Update

It's been a while since I last updated. I'm sorry. Moodiness compiled with a complicated work situation plus homework results in a very lackluster development of any writing, including blog entries and my personal journal.

In terms of my current class, that equation might resemble something like:

Moodiness * (work + homework) = lackluster word development

Yeah, my current class is another one of those pesky math classes. But hey, at least math only has one possible answer, no matter the road you take to get there. If only the rest of life were so simple: just solve the problem (equation) for the value of x (the secret to happiness or success or just peace).

Alas, life is more complex than any math, even the most advanced. No equation works all the time for every situation.

Sadly. 

Well, Christmas is coming and despite my plans, my 'blog-aversary' passed us by without acknowledgment (October 26, in case you care).

But first, Thanksgiving!  My favorite holiday, and not because of the food- though that part is fun. No, my favorite part of Thanksgiving was always the time spent with family. No pressure of gift-giving, just fun and games and togetherness all day.

This year, my fun and togetherness will have to wait because my dear brother and his dear fiancée have the wonkiest schedules a person can have- yes, even wonkier than mine!

On the upside, Justin and I went to see Big Hero Six on Tuesday. It was our first movie since August, and I didn't realize just how possible it was to miss my brother this much. But I do, so it's good.

A last quick thought:

For those of you who pay attention, I am working on my next book, and I'm getting a jump start on it for this year's NaNo. Check here for updates, or here. I'll try to remember to update both pages.

Okay, see, now you're just showing off!

The most amazing artwork by daekazu

I used to think it wasn't really possible for anyone to be truly beautiful all the time. Then I realized that beauty, while very much in the eye of the beholder, is less something that can be seen, and more something who his felt.

Looking at my soon-to-be sister, and the way she looks at my brother, I realize that beauty is something we give more than something we are.  That's why we're told that our attitudes and manners are so important.

Beauty that stays inside us isn't beautiful. Beauty is only beautiful if it is seen and felt and given away.

Looking at Jenn and Justin (seriously, their engagement photos are wonderful), I now believe it is entirely possible for a person to be truly beautiful all the time.

Rain, rain, go away

Seriously!  We don't live in the Pacific Northwest!  Seven days in a row of rain is just too much!  We got a couple hours of sunlight Thursday and yesterday (a couple hours total, not a couple hours each day), but it's just not enough.

Here's something gross.  I removed a tick from Pepper this morning.  Ohmigosh, I still get all gyuh! when I think about the little monster.  I found it sometime around six or so this morning when I was petting her to make her stop growling at some sort of animal she smelled/heard outside so she would let me go back to sleep.  I thought it was a seed or something stuck in her fur with sap, but I didn't know for sure, so I took pictures of it to send to my mom when the hour was less...dark.  Seriously, it did not look like a tick!

Yeah.  It was a tick.  Armed with tweezers, a jar with a lid, and some disposable gloves, I pulled the little sucker (pun intended) out of Pepper's hide and stuck it in the jar, where I finally saw its little legs.  MONSTER!  The thing was gross.  Is gross.  Can ticks suffocate?  I hope it dies a horrible death for daring to attach to my little princess and make me have to get all gyuh!  I hate feeling gyuh!

Anyway, today has been productive, right? :P
I feel like I need a shower.  With fire, to get the gyuh! out of my system.

Don't worry, I sanitized Mom's tweezers with alcohol.

Awesomeness

Yeah, so, my week sucked.  Like, massively sucked.  I won't even go into the details and stuff, but suffice it to say that this week is one of the most difficult I've had in a long, long, long, long, long, long, long (you get the point) time.

But right now, I feel...okay.  My emotional center is still scrambled, but I feel more drained than anything else right now.  I need a laugh or some mindless entertainment. 

I am so sick of rain!

I am going to finish reading some Percy Jackson.  And smile.  I will keep smiling.

Sometimes, it just Sucks!

 



October Reading List

Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
The Lightning Thief 10/4/14
The Sea of Monsters 10/4/14
The Titan's Curse 10/5/14
The Battle of the Labyrinth 10/11/14
The Last Olympian 10/11/14

The Kane Chronicles:
The Red Pyramid
The Throne of Fire
The Serpent's Shadow

Heroes of Olympus:
The Lost Hero 10/13/14
The Son of Neptune 10/14/14
The Mark of Athena
The House of Hades
The Blood of Olympus

Crossovers:
The Son of Sobek
The Staff of Serapis

Sides:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Demigod Files
The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries
Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

Think Pink

A tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

Because it totally deserves a post all to itself!!!

Counting blessings

There are times that I wonder if my mind is even normal. And then there are times I know it's not. 

Like today.

My big 'thank you' to God today is that Justin is a boy and that I have no step-sisters.

Seriously?

Who is grateful for things like that?  Who actively thanks God that their brother is a brother? That he's healthy, yeah. That he's happy, no question. 

But that he's a he?

Weird.

I dunno. I was just having strange thoughts. Like, what if Dad had had a daughter when he and Mom got married? Well, not only would I not be his parents' only granddaughter, I also might have ended up being jealous of my stepsister. Who wants to be jealous of their stepsister?

And what if she'd been prettier than me? Or skinnier? I wouldn't have just been jealous, I may actually have needed up hating her!

I mean, really, who the heck thinks these kinds of what ifs?  I don't have a stepsister, so what's the point of worrying about how I might have hated her if I had one and she was prettier than me?

You see why I question whether or not my mind works normally.

The real truth is...

Wow, I haven't really updated much this month, have I?

Well, the honest truth is, I'm still rather down.  I know, it's been more than a month, and the funeral/memorial came and went.  But I still find myself bursting into tears at random moments when something, some little, inconsequential thing, triggers a memory.
Last Thursday, it was "Ain't She Sweet" on the radio (for those of you who don't get it, it's a song from the forties that we used to sing every time we had music therapy.  One of her favorite songs.).

I'm looking forward to Wednesday this week.  My dear, sweet soon-to-be sister has made an appointment to look at (and I assume, try on) bridesmaid dresses.  I've been looking forward to that news since April!

I went out with a new friend on Friday night, so I'm being sociable.  That news should come as something of a relief to those of you who think I'm becoming a hermit (you know who you are :-P).  We went and walked around Bayshore for a while.  Had some spirited conversation.

Dad helped me update (and upgrade) my resume.  That was fun.  I can now proudly tell all the prospective employers in the world that I am a published author.
That was one of the best feelings I've ever felt.

But right now, I'm coming off a fifteen hour shift (yikes, right?) and need some sleep.  The glamor of a job in "intensive customer service".