October Daily Little Things

(At first I named the post August. How time does fly. WAHHH)

Here is an overview of my month (which actually took its time getting by--applause for you, October).
1. an amazing instant of a sunset.
2. air is really cooling
3. tortillas rock; skipped class
4. too much free time; SHAKESPEARE
5. picture for person (I honestly don't remember what this was...? Maybe I was trying to be ambiguous in case someone saw it. It was probably a secret project... OH WAIT I REMEMBER NOW I drew a picture during the worship night that I felt like God was leading me to give to a lady who had been having a rough time.)
6. sonic; youth group
7. Nice and cold; didn't feel compelled to finish dessert
8. Parking ticket; but good weather
9. had free time (though not much to do with it)
10. Zucchini Grillini
11. rainy; water bluer, skies greyer; skatingg
12. library; two lunches whoops
13. moustache journal~
14. the colors were splendid today
15. we opened up the house; class got out early
16. weather was really nice (overcast, drizzly, chilly); nanowrimo idea
17. Amazing sunset, ice cream
18. cool sunny weather; phone call with Bethany; extra time
19. today was actually pretty boring but I ate tortellini
20. Aki Matsuri; moustaching; hilarious stories

fun to make even if it turned out strange

21. perry the platypus cake (see above)
22. today was an okay day
23. po   ta    to
24. wrote short story
25. sunshine in my hair
26. COLD!! got christmas ideas
27. lots of walking
28. Link with moustache
29. studied Japanese with plushies
30. got some library manga
31. got the Avengers display

Costumes

October for most people seems to be halloween planning. Eh, for me it's NaNoWriMo Anticipation Month. And there's sometimes some dressing up in there too.

This year I dressed up twice. I went to a fall festival at Bethany's church as Link with a classy 'stache.

 

Today on actual Halloween I didn't know if people at school would costume themselves so I did a down-low costume that made me feel like I was dressing up but nobody even cared. XD

hipstah! coffee cup, obscure tee (brother's), short shorts over leggings, a big cardigan thing (my mom's!), and of course glasses.

Judging you

 I'm kind of scared that the only comment I got (after bringing the topic up myself) was "I thought you looked a little different today... it's the glasses"

what 

do I normally dress like a hipster?

I really don't think I do

What is hipster style anyway, I was having trouble defining it earlier

am I doomed to be a hipster forever because I like vests and skinny jeans and indie music and drink out of mason jars (BECAUSE IT'S FUN) and I don't like it when things get popular (but not because it's popular but because the statistical likelihood of having legitimately interesting conversations on the subject becomes miniscule). 

I am a geek okay

I'm pretty sure geeks and hipsters are incompatible or something.

(unnecessary rant is over)

Well, anyway, that was halloween this year. 

There's an hour and three minutes until NaNoWriMo so WISH ME LUCK

YESSSS

I got the store display. C: It's like a poster, except it's better because it's sturdier (cardboard) and IT WAS FREE 8D
Seriously, good things come to those who ask.

I wasn't really sure before how people went about asking for old displays, but I knew it was done

and then I saw this just tucked beside a shelf

and talked to like two to three employees just to find out how much it cost (was probably going to buy it even if it cost money) BUT IT WAS FREE

I mean, usually these things get thrown out? (but I bet an employee would have taken it home)

Was drawing.

Bethany, does she remind you of Veil at all? She kind of does to me. She wasn't exactly meant to be, but if you want it to be, it shall be!

Three Ladies

Today on the way to youth group, Justin and Kelsey and me (but mostly me) made up three ladies.

Linda is in her late forties to early fifties. All of her children have left the nest and she is trying to get some girl friends to hang out with. She has plain straight brown hair and it's shoulder length. She makes jokes that aren't really that funny.

However, Maggie thinks they're HEE-LARIOUS. Maggie gets a kick out of everything. She's in her 50s but she acts like she's in her late twenties... kind of. Her husband, George, was a dream boat when she married him, and she says now he's more of a dream raft but "I do love him so." She's all southern and has bouncy blonde curls. She's worried that she's getting fat because she and George eat meatballs all the time (they're his favorite).

Gertrude is a grumpy old lady who finds nothing amusing and basically just sits in the backseat being negative. She never married and always wears frumpy, old dresses in boring or ugly colors and prints, not just to church and special occasions, but everywhere. Her salt-and-pepper hair is in that really short, curly, old lady style. She's friends with the other two because everybody else doesn't want to be around her, but Maggie thinks Gertrude is the sweetest lady she ever met.



Also I walked a lot today and the sky looked flat and it was chilly and the world was positively lovely and I didn't get all sad like sometimes used to happen so everything's pretty cool right now. I have some pretty great friends and potential friends.

The Speech That Could Have Been (But Wasn't)

I did a speech (oh man, if you can call it that) on copyright in Public Speaking on Wednesday. I had my notes all neat on one side of an index card, and a couple hours before class I wrote out a lovely essay based on them and the words just flowed and I was going to go FIRST and just get it over with and probably do pretty okay. Except I kept not taking my chances and ended up being the last. I was all jumpy and I stumbled over my words and made some sounds that weren't words in trying to articulate and had my eyes closed part of the time and was looking down a lot and somehow taking too long even though I was worried it would be too short. I had to rush through my last point and the conclusion in about a minute (out of 6 minutes). I probably missed some things and didn't explain other things well at all. Overall, I think I sounded really dumb, which is awful. It's not that I didn't prepare or that I didn't know what I was talking about. It's that my mouth refused to move to make the right words in an eloquent order. I also don't like to have lots of people paying attention to me at once. I'm just fine with people admiring my work after I've done it (like a story or blog post or art) but it sets me on edge if lots of people are watching me make the lines or if I'm saying something that I haven't perfectly thought out and memorized.

To make myself feel better, I'm going to type up what I wrote before the class because I am just fine at writing and it actually sounds like a respectable speech.

We've all heard the horror stories. Normal people being charged enormous fines for pirating music; users banned from YouTube for posting episodes of a TV show. And those FBI warnings show up before every movie, ever. The charges may appear to be random and out of the blue, but they all have a common factor--copyright violations. How does copyright affect you? You can face fines and do time for something that is so easy to write off as "no big deal." Here's some information that's good to know. What and who does US copyright law protect? What are the rules regarding use of copyrighted material? And how can you protect your own work?

It is important to be able to identify what material is copyrighted. In a 2011 Licensing Journal, Leonard Rubin reviews the US copyright law, which he notes covers authors, writings, inventors, and discoveries. This sounds limiting, but he goes on to explain that this actually encompasses all original work, in visual, written, or recorded form. An example of visual work would be a sculpture, a painting, or digital art. Written works are anything from novels to articles to the code in computer programs! Recorded works include music and film. The creators of these materials hold the exclusive liscensing and distribution rights for their lifetime plus seventy years after they die. Wow! That's great for the authors and artists. But man, sometimes that song lyric illustrates your point perfectly!

Although it seems counter-intuitive, finding a picture on Google Images doesn't give you the right to put it on your blog. And buying a song legally from iTunes DOESN'T give you the right to use it in a video. You may see people claiming "Fair Use," but what does that really mean? In 2009, Linda Bartrom wrote an article for TechTrends about the implications of fair use for students. As it turns out, students are allowed to use portions of copyrighted material in educational presentations. There are some rules to this, however. You can use a video in your project, but only up to 10% of it or 3 minutes, whichever is less. You can also use up to 10% or 30 seconds of a sound recording like an interview or song. The rule is a little different when it comes to pictures. It's nearly pointless to use only 10% of a picture, so you can use up to 5 pictures per artist, and credit must be given to them on the picture. These are only the basic rules You ought to play on the safe side and read the law for yourself before using copyrighted material.

Fair use is really handy for people who don't usually make source material themselves. But some of us do make things. Why should we make it easy for people to steal our stuff? In a TechTrends article from 2011, Leonard DuBoff and Christy King review how to protect your copyrighted material. Copyright is actually automatic, as soon as you put your original work into a "tangible and fixed" form--whether putting it on paper, carving it in stone, or making it on the computer--that counts, too! This means ou don't have to do much, but unfortunately it doesn't hold up very well in court. there are two things you can do to help yourself. Think about those rage faces on the Internet. Somebody made them, but nobody really knows who and everybody uses them. If somehow your picture gets spread around like that, how do you prove you made it first? You can right away put that circle with a c in it on your work somewhere along with your name and the date. That way, nobody can argue that they "didn't know" it was copyrighted Secondly, you can register your work by submitting it to the Library of Congress within 3 months of its creation. That way, you have solid grounds to sue someone if they're illegally using your stuff. While the notice and registration aren't technically required, they can save you a lot of grief and possibly money later on.

In conclusion, creators have rights. There are rules to follow so that you don't infringe on those rights. When you make things, you also have those rights, and you can protect them. These effects of copyright should be obvious and taken seriously, especially in this media age. Be careful, and think about it before you get sued.

Okay, so I know there are a few things that could have used a better order. But I'm pretty happy with it. Of course, my speech actually came out with about half of that and made probably 3/4 as much sense and the last big paragraph was my favorite but I had to rush through it and then the psychology major guy who likes to debate things was telling me about how the maker of the rage faces was trying to claim the copyright and I was trying to explain that if they didn't put the notice and register it that there really wasn't a way to hold that up in court because it's just too widespread and would be exceedingly difficult to prove he did it first and all that but
WHATEVER I'm just not gonna try to have an argument in which I am not well informed because honestly the rage faces was a last-hour addition to my speech that I thought would connect well with the audience, hopefully.

I doubt I'll be making an A in this class...

What is it about youth?

Why do we cling to the younger years as the prime of life?

Why do we sigh for lost chances once we’re over the hill?

Why do we young people cast judgement on the adults who are still trying to have fun?

Who taught us to fear old age?

/morning musing

Magical lunch and AHHH

There's a certain table on campus where the lunches I've eaten so far have been magical.

One day I packed a cheese and spinach sandwich and randomly put re-fried beans on it for extra protein. It was THE BEST.

Then today I ate a baked potato like a sandwich with a cheesy-sourcreamy-fakebacony-chives middle. It was also peerless.


In other news, it's past my bedtime and I forgot I have to be out all day tomorrow so I'm trying to do homework I thought I'd have all day tomorrow to do...

Just dropped 24 of my Prismacolor pencils on the floor. Here's to hoping that they decided to abandon their normal fragile state for that brief moment.

'stachin

Whiteboard

Sink

Lightswitch

Paper Towel Dispenser

Microwave

(The youth group building needed some extra class)

BRAIN DUMP (school and goals and God)

As I suspected, my blogging has been way less frequent with school and all. Also, tumblr has been stealing my attention when I have free time. I feel like there's more of a general audience there (more of a chance to have people see what I say than just people who know my blog), but it's also an audience that won't agree with most of what I have to say.
So there's that. I just want to be on the computer less. I'm not on the computer much on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but then I have school to use the computer for in the mornings and on the rest of the days of the week plus I get all tired of studying so I take "little breaks" and I just wish that the internet wasn't so available or so interesting. XD

Well, enough about my depressing lack of motivation to go outside and have adventures. Tomorrow I'm going to a japanese cultural festival! I'm dragging Kelsey and Justin with me. I will have my camera so hopefully I shall return with wonderful photos to share.

I'm slowly working on developing characters for my still-yet-to-be-titled superhero story, and I love them so much, my gosh. I shall love them more as I really get to know them. Their personalities are pretty easy to get a running start with, since they're largely based on my family and best friends, the people I already know and observe like, ALL THE TIME.

Also I have ideas for NaNoWriMo so that's good.

And just randomly, I'd like to do a goal review.

New Years Resolutions:
No Soda Pop. WELL. I have not consumed a straight bottle of soda or can of soda or anything of the sort. I have had three to five cherry limeades from Sonic, which are made with Sprite, but I'm not counting those, especially since they're something I consider "special."

Sit Under Trees More: Well, anything is more than never! I think I've legit sat under about four trees so far this year. As in, on the ground, up against the trunk. I'm talking down and dirty in the nature and the bugs which is why this goal was kind of out of my comfort zone. But it seemed like such a beautiful thing to do that I've done it anyway.

School year goals. I'm halfway through the semester, about, so this is like a quarter-of-the-time-period inspection. 8D (I've forgotten my goals so any progress is probably unconscious, excuse me while I go find that post)

Manage my time well. HMMMMM. Well seeing as I've been getting everything done in plenty of time, schoolwise, I think I'm doing pretty okay. But I still feel majorly unproductive, especially on days at home. I don't feel like I have time for much else than school, since it's plagued with a severe case of internet distraction.

Eat Healthy, Exercise Regularly: AW MAN BAD CLAIRE I think I've actually lost ground here. Exercise is one of those things that I never seem to have time for. I haven't played DDR much at all. I have a standing desk now but I use the stool a lot. I try to stand while working at school if I can, but it is really hard to take history notes when you've got to switch between your notes and the text and there's no table that high. Food is probably about average, but I'm not eating as many veggies as I wish I was. I think I'm bored with our fresh options (carrot, celery, bell peppers, spinach) most of the time. Sometimes we get other stuff, but then stuff like zuchinni usually needs to be processed somehow. I've been eating trail mix like every day which actually isn't all that healthy, but it's the best snack I can think of. I can't stand chips as a regular snack. Maybe once in a while.

Purposefully Bring Things to God Throughout the Day: I feel like I am doing terribly, awfully at this. I really want to be having that sort of running constant dialogue with God that is exemplified by Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. But my brain feels so packed with stuff that I forget to pray. Like, a lot. I'll ponder the morality of things and have philosophical thoughts but it's like I'm leaving God out of it, which is not how it should be. Leah said something recently about when you put God first, all that other craziness sort of falls into place. I want to get to that point. My brain is not made to function like this. It feels so crowded and crazy and wrong. I really want to be doing things (drawing, organizing) that are productive but allow my thoughts to be free for prayer and fanciful thinking.

Have More Genuine Love for People and Treat Them As Jesus Would: judging from the disdainful half-glance-half-glare that I shot at the group of random strangers who called out to me at school for I-have-no-idea-why, I'm not particularly inclined to be kind to people. I know I have a problem with not really liking people in general. Not really disliking them (unless they give me reason), but just having no real opinion or caring about them at all. I'm intrigued by the people I'm intrigued by and then the rest are just there, and whether I'm nice or not really is determined by a bunch of outside factors and not really from a genuine love for people. I don't know if introversion or extroversion has much to do with your attitude towards people or if I'm just a heartless human being, but to show Jesus' love to people, I'm still needing a lot of improvement in that area.

Obviously I fall far short of perfect. But then again, my focus shouldn't be on perfection so much as on Jesus. Imitating Him and letting Him work through me will lead to the changing of my heart, so I really really really need to work on that first and foremost.

Well, it's eleven and I'm really tired of being awake so I'm going to go crash in my bed. Nothing to really keep me up. I've already drawn today, I know I don't have the capacity to write either of the stories I want to, and I'm going to refuse to get on tumblr any more today.

Sorry for the brain dump. Now you know the deepest darkest secrets of my heart (more like I'm being honest and showing you lovely internet folk who never read my blog that I totally don't have it altogether despite whatever it looks like to a random observer.)

Productivity?

I feel markedly more unproductive on the days that I am at home. This has a lot to do with the easy access to the Internet and also some to do with the fact that I have things I'd like to do around the house that I never have time for anymore. (It doesn't help that I caved and got a 'fandom' tumblr... that site is such a time-suck and also I have to be really careful because a lot of people post weird stuff and I have the NSFW filter turned on but sometimes things slip past but ANYWAY)

In any case, my self control is really bad, and I spend hours on the internet reading manga or blankly refreshing facebook or playing with virtual sand. When I was supposed to be working on English. Or Japanese. Or something useful.

This is why I do not bring my laptop to school and I haven't even connected my iPod to the wifi. It's actually such a relief to not be able to connect to the WORLD WIDE WEBBBBBBBBB

this world wide web is just what it looks like... a giant death trap

Without the distraction, I am able to sit myself down and read history for like two hours and then if I finish early enough I get to go to the library. ^o^ And then I peruse strange topics ranging from typography to paranormal activity to personality theory. Writers need exposure to both general knowledge and little niches. Anything that could give me an idea is great.

If I really need or want to access the internet, I can borrow a laptop at the library for... three hours, I think. I don't remember if there is a fee. But just the fact that I'd have to talk to someone about it is a huge deterrent... I won't be browsing unless it's REALLY important. c:

Well, my iPod just told me it's time to work on English. I need to put the final touches on this essay and jump right into the next unit. Then I need to come up with the entire structure of my history essay. These things are important because I'm trying to get ahead of them before November. Also on my to-do list for today is to finish up my Japanese homework, finish up my math homework and study for tomorrow's test, and pretty much write/outline my speech for Public Speaking. So here's to hoping I stay off of the interwebs.

Impulse buys

Today I went to Half Price Books to get a second journal for November.
Then I saw them.... a set of four smallish journals. Not practical for noveling, but totally classy.

Yes, that is a moustache journal~

Secondarily there is a lovely bicycle journal and two plain ones.
I have no idea what I'll use them for.

Challenge

In youth group last week, our leader (Mert) was talking about how we've been given all this power and ammo and bazookas or whatever. Jesus told us we could ask for anything in His name. That's some explosions waiting to happen right there. Mert also mentioned asking for things that weren't "safe." Examples of a safe prayer: "God, be with me today." "Bring Yourself glory." Etc. Things that you don't even have to imagine wouldn't happen.
But we really should be praying for hard things, too. (Well, they're easy for God, but we avoid asking for them because we think of them as hard and we're afraid that they won't be answered.) Things like someone you know is dying of cancer, or you need some extra money for the rent, or praying for someone's injury. These are the dangerous, specific, ones. He told us about a thing he and his friends did for a time where they put all their risky prayers into a bowl or book or something and they just all prayed about them and they were all answered. It was pretty neat.

Well, during all that, this is what I drew:

It's probably obvious, but it's a person bringing all their stuff to God... the dangerous stuff and the boring stuff (notice the file cabinet... never a sign of excitement), the useful stuff and a lot of ambiguous lumps. Anyway, laying down the challenge.

Good News!

A. I took my parking citation (see last post) to the campus police and they changed it to a warning, since I had my parking permit with me and had just forgotten it. But I was told not to forget again. THERE WAS AN UNDERLYING STRICTNESS and it would have been very intimidating had I not been gleeful over the saving of 25 dollars. That's like 25 one dollar breakfast burritos. That's almost a month of poorly balanced and barely sufficient breakfasts, but still almost a month of breakfasts.
25 employees could have had a cheap burrito party on me but they gave it up so that I could eat ;^; (I did not use this reasoning with them but it might have made a good story)

B. The Japanese test was today. The first one. I feel like I did really well! Also, hardly any homework.

C. Math was easy. I finished all my homework but one problem already. Mostly in class... ^^;

D. I changed my iPod's default language to British English. Now I can spell theatre as I wish with no angry red underlines~

E. The weather is managing to stay cool. I had to laugh at how it gets down to the seventies and low eighties and everyone has a jacket (including me). I wonder how many of them have the jackets because they're cold, and how many (like me) just jump at the chance to wear oh-so-cozy long sleeves without sweating. c:

And now for a little bit of bad news before everyone starts thinking my life is beautiful:

My dad said to me today that maybe we should think about getting me a car. I know what you're thinking. "That's not bad news!!!!"
>___>

a) I don't like driving
b) cars are expensive to buy in the first place
c) and then there's insurance, registration, maintenance, gasoline, parking fees
d) cars are HUGE and take up a lot of space

Sure, I drive a lot now. But I want to bike and take the bus once I live in the city. My dad says it's impractical and I don't realize how un-simple it would be.

My dad is not planning to become a starving artist and my dad doesn't hate driving. Also you don't usually have to pay to park a bike and even though you have to pay for the bus it's less than even just the gasoline part of the expenses listed in b and c above. 

BLAHHHHHHHH the expectation that I will have a car is a ZOMBIE -shoots-

Ugh.

Well, thanks to a moment of forgetfulness, I now owe 25 dollars to my school.

All I did was forget to hang up the parking permit. I even had it with me.

I feel really dumb. >__>

Doctor Who (I'm an awful person)

So, I watched The Angels Take Manhattan. I won't spoil it for anyone but I very nearly cried.

Also, I couldn't resist a bad joke, so I made this:

I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON

Art Update

So I finally got around to scanning some stuff in. c:

This is Peggy, Bethany, Emma, and I as alternative/punk/goth/emo gurlz. XD Just for fun.

I love thunder like you wouldn't ever know.

This is my Doctor Who character.

This is a really random doodle, but I like it. c:

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I like it. XD

This is Falcon, the main character of my first NaNoWriMo novel back in 2009.

Aaaand these are the beautiful Windsburg twins that I love soooo dearly. ;3; They've stuck with me a long time, and I expect them to stick a lot longer, along with their friends.

Skipping class!! I'm such a rebel

As I write this, Public Speaking class has come and gone... and I've been at home.

Before you panic, I asked my teacher if I could skip class! I got permission! See, all they were doing today was watching a movie that I watched on Sunday. I did not want to go sit and watch it again. ^^;

It's SUPER RELIEVING to not have to spend an hour driving into austin, and then a bit of time waiting around, and then go to class, and then wait around for another two hours and then spend another hour getting home. So I dawdled and took naps and it didn't give me a ton of free time, but I cooked tortillas (seriously, thank God for the Spanish who started making this brilliant native South American corn pancake out of wheat, they are the best) for my brothers and I, was able to spend my history time more leisurely -cough surfing the internet i hate it when i do that cough-

I love not having my computer at school. I don't even connect my iPod to the wifi. I'm way more productive on campus, even though it's not so relaxing and I don't have standing desk space. It's just so much easier to stay focused without the internet.

If I wanted to get on the web, I would have to use a school computer... so I'd have to REALLY want or need to. It makes it so much easier to not say "well, I'll just check facebook..."

This also kind of ties into the fact that IT'S OCTOBER!

why is that important well

Because it's the month before NOVEMBER!

why is that importa- DO YOU EVEN KNOW ME?!

National Novel Writing Month is in November, and it's something I anticipate as soon as the leaves start turning and the concrete is cool to the touch in the shade. NaNoWriMo IS November.

On top of that, the high school youth group that I still go to has a retreat in November.

My plan is to really buckle down on English and History. I'll write all the rest of my English essays minus the A paper (which isn't due until December) in October. It won't be hard as long as I don't let myself use my English Comp time to browse the Internet like I have been. I'll also write my A paper for History. It's a research paper but only ~2000 words so it won't be too bad. (College papers have never seemed intimidating to me since I've been doing NaNoWriMo since 2009.)

So with all that writing done up in advance, I'll only have a bit of writing for school in November (revisions for those papers I mentioned already, and the english departmental exam).

Now the second part of my plan is also scary. I'm going to write my 50,000 word novel by hand.

Yeah, you heard me. What? Yeah. Sounds crazy, no? Well, to be honest, I know I'll get distracted if I write with the computer. A journal is one purpose, and a lot more portable than a laptop. Yes, the computer is faster, yes, it's easier, but you can't exactly type up your novel on the sly in math class on a laptop. >D All the stuff I have to do this time around is actually requiring me to do NaNo the hard way... and it's exciting.

This also means that if you want to read this year's novel, you'll have to borrow the journals from me~
I have one journal now. If I write eight words per line, it will fit half of my novel. I'll need to get another one before November.

I also need a plan of what it will be about. I don't want to go by the seat of my pants and maybe fizzle out. I won't be working on THE STORY (the un named superhero story I've had forever) so it shouldn't be something I really want to work on editing right away. But I might get some brilliant nuggets in there, so who knows?

Anyway, due to my free time I shall now proceed to watch a movie from the 50s. 
I hope it's great. The 50s seem pretty cool.

How was YOUR evening? I really don't like driving...

So upon arriving at school, I found a parking spot. Great! It has an empty spot right next to it too. Yay! I can pull straight in! YES!

And so I pull up and turn off the car... except the car won't go off. The music keeps playing and I can't remove the key. When I turn it the motor won't rev up. I'm stuck! I can't let go of the brake because the spot is kind of tilted and the car would roll. I put the emergency brake on (after all, that's what it's for . . . ) and panic for a bit. This is a new car! It shouldn't be malfunctioning! The music not stopping is driving me crazy so I eject the disk and try to think, still keeping my foot on the brake just in case and turning the key multiple times even though it does nothing. This had happened to me in the old car before. I couldn't remember why! Would I have to call my parents and wait for them to come get me? God! What is happening?!* I was really freaking out.

 Somehow I glance at the gear shift and feel kind of dumb. Yes, now I remember. That's what happened in the last car that one time. I was still in Drive... so I shift to park, take the key out, and then get worried that something will be messed up because everything is in a weird order. So I turn the car back on, release the emergency brake, back up a bit, and pull forward and brake and THEN put it in park and THEN did the emergency brake. Finally, I am parked, and I'm so done with the car.


I gather my things... and drop my water bottle. No biggie except... the parking spot is tilted (as I mentioned before) and the bottle rolls beneath the car. I go to the other side of the car, because even if it didn't roll straight out, it should be reachable...

 So I debate my possibilities. I could back out, leave the car in the middle of the parking lot, and then get the bottle, and then put the car back. I could leave the bottle there but then I'd get thirsty and it would just sit there getting dirty. Besides, I'd have to leave the car out in the middle of the lot later anyway. Or I could talk to a stranger and recruit someone to grab it for me when I back out.

So um, that's what I did.  Poor lady, though. Imagine this happening to you:

I mean, I must have looked really strange (I have very little fashion sense).

 So, my parking lot experience was less than ideal. I can't wait until I can walk or bike or take the bus places... hopefully next summer! Gotta get a job, gotta get a job, gotta get a job, gotta get a job, gotta get a job...

ANYONE WANNA COMMISSION ME?!
...I promise I won't be as lazy as I was on the illustrations for this post.

*(This is the same as if you were saying "Mom! What is happening?!" I'm pretty sure that's how people got started just slinging "god" and variations of such around so casually... it was probably sincere at first and then turned into an expression. But you can be sure that if I say something like that I literally mean it as a prayer...)

It's Fall!

It's the most wonderful time of the year. c:

Not Christmas. Autumn.

Fall is my favorite season. It's relief from the summer, when the air is really nice. When it starts getting even chillier, I get to wear long sleeves and that means STRIPEY ARMS 8D

I've been feeling it in the air and seeing it in the sky that gets darker earlier every day and anticipating it since a month too early when I changed my blog background mistakenly.

My nickname, Aki, means autumn. I love it a lot ;u;

Also orange is my favorite.

Fall is when my grandparents come back to Texas, and when it's so nice to be outside all the time and we keep the house open for a while.

AHHHHHHH FALL

The only thing that spoils fall is school but at least I spend a lot of time outside at college. c: