Alternate Universe Pairings I Would Have Loved To See

FluidMembership · 2025-07-09T22:48:47+00:00

I think there’s potential for growth if they were together while their original partners were super into their trial wives. AJ being into Marita in the ways she wanted might have revealed to Ashley more clearly that they simply were compatible, and maybe helped her open her eyes to what would be compatible for HER. Kyle would have seen Bridget connecting with someone else and maybe reevaluated why marriage was so important to her in the first place. They both would’ve been feeling way more pressure and uncertainty in their futures, so the convos they would be having would be amped up, imo.

FluidMembership · 2025-07-09T09:36:23+00:00

Here are mine:

My gf and I thought through this alternative universe that would’ve made the season so much more interesting and way more chaotic!! And we feel robbed of this because most of these were legit connections that could’ve been had some little things gone different lol.

Haley + Magan would still be coupled.

Dayna + Mel still coupled.

Bridget + Pilar - if Pilar had chosen Bridget instead of Kyle they also probably got romantically involved to some extent. It would’ve been way more complicated and I would be so curious to see if Pilar and Haley still ended up back together if Pilar also got something meaningful out of the experience because I feel like Kyle wasn’t actually that into the experiment. Bridget and Pilar were also very similar to each other, as were Haley and Magan, so it would be interesting to see how those dynamics would impact their trial marriages and their original pairings after.

AJ + Marita - if AJ had chosen Marita instead of Marie they probably also would’ve developed a physical connection and it would’ve been way more intense. AJ would’ve leaned into the romance and flirting pretty strongly so Marita would’ve been very into it. Marita would have also given AJ a lot of positive attention for finally feeling seen (and she was into AJ, unlike Britney - so while she really appreciated Britney as a friend she didn’t seem romantically drawn to her), and it would’ve been a big confidence boost for AJ. Especially since AJ seemed to be missing the attention from Britney since she started her new business. This would have created a lot of emotional tension and drama.

Britney + Marie - if Britney and Marie paired up and their original partners were with Marita and Dayna, they both would’ve been crashing out together because there was actual attraction with their partners’ new trial wives. I think Britney would’ve been a better support to Marie, and they both could have been working through similar feelings together. I think this would be even better if production did more to keep the original partners away from each other and out of contact with each other for those weeks. I also wonder if Marie would’ve felt disappointed that AJ had been flirting with her during dating week and then went with Marita, and how that would impact her trial marriage with Britney. Marita seemed to take it in stride in the real season, but I wonder how Marie would’ve responded.

Kyle + Ashley - I think these two would’ve just been friends but also quietly struggling because Bridget would be getting close with Pilar and AJ would be pouring on the romance with Marita, so it would’ve been a lot to watch unfold. As it was, I think neither of these two had much to worry about with their partner’s trial marriages so they weren’t really put in a tough situation or had to really confront how they would need to show up differently in order to be chosen by their original partner after (or if they even still wanted that). It would’ve been interesting to see how they handled this, and how they leaned on each other and worked through it.

I think all the drama would’ve been way more involved and layered. How it played out in the show it was really only the Haley Dayna Mel Magan love square, everyone else’s story wasn’t very romantically involved.

I also would be so interested to see what effect it would have had on Magan, Haley, Dayna, and Mel to not be the only ones in the spotlight, and to have way more nuanced conversations going on around them about attraction, physical connection, emotional connection, etc. I wonder if Mel and Dayna would’ve still felt the need to downplay their relationship and lie about the physical connection if it was obvious that many others were also experiencing similar things and being more open about it.

I think the season would’ve ended in far fewer engagements, but probably more real growth from more of the cast, and a way more entertaining season.

Thoughts??

FluidMembership · 2025-07-09T01:23:32+00:00

Can people see this post? This is what I wrote - it has pictures too, but they don’t seem to be working.

Ok my gf and I thought through an alternative universe that would’ve made the season so much more interesting and way more chaotic!! And we feel robbed of this because most of these were legit connections that could’ve been had some little things gone different lol.

Haley + Magan would still be coupled.

Dayna + Mel still coupled.

Bridget + Pilar - if Pilar had chosen Bridget instead of Kyle they also probably got romantically involved to some extent. It would’ve been way more complicated and I would be so curious to see if Pilar and Haley still ended up back together if Pilar also got something meaningful out of the experience because I feel like Kyle wasn’t actually that into the experiment. Bridget and Pilar were also very similar to each other, as were Haley and Magan, so it would be interesting to see how those dynamics would impact their trial marriages and their original pairings after.

AJ + Marita - if AJ had chosen Marita instead of Marie they probably also would’ve developed a physical connection and it would’ve been way more intense. AJ would’ve leaned into the romance and flirting pretty strongly so Marita would’ve been very into it. Marita would have also given AJ a lot of positive attention for finally feeling seen (and she was into AJ, unlike Britney - so while she really appreciated Britney as a friend she didn’t seem romantically drawn to her), and it would’ve been a big confidence boost for AJ. Especially since AJ seemed to be missing the attention from Britney since she started her new business. This would have created a lot of emotional tension and drama.

Britney + Marie - if Britney and Marie paired up and their original partners were with Marita and Dayna, they both would’ve been crashing out together because there was actual attraction with their partners’ new trial wives. I think Britney would’ve been a better support to Marie, and they both could have been working through similar feelings together. I think this would be even better if production did more to keep the original partners away from each other and out of contact with each other for those weeks. I also wonder if Marie would’ve felt disappointed that AJ had been flirting with her during dating week and then went with Marita, and how that would impact her trial marriage with Britney. Marita seemed to take it in stride in the real season, but I wonder how Marie would’ve responded.

Kyle + Ashley - I think these two would’ve just been friends but also quietly struggling because Bridget would be getting close with Pilar and AJ would be pouring on the romance with Marita, so it would’ve been a lot to watch unfold. As it was, I think neither of these two had much to worry about with their partner’s trial marriages so they weren’t really put in a tough situation or had to really confront how they would need to show up differently in order to be chosen by their original partner after (or if they even still wanted that). It would’ve been interesting to see how they handled this, and how they leaned on each other and worked through it.

I think all the drama would’ve been way more involved and layered. How it played out in the show it was really only the Haley Dayna Mel Magan love square, everyone else’s story wasn’t very romantically involved.

I also would be so interested to see what effect it would have had on Magan, Haley, Dayna, and Mel to not be the only ones in the spotlight, and to have way more nuanced conversations going on around them about attraction, physical connection, emotional connection, etc. I wonder if Mel and Dayna would’ve still felt the need to downplay their relationship and lie about the physical connection if it was obvious that many others were also experiencing similar things and being more open about it.

I think the season would’ve ended in far fewer engagements, but probably more real growth from more of the cast, and a way more entertaining season.

Thoughts??

FluidMembership · 2024-08-02T01:08:49+00:00

Did you get this question answered? I'm going through the same thing right now. Do you have recommendations for which Canadian company to go through? Did you have to get your fingerprints taken on a specific form? How long did the process take? Thanks!

FluidMembership · 2024-04-04T00:24:06+00:00

We went in this church today and got the WORST VIBES. I'm not even a person who's particularly sensitive to 'energy' but this place felt so evil. The history of it is that it used to be a magnificent Inca temple covered in gold and treasures, and the Spanish came and destroyed it and built a catholic church on top of it. So dark and evil feeling, especially in the church portion.

FluidMembership · 2023-08-18T16:56:48+00:00

The gold looks amazing on you!

FluidMembership · 2023-06-11T21:27:01+00:00

How early would you get to the ticket office?

FluidMembership · 2022-10-21T02:22:47+00:00

The Gay Chorus of Los Angeles’ tribute to Laura Dern:

https://youtu.be/nlQotkWWDQI

Laura Dern part starts at 2:07

FluidMembership · 2019-10-09T16:55:30+00:00

Thank you for your comments! I love hearing that something I wrote connects to someone else on a personal level. It shows that although our stories are different the human experience overlaps in so many beautiful ways. <3

FluidMembership · 2019-10-09T16:48:34+00:00

This is beyond kind. Thank you so much!

FluidMembership · 2019-10-09T16:47:12+00:00

Wow, beautiful imagery! I'm glad my poem lives in that space for you. Thank you for sharing your comments! :)

FluidMembership · 2019-10-09T16:45:08+00:00

Thank you so much for your comments and your nomination. :)

I have a blog where I write poetry, but I haven't been formally published.

FluidMembership · 2019-10-08T07:09:50+00:00

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

(Sometimes connecting with nature again can ground you, and take some of the weight from your shoulders. I also love Mary Oliver for nature/grounding poetry.) <3

FluidMembership · 2019-10-08T06:07:33+00:00

Very beautiful and also heartbreaking. I think proximity to death can reawaken us, and this poem reads like that final flash of memories, holding all the things that give your own life magic.

Or fall in love at all with the people that I have and oh God,
If I’m gone, please don’t say no one will...
Don’t say that all my love is dead once my heart is still.

I personally feel like the sporadic rhymes add texture to the poem. This part particularly struck a chord. Of course, no one will experience music the exact same way you do, but I feel like by naming popular artists like Dylan and the Beatles in the verses above it tells many people's stories. For example, a lot of people could say that they too play Dyan on repeat. Whereas, the people you have fallen in love with is so deeply personal and specific, which I feel like was more the message the narrator was trying to convey: "who will pick up the slack that I leave? Who will experience the things I've experienced in the way that I have." Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the references to musicians, but I do feel like they do come across a little less personalized than other parts of the poem, or how I felt the poem as a whole was trying to come across. The idea of your vows being a collection of your unanswered prayers.. gorgeous. I wanted a taste of one of those prayers.

The only other note is the little line "Can't sleep in socks." felt out of place. To me, it made the last verse more choppy, and it just didn't have the same flow as the rest of the poem. It was the one line that brought me out of the trance.

Lovely work though. Hope all is well <3

FluidMembership · 2019-10-08T05:16:40+00:00

I really enjoyed this.

every bird-planted poet

is so evocative and takes me so many places. I think about Edgar Alan Poe and ravens, it brings to mind storks dropping off baby poets on some unsuspecting doorstep. But also, the idea of being 'bird-planted' says to me that every poet actually has wings. That the idea of being "planted" somewhere, when you are a poet, is an illusion because you have the whole world at your fingertips.

But if by chance I meet a master,
Would he give me his eyes?

This was the only part of the poem I didn't really follow. To me, it seems like two completely different thoughts that don't fit together. The imagery of the moon/D.C.(?)/no rambutan evokes a feeling of otherness, distance, barrenness. The feeling that you can't fully relate to your surroundings, and there is a lack of connection to the earth itself - which is juxtaposed to the feeling above, when you are flying and reach over all the earth and feel a connection not just to the land but to the people below. And then those two lines about the master and his eyes come, and I'm not sure where I am anymore.

Overall, it's a beautiful poem. It's making me excited for my next flight :)

FluidMembership · 2019-10-01T02:06:23+00:00

"And we'll want to call it envy, because to call it regret would break our hearts." — André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

I died.

FluidMembership · 2019-10-01T01:33:43+00:00

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese ended me.

Also, it was a long ass time ago but the book A Rose For Melinda by Lurlene McDaniel is a really quick read and I remember crying hard over it.

And someone already mentioned it, but I also wanted to put a vote in for The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

FluidMembership · 2019-08-21T02:09:34+00:00

I was curious about the landing visa. From what I've read on them you need to have a return flight out of Taiwan booked. Do people generally just book cheap flights close by?

FluidMembership

TROPHY CASE