I've been 17 for a week now, and I'm a little surprised that I've apparently adjusted to the idea quickly. All of that freaking out beforehand feels a little stupid now. Not that I didn't know it was already stupid while I was freaking out.
One of the first things we did was spend a final day with B, C, and D before they moved. It mostly consisted of playing more Wii games with B and D and then watching Corpse Bride with them. They'd never even seen The Nightmare Before Christmas! I felt like their lack of Tim Burton needed to be remedied, and Corpse Bride is my and my sister's favorite movie from him. Ever. Unfortunately, everyone in the kitchen was being really loud, so it was quite difficult to hear the TV, and I'm not sure how well they did with following along with the story, even though they put the Spanish dub (and I also added the Spanish subtitles when it proved difficult to hear, but it was annoying that the audio and the subtitles didn't match! Both were correct, of course, but still said the same thing in different ways, and I wish they wouldn't do that). I was more pleased with the dub than I expected I would- the voices were actually very similar to the originals- but I still wish they would've been okay with the original English because they should probably be practicing understanding English anyways and I love being able to hear the British voices when I know they should be British.
The next day was quite exciting, because we went to Hot Topic (I know, we go there a lot more often than we used to, so it's nothing new) and got some really sweet stuff! I now have another Alice in Wonderland dress- but this one's completely modest at the top and has no black! It's mostly white and light blue, actually. I always feel weird about wearing a lot of black, even though it's been slowly invading my closet because we get so much stuff from Hot Topic. This is a dress I can wear a lot more while the weather's hot.
We got a dress for my sis, too (which she seemed to like, thank goodness), and then two other unexpected but very awesome items: an FMA T-shirt and Batman combat boots!!!
Okay, you don't know how long I've waited for a decent Fullmetal Alchemist shirt to appear in that store, especially when I saw an old photo some girl put up that was of a blood seal shirt they used to sell. They've finally come around and brought that one and another shirt back! (As sick as the blood seal is, I just didn't think it looked right on me. And so, I tried out the other, and I felt a lot more confident about it.) It's finally my first piece of official FMA apparel, and I'm just in love with it. (♥♥♥!) I couldn't wait any longer and wore it to a trip that I'll talk about later.
Hot Topic's really been on a roll this year. I've just gotta say it.
The other item is a pair of combat boots we found that have Batman's symbol on the side, but it's not too in-your-face. It's just kinda like a guy who greets you all chill-like when you spot him in the crowd, not a fangirl who is screaming her head off the moment you look in her direction from a mile away. ...That is seriously the first comparison I could think of.
Combat boots are cool, but have never really been my thing, ya know? But my mom was agreeing they were pretty cool and added that they'd be very useful for the winter. For years, I've just used Ugg-esque boots from Payless, and I wear them out quite a bit. I honestly don't remember if the ones I currently still own actually fit me. And, well, these look a lot cooler and would serve their purpose a lot better due to their material. I'm hoping I'll make good use of these or otherwise return them before it's too late...
What made this even better was that getting all these was quite a steal in comparison to their original prices. I had a birthday coupon that would take $10 off (see? being on their email list really does have a few benefits!), plus some stuff was 30% off anyways, plus the boots and the dress for my sister were from a part of the store where the second item just cost $1. We paid about $75 and saved what, 40-50 bucks? A third of the total price slashed off. SCORE.
So those are my newest possessions, which I've been considering to pay at least part of with my own actual money because I feel so bad that I've just tucked that money away for years and never used it when I could've, and so my parents buy everything for me. I should've been helping out a lot sooner! I'm just so "What if I'll actually need this money one day?" since I have no job to regain what I used up in my bank account. My mom pointed out I might be going to Comic Con, and so I could just use my own money for that instead. But now I'm not even sure if I'm gonna bother with going, even though I wanted to for months! Ugh.
Speaking of, my debit card arrived in the mail. That means I'm another step closer to adult-ing. ...I still haven't activated it, though, because it requires talking over the phone. (With that sentence, I think I just fell three steps behind.)
So remember how I said that I wore my new FMA shirt on a trip? My mom's old friends (they used to live with us for a time, and had a really old Schnauzer, and now they have a young Boxer) wanted us to go with them to Bear Lake. I was kinda skeptical, because I couldn't even think of anything I'd want to do at a lake, but it turned out one side of the lake had a beach. Quite a nice beach, in fact. And the water was very blue and beautiful, which I didn't expect to see in our part of the country, honestly. The weather wasn't being all that great, though; there was some heavy wind at some points, and the sun kept only peeking out from behind the clouds before hiding behind them again. So, I was cold most of the time.
When my sis and I headed out to the water, I think we had a lot of fun together, despite being cold in the second half of that time. It felt like we were letting go and laughing together genuinely for the first time in a while. I feel like I say that more than necessary, but my sister and I do completely different things from each other usually. Since my sister is an adult and likes to socialize and go on dates and travel, she's out of the house a lot. Besides watching a TV show together (lately, we've been watching Prison Break), we just chat once or twice a day and every few months go dance together (but we can't talk much at a party). And both of us are stressed, often about the very same things (namely, college). We have a lot of inside jokes and chill on the same couch almost every day, but it feels like it is not as carefree as moments like when we were out in the lake in a silly inflatable boat and lounge chair, and she was teaching me how to "water dance", and we laughed when the other got hit by a particularly big wave. And, of course, we also just talked a few times, in and out of the water. (We replaced the top part of our swimsuits with our T-shirts soon after returning to shore in an effort to warm up. I thought it was funny how I'd glance down to my shirt, and it'd look like Ed was kind of glaring at me.)
Some parts of that day sucked (mostly weather-wise), and we were exhausted by the time we were home, but I'm glad we went.
We went quick to the library (but we forgot to renew the only book my mom had left at home so she could finish it, and we now have our first late fee ever! *tear*) the next day. I just got a few volumes of manga, which I finished yesterday. I read the first book for a few series (Butterfly and Black Bullet) that I plan to continue reading from, and also read the two-parter Barrage. (I'm just now realized all these titles start with a "B". How did I pull that off?) I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about the last title mentioned. See, I actually really liked the story itself. However, I was a little iffy about the art style and the main character. They sometimes felt a little too over-the-top to me. I guess some people wouldn't agree with me, since manga and anime are often over-the-top already. I know that! It just... I dunno... felt like it was more constant and I felt myself get irritated. I read the whole thing, regardless, and loved the short series in general. The plot is good (and actually had a few unexpected twists!), along with many other things, but it just sometimes felt like there was too much of over-exaggerated expressions on the page and stuff. (I also wish we could actually see more of the little kids. Even though they were mentioned a lot, they didn't really appear all that often.)
We went to a little farmer's market after the library, where my mom overloaded on fruits and vegetables, especially since my dad was ordered by the doctor a few days ago to start eating healthier and he's finally decided he'll start doing that. (We'll see how that goes.) My sister was in a really good mood when we arrived, despite how tired we'd all been the night previous, so I was happy to see that.
Yesterday, we (me, my mom, and my sister) auditioned for the Luz de las Naciones program. My sis and I did our Tahitian dance, and my mom her Spanish dance (she said it was a flamenco, but I'm not totally sure...). That was all my mom had to do, but they sent me and my sis to go learn a short folklore dance with some other teenage girls and perform it for them. Remember how they have to learn short choreographies for Vegas Week in So You Think You Can Dance? It was a little like that. I mean, we only had to learn 5 steps (that were apparently traditional Paraguayan dance, since the lady teaching them to us was from Paraguay), but it was still fast-paced and a little nerve-wracking. Both my sis and I felt like we messed up at some point in our performances, so we don't know if that will mean we're in still or not.
I'd been unsure about participating, since I've never done a performance with so many people, plus the fact that it may be one of those Christmas programs that would require dancing to freakin' Christmas songs... I'd really rather not, if that's the case, because it'd no longer be about sharing the Latin culture! (If we stick around, though, and I find out we were accepted before I start applying to college applications, this could be a definite addition to the app. Saying that I'm performing in such a big event? That'd definitely prove that I actually dance and I enjoy it.)
I accidentally let myself get sucked into a website with lists of baby names a few days ago... and was looking at lists of names for over an hour... My list of favorite names that I often refer to when making characters is quite a bit longer now because of that. Oops. At the end of the day, though, two of the ones I'd actually seen a few weeks ago (and might've reappeared in the lists this time) stuck in my head: Adeline and Merritt. When I first saw them, I wasn't a big fan, but they're now growing on me... I think I might end up writing a story about two characters with those names soon. (However, I think I'll be changing Adeline to "Adelin", since that would change the "i" sound from "eye" to "eh". I feel like it's prettier if the final syllable is softer. ...But that might just be because that's the way my own name ends. I've realized that I like a lot of names that have similar characteristics to mine... And then use them for characters before I realize why I like the name so much...)
My dad asked me to look at stuff on meetup.com because we all apparently need to get out more, but... as I suspected, I can't sign up and go to events until I'm at least 18. And I'm not. Oh, father. (I found a few groups that sounded interesting anyways, though, so maybe I'll actually go to those when I'm an adult.)
I've kept thinking about HitRecord, which I mentioned months ago, but still haven't gotten around to. I'm just not sure whether I should try it out already or focus on my current writing projects (the short story has been going slow but steady) first. (Also, I'm pretty sure at this point I won't have enough ready for WFAM to write it for NaNoWriMo. I guess I'll try to be ready for next year.)
Lastly... I've been trying to drudge up the courage to text an old friend. Why is this so difficult? It shouldn't be, but it is. What should I do to just do it already?
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