-Swims -New Old Friends -Graduations -Cowboys with Cats (and Other Writings)

Hello world!

Part 2 of catching up with what's happened the past month or so... And I suddenly have even more to cover because, once again, life and my own capability of being severely distracted got in the way, so as of now we gotta deal with writing about four flippin' weeks. We're gonna be covering about two weeks in this episode of lilaclily00's blog, and then continue covering two weeks in each entry until I finally catch up! So exciting, I say with no small amount of sarcasm!

The next stop down recent memory lane is Memorial Day, a bunch of Mondays ago. We were invited to hang out with Lala's family at the hot springs, and we ended up bringing Flower and her mom along too. We ended up having to buy new swimsuits at Walmart real fast, though, before driving to the hot springs.

It's a bit of a different experience going while it was kinda hot outside in comparison to going when it's kinda cold. Either way, though, I just don't like the hot springs as much as normal pools. Sue me.

I still tried my best to have fun, though. Us four (me, Lala, Elenita, Flower) went down the waterslides quite a bit (I took 4 turns) and hopped between different pools. Plus, I appreciated the chance to tan a little out there in the sun. This was the longest time me and my parents had ever stayed at the springs- almost 4 hours!- and at a point I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed fooooooooood. (While I was relieved to finally get out of there, Lala, Elenita, and their parents apparently stayed a lot longer than us, though, essentially spending the whole day there!)

We stopped by at a Thai restaurant on the way back with Flower and her mom, and it was really good~

The next day, I was very content to just hide away in my room all day, but two things still ended up happening: one, I got asked to give a talk at the seminary graduation the next Sunday; two, I got a message on Facebook from an old friend.

The first one is how the talk I posted just before this came about. As usual, I was super nervous to think about talking in front of a bunch of people- but this wasn't even like the talks I'd had to give before at church, and there were gonna be people there that I technically knew longer. That was a little scary.

At least, on Sunday, I sat up there with the second speaker, who was a super chill guy that I found really easy to talk to, and we did our best to ease off each other's nerves. I know I probably could've looked a little less nervous up there while talking, and looked up more often from my papers and talked a bit slower, but all in all... that's just about the best I really would've done. I hope my talk didn't suck.

Back to Tuesday, this was a friend from 9th grade, one I regretfully never mentioned here, like so many of my other friends that year and years since then... I actually read through all my posts from the time that I went to my first high school to double-check, and he didn't appear. I hadn't even mentioned him in "Mausu Portrait"- he, Gleb, and Allie (have I even mentioned either of them?!) were all there when I was coloring that drawing in (and both of the boys weren't particularly impressed by it), so I think of them when I see that picture. That was when we were all in groups to compete in a Jeopardy review game for Biology. They were my posse in that class! He was also in my Ceramics class later, along with a girl who I'd called Ai (if this helps Future Me, she was really into Homestuck back then). (There's also the three girls I hung out with in PE, and the kids in Cooking, and the girls in Sewing... guys, I left out- and continue to leave out, like a total butt- a lot of people from this blog that, though I remember them still now, maybe I won't remember them later. Heck, I've already forgotten a bunch of their names...)

This particular friend was one of those friends that you remain friends with no matter how much they like to annoy you. I remember he'd tickle me (which I can't handle gracefully at all), and for a while my choice of weapon was going limp and falling to the floor. (That didn't work for very long. Plus, it hurt a little.) I remember he'd fall asleep in class and almost got violently woken up by the teacher a few times (as in she'd planned to slam a textbook down on the desk next to his). I'm pretty sure he'd slack off a little in both classes. We often talked after Ceramics, and sometimes kept our conversation going by the short wall at the front entrance of the school while waiting for our rides home. I remember a couple times he'd have me listen to a song on his phone (and also that I'd get angry that he had such a huge phone- it was almost the size of a small tablet!) I remember how I'd think he was kinda cool, and there was something about his style I couldn't help but appreciate, though I was a little less impressed with his taste in music (which included lots of country). I remember thinking he and Allie were eventually gonna get together, and I found out on Facebook a little while later my prediction was correct. High-five, Past Me! (He also recently reminded me that he'd ask if I had any crushes on anyone. I'd decided I wouldn't have crushes on anyone, but especially him, partly because of the fact that I was pretty sure he'd date Allie! And, well, of course I'm not gonna say anything about crushes just to spite his annoying little butt.) Also, remember how, when I was saying goodbye to everyone at that school, I mentioned not getting to say bye to a few friends? He was one of them. I was a little mad that he didn't show up to school on my last day, and so was Allie.

(Also, I think I might've actually forgotten to mention this last year- I'd gone to surprise Allie at her new job when I found out she started working at a store across the street from my house from back when we went to the same schools. It was a little weird to see her older and with a new haircut, but it was still an experience I was thankful I could have.)

Though we were pretty decent friends, I figured he didn't really like me very much, and figured he wouldn't talk to me ever again... but, well, I guess this proves otherwise.

Over the next few weeks, we ended up hanging out a bit. Two days after initial contact, we watched the Power Rangers movie together- since we'd both already seen it, we could focus more on just chatting together- then walked around the park and the neighborhood. That weekend, I went to hang out at his house, which we mostly spent watching Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. We walked together at the park again the Wednesday after, then went to the local pool the Wednesday after that, and then the next day hung out with him, Ai, and their friends (going to Barnes & Noble, comic shop, mall, Wendy's, and watching a bit of the second season of RWBY). Meanwhile, I was having a lot of fun hanging out with him, and there was stuff about him I liked, but... I started getting closer to a "No, a relationship would just not work" sort of feeling. Two big factors were that, one, I've always had a looking-to-the-future sort of mentality, and both my mom and I were worried about what would happen if I tried to go into my first semester of college with a boyfriend, especially one who would live hours away; two, he had the same thing as Brandon about warming up to hugging me and putting his arm around my shoulders and all sorts of stuff that I just hadn't yet. It wasn't quite as bad, as I certainly felt more comfortable with my old friend, but I still sometimes didn't like it so much- and I certainly didn't like the implication, that I was essentially being treated like a girlfriend already. (Though I hate to make people think bad about Mormons, since some people say they look down on others, the fact that he was very inactive was a worry for me. I want to be able to marry in the temple, which requires both man and woman to be faithful, worthy members, and... I mean, I most likely wouldn't have ended up marrying him, considering the first relationship rarely works out like that, but in the case that we did end up in a serious relationship, we wouldn't be able to marry in the temple unless he decided to start going to church again, and I feel like... he probably wouldn't want to. And I'm certainly not gonna force someone to be a member, so... that would be a really hard thing for both of us to go through. I'd rather it just never happened.)

Based on the last serious conversation we had (which happened over text), it looks like we'll just be friends. I won't completely cross out anything different happening in the future if circumstances change, but... yeah, I think this is for the best. I hope we can still hang out!

(Also, when I had been working on this post a while ago- I'd written up to "this proves otherwise" on the last day I'll be writing about in this post- I asked him what he wanted me to call him in this diary. He said "Sir Hot Stuff" jokingly, but that shall now be his official codename. That's what you get when you're joking with me, sir!)

The next Thursday was really nostalgic, being the last day of school and of seminary. I managed to get almost everybody I knew in my yearbook, and then in seminary we watched Johnny Lingo and did a bit of goofing off. Me and Crazy Insane Person (I've only said anything about her twice! And I don't think I ever mentioned Diamond, either!) also got to finally perform our terrible beautiful rendition of "Let's Get Down to Business" from Mulan, which all three of us had memorized to supposedly do for the seminary talent show last year but ended up not doing in the end. And Crazy's sister recorded all of it. Man, I'd hoped it would've looked a little bit better, but oh well.

I also got some final... I don't remember what these are called, but they're super cute. Crazy Insane Person had a bunch of extras, and I chose the duck, boombox, and pineapple.

So cute!~ (The stuff in the back is some of the trinkets on a ledge in my current room. I always have to display some of my favorite things somewhere.)

Also, a big accomplishment was that I finally got some inspiration to start writing actual writing for Azul and his story! I ended up starting with him being in a crazy dream, which I don't think I'll keep everything about, but there's still a lot of stuff I like from my very first attempt.

One of the movies I've been super excited to see ever since I first heard about it is Captain Underpants, and the day after, I went to see it with my dad! I loved how faithful it remained to the original material, because the book series was one of my favorite things as a kid (and was one of the kid books my mom liked, too), but it was still a new and great experience. I really want to watch it again with my mom and sis.

Later that night, I also ended up watching another movie at home, but not with my family. Lala and Flower said they wanted to watch the new Beauty and the Beast, and so we got it up and running in Flower's living room. Elenita also came along, and the funny thing is me and Elenita are the only ones that actually stayed awake the whole time! I don't know what Lala and Flower had been doing as of late, but they were half-dead and were asleep for at least half the movie... It was still fun, but I kinda wondered what the point was.

All right, now we swing back to the talk that I already posted, which I presented the next Sunday for Seminary Graduation, then my real graduation the next day. (How'd they manage to do them right next to each other for me?)

(A weirdly-shaped balloon my Young Women's president gave me and the other grad girls from my ward after seminary graduation.)

My parents and CapSis came, of course, and so did my grandparents and Broranges and his family. (I think I mentioned how his mom said she really wanted to come?) Sis did my hair, and I was so relieved that she and my mom only put a bit of eyeliner and a lipstick not very far from my natural color.

It was kinda weird because... It actually didn't feel as real as the early graduation ceremony we did back in January. I'd thought it'd be a bit of a tear-jerking event, especially considering how much I'd spent my time before it thinking about how I was going to miss all of this so badly and how I didn't want to leave high school yet. Now that it was actually happening, I was somewhere between accepting and just being there without really thinking about it too hard. And now that it's over, I feel strangely okay with my whole experience now being in the past. (I'm still hoping to get that class locket I was talking about a few months ago, though, or something like it, because I like having things with sentimental value. ...Unless I have to let them go, for whatever reason. That tends to be pretty tough.)

So I've got the last signatures I wanted (from the other grads before we walked the stage) in my yearbook, and some pictures and such from graduation (including a couple dried flowers from the single rose they gave each grad and the bouquet CapSis gifted to me), to hold onto. And, hopefully, I can still remember some of the good times I had in this school and all the schools before it.

When the ceremony was over, I took some pictures with other people, then me and my party went to our favorite Chinese restaurant. I have to admit the dinner felt kinda awkward, but at least I got to chat with Broranges next to me.

The next day felt... strangely normal, in a sense, in that me, my mom, and Sis just went to the mall together- mostly to look for a fancy dress that Sis will need later this year- then that night my dad took me to see Wonder Woman on a whim. (It's been really fun watching movies with my dad, but it was weirding me out a bit that we were going a lot more often than usual... My mom explained that it's cuz he's been getting pretty stir-crazy in the dinky basement we currently live in. Now it makes a little more sense.) I also ended up seeing the same movie this week on Tuesday with Lala and her family (and another girl from our ward). It's still awesome the second time, by the way.

Well, I suppose there was something a little more along the nostalgic route that day, as it was the day I finally backed up all my most recent stuff to both my USB and Google Drive. It took a long while, since I needed to copy a lot of things from my iPod and phone into documents in order to have everything. It was kinda nice to see everything I've been up to over the year. I hope I'll have more actual writing next time I back up my stuff, though, since there technically wasn't as much as I used to do. Considering a lot of it's just been brainstorming for my bigger stories (Azul and WFAM), then I guess I can't really complain, but still.

We've now caught up to the day I had posted my last (normal) entry, I think... Whew, this entry has been taking a long time.

That Thursday, my parents and I ended up hanging out at the mall... and, of course, they ended up buying things for me at Hot Topic, cuz apparently we just don't really buy stuff anywhere else most of the time. One was a Big Hero 6 bomber jacket I'm hoping I'll get use out of over fall and winter, and a nice plaid coat that fits me just about perfectly (so I seriously hope I don't gain much weight soon!) for fall and winter too. Afterwards, we ended up going out for sushi.

This day was also when I finally went to my first YW activity in this ward (besides that one time I came and it turned out they'd canceled the whole thing), and it was to go swimming. We used the pool for the president's apartment complex, and most of the time it'd just been our group there. It was a lot of fun! (Some of the games we played required these kid-sized inflatable lifesavers, and I found out you could use one of those to pose yourself right on the top of the water like Superman. I want to get one of those for myself now.)

That Friday (yes, we're almost to the end of this post!) my parents and I went to watch The Smurfs: The Lost Village (because I knew it'd be good and my dad wanted to get out of the basement) in the dollar theater, and I ended up doing what I haven't really done in a long while... Just gone and written a story without really planning ahead. It wasn't a fic, but rather an attempt to fulfill a 5-word prompt I'd found on Quora a long time ago ("So we meet again -Death") and finally use those characters I made earlier this year (Adelin and Merritt). It doesn't really use the sort-of background story I'd originally had in mind for them (besides Adelin's house burning down, I guess), but it felt right to give them a shot. It was kinda nice to just write without thinking too hard about it, just like I did so often a few years ago, though I was quickly reminded of why I tried to stop doing that when I got to a point where I was like, "...What now?" I'm still not entirely sure where this'll end, but I've got a couple ideas for what could happen next, and I hope I can get at least another good chunk for this story done. I won't stress about finishing it, unlike my more major projects, but it's been fun to work on. It's also reminded me that, oh yeah, I do sometimes have a darker side... This work's been coming out a little more intense than usual.

Okay, last day I'll talk about until next Sunday! Nutella had a little graduation party in the backyard on Saturday, and... it was even harder for me to be there than I thought it would be. I mean, I still kinda try to not stare at Nutella nowadays during the few moments I end up being around her, but I hadn't realized before the guests started arriving that she'd surely still be friends with a couple other girls that are my ex-friends, too... Oh, that was painful. My mom was gracious enough to let me skip out on the party and stay downstairs for a while (getting some of her delicious tinga all to myself). I ended up getting out there at some point, anyways, when Nutella came down to ask for more chairs and I helped carried them up, and my mom asked me to stick around to talk with the couple that are now our next-door neighbors. Some time after that, Elenita and Lala finally arrived, and I hung out with Elenita and some other girl on the trampoline in the backyard. That other girl ended up saying "What the cupcake?" at some point that evening, and I wanna start saying that.

When the party was finally over, I probably should've gotten ready for bed... But no, I instead had some inspiration to draw. See, just a few days prior, I'd started an RP over text with Darkrai even more random than the ones that we've done in the past... He'd said he wanted to be a gunslinger in the Wild West, and I jokingly said I wanted to be a cat. He then thought I was serious, though, and I realized I could maybe actually make that work, and so then I took it serious, and I ended up playing a cat. (See? Like I said before- that's what you get when you joke with me. Apparently, it even happens when I'm the one joking with myself.) Since that week I'd been reading a lot of Danny Phantom fics and such, I'd kinda considered doing something similar to his powers, so I decided this cat character could also go invisible and intangible at will- I dunno, it seemed fitting. And since this would be quite a bit harder if the cat couldn't talk, we agreed that she could, but only with his character. He's the only one who can understand her and communicate effectively.

So, we ended up making the strange duo of a nameless outlaw with a magic talking tuxedo cat named Sunday (in honor of Wednesday Addams).

It's actually been pretty fun, and it wasn't quite as weird as I'm guessing we both expected it to be. I haven't really seen any of the classic Wild West movies, but it seems I knew enough to do okay, and we've ended up with some funny banter between the two characters. The furthest we've gotten so far is that his character's starting to take on a whole gang that wants him dead, and he's already run out of ammo, and Sunday's been traipsing through the gang's camp to find some more weapons and bullets for him to work with. There's also some magic ring that Sunday snatched for him, but he's yet to put it on and find out what it actually does... I really want to know what he was thinking that ring could be used for...

Anyway, I was itching to draw something. Since, at the moment, I'd been texting with Sir Hot Stuff, I asked him for a word, and he came up with "Birdie". Immediately, I thought of the RP, with his nameless dude (though Sunday's called him "Trigger-Happy" before) and his cat sidekick, where he might be holding up a rifle with a smirk on his face, saying "Well, a little birdie told me...", and Sunday beside him huffs out, "Hey! Don't you mean 'kitty'?" My goal is to get that drawing finished by the end of next month, since who knows if it'll happen by the end of this month. (It sounds like it might be a lot of time, but Darkrai's currently on vacation out-of-country without his phone, so the RP's on pause, and I'm hoping it'll be enough time for me to get my act together and finish this before he comes back, or at least before we've officially run out of ideas for the RP when we resume upon his return.)

That day, I started with trying to draw his head- Darkrai'd sent me a picture of a cowboy character from a video game as a reference for what his character looks like, but that was back when we were just establishing our characters and he had no idea of my arting plans- but then ended up having to just try to figure out how to draw a freakin' cowboy hat. Geez, it was a lot harder to figure out than I thought it was gonna be. Since I didn't look at any images at first, it ended up looking more like a mini sombrero, but when I gave up and Googled "cowboy hats", I managed to do the tweaks necessary so it looked more like the right kind of hat (and like the hat in the reference picture).

Not perfect, but at least you can tell what it's supposed to be.

With that, I spent even more time trying to put the hat and the head together to somewhat match the reference, and I finally came up with this:

So, here's my first cowboy! Are you proud of me?

Oof, and I have so much work ahead of me still. Since then, I've been trying to figure out how I'll draw the body (proportions and pose) and how I'll draw Sunday, but I haven't really done either officially because I haven't got a good eraser anymore. The pink one I've kept around faithfully for pretty much all of high school (and maybe even some of middle school?) finally fell apart, and it's been smudging everything (as you can see around the two drawings above), and the white eraser on the pencil itself is almost all gone. I gotta check I have a really good eraser and such before I dive into the full drawing!

Alrighty, that's everything for now! You're now free! And so am I!... Until next week. Farewell, readers and Future Me, if you happen to be reading this!

Seminary Graduation 2017 Talk

Hi, my name is Lilian. Not sure how many of you actually recognize me, but I was gone from the neighborhood for about 3 years, and two of those years were in other states.

Unlike some other kids outside of Utah, I was able to have seminary class in one form or another throughout high school, so I've done release time seminary during school, online seminary, and early morning seminary. Sometimes it’s no fun to wake up so early, or have problems with the webcams and microphones during video calls, or hope with all hope that the substitute won't think my class is too insane... But, no matter what, I'm so happy I stuck through with it and can say I somehow managed to finish seminary. I think it had a really positive effect on my testimony and just me as a person. I've pretty much been asked to talk about that, so hopefully everyone can relate.
I'd always been the kind of kid who would hear that you're supposed to read the scriptures and pray and etcetera in Primary, and I definitely believed that was true, but... never really did it of my own volition. Even with my fierce testimony in prayer from a childhood experience, I never made the habit of praying in the morning and before bed. I hardly paid attention during family scripture study. And, really, I barely knew anything about scripture stories outside of the Book of Mormon. Seminary changed that.
For one, I learned a lot about our doctrine and stories I'd never heard or understood within all the different books we studied over the years. I don't think I'd get even half of it without seminary there to guide me through it all. It's really nice to look at one of those weirder parts of the scriptures, and kinda sorta maybe know what it's supposed to mean. Especially because, well, we should try to know what they're saying; like the scriptures themselves say, their words are meant for us, and whatever trials the prophets went through and sacrifices they had to make when writing all of this in order for us to be able to have this now... It's like saying that none of that means anything to us if we don't bother to make an honest effort to read and understand the scriptures. That's what matters, that we're trying, just like trying to pray often and fast every month even if we don't always succeed at paying enough attention for it to work. I think I hadn't understood these things back in Primary. But at least, now that I do understand how important the scriptures were and are, (thanks to seminary,) and that we really should put our all into understanding what they need to tell us, (thanks to seminary,) I'm gonna try to do just that.
If you're thinking, though, "I still don't get Isaiah"... Don't worry, me neither.
Two, seminary helped me start making some habits that I really needed to make. One was, of course, reading the scriptures daily; I'd started with reading 5 minutes every day, then eventually to the 10 minutes they ask us to do. I had a hard time with it at first; I kept glancing up to the time on my phone, thinking, "Can I stop now? Can I stop now? Geez, when did 10 minutes ever feel so long?" (That's sort of how I'm feeling now with this talk.)
As I started to make a more conscious effort to integrate real daily study into my routine, though, I also started to see the kind of effect it had on me. The scriptures really did make my life better. If I wanted to become happier and happier, I needed them. One experience in particular comes to mind that taught me this, but it's not really the usual sort of experience. It wasn't a time where a scripture helped me, but the one moment where I didn't have a scripture to help me when I desperately needed it.

Basically, I had an absolutely terrible day. I'd felt miserable, and gotten more and more stressed, and so scared that things wouldn't go right, and as I went to bed that night, hoping my daily scripture study could help take my mind of the problems or give me some counsel... the Gospel Library app decided to stop working before I managed to read anything. It was like the scriptures got yanked right out of my hands, then I got slapped in the face for good measure. At the time, I thought it was the last straw in a day that had gone so wrong. But when things started to turn around just after, and I was in my next seminary class, it didn't take very long for me to see that last straw for what it really was: a reminder that I can always have God's word there for me anytime (besides that one day, of course), something I’d pretty much taken for granted my whole life; that it is an ever-present comfort when all else fails; and there's so many brothers and sisters out there in the world who don't have and never had that comfort in their lives when they had days like mine- when they had days so much worse than mine. If we could help introduce someone to the gospel and to the scriptures, they wouldn't have to have any days as awful as that anymore.
So, that day serves as a testimony to me of the necessity for missionary work and how important the scriptures are to me personally, how important they should be, and that I should hold onto them with everything I've got. That I should give church and seminary everything I've got.
When I really started to get scripture study down, I then started to do more prayers, one between reading and going to sleep. Then I started doing a prayer in the morning, then finally a prayer before reading, as well, like I'm supposed to. It's been a really good thing to do these prayers, because I really do feel closer to Him, even though sometimes most of the prayer ends up being me just rambling and saying a lot of pleases. But, like we learned from Christ and His plea on the cross, all those pleases shouldn't be for what we want, but what God wants, what we need, and what will help us become better people and be able to help others. I could probably still do a little better with that, but I'm doing better than I used to about asking for His will to be done, not mine. I'm sure He knows all of us a whole lot better than we know ourselves, so the least we could do is acknowledge that and ask Him to guide us in our lives.
Three, I have fantastic teachers and amazing friends to thank for making my seminary experience awesome. Sometimes, when we're stuck in schools and towns where everything and everyone aren't particularly spiritual, and sometimes even bad influences, it's hard to remember that there are people with very strong testimonies out there that are able to uplift others without even trying. But you can find them in seminary. I had the privilege to become friends with some of these people, whether they were teaching or sitting alongside me, and I really think they made me better, when they'd bring the Spirit so strongly or encourage me or even just give me something to laugh about. I'm hoping I did an okay job to reciprocate all of that back, because it meant more to me than I think they'll ever know.
I'm proud that all of us can be here ready to move on from both school and seminary, hopefully going on to Institute and whatever else awaits all of us in the near future. I'm gonna miss this entire experience really badly, and I'm hoping all the other seniors enjoyed their own experiences as well, enough to miss them as well. We're saying goodbye to a really awesome thing today, guys.
I'd like to share real fast a scripture:
1 John 5:5
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Sometimes, overcoming the adversary and enduring to the end sound like very difficult things, but... already, with believing in Christ, we are overcoming. Already, with being in church and seminary, we are overcoming. We are overcoming, and I know we can keep overcoming.
I know that this Church is true, and it is truly led by Christ, who loves us so much that He's allowed us the opportunity to learn and grow through programs like seminary. The world is scary, but if we all do our best, we'll make it through and be happy. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

(June 4, 2017)

Scholarships, Doodles, and First (and Only) Dates

Hello world! ...I say over 3 weeks later...

I'd kept missing Sundays because we kept going over to Lala/Elenita/Lia's house in the afternoons/evenings right when I would be planning to write here. As you'll see, I was rather busy throughout these past weeks, which makes this even more frustrating. Honestly, though, I ended up feeling too lazy during that days that I did have time and would end up just reading or something instead. Ugh.

But I'm finally sitting down to write! And man, has a lot happened lately.

Week 1:

On Tuesday, I went to that thing where I was supposed to go talk to a counselor and start getting registered for classes. I did so, but... there, we were told something about my scholarship. It wouldn't work anymore if I went to this specific campus. I- I can't even. We asked someone, what, 2 or 3 times if I could use it in this campus, and we were told YES! And suddenly it turns out they were all wrong?! And they tell me now?!

Over the next couple days, the guy who told us this said he was going to try to get an exception for me, because it wasn't my fault that up till now we believed the plan was okay, but his superiors said no. If I was going to the same campus as my sis, I'd have to accept the highest scholarship they offer there, which is not even half of what I was originally offered. So, we had to rush to see if I could still go to the main campus after all. Lia was fortunate enough that she found an open apartment room super close to the campus (and to her room, too!) super fast, and we were so, so relieved to see that there were more classes with space still than we expected, because classes can fill up fast. My dad and I actually went to the main campus in person the Tuesday after to get this fixed and talk to a counselor and see the apartment. It all seemed like it'd work, so we made it official. (We also got a bit of Aggie ice cream, because duh.) It was hard to say goodbye to the previous plan, but it's a lot of scholarship money I'd be throwing away.

Something good happened on the same day, though- I had the inspiration to draw some more WFAM characters! Check 'em out~

Something interesting about drawing characters is that they sometimes end up nothing like what you originally expected... but you love it. Boom here was originally gonna have straight, wild hair, but something told me I should make him more different from the original inspiration (author's character) and the expectation. This feels like it fits better. His eyebrows were not being kind, because I was trying to make them sparse but then his whole forehead area smudged up too much. I think his hairline's a bit off too? But I'm less worried about this pic being perfect, so I don't mind too much.

I think I mentioned somewhat his personality a loooooong time ago, but I'll talk about it again. Basically, he's a talking beastie who loves explosives and bugs. They might sound a little random at first, but if you remember that it'd be extremely handy to shift into a cockroach because those things can survive a lot... yeah, that's where the idea came from. I mean, he wouldn't be close to an explosion if possible, but he'd certainly have a better shot at surviving as a roach or beetle or whatever other armored insects and animals he likes. I wouldn't call him comic relief (why do they always like making the black guy the comic relief?), but he is a little weird yet extremely likable.

Saj has also changed from the original description, but I think it's for the better. She passed on her original hairstyle to Boom and instead likes to have her long, straight hair be styled into waves or curls and wear makeup. I don't know how I didn't think of it before- if she's the girl who loves making costumes and disguises, why couldn't she also be a fashionista? I tried my best to depict some recent trends, but the part of her outfit that's supposed to be her shirt tucked into the front didn't work out so well. That, and her eyebrows are a little too high up and intense. I think, otherwise, it worked out pretty well.

Rius is the one in this small collection of doodles that I think is the most successful. The face looks really good, the body and clothes aren't that bad, and his hands actually look right! They look like hands!!! And the finger-gun looks like a finger-gun!!! It's typically really hard to draw stuff directed at the viewer, so that makes me so happy. I think it shows really well his personality, too.

Lastly, I got Quark down, who also changed from the original appearance I had imagined, but not very much. She was always going to have short hair, but I'd thought maybe side-swept first. As I got her face down, I decided that I had quite too many characters with side-swept hair, plus it wouldn't fit as well for her, so I switched it to this instead. Not too sure about the little piece in front of her ear, (especially because it now makes it look like a toned-down version of Key's hair,) but otherwise I like it.

When I was telling Carter about these characters, we ended up coming up with Glorious Nerds as their nickname. I guess that's what I'll call Cami's TAC friends from now on. *smirk*

I also worked quite a bit on QQ this week (mostly writing new chapters) and the week after (mostly beta-ing past chapters). We actually ended up getting a new beta on-board last week who also joined the Hangout group Liz and I are on with Scaehime. I feel like she has a lot less to say than my other friends who acted as betas, which makes me wonder if she really thinks my writing is that flawless or is more forgiving or what... but she has some really great memes, which make up for that a bit. (Hehe.)

I ended up helping Lala a bit with her homework a few more times, though there were a few questions that were more like geometry I wasn't very sure about. (I had geometry in 10th grade! Give me a break!) Doesn't help that I'm pretty sure a couple questions weren't written correctly...

Friday was my first time working... pretty much ever. And the shift started at 6:30 AM. Flower's mom and dad had brought me and Lia with them to their catering job because they had a lot of business that day. Preparing everything and then putting everything back into the trucks after wasn't very fun, but actually serving the food and washing up dishes wasn't all that bad. I actually kinda liked serving, because people were nice and would sometimes crack a joke. I also ended up befriending one of the girls working there who was a high school senior, too. (Oh, and eating some of the leftover food for lunch was mmmmm!!!) Of course, it was still tough that the shift ended up being so long- we clocked out at 5:30 PM that day- and I got distracted during the last few hours with the whole scholarship problem, since that was when I got the call that there would be no exception... But I'm still hoping they'll call me back to do some more shifts over the summer. Apparently, that is very likely. (Also, I finally got my food handler's permit on Monday, so I can do this job for reals. I was told I would probably only wash dishes, so I didn't bother with getting the permit before... and, well, turns out I ended up touching the food. Please don't tell them that.)

While I was with the catering company, my mom and dad were helping CapSis move to their new apartment. They seem to like living there quite a bit, but they were having a lot of trouble finding decent jobs in the area; luckily, Sis was called to get an interview for a customer service job yesterday! They've also told us a bit about how dumb and weird Princess Peanut Butter Cup can be, like trying to eat tissue paper and begging to drink water out of the sink every morning and evening.

We also found out that day that, due to one of his coworker's illegal idiocies, my dad's team got fired (though Dad was told they were trying to find a new project for him since he was cool enough to find out about and warn his bosses about the coworker's actions the day before everything blew up). Super excitement time, though: he got offered a new job two days ago! He starts in about two weeks, I think.

Last two things for this week (man, and we have so much to go, UGH): my parents and I watched Beauty and the Beast (the new live-action) on Saturday, and a girl I knew a long time ago visited our church on Sunday. She used to take dance classes with me and Beka back when I was in 6th grade! She's now 15, and a whole lot taller (she looks like everything- her face, body, and even hair- got stretched upwards!), but she's still pretty shy. I was happy to chat with her a bit at church, plus see her at the church activity the next Friday (which I'll mention in a bit).

Week 2:

Tuesday was Senior Dinner! It wasn't... really what I expected. But the food was really good and I got to talk with... Geez, I don't think I ever gave her a nickname. Uh... since she likes having people call her that, let's go with Crazy Insane Person. But yeah, we sat at the same table as Crazy Insane Person and her mom and sis. The mentors made little "awards" for each senior that was based on a candy; CIP got the gummy worms because, though she's very sweet and kind, she's also always got the wiggles and can't sit still, and I got peanut M&M's because my mentor thinks I'm... fun and nutty?

My dad took me to watch the Power Rangers movie on Thursday. I liked most of it, but was kinda weirded out by the villain and final battle in the Zords? Though the very last move is pretty dang awesome.

A couple different things happened the day after. There was the church activity where we were performing the different dances. Apparently, ours went pretty well, while... in general, the other acts were a little terrible, and the DJ was a butthole. After all the acts, though, a dance party started as people started to put stuff away. It was actually really fun, and tons of people were participating, unlike lots of other ward activities. It was during the dance party that I also ended up meeting a kid named Brandon.

He's 19, works, and not very practiced in the art of dancing. The funny part is that his mom- my Sunday School teacher- was the one pushing him to talk to me and ask me out! I think seeing that his mom liked me and thought high enough of her son to encourage him to date was part of why I thought there wasn't any harm in going (you know, besides that he was nice and pretty easy to talk to). I... I dunno, I think, considering I literally only had a week left of school and was only doing seminary anyways and already did an early graduation were good enough reasons to say I didn't really break the "no dating until high school's over" rule I enforced on myself. And yeah, he seemed like a good guy.

Once I was home, though, I also started to feel a little more apprehensive, cuz it's not like I'm all that romantically-inclined... I still think kissing's gross and such after all these years, and... I know it takes me a really long time to say if maybe, maybe, I have even a little crush.

The sentiment ended up still reigning pretty dang supreme on the date. It was really fun to run around Classic Fun Center's bouncy houses, and so was when we'd just sit and talk about whatever. It turned out there were some things that we both liked, like some animes and Julian Smith videos. He also showed off his skating skillz, and even participated in a race, while I was cheering him on in the sidelines with ice cream in my hand.

I found fast that there was something I just couldn't get past about him. He was a lot more... touchy? Like, he was almost to "handsy", which unsettled me, especially because I'd literally only met him the night previous. I've never really cared about getting some sort of contact on my arms, or sitting close enough to be touching my leg (besides Ivan), or hugging if there's consent. But then he was just poking me in the stomach, and randomly hugging me without asking, and holding me by the waist (which I'm only used to when dancing)... *whispers* and I'm pretty sure he almost touched mah butt. Please don't.

I tried to brush it off, but I couldn't help but flinch a little and go stiff from just being so uncomfortable with this. I'm surprised he didn't ever stop with it until we stopped to eat at Arby's a long while later, because I can't imagine I was acting very well. I didn't ever return the hugs or anything. I mean, he wasn't creepy like Ivan, but... I didn't like it at all. And with him being like that, I got a little more scared that he'd want to kiss me or something, and I'm pretty dang sure dates aren't supposed to be like that. I was nervous enough that I admitted that it was my first official date and I was still at the "ewww" level of maturity with this sort of thing, and at least he didn't pressure me into another date, because he had to agree I should probably wait to date till my sentiment's otherwise.

So... I haven't talked to him again. And I just wanna say to any guys that are reading this... please, please don't be overly affectionate. It's so incredibly uncomfortable to a girl, much like complimenting her often enough that it feels like it doesn't mean anything anymore. I mean, I don't know if there's any girls out there who do like this sort of treatment from the start, but I certainly don't. I don't think I'll ever manage to get anywhere with a guy unless he won't do that to me.

As you probably saw in the previous paragraphs, that sort of behavior doesn't just invade my personal space, my bubble that holds up for a really long time even for friends, but reminds me of the guy who made 10th grade l pretty hard for me, because I would never be alone at school if he could help it. Ever. And he'd sit too close to me, and make my skin crawl when he hugged me, and he's literally the biggest reason why I'm glad I don't live in that part of the country anymore. I don't want to associate you with Ivan, whether you're being nice and innocent or not. I don't want to react to you the same way as I would with him.

So please be a little more respectful of girls, and be very wary of how she's reacting to contact, so she can relax around you whether it's with lots of contact or none at all.

Okay, so I pretty much got through the first two weeks... I'll come back later to do the second half. (And why I can't right now is a story to leave for then.) Bye!