(Wrote most of the first week here on Wednesday.)
Just before this post, I was reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, as it's required reading for one of my classes (ah, they start in just a couple weeks!!!), so I'm curious to see if that reflects at all in how I write this.
First of all, as evident with when the last post went up, we got the wifi back that Monday. Of course, I immediately ended up catching up with fics and TAU, and also wasting time on Quora and looking at more names and their definitions and all. The reason for that last thing is... *drum-roll*
I'm redoing the "Kids' Names" list!
It had happened just a little bit after this blog was even started, when we were hanging out in Mexico for the summer. I don't remember if I mentioned it by name at all, but I'm sure Future Me remembers it incredibly well, especially since I also told Carter about it last year. I'd already had a bout where I was envisioning future kids during that time, so it was unsurprising that my sister and I ended up together creating lists of names that we liked, much of which was inspired by Grease. This continued on at the end of 9th grade, when I did the doodles of future kids that borrowed some ideas from there. Since then, I look back at all those names fondly, and had thought I'd seriously consider using those names as an adult, but... I always knew there were a couple problems with the list. So, now, I finally got myself to try again.
The fact that I'd been thinking of ideas for how to decorate a little notebook I'd picked up at the yard sale mentioned in the last entry with things from different favorite shows/characters/etc. inspired an idea in which I wanted to see- since I already had Danny, Ueki, and Alphonse in my kids' names list, why couldn't I also see if I could use other names inspired by favorite characters?
That day, I'd added in Rose for Ruby from RWBY, Peter for Peter Parker (which is now taken out, because the boys kept teasing Peter at FSY about being Spider-Man, so it's clearly too obvious), and Gravity Falls's Dipper's real name. As seen in the parentheses in the previous sentence, though, I ended up changing the list rather dramatically once again, for some names were just too obvious, over-used, or didn't fit with the other names. (The hardest one to let go of was Ueki/Key, because, at this point, he's literally his own character, and I can't bear to change his name in WFAM, nor give my kid the same name as one of my own characters, especially when it doesn't look right with all the other names there. I'm sorry!) So, this is where the list is now, looking so, so different from the original:
- My dad's name (since he didn't get to pass it down to me or my sis- I found out recently one of us would've ended up being Name Name Name the III if one of us was a boy), though it's possible my sis will do this first since she'll most likely have kids first
- Pia Rose (which has a similar rhythm to my dad's, but would be a lot easier for my Mexican relatives to say (and could be said to be similar to my mom's name); there's also the fact that Pia means "from Mount Olympus", which is freakin' sweet, and Rose is pretty but also makes me think of Ruby, who is adorable and a total boss at the same time- I want my little girls to be both those things, as well)
- Alphonse (I still can't quite bring myself to keep this as a first name, so preferably a middle name instead, but I need to find the perfect first name to pair with it)
- Adelina (I guess this goes a little against the idea of not having my kids share names with my characters, but it's spelled and said a little differently from the character, and I highly doubt Adelin/Adalyn/whatever the heck spelling I used will appear in anything further than her few pages of glory; this would also be pretty easily said in English or Spanish, and means "noble/nobility", which I suppose is part of why I'd imagined someone a little Sam Manson-esque with this name)
- Parker Mason (I think I'd actually prefer Mason as a first name over Parker, but this looks better, so for the time being I'll leave it as is, and maybe my future self will think differently... anyway, Parker still alludes to Peter Parker, but is less likely to make people assume so, and Mason alludes to the Pines twins)
- Amelia (struck me as a female name reminiscent to Alphonse that, with all the super cool women in the world's past with this name, gives rise to the image of someone independent and adventurous and overall kickbutt- considering that Nameberry says it's rising a lot in popularity, though, it may be best to use Adelina instead after all)
- Honora (it would be a little weird now as a first name, but I actually like it as a middle name, and it sounds rather pretty if said in Spanish; of course, the fact that it's a feminization of "honor" is easily noticed, which gives me a similar vibe to a lot of the other names I'd picked)
Since looking at names for characters is already one of my things, I'm sure this list will continue to morph and shape itself into something completely different to the previous drafts, but hopefully, once I find a guy I want to be with forever, we'll know together which ones are perfect for our kids.
Okay- since I have taken so long to do this post (ugh, I can't even imagine how much worse I'll be about posting in college), I'll do my best to glaze over the less important details. (Arguably, this list wasn't very important either, but I got excited, okay?)
Like the last post, I did some stuff over the past few weeks with Flower and/or my mom, like watching going out for errands and walks, and watching movies (Up, Final Girl, Trolls, Bee Movie, A Girl Like Me, Lilo & Stitch, Captain Underpants). (Yep, watched everyone's favorite Waistband Warrior again at the dollar theater with my parents, Flower, and Nutella. And, to be honest, a couple of those movies were more like just me and other people kinda half-watched, but close enough.) I also watched Rogue One with my dad at home.
The Tuesday after the last post actually had something interesting happen. I got the opportunity to essentially try to recreate the expensive class locket I'd wanted to buy a few months ago at a jewelry-making store. With these, plus 4 extra charms, it cost $30!
I was a little iffy at first about how they looked compared to what I'd originally wanted, but I quickly fell in love. No regrets, bro.
Nearby, we also got this little cutey:
My mom said he's part of my birthday present. I named him Charlie Blue (because I thought the name Charlie would be cute and my mom thought I meant Charlie Brown).
That day also had these huge huaraches that were super good. (Next day had some yummy street tacos.)
Thursday, I did the freshman orientation, which wasn't too painful (though a lot of what they told me felt like it was just repeating things I already knew), and had some free ice cream at the end. After that, the YW went to the pool.
The next day, my mom made tempura at a family friend's house, and I later chatted with Flower in her room as she packed for camp (as I'd pushed off all my actual packing for Sunday), including showing her the Totem City songs on my phone. She seemed to like them, which was a score for our side.
That Saturday was spent at Bear Lake, much like visiting the lake last year, but this time with my dad. The other time had the problem of too much wind, and this time had the problem of the water being too high, pretty much leaving no sand out in the open. So, we defs got to a rough start, but we did all manage to relax and enjoy being there. I actually spent some of the time there drawing Maxine and writing some ideas down for WFAM, and my mom picked out a couple pretty rocks for me to take home (I don't think I have my old rocks anymore! *tear*). And, same as the last time, we stopped for smoothies on the way back.
Okay, so now FSY camp! Like girls camp, it lasted from Monday to Friday, but this was all Latinos (and had a fee). Both were great experiences, I'd say, though they both had a couple pros and cons in relation to each other.
I'm just gonna write a few small things about my time there:
On the first day (mostly during the bus ride there), I did a wee bit of doodling at the beginning (as seen below) and wrote a bit for WFAM and Azul. Honestly, I don't know if anything I wrote about will make it into either story, but it was fun and made me think a little more about what I want in them.
(Lin, one of Azul's coworkers and friends. I tried to draw her brother, Vin, beside her, but he just wasn't looking so good. I'll try him again some other time.)
That day, of course, I met the majority of the people I ended up hanging out with throughout the week, including a girl from Mexico (visiting the US over the summer) who was really nervous (and a bit ticked off) about the fact that she didn't know much English, but it turned out the handbooks were in English and the kids mostly talked in English and even a lot of the leaders spoke more in English and Spanish. Me and one of the girls from my ward, who ended up in the same cabin as me, were hanging out with her until she felt a little more comfortable, and it made me really happy when she was surprised that I claimed Spanish as more of a second language because she said I didn't have any (American) accent.
There was also a guy in our company (group of two or three cabins that did activities together) that was pretty cool. One of his things was doing magic card tricks.
Considering the theme this year, Ask of God, I wasn't surprised when the first day had discussion about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. That night, when we were to get ready for bed and do personal study, I'd tried that thing where you hold your scriptures closed with the pages facing you, then just let the book fall open, and you read the pages you ended up with. I'd been directed to a bookmark I'd left on Joseph Smith History, and so decided to read that. It's strange how, despite hearing what happens in a certain story a gazillion times, it still feels different studying the story yourself.
The second day had some different classes. The things that stuck with me the most from those different classes were that 1. Family history work is important because our ancestors need us and we need them; they will help you as you look for them, and 2. The Lord knows about the calamities we will face throughout our lives, and so he gave us prophets (D&C 1:17-18); I think that really put into perspective just how much we need to listen to what they say.
There was also a dance that day that joined the two camps together (because FSY was so big they had to reserve two whole camp spots), so I got to see Lia and a girl from my previous ward. I also ended up meeting a kid from Wyoming, who was quite awkward, but seemed like someone I'd be cool to hang out with... until someone teased him about if I was his "girl", and he'd replied "Not yet". The exact same thing had happened with that guy I went out on a date with a few months ago (Brandon), so that didn't bode well.
Also... they'd asked us to find the questions we really wanted answered during the week and putting in the effort to receive that revelation. By the second night, I knew for sure that I wanted to know how to start actually talking to Carter about the gospel. (Lessons later that week told us about being patient, and that He answers our prayers when it is best, so I had to modify the question to knowing when is the right time to say anything and how, if there even is a right time...) I did a lot of praying about that, along with doing my best to follow promptings and write down things that I think might be part of the answer, and I hope to continue that until I know.
The third day had us learning how to teach like missionaries. It was scary to think about, but I knew it'd only be good for me in the end. The activity didn't get to be completed, but it was still enough that I was grateful for having to do it. (There was also a member of the Quorum of the 70 that spoke to us about missionary-ing, and it was really powerful. It was Elder Salinas, I believe. I liked one of the points he made, that people say the best time of their life was in their mission, and there's no reason for us to not extend the habits and activities full-time missionaries do every day- pray, study scriptures, teach, serve, etc.- into our everyday lives and be that happy all the time.)
Later, we had a cheer competition between the companies, and our company got kinda mad about how the judges apparently didn't like us. It was a bit of a silly cheer, but we'd felt like it was still better than a couple of the ones that ended up making it closer to first place (and the ones that won first place basically did a haka, which most of us thought wasn't particularly appropriate for a Latino FSY cheer...).
Fourth day, me and the rest of the kids who decided to join the choir performed the Musical Program, which was basically similar to the Primary programs they do in Sacrament meeting every September (but, hopefully, with better singers). Though finding time to practice enough over the few days we had to prepare was quite an inconvenience and a little worrying, I think we did pretty good by the end. I hope people actually liked it!
I had been rather indecisive about whether to include this in the post, but... An hour or two before we were going to perform, I'd heard Lala's name called to come up, because her sister was here to talk to her. I was curious, so I went to go greet them both. I was surprised to see her sister, Lia, crying. I stood there, rather dumbfounded, as they went to go talk more privately, but the reason quickly came to me- their grandma. She had cancer, and for a while, now. They knew she'd die.
I'd had to fight my own tears throughout lunch (but, apparently, lots of people could tell something was up- one of the counselors came up to me after I'd eaten, asking if something was wrong, and the dam broke then), and it baffled me a bit why it hurt me so bad when I barely knew their grandma at all. I mean, of course I'd sympathize for my friends, but it was more than that. Then I remembered that maybe it had something to do with the scare last year about how Abuelita might've had cancer. She didn't, fortunately, but until they'd told us for sure, we were wrecks. So, I guess it was just a little bit closer to empathy than I would've had otherwise, because that almost happened to someone I care about. It took a lot of effort (and a little prayer) to pull myself together in time for the performance.
(I still wish so bad I could've gone to visit Abuelita this summer or the one previous. I'll just have to hope that it'll be okay to go next summer or Winter Break, considering I know they say we should try to get jobs or internships during those times...)
Also, after the company testimony meetings, they gave us ice cream at 9 PM... in a pavilion... when all of us are in Sunday clothes. I toughed it out, though, because I'm a proper Utahan and we eat ice cream in the winter. I was shivering for a while, though, and my hands seemed to be suffering quite a bit, so I probably shouldn't have been stubborn. (At least the sky was pretty, clear and full of stars.)
The fifth and final day had more about the importance of family history (and they gave us some neato cards with prompts for how to start telling your own stories), and besides packing everything back up and cleaning, we also did another short dance (there was rumor passing around that they cut it short because there was a fight?) and watched a slideshow of some of pictures one of the counselors had taken throughout camp.
I also picked back up writing another scene for Azul- just something random that may have happened in his past, though I'm pretty sure I'll have to revise it- on the bus ride back home. (Actually, before that, I'd been singing to myself... and got embarrassed and a bit of a confidence boost at the same time when the kid in front of me whispered that I had a good voice.) The sun setting over the vast trees and grassy fields as we made our way back down the mountain was beautiful... Too bad I didn't have the means to take a picture of it myself.
Okay, those are some highlights of camp. With that over:
Saturday morning, I went to yard sales and errands with my mom, and then I later learned a bit of toki pona with my sis. (It'd be super cool if all five of us learned it well, so that we could communicate secretly even when in the vicinity of people who know English and Spanish. Hehehe.)
Sunday, I ended up directing the music in Sacrament Meeting, and also going up to talk about some of the lessons from FSY I mentioned earlier and my testimony. (It took a bit to gather up the nerves to do it, and I had to write a note of everything I'd wanted to say because I knew I'd forget the moment I got to the microphone, but I did it!) We ate, once again, with Lala's family, but before that, I found out something awesome. Turns out, while I was at camp, someone had used a music score Carter had written and posted on Youtube to make a proper orchestral arrangement! (I mean, it was made with a computer program, but it's super awesome someone based one of their videos on his work!) I got about as excited as when my submissions got put up on the TAU page and I saw one or two added positive comments!
Besides watching three of the movies named at the beginning of this post (I take to the sky- like an ostrich!) the next day, I also made banana bread with Flower though it appears it didn't cook completely... That was a fun experience, though I hope the next time I try something like that it'll come out better.
Tuesday, the family went out for African food, then I watched some Face-Off with my parents at home. (It's unfortunate that I don't feel as impressed with the contestants in the most recent season compared with some of the others.) The kid I mentioned from the first dance also texted me for the first time. He hasn't texted me since then, and I don't know what that means...
Wednesday, I became CapSis's cat-sitter. Since they're moving back, they needed someone to take care of their cat, and they didn't have anyone to do the job this week, so she got put in my room (though we tend to let her roam in the living room and bathroom as well). Sometimes, she's an absolute joy, and sometimes she just doesn't stop meowing, oh my gosh. It really sucks when she starts in the middle of the night...
Friday, I spent part of the day in the library to try to get useful stuff done. Besides sending a few emails my dad wanted me to send to my new apartment and a couple professors (former to ask about moving in earlier and latter about if there was a cheaper option for the textbook, since this will be the last semester that edition's in use), I ended up doing some stuff in my college student account and cleaning up my Gmail- deleting a lot of emails, unsubscribing from stuff I just can't stand anymore, and moving other emails until my inbox's sooo much smaller and neater. Over the past couple of days, I was also transferring stuff I wrote on paper for the stories into the computer and trying to brainstorm a bit for both.
Also, the day before I'd found "Waving Through a Window" done by Owl City (and later found that it was actually his version of a song from a Broadway musical that came out last year, Dear Evan Hanson). I've now been a bit addicted to that song, along with binging other songs from Owl City. No regrets.
Lastly, I'll say that my birthday celebration started today. (Yup, the day's here! AH!) I wore this one shirt we bought in Mexico years ago with the Smurfs on it and my name written across the top. (It still fits better than we imagined.) With this inspiration, my sis suggested to me and Captain, since we were all chilling in my room, to play the "Smurfs" game- basically, you think of a verb, and then everyone else asks questions about the verb (which is only referred to as "smurf") to figure out what it is. We did that for quite a while, meanwhile petting the cat and playing with a small tub of Play-Doh, and it was quite fun. We then went to Crown Burger for linner (dang, that was a lot of food) and then walked around the mall a bit, but ended up only getting some stuff at Forever 21. (Now that I'm gonna be 18, I think they're going to try to keep me out of Hot Topic.)
I'm doing my fast now (I really want to put in the effort to fast every Fast Sunday now, even when it could be inconvenient, like on my b-day), and will be breaking it to eat at Brorange's house tomorrow. I hope I have some fun hanging out with Broranges before I move to my new room, and I like whatever food his mom's cooking for me... *crosses fingers* We're also gonna be bringing a bit of cheesecake and cupcakes with Spider-Man rings on them. (When we saw that at Smith's, we couldn't pass it up. I luv that guy!) Anything that happens besides that, I hope to add to the next post. Bye, and see you when I'm older!
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