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hoseokslefteyebrow · 4 years

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Bitch Boss || J.HS

Pairing : Jung Hoseok X Reader

Genre : Fluff, tad bit of Angst?

Summary : " Second thing you need to know? My name is Jung Hoseok, and you're mine."

Wordcount: 1.7k

[ A/N: Lmao guys, here I am. Stress writing while I could also be studying. But no. My shit ass just had to stress write for no valuable reason. Anyway, I had this idea with Hobi in a gang au for like two years already and here it finally is. Also, I didn't check my spelling lmao. Enjoy!]

The man in front of you seemed to think the same, because he gulped before chickening out.

You glared at the man in front of you. Hard. Very hard, in fact if glares could kill, the man in front of you would be lying dead on the floor.

" I'll just-" His voice cracked.

He swallowed before clearing it.

" My friend will talk to you." He said before leaving.

You rolled your eyes before going to inspect your nails.

It's been four hours.

Four hours since this rookie gang had caught you. You were pretty sure that you would have no problem getting out of here.

A new man entered the room while you were more intrested in your nails.

" So, princess. There's only a few things you'll need to know. First of all, you're not leaving this place. Ever. Or my side to be more specific." The man smiled.

Way too angelic you decided as you looked up from your nails.

Not leaving his side?

" Second thing you need to know? My name is Jung Hoseok, and you're mine."

It's been a few days since you've been living with Hoseok, and so far, so good.

Apparently he was part of Bangtan, one of the most feared gangs in South Korea, and he did not know that you were trained to be an assassin. He tough you were an ordinary girl with a big mouth.

" C' mhere." Hoseok opened his arms in expectations of you running into them.

You raised your brow at him, once again inspecting your nails.

" What is it with you and your nails? Want a manicure or something?" He asked.

You snorted.

" You don't understand women at all do you?" You asked sharply.

" Oh shit, are you on your period? What do you want me to do? I can get you chocolates and stuff. Maybe a heat pack?-"

" Let me go." You asked, more like stated as an order.

The shine in his eyes left, and his smile faded into a thin line.

" No."

" That's what's wrong with you, Hoseok. Not me. You canmot keep a woman here and expect her to love you." You stated.

You would use your assassin skills, but you couldn't. No matter what happened, the most you would do is knock someone out.

The reason why you haven't full up attacked Hoseok yet was because you couldn't kill, you knew that he wouldn't let you go that easily anyway. And because you could see the hurt little boy underneath the layer of guns and bombs. You knew you had to think trough your plan of escaping.

Meanwhile the look in Hoseok's eyes softened.

" I'm sorry..... Come with me." He ordered and turned around.

Once he realized that you were still seated and not planning to get up anytime soon, he turned back to you and walked over, grabbing your hand and pulling you up.

" Where are we going?" You asked him.

" Training."

His training of that afternoon turned out to be much easier than you were used to. Apparently he decided that you should learn the basics for when things go south while he isn't around, you didn't complain about it.

Today he was going to teach you how to use a gun.

A poor choice really.

" No, you're supposed to- Yeah, like that exactly. How did you know I was going to say that?" He asked.

You gulped but shrugged.

" Well, it's loaded already. Tey to hit the target." Hoseok told you.

Your eyes widen.

The thing was loaded?

An extremely poor choice really.

You turned the gun to him, pointing it directly over his heart.

Hoseok's eyes widen as he didn't expect the move.

" Y/N, don't play around with that. "

Your eyes sharpened and clicked the safety off.

" Y/N, I'm serious-"

You managed to get him to shut him up by turning the gun and hitting the furthest target straight in the bulls eye.

He turned to look at it before turning back to you.

" There's something I haven't been really honest about Hoseok. I'm not as innocent as I look." You smiled coyly before putting the gun down on the table in front of you and walking away.

" Fuck that was sexy." Hoseok said as he watched you walk away.

He grinned to himself before shaking his head.

" Time to redo that background check."

It's been a few months since you've been with Jung Hoseok in his mansion. And suprisingly enough, you didn't hate it. In fact, you were slowly falling in love. It pained you when you realized it. It had started with the little moment back in the training session, and then he started letting you go around the property freely, and up till now he started downright spoiling you. You smiled as you tough of him.

Your little moment was cut short however as the wall beside you exploded.

Literally exploded.

Your ears were ringing as you tried to get up, but your legs were giving up on you.

" There she is, experiment 0572." Someone said.

You were suprised to hear anything trough your ringing ears.

Your suprise was cut short as your eyes sharpened.

Experiment 0572.

The name you were given as assassin.

The name you had before you ran away.

Before Hoseok decided to take you off the shitty three jobs you had and decided that you were his.

The fear of losing of what you had now managed to get you up on your shaking legs, your hands balling at your sides before you threw the first punch.

A poor decision as you were weakened.

" Hoseok! We have serious problems!" Jungkook yelled ad he entered his office.

" Can't be more worse than this stupid gun which needs to be fixed." Hoseok grumbled back.

" It's about Y/N." Jungkook breathed.

Hoseok stopped with what he was doing and turned his full attention to the younger.

" She's taken from your house. I don't know all the details. Just that there was an explosion and these weird lookimg dudes were there and- I don't understand any of it. Just watch this, maybe you do." Jungkook said, slamming a sd cards onto his desk.

" It's the security tape from outside. Yoongi hyung's already searching for the van that appeared in the video." Jungkook said as Hoseok nodded, wasting no time and putting the sd card in his laptop.

The wall blew up and you were catapulted backwards.

Hoseok sucked in a breath at the sight.

He was caught by suprise when he saw you get up.

" There she is, experiment 0572." A man smirked down at your form.

Hoseok looked at his screen in confusion, experiment 0572?

The man smirked at you and something inside you snapped as you threw a lunch at his face, he was quick to react , throwing a punch right on your sleep, effectively knocking you out.

" This is experiment 0572?" One of the other men in the room asked.

" She's stronger than she looks.I've seen it on tape. Now let's move it before whatever sugar daddy she has comes back home." The man who knocked you out said, and another man unceremoniously threw you in the back of the van.

Hoseok felt rage built up inside him by the sight of someone hurting you. He rewound part of the tape, taking a closer look at the logo on his jacket.

He smirked as he got a clear picture of the tiger on the back of the man's vest.

Hsg.

Hsg was a small rising gang, but not for long.

Because they obviously didn't do their homework right.

You might be some kind of expiriment to them, but you are overall Hoseok's.

And they will certainly not get away with taking what is his.

Hoseok smirked as he called Yoongi.

You woke up to the sound of screaming, as if someone was suffering.

A sound you hated.

The sight that came with it was a sight you hate just as much.

There's a lot of blood around you, and a few dead bodies.

Not a pretty sight.

Your stomach wad empty, but if you had any food in it, you were pretty sure that it would have been out by now.

" Princess?" You heard a voice call softly from beside you.

Your eyes lighten up in realization.

Hoseok was here.

He had actually come to save you.

You started mumbling trough the gag that was placed in your mouth.

" I know, I know. I got you." He said as he took the gag off you, holding you in his arms.

You started crying with closed eyes, you weren't sure when the last time was that someone held you.

You especially had never experienced the feeling of being held so secure before.

Your eyes opened again as you took sight of the man in doorway, it was the very man who had knocked you out.

Your eyes widened when you realized he was holding a gun in his hand, and it was aimed right at Hoseok's back.

With a shaky breath you took Hoseok's gun from it's holder.

You felt Hoseok still against you.

" Y/N-"

You clicked the safety off and shot the man.

Twice.

One bullet in both shoulders.

You didn't have it in you to kill him, you couldn't do it.

Hoseok pulled away from you, but didn't let you go.

He took the gun from you and shot the man straight in the head.

" I'll always have you. Thank you for having me." He wishpered in your hair as he pulled you back into an embrace.

#bts #bts x reader #min yoongi #idkeitherman #jung hobi #hobi x you #hobi x y/n #hobi x reader #bts mafia #bts gang au

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tell-me-when-ur-ready · 5 years

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Halloween Party

Author’s note: As of one week ago I’m officially in love with David Dobrik so here’s a little thing I wrote

Warnings: PTSD from rape, including flashbacks to the event

Word count: 1,500

She was a friend of Natalie’s who had just moved to LA to work in social media marketing. “You’ll love her,” Nat had said before she arrived, promising her friend was smart and gorgeous and loved a good time.

“I can show her a good time,” Zane had said, waggling his eyebrows, and Nat smacked him with the nearest pillow.

But Natalie was right: When her friend arrived in September, she fit right into the vlog squad, joining in the paintball wars and pranks and crazy conversations with gusto. Until one day when they were all flopped on David’s prized white couch and the conversation turned to dating, and she noticeably tensed up for the first time.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend,” she said reluctantly when someone pushed her for information on her love life, and Zane’s eyebrows went up.

“Really? You’re 23 years old.”

She shook her head no.

“But you’ve had sex, right?”

She hesitated, wavering. David got closer with his camera and she flapped a hand in his face.

“Go away,” she said halfheartedly. Her voice shook a little.

“Soooo is that a yes or a no?” Zane pushed, and she whipped her head around to glare at him with surprising ferocity.

“It’s a how-about-you-shut-up-and-mind-your-own-business.”

The others howled and Zane threw his water bottle at them. David’s living room devolved into a full-out wrestling match, and he thought he was the only one who noticed the shaky little sigh she let out as she touched a gentle hand to her throat.

She knocked on his open bedroom door that evening, when it was quiet and dark and everybody else had left.

“Come in,” he said, looking up from his laptop.

She stopped just inside the door and stood there, twisting her hands nervously. Her normal bright smile was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“David, please don’t use that footage,” she said quietly. “From earlier when we were all sitting on the couch talking.”

“Okay.”

They both looked at each other for a moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he said.

“No. That’s why I just asked you to delete the footage.” She huffed out a little sigh, but her eyes looked glassy.

“I know. I mean, right now? Just with me?”

She shook her head no.

“Okay,” he said again, softly. She left the room.

She was back to her old self the next day, gleefully helping Natalie fill an enormous ball pit with candy corn and then being the first one to jump in. Everything was fine until a few weeks later when David mentioned the words Halloween party and she froze.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” he said around bites of a Chipotle burrito. They were gathered around his kitchen island eating lunch; it was the middle of October. “I’ll get a DJ and a bunch of pumpkins and shit, I don’t know. Beer. We’ll all hang out.”

She had frozen with her plastic fork in hand, staring at him like a deer in the headlights.

Heath let out a howl of laughter. “Look at that face. Not into parties?”

“Not Halloween ones,” she snapped tightly. It was true, though, now that David thought about it—she’d never come out partying or drinking with them in the entire six weeks since she’d moved here. She always claimed she had to get a good night’s sleep before work or, if it was a weekend, that she needed to go home and feed her cat.

“You should come,” he said gently. “It’ll be fun.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to stay home. I don’t want to be out late on a work night.”

“You were literally here until two AM last night. I’d hate to see what you consider late, if that’s not it,” Jason said, prompting another round of laughter.

She just shook her head again, balled up her Chipotle wrapper, and threw it in the trash.

But eventually David and the others wore her down and she showed up at his house on Halloween night. The place was bumping; Zane had already had three beers and the music was shaking the walls. She stepped inside the house clutching her purse like a weapon and looking a little wide eyed, and David meant to stay nearby because she was so obviously nervous, but then Jason was planning an elaborate scare prank on the entire party and he had to grab his camera so he didn’t miss it because he needed the footage for his vlog. And somehow she got lost in the shuffle and he forgot she was even there.

A couple of hours later, he went bursting through his bedroom door for a new SD card, laughing over his shoulder at something Jason had said, and stopped short. She was perched on the edge of his bed. When he came in, she jumped up, startled.

“Hey,” he said, swallowing, and stepped inside. “I’m just—getting an SD card.”

He grabbed one from the little dish on his dresser and turned back to face her. “Are you... okay?”

She was fidgeting nervously with the hem of her T-shirt. When he asked the question, there was a beat of silence before she shook her head and the tears started to fall.

“Hey,” he said quietly again. He took a step toward her; he’d tried to be careful of her boundaries, but he wasn’t exactly sure what they were. She’d refused to be blindfolded once, sat by Nat instead of the guys if she had a choice, wasn’t touchy-feely at all. “Can I—give you a hug?”

She nodded through her tears and he wrapped her in his arms. She was a little shorter than him and her head fit perfectly on the spot between his shoulder and neck. He held her tightly as she shook with sobs; eventually, when it seemed like she was calming down, he led her back to the bed and sat them down, leaving a few feet of space in between them.

“Now do you want to talk about it?” he said gently.

She drew a long, steadying breath and then started to talk. Last year at a Halloween party, her best friend’s brother—someone she considered a friend, too—had dragged her into an empty bedroom and shut and locked the door.

“He choked me,” she said hollowly, staring at a fixed point on the floor. “The whole time.”

He was wearing a Halloween mask and she didn’t know who he was at first—or at least, she’d tried to convince herself she didn’t know. But she did. Deep down, she knew who it was even before he ripped the mask off on his way out the door, leaving her alone in the dark bedroom.

She saw him all the time; they worked together, and since he was her best friend’s brother, they partied together too. That was a big part of the reason she’d moved to LA—she needed to get away from him.

But LA wasn’t everything she envisioned. Her job was fine and she liked David’s friends, but she still felt nervous around the guys, felt like she couldn’t trust anyone because could she really? She hadn’t been to a party since and this one was a year to the date and it was just too much.

David listened to everything without saying a word.

“I want to go home,” she finished, and for a moment he didn’t know if she meant she wanted to leave his house or leave LA. “But I don’t want to walk back through the party.”

“I’ll walk you out,” he said. “But only if you’re sure you’re going to be okay. I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s really shitty. Maybe it would be helpful if you found a therapist.”

She shrugged and he decided not to push it right then.

“We joke around a lot, but all my friends are good guys. You know that, right?”

She nodded, briefly glancing up to meet his eyes, but it wasn’t very convincing.

He slipped his forgotten SD card in his pocket and escorted her back through the chaotic house, waving off the drinks and cameras being shoved in his face.

“Be right back,” he yelled to Jason. “She’s not feeling well.”

Outside, he opened her car door.

“See you tomorrow?” he asked, then added, “I hope?”

Maybe it would take more time to prove that this was a safe place—LA was safe, his house was safe, his friends were safe. That he was a safe place. But that was okay with him. They’d get there eventually.

She smiled a little for the first time all night and said, “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

If anyone wants to be tagged in future David fics (bc there will probably be some), let me know!

#david dobrik #david dobrik fanfiction #david dobrik blurb #david dobrik fic #david dobrik imagine

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echodrops · 5 years

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The Promises I Made (2018)

For the past twelve years, I’ve spent every New Year’s Eve compiling a list of fifty promises I intend to keep or fulfill over the next twelve months. The results have been truly amazing, and I have kept some promises I never thought I could. Although this year was really, really bad, oh lord... This year, for New Year’s, there will be a new set of promises for to me keep, but here are the old ones, for review!

The Promises I Made (2018 edition)

1) I will be less anxious at work and not let passing comments from students or passive rudeness get under my skin as much. Status: Somewhat kept; I feel like I wasn’t as upset by students being rude this year as last year, but then again that might just be because I had better students. XD

2) I will be more proactive about my responsibilities for the college newspaper committee so we can make a great product. Status: Uhh… Can I count this as kept if the newspaper committee was put on hold due to decisions from the higher administration, so I didn’t have to be proactive about these responsibilities?

3) I will actually visit Mexico, not just accidentally take a wrong turn and end up there... Status: Broken. You know how some people like live next door to a restaurant for years but somehow never get around to trying it? Yeah that’s me, with the entire country of Mexico. Like, I literally live less than a mile from the border… I really should just go get lunch one day or something…

4) I will actually decorate my office with all the stuff I have had sitting around at my house for months. Status: Actually kept. I don’t feel like the decorating is really done in the office, but the decorations are no longer cluttering up my actual home instead of the office!

5) I will be better about focusing so that I can grade quickly and feel less overwhelmed throughout the course of the semester. Status: You know, it’s hard to say whether or not I did grade more quickly because spring semester I took on a really annoying class schedule and it screwed me over hard. I feel like I was a little faster this year, but I felt more overwhelmed than ever.

6) I will get the scratch on my Camaro buffed a bit to clear up the parts that can be cleared. Status: I just… didn’t do this. Broken.

7) I will repair the mortar on the fence outside the Utah house and seal the bricks on the window sills. Status: Somewhat kept/broken. I fixed the mortar on the fence outside but did not seal the windowsill bricks.

8) I will finish at least 26 books over the course of this year. Status: Look man. If my promise had been “Finish 26 fanfics longer than 100,000 words,” I would have blown this promise out of the water. But as it stands, I think I only made it to 10-ish printed books. I’m naughty. 9) I will retrim the grape vine at the Utah house and also spray/get someone to spray to kill the wasps. Status: Broken. I don’t know why I thought it would be smart to make a promise about trimming the grape vine, since that’s something you do in fall… when I’m not even in Utah… Hrmmmm… 10) I will get the mail man to stop delivering the wrong mail to my box because I’m getting ten times more mail for other people than for myself. Status: I had so many opportunities to do this, and I just didn’t. RIP.

11) I will have the fire escape window installed on the Utah house to make it legal to rent. Status: Broken. That’s a lotta money fam.

12) I will update Home and a Half at least four times (and no more double posts, just be chill Yehn, be chill for once…) Status: WOW. I was so, so optimistic, wasn’t I? 13) I will actually build all the furniture I bought for the Texas house and never assembled. Status: Mostly kept? I think there’s like one more thing I haven’t assembled (the spare futon), but up to this point I haven’t needed it, so...

14) I will actually watch Stranger Things since everyone keeps nagging me about it. Status: Broken. I just didn’t do this at all.

15) I will go to a dentist and get this annoying wisdom tooth removed and also see what can be done for my front tooth that got pushed out of alignment by said wisdom tooth. This really needs to happen ‘cause the partially erupted tooth is killing me. D; Status: Wisdom tooth is still hurting me… I am the worst at taking care of myself… 2019… the year of self-care?

16) I will take a road trip with my friend Karen like we’ve been talking about for a while. Status: Actually did this! Finally something completely kept. It was a great trip too.

17) I will continue to serve as the video game club’s faculty sponsor. Status: I was too busy… T_T Broken.

18) I will lower my credit card debt by at least $2000. Moving is so expensive. T_T Status: I ended up having major set-backs this year in the form of having to pay out of pocket for a new windshield in my car and also my Playstation flat out dying on me, so this goal did not get satisfied. But now that my car is completely paid off (hell yeah!), I’ll finally be able to start making big payments on this sucker.

19) I will have ALL my lesson plans planned out in advance for Fall 2018 so that I can just chill next fall. Status: YO THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. There were still some instances of needing to fix things, but overall I did actually have all the lessons done in advance, and that was probably the only reason I survived fall at all lol.

20) I will finish painting the living room in the Utah house, finally. Status: I… forgot I even made this promise. Yikes.

21) I will be better about walking my dog because I have been slacking lately. Status: I wanted to be better, but every fucking time I go to walk my dog, the neighbor’s Chihuahua runs through their fence and tries to attack my dog, so literally every walk becomes a nightmare and there were a lot of days when I just didn’t want to deal with that stress… :/

22) I will finish a game other than FFXIV this year. Man, so many games have been piling up… Status: I couldn’t even find time to play FFXIV this year, let alone another game… 23) I will write a new, original short story. Status: I… did not write like at all this year. 2018 was just really hard for me. T_T

24) I will get my black glasses fixed this year, finally. Status: Uh… Kept… I think? At least I think this promise was referring to the damage to the frames of my black glasses, which I did get fixed. But now the lens has a scratch… V_V

25) I will attend more professional development/on-campus events and trainings to bolster my evaluation. Status: Eh, kept? I’m signed up for a conference and did some extra training thing that I can throw on the sheet, so I’m calling it good.

26) I will ink and color at least the one drawing of Yehn’zi that I finished sketching a while ago and did absolutely nothing with. Status: A whole lot of nope on this one.

27) I will really finish moving in to my Texas house, no more “I’ll fish out the clothes from the Space Bag when I need them but never actually hang them up.” Status: I’m counting this as kept, since the only thing that didn’t happen is that I never took the plastic wrap off the top of my nightstand, but like… hey that’s a really convenient way to avoid water spots so…

28) I will volunteer at a non-profit organization to fulfill my “service to the community” work requirement. I mean, I will volunteer from the goodness of my heart… yeah… Status: Shitttt this didn’t happen and it really needed to… Oh dear…

29) I will level ALL my classes to 70 in Stormblood. Status: This also did not happen. No time to play.

30) I will reach 1000 followers on tumblr. You should follow me. I’m only marginally a waste of time and space. Status: Kept and exceeded! I’m at like… 1540-ish right now I believe.

31) I will find a salon so I can get my hair dyed consistently instead of looking like a shabby blob half way through each semester. Status: Well, the good news is that my hair color fades so nicely that one of my students actually asked if the strawberry blonde was my natural color. But uh… no… it’s not… so…

32) I will find some way to pay back my coworker for all the incredibly nice things she has done for me already. Status: I mean, I took her out to lunch a lot but I don’t know if I really managed to feel “equal” on the debts I owe her for helping me out.

33) I will see an Anhinga (it’s a kind of bird!) in Texas. Status: Kept! The very first time I went looking for it, I found it, so score.

34) I will win Camp NaNoWriMo this year (because November might never be a possibility for me again, given how much grading I seem to end up doing during that month). T_T Status: Broken. Again, I wrote almost nothing this year. Too much stress. T_T

35) I will scout for new neighborhoods to move to with better internet access and closer to my work. Status: Kept. It’s still a bit too early for me to be looking for specific places, but I have a better sense of where I’ll be aiming for when I do go to buy something.

36) I will try to get better at Spanish, possibly by using my DuoLingo app more. Status: …Broken.

37) I will buy sod for the front part of the Utah house so that my house actually looks decent from the curb. Status: I COULD HAVE… But I didn’t.

38) I will be more proactive about commenting, reccing, and reblogging content I appreciate online because I find so many wonderful things but I rarely say as much about them as I should. Status: I think I was worse about this than last year. I miss the days when I didn’t feel like every five minutes taken to myself was stealing from my work responsibilities…

39) I will actually use my Instagram account to upload my photography somewhere public. Status: I forgot I made this promise too. Oops…

40) I will go dolphin-watching in the Gulf. Status: Somewhat kept? I mean… I stood on the pier… And saw dolphins in the Gulf. That counts, right???

41) I will clear all the photos and videos off my phone and camera SD cards because they are overflowing. Status: Kept but now they’re just sitting on the hard drive unsorted and in a confusing jumble of unnamed folders...

42) I will update my calendar with important dates—holidays, birthdays, etc.—and be productive about sending cards and well-wishes. Status: Broken, just totally broken.

43) I will complete my series of posts about Yato/Hiyori. Really. Status: >___> One day…

44) I will not work later than 10pm on any given work night. I can’t keep running myself ragged. I need to brake sometimes. Status: HA. I was really hopeful. More broken promises…

45) I will explore some new places/cities in Texas that I have not been before. Status: I… did not do this. I had a chance to do this and I didn’t. D;

46) I will get a gardener for the Texas house because the lawn is basically unmanageable by myself. Status: Kept. Because… the lawn really was unmanageable by myself so…

47) I will clean out the fridge more often. No expired milk or ancient leftovers this year please… Status: >_____> Ooopppssss.

48) I will get some sort of watering system set up so that the lawn at the Texas house isn’t a total disaster anymore. Status: Somewhat kept. I did buy hoses and sprinklers to water the lawn but mostly it’s just been raining a lot and that made the grass greener on its own.

49) I will help make one of the super complicated cookies from the new cookie cookbook I bought for Karen. Status: Actually kept! We learned much about the workings of cookie guns.

50) I will keep these promises. Status: Ouch, this one hurts a little.

Totals Kept promises: 12 Broken promises: 29 Somewhat kept/broken promises: 9

Y I K E S ™. I thought last year was crazy and was so hopeful for this year… I had NO IDEA how hard this last year was going to be. So many broken promises; I feel so guiltyyyyy. DDDD; Although I’m still at the same job and not planning on dramatically swapping entire career fields again, things are still in the process of settling and there’s still SO much more I feel like I need to work on. 2018 was the year of being constantly overwhelmed. Unfortunately, 2019 doesn’t seem like it’s going to be much calmer because I’m still working on designing classes and getting my lessons ironed out, but I at least no longer feel like I’m at rock bottom… So, I’m cautiously, very cautiously, feeling the tiniest bit optimistic?

Let’s do this, 2019! The new set of promises will be up by tomorrow.

#50 promises #new year's resolutions #2018 feels like a thousand pound weight on my shoulders #time to shake it off #new year #IRL stuff #welcome 2019!!

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ongfreestyle · 6 years

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High School AU (Yoo Kihyun)

*This idea was floating around in my head *And man it sounds juicy but idk lol *(SPOILER ALERT this ain't turn out how I wanted :( I'll try again) *So it's freshman year of high school and you joined the yearbook committee *Your literally one of the only freshman who joined *Except Yoo Kihyun (ayyyyeee #PlotConvenience) and some other kid named Minhyuk who was annoying to you at first *So freshman year starts off easy *But holy shit you've gotta go to school events to get pictures AND you have to design the yearbook pages AND THE COVER AND THE THEME AND YOUR COUNTING VOTES FOR SR. FAVES *It's a lot tbh *But luckily you've got a whole team of people who are there to help you out *Except on Friday Night Football *Not one person volunteered to go on the sidelines and take pics *Everyone's "too busy" or being in the sidelines is "too dangerous" *But the truth is everyone just wants to be in the bleachers hanging with friends instead of doing stuff for the yearbook *So guess who gets roped into doing it? *The freshmen of course! *So you Kihyun and Minhyuk are now on the sidelines, with your sideline passes and your all shook *Because why the fuck are all these football players so big? And why are the cheerleaders and pom girls all here on the sidelines? A news crew is here too? *It's hectic *You and Kihyun are just gripping you cameras for dear life unsure of what to do *And Minhyuk is like "k I'm gonna go snap some pics of the mascot" *He's so bold and confident it seems *And you and Kihyun are a bit more shy *But then the game starts and there is zero time to be shy because you guys are running all around trying to get a shot of every group you can *After like and hour and a half you're beat *So you're looking at your pics while you take a break off to the side and you realize they're mostly blurry and out of focus *You're literally like FML all this for nothing and you really wanna go home because there is so much going on and your stressed :( *So your about to call your mom and you look over and see Kihyun crouching down by the endzone clearly trying to get some aesthetic shot of the sky or something *And he's so focused he doesn't realize that the game is still going *And that number 85 is CHARGING TOWARDS HIM *SO on a whim you drop your camera and run over there *Just like you in some kinda KDrama you shove him over and fall on top of him *And literally the whole school can see *Plus Minhyuk is definitely taking a picture of this *And you get up as fast as you can because this can't be a flattering angle and you're sweaty and probably smell like a locker room at this point *85 scored btw *Kihyun is like "um what the hell? You almost crushed my camera?" *Then your like "85 was running and he would have hit you and he was running so fast he couldn't stop... probably" *Kihyun is like "oh thx ig" *He kinda doesn't buy it but he sees 85 is had ran way past the endzone so it's plausible *Anyway that's your first encounter with Yoo Kihyun *And it sucked *But you try not to think of it and hope no one actually cared that you were on top of him during the game *So you go home *And THEN MONDAY YOU RETURN AND EVERYONE IS SHIPPING Y'ALL *It's the weirdest thing too because you literally only know his name and he probably doesn't know yours so HOW ARE PEOPLE EVEN COMING UP WITH THIS IDEA *Then you remember that you two were actually on top of one another at the game last Friday *And your friends are like so...👀👀👀 *And you're like "SO ?? I WAS HELPING A FELLOW YEARBOOK TEAM MEMBER!" *And they're like "help him with what?" 👀👀👀 *And it gets worse when they show you the pics some people got *Because from a higher angle it looks intentional and more sensual I guess *Really it's a mess and when you go to yearbook class Minhyuk has taken the liberty of printing the HD pictures he got and putting them on your desks *He's smiling *And your shook and embarrassed *One of the upperclassmen literally asked you if he was hard and how big he felt because she like younger men ! *You're just !!!!!!! *You toss the picture in the trash and try to trash the one on Kihyun's desk, but he comes in and you are too shy to make eye contact when he asks you why you're at his desk *So you just go sit down *Then he's furious when he sees the pic *His rage is only stopped by the teacher calling role and assigning a yearbook page for everyone *You get the cheerleader page and Kihyun gets the football page *And then you guys all head to the computer room by your class to start making pages *And as soon as you guys exit the classroom you hear a large SMACK sound *And Minhyuk is like OOOUUCH *"MINHYUK WHAT THE FUCK?!" *"THE WHOLE SCHOOL IS TALKING ABOUT THIS SHIT AND I DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHY WHAT THE FUCK?!" *Minhyuk is just laughing and saying sorry, but he's clearly not sorry *And you're just ... *Then you get into the computer lab and somehow you end up sitting next to him *And he's working in his football page *You're doing cheer *But you don't have many pictures and most are blurry *And Kihyun has amazing pics but his page layout is trash *So you decide maybe you can make a deal *You can help him with layouts if he helps you with pictures *And after class you suggest it *And he's surprisingly all for it *He gives you his number so you guys can discuss in further detail *Weeks pass and your deal actually never makes a start *You just have Kihyun's number chilling in your phone *Every freshman girls dream tbh *Finally towards the end of the year he is like "hey you still down to help me out with my pages? I wanna make them good before we submit them" *And you were like "sure if you show me how to properly work a camera and get cool shots like you" *He's happy with your compliment it's written all over his face *And your happy that he's taking to you because all year you've been so awkward and your only friend has been a Senior and Minhyuk and they're great *But like *You also wanna befriend Kihyun *So you guys pick a weekend *Meet up at a Starbucks *And you start teaching Kihyun all the technical stuff about making a good layout *You're both looking at your laptop *You're sitting pretty close together *Kihyun has a nice scent he smells like a fresh shower *IDK he looks like he smells pretty fresh *Anyway he's got those Harry Potter style glasses on *{Swoons} *Plus black hair that looks kinda wet *Is it moose? Is it post-shower hair? *Is it kinda hot? *Yes *So after going over tips for like an hour Kihyun stops you and buys you a coffee *And you're like feel all shy inside because that was super nice *So he's like "K let's go outside. I'll show you how to shoot" *You're packing up your things and he's helping you and your fingers touch and y'all pull away so damn quick *It's like you got burned or something *Awkward *Then Kihyun is leading you across the street and showing how he would capture the Starbucks you were just in *And as he's talking your just like 💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟 *He's really cute and passionate about photography *And he's cute *Dude Kihyun is really cute k *So anyways he hands you the camera and says "try it" *You're obviously fucked because you haven't been listening to anything he said *Plus he camera is some fancy Nikon and you haven't the slightest clue how to work it *"Is it on?" *"Yeah" *He chuckled at you *Bitch it was the best chuckle you've heard in your life *So you snap a pic if Starbucks *It's basic as shit and kinda off center *The focus is a bit strange too *But Kihyun isn't an ass so he tells you "it's a start" *And your DYING inside like WHO CAN'T SNAP ONE PIC *But Kihyun keeps teaching you and while you're finally focusing correctly it's not professional looking like his *Still it's much better than before *After all that Kihyun offers to walk you home *You're like sure *You're sweating *But he takes you home and y'all don't even speak *When you get home you friends are like what's the tea ???👀👀👀 *Ain't no tea *But Kihyun is definitely cute and you have a slight crush *The schools ship might sail *LMAO BUT NOT YET BIH I'M NOT THAT LAZY *FAST FORWARD TO JUNIOR YEAR *Y'ALL ARE BESTIES *Still on that Yearbook grind *But Kihyun does all the pics for you and you do all his pages for him *It's fair enough tbh *On the weekends y'all get together to work on more yearbook stuff and Minhyuk 3rd wheels since he quit to join the broadcast team *He just likes to hang with y'all tbh *And ship y'all *Then say it was his iconic picture that started it all *When honestly you two got close Sophomore year by doing each other's work and collaborating on the weekends when you could *Junior year though you guys just stayed together because you like to be around one another *It was about yearbook all the time anymore *It was about friendship *Of course you're crushing on Kihyun really bad now though *His hair is dark brown now *He got a bit taller *He works out now *He has contacts *He keeps his hair slicked back and dresses and smells sO NICE *HE'S NOT CUTE ANYMORE *HE'S HOTTTTTTTT *You gotta play it cool *But every weekend it's getting harder *He's so relaxed around you *He looks super cool just leaning back in a chair at your dining room table *And when he talks his voice is kinda low *You swear he's doing it on purpose *But no he's just being all casual and shit *It's too much *One day he's looking through pics on his camera and he just stops *Looks at you *And smiles *Your heart 💕💔 *And then he says *"Thanks for buying me a new SD card yesterday. These pictures came out great" *💔💔💔💔💔 *Not that you were waiting for him to say something sweet to you 😑 *And this keeps happening *He'll give you the most endearing look and say something stupid *Like: *You have ranch in your hair *I got you a napkin *Nice shirt *Are those new pants *You think dogs have emotions like us? *And eventually you stop even thinking about him confessing and move on *And every boyfriend you get is chased away by Kihyun *They all say your just too close with Kihyun and they can't take it *So you give up on dating *And move on to SR. Year *Prom season sneaks up on you and your single af *All your friends are shopping while you just watch and nod at them like "yes, you need a bigger size, don't squeeze" *And after a while they're like "hey why aren't you trying on anything?" *You're like "I got no date" *You're friends actually laugh *"WYM no date? UuuUmMm Yoo Kihyun" *"We're just friends" *"Sounds fake but okay" *"Kihyun isn't into me" *{Spoiler he is} *You ain't hearing it *You decide to be headass and find a new date *Some jock named Rick *Rick isn't a complete ass, but he's too cocky *Really your favorite part about starting to date him was to hear Kihyun roast him *Fast forward to Prom day *You're at Kihyn's place laying on his bed listening to some OSTs *And he's doing that thing again *Ya know when he looks at you like he loves you with all his life then says something irrelevant *Yeah *But this time he walks out of the room and comes back with a binder full of pictures *And he tosses it on the bed and he's like "look" *So up open it up and see all of his amazing shots *He's so talented *You also see a ton of candid shots of you *"Why so many...me's?" *"Cuz you're beautiful. Duh." *He TRIED to play it cool, but BOI HE ACTUALLY ALMOST SAID HE LOVED YOU AND WANTED RICK TO GET LOST *"Thanks" *Suddenly you get to a page of just you and him and you're blushing *Also your getting hella soft because freshman year pics are there *Anyways, Kihyun just lets you look and then says *"If Rick is a dick let me know. You can't be with a guy who doesn't appreciate you like me" *"You appreciate me?" *"Duh" *Then he gives that lovely look again and he grabs your face gently *"Kihyun?" *"I wish it was me, but I'm..." *You're waiting for him to say something anything, but he doesn't so you literally just call his name and he jumps *Guess what he says? *"Sorry I was lost in your eyes" kdkskkdkfjdksks *Yup *And you wanna snap him in half *Honestly you thought this was it *But no *You swat his hand away from you face and storm off *You actually wanna cry because this was his last chance to confess and take you to prom, but NOOO *You leave his house and he follows you outside all confused *B you just snap *"Leave me alone! You play around too much! You know exactly what you do to me!" *Kihyun actually almost passed out when he heard you *He races after you and he's like *"What do you mean by 'what I do to you?'" *"Nothing" *"No you mean something!" *Your just gonna go to your car and he grabs your wrist (slow motion replay KDrama style) *The he's like *"Don't go with Rick" *You're like *Well fuck *You can't stand up Rick *He's a decent dude *So you reluctantly say that you will be going to prom with Rick and go get dressed *Homie, prom is lit ASF *You and your girls are actually having so much fun that you low-key forget about your dates *Until slow dance time *And Rick is gone *Probably shitfaced in the bathroom *All your friends go back to their dates and your reminded that you totally lost your chance to be with Kihyun *And you're pouting about it *Yeah *You're sitting by the punch bowl all sulky looking gorgeous *Hoping for someone to come save you *But nothing *8 more slow songs pop off and you're like JFC I wanna leave *But lucky from you prom is actually ending and people are heading out, it's getting late *Rick turned up he was escorted out for being drunk on school premises *So you're dateless again *You're making your way out and then you see this sexy guy running into the place *Black suit *Dark hair slicked back *He smashes into you *It's Kihyun *And he's got you by the waist suddenly and he's looking at you in the eyes smiling *Holy !! *He smells fresh *And he's looking at you like you invented the whole universe *And you're in awe because he looks like a God or something *And he just says, "You wanna dance?" *And even though everyone is exiting you pull him to the dance floor *And you slow dance *Y'all are FACE TO FUKKEN FACE *CAN U IMAGINE *And you are SUPER CLOSE *He has your waist *You have your arms around his shoulders *Your swaying with no music *But Kihyun is a doll so he just sings to you *IM (FUCKING) AGINE *HE'S SINGING THAT DAMN GOBLIN OST AND YOUR SWOONING *Like your knees are weak *And he's probably helping you stand up because wow *It's literally just you two until he's done singing and the staff is like GTFO *So he walks you to your car *Your holding hands *AnD HE GIVES THAT DAMN LOOK BUT THIS TIME HES SAYS HE THINKS HE LOVES YOU AND HE KISSES YOU *ON THE LIPS *Then LEAVES YOU TO SORT OUT YOUR FEELS *You mull it over for a week and of course you want to date Kihyun *So you dump Rick ASAP *Head to Kihyun's house *Nag him about his dirty room *And how he almost ruined your prom by not going with you in the first place *And then you notice he's looking at your lips and your all sensitive *But doesn't care and just says *"I don't think I love you" *You KnOw what's COMING NEXT BIH *"I KNOW I love you" *Oh and he leans in to kiss you and you close the space *And then all of a sudden your Frenching on his messy bed *Your on top and it reminds you of the first time you interacted *So you stop kissing to inform him that everything has come full circle *And he laughs and asks if he should call Minhyuk to take a pic because next time he plans to top 😜😜 *You smack him because wth you guys aren't even OFFICIAL yet *And how can you get used to you hot BFF being you BF ?? *Mysteries I tell ya *Anywho *You guys are now OFFICIALLY the schools fav couple *You win Sr. Faves and everything *And that picture of you two us LEGENDARY *And you guys go around being obnoxiously adorable *And you take pictures so often *Y'all's Instagrams are POPPING *IT GOALS HOMIE *GOALS *And if Kihyun isn't the best boyfriend ever *He's super sweet yet sassy *(My phone tried to correct that as daddy) *If he sees that you're overwhelmed he'll literally force to go relax with him or force you to let him help you out *You guys are ALWAYS FLIRTING AND TEASING EACH OTHER *You know what makes Kihyun really red and embarrassed? *PDA *He calls you embarrassing pet names as revenge *He is always cheering you on and he's still your best friend *And one day you two are chilling and you throw him that look that he always gives you *And he's like "what?" *"I dunno...I think I love you." All casually *And he just laughs and kisses you *"I think you love me too."

#kihyun #yoo kihyun #monsta x #kihyun scenarios #monsta x scenarios #k00kied0writes

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years

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The $149 Smartphone That Could Bring The Linux Mobile Ecosystem to Life

A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.

If you kept a close eye on the Apple vs. Epic Games trial, you might be wondering: How the hell did we get to this point, where a phone maker that simultaneously supports the daily needs of hundreds of millions of users could have so much literal say over how its ecosystem operates?

When faced with such questions, reactions can vary—many people will grumble and complain, while others will look for other options. Problem is, operating system options have infamously been difficult to find in the smartphone space—hope you like Android or iOS, because those are your options.

On the other hand, what if I were to tell you that there’s a phone where you could have nearly every other attempt at a smartphone OS at your fingertips, one microSD card away, and you could test them at will?

It sounds strange, but it’s something Pine64’s entry into the smartphone space, the Linux-driven PinePhone, is built for.

Would you want to use it? I spent a few weeks with one recently, and here’s what I learned.

The key to understanding the value proposition of the PinePhone is understanding the difference between workable and cutting-edge

Given the hype around the PinePhone over the past year (which, for purposes of this review, I’ll point out I purchased with my own money), it might seem like we’re talking about a top-of-the-line OLED-based device that has fancy features like notches, hole punches, or 120Hz displays.

But the reason for the attention comes down to the point that, unlike most phones that might support some form of Linux because that support has been hacked in, the Linux on the PinePhone takes center stage. This is a workable phone for which neither Android nor iOS is the primary selling point. You can take phone calls on this; it will work.

Now, to be clear, there’s a difference between workable and cutting-edge. Unlike the Pinebook Pro, which offered relatively up-to-date hardware (such as the ability to add an NVMe drive) even if the chip itself was a bit pokey compared to, say, an M1, the PinePhone effectively is knowingly running outdated hardware out of the gate.

Its CPU, an Allwinner A64 with a Mali 400 MP2 GPU, first came out six years ago and is the same chip the original Pine64 single-board computer used. (It’s also older than the NXP i.MX 8M System-On-Module that the other primary Linux phone on the market, the Purism Librem 5, comes with—though to be fair, this phone sells for $149, less than a fifth of the price of the $800 Librem 5.)

Despite 802.11ac being in wide use for more than half a decade, the Wi-Fi tops out at 802.11n on the PinePhone—a bit frustrating, given that a lot of folks are probably not going to be throwing a SIM card into this and are going to be futzing around with it on Wi-Fi alone.

Is this the perfect phone for cheapskates? Well, to offer a point of comparison: The Teracube 2e, a sustainable low-end Android device that I reviewed a few months ago whose sub-$200 price point is very similar to that of the PinePhone, runs circles around this thing (and isn’t that far off from the Librem 5) on a pure spec level, with better cameras, a somewhat better screen, and a fingerprint sensor for a roughly similar price point (and a four-year warranty, compared to the single month you get from Pine64). If you’re looking for a cheap phone rather than an adventure, stay away.

And the PinePhone can be fairly temperamental in my experience, chewing through battery life when idle and reporting inconsistent charge levels when in use, no matter what OS is loaded.

But that is still better than what the Linux community had previously—a whole bunch of moonshot aspirations, some of which have failed to ship and others of which exploded into interest years ago, only to burn out almost immediately.

The PinePhone gives those projects a home, a sustainable one that allows them to grow as open-source projects rather than die on the vine. The marquee names here—among them the open-source Ubuntu Mobile (maintained not by desktop Ubuntu maker Canonical, but by UBPorts), the partially closed Sailfish OS, and the webOS descendant LuneOS—each represent high-profile attempts to take on the hierarchy of iOS vs. Android that have faced irrelevance as the larger mobile giants crushed them. The PinePhone gives those projects a fresh lease on life by building excitement around them once again, while also giving noble old-smartphone revival projects like postmarketOS a new target audience.

And plus, let’s be clear: The Linux community thrives on extending the power of outdated hardware.

Like Linux on the desktop, which has helped keep machines alive literal decades past their traditional expiration date, the PinePhone keeps software projects alive that would have struggled to find a modern context.

You can’t replace the SIM card or the microSD card without removing the battery. Sorry. Image: Ernie Smith

Appreciating (and critiquing) the PinePhone on its own level

It’s one thing to discuss what this phone represents. It’s another to consider its usability.

And from a hardware standpoint, there are some quibbles and some useful features, many of which feel like they can be excused by the price point. The device, which can be pulled open relatively easy, has six hardware kill switches that can turn off major functions of the device like the cameras or the LTE antenna—a boon for the privacy-focused.

But it also has some arguable design flaws, most notably the fact that, to replace the microSD storage and the SIM card, you have to remove the back case and the battery, a bit of a miss on a device that basically encourages you to frequently flash new microSD cards as you flitter about between different operating systems as you try different programs (or if you’re a developer, test new versions of the operating system’s code).

The kill switches on the PinePhone, which can disable hardware functions as needed. Image: Ernie Smith

To some degree it makes sense—after all, you don’t want to pull out an SD card while you’re booted into an OS while on the SD card—but in practice, the extra steps proved frustrating to do over and over, and I don’t think the target audience for this would necessarily be unaware of the risks of removing an SD card while the device is loaded. (I will allow that there may be a privacy case to bury the SIM and microSD card in this way, but I don’t think it precludes an alternate approach.)

The battery, which I’ve noted is relatively inconsistent at charging at least for my device, is also a bit on the small side, at 3000mAh. To some degree, that’s fine—the processor is not exactly going to tax the battery life, but it would be nice if it was slightly bigger.

The one capability this has that takes it squarely into the modern era in a meaningful way is USB-C, and a variant of USB-C that allows for full-on video out. And that means you can add a dock to this phone, plug in an HDMI cable, and, conceivably, it will show something on your display. Unfortunately, the USB-C port slightly curves out of the back and because of the position of the port, doesn’t lie totally flat, so you may run into problems with cables falling out. Just a word of warning.

The edition of the device I have is the $199 “Convergence Edition,” which comes with a minimal USB-C dock. And that dock is, admittedly, a pretty nice dock, with two USB ports, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet jack (along with USB-C passthrough for power). I was able to get it working, but the issues with the port’s curvature on the phone meant that in practice, I had to be very careful about placement, because it was incredibly easy to knock it out.

I get that this is a constrained device and wiggle room for redesigns may be limited, but for future versions of the device, some repositioning of the USB-C port, or at least additional reinforcement to ensure cables don’t fall out so easily, could go a long way.

The launch screen for p-boot, a multi-distro demo image that allows users to take a gander at the numerous operating systems PinePhones support, from Mobian to sxmo. The image contains a surprising 17 distributions. One downside: It hasn’t been updated since last fall. Image: Ernie Smith

The best part of the PinePhone is seeing the progress of its many operating systems

As one does when they get a Pine64 device, I spent a while booting different operating systems to understand the different capabilities of the operating systems available.

Trying to critique one flavor of Linux over another is a bit dangerous as there are partisans all over the place—some of whom will not be happy, for example, if you speak out of turn about KDE Plasma—but with that in mind, of the operating systems ones I tried, the ones that feel closest to prime time to me are the UBPorts variant of Ubuntu Touch (which borrows the look of the desktop Ubuntu’s GNOME-based user interface) and Sailfish OS, the latter of which maintains enough commercial support from governmental and corporate customers that it’s still being regularly maintained.

Mobile variants of Linux based on KDE and GNOME—nothing against KDE, but I operate a GNOME household—seemed a bit poorly matched to the hardware to me, with the preinstalled KDE-based version of Manjaro, called Plasma Mobile, feeling sluggish upon boot, which is an unfortunate first impression to offer users. (Also not helping: depending on what SIM you put into the device and what version of the distro you’re using, you may have to dip into the command line to get it to work, which is not the case for other distros.) However, these interfaces are newer and more deserving of the benefit of the doubt—and just as with desktop Linux, the underlying OS can impact your experience with the interface. Case in point: The postmarketOS version of Plasma Mobile was a little faster than Manjaro, even if I didn’t find the interface itself naturally intuitive, with browser windows visible on the desktop when not in use. (Again, I’ll admit that some of these hangups are mine—I prefer GNOME, so I’m sure that colors my view.)

Phosh, a GNOME-derivative interface that utilizes the Wayland windowing system and is used heavily in the Librem 5, was a little more polished, which makes sense given the fact that Purism developed it as the basis of a smartphone. It’s nonetheless not to the level of polish of Android, but as with KDE Mobile, it’s still relatively young; it will get there. Ultimately, I just have to warn you that many of these operating systems come with learning curves of varying steepness, and the trail might be arduous depending on how polished they are.

One nice thing about the PinePhone is that it promises a second look at mobile operating systems that didn’t get much love the first time—and in that light, Ubuntu Touch is a bit of a revelation. Its interface clearly took some of the right lessons from its competitors, and likely inspired them. It is a very gesture-driven interface, and it was years before iOS and Android could say the same. And despite the older hardware, Ubuntu Touch feels fast, which can be tough to do on hardware of a certain vintage.

Sailfish OS, while being more actively maintained over the years, offers a similar second look and a similar level of polish, as only a handful of people have likely even used it.

The webOS based LuneOS suffers from the opposite problem—it feels more dated than mature, a result of webOS’ skeuomorphism, which LG has moved away from in the operating system’s TV variant. Its interface ideas were ahead of its time when it first came out more than a decade ago, but iOS and Android have stolen most of its tricks by this point. But if you liked that look from the days of the Palm Pre or HP TouchPad, you might feel at home.

Perhaps one that is intriguing—even if, as an end user, you may not be raring to use it—is sxmo, a minimalist approach to mobile operating systems built around a simple, middle-of-the-screen navigation interface that is operated using the volume and power buttons. It is the most experimental thing I’ve seen in mobile operating systems in quite some time, in large part because of its strict adherence to the Unix philosophy of operating system ideals. You can text in a vim-style editor; you load up scripts to do basic things like get notifications. Clearly, it will not have a big audience, but the fact that it exists at all is exciting and evidence of the good that the PinePhone will do for the broader Linux community.

But the important thing to keep in mind is that these operating systems are all works in progress, and in many ways, the progress might actually be a little better on other devices. Example: Ubuntu Touch almost fully supports the Google Pixel 3a, a phone that’s about two years old, has better specs than the PinePhone (particularly in the camera department), and because it’s a first-party Google device, likely has a lot of options for accessories that the PinePhone may never see. (At least, not intentionally.) It can also be had for cheaper than a PinePhone based on where you get it—and the PinePhone has a ways to go to support the full feature-set of Ubuntu Touch.

And you can get a lot more by spending a little more: The OnePlus 6T, based on where you look, can be had for less than $250 used, and gets you a more mainline Snapdragon processor, as well as OLED and an in-touchscreen fingerprint sensor. While not at full support in, say, postmarketOS, it’s far enough along that it might actually get there. (Perhaps you want to help?)

But while individual phones may find quick support from individual operating systems, the PinePhone feels like it sets a larger ideological precedent. What the PinePhone represents is a very solid reference system for development of mobile operating systems, rather than something that’s a head-turner on its own. This is the platform mobile Linux devs are going to go to when they need to simply build out the base operating systems, as it has all the basics—from the ARM processor to the accelerometer to the GPS, even a headphone jack—that developers can test against. With just modest differences (some models have 2GB of RAM, some have 3GB) it allows developers of mobile operating systems to focus on getting the basics right, then worry about whether everything works in the hundreds of phone models out there.

There’s also the ethics of it all as well. Look around and you’ll likely see some passionate debates, for example, against using Sailfish OS on a PinePhone because of its closed-source user interface. These discussions also happen in the desktop Linux space; it’s almost refreshing to see them in mobile after years of two operating systems driving every argument.

Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, mega-podcaster Joe Rogan gave a relatively obscure YouTuber with a strong privacy focus a big amount of attention. During an interview with comedian and musician Reggie Watts, he brought up a video maker named Rob Braxman, who had a wide variety of videos that focused on the topic of privacy, particularly with mobile devices. Braxman literally calls himself “The Internet Privacy Guy.”

One day, Rogan subscribed to Braxman, and apparently spent hours watching his clips, which feature a lot of well-researched useful information, but can sometimes toe-dip into the conspiratorial—i.e., the kind of stuff you could imagine Rogan would love. Then Rogan talked about the YouTuber on an episode of his podcast, expressing curiosity about Braxman’s demeanor. What was this guy trying to hide?

Despite clearly being a fan of his privacy, Braxman clearly did not mind the privacy invasion from Rogan.

Braxman responded to Rogan, as one does, with a YouTube clip. He pointed out that he was a regular guy; he just cared a lot about privacy, with one underlying driving factor:

I’m an immigrant. When I was young, I lived in a country under martial law, where voicing an opinion can land you in jail, where powerful people control the many. So that made a mark on me. I never want to go back to that condition.

The pitch to all of those Rogan fans worked. Now Braxman has more than 250,000 YouTube subscribers, with a sudden surge in his viewership in the year since the Rogan shout-out. His most popular videos, many of which have hundreds of thousands of views, cover topics such as de-Googling phones, preventing phone-tracking, and the risks of big tech. Braxman has an online store where he sells “de-Googled” phones next to security consultations.

(As you might guess, he was early to the PinePhone, unboxing his more than a year ago.)

Braxman—who got my attention a couple of years ago thanks to his fairly avant-garde declining-melody theme music (yes, he’s a jazz musician, too), which is not something you often run into on YouTube—actually slipped off my radar for a while, only for me to look him up again a couple of months ago out of curiosity, finding that he had experienced a sudden surge in popularity. His channel was maybe a tenth the size that it is now when I first noticed him.

To me, the success of folks like Braxman hints that there is an audience for the PinePhone outside of even regular Linux users. It may not be a large one, or even well-defined right now. But it exists, and with the right level of community support, one could see at least one of the mobile operating systems on this device experiencing a breakthrough of success in the coming years. (Ubuntu Touch has the inside line, in my eyes.)

As for the device that is driving the discussion around mobile Linux, the PinePhone can be had for less than $200, which opens up lots of room for a developer community to build onto. Should you buy one? It depends on your risk tolerance. It’s not a top-of-the-line phone, and it takes time to learn how to fully appreciate it. You may have to dip into the command line, depending on the operating system you plan to use. (On the other hand, it’s nice that you’re allowed, or in the case of sxmo, you’re expecting to.) I hope, as the community around it evolves, the Pine64 team takes the time to tweak the hardware to better embrace this audience with some small, thoughtful hardware tweaks, including a less-finicky USB-C port and more thoughtful placement of the microSD and SIM card slots.

But even without those changes, this device could be enough to kickstart a Linux-driven mobile revolution.

The $149 Smartphone That Could Bring The Linux Mobile Ecosystem to Life syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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ohyesilovetoread · 4 years

Text

Idolism by Marcus Herzig

(heads up for some racism and underage relationships)

I was pretty interested going into this book, because I just finished another one of Herzig’s books, The Proxima Strain, and I found it really fun and entertaining, and the summary for Idolism had me interested, too. however, as I started to read it, it quickly became boring

the concept of it is interesting: a band consisting of 4 teenage friends suddenly skyrockets to international fame after a video of the lead singer roasting some government official goes viral, and they struggle to deal with that. also the pope has just died and a new one needs to be picked. you’d think that last part would be important, but it’s really not

the characters of the story are:

Julian, the quiet yet headstrong, eccentric lead singer of the band. he’s been the “weird” kid all his life, shy and loves to educate himself on every possible topic. despite his quietness, he loves to talk about his opinions and debate with people. his friends describe him as autistic sometimes, but he’s not officially diagnosed with it. he’s really into religion, not that he’s religious, but he likes to debate it and is obsessed with rituals. he loves to watch religious stuff and likes to stop watch the guards change at the palace.

Michael, who has been Julian’s best friends since they were little kids, is the band’s drummer. he’s a genius with computers, and even though he’s just 17, he has created some sort of AI named MINDY that can do whatever the plot requires, can track anyone in the world by somehow using computers and not being traceable. despite this, he mainly uses it to keep tabs on Julian

Ginger, real name Emma but everyone calls her Ginger because, in a shocking turn, she has red hair, plays keyboard. there’s... not really much to say about her really. she’s just a normal teenage girl who doesn’t really affect the plot much. her dad’s a lawyer

then there’s Tummy, who plays bass. his name is really Thomas, but he’s fat, so everyone calls him Tummy. he is... terminally straight and terminally annoying. he hooks up with a Japanese tv host named Momoko, even though he’s 17 and she’s 22. his plot mostly revolves around that and the fact he was raised Catholic provides some insight on the religious stuff.

other side characters:

Momoko, whose show rocketed them to fame and follows them around. she speaks with an accent and broken english, and literally says “herro” a few times.

Robert Murdock, a southern tv show preacher who became the head of a multimedia empire that affects certain parts of the plot. gets elected to be the new pope. most definitely a Trump expy

Edward Pickle, the PR guy who is responsible for pulling the strings behidn Murdock and getting him to where he is today

the book switches between Tummy, Ginger, and MIchael’s perspectives every chapter, with a few chapters from Edward’s perspective here and there. it seems like a cool gimmick, but it doesn’t really affect much. seeing it all from everyone else’s eyes but Julian’s does help him come across more mysterious and mystical, which I liked, though. Tummy’s chapters are very British with him saying “me” in place of “I” and the like.

the story starts out at this special concert where Julian is preparing to give a big speech. he’s been missing/presumed dead, so it’ll be his first public appearance in a while. he’s dressed in all white and it’s a very on the nose Christ resurrection thing. it makes you all wonder what’s going on, how did they get to this point, Michael sends a cryptic “I failed” message to Ginger, it’s very good at raising a lot of questions.

but then it goes back to the start and all the answers to it all end up dissatisfying. it spends a LOT of time introducing us to these characters and building them up. it starts off with Tummy noticing his dad at school at night, which is odd. his dad works for some British government guy, and he sees him overseeing them haul in huge boxes from Murdock’s media company. anyway, the band shows up, Michael tells Tummy to put an SD card in dad’s laptop so he can hack, Tummy does so, and they find some documents that the government wants to force more religion into schools.

at some big school anniversary concert, their band performs, and they’re actually pretty good, so the govt guy and this media producer alumni, Peter Tholen (who is being followed by Momoko for some tv thing), come on stage to talk to them. then Julian lambasts the govt guy for the religion plan with a great rant. Momoko films this, it hits the internet, suddenly they’re famous, Peter signs them. shablam

then it goes onto this kind of pointless thing where they perform in Germany and Julian sings the former East Germany socialist anthem instead of the current one because he liked it better, it creates a controversy, so they go back to apologize, only to end up singing the same anthem with Germans singing along. idk, it’s mostly to set up that Julian follows his own drum and loves to preach or w/e

since they’re making lots of money at this point, the band’s like “lol let’s go to Rome and do a flash mob.” so that’s what they do. they get stopped by some cops, only to find out the new pope has been elected! and it’s not a cardinal? it’s Robert Murdock of the media empire, wtf??

(see, Murdock’s been setting up fancy schools in impoverished locations and bringing cardinals there to bribe them, that’s how he got it lol)

so anyway, of course Julian’s like “we HAVE to record our music video at the announcement of the new pope.” so they do. however, instead of lip syncing, Julian gets too ~caught up in the moment~ and starts singing loudly enough to attract attention, leading to their arrest. they spend the night in jail, then Peter comes and forcibly takes them to America because they’ve been making such a mess in Europe.

once they reach America, Michael and Ginger give the typical “you’ve changed, man” speech to Julian after noticing his attention-seeking ways. Tummy wants to stay and have fun, but he ends up going straight back to Europe with the other two while Julian stays in America doing a press tour for a few weeks. then the book gets boring again as it mostly describes the others doing nothing but watching Julian give interviews and people on talk shows discussing him.

one fun moment is Julian’s appearance on the Bill O’Reilly show where he lambasts him for a whole chapter, and it’s pretty clear this is just the author venting his own issues with O’Reilly, which, I suppose, is valid. and then it ends with Bill threatening Julian and going all crazy, getting his show cancelled and him sent to a mental institution, which... lmao

AND THEN, once back in Europe, the bus that Julian and Peter were on crashes and explodes. they were not among the dead or survives, so they’re presumed missing. Michael is all sad, but then he uses his deus ex AI to find out they’re in Rome with the pope. turns out the pope is a fan of Julian for whatever. they use this to record the pope saying some fucked up shit.

then it goes back to the benefit concert thing, they air the footage of the pope, and Julian gives his grand speech, and it’s exactly the typical “religion can be good for people, but it can also be Bad. we as a society should be nice to each other. makes you think, no?” speech you’d expect. applause. Michael’s “I failed” text at the start was simply referring to his plan to get the concert broadcast all over the world via Murdock’s company. Edward finds him out though, magically, and sends Michael away, promising not to reveal his god AI, but airs the broadcast everywhere anyway because he’s like “my god what have I done” wrt Murdock

in a touching moment afterwards, and probably my favorite part of the book, Michael finds Julian and they reconcile after their falling out, and Michael agrees to go on a 3 week vacation with Julian to a private island. in the epilogue, Momoko has Tummy’s child after being arrested and found guilty for having sex with a minor, but only serves 3 weeks. Tummy becomes a house husband. Michael and Ginger go back to school. Julian’s giving speeches and shit, the end.

all in all... it was just kind of boring. I think it would have been a lot better if it cut Tummy and Ginger’s chapters and focused mostly on Michael watching his weird, formerly quiet friend rocket to fame. it was very clear that Michael had serious feelings for Julian and hated sharing his special guy with the world, and I would have loved if the book had done more with that.

plus I think it would have been a lot more interesting had Herzig done more to mirror Julian’s rise to fame with Murdock’s. it certainly TRIED to do that, but it fell flat in that regard. he clearly wanted to do something about how religion and fame are tied these days, but it just felt kind of impotent. like its lofty goals were held back by the fact it’s just a YA book.

Tummy’s chapters were just gross and annoying. I really don’t want to read about this 17 year old being kinkily punished by a 22 year old woman, thank you. the kink part barely comes up but even the small passing mentions are like... this is so unnecessary

Momoko and her broken English also really bothered me, and it’s an ugly pattern I’ve noticed in nearly all of Herzig’s books. at least one character speaks in a bad accent, and if it was just a one time thing, I’d side eye and move on, but it keeps happening and I’m like... bro how come no one has told you to stop that yet

also he really likes overly describing science stuff, like the tech behind MINDY, and it just gets real boring after a while

#idolism #marcus herzig #kindle unlimited

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