Last Week + MAH HAIRZ

Hellos to all the worlds!

Last Sunday was quite busy, and so I didn't have enough energy to make a post. Unfortunately, that means there's quite a bit to mention this week. I'm gonna go chronological, for once!

First of all, we went on a temple trip two weeks ago, and it was kinda crazy and embarrassing to realize I hadn't gone to the temple in a long time. Long time as in we last went in August or September? I never got a new recommend in Oregon, thus how I can calculate when I last went, as the most recent recommend had been from Alabama and it expired last September.

Anyway, it was nice to be back, especially in a temple I was familiar with. Turned out we picked a bad day, though, as we ended up waiting there for about 2 hours to get our service done.

At one point, Beka showed up! Turns out it was her stake that was there. The embarrassing part is that I had left my glasses in the locker, so when she waved at me I couldn't even recognize her. My sis whispered to me that it was her and I was like "OHMYGOSHI'MSOSORRYBEKA". I'm glad she figured out that it was just because I'm pretty blind and laughed it off, but still!

One of WFAM's main characters is Guinn, who came from pretty much the first story I'd started to write and talk about on this blog. I used to be pretty proud of that story, honestly, even though I never came up with a proper title for it. I know better now.

Much. Better.

Anyway, at some point during school that week, I'd been having the hardest time concentrating, so I gave up and let myself have a small break by reading works I had a copy of in Google Drive, and I ended up reading through Guinn's story. Yeah, I was very disappointed with my past self.

But later, when I came home, I realized something I wish I'd realized earlier: WFAM Guinn's kinda felt like she hasn't gotten as much attention as the other protagonist, Cami- so why not use elements from her first story as inspiration?!

I started going again through her story and writing down ideas I derived from events in it. I was surprised by how muh I was able to pull out. Yes, Past Me kinda sucked, but she was also mildly clever, interesting, and impressive. That was the same sort of thing I thought when I reread all the forum a few months ago. I was like "How'd I even come up with this?!" So see? It is indeed a good idea to keep around your older stuff, because you never know how much it'll help with your current or future work.

I've still got some more brainstorming to do regarding Guinn's old and new stories, but I've definitely got some ideas I can work with already.

(Sidenote: I'd said I would go chronological this time, but it just fits better here to say I finally finished another chapter of VH! I just need to do the alternates for the next chapter and write the final chap and I'm done! Craziez!)

I watched some more Soul Eater after not watching for months, and my dad watched for part of it. He was so confused and unimpressed.

I had in my memos for quite a while to look up songs from the Vocaloid Maika, and I finally did. Turns out she's pretty cool! I'm defs a fan now. *flashes a grin* I'm glad I decided to expand my Vocaloid horizons beyond the most well-known ones. Len's still one of my faves, but I actually have heard quite a variety of others and like them too! That's a pretty cool thing about this fandom(?), huh? There's so many characters/voices and people can do so many awesome things with them.

I have reached last Sunday! So it was the day of the Sunday farewell talk for Violet (recall the The Series of Unfortunate Events family?), who's starting her mission. We went to the Sacrament at their ward, and it turned out the people in their ward were... pretty normal. Huh.

So we went to hang out at their house for a few hours afterward, me hanging with Klaus and my sis with Violet. Klaus is quite different, nowadays, from how he was back when he was a homeschooled kid. His interests in TV shows and such are quite surprising, but it think it means I can connect with him on new levels now. I'm kinda proud of him for getting out there and experiencing pop culture more!

After that, we went to the Pomegranates' house! Not their real name, but awfully close. *huehuehue* I hadn't seen two of those brothers in years! And by years I indeed mean years! They barely said anything to us, though, since they had their own friends there, though. (Oh, don't mind me, boys. I haven't seen you in forever, and I know we weren't the closest of friends in the first place, but of course I don't feel completely ignored at all. Oh no, continue being stupid with your friends, I don't mind at allllll.)

I finally watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Yes, finally, 4 or 5 months after its release. Coatrack and Carter were so, so happy when I told them. I indeed liked it more than I thought I would; it was quite well-done. The new main characters were really likable, so points to Disney. I liked the wardrobe, too, which is something I usually don't pay much attention to. I kept staring at Rey's ensemble, trying to figure out how it was done.

I wonder if I mentioned a while ago I planned to donate my hair? Well, THE TIME FINALLY CAME (*dun dun dunnn*)

I did my best to draw how it came out this morning? The thing is the hairstylist straightened my hair to check the cut was okay, so I left it like that for a few days. It was way cute like that, but it's not gonna look like that often.

I truly realized here that the front looks suspiciously like te bangs my friend once had, who was a scene girl? I tried doodling such hair a few times in 7th grade since I actually kinda liked it.

I promise I did my best... But the best profiles I've ever done was for the "Powers" characters (yet another story without a proper title. Sigh.) and never tried drawing myself in that angle. And I was trying to match the style I'd ended up doing for the front view (which is not how I usually draw myself), so it ended up like that. Plus, I don't know that well what the back of my head looks like...? I know, I needed to make my head bigger in that one. It makes me look like I have a small brain.

Since I showered a few hours ago, we finally know what the cut looks like with my natural hair, and it looks just as cute, though a different sort. I hope I draw my real hair soon.

Oh! While the girl cutting my hair had washed it, she mentioned that Prince died that morning. I was like "WAT??" Yet another legend! I'm not going to say I was a huge fan because I honestly knew very few songs from him, but it's still sad. At least I can't mildly blame myself for this because I haven't listened to "Kiss" in a long, long time...

Last thing! My sister got her wisdom teeth surgery done, so she's been recovering over the weekend. It was crazy to see her for the first time after, because she'd suddenly turned into... Quico.

I did a quickie sketch to demonstrate the dramatic change:

She can hardly open her mouth! And she's been in a lot of pain, poor thing. I hope she'll be back to normal within the week...

Okay, I think that's everything! Let's hope I get more drawings done and more writing done too!

College So Close! ZooRubyBIV Pics!

Yellow, world!

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

Red up a whole lotta Poe, trying to research for the paper I had to do. I made some interesting discoveries (like that he has more of a variety of stories than you'd imagine, and he apparently had a fascination with hypnosis), but all that flipping out was somewhat a waste. I finally succumbed and asked for help from the girl who says I'm her little sister, for she's an LA tutor at the school. She helped majorly, and I could immediately work on typing up the essay, but I didn't use a lot of the notes I'd supposedly taken. Eh, at least it was just the first week I did all that on, and I know I can catch up rather fast for some classes. And once the final draft for my Poe class is turned in, along with the final assignment for Exploring Computer Science (apparently it's the new name for Computer Tech?), I'll only have 3 classes to work on besides seminary. That means I have plenty of time- supposedly- for preparing for next year.

Aw man, I'm scared for next year. That's when I'm just gonna be doing college classes, basically (unless I choose to take a class at the high school just cuz, like maybe Creative Writing?). I have to be totally sure about which classes I take. Though I'm gonna be double-checking with my mom, it looks like my picks for next semester are Chemistry, English, and Math 1060 (the Accuplacer had actually placed me in Math 1080, but they didn't even offer concurrent for that class! Nonetheless, my teacher thought it'd be better to go into 1060, since it would be a good review and possibly teach me more in depth a few more things, and thus leave me better prepared for 1080, which hopefully I can take the semester after that), with alternates being Physics and US History. 

Yeah, I know that I don't have a "fun" class, but I know I can deal with just required ones perfectly fine. That's pretty much what happened last year, after all- the only elective I had was Psychology, and that turned out to not be a fun class because the teacher didn't actually teach? Though I was annoyed by that, there was a lack of electives I actually wanted to take there besides Psych anyway. Same here, with the concurrent classes. They had a lot of art classes, but most just said "Art", and due to not liking my art class in 7th grade, that doesn't sound fun to me. The other artsy classes I didn't have enough interest for, either. Really, the one high school elective I think I liked the most was Sculpture/Ceramics, but that wasn't on the list. I still preoccupied myself with doodling and writing last year, so I'll probs just be doing the same, along with socializing (who does that?). Also, my drum set should finally be set up by then! We started barely putting the rack together and the hihat, but we still have a lot to do before it's ready to play.

Purple is not the best eyeshadow color. Luckily, my mom had put pink instead, when we had to be makeuped for performing the Tahitian dance again. Apparently, my sis had made the promise that we would perform at the school talent show, but due to last-minute things she won't be able to make it. So, we are recording the dance so they can play it at the show.

My mom found it necessary to do full makeup, unlike what I'm used to. She put foundation and everything. And, like what always happens, I didn't like it because I didn't look like me anymore (especially in the video! I doubt I would've recognized myself if I hadn't already had the knowledge that it was supposed to be me). I had to deal with it, though. Hopefully, in the end the video is decent, cuz from what I saw I wasn't doing as good as I wish I did.

Blue, I am no longer. Really, there was indeed some fun stuff that happened, one being seeing Zootopia!!! It definitely wasn't what I expected, but it was nonetheless very awesome. It so deserves all the cred it's been given.

Green with envy? Maybe you should be. *sticks tongue out*

I ran out of the colors of the rainbow... oops. Well, besides indigo, but that would be impossible to work into a sentence.

My mom also dug out old scrapbooks and photos, and has been working on new scrapbooks/binders for the photos that weren't already in one. It's been really fun to see all these old pictures, especially when my mom tells me about when and where it was taken. As far as I remember, I've always liked looking through the scrapbooks and stuff. And now I'm actually helping for a few of the new ones! Spending time with my mom and piles of photos~ I can't really think of anything else I'd rather do.

Somehow, I got an okay amount of writing done. I added more to the current VH chapter, and am quite close to finishing it (besides the alts), and Liz decided to post the first chapter of the fic we were doing together. Due to Scaehime, its title is currently "Quintet Quest" (or QQ, as I'll refer to it from now on), but I still like calling the "quintet" the Fab Five. I'm really hoping people will like it, at least if not the first chapter then starting from one of the later ones. We've got five chapters done, and will start the sixth sometime this week.

Something that I think I mentioned earlier was that I was now considering doing a RWBY Ruby Rose cosplay? Yeah, I've been thinking more seriously about it. If I had access to a sewing machine, I could actually do it myself. I've studied a bit the costumes you can buy online, and it seem like in general it wouldn't be difficult to do by hand. I'd just need to find a black dress with long sleeves (and a collar, if possible), a red tutu for the poof under the skirt, and buy the other appropriate materials for her cape and decorations on the dress. Equally, for her boots I'd need to find black boots (or normal boots and paint them black) and red shoelaces. Extra points if I can find the red buckles for cheap, too.

So her outfit itself doesn't seem impossible, with enough searching in stores and time to put it all together. Her weapon would be difficult to make myself, though, without it looking stupid. She'd be easiest to recognize with it, though, I think, which is a prob. I'd either have to go without it and hope I look enough like her with the dress and haircut, or buy the prop online, which will be about a hundred bucks. Ugh, cosplay be expensive.

I'd probs only make the adjustment of lengthening her skirt, cuz that thing's tiny. I'd tried sketching her with a skirt around knee length to see if she'd still be recognizable:

Why do I tend to draw legs too short if I draw a dress?

Anyway, it seems like it might still be okay with a longer skirt, but I realized today that, ultimately, it'd come down to what length of tutus and dresses I find. I'd most likely end up with the dress being more like mid-thigh than to the knee, but I'd be okay with that if my tights/leggings were opaque enough.

There's the issue that I don't look anything like her physically... So, again, the haircut should defs help, but it'd be the most complete with her weapon, and my face would have to be ignored. With all that done, it'd go awesome!

What this goes down to, ultimately, is whether I have enough faith in myself to actually complete the project and whether I'm willing to pay the moolah. I've only got a little over $100, as far as I remember, and that could most likely all be used for something more useful, like for anything I need in my classes next year or the year after that. I guess I would indeed have to get a job over the summer or something to get enough money to do the cosplay. Getting a job just doesn't sound fun at all, though. I don't even want to work in Arby's, anymore. ...Okay, I'd be more willing to work in Arby's than in a whole lot of other restaurants, but I still just don't really wanna deal with a job. Now that it seems I'm most likely not gonna be taking CLEP tests over the summer after all, and will only need to do PE in summer school, I'd technically have the time to do a job... If they're willing to hire me for only a few months. I'd really rather not work in my first year of college classes, so I can get used to the workload without having a job on top of all that. Ugh, I like spending my time at home, but if I wanna feel more prepared for the future I gotta consider working! That sounds like an awful time, though!

Well. Ignore my whining, and have a nice day! Look out for rainbows! K bai!

Powerpuff Mii (and Successes and Barfs)

Hi world!!! (This post apparently didn't publish last week?)

First thing- I just saw my ACT score, and I got a 31!!! *scream of joy* *jumping up and down* *many excites* As long as they like the rest of my application, I'm gonna make it into BYU (and probs a whole lot of other colleges)! Just have to write it up when the time comes~

The successes spoken of in the title also have to do with school. I managed to get the application for the math camp sent in on time, along with signing up for concurrent enrollment in time, so the former I have to wait for whether they accept me or not and the latter... I gots to start taking the Accuplacer and deciding what classes I'm gonna take next year. Oh joy. But at least the first part of the process is done!

And barfs is because, on Friday, my nether region decided "Hey, you know what hasn't happened in a while? Excruciating pain on the first day of menstruation!" This is the worst it's ever felt since the very first time it happened. And this time it was during the school day, so even better.

Basically, the pain slowly increased over the day, and by halfway through seminary I couldn't stop my face from showing something was wrong. A few times I actually put my head down on the table, which basically only happens when I'm really not feeling good. Nonetheless, I apparently kept the whole thing quiet enough that it seemed no one suspected a thing, even though I practically ran out the door the moment I could.

I rushed to the front of the school because I'd texted my mom to pick me up, which turned out to be a terrible idea as the fast-walking made the pain worse. I alternated between pacing in a panicked fashion and rolling up in a ball until she showed up, which felt way too long. I know this was worse than most times, because it felt like nothing I did would alleviate my pain even the smallest bit, which usually isn't the case. I was doing the weirdest positions in the car ride home because I was trying to escape at least a little bit and it just wasn't working.

What was new this time was that I also had felt the slightest bit nauseous, which defs got worse while in the car. Thus, the moment my mom got the door open, I hurried to the bathroom, throwing things off me along the way, and promptly threw up in the toilet.

So yeah, that was lovely.

I think, in that short experience (which didn't feel short at all, but it luckily didn't last longer than an hour or two because after that nasty business my mom gave me Advil and Tylenol), I understood a bit better what it was like to be my sis when her body's being particularly mean to her, and maybe a bit of what it was like for my mom when she was pregnant? I mean, that's probs a whole lot worse than my one sucky day, but it was kinda getting there.

I think I should mention now that Darkrai texted me? So we've been talking again, which is awesome! I mean, a few probs arise- one being that he tends to text me at the worst times, and the other that it tends to feel like he's being demanding and occasionally a bit ticked off which doesn't feel nice inside, but I know he means well. I'd determined that I'd always try to be there for him, and I am not changing my mind on it!

So I did the Powerpuff Yourself thing on Facebook, which CN to build up hype for the new Powerpuff Girls series (I'm really unsure about whether it'll be good or not, so I've been avoiding the trailers in case they spoil anything or make me feel negative about the whole thing). This whole thing has been making my mind recall 8th grade a lot. That was when I'd written an English assignment where you were supposed to write to a company. I'm pretty sure I didn't actually send my letter to Cartoon Network, but I'd actually kinda considered it... Looking back, that letter about Buttons was even more embarrassing than it'd been when I turned it in. I am not proud about how it was written.

I think I actually had decent ideas within the letter, though, even if 13-year-old me wasn't the most eloquent. I was mildly impressed, because I didn't even remember thinking of that stuff; I just remembered Buttons.

Anyway, I only tried doing myself in the game, which came out like this:

I think it's actually pretty accurate in how I look when dressed a bit nicer except that there's a bit too much grayscale going on. This is the closest I could get in what I usually wear to school, since I realize sometimes I wear odd things:

I convinced my sister to do it too, and now we have our FB profile pics as our PPG avatars... until Tuesday morning.

In real life it's only the bottom half of her hair that goes to bright colors, but otherwise I think it's decent enough of a likeness.

As I was typing this, I decided I wanted to see if I could do Buttons- the PPG of my dreamz- but I couldn't get it close enough. Mrr.

I also downloaded the new app MiiTomo... for a few hours. Turns out it takes up a lot of space on phones, more than any of my other apps. Unless I have friends that want me to get it and will actually do stuff with me on the app, I ain't bothering. I had as much fun as I could on the app until I deleted it, though. Making Miis is fun, and I made my Mii's voice deep and mildly demonic in the end, so that was awesome.

Though I figured I wouldn't use much the photo thing on the app, after they gave me a few suggestions I realized it actually had some potential. So this first one is one that was generated by the app:

It's... not as funny as it had originally seemed when they first gave it to me. Nonetheless, amusement.

This is an exaggerated version of another generated pic:

I so plan to use it in a texting conversation. Just need to find the right time, like with all my gifs...

Last one... It started when I realized I could put more than one of my Mii in at the same time. The idea builded up from there.

For some reason, my sis thought it was super creepy. *quiet cackle-chuckle* I'm so using this, too- probs more than the previous one.

I finally finished the first book of the Magnus Chase series! Finally! FINALLY! Really good book, but it was longer than usual and I didn't get as much time as I usually get to read it, thus taking weeks.

I still have another thing to talk about! (You are either currently "Yay!"ing or feeling disappointed.) This weekend was General Conference! *It's the most wonderful time of the year~*

I had invited Coatrack and Carter to watch it, but had forgotten to do so until there were only a few minutes till the dirt session started... Oops. Coatrack hadn't replied, but I got to tell Carter a bit more about it, and he said he might actually watch a bit of it! Yes!

Due to that, though, I suddenly felt a lot more conscious about just how focused on Christ the Conference is. That was because Carter isn't actually really religious, as far as I understand... And, well, I'd told him that the messages were about things like forgiving and serving and becoming a better person. 'Tis indeed true all of that, but I never truly realized how much those messages were enclosed within tons of gospel doctrines and truths and scriptures and testimonies and stuff... I suddenly felt a bit bad and embarrassed I invited him to watch it, because, if he actually did, he probably couldn't handle it for long. I doubt he could really feel resentment against me for that sort of thing, but he still wouldn't be happy. I'm just really, really hoping that, if he watched it, he was able to feel the Spirit and maybe learn a bit, or at least feel enough interest to ask me about something later...

Whatever the case about my friends, I felt the Holy Ghost a lot during GF and it invigorated me with more desire to accomplish those things I'd wanted to do since coming here! What happened to trying out Hit Record? Finishing those chapters of VH? Using some time at school for writing? Doing more exercise?! I need to get myself to just do these things already! Plus I wanna try to do a bit more service-sort of thing, like what was suggested in GF. They talked in both the Women's Session and final general session about the refugees worldwide. They really helped to put in more perspective and now I wanna see if I can actually do something.

One is that the amount of refugees is about or over 60 million. Since they stated the number of members by the end of last year was over 15,600,000 (I didn't get much more of the actual number than that, except that it ended in 99). There are 4 times more refugees than Mormons. And there are a lot of Mormons.

There's also that they talked about how the first Latter-Day Saints were refugees themselves. How unfair was it that they were the first generation, and they got bullied around so much? Tripped, then kicked when down, then stomped on? That sort of history is rarely appreciated outside of Utah and the Mormon culture, but all members share with that history because it's so important. They suffered, yet continued to be so faithful; they suffered, yet followed commandments and endured to the end, and because of that we have Utah and the gospel is so widespread now.

And then there's Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who was a little kid in Germany during World War II. His stories are so astonishing and heartbreaking, and I doubt I would have heard ones like those anywhere else. He's such an amazing man- yes, LDS meme, he is Arnold Schwarzenegger 2.0 indeed- and he teaches a lot and radiates so much of a Spirit, like all the other Church leaders. (He's a favorite, though.) It hurt so much to see him try to talk to say who was gonna speak next after the leader who had talked about the refugees... He was one of them, once.

So yeah. I feel more motivated to help at least a little bit. If not any refugees, then anyone closer to home that needs help. I hope I can do something.

I'll leave somewhat of a summary of this conference here now (mostly notes from the talks I wrote the most down for).

Is our reaction to trials to remember that we are children of God and he allows us to go through hardships because he loves us and knows it will make us stronger?

Just as a car cannot fulfill its potential without its keys, the gospel requires the priesthood keys for the saving ordinances.

Forgive. "None of us should be defined by the worst thing they have ever done." If we live with grace with one another, grace shall be our reward on the last day.

"Nephi realized that life would be the most unfair for the Savior." We can choose to turn toward or away from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

We must not delay coming to the rescue to other members. We must not give up. We are all called to rescue.

Choices can change a lot the way life goes, but we can do our best to stay on the right path because we actually know where we're going. "May we choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong."

In Lehi's dream, the ones who had tasted the fruit had fallen away because of the people in the building, but those who ignored the taunters and stay with the prophet were continuously partaking of the fruit.

Christ can and will save us; we need to let ourselves hope and believe he'll come, then obey his commandments. We will be rescued, like the one lost sheep. "Obedience is the lifeblood of faith."

Join in the effort to help refugees around the world, starting in your own community.

It is through opposition that the Plan of Salvation can actually takes place. "It is opposition that enables choice", and it is what allows us to become who He wants us to be.

It is because of the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ that we can have hope, and receive the fullness of joy and eternal happiness.

It is okay if you have things in your life you need to improve. "And the great thing about the gospel is that we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed." "He wants to bless us!" "Heaven is cheering you on!"