It was rather odd last Sunday... I just didn't feel like writing my next entry here. I instead read some of my old stories and took a short nap. Oh, and after Family Home Evening (we've always done them on Sunday rather than Monday), we were looking at what of our children's books (mostly heavy collection books) we wanted to keep or donate/give away. My family's been doing a bit of donating and stuff this month, so.
It's not that bad that I skipped a week, though, cuz not much has actually been going on lately.
(I know! Crazy, right?)
In school, I'd basically just been finishing up my English paper and project (which we finally got to turn in on Thursday and Friday). The Transcendence AU mentioned earlier certainly didn't help me with concentrating on my work, but I managed to pull through regardless.
Something very cool happened in school, actually! I believe I'd mentioned that I still had just a few assignments left for Financial Lit? Well~ I decided to start on those on Thursday. I had the name of the three assignments I still needed to do written down, so I just looked for the names of those in my class.
However, I'd been put into this year's Financial Lit class just a few weeks ago, which turned out to be quite a bit different from the class that I'd been working on last year. Though I managed to find 2 assignments with the same names as the ones I needed to do, I wasn't entirely sure they'd actually be the same, and that third one has just disappeared entirely. That... made me quite nervous.
So, I went over to ask the teacher what I should do. He looked me up in the school records, and saw that I'd had almost everything for that class done, plus had a really good grade, so he said, "Oh, you're basically done! I'll just give you the credit." And he did.
So, just like that, I finished Financial Lit, which I hadn't worked on since last summer! I guess it's not a big deal, considering I had technically done a lot of work for it already, but it was a pleasant surprise that I wouldn't have to fret over it any longer.
I still have my Physics final to study a little more for (though my professor said he was confident that I could get 100% without trying), and besides that I only have Creative Writing, which I don't even need the credit for!
Since my PE and FinLit credits are in, and my final grades for English will soon come, I've basically graduated high school! Weirdness!!!
But, well, that doesn't mean that I'm actually leaving it. Even though I'm scared about it, I'm going to try my hand at 3 concurrent classes next semester, just like the real college kids. You haven't gotten rid of me yet, High School and Community College. (...I'm referring to both as people, hence the capitalization.)
As of now, it looks like I'll be taking College Algebra (MATH 1050), English 2010 (with the same professor, which I'm hoping was the right choice), and Intro to Chemistry. According to the U's website, taking these courses will actually go towards my generals.
I wanted to take chemistry anyways, since it was one of my preferred science classes in high school, and I figured it'd just be a lot smarter to get English done and over with now. (It can be a rather stressful class, and I'd rather not torture Future Me with having to deal with it among the other difficult classes she'll be dealing with in the near future. Plus, the professor had pointed out that it's much easier to do 2010 right after 1010 rather than waiting a year or whatever. I'm already a little sick of English, but I bet Future Me would be even more sick of it.)
As for the math class... I mean, I could technically do 1060, but that's trig, and I'm not big on trig. Like, at all. It's incredibly difficult for trig stuff to stick. Dude, I even forgot SOHCAHTOA for a while. Isaiah's in it, and just from the glance I've done to his homework, I know I'd hate myself for going into that class.
I also know that a lot of the stuff in 1050 I'll have already done, or at least be somewhat familiar with. I suppose that could mean that I'm just taking the "easy" class, or just a review. I dunno, maybe I actually will. But, frankly, that's going to make my first venture into a full college-kid schedule so much easier, if at least one of my classes is relatively easy compared to the others. I want that stuff to stick, anyway, cuz I know I'll need to have a good math base for the sort of stuff they'll make me do for choosing a science degree.
I can already tell I've been slipping with the math stuff, just for not taking an actual math class this semester. I've been doing pretty dang bad in the math club meetings in comparison to the others there who assisted the math banquet a few weeks ago. I need to practice math more, especially the stuff I'm more familiar with.
So... yeah. I think that's what I'm gonna be doing. I was hoping for Humanities rather than English, but it's just gonna make more sense to leave Humanities for later. (I don't even know if the Humanities class would've counted for credit at the U anyways.)
I guess back to what I've been doing in school. So, since all I have to worry about for this semester is my Physics exam, I have been having a little more time to chill and read whatever and write during school hours. I read a bit of my old works from my flash drive and, of course, read more Transcendence AU stuff. (Dude, I still had stuff to read open on Chrome on my phone for 2 weeks. I finally finished my insane TAU binge yesterday. 2 weeks. I thought it was pretty bad the last time I got sucked into Gravity Falls AUs earlier this year... And once I catch up on the updates to fics on FFN- thank goodness that there weren't many updates on my usual reads lately- it's back to TAU. There's still so much that I haven't read there yet. Why did I do this to myself?)
I also got two Free Write assignments done for the Creative Writing class, when I found out that I wouldn't have Financial Lit anymore. I'm hoping to binge on CW over this month and see how close I can come to finishing at least the first term of it. I might as well make the most out of the time I have free of other responsibilities at school, right?
Dude, seriously, it's such a relief to feel like I can relax now, even though Winter Break's still two weeks away. (I know, it's a really late break! Any other year I would be out in one.) I'm just gonna consider it an extra-long break, and also a break that makes it much harder to just waste my time watching TV. TV's great and all, but I just haven't done much besides read and watch TV in forever. ...I'm still probably gonna do quite a bit of reading, honestly, but I'm gonna try to get myself to do as much writing as possible- for the demon story from last summer that I need to finish, for WFAM, for fanfics (I haven't posted any since last summer!), and for whatever else I can think of! I desperately need to focus on writing, cuz I doubt I'll have the chance to do any next semester, nor during my time in college!
(I've actually gotten a bit of a head-start in that. Liz and I have returned to working on our fics together, after a long time of me not having the time for it or, honestly, not really feeling like working on it. We've worked together a couple times these past two weeks.)
I'm also hoping that the "scholarly atmosphere" (as if that actually happens at my school, but I can still try to pretend that there's one) will get me to do the small amounts of research I've wanted to do. I found a few notes here and there of stuff that I wanted to look more into over the semester, but never got myself to do, since- well, I had other things to worry about. I also want to read some of the stuff that we never got to in my textbooks before I have to give them back to the school. I mean, might as well, right?
I guess I can just get out of the way now my entertainment tidbits before returning to talking about writing. I watched Angel in the House (which is nothing like Corey in the House, despite the deceiving title) with my mom 2(?) weeks ago, which we actually liked quite a bit.
Also, on Friday, my dad took me out to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them after school. Like, literally. He picked me up at school and drove us straight to the movie theater with no previous warning. There was some pretty dang cool stuff in the movie- like, say, the fantastic beasts?! Newt's workplace is also very awesome, and I liked one of the characters quite a bit. I dunno why, though, but there was just something about the movie that made me not like it as much as I was hoping I would... Don't make what I said stop you from watching it! Maybe it just means that I am indeed not as big a fan of Harry Potter as I think. As in, I'm not much of a fan, as suspected, and this is proving it. I have a very mixed relationship with HP and its universe and its fandom, as I believe I've described before.
The second season of Fuller House finally came out! ...And my sister had watched almost half of it while I was at school and watching Fantastic Beasts on Friday. She asked for forgiveness, but I can't forget such treachery.
Apparently, it tends to not be considered super normal to read and watch a lot of stuff that involves demons? I tried to tell Isaiah about something that I found, but I was pretty sure he wasn't familiar with anything Gravity Falls, so I only came up with saying that Transcendence was a fandom that involved a lot of stuff about demons...? I mean, even in-context, I guess that's kinda weird to hear, but it got worse because I had to just release a rant about finding a secret page where supposedly you summon Alcor, who bounces around on the screen and "talks" to you and stuff, and it'd gotten me all terrified even though I know perfectly well that Alcor doesn't exist, especially when I found the button that says, "I want to make a deal". He showed mild concern, and said "What have you been looking at lately?"
And it did not help that the day after, we found a random prop door in the school hallway (which we never found out the reason for). It made me immediately think, "Oh my gosh, Monsters, Inc." We eventually tried to open it, and it turned out it didn't actually open? I mean, it had a frame, and I assumed it had a hinge, but it didn't open, which even prop doors are supposed to do! So then I got really mad at the door because it scared me like that! And then turned out it was even faker of a door than a fake door! Just... who does that?!
So... yeah. I experienced a few moments of oh-my-gosh-what-if-that-cartoon-was-actually-real and what-is-wrong-with-people. Thus, spilling the rant to Isaiah mentioned earlier.
(Now that I'm thinking about Isaiah, I'm remembering that I hung out and sort-of studied with James, which we hadn't done for quite a while. It was nice.)
I guess something I can appreciate about TAU is that it proves that the main character (Jethro) in that short story from the summer is not the same as other interpretations of demons. I guess I can't say he's the most unique kind of demon ever, but at least I can feel confident that it's less likely someone will think I'm ripping off someone else's work? Maybe? I mean, the idea for him was mildly inspired by Gravity Falls, but he's proving to be very different from actual GF demons. That's good.
Though it also proves that I like reading stuff with demons. And Isaiah gets worried when people like reading stuff about demons.
I went to KF both Saturdays, and yesterday we went to a quinceañera. It was... basically the weirdest quinceañera we've ever been to. For real. Everyone just seemed so lost and confused and like there wasn't enough practice/preparation for just about anything.
On the upside, it helped me think of something for TAU fluff! When I first heard of the quince happening, I had a small, amusing thought of how Mabel would probably like to have a party like that, even though her family isn't Hispanic. If any "white" girl ever was gonna do something like that, it'd probably be Mabel.
Specifically for the Transcendence AU, this is what I came up with. If I gain enough confidence in it, I might actually send the headcanon(?) to the TAU page and see if I get a response about it. I have no idea if I will.
I think Mabel would absolutely love the idea of having a quinceañera, despite not being part-Hispanic (as far as we know), when she was younger. I mean, what wouldn't be appealing about basically being a princess for a day? However, concerns for it cropped up in her mind as early as her 13th birthday. Even if she wasn't worried about the fact that having such a party would mean the spotlight was only on her rather than both her and Dipper on their birthday, things changed far too much. What was celebrating a birthday if people thought she was the only twin left? What was celebrating another year of her brother losing his "human" status? People in their hometown didn't really like her or Dipper much anymore, anyway, and wouldn't want to assist a party held in her/their honor, whether their parents tried to deny that or not.
Instead, their 15th birthday was a rather small, awkward affair: the family opted to keep the festivities within their house- their mom prepared an elaborate breakfast and dinner, and their dad put on every movie Mabel and/or Dipper wanted to watch on the family TV. (As for presents... I don't even know what they'd try to give Dipper, honestly.)
When the twins moved back to Gravity Falls, it was easier to be happy in such a supportive community, and it felt more okay to do happy things. So, with months in advance, Dipper began a scheme to let his sister's dream come true after all, and throw her a Sweet 16. He enlisted the help of Soos and his grandma first, and then let in more and more people to the secret as he found that there needed to be damas, chambelanes, and who knows who else.
Of course, he couldn't keep it a secret from her for very long, considering she needed to pick a dress and practice the choreographed dances. She was absolutely touched that he went through all the trouble- especially considering he was still having a hard time maintaining a corporeal body in this plane for more than short bursts, along with all the other difficulties that inherently came from being a demon trying to interact with humans.
He assured her that he really wanted to do this for her and thought she deserved it; his sincerity and determination were enough for Mabel to agree to the whole thing.
Thus, the dieciséisañera- as it was called by those who could actually pronounce that- became the talk of the town, and it seemed just about everybody who knew the Pines was pitching in to make it possible.
Though most Gravity-Fallers had never gone to this particular sort of occasion before, they were all sure that it was the most spectacular 'ñera in history. The venue- a room in the Shack much larger than before, thanks to a deal with Dipper- was beautiful, the food was delicious (especially the cake), the entertainment was spectacular, and the birthday girl herself shined above all of that. Mabel radiated in her colorful dress, and grinned throughout the dinner, the waltzes, the ceremonies, the everything. She was having the time of her life, and her happiness was contagious.
By far, it was agreed that the highlight was the traditional "first waltz", which- of course- she danced with her brother (who changed his usual suit to include a vest, bow-tie, and pair of shoes that matched her dress). He spun her, swung her, and floated both around the spacious room in a fantastical display that only those within the room could appreciate, unlike the people back in California. He elicited squeals and giggles out of her with every move, and he laughed with her. The townspeople knew Dipper didn't laugh as much anymore.
When the party finally ended and cleanup began, the twins went over to the table of presents and discovered that there were just as many gifts left for Dipper as Mabel. If they were still wondering where their true home was, where they truly belonged... they were expelled right then and there.
A picture of the twins dancing in the ñera is within the scrapbook at the end of Book 3.
I can't say for sure whether Mabel would really consider having such a party, but I wouldn't doubt that Dipper would do whatever he could to make it happen if she did. It would be just another show of how much he cared for her, and how he'd do anything to make his Mizar happy.
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