My grandmother died this morning at the age of 77. Words can’t even begin to describe the misery she went through in the past several years of her life. Her immense medical record was just about as long as the list of doctors who were mortified at the prospect of having to navigate the murky medical waters of a woman who, by all rights, should have been dead five times over. Between her assisted living facility, the various wards of the hospital, and rehab facilities spanning across several
*peers around corner nervously* Hi, y'all. It's been a hot minute. Life's been bananas, but the semester is drawing to a conclusion and though I have much left on my plate to finish before January, I fulfilled my obligations and saw The Last Jedi. Going into it, I was somewhat nervous for where the series was headed. I really enjoyed The Force Awakens, though perhaps my enthusiasm was amplified by the fact that I was seeing a Star Wars film on the big screen when I thought for years that
Every three to five years, on average, the incumbent Doctor regenerates, and because the BBC doesn't want to keep things a surprise until the actual regeneration episodes—which seem to occur exclusively on Christmases, for some heretofore unacknowledged reason—we, as fans, are left with knowing who's next in line without the benefit of seeing their Doctor's performance in an actual episode. I became a fan of the show during the Tenth Doctor's run, and I remember the absolute uproar that accomp
-----There were several ways to get back to North Carolina from the Lexington area, but we had several provisions for a successful return. The fastest route by time would have taken us through the mountains of West Virginia, which we had sworn off on the way up and were not about to risk on the trip's final day. Instead, we opted for a scenic drive—by Kentucky standards, which means lots and lots of trees and mountains—through Appalachia, which saved miles but sacrificed a bit of time. -----
-----Just like the past few days, it was I-90 all the way. It was the last of the Rocky Mountain foothills, as South Dakota brings with it the prospect of true plains where the speed limit of 80 almost seems low once you get used to going such a speed. We know that Wyoming can be a pleasant state, though it wasn't much so this time—but the "fajitas" weren't upsetting us. -----We were to South Dakota pretty much before we knew it, and within two hours of our 10:00 departure had made it to Rap
-----All online evidence pointed to us having a five-hour drive day ahead, which is a good amount for an average day on the return journey. From Olympia, we were to travel north to Tacoma before splitting off of I-5 and joining I-90 as it traverses the state eastbound. But there wasn't anything to really break the trip up, as five hours in the car isn't daunting so much as the thought of going that distance with no significant breaks in the action. -----Tacoma is the home of the Tacoma Rainier
-----Mercifully, for the first time since Minot, we awoke with cell phone reception. It’s a minor miracle, and it meant that we no longer had to calculate our phone’s morning alarms from central time backwards, which was a great annoyance. Texts from Alaska’s 511 service poured through to my mom's phone, which proved a hassle as updates on the Glenn Highway popped up periodically with no obvious way to unsubscribe. (We eventually were able to do so, though not without significant hassle.) -
-----Our alarms went off at our now-usual time of 6:00—10:00 to our Eastern Time-aligned bodies—and we readied and packed and left for the lobby a little before 7:00. Our earliness was a necessity, as the tour van had pulled up before its scheduled arrival at 7:15. We were introduced to our tour guides: the first had moved to Alaska at age 18 and had spent time as a jack-of-all-trades, and the second, who was a dead ringer for Xaeraz's dad, served as a secondary guide when the first needed a bre
-----A long-awaited sleeping-in session commenced into the morning hours, and upon awakening at around 10:00 we prepared for a day on the town in the Yukon capital. Our first stop was at the Yukon Transportation Museum, which is adjacent to the Whitehorse airport. It's extremely noticeable for the enormous DC-3 perched outside on a pivot, which is their weathervane. We admired it for a while, despite the biting cold wind, before going to the door of the museum. -----To our surprise, it's no
-----The road so far has constituted what is essentially the first leg of the trip: the journey to Milepost 0 of the Alaska Highway. With today we entered what we called "Milepost territory" in that our entire route was contained within the latest volume of the road map collection that prides itself as "The Bible of North Country Travel." -----8:00 AM saw my dad travel to the dealership in Whitecourt for an oil change and routine inspection that we'd had planned since we were well in the State
-----Sleeping in in St. Cloud was a great help, and we got up at 8:00 and left by 10:00. We took I-94 westbound and traveled to the Fargo metropolitan area. Our return to Fargo was marked with a return to a Jimmy John's at which we'd eaten on our second trip in 2013. It was not raining this time, which made for an easier journey, and we were able to go the speed limit, which was a whopping 75 MPH. -----We continued on I-94 due west until we reached the city of Jamestown, where we split nort
-----Our phone alarms went off at seven o'clock in the morning, and after a requisite five minute snooze, coffee was acquired and the day began. We managed to leave Knoxville at 9:00, bearing north for the Kentucky border. -----Our goal was to get to Cincinnati a little after lunchtime, and the drive was uneventful until we got to the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Our first stop was lunch at Taste of Belgium, an establishment that prides itself on its waffles. It's extremely European; flats
-----Alaska has always been a very romanticized place in my mind, as there are very few places in the world that are like it. I've been fascinated by it since I knew of its existence, although at first I just thought it was cool because it was on the same continent as the 48 contiguous states but remained staunchly separate from its kin. Both Alaska's scale and ostensible nothingness intrigued me, especially when I first saw it overlaid on the familiar US outline. It seemed almost too good to be
> HAVE TO LEARN ABOUT 50+ RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE PIECES BY OCTOBER > ROUGHLY FIVE HOURS OF MUSIC IN TOTAL > INCLUDING COMPOSERS' FULL NAMES, DATES OF COMPOSITION, AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS AND FIGURES > CLASS TAUGHT BY INTERNATIONAL EXPERT IN EARLY MUSIC > WHAT IS FIXED-DO SOLFEGE? HATED BY SUMIKI, THAT'S WHAT IT IS > HAVE TO GET UP AT EIGHT O'CLOCK EVERY MORNING > HAVE TO EDIT MY 100-PAGE SYMPHONY > AS OF A FEW DAYS AGO I'M NOW IN A GAMELAN ORCHESTRA AS IF THE REST OF T
So I've started, according to my estimation, four epics in my time on BZP. The first was this atrocious monstrosity of a story that lasted all of about three chapters and was fortunately deleted. The second was an actual attempt at a legitimate story that I started when I hit 10,000 posts. It was called Annus Mirabilis, and though the concept was (and still is, I think) quite interesting, I didn't have enough of a story planned out to make it work. The third attempt was a gritty Hero Factory reb
HATPILE REACHES 66 HATS MY NECK STILL HURTS BRICKEENS TOUR NEVER MATERIALIZES (SORRY BRO) PABLO DRIVES THE FARM ANIMALS TO THE TYSON'S CORNER LEGO STORE A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE TO SAY THE VERY LEAST XAERAZ ARGUES IN FAVOR OF THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE OF DEFENSIVE DRIVING WE LAUGHED, WE CRIED, WE FELL OVER XAERAZ LEAVES EARLY TO DEAL WITH HOUSEHOLD EMERGENCY NO ONE WINS ANY DOOR PRIZES VALENDALE WINS THE GHOSTBUSTERS SET AT ATTEMPTS TO HACK A SMALL TV BLACK SIX: "Galidor 2018!" DEEVEE:
IT'S THE END OF THE FARM AS WE KNOW IT SUMIKI'S DAD APPEARS THE FARM ANIMALS AND FRIENDS CONVENE AT THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT COLOMBIAN MIME AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL THE SEARCH FOR FOOD TRUCKS ft. SEVERAL WRONG TURNS FOOD TRUCKS FOUND, LUNCH CONSUMED AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, LADY K'S BROTHER IN AWE THIS ISN'T A CAR WALKING AROUND EVERYWHERE PETTY ESCALATION ft. PAT AND MADDISON VIA FACEBOOK GROUP SELFIES! AT READS EVERYTHING GET FUSSED AT BY OVERZEALOUS ANTI-RELAXATION SMITHSONIAN VOLUNTEE
Pablo begins day by nearly shorting out his electronics Lady K drew the Su-MOC-i Saw Hevin Kinkle, achieved 3/4 Hinklefigpletion Two Farm Animals at Five Guys, which is honestly just plain confusing AT breaks the servers in the Pokémon hunt The hat shipment arrives from Sumiki's Dad Children admire a three-hat pile 8 people, one hotel room Having to say "Comic Sans is awesome!" ANCIENT AND POWERFUL BEAR WIZARD ankle wrists, criminalism, jurj, lernerner, doctor whom, gregf, takuuuuuuua,
ham sandwich, pope pablo v, in&out beard, eljay's mask, adultman, onion, jaws 37, jens, 8volt train, knob hobble Valendale: "Bricks Out for Bionicle!" We all get orange 1x1s for our badges Even Hevin Kinkle Kevin Hinkle gets Bricked Out for Bionicle #dontcrinklethehinkle2k16 BZP+TTV Panel, Maddison asked at the end if she dreams about farm animals Italian lunch! Three members stuffed into the hatchback of the Pablomobile Pablomobile is no longer Colombian soil but now features the pat
