Hello world~
So, I missed out last week, and almost didn't post this week, either. 'Tis because we've been doing moving stuff, including on Sundays. (We haven't been going to all three hours of church in order to get more done at the house, which makes me feel kinda bad.) My mom said that I did enough exercise for a month these past few days, and I agree.
Well, I'm gonna try to stick to chronological order, but we all know that doesn't always happen. *"Whatcha gonna do?" shrug*
First of all: I mentioned being sick in the last post? The worst days were Sunday and Monday (bad enough that I basically skipped out on school except for my Chemistry test, but I was a mess during that whole thing), but it was still clinging on for Tuesday, and I pretty much felt okay on Wednesday. Jeez, I'm so glad I don't get sick often nowadays.
Even though I was feeling pretty sucky, though, and I knew we didn't exactly have much time for random un-useful stuff, I really, really wanted to go watch The Lego Batman Movie. Not just that, but I really wanted to watch it with my dad. So, on Monday evening, I determinedly stuffed my pockets with tissues and cough drops and we went to watch it. My dad wielded the free IMAX tickets he had been given at work for Christmas, so we got fancier seats than usual.
Spoiler alert: it was absolutely amazing and hilarious and so worth it. (And I ended up barely touching my weaponry, so that was a relief.)
Valentine's Day was pretty fun. And by that, I mean we got a lot of good food that day. My parents picked me up from school, and we went to get some pho and sushi for everyone (including Captain). Then, for dessert, we had some of my mom's limey cheesecake pie thing. (Delicious, of course.) We were kinda spoiled that day.
(Okay, this is technically Friday, but it feels more appropriate to put it here. The school Valentine's activity was on Friday, and my teacher- exactly like last year- made me go at some point, when I was pretty dang determined to do schoolwork. Some things don't change. My dad was gonna pick me up after school, so I made him a little origami flower thing and saved him a mini cupcake from the party. Yes, I'm adorable.)
(Friday was also the day that we found out that they put down Gatuna, my abuelita's cat. Turned out she wasn't getting better after all. My mom, sis, and I are sad about it, but I think we're all even more sad about how much Abuelita and her dogs must be grieving.)
I was originally supposed to test for my brown belt the week before, but I was seriously feeling under-prepared. So, I did some more practicing on Tuesday and Wednesday (but not much drilling on the second), and by then the teacher was like "Bro. Do the test already." I still felt unprepared, since it's quite a bit of material, and I knew I had a rather slippery grasp on the older stuff, but I felt rather pressured into it. Plus, I knew that- with the moving and school stuff and everything- I was probably not gonna come often, if at all, from that point on, so it wasn't like I was ever going to get any better with the material.
I knew it was silly to be so upset while taking the test (barely-keeping-in-the-tears upset), but I couldn't help it. How the heck could I feel confident when I felt like an absolute idiot out there? I didn't remember everything quite right, and I ended up taking a lot of really embarrassing pauses, desperately trying to recall what the heck I was supposed to do next, and sometimes I just didn't even catch it on my own eventually. They had to go hinting and prompting me when I knew that's absolutely not what they should have to be doing if I'm trying to freaking be a higher belt! All throughout, I kept mentally screaming at the master, "See? See?! I told you I wasn't ready for this yet! And now I have to go looking like an imbecile in front of you when I know I'm not!"
I somehow passed... barely... and I had to accept my score because, as much as I hated the thought, I knew I wasn't going to do better than that.
I basically burst into tears the moment my dad and I exited the building (I really wasn't sure how I felt about my dad being there to watch me fumble and fail the whole way through). I'll have to give my dad credit for having a lot more tact than usual at that moment as he tried to cheer me up. He assured me that, hey, that was a lot of forms, and you made it through all of them, and you passed, and you'll work on the forms more as you help out in lower belt! I was really not in the mood, but... yeah, a part of me still appreciated the effort.
(I also ended up having a rather intense bruise on my arm from the sparring on Saturday. It felt a bit like a trophy and a reminder of my idiocy at the same time.)
So, somehow, I ended up having both a ton of fun with my dad and a really bittersweet moment with my dad in the same week, just a few days before he left. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, considering I said I was gonna be going chronological (but then again, I admitted it wouldn't completely work out).
On Saturday, we all went out for dinner at the dim sum place one last time as a family. (My dad originally wanted to do the Korean place, but it wasn't open to customers at the time we went over there. I'm personally kinda relieved, since I find it harder to enjoy food when almost all of it is spicy. I admitted so to my mom, but I wish she hadn't then told my dad, too.)
I'm all sads and frustrateds, now, because I just realized that the fortune I'd saved from the fortune cookie at the end of the meal is now lost, after everything started getting moved around and out of my house. I believe it said something like this, though:
"Eat your vegetable and you'll grow up to be big and strong like Popeye."
Yes, a real fortune cookie said that. Yes, it said a single vegetable. Yes, it referenced Popeye.
I certainly have a right to be sads and frustrateds that this goldmine is lost in the depths of my old abode's carpet or the trash.
We had already started doing some packing, but- as mentioned before- we started getting a little more serious starting last Sunday. Not even going to KF or Young Women's. It got more complicated, though, because we packed things based on if we wanted to have them with us as we moved into our friends' place or in the new storage unit my parents rented out nearby (or, in my case, things I wanted to save for my college dorm in the very near future; those things are also gonna be in storage, but we'll hopefully not be super rushed during my transition, as some of the packing will have been done already). We did even more packing throughout the week (besides Wednesday, which I had dedicated to research for my new English essay), so there's not really much to talk about for most of this past week.
On Sunday, we also ended up being invited over for dinner at Captain's house. His parents wanted to meet my dad before he left, understandably. The dinner was quite good, and it looked like people were overall enjoying the time chatting and getting to know each other. (Having dinner with people- moreso with non-Hispanics than Hispanics, in my personal experience- always has an awkward taste in the air, to me.)
And, on Monday, my dad left to begin his trip to yet another new job. We know we'll see him at my sister's wedding, so that was a small comfort, but it still hurt to watch him leave.
I finally turned in my science scholarship applications later that same day, with completed essays and everything! (I ended up asking the high school chem teacher if he would be my second recommendation, after me and Isaiah went on a whole search for my old physics professor. A few days later... my old prof finally answered the email. *deep sigh* I sure hope the chemistry teacher will give a convincing recommendation!
On Friday, I actually skipped school (uuugh, and I really wanted to go to seminary!), as we were beginning some of the official moving that day. This couple from the ward we had been at was nice enough to help us get a bunch of stuff moved to the storage unit and to the new place with their giant truck. Captain also helped a bit later that day with dissembling then reassembling my sister's bed-frame to get it from House 1 to House 2. (Oh, he and his dad had also stuffed my dad's mattress into the remaining space of a moving cube on Wednesday, which took a lot more time and effort than originally anticipated. The poor things! Also, one of the teachers at my school was the one to take my own bed. I hope that bed works out for his family.)
Okay, it's pretty late, and my mom's warning me to start getting ready for bed already. I'll just say quick that my mom and I went to our old ward for Sacrament meeting today, since our friends are in that ward. By old ward, I mean the one I was in up until we moved to Alabama. It was kinda weird. I ended up chatting quite a bit with the girls I knew there, though, so that's a good sign. If they still talk to me next Sunday, too, I'll be a little more confident about coming back.
My mom and I made little pizzas with some of the remaining ingredients at our old house, and they were delicious. We also plan to use some of that remaining buñuelo sugar stuff from Christmas on a leftover scone tomorrow. Be jealous.
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