Finally Remembered and Unfortunately Forgot

Hello world!

So, uh... Things happened. A decent amount of things.

For one, I finally started the daily mini-workout I'd planned to do since the beginning of the year. More than halfway through. ...It's something.

I'd originally done this for some time in 10th grade, and had always wished that I'd get myself to do it again. Basically, it's normal push-ups (or modified if absolutely necessary), push-ups on knuckles, sit-ups, and some final stretching. The trick is that I have to try to do it soon after I wake up or it'll never get done.

Unfortunately, I apparently overdid it the first day? So I was crazy sore later, and I've tried to tone it down a bit since then. My arms, legs, and stomach areas were all ouch. It took a few days for that to die down, but my stomach (core?) still goes cray-cray once I do push-ups and sit-ups, which I'm just gonna assume is a good thing as long as I don't overdo it again.

I'm really, really hoping I keep this up even when school starts again, but the absolute minimum is to keep going until I pass the PE test, which I'm honestly worried about. The PACER messes me up.

My sister's been using scraps of fabric and some basic sewing materials to make her own bralettes. I know she said they're more expensive than necessary and stuff, but I don't really understand why she's so excited about lacy undergarments...? Anyway, I decided to take advantage of the materials she leaves over and make my own little trinkets, practicing the stuff I learned about handstitching all the way back in 9th grade (and a small bit of embroidery in 5th, though I know I technically didn't do it right). I made this while she was working on her own projects while we watched Baby Daddy together (which I get far more invested into than anyone else in my family).

(Dat side view, doh.)

I did most of it with a stitch that I can't remember the name of, but we used it for book-binding in Ceramics, and finished it with the ladder stitch/invisible stitch. Of course, it was all rather messy since it all had to be done tiny and with no real measuring. Considering that, I think I did pretty good.

Oh, and I used leftover pieces of fabric as the stuffing. Can't forget that part.

So, we'll see if I try out making any other little trinkets, and if I ever find a black dress and/or red tutu that would serve as a good base for Ruby's dress. I don't really wanna set the goal to make it unless I see those things. I'm wondering if I'll see them at Spirit Halloween once that store opens...

I guess I'll just insert it now that my dad and I continued One Punch Man and finished it. The amount of skin shown throughout is a little... odd... but I have otherwise loved it. I actually think it'd be awesome to have his costume, despite it being yellow and red (which just so happen to be some of my least favorite colors) and wear it to Comic Con or something! So Saitama and Ruby (RWBY) are on my Potential Cosplay List, with Mabel Pines and May Chang still being characters I'd consider doing the next time I grow my hair out (unless no one even recognizes either anymore at that point, which would be pretty disappointing- plus, I'd prefer to have someone partner up with me and be Dipper if I am Mabel, or the other way around).

I also saw a video simulating a fight between Saitama and Superman... as expected, Saitama won (cuz anyone who knows who he is would want him to win, of course).

Yesterday, I finally got to work on watching all the Adventure Time episodes I've missed, which is a lot. I was surprised by the events surrounding the Season 6 finale! I'm just barely starting Season 7, so I'm curious to see what happens next- and I want to finally see the episodes that came out all in one week and everyone loved! As far as I know, they show more of Marceline's background, and possibly some of Bubblegum's too? I'm just kinda going out on a limb that they may show how the two met, since this is the 7th season and we still haven't known.

I uploaded all of my phone's gallery into my private flash drive and Google Drive (which turned out to take more space than I expected), and used the opportunity of having my flash drive in to add more songs to it. I mainly added Vocaloid songs that were in my YouTube playlist and I was pretty sure they were either free or I'd find it difficult to find out how to buy them anyways (since many were made in Japan). I've barely bought any music for myself ever (and most of those I mildly regret now), and I'd prefer to leave all that for when I'm an adult and am absolutely sure I want to use my own money for those specific songs.

Considering these guidelines, I still put on a pretty decent amount of songs! I put about 20, and only two or three of those were not Vocaloid.

I'd been slacking on writing for the past few days, so I sat myself down to work on the demon story once again. Fortunately, inspiration came as I continued, and I managed to get in about 4 more pages of the story! I still need to add in more detail and such for a few parts, but I've taken note of that and plan to get to it later. It's currently more important for me to finish the story than leave an unfinished masterpiece, if that makes sense.

So the Young Women were supposed to go on a temple trip. I already had the fact that I wouldn't be able to do baptisms (due to lady problems) going against me, but I rushed out the door without my recommend, which has never happened before. That was so embarrassing.

But, I got to use that time to chill around Temple Square while the other girls were inside. I realized then that I'm rarely out in the world all by myself, and I also haven't seen much of what's around the temple. I mean, I've passed through before, and we've gone to the conference center and tabernacle and stuff plenty of times, but I never really looked at the monuments or sat down and appreciated the little fountains or anything like that. It was surprisingly loud and crowded- mainly tourists looking around and taking pictures- but I did my best to make it a spiritual experience and just time to myself.

Since it was hot outside, I didn't stay out there the entire time; at one point, I went to sit inside, waiting for my group to come out. Turned out I had to wait there a long time, which was a bit painfully boring. They eventually did, though, and we ate desserts at Burger King afterwards.

Okay, this is quite important! Last Sunday, a family from Ecuador came to church, since some aunt in Miami (who was a member) suggested for them to try it out. They're originally Catholic, so I don't know what they think so far. It's the mom and three sisters (their dad's in Cali right now), and they seem to like us... Oh geez, I really hope they actually like us and aren't faking it, since we've been hanging out with them a lot lately.

This is mainly due to them having their lessons with the sister missionaries at our house. (They're staying with another family member at the moment, and don't know if she'd be cool with the missionaries coming over.) Apart from that, we've been answering their questions about what it's like here. Turns out they have a lot of questions. 

We've also started with showing them around the unique sights. First stop is/was East High (because of High School Musical), and I think we might be going to the Up house (a replica that someone made). Ironically, I've never been to either of those (though I've passed by East several times), so it's a good opportunity for us too.

Yesterday, they came to eat at our house (along with the sister missionaries), and I got to play Wii Sports Resort with the two younger sisters for at least an hour, which was really fun! (Ooh, I forgot to mention that a few days ago I played DJ Hero 2 alone. I ended up playing several songs I haven't done before, so... Confusion, frustration, and the occasional joy when I did surprisingly good considering.)

So, I'm really hoping they'll stick around and keep going with learning about the gospel and actually gain a testimony. Well, I mean, I'd be okay with them leaving after all, but I still hope they talk with the missionaries no matter where they live and be happy! That's all I hope for them! 

Last thing! So Sunny (obscure codename for the youngest sibling of a trio of siblings that we've known since forever) is eight years old- that idea blows my mind- and her baptism is going to be this Saturday. And guess what else is this Saturday? It starts with "birth" and ends with "day"!!!

My mom was... I don't even know what the proper word would be... Maybe kinda concerned and disappointed and accepting at the same time? Anyway, she felt things when she heard the news, and told me that it was okay if I didn't want to go to the baptism because of it being on my birthday. But I was like "Are you freaking kidding me? Of course I still want to go!"

Klaus and Sunny are my friends, even if we don't see each other too often because of distance (though, ironically, I see them a lot more than some of my old friends who I live very close to again- and by that I mean I haven't talked to any of them at all in forever). And I love seeing my friends get baptized! So the fact it's on my birthday might just make the festivities even better.

This means we're gonna have to do more of the celebrating my b-day the day before, but I'm pretty cool with that. I mean, we've technically celebrated my birthday a month early before (we kept saying that our trip to the Alabamian beach was my early birthday present). I kinda hope no one else in my family gets annoyed about having to travel all the way there for the baptism, but I genuinely wanna go.

Sunny's mom also suggested that she could tell me more about the college applications and essays and stuff because Violet had done a lot of it with her mom and she got accepted with scholarship to a bunch of schools! I know it's probably a good idea to do that, but I guess I feel a bit unsure about the timing and the fact that I'd be hanging out with their mom for so long...? I feel bad about saying that, but I honestly don't know how it'd go considering I'm not so much friends with her as her kids, so...

Okay, I think that's everything! So wish me a happy early birthday and I'll tell ya all about turning 17 next week. Bai~

I Did (Almost) Nothing

Hello world!

Happy Pioneer Day! *throws confetti up into the air*

I kinda puked a few minutes ago (not confetti, though), so... I'm not feeling extremely chipper at the moment (even though everything before this paragraph might indicate otherwise).

This week, not much happened... For once. It was a pretty lazy past few days, just how I'm used to my summers being. I actually ended up not doing any more schoolwork, instead focusing my time on writing the AU I started last weekend, exploring YouTube (most of that devoted to Vocaloid stuff), watching TV with my sis, and later in the week finishing my library books. So, not much to write about.

I think I mentioned earlier that I decided to not go to girl's camp, even though I felt pretty pressured. For whatever reason (maybe part of it being that I'm more stressed than ever), I didn't want to go. I sort of dreaded it. And so, even though I was assured I didn't have to be a YCL (even though they kept telling me I should be), I ended up just deciding to not go, due to it only feeling like it was adding more stress and worry rather than making me excited.

I guess I'm glad I didn't go since I relaxed more than I have had time for in quite a while. That's a little depressing, but true.

They were also asking the girls and women who had gone to share their testimony about camp during Sacrament Meeting, so I got myself out of that. *nervous chuckle*

My mom passed her final test to get her GED! Good for her!

My sister started going to classes at a driving school this week. They were kinda hoping I'd want to start learning too, but I feel like I already have enough on my plate without also worrying about getting a driver's license. And I can't even imagine myself driving yet, so... I think I'm just gonna wait longer, like my sister did.

Did I mention that my sis didn't receive her big suitcase when she was returning from China? Turns out that, due to the tag about the bag coming from China still being on one of the handles (she was in a huge rush in LAX and didn't notice it), they had sent it back to China instead of its final destination, thus how it got lost and they couldn't find it for 3 weeks. But, they finally gave it to her, and she finally has her clothes back, plus all the souvenirs and presents she had gotten for us. She gave me a floral dress and a handmade glass dragon (it's so tiny and silly!), plus a choice of either a panda T-shirt or a mini panda tapestry thing (since the othe thing, plus a panda fan, is going to be given to her boss)... I'm still a bit unsure about which I'll take, because I like both!

She'd also bought a few bags and Engrish T-shirts (they are real!) and some other souvenirs, but I think she was most of all happy to have all of the stuff she already owned back.

Two of her old friends came for movie night on Friday, just like how we used to have all the time a few years ago. (I think both are in this stupid little doodle I drew of a few of her friends prancing in a field all the way back near the beginning of this blog.) I was actually an equal part of the group this time, so that was fun. We watched The Purge: Election Year, Central Intelligence, Hush, and Guardians of the Galaxy (even though it was past midnight and half of us were dozing off at that point). They actually just slept in our living room, since it was 2 AM when we finished the last movie. In the (late) morning, I wanted to watch anime with them (sue to asking if they liked it the night previous), and we ended up watching a few episodes of One Punch Man! I'd wanted to watch it for quite a while, but I guess I didn't have the guts? Fortunately, it isn't as vulgar as I thought it might be, and it was actually pretty funny (and the fights were awesome, of course). My sis hates anime, though, so once she'd come down, we just finished the episode we were on and we watched Babadook. After that, there was just some more One Punch Man and Bob's Burgers before they left in the afternoon.

Oh! I forgot to mention that they stuck around that long because my mom was making tempura! (It was absolutely delicious, by the way.) And today was fondue, though I think I'm gonna be a little more wary of that cheesy goodness from now on... Now that I think about it, I think I've always felt mildly awful after fondue, though never to the degree of throwing up like today. I think I might've eaten too much and that's why... Maybe.

Alrighty then. I guess, now that I have the space, I'll put in random pics that didn't make it into recent posts.

When we went to Hot Topic a few weeks ago, I also decided to get this shirt, since it's the coolest Black Butler shirt I've seen them sell, and it has no chibis nor... um... sexy poses? This one has action in it!

The picture was done in a hurry, since I had wanted to show a friend in Hangouts my shirt, but it'd already been in the laundry basket. It has both sleeves and stuff, don't worry.

This was an assignment to make an ad or commercial for something, and I thought the option of just drawing something was the easiest. My inspiration was my own backpack, which is striped and has my lucky rabbit's foot keychain.

I think I did a pretty decent job making these up on the spot, and they're cute, right? I think girls would actually buy bags like these.

Lastly, these pictures of the sky from over a month ago... My mom just told me to since it was pretty out.

(The moon was out, and you can see it in this second pic.)

(Mountains- I don't like being in them, but they're so pretty~)

Wasn't that just absolutely exciting?

I guess I'll just finish with telling about my plans... I'm gonna try to get myself to do at least a little bit of school this week. I also need to decide for sure what I wanna do on my birthday, since it's really close. I know that I need to prepare a partial lesson for Young Women's late next month, so we'll see how that goes... Uh, yeah. That's all I got. K bai!

Take the Stress Away, Please

Hello world!

This week didn't start off that pretty.

My stress has been building up, and the results were a little more disastrous than when I couldn't handle the beginning of 10th grade. That was already bad. The floodgates started opening on Sunday once we did Family Home Evening, because my mom started mentioning how stressed I've been lately, and went on about how she and my dad would love me no matter what career I chose and it didn't have to make a ton of money, but that wasn't my concern! She's always told me that! What I've been stressed about is making it into college in the first place! And I can't quite decide what would make me happy! I was not only staying stressed about it, but it was then feeling like they were misunderstanding me. So Monday came and I was just... Ugh, the headache is coming back just thinking about the headache I had. We arrived to school, and I was just getting out of the car when my mom stated that I wasn't okay and I just started crying. I guess you could say I had two or three breakdowns within that day. My mom took me home at that moment before I even entered the school for the day and I stayed home, basically either crying and trying to tell my mom what was really bothering me (and for a while, it still felt like she was misunderstanding, which only made it worse) or trying to distract myself with fics and other stuff. It was a really sucky day.

I will say that my mom made me change my classes so I only had English and Physics instead next semester. I'd liked my original schedule, and it was frustrating me that I had to change it, but it was true that having those three classes was worrying me because I wasn't sure how much time I'd have outside of them to, say, finish Financial Lit and PE, if necessary, and write, and maybe take that Kung Fu class. I wasn't gonna be able to do everything. I tried to pretend things would be okay, but they weren't going to be if they stayed that way.

I've gotten almost all of the first term and a little over half of the second term done for Financial Lit so far, so I'm hoping I'll get myself to do more of it this week despite not going to actual school. And I'm hoping I'll start to get myself to actually be serious about training to test out of the last semester of PE classes this week. I've only got a little over a month left of summer (which hasn't felt like a very proper summer, lemme tell you) and I can't leave this for the last few days. Like, no.

So a few years ago we went to Nashville with my aunt, uncle, and cousins who lived more on that side of the country. This week, my uncle had asked my dad to help out a friend who was moving to SLC, who I guess I'll just call John. He stayed at our house for a day, and it was actually kinda fun. He's a good guy who had a pretty colorful, interesting past, and he's also a recent amputee (I haven't often seen someone with only half one of their legs, but I didn't feel weirded out, just more like curious... I wonder if I have Ed Elric to blame for that). My sis and I talked with him for a while about stuff like writing (he's apparently written some books, so he gave me some advice that I'm hoping I'll remember) and the most important books you would give to a dying future civilization so they would be able to prosper... I had a hard time thinking of how to contribute to that second conversation, since the only books I could think of are things like Dr. Seuss and The Kane Chronicles... That wasn't appreciated.

I wish I didn't feel so tired, because I'd like to expand more on his stay with us, but I just kinda want to get this post done...

On Friday, me and a few other girls went on a trip with the YW 1st Counselor to visit different temples (and do baptisms for the dead in each) along with see her sister and nephew and get some ice cream at some place she and one of the girls were fanatic about. I wish it was easier to talk with the twins, because they just don't talk! They barely even talk to each other! They're honestly part of the reason I couldn't feel comfortable in this ward for the longest time... But, even though it was sometimes awkward because it's hard to have fun conversations with party-poopers like those two, it was still an enjoyable (and tiring) day. We ended up going to the Bountiful, Brigham City, and Logan temples.

I basically spent the entire day yesterday writing... And it wasn't even an actual publishable story- rather, it was a detailed description of events for an AU. It's one of those character-swap sort of things, but I wanted to explore how things would go from each character's birth in their new place all the way to as far as I could get. Ed was put into Mustang's place, and the first part of his life took up 3.5 pages, then I switched to Winry, who took Ed's spot, then Roy, who's in Al's, and finally Al as Winry. From there, it kept cycling through the perspectives of each as I tried to figure out how their reactions and stuff could possible have been to the important events and how things could've changed. It's a little more difficult for some, since I have to think in perspective of if that character grew up in the completely different environment, but they'd still maintain a few key characteristics of their personality. I think the most difficult to figure out has been Roy. I used to think I knew him pretty well until I turned him into Alphonse!

At this point, it's about 9 pages and it's describing some of what it's like soon after Winry has become the Fullmetal Alchemist, which I'm having a hard time with. I want to see how far I can take this brainstorm through the plotline, so I hope I can figure that out and keep going.

I know this isn't an actual story I plan to officially write and publish (though I wonder if I could pitch the idea and my huuuuuuuuge summary thing to another author who'd accept the challenge and turn this into something awesome), but I feel like it's still a good practice for exploring my ideas, and it could possibly give inspiration for a future story, just like some of my old works are doing for me now!

When I've run out of juice for this one, I'm gonna try to do more for another idea I started on, and then return to the demon story that remains unnamed...

Echo Gillette made a video with Butch Hartman (yeah, for reals!!!) about how to draw the style of Danny Phantom, and after some fails of trying to follow along on the examples he did, I tried drawing myself. I feel weird about drawing myself so curvy... And I wish I was better at poses, because I always end up doing poses that aren't quite right. The smallest change that could've been done on this one so it would look more natural would be popping up the hip in the back rather than the front (at least, it looks like that one is higher), though I'm not sure if I could have managed to do that. Eh.

I found it surprisingly difficult to decide how much detail to put into this so that it showed stuff that I actually wear or like without drifting too far from the DP norm. (I already veered off a bit with softening the line for the chest, and I wish I could have done the chest smaller, but that wouldn't have fit the style still). I also found I don't like drawing huge feet (I've always drawn feet pretty small), but at least I put in the most-simplified-I-could-bring-myself-to-be-version of my Converse (that have a zipper on the side), since I wear those a lot. I wanted her to be holding something, but a phone wasn't working, so I tried drumsticks instead. Her shirt (can't remember if they draw sleeves that way, but I do) seemed too plain, and I have a hard time with wearing plain shirts, so I resorted to a cat head.

I knew I'd have trouble with the face, too, because- while American cartoons are technically easier to draw than anime- I can rarely draw circle eyes without them being unintentionally creepy, which is why I've almost always resorted to anime eyes or just dots. I had to practice this (and also tried drawing inside of glasses lens, but, as expected, that looked worse) off on another part of the page before summoning the courage to draw the actual face. I think, if this was colored, the eyes would probably be just a lighter brown (than my natural color) without pupils. I realized at some point that they don't like using brown eyes, for some reason, but all the other characters in the show with dark hair have green eyes. I once drew myself with green eyes, but I think brown just suits me more, and it'd make me look a little more unique in the DP world, as weird as that sounds.

And I know, without a doubt, that I'd be one of the characters with thick, rectangular eyebrows. No question.

Last thing (yep, this has been a relatively short post) is that we went to eat at Brorange's house today. I told him a bit about one of my favorite fics, "Harry by Proxy", and he actually seemed amused by the idea! He didn't go all annoying about how horrible fanfics are! I'm hoping he'll actually consider reading it, because I think he'd like it, at least a little bit.

Wait, there's also that I finally looked at music from Steam Powered Giraffe (a friend had told me to look them up in 10 grade) and... I'm not totally sure how I feel about them. Some of it is cool, but they're also so confusing...

That's it for now! K bai!

We're Coming ASAP, Abuelita!

Hey, world!

So, a ton has happened these past few weeks. Like, my list of things to mention is ridiculously long.

I guess I could start by clarifying about what I wrote last Monday. Some of my cousins living in other states came for the 4th of July family reunion (which I haven't been to in forever), some of which I hadn't seen in far too long. I mean, some of them it had only been 2-ish Christmases ago, I think, but two of them I seriously hadn't seen in more like 5 or 6 years. At that point, they didn't even remember me (which I was supposed to expect, considering they hadn't remembered my sis either when she visited them a few months ago) since one of them was maximum 5 years old and the other was just a baby. So that meant I needed to get them to like me.

That included being somewhat a weird extrovert (that's a lot easier to do with little kids), which apparently threw all my cousins off, but I got them to like me! *score*

The saga continued the next day, when we had dinner at my grandma and grandpa's house, as the same people (plus my aunt, uncle, and their dog) from our part of the family were staying there or came over. Another day to get to know my cousins more! (I actually talked more to my littler cousins than the ones that are older... I felt like they were being more shy than usual and I wanted to be cool with my littler ones, so that ended up happening.)

My sister was being a butt and only hanging out with the adults this weekend. I know she's the eldest of all the grandkids, but come on!

Speaking of, she got home late the previous Tuesday! The poor thing was absolutely exhausted from all the airports and air travel, and she was also exhausted from eating pure Chinese food and so much rice to the point of almost being traumatized by the thought of eating any more rice. She also came bearing gifts and stories, though... most of the gifts aren't with her because they apparently lost her luggage and still haven't retuned it after almost two weeks. She is really mad about that.

At this point, she's come and gone for trips or moving that I'm cool with it and act far more flippant than the first time she left the house, but every time we meet back up after she's been gone a while, I realize how nice it is to be with her- how something was missing without her until I she came back. We have a relationship that I just don't have with any of my friends. Ones like with Beka are close to that, but not there. It's mostly just our inside jokes, and singing together, and lots of laughing, but it's just too great.

A day or two later, she and her friend decided to do box braids to each other. And not just with their natural hair, like she did to me a couple years ago- they added in fake hair of both black and red. Since my sis already had blue-green in her hair, she unintentionally made her braids patriotic, but that was perfect for the weekend!

I mentioned themed outfits, right? Since it's actually been quite a while since I actually cared about Independence Day, actually, I no longer had much red, white, and blue shirts or anything. My mom bought each of us a top with stars and stripes and me a pair of pants that were a really cool blue, and for the Fourth of July weekend used those and whatever else we already owned to look patriotic. I may have already mentioned that I like doing stuff like that for the last days of October for Halloween, and the days preceding Christmas, and even the week of Valentine's Day if I have enough pink and red to work with? So, this was fun.

After that small post I sent, we went to go see some fireworks- again, hadn't done that in a few years. And, though I don't usually say words like these, the display was seriously spectacular. My sis and I were just freaking out over how cool it was because the fantasticness of it all!

Okay, I think that just about covers what I'd already mentioned, so now I'm gonna try to go as chronological as I can.

I'm just gonna mention that a few days after my sis came back, I finally finished The Law of Ueki, and OH MY GOSH I'D FORGOTTEN A LOT OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE END SO IT WAS A HUGE SHOCK ALL OVER AGAIN! About a week later, I finished Soul Eater too, which I'd actually started watching all the way back in Alabama, so... Yeah, that took a while. But I finished!

I had an appointment with a cardiologist- the first time I have ever done that! So scare!- where they did the EKG (that's what it's called, right?) and stuff on me. I got kinda emotional at one point since I was recounting my experiences, ones where I got kinda scared and worried for myself, and I felt ridiculous about crying. I kept being assured that it was perfectly reasonable to be crying, but gragh!

In the end, they seemed pretty sure there wasn't anything really wrong, which I should've been relieved by, but I kinda felt a sneaking suspicion that I was forgetting something. I felt a bad feeling grow in my stomach and my chest. Turned out that was leading up to my chest having the exact pain we came there to find an explanation for the moment we had left and gone in the car. And I realized then that I completely forgot that there was another aspect to the pain- there was a horizontal line somewhere (maybe across my diaphragm?) that would steadily hurt with a bit of sting. What if that was a vital detail? My next appointment is in 6 months! *frustrated and still worried about if there really is something to be concerned about*

K, so remember how I said my sis did box braids? She wanted me to have a similar look, so she gave me some cornrows, but she actually paused when she'd done most of the left side of my part (the smaller side), and we decided that looked cool enough. I guess I should be grateful we actually stopped there because the skin between the rows got a bit burned from the hours out in the sun at the family reunion. I mean, it was just a pink sunburn, but it still wasn't exactly fun.

Mm... Okay, that might have been everything for that week, besides reading some actual books. I've still got a bit left for Armada by Ernest Cline, and I binged the entirety of Rapunzel Untangled by Cindy C. Bennett one Sunday.

The day after the Fourth was when I began going to summer school. On the first day, I made the goal to complete at least 3 assignments a day, and pretty much haven't managed to get any more than that... I'd planned to do more assignments over the weekend, but that just didn't happen... *sweatdrop*

Anyway! Financial Lit wasn't quite as bad as I expected. I thought it was going to be as frustrating as Government, but no. And I'm actually learning things even though I'm basically going as fast as I can. That's good, right?

I think I'll end up doing a few more assignments the week after this week, even though I won't be able to actually turn them in... I'd just rather leave the smallest amount of work for this class that I can by the time school actually starts.

We saw Finding Dory, and it was awesome! One of the most worthy sequels in existence! I usually don't bother with sequels because they rarely live up to the original, but this movie certainly did. I hope that's how it is for "Visiting Homeland" to "Family History". My friend tells me yes, but it never got popular... like, at all... *sweatdrop*

I've been going through all the songs on Paramore's YouTube channel, trying to find more that I like. Most of them I don't get as moved by as the ones from the album I originally listened to (brand new eyes) since that one basically contained most of the songs I'd ever heard from them and liked. But there's still some of their stuff from other years that I like too! It seems it's mainly the ones that they had a little later that I like more than their earlier songs?

We went to the hot springs with my aunt. I think I still prefer normal pools, though if normal pool water was a bit warmer (not crazy hot, just warm) that would be awesome. While there, I got the guts to tell my sis about the dream-demon story. I was so embarrassed because I feel like the idea's one of many that sounds really stupid if you say it out loud. Her reaction seemed to confirm that it sounded stupid, since I just got one sentence out and she was already suggesting that maybe instead of dream-demon with an additional power, the main character just has that additional teleportation power, but that power includes being able to teleport into the dream-verse. I understood her point about it seeming too complicated and Superman-y if it was two separate powers. It luckily meant only minimal changes for what I have written, so that was cool, but that moment didn't really boost my confidence in being able to come up with my own original, good ideas...

I'm pretty sure I've made it evident that I have a lot to stress over lately, and another thing was piled on. My mom got a call from one of her sisters that the doctors think Abuelita might have cancer... and at an advanced stage, too. I think they said uterine or cervical or something? I'm not quite sure since I've only been told in Spanish. They're still checking it out and haven't made a 100% official diagnosis, but it's still a little scary. It's not often I see my mom cry like that.

I did actually want to go to Mexico over the summer if I wasn't too busy, but I was too scared to go without my sister. Now, though, all three of us, especially my mom, need to go see Abuelita.

I will admit, though, that for once I feel like I can actually help at least a little. Just a few days before I had an assignment where I had to come up with financial goals, and when I asked my sis what sort of things she'd put, one was about having the money for plane tickets to see family, whether that meant family in Mexico or us if we were in another state like before. There, I made the goal that I'd try to have enough money to pay my own ticket for Mexico the next time we were going to visit.

And so, that immediately came up as we realized we needed to figure out how to have tickets and fast, and I immediately offered up all my savings to the cause. I counted how much money I have, and it turned out to be almost $200, so that wouldn't be close to enough for all three of us, especially on short notice, but it'd certainly make a dent, right? No matter the other possible plans I had- make a Ruby cosplay dress, for example- this is so much more important, and I'm glad I'd been hesitant to spend this money before.

Depending on how the situation turns out to be, it could be that my mom stays with Abuelita for months, which means we need to have a plan for how we'll survive without her once school starts. Looks like my sis is gonna get her license as soon as possible and I'm gonna switch out my Chemistry class for a Physics class that's later. I'd been hoping to do chem then physics, but it wouldn't make things any easier to also have to worry about getting to such an early class.

We were able to use our Hot Cash for Hot Topic, and so we went all out and used them all up. To my pleasant surprise, they still kept intact all the other markdowns and sales already happening to many items in the store, so we got a pretty decent amount of stuff. My sis and I got two dresses each (so four in total), plus I got a Black Butler shirt (finally! An action-y design instead of those weird chibis! I wish it was brighter and not so faded, though) and two hair bows. I actually wore one of the new dresses to a Latin dance party later that night. I danced with my sis, 3 guys (one of them actually knowing how to dance!), and Elenita's older sister, who we didn't know would be there!

I thought it was a funny coincidence that I actually heard two Paramore songs play while trying clothes on at Hot Topic that I had listened to a few days earlier and hadn't heard before that.

Actually nearing the end of the post! Craziness!

I finally posted "Food Fight", weeks after I'd originally wrote the first draft. It went through two rounds of beta-ing, the first being pretty embarrassing for me to read because it felt like my writing was a bit inadequate considering it needed to be improved so much... I'm just hoping I'll remember that I need to use more descriptions in the future...

Liz and I fixed up our 3rd chapter of QQ before it is betaed and finished the 6th yesterday, which meant I delayed the fast prayer... a lot... But I hope it still counts, anyway. *nervous chuckle and sweatdrop*

Scaehime was the first to review "Food Fight", and she commented about my AN that she had once submitted some of her fanfic work to get into a Creative Writing program and got in, so... would that mean it's less necessary to write original pieces?

Finally done typing... I think I need a nap.

What Can I Say? I Look Good in Red, White, & Blue

As far back as I can remember, I'd actually never really been that big on 4th of July. But I guess with my sister being back in time for it, along with seeing my cousins, getting to wear themed outfits (which isn't often this time of year!), and just overall enjoying myself and having my family... As stressed as I am about school and writing, this is a good time to be alive.

I know I complain about you a lot, 'Murica, but I guess you're not so bad if I'm able to be happy on your soil.

Of course, if Hillary Clinton or, please no, Donald Trump becomes your president, we're really gonna need to talk things out and fix that.

Whoever reads this, I hope you're having an awesome and un-sucky day. And if it IS sucky, then know at some point it's gonna stop. Maybe in an hour, maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even until the next Independence Day. But it'll be better and worth it to be around for that day when it comes, ya know?

This is about as positive as I've ever gotten in a long time. I sure hope it sticks around! I'll explain things next post, I just felt like I should barf these words out right now. Merry 'Murican Summer Christmas, everybody!