Category: Travel

A little bit of life

By Fireman Chris, November 17, 2009 10:23 PM

I’ve been seriously neglecting my blogging lately, but what else is new? I’ve discovered that writing several thousand words a week for grad school makes writing for pleasure…well, not that pleasurable.

Writing seems to be the norm around here lately. I’m enrolled in three classes, which each require great deals of writing. Serenity is doing NaNoWriMo along with many of our friends. The princess is in first grade and is finally getting to the point where she can write actual sentences.

And let’s not even talk about work…going out to pull hose and climb ladders the other day with “the guys” the other day was a welcome change from my desk.

I have nothing to complain about (other than a serious cold the kidlet so generously gave to me). We’ll be going to see my family next week for Thanksgiving and will get to visit Mija and Paul while we’re there. In December, we’ll be back in SoCal again as well as in Indiana visiting both our families, including my newest nephew who is due right around Christmas.

Life is just life at the moment. The normal days we don’t remember with much clarity the following week, but which make up the bulk of our time here on Earth. Simple moments to smile about, and enjoy as we live them.

A moon with a view

By Fireman Chris, August 24, 2009 10:22 PM

So, as I said on my last post, I have a few pics to share.

Mendocino Headlands

Mendocino Headlands

Sparkle and I took a drive up the coast on our last weekend before the princess’ return from her summer vacation. One of the things we said we’d do when we moved up here was explore California north of San Francisco. Despite living in the state all my life, I’ve never been much north of I-80 (which, if you don’t know California geography, runs NE from San Francisco through Sacramento to Reno, NV). And, despite always being referred to as “Northern California”, at least by us SoCal natives, San Francisco is really about the middle of the state and there’s a lot between there and the Oregon border.

So, bright and early Sunday morning, Sparkle and I hopped in her car and headed north. An hour and a half later, we were crossing the Golden Gate bridge and heading into more-or-less uncharted territory for us.

After stopping for lunch in the town of Willits (130-some miles north) where we saw a group of young adults who appeared to be modeling their lifestyle (and hygiene) on the Gogans from Pete’s Dragon, we turned out to the coast. After driving through some beautiful redwood forest (the Jackson Demonstration Forest, to be exact), we emerged at the Pacific in Fort Bragg and turned south.

Sparkle's sexy wiggle on the coast.

Sparkle's sexy wiggle on the coast.

About 15 minutes later, we reached Mendocino and decided to exit the highway and explore a bit. We stopped in the lot for the Mendocino Headlands State Park and got out to walk.

Sparkle was in a playful mood, and was happily wiggling her denim-clad bottom while she walked in front of me. I’d been itching to find a spot to pull over and spank her on the drive through the redwoods, and had the feeling she’d sensed that and was taking full advantage. Unfortunately, the Headlands had several other visitors and wasn’t really conducive to that.

I did, however, have my camera with me, and snapped quite a few photos of Sparkle from the rear as she walked ahead.

As we walked along the coast, we found a spot where we could climb down onto a lower area below the main path. We walked and explored, and finally came to a spot that was fairly sheltered from the path above.

Mooning on the Mendocino coast.

Mooning on the Mendocino coast.

I grinned at Sparkle and told her this seemed to be a fairly private spot as I looked through my camera meaningfully.

Sparkle grinned as well and turned her back to me as she unbuttoned her jeans. Down they slid, followed by her panties.

I snapped several photos, smiling all the time. One of my favorite things in the world is to see my wife’s bare bum in the open air, especially if I have a camera with me. Knowing there were other people not more than 20-30 feet away was even more fun.

Hearing a few voices above, Sparkle pulled her pants back up, and we headed back up to the path. Good thing too: as we came up over an edge, we saw a sheriff’s car pulling into the parking lot (though truth be told, they only checked the lot and headed on). We spent a few more minutes walking around, then got back into our car and continued our drive.

As we drove and chatted, I couldn’t get my mind off of spanking the sassy bottom that had just been shown to me. Sparkle knew it too as my eyes kept darting off the road at every possible turnoff and pullout. Sadly, however, none offered the degree of privacy we’d both want.

A closeup of Sparkle's sexy buns.

A closeup of Sparkle's sexy buns.

100 or so miles later, however, as we neared San Francisco, my eyes widened with anticipation. A turnoff, which wrapped around a small hillock between it and the road. I signaled and pulled in, and Sparkle’s eyes widened as well, but for different reasons.

I shifted to park and set the brake, turning the engine off. “But, I can see the road,” she whimpered. I agreed, but said that no one would be able to see her.

“Turn over,” I ordered.

She made some noises of protest, but folded her seat back and flipped over onto her stomach.

“Take them down.”

Seconds later, her bottom was bare again and awaiting something more than a camera.

Spanked on the roadside.

Spanked on the roadside.

I spanked her as traffic whizzed by on the road. Spanked her crisply, enjoying her squirms as I warmed her sassy backside. Her cheeks blushed under my hand, and I knew her other cheeks were blushing too at the thought of the passing cars.

After a few moments and a few pictures, I told her she could get dressed again and started the car.

The rest of the drive was rather uneventful. Traffic as we neared the Golden Gate Bridge, and hunger pangs as we passed through San Jose. A late dinner, and exhaustion as we collapsed into bed at home.

But it was a very good day.

Cleaning out the cobwebs

By Fireman Chris, August 10, 2009 11:02 AM

Hey everyone, remember me?

Yes, it’s definitely been awhile since I’ve blogged. Those who follow Sparkle’s blog (and my irregular posts this spring) may know some of this, but here’s a quick recap of the past few months:

March – My laptop died. Really died…as in the solder holding the graphic chip together crystallized due to heat from the CPU. The manufacturer doesn’t seem to think this is something THEY should fix, but would gladly sell me a new motherboard for $400. So, while awaiting the inevitable class action lawsuit (I’m not the only one having this problem), I resorted to sharing Sparkle’s laptop…and not much blogging as a result (did I mention this was the beginning of her busy work time?).

April – For some reason, at the end of March and beginning of April, I thought it would be a good time to take four 40 hour classes for work, two of which involved nights and weekends….and on top of three or four other weekends of work commitments. Again, did I mention this was the beginning of Sparkle’s busy time at work? I’m probably lucky I didn’t end up tied to the bed with a not-so-happy wife wielding all those evil implements I usually wield on her.

May – Not surprisingly, I don’t remember much of May. There were a couple more classes, a bunch of stuff at work, and last-minute company for Memorial Day weekend (my sister, brother-in-law and 14 month old nephew). Sparkle worked a lot, I entertained the princess a lot. Life at it’s usual pace around here in the spring.

June – Sparkle’s job was in full swing, culminating with the normal week-long trip. In years past, I’ve either stayed home with the princess or we’ve shipped her to her grandparents and then I’ve joined Sparkle for some (but not all) of the trip. This year, we all went beginning to end, which resulted in a lot of daddy/daughter time. This was exhausting, but I think very good for us as we don’t get to spend concentrated periods of time together, and she’s at the age where she very much enjoys doing so. So, while mommy worked, we played…amusement parks, aquariums, the park, shopping. She had a blast, as so did I (I also slept very well at night). We also managed to squeeze in a couple of visits with Iris and M. I also finally ordered a new laptop thanks to some long overdue money from my Hurricane Ike deployment.

July – Ahh, back to normal. Right? No? Ah yes, July’s the month we discovered that Sparkle should not engage in brush clearing on our property, especially not in cute shorts and a t-shirt. The girl is apparently VERY allergic to poison oak, and a nasty case of it led to an even nastier infection that culminated in a very worried EMT husband, a trip to the urgent care, an ambulance ride from urgent care to the hospital and four days of more daddy/daughter time while mommy got antibiotics pumped into her, and sent home with more medicines, a brand shiny new EpiPen and instructions that “maybe you should hire someone to clear brush from now on” from the doctor. At least the medications worked and we got mommy home just in time for her to get on a plane with the princess and fly her back to her grandparents’ in Indiana for a mid-summer vacation. Sparkle spent three days there and got home just in time for her birthday. She got a new laptop too (Dell loves us right now).

August – What better way to spend your first weekend in months sans child than to drive 350 miles without your wife for an overnight disaster drill? I sometimes wonder why I do these things…then I remember I’m apparently nuts! Still, it was fun, and I don’t get to see those people often enough anymore. But, aside from that, Sparkle and I have been spending a lot of time together. She’s been getting spanked most every night. We’ve been having sex most every night. Last week, we took an overnight trip into San Francisco and spent a lovely evening with Mija and Paul while they were in town. Yesterday, we took a day trip up the California coast above San Francisco. She mooned me in Mendocino (she mooned my camera too…that will be my next post). She got spanked on the side of the road. We got home exhausted, but happy to have the time to spend together. The princess comes home Wednesday, and mom-in-law will be here through the weekend, so we’re getting the most out of the last of our alone time. Tonight, we have a new local spanko friend coming over for dinner…she and I met while Sparkle was in Indiana, but the two of them haven’t met her yet.

So there you have it. Am I back to blogging regularly? I honestly don’t have an answer to that. Inspiration seems to come in fits and starts these days…I’ve even been neglecting Twitter for the past few weeks. I am spending time on FetLife and SpankoLife as well, and occasionally still hit the Happy Tails chatroom. I’m here, living life, and kink is always part of that, even if it does get sidelined from time to time. Blogging is part of that too, and even though I may disappear from time to time, it’s usually only ever temporary.

Leaving on a jet plane

By Fireman Chris, March 1, 2009 12:07 PM

Well, I’m off for a couple days to a conference.

Wish I had something kinky to report, but between having a very long Friday night, spending every minute of yesterday morning in bed sick, spening most of yesterday afternoon trying to solve a nasty-looking video driver problem on my computer and then packing last night, there hasn’t been much kinkiness to report on.

So, see you on the flip side. And be sure to let me know if Sparkle gets into any trouble while I’m gone.

Biting hurts

By Fireman Chris, December 31, 2008 10:41 AM

I do so love biting my wife’s ass.

I forget exactly when the first time it was that my teeth pressed into the tender flesh of her backside, but it was early on in our relationship. Now, it’s a regular part of our foreplay…sometimes before a spanking, sometimes after…sometimes instead of.

You see, it can be a rather effective substitute in times when I can’t put her over my knee and give her what she deserves. Like this morning. We’re staying with my parents until the end of the week, so spanking is definitely out.

This morning, while the princess was breakfasting with my parents, we sneaked into the shower together for a bit of alone time. We rarely get to shower together, so we take the chances as they come up.

After we’d finished washing each other (making sure certain areas were extra clean), she asked me if I needed to do anything else, such as shave.

I turned her around so that she was facing the end wall of the shower and bent her forward a bit so her bottom was sticking out. I then knelt down and proceeded to nip my teeth all across her wet, tender ass as she squirmed and tried to keep her yelps in check.

As I stood, I told her “That’s what I needed to do.”

Unfortunately, she probably won’t get any more spankings in 2008, and her first of 2009 will have to wait until this weekend at least, but she can certainly get her bottom nibbled upon in the meantime.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Home sweet home

By Fireman Chris, September 18, 2008 9:49 PM

As some of you know, I finally got home from Texas last night. And it is good to be home.

Without going into too many details, the trip was somewhat frustrating because my team really didn’t get to do a lot. All in all, that’s a good thing, because the level of injury was much lower than expected and we weren’t needed to provide as much medical care. We also went out originally when it looked like Ike was going to hit Florida, and since it changed track, there was a lot of waiting to see where it was going to finally hit.

We did go out on a couple of assignments, helped with some evacuations; but mostly, we sat around waiting to be called and finally got sent home. Hence the frustration. It’s not that we wanted people to be hurt just so we could help them, but sitting around a hotel just waiting when you’re away from family is hard.

Still, we were there if needed and ready to help. And that feels good in and of itself.

I did have one startle on the trip. During our travels around Texas, I saw this sign on the building next to one of our hotels.


Sadly, they sold farming equipment, not anything more interesting.

There were a lot of bullwhips around the gift shops we visited though.

Update from Texas

By Fireman Chris, September 13, 2008 11:56 AM

Yes, I know I said I was going to Florida. But Ike apparently didn’t read the plan.

I’m currently in Dallas, doing well and waiting for a new assignment. My team’s been various places in Texas over the past few days and are currently in a hotel here waiting to be sent out again.

We’re just starting to see the outer bands of the storm here…some rain and wind, but nothing too extraordinary. As hurricanes do, Ike lost a lot of power as soon as it hit land. We’ll probably see some heavy rain/wind tonight, but we’re all safe here.

Thank you to everyone for the good thoughts and prayers, and special thanks to those who have been there for Sparkle during my absence. That really means a lot to me.

Getting back to normal

By Fireman Chris, March 18, 2008 9:55 PM

Well, the move is complete…more or less.

Sparkle, the princess and I moved into our new house the weekend before last. We’ve just about moved everything from our rental place, except for a few odds and ends. There are boxes stacked in every room of the new house, but we’re slowly sorting through them and getting our lives back to normal.

We even have internet now…for 2 whole days so far. We’d ordered DSL before we moved so we’d have it when we arrived (a big requirement for Sparkle’s job). Unfortunately, our phone company sent us a faulty modem, so we had to wait for a new one, which thankfully works.

We also took a trip down south this past weekend. My sister had a baby a few weeks ago, so we wanted to see them, and Sparkle had some work stuff to do. We also got to visit Iris and M at their place, which was a lot of fun. Especially when M asked, while we were sitting in their living room, “So, are these girls going to get spanked tonight?” This, of course, quickly resulted in Iris going across my lap and Sparkle being made to kneel on their leather recliner and bent over the back by M. Ahhh, good times with good friends!

Life’s still going to be crazy for a bit…we have family visiting this weekend and then are traveling again for a wedding (which I’m in) the following weekend. But despite all that, I’m finally feeling settled for the first time in almost a year.

At least as long as I ignore the cardboard boxes behind me.

Better late than never (originally written 1/5/07)

By Fireman Chris, February 11, 2008 9:17 PM

I was going through Blogger tonight, cleaning out some old drafts in there. Mostly, these were posts that got started and somehow duplicated in the posting process, so I was deleting out the chaff.

Then I saw this one, and started reading through it. After the first sentence or so, I remembered that I’d started writing this a little over a year ago (January 5th, to be specific) after Sparkle and I returned from an adults-only trip to Las Vegas. I’m not exactly sure how or why I ended up not finishing it, but here it sat in Blogger, sadly unfinished.

So, here’s the original post, completed to the best of my memory a year later…though as you’ll see, the events were certainly memorable.

To preserve the original draft, I’ve added any new text in this color. Hope that’s not too distracting.

—————————-

So, I realized today that its been over a week [or a year...who's counting?] and I still haven’t posted anything about our Vegas trip. Shame on me.

A bit of history first.

A month or so ago, amidst the early planning for Christmas, I discovered that I had a few more vacation days remaining than I thought I had. W traditionally travel to Sparkle’s hometown in Indiana for Christmas, so I usually have to save up 4 to 5 vacation days to make that happen. This year, we decided the princess was at the age that we’d rather have Christmas here, so we convinced her parents to come out here. Since I didn’t need to save so many vacation days, I was a bit more loose with them this year, and planned to take a couple of days off for a fire department class back in October. Fortunately, however, my boss let me take those days off as “professional development” and I didn’t have to burn vacation for it, hence the extra days.

So, Sparkle and I decided to combine the unexpected days off with having live-in babysitters, and take a couple of days for ourselves. Her parents were thrilled to have our daughter all to themselves, the little girl was thrilled to have two doting grandparents spoiling her to death, and we were thrilled to get to go be adults without a child in tow. Win-win-win situation.

Now, realistically, and as Sparkle jokingly suggested, we could have gone and gotten a room in a hotel a mile or two from here and still been perfectly happy and able to engage in unfettered kinkiness. But somehow, that just didn’t seem right, so we decided to hit the road for Sin City. We’ve always enjoyed going to Vegas, and generally do so at least once a year (and yes, we’ve done it with our daughter in tow…mostly for conferences). It’s an easy drive from here, and there’s something liberating about being in a city where a certain degree of misbehavior is expected.

Prior to Sparkle’s parents arriving here, we decided to “secure” our toys from prying eyes. The toys have been residing in two Rubbermaid stackable storage drawers in our closet, which are obviously a bit too accessible. We’ve been trying to come up with a more secure solution (we’re thinking some sort of locking trunk), but in the meantime, we just packed them into one of the suitcases we keep in our closet. This, of course, had the added advantage of making them easy to bring along on the trip when we left (and nobody said anything about us taking a rolling suitcase AND a duffel bag on an overnight trip.)

We decided to spend one night at Luxor, our favorite casino, so to make the most of it, we actually left the house before sunrise, both to get us into Vegas early and to avoid the morning rush-hour traffic here. After stopping for gas and cash, we were on the road.

I feel compelled at this point to mention that the trip was planned to be very kinky and adult in nature. To set the mood for this, some time before the trip, I informed Sparkle that she was not allowed to pack any panties, and that she was to only wear skirts. These type of rules always seem to turn on my dear wife, so she was definitely in a playful mood even before we left the house.

Traditionally, when we drive to Vegas, we don’t stop until we hit Barstow. There’s a particular gas station with a large mini-mart that I like to stop at. Even though the traffic was fairly light, the station was packed when we got there, and we had to go park behind it. As nobody else was parked in the back, I took the opportunity to give Sparkle’s bottom several firm smacks as we walked to the mini-mart. When we returned to the truck and found the back lot still vacant, I bent her over her seat and gave her a brief spanking on the back of her skirt.

This, of course, made her even more playful.

Outside of Barstow, I-15 becomes 2 lanes in each direction almost the entire way to Vegas (with occasional truck lanes on the steeper grades). Again, traffic was light, and as we drove and talked, Sparkle leaned over onto the center console a bit, so I stroked her neck, shoulders and…elsewhere. Not anything enough to distract me from my driving, mind you, but I rarely ever have both hands on the wheel on open highway.

Sparkle was getting more turned on by this point, and jokingly (or so I thought) said “I should take my shirt off.” I like to tease her about making her be an exhibitionist, so I thought she was just teasing and said something like “Sure, go ahead.”

She did.

She rode there next to me for about 2 minutes totally topless (no other cars nearby, and she’d removed her bra as we left Barstow), then leaned her seat back and laid her shirt on top of herself, and proceeded to play with her nipples. Her very sensitive nipples. I frequently bring her to orgasm just by playing with them, though she rarely can herself, so I knew she was just teasing herself, which can be a very good thing.

I spied an exit up ahead, and Sparkle giggled nervously as I took it. I think she knew what was about to happen.

At the end of the exit was a road. Turning left took you into a small town/settlement, and turning right took you up to a large turnout with a dirt road heading out the back. I turned right and pulled into the turnout, turning so the truck was facing the highway.

I pulled her over towards me, so that her naked torso was laying across the center console, face up. She chuckled naughtily as I proceeded to play with her nipples. A moment later, she’d somehow managed to climb onto my lap, straddling me in the driver’s seat as I brought her to an orgasm with my tongue on those very sensitive nipples.

Then, she climbed back into her seat and we continued on our way. And so did her teasing.

About halfway between Barstow and Baker is a solitary road with a strange name. If you’ve ever driven the route, you know it. Zzyzx is, after all, a rather eye-catching name.

As we approached the exit, I informed Sparkle that we’d be stopping again to address her naughtiness.

The road curves off from the highway and parallels it at a distance of about 500 yards. We pulled off and drove down a bit, finding a nice wide turnout. I pulled in and turned the truck so I was facing the road and able to see about a 1/4 mile in each direction.

I then told Sparkle to roll over onto her tummy in the seat and bare her bottom. She, of course, complied. What followed was a rather thorough, quick and sharp spanking of her naughty little bottom with my hand. She yelped, she squealed, she rolled around on the seat, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. So did I, I must say. When I was done, she had a bright red bottom and was hornier than ever. I told her she’d not get another orgasm until I’d had at least one. And then, we hit the road again.

Upon arriving in Vegas, we had some time to kill before we could check in at our hotel, so we stopped at an outlet mall. Sparkle’s teasing tempered to the variety she’s comfortable with in public. I, however, took great delight in frequently smacking her bottom, covered only with her skirt.

Once we finally checked in to the hotel and got to our room, Sparkle found herself naked on the bed getting her bottom spanked a bright red again, before we moved on to fulfilling the conditions for her next orgasm.

The rest of the weekend was spent much the same way. Lots of teasing, lots of spanking, lots of other fun things. Fun with the new schoolgirl uniform. Fun with the myriad of toys we brought. Fun being ourselves, being adults who love each other.

We returned home much refreshed, and very thankful for grandparents.

Orange socks and the family paddle

By Fireman Chris, January 1, 2008 4:03 PM

Happy 2008 everyone!

As was somewhat suspected, our travel plans didn’t work out quite as expected. Or I suppose I should say, they did turn out as we expected since weather delays are pretty much the norm when you fly through O’Hare in December. But we were only delayed for about two hours, which is a lot better than the last time we got stuck in O’Hare, which involved a hotel stay and a lot of other headaches. It did mean, however, that we didn’t get home until 3:00 this morning…Sparkle and I shared our New Year’s kiss leaning over a sleeping princess somewhere over the Rockies.

I mentioned in my last post that Sparkle got two spankings at her parents’, and that there would be pictures. What better subject for my first entry of 2008?

Sparkle and I have a rule, which she’s mentioned before, regarding orange socks. It goes back to a discussion some years ago on alt.sex.spanking which was either about how to get a vanilla partner to spank you and/or how to start into a more disciplinary relationship. I forget the exact details, but the suggestion was to come up with a silly and harmless action which would earn a spanking and the example was wearing orange socks. Obviously, Sparkle didn’t really need any help getting me to spank her, but nonetheless, wearing orange socks has always been her way of telling me she needs a spanking (aside from the times when she just says “Spank me, dammit.”)

Sunday at her parents’, she came out of the bathroom after her shower wearing orange socks. Not too surprising given Friday’s events and the general mood (read “horniness”) she’d been in all week.

I noticed immediately, of course, but as we were getting ready to go to her grandparents’, I didn’t say anything right then and went in to take my shower. When I emerged a few minutes later, I heard her saying goodbye to her parents and the princess. Since it’s a tight fight for us all to fit in their SUV, they were heading over in her dad’s truck and we were following in the SUV.

She grinned at me expectantly and asked if I liked the alone time she’d engineered.

I told her I was going to go get “the family paddle”.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this paddle before, but it hangs on the wall in her parents’ utility room. It was never used on Sparkle or her brother growing up (they were each only spanked once or twice as kids) and only appeared in their house after her great-grandmother passed away when Sparkle was in high school. She remembers seeing it in her house and assumes it was purchased by her parents at the estate auction.

Now before anyone goes suggesting that Sparkle’s parents are kinky too, she’ll probably plug her fingers in her ears and start saying “LALALA I can’t hear you!” at the top of her lungs. Honestly, it fits in with the rest of the decor of the house (lots of country-kitschy things hanging on the walls). And her dad did once make us a very heavy paddle-shaped spaghetti measuring “thing”, but it’s really only useful for, well, measuring spaghetti (believe me, we’ve tried).

Nonetheless, the paddle has hung there every time I’ve been to the house, and I’ve been dying to try it on Sparkle’s backside. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve only spanked her once or twice in the house, and those have both been fairly rushed affairs. I’ve never even had a chance to examine this paddle closely.

I came back into Sparkle’s old bedroom (where we sleep when we’re visiting) and found her bent over the end of the bed with her jeans in a puddle around her orange-socked feet and her infamous “naughty” panties around her knees. Orange socks and suggestive panties, not to mention a bent over and waiting bare bottom.

After the warmup with my hand, Sparkle began to realize she hadn’t been properly spanked in some time (the SUV spanking was needed, but didn’t quite count as a “proper” spanking).

When her backside felt the first stroke with the paddle, she said as much.

A few dozen swats later, she was hopping from foot to foot and yelping and her bottom was a nice rosy pink. Not the hardest paddling she’s gotten, but definitely sufficient after a week or so of traveling.

After the paddling, I put her in the corner with the paddle. Corner time is something new we’re experimenting with (as part of a number of things that I’m sure Sparkle will be blogging about soon). While I’ve always liked the idea of corner time in conjunction with punishments and even more playful scenes (and have used it in both with others), Sparkle has always been hesitant about it. This past week, laying in bed together one night, she told me she’d like to try it occasionally, and so we are.

Once her corner time was over, we both began to examine the paddle. It’s definitely very old and a bit worn…one could even say well used. As we turned it in the light, we discovered a number of faint pencil signatures on the paddle. Sparkle’s grandmother. Two of her grandmother’s brothers. And, most surprisingly, another family name, but from a different branch of the family tree.

I’d suggest Sparkle sign it too, but one really shouldn’t write on an antique.

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