I love riding the bus. It's efficient, inexpensive, comfortable, and gets you where you need to go. Also, sometimes I break one of my cars and need a ride home. Or all of my cars are broken, and I need a ride to work. If you have the opportunity to ride a bus, I strongly recommend it.
Recently, people have been trying to replace buses with smaller buses, known as "taxis." That word feels like it should be short for something, but nobody seems to know what. The idea is that instead of the driver and a bunch of people, it's just the driver and you.
Because a taxi is smaller than a bus, it can go more places. Fits right into weird alleys, or down residential streets, or following a suspicious person during a tense spy caper. Unfortunately, that also makes it way more expensive, because you no longer have a hundred other passengers splitting the bill with you. Also, sometimes the driver insists on making conversation, and you have to find a way to jump out of the car at highway speeds without seeming rude. Tuck and roll!
If there is a problem with the bus, it's that it can't tow your car. Sure, a lot of the new ones have a dingus on the front for carrying a bicycle. And a bicycle only. The driver will get froggy if you try to put in an entire Ford nine-inch rear axle, and even angrier if you try to carry it on the bus during rush hour. That makes it very inconvenient sometimes, which is something I think should be fixed in order to increase transit adoption.
If the bus could also carry my broken car home from the Kay Bee Toys parking lot where I blew it up trying to do donuts with no oil in the engine, then I'd never need to ride in anything else ever again. Maybe in the glorious future of mixed-use urbanism, this beautiful dream of dragging my shattered automobile through a utopia of peace and love can become real.
i like to think that as a child while living with spock she tried to play it, not with success so she lost interest... she enjoyed watching spock play it though. but years later she'd give it another chance :)
Many of my friends love motorcycles, which are like cars but with fewer wheels. This makes them easier to store, I imagine, which appeals to me. Hoarding twice as many vehicles sounds great! Unfortunately, there are many problems with this deviant lifestyle, and it's not the ones that people will tell you.
If you ask the average uninitiated suburban voter, they'll express a level of fear when it comes to motorcycles. Oh no, they claim, those things will kill you instantly thirty million ways and they'll never find all of your body. That's not particularly relevant to me, mostly because I routinely drive cars with even less safety equipment than your average motorcycle. What is a concern? The lack of a trunk.
Friends, the trunk is one of the greatest inventions of all of humankind. To be able to put your shit in a box, lock it, and bring that shit with you across your travels? Delightful. Although many "touring" motorcycles have little boxes in which you can place your underwear, sidearms, and next-of-kin identification, space is still quite limited. You can't do what I do, which is leave a bunch of crap in the trunk that you're too lazy to bring into your house. Look back there. Yeah, that's a Commodore 128. It's the deluxe model. Won't even fit on a Goldwing.
To my surprise, when I brought this up to my biker-gang friends, I was rebuffed. Not only do larger touring bags exist, but certain ridiculous individuals have even developed a little trailer that you can tow behind your motorcycle. It's teeny-weeny, sure, but certainly bigger than the trunk in, say, a Fiat 500. And that's before we even get to sidecars.
The only problem here is that once you add one of these, suddenly the space advantage of the motorcycle disappears. You might as well just do what normal people do, and hoard between 35 and 71 old cars on your property. That said, I have recently found a couple motorcycles that I forgot I owned. They were in the trunk.
This is a counterbalanced pose where the weight is rested on one leg and the hips and shoulders are tilted in opposite directions. It emphasizes the curves of the body.
spock/mccoy(/kirk?) where bc ~space shenanigans~ they can hear each others thoughts, but both of them genuinely think such nice things about each other that they literally Cannot address it, not even to tease the other about it, because they know the other person can feel how fond THEIR thoughts are, too, so they just calmly and deliberately - without ever talking about it - lie to everyone else about how they're bickering even in their thoughts
(kirk just looks at them with a smile and a glint in his eye, but he's an incredibly nice person (as he tells them later at length) and doesn't call them out on it in public)
scotty, with a smirk: you getting a headache from all his criticizing, dr. mccoy?
mccoy, trying to tune out with every fiber of his being the sound of spock warmly considering how well mccoy is handling this, and how if there's any doctor who will figure it out, he'll be the one, as he is indeed the finest doctor spock has ever known: HAHA YEP IT'S A REAL NIGHTMARE UP HERE!!!!
kirk, with that glint in his eye: and you, mr. spock? how are you dealing with the introduction of so much irrationality?
spock, mere seconds away from making up a reason to run to his room and try to meditate away the sound of mccoy's own extremely warm thoughts about what a skilled science officer spock is, and how if he had to have this happen with anyone at least it was someone he respects so much: dr. mccoy rarely keeps his thoughts to himself, so this is not such a change, captain.
1. Noted Sensualist Leonard McCoy not wanting to make Spock uncomfortable, so trying very hard not to think about sex at all, but what that means in PRACTICE is Spock keeps hearing him think, "don't think about sex don't think about sex don't think about sex" lmaooo
2. Noted Martyr Leonard McCoy preparing to risk his life to save someone else, and Spock just grabbing him by the arm, extremely NOPE, NOT TODAY, I SEE WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING AND DENIIIED
3. Spock just staring at McCoy, utterly fascinated, while they're bickering, as McCoy gets verbally grumpier and angrier, while internally said grumpiness/anger is intermixed with him affectionately chuckling to himself
4. Spock giving McCoy a devastating set down that McCoy can't even focus on because Spock's thoughts are glowing so brightly with so much smug teasing affection that McCoy can't even look at them straight-on or he'll get blinded
5. Kirk's rescued from almost certain death per usual and the CACOPHONY of both their thoughts just shouting "JIM JIM JIM" like those seagulls in Finding Nemo???? Embarrassing tbh
6. Kirk absolutely ruining their lives by deliberately pulling them individually aside and making comments like, "Mr. Spock certainly looks in fine form today, doesn't he, Doctor?" And, "I've always thought Dr. McCoy's smile could warm any room, but I'm sure you wouldn't have noticed that, would you, Mr. Spock," and watching the sheer TERROR in their eyes as their thoughts immediately and unwillingly SPIRAL
7. They obviously save the day by thinking loudly at each other, and in the sheer triumph of the moment they're both thinking kiss? Kiss! But both stone-faced completely ignore both their own and the other's thoughts because they are Professionals, thank you
(maybe i will actually end up writing this idk idk)
8. spock absolutely appalled at the way that mccoy - when making said self-sacrificial choice mentioned above - decides and starts the action w/in a span of SECONDS, so spock barely stops him in time. no thinking it through, no weighing pros and cons, just evaluation-decision-action in 2 seconds flat
[9-16 under the read-more]
9. mccoy, meanwhile, is slowly losing his mind at the way spock considers EVERYTHING, and has begun forcefully just ordering spock's food for him/etc, so that he doesn't have to hear spock weigh the pros and cons of everything. he can feel/hear what spock ACTUALLY wants, and if it undercuts the decision-making process, all the better. spock, unfortunately, finds this extremely endearing, and lets it stand, much to the side-eyeing of the rest of the crew
10. intrusive thoughts, my narrative choice beloved
11. someone is mean to spock and spock is just. hmm. absolutely not worth my time. but excuse me because i need to drag my doctor away because the boiling rage i can hear inside of him is about to spill out and ruin any/all chances of a diplomatic resolution.
12. someone is mean to mccoy and mccoy, who'd normally be irritated, ends up ignoring it entirely, because while spock is just standing there calmly attempting to redirect the conversation, all mccoy can hear is the roiling anger beneath his staid exterior, along with his embarrassment @ knowing mccoy can hear it
13. there's communication issues w/ the landing party (mccoy and kirk planetside, spock on the enterprise), and they're of course in mortal danger, so kirk's immediately, "can you think loudly at mr. spock, dr. mccoy?" and mccoy rolls his eyes and immediately does so, and then stiffens and freezes in place for a long minute, and kirk waits him out for a moment, and then puts his hand on mccoy's shoulder and says, "bones? you get through?" and mccoy blinks and kind of comes back to himself, and says, "oh, yeah, yeah he's going to start working on it," and kirk nods, and then, after making sure no one else can hear them, says, "seemed like you were kind of overwhelmed there, for a minute," because he knows. he knows that spock must be worried about them. and bones knows that jim knows that spock must be worried about them. and oh, it's a wonder, isn't it, when jim watches mccoy look at him, and then force a smile, and lie right through his teeth to protect spock. "don't worry, jim, he was just telling me to calm down."
14. if mcspirk, kirk kissing some extremely foxy lady, and both mccoy's and spock's thoughts doing simultaneous red alarm noises of jealousy, and they both very determinedly ignore that and do not so much as look at each other
15. due to [explosion], spock's console sparking, and causing a (minor) burn to his hand, and mccoy's immediately storming over and grabbing spock's hand and holding it in both of his to examine it, and then immediately hearing spock's Very Loud thoughts about mccoy holding spock's hand in his, and mccoy Very Deliberately trying to shut them out and focus solely on spock's injury, even as he can hear spock trying (and failing) to redirect his thoughts, and even as he can feel kirk's smirking gaze from across the room. the back of mccoy's neck is bright red, and realizing he's been quiet too long, all he says, desperately grasping for something to satisfy their audience, is "you can stop complaining, spock, i may be a hack but - " and spock cuts him off, and says, quietly, but still loud enough for the bridge crew to hear, "you know very well that i think highly of your medical expertise, doctor," and then mccoy's face flushes, as well, and he doesn't say one more word until spock's fixed up and mccoy can make an undignified retreat off the bridge.
16. deeply unfortunately for mccoy, spock makes a snide remark about how mccoy is always talking about his ears, and mccoy starts desperately thinking please don't think about how they're hot please don't think about how they're - sonuvabitch he can hear this right now, and spock swallowing, nodding at jim, and then walking straight out of the room, as everyone else looks on, confused.
As usual, enamel pins, stickers, and other pinback buttons are still in stock! View my whole shop here
I’m working on getting the explosive pride stickers back in stock— you can see what I have left of them at the moment here
If you want that one test nonbinary pin (the one with the car flying off the cliff) send a message in your order of a NB pin letting me know. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get it (I only have one and it’s first-come-first-serve), so make sure you’re also alright with getting the updated design!
I was reading this mystery book about five kids who go missing and I was completely sure that the hints were building up to all the kids reappearing in the end together, not just the (slightly suspicious) protagonist. My friend said I was clearly nuts - only the protagonist would return in the end, leaving the fate of the others unresolved, and I was really overthinking something obvious and inevitable. And she was right. It was a four gone conclusion.
