#last time i used them was around 11 last night when i did my duolingo lesson. i would’ve put them back in the case and onto one of my

[fingertipsmp3]

I’m pretty sure there’s a spirit in my house hiding my things and only giving them back when I ask politely

[i0-0na]

Entry 4: Share House

29.03.2024

In the morning I woke up before my alarm. I blame it on my jet lag, but I take advantage of this!

It’s raining heavily outside. (queue the song at the bottom)

よし! time to use my verrryyyyyy basic Japanese, Duolingo wish me luck T^T

"あんの… すみません、 ええ- 傘 です か？"

"あ! はい, -つ見つけさせてください"

Umbrella aquired.

Bilingual queen ✨‎

Obviously joking haha.

But you know what, I just did that! I knew what I wanted to say, I said it, and this staff member understood me!! I know, I know, it’s very simple language but still I gave myself a pat on the back and went off to hunt for a sim card and breakfast. I tried to find one the night before when I bought food in 7/11 but they didn’t have any there, and I was wayyy too tired to look around anymore that night. So, I went to FamilyMart, another konbini.

I tried my best after entering the store to find the sim cards but alas I couldn't find them. However, I came prepared and memorised this line:

"シム カード お ���売 しますか?"

"はい、 そこ です"

"どこ?"

"そこ!"

"え?"

"左!"

"えええ?"

"左!!"

As I spun round and round (literally) I found them. I would learn from that interaction Hidari/左 = left, migi/右 = right. I could feel the Konbini man’s pain, he was practically bending/laying over the counter to help point it out to me, but we made it in the end! (^з^)

I got my E-sim working, had breakfast nearby, then checked out. Now as a piece of advice, do not trust google maps in Japan! What you should do before boarding a train is to take a screenshot of your route and then go on your merry way. Also, Tokyo has different speed types of trains, your ‘local train’ and then ‘fast/express/super-fast train’ usually, the reason is because some of these trains tend to skip many stops hence the reason they are ‘faster’. I, did not know this, so I ended up being really late when meeting my housing agent :(

I felt soooo bad, but at least I got my sim card working so I let her know about all my problems. In addition, Japanese trains have TVs on them so you can watch TV and see how your journey is going. It’s called Train TV ✨. However, some messages can pop up about reasons for train delays, like on my way to the sharehouse it said that apparently someone was on the train tracks.

FUTURE IONA: I don’t want to say that’s a super common thing over here, but it is something which happens a lot…

Either way I made it to my sharehouse, I got a tour of the place, and then headed to my local supermarket; and boyyyy it is definitely different to the UK. Not drastically but to name a few, cereal comes in plastic bags and not cardboard? And it only lasts for “6” ish portions?? As it says on the package whereas in the UK it would last a month! Instead of meal deals there are bentos (so much tastier) and lastly just look at that picture of the octopus tentacle… Amongst other things. The biggest difference of all though is that everything is thankfully sooo affordable, because the value of the yen is super-duper low at the moment, so in terms of exchange rates and the fact that Japan doesn’t really have a cost-of-living issue like the UK, the pound to yen conversion rate is pretty good right now.

 

When we got back to the house, I got locked out of my room TOT This was due to the fact that the locks on my door must have morphed due to the weather, as the room was under reconstruction, and no one had lived in it in ages before me. So, I stayed outside, first in another bedroom then in the living room (the housing agent treated me to konbini chicken because of this situation lol) whilst we waited for the Kagi Master ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ (locksmith) to come. As he did his lil lock magic, I got to meet the other residents. A sharehouse in a way is almost like a hostel, but for more long-ish term stay (at my place minimum 3 months, max 6 months to stay here I think), so in my place it’s an actual house and roughly I think 8 people can reside here at one time, my parents were sooooo sceptical at the idea but I was like trust me bros I know what I’m talking about! The two other residents I met were both foreigners just like me. One from West Constant and the other from London, Croydon. Both fluent in Japanese and working here in Japan. I think I am the youngest in the whole house lol. The lock situation was so bad the Landlord ended up coming over, I forgot to mention I live in an ‘American themed house’ AHAHAHAA. Japan is very much known for a lot of its themed concepts, and this place very much gives a sense of nostalgia, like I’m at my grandparents’ house. All this to say he gave a very much ‘western’ aura to him, like Space Dandy, or a cowboy, but he greeted me like ‘Welcome to my house, ようこそ!’ So cool.

They ended up cutting a hole through the wall, but I was finally able to get into my room and relax. I was locked out for like 3 ish hours, without my phone as well (I left it in the room!).

But now I can officially settle into life here!

Song Listening to Right Now: Meeting – persona 5

[umichenginabroad]

Day One in Poitiers, Aerospace Summer Program

My name's Aryanna, and I'm an aerospace engineer going to four different cities in France this summer! I'll start in Poitiers, where the focus will be on radiative heat transfer and thermal control of satellites. After 8 days, I'll head to Paris to study launchers, from propulsion to mission and architecture to flight control. I went to Paris last year for a 6 week engineering abroad program and absolutely loved the city, so I'm delighted to be going back. I’ll spend 11 days in Paris before going to Salon-de-Provence to look at space communications for 5 days. If I remember orientation correctly, this will actually involve work on a military base, which will certainly be interesting. The program will end in Toulouse, where I'll learn about industry and project management. Because I am lucky enough to go to the University of Michigan, I'll be able to spend 4 extra days beyond the regular program end date in Toulouse, where I'll be able to celebrate Bastille Day! (The closest equivalent American holiday is the Fourth of July). Plus, throughout the entire program, I'll be taking a French course as well. I'm a little nervous about actually talking to native French speakers, but I think I’ll be okay. I'll have to get working on my Duolingo or something.

Last year I had some...difficulties on the flight home from Paris. The second leg of my flight got canceled and rescheduled for a day later and to have ANOTHER layover, and stuff got delayed and delayed and delayed. I ended up stuck in Canada for 2 days, slept on a bench in the airport for one night and in a hotel with some nice strangers I met on my second attempt to fly home the other night before riding a 14 hour train to Michigan with them. Slightly dangerous? Yes, but it worked out! No, I did not receive anything from the airport/airline except for a $500 voucher for an airline I NEVER intend to use again (Air Canada. A Canadian Uber driver told me it's the worst airline in Canada, so never use it). Now I am a firm believer in direct flights when possible. I flew from DTW to CDG (an airport in Paris), then took a train from CDG to Poitiers. Including the wait for the plane or train, it was around 16 hours of travel, but well worth it. Plus, one program member was on the same flight as me, and four were on the same train, so it was fun to start meeting people on the way.

I didn’t have much time to explore Poitiers today after my train got in, but I did get lunch, take a short nap, struggle getting an eSIM, and get dinner with the entire program. There are 19 of us from around the world; some are from Australia, some from the UK, and some from the US. It has been interesting talking and seeing what things are different about each place (for example, the students from Australia said they often celebrate Christmas on the beach. It makes sense since it happens during their summer, but it’s still weird to think about). The city right outside the hotel doesn’t look like much, but a brief hike up a hill and it feels like you’re somewhere else entirely! Poitiers isn’t that big, but the buildings are very pretty and very old. We’re going on a tour of the city tomorrow, so I’ll have more to say about it in the next update.

One of the older looking buildings I've seen here. The limestone is so much more worn down than on the others! Hopefully I'll hear about it on the tour.

Everything on this side of the building is painted on. It's the only one I've seen like it, but I really like the art scene in Poitiers so far. There has been a lot of Mario-themed graffiti around too.

The view from partway up the hill.

I have my first day of class tomorrow, but it's pretty brief. It'll be about three hours of French, then the city tour after lunch. I'm excited to get the program started!

À bientôt (See you soon),

Aryanna Thompson

[ohthehumanities]

18 July 2022

[Well, looks like I took another inevitable break from Tumblr. Alas! Glad to be back, though.]

I'm glad to be back, friends! Sorry for my absence. I did a lot of work two weeks ago and volunteering last week. Life has been... hectic. But this week is starting out well. And I'm going to academic conferences next week! We're gonna nerd it up next week.

30 Days of Productivity

Day 11: Do you have a favorite musical artist or song?

My favorite artists right now are Glenn Miller (swing) and Belle and Sebastian ("sad 90s British indie pop"). I like pretty much all of Miller's music. His hits are the ones I'm most familiar with. I enjoy all of B&S's albums, but my favorite song off their most recent release is "Prophets on Hold."

Tranquilstudy's Summer Challenge

Day Twenty-Two: What are three things you want right now?

(1) A vinyl copy of "A Bit of Previous," (2) the security that my travel will go off without any glitches next week, and (3) the ability to exercise the way I want to. Can you tell I'm a bit existential right now?

Day Twenty-Three: Halloween isn’t that far away, you know. Have you read or watched any of the classic horror books or movies? What are your favourites or least favourites if you have?

I was a bit of an Edgar Allen Poe fangirl in middle school. Still have an anthology of his works, and a dress inspired by "The Raven"! I've watched a few classic Halloween movies; I like the fun ones much more than the scary ones, even though I don't get scared easily.

Day Twenty-Four: What gives you hope? What makes you feel alive?

My faith, my family, and my boyfriend give me hope. Learning and exercising make me feel truly alive. When I'm on a bike especially, I feel like I'm on top of the world.

Day Twenty-Five: What books are you currently reading, if any? How are you liking them? What books would you recommend your followers to read?

I'm currently reading Women of Hope: Doctors of the Church, which is about the female doctors of the Church. It goes with a course I am taking on the same subject. I'm also listening to an audiobook version of The Body Keeps the Score, partly because I find Sean Pratt's voice extremely calming.

Day Twenty-Eight: What time do you usually go to bed? Do you have a bedtime or night routine? If so, share it with us! If not, what helps you get to sleep faster?

I go to bed early: between 9:15 and 10:00, every night, which lets me wake up at around 5:30 (without an alarm!) to exercise. My usual nighttime routine includes showering or washing up, reading, taking some melatonin, and reading.

Day Twenty-Nine: The end of the challenge! How are you feeling now that the challenge is finished? Have you made any friends during the challenge or made any new connections? Thank you for joining in on this adventure with me!

This was a fun challenge! Thank you for creating and sharing it. I enjoyed having the inspiration to write a bit more.

Today's Tasks

[X] Work meeting (went great!)

[X] Exercise (I'm only lifting today for injury prevention reasons)

[X] Read (finished The Racial Contract, I want to make progress on Women of Hope: Doctors of the Church)

Theology

Duolingo (Spanish -> Fun Plans -> Level 3 to Level 5)

[breadoffoxy]

Add on Tag Game

I got tagged by both @chelsea-chee and @rougebangtan so I’m going to do both sets of questions here. Thanks lovelies for tagging me.

1. How do you feel about reptiles as pets? 

Not something I would like honestly, but I think its cool people keep them as pets! 

2. Name a weird song on your phone. 

I have my whole music library on google streaming to my phone so this is hard haha. Let’s go with Chop Suey! by System of a Down. Good song but it’s definitely weird.

3. Do you know how to ride a bike?

No 😭 I never learned. I was scared as a kid of everything and when I finally got brave enough to learn I started moving around a lot and my family got rid of their bikes. I really want to learn, my ankles may have problems now because they don’t like exercise bikes at all though.

4. Have you seen Star Wars? If so, which is your favorite episode?

Seen all of them except the last one because of flashing light warnings. Really need to get disney + trial to watch it in a bright room. I’d say Episode VI is my favorite!

5. Nintendo, PlayStation, or XBox?

Nintendo was my favorite growing up, but as an adult I lean more towards PlayStation now.

6. Would you ever want to get professional photographed?

Only at my wedding or a special event I think. Don’t need one of those awkward family photos please.

7. Ideal date to go on?

I really want to go on a date to the aquarium!

8. Long or short hair?

I like how refreshing short hair feels, but I love running my hands through long hair.

9. Favorite movie genre to watch?

Probably thriller and suspenseful movies.

10. Do you use a planner/would you ever want to use one?

I used one while I was in school but haven’t used one since. If i need to save notes for anything I do it on my phone. I like to make lists on there.

11. Do you have a favorite planet in our galaxy? If yes, what is it and why?

PLUTO IS A PLANET!

12. Is there a language you would like to learn?

I’ve been wanting to learn Korean. I pulled out the duolingo app the other day. Just for a day though hahaha oof.

13. If reincarnation was real and/or something you believe in, how many lives do you think you would’ve lived?

I don’t believe in reincarnation but if it were real I think I lived my last life as an old lady with arthritis. 

14. Do you believe in soulmates?

Yes I do! I think there is someone meant for everyone out there. It may not have to be in the traditional romantic love either. 

15. What city would you move to in a heartbeat had you the chance to do it now?

Banff! It’s my favorite place.

16. Do you have a favorite type of landscape? Is it some place that you visited?

Banff! haha it’s really pretty right on the base of the mountains. I’m a mountain person more than a beach person. It has lots of trees so feels foresty too. Fields with wildflowers are also really pretty with lakes. The banff area has so much pretty scenery, look it up!

17. Do you connect with another culture other than your own?

Japanese Culture! I love the food and their storytelling. I think their history is very interesting, love samurai. I enjoyed my week in Japan a lot, it was amazing.

18. Does being an early riser or a night owl affect your daily routine?

I’m definitely an early riser. I like to get things done and over with in the morning like errands or back in the day homework. I can’t stay up, I do negative work on things making so many stupid mistakes. I wake up early no matter how late I go to bed.

19. What’s a healthy habit you’ve been trying to maintain during quarantine?

I have a lot of things I wanted to start or have started but haven’t kept up with. One thing was exercising. Not quite in the way I originally planned, but I go on long walks with my dog Angel and that counts for something. I definitly got a lot of writing done so that’s been nice too. Maybe one of these day’s I’ll practice learning Korean again.

20. Handwritten or typed?

I pretty much type everything now, but I really appreciate good handwriting. I like legible handwritten fonts! Why can’t I do those on Tumblr posts easy haha.

My Questions

1. If you could live in any video game which one would you like to live in?

2. What is your favorite texture?

3. What is your favorite smell?

4. What makes you think of home?

5. If you went to school to Ouran and went to the host club, who would you request?

6. What is your favorite type of AU?

7. Do you consider Pluto a planet?

8. What is your favorite historical time period?

9. What did you want to be when you were growing up?

10. What’s a food you can’t stand eating?

[rugessnome]

I'm going to pretend @overlyelegantstranger tagged me... 1. Nickname: Mouse is my longstanding online nickname, and for a bit less, DT (for Darth Tenebrous, actually, given my URL) ...actually I spelled Adrien the way I did because I've an OC who shortens her (different) name to "Ien", but I haven't found it convenient to introduce, nor convinced myself it refers to me. 2. Zodiac sign: I'm supposedly a Taurus; actually the sun was in Aries at my birth, and while those often suit me in tumblr astrology, I resent the assigned nature of it all so uh... also no. 3. Height: Five four, maybe five foot five if I'm lucky and standing particularly straight 4. Hogwarts house: Mostly Ravenclaw, with some Slytherin sympathies and a newfound appreciation for Hufflepuff. I will actively resent Gryffindor colors unless you tell me they're actually Shuos (even though I would probably be a Nirai, if anything, in the hexarchate. But I love certain of my foxes.) and/or somehow Sith. 5. Last thing I googled: "Nebuchadnezzar poisoning", because @piermanwalter reminded me of an anecdote in The Disappearing Spoon about how the eating grass thing might have been prompted by inadvertent poisoning. I didn't remember which element; turns out it's lead AND antimony. 6. Favourite musicians: Idk; Over the Rhine are up there, and lately The Mountain Goats. I've also seen Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura in concert, so I suppose they're up there. Vienna Teng, Regina Spektor... This is an incomplete list. 7. Song stuck in my head: the phrasing of this question keeps putting some song I don't even really know that has "over my head, over my head" in it? But really it's OTR's "And Can It Ever Be?", with which I am a little obsessed anew, because: "This night is so dark/this night is silence, and very little fear/tell me that this welcome peace/isn't dancing with the ghost of future tears" 8. Following now: four hundred ish? I'm going to check and come back and edit. The vast majority of whom are inactive and/or not personal blogs. 9. Followers: I think this is around 500, although I am/may be long overdue for a purge of spam/porn blogs 10. Do I get asks: Mostly only when I ask for them. But occasionally. 11. Amount of sleep: I gravitate towards about 8 hours. I am practically nonfunctional normally on much less than 6, and lately, thanks to um... anxiety, even getting by on 6 is difficult. 12. Lucky number: ...in some ways π, in some ways e 13. What I’m wearing: Star Trek ~lounge pants I made from Enterprise/"Star Trek" print fabric, and an oversized t-shirt I got when I participated in a litter cleanup 14. Dream job: uhhh something involving as many as possible of: sci-comm, math or programming tasks, a result helpful to people, and maybe a bit of domestic travel now and again?? Idk, I seem to change my mind on this frequently and don't really have a good or set idea. 15. Dream trip: I think the idea I'm most into at the moment is one day, hoping the present situation doesn't actually end service for good, is riding the uh "Empire Builder" Amtrak route through the northern US. Aside from that, I recently went to West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and would enjoy going back and also I am (except for quarantine concerns) almost always up for a road trip to Michigan. 16. Favourite food: this is not something I am good at deciding. There are too many good ones. Something, such as I had for dinner, involving potatoes, corn tortillas, and some peppers and tomatoes (or tomatillos in something else) and cheese as seasoning is my idea of great comfort food. I appreciate a good meatloaf but I also really don't mind eating vegetarian meals on a regular basis, given they're something I like. 17. Instruments: um. I can kinda play a few pieces, with idiosyncratic timing, on keyboard/piano and that's about it. I don't fluently read music though I might be able to work through something in treble clef. I recently acquired a cheap ukulele but I am struggling with tuning it, or understanding how it's used in songs or... 18. Languages: rusty, at best I was almost capable of halting conversation, German and Spanish. I have the Duolingo Latin tree but I don't think it's um... that extensive. I have learned a little Russian and beyond that just... too many interests, without much time being devoted to any of them. 19. Favourite song: I'm into "And Can It Ever Be?" anew, as I said above; also more recently "Your Honor" and "Ghost of Corporate Future" off Soviet Kitsch (aand, a bit awkwardly, "Hotel Song"). "You Or Your Memory" "Dance Music" "This Year" and "Up the Wolves" (which is to say that basically the larger part of my album rotation lately is Soviet Kitsch, The Sunset Tree, and Till We Have Faces)... 20. Random fact: I have been watching retro computer repair videos lately (Adrian's Digital Basement esp) and they've made me kinda want to learn to solder. Though I'm not sure whether I'll look into this before we're past current events or not. (Probably I'd start with some of the kits from Evil Mad Scientist Labs) 21. Aesthetic Standing in a broad-shouldered greatcoat surveying a wintry landscape, perhaps feeling powerful, but with a note of melancholy and humility to it. Welcoming a dear friend in, pet in arms, with an array of beautiful if homely chopped vegetables and prepared ingredients inside waiting to be cooked up. A hobbit math professor relaying an algebra theorem or a physics application. Walking near a wetland in a flannel, among the trees and wildlife.

[justanotherboyinblue]

weird asks that say a lot

in

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? coffee mugs! it gives me a weird satisfaction

2. chocolate bars or lollipops? chocolate bars!!

3. bubblegum or cotton candy? not a big fan of either :/

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? well i’m homeschooled so that’d be my mother the gist of it was that i don’t focus well and get distracted easily

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? oh bottles for sure cannot tell you why but the old fashioned glass bottles of like pepsi or something? Love Those

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear? grunge i love it has the ‘i don’t care’ attitude basically just oversized stuff and a whole bunch of flannels

7. earbuds or headphones? headphones obviously, i’m a gamer what did you think i was gonna say

8. movies or tv shows? i tend to like movies better, but i do love myself a good tv show i think the pinnacle of tv shows done right is person of interest five seasons, i never got bored, it didn’t drag on, and it was always a good watch with good character chemistry

9. favorite smell in the summer? hmm either chlorine or beach smell because both mean i’m in the water And Ya Boi Is A Water Bitch

10. game you were best at in p.e.? i’ve never had p.e. and i think that’s my favorite thing about homeschooling

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? i normally don’t, because i wake up 11:30-noon because i was up at 3am and i need my eight hours of sleep

12. name of your favorite playlist? some fucken bOPS

13. lanyard or keyring? i’d think key ring

14. favorite non-chocolate candy? uhhhhh literally all my favorite sweets are chocolate fuck probably cow tails

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? they all sucked and i rarely read any of them so

16. most comfortable position to sit in? either sitting on my ankle or having both legs hanging over the edge

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? do flip flops count?

18. ideal weather? like, 75-80 degrees with a cool breeze or alternatively 5-10 degrees with Piles Of Snow Everywhere

19. sleeping position? usually on my left side, or my stomach

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a notebook, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)? i love writing on anything i can get my hands on, most times it’s a notebook i tend to always carry pen and paper with me because i Will Not Remember Anything

21. obsession from childhood? you know how people have like, a timeline in their head of their entire life? i did this when i was this age, etc.? yeah i don’t have that my memories are in a big pile in my head and i have to use like things around me to find out a general age it’s wild so i have no idea coloring? minecraft?

22. role model? any kind person ever

23. strange habits? i only shower at night, and once i get in my room and change into my pajamas i have No intention of leaving so i just brush my teeth in the shower

24. favorite crystal? amethyst? quartz? garnet? idk onlytherealonesknow

25. first song you remember hearing? it was a song that my mother used to sing to my brother and i at night when we were in bed, did you ever talk to God i’ve never been able to find it anywhere, but i love it and it has the Best Vibes attached to it

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather? S w i m

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? cuddle obviously

28. five songs to describe you? uhh dear younger me- mercyme (Christian) the cult of Dionysus- the Orion experience lucky stars- Lucy Spraggan escapism- steven universe? maybe? sunkissed- Khai dreams???? bro i got no idea

29. best way to bond with you? over shared experiences, or a shared love of something just best way to bond? by relating

30. places that you find sacred? not sure old buildings, sites of historical importance, places marred by tragedy

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? oh boy here we go my tightest pants, obviously, my heels, and my slutty shirt or my comfy clothes i can kick ass in anything

32. top five favorite vines? i am the sand guardian, guardian of the sand. Posiden quivers before him! fuck off!! *BAM* this is why mom doesn’t fUCKING love you!!! please let this be a normal field trip. with Miss Frizzle?? un-fucking-likely Jeremy eat a snickers. why? you’re not you when you’re hungry. it’s gonna take more than that for my fatass meanwhile, in 1957. your honor, permission to treat the witness as hostile. permission granted. i’m gonna shoot you in the face. that’ll ruin my day

33. most used phrase in your phone? i have no phone but i do say valid a lot because All You Fuckers Are Valid

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? michigan plumminggggg, we’ll exceed your expectaaationsssss

35. average time you fall asleep? three am

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

37. suitcase or duffel bag? backpack

38. lemonade or tea? lemonade

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? cake

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? idk the cat pissed on my brother’s papers once

41. last person you texted? moje rojenia

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets? Hoodie Pouch

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? hoodie, obviously

44. favorite scent for soap? Manly Smell

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? mmmmmm sci-fi

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in? long sleeve tee, plaid pajama pants

47. favorite type of cheese? Mozzarella

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? pineapple i’ll eat you out ;)

49. what saying or quote do you live by? if someone makes you happy make them happier

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? my mother made the weirdest fucking sound once, and i couldn’t breathe and fell off the chair

51. current stresses? school, driver’s training, some other stuff

52. favorite font? Kristen ITC

53. what is the current state of your hands?  ????? clean?? i have a ring on my right middle finger, some scars on both hands, my nails are short

54. what did you learn from your first job?  haven’t had a job yet

55. favorite fairy tale?  any of the old Grimm’s fairy tales  they terrified me when i was young, but then i got a taste for the disturbed and gore so they became perfect for me 

56. favorite tradition?  my family doesn’t really have any traditions

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?  gaining confidence to not be a complete pushover, quitting self-harm, realizing my first relationship wasn’t my fault

58. four talents you’re proud of having? i don’t  have four talents  i can color really well? i can copy drawings if i look at them long enough

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?  Fuck

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? something along the lines of kabaneri of the iron fortress or my hero academia

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?  give me something to keep and hold onto forever. let go

62. seven characters you relate to?  uggggggggh bro my personality changes every hour i don’t know  Sam, from supernatural  uh, Klaus? from the originals  ....  yeah that’s all i got

63. five songs that would play in your club?  dangerous- left boy  adderall- Max Frost  sweet tooth- Scott Helman  binary mind- ra ra riot  while i’m alive- STRFKR

64. favorite website from your childhood?  club penguin and jumpstart

65. any permanent scars?  tons

66. favorite flower(s)?  coral dahlias and bellflowers

67. good luck charms?  nope!

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?  quinoa, mustard, and root beer

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?  without saliva your stomach would digest itself

70. left or right-handed?  right

71. least favorite pattern? whatever the fuck this one is

 72. worst subject?  math

73. favorite weird flavor combo?  ranch and any kind of roast

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?  probably like a 7

75. when did you lose your first tooth?  neither i nor my mother remember

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? Mashed Potatoes Always

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?  strawberries!! they’re yummy and have beautiful flowers

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? both are gross no thank you

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?  well since i don’t have my license yet, i’d have to say my license

80. earth tones or jewel tones?  earth tones

81. fireflies or lightning bugs? they’re  literally the same thing  are you asking which one i say? if so, lightning bugs

82. pc or console?  both! i prefer pc but a lot of my favorite games are on console and i don’t have a gaming computer

83. writing or drawing?  i’m better at writing, but i love both!

84. podcasts or talk radio?  not a huge fan of either

84. barbie or polly pocket?  i never had or liked either

85. fairy tales or mythology?  faerie* tales and mythology

86. cookies or cupcakes?  cookies!!!

87. your greatest fear?  being abandoned ig

88. your greatest wish?  to live an apple pie life i suppose  my partners and i living in a house we love, in a town we love, with all of our fur babies

89. who would you put before everyone else?  the young if i was in a room full of people, relatives, friends, elders, i would always save the youngest

90. luckiest mistake?  posting my diary on ao3 XD  i met my darling Leo through it

91. boxes or bags?  f....for???   bags are easier to carry, but boxes are just Nice ..... see this is why i think i’m a cat

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?  i love sunlight and fairy lights

93. nicknames?  Q  that’s that’s basically it

94. favorite season?  fall

95. favorite app on your phone?  duolingo or pixel.y 3D

96. desktop background? school computer:

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? just my mother’s

98. favorite historical era?  anything Ancient  greek, egyptian, incan, aztec, that kinda stuff

[sarakuper]

Cali; the salsa capital

Stop #10, February 11-17

We landed in Cali late Tuesday night and got to our hostel, The Pelican Larry. Our “private bedroom” was awkwardly filled with one queen bed and two sets of bunk beds… and a bunch of skeeters!

Wednesday we walked around, ate a delish vegetarian lunch, and attempted to go to the river to cool down. After traveling about 45 minutes by bus, we waited for next one we needed to take, but it never showed. There’s a chance this bus only ran on Saturday’s but honestly we weren’t too sure. It was already 4pm by the time we decided to turn around, since we were warned to leave the river by 5 for safety. Even though our plans for the day totally failed, I still thought the bus system here is actually pretty impressive. 

Back at the hostel other travelers, including 3 German girls traveling on their gap year, invited us to visit Cristo Rey to watch the sunset. We ended up being a group of 8, taking two cabs to get there. We enjoyed the views and the sunset, then Sean, myself and two others went for a vegan dinner in town that was cheap and yummy. 

That night several of us played games at the hostel around a big table and eventually got ready to go out for salsa. We went to La Topa Tolondra, a famous salsa club. I thought I knew some salsa from when I traveled in Peru but Cali salsa is so different!!! I knew almost nothing of the dance moves. Cali is known for salsa and their nightlife so even though Sean and I are early birds, I did my best to embrace this. Sean wasn’t thrilled to go out, especially for salsa, but he came for me. 

The next day we slept in late missing the free (and basic) breakfast by the hostel. I spent all day working on some applications for jobs while Sean did Duolingo for hours. I didn’t know it until later but he was very determined to exceed my XP. Only duolingo-ers will understand that reference (Sue gets it)! The rest of the day was spent working on extending our travel visa and participating in an interview to volunteer at the spanish school we went to when we first arrived in Colombia. In the evening I joined the free intro to Cali Salsa dance class offered by the hostel. It was actually pretty fun, and a nice way to meet other travels too. And after learning all the basic steps, of course I wanted to go ahead and practice what I learned! 

Later that night many of us went out again, and since I felt safe to go with this group of people Sean stayed back since it was not interesting to him. The salsa bar we went to this night was called Tintindeo and was so much fun! I enjoyed it much more than the other salsa club because it felt more like a bar you could hang out in and also dance salsa with a lot less intimidation. The salsa club from the previous night was slightly awkward in that you were either dancing salsa or awkwardly watching along the side lines. Tintindeo has fun lights, and all of the salsa teachers were there (probably to encourage people to purchase private salsa lessons with them) and they were amazing to dance with! Of course they know you are learning, but some are better than others in leading and two of the teachers in particular made me feel like I knew what the hell I was doing!! By the end of the night I was super sweaty; I knew I had tried my best! 

Around 1 am the bar came to a close and the group I was with wanted to head to a raggaeton club nearby. Since it was considerably early I went along, but when I got there I felt like it was sketchy and the best of the night was behind us. I’ve learned that usually “the next place” is never as good as the first when the first one was a blast. So why stay out? I decided to leave, and so a friend put me in a cab to assure I’d get back safe. During the ride I followed the blue dot on my phone on google maps to ensure the driver was taking me to the right place. All was good, and even though Sean locked me out of the room on accident, the 24 hour host was able to let me in. 

There had been a lot of talk about ELN, a guerrilla group still remaining in Colombia, engaging in a violent protest from Friday - Sunday, February 14-16. Talk was that the cities were safe, but the small towns outside the city were not. We heard of tourists being told not to take busses between cities for their own safety. Afraid of this threat, we decided to extend our initial 3 day visit to Cali into a 6 day visit. We changed hostels on Friday and stayed until Monday morning, when it was reportedly safe to travel again.

This next hostel, Green House, was very quiet and relaxed. There were only 3 other tourists staying, 2 of them being Israeli’s on their gap year after the army. I love meeting Israeli’s because I feel like I have so much to talk about with them; being jewish, my family in Israel, and having visited the country many times. Usually when I travel to Central or South AmericaI meet many Israeli’s, but being there for 2 months at this point, these two were the first ones we met! 

After attempting to cook some version of the delicious lentil patties we’ve been eating (total fail btw) we got ready to go out to experience another club, this time not for Salsa. After reading a lot about Cali I understand now that their nightlife really is the main attraction of visiting Cali, and so this would be my 3rd night in a row going out! Sean was being a trooper and coming along with me. I had hoped the lack of salsa would make it more interesting for him. 

I had a few drinks with the Israeli’s while we talked a bunch. Sean didn’t feel like joining the conversation even though I tried to include him time and time again, as did the two Israeli’s, he didn’t budge. Sometimes it’s hard because I absolutely love socializing (when I actually like the people), and traveling as a couple makes it slightly harder to socialize than when I had traveled alone in the past. Anyway, Sean and I eventually went out to La Pergola which had a $20.000 cover (about $6). Even though this is quite expensive, we weren’t buying drinks there and were really going for the experience. As we approached the club in our cab we could hear the music from down the street. There was a long line to get in that moved surprisingly quickly. The club was huge and completely open having great views of the surrounding city. There were 3 floors playing different types of music, and really was a sight to see. It was especially fun when a very popular latin song came on and everyone in the club sang it together. We stayed until 1am before hopping into a cab back to the hostel.

The rest of the weekend, we spent our time just hanging out trying to avoid the serious heat of this place. By 1pm it gets so hot, all you can think about is swimming. By 2pm we left for a cab to Acuaparque de la Cana to spend the late afternoon in a children/family water park. We felt like teenagers having fun on all the watersides, walking around in our swim suits, eagerly checking out the next fun thing to do. One of Sean’s favorite was the zip line where you hung (together) on a bar that zip lines above a pool. You have to let go before it reaches the end plopping you right into the water! We did this one several times throughout the day. 

We did other rides as well including a high and long waterslide. Sean and I went on a slide, side by side, and my slide gave me a huge wedgie just before it shot me into the pool. Sean loved that one too, but I could not handle that level of discomfort again and so I chose to pass on repeating it. Another fun one was the toilet bowl (or at least that’s what we called it when we visited waterparks at camp)! We rented a two person tube that shot us through a tube spitting you out into a “bowl” that you flung around and around until you made it to the bottom. That one was super fun :) The last ride of the day for us was the wave pool, since it was 5pm and everything else was closing. It was fun and enjoyable until Sean realized how dirty the pool was and how much hair was in the water (LOL). 

Our last day in Cali we waited for the heat to pass before heading out for a bite and some walking around. We walked through the [very strange] cat statues, as well as a lovely park for people watching. Our time in Cali was fun, but now it’s time to leave (hopefully to somewhere less hot)!

Thanks for reading fam, love you all.

[purplesurveys]

686

1. What previews did you see at the last movie you saw in theaters? I don’t even remember dude. I do remember the last movie I saw in the cinema was Knives Out, but we were too late to see the previews and arrived exactly when the movie started. The movie I saw before that wasssssss Portrait of a Lady on Fire, but that was so long ago I definitely don’t remember the previews that showed beforehand – or if there were any, at all. 2. Have you ever washed your hair with mayonnaise? Ok I love mayonnaise, but that shit goes in my mouth and not anywhere else in my body lmao. 3. How many things are you a fan of on Facebook? I stupidly liked so many pages when I was 14 and new to Facebook...it must be in the hundreds. I think I still like most of them, but I’m just too lazy to unlike each of them. 4. Do you have more friends on Myspace or Facebook? Facebook is a sure winner here because I don’t even have a Myspace.

5. What generation iPod do you have? I don’t know...it’s an iPod from 2008, though. The really thin one that comes with games, and the screen is already colored. 

6. What celebrities share your birthday? James McAvoy and Queen Elizabeth II are the biggest names I think. I Googled to confirm anyway and it turns out I share a birthday with Iggy Pop too. Pretty diverse group lmao. 7. What's your first and last name spelled backwards? Nybor, and that’s all you’re getting now. 8. What song is playing at the moment? No song, just two electric fans whirring loudly here in the first floor, and my sister watching a playthrough of some game she’s into on YouTube. 9. Do you clench your teeth when you're angry? Ugh no. I hate the feeling/texture/sound of grinding my teeth. I find it a little disturbing and I wince when I hear someone doing it in their sleep :/ 10. Have you ever been to a movie that sold out? Yeah, Killing of A Sacred Deer was surprisingly sold out when we watched it. Then again we were in the part of the city where people are more likely to watch films like that, so maybe it’s not that surprising after all. Other movies I remember being sold out was the entire Twilight Saga HAHAHA. I went to 4/5 midnight screenings and the cinema was packed every time.

11. Have you ever been to a midnight movie? ^ Just mentioned it. 12. It's 2010; are you gonna say oh-ten, twenty ten, or two thousand ten? I always say twenty-ten. 13. How many of your classes change next quarter? Next semester? I graduate next semester...hopefully. This virus is really ruining my life plans for 2020, especially as a graduating student who was expecting to graduate by June and get a job by like, September. 14. Do you believe in the paranormal? Only ghosts. 15. How old are the shoes you're wearing? I’m barefoot at the moment. I haven’t been outside in a WHILE, so I haven’t had to wear shoes in a while as well. 16. What's your state's weather usually like this time of year? The Philippines is a relatively tiny country so our weather from the northernmost to southernmost tips are uniform. That being said, March to June is our summer season so the *country’s weather is very humid and excruciatingly hot for now. Temperature usually plays around 34-37C, but the heat index can reach 42C. 17. Do you get those leg cramps in the middle of the night? I used to get them quite often as a kid - it would wake me up at 4 AM and I’d usually be crying by the end; I couldn’t scream because I never wanted to wake everyone up, so I’d just cry until it was over. 18. What movie last made you too scared to go to sleep? Midsommar didn’t make me too scared to sleep, but for a short time it made me terrified of flowers and the color white. 19. Do you have a Twitter account? Sure. 20. Did Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded? Oh he won it? That’s pretty cool. I dunno enough about his presidency other than he seems to be ~hipper than all the other US presidents and is generally more well-loved, but I don’t want to make a stand so hastily. 21. Is your cell phone a qwerty (full keyboard) or no? Yeah, touchscreen qwerty. 22. What was the last website you logged onto (besides the one you're on)? WWE Network!!! Just today they announced that they were gonna give free access to the Network, which means thousands of hours’ worth of pay-per-views, shows, and documentaries. I made a WWE account just for it and I’ve already downed two documentaries this morning. 23. What's your home page? It’s a Google Chrome extension called Momentum. I’m too lazy to describe the features so I’ll just show you what it looks like when I open Chrome/a new tab.

24. Put a line from the song you're listening to right now: I’m not listening to a song rn but I do have everything i wanted by Billie Eilish stuck in my head for a few minutes now. A lyric goes: I had a dream / I got everything I wanted / Not what you’d think / And if I’m being honest, it might’ve been a nightmare / To anyone who might care.

25. Music artists you listen to: Are they a little or a lot older than you? They’re typically close to my age, like maybe 4-10 years older than me. The oldest artist I listen to is probably Beyoncé? 26. What always has to be in the refrigerator? For us, eggs. 27. What was your favorite movie of 2009? The Proposal. 28. What do you want for Christmas? That’s sort of a long way from now, dude. By that time I’d have grown a bit and will probably ask for a vacuum cleaner lmaaaaao. 29. If you could go to three places in the world right now: UPTC, Feliz, and a Starbucks. I just want to be out of my actual village – I don’t even want to go anywhere far after this. 30. How many days until your birthday? I was too lazy to do math but Google says it’s 28 days away. 31. Who are you crushing on right now? (Famous or not, it's your call.) Gabie, Kristen Stewart, and Lee Joo Youngggggg. 32. Do you squish bugs or put them in a glass and let them outside? I squish them especially if they’re being annoying, soz. 33. Do you have split ends? I recently got my hair done, so no.

34. Isn't it ridiculous that movie theaters sell hot dogs and nachos? It is pretty stupid considering they’re messy food and you’ll have to eat them in a really dark room. Where I’m from they allow any kind of food in the theatres, so we aren’t restricted to hotdogs and nachos. My go-to food is Potato Corner french fries, since they’re easy to pick up and would never have a strong smell, or make a noise or a mess. 35. What school subject do you absolutely fail at? I don’t think I ever got past an 85 in chemistry in high school. 36. When you're on a laptop, do you hook up a mouse or use the touchpad? I have a touchpad. I’ve never owned a mouse. 37. When's the next day(s) off you'll get at school? Literally right now until April 14th. It’s a lockdown, dude. 38. If you're learning a language, what year are you in? I’m not. My curriculum doesn’t require me to take language electives. I did take Spanish and Korean in Duolingo in the past out of boredom/curiosity, though. I lasted a few levels into Spanish because of its similarities with Filipino, but they have like a million verb tenses and that’s when it got too much for me. Korean was pretty difficult right from the start. 39. Do you think you're done growing or will you grow a couple more inches? Nah, this is it I think. 40. What's your mom's mom's name? Agnes. 41. Do you replace "and" with an ampersand (&)? No, it looks so informal to me. 42. What do you usually get at school for lunch? I don’t have a usual lunch; it depends on what we have at home, because I typically just bring food from home to school. 43. Have you ever encountered a creepy neighbor? I don’t think so. If I did, my brain probably blocked the memory already. 44. How many texts can your phone's inbox hold before it's too full? As far as I know it doesn’t have a limit and just depends on my phone’s overall capacity.   45. Do you like the foam soap or the liquidy soap? I use a liquidy one, so I’ll go with that. 46. Do you like the automatic sinks or the ones with hot and cold handles? Lmao, first of all our country’s not even rich enough for this question. We just have a basic sink. We get whatever temperature is available and we need to turn a knob to have the water running. 47. What day did/does your birthday fall on this year? It’ll fall on a Tuesday, which suckssss because it’s a weekday and I have weekly Tuesday meetings for this semester. It’s also the first week out of the coronavirus lockdown, and I doubt people will even be paying attention to birthdays by then. 48. Do you tend to lean towards bright colors or more subtle colors? Subtle ones. 49. Do you use British spelling even though you're not British? No. 50. Name the farthest/weirdest/most unique place you've ever been: Farthest: Bali, Indonesia Weirdest: There was this park in Palawan that just didn’t fit with the city’s atmosphere at all lmao. Let me look it up... Baker’s Hill. It had tons of vibrantly-colored figurines, decorations peppered with cheesy pick-up lines, and Valentine’s decor (hearts, streamers, etc) spread all over the place. I couldn’t understand what it was supposed to be and it was a surreal experience overall lol. Most unique: Sagada. It didn’t feel like I was in the Philippines for the 3 days I was there.

[kimminstudying]

Note: I’m pretty sure I made this list last summer and since school finally over I figured I would reflect on these and see how well I did and how I could improve. Linked below is the original post that has all of the goals I will be talking about, but since I write them down here I’m sure you don’t need to read it to understand what I am talking about, but I put it there just in case. This is just a review of my goals from last year, I will create a separate post for my new goals for this summer and next year. 

The Original Post

⊳ Money

Goal #1: Work towards saving more of your paychecks ✓

I did a good job of saving money, but I went back and forth as time went on. During the summer I would spend money at work during my breaks but I was making way more than I am currently during the school year. I would still spend money like I was when I was making more, but when I learned that I got better at budgeting my cash. 

Now that I have a car and have a monthly bill for it as well as gas, I am getting better at saving the money I need for the said bill. 

I plan on moving out within the year so I need to save up as much as I possibly can. I am moving out with two of my best friends, if all goes as planned, we will be splitting rent and bills between the three of us. 

Goal #2: Put half of checking into a savings account on payday ✖ I did this for a while, but then I saw that it wasn’t really helping me as much as I thought it would. I would end up having like $6 in my checking account before payday comes so I didn’t see a point in just transferring $3 when I was going to get more of it, so what I did was estimate how much money I would need for the week and then put the rest in savings. If I knew I was going out or had bills to pay during that week, I would leave that money in the account. This proved to work way better for me than what I had originally planned to do. 

What I ended up doing was creating a separate savings account for my new house/apartment so I had an emergency account and a moving out account. I would only use my emergency account for things like bills, unpredicted expenses, or big purchases such as a new laptop for school and blogging. But I keep it at $500, just in case I needed it. Right now it’s at like $450 since I needed to pay my car bill and I didn’t work much this week, but what I do is I rebuild it as fast as possible and hopefully, I do not need to take more money out of it.

When I am rebuilding my emergency fund, not as much or no money goes into my “moving out” account, so I am more motivated to save money so I can get both accounts back in order. I am going back to my old job this summer, since it is seasonal work, and I know I am going to be working close to 40 hours a week since I will be 18 they would work me as much as possible, which I like since it’s a job I love with wonderful coworkers. Not to mention we get so many gift cards it’s not even funny. We all love free money. 

*Update: My family has encouraged me to stay home while I am studying at a college that I am commuting to. My father said he won’t charge me rent as long as he can afford to keep me at home and even if he does it won’t be more than $100 a month which he and I agreed on for a price. That account is now for saving up for a new car. 

Goal #3: Have a spending limit when going out ✓

This goes along with what I was saying before about leaving money in my checking account if I have plans to spend it. I like planning my week out and so I tell my friends if they want to make plans they need to do it a few days in advance so I can see if I don’t have work or scheduled time to study, since I am the “nerd” if my group, all of my friends respect how I plan things. 

They also respect when I tell them I don’t have money to go out. Sometimes I’d rather save my money than use it on movie tickets, of course with the occasional splurge here and there on a new pair of shoes or a delicious dinner. When times get like that, we all agree to do something else that is either really cheap or free, such as having a sleepover or going to the park. 

Goal #4: Establish an “okay amount” to spend daily on coffee, breakfast, etc. ✖

I also did this for a little while, putting away $15 every check to get coffee in the morning before school. Since saving money is a learning experience, I’m messing up now rather than ten or twenty years from now. Doing this put be at risk for developing bad spending habits, $3-$4 a day adds up way faster than you think, the next thing you know you’re spending over $50 in a month for morning coffee runs. Now I’m not saying I never go to buy food and coffee before or after school, sometimes it’s great to treat yourself by doing so. Typically, I buy creamers and coffee grounds to make at home and sometimes I’ll buy a bundle of bananas to last me the week. I saw that not only did it save me money, it also saved me about a half hour in the morning. Meaning a half hour more of sleep. 

While my coffee brews I walk my dog for a few minutes so she can go to the bathroom before everyone else in the house wakes up, and I start my car so it can run a bit before I leave. This is especially good since where I live the weather is unpredictable and it can frost over my windows at any time. If I catch this early enough I can defrost my windows before I go to school.

For about a month I would do something called “Fuck it Friday” where I bought coffee, snacks, whatever I wanted since I get paid every Friday. I saw that when I did this, I would just end up spending the amount I typically would in a whole week in one day, so I quickly stopped doing that and I plan on going back to making coffee at home. Goal #5: Add spare change to change dispenser in car ✖

I don’t use cash that often, which means I don’t really get change, but when I do have some lying around, it normally goes right into a bank I have in my room. When I have change in my car, I do tend to put it into the dispenser but then I’ll sometimes use it to give to the people asking for spare change or to buy a piece of candy at the store.

⊳ Languages

Goal #1: Take review notes of language material learned over the summer ✓

I did a really good job over the summer with posting a lot here, at least in my opinion, but when the school year started I posted a little less. In my first semester, I had a bit more time to post multiple times a week for multiple blogs, but when the second semester hit I began to prioritize my schooling over languages and blogs. I started to post at least once a week, but I noticed my language learning for Korean and Italian has gone down a lot because of it.

I take French in school so I practice it every day, and there are so many French posts I have drafted I’m in love. During the summer I worked more on Italian and Korean since my French was already way way way better, and I knew I would be taking it as a class during the school year.  Goal #2: Listen to podcasts in the halls instead of music ✖

I really was going to do this, but right as summer ended I lost my apple headphones and I was not going to spend thirty dollars or so to get new ones, so I just didn’t have podcasts. I have my old phone, which is a Samsung, for music so I just used that with regular headphones.

Even when I got apple headphones from my dad’s fiancee, I still didn’t really listen to podcasts. I think it’s because I don’t want to start a new one or a new audio lesson if I am just walking three minutes to my next class. When I go back to my old job, however, that’ll change. It’s part of a program with my school for getting students into the workforce, so there is a bus that provides us with transport. I have a 45-minute ride there and an over 2-hour long ride back. No excuses to not listen to a podcast or two!

Goal #3: Mondly/Duolingo and Lingodeer during breakfast/as a part of your morning routine ✖

I used to be really good at doing these daily, but then I lost motivation. Even before I would never have a long streak, but I would just try to do it as often as possible to make up for it. There was a time where I didn’t even look at these apps for over a month, but I didn’t notice much of a change in my language comprehension. But I want to get back into it since I don’t have a lot of time now to sit down and do a couple of grammar lessons.  Goal #4: Post weekly to studyblr/langblr for Italian and Korean review notes of what you studied over the summer. ✓

Again, I feel like I did a better job with this during the summer and my first semester of this year. I have several vocab lists saved just in case I don’t feel like studying but I need to do my weekly post. There are some times when I’ll be really motivated for no reason and just make like twelve vocab lists and I draft them for future use.

⊳ Health/Lifestyle

Goal # 1: Wake up at 6am ✓

Waking up early does not equal productivity, I learned that the hard way. I wake up that early for school, but during the weekends or on breaks I wake up normally at 8-9am if I don’t have to work that morning, which I rarely do since I work the night shift (typically around 1-12am I work). 

Goal # 2: Go to bed at 10pm - 11pm ✖

If I am not working I go to bed at around 11pm at the latest, but there are some nights I get home at around 11:30 so I don’t sleep until 1-2am. This is usually weekends so I don’t have an issue since in my state it’s illegal to work minors after 10pm on a school night and 11pm on a weekend. 

But now that I’m 18 and it’s summer, I can anticipate a lot of overnight shifts or longer hours! I’m not complaining, I’d rather work at night than in the daytime anyway. 

Goal # 3: 5-minute workouts or 10-minute abs in the morning and evening or after school  ✖ Hahaha, I never did this. I’m never gonna do this.   Goal # 4: Floss more ✖ Not happening either, that’s too much man. It’s not that big in my life to floss, even if my dentist tells me to do it more. I have no cavities, no gum issues, so I’m good. Goal # 5: Take your medicines daily ✓ This I’ll admit, I need to do more. Sometimes I’ll go a few days without my meds, but it’s not important that I take them daily, since they are “as needed” medicines. I should take them at least every other day, but I am getting better at that.  Goal # 6: Morning and Nightly Skin Care Routine ✓ I started off slow by only doing my routine in the morning and then occasionally going a nightly routine. My skin is really sensitive so this worked for me, putting on too much product would either make my skin too dry or too oily. If the weather is affecting my skin, I’ll add on an extra moisturizer if need be. 

Basically, I only do a night time routine when I get home from work or school late and my face feels really gross. Since I shower at night I wash my face with a gentle cleanser in the shower. That’s usually it. 

Goal # 7: Face mask while you study ✓   Doing facemasks too often also negatively affects my skin as well. I normally do one when I’m with my friends or when my skin really needs it. 

Goal # 8: Drink more water ✖

Again, I need to do this way more often than I do. I think this is mainly because the water fountains at my school are utterly disgusting. I don’t know if it’s because our school is under construction, but it’s always been gross if I remember correctly. 

⊳ School

Goal #1: SAT Fee Waiver ✓ 

THIS SAVES LIVES. At my school, if you have free or reduced lunch, you get fee waivers for all sorts of things. AP Exams, Applications, even SAT Exams. You only get two for the SAT so you need to use them wisely. Most students don’t even know that their school offers fee waivers that either cover costs completely or reduce the fee. Make sure you ask, it doesn’t do any harm!

Goal #2: October SAT  ✓

I took the October SAT and got a 1050, which is way over than what the school I wish to go to is asking for. Then I retook the exam in June since I had one more waiver left, and I got a 1080. Now the college I want to go to has a 960 SAT Average and I needed at least a 500 on the Math and English portions to be exempt from the entrance exams.

Goal #3: Research application deadlines ✓ My school was a big help with this, especially since I’m starting at community college for my first two years. I’m accepted as a student and have already selected my classes, but there were some issues with my FASFA that I still need to resolve.  Goal #4: Check scholarship board ✓ My school was also a big help with this as well, they print out all the available scholarships for that month, the criteria, AND the due dates! All I had to do was complete the applications, no fishing for free money. 

Goal #5: Study at least 15 minutes a day ✓

I was strong with this with my first semester classes, since I enjoyed the work and had daily tasks I needed to do for one of the classes. When the second semester came, things changed. Most of my classes are easy, no homework and very little classwork that I got done early. All but AP Calc. 

The way my teacher is, he doesn’t grade the problem sets he assigns. He’ll give us class participation points if we are working in class, but the problems are mainly for our own benefit. I don’t let myself not do the problems just because I won’t get a grade I’m struggling in that class now and I do all that I can to bring my grade up, but it’s not really doing much. If this is the only class I fail, then I’m glad it's AP Calculus AB and not English or something. I don’t need calc to graduate or to still obtain scholarships, it was an extra class I regret taking. 

⊳ Misc.

Goal #1: Watch more Netflix when stressed ✓ I found that I’m not much of a TV or Show person unless it’s a really good show that I get hooked on. I’d much rather destress by having time to myself and browsing social media for hours.  Goal #2: Take your time with everything ✓ This allowed me to get better with time management, taking things slow, thinking carefully, and making myself okay with the idea of rescheduling plans. Goal #3: Think before you speak/act ✓ Doing this made me do things I was glad I did and knew I would never do if I hadn’t thought it out. I became the friend who would do and say the things everyone else was afraid of.  Goal #4: Try listening to others about their day ✓ This kind of went along with the goals #2 and #3 but this also worked out for me and I feel it made me somewhat of a better person??? Yea, just listen to people when they talk to you and ask them questions. Let them know you care about them, you don’t know how much it could raise their spirits.  Goal #5: Attend Coalition meeting (every third Friday) ✖ As much as I wanted to, I could not attend meetings. I didn’t have an adult representative from my school to escort me and possibly other students, therefore I could not attend meetings. 

~brianna

[lizziethereader]

11 questions tag (x3 - so 33 questions tag, I guess?)

I’ve been super busy but I still appreciate having been tagged by @bibliophilecats​, @books-are-portals​, and @thelivebookproject​, thank you! 

I’ll answer all your questions in one post because I doubt I’d be able to come up with new questions for all three of the tags, haha  But since this will be super long, you’ll find it under the cut! 

First up, @bibliophilecats​‘ questions: 

1. What is your favourite movie and/or TV show based on a book? I’m not sure I have one, there’s nothing that immediately comes to mind at least. So I’ll just tell you about the first one I ever saw (when I was a kiddo still): Emil und die Dedektive! (based on the novel by Erich Kästner)  2.  When you just can’t get into a book, do you quit or do you finish every book you start, no matter what?  As embarrassing as it is to admit, I’m part of the latter category.  3.  Which is your favourite bookstore?  I absolutely love Daunt books in London because not only is it pretty, it also offers a very wide selection of books.  4. Do you keep all the books you read? Do you keep none? I keep all of them. One day I want to have one of those homes that are just full of books and plants!  4.  What is the rarest color on your bookshelf?  Difficult to say, but maybe gray?  5.  Is there a book that permanently changed you (opinions, style, fandom) when you read it? Lots of nonfiction does that! One example is Caitlin Doughty’s Smoke gets in your eyes but also psychology-related books like Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.  6.  How do you unwind after a stressful day at work/school? Step one is my commute home, during which I read. And then it’s usually tumblr and youtube (or catching up with series).  7.  Which fictional friendship/relationship is your goal? I haven’t figured that out yet but anything that’s supportive is always lovely to see.  8.  What is the one skill you wish you could master? Better social skills, for sure!  9.  You’re famous somehow and a University awards you one of those giveaway PhDs as a publicity stunt. What would you be a Doctor of?  no idea, but I’d love the chance to get an actual PhD in linguistics or philosophy!  10.  If nobody else is around and it’s cranked up loud, which song will you always dance to? Ooooh, there’s many! Tonight, Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae for example 

Okay, now @books-are-portals​‘ questions: 

What book would you have liked better had you read it when you were younger? A wrinkle in time, probably. 

Do you listen to podcasts? Any recs? I rarely find the time but when I do I love the Green brothers’ Dear Hank and John and, what is almost a classic of podcasts, Welcome to Night Vale 

Favourite edition of your favourite book? ‘favourite’ is a big word and I don’t think I can answer to that but I do love my signed special edition of The Name of the Wind that has a goat scribble in it 

Favourite book (fiction or non-fiction) you had to read during your studies (uni or otherwise)?  That’s so difficult to choose! Let me give you a top 3: Hamlet, Code Name Verity and Tess of the D’Urbervilles (oh but I do have so many more favorites! what a tough question!) 

What movie would make a great book? cool question! Frankly, I’d probably read most of the Marvel movies as books. The comic world is too intimidating for me but if the movies were books I think I’d really enjoy all the banter and stuff...

Tea or coffee? Coffee - I like the idea of tea but I can’t get into it. 

A random fact you’re proud to know?  I’m hardly ever proud of anything so that’s a tough question.... I can’t really think of anything, so I’ll pass

Favourite tree? Weeping willows! 

Dream house/flat?  I’d love to actually own a small house. Ideally with lots of light, plants, and bookshelves. + a garden!

Least favourite comic (series)? Why?  I’m not invested enough to have one. 

You have an unlimited budget to buy one (1) book. What book would you buy?  I’d probably have something bound gorgeously just for me - maybe a collection of my favorite books or fanfics or something. There’d be gorgeous lettering, a leather cover and lots of lovely hand-crafted details. 

And last but not least, @thelivebookproject​‘s questions! 

How many books have you read this year so far?  currently reading my 50th! 

Do you have a Goodreads account? (Mine is this) yes, over here! 

How many languages do you speak?  Well, I speak English and German. I learned a bit of French in school but I can’t really speak it. I’ve been learning Norwegian on Duolingo for more than two years now but I've never actually had a conversation in Norwegian, so... 

How do you choose your books?  I just read whatever looks interesting at the time. 

Have you ever travelled abroad?  Yeah, too many times to count (because I’m too lazy to count now). But with the exception of one trip to the states it’s always been within Europe. 

Tell me something about yourself.  I have a tough time deciding who I am. 

Recommend a book?  This is going to hurt by Adam Kay. 

What are you currently reading?  I’m currently reading Dear Evan Hansen because I love the musical! 

Why did you create your blog?  Just to see and share book stuff, really. 

What do you like most about bookblr?  That (despite people saying otherwise) it’s always there and from my personal experience seems so much more positive than other communities. 

Blank gap -tell me anything you want: books you love, how do you feel about my blog, anything at all!  So this is gonna be a question for the audience (I need advice). I have this book stamp (”from the library of....”) that I stamp all my books with after I read them and before I put them on their new spot on my shelves. Now I’ve just finished reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame and it’s an old book that I got secondhand (it even has an inscription!). I feel sort of strange about stamping it, I’m not sure if I should do it (Almost all of my other books are new books so I had no trouble stamping them). Thoughts? 

Right, you didn’t think we’d get there, but we did! It’s time for my questions! Not all of them are bookish because it’s really tough coming up with new stuff after thinking of weekly bookish questions for years [also I might self-plagiarize and use some of those as wbqs in the future].... 

I’m tagging @nevertobecaught, @maddie-mux, @lettersfromthelighthouse, and @trinareadsbooks to answer these questions: 

1. What’s the best combination, a book + ..... (can be food, a drink, a place, a feeling, etc.)  2. What’s your stance on classics?  3. If you could add one feature to tumblr or booklr specifically, what would it be?  4. What was the loveliest reading experience you had lately?  5. Do you enjoy musicals? If so, what are some of your favorites?  6. When it comes to vacations, do you prefer city trips or lots of beach time? (or neither/something else?)  7. Are you a candle person?  8. What’s something you admire other people for?  9. Have you discovered any new songs you love lately?  10. If you’re currently reading something, which page are you on? And are you enjoying it so far?  11. Which birthday gift would absolutely delight you? 

[amymillcr]

QUESTIONNAIRE with AMELIA CAROLINA MILLER

# OF Qs ANSWERED: 150

1. if they were a candle, what scent would they be?

“ i never really thought about it, so i’m going with a lemon scented one. because i may or may not have an obsession with lemons. “

2. what female celebrity do they wish was their sister?

“ ooooh, emily blunt without a doubt in mind !! she’s so great and funny and beautiful, i would love to be her sister.”

3. what male celebrity do they wish was their brother?

“ is it bad if i say pete davidson so i can be ariana’s sister-in-law ?? it is ?? okay... i will choose john mulaney.  “

4. how old do they think they’ll be when they get married?

“ with the current state of my love life ?? never. but i think 30 would be a good age to get married. “

5. how many countries have they been to?

“ never been out of the states, unfortunately enough. “

6. what would they name their daughter if they had one?

“ helena. i like the sound of it and the meaning of the name, so yeah. i would choose helena. “

7.  what would they name their son if they had one?

“ hmmm, i never thought about a boy name ?? but, i like the name anthony. so that will be my answer for now. “

8. what was their favorite tv show as a child?

“ totally spies !! three girls being badass and saving the world ?? count me the fuck in !! “

9.  what language, besides their native language, would they like to be fluent in?

“ italian. i downloaded duolingo once to learn a bit, but that shit doesn’t work for me at all. mainly because i would get a notification and just shrug it off. “

10.  would they ever change their name? if so, to what?

“ as common as my name is, i don’t think so. because one: i never thought of any other name i would like to be called. and two: i think my name fits me. “

11. what was the last compliment they got?

“ a seven-year-old camper told me my hair is pretty. “

12. what is their favorite flavor of tea?

“ green tea. but i only drink it mixed with black tea in the morning to get energized. “

13. how did they find out that santa and the easter bunny weren’t real?

“ i found out santa wasn’t real because my dad was horrible at hiding his santa costume. and easter bunny was because i woke up early one day and i saw my mom making little bunny footprints on the floor. “

14. what is their hogwarts house?

“ i always thought i was a gryffindor, but when i took the pottermore test years ago... i got slytherin. i guess i’m a cunning folk just like merlin. “

15. what tarot card are they?

“ i got the sun card !! “

16. are they more of a marvel or dc fan?

“ i enjoy both, but i lean more towards marvel. i like the comedy route they take on the movies. and the series are better, that’s all. “

17. who is their favorite superhero?

“ jessica jones aka jewel. i relate to her in ‘ being a messy adult ’ department. “

18. everyone has a song that deeply reminds them of their childhood. what is theirs?

“ crazy by aerosmith. it used to be one of my dad’s favorite songs. maybe it still is, who knows ?? but yeah... he used to sing that to my mom and dance around the kitchen with her. it was... nice. “

19. what are the meanings of their first, middle, and last name?

“ amelia means defender and striving, carolina means song of happiness. and after a quick research, miller means one who grinds grain. “

20. have they ever stolen a street sign before?

“ no, but that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. it would be a good decor for my bedroom, hm. “

21. what is their biggest pet peeve?

“ people chewing with their mouth open and slow walkers. i can’t choose between these two, both drive me crazy. “

22. if they were a month, what month would they be?

“ is it weird if i say march because it is always a good month for me ?? like, every year march is so great for some weird reason. anyway, march. that’s my choice. “

23. what is their least favourite movie?

“ oh, twilight without a doubt. i never understood the hype about it and because of it, fifty shades was created.��“

24. what five movies would they bring with them if they were stuck on a deserted island?

“ ferris bueller’s day off, can’t hardly wait, drive me crazy, enchated and ocean’s 8 so i can finally watch it. “

25. out of all of the late night talk show hosts, who is their favorite?

“ james corden !! i love his skits and overall games. and let’s not forget carpool karaoke is one of the best things to watch when you are bored. “

26. what are three things they are afraid of?

“ being forgotten, being abandoned and snakes. literal and not literal snakes. “

27. what was the first concert they went to?

“ bon jovi when he played on central park summerstage. i remember my mom going crazy because she is obsessed with him. it was a great afternoon. “

28. is there a nickname that only their family calls them?

“ they call me millie. “

29. what side of the bed do they sleep on?

“ left. “

30. what is their favorite comfort food?

“ hershey’s chocolate bar. at least once a month, i go to the store in times square to get one for free. “

31. what award shows do they watch?

“ all of them. i love award season, but i will love it more when amy addams finally get the oscar that she deserves. “

32. do they have any weird body skills (example: being double jointed)?

“ yes !! i can wiggle both of my ears. “

33. if they drink coffee, what is their coffee order?

“ i don’t drink coffee. when i need caffeine i go to black tea mixed with green tea. “

34. what social media platforms do they have?

“ twitter, instagram, snapchat and pinterest. oh, facebook as well so my family knows i’m alive but i barely use it. “

35. are they a cat or dog person?

“ both ?? how can i choose between these precious animals ?? answer: i can’t. and won’t. “

36. if they were a supernatural creature, what would they be?

“ i think i answered this before, but if not, i would love to be a valkyrie. they are a bunch of badass women. “

37. what show are they currently watching on netflix/hulu?

“ queer eye and champions !! both are great and i highkey recommend everyone to watch them. “

38. what is their favorite disney movie?

“ disney is beauty and the beast. disney pixar is a bug’s life, i love a good classic. live action disney is obviously maleficent. fun fact: i saved money to buy the same lipstick angelina used in that movie.“

39. do they wear any perfume or cologne?

“ i wear perfume when i have to work in an event or something fancy like that. but other than that, i use victoria secret’s hydrating body lotion. “

40. what genres of music do they listen to?

“ broadway, pop and rock. “

41. have they ever seen the bee movie?

“ i have the dvd. i think that is enough answer to this question. “

42. what are their favorite memes?

“ to be honest, any reaction gif that ever existed. but the gif of jonathan from queer eye saying ‘can you believe?’ is one of my favorites at the moment. “

43. what celebrities do they share a birthday with?

“ mila kunis and halle berry !! hey yo !! “

44. what is their moon (zodiac) sign?

“ my moon sign is sagittarius. if you want to know the others, i have my whole chart on my phone thanks to my sister... but don’t ask me what it means, i have no idea. “

45. which of the seven cardinal sins do they embody the most?

“ i would say greed. “

46. do they watch sports on television? if so what ones?

“ i only watch sports on television when i need something to make me sleep. “

47. what do they put on their typical sandwich?

“ bread, cheese, steak and bacon. “

48. what was the name of their first significant other?

“ colin. he was a ridiculous piece of shit and i hope he is happy and stay far away from me. “

49. do they care if people think badly of them?

“ not really. point is, haters gonna hate. shake it off, taylor swift. always right. “

50. what was the last thing that made them cry?

“ i always cry when i listen to champagne supernova by oasis, so i will say that was the last thing that made me cry because i can’t really remember the last time i cried. “

51. are they an iphone or samsung user?

“ iphone. “

52. what type of computer do they use (example: apple)?

“ lenovo thinkpad e475. “

53. what is one of their nervous habits?

“ nail biting, tapping my foot, and talking really fast. my mom says i touch my hair a lot when i’m nervous, too.“

54. out of all reality shows, which one would they have a chance winning?

“ i’m pretty sure i could win big brother. 98% certain of it. “

55. would they ever go bungee jumping or skydiving?

“ without a doubt, someone please take me. “

56. what do they call their grandparents?

“ grandma and grandpa. “

57. what do they do when they can’t sleep?

“ watch any sport on tv, and if there’s none, cartoons. “

58. what time do they normally go to bed?

“ back home, between 10:30 PM and 11 PM on weekdays and 3 AM on weekends. “

59. if they have instagram, what was the last picture that they posted?

“ it was one of me holding a sword toy in the forest, trying to be a badass like wonder woman. but failing miserably. “ (x)

60. if they have twittter, what was the last thing that they tweeted?

“  i was trying to say “c’est la vie” but i forgot the phrase and so long story short i shrugged and said “livin la vida loca”.   “

61. who is their otp?

“ emily blunt and john krasinski !! i only believe in real love because of them !! “

62. do they like sweet, salty, or sour?

“ sweet and sour. “

63. did they play any sports in the past?

“ swimming and water polo. “

64. what is their favorite cheesy pick up line?

“  you look so familiar... didn't we take a class together? i could've sworn we had chemistry. “

65. what tv show or movie is their guilty pleasure?

“ gravity falls and the lego movie. “

66. if they were a fruit, what fruit would they be?

“ green grapes. “

67. do they sing in the shower?

“ sing would be an understatement. i give a whole madison sqaure garden performance in the shower. “

68. what is their favorite type of chips?

“ doritos. always and forever you will be on my heart. “

69. do they drink juice? if so, what is their favorite kind?

“ lemonade !! and orange juice mixed with strawberry juice. trust me, that shit is good. “

70. what is more important to them: power, money, friends, family, love, or fame?

“ family and friends, always. “

71. what does their handwriting look like?

“ my handwriting is legible, that’s what i can say about it?? oh, i write in cursive. i don’t know how to answer this. “

72. do they have reoccurring dreams? if not, what is their most memorable dream?

“ i have a dream that everyone is ignoring me. i searched what it meant when it first happened, and it turns out i need to communicate more about my feelings. that’s funny. “

73. if they were a taste, what would it be?

“ minty gum. you can’t go wrong with mint gum, unless you are allergic to it. “

74. what is one random fun fact about them?

“ i do volunteer work by delivering food, coats, blankets to homeless people every night that i can for a city program. i have been doing this for a year now, and it is so gratifying being able to help them. i wish sometimes i could do more. “

75. what is their lucky number?

“ seventeen !! “

76. do they have any pets?

“ unfortunately, no. money is tight already and with a pet would be worse. maybe in the future i will adopt one. “

77. do they believe in the paranormal or the supernatural?

“ hell fucking yes to the paranormal. not so much to the supernatural, but i wish it was true. “

78. have they ever had any paranormal experiences?

“ no, but i have heard a lot of them to believe that paranormal exists. “

79. can they sing or dance?

“ i can carry a tune, but i’m no whitney houston. and my dance moves consists in high school musical choreography. “

80. who is the first person they call/text when something exciting happens?

“ my lil sister rachel, theo, and my groupchat with addie and lola.”

81. what is their social media handle?

“ @ameliamill on twitter, @amclias on instagram and @amyazing on snapchat !! “

82. what swear word do they use/like the most?

“ fuck. “

83. what is their ideal first date?

“ i really like outdoor dates, a picnic or a theme park would be fun. outdoor movie or concert, a food festival or a street fair. even getting ice cream and go for a walk instead of sitting on the parlor would be a great first date. “

84. if they were a type of weather, what would they be?

“ the weather after a rainstorm, when the sun is timidly shining again behind the clouds and there’s that smell of fresh rain that makes you feel clean. “

85. what is their least favorite holiday?

“ thanksgiving. the bad memories are real with this one. “

86. what is the first thing that they do in the morning?

“ turn off my alarm and proceed to wake rachel up so she can get ready for school. when i’m here, jump in theo’s bed to wake him up.“

87. who is their ultimate celebrity crush?

“ my love, my life, my heart: chris evans. “

88. do they usually pay with cash or card?

“ cash. “

89. what was the last thing that they bought?

“ alcohol, more specifically whiskey and vodka. “

90. are they a good or bad driver?

“ i like to believe i’m a good driver, i never hit anyone’s car... so. “

91. if they could meet one person (from history or currently alive), who would it be?

“ michael jackson, come on. who wouldn’t want to meet the king of pop ?? “

92. have they ever gotten into a physical fight?

“ once in high school. some girl was talking shit about my friend and the instinct to slap her across the face was stronger than the common sense of not doing so. got detention for a week and a super mad mom afterwards. oh well, it was worth it. “

93. do they prefer pepsi or coke?

“ we love and support coke in this house. pepsi is not welcome. “

94. do they prefer the city or the suburbs?

“ city, without a doubt. “

95. do they have any special or odd talents?

“ just the wiggling ears thing, like i said before. “

96. when they were little, what did they want to be when they grew up?

“ i wanted to be an astronaut and then i found out how much math it required to become one. it broke little amy’s heart. “

97. do they have any favorite smells?

“ the smell after it rains, lemon, and homemade food. “

98. if they could visit any place in the world, where would they go?

“ in ibiza za za za, everyday is a fiesta sta sta sta. “

99. do they wear jewelry?

“ yes, a necklace with a rose pendant that my grandma gave me. i haven’t taken it off since she gave me. and also earings. “

100. who is the last person they talked to on the phone?

“ rachel, turns out the lil sis is missing me more than she thought she would. “

101. do they prefer ‘would you rather’ or ‘truth or dare’?

“ would you rather. “

102. what has been their favorite halloween costume yet?

“ cher from clueless with the iconic yellow outfit !! as if there would be a better halloween costume than being the funniest rich girl.  “

103. do they like horror movies?

“ yeah, but i don’t like to watch them alone. “

104. what is their typical breakfast like?

“ soft scrambled eggs and tea. “

105. are they a netflix or hulu person?

“ netflix all the way !! their original content is great as fuck. “

106. do they like to gossip?

“ oh yeah, definitely. but only with close friends. “

107. if they were a song, what one would they be?

“ who do you think you are by spice girls. “

108. what was their best subject in school?

“ weirdly enough, it was spanish. followed by history and english. “

109. what was their worst subject in school?

“ physics. that shit was my fucking nightmare. why sir isaac newton had to discover gravity ?? tell me why ?? “

110. have they ever met anyone famous?

“ yes, a lot. the latest one was chris evans because he was on broadway with ‘lobby hero’. i was trembling the whole time he was talking to me. his eyes are so blue and dreamy. “

111. who was their childhood hero?

“ the totally spies !! no doubt, no doubt. “

112. were any tv shows or movies that they weren’t allowed to watch as a child?

“ my mom would let me watch things that were on my age range. if i wanted to watch something more ‘adult-y’, she would watch it first and then say if i could watch it or not. “

113. what is the strangest thing they have ever eaten?

“ according to my grandma, i ate a beetle when i was 2 year old. so it would be that. “

114. do they prefer friends or family?

“ i can’t choose, both have important roles in my life. “

115. how do they feel about pineapple on pizza?

“ i’m not a fan of it, but i don’t think is the weirdest topping you could put on your pizza like some people make it out to be. “

116. do they put the milk or cereal in the bowl first?

“ cereal in the bowl first. that way you know how much milk you have to put. duh. “

117. how do they think dogs would wear pants?

“ the second one. i don’t think any dog would be able to move wearing pants like in the first picture. “

118. do they believe in luck or fate?

“ fucking yes. life would be boring if you don’t believe in some things. but i believe more in luck than fate, though. “

119. do they use emojis when they text?

“ yes !! my three top most used emojis are the middle finger, eye roll, and the eyes emoji. “

120. who was their favorite character on friends?

“ all of them but ross. ross can rot in hell for making rachel get out of that plane. “

121. what character on friends are they most like?

“ i make jokes when i’m uncomfortable and the only response to a romantic i love you is ‘oh crap’. couldn’t i BE anymore like chandler ?? “

122. would they rather read the books or watch the movies?

“ watch the movies. “

123. what is their favorite time of day?

“ night, when i can finally lay in bed and relax. “

124. did they watch the teletubbies as a child? if so, who was their favorite?

“ if someone watched teletubbies and their favorite wasn’t po, they are fake. “

125. do they check the rating (like a rotten tomatoes rating) of a movie before they go and see one?

“ not really, no. i just watch it and then complain on twitter if it is bad. “

126. do they have any favorite old hollywood movie stars?

“ judy garland, julie andrews and audrey hepburn !! “

127. if they had to live in any other decade, which would they choose?

“ the 80′s, without a doubt. “

128. if they could only listen to five music albums for the rest of their life, which ones would they choose?

“ abba gold: greatest hits, michael jackson: greatest hits, spiceworld by spice girls, backstreet boys: the hits, high school musical 2 soundtrack. “

129. do they believe in heaven/hell or reincarnation?

“ like i said before, not believing in things makes life boring. so yes, i do believe in hell, heaven and reincarnation. “

130. do they like chewing gum?

“ yes, minty gum is great. “

131. do they like to go see musicals or plays?

“ hell yes !! it is one of my favorite things to do. “

132. were they apart of any clubs or teams in high school or college?

“ i was part of the swimming and water polo team in high school. “

133. what was their high school superlative?

“ most likely to brighten someone’s day. “

134. are they good at cooking or baking?

“ i have to be, or my sister and i would be eating take out every night. “

135. could they beat bobby flay?

“ hell no. “

136. do they watch actual television? if so, what channels do they watch?

“ mtv. and your occasional sports channel when i need to sleep. “

137. have they ever seen rupaul’s drag race?

“ yas gawd, werk it mama. “

138. do they prefer pink or yellow lemonade?

“ pink lemonade. everything that is pink, is better. i don’t make the rules, it just is. “

139. could they lip sync for their life?

“ i like to believe that the only lip sync for the life i would have to be in is the one in the final. and that it would be a song that is comedic like anaconda by nicki minaj so i can pull a ben de la creme on it. in these terms, i could definitely lip sync for my life. “

140. is their room messy or clean?

“ an organized mess, thank you very much. “

141. if they were a body part, which one would they be?

“ the brain, it controls every other body part. “

142. if they were an emotion, what would they be?

“ happiness. “

143. if they were a planet, which one would they be?

“ neptune, i don’t know why. “

144. how would they describe their clothing style?

“ eleanor shellstrop look alike. “

145. do they shower in the morning or at night?

“ at night, so my body can relax after a long day. “

146. do they order regular fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, or tater tots?

“ regular fries. so i can eat them with a sundae. “

147. do they normally wear socks?

“ yes, socks are comfy. “

148. do they fear natural disasters?

“ of course. is there anyone who doesn’t fear natural disasters ?? ”

149. can they ice/roller skate?

“ no way. i always fall on my ass, but hey, that never stopped me from getting up again. “

150. are they good at video games?

“ i’m horrible at video games. the last game i played was mario kart. years ago. “

[bofursunboundbraids]

85 Statements

I was tagged by @catthefearless Thank you!!

rules: answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people

LAST

1. drink - Sparkling water.

2. phone call - Ummm...probably ordering dinner to go from Giovanni’s last week.

3. text message - My mama asking if I want to check out a new coffee place when she gets off work. (Answer: Fuck yeah!)

4. song you listened to - “Wrong Crowd” by my beautiful child Tom Odell

5. time you cried - Uh...last week after my employment counselor appointment. Cuz insecurity is a mutha!

EVER

6. dated someone twice? - Yes, because young and stupid/insecure (see a pattern forming?)

7. kissed someone and regretted it - There are a couple I side-eye, but regret? No.

8. been cheated on - Yes, but I’ve also cheated.

9. lost someone special - Yes.

10. been depressed - I experience bouts of frustration and disappointment, with and in life in general.

11. gotten drunk and thrown up - A number of times. I can no longer drink rum.

FAV COLORS

12. Midnight blue

13. Emerald green.

14. Lavender.

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

15. made new friends - Yes! Thank you tumblr!

16. fallen out of love - No.

17. laughed until you cried - Maybe?

18. found out someone was talking about you - No.

19. met someone who changed you - No.

20. found out who your friends are - Yes.

21. kissed someone on your Facebook friends list - No.

GENERAL

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life? - Most of them, I think. I’m still waiting for the day the website, along with Mark Zuckerberg, gets shot into the sun.

23. do you have any pets - My genday conure Butchie my Buddy bird.

24. do you want to change your name - I dumped my last name last fall for my maternal grandfather’s birth name. My first name is 500% me.

25. what did you do for your last birthday - Got the slip-on checker board vans I’ve wanted since junior high and had dinner with my mom and nephew at Cracker Barrel cuz that shit is my JAM!

26. what time did you wake up today - 8am

27. what were you doing at midnight last night - Reading “Kidnapped by the Pirate” by Keira Andrews, a most excellent mlm historical romance.

28. what is something you can’t wait for - To be employed, earning decent money, so I can FINALLY GO TO NEW ZEALAND FFS!

30. what are you listening to right now - I’m watching “It Came from Outer Space” (1953)

31. have you ever talked to a person named Tom - This is funny, because I was recently trying to remember when the last time I knew someone named Tom was. Junior High maybe?

32. something that’s getting on your nerves - I haven’t been to New Zealand yet, which is really starting to piss me off.

33. most visited website - Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube.

34. hair color - Currently John Frieda’s Brilliant Brunette (3N) which is a wonderful deep chocolate brown, what I call Arwen/Frodo brown. It’s dark without making me look washed out. Perfect.

35. long or short hair - It’s a toss up between a Louise Brooks bob and mid-neck length. Anything longer, on me, is pointless.

36. do you have a crush on someone - I’m kinda torn between Martin Freeman, Jack White, and NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman.

37. what do you like about yourself- I can’t give up and I will never settle.

38. want any piercings? - No.

39. blood type - O negative. I’m UNIVERSAL BABY!

40. nicknames - Steesh, Bobeesh

41. relationship status - happily single.

42. zodiac - Pisces

43. pronouns - she/her

44. fave TV shows - Hawaii 5-0 (original), Wild Wild West, Route 66, Perry Mason, X-Files, Twin Peaks, Hannibal, Streets of San Francisco, WKRP in Cincinnati, Unsolved Mysteries...

45. tattoos - No, but I have a list of the ones I want.

46. right or left handed - right

47. ever had surgery - I had an emergency appendectomy right before my 13th birday.

48. piercings - 2

49. sport - my ex was an Aikido instructor, so I have a brown belt, but I gaven’t trained in a really long time.

50. vacation - About a year and half ago, Mum and I went to Boise, Idaho to check it out as a possible place to move to. It was nice, but we’ve scratched it off the list. Now we’re looking at Virginia.

51. trainers - since Nike bought Converse (fuck you very much), I am now a 500% Vans girl.

MORE GENERAL

52. eating - The last thing I ate was chicken shawarma with basmati rice and hummus. So freaking good.

53. drinking - I’m a coffee girl and I love a good lavender mocha.

54. I’m about to watch - it’s bed time. Gotta do my Italian (Duolingo) then reading.

55. waiting for - me to be at a point where I can start being paid for building freaking websites so I can go to freaking New Zealand!

56. want - To be paid.

57. get married - I’ve never believed in the institution.

58. career - I wanna make pretty, responsive web sites that achieve high seo rankings - AND GET PAID!

59. hugs or kisses - I like them both, as long as it’s someone I want to be doing it with. I would kind of like to kiss a boy whose name I don’t know and then never see him again.

60. lips or eyes - For me it’s the holy trinity; eyes, nose, lower lip.

61. shorter or taller - At 5’7” I feel taller than most other women. If we’re talking guys...I’ve had both, but prefer taller.

62. older or younger - Age is irrelevant, unless they’re really young. I abide by the equation (half your age plus 7)

63. nice arms or stomach - How about hands?

64. hookup or relationship - I’ve never experienced a hookup, but I never say never.

65. troublemaker or hesitant - I’m game as long as no one is getting hurt and no laws are being broken and no assholery is being committed.

HAVE YOU EVER

66. kissed a stranger - once, a long time ago.

67. drank hard liquor - Yup.

68. lost glasses - Sunnies? Yes. Readers? Between Mum and I, there are like twenty pairs floating around the house, so that’s a big no. Have broken quite a few, however.

70. sex on the first date - Ewww, no! Unless...

71. broken someone’s heart - Yes. My one big regret.

72. had your heart broke - Yes, but no.

73. been arrested - No

74. cried when someone died - No

75. fallen for a friend - Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

76. yourself - Fuck yeah!

77. miracles - No.

78. love at first sight - I believe in the chemical reaction that happens in the brain when physical attraction occurs.

79. santa claus - Fuck yeah Santa RULES!

80. kiss on a first date - Yes.

81. angels - No.

OTHER

82. best friend’s name - Her name’s Shannon and she’s my mom.

83. eye color - Green.

84. fave movie - The Three Musketeers (1973), The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (Jackson), Casablanca, Jaws, Dracula (1931), The Big Sleep, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I’d also like to give a big shout out to the entire genre of 40s/50s Film Noir as well as 1950s SciFi and teen exploitation films, that shit gives me life!

85. fave actor - Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Burr, Jack Lord, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett, Mads Mikkelsen, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, Jack Lemmon, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Laird Creager (btw...if you don’t know who that is, Google him! He was a queer actor who died way too young, right before his career was on the verge of really taking off. Some say his would’ve been not unlike that of Vincent Price, another one of my most very favorites. Check out “The Lodger” from 1944. It’s a take on Jack the Ripper and he is BRILLIANT! It also stars George Sanders and Merle Oberon.)

I’m not tagging anyone specifically, therefore I tag EVERYONE! Let us know who you are, and please tag me if you do!😍

[gabigoesplaces]

Shanghai (’19) and different ways of living

It was indeed one of the best trips of my life, I learned so much, met amazing people and got to (kinda) darle la vuelta al mundo (Calle 13 reference)

I had waited so long for this and when the time came, I was ready but definitely nervous for what to expect. I had spent a few days in Marbella before, so I expected Shanghai to be poles apart from my experiences in Puerto Banus. We arrived at the airport, and after going through a face and Touch ID migration system, which was surreal, kind of scary but fun nonetheless; we were picked up by a bus, and on our way to the hotel the tour company that was taking care of us, gave us a booklet with some basic information about the city, and gave us cryptic instructions like: “Don’t get inside of a red taxi”

We took the advice, but we were ready to explore the city and Fusion was our first destination, right after getting huevos rotos at a Spanish restaurant at the French Concession, we tried ordering a taxi to the hotel lobby but failed to communicate through Google translate that we had to get there by 11pm. So there we were, a bunch of kids running behind yellow taxis to get to the club. 

After showing the taxi drivers the address, we arrived to a mall and 11 stories up, we were shown to a secret door... When we got inside, everyone could clearly see who the outsiders were. We, westerners, did not wear Gucci sneakers, we weren't eating an entire buffet of xiao long bao, or had in our table bottles of Golden Goose (we did, however got our hands on that later). 

We danced, some of us got became fans of lollipops from an unknown origin, and others were thrown confetti on by some Chinese influencers; but the night came to an end early after we realized that class at 6am the next day was mandatory. Some friends and I were, dropped off in a wrong location, so we decided to finish off the night by getting Pocky from a local store, meanwhile on our way to the right hotel, we got disapproving looks from the seniors dancing at the parks we passed by. 

The next day, well, only a few hours later, we were on the metro, hungover while trying to stay awake until the next stop. The best way to describe the way we felt, while standing next to commuters was: hot and bothered, but not in a good way. Little did we know, two hour classes about Chinese foreign policy and a not so brief historical background awaited. We got our abanicos out, and like a real flamenca, we fanned non-stop. 

Later in the afternoon, after getting a good siesta, we got Mexican food; let me note, I am aware of how bad this portrays me as a travel blogger but the birthday boy wished for it so, c’est la vie! (I assure there is great Chinese culinary adventures later on). And after our celebration, accompanied by a Chinese live singer in the background (who apparently only knew Ed Sheehan songs), the after party followed in a suite, which our Mexican friend got after “talking to the manager” (I still don’t know how he managed to make that happen, he’s really not intimidating in the slightest, with his 1.60cm). The views from there were breathtaking, we could see the whole city which had grown so quickly since the 19th century. 

We made a right choice by staying in that day, because even after the long day that followed, exploring Xuhui district, we were ready for Ladies night at Bar Rouge. The girls and I got all done up, ready for our photoshoot in the Bund (we were also joined by some fans who wished to take pictures with foreigners), we climbed up four stories and after saying the magic words “Francisco Tonight”, we were in. Red lights (and a handsome ice cream man) welcomed us, as he guided the group towards the manicure station, sponsored by Dom Perignon, and indeed we wished to drink the stars.

“You are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen”, I heard as I turned around to find an Indian guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I said thank you but he seemed to have understood the hidden message in my words, so he asked me I wanted him to introduce his Dutch friend to me and after sharing a laugh he did so. Time passed by as we danced the night away, while he apologized for his two left feet. All while knowing he had to leave to Shenzhen in the morning to pitch his startup drone company to new investors. 

My friends and I regrouped and went downstairs to (attempt to) find a cab with a taximeter, trying to avoid the red taxis, as we had been advised. And as we tried our luck, we found the Dutch guy again, I said goodbye and my friends and I entered the taxi, after he failed to convince them to stay, “don’t you want to see the sharks at M1NT?”. Suddenly, as if it were Singing in the Rain, it started raining. Gene Kelly (from the Netherlands) opened the door of my cab and for a second there I felt like a 50s movie star.

I daydreamed the whole way back to our hotel about what could have been if I had stayed… Luckily my friends had my best interest at heart because just a shower and three hours later, we were at a Chinese Leadership Centre, strolling along the gardens, while feeling unexplainably calm, maybe it was the feng shui after all. 

After a crazy afternoon bargaining with sellers at the black market, which was strangely located at a metro station, we got dinner at our favorite huarique (Peruvian slang for restaurant which turns out to be hidden gem), which served the best dumplings we had ever tried, until then... A full belly and a happy heart later, we hoped on a taxi again, to see with our own eyes if the Dutch guy’s theory was true indeed. And it was, as you entered the club shark tanks and the sound of house music surrounded you, for me, it was definitely unforgettable as  I looked at my phone, waiting for my classmates to finish their part of the essay. After sending the email to my professor, I went to the dance floor, but made a pit-stop at some Peruvian guy’s table, who told us he was there for business and because of our shared nationality, gave us a bottle of Goose to start off the night right. 

Surprisingly, a guy approached me as I was singing my heart out to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On a Prayer, air guitars and all, to say: “I see there’s someone here with a good music taste”. I turned around to find a skater boy from Cali, he was tattooed up from head to toe, and when I pointed it out he proceeded to show me his favorite one, which he undoubtedly got done by an amateur tattoo artist. He also mentioned he was in the city for the X games and after dancing for a while I got swept out by a Brazilian guy on who I practiced my Portuguese, but just a few moments after telling him I liked to sambar, a French guy also came up to me and I applied the same premise, just for learning purposes, bien sûr.

But Duolingo live was short-lived, because a touristic day awaited. We went to Shanghai Museum, and a friend and I quickly moved to see everything, from the Porcelain collection to the Traditional Clothing exhibition. After, we walked along Nanjing East Road, which in reality was more like running because of our guide’s hurry to get to Yu Garden in time, hearing that it might get reconstructed because “everything is new in Shanghai”, was kind of heartbreaking for a history junkie like me. Later we went on a cruise along the Bund, as the lights of the financial center went on.  

The next day, after partying at an 80s themed club, we went up the second tallest building in the world. Shanghai tower is known for having the world's highest observation deck, and as I looked down on the city, it truly did feel like a serendipitous moment; 10 year old me would never believe 18 year old me’s words if I told her that in less than ten years we would be standing there.

That day we also got to try my favorite Chinese dish so far, Shanghai fried dumplings were truly the best part of my culinary experience. Even though dinner at an Arab? (to this day, I’m not sure where exactly the food was from) restaurant, was also one of the best parts, because of the amazing dishes and the dancers who invited us to be part of the show.

Longhua temple was indeed a calming experience, it felt like the last moments of our trip were indeed here. Seeing the statues and feeling so small beneath them, while hearing about the Buddhist acts of faith, like offers to Mitreya Buddha and the Four Heavenly Kings. It was sobering (no pun intended), after crazy nights, to take a moment to evaluate life and how in this enormous planet, human beings live it in such different ways. 

Shanghai gifted me experiences I could have never had anywhere else and taught me potential lovers could not only be found at umbrella marriage markets. Leaping into the unknown was definitely worth it, and for that I say xie xie.

[huilianwrites]

2019 Reflection

It’s the end of the year! And the end of the decade, but I’m not going into that. The end of the year is enough for me. I want to reflect on my 2019 new year’s resolution: see what I achieved, what I didn’t, and why I did or didn’t achieve it. So here it is!

1. Read the Bible

Yeah, this one is a no. I didn’t manage to read it from the beginning to end this year, and it likely didn’t help that I went to university in the middle of the year. But even before that, I hadn’t been reading the Bible like I did before, religiously every night. Maybe this is a sign that I am straying? I don’t know. I likely won’t put this as a resolution for 2020, just because I know I won’t be able to actually do it. 

2. Meditate (5 minutes a day)

I tried, I really did. I did well for like, three months, then the end of high school got the better of me, so I stopped, but got back into it again for like another four/five months, but then as uni life got harder and harder I just stopped again. It’s okay-ish for me because this is better than last year, but I will try to do better again next year. Like, try not to have long periods of time when I didn’t do it at all. 

3. Be humble

Okay, this is a weird resolution, because I can’t actually quantify it. I wrote in the six ways to be humble by Mother Theresa (I think I cut out some of them, because I know I just can’t do it), but I don’t actually know whether I managed to do this one or not. I think I did better with the third one (on my list), which is to accept small irritations with good humor. I did better on this, I think. And the sixth one, which is to choose always the more difficult task, I think I did it like, half of the time, so it’s good enough for me because I used to do the easiest one I can get away with like, all of the time. 

4. Workout

Everyone has this on their new year’s resolution, no? I did okay on this, I think. I put in lifting heavy, and I did it during the summer holiday after high school graduation, and all the time in uni I had been going to the gym to lift heavy. Not that heavy, not yet, but I’m getting there! Swimming twice a month did not go so well. It went okay during the summer holiday, but at uni, yeah, it just did not happen. I swam like, twice in the course of four months. Will try to do better on this though. 

5. Read 1 book per month (3 are non-fiction)

I actually managed this! I read 13 and a half (let’s see if I finished the last one before new year came) books, 4 of which are non-fiction! I did even better on this because I wrote book reviews on this blog! I am actually very proud of this! It’s not really a book a month, because some months I read more books than other months, but that was not what I meant when I wrote this resolution. I actually meant reading at least 12 books this year, and I met that! I probably should word it like that though. 

6. Write 2500 words per month

I expected this to only be fic, because I didn’t plan on writing these kinds of blog posts at the beginning of this year, and I wrote 22517 words on fic, as of AO3 statistics. That translates to around 1876 words a month and counting all the other things I wrote, like all the book reviews, this blog’s entries, fic that I wrote not for AO3, I’m pretty sure I met the 2500 words per month limit. I’m good at this! (That’s not counting all the essays I did for high school and uni work. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I met the 2500 words per month mark.)

7. Practice violin twice a week

I did this for the first half of the year! Then after I went to uni I didn’t bring my violin, so this resolution is moot anyway. I plan to get a violin early next year, so I’ll put this again in my resolution for 2020. This was the ultimate test for my discipline back in the first half of this year because I’m not that good with the violin. Not like academics or dance, I actually have to struggle with violin to got to the place I am now. I have to force myself to practice because it was hard and sometimes I hate it. I had improved so much over this year because of the constant practice, that I am so glad I forced myself to do it. 

8. Mind what you eat

Would you believe that I am actually better at this in university with my meal plan? It’s so much easier to eat healthier when I am only eating for myself instead of trying to eat healthier with my whole family. My mom cooks, so I ate what was in front of me, no questions asked. But here at my dining hall, I actually eat much more vegetables and fruits than I did back home. The caveat is that there are cookies and treats every day in my dining hall and it’s so much harder to ignore those cookies when it’s there in front of you every day. Like, back home I would just not buy cookies and snacks, so there are no ‘bad snacks’ in my home, but here they make it anyways. Well, win some lose some, I guess? 

9. Spend time with friends and family

Again, like with the be humble one, I don’t know how to quantify this, so I don’t know if I managed to meet this resolution. I probably should write more quantified resolutions. But I did video-call my mom and dad most weeks here, and I made sure I check in on my friends periodically. I may have overlooked at the beginning of this year that I would actually be making many more friends this year, because going to uni. So I probably didn’t spend as much time with the new friends as I should have. That’s the one thing I haven’t done. 

10. Mandarin and French

God. I wanted to continue learning these two languages so bad, but I didn’t think I managed to improve in any of them. I did Duolingo almost every day for a couple of months, but then I forgot about it and just… nothing. I joined a language exchange club but I don’t think it improved my Mandarin or French a whit. That got me new friends though, so I’m not complaining. I asked my friends to talk to me in Mandarin, but we defaulted to English anyway. God. I really need to work on this. 

11. Care for yourself

Skin-care routine! Mental health! Pampering myself once in a while! I did actually establish a skin-care routine, so there’s that! My skin is better now, I think? Like it has fewer blackheads and stuff, and the big acnes only come once in a while. Mental health… probably yeah. The good thing about being here at UofT is that the culture is if you don’t feel like you can stay, you can just leave. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you can leave. If you don’t want to stay, you can leave. There is no expectation of you staying until the end of the event. This did wonders for my mental state, because I’m an introvert, and I can just suddenly stop wanting to socialize. So this blanket permission to leave is really good for me. 

Memories of 2019! 

1. Going to Bali and Bandung with my friends after exams

Oh! These are amazing! To like actually go have a trip with my friends, especially after exams, when everything is done, just to have fun, this is amazing. Especially because after that we all went our separate ways to university. These were like the last hurrah. 

2. Prom! 

The chance to dress up? The chance to hang out with all my friends again? Oh, you bet this is an amazing memory!  I actually love dressing up, I just don’t want to do it on a daily basis, so to have an excuse to dress up is really amazing. 

3. Contemporary performance

We performed twice this year! Or at least, I did, because after that I went to university, so I didn’t get the chance to perform in the end-of-year performance. 

4. Internship

Remember my unpaid, full-time, internship? Yeah. I do too. It’s a bittersweet memory for me now, because I learned something from it, and I can put it in my resume, which made it look good (though I haven’t had any job offers yet…), but at the same time an unpaid, full-time internship? Like, I didn’t even get food allowance. Man, that is not a nice deal. 

7. Climate strike

I joined the climate strike! 

8. Snow

I lived with snow for the first time ever! This is going to be my first winter ever! I can tell that I’m going to have a love-hate relationship with it though. 

Important things of 2019!

1. I graduated high school! I can’t believe I survived those months full of exams and tests and every single shitty thing ever. I graduated! 

2. I went to university! I lived alone for the first time ever! There’s a lot of firsts this time around. But the gist of it is I went to university, without having ever been to the university grounds. I’m in UofT now, and I had never been to Canada before, much less UofT grounds. So, I just, came here for the very first time, and...never left. You know the phrase, fit your entire life to a 23 kg suitcase? Yeah, that is not easy, people. 

3. I got my first laptop! I’ve never had a laptop just for me before. I used to use the home computer, or like, the shared laptop that we have if we really need to take the laptop out. So having my very own laptop is quite an experience. 

4. I discovered so many more musicals. Like, I started with Hamilton, and slowly made my way to other musicals. Like, Be More Chill, Heathers, Waitress, Newsies, Rent, Six, The Lightning Thief, Hadestown, School of Rock, Beetlejuice, my playlists all slowly turned to broadway songs. They are so good, though. (On that note, In The Heights’ trailer is out! God I can’t wait for that movie)

So that’s my 2019! Have a happy new year, (can’t wait to go back to school), have a happy new decade, and don’t forget we’re back in the twenties now! 

[sarakuper]

Santa Marta & Tayrona National Park; the coast of Colombia

Stop #8, January 28-February 5

We arrived in Santa Marta on Tuesday night with little expectation of what Santa Marta had to offer. Blog’s I’ve read had mixed reviews about this city, as were the reviews I heard from friends and other travelers. Either way, we had such an exciting month that took lots of planning up until now, and now we have no plans other than where we are sleeping at night.

We stayed at La Guaca hostel and got a private room. The hostel is really nice and clean and overall just has good vibes! This place quickly became my favorite hostel.

Wednesday was our first full day, and after sleeping in and taking our time with breakfast we headed into town. It turned out to be a really wonderful day. We wandered the streets of Santa Marta, both the touristy and non touristy spots. We picked up fruit and water at the grocery store to help out some of the young Venezuelan refugees in the area. We stopped in a suuuuuuuper hippy dippy cafe that was so beautiful; an entire wall was covered in plants! And, I swear, I recall a waterfall.. and mist spraying from the ceiling. Its so hot here in Santa Marta, the mist was a pleasant surprise! We continued to walk around and then we explored the free gold museum which was actually quite lovely. It showcased the lost golf of the indigenous Taironas. Lastly, we walked along the bay before renting chairs on the beach for the last 2 hours of sunlight. We were continuously asked to buy things from several vendors, but I only said yes to a young pregnant woman selling massages. I’ve been wanting one anyway, and I totally have a soft spot for pregnant women!! She is from Cartagena originally and already has one child, but the competition is too high in Cartagena so they now live in Santa Marta. Once it was over I stripped down to my undies, not expecting to swim today, and went for a dip. Luckily for me I was wearing granny panties so this time my white behind wasn’t blaring at everyone.

About an hour later we starting chatting with the family that rented chairs next to us. They are Colombian, living in Medellin, and are on vacation. It was a husband and wife named Oscar and Elisabeth, and their 18 year old daughter Mariana. The family was immediately welcoming and were really impressed with our Spanish. We talked about our favorite foods in the country and when I mentioned the delicious coconut rice in the caribbean coast, Elisabeth immediately invited me to her house in Medellin to teach me how to cook it. Hers, she says, is way better than any restaurants. :) We ended up hitting it off with this family so well that we exchanged numbers and planned to go to another beach together, the next day.

The next day we met at a bus stop at 11:00am to get on the local bus to Tagana, the neighboring fishing village with their own beach. Once we arrived we chatted with the boat companies at the dock and arranged for a transfer to Playa Grande. The boat ride was about 5 minutes, and we appeared on a blue beach with many other locals and tourists. We spent the day reading, drinking, swimming, and snorkeling with Oscar’s basic snorkel gear. I was so surprised by how many fish there were right along this beach! It was a great day with our new friends, and it was especially enjoyable to experience Santa Marta like locals (from Colombia) instead of gringos :)

For the next day, January 31st, we decided to splurge on a tour to a beach in Tayrona National Park. The park will be closing for the month of February, so unfortunately we won’t have time to explore it. They close every year for one month for restoration, and also so that the indigenous people living there can have time off from the tourists to connect with their roots. Our hostel offers a day trip to one of their many famous beaches, and so thats what we did!

Our early morning transport to Tyrona came at 6am. I slept on most of the journey, but once we finally arrived to the coast we took a boat for about 5 minutes to Playa Crystal. There were more people than I thought there would be, but it was a stunning beach none the less. The water is crystal clear (hence the name), and there was fantastic snorkeling. Sean bought some basic snorkeling gear at the grocery store the night before so we didn’t have to continue paying for rentals. It was a smart move, because even if we don’t take them with us once we leave it still saved us money. We made some friends on this tour as well, a couple from Spain and another Colombian couple that live in England now. We shared the cost of beach chairs in the shade and enjoyed another beautiful day on the beach. This beach was definitely the most beautiful one we were able to visit.

The next day we did absolutely nothing! Well, we actually did a lot of important things, but from bed. We had been so sun kissed and tired from the snorkeling this last week we decided to take the day off! I worked on my Colorado license for teaching, booked our next flights, organized our next hostels, uploaded photos (and worked on my tumblr posts), etc. Sean completed both our applications for a visa extension which was more complicated than it probably should be! He also went food shopping for us, buying lots of guacamole ingredients which I planned to prepare for the Super Bowl. We also both did a ton of Duolingo; we’ve been super into it lately, as its the only Spanish class we have at the moment! It was actually a very productive day, and in the evening we took a taxi to meet our Colombian friends Elisabeth, Oscar, and Mariana, for beers and people watching on a busy strip of beach in Rodadero. We danced, ate, drank, chatted, and really just continued to enjoy each others company!

The next day, Super Bowl Sunday, we slept in, went out for lunch, and then headed back to La Bahia de Santa Marta, the bay of Santa Marta. We met our friends again, swam, played Uno (which they gave us as a gift), and headed back with plenty of time to shower and watch the super-bowl pregame. Did the Super Bowl half time show have a lot of Spanish!? We watched the same show, right!? I thought it was a great coincidence that Shakira was one of the performers, because she is from Colombia! And I also loved how JLo held the Puerto Rican flag during the show. YASSSS QUEEN! 

On Monday we finally made it to Sisiguaca, a tiny beach close to Playa Grande in Taganga that the receptionist at the hostel told us about. We took a boat from Taganga beach about 5 minutes to Sisguaca where we shared a small beach with maybe 15 others. We sat in the shade close to the water, relaxed, and snorkeled. At this point our Colombian friends had flown back to Medellin. They invited us to stay in their home whenever we get back to Medellin; we look forward to seeing them again! Anyway, back to Sisiguaca. I ordered my favorite dish, arroz de coco (coconut rice), with a side of patacones at the tiny restaurant along the shore. The snorkeling was fabulous, as was our quiet surroundings. After throwing the nerf football around as the sun began to set, we headed back to Taganga via boat and then bus to Santa Marta. 

As per usual, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some ingredients for our go-to dinner at “home”... pasta! But by this point we’ve gotten into the habit of buying water and bananas for the Venezuelan refugees seeking help outside the grocery store. Its became part of our routine in Santa Marta. Bottles of water and bananas/some other food is the least we could do and cost very little. The women with their baby girls were always happy to see us, as was this one disabled man that Sean helped out, every time we visited the store.

Next stop is Minca where we plan to stay for 4 nights before coming back to Santa Marta for a flight.

Thanks for reading fam, love you all. <3