I Don't Want to Know the Secret of Victoria, Baymax!

Hello, world!

(Originally gonna be posted on Sunday, but there was no wifi.)

Two strangers sat next to each other in an airplane. One was the CEO of a soap company; the other was a Christian. They chatted to pass the time.

At one point, the CEO asked: "Why is it that Jesus came to the Earth so long ago to bring peace and stuff, but there is still so much bad in the world?"

The other replied, "Why is it that there is plenty of soap, but there is still so much filth in the world?"

The CEO chuckled and retorted, "Because some people don't use soap."

The Christian looked to the man with love and smiled sadly. "That is our problem. So many people have access to the gospel doctrines, but don't bother to use them."

A teen gave that story during Sacrament meeting today, and I really liked it, so I wanted to share it. *teeheet*

I knew if I napped last Sunday I would not get the time to write a post, but I was SO FLIPPING TIRED. Of course, the time after that we spent packing up our suitcases.

I can't remember if I had mentioned before our plans for Winter Break. So far, I have loved our time here. So much has happened (in my opinion), and so I have written almost every single thing down in my little journal. I won't bother boring you guys with most of that.

The moment we were on the ground, I suddenly realized just how much I love Utah. And also just how cold it is during the winter. *frozen tears* I guess I'll deal with it more when we come back permanently.

We basically spent up until the morning after Christmas at my grandma and grandpa's house. I got to spend a ton of time with my little cousins who currently live there. The little one is now 5, the older one is now 10. That moment of realization was pretty funny when me and Cam (older one) were like "Our ages are 5, 10, and 15!"

He and Ash (little brother) taught me how to play Super Smash Bros. It took a while for me to get the hang of it, mainly because Ash wouldn't go easy on me. (He's a beast in video games!) I also FINALLY got to try Kirby: Return to Dreamland, a game I wanted ever since it came out, but never found cheap enough! I was surprised they had it, since I thought it was expensive. They freaked out, though, when I started beating them in Super Smash Bros. even though they had played for two months (and I was like O.O You've only had this game for two months?!), so I guess they always manage to find used games or something.

On Christmas morning, I watched them open some of their presents. There was a lot of art supplies. (Cam got a bit sick that that was mainly what he got. I get what that feels like. I mean, I know I like to draw or bake, but not ThAT much, and it was the same for him. He was like "Oh... thanks..." every time he found another painting kit or something.) Cam got an electric scooter (that didn't work!) and Ash got a loud car that he drove around the house often. One of the things that I saw my aunt wrap the night before was tiny little squares. She told me that they were three used DS games, since my little cousin got the DS last year (one of the oldest versions, I think). He had been so excited when we ripped the paper off the little squares (since he didn't want to open them; they probably seemed way too small to be anything significant) and showed him the little games. We laughed when I teased, "And you didn't want to open them!"

The 10-year old still pretended to believe in Santa. At first, I thought he really did believe, but got a different story from his mom. I asked him about it later, and he told me he just pretended to for his little brother's sake. (His mom had told me it was also so that he could still get gifts from "Santa". That little stinker.) I was glad he knew to do that for his brother. I don't think Santa is a good tradition, but very little kids should still be allowed to believe, I guess. And they should hear the truth from their parents, not some jerky older brother or kindergartener.

We also watched All Hail King Julien (cuz, come on; who WOULDN'T watch that?) and The Master of Disguise, since they loved it so much and I'd never seen it. I was surprised by how many celebrities were in it. I was not surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I saw my aunt, uncle (he's part of The Company Men, so check that out), and baby cousin that we didn't to see as often. The baby turned one on Christmas, so we had a short party. He is so big and cute!

After that, we went to stay at a different aunt's house, since she lived much closer to our old neighborhood and friends. We went to the mall a few times (and I was forced to go into Victoria's Secret with my sister because she wanted to try bras! NO! NO! Does anyone remember that post a year or so ago of me rambling about how I despise stuff like this? And then I get pulled into the pinkest, boobiest store ever?!) and said hi to a few family friends.

Broranges and his parents picked me up from one of the friends' houses because they were going downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. We kinda went back and forth between the mall (that newer one that I never remember the name of, but is near the City Library?) and Temple Square. The first thing he is was go to the Disney store because e and his cousin always wanted to have one of the Tsum Tsum plushies. He got a big Stitch for himself and big Winnie the Pooh for her, then asked his mom if I could get something too. I was like "What? But everything's expensive! And I don't know what I'd want!" But Broranges is always so determined to make me happy, so he convinced me to get a mini Eeyore Tsum Tsum, which is absolutely adorable.

We spent all of Saturday at their house, in which I got to give him the Scott Pilgrim series. He apologized that he didn't manage to get the Zane on time. (And I realized that THAT was why he wanted to give me the Eeyore to make up for it.) We played games like Apples to Apples, ate tortas, and hung out together. Broranges suddenly suggested that we go watch Big Hero 6. My dad and his mom took us. I knew it would be cute, but it didn't know it would be awesome! That is such a good movie! One of the best things was that you liked basically every single good guy, including the protagonist Hiro! That is way too uncommon! He and Baymax are so awesome. I now get the big deal about the movie. (But not about Frozen, still. Now it's purely annoying, like Hannah Montana, Justin Beiber, 1D...)

An hour or so after, both my and his mom had to go drop my dad off at the airport. My mom, sister, and I are still sticking around until Friday, I think.

Let's see what I can remember from last week... I am so sure I had put a short list of topics somewhere, but I don't know where, and I've forgotten some of it by now! *sigh*

It was exam week, and the last week of the semester. (NO MORE PE! *cheering*) But it was also Bunny's last week! Why was she here for only a semester? I never really got why she would say stuff like "I tend to do a lot of extracurricular since it takes my mind off of why I'm here." I understand moving a lot; but from what I get, this was the only move she's done, and now she's going back to her old house... I don't know. *defeated shrug*

I has to do my US History test first, the scariest one of all! The other ones were generally pretty easy, though. I somehow got 100% on my Geometry test again! I have always been good at math, but not that good.

I had planned to do some writing and drawing, like I had for the end-of-year test last year, but surprisingly I didn't feel as inspired this time. This is all I got.

I got to see the Grinch cartoon again and started rereading the FMA books again. (And I started letting Dallas read the first one. He really liked it, but he is much slower at reading, so he still has a long way to go to even finish the first. He probably talks a lot with other people during school, though, so he doesn't have as much time to read, anyway.)

It was my sister's 18th birthday! One of her (only) friends here stayed for basically the whole day, as we watched movies, went for Little Caesar's, etc. The day before, we also went to see the last Hobbit movie! It was awesome! I mean, have you ever seen a movie of a battle with 5 different armies?

For some reason, Darkrai was absent from Wattpad for most of the week. When he finally did get back on, he was in a bad mood. I wonder what happened?

K, that's all I can think of... This is still super long, though, huh? Don't worry, next week's (should be) shorter.

This is my 100th post! Woo! ~~~~~

The Day I Saved Us

Hello world!

Well, Monday was the day that we came back to our home-state for the Winter Break.

Just gotta say that planes and airports suck. Butts.

The whole ordeal, from the moment we arrived to the first airport to the moment we left the last one, took at least 6 hours, according to my calculations. UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

My sister and I didn't go to bed until 3:30 AM.

So, our prob, Bob, was that we always have to do two connecting flights. We usually get hours in between the plane, which is not fun, but this time we ended up having less than an hour. That's scary enough, right?

Of course, our first flight got delayed at least half an hour.

While we were waiting to get on, I saw my sister fold her arms and incline her head to pray. For some reason, that surprised me. I guess because I actually wasn't worried at all. Irritated, since they always delay flights, but not worried. I decided to follow her example, anyway, and prayed that we would be able to make it to our next plane, too. I just felt more surer that we were fine by doing so. (...Surer really is a word??)

There was also another lady by herself that had the same planes as us, and she said the only way for us to make the second flight was if it was delayed too (which happens too often! *angry grumbles*)

The plane, of course, sucked. But my dad had had me bring some foam ear plugs for everyone because it can be quite loud in a plane. I felt better while wearing them, but it was harder to figure out what people were telling me. They probably had to basically yell at me. *sweat drop*

As the stewardess announced we were soon going to be declining, my sister turned to me and told me their plan. (She had been listening to my parents discussing.) They wanted my dad to run as soon as they let us off the plane to our next gate to, hopefully, get a few minutes for the rest of us (and the other lady) to get onto the next plane. She asked if I was willing to run with him.

It may seem a shock, since I'm usually a pretty slow runner that can barely endure a few minutes, but I'm still the youngest, and, therefore, the most in-shape out of my family. If someone has to go down the huge hill that is our driveway for the mail, it's usually me. If someone has to go get something really fast from the other end of the store before it's our turn in the checkout line, it's usually me. I don't really mind because it makes sure that I am getting at least a little bit of exercise, and it boosts my self-esteem whenever I somehow manage to get the burst of energy needed to pull it off in the shortest time possible. Despite the fact I like to laze around, I still have the urge to go work off any sugar I'd had during the day through jumping or skipping or a leeeetle bit of running. I'm still a kid at heart!

I immediately agreed to running with him. In fact, I thought it might even be better to go alone, but they said no. They told me to just carry a few coats so that I don't have to lug one of the carry-ons while (trying to) sprint.

My sister found a map of the Houston airport on the back of the seat in front of her, and we located the next gate. Fortunately, it was in the same terminal. Unfortunately, the Houston airport is HUGE. Even just going to the other side of the same terminal was quite a distance. I felt I could do it, though.

The plane landed, and we were all itching to run out. We zoomed into the aisle as soon as we could, doing tiny mental prayers and feeling very impatient. After all, it could already be too late, and there wouldn't be another flight home for a few days. Either now or after Christmas, which I would NOT let happen.

We finally could escape the tiny airplane, so my dad and I gingerly paced to the middle of the interval. I looked back behind me, saw my dad was ready (with a carry-on) to go, so I ran. Having already seen the map with the easy route, it was impossible to get lost. Getting too tired was the issue.

Every time I was going to turn a corner, I slowed down and glanced behind me to check my dad could see me before running again. I wanted to go faster, but I didn't want to lose my dad, and I didn't want to alert anyone too much by zooming past them frantically like that. (It seemed a bit ironic when I saw a few families running together in the opposite direction as me.)

It seemed I was so close a few times, but then there were really long hallways. There was one that was seriously just a looong strip of carpet to get to the cluster of gates. I was like "ARE YOU FLIPPIN' KIDDING ME?!" and sighed frustratedly as I ran once again.

I FINALLY made it to the gate, that indeed had our destination written on the digital sign (Is that what they are called?). There was still two people behind the gate's desk and some other airport person with a Hispanic family and one or two others about to board. I panted to the first lady at the desk.

"Um, excuse me?..." I (sort of) had her attention. "Our plane from Alabama got delayed a lot, and there's me and 4 other people that were on there that are supposed to be on this flight. We HAVE to be on this plane." I glanced behind me to see that my dad was near the gate, and I pointed to him. "See, he's one of them."

The lady asked a few more questions to my dad, so he elaborated just a little more than me. She asked if they were coming, and we said "Yeah, right now."

Indeed, just one or two minutes later, my mom, sister, and the gray-haired lady came running up with their bags. (I didn't know they could be so fast.) It was such a relief to all of us that the airport people waited a few more minutes. I was grinning as I gave my ticket and passport to the guy who lets us through the gate. I was still panting a bit as we scooched through the aisle to our seats near the back of our second plane. We all celebrated almost-silently before we took off into the sky.

When my dad later told the tale, he said that they were about to give our tickets to that Hispanic family. If I had arrived just a minute later, we wouldn't have made it home.

Although Monday was really tiring, I've enjoyed our time here a lot. It's turning out to be one of my favorite Winter Breaks ever.

Today's Christmas! Merry Christmas!

Remember the true meaning of Christmas- Christ. And not just His birth, but everything before, during, and after his mortal life, and his Second Coming that grows nearer and nearer. I know that He lives, and that the true church exists today. I am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He and Heavenly Father love us very much, and wants us all to be saved. If you work, you can be one of the saved. That means following the commandments, going to church on Sundays, repenting, praying. Try your best to be close to God and you will be. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Storm

Hello world!

I'm going to write some more for my Faith project, as I plan to show my work in Young Women's Excellence next month. I hope I get it finished, or at least half!

I am going to go further back than before, all the way to sometime in 1st or 2nd grade. It's one of the only experiences I can remember well from so long ago. I was either 6- or 7-years old, but let's just go with 7.

It happened while riding the bus to school in the morning in Indiana.

I've always been more of the kind of kid to sit alone more often than not just because I want to. I love window seats, because I can stare out to the world and just think about different things... I remember that I always sat near the front, where all the younger kids sat, and every once in a while I ended up next to some girl a grade lower, and I'd try helping her with her homework or play some game that had to do with drawing boxes around dots against her. I also sometimes would play "Miss Mary Mack" against the back of the seat in front of me. The older kids in the back were always really loud, basically shouting some of the time. I didn't really mind, usually, since I can be pretty good at ignoring crowd noise. They all loved to sing those songs used to annoy others, especially "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, and this is how it goes! 1, 2, 3!" They would repeat that over and over, louder and faster, and it was so fun I sometimes joined them, even if none of them would know I did. If I could do that on the bus now without getting punched, I would gladly do it, because I really associate the song with good memories.

It rains a lot more in Indiana than in Utah, let me tell you. I don't remember if I disliked precipation then as much as I do now, but I remember that all the grass and trees were bright green and beautiful because of it. I only mention this because this experience happens during a storm.

Yeah. Unless I'm remembering wrong, there was a thunderstorm happening on my way to school.

I don't get freaked by big storms unless they seem much too close to my location. If the lightning and thunder are drawing nearer, and I fear for my safety, I'll worry. Imagine how scary it was for Past Me, one of the youngest students, on a school bus, driving around when the rain was pouring down hard and the lightning was so bright and constant and the thunder was louder than the kids in the back! I seriously thought that the bus could end up tipping over from the weather's assault on us! Or maybe crash! Or get hit by lightning!

I felt so terrified.

I started crying and curling up into a ball in fear, sitting by myself on the seat near the front of the bus where no one bothered me. Not even my sister, because she always sat with her friends somewhere in the middle of the bus. It wasn't her fault, though, that she wasn't anywhere in this story- if I wasn't hugging myself, I could've ran to the back or called for her. But I was so scared of moving, or making anyone else moving, that I stayed by myself.

I then suddenly thought of praying. I sniffled, and folded my arms around my knees, tilted my head down, and tried to pray. I begged for the storm to go away, and for me to calm down. I waited a few minutes. More tears fell, and the older kids continued yelling as if nothing was happening, not helping the situation at all.

I tried again. I repeated my prayer over and over in my head, trying to say it out loud, but was more mouthing out the words than whispering. The noise inside and outside was deafening, and I pressed my hands over my ears to try to focus on my desperate, infinite praying. Every time the thunder boomed again I twitched violently and another tear fell down. I mentally yelled "SHUT UP ALREADY!" at the kids in the back, constantly. I spent more time with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands blocking the sound than not by that point. I reworded my faintly whispered prayers multiple times, not even caring if the storm really went away at all by now, just hoping I wouldn't be so scared of it.

I finally resigned myself once again to looking out the window, not really taking in anything out there. We were finally arriving to the school. It was then when I suddenly realized something.

The thunder stopped.

The lightning stopped.

The rain wasn't pelting the roof so harshly anymore.

The storm was ending. By now, it was just rain. The kind of rain that I was perfectly used to seeing.

And I felt okay.

He answered my prayer. My prayer was answered! He really was listening to my pleas!

The bus stopped, and I grabbed my backpack as I squeezed myself into the line that formed in the aisle to escape the yellow contraption. Everyone ran out of the bus to the doors into the school as fast as possible without running over one another or tripping to not get too wet by the rain that was calming down slowly. I quickly dried as I walked through the building to the 1st and 2nd grade wing. I wiped any moisture left on my face and smiled to myself.

The rest of the day was normal.

Praying is one of the things I appreciate the most now. I think about this experience every time it is mentioned in church. I have told the short version to my Sunday School teachers and wrote it for an assignment in 5th grade. (Can't remember why I had to write it for Humanities... I just remember that I did.) I feel like I have told it to too many and that I should probably try to use other experiences instead, but this is one of the most important ones to me. I gained a huge testimony of the power of prayer, and nothing else compares to it.

I also love the Primary song "A Child's Prayer." It's so pretty and means a lot to me.

God listened to 7-year-old me. If you ask something of him sincerely- even just to know if He is real- he will listen and answer. Whether you consider yourself religious or not, we all need to ask for His help every once in a while. Have you tried?

What's Your Letter?

Hallo, world!

I'll start with something that I thought was an interesting experiment, and not an assignment I minded, although feeling rushed wasn't fun.

So, we just finished The Scarlet Letter in English. My teacher gave us an assignment to help us understand more what Hester felt, by choosing a letter of our own to represent a mistake we feel we made and we regret, and have to wear that letter the whole day. (She told us about it Friday, and had to wear it Wednesday.) The day afterwards, we had to reflect on what we felt like and how Hester must've felt.

She gave us little time to think of what our regrets and corresponding letters would be, so most ended up putting 'L' for lying to their parents or something. But I don't lie, and I almost always follow all the rules. I thought of a few other things that I kinda regretted, since it made my life a little more stressful, but I banished the thought since it (hopefully) helped others, so I shouldn't really regret it. With time running out, and having difficulty choosing what I'll use and how to write it out, I ended up putting 'N' for 'not letting stuff out'- as in, there was stuff I wanted/needed to say to some people, but I was just too scared. I couldn't think of another way to word it at the moment.

I made my fancy N on Saturday, and on Wednesday taped it onto my chest, like Hester.

YAAAY GREEN NOTECARDS

YAAAY SHARPIES AND PENS

Technically, you weren't supposed to say what your letter meant to people besides the teacher, since some people wouldn't want the whole school to know what they've done, but a lot of people told what theirs meant anyway. I ended up telling two friends, I think. The first was a friend that... I don't think I've made a code name for, and the second was Blondie. The codename-less friend said, "Oh, so you mean being bottled up?" and I was like "D'oh!" cuz that was more correct, and meant I should've used a 'B' instead. *tick mark*

It was so weird, because, throughout the book, Dimmesdale says his A burns on his chest or something like that, and there was a moment where I suddenly stopped and realized that I felt something weird myself. Like, a faint burning sensation on the middle of my chest, beneath my N.

Creepy.

Or it was my imagination. Maybe.

Doing this made me want to get rid of the thing my N represented. Basically, dump the things I need to say (say what you need to say- if I was on a computer with a numeric keypad, I could put little music notes! *tear*) and be free!~ And no longer have anything I could use if for some reason I needed to do this assignment again!

Oops, I was drawing again during sconce. But it was review, and I remembered everything. Seriously, everything.

I heard my sister play "Rhythm of Love" by Plain White Ts on her phone a few days ago and became reobsessed with it. I heard it the first time when the guy that sings the song went on that dating show from a couple years ago. It wasn't The Bachelor, but some other one. It three guys at the same time... Can't remember the name right now.

Anyway, so. Whenever I hear the first verse, I always imagine the singer sitting up in a tree. I'm not very good at trees, but I did my best. I know the branch he's on is a lot bigger than the other branches, but I didn't bother to change it since it would be a better branch to sit on than the others anyway, being so big and horizontal... and a bit droopy. *tilts head to the side*

It's so weird! Why is it that I never wanted to write songs before, and just since last month I have? I came up with another one, totally different from "Suitcase". This one is more embarrassing, though, because I'm just kinda bashing comically on stuff. If I was ever in a band that actually decided to do it... We'd probs be killed.

Still gonna post the lyrics, even though they seem more stupid written down. It's more likable if you hear the melody, I think. Not like anyone will ever hear it. *sob*

Since I don't feel like putting them separately, and they need a bit of explanation, here ya go! The title is "Modern Idiocy".

May I interrupt your party?

Sorry not sorry, I need to do something

Immature? At least I'll admit I am

While you fart around in your big boss pants

Why should I feel pride for my country

If it's no better than the ones that surround?

Say the anthem, it's about being free

And the song, ah, the bombs, they make a beautiful sound!

Presidents saying they wanna stop war

By fighting it back with even more?

Ugh.

We live in a modern Reign of Terror (woohoo-oo woohoo-oo)

Everyone's an idiot who thinks they're better, and clever

It's just a part of our society (look up the def of insanity)

We're born, exposed, live, breathe, bred to be overreacting, no kidding

What about the American dream? (woohoo-oo woohoo-oo)

I suggest you don't take the chance because it's not as good as it seems

Nice to meet you sir

What's your name? I'm sane!

Your job is uselessness with an antonym name

The same for most that make way too much money

Because of a degree in the art of lying

Why do you think the big M is the greatest ever?

Why do people have to change things so that it's quote unquote better?

Don't fix what isn't broken

I am not your enemy

Yet you will give me diabetes

(Chorus)

Iiiiiin-terrrrr-neeeeeeet

Iiiiiig-norrrrr-aaaaaaance

I'm not saying that I'm perfect

I'm not saying that I'm worth it

I'm not saying that I'm the smartest

I'm just saying you're all victims of the virus idiocy

(Chorus)

Okay, so I actually wrote the chorus first, so it was originally titled "Reign of Terror". I thought it was okay since there's a song called "Pompeii". Then I realized that French could be really offended, so there's one reason I'd be killed. The least I could do is not make it the title.

I mean, I was learning about the French Revolution and all that jazz in World History a month ago, and all I thought about during the part about the Reign of Terror was that they were all paranoid idiots.

Don't worry, I'm that harsh with all humans. Myself included.

But yeah. So I suddenly thought about that and BOOM! A chorus! A week or two later, BOOM! I was inspired for the rest of the song! I mainly thought about songs like "American Idiot" by Green Day and "Ignorance" by Paramore, the latter more for how the music itself would sound. That "don't fix what isn't broken" part- that's something my dad likes to say. It usually annoys me, but I couldn't help but want to put it there. The stuff right before it- I was thinking about McDonald's and Taco Bell and those stupid attempts to combine foods like hamburger pizza and the chemicals they put in packaged stuff and the Americanizing of Mexican and Chinese food so it's not even authentic anymore and is just greasy and sugary and- ...yeah, I am just a little annoyed by all that.

I know some of those statements are probably false and ignorant (another reason to be killed), but it's just what I've seen and how I see some of the world. I'm just a kid who's seen a lot of movies and only hears people overreacting about news and stuff. And Americans can be sooo annoying on the Internet. Thus, a song where I can vent.

Is it really bad that, when it was stuck in my head all day sometime last week, I seroiusly got a bit sick of my own song?

Remember Family History from a few months ago? I finally figured out how to keep going on the story! I had gotten stuck at chapter 9, and now I'm working on chapter 14! Of course, I have learned too much of the ways of author12306, who tends to use violence on her poor characters to keep the plot moving. *sweat drop* I ended up doing something to a character and am sure not proud of it. ...At least she wasn't one of the MAIN main characters, right? *nervous chuckle while tear falls*

SHOUTPUT TO ALLAKAI! If you decide to read my blog diary thing, you are officially a stalker! *noisemaker* Congratulations, creep!

I'm kidding. I mean, I gave you permission to read this. *shrug* I usually post every Sunday.

I wuv woo, Alla! *hug*

Enjoy this hilarious picture of when the TV was paused at the best place ever.

WAIT

Hello world! ...Again.

I suddenly realized there were two important things.

They often told us in seminary and stuff to try to do a prayer when you wake up as a prayer before you go to sleep. I have the one for when I sleep down, but I just never have been able to make a habit when I wake up, since I'm out of it and don't remember much. *derp face*

Also, after we did all of the exams in PE, the teacher asked us to try working on one or two of the exercises on our own at home so that we will improve next semester. (I don't have to do the exam next semester though! *taunting laugh*)

In the Young Women's activity that week, we were going to do a Personal Progress experience where you are supposed to make a goal to have a certain habit and work on it. If we kept it up by Sunday, she would pass it off. I realized I could do both exercise and prayer in the morning to do all this good stuff at the same time. So, I made a goal to do some push-ups, (crunches if I am not in a hurry, like on Saturday,) a little stretching, and a prayer in the morning. I have managed to do it every day except for that day I accidentally woke up late. *sweat drop*

I've been really proud of myself so far! The first morning I only managed to do 7 push-ups (same amount as in the exam, of course), and this morning I did 20! *cheering and noisemakers* I also like doing a prayer in the morning. It's usually not long since I know I have to hurry up, but I still get to pray about my concerns for the day and stuff. If you don't wake up extremely early, I suggest you do something like this, that improved both physical and spiritual health.

The day I had my eye exam, my mom and sister afterwards decided to go sign up for appointments at a clinic for their checkups. The clinic told them they could go in right then. So I could either be in the waiting room for an hour or do something else. My mom (probably mentally gulped and) told me that I could go eat some ice cream meanwhile at Dairy Queen, since that was the next building over. We both were a little nervous about this, because I have never been out of the house all by myself besides at school. Seriously. I had never been in a restaurant by myself, or a store, or anything. And I barely did any of those things with just my sister, either. But I realized that I really needed to start becoming more independent now, and agreed to do it. She and my sister gave me some money (all coins, since my mom likes to use coins as much as she can) and I walked out of the clinic anxiously and slowly.

I went in as the same time as a dad with his son who just finished with his karate class, so he was wearing his gi and no shoes. They ordered while I looked at the menu (of course never having been inside of DQ before didn't help my nervousness) and I decided on getting something called Oreo Brownie Earthquake (basically, brownie with ice cream and chunks of Oreo. The name is too dramatic, if you ask me). I probably looked so nervous and lost to the people working, which is pretty much how I felt. I got the already-finished brownie when I got my receipt, found a spoon (did you know here's literally no forks at DQ?) and chose my own tall chair to sit in and enjoy my dessert. I ate slowly and studying the restaurant and things I could see in the windows, and smiling when I saw the little kid showing off his karate moves to his dad, and left. I felt better going back to the clinic, and I sat down in the waiting room (probably confusing and worrying the lady that was also in there with her kids, especially since I was dressed like a total tomboy that day; Spider-Man hat for the win!) and read some more of Bunny's story until my mom and sister finished their appointment.

There ya go! Two important experiences that happened this week.

Introducing More Friends

Hello world!

Ugh. Last week, I seriously got about halfway through writing my weekly post on my iPod when it decided to die. Without saving any of it. *tick mark infinity* I just don't even wanna try doing the whole thing again, so I'll hope with these words my future self will remember, and that none of these events needed to be expanded on for anyone else.

Zane (stupid Ninjago finale made me cry), Chespirito (Gracias por siempre~), one-shots ("Imaginary", and now I have to do "Chicken Nugget"?), tailgate (and dingdong-ditching, which I really didn't want to participate in), Thanksgiving

(Penguins of Madagascar, dinners)

For the first time in forever (one of the only Frozen references I use), I changed my phone wallpaper. And it was to the first picture, to commemorate El Chavo, since Chespirito died a week ago.

Okay, this week. I guess I'll start with Allakai. He's a friend I made back when Darkrai did RPs on FFN. A little after that ended, we kept in touch through PM (geez, so many abbreviations), and then did a chill RP in PM. (Well, actually, we still are.) Anyway, he asked me for my phone number, and since I trust him, I gave it. We texted basically every day since then.

Once again, I am reminded of why I kinda despise texting. Usually, people want to text nonstop for hours, but it's difficult for me to do that. I do stuff throughout the day! I like to be able to focus completely, not multitask! I am no good with multitasking, and I don't like it! But I feel bad about not keeping up a conversation just cuz I'm eating or watching TV or something, so I only do it when it's absolutely necessary, like I'm about to sleep. Unless our conversation isn't very fun anymore or I really just don't want to text, then I use what I need to do that day as an excuse to stop, at least for a few hours.

Most of our time texting is just kinda small talk, I guess, and maybe delving into something like favorite characters every once in a while. But then eventually it just turns into one of us kinda venting, usually Allakai. And just saying something they've had difficulty saying to someone else. I have little advice for his problems, but the advice I do have is advice he doesn't want to listen to. *huff* Dude, I'm listening to you, and I'm giving you good ideas to help your health and your emotional stuff and your entire well being. The least you could do is consider some of it.

But, of cooouuurse, people don't want to take pills or be part of a religion. Yes, most of both of these are bad (or just not very good) and horrible stuff has been done using either as an excuse. But those are criminals and idiots, and there  are still things that actually work from both. Like, my sister takes pills that help to balance hormones, because she has a lot of problems since her hormones are out of whack. But that's the only pill. Something like that could change everything for the people that need it, but then they don't want to, or they abuse it, or they use the wrong prescription. If you are careful, medication is a good thing.

And there's the religion thing. I know without a doubt in my mind that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church on the Earth. Only one. It is a Christian (let me repeat- Christian. Some people don't know that) church with millions of members all over the world. I mean, have you seen Meet the Mormons? Some think they just aren't meant to be religious, but the gospel is for everyone. I am who I am now because of the gospel. I wouldn't have been born without it. My home and family wouldn't be so great without it. I'm dealing with some things- in fact, those things are mainly wanting to help my friends, because I already love my parents and my sister, and I really only stress about projects in school cuz I have pretty dang good grades, and my personal health is... decent- but I'm probably more overall happy than most of the other students at my school. And I know that the things I've been taught of the gospel by my parents and teachers are the main reason why. I am awesome because of it. Why wouldn't anyone else want to become happier and more awesome? Why aren't there more happier, awesome people? I know why. Because a large percentage of the population doesn't want to pray sincerely. *blink* I'm sorry, but... really? Really? That's your excuse?

Sorry, needed to get that off my chest. *sigh* I promise I'm nicer and not so blunt most of the time.

Wow, I don't think I've talked yet about this guy at my school. I'm gonna call him Dallas cuz he was born in Texas.

The time I met him was him telling me he really likes me.

You can probably imagine what's happened since then.

He's cool and stuff, but clingy. Like, first we talked a little during PE. Then also after school. Then also before school. And then he discovered we have the same lunch period. I wanted to punch him when he just kept finding more times to talk.

What bugs me the most about this is that I know his ultimate goal is to take me out on a date. I told him clearly NO and why multiple times, and he's like "Yeah, cool, we'll just be friends." I emphasized the 'friend' part multiple times too. But he still mentions places he wants to take me, and he told me he wanted to get me a Christmas present, and a bunch of other stuff that frustrates me because it seems like he still thinks he has a chance. NO DUDE. NO. Has he seriously not absorbed any of what I've said? I mean, I know I was trying to put it more gentle and stuff, but... *growl* It still feels sometimes like he treats me like a girlfriend! Or a soon-to-be girlfriend! And I usually love to hug people, but he somehow does it in a way in which I wish he'd never hug me again! Someone has to make me really uncomfortable to do that.

Good news is that I won't have PE anymore next semester, so I won't have that class with him. Bad news is that he'll want more than ever to talk to me. Will I have to yell that I wish he'd leave me alone right before Winter Break? That would ruin his Christmas, and it might make him really mad and plot his revenge. But it feels like I'm trying to edge away from the stuff he does a little at a time (I've asked him to cut down on the compliments and stuff like that) but he still wants to get closer. Maybe this is the only option!

We had eye exams last week. My prescription has barely changed. The optometrist didn't say if my eyesight is worse or better, but I'm gonna assume it's worse. The same day, we ordered new glasses on ZennyOptical.com, like we always do. I won't have black frames anymore! I'll post pics of them once they arrive and I know they look good.

I have a friend whose interests are... interesting. She likes to sing and act (part of the school play and is choreographer for her all-girls choir). She isn't as good at math (although I still think she's better than she realizes) and doesn't like reading much because of dyslexia, but it turns out she loves to write. ...? (Granted, there's a lot of typos and stuff in her work, but she stills enjoys it.) And, most surprising, is that she is obsessed with Korean entertainment. Korean dramas (my dad watched some of one and I saw bits of it, and it really was pretty good) and K-pop are her life. Turns out she actually knows some Korean, and a little Japanese, and tried Chinese but it was too hard. But, so, she wrote a fanfic for a K-pop band (I think it was called Exo) and asked me to read it. It's a whole fantasy thing that was actually not that bad. It just really threw me off, though, knowing that the person who wrote it was a redhead who I guess I'll call Bunny. (Future Me will get why.) She told me she's one of the most well-known writers in her fandom. So I guess she's the equivalent of someone like the writer of The Blood Alchemist (LeFay Strent, right? *sweat drop*) on FFN's FMA fanbase? That makes this even weirder. Bunny just doesn't look like someone obsessed with Asains...

On Wattpad, I read another story (I've read a different one already on FFN) that had the cover picture of a fanart of Edward Elric with wings (one being automail). I wonder if these artists really use that picture for inspiration, since I haven't seen anyone else draw a picture like that, and both stories could use the same image, but were entirely different. Hmm... Also, I wonder who the heck decided to draw it in the first place?

But noticing that people were inspired by the picture, I suddenly got inspiration of my own. It would be a crossover between FMA and Maximum Ride. The concept would be that Ed and Al find the Flock by following Fang's blog (Fang is my favorite character, by the way) and try to see how they can help. They explain that they were once at The School too, but they were fused with the avian DNA after they were born- basically, scientists tried alchemy on them, and they successfully became human-bird chimeras. Through listening to the alchemists discussing and finding ways to get out of their cages to read the alchemy books, Ed and Al figure out how to transmute. Of course they want to escape The School, but they correctly assumed that if they just left they would be chased down again. So, more than that, they wanted to separate themselves from the birds so that they were normal and hopefully could escape without getting hunted. Ed volunteered to be tested on first, so the brothers studied and drew the circle and activated it while he was in the middle. Sadly, not only was their chimera-ness impossible to reverse, but they had something wrong in the formula, so Ed lost his arm, leg, and wings (but everything else is the same, including organs). When he healed (enough), the brothers escaped anyways, but did something (not sure yet) so that it looked like they died in their cages, so they were totally free from The School's grasp.

I doubt I would write something with more than 3 chapters, if I actually do this, instead of trying to get Ed and Al to follow along all the adventures of Max, since I don't know all of what happens, I have a hard time finishing long stories, and Maximum Ride is cool, but not one of my favorites anyway. Still an interesting concept, no? And, trust me, there's plenty of FMA fanfics that are more messed up. *shiver*

...I think that's it, besides that today is the annual churchwide Christmas Devotional! *yay*

A Long Time Ago in a Beautiful Place

Hello world!

Personal history can benefit others much more than it can benefit me. I learned this in seminary a few weeks ago, and I realized I can show my faith through this for my faith project in Personal Progress. I will tell a story when I have the time and it will accumulate to create a more meaningful diary and check a project off!

Time to take a step back to the past, to one of the days that I wished would never end. The temple open house.

Back in Utah, there are a lot of church buildings. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints already know, it's the headquarters of our religion, really. You can see the temples on the mountains as you drive around, and the chapels are sometimes just a block away from each other. (Despite this, maximum half of the population in Utah is Mormon, so don't think every single person there is. There are plenty of other religions and plenty of atheists.)

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple was one of the closest temples to our house, and they had just finished building it.

I was... *checks LDS.org* almost 9 years old. Wow.

I'm so old. *tear*

Anyway, there was an open house during the summer before it was dedicated. Once a temple is dedicated, up and running, only people ages 12 and up are able to go in. However, before that happens, people of any age can go to the open house. Even nonmembers. So it was cool for me to get to enter before I was old enough. We also brought my mom's boss, a nonmember family friend. (My mom says she had just lost her son. I honestly don't remember that.)

I seriously remember what I wore. A blue summery dress with beads and stuff around the collar. (I never was a big fan of the dress, actually. *sweat drop*)

Upon arriving, we had to watch a video on a projector under one of those big white tents that's for fairs or something outside. I can't remember anything from it, but I'm sure it was about the temple. *laugh*

Then, we walked in. The temple is a cool place, because it's so clean and white inside and out. But, on open house, there was also a bunch of mats on the ground so that everyone's shoes wouldn't make the floor dirty. I remember that they were clear-ish mats that kinda looked like bubble wrap. (Like plastic bathroom mats. *chuckle*) There was a long line of people throughout the whole building like a caterpillar, and people just filed in and out as they toured. Despite all the people and having to move at everyone else's pace, it was cool to walk around. I liked seeing the variety of people there. Most were families, with a baby in the dad's arms and a 3-year old holding their mommy's hand, or something similar.

What's the point of the temple? In case you don't know, one of the functions is to seal a family together so that they can be together forever. As in, during life and after life. Same with marriages. If you marry in the temple (or get sealed sometime after both you and your spouse become members) then it's not "till death do you part." You will be with the people you love for eternity! Isn't that awesome?

That was part of why I liked seeing all of the families, I think. (The comments the little kids sometimes made were cute, too.)

To my favorite part of the day! We entered the sealing room, where that stuff I said before happens. Two of the opposing walls inside had huge mirrors, nearly ceiling-to-floor huge. It causes this weird effect where you look at yourself in the mirror and see... more yous. Over and over. My mom whispered to me then the reason why they did that. It had symbolic meaning, of the future generations that will be blessed because of you being in this room. (I think that was it. *sweat drop* This happened over 6 years ago, okay?) It really hit me then. I was a little hypnotized by the mirror, looking at myself and other people in the room, and digesting the meaning of everything. I could feel such peace and... lightness within me. It was something I had never felt before, especially so strongly. I would've stood there forever if I wasn't yanked out. (Not literally, but felt a bit like it at the moment, being yanked out of a big moment in my life.)

So we finished seeing everything and went home. We walked around the neighborhood for about half an hour before the friend had to go.

I think all of the little Mormon girls dream of gettin married in the Salt Lake Temple. I still admit, that would be freaking cool. (It's like a castle! And it's so beautiful! People travel downtown just to walk around it.) But, honestly, since then, it's been a bigger dream for me to get married in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, to go back into that room and feel that peace. It would be even better to do it with the man I love (and my awesome family there supporting us) and know I'm going to be with him forever!

This made my faith grow because I was able to feel the Spirit of the temple (I nearly want to say "the magic of the temple!") for myself. It's there and it is very real and manifests itself in everyone inside. Everyone worthy to be in the House of the Lord will feel the peace and their testimonies will grow tremendously. They will also be given countless blessings.

I give you my own testimony that the temple is the greatest place on Earth, and being able to be there is a blessing in itself. It helps you while you live life, and it will help after you've died. I know it really is the House of our Heavenly Father, and He wishes all of us could enter. I know this gospel is the only true gospel in the world, and everything contained, like the Book of Mormon, modern prophets, Word of Wisdom, and doctrine, is 100% true and sent by God to us to learn and grow and prepare to be with Him in the Celestial Kingdom. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.