Summeeeerrr.... 2017

Gasp.
.....
It was going to happen someday.
An update, that is.
:)'

So, what's happened meantime?
I've moved from one part of town in Utah to another, and am now within walking distance of my work! Huzzah!
I'm still working part time, more or less, though often more as I cover people's shifts that need help on a relatively frequent basis. I'm getting better at saying no when I need to. Money is nice, but so is sanity.
I'm making a crapload of progress on writing with my two co-writers, on our combined books and off shoots. One series is adventure/fantasy, the other is romance/alternate universes. It's strange, I know. But! It's writing! And it's fun writing too~
I'm... having some issues with my personal books.
And personal life. Anxiety is a rude, disgusting creature that manages to creep in any crevice it can find. XP

So, do I actually have (capitalized) Anxiety? As a disorder?
Not sure. I've thought it could be Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar (mild)... And haven't really gotten an answer from anyone I've gone to about it. Albeit, I hold myself up and strong and get through life because that's what has to be done.
But it's hard and I'm trying to find ways to make it easier.
Thankfully, despite not getting answers, I've gotten suggestions and possible helps from the people I've gone to over time. And getting reminders of DBT (Dialectic Behavioral Therapy) skills whenever I work is awesome.
Now just the application that needs work at times.

Am I over-sharing?
Well, considering I don't even have a specific thing I'm sharing, I don't think so.
And also considering I raise awareness of mental health whenever I can anyway. My own health is part of that.

On the plus side, I went to a friend game night this last weekend! And I've actually gotten to see numerous friends over the past few weeks. So that has been nice. :3

I've also been enjoying creating themes in my outfits more. Work has implemented a rather bland color code, black or purple top, grey or black bottom, all solid. So I've been creating more outside of there.

And here are some fun photos for your viewing pleasure:

 Got the shell and lacey earrings from Texas Tangled Threads, and the layered bead necklace from Premier Jewelry. (It's really one long necklace, but I got a clasp thing from them that lets me shorten any necklace by putting it around in half. Super useful! I guess you could get the same thing from using a string or ribbon or something, but the metal clasp is super easy to use.)

Little Leir! The girl is super random but the kid is from the fantasy/adventure series. At this point, he's like 12.

Making public transport look stylish~

And, of course, normal workday attire. (sorry about the background)

Well that's all I got energy for tonight.
Good night and good luck~

<3

Wow. Life.

Heeeyyy....
It's been a bit. I've moved across the country. And I've got a new job working at a treatment center for teens! :D Seriously though it's pretty awesome. I am helping kids figure out how to live and function in normal every-day things like school and just life. It can be hard but it's a good thing. :3
Also! I've got an actual contract with an online publisher! :D My internships have come to an end, with good things on both sides, and while I'm still working on something consistent, I'm making progress in the editing and publishing world! Which is good.
I'm now living in a two-room apartment with a friend from college. We get along great, and we've basically lived together before in college too. Not as official roommates, but weird housing stuff happened and she was around more often than not, which was fine. XD' And we both make enough so we can split the rent!
Fun fact: she works at the same place I do. And it's so busy that we hardly seem to see each other at work anyway. XD" Another fun fact: we get paid to eat meals with the kids we work with. Heck yeah!

And, as a fun-gotta-do-this activity, this past Halloween (well, Saturday the 29th) my friend and I decided to go to a masquerade! X3 If you have seen my Facebook, you've probably seen pictures. I'll try to get some in here.

So my flatmate and I got there a little after it started, and we sat at the back where there were chairs. The Air Arts (people climbing and performing on giant ribbons, a ring in the air) had already started intermittently, but the food hadn't yet so we were cool to watch for a while. There were sooo many amazingtastical masks! They were gorgeous, and wonderful, and beautiful, as well as the costumes/outfits. When there were dance numbers near the front, it was harder to see those, but it worked out alright. Some of the performers came back to our table between performances to eat their food, as it had room and one of the performers' boyfriends was back there so he knew a number of them. We got to talk with them as a result! It was great. I would have taken more pictures but it was kind of dark. And I was recommended to investigate taking some air arts classes in the area, because I was so excited about the performances. XD It was great.

About a quarter of the way through everything, the binding we attempted to put on my hair fell apart, but thankfully my hair looks pretty great long too. :D And even with the dancing later, it worked out.

The food was a buffet style set up in an adjoining room with the bar, and the buffet looked pretty great. There were some people in line who were already drunk and not the most patient, but it worked out and we got our food. There was an appetizer of... I can't remember the name but it was a slice of bread with some basil, tomato, and oil, plus a few herbs and even though I usually don't like raw tomatoes, this was great! Then there was a large salad that we had a number of options to put in, with arugula and spinach, and toppings like some roasted nuts and meats, some berries, etc. There were also a variety of meat kabobs. I got chicken. It was all really good.
After the eating and performances, they cleared the floor and turned up the music, and we danced! It was a lot of fun. I wore mostly comfy shoes, but they did still have heels, which I'm not terribly used to. I got a good two hours in of dancing, and then I was done. I snagged some dessert near the end, they had a number of varieties of beautiful cheesecake (I got strawberry), and then got an Uber and we left.
It was a ton of fun. :D

Now, it's not all been fine and dandy. We had an unfortunate run-in with bed bugs that I'm still freaking paranoid about, but we've sprayed at least like 4-5 times, gotten mattress covers, new sheets, etc. And things seem to be okay now, over a month later. But we're still keeping an eye out. Because they are hellish little demonic bloodsuckers.
On the good side, they were pretty much confined to my bedroom because I found them super quick and just cleared out my bedroom into bags and put them on our little patio-porch. And then ordered a ton of things and sprayed even before the apartment got an inspector to our place. On the annoying side, I had to pay for all of the inspector people the apartment sent to look and treat some things. Which was less intensive than anything I did. But, it's all basically settled now so we can sleep in peace.
Mostly.
-paranoia sucks XP-

Sooo I may hopefully be updating more now that things are settling a little more again. Hopefully.
Writing more too! Though all over the place. O_o

Okay thanks, pass.
Good luck and love~
<3

Normal Life Update

Yes, I still have days to fill in about Ireland. They will be getting there~
But I also have normal life things going on, and thought I might share a few of them. :3

I am working! Three jobs: Housekeeping at a wonderful Bed & Breakfast, Restaurant work at Salerno's (a family Italian type place), and I am a substitute for the local library! :D Up at the circulation desk.
Also, I am an intern officially! For a literary agency! Literary agents represent an author's work to a publisher, try to get it out there, work deals, and help the author with their work between drafts and final. I'm currently reading over manuscripts and writing reports. Can't say much more than that, but it's something I love to do and I'll be doing it for six months!
I have another internship or two that I am waiting to hear back from as well, regarding editing and writing short articles. None of the internship work is for pay currently, but maybe in the future that could change? We'll see.
I'm also working on keeping my car running nicely... My parents are wonderful and helping when things break, but there are some things I just can't really do much about. Sally is her name, and she's great, and has run for the entirety of my college years, and has over 220,000 miles on her. Subarus are great, but do eventually have limits. She's running on the last fix (Friday) and prayers mostly, but it's working so far! X3' And it's not as bad as it could be, and I'm very grateful for that. Here's to continued safe travel to work and back! (because all my jobs are also one town over in Lexington, so I need transportation) Thankfully there is a small public transportation system, which I've learned to use pretty well, but it only goes so late in the day. Salerno's runs longer than that.
I've not had a ton of hours lately, mostly due to the winter season and not a lot of people going out and about, but that may change as February comes through. Hoping so!

I'm in a nice upstairs apartment now, with three housemates, one roommate. We all get along pretty well, which is great, and have even started watching Charmed together~ XD It's a lot of fun. <3
One of my housemates, Kimy, also likes to play with my hair! She's not got a lot of time to do so sometimes because she's still going to school, but the past weekend she did some great braids in my hair.

Put in after I showered~ Two housemates went out to a student art gallery that evening and then saw Kung Fu Panda 3!! Which, by the way is an awesome movie!! X3
I slept in the braids, and they were weird to feel but I got used to it pretty quick. It was actually sitting that was the weirdest, because it felt like there were things on the backs of the seats but it was my hair. XD'
Anyway! The next day, we took out the braids in the afternoon and another housemate, Jodi, did some makeup on me too~ :3

I didn't even know my hair could hold that kind of wave without serious help!! But just waiting long enough works pretty darn well, apparently~ I worked later that night, and I got help putting it up.

The curls even held up through more sleeping. Church was fun. X3

So! Still working with work, reading, writing, progressing in different avenues and facets and ways.



Also, this is a fun and fairly accurate song~

Mindy Gledhill is great~ <3

Ireland: Continued Roaming Dublin

Continuing Tuesday: Dublin! We were asked to keep to groups, but let free to do our own thing.
Anna, Shelby, and I explored. There was a garden I'd researched online before coming on the trip that I really wanted to go and see, called the Garden of Remembrance. It's a little spot in Dublin that's got some reflection pools and a giant statue dedicated to those who fell in the Easter Uprising, and for Ireland's freedom in general. The statue is of the Children of Lir, an Irish legend about royal siblings who were turned into swans by their witch of a stepmother. Long story short, they were cursed to wander across lakes/lochs of Ireland for 900 years, although they kept their human speech. They retold their tale and the tales of Ireland across the centuries, and at the end, most versions say they were turned back into humans by a marriage between a North woman and a South man? It's been a few months since I read like three versions of the tale. Point being, they landed in a Christian monastery at the end of 900 years and were blessed/baptized by a monk, then turned to dust. During the whole time, the older sister Fionnuala helped care for and protect her younger brothers.
They represent a looot of Irish heritage and pride. I mean, the national bird is a swan. So yes.
It took a bit of planning to find, and we had to ask for some help with directions, but thankfully people in Ireland are fantastic and generally friendly and helpful, including bus drivers. :D

The mosaics in the reflection pools were pretty great too, obviously. We had a peaceful and beautiful lunch there, it was great. Everything written was both in both Gaelic and English, too; it was nice~ (the plaque also had a French translation to the side)
There was a writers' museum right next door, but we didn't really have the time to explore, since we'd already spent time there for a while just hanging out. It seemed a somewhat popular place to do that. It wasn't overflowing or anything, but it was never empty. And people generally seemed pretty chill. It was fantastic~

You can almost see the Irish flag behind the statue there with Sashah~

... Never really did find out what this was about. It was just there one day, we'd passed by the place before and it wasn't. It's near a bank, so maaybe some sort of publicity stunt? I don't know, we didn't really get answers when we asked. :/
Anyway, then Shelby and I met the Jonses at St Michan's Church, Dublin's oldest north side parish. They've got some catacombs that you can go down into, and see some naturally preserved mummies! Seriously, the conditions down there are great for it: limestone, cool, I think some methane... or some sort of gas that helps. I can't remember exactly. Kristen and Shelby were so very excited~ And our guide was great. XD Fantastic place. No pictures allowed down there, but I got some in the church itself. Small, pretty~

Then Shelby & I went to the Museum of Natural History. Got to look around, learn about the past, see some bog bodies...
Yup. Apparently peat bogs are great places to dump bodies, no matter what era you live in. And they preserve! I mean, the skin, sometimes hair... occasionally fingerprints even. :0 But they had cool exhibits that gave details about the life the individual probably led, and even possibly the reason for their death. (physical and sometimes political)

I mean look at that! Wow.
And literally right next door to the Museum is the Library. And I couldn't go to Ireland and not go to the library, right? I mean, sure I'd been in Trinity's library, but still!
Gorgeous. There was an exhibit going on but I only had a short time since Anna was waiting on me. (literally I just asked if I could pop in and look around X3) Also had a pleasant conversation with a man in the coat/locker closet. (yes it's a room just for your coats and stuff, in lockers even. Fancyyyy~) He'd apparently been to Virginia once or twice on holiday, and said that the Shenandoah Valley area was the closest you could get to Ireland green in the U.S. Which made me pretty happy. <3

Stopped by a chocolate store while wandering some more, seriously hot chocolate and just chocolate overseas is a whole new experience. *sighs contentedly* Aaaand we found a bookstore. :D Shelby, Anna, and I spent the rest of the day there. Three floors! Three whole floors! Of books! It was gorgeous. Hodges Figgis. Love.

Honestly. Tables, bookshelves, floors... And sales! And beautiful books! And... It was amazing. I got like nine books. XD (some were really small so they would fit nicely)
We checked out at the main floor literally as they were closing up. Worth it. I didn't even get to go through all of the floors thoroughly. Agh. <3 </3
But I am very happy with all I did get! And they are wonderful~ X3
Then we went back to the hostel, and while most of everyone else ran off to a rugby game, we chatted and rested, gave each other massages. Great choice, honestly. XD
Thus ended Tuesday!

Ireland: Dublin! Jail and Church

Tuesday! A Dublin day.
We first went on a tour of the Kilmainham Gaol jail (now museum) as a group, where numerous important political prisoners were held during the 1916 Uprising, or Easter Rising, as it was called. The Uprising also contributed to the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). Of course, the prison had quite a history before then: it was built in the late 1700s. It had its share of hangings, and executions in general, and kind-of chronicles the shift in humanistic viewpoints (what are the limits for ethical treatment of prisoners) over a few decades, not to mention the amount and caliber of people imprisoned. Some were simply kept in cells with open windows to the cold, others (with money) practically had their own suites. (fireplace and everything) Of course, the former were more numerous.
One of the famous stories was of one of the Easter Uprising leaders about to get married when he was imprisoned. The story got out before the execution, so they were allowed to get married before he was killed. Supposedly~

(I convinced Sashah not to try to climb any walls~ XD)
Then we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral! Got to look around at some gorgeous architecture~ <3 (And Jonathan Swift's tomb. Sort-of.)

There was a beautiful memorial for those affected by wars, as well. A metal tree, void of leaves. There was a basin beside it, at a more or less hand height, with paper leaves and pens. A plaque said "Leave a message for a loved one who has been affected by war." The paper leaves that were written on were then scattered beneath the tree. It was really poignant.

Also, a copy of Handel's 'The Messiah.' :3
Then we got to wander Dublin on our own, with friends or what-not~ It was fun! I will detail those adventures in the next post, though. More pictures! XD