My journal, blog, whatever you want to call it. Archive just sounds cooler, right? Updates about my daily/weekly/monthly life and other nonsense... Whenever something interesting happens that is.
I've been so so so busy lately! In a good way though. I've been trying to organize and manage an art event at the store, and it's kind of scary reaching out to and speaking with so many people at once. I'm worried though because while many people are interested, it doesn't seem like that many people can actually participate. I don't know what I'll have to do then. Even if it means cancelling or postponing to a later date, I still really want to make this work out.
Other stuff that's been happening... well my friend made a discord server of most of my friends and his friends that I kind of know into one big server of people. It's honestly so crazy. It's been active nearly every day and there's always someone online to chat. I'm so giddy thinking about it hehe. I really like everyone there and it's such a fun group and space that's been formed. He set up a modded minecraft server too, and I'm absolutely fucking addicted to it. Whenever there's a slow day at work, I can just hop on at anytime. It's soo bad for me lol. I can't get any drawing done knowing I can access it at any time. 
Because it's spring break week, my sister came home this week (yay!) and it's been so great. Monday, day one of being home, we immedately went to hang out with said people in that discord group. Some of them I haven't seen/spoken to in a long time so I was worried it would be akward, but no. I had so much fun. We got lunch, went to a Kinokuniya and some anime stores and then we went to go bouldering. It was initially my idea to go with my sister and other friends, and he invited more people. I literally had a dream about going bouldering weeks ago. Isn't that funny?
So bouldering. This made it my second time going now. I wanted to do more v0's like I mentioned last time, but wow there were no easy v0's. All of them were so hard, and there was less than last time. There were two that stayed the same which is this annoying one that looks like green beans, and this other one which I did complete. I completed that one again and made an attempt on green bean, but ugh... After a while we did some top roping, essentially bouldering but it goes higher up, and you use a harness and rope. Before we began, those of us who never went top roping had to be taught some key words for communicating between the climber and belayer. I went on th eeasier ones, but I couldn't get all the way up. I do think I like top roping more. The harness gives a sense of security, and you're not dropping down like bouldering. I get a little freaked out by the idea of letting go because I still think I'm going to fall, but once I'm actually going down it's kind of fun. I do think that I did better than last time I went. I didn't get my skin torn off either, and I had a much easier time moving up. I only wish there were some more v0's, but I could probably do a v1 now. Afterwards we all went to get dinner together. It felt so adult. Like we're not just a bunch of teenagers hanging out with a curfew or scrambling to pay food with what little money we can scrounge up. I mean, my sister and I got home at 11 PM! What's even crazier is that they went bouldering again the next day, and they're at it again today. Plus tomorrow they're playing vollleyball. I think I would have just died lol. 
I will say that i'm not as sore as last time. It's mostly just my thighs, fore arms and the sides of my torso. I wonder if part of that is because I've been riding my bike again because it's warmer. So far I've been taking it out on Sundays to ride around in the park and get used to it again. It feels really nice.
I've been super happy these days. I want to say I sleep earlier and wake up earlier for work, but honestly my nights are eaten up by minecraft hahaha... I've also been making bentos for myself to eat for lunch. I used to wake up at noon and only eat 2 meals a day, but now I wake up earlier and two meals aren't enough. I've actually gained some weight because apparently I haven't been giving my body enough energy to metabolize... Oops. 
I have quite a few things to write about this time. I think I'll start with the events of yesterday because it was Al Haitham's birthday!!! 
Hehehe, it's now been a little over 4 years of him existing and he's a character I still hold near and dear to my heart. I haven't been thinking of Al Haitham or Haikaveh in general, but they still fill me with a lot of joy. There was so much delicious art to consume, including the official art of course! I'm very pleased with the piece I made for his birthday this year, especially considering that I managed to do it within the day. I was a little worried about finishing it on time, but I guess I was fueled by my celebratory mood. 
Now on the contrary, it also happens that today was the day may grandpa(mom's side) passed away, which meant that yesterday we also had to hold a ceremony to honor him. It's weird to think about the fact that I'm celebrating a fictional character and showing my respects to a family member, and I will be on that day every year. I'm really embracing life and death. Aside from that, yesterday was fairly ordinary.
There was a lot of fun things I did lately too. For starters, I went bouldering for the first time. I've done like some rock climbing and other stuff in harnesses in highschool gym, but I haven't done anything physical in a while. It was four of us together with two of us going for the first time. I honestly found it to be super fun! It was a bit difficult at first, but I was also wearing two pairs of pants because it was extremely cold and windy that day. As soon as I took off the outer layer of pants, I was able to move much more easily. I actually surprised myself a little because I know I'm pretty flexible, but I could really move my legs quite far. Of course I stretched before hand to warm up! For bouldering, there's different levels of difficulty and I had to start with the easiest ones which are called V0's. The first one I tried was kind of hard, but I tried the other course and did it pretty easily! It was so fun! And then I had to drop... Dropping was kind of scary. There's a springy mat on the floor, and my sister even told me beforehand that it will feel like you're higher than you are because your head is higer than your feet, but your feet will land first. Knowing that, I kind of just let myself fall, but ahhhh, it was kind of scary! It didn't help that my glasses moved up and down as I fell so it made my vision weird. It was very wuick, but it filled me with such a rush. After a while me went to the second floor and I did another V0 on that floor. Ideally I would have to finish 3 before I can move on to a V1, but I'm not sure if I could actually do it. I was actually very close to finishing a third V0 and I tried all the ones that were there, but by that point I was really tired and my hands were having a hard time holding onto anything. Additionally, a bit of my skin also ripped off on my right hand and I got small blisters on the other. It wasn't too painful, but then my hands were sweating into it and it REALLY hurt. It also hurt when I was washing chalk off my hands. That being said, I really enjoyed bouldering and I would love to go again. I'd probably do more V0's to solidify that I can do it consistently. I did more stretches before bed, and bandaged my hand, but again my sweaty palms made it impossible for the bandage to stick on so I ended up taping it in place... And then the next morning I was in SO MUCH PAIN LOL. 
Well it was mostly my upper body. My legs didn't hurt at all which surprised me again. I guess I do stretch my legs a lot... Although the ripped skin was the most painful part... I had to shower with a vinyl glove over my hand so it didn't get wet, and my mom even bought me gauze. It's fine now. The skin is a bit hardened and it kind of hurts if I try to stretch my fingers, but I don't need to keep it wrapped anymore. My mom said I should get gloves for next time, but wouldn't that interfere with my grip? I mean people dust their hands with chalk for that friction.
After we went bouldering tho, we had to go back so we can watch Iron Lung. We had a friend drive us back and four of us squeezed into the back seat with one laying across the three of us. It was really silly, but kind of fun. We picked up one more person so it was then two people sitting on the three of us, and we went to Jersey Mike's to get free subs. We were able to split up into two cars and went to the theater. It was SOOO windy! one of the bags for the subs tore open and all the napkins flew out. It was crazy, but we hid the subs in our jacket hoods and sleeves and got in lol. The movie itself was great. I was told it was going to be horror, which I'm not great with, but honestly it was only the end that was too much for me. I don't know much about the original game that Iron Lung was based on, but I think the movie was really enjoyable. It's not the greatest film ever or anything like that, but I liked it, and it's always fun going to do things with friends.
Gahhh... My phone is completely unusable now. I was given a faster wireless charger last night and it was working pretty well! But overnight is made my phone overheat, and it won't turn on anymore. It was on last night, but now when I put it on the charger it doesn't even show the green charging circle. I already orderd a new phone, but I'm still going to need to fix this one if I want to transfer my data. It's kind of a pain... 
I've had this phone for 5 years so the storage space is honestly really packed from system updates, but I really liked it. The new phone I'm getting is the regular S25, and while mint was the color I wanted, navy was the only one that had 256 GB which is so dumb. Why doesn't the other colors have the larger storage options? It makes no sense! I'm kind of peeved by that because I wanted to maintain the mint color of my old phone and my earbuds to keep matching, but alas... I'm mourning over that fact. My dad was confused by why the color matterd so much, but he just doesn't get it. If the option is presented, I should be able to pick the one that appeals to me most! It's going to suck to be without a phone for a few days. Unfortunately same day delivery didn't work(probably because of yesterday's snowstorm) so it'll take about three days. I won't be able to read shoujo manga or watch funny videos before bed, can't play music for the store, can't check on my neko atsume cats... ugh I won't be able to take pictures. I guess the upside is that my phone will actually have some space again to do things. Heh, maybe there'll even be space for Genshin Impact. Nah, I wouldn't.
UPDATE! My phone turned on! I'm so relieved. I was worried about how much it would be to fix it, but there'll be no problems trasnferring my data!~ 
First entry of the new year, wow! Firstly, things at the store have been pretty good. Most of the days days are slow, but I've made a good amount from it already. I even managed to sell a piano that my mom has been trying to get rid of. A guy made a deposit first, but he'll be bringing helpers to help him move it on a later date. It's really chill and I get to sit and draw or even play Stardew hehe... but I don't just sit around all day!!! We've been experimenting with different arrangements and layouts, making gradual changes to see what works. I'm actually quite pleased with the way things are. Actually, yesterday a guy came in trying to sell basketball and sports trading cards. He was explaining to my mom about how grading works and what makes certain cards more valuable, but when I mentioned that I collect Pokemon TCG cards, he opened up a fresh pack and let me have them! Very cool! 
After he left, I shared more stuff about TCG to my mom. When I showed her how much prismatic umbreon goes for she was so shocked lol. She always thought it was some dumb thing for kids, but said she'd try and keep an eye out for any pokemon cards from now on. I told her she'd have a pretty hard time haha. Lately I've been more comfortable with talking about my interest with my mom and it honestly feels really nice.
As for other general updates... ah! I had secret santa with my friends. The friend I was giving to really liked what I made, and I love what I received! I got a Topaz HSR keychain, but also a Pokemon themed baking book! There's so many cute and yummy treats. I want to make them with friends and for occasions like birthdays and such!
My collection of cookbooks are slowly increasing...(I have 2 now!) I've also been watching the new seasonal anime with my sibling. It's great being able to watch stuff together in person instead of over a call. We had a bit of a fight too, but we resolved it very quickly and openly which we were both very glad about. I know we'll continue to have our differences and annoy each other, but I hope we can continue to maintain a healthy sibling relationship!
Today I also went to the Samsung service repair store or whatever it's called. My phone's charging port hasn't been working for a while which has been really inconvenient. It charges wirelessly just fine, but I can't really use my phone in bed like that. Unfortunately they have a "repair all or nothing" dealio, so they also wanted to change the metal side frames, the back panel(which has completely fallen off lol) and the screen for some reason. I'll probably get a new phone soon. It's been like 5 years since I got my current one and all the system updates are filling up the storage space...
*Sigh* There's too many things I want to add to the library but I don't know or have the motivation to do it right now. Oh right, yesterday was Christmas. 
I had plans to get things for my siblings but I couldn't get anything for them at all. Well, it's not like they got me anything either, but I wasn't expecting them to. They never have. We didn't do anything special this year, it really felt like any other day. Oh, but I did get a drawing from one of my online friends!
I'm happy I got to reconnect with them. We were more like accquaintances, just leaving comments on each other's drawing posts, but now I talk to them more often in their discord server. They stopped being active even before covid, but I'm glad they're back. Speaking of drawings, I'm working on my present for secret santa. Well, I finished making it, but the problem is printing it out. Ugh, stupid thing makes everything spotted... Hehe, but I can't wait to see my friends again.
Ah, I'm also running a store now. Kind of. For now I'm helping sell a bunch of old clothes to downsize, but soon it will be my actual store and I'll sell cute things and run it the way I want to. There's so much clothes in here. Imagine a brick wall made entirely out of plastic blue Ikea bags. Crazy right? It's been kind of slow, but to be fair it is around the holidays. People are spending time with their families and stuff and it's been really snowy and rainy. There's gonna be a snowstorm later today too. We have made 2 sales though, which is pretty neat considering we've been open for like 4 days now. 
As for other news? Hmm... I've been playing a lot of Hollow Knight and I started my first game of Stardew Valley. Both very fun games in their own way. I'll have to write about it in more detail in the media tab. It will be the first entry there...!
Yesterday my friends and I had a Friendsgiving potluck! In addition to our usual group we had other friends (although a couple of them couldn't come) and "in laws" so it really felt like a proper gathering! 
It was actually really fun just chatting and getting to know each other and we played a few games. Everyone's dishes were also really good, and we took leftovers home. I took a whole casserole lol, but it was just that good. There were also a TON of desserts including the pies I made with one of my friends.
We made pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread raspberry mini pies, and the highly anticipated Monster pie. Made with a can of strawbeery flavored Monster, it was a modified recipie for the baja blast pie, and it tasted more like cheesecake. The monster flavor didn't really come through which was surprising considering we took shots of the boiled monster, and it was REALLY strong. Monster pie is also an appropriately fitting name. It started off pink, turned yelllow from egg yolks, and we added black and purple food coloring which turned it... green! I also cut out an espurr out of pie dough. He's a bit on the wide side, but adds to the fucked up nature of the monster pie. We jokingly dicussed doing it with other flavors, but I dunno if we will. I also made meatballs and cauliflower veggieballs. I think they were decent comapred to everything else, but I forgot the sauce and they were a bit bland. I think my favorite dishes there was the greenbean casserole, turkey stew, and the molasses cookies. I've never had greenbean casserole so I didn't know what to expect, but wow, it was so good! My mom also tried the leftovers I brought and she liked them too. The raspberry pies were her favorite of the desserts beause it's not too sweet, but she's also not good with sour foods, so she couldn't finish it. More details on the process are here!
Anyway today I woke up with a sore throat. At first I though it was because I talked a lot or maybe it was a bit cold at night, but I felt worse over time. I took a fat nap for most of the day and I feel a bit feverish too. I'm keeping warm so I hope it doesn't get worse grr... I'm going to be a lot busier soon and I don't want to be bedridden, but maybe it's better I get sick now than to be unable to do anything once work starts. Ugh, I still have a lot of things to add and fix for my page too. It will happen though, no rush!
Happy Thanksgiving! I started the day by trying to heat up chicken noodle soup, but I turned on the wrong burner, and SOME IDIOT left a paper towel on the stovetop so it caught on fire. I quicklt put it out, but my sibling just sat and watched it happen, while my mom came into the kitchen after the fact, and asked why I didn't call for her because she wanted to see the fire... 
Anyway no one got hurt so it's all good. We had Korean barbeque, yum and it was a pretty chill day.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND GRIDS!!! 
Happy Halloween!!! 
It was nice to see all my friends and new friends as well! We spent most of the day working on my friend's costume in his kitchen sweatshop. I was tired of sewing and really wanted to be done with it since we've been working on it for like 3 weekends in a row and I even slept over for one night, but it came together really nicely in the end. We didn't finish it fully, but that's for another day. I also made my costume, Lemres from Puyo Puyo. I think it turned out really nice! Adding pockets were probably the hardest part... and the fact that I burned the lining with the iron right after i finished evereything. Anyway, it wasn't much of a Halloween party perse, but we had yummy treats and an overall nice time!
Speaking of sewing, I basically learned how to use a sewing machine in the span of a day. Well, technicaly I used one for a little bit before, but I leveled up a lot while working on this project. My sewing machine has also been named the Evil Macbeth. Although he can be a bit finicky at times, a world of possibility has been opened to my creative mind. I can make so many things now. I feel so powerful. I have to remember to get a seam ripper at some point in the future for whatever my next sewing projects will be.
I've been occupied with so many things lately. My cosplay, sibling's cosplay, friend's cosplay... Hopefully they'll be done before Halloween. Anywyay HTML and CSS is SO FUN!!! Figuring things out is so fun! I get a strong feeling of joy even when I fix a little thing. Really makes me think "I did it!" I'm getting so invested in making this too. It was such a spur of the moment kind of thing, but I'm glad I decided to try it. Looking at other people's sites really helps to give me ideas and inspiration, and there are so many cool personalized designs and layouts! I started making cute buttons too and I adore them so much.
I started working on my page, but sighs... I've never used html before and it's been quite a hassle, but it's also fun learning something new! I spent most of the day messing around and googling a bunch of stuff, but gahhh! I really don't understand!!! ヽ( `д´*)ノ I wonder how long it will take me to finish this... Oh well! I'm in no rush so I'll keep having fun with it slowly!~