Whimsical

  How did social media become so... unbearably annoying in like, less than 5 years time? Twitter is rooted in and thriving off of Misery Loves Company. That's expensive energy! All this talk about being tired, depressed, anxious... all the while wantonly encouraging and participating in negative behaviors. It's like running into a coworker who only acknowledges misery, and is ironically a source of toxicity. I can't stomach that bird app anymore for longer than a minute.
So, stupidly, I reinstalled IG onto my phone, and started paying attention to FB. They're mostly just adds. I hate them all! lol. But this visit with family has strengthened bonds that I can further support via FB. Would be super neato if everyone could just play online games instead lol.

The good thing is that this all has driven me back into wanting to blog more, as well as being active on Animal Crossing LOL. Recently, one of my ugly villagers left! Hooray! And I finally unlocked Brewster, haha.

My mom made Adobo and Olluco!! It's been so long omg.

We found olluco (pre-cooked) but it's better than nothing. I loved it regardless. Tastes like how I remember but milder. Still yummy. I'm gonna look for pre-cooked olluco back in Cali and make this.

Taking full advantage of my mom's chicha morada. SIGH

And my friend got me Inscryption on Steam for a holiday thingie (ty Cam :3). It's neato. I'm kinda dumb w/ card games, but I like it.

I also got a planner. Which makes me look forward to creating a space back home just for writing and organizing, away from my desktop. And I miss Ophelia. So much. She's staying with a family friend currently. We get little updates and she's having fun. But I miss that little gremlin a lot.
AND. I wanna get back into Youtoob. I just. Idk what direction to take it. I think I sometimes just wanna talk into the aether about all the shit that sparks through my neurons. To no one in particular, about nothing in particular. Kinda like here. But there.
Stupid neurons.
What would I talk about? SO MANY THINGS. Opens the door to say the wrong thing and be loathed. Such is life. Idk, we'll see how I feel in between work and school. I can finally focus on what I want to study now.
After I get my associates in mortuary studies, I wanna get my bachelors. One step at a time.

Man, I'm the luckiest person- this would be virtually impossible without Mr. Chicken's unending support. What a dude. And he's down to kick it w/ me for keepsies. Swoon. I wanna be that couple that everyone is like "oh THEM." Good or bad lol. I mean, we are. But like, more. Like. Maybe at our wedding, he'll be like talking to our friends or whatever, and I'll charge at him from nowhere and climb on him and bite him on the cheek for 2 seconds, then run away to like, eat something. Food, probably. And everyone pauses and looks at him and he just goes "Yeah." and they all nod and resume the conversation.

I do that now, but I wanna do that with my licenses printed out of MS Paint, stapled to my butt. It's the only validation I seek anymore.
And then the world is ours! I can, WE can literally work anywhere, so long as I pass the board exams wherever we go. Swooooooon.

In my new planner, I wanna lay out my school journey as like, a long quest line, with my short term goals as quest rewards. And I can make my grades and stuff the exp that I earn with each quest or whatever. That metric doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but it sounded cool in my head. And everything will be marked and tracked. With cool pens. An RPG journal for my Mortician title that I have to clear it 100%. My DLCs will be licensure in other states.

Speaking of mort stuff
I was sitting here playing Animal Crossing when one of those balloons came floating by. I was like omg yay another one and chased after it. The present came down. I opened it expecting random, useless, but cute crap.
It was a whole ass gurney.   ???
I didn't even know those were a thing in AC.

Also please behold my tiny cemetery. It's little and quaint and modest and unfinished, but I like it.

And then I started watching the new Sex and the City show, "And Just Like That..."
And there's a whole ass funeral situation.
This would've otherwise been insignificant if I hadn't been speaking with my mom about work the night before. Coincidences like these aren't usually this saturated in death.
I wanna believe that it's life's way of validating my career decision and driving into my head the reality of what's about to hit me at the end of this month, and not.... an actual death to facilitate within my circle. It could be nothing, it could be either, or both. WHO KNOWS. As Gary Oldman said in Leon the Professional, "Death is... whimsical.. today."
Now that I have a cot, I can make an area on my island that's like... that tropey survival horror hospital hallway with doors and wheelchairs and gurneys everywhere. WHO DOESN'T LOVE THAT?
(I don't, but I've accepted sprinkled wheelchairs and gurneys as necessary assets in horror games)

LOOK AT THIS CEMETERY FROM THE 1800S THAT WE VISITED

But first.
Over Christmas, my aunt who I haven't really kept in touch with for like, ever, and her hubby, and their son, and Mr. Chicken, and myself, all kinda connected. Like a lot. It's nice. They wanted to take us somewhere just to experience it. They described it as a hike. Turns out it was a grotto by a monastery in Maryland like an hour way. "There's a cemetery"

We went.

It was on a Sunday, so there was a bit of a crowd, but there was a trail that went up into the foresty area. Along the trail were a ton of statues and markers in remembrance of patrons and saints alike.

It felt old. I guess the grounds is considered a sanctuary. My ESL ass only ever heard of the word "grotto" in Ariel's Grotto in Disneyland and had no clue what we were walking into lol. Now I know. Very pretty. I didn't get a photo of the actual grotto, but the other stuff around it was dope.

That little chapel thing was cool. We didn't go in, though. Everyone that went in was entering to recite prayer. Felt inappropriate.

Suuuuuper pretty trails, though. I was glad they suggested it. I don't give my aunt enough credit, but I think she gets me.

Also, my little cousin is kind of really cool. He's like a smol Mr. Chicken. Among the many interests he's taken up, photography is one of them. All I wanna do is support him in every endevour.

After walking around the sanctuary trails, I couldn't ignore the cemetery. My uncle and Mr. Chicken loathed to venture in, but my aunt and little cousin welcomed the side quest :D

Mr. Chicken was nervous because the last time we stumbled into an old cemetery (in Centralia, PA and by "we" I mean "I"), we both got 103 fevers that same evening out of seemingly nowhere. He's convinced that it was because I deviated from the little path and walked on the grass (unwelcome) out of vanity, and something attached itself to us.

I just agree with him, because I can't explain why else we got sick. We didn't do anything else that day after visiting Centralia. Bizarre outcome to say the least. But that's why he didn't go in. My uncle happened to say he didn't wanna enter out of fear something may attach to him, so they were well matched, and stood outside the entrance while we humbly walked on in.
I did make it a point to not leave the path this time. I think it was wise, because as I was turning around to leave, the wind decided to eerily blow really hard through one giant tree behind me. I was like, alright thanks. Deuces, I'm leaving.

But I can't help it. Mr. Chicken gently warns me every time I want to visit a cemetery. I love him so much for it. I only wish I could express to him how much I respect the sanctity of these sacred grounds and not just what lies beneath its earth. He says I'm passionate. Yeah.

Soooooo old. And beautiful.

LIKE ME.




*tells joke and dies*

I didn't go on the grass. I promised him I wouldn't. Also I'm not working. I feel better about doing that when I'm servicing the bereaved. It's weird, I can't explain it. Kinda that whole unwelcome thing. I don't know.

The tree on the right yelled at me after I passed it heading towards the exit :(
It was like an Ent was telling me to hurry up and get out lol

My lil cousin was taking photos of his own. Proud of him. He also stayed on the path.

Dis is one of his, of my aunt and me strolling by. I was showing him how to find vanishing points and giving noob advice on composition and balancing. He's so smart I love him omg.

Ah. So nice.
I will say though, this one didn't feel anything like the one in Centralia. That one, as soon as you walked in, it was like.... heavy. The air felt stiff and heavy. As if to say please fucking don't. I mean.... I did. But this one was chill. Nothing strange about it whatsoever, except for the last bit. To which I acknowledged and left. Listen, but really listen to the world around you. You'll notice things you never knew you could. I shit you not.

We went to get Pollo a la Brasa right after. I've been wanting to have that for so long omg. There are places like that back home, but idk, we just don't bother lol.  This was nice though. I needed it.

I'm gonna miss them after we leave. But am glad we reconnected as much as we did. It's something to look forward to, for both Mr. Chicken and myself.

My mom and I went thrifting the other day.

FRESH THRIFT FIT

Idk what brand these are, I don't care. They hurt to wear because they were stiffer than a [REDACTED], which meant they were new. And they're gorgeous and now they're mine!
I also found some new outfits for work and whateversies.
PVC and Thrift life

Besides cooking, my mom wanted to spoil me with groceries. I couldn't think of anything unil I saw the pizza Lunchables. Fuck me up. Pizza only. None of that nuggets or cheese and crackers shit.

Genshin did me a goodin.

I had enough for three 10-rolls. I got her on the 3rd. Her kit and play style aren't my favorite, but I suck at theorycrafting and don't play for big numbers so IT'S FINE :D


My parents are sad that we're leaving. Especially my mom. She's been going through a lot and it pains me to have to be so far from her after we leave. Mr. Chicken and I are doing what we can to help alleviate some of that. It's coming in small trickles, but I think it's been helping. I hope they can visit during the short recess I'll have between semesters. If not, I'll come back to see them.
We have a plan. It's not quick, but it's not too far off either. I like plans. I hope time goes quickly.

Happy 2022. It feels like a good start. And that's how I'm choosing to keep it ^_^


Fuck I forgot about the Steam sale ending today lol