Podcasts about grand hall

Jack Pepper meets Festival Academy Budapest co-founder and Artistic Director Barnabás Kelemen to explore his upcoming concerto marathon, the gypsy violin tradition and a packed 2026 Summerfest This podcast has been produced in association with the Festival Academy Budapest. The World Should Know', The Festival Academy's Marathon Concert Series, takes place from May 1-3 at the Grand Hall of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest: https://fesztivalakademia.hu/en/let-the-world-know/ The Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition will be held from June 24 to July 5, while the Festival Academy Budapest's XI Summerfest runs from July 3-13: https://fesztivalakademia.hu/en/

In this episode of the DCL Podcast, we sit down with our guest, Ashley, as she recounts her family's magical first Disney Cruise Line vacation aboard the stunning Disney Wish. Ashley shares the heartwarming story of surprising her two young daughters with the trip of a lifetime, which began with a snowy departure from New York and a pre-cruise visit to Walt Disney World’s Epcot. Listeners will get an inside look at the planning process for a first-time cruiser, including navigating travel delays and maximizing a 3-night itinerary during the busy Presidents’ Day week. From rotational dining highlights to the excitement of the kids’ clubs, this episode is packed with essential Disney Cruise Line tips and reviews for families looking to set sail. Whether you are a seasoned sailor or planning your very first voyage, Ashley's firsthand experience provides valuable insights into the modern Disney cruising experience.Topics Discussed:Disney Background & Surprise Reveal: Ashley’s childhood Disney dreams and the secret planning of the cruise as a Christmas gift for her children.Winter Travel Challenges: Navigating flight delays due to mechanical issues and freezing rain when traveling from New York to Orlando in February.Walt Disney World Pre-Stay: A busy day at Epcot before heading to the port.Disney Wish Embarkation: First impressions of the ship’s Grand Hall and the boarding process.Rotational Dining & Service: Detailed reviews of dining at Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure and Worlds of Marvel, highlighting the exceptional service from the waitstaff.Onboard Entertainment: Experiences with the AquaMouse, Disney's Uncharted Adventure interactive game, and Broadway-style stage shows.Kids’ Clubs & Character Interactions: How the children enjoyed the Oceaneer Club and the unique way characters interacted with the family.Castaway Cay Experience: Navigating Disney’s private island, including weather conditions and beach activities.Ship: Disney Wish.Itinerary Length: 3-night Bahamian Cruise.Port of Departure: Port Canaveral, Florida.Ports of Call: Nassau, Bahamas, and Disney Castaway Cay.Pre-Cruise: Two nights at Walt Disney World with a full day spent at Epcot.Want to be on the show? Fill out this form, and we'll be in contact with you real soon!https://dclpodcast.com/want-to-be-on-the-show/Support our show via Patreon:http://www.patreon.com/dclpodcastUse Christy's Travel Services:https://dclpodcast.com/book-with-christy/Follow the DCL Podcast via:http://www.facebook.com/dclpodcasthttp://www.instagram.com/dcl_podcastFollow Lake at:https://www.instagram.com/mouse.genhttps://www.youtube.com/@MouseGenFollow Christy at:http://www.packyourpixiedust.comhttps://www.instagram.com/packyourpixiedust

The Disney Treasure looks like the future of Disney Cruise Line, but it doesn't always move like the ships you already know. We sit down with Caleb and Caitlyn from Market House Podcast to unpack their first Wish-class sailing on the Treasure, plus the real-world challenge of doing it with a toddler who wants to walk everywhere, meet every character, and stay up for Pirate Night.We get into the big contrasts: the breathtaking Grand Hall design, the crowd flow frustrations that show up when elevators and bottlenecks meet dinner traffic, and why a seven-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary can feel more relaxed even when the ship is packed with kids. They share what's worth prioritizing on board, from sail away and the pirate deck parties to evening stage shows like Seize the Adventure, Beauty and the Beast, and Tale of Moana (including how hype can change your experience).Then we hit the memory-makers: Haunted Mansion Parlor's next-level theming, character interactions that feel more personal when lines stay open for the full scheduled window, and the Castaway Cay cabana waitlist call that turned an already great day into a “never going back to normal” moment. We also talk Disney Cruise Line dining on the Treasure, Festival of Foods, table placement noise at Coco, and practical tips for gluten free cruising and celiac-friendly options.If you're debating Disney Treasure vs Fantasy, Wonder, Dream, or other DCL ships, this conversation helps you choose based on budget, travel style, and where your family is right now. Subscribe for more Disney Cruise Line planning, share this with a cruise-curious friend, and leave a review so more Disney fans can find us.Check out more from Caleb and Caitlyn over at the Market House Podcast! You can find them on Instagram @‌markethousepodcast and online at https://markethousepodcast.com.----Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.Instagram, Threads, Facebook: @ourmousecapadesYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ourmousecapadespodhttps://OurMousecapades.compodcast@ourmousecapades.com

Hey Ohana, On this week's episode, we're sharing everything you need to know about Disney's newest (domestic) ship - the Destiny! As we prepare for our Married to A Disney Addict group cruise THIS AUGUST, Krystle and I chat with our good friend Sue Passauer and our new friends Vanessa and Andrew Prince who just got off the Destiny a few weeks ago! (and who will be sailing with us for the group cruise too!) As seasoned sailors, our guests break down the need-to-knows about the Destiny, compare it to other vessels in the DCL fleet, and prepare us for a great group sailing this summer! From entering the Grand Hall to all the banana soft-serve you can eat, we chat about it all! And be sure to stick around to the end as our new friends Vanessa and Andrew go through the Lightning Lane! If YOURE interested in joining us for the group cruise there is still time! Reach out to our official TA - Sue Passauer, for a FREE quote or better yet, to book your stateroom! Thanks for tuning in and as always... See Ya Real Soon! THANK YOU to our friend and the official TA of MTADA, Sue Passauer. Sue is affiliated with MEI & Mouse Fan Travel and can help you plan the perfect Disney vacation! ALSO - be sure to check out Andrew's awesome community and YouTube Channel Accessible Adventures with Andrew! DISCLAIMER: We are not an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company nor do we speak for the brand or the company. Any and all Disney-owned audio, characters, and likenesses are their property and theirs alone.

Send us a text

Step aboard the Disney Treasure with Michelle, the pixie-dust optimist, and Joe, the delightfully grumpy realist, as they take you on a laugh-filled walkthrough of the ship itself. From the jaw-dropping Aladdin-themed Grand Hall (complete with a rub-able magic lamp and a $35,000 crystal Aladdin-and-Jasmine statue they absolutely are not bringing home) to Jungle Cruise–themed lounges, cat-filled jazz bars, and a ship that's basically a floating Disney art museum, they share what wowed them, what surprised them, and what they totally meant to see but never did. Along the way, they talk live music, trivia nights, Halloween theming, coffee and beer hacks, and why Scat Cat became their quiet little hideaway while Skipper Society felt more like a busy hallway with drinks.    They don't shy away from the misses, either—like the too-small Quiet Cove adult area, awkward guest services lines that looked like mystery queues to nowhere, confusing excursion cancellation rules, and shops clearly designed for the 1% (but not necessarily for people who still want to, you know, get their souvenirs home in one piece). Sprinkle in talk of spas, salons, whiskey tastings in the barbershop, shuffleboard on deck, missed chances to tour the kids' club, and even rumors of a stowaway cat who scored a free cruise and a new life in the Bahamas, and you've got an episode that's part review, part rant, and all real-talk Disney cruise vibes.

Step aboard the Disney Treasure with Michelle, the pixie-dust optimist, and Joe, the delightfully grumpy realist, as they take you on a laugh-filled walkthrough of the ship itself. From the jaw-dropping Aladdin-themed Grand Hall (complete with a rub-able magic lamp and a $35,000 crystal Aladdin-and-Jasmine statue they absolutely are not bringing home) to Jungle Cruise–themed lounges, cat-filled jazz bars, and a ship that's basically a floating Disney art museum, they share what wowed them, what surprised them, and what they totally meant to see but never did. Along the way, they talk live music, trivia nights, Halloween theming, coffee and beer hacks, and why Scat Cat became their quiet little hideaway while Skipper Society felt more like a busy hallway with drinks.  They don't shy away from the misses, either—like the too-small Quiet Cove adult area, awkward guest services lines that looked like mystery queues to nowhere, confusing excursion cancellation rules, and shops clearly designed for the 1% (but not necessarily for people who still want to, you know, get their souvenirs home in one piece). Sprinkle in talk of spas, salons, whiskey tastings in the barbershop, shuffleboard on deck, missed chances to tour the kids' club, and even rumors of a stowaway cat who scored a free cruise and a new life in the Bahamas, and you've got an episode that's part review, part rant, and all real-talk Disney cruise vibes.

A brand-new Disney ship beckons, and Wesley answered the call. Welcome aboard a look at the Disney Destiny's maiden voyage, with sky-high expectations and the magic of a ship that tells its story through every surface. From a shockingly luxurious pre-cruise stay at Pier Sixty-Six with early check-in, poolside setup, and frozen grapes, to a blissfully efficient embarkation at Port Everglades, the tone was set before Wesley ever touched the Grand Hall's carpet. And yes, that Grand Hall hits different: layered lighting, dimensional railings, and a Black Panther centerpiece that feels more regal than fan-service.We dig into the ship's most talked-about spaces. The Sanctum became a go-to spot: open, cozy, and made for lingering. Haunted Mansion Parlor is exquisitely themed, a must-see once; DeVille's dazzles but suffers from early-sailing capacity crunch; Cask and Cannon surprised with great mini churros and pre-dinner vibes. Saga proved versatile for karaoke, game shows, and the standout Marvel comedy show, With Great Power—hosted by the ship's storytellers Gamble and Zayah, and paced like a theme-park live act with clever improv and a cheeky finale. It's labeled 18+, but the tone feels closer to PG-13, raising smart questions about family access and small-venue demand.We also compare stateroom function and storage to earlier classes, share practical packing strategies for a family of five, and talk about how Destiny's design cohesion sets it apart from “floating mall” competitors. The biggest friction point? Hype-driven crowd patterns and adults-only programming that can split families on short sailings. The likely cure is time—and better tools like virtual queues and clearer event labeling.If you love Imagineering details, layered storytelling, and lounges that feel like worlds, Destiny will pull you in. If you're chasing every hot venue, plan ahead, pick your must-dos, and be ready to pivot. Subscribe, share, and leave a review to help fellow Disney cruisers find us—and tell us: which new Destiny space tops your list?----Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Twitter: @ourmousecapadesOurMousecapades.compodcast@ourmousecapades.com

⭐️ We're recording from onboard the brand-new Disney Destiny! Michelle and Doug give you their first reactions from the maiden voyage — and tease everything coming in next week's full deep-dive episode. Recording From the Disney Destiny! First Impressions Teaser Episode This week's Rope Drop On Deck is a special mini-episode recorded directly from the Disney Destiny! Michelle and Doug share raw, fresh first impressions of Disney Cruise Line's newest ship as they sail the maiden voyage. From the Grand Hall to the energy onboard to what instantly surprised us — this quick episode sets the stage for next week's full breakdown, where we'll cover dining, shows, lounges, characters, staterooms, and everything you really want to know about the Destiny. If you're curious what the ship feels like, what's different from the Wish and Treasure, and what you can look forward to as we review the entire itinerary, this teaser will get you excited for what's coming!    

Adam Duckworth, president and founder of Travelmation, a Disney Affinity travel agency, talks with Sherman Dejon of Insider Travel Report aboard the brand-new Disney Destiny about how Disney Cruise Line fits into his agency's product mix and why the ship's heroes-and-villains theme is generating so much excitement. Duckworth shares his first impressions of the Grand Hall, explains why Port Everglades is a major advantage for clients, and highlights the entertainment, dining, accommodations and short itineraries that make the Disney Destiny appealing to both first-time cruisers and loyal Disney travelers. For more information, visit www.disneytravelagents.com or www.disneycruise.com. All our Insider Travel Report video interviews are archived and available on our Youtube channel (youtube.com/insidertravelreport), and as podcasts with the same title on: Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, TuneIn + Alexa, Podbean,  iHeartRadio,  Google, Amazon Music/Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict, and iTunes Apple Podcasts, which supports Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castro and Castbox.

Disney Destiny Find us on Youtube - please like and subscribe!  Looking to plan a Disney World or Disneyland vacation? Let Joe do all the hard work for you, helping you get the best discount, at no cost to you as your travel agent. Get started by e-mailing josephcheung@travelmation.net today!  Episode Description Joe sailed on the Disney Destiny! We talk a little bit about the ship in general and then chat about what sets it apart from other ships, including unique lounges, entertainment options, the new Feast of the Lion King dinner show, and Hercules! Does it live up to the hype or is it a work in progress? Is the ship more for adults than kids? We discuss all this and more on this week's episode. Thanks to Disney Destinations and Travelmation for having Joe on the Disney Destiny Christening cruise! What are you most looking forward to on the Disney Destiny? Let us know by e-mailing disneydeciphered AT gmail DOT com, messaging us on social media, or leaving a comment on our Youtube page. You can also follow us on Instagram! Episode Notes (all timestamps are approximate) 5:55 - Disney Destiny itineraries and general thoughts 9:09 - Theming 10:05 - The Grand Hall 13:18 - Entertainment options (non Broadway show) 20:03 - New lounges 28:11 - Pride Lands: Feast of the Lion King 31:32 - Hercules 35:56 - Is the Disney Destiny more for Disney adults? 39:23 - Disney Dos and Don'ts If we've helped you to plan your trip and you'd like to thank us we'd appreciate you considering a one time donation. Or if you'd like to receive bonus content, check out our Patreon page and our special subscriber only content! You can also support the show by buying tickets (if they're the best deal, of course) using our Undercover Tourist link or signing up for Mouse Dining through our link. If you like what you hear, please share and subscribe! Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, PlayerFM, iHeartRadio, or Google Podcasts (please leave a positive review if you're enjoying the show), like our Facebook page, or follow us on Bluesky and Instagram! Connect with Leslie @TripsWithTykes on social media and Joe @asthejoeflies.  

⭐️  What happens when Michelle and Emily get a sneak-peek sailing on Disney Cruise Line's newest ship? We're breaking down everything — the Grand Hall, the lounges, the shows, the food, and the surprises — from the exclusive Disney Destiny preview cruise. The Disney Destiny Is Here! Full Preview Cruise Breakdown This week on Rope Drop On Deck, Doug and Michelle welcome back friend of the show Emily of Magical Mouse Travel to talk all about the Disney Destiny Preview Cruise. Fresh off the ship, Michelle and Emily share first impressions, insider details, and what makes this Wish-Class ship stand apart from the Wish and Treasure. We cover everything from the redesigned Grand Hall, themed lounges, dining highlights, and the newest entertainment onboard — plus the jaw-dropping Tower Suite and Hero Suite! If you're planning a future sailing on the Disney Destiny or just love hearing about new Disney Cruise Line ships, this episode is packed with first-hand insight you won't get anywhere else. Stick around to the end for a rapid-fire virtual muster drill and learn Emily's cruise favorites! In This Episode News & Updates Disney Cruise Line to have 4 ships sailing in 10 days Princess adds Celebration Key to select itineraries Big NYC terminal overhaul announced The Price Is Right to film aboard Royal Caribbean's Utopia Icon of the Seas heading to Texas in 2027 Disney Destiny Preview Cruise Why Michelle & Emily were invited onboard First impressions entering the Grand Hall "Is it just the Wish or Treasure with new lipstick?"

Join Serena and special guest Wes from The DCL Dude Podcast as they dive into the latest Disney Cruise Line buzz! Get the scoop on the Disney Destiny, gearing up for its November 2025 maiden voyage with a heroes-versus-villains theme, from a Wakanda-inspired Grand Hall to a new Hercules show. They'll also cover the Disney Adventure's delay to March 2026, exciting 2027 itineraries, and how to get the best deals on future cruises.  Whether you're dreaming of Castaway Cay or curious about DCL's future, this episode is your ticket to the magic! Check out Wes's podcast: The DCL Dude Podcast or on Instagram Contact my partners at ⁠MickeyTravels!⁠ They are the perfect people to get your next Disney vacation booked. Whether it's World, Land or Cruise, if it's Disney they will help. Contact them today to get started! ⁠https://mickeytravels.com/get-a-quote/⁠

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen  Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,

The Best Things to Do in -1. St. Louis, MO:St. Louis is often called the “Gateway to the West,” but it's also a gateway to a memorable, well-rounded travel experience. From world-class art and live entertainment to major league baseball and local culinary treasures, this Midwestern gem packs a punch. Whether you're here for a weekend or a longer stay, here are some of the top things to do in St. Louis that highlight the city's diverse appeal.

This week, Allie Heard shares the story of her Disney Wish cruise wedding, with a ceremony in the Grand Hall and a celebration in The Bayou. She and Neil met doing runDisney races, so they chose a Disney cruise wedding in order to combine it with a 5K on Castaway Cay the next day! You'll hear how they plussed their celebration with drinks and appetizers, why they brought their own photography team on the cruise, and how they were able to get wedding-day photos with six Disney characters! Click here to see all the photos!

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 23:00:00 +0000 https://seesee.podigee.io/s3e18-andrei-ionita 8b306c6e95ffcb5e607b501afe394bac In this episode, we have an in-depth conversation with Andrei Ioniță, the prodigious Romanian cellist and winner of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition. We explore the emotional profundities and rich spectrum of colors that the cello can evoke, and how it reflects the subtleties of human emotion. Andrei shares his thoughts on playing Bach, discussing the personal connection he has with his instrument and his journey as a musician. He also reflects on the nuances of gut strings, the importance of good posture for a cellist, the physical sensation of the cello resting against his body, and how this intimate embrace influences emotional expression and depth of sound, particularly in the intense, low register passages. In this episode dedicated to music, Andrei also discusses his Romanian heritage and how the voice of Romania speaks through his bow, offering a personal insight into his cultural identity. In this episode, he takes us inside his experience during the 15th Tchaikovsky Competition and talks about his most difficult decisions as a musician. Most powerfully, Andrei opens up about how he conveys his whole soul through his music, sharing the courage it takes to be vulnerable and break through at the highest emotional peaks, only to let go and invite the listener into a shared human experience through his playing. This episode is a real treat for the ears and the heart! Andrei Ioniță's carrier it's a journey of emotional reflection and artistic courage – You'll understand what it is meant to “play from the gut”. Website: https://www.andreiionitacellist.com https://www.haefligerproduction.com/andrei-ionita https://www.symphonikerhamburg.de/laeiszhalle-orchester-symphoniker-hamburg/andrei-ionita-135 Instagram: ionita_andrei94 Facebook: Andrei Ioniță - Cellist This episode's Playlist and Playlist's credits: · Papandopulo, Boris. Rhapsodia Concertante: I. Introduzione Tempo Libero. Performed by Oliver Triendl and Andrei Ioniță. On Boris Papandopulo: Works for Piano & Strings, CPO-555106-2, 2021.CD · Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich. Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 (var. VII e Coda : Allegro vivo). Performed by Cellist Andrei Ioniță and the Münchener Philharmoniker conducted by Valery Gergiev recorded at the Philharmonie im Gasteig (Munich, Germany), on May 12, 2017 20:00 © A Coproduction by Munich Philharmonic Orchestra & Telmondis // In Association with medici.tv & Takt1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6dyn2LRxVo · Brett, Dean. 11 Oblique Strategies No. 1. Listen to the Quiet Voice. Performed by Andrei Ioniță. On Oblique Strategies. Orchid Classics ORC100096, 2019. CD. · Brett, Dean. 11 Oblique Strategies No. 5. What are the Sections Sections of? Performed by Andrei Ioniță. On Oblique Strategies. Orchid Classics ORC100096, 2019. CD. · Brahms, Johannes. Cello Suite No. 1 G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prelude. Performed byAndrei Ioniță. On Oblique Strategies. Orchid Classics ORC100096, 2019. CD. · Brahms, Johannes. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major BWV 1007: III. Courante. Performed by Andrei Ioniță. On Oblique Strategies. Orchid Classics ORC100096, 2019. CD. · Brahms, Johannes. Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: I. Allegro. Performed by Pablo Barragán, Andrei Ioniță, and Juan Pérez Floristán. On Brahms: Complete Clarinet Sonatas & Trio. IBS Classical, 2018. CD. · Papandopulo, Boris. Concertino in modo antico, OP.56 II Aria. Performed by Oliver Triendl, Amaury Coeytaux, Vanessa Szgeti, and Andrei Ioniță. On Boris Papandopulo:Works for Piano & Strings, CPO-555106-2, 2021.CD · Dmitri, Shostakovich. Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor, Op.40. The XV International Tchaikovsky Competition. Performed by Andrei Ioniţă: Cellist and Seong-Jin Cho: Pianist. Concert recorded at the Salle des Combins (Verbier, Switzerland), on July 25, 2018. © Idéale Audience with the participation of medici.tv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHPd1dN89bM · Dmitri, Shostakovich. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 4. Allegro con moto. Performed by Andrei Ionuț Ioniță with the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. The XV International Tchaikovsky Competition's Winners' Concert. Recorded at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, on July 2, 2015. © MUSEEC/medici.tv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzaCNTlJciI · Dmitri Shostakovich. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 with the Draft. Performed by Andrei Ionuț Ioniță Orchestra of the Shostakovich State Academic Saint Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Nikolai Alexeev. Cello: Final Round - Candidate #2 - First Prize - Recorded at the Grand Hall of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, on June 28, 2015, 7:45 p.m. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfkQt0gSiJI · Henryson, Svante. Black Run. Performed by Andrei Ioniță. On Oblique Strategies. Orchid Classics ORC100096, 2019. CD. · Enescu, George: Piano Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 16: II Andante mesto. Performed by Catalin Serban, Andrei Ioniță, Karolina Errera, Suyeon Kang. On Mélodies Infinies: Fauré & Enescu Piano Quartets. Naxos 8.551477, 2024. CD · Papandopulo, Boris. Rapsodia Concertante: I. Introduziene. Tempo libero. Performed by Oliver Triendl, Amaury Coeytaux, Vanessa Szgeti, and Andrei Ioniță. On Boris Papandopulo: Works for Piano & Strings, CPO-555106-2, 2021.CD · Rachmaninoff, Sergei: Sonata -Moll OP 19. Lento- Allegro moderato. 2. Allegro scherzando. 3 Andante. 4 Allegro mosso. Performed by Andrei Ioniță and Andrei Ioniță (Violoncello), Catalin Serban (Piano). Kammermusik am Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung in Zusammenarbeit mit Konzertleben e.V. January 17th, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqpFqwfoBDg · Saint-Saëns, Camille. Concerto No.1 in A minor for Cello and Orchestra Op. 33. Performed by Solist Andrei Ioniță and the Filarmonica George Enescu conducted by Stefan Ausbury Opening Concert October 7th, 2020, at the Romanian Athenaeum lived-streamed on the Institutions Website and YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTHMbFcyp4 · Papandopulo, Boris. Rapsodia Concertante: I. Introduziene. Tempo libero. Performed by Oliver Triendl, Amaury Coeytaux, Vanessa Szgeti, and Andrei Ioniță. On Boris Papandopulo: Works for Piano & Strings, CPO-555106-2, 2021.CD · Rachmaninoff, Sergei: Sonata -Moll OP 19. Lento- Allegro moderato. 2. Allegro scherzando. 3 Andante. 4 Allegro mosso. Performed by Andrei Ioniță and Andrei Ioniță (Violoncello), Catalin Serban (Piano). Kammermusik am Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung in Zusammenarbeit mit Konzertleben e.V. January 17th, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqpFqwfoBDg · Fauré, Gabriel: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15: III Adagio. Performed by Catalin Serban, Andrei Ioniță, Karolina Errera, Suyeon Kang. On Mélodies Infinies: Fauré & Enescu Piano Quartets. Naxos 8.551477, 2024. CD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTHMbFcyp4 · Saint-Saëns, Camille. Concerto No.1 in A minor for Cello and Orchestra Op. 33. Performed by Solist Andrei Ioniță and the Filarmonica George Enescu conducted by Stefan Ausbury Opening Concert October 7th, 2020, at the Romanian Athenaeum lived-streamed on the Institutions Website and YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTHMbFcyp4 · Brahms, Johannes. Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: I. Allegro. Performed by Pablo Barragán, Andrei Ioniță, and Juan Pérez Floristán. On Brahms: Complete Clarinet Sonatas & Trio. IBS Classical, 2018. CD. · Papandopulo, Boris. Rhapsodia Concertante: III. Danza. Allegro. Performed by Oliver Triendl and Andrei Ioniță. On Boris Papandopulo: Works for Piano & Strings, CPO-555106-2, 2021.CD Albums: Available in all Platforms https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/album/3Cqhwf6m3Gl8i0HfDTzln1 https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=C5463 https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/4ITCrIEQbzQVUO8CPHhdLP 3 18 full no Cellist,World famous orchestras,world famous conductors,Tchaikovsky Competition,Bach,Shostakovich,Enescu,Fauré,Gut strings,Posture Dr. Cecilia Ponce Rivera

Screaming will achieve nothing. That's why we're speaking at normal volume about lamenting the loss of democracy, getting weirdly nationalist about fish and chips, committing to a Ghaleon bit, doubling down on menopause jokes, finding ourselves incarcerated, taking Luna to Golgotha, spitting up dots, wondering if mom's soul has been poisoned, smelling the real mom, freeing a criminal, growing a backbone, eating lunch during class, telling the world Alex is not a criminal, and doubling down on feet stuff. Crap on a Krispy Kreme. 00:00:00 Naming Roses 00:02:38 Intro 00:04:23 Grand Hall 00:12:17 Meeting Lemia 00:20:27 Jail 00:35:06 Jailbreak 00:52:53 Real Net 00:57:44 Outro Patreon: patreon.com/retroam Bluesky: @retrogradeamnesia.bsky.social YouTube: www.youtube.com/@RetrogradeAmnesia E-Mail: podcast@retrogradeamnesia.com Website: www.retrogradeamnesia.com  

Hazing Alexis: The most popular sorority, GGK; hazes Alexis.by  musicankane - listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Alexis had always been popular, it came with the territory of being good looking. In high school, being a girl, being hot, was like an automatic “in” with the popular crowd. It made life really really easy. Nobody gave you shit, nobody cared what you did or how you dressed (to an extent) because everyone wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She had always been an automatic entry into that club growing up. She had often been a part of the group that decided what challenge other girls had to go through in order to join the popular group, if they weren't hot enough to be automatically in. Some of the things they made people do made Alexis glad she never had to go through it.However college was a different deal entirely. Alexis foolishly thought that she could just join whatever sorority that she wanted. A flick of her shimmering long brown hair, a little shake of her narrow waist, and boom she would be hot enough to join whatever club she wanted. But this was college and things were different here. Everything was about being fair, and frankly the other girls were just as good looking if not even better looking than her. So she wasn't about to get out of her hazing.She supposed that she could always go to another sorority and try to join them, maybe there hazing trial wouldn't be as embarrassing. But Gamma Gamma Kappa was known as the hottest Sorority on campus, by a wide margin. Having seen the girls already in place, Alexis knew that this was the place to be to get invited to the best parties with the hottest guys. So if she wanted in she was stuck with this challenge.She twirled her iPhone in her fingers, the circular mount on the back of her pink case kept it from falling, the text message from Niece the Sorority leader staring back at her on the screen. Alexis' mission was to get a picture for Jake Farrow. Jake was absolutely the last person Alexis ever would have spoken too growing up. Perhaps that's why Niece selected him personally for her little mission. Jake was the head of the campus Dungeons and Dragons club. Nerd to the ultimate degree.Alexis sat not far from Jake now, observing him as she contemplated what she was to do. He didn't look that nerdy to be fair, or even that bad. His hair was long for a guys, combed back, his glasses weren't extremely thick or made of dorky plastic. From what she could tell he was just an average guy, nothing special one way or the other, his only downside was his choice of hobbies.Again Alexis thought about her goal. She was to seduce this guy, and take a picture of her holding his…special member. She didn't have to go through with anything beyond that, but part of her felt really bad about it. She would have to lie and charm her way into his pants and then leave him hanging after she got the picture she needed. It made her wonder whether this was a haze for her or for him.She debated about it for a long time, should she go through with this, should she not? Finally, she stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket to walk across the quad toward him. Fuck it, she figured, one embarrassing and awkward moment and then it would be over. She'd be in GGK and could spend the next four years forgetting it ever happened.Jake was leaning over a drawing pad as she approached, coming up from behind him so she could see over his shoulder as to what he was drawing. Turned out he could really draw, the picture on the paper was really detailed for just a pencil drawing. It appeared to be some knight of warrior in shining armor with a sword in on hand and a shield in the other which was raised to deflect or block some sort of attack that hadn't been drawn yet.Alexis was impressed and that gave her a conversation starter to talk to him. “Wow,” she said moving around to the other side of the table so she could stand in front of him. “That looks really cool.”Jake jerked as if she had shocked him. So into his drawing that he didn't expect someone to talk to him out of the blue. His hand jerked away quickly from the paper so he didn't mess something up. He glanced up at Alexis and blinked, clearly not expecting someone like her to start a conversation with him.He turned a little red and nodded, “Uh, thanks. I'm drawing it for somebody.” He told her.She gave an impressed look to him, “Not even doing that kind of work for a class. That's pretty cool, do you draw all the time then?” She asked.He shrugged, “Not all the time, but enough to keep improving I guess.” He glanced up at her, and Alexis saw his eyes take her body in quickly though she didn't show him that she noticed. He wasn't very good at hiding his gaze, but that was fine by her she found herself glad that he enjoyed what he was looking at.“I'm Alexis by the way.” She smiled, holding her hand out to him.Jake took her hand softly and nodded, “I'm Jake.” He said slowly.“So I have a confession to make.” She said, sitting down across from him. “I didn't come here to just tell you your drawing was cool.”Jake sat back from her and gave her a weary look, as if afraid she was about to do something to him. “Okay?”She shook her head, “Don't worry it's nothing bad. It's just that I am trying to get into the drama club, but I was told that my character acting sucked.” She lied. “So I did a little googling and I came across table-top roleplaying.” Which wasn't a lie, she had googled a bit about Dungeons and Dragons in order to help herself gain Jake's trust easier. The quickest way into a nerd's pants was through his hobbies. Unlike a jock, who's quickest way into their pants was to simply ask.She brought up the Dungeons and Dragons club page on her phone and showed it to him. “Turns out you run a little roleplaying game club on campus here already and I figured that maybe I could join for a while.” She told him, “You know to play a character work on my improv skills or whatever. Then I can take that back to the drama club and actually get into a play or something.”Jake leaned forward, again his eyes roamed over her body quickly, he was really bad at trying to do it low key. “You, want to play….Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked in disbelief.“Well I'd like to learn at least. Unless you have a better suggest for me to practice Improving a character.” She suggested.Jake shrugged, “I don't. I just, I don't know, I never thought in a million years that someone as…let's just say ‘un-nerdy' as you would ever try to sign up for a game.”Alexis shrugged, “It honestly wouldn't be my first choice either. But I don't exactly have the cash to take an extra acting class off campus, this was the best free option I could find.” She gave him a pout, “Are you saying that I can't play?”Jake shook his head quickly, “No not at all. It's just surprising, that's all.” He nodded and leaned back again, probably considering this unexpected turn of events. “Alright…well do you know how to make a character?”Alexis blinked, “A what?”Jake laughed softly, “You can't play until you make a character. I'm gonna guess you don't know how huh?”Alexis frowned, “No I don't. Is that a problem?”“Not really. I can teach you that on our own. When are you free next?” He asked, glancing at his watch. “I have class in thirty minutes so I can't do it right now. But maybe this evening around five thirty or six?”Alexis nodded, “I can do six. Where?”“The club normally meets in one of the rec rooms over in Grand Hall. Room 3, I can meet you there at six and we can build you a character. It's shouldn't take more than an hour or so.” He explained.“Okay that sounds good.”“Great, oh and if you can you should go get yourself a set of dice. There is a hobby shop like three blocks from campus on Grand Street that can get you what you need.” He told her. “If you can't do it today, no big deal but you'll need them for the actual game.”Alexis promised that she would try and then said goodbye. As she turned around she saw a couple girls from GGK watching her from the other end of the quad. She sighed and made her way over to where they were standing.Jessica was a beautiful Latina, with caramel skin and flawless features. She wanted to be a model, but her parents were forcing her to get educated first. Though thanks to Instagram, Jessica was doing both. Emma was as much of a Midwest girl as one could possibly be. Blonde, blue eyes, innocent looking with a body men would kill for.Both girls smirked at Alexis as she approached. “How goes the dick hunt Alexis, got a picture of the nerd-dick for us yet?” Jessica asked.Alexis shook her head, “Not yet, I had to sign up for his club in to give myself an excuse to be around him.”The giggled, “Seriously?” Emma asked, “Why didn't you just ask to suck his dick in the bathroom or something?”Jessica nodded, “Yeah why make it more complicated that it needs to be?”Alexis frowned, “I don't know, I just don't think he is the type for that.”“Please, every guy is that type, especially when a girl like you asks.” Emma said dismissively.Again Alexis shook her head, “Somehow I don't think so. A guy like that, probably used to getting bullied and would suspect a prank. I have to warm him up to me before pulling this stunt.” Alexis moaned and hung her head, “Oh God I have to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.”Jessica and Emma just laughed. “Tough shit girl. Get us the pic or find another Sorority.” They said and left.Alexis bit her lip and sighed, no use getting out of it. She was stuck with this, unless she gave up on GGK. No way in hell, Alexis wasn't a quitter and she certainly put other girls in High School through just as much shit as this, worse even.Begrudgingly, Alexis followed Jake's advice and went to the hobby shop he had told her about. It was a small store in the corner of a shopping center called Games, Dice, Action. The interior was much as she expected, walls of comic books, display cases filled with some kind of game singles, and then there were dice. Little boxes of dice with several different shapes.Alexis looked though the different colors for a while before a chubby man with a thick beard came up to her, “Can I help you?” he asked.Alexis glanced up and then pointed at the dice in the case. “Are those the dice I need to play D&D?” She asked.The man nodded, “They are enough to get you going yeah. One die of each side type used in the game.” He explained.“Great, can I get those pink ones?”Shortly before six Alexis was back on campus with her bag of goodies. The clerk had been nice enough to also print her out several pages that he called “character sheets” so that she would be ready to sit down and immediately start making a character with Jake. Along with a set of pink dice that had three different shades of pink in their color scheme.She actually beat Jake to the rec room and found herself an empty table near the back of the mostly empty room so set up. She laid out her sheets and took out her dice, laying them in a row based on their total number of sides, and a little mechanical pencil. While she waited for Jake to arrive she googled basic D&D character creation rules but was giving an online book with nearly 200 pages and her eyes went wide. Did she have to learn 200 pages of rules? Who the fuck would play a game that required so much work. Wasn't it just supposed to be a bunch of dorks playing pretend around a table?The door to the rec room opened and Jake walked in, holding a book under his arm. Alexis waved to get his attention and he began walking her way. “Wow,” he said, looking at the laid out paper and dice in front of her. “I gotta say, I didn't think you would go so far.” He told her, sitting across from her.She smiled and leaned toward him, purposefully giving him a glance down her top and get a good look at her cleavage. Alexis was proud of her perky just barely C-cups, and Jake took the chance to take the peek she offered. “Now why is that?” She asked teasingly. It was time to turn on the flirting. First meeting wouldn't have worked, but now that she had him mostly alone, she could start to give it to him and build not only his trust but his libido as well.Jake tore his eyes from her gapping shirt and blushed, “Look hot girls don't just ask to play D&D. It simply doesn't happen. I thought you were setting me up for a prank or something.” He explained.Alexis smiled, “I know you did. That's why I got all this stuff on my own. I want you to see I'm serious about at least giving this a try.” She gestured to her set up.Jake nodded, and set the book on the table. Alexis saw that it was the same book that the internet had proved her and the pit of her stomach dropped. Dread filled her as she began to fear all the rules he was about to dump on her.“Okay let's start by doing this….” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of scratch paper. Then he reached over and grabbed her six sided die. “Roll this four times…”And so began the process of Alexis making her first Dungeons and Dragons character. All her fear about the massive book turned out to be a waste because she ended up not needed more than like ten pages of the book in total. Jake made everything really simple and while she did roll her eyes a couple of times at the dorky terminology she found herself grasping it pretty easily.By the end of the sit down with Jake, Alexis' had her character sheet completely filled out. She had created a sneaky demon-like girl called a Trifling Rogue and named her Shadow Heartly. Working with Jake turned out to be a lot of fun, and it made Alexis forget how dorky she always thought this would be. He helped her create a back story for Shadow, together they crafted this back story of a demon born of noble blood who's demonic appearance forced her parents to give her up so she didn't hurt their reputation. Angry at being abandoned, Shadow began to steal mastering the art of pick-pocketing, before being grabbed by the thieves guild. The guild taught her to be unseen, and began using her for missions that asked her to sneak into dangerous locations. She learned to make herself valuable despite her demonic appearance.Alexis felt like she was going crazy, because she actually found herself eager to try playing Shadow in a real game. As they finished and stood up together, Alexis threw her arms around Jake and hugged him, purposefully pressing her chest tightly to his.“Thank you for this, truly.” She told him smiling as she stepped back. “I didn't think for a second it would be as interesting as you made it, but now I'm really glad I actually asked about this. I look forward to playing.” She paused and gave him a look, “When do we play?”Jake smiled, his face a little red after that hug. “I'm glad I was able to shatter your expectations. Let's see I have a new game starting with a group of players on Friday night at seven. So it's actually a perfect game for you to join in and try your hand at it.”Alexis groaned inwardly. Seven on a Friday night? Was he serious? She had a party to go to on Friday night. She didn't want to stay inside to play this game when she could be getting her party on. But she realized that she couldn't go to the party until she brought GGK what they asked for. So she smiled and nodded, “Alright Friday at seven. Where at?”“Oh we play in my dorm. I have a full ride and that came with a full sized dorm room with no roommate. So I have people come over there since its private and I have the space.” He explained.His place?Alexis grinned, it was too perfect. All she had to do was wait for the game to end and everybody to leave and Jake would be all hers. “Great!” She replied. “I'll see you then I guess.” She started to walk away, “Oh, what dorm number?”Jake smirked, “224.”“Thanks Jake. See you.” She smiled and darted off.First thing in the morning Alexis went to the sorority house and explained the situation. Niece, the sorority leader, a buxom fit girl with long black hair and haunting blue eyes, glared up at Alexis from the love seat. “I don't know what you are going through all of this for. He's a nerd and you are way out of his league, just seduce him and be done with it. Why torture yourself?”Alexis didn't have a good answer really. She explained that Jake was too nerdy for that, and he would assume she was up to something if she just tried to pounce on him right out of the gate.Niece just scoffed and gave Alexis a dismissive wave, “Oh please, look if you went to his dorm tonight wearing nothing but a sexy set of underwear or a robe with nothing underneath, there is no way in hell he turns you away. Unless he's gay, is he gay?” Niece asked questioningly.Alexis shook her head, “I gave him plenty of chances to look down my shirt today, he took them all, so I don't think that's a worry.”Niece smiled and nodded, “Great, then go get your picture. Why play games with him?”Alexis shrugged, she didn't have a good answer. Jake had been a really nice guy, and totally different than the dweeb she had expected him to be. She just couldn't bring herself to be such a bitch to him for no reason. She didn't want to just leave him with his pants down, so to speak.It was then she had a chilling thought. If she was warming him up to her, did that mean she intended to give him actual head or something? Would she go that far just for a simple dick pic? Surely that wasn't what she was prepping for? But if she wasn't then why not just take Niece's advice and go blue ball the poor guy?Alexis couldn't think of a true answer. And that worried her. She shook it off, figuring she was just horny. After all she hadn't gotten any since she and her boyfriend broke up over the summer. He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship, and frankly Alexis couldn't blame him. It had left her with an inch to scratch though. Not that she would consider scratching it with Jake. Hell no.Friday came quickly and Alexis decided to bring a couple of pizza's to Jakes dorm room for the game. It always nice to be a good guest, that's what her folks taught her, and being a good guest meant bringing snacks or drinks for whatever get-together you were going too.So there she stood at his doorstep with two hot pizza's burning into her palm. Still she stared at the door for a while. Was she really going to try this for real? To get Jake alone so she could take a picture of his ramrod? It shouldn't mean this much right? Why was she scared, the worse that could happen was she upset him and no big deal. Then again, why did she make sure to put a condom in her handbag. That probably worried her more than anything else.Finally she knocked, Jake opened the door quickly. He smiled as he saw her and the pizzas, “Hey you made it. And with pizza! Wow you are officially my new favorite.” He reached out and took the boxes from

Today, Jeanette Izquierdo shares the story of her Christmastime Disney Cruise wedding aboard the Wish, with a ceremony in the Grand Hall and celebration at The Bayou. Jeanette did a significant amount of DIY for her wedding, and today you'll hear how she got everything on the ship! She also shares how she handled makeup and hair services, and how she and Luis were able to get photos on Castaway Cay, at sunset, and during Pirate Night fireworks by bringing their own photographer onboard. Click here to see all the photos!

Fresh off a preview sailing of the Disney Treasure, Sandy shares some of her favorite things....Start with the Grand Hall, where you are greeted by Jasmin, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and look closely for Abu!  Meet the newest streetmosphere Sage and Coriander.  Head to the Haunted Mansion Parlor is not to be missed.  Hear about the secret drink menu.   Step into the  Skippers Society for a Hippopotomai Tai and many other classic favorites (think Trader Sam's Menu, minus the show).  Of course we share info on Jade Cricket Cafe, Heihei Cafe and Jumbeaux Sweets. Hear about the shows of the new Plaza de Coco dining and the amazing horchatas!It's time to set sail!#disneycruise #hosted #hauntedmansion #skippersociety

Hazing Alexis: The most popular sorority, GGK; hazes Alexis.by  musicankane - listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Alexis had always been popular, it came with the territory of being good looking. In high school, being a girl, being hot, was like an automatic “in” with the popular crowd. It made life really really easy. Nobody gave you shit, nobody cared what you did or how you dressed (to an extent) because everyone wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She had always been an automatic entry into that club growing up. She had often been a part of the group that decided what challenge other girls had to go through in order to join the popular group, if they weren't hot enough to be automatically in. Some of the things they made people do made Alexis glad she never had to go through it.However college was a different deal entirely. Alexis foolishly thought that she could just join whatever sorority that she wanted. A flick of her shimmering long brown hair, a little shake of her narrow waist, and boom she would be hot enough to join whatever club she wanted. But this was college and things were different here. Everything was about being fair, and frankly the other girls were just as good looking if not even better looking than her. So she wasn't about to get out of her hazing.She supposed that she could always go to another sorority and try to join them, maybe there hazing trial wouldn't be as embarrassing. But Gamma Gamma Kappa was known as the hottest Sorority on campus, by a wide margin. Having seen the girls already in place, Alexis knew that this was the place to be to get invited to the best parties with the hottest guys. So if she wanted in she was stuck with this challenge.She twirled her iPhone in her fingers, the circular mount on the back of her pink case kept it from falling, the text message from Niece the Sorority leader staring back at her on the screen. Alexis' mission was to get a picture for Jake Farrow. Jake was absolutely the last person Alexis ever would have spoken too growing up. Perhaps that's why Niece selected him personally for her little mission. Jake was the head of the campus Dungeons and Dragons club. Nerd to the ultimate degree.Alexis sat not far from Jake now, observing him as she contemplated what she was to do. He didn't look that nerdy to be fair, or even that bad. His hair was long for a guys, combed back, his glasses weren't extremely thick or made of dorky plastic. From what she could tell he was just an average guy, nothing special one way or the other, his only downside was his choice of hobbies.Again Alexis thought about her goal. She was to seduce this guy, and take a picture of her holding his…special member. She didn't have to go through with anything beyond that, but part of her felt really bad about it. She would have to lie and charm her way into his pants and then leave him hanging after she got the picture she needed. It made her wonder whether this was a haze for her or for him.She debated about it for a long time, should she go through with this, should she not? Finally, she stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket to walk across the quad toward him. Fuck it, she figured, one embarrassing and awkward moment and then it would be over. She'd be in GGK and could spend the next four years forgetting it ever happened.Jake was leaning over a drawing pad as she approached, coming up from behind him so she could see over his shoulder as to what he was drawing. Turned out he could really draw, the picture on the paper was really detailed for just a pencil drawing. It appeared to be some knight of warrior in shining armor with a sword in on hand and a shield in the other which was raised to deflect or block some sort of attack that hadn't been drawn yet.Alexis was impressed and that gave her a conversation starter to talk to him. “Wow,” she said moving around to the other side of the table so she could stand in front of him. “That looks really cool.”Jake jerked as if she had shocked him. So into his drawing that he didn't expect someone to talk to him out of the blue. His hand jerked away quickly from the paper so he didn't mess something up. He glanced up at Alexis and blinked, clearly not expecting someone like her to start a conversation with him.He turned a little red and nodded, “Uh, thanks. I'm drawing it for somebody.” He told her.She gave an impressed look to him, “Not even doing that kind of work for a class. That's pretty cool, do you draw all the time then?” She asked.He shrugged, “Not all the time, but enough to keep improving I guess.” He glanced up at her, and Alexis saw his eyes take her body in quickly though she didn't show him that she noticed. He wasn't very good at hiding his gaze, but that was fine by her she found herself glad that he enjoyed what he was looking at.“I'm Alexis by the way.” She smiled, holding her hand out to him.Jake took her hand softly and nodded, “I'm Jake.” He said slowly.“So I have a confession to make.” She said, sitting down across from him. “I didn't come here to just tell you your drawing was cool.”Jake sat back from her and gave her a weary look, as if afraid she was about to do something to him. “Okay?”She shook her head, “Don't worry it's nothing bad. It's just that I am trying to get into the drama club, but I was told that my character acting sucked.” She lied. “So I did a little googling and I came across table-top roleplaying.” Which wasn't a lie, she had googled a bit about Dungeons and Dragons in order to help herself gain Jake's trust easier. The quickest way into a nerd's pants was through his hobbies. Unlike a jock, who's quickest way into their pants was to simply ask.She brought up the Dungeons and Dragons club page on her phone and showed it to him. “Turns out you run a little roleplaying game club on campus here already and I figured that maybe I could join for a while.” She told him, “You know to play a character work on my improv skills or whatever. Then I can take that back to the drama club and actually get into a play or something.”Jake leaned forward, again his eyes roamed over her body quickly, he was really bad at trying to do it low key. “You, want to play….Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked in disbelief.“Well I'd like to learn at least. Unless you have a better suggest for me to practice Improving a character.” She suggested.Jake shrugged, “I don't. I just, I don't know, I never thought in a million years that someone as…let's just say ‘un-nerdy' as you would ever try to sign up for a game.”Alexis shrugged, “It honestly wouldn't be my first choice either. But I don't exactly have the cash to take an extra acting class off campus, this was the best free option I could find.” She gave him a pout, “Are you saying that I can't play?”Jake shook his head quickly, “No not at all. It's just surprising, that's all.” He nodded and leaned back again, probably considering this unexpected turn of events. “Alright…well do you know how to make a character?”Alexis blinked, “A what?”Jake laughed softly, “You can't play until you make a character. I'm gonna guess you don't know how huh?”Alexis frowned, “No I don't. Is that a problem?”“Not really. I can teach you that on our own. When are you free next?” He asked, glancing at his watch. “I have class in thirty minutes so I can't do it right now. But maybe this evening around five thirty or six?”Alexis nodded, “I can do six. Where?”“The club normally meets in one of the rec rooms over in Grand Hall. Room 3, I can meet you there at six and we can build you a character. It's shouldn't take more than an hour or so.” He explained.“Okay that sounds good.”“Great, oh and if you can you should go get yourself a set of dice. There is a hobby shop like three blocks from campus on Grand Street that can get you what you need.” He told her. “If you can't do it today, no big deal but you'll need them for the actual game.”Alexis promised that she would try and then said goodbye. As she turned around she saw a couple girls from GGK watching her from the other end of the quad. She sighed and made her way over to where they were standing.Jessica was a beautiful Latina, with caramel skin and flawless features. She wanted to be a model, but her parents were forcing her to get educated first. Though thanks to Instagram, Jessica was doing both. Emma was as much of a Midwest girl as one could possibly be. Blonde, blue eyes, innocent looking with a body men would kill for.Both girls smirked at Alexis as she approached. “How goes the dick hunt Alexis, got a picture of the nerd-dick for us yet?” Jessica asked.Alexis shook her head, “Not yet, I had to sign up for his club in to give myself an excuse to be around him.”The giggled, “Seriously?” Emma asked, “Why didn't you just ask to suck his dick in the bathroom or something?”Jessica nodded, “Yeah why make it more complicated that it needs to be?”Alexis frowned, “I don't know, I just don't think he is the type for that.”“Please, every guy is that type, especially when a girl like you asks.” Emma said dismissively.Again Alexis shook her head, “Somehow I don't think so. A guy like that, probably used to getting bullied and would suspect a prank. I have to warm him up to me before pulling this stunt.” Alexis moaned and hung her head, “Oh God I have to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.”Jessica and Emma just laughed. “Tough shit girl. Get us the pic or find another Sorority.” They said and left.Alexis bit her lip and sighed, no use getting out of it. She was stuck with this, unless she gave up on GGK. No way in hell, Alexis wasn't a quitter and she certainly put other girls in High School through just as much shit as this, worse even.Begrudgingly, Alexis followed Jake's advice and went to the hobby shop he had told her about. It was a small store in the corner of a shopping center called Games, Dice, Action. The interior was much as she expected, walls of comic books, display cases filled with some kind of game singles, and then there were dice. Little boxes of dice with several different shapes.Alexis looked though the different colors for a while before a chubby man with a thick beard came up to her, “Can I help you?” he asked.Alexis glanced up and then pointed at the dice in the case. “Are those the dice I need to play D&D?” She asked.The man nodded, “They are enough to get you going yeah. One die of each side type used in the game.” He explained.“Great, can I get those pink ones?”Shortly before six Alexis was back on campus with her bag of goodies. The clerk had been nice enough to also print her out several pages that he called “character sheets” so that she would be ready to sit down and immediately start making a character with Jake. Along with a set of pink dice that had three different shades of pink in their color scheme.She actually beat Jake to the rec room and found herself an empty table near the back of the mostly empty room so set up. She laid out her sheets and took out her dice, laying them in a row based on their total number of sides, and a little mechanical pencil. While she waited for Jake to arrive she googled basic D&D character creation rules but was giving an online book with nearly 200 pages and her eyes went wide. Did she have to learn 200 pages of rules? Who the fuck would play a game that required so much work. Wasn't it just supposed to be a bunch of dorks playing pretend around a table?The door to the rec room opened and Jake walked in, holding a book under his arm. Alexis waved to get his attention and he began walking her way. “Wow,” he said, looking at the laid out paper and dice in front of her. “I gotta say, I didn't think you would go so far.” He told her, sitting across from her.She smiled and leaned toward him, purposefully giving him a glance down her top and get a good look at her cleavage. Alexis was proud of her perky just barely C-cups, and Jake took the chance to take the peek she offered. “Now why is that?” She asked teasingly. It was time to turn on the flirting. First meeting wouldn't have worked, but now that she had him mostly alone, she could start to give it to him and build not only his trust but his libido as well.Jake tore his eyes from her gapping shirt and blushed, “Look hot girls don't just ask to play D&D. It simply doesn't happen. I thought you were setting me up for a prank or something.” He explained.Alexis smiled, “I know you did. That's why I got all this stuff on my own. I want you to see I'm serious about at least giving this a try.” She gestured to her set up.Jake nodded, and set the book on the table. Alexis saw that it was the same book that the internet had proved her and the pit of her stomach dropped. Dread filled her as she began to fear all the rules he was about to dump on her.“Okay let's start by doing this….” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of scratch paper. Then he reached over and grabbed her six sided die. “Roll this four times…”And so began the process of Alexis making her first Dungeons and Dragons character. All her fear about the massive book turned out to be a waste because she ended up not needed more than like ten pages of the book in total. Jake made everything really simple and while she did roll her eyes a couple of times at the dorky terminology she found herself grasping it pretty easily.By the end of the sit down with Jake, Alexis' had her character sheet completely filled out. She had created a sneaky demon-like girl called a Trifling Rogue and named her Shadow Heartly. Working with Jake turned out to be a lot of fun, and it made Alexis forget how dorky she always thought this would be. He helped her create a back story for Shadow, together they crafted this back story of a demon born of noble blood who's demonic appearance forced her parents to give her up so she didn't hurt their reputation. Angry at being abandoned, Shadow began to steal mastering the art of pick-pocketing, before being grabbed by the thieves guild. The guild taught her to be unseen, and began using her for missions that asked her to sneak into dangerous locations. She learned to make herself valuable despite her demonic appearance.Alexis felt like she was going crazy, because she actually found herself eager to try playing Shadow in a real game. As they finished and stood up together, Alexis threw her arms around Jake and hugged him, purposefully pressing her chest tightly to his.“Thank you for this, truly.” She told him smiling as she stepped back. “I didn't think for a second it would be as interesting as you made it, but now I'm really glad I actually asked about this. I look forward to playing.” She paused and gave him a look, “When do we play?”Jake smiled, his face a little red after that hug. “I'm glad I was able to shatter your expectations. Let's see I have a new game starting with a group of players on Friday night at seven. So it's actually a perfect game for you to join in and try your hand at it.”Alexis groaned inwardly. Seven on a Friday night? Was he serious? She had a party to go to on Friday night. She didn't want to stay inside to play this game when she could be getting her party on. But she realized that she couldn't go to the party until she brought GGK what they asked for. So she smiled and nodded, “Alright Friday at seven. Where at?”“Oh we play in my dorm. I have a full ride and that came with a full sized dorm room with no roommate. So I have people come over there since its private and I have the space.” He explained.His place?Alexis grinned, it was too perfect. All she had to do was wait for the game to end and everybody to leave and Jake would be all hers. “Great!” She replied. “I'll see you then I guess.” She started to walk away, “Oh, what dorm number?”Jake smirked, “224.”“Thanks Jake. See you.” She smiled and darted off.First thing in the morning Alexis went to the sorority house and explained the situation. Niece, the sorority leader, a buxom fit girl with long black hair and haunting blue eyes, glared up at Alexis from the love seat. “I don't know what you are going through all of this for. He's a nerd and you are way out of his league, just seduce him and be done with it. Why torture yourself?”Alexis didn't have a good answer really. She explained that Jake was too nerdy for that, and he would assume she was up to something if she just tried to pounce on him right out of the gate.Niece just scoffed and gave Alexis a dismissive wave, “Oh please, look if you went to his dorm tonight wearing nothing but a sexy set of underwear or a robe with nothing underneath, there is no way in hell he turns you away. Unless he's gay, is he gay?” Niece asked questioningly.Alexis shook her head, “I gave him plenty of chances to look down my shirt today, he took them all, so I don't think that's a worry.”Niece smiled and nodded, “Great, then go get your picture. Why play games with him?”Alexis shrugged, she didn't have a good answer. Jake had been a really nice guy, and totally different than the dweeb she had expected him to be. She just couldn't bring herself to be such a bitch to him for no reason. She didn't want to just leave him with his pants down, so to speak.It was then she had a chilling thought. If she was warming him up to her, did that mean she intended to give him actual head or something? Would she go that far just for a simple dick pic? Surely that wasn't what she was prepping for? But if she wasn't then why not just take Niece's advice and go blue ball the poor guy?Alexis couldn't think of a true answer. And that worried her. She shook it off, figuring she was just horny. After all she hadn't gotten any since she and her boyfriend broke up over the summer. He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship, and frankly Alexis couldn't blame him. It had left her with an inch to scratch though. Not that she would consider scratching it with Jake. Hell no.Friday came quickly and Alexis decided to bring a couple of pizza's to Jakes dorm room for the game. It always nice to be a good guest, that's what her folks taught her, and being a good guest meant bringing snacks or drinks for whatever get-together you were going too.So there she stood at his doorstep with two hot pizza's burning into her palm. Still she stared at the door for a while. Was she really going to try this for real? To get Jake alone so she could take a picture of his ramrod? It shouldn't mean this much right? Why was she scared, the worse that could happen was she upset him and no big deal. Then again, why did she make sure to put a condom in her handbag. That probably worried her more than anything else.Finally she knocked, Jake opened the door quickly. He smiled as he saw her and the pizzas, “Hey you made it. And with pizza! Wow you are officially my new favorite.” He reached out and took the boxes from her before stepping aside to let her in. “See guys this is how you impress your DM.” He said showing off the boxes.“You mean the food or the girl?” A male voice asked inside.Jake snapped at him, “Hey you better not start. I warned you, I want Alexis to feel welcome here.”There was a fairly small circular table with four people around it. Three of them were guys that very much embodied the typical guys that Alexis always pictured playing this game. Very overweight, thick glasses, beards that seemed to encompass their heads, they were total stereotypes. Alexis felt her stomach pitch with regret coming to this whole event.The other player at the table was a girl. But much like the boys she was far from what anyone would call attractive, overweight though not nearly to the degree the boys were, no sign of make-up, limp lifeless dirty blonde hair. She smiled at Alexis and waved her over, “Welcome Alexis, Jake told us you were maybe coming, glad you could make it.”Alexis smiled, “Thanks.”“Don't be nervous, it'll be a fun night. Jake is a great storyteller. I'm Nicole.” Nicole explained, taking Alexis' apprehension as nerves. But in truth it was Alexis fighting herself to come to terms with playing this nerd game all so she could seduce Jake enough to get a picture of his schlong so that she could then take it to GGK and be allowed full membership and regain her proper status as a “popular” girl.Holy fuck was she a shallow bitch or what?The next four hours turned into one of the best nights of fun Alexis ever had. Nicole had been right, Jake was an excellent storyteller, he told a story that made her feel like she and her character where actually in this fantasy world. Shadow and the other characters around the table found themselves stuck on a sinking ship. They rolled dice as they frantically tried to find some way to fix the boat, failing that they then tried to find pieces of the boat they could use to fashion a life raft of some kind. It was through sheer luck of the rolls that the party found themselves on an uncharted island, digging through a costal cave. Deep within they found a cavern of treasure, but guarding the treasure was a Manticore a flying lion beast with a human-like face. The party battled the creature, and Alexis managed to roll well which allowed her to get the finishing blow on the creature.All of it was exciting, and surprisingly engrossing which Alexis had never expected. As her character Shadow stood over the corpse of the beast, Jake stood up at the end of the table and said, “As Shadow pulls her dagger free from the Manticore's back, in collapses under her leaving her panting in victory over the beast.” He smiled at Alexis and she would be lying if she didn't get the tingle in her belly with arousal from his look. If ever she thought a nerd could be sexy it was in that moment. “And that is where we are ending this week.” Jake said, and Alexis clapped.She leaned back and ran her fingers through her hair. “Wow that was totally different than what I expected. Way more fun too.”Jake smiled, “I'm glad you enjoyed it. You did good as Shadow too, got into character pretty well for a first timer.” He told her. “Anyway thanks for coming guys, we'll see you all next week I hope.”The group packed up and Alexis spoke to them briefly thanking them for letting her join the group and playing with them tonight, Nicole was encouraging and told Alexis that she hoped to see her next week for the game again. As the group packed up Jake began to gather up the paper plates and napkins, the remains of the pizza's they all had crushed. Alexis got up and began to help him with the clean-up.She threw the trash into the bin, helped wipe the table up and put the cups that they had used for drinks into Jake's little mini dish washer. Once the rest of the group had left Jake moved next to her and helped rinse things out. “Well tell me what you thought. Was it as unbelievably nerdy as you thought it would be?” He asked her.She recalled the way he swung his arms as he described out they reached attacked the manicure, and how he had done voices of the many characters they had met along the way. She smiled at him, “Probably the nerdiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Unbelievably dorky.” She told him.Alexis turned to him and looked down at her hands, the nerves boiling inside of her again. “But,” she said softly before turning her gaze back up to his. “I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have an incredibly huge amount of fun either. If this is what it is like, sign me up.” She told him.Jake nodded with a smirk, “I'm really happy to hear that. Not many girls like you would give this game even the slightest chance. You were great.”Alexis blushed and leaned in to kiss him. Jake's lips were soft against hers, but a little stiff as he didn't expect her to kiss him. For a second she feared that he might be taken and she was making him cheat, but after a moment of shock Jake's hands found her hips softly and he began to kiss her back. She pressed her tongue out, tasting his lips. She felt her body react to being against his, and couldn't believe she was actually attracted to him.Jake broke the kiss lightly, taking a deep breath. “Wow that's umm…unexpected.” He chuckled. “I never thought my first kiss would be from being a good D & D player.”Alexis felt her heart burn for him. His first kiss? The poor guy hadn't ever been kissed before? He was over twenty, even as a nerd she didn't understand how that was possible. She gave him a pout, “First kiss? You've never made out with anyone before?” She asked sadly.Jake blushed and looked down before shaking his head, “No never really that popular with the ladies.”“Oh that's no good. We have to fix that.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him from the little kitchen towards his bed on the other side of the room. She smirked at him and shoved him back onto the bed, she leapt on after him, straddling his hips. She smiled and lowered herself down upon him, kissing him deeply. Her tongue pushed into his mouth to tease and play with him, her lips part as she invited him to do the same to hers. His lips were soft and wonderful to kiss, she felt like she could really enjoy doing this with him.Jake reached up to cup her face, she could feel his hands trembling as he touched her. Alexis broke the kiss and smiled down at him, “You nervous?” She asked.Jake let out a shaky breath, “Yeah, I just….wow this is incredible.”She smiled at him and rose herself on top of him, taking his hands in hers she gave him a wink. “You don't have to be nervous. It's okay.” She told her and pulled his hands to her breasts. Jake gasped as she held his palms against her chest, letting him feel the way her soft yet firm mounds dug back into his hands.“How's that?” She asked teasingly.“Incredible.” He whispered.She couldn't help but giggle, shifting herself on top of him. It was then that she felt it. Her eyes went wide, it wasn't possible, surely he had something in his pocket or something. The make out had made this poor virgin grow hard under her, she could feel his hardness pressing against her as she let her weight settle on him. But what pressed against her couldn't be possible, she wiggled on top of him gently trying to see if it was something else, but no, there was no mistaking it. The massive pressure under her was all him. Holy fuck.Jake was biting his lip and looking up at her expectantly, waiting to see what she would do next. Alexis smiled and leaning forward to kiss him again. After a moment she broke the kiss and whispered into his lips. “If you've never been kissed before, that means…you've never had a girl suck your dick then right?” She asked him playfully.He swallowed and shook his head. Alexis smiled and rose up, “Good, then this should be fun.” She shifted off of him, moving to his side. As she did so she took her phone out of her back pocket and set it on the mattress. Looking down at his crotch she could see the bulging area in his pants and her eyes couldn't believe it was real. There was a fucking monster in there.She smiled at him as she reached out to run her palm over his girth. He let out a loud breath as she did so and it brought a moan from her own lips. “Oh you poor thing, you are so big yet so trapped. This must be awful for you.” She told him.As Alexis reached for the button of his pants, Jake's hand were suddenly there to stop her. “Alexis wait.” He breathed, his desire was potent to the point where she could almost taste it on him. Slowly he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at her. “Isn't this a little fast? I mean, I just met you the other day.”She blinked in disbelief. Was she hearing this right? Was he actually stopping her from going down on him? Never in the history of ever had she ever been stopped after getting to this point before. She knew he was excited for her, she could see the evidence of that. “What?” She asked softly.Jake frowned and sighed, “I don't know. I just never had anyone even consider this with me. I was the guy who couldn't get a date let alone…” He gestured to her hovering over his crotch, “this.”Alexis couldn't believe it. He was trying to talk her out of blowing him. He was actually considering her and her feelings. Or maybe he sensed that she had other reasons for what she was about to do, no that couldn't be right. He was just a good guy, a nerd to be sure, but a good guy and not bad looking.Smiling she crawled over to his face and gave him a gentle slap. Looking into his eyes she said, “Jake, when you give girls a good time, they like to return the favor. I had a blast tonight, and I wanted to kiss you.” She kissed him softly to accent her point. “When you told me it was your first I felt bad. So I want to do this for you, I wanna show you some fun like you've never felt before. Kinda like what you did tonight for me already.”She sat up beside him and let her hands move back to his jeans. “Besides it doesn't have to mean anything. It's just a little head, people hook up all the time for…I believe the term in D&D would be a ‘one shot'.” She gave him a knowing smile, as her fingers pulled open the fly of his pants.She snapped her fingers and pointed, “Alright tug these off.”Jake hesitated for a moment, looking at her as if still trying to decide if it was a good idea or not. Then he shifted and lifted his hips to tug his pants down, with a couple of kicks they went flying off somewhere on the floor.Alexis loomed over him and looked down at the massive lump in his briefs. “Alright now let's see the goods.” She teased, slipping her fingers into the pee-hole of the briefs and wrapping her fingers around…..Jesus what the fuck was this? A full Salami? Christ even as she wrapped her fist around him she could barely get her fingers to touch. She looked at him with wide eyes as she tugged him through the pee-hole and revealed the beast within.Alexis took a deep breath. “What the fuck dude?”Jake jerked and looked at her, “What?”“You're fucking gigantic, fuck dude look at this thing!” She cried, as her hand slowly caressed the length of him. She lowered herself and lifted his hardness before her face. It was bigger than her fucking head. “You're bigger than my fucking head man!” She gasped, her free hand reaching slowly behind her to grab the phone she had taken out.She rose up and unlocked her phone, “Hold the fuck on I have to see something here.” She handed him her phone with the camera on. “Take my picture, I'm gonna see if your dick will hide my entire face.” She dropped down and lifted him in front of her face again.Jake grimaced, “I dunno if I want to take a picture of my dick though.”“Oh come on dude, my face will be there too. I'll make sure to send it to you so you can jerk to it later.” She promised with a smile. “Please?” She then licked him, running her tongue along his entire length from base to tip. He had to be at least nine inches long, and thick as a brick. Fucking him must be like fucking an arm, she thought to herself.Her tongue upon him did the trick though as his shaft jumped with the pleasure and he grunted. Jake shook his head and aimed the phone again, snapping the picture before setting the phone down. “There.” He said panting.Alexis smiled and kissed the tip of his throbbing mushroom. “Beautiful.” She told him. “Now as I promised.” She opened her mouth and gently sucked his tip into her mouth. Jake moaned with it, his shaft pulsed warmly on her tongue. She felt her body react to it as well, after seeing his size she wanted him, she wanted to try him. But that was perhaps going too far, especially since she didn't think her condom would be of any use on this monster.So Alexis took more into her mouth, working him gently with her tongue. She kept it slow so that he wouldn't lose himself too quickly, she wanted him to enjoy this. Hell SHE wanted to enjoy this. Gone were the thoughts of shame of doing this just to be hazed, gone were the questions of her morality or ethics in doing something like this. Sure she had gotten her picture, but now she didn't have to feel bad about leaving him with blue balls because she wanted to suck him off. His size was a challenge that she wanted to tackle. Even just a few inches into her mouth and her jaw was already open wide. She couldn't take him like this, no fucking way, there was too much of him.Instead Alexis made good with what she could take, using her tongue to tease the underside of him, pulling him back to her lips so she could suckle his tip and then repeating. Jake would swell in her mouth and she would stop, instead rubbing her palm over the spit covered tip of him and using her saliva as lube to stroke him. Her gaze would go to his, enjoying the look on his face.“What do you think?” She teased.Jake struggling to catch his breath. “It's incredible.” He panted softly. “I don't know how much I can take, I'm sorry Alexis.” He warned her.Nobody that she could recall had ever warned her, they just came whenever they felt like it. She had gotten good at being able to read the signs of when her partner was about to finish, the panting, the change in movements, even the swelling of their size. Jake however was too thick for her to totally tell, she thought every throb was going to be the eruption but it wasn't.She smirked, “It's okay, I didn't expect you to have pornstar stamina baby. Don't worry I'll drink you all up.” Then her lips wrapped around him again.Her words and the return of her mouth around him must have been too much, because not a second after she had his smooth fluffy tip in her mouth did she feel his massive tool jerk almost out of her grip. Then a rush of his stuff flooded into her mouth. Alexis squealed in surprise, tightening her grip with her hands around his base, holding him as he continued to powerfully jerk in her hand. Waves of his juice pulsed into her mouth, her throat worked overtime just to keep up with all he gave her. Her eyes went wide as he passed the point where a normal guy would have been done. But Jake gave her more, and then a little more.Finally with a grunt, Jake slumped back onto the bed breathing heavily. Alexis sucked the last little bit from his tip and lifted her head taking a deep breath. “Whew!” She gasped, licking her lips a giving herself a few extra swallows to clear her throat. “Jesus not only is your dick huge but so is your load.” She exclaimed.Jake blushed, “Sorry?”She giggled, “No need to be sorry, that's intense is all. I really really want to fuck you, I just want you to know that.” She told him.Jake sat up, “What really?”Alexis frowned, “Yeah, but I can't.”Jake gave a deflated look, but Alexis grabbed his chin, “No I want to really. But I don't have a condom that will fit you Jake. I didn't expect you to have the fucking Titanic in your pants.” She explained. “So maybe we can set up a raincheck. Find some rubbers that'll fit, and then we can see if my tight little lady can handle your beast.” She smiled wide and kissed his forehead.To be continued, by  musicankane for Literotica

Hazing Alexis: The most popular sorority, GGK; hazes Alexis.by  musicankane - listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.Alexis had always been popular, it came with the territory of being good looking. In high school, being a girl, being hot, was like an automatic “in” with the popular crowd. It made life really really easy. Nobody gave you shit, nobody cared what you did or how you dressed (to an extent) because everyone wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She had always been an automatic entry into that club growing up.She had often been a part of the group that decided what challenge other girls had to go through in order to join the popular group, if they weren't hot enough to be automatically in. Some of the things they made people do made Alexis glad she never had to go through it.However college was a different deal entirely. Alexis foolishly thought that she could just join whatever sorority that she wanted. A flick of her shimmering long brown hair, a little shake of her narrow waist, and boom she would be hot enough to join whatever club she wanted. But this was college and things were different here. Everything was about being fair, and frankly the other girls were just as good looking if not even better looking than her. So she wasn't about to get out of her hazing.She supposed that she could always go to another sorority and try to join them, maybe there hazing trial wouldn't be as embarrassing. But Gamma Gamma Kappa was known as the hottest Sorority on campus, by a wide margin. Having seen the girls already in place, Alexis knew that this was the place to be to get invited to the best parties with the hottest guys. So if she wanted in she was stuck with this challenge.She twirled her iPhone in her fingers, the circular mount on the back of her pink case kept it from falling, the text message from Niece the Sorority leader staring back at her on the screen. Alexis' mission was to get a picture for Jake Farrow. Jake was absolutely the last person Alexis ever would have spoken too growing up. Perhaps that's why Niece selected him personally for her little mission. Jake was the head of the campus Dungeons and Dragons club. Nerd to the ultimate degree.Alexis sat not far from Jake now, observing him as she contemplated what she was to do. He didn't look that nerdy to be fair, or even that bad. His hair was long for a guys, combed back, his glasses weren't extremely thick or made of dorky plastic. From what she could tell he was just an average guy, nothing special one way or the other, his only downside was his choice of hobbies.Again Alexis thought about her goal. She was to seduce this guy, and take a picture of her holding his…special member. She didn't have to go through with anything beyond that, but part of her felt really bad about it. She would have to lie and charm her way into his pants and then leave him hanging after she got the picture she needed. It made her wonder whether this was a haze for her or for him.She debated about it for a long time, should she go through with this, should she not? Finally, she stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket to walk across the quad toward him. Fuck it, she figured, one embarrassing and awkward moment and then it would be over. She'd be in GGK and could spend the next four years forgetting it ever happened.Jake was leaning over a drawing pad as she approached, coming up from behind him so she could see over his shoulder as to what he was drawing. Turned out he could really draw, the picture on the paper was really detailed for just a pencil drawing. It appeared to be some knight of warrior in shining armor with a sword in on hand and a shield in the other which was raised to deflect or block some sort of attack that hadn't been drawn yet.Alexis was impressed and that gave her a conversation starter to talk to him. “Wow,” she said moving around to the other side of the table so she could stand in front of him. “That looks really cool.”Jake jerked as if she had shocked him. So into his drawing that he didn't expect someone to talk to him out of the blue. His hand jerked away quickly from the paper so he didn't mess something up. He glanced up at Alexis and blinked, clearly not expecting someone like her to start a conversation with him.He turned a little red and nodded, “Uh, thanks. I'm drawing it for somebody.” He told her.She gave an impressed look to him, “Not even doing that kind of work for a class. That's pretty cool, do you draw all the time then?” She asked.He shrugged, “Not all the time, but enough to keep improving I guess.” He glanced up at her, and Alexis saw his eyes take her body in quickly though she didn't show him that she noticed. He wasn't very good at hiding his gaze, but that was fine by her she found herself glad that he enjoyed what he was looking at.“I'm Alexis by the way.” She smiled, holding her hand out to him.Jake took her hand softly and nodded, “I'm Jake.” He said slowly.“So I have a confession to make.” She said, sitting down across from him. “I didn't come here to just tell you your drawing was cool.”Jake sat back from her and gave her a weary look, as if afraid she was about to do something to him. “Okay?”She shook her head, “Don't worry it's nothing bad. It's just that I am trying to get into the drama club, but I was told that my character acting sucked.” She lied. “So I did a little googling and I came across table-top roleplaying.” Which wasn't a lie, she had googled a bit about Dungeons and Dragons in order to help herself gain Jake's trust easier. The quickest way into a nerd's pants was through his hobbies. Unlike a jock, who's quickest way into their pants was to simply ask.She brought up the Dungeons and Dragons club page on her phone and showed it to him. “Turns out you run a little roleplaying game club on campus here already and I figured that maybe I could join for a while.” She told him, “You know to play a character work on my improv skills or whatever. Then I can take that back to the drama club and actually get into a play or something.”Jake leaned forward, again his eyes roamed over her body quickly, he was really bad at trying to do it low key. “You, want to play….Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked in disbelief.“Well I'd like to learn at least. Unless you have a better suggest for me to practice Improving a character.” She suggested.Jake shrugged, “I don't. I just, I don't know, I never thought in a million years that someone as…let's just say ‘un-nerdy' as you would ever try to sign up for a game.”Alexis shrugged, “It honestly wouldn't be my first choice either. But I don't exactly have the cash to take an extra acting class off campus, this was the best free option I could find.” She gave him a pout, “Are you saying that I can't play?”Jake shook his head quickly, “No not at all. It's just surprising, that's all.” He nodded and leaned back again, probably considering this unexpected turn of events. “Alright…well do you know how to make a character?”Alexis blinked, “A what?”Jake laughed softly, “You can't play until you make a character. I'm gonna guess you don't know how huh?”Alexis frowned, “No I don't. Is that a problem?”“Not really. I can teach you that on our own. When are you free next?” He asked, glancing at his watch. “I have class in thirty minutes so I can't do it right now. But maybe this evening around five thirty or six?”Alexis nodded, “I can do six. Where?”“The club normally meets in one of the rec rooms over in Grand Hall. Room 3, I can meet you there at six and we can build you a character. It's shouldn't take more than an hour or so.” He explained.“Okay that sounds good.”“Great, oh and if you can you should go get yourself a set of dice. There is a hobby shop like three blocks from campus on Grand Street that can get you what you need.” He told her. “If you can't do it today, no big deal but you'll need them for the actual game.”Alexis promised that she would try and then said goodbye. As she turned around she saw a couple girls from GGK watching her from the other end of the quad. She sighed and made her way over to where they were standing.Jessica was a beautiful Latina, with caramel skin and flawless features. She wanted to be a model, but her parents were forcing her to get educated first. Though thanks to Instagram, Jessica was doing both. Emma was as much of a Midwest girl as one could possibly be. Blonde, blue eyes, innocent looking with a body men would kill for.Both girls smirked at Alexis as she approached. “How goes the dick hunt Alexis, got a picture of the nerd-dick for us yet?” Jessica asked.Alexis shook her head, “Not yet, I had to sign up for his club in to give myself an excuse to be around him.”The giggled, “Seriously?” Emma asked, “Why didn't you just ask to suck his dick in the bathroom or something?”Jessica nodded, “Yeah why make it more complicated that it needs to be?”Alexis frowned, “I don't know, I just don't think he is the type for that.”“Please, every guy is that type, especially when a girl like you asks.” Emma said dismissively.Again Alexis shook her head, “Somehow I don't think so. A guy like that, probably used to getting bullied and would suspect a prank. I have to warm him up to me before pulling this stunt.” Alexis moaned and hung her head, “Oh God I have to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.”Jessica and Emma just laughed. “Tough shit girl. Get us the pic or find another Sorority.” They said and left.Alexis bit her lip and sighed, no use getting out of it. She was stuck with this, unless she gave up on GGK. No way in hell, Alexis wasn't a quitter and she certainly put other girls in High School through just as much shit as this, worse even.Begrudgingly, Alexis followed Jake's advice and went to the hobby shop he had told her about. It was a small store in the corner of a shopping center called Games, Dice, Action. The interior was much as she expected, walls of comic books, display cases filled with some kind of game singles, and then there were dice. Little boxes of dice with several different shapes.Alexis looked though the different colors for a while before a chubby man with a thick beard came up to her, “Can I help you?” he asked.Alexis glanced up and then pointed at the dice in the case. “Are those the dice I need to play D&D?” She asked.The man nodded, “They are enough to get you going yeah. One die of each side type used in the game.” He explained.“Great, can I get those pink ones?”Shortly before six Alexis was back on campus with her bag of goodies. The clerk had been nice enough to also print her out several pages that he called “character sheets” so that she would be ready to sit down and immediately start making a character with Jake. Along with a set of pink dice that had three different shades of pink in their color scheme.She actually beat Jake to the rec room and found herself an empty table near the back of the mostly empty room so set up. She laid out her sheets and took out her dice, laying them in a row based on their total number of sides, and a little mechanical pencil. While she waited for Jake to arrive she googled basic D&D character creation rules but was giving an online book with nearly 200 pages and her eyes went wide. Did she have to learn 200 pages of rules? Who the fuck would play a game that required so much work. Wasn't it just supposed to be a bunch of dorks playing pretend around a table?The door to the rec room opened and Jake walked in, holding a book under his arm. Alexis waved to get his attention and he began walking her way. “Wow,” he said, looking at the laid out paper and dice in front of her. “I gotta say, I didn't think you would go so far.” He told her, sitting across from her.She smiled and leaned toward him, purposefully giving him a glance down her top and get a good look at her cleavage. Alexis was proud of her perky just barely C-cups, and Jake took the chance to take the peek she offered. “Now why is that?” She asked teasingly. It was time to turn on the flirting. First meeting wouldn't have worked, but now that she had him mostly alone, she could start to give it to him and build not only his trust but his libido as well.Jake tore his eyes from her gapping shirt and blushed, “Look hot girls don't just ask to play D&D. It simply doesn't happen. I thought you were setting me up for a prank or something.” He explained.Alexis smiled, “I know you did. That's why I got all this stuff on my own. I want you to see I'm serious about at least giving this a try.” She gestured to her set up.Jake nodded, and set the book on the table. Alexis saw that it was the same book that the internet had proved her and the pit of her stomach dropped. Dread filled her as she began to fear all the rules he was about to dump on her.“Okay let's start by doing this….” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of scratch paper. Then he reached over and grabbed her six sided die. “Roll this four times…”And so began the process of Alexis making her first Dungeons and Dragons character. All her fear about the massive book turned out to be a waste because she ended up not needed more than like ten pages of the book in total. Jake made everything really simple and while she did roll her eyes a couple of times at the dorky terminology she found herself grasping it pretty easily.By the end of the sit down with Jake, Alexis' had her character sheet completely filled out. She had created a sneaky demon-like girl called a Trifling Rogue and named her Shadow Heartly. Working with Jake turned out to be a lot of fun, and it made Alexis forget how dorky she always thought this would be. He helped her create a back story for Shadow, together they crafted this back story of a demon born of noble blood who's demonic appearance forced her parents to give her up so she didn't hurt their reputation. Angry at being abandoned, Shadow began to steal mastering the art of pick-pocketing, before being grabbed by the thieves guild. The guild taught her to be unseen, and began using her for missions that asked her to sneak into dangerous locations. She learned to make herself valuable despite her demonic appearance.Alexis felt like she was going crazy, because she actually found herself eager to try playing Shadow in a real game. As they finished and stood up together, Alexis threw her arms around Jake and hugged him, purposefully pressing her chest tightly to his.“Thank you for this, truly.” She told him smiling as she stepped back. “I didn't think for a second it would be as interesting as you made it, but now I'm really glad I actually asked about this. I look forward to playing.” She paused and gave him a look, “When do we play?”Jake smiled, his face a little red after that hug. “I'm glad I was able to shatter your expectations. Let's see I have a new game starting with a group of players on Friday night at seven. So it's actually a perfect game for you to join in and try your hand at it.”Alexis groaned inwardly. Seven on a Friday night? Was he serious? She had a party to go to on Friday night. She didn't want to stay inside to play this game when she could be getting her party on. But she realized that she couldn't go to the party until she brought GGK what they asked for. So she smiled and nodded, “Alright Friday at seven. Where at?”“Oh we play in my dorm. I have a full ride and that came with a full sized dorm room with no roommate. So I have people come over there since its private and I have the space.” He explained.His place?Alexis grinned, it was too perfect. All she had to do was wait for the game to end and everybody to leave and Jake would be all hers. “Great!” She replied. “I'll see you then I guess.” She started to walk away, “Oh, what dorm number?”Jake smirked, “224.”“Thanks Jake. See you.” She smiled and darted off.First thing in the morning Alexis went to the sorority house and explained the situation. Niece, the sorority leader, a buxom fit girl with long black hair and haunting blue eyes, glared up at Alexis from the love seat. “I don't know what you are going through all of this for. He's a nerd and you are way out of his league, just seduce him and be done with it. Why torture yourself?”Alexis didn't have a good answer really. She explained that Jake was too nerdy for that, and he would assume she was up to something if she just tried to pounce on him right out of the gate.Niece just scoffed and gave Alexis a dismissive wave, “Oh please, look if you went to his dorm tonight wearing nothing but a sexy set of underwear or a robe with nothing underneath, there is no way in hell he turns you away. Unless he's gay, is he gay?” Niece asked questioningly.Alexis shook her head, “I gave him plenty of chances to look down my shirt today, he took them all, so I don't think that's a worry.”Niece smiled and nodded, “Great, then go get your picture. Why play games with him?”Alexis shrugged, she didn't have a good answer. Jake had been a really nice guy, and totally different than the dweeb she had expected him to be. She just couldn't bring herself to be such a bitch to him for no reason. She didn't want to just leave him with his pants down, so to speak.It was then she had a chilling thought. If she was warming him up to her, did that mean she intended to give him actual head or something? Would she go that far just for a simple dick pic? Surely that wasn't what she was prepping for? But if she wasn't then why not just take Niece's advice and go blue ball the poor guy?Alexis couldn't think of a true answer. And that worried her. She shook it off, figuring she was just horny. After all she hadn't gotten any since she and her boyfriend broke up over the summer. He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship, and frankly Alexis couldn't blame him. It had left her with an inch to scratch though. Not that she would consider scratching it with Jake. Hell no.Friday came quickly and Alexis decided to bring a couple of pizza's to Jakes dorm room for the game. It always nice to be a good guest, that's what her folks taught her, and being a good guest meant bringing snacks or drinks for whatever get-together you were going too.So there she stood at his doorstep with two hot pizza's burning into her palm. Still she stared at the door for a while. Was she really going to try this for real? To get Jake alone so she could take a picture of his ramrod? It shouldn't mean this much right? Why was she scared, the worse that could happen was she upset him and no big deal. Then again, why did she make sure to put a condom in her handbag. That probably worried her more than anything else.Finally she knocked, Jake opened the door quickly. He smiled as he saw her and the pizzas, “Hey you made it. And with pizza! Wow you are officially my new favorite.” He reached out and took the boxes from her before stepping aside to let her in. “See guys this is how you impress your DM.” He said showing off the boxes.“You mean the food or the girl?” A male voice asked inside.Jake snapped at him, “Hey you better not start. I warned you, I want Alexis to feel welcome here.”There was a fairly small circular table with four people around it. Three of them were guys that very much embodied the typical guys that Alexis always pictured playing this game. Very overweight, thick glasses, beards that seemed to encompass their heads, they were total stereotypes. Alexis felt her stomach pitch with regret coming to this whole event.The other playe

Filmmaker George Sikharulidze joins Marcus from Tbilisi, Georgia to discuss his feature film debut 'Panopticon', which is World Premiering at the prestigious 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on June 30th at The Grand Hall, and competing for the festival's top prize: the Crystal Globe. A variety of topics include the influence of Francois Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows', the importance of honesty in filmmaking, the concept of Panopticism, and the value of making the films you regret. Other topics include the experience of watching one's own film, the challenges of making a feature film compared to shorts, the value of film labs and festivals, and the difficulties of the Georgian Film Center. George emphasizes the importance of serving the story and removing oneself as a director. Short EndsThe concept of panopticism and its influence on filmmakingThe impact of Truffaut's '400 Blows' on the director's own workThe value of developing a project through film schoolThe importance of structure and honesty in filmmakingThe excitement and anxiety of premiering a film at a festival The experience of watching one's own film can vary, but the goal is to reach a point where the filmmaker can enjoy it without being overly concerned with others' opinions.Making a feature film presents different challenges compared to making shorts, such as carrying the entire story in one's head and shooting out of order.Film labs and festivals can provide valuable opportunities for filmmakers to showcase their work, meet industry professionals, and gain recognition.A director's job is to serve the story and remove themselves from the film, allowing the story to take center stage.The filmmaker has future projects in development and is motivated to continue making films.Honesty with oneself is crucial in the filmmaking process, avoiding distractions and staying true to the vision.What Movies Are You Watching?Like, subscribe and follow us on our socials @pastpresentfeature

We're delighted to announce the new host of The Country House Podcast, as well as to discuss the magnificent Hardwick Hall, Bess of Hardwick's lasting legacy. 

Disney Wish Find us on Youtube - please like and subscribe! If you're planning to visit Disney World in 2024, definitely check out our Genie+ 101 episode! Looking to plan a Disney World or Disneyland vacation? Let Joe do all the hard work for you, helping you get the best discount, at no cost to you as your travel agent. Get started by e-mailing josephcheung@travelmation.net today!  Episode Description Joe finally sailed the Disney Wish! We discuss Disney Cruise Line's soon to be second newest ship, with some tips about sailing Disney Cruise Line and some things that Joe thinks are better on the Disney Wish than on the classic ships. Plus - is it really that much more expensive to take a cruise than to visit Walt Disney World? Have you sailed the Disney Wish? Let us know by e-mailing disneydeciphered AT gmail DOT com, messaging us on Twitter, or leaving a comment on our Youtube page. You can also follow us on Instagram! Episode Notes (all timestamps are approximate) 5:52 - First impressions of the Disney Wish 7:21 - Driving to Port Canaveral 11:18 - Does the internet work now? 13:09 - Castaway Cay strategy 16:57 - Disney Wish pools 19:23 - The Wish's different layout and design 22:05 - Quick service food 23:11 - The Grand Hall 24:03 - The Wish's top notch entertainment 27:11 - A beautiful ship 29:28 - Is it worth it to sail on the Disney Wish for a three night cruise? 33:35 -  Disney dos and don'ts If we've helped you to plan your trip and you'd like to thank us we'd appreciate you considering a one time donation. Or if you'd like to receive bonus content, check out our Patreon page and our special subscriber only content! You can also support the show by buying tickets (if they're the best deal, of course) using our Undercover Tourist link or signing up for Mouse Dining through our link. If you like what you hear, please share and subscribe! Find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, PlayerFM, iHeartRadio, or Google Podcasts (please leave a positive review if you're enjoying the show), like our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram! Connect with Leslie @TripsWithTykes on social media and Joe @asthejoeflies.

This week, Brittany Evans shares the story of her cruise wedding aboard the Disney Wish, with a ceremony in the Grand Hall and a celebration in The Bayou. She discusses how she and Michael planned the event from Canada, including their decision to use Lovestream to live stream the wedding for friends and  family back home. And you'll hear Brittany's top tips for anyone considering a wedding or vow renewal aboard a Disney cruise! Click here to see ALL the photos!

An orientation to the obligations of Sexual Equity. In 4 parts, by oolonroosevelt. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Forward: About New Dorset. New Dorset is an island, and nation-state, in the northeast Pacific. Located 450 km southwest of the Baja California peninsula, it is the largest territory (other than Antarctica) to have no native population when first discovered by Europeans. It was first discovered in 1533 by Spanish explorers, but no Spanish presence was ever established, and it was disputed between Spain and Britain until Spain withdrew its claim in 1815. It was colonized by the British beginning in the early 1800s, and given its independence along with other British dominions in 1931. [[MORE]] New Dorset is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government, with a constitution in broad terms similar to that of the United Kingdom and many former British colonies, but governed under the unique principles of Sexual Equity. New Dorset has 8,671,074 inhabitants. and the capitol is Dorchester. The Duchies, or provinces are: Bathurst, whose capitol is also Dorchester, has 832,092. Wilmot-Horton, whose capitol is Portsmouth, has 2.046,189. Goderich, whose capitol is Poole, has 1,100,280. Deltaland, whose capitol is Stafford, has 1,195,146. Alicia, whose capitol is Taylorville, has 1,024,764. Helenia, whose capitol is Jenkins, has 1,040,141. Louisia, whose capitol is Kibblewhite, has 537,428. Beatricia, whose capitol is Packman, has 895,034. Orientation begins: Twelve women in the their twenties and thirties, dressed in pantsuits or blazers and skirts, file in to the conference room and sit around the table. At first, they talk of their journeys here to the capital; soon he discussion turns to constituency office staffing and committee assignments. Finally an older woman, about fifty, comes in, wearing a “State Service Office” badge on a lanyard. “Hello. Welcome to State Service Orientation. I'm Rebecca Upston, the Parliamentary Commissioner for State Service. Angela, who usually does new officeholder orientation, is off today, so you get me; I'm the head of the program. Thanks for coming on time. I know this seems uncomfortable and frightful for some of you, but don't worry, for almost everyone orientation, and service generally, turns out to be a good experience. Can you introduce yourselves? Just first names here. You can call me Rebecca.” They go around the room, and each says her name. Rebecca makes a point of repeating them back. “Georgia.” “Eva.” “Lucy.” “Holly.” “Bella.” “Brooke.” “Samantha.” “Jasmine.” “Sophie.” “Madison.” “Summer.” “Elizabeth.” Rebecca says, “Great. And most of you are new members of the Legislative Assembly from; which province was it, Deltaland, right? Except Sophie, who won the federal by election in MacVicar, and Lucy, who is the newest city council member in Poole. Her election was just two days ago. Thanks for coming down so quickly. “Congratulations to all of you on running for and winning office, on being chosen to represent and lead your people. What we are here for today may not seem like it has much to do with what you do in the legislature, but you'll see that it does. “I was an MP for twelve years and on my city council for four years before that, so even before this job, I did my share of state service. A lot of women come in with ideas about service that are pretty far off, so even though we provide you with written materials, we have everyone do an in-person orientation. You've all read the ‘Your Service Obligation' booklet, right?” A series of nods. “All right. Let's begin he orientation by letting me show you through your part of the selection process. Servitrixes , that's what we call women who have a service obligation, go online each month and sign up for service room assignments. By the way, in real life nobody ever calls them ‘service rooms,' they're always called ‘cribs,' except in the paperwork. Anyway, the Service Office will send you the date each month when you're eligible to select times and places. You get a different date depending on whether you're a minister, an MP, an MLA, or what. If it's available, you're allowed to choose any crib, anywhere. Usually, you'll want to pick one near where you work, but it's up to you.” She calls the web site up on the projector and goes through a sample assignment selection process. “You pick the number of appointments you need each month for your obligation. Each appointment time lasts an hour. Ten minutes at the beginning is for preparation and fifteen at the end is for clean-up, so if you have two crib assignments in a row, you'll have a twenty-five minute break in between.” “What if we forget to sign up?” asks Georgia. “Well, you can always sign up late, and be limited to whatever crib spaces are available. We'll try to accommodate you if we can. Ultimately, it's your responsibility to make sure you can fulfil your service obligation. If you don't, you can end up before the Joint Disciplinary Committee, and ultimately lose your seat. So don't do that. Sign up early, get convenient crib assignments, do your service, and then go back and run the country. That's how service is supposed to work. All the details are on the help pages online.” “OK, so that's how you'll sign up. I want to give you a a general idea about how patrons (men who receive service) sign up too. Patrons sign up on a weekly basis instead of a monthly basis, and select their preferences from the service room assignments you've chosen. They select their preferred times and servitrixes, and the system matches them up. There are a lot more men who want to receive service than servitrixes to provide it, so there's a complicated system for building the waiting list. Patrons get priority firstly on how long they've been waiting, then on whether they live in the constituency of the woman in question, and last on whether they've received any honors – lords, knights and members of the various orders of merit all have their own priority levels.” “I thought earls and lords could get service anytime they wanted,” asked Lucy. “No, just the duke of each province and the king. Nobles get some preference, but if a regular man with no honors has been waiting longer than an earl, he will get service even if the earl has to wait. Where the honors make a difference is in whether they get their first choice of servitrix. Samantha asks, "Why do we sign up monthly when men sign up weekly?” “It just works out better that way; it allows women to establish their schedules in advance, which is especially important for women like the foreign minister, who has to make sure she squeezes in her service obligation in between foreign trips. For men, it's easier to pick appointment times closer to when they'll actually go, and weekly signups allow the waiting lists to shuffle more often, which gives a sense of progress, even if the wait isn't really any different in the long run. As long as you sign up on time for your assignments, the difference won't affect you. "Oh, one other thing you should know: if a crib isn't being used, servitrixes can sign up to use it for whatever they want; either take a friend down there, or just use the lounge to take a nap or something. Perk bookings open up at the beginning of the week, after any late assignments. "Any other questions? OK, they should be ready for us in the cribs now.” Rebecca leads the women out of the conference room and into the hall. They pause in the Grand Hall on the way to the stairs. “Parliament House is a beautiful place to work. State service reminds us of our responsibility to the citizens, but the building reminds us how glorious our country is and what a privilege it is to lead it. We who work here are fortunate, especially the MPs. State service might seem like an heavy burden at times, but it's a small price to pay. I don't regret a day of it.” They descend a stairway and travel down another hall, and come to an alcove marked Service Rooms; East, where two athletic men in their twenties are standing. “Hello, Ms. Upston.” “Hello, gentlemen,” says Rebecca. “These are two of our instructors. We don't use names for our patrons, so for now we'll just call them Mr. M and Mr. V.” They exchange a round of greetings. Rebecca addresses a woman in a security uniform sitting behind a glass window in the back of the alcove. “Hi, Harper,” says Rebecca. “Harper here is our first line of security. We know you are in a vulnerable position with you don't know, so we take security very seriously at the Service Office, especially here at Parliament House. We show you this side during orientation so you can feel confident in your safety. You've all gone through body scanners to get into Parliament House. Security's even tighter down here. No man can get into the cribs until the guard gives them a key and buzzes them in. Harper, can you check in Mr. M and Mr. V?” Harper checks their IDs and then passes two plastic rings through the window, and the two men each take one. Mr. M puts the ring on a finger, then presses the ring to a badge reader next to a door; Harper presses a button and the door opens. A short hallway is visible, with another door at the other end. Rebecca says, “The door opens only when guard buzzes the doors at the same time the key is used. Every entrance and exit to the cribs is protected by a set of double doors, which can't open at the same time, so nobody can sneak through.” Mr. M leads the others through the hallway, and they find themselves in a room with a bench, a row of lockers, and a stack of what look like towels on a shelf above a hamper. There are doors marked To Exit and Washroom/Showers, and a hallway marked To Service Rooms. Rebecca says “There are twenty cribs in Parliament House: seven in the south wing, ten in the west wing, and this the smallest set, with just three. Usually all the Parliament House cribs are pretty busy. Backbench MPs usually do service in Parliament House, as do ministers of the major departments like the Foreign Ministry and Defense, since those offices don't have their own cribs. Ministers whose offices are in the North and South Executive Buildings generally use the cribs there. "This is the locker room for the east cribs. Men can't take anything into the cribs with them from the outside, anything at all. No clothes, no jewelry, nothing except their ring key. They have to take off everything and leave it here. Gentlemen, will you demonstrate?” The instructors remove their shoes, pants, and shirts and put them in lockers. Mr. V removes a gold chain from around his neck; Mr. M removes a piercing from his ear, a gold ring from his finger, and a wristwatch. All go in the lockers. Finally, they remove their underwear, and turn around, facing the officeholders totally nude except for the plastic ring keys on their fingers. Rebecca says, “Please, take a good look,” and the two instructors pause as the women examine them.. A few titters escape the women's mouths. Rebecca says, “We always get a few gigglers here at orientation. But you'll have to get used to seeing men like this. We'll talk more about that later. First, let's finish seeing security. Meanwhile, Mr. M takes one of the cloths that look like towels. "These wraps are all patrons are allowed to wear,” he says. “It's not much, but having something makes most of us more comfortable while we wait.” He puts it around his lower torso and presses it closed. “There's no pockets or anything, so you can see why the keys are made like rings; we don't have to worry about losing them. We need the ring to open our locker and get our clothes after service.” Mr. V also takes a wrap and puts it on. They continue on into the hallway marked To Waiting Room. In the hallway is another security checkpoint with a fullbody scanner, with entry and exit doors; a male security officer stands behind a glass wall. Rebecca says, “We're always extra careful. We know you're in the public eye and we don't want anything to happen to any of you. So we have another checkpoint here. Lucas here does a visual inspection, and then the scanner verifies that the man has left absolutely everything in the locker room.” The scanner door opens, Mr. M steps inside, and the door closes behind him. Lucas says, “Please remove your wrap, sir.” Mr. M does, and the guard makes a point of examining him thoroughly. “You may put it back now, sir,” says Lucas. Mr. M does so, and then Lucas operates the scanner, which is silent. “Thank you, sir,” says Lucas, and the rear scanner door opens. Mr. M goes through the door, and it closes behind him. Lucas goes through the same procedure with Mr. V. Rebecca says, “Only patrons are allowed in the waiting room, so we will be heading out now.” Bella says, “Is there something special in the waiting room that we can't see?” “Yes, actually. Official portraits. At one point, it was decided that the old practice of displaying portraits of past and present ministers and officers of Parliament was one of the honors women would renounce. Instead, it was decided that official portraits would be made in the act of giving service, and they would be displayed in the waiting rooms to help patrons get in the proper mood.” Lucy is alarmed. “But they said service was private, that nobody got to see us.” “Well, nobody gets to see except the patrons. This is why you're not allowed in there. The waiting room is highly restricted. Nobody is ever allowed in except men waiting for service. Even I've never seen any of the official portraits except my own.” Sophie says, “I'd like to know about that.” Rebecca laughs. “Maybe later. Anyway, don't worry, only ministers and a few others are required to have their portraits posted, and in any case only the men actually waiting for service can see them. We can have no expectation of privacy from our patrons. And the portraits do an important job, of helping patrons get themselves ready for what is about to happen. It's just another kind of service.” “Anyway, when the woman in the crib signals that she's ready to begin, there will be an announcement in the waiting room. The man then uses his key to access the hallway that leads to the crib, and then the crib itself. The main security office has a door to the hall, to come if you call, and the hall is also used by housekeeping staff who wipe up and change the linens after every appointment. "For now, our instructors will stay in the waiting room while we go around to the women's entrance.” Rebecca leads the women out through the locker room and a series of hallways with doors back to the service room entrance alcove. She counts the women, and says “Harper, we're all clear.” Rebeca leads the women back to the stairwell. “We actually have to go up and over to get to the women's entrances. We don't want any mistakes.” Lucy asks, “Are all cribs this secure?” “Well, mostly. No matter what, we always have separate men's and women's entrances, and there's always a guard on the men's side who makes sure patrons can't bring anything inside, monitors who enters the cribs, and who is there to help if called. But all security is stronger for our national leaders. The truth is that we've never had a problem where somebody who wasn't supposed to be in a crib tried to get in to hurt someone, not even here in the capital.” Rebecca leads them up the stairs, back through a set of hallways, and down another stairway. At the bottom, a woman in a security uniform sits at a counter, behind another glass window with a locked door. Rebecca says, “Matilda here will check your IDs and buzz you in.” Matilda checks each ID before allowing the group through another set of double doors into another hallway, this one with doors labeled E1 through E3. Rebecca says, “We're going to do most of the rest of orientation in E1, but that's an extra-large crib we use for orientations and other special occasions. Before we go there, I want to show you E2, which is a regular crib. The first room is your lounge, where you can freshen up. There's a small washroom with a toilet and shower, and an area where you can rest and change clothes. Then after that is the crib itself, which has a bed, a chair, and a stool. I'll explain that in a bit, but go on into E2 and see what it's like.” Rebecca opens the door with her badge. Each goes into E2 and looks around. The lounge has an area rug covering most of the floor, a daybed and a small clothes closet with a mirror on the door. The washroom is small but well stocked with toiletries. Next to the door to the crib is wall decoration reading “Happiness / Gratitude / Humility” and a small whiteboard marked “Today's code: 2701”. Inside the crib is a full-size bed, made up with just a fitted sheet. It's pressed up against the wall on one side, and on the other side there's a low chest of drawers. Across from it there's also a chair with a seat raised off the ground, and a very low stool in front of it. This room has a rug on the floor also. On the far wall is a door marked Men's Exit. Next to the door back to the lounge there are some pushbuttons and a keypad. After each has a look, Rebecca reaches into the E2 lounge, presses a button on the wall marked Finished, and exits the room, closing the E2 door behind her. Then she shows the officeholders into E1. The lounge here is similar, but much larger, with two couches and a large closet, and mirrors lining the walls; the washroom has a toilet and shower but also a whirlpool bath. It has the same decoration and whiteboard next to the crib door. Rebecca says, “This is the biggest crib we have, which is why we use it for orientation: there's no way this many women could fit in E2. At the same time, E2 is much more like the cribs you'll be using. This room is booked up quickly. "Now is when you will be first introduced to what State Service is really like. The first step is to change your clothes. You should remove everything: clothes, jewelry, hair bands, whatever you have on, and put on a service robe. Let me know if your robe is too long; it shouldn't go down to your knees.” She opens the closet and hands each woman a garment bag and a thigh-length, very sheer robe. Eva looks at the robe and asks, “What's the point of wearing this thing? There's not even any lace. They can see everything anyway, we might as well just be naked.” Rebecca says, “Yes, Eva, it doesn't hide anything, but that's not the point of wearing this. We provide service not only in what we do but in how we look, and not only in how we look to the men but how we look to ourselves. Nudity isn't necessarily sexy; it can be pretty ordinary. We're all nude when we take baths, or change our clothes. These robes are a reminder, partially to the men but mostly to ourselves, that we are here in their service. In here, we reveal ourselves in every way, even If we wear a robe, even if we do what usually conceals. So we're more nude than nude in these. And before you ask, yes I'll be wearing one too. Out there, I'm a Parliamentary Commissioner; when I come in here, I'm a woman providing service, like any of you. Counselors and managers in the Service Office are the only women other than elected officials who have a citizen service obligation. "So, please place your clothes in the garment bags; we'll put them in the closet.” Each of the women begins to remove her clothes and place them in the garment bag. As they do, Rebecca says, “Don't be shy about looking at each other. Servitrixes need to get used to being looked at.” Each woman puts on her very thin and sheer robe, and hangs the bag in the closet. “Sophie, your robe is a little long; can you exchange with Bella? You don't want it to get caught on your knees.” They exchange robes. Rebecca says, “We're going to do an exercise to help get in the proper mindset. This room is just large enough for you all to stand in a circle, facing each other. Please do that, and hold hands.” The twelve women stand in a circle, arms spread so they can hold hands, wearing nothing but the sheer robes, bodies completely visible; Rebecca wears the same but stands outside the circle. “OK, now I want you to close your eyes,” says Rebecca. “OK? Good. I want you to think about the path you took to get here. You were victorious in your election campaign. You won! And now you can begin the great work you set out to do when you decided to run. Be happy in your victory, and in the opportunity you have to do good. But remember the many other people who worked to get you here, who gave you their time, money, and resources, and who cheered you up when thinks looked bad and were there to celebrate with you at the end. Remember also the many people who raised you from a child and taught you what you needed to know. Be grateful to them. Also, remember that the reason you are here is because the voters chose you to be here. For all you did to get here, it was they, not you, who made the decision. And they have put their faith in you, entrusted you with power over their lives, with the responsibility to represent them to the greater commonwealth. Be humble when facing the great challenges before you and when thinking of the great trust placed in you. "Before opening your eyes, concentrate on feeling happy, grateful, and humble. "Now open your eyes. Look at the other women in the circle. Those are the other women who won their elections, who succeeded, just like you. They are happy: smile at them and see them smile back at you. And they are also grateful to those who supported them and humble before the great work in front of them. That is what women who are entrusted with leadership look like. And you are one of them. "These women are in this room, revealing themselves, baring all, more nude than nude. Look closely at them – at their heads, faces, necks, arms, breasts, nipples, bellies, hips, mounds, pussies, thighs, legs, feet. These women show all of themselves, and will hold nothing of themselves back, because that will keep faith with the people who supported and chose them. And you are one of them. "Each woman you're looking at will use her body to serve men by offering herself for their pleasure. And all are happy to do it. Smile again, and see them smile again in return. They are happy for the opportunity to prove their loyalty, grateful to the men they serve for that opportunity, and humble before the men who symbolize all those who have trusted them with leadership. And you are one of them.” Rebecca steps into the center of the circle. “For just a moment, I want you to look directly at me. You can see I'm not a young woman. Even though I take pretty good care of myself, still, my breasts sag and my belly droops. But I also am humble, and grateful, and happy to keep faith with those who entrusted me with my duties. And so I serve men. And I promise you, when I go in to give service, men aren't focused on any imperfections in my body. What men see is a woman who is prepared to give completely of herself to them, to serve them, for their pleasure. "Now I want you to let go of each other's hands, and turn to face one of the mirrors with your hands at your sides Take a good look at yourself. Some of you may be hard on yourselves, thinking you don't look as good as the others. Others of you may take pride in your appearance. But your appearance really is not important. What matters is your ability to open yourself, reveal yourself, humbly give of yourself to service. "Think about what you are when you're here. Outside this room you may be a professional, a scholar, a leader, a powerful person ready to govern the country. But in here, when you reveal yourself, uncover yourself, you're a woman, humbly serving a man by using your body to give him the pleasure he desires, in order to keep faith with your people. Remember that. Take a good look at the woman who will be serving that man. You won't ever know who the men are who come to you for pleasure, who will find fulfillment in your body: your mouth, your breasts, your ass, your pussy… It doesn't matter. He's a man, and you're a woman, and you're here to serve him, whoever he is. You are humble to have been chosen by those who sent you here, and you are grateful to have the opportunity to show that their trust is justified, and happy to be able to do that by serving that man, giving all of yourself to give him pleasure. Look at that humble, grateful, happy woman.” After a few more seconds of staring, Rebecca says “Thank you. In a minute we'll go into the crib. See the code by the door? You'll need to remember it. You type that code on the keypad inside the crib to open the door to come back here again. If you type anything else security comes.” “Ok, follow me into the crib.” To be continued in part 3, the crib, by oolonroosevelt for Literotica

An orientation to the obligations of Sexual Equity. In 4 parts, by oolonroosevelt. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Forward: About New Dorset. New Dorset is an island, and nation-state, in the northeast Pacific. Located 450 km southwest of the Baja California peninsula, it is the largest territory (other than Antarctica) to have no native population when first discovered by Europeans. It was first discovered in 1533 by Spanish explorers, but no Spanish presence was ever established, and it was disputed between Spain and Britain until Spain withdrew its claim in 1815. It was colonized by the British beginning in the early 1800s, and given its independence along with other British dominions in 1931. [[MORE]] New Dorset is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government, with a constitution in broad terms similar to that of the United Kingdom and many former British colonies, but governed under the unique principles of Sexual Equity. New Dorset has 8,671,074 inhabitants. and the capitol is Dorchester. The Duchies, or provinces are: Bathurst, whose capitol is also Dorchester, has 832,092. Wilmot-Horton, whose capitol is Portsmouth, has 2.046,189. Goderich, whose capitol is Poole, has 1,100,280. Deltaland, whose capitol is Stafford, has 1,195,146. Alicia, whose capitol is Taylorville, has 1,024,764. Helenia, whose capitol is Jenkins, has 1,040,141. Louisia, whose capitol is Kibblewhite, has 537,428. Beatricia, whose capitol is Packman, has 895,034. Orientation begins: Twelve women in the their twenties and thirties, dressed in pantsuits or blazers and skirts, file in to the conference room and sit around the table. At first, they talk of their journeys here to the capital; soon he discussion turns to constituency office staffing and committee assignments. Finally an older woman, about fifty, comes in, wearing a “State Service Office” badge on a lanyard. “Hello. Welcome to State Service Orientation. I'm Rebecca Upston, the Parliamentary Commissioner for State Service. Angela, who usually does new officeholder orientation, is off today, so you get me; I'm the head of the program. Thanks for coming on time. I know this seems uncomfortable and frightful for some of you, but don't worry, for almost everyone orientation, and service generally, turns out to be a good experience. Can you introduce yourselves? Just first names here. You can call me Rebecca.” They go around the room, and each says her name. Rebecca makes a point of repeating them back. “Georgia.” “Eva.” “Lucy.” “Holly.” “Bella.” “Brooke.” “Samantha.” “Jasmine.” “Sophie.” “Madison.” “Summer.” “Elizabeth.” Rebecca says, “Great. And most of you are new members of the Legislative Assembly from; which province was it, Deltaland, right? Except Sophie, who won the federal by election in MacVicar, and Lucy, who is the newest city council member in Poole. Her election was just two days ago. Thanks for coming down so quickly. “Congratulations to all of you on running for and winning office, on being chosen to represent and lead your people. What we are here for today may not seem like it has much to do with what you do in the legislature, but you'll see that it does. “I was an MP for twelve years and on my city council for four years before that, so even before this job, I did my share of state service. A lot of women come in with ideas about service that are pretty far off, so even though we provide you with written materials, we have everyone do an in-person orientation. You've all read the ‘Your Service Obligation' booklet, right?” A series of nods. “All right. Let's begin he orientation by letting me show you through your part of the selection process. Servitrixes , that's what we call women who have a service obligation, go online each month and sign up for service room assignments. By the way, in real life nobody ever calls them ‘service rooms,' they're always called ‘cribs,' except in the paperwork. Anyway, the Service Office will send you the date each month when you're eligible to select times and places. You get a different date depending on whether you're a minister, an MP, an MLA, or what. If it's available, you're allowed to choose any crib, anywhere. Usually, you'll want to pick one near where you work, but it's up to you.” She calls the web site up on the projector and goes through a sample assignment selection process. “You pick the number of appointments you need each month for your obligation. Each appointment time lasts an hour. Ten minutes at the beginning is for preparation and fifteen at the end is for clean-up, so if you have two crib assignments in a row, you'll have a twenty-five minute break in between.” “What if we forget to sign up?” asks Georgia. “Well, you can always sign up late, and be limited to whatever crib spaces are available. We'll try to accommodate you if we can. Ultimately, it's your responsibility to make sure you can fulfil your service obligation. If you don't, you can end up before the Joint Disciplinary Committee, and ultimately lose your seat. So don't do that. Sign up early, get convenient crib assignments, do your service, and then go back and run the country. That's how service is supposed to work. All the details are on the help pages online.” “OK, so that's how you'll sign up. I want to give you a a general idea about how patrons (men who receive service) sign up too. Patrons sign up on a weekly basis instead of a monthly basis, and select their preferences from the service room assignments you've chosen. They select their preferred times and servitrixes, and the system matches them up. There are a lot more men who want to receive service than servitrixes to provide it, so there's a complicated system for building the waiting list. Patrons get priority firstly on how long they've been waiting, then on whether they live in the constituency of the woman in question, and last on whether they've received any honors – lords, knights and members of the various orders of merit all have their own priority levels.” “I thought earls and lords could get service anytime they wanted,” asked Lucy. “No, just the duke of each province and the king. Nobles get some preference, but if a regular man with no honors has been waiting longer than an earl, he will get service even if the earl has to wait. Where the honors make a difference is in whether they get their first choice of servitrix. Samantha asks, "Why do we sign up monthly when men sign up weekly?” “It just works out better that way; it allows women to establish their schedules in advance, which is especially important for women like the foreign minister, who has to make sure she squeezes in her service obligation in between foreign trips. For men, it's easier to pick appointment times closer to when they'll actually go, and weekly signups allow the waiting lists to shuffle more often, which gives a sense of progress, even if the wait isn't really any different in the long run. As long as you sign up on time for your assignments, the difference won't affect you. "Oh, one other thing you should know: if a crib isn't being used, servitrixes can sign up to use it for whatever they want; either take a friend down there, or just use the lounge to take a nap or something. Perk bookings open up at the beginning of the week, after any late assignments. "Any other questions? OK, they should be ready for us in the cribs now.” Rebecca leads the women out of the conference room and into the hall. They pause in the Grand Hall on the way to the stairs. “Parliament House is a beautiful place to work. State service reminds us of our responsibility to the citizens, but the building reminds us how glorious our country is and what a privilege it is to lead it. We who work here are fortunate, especially the MPs. State service might seem like an heavy burden at times, but it's a small price to pay. I don't regret a day of it.” They descend a stairway and travel down another hall, and come to an alcove marked Service Rooms; East, where two athletic men in their twenties are standing. “Hello, Ms. Upston.” “Hello, gentlemen,” says Rebecca. “These are two of our instructors. We don't use names for our patrons, so for now we'll just call them Mr. M and Mr. V.” They exchange a round of greetings. Rebecca addresses a woman in a security uniform sitting behind a glass window in the back of the alcove. “Hi, Harper,” says Rebecca. “Harper here is our first line of security. We know you are in a vulnerable position with you don't know, so we take security very seriously at the Service Office, especially here at Parliament House. We show you this side during orientation so you can feel confident in your safety. You've all gone through body scanners to get into Parliament House. Security's even tighter down here. No man can get into the cribs until the guard gives them a key and buzzes them in. Harper, can you check in Mr. M and Mr. V?” Harper checks their IDs and then passes two plastic rings through the window, and the two men each take one. Mr. M puts the ring on a finger, then presses the ring to a badge reader next to a door; Harper presses a button and the door opens. A short hallway is visible, with another door at the other end. Rebecca says, “The door opens only when guard buzzes the doors at the same time the key is used. Every entrance and exit to the cribs is protected by a set of double doors, which can't open at the same time, so nobody can sneak through.” Mr. M leads the others through the hallway, and they find themselves in a room with a bench, a row of lockers, and a stack of what look like towels on a shelf above a hamper. There are doors marked To Exit and Washroom/Showers, and a hallway marked To Service Rooms. Rebecca says “There are twenty cribs in Parliament House: seven in the south wing, ten in the west wing, and this the smallest set, with just three. Usually all the Parliament House cribs are pretty busy. Backbench MPs usually do service in Parliament House, as do ministers of the major departments like the Foreign Ministry and Defense, since those offices don't have their own cribs. Ministers whose offices are in the North and South Executive Buildings generally use the cribs there. "This is the locker room for the east cribs. Men can't take anything into the cribs with them from the outside, anything at all. No clothes, no jewelry, nothing except their ring key. They have to take off everything and leave it here. Gentlemen, will you demonstrate?” The instructors remove their shoes, pants, and shirts and put them in lockers. Mr. V removes a gold chain from around his neck; Mr. M removes a piercing from his ear, a gold ring from his finger, and a wristwatch. All go in the lockers. Finally, they remove their underwear, and turn around, facing the officeholders totally nude except for the plastic ring keys on their fingers. Rebecca says, “Please, take a good look,” and the two instructors pause as the women examine them.. A few titters escape the women's mouths. Rebecca says, “We always get a few gigglers here at orientation. But you'll have to get used to seeing men like this. We'll talk more about that later. First, let's finish seeing security. Meanwhile, Mr. M takes one of the cloths that look like towels. "These wraps are all patrons are allowed to wear,” he says. “It's not much, but having something makes most of us more comfortable while we wait.” He puts it around his lower torso and presses it closed. “There's no pockets or anything, so you can see why the keys are made like rings; we don't have to worry about losing them. We need the ring to open our locker and get our clothes after service.” Mr. V also takes a wrap and puts it on. They continue on into the hallway marked To Waiting Room. In the hallway is another security checkpoint with a fullbody scanner, with entry and exit doors; a male security officer stands behind a glass wall. Rebecca says, “We're always extra careful. We know you're in the public eye and we don't want anything to happen to any of you. So we have another checkpoint here. Lucas here does a visual inspection, and then the scanner verifies that the man has left absolutely everything in the locker room.” The scanner door opens, Mr. M steps inside, and the door closes behind him. Lucas says, “Please remove your wrap, sir.” Mr. M does, and the guard makes a point of examining him thoroughly. “You may put it back now, sir,” says Lucas. Mr. M does so, and then Lucas operates the scanner, which is silent. “Thank you, sir,” says Lucas, and the rear scanner door opens. Mr. M goes through the door, and it closes behind him. Lucas goes through the same procedure with Mr. V. Rebecca says, “Only patrons are allowed in the waiting room, so we will be heading out now.” Bella says, “Is there something special in the waiting room that we can't see?” “Yes, actually. Official portraits. At one point, it was decided that the old practice of displaying portraits of past and present ministers and officers of Parliament was one of the honors women would renounce. Instead, it was decided that official portraits would be made in the act of giving service, and they would be displayed in the waiting rooms to help patrons get in the proper mood.” Lucy is alarmed. “But they said service was private, that nobody got to see us.” “Well, nobody gets to see except the patrons. This is why you're not allowed in there. The waiting room is highly restricted. Nobody is ever allowed in except men waiting for service. Even I've never seen any of the official portraits except my own.” Sophie says, “I'd like to know about that.” Rebecca laughs. “Maybe later. Anyway, don't worry, only ministers and a few others are required to have their portraits posted, and in any case only the men actually waiting for service can see them. We can have no expectation of privacy from our patrons. And the portraits do an important job, of helping patrons get themselves ready for what is about to happen. It's just another kind of service.” “Anyway, when the woman in the crib signals that she's ready to begin, there will be an announcement in the waiting room. The man then uses his key to access the hallway that leads to the crib, and then the crib itself. The main security office has a door to the hall, to come if you call, and the hall is also used by housekeeping staff who wipe up and change the linens after every appointment. "For now, our instructors will stay in the waiting room while we go around to the women's entrance.” Rebecca leads the women out through the locker room and a series of hallways with doors back to the service room entrance alcove. She counts the women, and says “Harper, we're all clear.” Rebeca leads the women back to the stairwell. “We actually have to go up and over to get to the women's entrances. We don't want any mistakes.” Lucy asks, “Are all cribs this secure?” “Well, mostly. No matter what, we always have separate men's and women's entrances, and there's always a guard on the men's side who makes sure patrons can't bring anything inside, monitors who enters the cribs, and who is there to help if called. But all security is stronger for our national leaders. The truth is that we've never had a problem where somebody who wasn't supposed to be in a crib tried to get in to hurt someone, not even here in the capital.” Rebecca leads them up the stairs, back through a set of hallways, and down another stairway. At the bottom, a woman in a security uniform sits at a counter, behind another glass window with a locked door. Rebecca says, “Matilda here will check your IDs and buzz you in.” Matilda checks each ID before allowing the group through another set of double doors into another hallway, this one with doors labeled E1 through E3. Rebecca says, “We're going to do most of the rest of orientation in E1, but that's an extra-large crib we use for orientations and other special occasions. Before we go there, I want to show you E2, which is a regular crib. The first room is your lounge, where you can freshen up. There's a small washroom with a toilet and shower, and an area where you can rest and change clothes. Then after that is the crib itself, which has a bed, a chair, and a stool. I'll explain that in a bit, but go on into E2 and see what it's like.” Rebecca opens the door with her badge. Each goes into E2 and looks around. The lounge has an area rug covering most of the floor, a daybed and a small clothes closet with a mirror on the door. The washroom is small but well stocked with toiletries. Next to the door to the crib is wall decoration reading “Happiness / Gratitude / Humility” and a small whiteboard marked “Today's code: 2701”. Inside the crib is a full-size bed, made up with just a fitted sheet. It's pressed up against the wall on one side, and on the other side there's a low chest of drawers. Across from it there's also a chair with a seat raised off the ground, and a very low stool in front of it. This room has a rug on the floor also. On the far wall is a door marked Men's Exit. Next to the door back to the lounge there are some pushbuttons and a keypad. After each has a look, Rebecca reaches into the E2 lounge, presses a button on the wall marked Finished, and exits the room, closing the E2 door behind her. Then she shows the officeholders into E1. The lounge here is similar, but much larger, with two couches and a large closet, and mirrors lining the walls; the washroom has a toilet and shower but also a whirlpool bath. It has the same decoration and whiteboard next to the crib door. Rebecca says, “This is the biggest crib we have, which is why we use it for orientation: there's no way this many women could fit in E2. At the same time, E2 is much more like the cribs you'll be using. This room is booked up quickly. "Now is when you will be first introduced to what State Service is really like. The first step is to change your clothes. You should remove everything: clothes, jewelry, hair bands, whatever you have on, and put on a service robe. Let me know if your robe is too long; it shouldn't go down to your knees.” She opens the closet and hands each woman a garment bag and a thigh-length, very sheer robe. Eva looks at the robe and asks, “What's the point of wearing this thing? There's not even any lace. They can see everything anyway, we might as well just be naked.” Rebecca says, “Yes, Eva, it doesn't hide anything, but that's not the point of wearing this. We provide service not only in what we do but in how we look, and not only in how we look to the men but how we look to ourselves. Nudity isn't necessarily sexy; it can be pretty ordinary. We're all nude when we take baths, or change our clothes. These robes are a reminder, partially to the men but mostly to ourselves, that we are here in their service. In here, we reveal ourselves in every way, even If we wear a robe, even if we do what usually conceals. So we're more nude than nude in these. And before you ask, yes I'll be wearing one too. Out there, I'm a Parliamentary Commissioner; when I come in here, I'm a woman providing service, like any of you. Counselors and managers in the Service Office are the only women other than elected officials who have a citizen service obligation. "So, please place your clothes in the garment bags; we'll put them in the closet.” Each of the women begins to remove her clothes and place them in the garment bag. As they do, Rebecca says, “Don't be shy about looking at each other. Servitrixes need to get used to being looked at.” Each woman puts on her very thin and sheer robe, and hangs the bag in the closet. “Sophie, your robe is a little long; can you exchange with Bella? You don't want it to get caught on your knees.” They exchange robes. Rebecca says, “We're going to do an exercise to help get in the proper mindset. This room is just large enough for you all to stand in a circle, facing each other. Please do that, and hold hands.” The twelve women stand in a circle, arms spread so they can hold hands, wearing nothing but the sheer robes, bodies completely visible; Rebecca wears the same but stands outside the circle. “OK, now I want you to close your eyes,” says Rebecca. “OK? Good. I want you to think about the path you took to get here. You were victorious in your election campaign. You won! And now you can begin the great work you set out to do when you decided to run. Be happy in your victory, and in the opportunity you have to do good. But remember the many other people who worked to get you here, who gave you their time, money, and resources, and who cheered you up when thinks looked bad and were there to celebrate with you at the end. Remember also the many people who raised you from a child and taught you what you needed to know. Be grateful to them. Also, remember that the reason you are here is because the voters chose you to be here. For all you did to get here, it was they, not you, who made the decision. And they have put their faith in you, entrusted you with power over their lives, with the responsibility to represent them to the greater commonwealth. Be humble when facing the great challenges before you and when thinking of the great trust placed in you. "Before opening your eyes, concentrate on feeling happy, grateful, and humble. "Now open your eyes. Look at the other women in the circle. Those are the other women who won their elections, who succeeded, just like you. They are happy: smile at them and see them smile back at you. And they are also grateful to those who supported them and humble before the great work in front of them. That is what women who are entrusted with leadership look like. And you are one of them. "These women are in this room, revealing themselves, baring all, more nude than nude. Look closely at them – at their heads, faces, necks, arms, breasts, nipples, bellies, hips, mounds, pussies, thighs, legs, feet. These women show all of themselves, and will hold nothing of themselves back, because that will keep faith with the people who supported and chose them. And you are one of them. "Each woman you're looking at will use her body to serve men by offering herself for their pleasure. And all are happy to do it. Smile again, and see them smile again in return. They are happy for the opportunity to prove their loyalty, grateful to the men they serve for that opportunity, and humble before the men who symbolize all those who have trusted them with leadership. And you are one of them.” Rebecca steps into the center of the circle. “For just a moment, I want you to look directly at me. You can see I'm not a young woman. Even though I take pretty good care of myself, still, my breasts sag and my belly droops. But I also am humble, and grateful, and happy to keep faith with those who entrusted me with my duties. And so I serve men. And I promise you, when I go in to give service, men aren't focused on any imperfections in my body. What men see is a woman who is prepared to give completely of herself to them, to serve them, for their pleasure. "Now I want you to let go of each other's hands, and turn to face one of the mirrors with your hands at your sides Take a good look at yourself. Some of you may be hard on yourselves, thinking you don't look as good as the others. Others of you may take pride in your appearance. But your appearance really is not important. What matters is your ability to open yourself, reveal yourself, humbly give of yourself to service. "Think about what you are when you're here. Outside this room you may be a professional, a scholar, a leader, a powerful person ready to govern the country. But in here, when you reveal yourself, uncover yourself, you're a woman, humbly serving a man by using your body to give him the pleasure he desires, in order to keep faith with your people. Remember that. Take a good look at the woman who will be serving that man. You won't ever know who the men are who come to you for pleasure, who will find fulfillment in your body: your mouth, your breasts, your ass, your pussy… It doesn't matter. He's a man, and you're a woman, and you're here to serve him, whoever he is. You are humble to have been chosen by those who sent you here, and you are grateful to have the opportunity to show that their trust is justified, and happy to be able to do that by serving that man, giving all of yourself to give him pleasure. Look at that humble, grateful, happy woman.” After a few more seconds of staring, Rebecca says “Thank you. In a minute we'll go into the crib. See the code by the door? You'll need to remember it. You type that code on the keypad inside the crib to open the door to come back here again. If you type anything else security comes.” “Ok, follow me into the crib.” To be continued in part 3, the crib, by oolonroosevelt for Literotica

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium

With Stewart Howden and Guests Mike Jones of Antique Auto Club and Dave Hutchison also of AAC plus Ragtops & Roadsters restoration.

Andrew Armstrong is a pianist who has performed for audiences all over the world, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London's Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. He has performed with conductors including as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in solo recitals and in chamber music concerts with a bunch of Quartets and as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Boston Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

In s3e40, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Luther Davis, master printer and director of Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn. This is a two-parter. For this interview, Platemark collaborated with its sister podcast Hello, Print Friend. Miranda Metcalf, Hello, Print Friend's host and creator interviewed Luther about his background and early career; Ann Shafer spoke with Luther about the present and future at Powerhouse Arts, a new non-profit arts center in a renovated transit power station on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Both Hello, Print Friend and Platemark's episodes will be available on both podcast channels. Luther has been in the biz for a long time and has great stories about the printing industry in Brooklyn. We talk about industrial printing and ask what the differences are between "art" and everything else. We talk about how important accessible shops are for artists to fabricate large projects (in addition to a print shop, Powerhouse has a ceramics studio, and a large sculpture fabrication shop). We talk about the state of print publishing today.   Luther has brought his prodigious experience to bear at Powerhouse Arts, a fairly new player in the field. He is taking the reigns of the Print Shop and running with it. Episode image: Dana Zinsser. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Pulled in Brooklyn, exhibition curated by Roberta Waddell and Samantha Rippner. IPCNY, April 4–June 15, 2019. Industrial map of New York City showing manufacturing industries. New York Public Library. Printing industries are marked in orange. Grand Hall, Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Inaugural artist-in-residence Ivan Forde working at Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Jasper Johns (American, born 1930). Leo from The Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio, 1997. Color etching. Plate: 17 11/16 × 11 13/16 in. (45 × 30 cm.); sheet: 36 13/16 × 27 in. (93.5 × 68.6 cm.). Published by Jean-Christoph Castelli; printed by Noblet Serigraphie. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Ed Ruscha (American, born 1937). News from the portfolio News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues, 1970. Screenprint. Image: 18 1/16 x 27 1/16 in. (45.8 x 68.8 cm.); sheet: 23 1/16 x 31 7/8 in. (58.6 x 81 cm.). Published by Editions Alecto; printed by Alecto Studios. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Peacock Visual Arts' Risograph color chart. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Printer Zaire Anderson coating screens for Avram Finkelstein's Who Died. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. With backs turned, left: Chris Kinsler; right: Dennis Hrehowsik. Facing camera, left: Zaire Anderson; right: Dana Zinsser. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Nellie Davis and Kyle Goen working on his giant rainbow roll at Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Printer John Bartolo working on a screenprint by Aziz and Cucher at Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Powerhouse Arts Print Shop, Brooklyn. Donald Baechler installation shot. Galerie Forsblom, 2014. Kara Walker (American, born 1969). The Emancipation Approximation, 1999–2000. Portfolio of 26 screenprints. Sheet (each): 45 3/4 x 45 3/4 in (116.2 x 116.2 cm.). Published by Sikkema Jenkins Editions; printed by Jean Yves Noblet. Phillips Auctions, New York. Fourth Estate www.fourthestate.com Alex Dodge (American, born 1977). Unread Messages, 2017. Screenprint. 20 x 30 in. Haystack Editions.   USEFUL LINKS Poster House www.posterhouse.org Jungle Press Editions www.junglepress.com Avant Arte www.avantearte.com Radix Media & Graphics NY Printing & Graphics www.nyprintinggraphics.com Du-Good Press www.du-goodpress.com Carousel's Press www.carouselpress.com Kayrock Screenprinting www.shop.kayrock.org Bushwick Print Lab www.bushwickprintlab.org Ulano Corp. www.ulano.com KIWO Inc. www.kiwo.com Guerra Paint & Pigment www.guerrapaint.com Labor statistics on fine artists from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes271013.htm#nat  

This week, Brooke Husic and Sid Sivakumar visit the studio to drop the big news of the week — the Lollapuzzoola constructor lineup! Ryan's also got a new favorite sandwich, plus at least one viewer doesn't have rabies. If you haven't clicked Lollapuzzoola yet, you should do that. If you get bored (how could you?!), write something for the Fill Me In wiki. And if you're feeling philanthropic, donate to our Patreon. Do you enjoy our show? Actually, it doesn't matter! Please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This will help new listeners find our show, and you'll be inducted into the Quintuple Decker Turkey Club. Drop us a note or a Tweet or a postcard or a phone call — we'd love to hear from you. Helpful links: Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fill-me-in/id1364379980 Google Play link: https://player.fm/series/fill-me-in-2151002 Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/item_name/dp/B08JJRM927 RSS feed: http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/rss Contact us: Email (fmi@bemoresmarter.com) / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Google Voice (315-510-9892) We're putting these words here to help with search engine optimization. We don't think it will work, but you probably haven't read this far, so it doesn't matter: baseball, crossword, crosswords, etymology, game, hunt, kealoa, movies, musicals, mystery, oscar, pizza, puzzle, puzzles, sandwiches, soup, trivia, words

On this episode of Ruff Talk VR our hosts review Cosmonious High! The much requested conclusion of our Owlchemy Labs trifecta, this game takes everything Owlchemy learned and made in their first two games - Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator - and pump them up to the max. A brand new universe than their first games, this game has you play as Prismi a new student at Cosmonious High who has crash landed into the school malfunctioning on your first day.  Explore Cosmonious High, meet the students, earn credits, and bring the school back to normal in this game that shows the full potential of VR intractability. Listen for our full thoughts and rating!*We received free game keys for this review however we did not receive any other compensation*Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe!Discord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSThis podcast was sponsored by Kiwi Design - the premier company for Oculus Quest accessories. Visit our affiliate link below to shop for your VR accessories including knuckle straps, lens protectors, head straps, link cables, and more while also supporting the podcast!Affiliate Link: https://www.kiwidesign.com/?ref=RuffTalkVRGet 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code RUFFTALKVR at MANSCAPED.com!Cosmonious High Store Link: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/4554248281328321/Store Description:From the creators of award winning titles 'Job Simulator' and 'Vacation Simulator', comes a new original creation—the comically catastrophic Cosmonious High!Welcome to your alien high school that's definitely completely free of malfunctions! After crash-landing into your first day, you'll unlock powers, explore the halls, and save the school from cosmic chaos.New update: adds Blind and Low Vision Accessibility features that allow players to receive game information through audio descriptions using Text To Speech (TTS). Vision Assistance Mode allows high contrast and object-highlighting outlines for players with low vision.Living Characters - High five, fist bump, and converse with a quirky cast. Experience the latest in VR interactions with dynamic characters that respond to natural gestures.Powerful World - The entire school is a big interactive playground for your alien powers. Extinguish fires, resize anything, and create crystal sculptures!Unprecedented Exploration - Explore the biggest space Owlchemy Labs has ever built! Hang with your friends in the Grand Hall, perform experiments in Chemosophy, and get creative in Visualetics.Gorgeous Visuals - Enjoy the vibrant, colorful world of Cosmonious High in an art style that's fun, unique, and playful!*We are paid a commission through affiliate links to help support the podcast on the Kiwi link abovePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvr Support the show

The most popular sorority, GGK; hazes Alexis. - listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories Alexis had always been popular, it came with the territory of being good looking. In high school, being a girl, being hot, was like an automatic “in” with the popular crowd. It made life really really easy. Nobody gave you shit, nobody cared what you did or how you dressed (to an extent) because everyone wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She had always been an automatic entry into that club growing up. She had often been a part of the group that decided what challenge other girls had to go through in order to join the popular group, if they weren't hot enough to be automatically in. Some of the things they made people do made Alexis glad she never had to go through it. [[MORE]] However college was a different deal entirely. Alexis foolishly thought that she could just join whatever sorority that she wanted. A flick of her shimmering long brown hair, a little shake of her narrow waist, and boom she would be hot enough to join whatever club she wanted. But this was college and things were different here. Everything was about being fair, and frankly the other girls were just as good looking if not even better looking than her. So she wasn't about to get out of her hazing. She supposed that she could always go to another sorority and try to join them, maybe there hazing trial wouldn't be as embarrassing. But Gamma Gamma Kappa was known as the hottest Sorority on campus, by a wide margin. Having seen the girls already in place, Alexis knew that this was the place to be to get invited to the best parties with the hottest guys. So if she wanted in she was stuck with this challenge. She twirled her iPhone in her fingers, the circular mount on the back of her pink case kept it from falling, the text message from Niece the Sorority leader staring back at her on the screen. Alexis' mission was to get a picture for Jake Farrow. Jake was absolutely the last person Alexis ever would have spoken too growing up. Perhaps that's why Niece selected him personally for her little mission. Jake was the head of the campus Dungeons and Dragons club. Nerd to the ultimate degree. Alexis sat not far from Jake now, observing him as she contemplated what she was to do. He didn't look that nerdy to be fair, or even that bad. His hair was long for a guys, combed back, his glasses weren't extremely thick or made of dorky plastic. From what she could tell he was just an average guy, nothing special one way or the other, his only downside was his choice of hobbies. Again Alexis thought about her goal. She was to seduce this guy, and take a picture of her holding his…special member. She didn't have to go through with anything beyond that, but part of her felt really bad about it. She would have to lie and charm her way into his pants and then leave him hanging after she got the picture she needed. It made her wonder whether this was a haze for her or for him. She debated about it for a long time, should she go through with this, should she not? Finally, she stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket to walk across the quad toward him. Fuck it, she figured, one embarrassing and awkward moment and then it would be over. She'd be in GGK and could spend the next four years forgetting it ever happened. Jake was leaning over a drawing pad as she approached, coming up from behind him so she could see over his shoulder as to what he was drawing. Turned out he could really draw, the picture on the paper was really detailed for just a pencil drawing. It appeared to be some knight of warrior in shining armor with a sword in on hand and a shield in the other which was raised to deflect or block some sort of attack that hadn't been drawn yet. Alexis was impressed and that gave her a conversation starter to talk to him. “Wow,” she said moving around to the other side of the table so she could stand in front of him. “That looks really cool.” Jake jerked as if she had shocked him. So into his drawing that he didn't expect someone to talk to him out of the blue. His hand jerked away quickly from the paper so he didn't mess something up. He glanced up at Alexis and blinked, clearly not expecting someone like her to start a conversation with him. He turned a little red and nodded, “Uh, thanks. I'm drawing it for somebody.” He told her. She gave an impressed look to him, “Not even doing that kind of work for a class. That's pretty cool, do you draw all the time then?” She asked. He shrugged, “Not all the time, but enough to keep improving I guess.” He glanced up at her, and Alexis saw his eyes take her body in quickly though she didn't show him that she noticed. He wasn't very good at hiding his gaze, but that was fine by her she found herself glad that he enjoyed what he was looking at. “I'm Alexis by the way.” She smiled, holding her hand out to him. Jake took her hand softly and nodded, “I'm Jake.” He said slowly. “So I have a confession to make.” She said, sitting down across from him. “I didn't come here to just tell you your drawing was cool.” Jake sat back from her and gave her a weary look, as if afraid she was about to do something to him. “Okay?” She shook her head, “Don't worry it's nothing bad. It's just that I am trying to get into the drama club, but I was told that my character acting sucked.” She lied. “So I did a little googling and I came across table-top roleplaying.” Which wasn't a lie, she had googled a bit about Dungeons and Dragons in order to help herself gain Jake's trust easier. The quickest way into a nerd's pants was through his hobbies. Unlike a jock, who's quickest way into their pants was to simply ask. She brought up the Dungeons and Dragons club page on her phone and showed it to him. “Turns out you run a little roleplaying game club on campus here already and I figured that maybe I could join for a while.” She told him, “You know to play a character work on my improv skills or whatever. Then I can take that back to the drama club and actually get into a play or something.” Jake leaned forward, again his eyes roamed over her body quickly, he was really bad at trying to do it low key. “You, want to play….Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked in disbelief. “Well I'd like to learn at least. Unless you have a better suggest for me to practice Improving a character.” She suggested. Jake shrugged, “I don't. I just, I don't know, I never thought in a million years that someone as…let's just say ‘un-nerdy' as you would ever try to sign up for a game.” Alexis shrugged, “It honestly wouldn't be my first choice either. But I don't exactly have the cash to take an extra acting class off campus, this was the best free option I could find.” She gave him a pout, “Are you saying that I can't play?” Jake shook his head quickly, “No not at all. It's just surprising, that's all.” He nodded and leaned back again, probably considering this unexpected turn of events. “Alright…well do you know how to make a character?” Alexis blinked, “A what?” Jake laughed softly, “You can't play until you make a character. I'm gonna guess you don't know how huh?” Alexis frowned, “No I don't. Is that a problem?” “Not really. I can teach you that on our own. When are you free next?” He asked, glancing at his watch. “I have class in thirty minutes so I can't do it right now. But maybe this evening around five thirty or six?” Alexis nodded, “I can do six. Where?” “The club normally meets in one of the rec rooms over in Grand Hall. Room 3, I can meet you there at six and we can build you a character. It's shouldn't take more than an hour or so.” He explained. “Okay that sounds good.” “Great, oh and if you can you should go get yourself a set of dice. There is a hobby shop like three blocks from campus on Grand Street that can get you what you need.” He told her. “If you can't do it today, no big deal but you'll need them for the actual game.” Alexis promised that she would try and then said goodbye. As she turned around she saw a couple girls from GGK watching her from the other end of the quad. She sighed and made her way over to where they were standing. Jessica was a beautiful latina, with caramel skin and flawless features. She wanted to be a model, but her parents were forcing her to get educated first. Though thanks to Instagram, Jessica was doing both. Emma was as much of a midwest girl as one could possibly be. Blonde, blue eyes, innocent looking with a body men would kill for. Both girls smirked at Alexis as she approached. “How goes the dick hunt Alexis, got a picture of the nerd-dick for us yet?” Jessica asked. Alexis shook her head, “Not yet, I had to sign up for his club in to give myself an excuse to be around him.” The giggled, “Seriously?” Emma asked, “Why didn't you just ask to suck his dick in the bathroom or something?” Jessica nodded, “Yeah why make it more complicated that it needs to be?” Alexis frowned, “I don't know, I just don't think he is the type for that.” “Please, every guy is that type, especially when a girl like you asks.” Emma said dismissively. Again Alexis shook her head, “Somehow I don't think so. A guy like that, probably used to getting bullied and would suspect a prank. I have to warm him up to me before pulling this stunt.” Alexis moaned and hung her head, “Oh God I have to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.” Jessica and Emma just laughed. “Tough shit girl. Get us the pic or find another Sorority.” They said and left. Alexis bit her lip and sighed, no use getting out of it. She was stuck with this, unless she gave up on GGK. No way in hell, Alexis wasn't a quitter and she certainly put other girls in High School through just as much shit as this, worse even. Begrudgingly, Alexis followed Jake's advice and went to the hobby shop he had told her about. It was a small store in the corner of a shopping center called Games, Dice, Action. The interior was much as she expected, walls of comic books, display cases fill with some kind of game game singles, and then there were dice. Little boxes of dice with several different shapes. Alexis looked though the different colors for a while before a chubby man with a thick beard came up to her, “Can I help you?” he asked. Alexis glanced up and then pointed at the dice in the case. “Are those the dice I need to play D&D?” She asked. The man nodded, “They are enough to get you going yeah. One die of each side type used in the game.” He explained. “Great, can I get those pink ones?” Shortly before six Alexis was back on campus with her bag of goodies. The clerk had been nice enough to also print her out several pages that he called “character sheets” so that she would be ready to sit down and immediately start making a character with Jake. Along with a set of pink dice that had three different shades of pink in their color scheme. She actually beat Jake to the rec room and found herself an empty table near the back of the mostly empty room so set up. She laid out her sheets and took out her dice, laying them in a row based on their total number of sides, and a little mechanical pencil. While she waited for Jake to arrive she googled basic D&D character creation rules but was giving a online book with nearly 200 pages and her eyes went wide. Did she have to learn 200 pages of rules? Who the fuck would play a game that required so much work. Wasn't it just supposed to be a bunch of dorks playing pretend around a table? The door to the rec room opened and Jaked walked in, holding a book under his arm. Alexis waved to get his attention and he began walking her way. “Wow,” he said, looking at the laid out paper and dice in front of her. “I gotta say, I didn't think you would go so far.” He told her, sitting across from her. She smiled and leaned toward him, purposefully giving him a glance down her top and get a good look at her cleavage. Alexis was proud of her perky just barely C-cups, and Jake took the chance to take the peek she offered. “Now why is that?” She asked teasingly. It was time to turn on the flurting. First meeting wouldn't have worked, but now that she had him mostly alone, she could start to give it to him and build not only his trust but his libido as well. Jake tore his eyes from her gapping shirt and blushed, “Look hot girls don't just ask to play D&D. It simply doesn't happen. I thought you were setting me up for a prank or something.” He explained. Alexis smiled, “I know you did. That's why I got all this stuff on my own. I want you to see I'm serious about at least giving this a try.” She gestured to her set up. Jake nodded, and set the book on the table. Alexis saw that it was the same book that the internet had proved her and the pit of her stomach dropped. Dread filled her as she began to fear all the rules he was about to dump on her. “Okay let's start by doing this….” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of scratch paper. Then he reached over and grabbed her six sided die. “Roll this four times…” And so began the process of Alexis making her first Dungeons and Dragons character. All her fear about the massive book turned out to be a waste because she ended up not needed more than like ten pages of the book in total. Jake made everything really simple and while she did roll her eyes a couple of times at the dorky terminology she found herself grasping it pretty easily. By the end of the sit down with Jake, Alexis' had her character sheet completely filled out. She had created a sneaky demon-like girl called a Tiefling Rogue and named her Shadow Heartly. Working with Jake turned out to be a lot of fun, and it made Alexis forget how dorky she always thought this would be. He helpped her create a back story for Shadow, together they crafted this back story of a demon born of noble blood who's demonic appearance forced her parents to give her up so she didn't hurt their reputation. Angery at being abandoned, Shadow began to steal mastering the art of pick-pocketing, before being grabbed by the thieves guild. The guild taught her to be unseen, and began using her for missions that asked her to sneak into dangerous locations. She learned to make herself valuable despite her demonic appearance. Alexis felt like she was going crazy, because she actually found herself eager to try playing Shadow in a real game. As they finished and stood up together, Alexis threw her arms around Jake and hugged him, purposefully pressing her chest tightly to his. “Thank you for this, truly.” She told him smiling as she stepped back. “I didn't think for a second it would be as interesting as you made it, but now I'm really glad I actually asked about this. I look forward to playing.” She paused and gave him a look, “When do we play?” Jake smiled, his face a little red after that hug. “I'm glad I was able to shatter your expectations. Let's see I have a new game starting with a group of players on Friday night at seven. So it's actually a perfect game for you to join in and try your hand at it.” Alexis groaned inwardly. Seven on a Friday night? Was he serious? She had a party to go to on Friday night. She didn't want to stay inside to play this game when she could be getting her party on. But she realized that she couldn't go to the party until she brought GGK what they asked for. So she smiled and nodded, “Alright Friday at seven. Where at?” “Oh we play in my dorm. I have a full ride and that came with a full sized dorm room with no roommate. So I have people come over there since it's private and I have the space.” He explained. His place? Alexis grinned, it was too perfect. All she had to do was wait for the game to end and everybody to leave and Jake would be all hers. “Great!” She replied. “I'll see you then I guess.” She started to walk away, “Oh, what dorm number?” Jake smirked, “224.” “Thanks Jake. See you.” She smiled and darted off. First thing in the morning Alexis went to the sorority house and explained the situation. Niece, the sorority leader, a buxom fit girl with long black hair and haunting blue eyes, glared up at Alexis from the love seat. “I don't know what you are going through all of this for. He's a nerd and you are way out of his league, just seduce him and be done with it. Why torture yourself?” Alexis didn't have a good answer really. She explained that Jake was too nerdy for that, and he would assume she was up to something if she just tried to pounce on him right out of the gate. Niece just scoffed and gave Alexis a dismissive wave, “Oh please, look if you went to his dorm tonight wearing nothing but a sexy set of underwear or a robe with nothing underneath, there is no way in hell he turns you away. Unless he's gay, is he gay?” Niece asked questioningly. Alexis shook her head, “I gave him plenty of chances to look down my shirt today, he took them all, so I don't think that's a worry.” Niece smiled and nodded, “Great, then go get your picture. Why play games with him?” Alexis shrugged, she didn't have a good answer. Jake had been a really nice guy, and totally different than the dwebe she had expected him to be. She just couldn't bring herself to be such a bitch to him for no reason. She didn't want to just leave him with his pants down, so to speak. It was then she had a chilling thought. If she was warming him up to her, did that mean she intended to give him actual head or something? Would she go that far just for a simple dick pic? Surely that wasn't what she was prepping for? But if she wasn't then why not just take Niece's advice and go blue ball the poor guy? Alexis couldn't think of a true answer. And that worried her. She shook it off, figuring she was just horny. After all she hadn't gotten any since she and her boyfriend broke up over the summer. He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship, and frankly Alexis couldn't blame him. It had left her with an inch to scratch though. Not that she would consider scratching it with Jake. Hell no. Friday came quickly and Alexis decided to bring a couple of pizza's to Jakes dorm room for the game. It always nice to be a good guest, that's what her folks taught her, and being a good guest meant bringing snacks or drinks for whatever get-together you were going too. So there she stood at his doorstep with two hot pizza's burning into her palm. Still she stared at the door for a while. Was she really going to try this for real? To get Jake alone so she could take a picture of his ramrod? It shouldn't mean this much right? Why was she scared, the worse that could happen was she upset him and no big deal. Then again, why did she make sure to put a condom in her handbag. That probably worried her more than anything else. Finally she knocked, Jake opened the door quickly. He smiled as he saw her and the pizzas, “Hey you made it. And with pizza! Wow you are officially my new favorite.” He reached out and took the boxes from her before stepping aside to let her in. “See guys this is how you impress your DM.” He said showing off the boxes. “You mean the food or the girl?” A male voice asked inside. Jake snapped at him, “Hey you better not start. I warned you, I want Alexis to feel welcome here.” There was a fairly small circular table with four people around it. Three of them were guys that very much embodied the typical guys that Alexis always pictured playing this game. Very overweight, thick glasses, beards that seemed to encompass their heads, they were total stereotypes. Alexis felt her stomach pitch with regret coming to this whole event. The other player at the table was a girl. But much like the boys she was far from what anyone would call attractive, overweight though not nearly to the degree the boys were, no sign of make-up, limp lifeless dirty blonde hair. She smiled at Alexis and waved her over, “Welcome Alexis, Jake told us you were maybe coming, glad you could make it.” Alexis smiled, “Thanks.” “Don't be nervous, it'll be a fun night. Jake is a great storyteller. I'm Nicole.” Nicole explained, taking Alexis' apprehension as nerves. But in truth it was Alexis fighting herself to come to terms with playing this nerd game all so she could seduce Jake enough to get a picture of his schlong so that she could then take it to GGK and be allowed full membership and regain her proper status as a “popular” girl. Holy fuck was she a shallow bitch or what? The next four hours turned into one of the best nights of fun Alexis ever had. Nicole had been right, Jake was an excellent storyteller, he told a story that made her feel like she and her character where actually in this fantasy world. Shadow and the other characters around the table found themselves stuck on a sinking ship. They rolled dice as they frantically tried to find some way to fix the boat, failing that they then tried to find pieces of the boat they could use to fashion a life raft of some kind. It was through sheer luck of the rolls that the party found themselves on an uncharted island, digging through a costal cave. Deep within they found a cavern of treasure, but guarding the treasure was a Manticore a flying lion beast with a human-like face. The party battled the creature, and Alexis managed to roll well which allowed her to get the finishing blow on the creature. All of it was exciting, and surprisingly engrossing which Alexis had never expected. As her character Shadow stood over the corpse of the beast, Jake stood up at the end of the table and said, “As Shadow pulls her dagger free from the Manticore's back, in collapses under her leaving her panting in victory over the beast.” He smiled at Alexis and she would be lying if she didn't get the tingle in her belly with arousal from his look. If ever she thought a nerd could be sexy it was in that moment. “And that is where we are ending this week.” Jake said, and Alexis clapped. She leaned back and ran her fingers through her hair. “Wow that was totally different than what I expected. Way more fun too.” Jake smiled, “I'm glad you enjoyed it. You did good as Shadow too, got into character pretty well for a first timer.” He told her. “Anyway thanks for coming guys, we'll see you all next week I hope.” The group packed up and Alexis spoke to them breifly thanking them for letting her join the group and playing with them tonight, Nicole was encouraging and told Alexis that she hoped to see her next week for the game again. As the group packed up Jake began to gather up the paper plates and napkins, the remains of the pizza's they all had crushed. Alexis got up and began to help him with the clean-up. She threw the trash into the bin, helped wipe the table up and put the cups that they had used for drinks into Jake's little mini dish washer. Once the rest of the group had left Jake moved next to her and helped rinse things out. “Well tell me what you thought. Was it as unbelievably nerdy as you thought it would be?” He asked her. She recalled the way he swung his arms as he described out they eached attacked the manticore, and how he had done voices of the many characters they had met along the way. She smiled at him, “Probably the nerdiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Unbelievably dorky.” She told him. Alexis turned to him and looked down at her hands, the nerves boiling inside of her again. “But,” she said softly before turning her gaze back up to his. “I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have an incredibly huge amount of fun either. If this is what it is like, sign me up.” She told him. Jake nodded with a smirk, “I'm really happy to hear that. Not many girls like you would give this game even the slightest chance. You were great.” Alexis blushed and leaned in to kiss him. Jake's lips were soft against hers, but a little stiff as he didn't expect her to kiss him. For a second she feared that he might be taken and she was making him cheat, but after a moment of shock Jake's hands found her hips softly and he began to kiss her back. She pressed her tongue out, tasting his lips. She felt her body react to being against his, and couldn't believe she was actually attracted to him. Jake broke the kiss lightly, taking a deep breath. “Wow that's umm…unexpected.” He chuckled. “I never thought my first kiss would be from being a good D&D player.” Alexis felt her heart burn for him. His first kiss? The poor guy hadn't ever been kissed before? He was over twenty, even as a nerd she didn't understand how that was possible. She gave him a pout, “First kiss? You've never made out with anyone before?” She asked sadly. Jake blushed and looked down before shaking his head, “No never really that popular with the ladies.” “Oh that's no good. We have to fix that.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him from the little kitchen towards his bed on the otherside of the room. She smirked at him and shoved him back onto the bed, she leapt on after him, stratling his hips. She smiled and lowered herself down upon him, kissing him deeply. Her tongue pushed into his mouth to tease and play with him, her lips part as she invited him to do the same to hers. His lips wer soft and wonderful to kiss, she felt like she could really enjoy doing this with him. Jake reached up to cup her face, she could feel his hands trembling as he touched her. Alexis broke the kiss and smiled down at him, “You nervous?” She asked. Jake let out a shaky breath, “Yeah, I just….wow this is incredible.” She smiled at him and rose herself on top of him, taking his hands in hers she gave him a wink. “You don't have to be nervous. It's okay.” She told her and pulled his hands to her breasts. Jake gasped as she held his palms against her chest, letting him feel the way her soft yet firm mounds dug back into his hands. “How's that?” She asked teasingly. “Incredible.” He whispered. She couldn't help but giggle, shifting herself on top of him. It was then that she felt it. Her eyes went wide, it wasn't possible, surely he had something in his pocket or something. The make out had made this poor virgin grow hard under her, she could feel his hardness pressing against her as she let her weight settle on him. But what pressed against her couldn't be possible, she wiggled on top of him gently trying to see if it was something else, but no, there was no mistaking it. The massive pressure under her was all him. Holy fuck. Jake was biting his lip and looking up at her expectantly, waiting to see what she would do next. Alexis smiled and leaning forward to kiss him again. After a moment she broke the kiss and whispered into his lips. “If you've never been kissed before, that means…you've never had a girl suck your dick then right?” She asked him playfully. He swallowed and shook his head. Alexis smiled and rose up, “Good, then this should be fun.” She shifted off of him, moving to his side. As she did so she took her phone out of her back pocket and set it on the mattress. Looking down at his crotch she could see the bulging area in his pants and her eyes couldn't believe it was real. There was a fucking monster in there. She smiled at him as she reached out to run her palm over his girth. He let out a loud breath as she did so and it brought a moan from her own lips. “Oh you poor thing, you are so big yet so trapped. This must be awful for you.” She told him. As Alexis reached for the button of his pants, Jake's hand were suddenly there to stop her. “Alexis wait.” He breathed, his desire was potent to the point where she could almost taste it on him. Slowly he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at her. “Isn't this a little fast? I mean, I just met you the other day.” She blinked in disbelief. Was she hearing this right? Was he actually stopping her from going down on him? Never in the history of ever had she ever been stopped after getting to this point before. She knew he was excited for her, she could see the evidence of that. “What?” She asked softly. Jake frowned and sighed, “I don't know. I just never had anyone even consider this with me. I was the guy who couldn't get a date let alone…” He gestured to her hovering over his crotch, “this.” Alexis couldn't believe it. He was trying to talk her out of blowing him. He was actually considering her and her feelings. Or maybe he sensed that she had other reasons for what she was about to do, no that couldn't be right. He was just a good guy, a nerd to be sure, but a good guy and not bad looking. Smiling she crawled over to his face and gave him a gentle slap. Looking into his eyes she said, “Jake, when you give girls a good time, they like to return the favor. I had a blast tonight, and I wanted to kiss you.” She kissed him softly to accent her point. “When you told me it was your first I felt bad. So I want to do this for you, I wanna show you some fun like you've never felt before. Kinda like what you did tonight for me already.” She sat up beside him and let her hands move back to his jeans. “Besides it doesn't have to mean anything. It's just a little head, people hook up all the time for…I believe the term in D&D would be a ‘one shot'.” She gave him a knowing smile, as her fingers pulled open the fly of his pants. She snapped her fingers and pointed, “Alright tug these off.” Jake hesitated for a moment, looking at her as if still trying to decide if it was a good idea or not. Then he shifted and lifted his hips to tug his pants down, with a couple of kicks they went flying off somewhere on the floor. Alexis loomed over him and looked down at the massive lump in his briefs. “Alright now let's see the goods.” She teased, slipping her fingers into the pee-hole of the briefs and wrapping her fingers around…..Jesus what the fuck was this? A full Salami? Christ even as she wrapped her fist around him she could barely get her fingers to touch. She looked at him with wide eyes as she tugged him through the pee-hole and revealed the beast within. Alexis took a deep breath. “What the fuck dude?” Jake jerked and looked at her, “What?” “You're fucking gigantic, fuck dude look at this thing!” She cried, as her hand slowly caressed the length of him. She lowered herself and lifted his hardness before her face. It was bigger than her fucking head. “You're bigger than my fucking head man!” She gasped, her free hand reaching slowly behind her to grab the phone she had taken out. She rose up and unlocked her phone, “Hold the fuck on I have to see something here.” She handed him her phone with the camera on. “Take my picture, I'm gonna see if your dick will hide my entire face.” She dropped down and lifted him in front of her face again. Jake grimaced, “I dunno if I want to take a picture of my dick though.” “Oh come on dude, my face will be there too. I'll make sure to send it to you so you can jerk to it later.” She promised with a smile. “Please?” She then licked him, running her tongue along his entire length from base to tip. He had to be at least nine inches long, and thick as a brick. Fucking him must be like fucking an arm, she thought to herself. Her tongue upon him did the trick though as his shaft jumped with the pleasure and he grunted. Jake shook his head and aimed the phone again, snapping the picture before setting the phone down. “There.” He said panting. Alexis smiled and kissed the tip of his throbbing mushroom. “Beautiful.” She told him. “Now as I promised.” She opened her mouth and gently sucked his tip into her mouth. Jake moaned with it, his shaft pulsed warmly on her tongue. She felt her body react to it as well, after seeing his size she wanted him, she wanted to try him. But that was perhaps going too far, especially since she didn't think her condom would be of any use on this monster. So Alexis took more into her mouth, working him gently with her tongue. She kept it slow so that he wouldn't lose himself too quickly, she wanted him to enjoy this. Hell SHE wanted to enjoy this. Gone were the thoughts of shame of doing this just to be hazed, gone were the questions of her morality or ethics in doing something like this. Sure she had gotten her picture, but now she didn't have to feel bad about leaving him with blue balls because she wanted to suck him off. His size was a challenge that she wanted to tackle. Even just a few inches into her mouth and her jaw was already open wide. She couldn't take him like this, no fucking way, there was too much of him. Instead Alexis made good with what she could take, using her tongue to tease the underside of him, pulling him back to her lips so she could suckle his tip and then repeating. Jake would swell in her mouth and she would stop, instead rubbing her palm over the spit covered tip of him and using her saliva as lube to stroke him. Her gaze would go to his, enjoying the look on his face. “What do you think?” She teased. Jake struggling to catch his breath. “It's incredible.” He panted softly. “I don't know how much I can take, I'm sorry Alexis.” He warned her. Nobody that she could recall had ever warned her, they just came whenever they felt like it. She had gotten good at being able to read the signs of when her partner was about to finish, the panting, the change in movements, even the swelling of their size. Jake however was too thick for her to totally tell, she thought every throb was going to be the eruption but it wasn't. She smirked, “It's okay, I didn't expect you to have pornstar stamina baby. Don't worry I'll drink you all up.” Then her lips wrapped around him again. Her words and the return of her mouth around him must have been too much, because not a second after she had his smooth fluffy tip in her mouth did she feel his massive tool jerk almost out of her grip. Then a rush of his stuff flooded into her mouth. Alexis squealed in surprise, tightening her grip with her hands around his base, holding him as he continued to powerfully jerk in her hand. Waves of his juice pulsed into her mouth, her throat worked overtime just to keep up with all he gave her. Her eyes went wide as he passed the point where a normal guy would have been done. But Jake gave her more, and then a little more. Finally with a grunt, Jake slumped back onto the bed breathing heavily. Alexis sucked the last little bit from his tip and lifted her head taking a deep breath. “Whew!” She gasped, licking her lips a giving herself a few extra swallows to clear her throat. “Jesus not only is your dick huge but so is your load.” She exclaimed. Jake blushed, “Sorry?” She giggled, “No need to be sorry, that's intense is all. I really really want to fuck you, I just want you to know that.” She told him. Jake sat up, “What really?” Alexis frowned, “Yeah, but I can't.” Jake gave a deflated look, but Alexis grabbed his chin, “No I want to really. But I don't have a condom that will fit you Jake. I didn't expect you to have the fucking Titanic in your pants.” She explained. “So maybe we can set up a raincheck. Find some rubbers that'll fit, and then we can see if my tight little lady can handle your beast.” She smiled wide and kissed his forehead. by musicankane for Literotica

The most popular sorority, GGK; hazes Alexis. - listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories Alexis had always been popular, it came with the territory of being good looking. In high school, being a girl, being hot, was like an automatic “in” with the popular crowd. It made life really really easy. Nobody gave you shit, nobody cared what you did or how you dressed (to an extent) because everyone wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She had always been an automatic entry into that club growing up. She had often been a part of the group that decided what challenge other girls had to go through in order to join the popular group, if they weren't hot enough to be automatically in. Some of the things they made people do made Alexis glad she never had to go through it. [[MORE]] However college was a different deal entirely. Alexis foolishly thought that she could just join whatever sorority that she wanted. A flick of her shimmering long brown hair, a little shake of her narrow waist, and boom she would be hot enough to join whatever club she wanted. But this was college and things were different here. Everything was about being fair, and frankly the other girls were just as good looking if not even better looking than her. So she wasn't about to get out of her hazing. She supposed that she could always go to another sorority and try to join them, maybe there hazing trial wouldn't be as embarrassing. But Gamma Gamma Kappa was known as the hottest Sorority on campus, by a wide margin. Having seen the girls already in place, Alexis knew that this was the place to be to get invited to the best parties with the hottest guys. So if she wanted in she was stuck with this challenge. She twirled her iPhone in her fingers, the circular mount on the back of her pink case kept it from falling, the text message from Niece the Sorority leader staring back at her on the screen. Alexis' mission was to get a picture for Jake Farrow. Jake was absolutely the last person Alexis ever would have spoken too growing up. Perhaps that's why Niece selected him personally for her little mission. Jake was the head of the campus Dungeons and Dragons club. Nerd to the ultimate degree. Alexis sat not far from Jake now, observing him as she contemplated what she was to do. He didn't look that nerdy to be fair, or even that bad. His hair was long for a guys, combed back, his glasses weren't extremely thick or made of dorky plastic. From what she could tell he was just an average guy, nothing special one way or the other, his only downside was his choice of hobbies. Again Alexis thought about her goal. She was to seduce this guy, and take a picture of her holding his…special member. She didn't have to go through with anything beyond that, but part of her felt really bad about it. She would have to lie and charm her way into his pants and then leave him hanging after she got the picture she needed. It made her wonder whether this was a haze for her or for him. She debated about it for a long time, should she go through with this, should she not? Finally, she stood up and tucked her phone into her pocket to walk across the quad toward him. Fuck it, she figured, one embarrassing and awkward moment and then it would be over. She'd be in GGK and could spend the next four years forgetting it ever happened. Jake was leaning over a drawing pad as she approached, coming up from behind him so she could see over his shoulder as to what he was drawing. Turned out he could really draw, the picture on the paper was really detailed for just a pencil drawing. It appeared to be some knight of warrior in shining armor with a sword in on hand and a shield in the other which was raised to deflect or block some sort of attack that hadn't been drawn yet. Alexis was impressed and that gave her a conversation starter to talk to him. “Wow,” she said moving around to the other side of the table so she could stand in front of him. “That looks really cool.” Jake jerked as if she had shocked him. So into his drawing that he didn't expect someone to talk to him out of the blue. His hand jerked away quickly from the paper so he didn't mess something up. He glanced up at Alexis and blinked, clearly not expecting someone like her to start a conversation with him. He turned a little red and nodded, “Uh, thanks. I'm drawing it for somebody.” He told her. She gave an impressed look to him, “Not even doing that kind of work for a class. That's pretty cool, do you draw all the time then?” She asked. He shrugged, “Not all the time, but enough to keep improving I guess.” He glanced up at her, and Alexis saw his eyes take her body in quickly though she didn't show him that she noticed. He wasn't very good at hiding his gaze, but that was fine by her she found herself glad that he enjoyed what he was looking at. “I'm Alexis by the way.” She smiled, holding her hand out to him. Jake took her hand softly and nodded, “I'm Jake.” He said slowly. “So I have a confession to make.” She said, sitting down across from him. “I didn't come here to just tell you your drawing was cool.” Jake sat back from her and gave her a weary look, as if afraid she was about to do something to him. “Okay?” She shook her head, “Don't worry it's nothing bad. It's just that I am trying to get into the drama club, but I was told that my character acting sucked.” She lied. “So I did a little googling and I came across table-top roleplaying.” Which wasn't a lie, she had googled a bit about Dungeons and Dragons in order to help herself gain Jake's trust easier. The quickest way into a nerd's pants was through his hobbies. Unlike a jock, who's quickest way into their pants was to simply ask. She brought up the Dungeons and Dragons club page on her phone and showed it to him. “Turns out you run a little roleplaying game club on campus here already and I figured that maybe I could join for a while.” She told him, “You know to play a character work on my improv skills or whatever. Then I can take that back to the drama club and actually get into a play or something.” Jake leaned forward, again his eyes roamed over her body quickly, he was really bad at trying to do it low key. “You, want to play….Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked in disbelief. “Well I'd like to learn at least. Unless you have a better suggest for me to practice Improving a character.” She suggested. Jake shrugged, “I don't. I just, I don't know, I never thought in a million years that someone as…let's just say ‘un-nerdy' as you would ever try to sign up for a game.” Alexis shrugged, “It honestly wouldn't be my first choice either. But I don't exactly have the cash to take an extra acting class off campus, this was the best free option I could find.” She gave him a pout, “Are you saying that I can't play?” Jake shook his head quickly, “No not at all. It's just surprising, that's all.” He nodded and leaned back again, probably considering this unexpected turn of events. “Alright…well do you know how to make a character?” Alexis blinked, “A what?” Jake laughed softly, “You can't play until you make a character. I'm gonna guess you don't know how huh?” Alexis frowned, “No I don't. Is that a problem?” “Not really. I can teach you that on our own. When are you free next?” He asked, glancing at his watch. “I have class in thirty minutes so I can't do it right now. But maybe this evening around five thirty or six?” Alexis nodded, “I can do six. Where?” “The club normally meets in one of the rec rooms over in Grand Hall. Room 3, I can meet you there at six and we can build you a character. It's shouldn't take more than an hour or so.” He explained. “Okay that sounds good.” “Great, oh and if you can you should go get yourself a set of dice. There is a hobby shop like three blocks from campus on Grand Street that can get you what you need.” He told her. “If you can't do it today, no big deal but you'll need them for the actual game.” Alexis promised that she would try and then said goodbye. As she turned around she saw a couple girls from GGK watching her from the other end of the quad. She sighed and made her way over to where they were standing. Jessica was a beautiful latina, with caramel skin and flawless features. She wanted to be a model, but her parents were forcing her to get educated first. Though thanks to Instagram, Jessica was doing both. Emma was as much of a midwest girl as one could possibly be. Blonde, blue eyes, innocent looking with a body men would kill for. Both girls smirked at Alexis as she approached. “How goes the dick hunt Alexis, got a picture of the nerd-dick for us yet?” Jessica asked. Alexis shook her head, “Not yet, I had to sign up for his club in to give myself an excuse to be around him.” The giggled, “Seriously?” Emma asked, “Why didn't you just ask to suck his dick in the bathroom or something?” Jessica nodded, “Yeah why make it more complicated that it needs to be?” Alexis frowned, “I don't know, I just don't think he is the type for that.” “Please, every guy is that type, especially when a girl like you asks.” Emma said dismissively. Again Alexis shook her head, “Somehow I don't think so. A guy like that, probably used to getting bullied and would suspect a prank. I have to warm him up to me before pulling this stunt.” Alexis moaned and hung her head, “Oh God I have to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.” Jessica and Emma just laughed. “Tough shit girl. Get us the pic or find another Sorority.” They said and left. Alexis bit her lip and sighed, no use getting out of it. She was stuck with this, unless she gave up on GGK. No way in hell, Alexis wasn't a quitter and she certainly put other girls in High School through just as much shit as this, worse even. Begrudgingly, Alexis followed Jake's advice and went to the hobby shop he had told her about. It was a small store in the corner of a shopping center called Games, Dice, Action. The interior was much as she expected, walls of comic books, display cases fill with some kind of game game singles, and then there were dice. Little boxes of dice with several different shapes. Alexis looked though the different colors for a while before a chubby man with a thick beard came up to her, “Can I help you?” he asked. Alexis glanced up and then pointed at the dice in the case. “Are those the dice I need to play D&D?” She asked. The man nodded, “They are enough to get you going yeah. One die of each side type used in the game.” He explained. “Great, can I get those pink ones?” Shortly before six Alexis was back on campus with her bag of goodies. The clerk had been nice enough to also print her out several pages that he called “character sheets” so that she would be ready to sit down and immediately start making a character with Jake. Along with a set of pink dice that had three different shades of pink in their color scheme. She actually beat Jake to the rec room and found herself an empty table near the back of the mostly empty room so set up. She laid out her sheets and took out her dice, laying them in a row based on their total number of sides, and a little mechanical pencil. While she waited for Jake to arrive she googled basic D&D character creation rules but was giving a online book with nearly 200 pages and her eyes went wide. Did she have to learn 200 pages of rules? Who the fuck would play a game that required so much work. Wasn't it just supposed to be a bunch of dorks playing pretend around a table? The door to the rec room opened and Jaked walked in, holding a book under his arm. Alexis waved to get his attention and he began walking her way. “Wow,” he said, looking at the laid out paper and dice in front of her. “I gotta say, I didn't think you would go so far.” He told her, sitting across from her. She smiled and leaned toward him, purposefully giving him a glance down her top and get a good look at her cleavage. Alexis was proud of her perky just barely C-cups, and Jake took the chance to take the peek she offered. “Now why is that?” She asked teasingly. It was time to turn on the flurting. First meeting wouldn't have worked, but now that she had him mostly alone, she could start to give it to him and build not only his trust but his libido as well. Jake tore his eyes from her gapping shirt and blushed, “Look hot girls don't just ask to play D&D. It simply doesn't happen. I thought you were setting me up for a prank or something.” He explained. Alexis smiled, “I know you did. That's why I got all this stuff on my own. I want you to see I'm serious about at least giving this a try.” She gestured to her set up. Jake nodded, and set the book on the table. Alexis saw that it was the same book that the internet had proved her and the pit of her stomach dropped. Dread filled her as she began to fear all the rules he was about to dump on her. “Okay let's start by doing this….” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of scratch paper. Then he reached over and grabbed her six sided die. “Roll this four times…” And so began the process of Alexis making her first Dungeons and Dragons character. All her fear about the massive book turned out to be a waste because she ended up not needed more than like ten pages of the book in total. Jake made everything really simple and while she did roll her eyes a couple of times at the dorky terminology she found herself grasping it pretty easily. By the end of the sit down with Jake, Alexis' had her character sheet completely filled out. She had created a sneaky demon-like girl called a Tiefling Rogue and named her Shadow Heartly. Working with Jake turned out to be a lot of fun, and it made Alexis forget how dorky she always thought this would be. He helpped her create a back story for Shadow, together they crafted this back story of a demon born of noble blood who's demonic appearance forced her parents to give her up so she didn't hurt their reputation. Angery at being abandoned, Shadow began to steal mastering the art of pick-pocketing, before being grabbed by the thieves guild. The guild taught her to be unseen, and began using her for missions that asked her to sneak into dangerous locations. She learned to make herself valuable despite her demonic appearance. Alexis felt like she was going crazy, because she actually found herself eager to try playing Shadow in a real game. As they finished and stood up together, Alexis threw her arms around Jake and hugged him, purposefully pressing her chest tightly to his. “Thank you for this, truly.” She told him smiling as she stepped back. “I didn't think for a second it would be as interesting as you made it, but now I'm really glad I actually asked about this. I look forward to playing.” She paused and gave him a look, “When do we play?” Jake smiled, his face a little red after that hug. “I'm glad I was able to shatter your expectations. Let's see I have a new game starting with a group of players on Friday night at seven. So it's actually a perfect game for you to join in and try your hand at it.” Alexis groaned inwardly. Seven on a Friday night? Was he serious? She had a party to go to on Friday night. She didn't want to stay inside to play this game when she could be getting her party on. But she realized that she couldn't go to the party until she brought GGK what they asked for. So she smiled and nodded, “Alright Friday at seven. Where at?” “Oh we play in my dorm. I have a full ride and that came with a full sized dorm room with no roommate. So I have people come over there since it's private and I have the space.” He explained. His place? Alexis grinned, it was too perfect. All she had to do was wait for the game to end and everybody to leave and Jake would be all hers. “Great!” She replied. “I'll see you then I guess.” She started to walk away, “Oh, what dorm number?” Jake smirked, “224.” “Thanks Jake. See you.” She smiled and darted off. First thing in the morning Alexis went to the sorority house and explained the situation. Niece, the sorority leader, a buxom fit girl with long black hair and haunting blue eyes, glared up at Alexis from the love seat. “I don't know what you are going through all of this for. He's a nerd and you are way out of his league, just seduce him and be done with it. Why torture yourself?” Alexis didn't have a good answer really. She explained that Jake was too nerdy for that, and he would assume she was up to something if she just tried to pounce on him right out of the gate. Niece just scoffed and gave Alexis a dismissive wave, “Oh please, look if you went to his dorm tonight wearing nothing but a sexy set of underwear or a robe with nothing underneath, there is no way in hell he turns you away. Unless he's gay, is he gay?” Niece asked questioningly. Alexis shook her head, “I gave him plenty of chances to look down my shirt today, he took them all, so I don't think that's a worry.” Niece smiled and nodded, “Great, then go get your picture. Why play games with him?” Alexis shrugged, she didn't have a good answer. Jake had been a really nice guy, and totally different than the dwebe she had expected him to be. She just couldn't bring herself to be such a bitch to him for no reason. She didn't want to just leave him with his pants down, so to speak. It was then she had a chilling thought. If she was warming him up to her, did that mean she intended to give him actual head or something? Would she go that far just for a simple dick pic? Surely that wasn't what she was prepping for? But if she wasn't then why not just take Niece's advice and go blue ball the poor guy? Alexis couldn't think of a true answer. And that worried her. She shook it off, figuring she was just horny. After all she hadn't gotten any since she and her boyfriend broke up over the summer. He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship, and frankly Alexis couldn't blame him. It had left her with an inch to scratch though. Not that she would consider scratching it with Jake. Hell no. Friday came quickly and Alexis decided to bring a couple of pizza's to Jakes dorm room for the game. It always nice to be a good guest, that's what her folks taught her, and being a good guest meant bringing snacks or drinks for whatever get-together you were going too. So there she stood at his doorstep with two hot pizza's burning into her palm. Still she stared at the door for a while. Was she really going to try this for real? To get Jake alone so she could take a picture of his ramrod? It shouldn't mean this much right? Why was she scared, the worse that could happen was she upset him and no big deal. Then again, why did she make sure to put a condom in her handbag. That probably worried her more than anything else. Finally she knocked, Jake opened the door quickly. He smiled as he saw her and the pizzas, “Hey you made it. And with pizza! Wow you are officially my new favorite.” He reached out and took the boxes from her before stepping aside to let her in. “See guys this is how you impress your DM.” He said showing off the boxes. “You mean the food or the girl?” A male voice asked inside. Jake snapped at him, “Hey you better not start. I warned you, I want Alexis to feel welcome here.” There was a fairly small circular table with four people around it. Three of them were guys that very much embodied the typical guys that Alexis always pictured playing this game. Very overweight, thick glasses, beards that seemed to encompass their heads, they were total stereotypes. Alexis felt her stomach pitch with regret coming to this whole event. The other player at the table was a girl. But much like the boys she was far from what anyone would call attractive, overweight though not nearly to the degree the boys were, no sign of make-up, limp lifeless dirty blonde hair. She smiled at Alexis and waved her over, “Welcome Alexis, Jake told us you were maybe coming, glad you could make it.” Alexis smiled, “Thanks.” “Don't be nervous, it'll be a fun night. Jake is a great storyteller. I'm Nicole.” Nicole explained, taking Alexis' apprehension as nerves. But in truth it was Alexis fighting herself to come to terms with playing this nerd game all so she could seduce Jake enough to get a picture of his schlong so that she could then take it to GGK and be allowed full membership and regain her proper status as a “popular” girl. Holy fuck was she a shallow bitch or what? The next four hours turned into one of the best nights of fun Alexis ever had. Nicole had been right, Jake was an excellent storyteller, he told a story that made her feel like she and her character where actually in this fantasy world. Shadow and the other characters around the table found themselves stuck on a sinking ship. They rolled dice as they frantically tried to find some way to fix the boat, failing that they then tried to find pieces of the boat they could use to fashion a life raft of some kind. It was through sheer luck of the rolls that the party found themselves on an uncharted island, digging through a costal cave. Deep within they found a cavern of treasure, but guarding the treasure was a Manticore a flying lion beast with a human-like face. The party battled the creature, and Alexis managed to roll well which allowed her to get the finishing blow on the creature. All of it was exciting, and surprisingly engrossing which Alexis had never expected. As her character Shadow stood over the corpse of the beast, Jake stood up at the end of the table and said, “As Shadow pulls her dagger free from the Manticore's back, in collapses under her leaving her panting in victory over the beast.” He smiled at Alexis and she would be lying if she didn't get the tingle in her belly with arousal from his look. If ever she thought a nerd could be sexy it was in that moment. “And that is where we are ending this week.” Jake said, and Alexis clapped. She leaned back and ran her fingers through her hair. “Wow that was totally different than what I expected. Way more fun too.” Jake smiled, “I'm glad you enjoyed it. You did good as Shadow too, got into character pretty well for a first timer.” He told her. “Anyway thanks for coming guys, we'll see you all next week I hope.” The group packed up and Alexis spoke to them breifly thanking them for letting her join the group and playing with them tonight, Nicole was encouraging and told Alexis that she hoped to see her next week for the game again. As the group packed up Jake began to gather up the paper plates and napkins, the remains of the pizza's they all had crushed. Alexis got up and began to help him with the clean-up. She threw the trash into the bin, helped wipe the table up and put the cups that they had used for drinks into Jake's little mini dish washer. Once the rest of the group had left Jake moved next to her and helped rinse things out. “Well tell me what you thought. Was it as unbelievably nerdy as you thought it would be?” He asked her. She recalled the way he swung his arms as he described out they eached attacked the manticore, and how he had done voices of the many characters they had met along the way. She smiled at him, “Probably the nerdiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Unbelievably dorky.” She told him. Alexis turned to him and looked down at her hands, the nerves boiling inside of her again. “But,” she said softly before turning her gaze back up to his. “I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have an incredibly huge amount of fun either. If this is what it is like, sign me up.” She told him. Jake nodded with a smirk, “I'm really happy to hear that. Not many girls like you would give this game even the slightest chance. You were great.” Alexis blushed and leaned in to kiss him. Jake's lips were soft against hers, but a little stiff as he didn't expect her to kiss him. For a second she feared that he might be taken and she was making him cheat, but after a moment of shock Jake's hands found her hips softly and he began to kiss her back. She pressed her tongue out, tasting his lips. She felt her body react to being against his, and couldn't believe she was actually attracted to him. Jake broke the kiss lightly, taking a deep breath. “Wow that's umm…unexpected.” He chuckled. “I never thought my first kiss would be from being a good D&D player.” Alexis felt her heart burn for him. His first kiss? The poor guy hadn't ever been kissed before? He was over twenty, even as a nerd she didn't understand how that was possible. She gave him a pout, “First kiss? You've never made out with anyone before?” She asked sadly. Jake blushed and looked down before shaking his head, “No never really that popular with the ladies.” “Oh that's no good. We have to fix that.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him from the little kitchen towards his bed on the otherside of the room. She smirked at him and shoved him back onto the bed, she leapt on after him, stratling his hips. She smiled and lowered herself down upon him, kissing him deeply. Her tongue pushed into his mouth to tease and play with him, her lips part as she invited him to do the same to hers. His lips wer soft and wonderful to kiss, she felt like she could really enjoy doing this with him. Jake reached up to cup her face, she could feel his hands trembling as he touched her. Alexis broke the kiss and smiled down at him, “You nervous?” She asked. Jake let out a shaky breath, “Yeah, I just….wow this is incredible.” She smiled at him and rose herself on top of him, taking his hands in hers she gave him a wink. “You don't have to be nervous. It's okay.” She told her and pulled his hands to her breasts. Jake gasped as she held his palms against her chest, letting him feel the way her soft yet firm mounds dug back into his hands. “How's that?” She asked teasingly. “Incredible.” He whispered. She couldn't help but giggle, shifting herself on top of him. It was then that she felt it. Her eyes went wide, it wasn't possible, surely he had something in his pocket or something. The make out had made this poor virgin grow hard under her, she could feel his hardness pressing against her as she let her weight settle on him. But what pressed against her couldn't be possible, she wiggled on top of him gently trying to see if it was something else, but no, there was no mistaking it. The massive pressure under her was all him. Holy fuck. Jake was biting his lip and looking up at her expectantly, waiting to see what she would do next. Alexis smiled and leaning forward to kiss him again. After a moment she broke the kiss and whispered into his lips. “If you've never been kissed before, that means…you've never had a girl suck your dick then right?” She asked him playfully. He swallowed and shook his head. Alexis smiled and rose up, “Good, then this should be fun.” She shifted off of him, moving to his side. As she did so she took her phone out of her back pocket and set it on the mattress. Looking down at his crotch she could see the bulging area in his pants and her eyes couldn't believe it was real. There was a fucking monster in there. She smiled at him as she reached out to run her palm over his girth. He let out a loud breath as she did so and it brought a moan from her own lips. “Oh you poor thing, you are so big yet so trapped. This must be awful for you.” She told him. As Alexis reached for the button of his pants, Jake's hand were suddenly there to stop her. “Alexis wait.” He breathed, his desire was potent to the point where she could almost taste it on him. Slowly he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at her. “Isn't this a little fast? I mean, I just met you the other day.” She blinked in disbelief. Was she hearing this right? Was he actually stopping her from going down on him? Never in the history of ever had she ever been stopped after getting to this point before. She knew he was excited for her, she could see the evidence of that. “What?” She asked softly. Jake frowned and sighed, “I don't know. I just never had anyone even consider this with me. I was the guy who couldn't get a date let alone…” He gestured to her hovering over his crotch, “this.” Alexis couldn't believe it. He was trying to talk her out of blowing him. He was actually considering her and her feelings. Or maybe he sensed that she had other reasons for what she was about to do, no that couldn't be right. He was just a good guy, a nerd to be sure, but a good guy and not bad looking. Smiling she crawled over to his face and gave him a gentle slap. Looking into his eyes she said, “Jake, when you give girls a good time, they like to return the favor. I had a blast tonight, and I wanted to kiss you.” She kissed him softly to accent her point. “When you told me it was your first I felt bad. So I want to do this for you, I wanna show you some fun like you've never felt before. Kinda like what you did tonight for me already.” She sat up beside him and let her hands move back to his jeans. “Besides it doesn't have to mean anything. It's just a little head, people hook up all the time for…I believe the term in D&D would be a ‘one shot'.” She gave him a knowing smile, as her fingers pulled open the fly of his pants. She snapped her fingers and pointed, “Alright tug these off.” Jake hesitated for a moment, looking at her as if still trying to decide if it was a good idea or not. Then he shifted and lifted his hips to tug his pants down, with a couple of kicks they went flying off somewhere on the floor. Alexis loomed over him and looked down at the massive lump in his briefs. “Alright now let's see the goods.” She teased, slipping her fingers into the pee-hole of the briefs and wrapping her fingers around…..Jesus what the fuck was this? A full Salami? Christ even as she wrapped her fist around him she could barely get her fingers to touch. She looked at him with wide eyes as she tugged him through the pee-hole and revealed the beast within. Alexis took a deep breath. “What the fuck dude?” Jake jerked and looked at her, “What?” “You're fucking gigantic, fuck dude look at this thing!” She cried, as her hand slowly caressed the length of him. She lowered herself and lifted his hardness before her face. It was bigger than her fucking head. “You're bigger than my fucking head man!” She gasped, her free hand reaching slowly behind her to grab the phone she had taken out. She rose up and unlocked her phone, “Hold the fuck on I have to see something here.” She handed him her phone with the camera on. “Take my picture, I'm gonna see if your dick will hide my entire face.” She dropped down and lifted him in front of her face again. Jake grimaced, “I dunno if I want to take a picture of my dick though.” “Oh come on dude, my face will be there too. I'll make sure to send it to you so you can jerk to it later.” She promised with a smile. “Please?” She then licked him, running her tongue along his entire length from base to tip. He had to be at least nine inches long, and thick as a brick. Fucking him must be like fucking an arm, she thought to herself. Her tongue upon him did the trick though as his shaft jumped with the pleasure and he grunted. Jake shook his head and aimed the phone again, snapping the picture before setting the phone down. “There.” He said panting. Alexis smiled and kissed the tip of his throbbing mushroom. “Beautiful.” She told him. “Now as I promised.” She opened her mouth and gently sucked his tip into her mouth. Jake moaned with it, his shaft pulsed warmly on her tongue. She felt her body react to it as well, after seeing his size she wanted him, she wanted to try him. But that was perhaps going too far, especially since she didn't think her condom would be of any use on this monster. So Alexis took more into her mouth, working him gently with her tongue. She kept it slow so that he wouldn't lose himself too quickly, she wanted him to enjoy this. Hell SHE wanted to enjoy this. Gone were the thoughts of shame of doing this just to be hazed, gone were the questions of her morality or ethics in doing something like this. Sure she had gotten her picture, but now she didn't have to feel bad about leaving him with blue balls because she wanted to suck him off. His size was a challenge that she wanted to tackle. Even just a few inches into her mouth and her jaw was already open wide. She couldn't take him like this, no fucking way, there was too much of him. Instead Alexis made good with what she could take, using her tongue to tease the underside of him, pulling him back to her lips so she could suckle his tip and then repeating. Jake would swell in her mouth and she would stop, instead rubbing her palm over the spit covered tip of him and using her saliva as lube to stroke him. Her gaze would go to his, enjoying the look on his face. “What do you think?” She teased. Jake struggling to catch his breath. “It's incredible.” He panted softly. “I don't know how much I can take, I'm sorry Alexis.” He warned her. Nobody that she could recall had ever warned her, they just came whenever they felt like it. She had gotten good at being able to read the signs of when her partner was about to finish, the panting, the change in movements, even the swelling of their size. Jake however was too thick for her to totally tell, she thought every throb was going to be the eruption but it wasn't. She smirked, “It's okay, I didn't expect you to have pornstar stamina baby. Don't worry I'll drink you all up.” Then her lips wrapped around him again. Her words and the return of her mouth around him must have been too much, because not a second after she had his smooth fluffy tip in her mouth did she feel his massive tool jerk almost out of her grip. Then a rush of his stuff flooded into her mouth. Alexis squealed in surprise, tightening her grip with her hands around his base, holding him as he continued to powerfully jerk in her hand. Waves of his juice pulsed into her mouth, her throat worked overtime just to keep up with all he gave her. Her eyes went wide as he passed the point where a normal guy would have been done. But Jake gave her more, and then a little more. Finally with a grunt, Jake slumped back onto the bed breathing heavily. Alexis sucked the last little bit from his tip and lifted her head taking a deep breath. “Whew!” She gasped, licking her lips a giving herself a few extra swallows to clear her throat. “Jesus not only is your dick huge but so is your load.” She exclaimed. Jake blushed, “Sorry?” She giggled, “No need to be sorry, that's intense is all. I really really want to fuck you, I just want you to know that.” She told him. Jake sat up, “What really?” Alexis frowned, “Yeah, but I can't.” Jake gave a deflated look, but Alexis grabbed his chin, “No I want to really. But I don't have a condom that will fit you Jake. I didn't expect you to have the fucking Titanic in your pants.” She explained. “So maybe we can set up a raincheck. Find some rubbers that'll fit, and then we can see if my tight little lady can handle your beast.” She smiled wide and kissed his forehead. by musicankane for Literotica

This week, Christine Gallant shares the story of her Disney Wish wedding. When a hurricane rerouted their cruise, she and Dan had their 10 am Castaway Cay ceremony switched to a 2 pm Grand Hall event, but they got to keep their celebration at The Bayou. Today she talks about how Disney handled the changes, why she and Dan decided to use the ship's photography instead of bringing along their own photographer, and which elements of the cruise wedding package they chose. She also shares details of their post-wedding portrait session inside EPCOT! Click here to see the photos!

Generals, dictators, and despots have tried to rule the world. Their capital cities were monumental and impressive. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built one of the designated Seven Wonders of the World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The historian Herodotus wrote, “In addition to its size, Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world.” The Bible documents the King's great pride and boasting over his accomplishments. The prophet Daniel had warned the king to humble himself. “At the end of the twelve months he [King Nebuchadnezzar] was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?'” (Daniel 4:29-30). God punished King Nebuchadnezzar, who finally learned his lesson: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.” (Daniel 4:37). The Nazi dictator, Adolph Hitler, in his plan to rule the world, envisioned a world capital to last a thousand years. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect for the future city, planned a Grand Hall next to the Reichstag that “would have been the largest enclosed space in the world, with a dome 16 times larger than that of St Peter's in Rome” according to HistoryToday.com. (“Germania: Hitler's Dream Capital”) Of course, Hitler fell before the Allied armies in World War II. Bible prophecy reveals that another great dictator, called the “Beast” in the book of Revelation, will desire to rule the world and establish his own capital. As it tells us in Revelation 13:7, “And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” The good news is that the coming King of kings will conquer and destroy this coming Beast power (Revelation 17:14) and Jesus Christ will establish a righteous world capital city. What city will become the capital of the world? In spite of today's conflicts, Jerusalem in Israel will soon become the glorious capital of the world. Does that sound impossible? You can learn more about the future of Jerusalem in our free study guide The Middle East in Prophecy. Be sure to order your free copy. Your Bible reveals the prophetic events leading up to world peace, and the establishment of a righteous world government centered in the city of peace, Jerusalem! You can prove it from your own Bible! Stay tuned!

Toyota may finally be waking up to Electric Car Reality. New U.K. PM Sunak gets a 3 out of 5 on climate. Our city gets an elecric truck and loves the savings. Brian nearly dies in his Tesla Model 3 in a snowstorm but he thinks it should have been called a blizzard. A wind turbine gets hit by lighting off the coast of Ireland and blows up. We have the exclusive footage!  The Fully Charged Live show is coming to Australia and we've yet to be invited.  Canada will need 10x more wind and solar energy, supported by energy storage, to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. That seems surprisingly small.  Grid adaptation for EV adoption in Calgary, Canada. James is sceptical of the threat to grids by EVs. Ola Air 1 electric scooter is unveiled at a low price for India. Biggest component of the fossil fuel system is energy loss. Thanks for listening to our show! Consider rating The Clean Energy Show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to our show. Follow us on TikTok! Check out our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter! Your hosts: James Whittingham https://twitter.com/jewhittingham Brian Stockton: https://twitter.com/brianstockton Email us at cleanenergyshow@gmail.com Leave us an online voicemail at http://speakpipe.com/cleanenergyshow Tell your friends about us on social media! Transcript Hello, and welcome to episode 136 of the Clean Energy Show. I'm Brian Stockton. I'm James Whittingham. This week, Toyota may finally be waking up to electric car reality. Turns out they just slept through their alarm, which wet off five years ago. Fully charged live show is coming to Australia. James and I are still waiting for our invite to the Canadian show, but we would love to go to Australia and hang out with our two listeners there. Liz Truss, the UK's solar hating Prime Minister, has resigned. The new PM is Rishi Sunak, who I think is ahead of Lettuce. I don't know, I just wasn't really paying attention. All that is so much more on this edition of the Clean Energy Show. I was going to list all the other things that we had to talk about this week. I apologize to Australia again for my Southern hemisphere ignorance. Our city buys an electric truck and we hear why they think it's a good idea. And, yeah, all kinds of wonderful things that we're going to have to speed through, because I got a big fat show for you this week. I have a big fat story for you this week. I was on a lovely electric car road trip to Saskatoon, our city to the north, on the way home, decided to stop in Moosejaw, which, as we've said before, is a real place. Yes. And, man, I got caught in the worst blizzard I have ever been in in my entire life. Really? Yeah, because I'm only 48 minutes away from there. I don't understand. Why was it so bad? Yeah, well, this was a weird spring storm. Oh, sorry, fall storm. We've had really warm weather here, like it was plus 20 Celsius just a few days ago. And they had some warnings out. They called it a snowfall warning, but I have a bone to pick with Environment Canada, because it really should have been a blizzard warning. They have criteria for blizzard warnings, Brian. It has to be windy and zero visibility in a certain temperature, depending on the region. It actually varies by region. This is our Canadian weather service. That's right. And I think the one thing we may not have had was temperature, because it was only around zero, but we had all the other things. So we wanted to stop in Moose Jaw on the way home. Pictures. What? It was for work. My partner had a bit of work to do and it involved taking pictures in Moose Jaw. So, yeah, the snow starts to fall and we start driving in Moosejaw. In about 30 minutes out of Moosejaw, the snow was just getting super heavy and thick and cars were going in the ditch. This is a fairly small highway, just like a twolane highway. And, yes, we had to slow down to, like, 40 just about lost control of the car. At one point it started to slide around. I managed to regain control, but it was a serious white knuckle drive those last 20 km into Moose Jaw. We were worried we weren't going to make it. There were cars in the ditch, people slept overnight. Man, that could have been used. Exactly how much of a charge did you have at that point? I have to ask. We rolled into Moose Jaw with a 20% charge, which is not great. That's not great for spending the night. Well, I don't understand why you thought that was a good idea. Because I'm going to flash back to Friday night in the weather forecast here. Do know that there is a special weather statement in place through much of southern and eastern Saskatchewan and there will be major impacts along with this Natasha, including possibly some treacherous conditions on the road. So people should prepare for that and maybe some power outages. So it'd be good to have an emergency kit as well. I'll full update coming up a little bit later. It's almost like they saw it coming. I heard that same report and they said, yeah, some snow and it probably won't stay around. It'll probably melt. I don't know. I don't think we were sufficiently warned. What do they have to do? Come at you with a Taser? A blizzard warning. It should have been a blizzard. Oh, you stupid old man. A blizzard warning is there for a reason. It means it's a blizzard. It means the highways are not going to be possible. It could be a light freezing rain and a beautiful day. The sun could be shining. It could be just treacherous. A blizzard warning is a blizzard warning. It was a blizzard. It was definitely the worst snow storm, whatever you want to call it, the worst one I've ever driven through. And we just barely made it. And then we had to stay two nights. We had to stay two nights in Mousse. That's absurd because the road was just not did you get your picture? Did you take it at least? No, we did not. Oh my God. Yeah, we'll have to go back. But yeah, we could have maybe driven back on the second day. Only stayed one night, but the road was still moose Jaw was the epicenter for this storm that it got around a foot of snow in Moussehow. Yeah, but we got to stay at the lovely Grant Hall Hotel in Moosejaw, which is this historic hotel on Main Street. And we had power the whole time. But on the other side of Main Street, no power for about 8 hours. Half the town was without power, but we were relaxing comfortably in the Grand Hall hotels. Quite lovely. All right. I have here the blizzard threshold criteria for Canada. The national. Except for north of the tree line. Which is while it varies in various parts. I guess where suddenly it becomes forced and it's not prairie and whatnot when winds of 40. That's a calm day around here or greater are expected to cause widespread reductions in visibility to 400 meters or less due to blowing snow or blowing snow in combination with falling snow for at least 4 hours. You're right, I think it should have been a blizzard if that's all it is.

Today, Melissa Foland shares what it was like to be one of the first couples married aboard the Disney Wish cruise ship! You'll hear how she and Timothy chose the Wish after five COVID-related postponements, why they chose The Grand Hall for their ceremony and The Bayou for their celebration, and how she handled hair and makeup for the wedding. Melissa also discusses the advantages of bringing their own photographer aboard for the ceremony, reception and three other photo shoots. Click here to see ALL the photos!

The South Waikato District is showcasing itself in Wellington this evening in Parliament's Grand Hall. The council, local iwi Raukawa, community and business representatives are seeking co-investment from the Government to address multi-generational inequalities. South Waikato Mayor, Jenny Shattock talks to Jesse about why they need more government funds for the district.

Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, which includes Disney Cruise Line, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report about the just christened Disney Wish, the fifth ship in the Disney Cruise fleet with two more to come. Mazloum details the design details, starting with the Grand Hall, the rotational dining concepts, the upscale restaurants, the accommodations, the kids clubs and so much more. For more information, visit www.disneycruise.com. If interested, the original video of this podcast -- with supplemental pictures and video -- can be found on the Insider Travel Report Youtube channel  or by searching for the podcast's title on Youtube. 

In this episode of Distory with Kate & Kirk, ghosts are beginning to materialize as we enter the Grand Hall (aka The Ballroom) of the Haunted Mansion and give a detailed account of the secrets, stories, effects, and details you might have missed while flying by in your Doom Buggy. Kirk shows us a way to replicate the Pepper's Ghost effect in our very own homes, and we go a little rogue speculating on some (possible) Haunted Mansion connections and themes. Join us LIVE on TikTok every Friday at 5:30pm Pacific/8:30pm Eastern for more Distory! Kate: @disneycicerone Kirk: @walruscarp You can also find us on YouTube, Instagram, and at disneycicerone.com & walruscarp.com View full video versions of each episode HERE Books we reference in this episode: Boundless Realms by Foxx Nolte The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic by Jason Surrell

Aunty's Beach House at Disney Aulani will Reopen on May 25Aunty's Beach House at Aulani will reopen May 25 giving keiki (kids) aged 5-12 access to the fun and adventure once again. Plus, there's something new: Aunty's Beach house will offer evening activities for  the whole family for the very first time.Aunty's Beach House is designed as a typical hale (or house) where kids might visit their "aunty." The beach house is a Hawaiian kids club where the focus is on holiday fun. Each of the six rooms is dedicated to different activities - from a movie room to computer lab, arts and crafts studio to a game room.Parents can reserve a playtime in Aunty's Beach House between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. daily for secured and supervised children's programming. During these hours, parents choose 1.5 hours of playtime for complimentary themed activities on "Uncle's Side" of the house or 2 hours on "Aunty's Side" of the house for premium activities. This is typically a hot ticket and reservations are required.Complimentary activities include interactive games and arts and crafts based on the theme of the day. Premium activities include Surf's Up, A Surfin', Fishin' and Dancin' Party with Disney friends. Children will learn about the ocean, catch a wave on carpet surfboards with Max and get the scoop  on fishing Hawai‘i waters with Goofy.NEW! Now the whole family can get in on the fun with "after hours" activities from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00  p.m. when Aunty's Beach House turns into an evening entertainment venue. Families can choose from an assortment of complimentary and premium activities where they can learn to play the ‘ukulele, get together for a lesson in animation, or make lasting memories with photo opportunities in front of surfing scenes and other colorful backdrops.These activities used to take place in the community hall, but it sounds like they've now made them paid activities and moved them to Aunty's Beach House.Aunty's Beach House will reopen with new operations, safety and health protocols in place. Among them: face covering requirements, capacity limits, physical distancing, spacing between craft benches and play areas and temperature checks.Reservations for Aunty's Beach House can be made up to two weeks in advance by calling (808) 674-6943 from 7:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. daily. Programs are subject to change.--“Tale of the Lion King” Debuts May 28 at Disneyland ParkStarting May 28, 2022, Disneyland Park will welcome “Tale of the Lion King” to its new home at the Fantasyland Theatre, where this original-story theatre adaptation of “The Lion King” will be staged in an all-new presentation. At the heart of the production is a traveling troupe known as The Storytellers of the Pride Lands who weave the tale of how a cub becomes a king through dialogue, song, dance and percussion. From the scenic and costume designs to the new original music arrangements and choreography, “Tale of the Lion King” honors and is inspired by the cultural roots of this timeless story.Also on May 28, Troubadour Tavern will reopen with new menu items inspired by the show.--‘Fantasmic!' is now 30 and is Returning to Disneyland Park on May 28If you have never seen “Fantasmic!” this is definitely a must-do (at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, although we prefer the Disneyland version). Fantasmic is an emotional extravaganza of colorful Disney-animated story scenes, choreographed to an exciting musical score. At Disneyland, the waters of the Rivers of America come alive as Mickey Mouse dreams he is the Sorcerer's Apprentice and faces several villains, using the power of his imagination to save the day. Along the way, fantastic events and images appear from stories including “Fantasia,” “The Jungle Book.” Fantasmic features live performers, character appearances, enhanced special effects and pyrotechnics.--A Sneak Peek at Disney Cruise Line Disney Wish Inaugural Merchandise WIth the Disney Wish setting sail this summer, Disney is teasing a little more with a preview of some of the merch that you can take home with you from the exclusive Disney Wish merchandise collection. Inspired by the Grand Hall on the ship, the first release of merch reflects the enchantment of the Disney Wish with details that include rhinestones and rich fabrication.There is something for everyone, from T-shirts, blouses and long sleeve shirts to pullovers and accessories.  A Pandora charm set features Rapunzel (the Wish's bow character) and Captain Minnie Mouse.  You'll also find a new pair of Minnie Mouse ear headbands to add to your collection and even a matching Loungefly backpack.Dooney & Bourke has a tote that's part of the collection, which will be available at retail shops on the Disney Wish.--Thank You for Listening to the Disney Travel PodcastThank you very much for listening to this episode, Amelia and I hope that you enjoyed it. If you did, we would be very grateful if you could rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes (or on whichever app you choose to listen). A brief review about what you liked most about an episode truly helps to keep the show going by exposing it to new listeners. We look forward to continue producing new episodes each week.Sharing the podcast with your friends and on social media is also extremely helpful and very much appreciated.Shop 1923 Main StreetFeel free to visit our 1923 Main Street® Disney merchandise shop where we have hundreds of unique and original Disney-inspired t-shirts, leggings, clothing, mugs, phone cases and much more. You'll find everything from 1923 Main Street logo merchandise to custom created authentic Disney-inspired originals, including lots of great patterns for leggings and other items.Contact 1923 Main StreetThank you for listening to the Disney Travel News Podcast at 1923MainStreet.com. As always, we love to get feedback and questions from our listeners and to hear your suggestions and ideas for future episodes.Please be sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.Thank you for listening and have a magical day!Mike Belobradic and Amelia Belobradic--Media provided by Jamendo

Disney Cruise Line Introduces Halloween on the High Seas 956b29ec-f534-4d0c-a05b-02e71035f214.jpg It's all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus! At least, it will be this fall when a first-of-its-kind character meet and greet inspired by Halloween's favorite sisters and other new experiences debut on Disney Cruise Line's Halloween on the High Seas sailings! This September and October, You will run amuck (amuck! amuck!) on Halloween-themed cruises with special entertainment and activities, including trick-or-treating, spooky parties, elaborate décor and limited-time food and beverage items. But the fun doesn't stop there! These voyages will also debut an all-new character meet and greet opportunity exclusively for Disney Cruise Line Guests. While all characters on board will adorn Halloween costumes as part of the festivities, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow will debut a never-before-seen look as they dress up as the iconic Halloween sisters, the Sandersons from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” During its inaugural season of Halloween cruises this fall, the Disney Wish, the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, will also introduce a unique twist on a Halloween on the High Seas hallmark. 6dc7ba6b-eed3-453f-86ea-1abc07bdd382.jpg The centerpiece of every ship during Halloween sailings is the signature magical Pumpkin Tree towering over the atrium lobby, each with sprouting Jack-O-Lanterns and flickering lights. Aboard the Disney Wish, guests will witness the debut of an all-new tree in the “Cinderella”-inspired Grand Hall. Featuring lighter bark, graceful branches and a mystical face, legend has it that this enchanted tree (named Boo) grew beautiful gourds with the help of a wishing star. The best pumpkin of them all was destined to grant a very special wish … and that moment came when a carriage was needed to send a fair maiden to a royal soiree. In a flash of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, that perfect pumpkin became the coach that carried Cinderella to the prince's ball! ae05f7e8-0e6f-42c7-9f28-3fdd21e3caa4.jpg In addition to spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees, other frighteningly fun experiences aboard Halloween on the High Seas sailings include Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, a fun-filled costume party for families (and fan-favorite Disney characters); villainous takeovers in the adult-exclusive venues; Halloween-themed movies on Funnel Vision; and even a ghostly take on ship announcements. Halloween on the High Seas voyages will be offered aboard select sailings in September and October. Departing from ports in Miami and Port Canaveral, Florida, San Diego and New York City, each cruise will take families to fascinating destinations including the Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico. All sailings from Port Canaveral and Miami will include a stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island paradise outfitted for family fun and relaxation and brimming with special Disney touches!

Disney Cruise Line Introduces Halloween on the High Seas 956b29ec-f534-4d0c-a05b-02e71035f214.jpg It's all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus! At least, it will be this fall when a first-of-its-kind character meet and greet inspired by Halloween's favorite sisters and other new experiences debut on Disney Cruise Line's Halloween on the High Seas sailings! This September and October, You will run amuck (amuck! amuck!) on Halloween-themed cruises with special entertainment and activities, including trick-or-treating, spooky parties, elaborate décor and limited-time food and beverage items. But the fun doesn't stop there! These voyages will also debut an all-new character meet and greet opportunity exclusively for Disney Cruise Line Guests. While all characters on board will adorn Halloween costumes as part of the festivities, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow will debut a never-before-seen look as they dress up as the iconic Halloween sisters, the Sandersons from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” During its inaugural season of Halloween cruises this fall, the Disney Wish, the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, will also introduce a unique twist on a Halloween on the High Seas hallmark. 6dc7ba6b-eed3-453f-86ea-1abc07bdd382.jpg The centerpiece of every ship during Halloween sailings is the signature magical Pumpkin Tree towering over the atrium lobby, each with sprouting Jack-O-Lanterns and flickering lights. Aboard the Disney Wish, guests will witness the debut of an all-new tree in the “Cinderella”-inspired Grand Hall. Featuring lighter bark, graceful branches and a mystical face, legend has it that this enchanted tree (named Boo) grew beautiful gourds with the help of a wishing star. The best pumpkin of them all was destined to grant a very special wish … and that moment came when a carriage was needed to send a fair maiden to a royal soiree. In a flash of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, that perfect pumpkin became the coach that carried Cinderella to the prince's ball! ae05f7e8-0e6f-42c7-9f28-3fdd21e3caa4.jpg In addition to spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees, other frighteningly fun experiences aboard Halloween on the High Seas sailings include Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, a fun-filled costume party for families (and fan-favorite Disney characters); villainous takeovers in the adult-exclusive venues; Halloween-themed movies on Funnel Vision; and even a ghostly take on ship announcements. Halloween on the High Seas voyages will be offered aboard select sailings in September and October. Departing from ports in Miami and Port Canaveral, Florida, San Diego and New York City, each cruise will take families to fascinating destinations including the Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico. All sailings from Port Canaveral and Miami will include a stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island paradise outfitted for family fun and relaxation and brimming with special Disney touches!

Disney Cruise Line Introduces Halloween on the High Seas 956b29ec-f534-4d0c-a05b-02e71035f214.jpg It's all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus! At least, it will be this fall when a first-of-its-kind character meet and greet inspired by Halloween's favorite sisters and other new experiences debut on Disney Cruise Line's Halloween on the High Seas sailings! This September and October, You will run amuck (amuck! amuck!) on Halloween-themed cruises with special entertainment and activities, including trick-or-treating, spooky parties, elaborate décor and limited-time food and beverage items. But the fun doesn't stop there! These voyages will also debut an all-new character meet and greet opportunity exclusively for Disney Cruise Line Guests. While all characters on board will adorn Halloween costumes as part of the festivities, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow will debut a never-before-seen look as they dress up as the iconic Halloween sisters, the Sandersons from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” During its inaugural season of Halloween cruises this fall, the Disney Wish, the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, will also introduce a unique twist on a Halloween on the High Seas hallmark. 6dc7ba6b-eed3-453f-86ea-1abc07bdd382.jpg The centerpiece of every ship during Halloween sailings is the signature magical Pumpkin Tree towering over the atrium lobby, each with sprouting Jack-O-Lanterns and flickering lights. Aboard the Disney Wish, guests will witness the debut of an all-new tree in the “Cinderella”-inspired Grand Hall. Featuring lighter bark, graceful branches and a mystical face, legend has it that this enchanted tree (named Boo) grew beautiful gourds with the help of a wishing star. The best pumpkin of them all was destined to grant a very special wish … and that moment came when a carriage was needed to send a fair maiden to a royal soiree. In a flash of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, that perfect pumpkin became the coach that carried Cinderella to the prince's ball! ae05f7e8-0e6f-42c7-9f28-3fdd21e3caa4.jpg In addition to spooky character encounters and enchanted pumpkin trees, other frighteningly fun experiences aboard Halloween on the High Seas sailings include Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, a fun-filled costume party for families (and fan-favorite Disney characters); villainous takeovers in the adult-exclusive venues; Halloween-themed movies on Funnel Vision; and even a ghostly take on ship announcements. Halloween on the High Seas voyages will be offered aboard select sailings in September and October. Departing from ports in Miami and Port Canaveral, Florida, San Diego and New York City, each cruise will take families to fascinating destinations including the Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico. All sailings from Port Canaveral and Miami will include a stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island paradise outfitted for family fun and relaxation and brimming with special Disney touches!

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Returns to Walt Disney World Resort This FallIt's back: the full version of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party will take place on 37 select nights from August 12 through October 31, 2022 from 7:00 p.m. to midnight.Here's some of what's in store for this limited-capacity event in 2022: Mickey's Boo-To-You Halloween Parade is back, including the Headless Horseman will once again ride down Main Street, U.S.A. Trick-or-treating is back, so you can load up on M&M'S, SKITTLES, SNICKERS, and more Halloween favorites at locations throughout Magic Kingdom Park. And new for the 50th Anniversary, you will also get a reusable trick-or-treat bag featuring a keepsake 50th and Halloween design. The Sanderson Sisters will lead a “Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular” stage show at Cinderella Castle. Favorite and rare Disney characters will take over the park for their favorite party of the year. Overlays themed for the occasion are back at many popular Magic Kingdom attractions: Space Mountain, Mad Tea Party, Pirates of the Caribbean and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. Jack Skellington, will host “Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular.” This can't-miss nighttime show features projections, special effects, lighting, fireworks, music and Disney characters. Discover sweet and savory menu items inspired by fall flavors and the Halloween season. NEW! In honor of the 50th Anniversary celebration, there will be event-exclusive step-in photo opportunities. Plus, you'll also get a Halloween-themed 50th Anniversary commemorative print. Tickets will go on sale May 18, 2022. If you have a reservation at a Walt Disney World hotel, you can book as early as May 12. Tickets range from $109-$199 plus tax. Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club members will get specially-priced tickets for select dates.Note: You do not require an additional day theme park ticket or a Disney Park Pass theme park reservation. The event dates are: August: 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30 September: 2, 5, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30 October: 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 --Disney Cruise Line Has New Halloween ExperiencesThis September and October Disney Cruise Line will have Halloween-themed cruises with special entertainment and activities, including trick-or-treating, spooky parties, elaborate décor and limited-time food and beverage items. These voyages will also debut an all-new character meet and greet opportunity. All Disney characters on board will be in Halloween costumes but Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow will debut brand new looks as they dress up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus.For its first season of Halloween cruises this fall, the Disney Wish will also introduce a unique twist on a Halloween on the High Seas hallmark.The centerpiece of every ship during Halloween is the signature magical Pumpkin Tree towering over the atrium lobby, each with sprouting Jack-O-Lanterns and flickering lights. On the Disney Wish, guests will witness the debut of an all-new tree in the Cinderella-inspired Grand Hall.Featuring lighter bark, graceful branches and a mystical face, legend has it that this enchanted tree (named Boo) grew beautiful gourds with the help of a wishing star. The best pumpkin of them all was destined to grant a very special wish … and that moment came when a carriage was needed to send a fair maiden to a royal soiree. In a flash of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, that perfect pumpkin became the coach that carried Cinderella to the prince's ball!Other Halloween experiences will include Mickey's Mouse-querade Party, a costume party for families and Disney characters; villainous takeovers in the adult-exclusive areas; Halloween-themed movies on Funnel Vision; and even a ghostly take on ship announcements.Halloween on the High Seas voyages will be offered aboard select sailings in September and October. Departing from ports in Miami and Port Canaveral, Florida, San Diego and New York City, each cruise will travel to destinations including the Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico. --Halfway to Halloween Announcements from Disneyland ResortDisneyland Resort is also getting in on the Halfway to Halloween fun. Here's what we know so far. It's confirmed that Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party, will officially return for the 2022 Halloween season. It's a separately ticketed, limited-capacity, after-hours event at Disney California Adventure Park and will be back for select nights this fall.We'll share exact dates and ticket information as soon as they're released.-- More Disneyland News UpdatesHotels of the Disneyland Resort News Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel is finally being reimagined based on the artistry of Pixar. It will feature favorite Pixar worlds and characters through carefully curated artwork, and décor that reveals the creative journey of the artists who helped bring these stories to life.Guests will be welcomed into whimsical character moments, like the iconic, playful Pixar Lamp balancing atop its ball in the lobby. More news on this will be coming soon. What we do know now is that a new walkway is currently under construction that will soon give Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel Guests a convenient entrance to Disney California Adventure Park.Plus, we now know that the long-awaited “Hey Disney!” – a new kind of voice assistant that works alongside Alexa on Amazon Echo devices in Disneyland Resort hotel rooms that can make your stay more convenient, engaging, and enjoyable – will debut later this year.Later this summer, if you stay at a Disneyland Resort hotel you can look forward to sending select theme park purchases back to your resort hotel.And finally, early entry access is coming back for guests staying at one of our Disneyland Resort hotels beginning later this summer.Downtown Disney News The latest transformation of Downtown Disney is under way in the west end and will bring more innovative shopping, dining and entertainment experiences. Drawing inspiration from Southern California mid-century modern architecture, the west-end area will be a beautiful blend of vibrant color palettes, design elements and patterns influenced by the region, and will include an open lawn for relaxation and future events, and an even broader and diverse collection of dining and shopping.The world-renowned restaurant Din Tai Fung will join the district to offer guests their soup dumplings hand crafted right on site. This family-run restaurant will bring flavorful Chinese cuisine to Downtown Disney, where Guests can enjoy dishes served family style in a creative space off of our new lawn pavilion. Michelin-starred chef Carlos Gaytan will bring his Mexican cuisine to Paseo and Centrico in the locations currently occupied by Catal & Uva Bar. The restaurant and central courtyard bar and dining area will offer a multi-sensory journey to the heart of Chef Gaytan's homeland. Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen is evolving to reflect vibrant California energy and a fresh approach to the menu, while staying true to the heart of New Orleans.And finally, Earl of Sandwich will also pop into the district in a special sandwich walk-up location, offering the classic fare that you know and love (but only for a limited time starting later this year).Mickey's Toontown NewsDisney has officially broken ground on the update and transformation coming to Disneyland Toontown.  --Thank You for Listening to the Disney Travel PodcastThank you very much for listening to this episode, Amelia and I hope that you enjoyed it. If you did, we would be very grateful if you could rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes (or on whichever app you choose to listen). A brief review about what you liked most about an episode truly helps to keep the show going by exposing it to new listeners. We look forward to continue producing new episodes each week.Sharing the podcast with your friends and on social media is also extremely helpful and very much appreciated.Shop 1923 Main StreetFeel free to visit our 1923 Main Street® Disney merchandise shop where we have hundreds of unique and original Disney-inspired t-shirts, leggings, clothing, mugs, phone cases and much more. You'll find everything from 1923 Main Street logo merchandise to custom created authentic Disney-inspired originals, including lots of great patterns for leggings and other items.Contact 1923 Main StreetThank you for listening to the Disney Travel News Podcast at 1923MainStreet.com. As always, we love to get feedback and questions from our listeners and to hear your suggestions and ideas for future episodes.Please be sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.Thank you for listening and have a magical day!Mike Belobradic and Amelia Belobradic--Media provided by Jamendo

Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue Returns Summer 2022Get ready to welcome back another old favorite as the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue returns this summer to Walt Disney World. Reservations will be available starting May 26 for showtimes beginning June 23.The Pioneer Hall Players lead the way on this frontier-style family fun dining experience in Pioneer Hall at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. First debuting in 1974, Hoop-Dee-Doo is a rousing Wild West performance, featuring singing, old style comedy with lots of fun (including audience participation). The food is also great, featuring fried chicken, smoked BBQ ribs, a variety of savory sides and even strawberry shortcake for dessert.This show is the longest running performance at Walt Disney World. When it returns, Hoop-Dee-Doo will have a few updates to its script and scenery, while staying true to the treasured experience that it's been known for all these years.--  Olaf Will be Pleased, as Hugs are Back across the Disney travel universeAs early as April 18, Disney will start reintroducing traditional character greetings at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts, as well as aboard Disney Cruise Line and at Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii. What does this mean? You will once again be able to hug Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and more friends, and get an autograph from your favorite Disney Princess (or villain). To manage expectations, Disney notes that not all locations will be available immediately for character interaction, but they are planning to reopen in phases throughout the spring and early summer of 2022.--Late-Breaking News:Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind Roller Coaster Debuts on May 27In an early gift of summer, Disney announced that the Cosmic Rewind coaster at EPCOT will officially debut on May 27, 2022. While the coaster itself promises to have elements of Crush's Coaster from Disneyland Paris, there is also a pre-show. As the story goes, Xandarians are coming to Earth and building the first “other-world” showcase pavilion at EPCOT, called the Wonders of Xandar pavilion. Guests will learn more about their technology and culture as they move through the pavilion, and discover how our two cultures are similar in so many ways.We will report more details as they emerge in future episodes. So stay tuned to 1923 Main Street as the news comes in.--2022 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Begins July 14The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is returning to Walt Disney World Resort this summer, from July 14 through November 19, 2022.It will be back with everything that you know and love about the festival and we will share full details on the event as it draws nearer. But if you plan to attend, you now know the dates!--Connections Café and Eatery Opening SoonConnections Café and Eatery will soon open its doors at EPCOT. This new dining experience embraces cultures from around the world and will bring them to life in true EPCOT fashion. Here is a preview of the menu for this highly anticipated restaurant. It's a casual quick-service restaurant with a global culinary feel.If you love burgers, there's the French Bistro Burger with caramelized onions, bacon and brie, or the Southwestern Burger featuring a roasted chipotle-corn salsa and guacamole spread. That's not all, you can also enjoy the Vietnamese-inspired Banh Mi Burger or the Greek-inspired Mediterranean Burger.For a lighter option, there are salads inspired by French and Chinese cuisines. The Niçoise-style Salad is packed with potatoes, white and green beans and olives drizzled with a delicious Dijon vinaigrette. For an Asian flare, the General Tso Chicken Salad features ingredients like broccoli slaw, red bell pepper, mandarin oranges and crispy wontons.There are four types of pizza as well, including a classic Meatball Pizza and a plant-based Curry Spice Pizza topped with carrots, potato, peas and lime “yogurt.”And for the little ones there's a Grilled Chicken Bao or classics like the Chicken Nuggets Basket or Cheeseburger.Connections Eatery will also have a dessert-style dish: the Liege Waffle. This treat is made with brioche yeast dough stuffed with pearl sugar and finished with tasty toppings.For the milkshake lover, there are two options: A Mango-Coconut Milk Shake topped off with a pomegranate molasses drizzle, and the delectable Apple Pie Gelato Shake.Both adults and kids can enjoy specialty beverages at Connections Eatery. The Watermelon-Mint Agua Fresca is alcohol-free. For adults there are multiple wines and draft beers available, along with the Cucumber and Thai Basil Cooler, a specialty cocktail filled with freshness and flavor.As a reminder, Connections Café is the future home of Starbucks at EPCOT.--Exclusive Merchandise and Enchanting Memories Await Aboard the Disney WishThe Disney Wish will feature an elegant retail district that runs between the Grand Hall and the Walt Disney Theatre on deck 3. On either side of this shop-lined promenade, five distinct outlets will offer exclusive Disney merchandise and luxury gifts like jewelry, watches and accessories.One of these shops, Treasures Untold, will be the go-to destination for signature Disney Cruise Line collectibles, including the largest selection of Pandora Jewelry ever, plus limited-time Artist Spotlight collections and guest-favorite Dooney & Bourke handbags.In a new location on deck 5, returning Disney cruisers will find a familiar sight: Mickey's Mainsail, a fleet mainstay filled with Disney Cruise Line themed souvenirs and gifts, plus even more Disney Wish exclusives — like the special-edition Loungefly mini-backpack and headband above. And on the upper decks, Dory's Forget-Me-Knots will feature swimwear, water-play gear and fun graphic tees inspired by favorite Disney stories.--Thank You for Listening to the Disney Travel PodcastThank you very much for listening to this episode, Amelia and I hope that you enjoyed it. If you did, we would be very grateful if you could rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes (or on whichever app you choose to listen). A brief review about what you liked most about an episode truly helps to keep the show going by exposing it to new listeners. We look forward to continue producing new episodes each week.Sharing the podcast with your friends and on social media is also extremely helpful and very much appreciated.Shop 1923 Main StreetFeel free to visit our 1923 Main Street® Disney merchandise shop where we have hundreds of unique and original Disney-inspired t-shirts, leggings, clothing, mugs, phone cases and much more. You'll find everything from 1923 Main Street logo merchandise to custom created authentic Disney-inspired originals, including lots of great patterns for leggings and other items.Contact 1923 Main StreetThank you for listening to the Disney Travel News Podcast at 1923MainStreet.com. As always, we love to get feedback and questions from our listeners and to hear your suggestions and ideas for future episodes.Please be sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.Thank you for listening and have a magical day!Mike Belobradic and Amelia Belobradic--Media provided by Jamendo