranaki peoples. These migrations were prompted by Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi war parties making forays into Taranaki from 1818 to 1821, during the intertribal musket wars. The waves of migration came first to the Waikanae area, and Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Huriwhenua were among the later areas settled. It is thought that Te Akatarewa pā and the area around Pukehu was probably not occupied at the time of the arrival of the Taranaki iwi.

Te Aro pā, which was on Wellington’s waterfront, around where Manners Street and Taranaki Street now meet, was first established by Ngāti Mutunga in 1824. They vacated it in 1835 when they left to settle in the Chatham Islands. The pā was then occupied by Ngāti Tupaia and Ngāti Haumia along with their Te Āti Awa kin.

Te Āti Awa occupied much of the Wellington area, with coastal settlements at Paekawakawa (Island Bay), Ōwhiro, and Waiariki and Ōterongo, both on the coast between Sinclair Head and Cape Terawhiti. They also were located around the harbour at Kumutoto (present-day Woodward Street), Pipitea (Thorndon Quay), Kaiwharawhara, Ngauranga, Pito-one (Petone), Hikoikoi/Waiwhetū and along the Pencarrow coast.

There is little doubt Pukeahu was used for settlement in ancient times. However, there is no oral history of specific pā (fortified villages) on the site.

Cultivations

Much of the land around Pukeahu was occupied by ngakinga (gardens) for the Te Akatarewa pā. This was a major pā for the Ngāi Tara iwi, so they developed numerous garden sites, including on Pukeahu. These gardens were also used by the Taranaki iwi from Te Aro pā centuries later.

The earliest gardens were for the cultivation of bracken ferns for their edible roots. This simply involved clearing the forest and allowing the regrowth of ferns. Māori then terraced the hills for growing kūmara (sweet potato). Later, potatoes, melons and corn were planted. These garden clearings extended into Aro Valley and Newtown, and were in active use when the New Zealand Company surveyors arrived in 1839.

The Hauwai cultivation area bordered the Hauwai swamp and ran up the hill to around where the entrance to Wellington College is today. Hauwai swamp was a mahinga kai (food-gathering area), where eels and other fish from the swamp streams were gathered.

Ngā Kumikumi clearing was an old cultivation area in the bush around what is now lower Nairn Street. Nearby, around Central Park, was the Te Āti Awa kāinga (village) known as Moe-i-te-rā or Moe-rā.

Wāhi tapu on Pukeahu

There are few, if any, known wāhi tapu (places of spiritual significance to Māori) directly on Pukeahu. However, because of its height and proximity to Te Akatarewa pā, it is likely that burials were conducted somewhere on the site.

Cultivation in this area was less formal than in some regions, where gardens had stone walls and feature stone or wooden mauri (carved figures believed to maintain mauri or life force). While gardens round Pukeahu may have had mauri stones associated with them, these would have long since been removed.

Since European settlement in the 1840s, Pukeahu has been heavily modified, leaving little of the pre-colonial landscape. The cone-shaped hilltop was flattened off and lowered by some 30 metres, and so any remnants of Māori use and occupation are likely to have long since been removed.

Early European visitors

From the early 1800s European whalers and sealers worked the waters around New Zealand and established numerous stations around Cook Strait, and on Mana and Kapiti islands. The first recorded visit by a European vessel into Te Whanganui-a-Tara was in 1823, when, around the middle of that year, Captain John Day visited in the sealing brig the Wellington, a ‘curious coincidence’ given the name of the city that later arose.

By the 1830s Cook Strait was full of whaling ships but there are no records of any ships visiting the harbour, with the exception of a small missionary schooner. There are reports of Europeans living with local iwi, possibly operating trading posts, before formal settlement began in 1840.

The New Zealand Company

In 1839 the sailing ship the Tory arrived with representatives of the New Zealand Company, who intended to purchase land and prepare settlements for the British emigrants the company was recruiting.

Te Āti Awa chiefs Te Puni and Wharepōuri signed a deed of purchase with the New Zealand Company in September 1839. The validity of this transaction was later contested. The deed promised that Māori would retain their pā, kāinga, cultivations and mahinga kai, and, ‘A portion of the land ceded by them, equal to one-tenth part of the whole, will be reserved by … the New Zealand Company … and held in trust by them for the future benefit of the said chiefs, their families, and their heirs for ever.’ The ‘native reserves’ included ‘Cooks Mount’ (Pukeahu) and two neighbouring acres.

The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Pito-one (Petone) on 22 January 1840, and set up a community there. However, after the settlement was flooded in early March, the settlers moved across the harbour to Thorndon and Te Aro. By the end of the year 1,200 British settlers had arrived in Wellington.

The New Zealand Company parcelled up the land into sections for settlers, who were to get one town acre (0.4 hectares) and an accompanying 100 country acres (40 hectares). There were 1100 one-acre town sections in the plan for Port Nicholson. The New Zealand Company surveyors paid no attention to the sites Māori had been promised and, over time as the city grew, Māori moved away.

With the arrival of European settlers, Pukeahu was renamed Mount Cook, after British explorer Captain James Cook. In the years since, a range of functions have shaped the hill’s form and identity.

The impact of European settlement

New Zealand Company surveyor Captain William Mein Smith recognised the strategic advantage of the hill. By late 1840 a prison was situated on Mount Cook, even though the land was still a native reserve. In 1842 it was reported that about 60 prisoners were held there, though the building was described as ‘a wretched maori building, large enough for twelve or fifteen human beings at the most.’

Today Pukeahu/Mount Cook is most associated with the Dominion Museum building, a high school, a university and the National War Memorial. However, since the 1840s Mount Cook has been the site for a succession of prisons and a police station, served numerous military purposes, accommodated brickworks, and housed a number of educational institutions.

Lesser-known uses include being the site for an official observatory for the 1882 transit of Venus and the home of Wellington City Council’s dog pound.

Source: https://mch.govt.nz/pukeahu/