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purplesurveys · 3 years

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survey by nadine07

Three Names You Are Called:

1. Robyn, by virtually everybody.

2. Byn, by close family members.

3. For some reason I have some friends who call me Bynbyn? even though I never established it as a nickname?? but they use it as an affectionate nickname so ultimately I don’t mind it. It just takes me aback sometimes, lmao.

Three Colors You Are Wearing At the Moment:

1. Red

2. White

3. Pink. Or light purple, depending on how you see it.

The Last Three People To Call You:

1. My mom, though I missed the call because I was at work earlier.

2. I just saw that Ysa, my director, also tried to call me. This story is so fucking stupid...I physically went to the office last Wednesday to pack some groceries, and all day long I had been leaving the door slightly ajar every time I had to go out because I haven’t had my biometrics enrolled yet and I don’t hold the keys to the office (and I was the only one who requested to go there for that day).

Of course, knowing my luck, the door slipped while I was out (I had to very briefly hand a package to a courier), locking me out of the goddamn office with all my shit inside. Even worse, I had a meeting going on with a client – I had speaking parts assigned to me, and I got locked out like 30 seconds before my part would start. I’m guessing Ysa called me during the time I disappeared but I obviously couldn’t have answered the phone. It was infuriating, especially since my manager had to cover for my slides which she didn’t practice for.

I’ll no longer get into how I managed to get back inside since it’s another embarrassing and complicated story altogether, but suffice it to say I was really upset about the whole thing and I still feel uneasy imagining how that meeting could’ve gone down with my disappearance.

3. A courier. They usually call when they’re already arrived where you are, so that they know where exactly to meet up with you.

Three Days You Look Forward To Each Year:

1. My birthday, because it’s kinda cool turning into a different age.

2. Whenever Wrestlemania is scheduled, which is usually late March or early April.

3. ...I don’t have any either favorite days/dates.

Three Jobs You've Had:

1. PR associate.

2. That’s my first job. I’ve had two internships before that, and they were both at PR agencies.

3. -

Three Bands/Singers You Love:

1. Paramore

2. Beyoncé

3. The Japanese House

Three People You've Talked To Today:

1. It’s exactly 7 AM. I could’ve talked to my parents when they headed downstairs earlier but I pretended I was still asleep on the couch so that they couldn’t, hahaha. They’ve since gone out to jog. I don’t think I’ve said a word at all yet this morning, actually.

2. -

3. -

Three Things You Could Grab From Where You're Sitting:

1. My phone.

2. The other end of this table.

3. My vape pen.

The Last Three Things You've Had to Drink:

1. I most recently had a glass of water after I finished my bag of salted egg chips.

2. I finished off the last of my coffee.

3. I also drank soju last night as an impromptu thing because I saw that I still had a peach-flavored one (my favorite) in the fridge.

Three People You Can Always Count On:

1. Angela.

2. Andi.

3. I’m also gonna name Pia even though we aren’t the closest. Girl has been crazy supportive over the last few months.

Three Places You Want to Go:

1. That I haven’t been to yet? Seoul in South Korea.

2. Thailand.

3. Morocco.

The Last Three Places You've Gone:

1. Other than places in the house – the local coffee shop inside my village.

2. The office.

3. The Starbucks beside the office. I had arrived a bit early so I had some time to walk over there and order something.

The Last Three Non-Relatives You've Hung Out With:

1. Angela.

2. Hans.

3. We were 8 in the group the last time we went out lol. But aside from the above, Pia (a different one) was the one who made the most effort to talk to me as well.

Three People To Be Stranded On A Desert Island With:

1. Angela.

2. Kate.

3. Not sure. Maybe Al for some comic relief while we try to survive there?

Three Smells You Love:

1. Cookies being baked.

2. A hotel room.

3. Seafood.

Three People You Look Up To:

1. Angela’s mom.

2. Andi.

3. My manager, Bea. Well she just got promoted, so I guess I’ll call her my director now, hahaha.

Three Places You've Lived:

1. The duplex where I mostly grew up, just a village away from my current one. I got to experience living in either house, as well.

2. Tondo, Manila. With my dad’s family.

3. Sampaloc, Manila. My parents briefly had an apartment and I was there for like a few months as a newborn.

Three Good Teachers You've Had:

1. My music teacher for the entirety of high school.

2. My professor in international relations.

3. My professor in my social history and history of Filipino women electives.

Three Things You're Good At:

1. I gotta say I’m great at parking, hahaha. Backward parking, parallel parking, you name it.

2. Going through my to-do list and finishing off every task by the end of the day.

3. Reflexes, or reacting/responding immediately, especially in games.

The Last Three People You've Kissed:

1. Gabie.

2. -

3. -

The Last Three People You've Dated:

1. Gabie.

2. -

3. -

Three People With Whom You've Shared a Secret:

1. Andi.

2. JM.

3. Jo was the first person I informed about my breakup, and I didn’t even reveal it publicly until like three months after. I didn’t expect to confide in her especially since we aren’t the closest, but I think I was just desperate to tell someone then to finally acknowledge reality.

Three Irresponsible Things You've Done:

1. Vape.

2. Road rage.

3. Leave my laptop in a classroom as I left to go to another class, in another building.

Three Movies You Love:

1. Two for the Road.

2. Revolutionary Road.

3. Room.

The Last Three People You've Gone to the Movies With:

1. Angela.

2. Leigh.

3. Gabie.

The Last Three People You've Ridden in a Car With:

1. Laurice.

2. Kuya Toby.

3. Lui.

Three Facts About Your #1:

1. Can I name my best friends instead? Angela is in her final year of college taking up architecture.

2. She has two shih tzus, Hailey and Kennedy.

3. Her mom is a pediatrician and has her own clinic in their home.

Three Places You've Gone With Your #2:

1. I haven’t been too adventurous with Andi...most recently we’ve gone to a Korean barbecue joint for a one-on-one catch up date.

2. TK.

3. Rita’s house.

Three Things You've Done With Your #3:

1. Kate works for the government.

2. Last time I talked to her, she’s still set on retake a law school exam after not getting admitted to her campus of choice last year.

3. She had a bad habit of dating orgmates.

Three Things You Have in Common With Your #4:

1. Laurice is great at debate.

2. She lives in the south, so I don’t get to see her a lot.

3. She has a cute habit of calling many of our friends by their respective honorifics, even though they’re the same age or even when she’s literally older than some of them.

Three Things That Annoy You:

1. Making the effort to go to a store and seeing they’re closed for the day, even though they didn’t indicate it in their social media accounts.

2. Offices of government agencies and their ever-grumpy staff.

3. Filipinos’ tendency to turn 3 lanes into 6 during a traffic jam.

Three Things That Attract You To The Opposite Sex:

1. Asexual. Pass.

2. -

3. -

Three Material Items You'd Save If You're House Was On Fire:

1. My laptop, since all my work files and a whole ton of memories are in here.

2. My phone, so I can update family and friends.

3. My glasses. Realistically, I wouldn’t care about any of these and would jump up to grab my dogs instead.

Three Careers You've Considered:

1. Journalist.

2. Lawyer.

3. Historian.

Three Things You Wish You Knew About Your Future:

1. Whether marriage or kids will be part of mine.

2. When I’m dying, and what from.

3. Where I’ll end up living, and what kind of housing.

The Last Three Songs You Listened To:

1. Wait On - Hayley Williams

2. Good Grief - Hayley Williams

3. Over Those Hills - Hayley Williams. Stream Flowers for Vases, friends.

Three Things You Consider Lucky:

1. I don’t believe in lucky charms.

2. -

3. -

Three T.V. Show Characters You Wish Were Real:

1. Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman.

2. Chandler Bing from Friends.

3. Glenn Rhee from The Walking Dead.

Three Issues You Have Strong Opinions On:

1. Racial equality.

2. Gender equality.

3. Abortion rights.

Three Things You Wish You Could Change About Yourself:

1. That I wasn’t so clumsy at work.

2. That I wasn’t too selfless all the time to just about anyone.

3. That I had a better hold of my finances and keep spending just because I’m still within budget, heheh.

Three People From Your Past You Wish You Could Spend a Day With:

1. My grandpa, who passed away before I could properly grow up and shoot the shit with him over some beer.

2. Nacho.

3. Sofie, so we can properly catch up, just the two of us.

Three Famous People You'd Like to Meet:

1. Beyoncé.

2. Hayley Williams.

3. Leni Robredo.

Three Things You Are Wearing:

1. A t-shirt.

2. A pair of shorts.

3. Underwear.

The Last Three Places You Went That Were More Than 2 Hours Away:

1. Tagaytay.

2. My dad’s family’s home in Laguna.

3. Those are the only places we’ve been to where we had to travel for a while.

The Last Three Reasons You Went to the Hospital:

1. Blood and urine test for my ~mystery illness~ last year.

2. I had to be confined for a couple of days because of low platelet count.

3. ...I was born. I haven’t made many trips to the hospital.

Three Things You Are Addicted To:

1. I’ve never felt comfortable using the term addicted because it’s an actual condition...but if you mean to ask for what I’m hooked to at the moment, I’d go with coffee.

2. And salted egg chips. I literally bought five bags of chips yesterday and I’m already finished with my third.

3. Anything Korean, tbh. Korean food, shows, music, etc...the Korean Wave is very strong over here and I’ve finally been reeled all the way in.

Three Favorite Colors:

1. Baby pink or pastel pink.

2. Mustard yellow.

3. Maroon.

Three Things You Will Do Now That This Is Over:

1. Find another one to take for later.

2. Finish my breakfast, and maybe heat up some leftover pasta because I’m still hungry.

3. Maybe get my embroidering template so I can make some progress today.

#survey #surveys

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la-paritalienne · 5 years

Note

also reply to all the quetions.. 50k words for each one

vfghjklkgk this is quite demanding but quite funny and cute so.

♡

zinc white; how are you really feeling today? no one-word answers please! — mmm i feel like i’m at the gates of a new life bc i’m truly about to start looking for a job and i guess i’m like… nostalgic for something that i haven’t really left behind yet? i might have ups and downs but i love my life, being ‘free’ all day, talking to my friends, going to the gym whenever etc… it’s kind of scary that everything is about to change, i’ll have real responsibilities and a tight schedule and idk, it’s just going to be different and possibly how the rest of my life could look indefinitely. but i’m also also excited, and also very grateful for what i have, i’m having a very nice night and i love my friends

cadmium yellow; when you think of the word “happy” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? — bits and pieces of my life. it’s small moments but they mean everything. being on the beach with no worries at all. going to the cinema with my brother to see the new star wars movie, how i’m always about to tear up as it starts. crying happy tears in the metro while going the gym. how i feel when i see my parents at the airport in rome and everything that might weighing me down

lemon; what’s your comfort food? — it has to include lots of melted cheese and possibly carbs, so either pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich basically, but also a parmigiana di melanzane wouldn’t be half bad

hansa yellow; what’s your guilty pleasure song? — idk if i believe in this concept, especially when it comes to songs… like music is supposed to be music and there’s no guilt in listening to like, ‘lighter’ stuff i guess? like i would say ‘what makes you beautiful’ but that pleasure is so not guilty… maybe atm i kinda feel like that with ‘dove e quando’ by benji e fede but like… it’s a jam so gjggkgkg ok this is a stupid reply, i’m sorry!

yellow ochre; name an artist/band whom you just discovered & can’t get enough of! — mmmmm just discovered i’m not sure, but quite recently (beginning on this summer) this amazing artist named skott who also has a new song out these days (still need to listen to it)

naples yellow; where do you feel most at home? — mm… a while ago i would have said here and only here in paris but tbh, my parents’ home in rome also always feels like home, although in a different way, as if i go back to being younger, a slightly different version of myself back there. so yeah, maybe paris would be the number one place, but where my family is, i feel at home, also at the seaside.

raw sienna; with whom do you feel most at home? — myself, my mom, my dad and my brother

golden ochre; describe the relationship you have with your closest friend. — i have a few very close friends and i love them all a looot, but i’ll choose one in particular for the purposes of this reply, sooo. ummm i love her so much and i want to be there for her no matter what, i think she’s super fun and we have great times together, but we also talk about serious stuff, she’s been there for me through a lot. she’s interesting and cute, but also quite a deep and complex person, which is something i really appreciate and find quite fascinating, like i love being around people like that, i love when they share thoughts / ideas / views of the world that i wouldn’t have come up with myself, i find it enriching. of course i wish she was always happy and serene and that’s not always the case, but who is? and i mean, she’s my friend, i just love the whole package. she is an amazing listener and for that i’ll never stop being grateful, gives amazing advice, has the best stories that often make me crack tf up, great taste in music and in general... and a lot more

golden deep; what’s your favorite season? — i love summer, but i also like a chilly autumn, especially on a sunny day, with the wind kind of brisk… but not necessarily, rainy days are cool too and idk, autumn is underrated but i love it, i love how cosy it feels, how comforting it feels when the weather sucks and you don’t feel ‘guilty’ for lazying around the house, how sweating at the gym becomes more satisfactory, love layered clothes etc… yay

cadmium orange; what do you like to do on your days off? — go to the gym, make a meal for myself (i like making big salads with lots of different things in them, especially if some elements require cooking, it feels like a treat to me bc i normally don’t have the time / the energy for actual cooking), indulge in some dessert, a walk by myself or with some friend…

orange lake; do you have anyone you can turn to when you’re sad? — yes, my friends are quite dependable (hope this is the right word?), like maybe not all of them all the time, but there’s always someone willing to listen. + my brother

titans; do you prefer slow mornings or relaxing evenings? — why not both gkgkggkgk but i’m actually more productive in the morning and i don’t really mind starting my day as soon as i wake up, so i’ll go for evenings.

shakhnazaryan red; are you currently binge-watching anything? — i replied to this one but not right now, the i-land was cool tho!

red ochre; are you more right-brained (creative) or left-brained (analytical)? — i think i’m a mix of both in a way that like… i’m neither?? i try to be analytical but i’m too emotional and i guess i’m creative but i’m not truly an artist so i really don’t know, maybe from the outside someone could interpret me better? if i think about it, i think i manage to be quite analytical when it comes to others, but as far as i’m personally concerned, i live in fantasy, hypothesis, this sort of nostalgic and ‘artsy’ world of mine, maybe?

burnt sienna; is there a painting that brings you peace when you look at it? — nothing that comes to my mind like that, my favorite artists don’t exactly bring me peace, i like art that’s kind of exciting and often colorful (matisse, kandinsky, picasso, rothko) so i’m not sure, but my parents have the print of a beautiful gaugin painting in their room, and that’s always reminded me of home and calm and it’s also gorgeous, so i generally associate gauguin’s girls to this peaceful, blissful feeling.

english red; what animal do you relate to most? — a house cat. lazy but at times gets the urge to jump around and tire itself just so then they can lay on the sofa with more satisfaction. eating is what makes it get up 90 per cent of the time. cuddlier and more affectionate than it looks

vermilion; what’s your favorite accent? — mmmm i love a british accent but i also love lots of italian accents, especially on my friends, like if i associate it to them i like it even more.

cadmium red; do you have a “type” when it comes to a significant other? — not really, i just want to be loved tbh. i mean of course there’s some personality traits that i always find attractive and i had a gym girl phase but i wouldn’t say i have a type, i’m open to anything

scarlet; describe your current crush/es. — well she’s gorgeous, talented, an advocate for body positivity, an amazing singer, feminist icon, savvy businesswoman, looks good w any kind of hair, she’s richer than beyoncé and also nicer tbh... she has a makeup brand which i’m obsessed with, a lingerie brand, a (super expensive sadly) clothing brand... the most amazing eyes....... i love her

ruby; what does your ideal first date look like? — mm nice dinner somewhere cosy and warm but not too noisy so we can talk, ideally there’s no awkward silences and we just talk about ourselves, find out we have some stuff in common, there’s laughter etc. nothing extra, just a nice night with someone i like

carmine; what does your ideal second date look like? — like the first one but we know each other better so maybe something even chiller like a picnic or a dinner at home??

madder lake red; would you ever kiss someone (or accept a kiss) on a first date? — yeah i mean it depends on the mood, the chemistry, the connection etc. also like if it’s a date w someone i already knew then that’s more likely to happen, if it’s a date that kind of started off like a date... idk, not exactly blind but like we haven’t exactly been friends before, then maybe there’s some pressure and i’m not sure if that would happen, but i wouldn’t say no as a rule.

rose; what’s something really positive going on in your life right now? — a friend of mine from the gym and her daughter (also a friend but i know the mom better) spontaneously offered to help me with my curriculum, to make it look prettier and more appealing. i mean it’s nothing huge and i could mention my friends or my family but i think it’s clear that i love them and that they’re a positive part of my life, so i thought i’d share this little bit of unexpected kindness that i’ve been receiving.

quinacridone rose; what’s something you’re really looking forward to? — mahmood’s concert!

violet rose; what does your dream house look like? — an airy, luminous apartment in paris, not necessarily huge but bigger than the one i have right now, neatly furnished w the kind of stuff i would reblog on tumblr bc it’s so aesthetic, lots of white, gold and pops of color like dusty pink, peach, yellow. ancient parquet, high ceilings, white walls but maybe not all of them... like some color could be nice but that will depend on how the house is structured. a fireplace w mirror above (classic parisian), huge windows, a balcony big enough for a table where i can have breakfast in the sun and a chaise where i can tan and relax, and a beautiful view. a fancy bathroom with beautiful tiles or a mosaic, a bath tub is mandatory. and i’d like a walk-in closet

violet; is there any place in particular you’d like to settle down? — i think i’ve settled where i like, but who knows!

blue lake; what would you like to do/accomplish before you settle down? — not exactly, like when i realized paris felt like home i thought ‘so maybe i have no idea what i want to do with my life, but at least i know where i wanna be’ so that’s it

cobalt blue spectral; what is the most beautiful place you have ever been to? — probably tunisia, but i’ve recently been to normandy and i feel like i left a piece of my heart there, i feel like it’s going to be a special place for me, where i’ll go back often and make memories, if that makes sense

ultramarine; when was the last time you were in a good mood? do you know/remember what sparked it? — i think last night (when i started replying to this) simply because i was having fun w a friend. i’m not in a bad mood now but it’s like normal, plus i’m talking to my mom bc my grandma broke her foot so there’s stress in the air

blue; what’s the most recent dream you remember? — ooooh just last night i dreamed that i was babysitting the kids i used to babysit until last year, they had two houses and they were old enough to be alone in one of them as i cleaned the other, which i didn’t have to do tho bc the floor was already wet as if someone had just cleaned it, which made me happy! i then had to wash some dishes but the kids arrived and we started eating leftovers

bright blue; what does your dream family look like? any kids or pets? how many of each? — (mom, dad, brother (2 years younger than me) and luna, fluffy, fat, adorably mean huge cat, she’s 15 but super healthy (except for neurotically licking her own belly so much that she has no hair there -.-), she’s our love) i had read what does your family look like gjgjgffjgfkgkgkgmfmgkk sorryyyy luckily i checked. well then in that case my wife, two kids (ideally the eldest is a girl and then a boy but like gender is a social construct you know) and definitely a cat or two

blue cobalt; do you like your name? would you give yourself a different name if you could? — i do! no, i don’t think so. sometimes i think about how names are just names and like... we’re people beyond that but at the same time i feel like i am my name, you know? so i’m cool with it and i couldn’t see myself w another

prussian azure; what’s your favorite scent? — the one that comes out of bakeries, like fresh bread or cakes, so distinctive and warming... mlmlmlml

azure blue; what’s your favorite type of tea, if any? — i love tea in general, but black rose & vanilla tea is my absolute fav

turquoise blue; if you could start a garden, what would you plant? — i don’t have a green thumb, i think, but peonies first of all

cerulean blue; if you were guaranteed to have a viewership, would you start a youtube vlog? — probably, idk if i’d show my face bc i think i’d feel weird, but maybe after a while if i get comfortable? why not? you get a community who cares about you and most of all the chance to distract / entertain people and maybe even help them through hard times. ...and gifts djgjgkgkkgjk

glauconite; describe your body without using any negative adjectives. — gjgkhkhk a challenge but i appreciate it, i can’t be all words and no facts about body positivity. it’s minute, slightly curvy, decently toned, stronger than it looks, and it’s healthy

yellow green; picture yourself walking in a field. what do you see & hear in this scenario? — i see a light blue sky, my feet sink in the grass but just a bit, the grass is not extremely high (otherwise i’d freak about there being insects that i can’t notice), on the horizon it looks like a pastel colored painting bc there’s flowers. i hear the birds singing and the sound of a light breeze

green light; are you in a comfortable place in life? if not, what do you think might make it better? — i can’t complain, but a job would be grand (i mean... i don’t really want to work and i don’t think that’s what makes you accomplished as a person, but it’s capitalism baby)

green; name three countries you want to visit; do you have any actual plans in place to visit any of them? — japan, mexico, tanzania. yes for the last one bc i know someone who’s just moved there and she invited me and my mom to go visit.

emerald green; do you speak any languages besides english? are there any additional languages you want to learn? — italian bc i’m italian and french bc i live in france... sadly no others, but i want to. i’ve always wanted to learn arabic or japanese, but maybe i’ll start w something simpler and more similar to what i know already

oxide of chromium; what’s your favorite book? — i can’t choose one, i have too many that touched my life at the time i read them and made me go like wow, this is my fave. i’ll mention: the red and the black by stendhal, the enchanted mountain by thomas mann, persuasion by jane austen, the remains of the day and never let me go by ishiguro, the trilogy of the city of k by agota kristoff...

olive green; are you currently reading anything? how do you like it so far? — i’ll start a book called sorcières (witches) and i’m curious and excited about it, i’ll let you know

mars brown; what’s a movie that always puts a smile on your face/makes you laugh? — the holy trinity of my happy go to movies: monster in law, mean girls and the devil wears prada

burnt umber; what’s something you plan to do before the day is over to take care of yourself? — going to the gym!

umber; have you drank enough water today? — the day has just started and i’ve had two cups of tea. i try to stick to 2lt per day, but i’ve not been able to do it recently, which i plan to change.

voronezhskaya black; what or who is your go-to outlet for when you need to vent? — ghgkhkgkfkgk i thought for a second this was about a clothing store outlet. normally i try and talk it out w one of my friends, my mom or brother if it’s very serious or not something i wanna burden my friends with, but i also distract myself with some tv show or (yay capitalism -.-) retail therapy

sepia; name five things that always make you happy. — a nice chat w a friend, an exhausting workout, finding (or being suggested) new music that i immediately feel myself getting obsessed with, saying yes to spontaneous, last minute plans and really enjoying myself although i often have that moment of ‘i don’t want to go’, being sent photos or memes

indigo; what’s the best/sweetest compliment you have ever received? — probably something that ‘golden ochre’ said to me... but also something that really warms my heart is when my friend eleonora says that i’m the smartest person she knows and like... really means it. i don’t think she’s right, it’s not even about the compliment per se, but that’s she’s so serious when she says it, it makes me happy

payne’s gray; describe your aesthetic? — light grey parisian skies, a pink sunrise over the sea, glittery makeup... glittery everything tbh, notebooks filled w memories - pressed flowers, cinema tickets, photos of places i loved... mermaids, fluffy cats, pastel colors, tiny gold jewelry, a decadent buffet, a bouquet of peonies, huge empty beaches, a walk-in closet filled with incredible clothes, lana del rey x vogue italia june 2019

black; post a selfie because you are so beautiful! — fhgjgkgkg this is the most recent, closest thing i have to a selfie that’s not w some other people. it’s from pride and i was happy of my rainbow eye makeup but it doesn’t even show... sorryyyyy

thank you for asking all of theseeee ♡

#Anonymous #thank u❤️

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slapshot-to-the-heart · 6 years

Text

Incomplete

Hey friends!! So, we’re here. The end of our journey with Alex and Harry. It’s been a wild ride, and I can’t thank you all enough for sticking by this story, even throughout the spotty updates these past few weeks. Please let me know what you think, and as always, enjoy!

Incomplete

April 2021

I breathe in slow to compose myself

In. Out. In. Out. Alex leaned her back against the stone wall of St. Peter’s, clutching her bouquet in one hand and the other set over her heart, feeling it beating beneath her hand. Her veil was set, the delicate heels on her feet and not a hair on her head was out of sorts. It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, so why did she feel like her chest was about to explode? It was ten minutes until the wedding started, and Alex was scared out of her mind. The hundreds of hours she had spend planning, nearly twenty years of friendship and two and a half years of dating was all going to come to fruition. She had removed herself from the hustle and bustle of her bridal suite; her five bridesmaids mixed with mimosas was just a little too much for her to handle. Jules, Gemma, Clare, Sarah, and her childhood friend Emily had been her saving grace during the planning process, especially the last few weeks. As the date got closer, Alex got more and more nervous. She knew Harry loved her unconditionally, that was beyond question. She was more worried about herself. Would she trip down the aisle? What if people hated the cake they had chosen? She thought vanilla with raspberry jam and lemon curd sounded fantastic, but what if everyone would have preferred chocolate? It was eight minutes until the wedding started, and she was questioning everything.

A quiet knock sounded from the wooden door next to her. She had tucked herself away in what she was under the impression was a secluded corner of the church’s courtyard, and wasn’t sure who it would be. She had told Gemma, her maid of honor, that everything was okay— she loved Harry more than anything and wasn’t running off, just needed a minute to herself.

“Lex?” She’d know that voice anywhere. Scrambling around the corner, she could hear Harry’s chuckle. “Don’t worry. My eyes are closed. I’m not going to look at the dress. Just heard you were gettin’ a bit nervous, wanted to see if I could help any.”

“I’m just having a hard time wrapping my mind around all it, you know?”

“The wedding or the whole marriage thing itself?” Harry asked.

She sighed. “Bit of both?”

He reached a hand around the door, and Alex realized that he wanted her to hold his hand. Gripping it like a lifeline, Alex took a few breaths, trying to steady her breathing. “And whatever fears you have are 100% valid, I’d never tell you anything otherwise. All I can tell you is I love you more than your fears. I’m so ridiculously excited to take this next step with you, and I know that we’ll be strong enough to withstand whatever obstacles come in our way. Whether they’re in ten minutes, or ten days, or ten years, we’re a team and nothing you could do would make me love you less.” It was five minutes until the wedding started, and Alex’s heart rate was steadying.

“Have I ever told you how much in love with you I am, H?” Alex asked softly.

“Once or twice,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I mean, you are marrying me, after all.” Alex let out a watery laugh. “You good now, Lex?”

She nodded, rubbing a thumb over the hand that covered hers. “Yeah.”

“See you at the altar?”

“I’ll be the one in white.” Much though Alex loved Harry’s style and how he was unashamedly himself in his fashion, she had requested that he keep his suit to a traditional black for the ceremony. “For posterity’s sake,” she had added. It was four minutes until the wedding started, and Alex finally felt ready. Taking a quick glance behind the door to make sure Harry was well out of sight, she darted around the corner, making her way back to the bridal suite and back into the loving but slightly concerned arms of her bridesmaids. “Everything’s fine, I just needed a minute” was a phrase repeated several times.

A moment later, a knock on the door sounded, this one expected. Sam, the older or her two younger brothers, was waiting on the other wide of the doorway. “Are we ready?” He asked, glancing around the room. Seeing as how her dad obviously wasn’t there to walk her down the aisle, Sam was more than happy to step in. All three siblings were close, but Alex and Sam even more so. They always had each others backs, through the thick and the thin, and there was nobody she would rather have next to her.

She nodded, taking a shaky breath as if all of her hopes and dreams for this day could be sucked in as easy as breathing. “As I’ll ever be.” Gemma gently tugged her veil over her face, handed her the bouquet that had briefly been resting on a side table, and ushered her and the rest of the bridesmaids out of the room, down a side hallway, and to the foyer of the church. It was one minute until wedding started, and Alex couldn’t be more excited if she tried. She twisted her bouquet in her hand, took a few steadying breaths, and took Sam’s outstretched arm. The music started. Alex had been somewhat apprehensive about a piano version of “Perfect,” thinking it would sound too cheesy, but it was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. Her bridesmaids entered, each accompanied by one of Harry’s groomsmen. The doors opened, and she went.

Step. Alex flickered her eyes up to the altar, where Harry waited, hands clasped nervously and feet shuffling almost imperceptibly. Step. He looked up at her. Tears sparkled in Harry’s eyes, and he looked at Alex like she had hung the moon. To him, she had. Step. Diane sat in the front row next to her other brother Charlie, thrilled beyond belief at the scene in front of her. Her daughter couldn’t have chosen a better man to love. Step. The flower girl, Adam’s daughter, dropped a few petals haphazardly down the stone aisle. Step. Step. Step. Alex finally reached the altar, and Sam went to sit beside their mum. Harry gave a watery smile, reaching out gingerly to flip her veil as if it were made of glass.

“You look absolutely stunning, love,” he said, smiling so incredibly wide, it seemed as if his face would split in two.

“Not nearly as good as you.”

I press my lips up into your neck/I stay there, and I reconnect

They were so lost in each other that most of the minister’s words were lost on them, with Harry even stumbling over his vows once or twice. Haltingly, emotionally, Harry promised to love her forever, and “even a little bit after that.” To always be true, be her protector when she needed it and to trust her judgement if she didn’t. To always, always be honest. Even when things are hard. Especially when things are hard.

Alex promised to be his best friend, his biggest supporter, and the best wife she could possibly be. To be by his side no matter what, even if she couldn’t physically be there. To always lead first with love and grace instead of judgement. Everything was something of a blur until the reception, which was being held in a nearby garden. The courtyard was draped with fairy lights, their friends and loved ones seated around tables filled with flowers and tea lights. Alex and Harry had gone back and forth over what to have their first dance song be. It couldn’t be too common, or too sappy, or too long, or too short. After many minutes spent scrolling through wedding blogs and checking Spotify, the couple settled on Can’t Help Falling in Love. Not as quirky a pick as Alex thought Harry would lobby for, but she soon fell in love with the timeless nature of the song, and the way Elvis captured the emotions so perfectly. Arms clasped behind Harry’s neck, she leaned in to his embrace, resting her head lightly on his shoulder.

“I didn’t ever think things would turn out this way,” she said softly.

Harry kissed the top of her head. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not the couple you’d think would make it. We’re an odd match. I mean sure, we grew up together, but that’s about it?” She said, almost like a question. “I went to uni while your career took off. I’m a graphic artist cracking about £60,000 a year, you’re a literal rock star making millions. Nothing about us seems like we ever should have been able to make a life together. But we did.”

“But we did.”

For the first time in a long time, Alex took a moment to rest. Rest after months of crazy, never-ending planning and stress and confusion and doubting. And as she leaned into him, she realized something. She didn’t need Harry, but he made her feel whole. He didn’t complete her, but something about him made her stop searching. She didn’t need to look anymore, because she had found everything. Her everything.

“When everything seems to be spinning so fast, you’re what keeps me grounded.” Harry murmured into her hair. “You don’t hold anything back, and that’s what I need.”

Over the next few hours, they danced, ate, and marveled in their surroundings. So many people who loved them and who they loved sat at the tables dotting the gardens. Their parents sat together, and if the past fifteen years were any indication, they were more than likely swapping embarrassing stories about their children. The CHASM family sat together, joined by Harry and Alex when they weren’t dutifully making their rounds and thanking guests for coming. Niall and Liam sat at a side table, sharing a few beers and even more laughter. Childhood friends and work contacts mingled together, and Alex silently thanked Harry for insisting on an open bar. The music had changed from Elvis to Ed Sheeran to Beyoncé, and they were loving every second of it. And Alex and Harry sat, surrounded by their friends. Her shoes were off, his tie was loosened, and parts of both of their fingers were smeared with the lemon curd of their cake. Which everyone had ended up loving. A few of her curls had fallen out of place, but she didn’t care. It may have looked imperfect, but what she was going to remember about that day, her wedding day, wasn’t a few stray hairs. It was the memories. The people who travelled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to celebrate with them. Her friends, who she loved more than almost anything, giving her the biggest hugs she’d ever gotten. Her wonderful, attentive, caring bridesmaids, who dealt with her nerves and confusion in spectacular fashion. Their families, where no dry eye was to be found during the vows. And Harry. Her Harry. Her incredible, kind, intelligent, compassionate husband. Husband. She had promised in front of God and their families to love him until her last breaths, and there was no promise she took as seriously as that.

Scared of the hope in my head/It’s been making me sweat

“Does this ever all just seem like one huge dream to you?” Alex asked softly. “Like some day we’re just going to wake up and none of this is real?”

“Why d’you say that, love?” Harry said.

“It just seems too good to be true. You, this wedding, the future we’re able to have. And the fact that we get to do it together. It’s ridiculous. I love it, there’s nothing I’ve ever been this excited about, but it’s ridiculous.”

“The future, hm?”

Alex’s cheeks reddened slightly. “I mean, we’re halfway there. Bought the house, adopted the dog.” Their four-month-old Labrador mix, Clover, had been brought home from the shelter a month ago, and was settling into their Notting Hill home wonderfully. “Jus’ need a few paintings and a few kids.”

The world it turns/And we grow, we learn/How to be, to be incomplete

#Harry Styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry writing #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry smut #one direction #one direction fanfiction #one direction fanfic

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joonsmagicstudio · 6 years

Text

CHAPTER 1: THE CLASH OF BILLIONAIRE’S (JJK)

genre: drama + romance

pairings: reader x jeon jungkook

word count: 1.2k

description: Past history + break up

warnings: sexual themes and shit load of swearing.

status: currently editing

story mini-masterlist here

Chapters: Prologue || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 (coming soon) ||

Now

"Y/N! We got an emergency!" A male voice rung out as he shoved the door to my office open and stood still at my desk, letting the door swing back into its place. Now I am trying my level best not to brag, but my office was damn spacious and had the best damn view of New York city, I mean c'mon why wouldn't a CEO not have the very top floor as an office with glass windows and oh-so modern furnitures?

"Don't tell me that we ran out of fucking glitters for the dress because I swear I will go hulk crazy on yo-" I stood up from my chair with my hands flat on my desk, being over-confident about what this man was going to say, considering his dramatic 'We have an emergency' entrance.

"Y/N, what the fuck? I was going to tell you that we got a class five customer waiting down in the lobby and demands a dress that only you would be able to make." The man simply crossed his arms against his chest and raised his right eyebrows at me.

"Oh, sorry Holland." I looked down at my desk ashamed, well this was embarrassing.

"Oh sorry, that's all you say? Well missy, you better get your ass downstairs! It's a class five customer!" Holland chuckled and urged me to get moving to visit "class five" customer. Class five customer often meant an high ranking person in the society like celebrities, billionaire's and 'popular' people. And a class five customer wasn't that rare at my company, rather it was common. That's right my company is pretty damn well-known and prestigious. Heck even Beyoncé came here.

"Gosh Holland!" I mimicked a girly voice and added the classic basic bitch expression before skedaddling to the elevator that would take me downstairs. The elevator ride to downstairs hardly took my five minutes, but as I took a step out on the the ground floor, I was greeted with loads of 'Good Afternoon Madam" or a simple head nod in acknowledgment of my presence. The whole floor was filled with my workers running around, some with measurement tapes around their neck, some with pieces of fabrics in their hands of even a full dress in their hands and some chatting away with their clients of the designs and the fabrics. I stiffened my back and stood up straight to look more professional and walked all the way to the waiting room in the lobby.

There the reception counter was across the black sofas so the clients and customers would come in and take a seat after having checked in with the receptionist.

"Hey YooRa! How's your kids doing?" I walked over to the reception counter and leaned over with my arms rested on top of the counter.

"Oh Ms Y/L/N! My kids are doing fine! Thank you for asking me." The receptionist named YooRa was in her late 30's with her husband at home and kids at the middle school.

"Oh please, no need to call me Ms Y/L/N, kind of makes me feel old when I am just in my mid twenties!" I smiled at her and quickly glanced down at her small photo frame which held a picture of her kids and her husband. That family picture alone melted my heart for she had a loving family. I would ask her how her family was doing, because of the simple fact that that when she finished her work here and headed back home, she would have her kids running up to her and her husband hugging at the entrance of her house while I would have an empty house with nobody there to greet me back from work. One of the sad part of being a CEO.

"Oh Y/N! Stop it," YooRa giggled, "Well anyways your class five customer is in the waiting room, he is pretty handsome, his name is so good too! Jeon Jungkook, hmm imagine screaming that name out, I would have hit that if I didn't have a husband!" She chuckled at her sexual suggestion.

"Real funny YooRa, but it's against the rules to fuck your client YooRa and for fuck sake's I am a CEO." I shot back with a joking glare.

"Oh Y/N, it's time you let loose, lately everyone has to keep a distance between you since you've been a little sexually frustrated! When did you have last have sex? Since you were born?"

"Damn it YooRa! Back at it again with your immature self and by the way, for the record, Last time I had sex was..." I trailed off, realizing that she spoke the truth, the truth set in pretty deep and it hurt.

"Y/N? Since when did you last get relieved?" YooRa sat up a little straighter, concern lacing her voice.

"6 years..." I mumbled weakly, loud enough for her to hear, I tried not to reminisce that memory of the very man who degraded and lowered my self-esteem that day.

"Damn, that's a long time, a girl has its own need, even I do! I keep up with weekly, but 6 years is way too long, you need to blow of some steam. I kid you not, you have been recently overworking and over-exerting yourself now days. You have become a workaholic, Y/N. Honestly I don't know how you kept it together for the past 6 years!" YooRa shoulders sagged as her eyebrows stitched together in concern, why should she be concerned about my sex life anyways.

"Thank YooRa, but I don't need anyone to tell me what to do. I'll go to meet with the customer now if you don't mind." With that I left the reception and walked into the waiting room and stood there, forgetting the actual task on hand, I was momentarily distracted by the conversation with YooRa.

"Uh, excuse me Miss?" A sultry voice snapped me out of daze as I turned to face the owner of the voice.

"Yes, sorry, how may I help you?" I put on a sweet voice, ready to help the man.

"Yeah I am supposed to meet with the CEO, but apparently the CEO isn't here and I must add, a CEO is always punctual." He said curtly without lack of confidence.

"Ah my apologies, that would be me. I am assuming you are Jeon Jungkook?" I smiled cautiously, already sensing that he was an asshole. For some reason I got that strange intuition of who is an asshole or not. But this one was just stamped with 'asshole' in bold red on his forehead. Looks like I am going to have a long day.

"Hilarious, look I get a lot of girls throwing their body at me and I am running out of time so if you just give me your number and then show me your CEO, perhaps after this I'll call you for a quickie." He had the audacity to wink at the end of his fucking request.

"Gladly, Mr. Jungkook." I bent down to rip a piece of a magazine paper from the center table and grabbed a nearby pen to write down my number, then folded it in half and tucked away, "I'll take you to the CEO's Office then." I gave him a cold smile. ----------------------------------------------------------- "Here, please take a seat," I spoke icily, signaling him to take a seat, my nice facade washed away as I took my seat, in my room, taking up my true role. "Mr.Jungkook, how may I help you."Mr. Jungkook a shabby man himself by the looks, he seemed young, mid or late twenties perhaps. A good amount of scruff and quite a broad man, indicating that he was a man who worked out, his face was well-structured and any ladies would have fallen at his feet, even me, only if it wasn't that shit personality he had.

But it was the wild panicked expression he had that amused me, now he realized who was talking to.

"Apologies, I didn't know. You seemed rather young that's why I mistook you for a-" I interruped him harshly.

"A young whore you meant to say? Look, I'm not a proctologist, but I know an asshole when I see one. Okay? So please leave sir, come back another time if you're so desperate." I slammed my hands on the desk again, effectively shutting him up.

"Look, geez you don't have to be a sensitive bitch over this." He rose to his full form, I am guessing some feet and something inch, but at this point, nobody cares.

I hesitated for a moment and scoffed, vigorously shaking my head at his 'bitch' statement, was he really a moron? "Do I get a bonus point if I act like I care?"

Mr. Jungkook was about to open his mouth, and I assume - to speak some more shit, so I beat him to it.

"Get the fuck out of my building." I calmly pointing with my index finger towards the glass door and without any further ruckus, he left. I sighed and fell back into my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose. ------------------------------------------------------ Jungkook walked out of the well-known prestigious dress maker company, honestly all he wanted to do was get someone to tailor the dress for his sister wedding.

He approached the curb of the noisy NYC street and waved for a yellow taxi cab and within seconds a taxi came screeching to halt and the door swung open, "Where to Sir?" The driver asked, his eyes still trained on the road.

"Jeon Building." He replied as he sat into the passenger seat, closing the door behind him. He barely had the time to put on his seatbelt before the taxi skidded off to its destination.

The taxi pulled up in front of the Jeon Skyscraper and the driver switched of the engine, turning to the passenger seat. Jungkook was staring out the window with an absent expression on his rather handsome face, not even realizing that he had reached his destination.

"We're here, Sir." The driver said gruffly, with a hint of impatience lacing his voice.

Jungkook started slightly, turning from the window and blinked at the driver in confusion, his green eyes cleared and shook his head, "Apologies, I was thinking about several things." He muttered, already digging through his wallet and paid him a huge wad of cash, way more that the actual cab fare, "Keep the change." He said as he got out and shut the door then hurried through the drizzling rain of New York toward his own building.

He smiled at his own butler who was more like a father figure to him that his own biological father, "Hello Jisub, is my sister here?"

"Unfortunately not, she said she would be here in couple of hours. Delayed because of traffic jam. Have you got the CEO to make the dress? I hear she is the best after all." Jisub asked, his face devoid of any emotions, but when Jungkook and Jisub were alone, he was a little more loose and fun to talk to.

"Speaking of that, no. Well technically it didn't go too well. The CEO was a bit bitchy..." Jungkook rubbed his hands nervously.

"Really or was it your ego that got the best of you?" Jisub asked, raising his eyebrows and Jungkook swore that if they were alone, Jisub would have simply lectured him to keep his ego down.

"Ok, you know what, I am going to head up to my office." Jungkook changed the topic and headed off towards the open center of the building. He followed a succession of exquisite walkways and escalators until he came to the open dome right in the heart of the structure, that was the open cafe. He plopped into the vacant seat across the counter where the barista was busy making coffee's for the customer.

Jungkook sighed deeply, there was something that troubled him deeply after the incident with the CEO, which he thought was somebody else. What trouble him was that the lady seemed familiar but he couldn't put his finger on who was she or have they ever met before. He pondered over the thought of her, she did seem young, like him. Then it struck him, she gave him his number, so he hastily searched and patted all over his suit like a maniac before successfully finding the piece of a torn magazine sheet, he opened it and read the number:

+1 212- GO-FUCK-YOURSELF-67

Jungkook raised his eyebrows in amusement at her discrete, well obvious move of saying go fuck yourself, he had to give her that point.

------------------------------

Y/N - 1 // Jungkook - 0

Hope you enjoyed the long awaited 1st chapter, I’m sorry about the ship imagines, i will try to get through it but for some reason i’m unable to do so.

If you have any feedbacks or comment about this chapter, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

#bts #bts imagines #bts scenarios #kpop #kpop imagines #jeongguk #jeon jungguk #jungkook

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how2to18 · 6 years

Link

IT’S 1989. You’re in the middle seat of a Chevrolet Astro minivan, flanked on either side by your screaming siblings. Dad is driving. Oh god, he’s air-drumming on the wheel to “Smoke on the Water.” Again. You look down and see your backpack and your heart swells just a little because a device in that bag is your ticket out of here. Janine K gave you a mixtape of songs by The Cure and said they would change your life. The cassette is already in the Walkman deck. You pop on headphones, press play, and crank up the volume. Hello, freedom.

It’s hard to remember a time before we had the option to curate the playlist of our own minds. We are simply accustomed now to experiencing music in this deeply personal, albeit solitary, way. We disappear into headphones, stream a song via smartphone from the intangible, infinite web, creating a sonic landscape that mirrors our mood. We walk around the grocery store in Beyoncé-land.

But that wasn’t always the case. In her new book Personal Stereo, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow analyzes two major shifts in perspective associated with the 1979 birth of the first solo listening device, the Walkman. First, music becomes a personal experience, and second, music becomes immersive, a means to override — or even negate — the sounds of one’s immediate environment. Listening to music in private was not a new concept, of course, nor was the ability to take music on the road (à la the boom box). However, the idea of making the private experience of music a public phenomenon was groundbreaking. In that sense, the Walkman redefined music: it was a revolutionary tool that offered listeners a new kind of freedom. Music technology today still riffs on the basic concept of the Walkman, only now we have digital access to nearly every recorded song.

To set the stage for the Walkman’s rise, Tuhus-Dubrow takes us to postwar Japan, in a ramshackle office with a leaking roof. Two men are working with umbrellas over their desks. Their names are Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, the founders of Sony and eventual fathers of the Walkman. Personal Stereo is the wild story of the ingenious brotherhood of Ibuka and Morita, of Japan’s ascent from financial ruin to the second largest economy in the world, and of the subsequent pushback from the United States against Japanese-made products. It’s also the story of the “Me Generation” of the 1970s, as well as the exercise craze of the ’80s, and all the anxiety and nostalgia implicit in the beginning and end of an era.

Personal Stereo is the latest entry in Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series, which focuses on the hidden lives of ordinary things. The short book is divided into three chapters — “Novelty,” “Norm,” and “Nostalgia” — which together trace a narrative arc that mirrors the lifespan of a zeitgeist technology turned obsolete. Sub-sections within each chapter have evocative titles like “Trapping sound,” “Remember Pearl Harbor,” and — my personal favorite — “Home taping is killing music.” (One can almost hear record label executives in the age of digital streaming laughing out loud at that last title.) Tuhus-Dubrow illuminates a web of stories connected to the Walkman, her references as ubiquitous as its users. She takes us to a mountain in wintry Switzerland where Andreas Pavel, who would later win a lawsuit against Sony, played music for his lover on his jerry-rigged personal stereo while the snow fell silently around them. She quotes Tom Wolfe and Allan Bloom, along with her own buddy who had his Walkman stolen. After finishing Personal Stereo, I found myself wondering about the secret lives of every object around me, as if each device were whispering, “Oh, I am much so more than meets the eye.”

The most haunting theme Tuhus-Dubrow treats is contemporary nostalgia for analog technology. In 2015, the National Audio Company reported the best year of cassette sales since 1969. Thurston Moore, formerly of Sonic Youth, claims he only listens to music on cassette, and many artists today elect to release music exclusively on tape. Questioning her own nostalgia, Tuhus-Dubrow tackles the murky issue of why consumers would hold on to this outdated technology. Why commemorate an obsolete device? Tuhus-Dubrow suggests we are nostalgic for the Walkman not because it reminds us of a particular time and place, or an early taste of freedom, nor because it was pivotal in defining the spirit of an age, but because we may secretly long for boundaries in a world of limitless access. Perhaps we crave the singular focus that the Walkman’s simplicity forced on us: listen to this one Pearl Jam tape all the way home, because that’s all you’ve got. Tuhus-Dubrow speculates that we miss the time when we could actually touch music — when we had to fumble with a wonky device through a maze of fast-forwarding, rewinding, fast-forwarding again until the click: that sweet spot somewhere mid-tape, the beginning of our favorite song.

As with most generation-defining forms of technology, consumers had conflicting opinions about the Walkman. Because of the newfound personal freedom it offered, the Walkman was considered a threat, antisocial and amoral. “Walkman’s Oblivion” was likened to the escape of taking drugs or dissociating into a film-like hyper-reality. People who chose to withdraw into the private world of their personal stereos, hips gyrating down the street to invisible music, were labeled selfish, hermetic, or just plain crazy. “The history of technology,” Tuhus-Dubrow writes, “is in part the story of normal people starting to do things that used to be considered signs of insanity.” The Walkman’s origin story is as curious as the slew of contradictions surrounding its reception. This little device was seen as simultaneously a quintessential symbol of the United States and everything that’s wrong with the country, a tool both of laziness and of hyper-productivity (think: exercise craze), as well as a ubiquitous symbol of style and status.

Tuhus-Dubrow is a master researcher and synthesizer. It would appear that she has left no Walkman-related stone unturned. That said, if I could request a hidden bonus track to Personal Stereo, I would wish for more of her insightful musings on the mixtape, a phenomenon responsible for more excited swooning, long-shot lyrical (mis)interpretations, and make-out sessions than any other music delivery mechanism. Surely there is a connection to be made between the Walkman’s redefinition of music as personal and the art of curating a music mix specifically for your crush. If the Walkman had never come into being, would it have occurred to us to select and organize songs with such uniquely personal intention? Tuhus-Dubrow does touch on a mix of her own creation, including a stellar lineup of R.E.M. and Beat Happening, but it would be fascinating to read more of her thoughts on the subject. Then again, maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic for Janine K’s mix of The Cure, the one that truly set me free.

In July 2012, for approximately 45 seconds, I erroneously believed that I owned New York City. This brief moment accompanied a runner’s high, as I jogged alone along the Hudson, earbuds blasting “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Sure, the exercise-induced endorphin rush contributed to my delusion, but the truth is I couldn’t have approached that moment of ecstasy had it not been for the ability to disappear into my personal stereo. At the time, I never would have credited the Walkman for my elation, but thanks to Tuhus-Dubrow, an elegant, engaging storyteller who unpacks complex social and political concepts with clarity and panache, I know better now. Personal Stereo is a joy to read.

Carissa Stolting is the founder of Left Bank Artists, an artist management company based in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a contributing poet to the podcast Versify, a publication of PRX, The Porch Writers’ Collective, and Nashville Public Radio.

The post Zeitgeist to Obsolete: Rewinding the Walkman’s Inverted Cinderella Story appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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ramialkarmi · 7 years

Text

A game developer made over $100 million in 3 months — here's how he's spending his wealth

More than just a bizarre name, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" is a brilliant concept. It's no surprise that the game — which still hasn't officially launched — has already racked up over $100 million in revenue. This is a game that's exclusively available on PC and isn't even finished with development, yet it's already being played by over 4 million people.

There's a simple explanation for why it's doing so well: It's an unbelievably good game.

Here's how the average match of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" goes:

You're jammed in a crappy plane with 100 other people, flying above an abandoned ex-Soviet island. You can jump whenever you want, knowing that as you plummet to the ground, 99 other people are plotting your imminent death. Of course, you're plotting theirs as well, just as soon as you can get your hands on a weapon.

Thankfully, though the island is uninhabited aside from you and the enemy players, the island — including all its houses, hospitals, and gas stations — are packed with P9s, AKs, and plenty of body armor.

As you scramble to put together a small arsenal and supplies for survival, you're also contending with the other 99 people doing the same thing. Sometimes those folks want to fight, and sometimes they're unarmed and just as terrified of you as you are of them. Every interaction with another player in "Battlegrounds" is a gamble.

So, where in the world did this game come from?

It was created by a studio in South Korea named Bluehole, and its creative director is an Irish man named Brendan Greene (AKA "PlayerUnknown"). Though Bluehole was already an established game developer, most famous for having created a successful MMO called "Tera," the company has found sudden outrageous success with "Battlegrounds." For a game that's not even complete yet, to have already racked up over 4 million copies sold is extremely rare — more akin to the explosive success of something like "Minecraft" than standard game launches.

Given that sudden, extreme success, I wondered how Greene and co. were handling things. Were they partying non-stop? Taking lavish vacations? Buying gold toilets? Outbidding Jay Z and Beyoncé for luxurious LA abodes?

"No, f--- that. I'm a simple man, and I'm happy when I have internet and a nice bottle of wine," the game's creative director Brendan Greene told me in an interview at the annual video game trade show, E3, in mid-June. "I have five pairs of the same Bermudas. I have a Converse problem, but they're my guilty vices. I don't want a fancy car. A nice house would be good."

So, no Ferraris then. Instead, Greene is focusing on setting up his daughter for life. "For me, personally, I have a daughter. I do this for her. I don't want to spoil her, but she'll never need to worry," he said.

Unbelievably, Greene doesn't seem to be freaking out at all with the sudden infusion of cash. He's a friendly, charismatic gentleman. He speaks excitedly about the game he's making, and is seemingly trying to avoid confronting its potential as a behemoth. Though the game has only been available since March, it's already sold over 4 million copies — it's still in "Early Access," which means it's not complete. Bluehole is planning a "1.0" version for later this year, and an Xbox One version of the game by year's end.

All of which is to say one thing: "Battlegrounds" is, if anything, just getting started. It's entirely possible that Greene is just at the start of a wild roller coaster ride. But he's staying cool.

"Apart from a few more smiles around the office, the focus is on making a good game," he told me. "That hasn't changed. Sure, we've been super successful, but it hasn't really affected me or the team that much." The focus, he said, is on making the game as good as possible. "I have a goal in mind for Battle Royale as a game mode, and 'Battlegrounds' as a game, and — until we get there — I'm not celebrating just yet. This could all be gone in a second, as is the way with the internet. We want to finish it, and get it done, then we'll relax for a bit."

SEE ALSO: A game that isn't even out yet has already racked up $100 million in revenue

DON'T MISS: Forget 'Call of Duty' — this insane new game is going to blow your mind

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NOW WATCH: Everything you need to know about 'Battlegrounds' — an unfinished game that’s already made $60 million

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la-paritalienne · 5 years

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if you have the time, can you rate LM5's songs? from 1 to 5, but there can only be one 5 🤓

i love thisssss, thank you for asking! sucks that there can only be one 5 and i’ll probably change my mind as time goes by and i become obsessed w another song, but i like a challenge, soooo here i go.

i have to add that in general i feel like this album is pure fucking quality, cohesive message, empowering lyrics, inspired sound, and that i feel like it’ll grow on me even more.

the national manthem: 3 / 5 — love their voices and the lyrics but the title is a bit cringey

woman like me: 3,5 / 5 — i’m obsessed w the rappier verses (my favourite is the ‘love it when you turn me on’ one) but the chorus is a bit boring, and tbh i find nicky’s rap a bit slow, slightly nonsensical and like it doesn’t add anything to the song

think about us: 4 / 5 — at first i’m like… cool song but not necessarily impressive, but the ‘i wanna knoOW’ won me over

strip: 3 / 5 — love the message and the beat is very sexy, but not my fave

monster in me: 2,5 / 5 — idk… the chorus is very catchy, although a bit boring in a way? reminds me of their older sound, also i don’t love the ‘monster in me x monster in you’ thing… idk, am i the only one who finds the lyric a bit cringey?

joan of arc: 2,5 / 5 — kudos for the feminist message, and i’ll definitely listen to this to pump me up but a bit too beyoncé wannabe for me

love a girl right: 3,5 / 5 — uuuughh i love this kind of early 2000s sound! reminds me of tlc or something. overall i don’t find the song outstanding jam-wise (does this even make sense??) but like this is high quality shit !!!

american boy: 2 / 5 — i just wish they hadn’t added such a clichéd song about a boy (american, no less) in such an empowering, girl centered album. feels like a bit like a filler

told you so: 4,5 / 5 — i’m crying as i type so i feel like this deserved the recognition. i love it. the chorus is heavenly.

wasabi: 5 / 5 — soooooo this is my five! other songs deserved it also, i’m sure, but this is everything and i’m obsessed w it atm! cool, sexy, fun, empowering, makes me feel like a bad bitch and has a badass beat that just gets inside your head. j’adore.

more than words: 2,5 / 5 — a tad boring. i love it when their voices go low tho!

motivate: 4,5 / 5 — this is so ajskxdfghjklp THE LATINO SOUND BYEEEE I’M SOLD. could have been a 5 for that but i mean, it’s no wasabi lyrically. but damn this is fireeeee

notice: 4,5 / 5 — so raw and sensual, the chorus gives me chills (‘there’s sex in the air’……… AAHHH). love.

the cure: 4,5 / 5 — i’m crying again. i needed this song this morning and maybe always.

forget you not: 3 / 5 — i like it but it’s got nothing that makes me obsessed w it

woman’s world: 4,5 / 5 — chills & tears bitchhhhh. AND THE BRIDGE!!!

the cure (stripped): 4,5 / 5 — like the non-stripped one but also their voices are like 10x here……….. damn

only you: 4 / 5 — i didn’t listen to this when it came out (don’t know why!) but it’s quite the jam, i’m glad it was included in the deluxe version. it makes me kinda sad but oh well. that’s what (some songs) are for, right?

i hope you see this, let me know what you think! thank you for making me do it, it was such a lovely way to spend a bit of my morning and re-listen the album while taking it in more in depth than i would have. and i also found out… i needed it quite a bit

♡

#lm anon #lm5 #Anonymous

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