The Adventures of Kiki

NaNoWriMo Annocement!

2015-10-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time again: time to talk about National Novel Writing Month! I've decided I'm actually going to do it this year. I am going to make a valiant effort to write the full 50,000 words but my goal is to more than my psudeo NaNoWriMo last year. If I do not write more 10,000 then I will seriously doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion...I mean NaNoWriMo.

On October 5 2015, NaNoWriMo put out an notice saying that NaNoWriMo 2015 website is now live and ready. I have decided to sign up and take an official part in this event.

I have to think of an idea of a story I want to use. I have lots of ideas but I never write them down so I am thinking of going with a story I have already pondered. Actually, I might do "Castle Peak".

I know what you are thinking. "But you already wrote part of "Castle Peak" during NaNoWrPOT!" So I did...but not really. It was more like an outline of how the main characters meet. Actually, it is literally a paragraph labeled "Outline":

Since notes are allowed, I am going to take this opportunity and start concocting a plan. Maybe. How about tomorrow...or the day after?

I am taking a trip during the first week of November so it looks like I will be off to a rough start but I am excited to see what this month will bring!

NaNoWrPOT Results

2014-12-28T05:31:00.002-08:00

December 23rd has passed so that means that my 30 days of novel writing are up.

Unfortunately, the results are quite depressing. I wrote over 10,000 words but that is about it. I am very easily distracted from writing by doing other things (Binge Watching Hunter X Hunter) and usually busy this time of year (Holiday Parties).

I am glad though that this challenge has encouraged me to write more. In fact, I have another window open and am writing this story right now!

My progess...is quite pitiful

2014-12-07T04:06:00.000-08:00

I think that the title pretty much sums it up. I have decided to keep track of how many words I am writing every day for my special NaNoWrMo challenge:

In order to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I have to write an average of 1,666.67 words per day. PER DAY!

As you can see, that is not what I have been doing. Recently, to make me feel better, I have been typing up the excuses. Most of them have been for novels or stories I have come up with.

I did read the entirety of "Fangirl" in two days. Why? Because I could and that's how I roll.

For the last three days, I have written (and completed! shocker, I know) a short story I call "Different People". I like it. But it helps not with the challenge! Though I wish it did because it is about 6000 words long so that would be an average of 2000 a day!

I just thought that I should update anyone who was curious. I have written a bit today (almost 1000 words!) but today is Christmas with the family because Lauren is moving to Hawaii so I probably will not be getting any more writing in.

My writing failed because of anime

2014-11-30T18:14:00.001-08:00

Anime is awesome, don't get me wrong. In fact, anime is the main inspiration for most of my "Mage/Weapon" project (Havstark Trilogy). I say that my writing failed because of anime because I haven't written anything for "Queen's Quest" yesterday or today because I watched an anime called Kimi ni Todoke.

Okay so I got my brother into anime within the last year or so. Before, anime was just my kind of "thing" and he respected that. Now, I've gotten him to watch several anime television shows with me and he has decided to go on and watch many of his own.

He wanted to find some new anime so he checked out what was listed on the winners for the annual Kodansha Manga Award within the 21st century (2000-2014). Manga is the print form but my brother does not read them so he checks to see if they have any anime versions. He has decided to watch both some Shōnen and Shōjo to see how they are. He found a few that he thought I would like and told me about them.

Currently, he is watching Kimi ni Todoke. I told him I had already read the first volume but decided to sit down and watch a couple of episodes with him. He was already into the season season but I was able to pick up what was going on quickly. So I watched those episodes with him and then decided to continue watching some more on my own so I could wallow in my own feels.

Sooo I watched several more episodes on my own and got upset at all the characters. I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob. Well, not really but my heartstrings were pulled when the main characters totally misunderstood each other and people that were just trying to "help" made it worse. But *SPOILERS* they finally come to understand their true feelings for each other. Took them long enough!

But since I spent so much time watching the anime, I didn't write very much. I had my niece's party on Saturday but watched the anime when I got home. Then, this morning, I thought of my own romantic story and decided to write about that instead of my Medieval story! So I am now even more behind. le sigh

Queen's Quest

2014-11-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I still really bad at this whole writing thing but at least I am thinking about my Medieval Game story!

I decided I am going to call it "Queen's Quest", after the Atari game "King's Quest".

I have decided that one of the characters who enters this virtual gaming world is going to be a bit older than the others. The group is not going to start off with a map so he is going to comment "This is just like King's Quest!". Of course, none of the whippersnappers are going to know what he is talking about but I think it would be cool to reference the first "3-D" adventure game! I used to play this on my grandfather's Atari in the late 90s, early 2000s. I am that cool.

So I would play it but I would get frustrated because there was no map! You weren't always just going in one direction either, like most video games nowadays, or at least the ones I play. You will end up some where different if you go right, left, up or down. I should have been smart and drawn a map but I just walked around in circles until I got what I needed.

I was also frustrated because I didn't know where to find the three secret treasures to become king! I would somehow always end up at a location before I have what I need to complete the task! Like I would meet the rat before I have the cheese or meet the goat before I had the carrot. You also had to be clever because though you can move around with buttons, there is a lot of text-typing in this game. You would have to go over to a special spot and put in just the right word to reveal what was needed. I was also probably 10-12 years old when I was playing this and that was rarely.

But I still enjoyed it so I am incorporating this into my story! I also played Space Quest and Police Quest but I found them far less interesting.

All I remember from Police Quest was that you could go downtown to get doughnuts at some Castle Cafe and driving around...a lot. I don't really remember Space Quest. What I do remember was missing things and being stuck and having to start again from the beginning. Yeah, I played that a grand total of once.

Third Day...Not A Charm

2014-11-26T19:46:00.000-08:00

I'll probably have to ask these questions every time...

Did I write today? Yes
Did I write for "Medieval Game"? No

I wrote for my "Mage/Weapon" project. Technically I wrote for Dark Moon (Havstark Trilogy, Book 2) but that's neither here nor there. So once again I fail in the writing department by first writing for the wrong story and then for not writing very much at all.

But the part I wrote, I am really excited about! This scene is really out of context but maybe I can explain the story to make it easier to understand why this is happening.

Okay so, the Havstark trilogy is about a world in which there are terrible demons that find empty clay vessels (like Golems) and terrorize mankind. People tried hundreds of ways to stop these creatures but nothing seemed to work. Alchemist formulated a way to counter this threat by awakening the latent spiritual energy within infants. There is a rigorous initiation and not many are picked so it is considered an honor to be one of the select few. This story follows Mach "Maki" Prime as she comes of age and must step up to her duty of protecting humanity against this threat.

There are two types of people that are "awakened": Wielders and Weapons. Maki and her best friend, Romana, are Wielders. There are conferences held to partner Wielders and Weapons. Separate, they are both strong but together, they are unstoppable! Well, not really "unstoppable" but a lot stronger. Anyways, there are these creatures, the Akumon, they must fight through the books. There is a group of Wielders and Weapons who actually don't want to fight the Akumon but want to somehow use them to create a new world order. They are called the "Dark Moon Regime". I plan on making a much cooler name but that's what it is right now.

This scene is when Romana is battling the Steal Emperor (AKA the head Weapon of the Dark Moon club). Sometimes I like to choreograph scenes to music so I listened to an epic part of one of the songs I like. This is from "Toki Hanata Reshi Chikara" on the Fairy Tail Soundtrack, Volume 2. I imagined the scene to go with this music:

Before the music:
Romana and friends are fighting Steel Emperor but are getting beat up badly. In desperation, Romana unlocks the necklace she is wearing that stores spiritual energy.

Music starts:
In an instant, a large white pillar of energy surrounds her and the force bends her backwards. She screams but her cries are sucked into the vortex of the immense energy circling around her. The veins in her head are starting to turn green. It's a mess.

Steep Emperor is fearful of this newly mined energy so he (double cymbal) shoots two spiritual beams from his hands.

But have no fear! There is a protective field around Romana and she is unscathed. She seems to now be able to control this power or this power is controlling her and she is able to bring herself upright. Steel Emperor has now turned his arm into a blade and is charging towards her. She has almost a sinister smile as she (double cymbal) flicks her fingers and emits two charges that pin the Emperor back. So quick and unkind, the opposite of how Romana normally is.

As the Steel Emperor is struggling to get free, Romana goes all Dragon Ball Z and starts making a ball of spiritual energy like our good friend Goku at the top of this post. Finally, he (double cymbal) breaks free of his chains. He knows that this is now a matter of life and death so he transforms one of his big guns into a big gun. Okay, so the "big guns" I was referring to were his arms and his arm did not really turn into a gun but a super deadly blade but it sounds cooler saying his gun turned into a gun than arm into blade.

Steel Emperor is super serious now and very deadly. Romana has no fear. She merely (double cymbal) flicks the top part of the orb with hand and pushes the bottom half up so both are direct hits.

The attacks have so much force that the Steel Emperor slams into the stone wall and breaks it so that most of the rocks from the wall pile on top of the defeated boss! Huzzah.

That's it. That's all I got.

Organize Me, Captain!

2014-11-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

What do I decide to do on my second day of my "writing month"? Organize my stories.

Why did I decide to do this today? Because I am great at not doing what I should do.

I wrote a little bit of story today at work (yay!) but it was for the wrong novel (boo!) so I decided that I needed to organize myself so I have all my little tid bits of one story all together instead of being all mixed together with my other ones.

I have several half used notebooks (pictured above) that contain multiple stories in each. Literally, one of these notebooks has four different stories in it. Not all together in separate sections. There is literally one page of thoughts about one story and the next page is about another and they alternate between the four. Let's just say "organization" is not one of my strong suits. That would be Hearts (Bridge, anyone?).

So I decided that something that would help me with my lacking organizational skills would be making folders of the major stories I have running through my noggin.

This is what I came up with:

The new story I am trying to write is labeled "Medieval Game". The one I wrote about today is labeled "Castle Peak". This is a different one than one I have been "working on" this year which is labeled "Mage/Weapon". Confused? Me too, and this is my own brain.

Medieval Game is about five people who are united because of an invitation posted on the bulletin board at a local cafe. This invite allows people to participate in a new kind of virtual gaming with technology not yet available to the public. Though many consider the opportunity, only five seize it. How will these five individuals work together? How will they respond when they learn that a real person is trapped in this medieval-themed game?

Sounds interesting, right? Let's see if I can make 50,000 words out of this story.

NaNoWrPOT?

2014-11-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Yes I know, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrMo) started on November 1st. I'm just really late to the party.

I had no idea that November was NaNoWrMo until one of my friends participated in it and posted updates on Facebook. I had gone on vacation during the beginning of the month so I didn't see the updates until close to the middle of the month. So I thought to myself, "Self, it is way too late for you to even start! Maybe next year."

Then I thought that maybe I would make my Writing Month in December. I mean, who doesn't love an extra day? Especially since I am the Queen of Procrastination and will be freaking out at on December 29th and realize I have another 30,000 words to write.

That would actually be really good for me if I only have 30,000 out of 50,000 words left to write. My average for a story I have been working on this year is about thirty words a week. thirty. words. This is because I will write part of a chapter in one sitting and then not write for the next three months. That means I would finish a little over 120 words in the month of November. Yay...accomplishment.

So I thought, "Self, I should motivate myself to write more and have my own NaNoWrMo in December." But I've written a little bit of a new story. I figured, "Ehh, it's really not very much and you can just tack it onto your December 1 total." You can cheat a little. No one will know.

But there still one problem. I would know. In case you didn't know, I am someone. So I am starting my 30 days of writing right now. Since it is at the end of one month and will continue into another, this will be my NaNoWrPOT or National Novel Writing Period Of Time.

Because Time is like a big ball of Wibbly Wobbly Time-y Wimey stuff.

This is what I have so far:

I wrote 308 words, complete with typos. Woohoo...

That's like two and a half months right there!

Updated: New Adventures 2013

2013-12-08T19:24:00.003-08:00

Ashley and Chrissy decided that they want to make 2013 an exciting year and do something new every month. I decided to tag along.

Here's a list of new things we have done:

January
~~Rock Climbing~~
I didn't go to the Boston Rock Gym with these lovely ladies but I have scaled the walls of my local YMCA.

February
Veggie Galaxy
A Vegetarian diner and bakery in Cambridge, MA. There are also a lot of Vegan options so never fear my animal byproduct-less friends! I really liked it. The atmosphere was fun and the food was delicious. I would definitely go there again! I am not a Veggie myself but I like Vegetarian food and tend to eat meatless when hanging out with Chrissy. Ashley did a good post about it.

March
~~Yoga~~
I didn't go but I've done plenty of yoga on Wii Fit.

April
Cafe India
An Indian restaurant in Nashua, NH. We had been to Indian restaurants before but not this one. I got a super deal on Groupon so I figured we should try it out! The food was good but I will probably never go there again. First, it was far away from where I am living currently and only if the food was excellent would I travel all the way there. Second, the waiter said Groupon didn't cover buffet even though when I asked him over the phone before we got there he said it did. Third, there was a large television in the corner of the restaurant that was distracting. Those last two things put a damper on the experience but overall I was happy to have tried it.

May
Middlesex Canal Museum
A free museum in North Billerica, MA. This museum was rather small but one cannot expect much when it is free. I thought it was cute and something pleasant to try. Here is a link to their website if you wanted to check it out.
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
A Wildlife Refuge near North Billerica, MA. We actually went here before we did the museum. I really enjoyed it. I also love nature. The refuge was very large and mostly marshlands but there were so many different birds we saw just by walking around. We also saw a turtle and a woodchuck. There were people walking, bike riding, sitting on the pier and canoeing. The Refuge was a very relaxing and pleasant experience.

June
Taza Chocolate Factory Tour
You know the chocolate they sell at Starbucks? Well, they give factory tours! What is great about this chocolate is that they are Direct Trade. No human trafficking! Yay! Yes, it is in bold because it is that important. I love how we learned a lot about how they make chocolate. The style of chocolate they make is stone ground Mexican. Basically, that means that it is rather grainy and the machines are easy to maintain. But delicious! Because it was still grainy, they really have to get great quality cacao beans. Other chocolate companies have the chocolate heated so that you can't taste the different flavor of the lower quality beans. They fed us lots of chocolate so I was a happy camper. Not that we were literally camping. Buffy and Lola don't do camping (inside joke). They gave us a free chocolate that was round like how it is molded in Mexico. I also bought a coconut chocolate bar to share with my family. They weren't as excited by this foreign chocolate. You can read Ashley's post about the factory tour too!
Yogurt City
Every since I experienced Frozen Yogurt in California, I have loved it. You could say, "Love at first bite". Not until last year did FroYo places seem to be easily accessible on the East Coast. I have tried FroZurt and Sweet Kiwi but that's it. Yogurt City opened up close to my house so Kate, Ellen and I went to go get some free FroYo. There was a very long line but it was totally worth it! The spoons were biodegradable. I approve.
Orange Leaf
Ashley, Chrissy, Katrina and I decided to try out another new Frozen Yogurt shop! This one was set up more like Yogurt City than FroZurt and Sweet Kiwi. No complaints though because it was still delicious! The spoons were also biodegradable.

July
Stand Up Paddleboarding
Check out my blog post about it.

August
Tomato Bash
Ashley blogged about it.
Hanson Concert
AMAZING! I am surprised I did not blog about it.

September
Color Me Rad
I wrote a post about it.

October
Iceland
No post about it. We spent 4 days in Iceland.
That was totally wicked! It was something amazing...I guess :-)

November
Pole Fitness Class
I wrote a post about this too.

December
Volunteering for Compassion
I just wrote a post about this!

Compassion

2013-12-08T19:13:00.003-08:00

We did our new thing for December on Friday. No, it was not Indoor Skydiving. It wasn't Aerial Aerobics either (Phew! That could have been brutal!). We volunteered for Compassion! Compassion was at the Christmas with the Camps concert in Worcest MA. None of us have ever "worked" a table at a concert before so this was new!

We were really excited because 1) We got to see a concert for free and 2) We got to do something with Compassion! All three of us sponsor a child through them. My child's name is Aime. He likes soccer and wants me to come visit him. He is adorable. Be jealous. So since all three of us are familiar with Compassion, their mission and what they do, we went with Chrissy's mom and step-dad to the concert. Chrissy's step-dad is a certified Compassion Child Advocate so he had the connections. Apparently, anyone can become one after an interview and filling out some paperwork. You do not have to work for them to be an Advocate.

Ashley and I carpooled and met Chrissy's clan at the concert. We got on our blue aprons and were informed that our job was to pass out packets to interest parties at the intermission of the concert and process payments for people who signed up to sponsor a child that day. Each person who paid that day got a free Jeremy Camp CD! Pretty cool. Since there would not be very many people at the table during the concert, Ashley, Chrissy and I went in and watched the first half of the concert.

The concert was very enjoyable. The Camps consisted of Jeremy Camp and his wife Adrienne singing and their entourage playing instruments. They played classic Christmas songs and some of Jeremy's work. The set was also very nice. Chrissy told us all the great things about it and what could have been done differently. We decided that her new occupation is going to be a set designer. She is going to travel with the Camp Camp (see what I did there?) to all the places they go and set up and tear down the set for them. She would be great at it since she did sets in high school and she would get to travel! While we were watching the concert and concocting plans, we made friends with a little boy. We were sitting in the way back like a set of triplets with our aprons on when a women come over with a young boy in her arms. We look over, smile and he starts waving to us. So of course, we wave back. This goes on for a bit. Then, the boy starts blowing kisses to us. It was adorable. Eventually though, this flirting came to an end. (We found out later that this boy is Jeremy and Adrienne Camp's son!) We watched the concert a bit more and then did our thing at the intermission.

After we did our thing at the concert, ACK when back and hung out with Chrissy's family. When the concert ended, we had a stream of people come over to our table. Some people fill out packets, some people just browsed, many were interested. Some people came over and said they really wanted to help but they did not know if they could commit to $38 a month to sponsor a child. Some others said that they would think about it more and go online to sponsor a child. One women said she wanted to go online because she was going to sponsor a child as a present to her granddaughter and wanted her to be there to pick the child. How crazy good is that? I'll be honest though, if my grandmother said this was my present as a child, I would have been a little upset.

We did not know how many people were going to sign up. Chrissy's mom told me that when they worked the Compassion table at a two day conference, only one person signed up. That really brought my expectations low. So when 28 people signed up and paid that day, I was super excited. I was so happy to be apart of 28 children being sponsored. I know I did not do anything but I was glad that God had me there to be apart of it. With all the other people who said they were interested, there may be a lot more children that are getting the assistance they need not just physically but also mentally and spiritually. Ashley, Chrissy and I really enjoyed December's new activity!

ACK may decide to all become certified Compassion Child Advocates and do this more often!

Pole Fitness

2013-11-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

For the month of November, we went to a Pole Fitness class! I would not normally do something like this but Chrissy wanted to go for her birthday, so we did. It was a lot of fun. Pole Fitness is exactly what it sounds like: working out with a pole. I should mention that this pole was stationary.

There were all different levels of students in our class but we covered just the basics. We learned how to grip onto the pole. You are supposed to use a "baseball grip". We did stretches against the pole to loosen up our arms. We learned how to climb up the pole (which Chrissy was best at), sit on a pole (which I was best at) and spin around the pole (which Ashley was best at). I was glad we were all very good at different things. I find it humorous that Ashley, who is prone to dizziness, was good at spinning. We did regular spins and fireman spins which were a lot of fun! After all the different things we tried, I got a lot of bruises. They weren't any on my hands, though I grabbed the pole harder than I needed. This cause me to sweat which causes me to slip down the pole. All my bruises were on my inner arms, legs and feet. I was really able to feel my thigh and arm muscles being used! I am going to be so sore. It will be worth it!

We had the worst time finding the studio though! The Boston Pole Fitness was hidden in a little alley. On the website, it was advertised as being in the same place as a gym. We drove around the pole a half a dozen times before we decided to search for a parking spot and search for it. Finding a parking spot in Boston is very difficult. We eventually found a spot and our way. So we missed the warm up exercises but we did them at the end anyway so we didn't miss anything.

Color Me Rad

2013-10-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

For September, our new thing was participating in the Color Me Rad 5K! Both Ashley and Chrissy have never done a race ever so this was something brand new to them. It was so much fun! This was a lot different than the Feast Five 5K that I do every year because it was all rural. We were down in Providence, RI running in a large field that had trees, bushes and color stations! Obviously, the color stations are not there year round. They had a new color at every station, every kilometer. For the first station, they had pink. Second, they had purple. Third, they had green but it wasn't in its powdery form; it was liquid from a hose. That was pretty cool. Fourth, they had yellow powder. Fifth, they had yellow coming from a hose. At the finish line, they had orange powder! After we got out of the orange cloud cover, we had packets of green, purple, orange or yellow thrown at us. There was a yellow packet thrown between me and some stranger. He picked it up and I said "ahhh!", like a "I-can't-believe-I-missed-it! I'm-gonna-cry!" ahh, and he gave it to me. I was happy. Then I felt like a jerk because there were more packets that we could pick up. So of course, I got myself another one and proceeded to dump its contents on my friends. We looked pretty epic. Chrissy's mom and step-dad came to see us run. They were standing at the finish line but apparently the humongous orange cloud prevented us from seeing each other. When we did find each other, Chrissy's mom dumped yellow powder all over us and then dumped the rest down our shirts. I found it humorous. Like the bone, because apparently I am doing punny jokes. We were covered in a rainbow of colors and it was awesome. I was sad they did not throw blue at us and all the blue packets were used up by the time we got there. I must also say that I am very proud of Chrissy. She does not like being dirty and she was covered with powder and happy about it! Even while we were walking and running during the 5K, we were planning on doing this one again.

I'm going to steal a picture from Ashley's post:

Here is ACK! Well, CKA in this picture.

September's adventure was a success!

Lauren and Dublin

2013-09-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Lauren had her second child, Dublin. We are all very excited about the new arrival and ecstatic that Lauren and Dublin are okay. Well, what I mean by "okay" is they are both alive and recovering. My sister Lauren has a problem with clotting blood. She had a high risk pregnancy when she had my niece, Poem. I think most people understand what happens when a woman gives birth so I will not go into detail as to why lack of blood clotting is a problem. She has gone to the emergency room when she was younger because she got a bloody nose and it would not stop. It's bad. This pregnancy started the same, she had steroids and lots of platelet transfusions because she had a low count and the baby takes what it can get. She was supposed to be induced on Tuesday but one of the bags of platelets had bacteria in it and she got a fever. She was red and swollen and very dazed. Very not good. The doctors were going to wait until she got over the fever and recovered before she gave birth. Apparently, the baby was in crisis and with fever so they had to have an emergency C-section. The last thing you want for a woman that has trouble clotting blood.

Luckily, the C-section went okay. The doctors and nurses had six bags of platelets and she only needed two. Dublin is out, Lauren is alive and they are both recovering from the staph infection. Lauren's fever is getting better and she is being monitored by nurses. Dublin is in the NICU in a little incubator. I am so thankful to God that both are okay! Things could have gone very badly but did not. I plan on visiting them this weekend and hopefully both Lauren and my nephew will be feeling a lot better! Maybe I'll even be able to hold Baby Dublin.

Also, I want to add one last thing. Lots of people were praying for them and I just want to say I am so thankful for all of you! I appreciate that you included both of them in your prayers.

Last Day

2013-09-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day at my temporary/contract job. I have been working as a "call center specialist" (it sounds so fancy with "specialist" in it) at the same place since April. Though it has only been 6 months, I have gotten used to this place and it is sad to go. I was really touched that my girl manager gave me her contact information so we could stay in touch, even though up to this point our relationship has only been at work. My work buddy (basically the guy who talks to me because I'm a weirdo and don't talk to people) brought in cider doughnuts for me! Cider doughnuts are always good but this is uber awesome because my family went apple picking last weekend and there were no cider doughnuts! The boy manager brought in doughnuts for me too! He never said it was for me but it just so happened to coincide with my last day and he normally never brings anything in. Everyone wished me good luck and said they will miss me. The girl manager even gave me a hug even though she is not a hug person (and I am very much).

My last day was very bittersweet. We'll see how my first day of my new temp to perm position goes! Wish me luck!

7 thoughts

2013-09-12T20:58:00.003-07:00

This really could have gone with the other post (especially since I used the same picture) but this isn't really a review of the book as my thoughts about each chapter.

The Council
I love how she has a "Council" for this book. They really add to the book. Especially when she steals excerpts from them. But they are entertaining and applicable so I accept that. Even though they all are a little zany like the author (hence why they are friends) they all have their own gifts and interests. I also love some of the things they do and say. I have decided that Chrissy is most like Becky and I am most like Shonna based on what they say. Well, really one thing they each said but whatever. I decided Ashley is Jen because she is the one who suggested the book so she gets to be the main character and she likes books. a lot. You'll find out what I'm talking about when I go into chapter highlights.

The Family
She has her senior pastor husband Brandon who reminds me of Vincent from The Bloggess. Well, Jen reminds me of Jenny so I guess that makes sense. There are also three children (she is in the process of adopting two more) that are so cute! Gavin is the oldest and loves football (then again, they live in Texas). Caleb likes fishing and has "red rage" which I literally laughed about as I was reading. Sydney is the adorable girl who likes crafts :-D.

Month 1: Food
I like food but I am not a foodie like Jen so I would have no problem with this one. I basically only eat 7 foods a month anyways. Let's see...
- Cheese
- Bread
- Turkey
- Apples
- Chicken
- Burritos (can I count that as one food? probably not)
- Tortilla Chips
- Iced Tea
- Cereal
- Milk
- Coffee
- Ice Cream / Frozen Yogurt
- Salad
- Rice
- Whatever people make for me. I am not picky and very polite.
Okay so maybe a few more than 7 foods but I don't have a huge variety! Like seriously, that is all I eat! That's including going out to eat on Sundays (hence the coffee, burritos, tortilla chips, frozen yogurt and iced tea). I probably should include more fruits and veggies in my diet. I think I may have the exact opposite problem from the author! Oh well.
I loved how in the the 5th day of the 1st month of this 7 month experiment, Hatmaker breaks the rules. It's realistic. How she breaks the rules is so what would happen with my friends. The "council", overseer of rules and regulations and referee for Jen, pressures her to eat food not on her 7 foods list. They say that they have to make an exception because they are going to an Ethiopian restaurant and since she is adopting two Ethiopian children, she must join them. Sounds legit.
Also, this month is when I decided that I was Shonna and Chrissy was Becky:

Month 1, Day 19
...I sent an SOS text to The Council:
"I'm about to buy coffee. I-am-this-close. Somebody help me."
Shonna: Ask for hot water in a coffee cup.
Becky: I should say something spiritual about Jesus being your caffeine, but that really just sux.

How did I come to this conclusion? Me: practical, tries to be helpful at all times. Chrissy: tells it like it is, coffee addict.
Fin.

Month 2: Clothes
This chick only wore seven articles of clothing the entire month. Not seven outfits that she had to recycle, seven pieces. I am not big into fashion or lots of clothes and this is extreme for me! I get super self-conscious that someone will remember I wore that shirt two weeks ago or that I wore my jeans twice in a row. Actually I wear like the same two pairs of jeans everyday. I know, I'm gross. But I was encouraged to see that people really didn't care or notice. Even when her clothes was sopping wet because she did not manage her time well. So guess what people? I am going to be even less fashion-conscious and just wear whatever whenever I feel like it even if I wore it last week! I normally cycle the same clothes around anyways and refuse to buy new ones because the clothes I have fit and I'm a cheapskate. I am very low maintenance and a bit of a minimalist if you haven't figured this out by now.

Month 3: Possessions
Once again, I'm a minimalist. Even with that said, I have a lot of things I could give away. I have lots of board and card games that I never use, CDs I don't listen to anymore and (Warning: Ashley, if you are reading this: don't have a stroke at this next part!) books I could give away. I already went through some of my clothes and I actually had some in decent condition that I don't wear anymore. I was happy to give them away and I hope they find someone who needs them! Unfortunately, I did not intentionally give it to someone like Jen did with her things. I normally just use something until its unusable because that's how I roll. I did get to thinking though and I daydreamed what I would do if different things were taken away. Most of them I didn't care because I held onto them loosely. Then I got to my pictures, stories (stories that I hope to make a livelihood from but don't allow anyone to read...because that makes perfect sense), family and money and I got upset and violent. I started to pry my fingers from the pictures and stories but I was still stuck on family and money. I include close friends in my family category so that includes my 2 readers! I have been praying about God loosen my grip on everything except him. We can't take these things with us and we were created to glorify and worship the Creator of everything! Why attach yourself to creation when you can attach yourself to the Creator? Easier said than done. Security is a hard thing to let go.

Month 4: Media
Jen and her family shut off all their video games, televisions and computers off for a whole month. Well, I should say they limited use of computers. Both the author and her husband needed a computer with internet for work. But the usage of the internet was severely limited. With how people communicate now, this is extreme! How sad is that? If you told me that I would be addicted to Facebook back in 2006 (when I first got one), I would have thought you were crazy. Why would I daily to check on a web site that nothing important every happens on? I do it and I still don't know. I don't really play much video games anymore or watch TV but I need to seriously withdraw myself from the internet. My nemesis is Facebook, Gmail and Netflix. I never get emails or notifications but I impulsively check anyways. Netflix is just because I have no life and like to watch movies and anime TV shows. Don't hate on the anime. I think media has become more of a habit because it is easy to pick up whenever for however long I want even though I always spend more time than intended. In 7, Jen was noticing how much media distracted us from connecting to God and His people and building healthy relationships. This was a nice wake-up call from excess and I seriously need to discipline my time and cut back on the entertainment.

Month 5: Waste
My mother is a bit of an environmentalist so I grew up being conscious of my waste. My mom even grows tomatoes in our backyard. My family is doing pretty well in this area of life. I mean, we aren't growing ALL our food or making a compost pile in our yard but I think our suburban neighbors are very happy about the lack of odor coming from our homestead. I pack a lunch in a lunchbox, use cloth bags for shopping, drink from a reusable water bottle, turn off lights in other rooms if they aren't being used and conserve water to save the fishes. I didn't think I was so radical but I guess I'm heading in the right direction! I do all that but still put my sandwich in plastic sandwich bags so I still have work to do to be the best steward of the Earth as I can be! I also am a lot like Jen's alter-ego Freedom Shakra and buy what's cheap and that would be in a grocery store with all those chemicals. I really need to reevaluate me diet.

Month 6: Spending
I'm not a big spender. In fact, shopping makes me nauseous. I totally related to Jen when she penned this, though it was last month:

Month 5, Day 29
Also excluded from my not-so-feminie DNA is the shopping gene...I just don't like to shop. It's fun for like zero seconds...[when I went shopping,] my sophisticated thought process went something like this:
Too many things.
Can't breathe!
(TRYING NOT TO MAKE HYSTERICAL MONKEY SOUNDS!)
Breathe.
I like shirts.
I like brown.
I like yellow.
Here are brown shirts.
Here are yellow shirts.

This, including the hysterical monkey sounds, is how I feel about shopping. Jen decided that her family was only going to shop at 7 different places. I could totally do that! Here are the places I would spent my money:
- Target
- Market Basket
- Moe's (Sunday luncheon)
- A.L. Prime (gas)
- Compassion
- Online Bill Pay
That's only 6. I said "would" because I track my spending and I spent money at more than 7 places last month! That's it. I don't shop unless I'm forced and it's normally at Target. Then again, I only have to shop for me, not an entire family like Jen does. I love how even though Jen can't buy from venders off her 7 list, her friend Molly buys her things and gives them to her. Which is kinda cheating but that seems to happen a few times in this book. As Jen said, "If this is a campaign to become Top Friend, she is clearly winning." Where we spend our money clearly shows where are hearts lie. I already know where my spending goes (from my impeccable budgeting skills) and it lies mostly in bills (mortgage, phone, etc.), gas and entertainment. Not giving or charitable contributions. This needs to change. I give to Compassion every month and gave a bit to the church I attend but that amount equals how much I spend on gas or entertainment (i.e. going out to eat and adventures). That's an OR not an AND. I need to contribute more to the body of Christ not just financially but physically, mentally, spiritually too. I want to live a radical life in self-denial so that I can give more to those who don't have that luxury! Something where I am not relying on my money to keep me going but God's provision (which can come in the form of money but also in a variety of other flavors).

Month 7: Stress
Oh boy. I'm a worrier by nature. Reading this section was great! Jen has seven sacred pauses every day where she stops and takes out the Word and prays. This is definitely radical but it is great! We need to constantly readjust our view to above us from here down below. We need to rest and keep the Sabbath holy! We need to pause and give everything to him. God has been working in me over the last few years to really calm down and trust Him. I'm not perfect, I still worry but God always provides a way. The way not always what you want it to be but it is a way and an answer. In fact, I have been worrying about a new job. My current one ends the 27th of this month. I had an interview Tuesday and was offered the job and they want me to start the 23rd! So amazing. God definitely provided! Hopefully, he can give me discernment on when to spring on my new employers that I need a bunch of time off in October for Iceland and Gina's wedding. *gulp!* I can only do what I can and focus on God and He does the rest in a way that glorifies Him.

I missed so much good stuff from the book in this "thoughts" section but this is what I got from it without notes and am able to retain at almost midnight. I have work tomorrow. I should be in bed. sleeping. yet here I am. writing. I'm getting old.
I hoped you enjoyed reading the post! If not, just keep it to yourself. but still read the book. ^_^

7

2013-09-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Ashley suggested that Chrissy and I read the book that she just read called 7 and said we should do our own version of "7" together. She said that the author and her friends are just like us and now Jen Hatmaker is on her list of "Writers I Want To Be Best Friends With". No joke, it was a Facebook post. I have to say that the book made me laugh. out loud. at work. It was a little embarrassing. I should probably actually talk about the book right? 7: an experimental mutiny against excess is exactly what says the caption. I know that sentence was weird, don't judge. Hatmaker knows that living the American Dream is not living a life following Jesus. She thought that she was just getting by when a poor child walked into her home and said she was "rich". She realized that she truly a lot richer than she thought she was and that in fact there were several areas in her life that needed to downsized to make more room for God in her life. The seven areas she identified as contributing most to her materialism were food, clothes, spending, media, possession, waste and stress. For seven months, Jen, and sometimes her "council" and family, would only do seven things from only eating seven foods to seven sacred pauses a day. The blog-style journey shows how we often are too distracted by life to really live it the way God intended. Though I consider myself a minimalist and environmentally conscious, I could still see areas of my life that needed to be stripped of excess. Not only was this book of the author's hilarious mishaps and rants but of sound Biblical teaching. I would hope so, since she has already written seven books (haha 7 after seven) and she planted a church with her pastor husband. A convicting and entertaining read! ACK might end up doing our own little 7 experiment after all.

Lowell Folk Festival

2013-08-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today ACK went to the Folk Festival. It was a lot of fun this year as it was every year! We got ethnic food and listened to a bunch of different bands. Here is some delicious Greek food!

There was no art studios that we went in this year though, that made me a little sad. We did get free salads though! They told us to take a bunch and we did! But Chrissy and I lefts ours at Ashley's house. I guess that means she'll have lunch set for a while.

There were also two dachshunds that were walking around. I think they are the same two dogs I see every year and exclaim that my Mom would love to see them. She had dachshunds when she was younger. Thus, I took this picture:

I'm pretty sure I annoyed Chrissy and Ashley by stopping every two seconds to attempt a picture of these dogs. I'm sure I also annoyed this couple because I was stalking his pets. Oh well! I sent the picture to my Mom and she was happy.

Soulfest 2013

2013-08-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Soulfest is a Christian music festival that happens every year up in Gilford NH (it used to be at Loon Mountain). I have only been going since 2009. Normally I go to the festival all 4 days, staying at my grandparent's lake house. This time I went up Saturday only. I got see both David Crowder and Skillet! Skillet is awesome. They had fireworks. That's right, FIREWORKS. That's in addition to the intense light show and pyrotechnics they have. I think that I have seen the best show ever and then when I see them again, it's ever better! Best. Band. Ever. I think I like them more than Relient K. Which is crazy. Because they are the best band ever. They just came out with a new CD called "Rise". They promoted it quite a bit which got tiresome but their new music is good!

Porn? What?

2013-07-28T18:09:00.001-07:00

So when I visited my favorite Christian WebManga site, I was was excited to see an update. They seem to have updates few and far between but recently have had quite a few. There was one on my birthday! I have been checking more recently and there was an update today.

Yes, you read that correctly, it said "introduced to porn". I was...surprised. I mean Christian manga and Porn don't really mesh. When I actually saw what Mave was talking about in context, I saw that this was a good way to address an issue. In the manga Merry Gentlemen, three male adult friends end up taking care of a small boy. There is a long story behind the circumstances but the young boy Gil has come to look to this band of men as his loving and wise guardians. Gil has asked one of the men, McCoy, "what's so interesting about naked women." There is innocence behind his discovery of pornography. This is a tough issue to address. There are many men who struggle with a pornography addiction, both Christian and Unchristian. What I love about the comic is that McCoy doesn't just yell at and hit Gil for having it like Gil's teacher. McCoy lovingly embraces Gil, letting him know that he can come to him with any questions without fear of condemnation and rejection. McCoy loved Gil the way that Christ loves us. This is why I love Mave's manga so much. They can address hard issues in a Godly way. There needs to be more manga, comics and graphic novels that address spiritual issues like this. She is really talented and if she wants to do more with her drawing career, I wish her the best of luck and success!

Car Shopping

2013-07-27T17:18:00.001-07:00

There is my little sister picking out her first car.

My little sister Clarissa is going to college and she needs to be able to commute back and fourth everyday in the fall. Everyone else has a car but they all need them to be able to get to work. So my parents are getting her a first car! A much nicer car than my first one. Clarissa is into cars and enjoys researching different ones. She seems to really like Toyota and Honda. She is really against Nissan. One, because she says they are crappy cars. Two, because they kill cats. Some guy in a Nissan ran over a neighbor's cat right in front of us, stopped, looked at us and speed away. It was tragic and sealed her hate for Nissan. She has done some shopping online and gone to a couple dealerships with Mom.

Today, I went to a Honda dealership with Clarissa and Mom. Little sis had a notebook in hand with all the used cars she was looking at online with their miles and prices. We journeyed through a maze of vehicles on concrete around this building called a dealership. When we got to the pre-owned vehicles, the real search began. Missy narrowed her choices down to a few she liked and that were in the price range. She even got to test drive one! We didn't end up choosing one today since she has until September. Ba de ya say do you remember. Be de ya dancing in September.

There is still some searching to do but Clarissa was put on a list so if any other cars come in she will be one of the first to know. Overall, a fun time with the family. I'm glad I get to be there with Clarissa in this new experience. We even got fed!

Logic Puzzles

2013-07-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

I love logic puzzles! I know that is super dorky but it's the truth. I have a hard time finding puzzle books that contain more than a couple logic puzzles in it. So I decided to buy myself a regular variety puzzle book and use the insert to order myself puzzle books that were all logic problems. I have been waiting rather impatiently for my 28 magazines. They finally came yesterday! I found them on my front porch, waiting for me. I quickly brought them in and opened them up. Julia was with me at the time and though she didn't say anything, I knew she was secretly judging me.

Tada!

I was expecting all of them to be just Logic Problems but I received different types of logic books.

There were Logic Problems, Math & Logic Problems, Sudoku & Logic and Logic Problems: British Edition. Chip Chip, Cheerio! Though there were no duplicates in the order, I received duplicates of ones I already had.

*Sad Panda*

I just gave them to Dave though. All is well! I am very happy with my purchase and will be occupied for a very long time. Here is one last picture of all of the books stacked up:

:-D

Gina's Bridal Shower

2013-07-20T17:49:00.001-07:00

Today was Gina and Eric's wedding shower. I had never heard of guys at a shower but, alas, they were there. For gentlemen, there was Eric, Eric's dad, Gina's dad and the Matron's husband. I can understand M's husband because we were at his house. I thought that Eric's uncle was going to be there too because apparently Eric's dad and uncle have a "bromance" but I don't remember seeing him. I was severely dehydrated so I could have just forgotten. It was really hot and I was rarely with the fans or AC. I was sweating profusely. We also were out setting up for 2 hours even before the party. So we had ladies and gents.

As I mentioned before, Gina thought this was her bachelorette party. The only people going to that party is the bride with her bridal entourage (aka bridal party). Eric drove her blindfolded like planned but he got there too early. So he had to find some way to occupy Gina for another 30 minutes. We still needed time to get everyone and everything ready. The party was supposed to be a surprise for Gina so if there are a bunch of people chatting away and cars in the driveway, they'll give the surprise away. When everything was settled and they came back, we all gathered under the tent. In silence, we waited for Eric to walk up carrying Gina (blindfolded) in his arms. Blindfold came off and we all yelled "surprise".

She was actually surprised and happy to see her friends and family. Both she and Eric mentioned multiple times how much they enjoyed the party. We had good food, music, company and presentation. The theme was beach and we got a whole bunch of cute stuff to decorate with the tables. I won't bore you with the details. Eric got his pie so he was very happy. He loves pie. He actually wanted a matrimonial pie (aka a pie to replace the wedding cake). Gina was not going for that. I don't blame her. They got a lot of great gifts! Basically, they already got everything they asked for on their registry. I was happy that they said they really loved my gift. They really mean it too. I mean, I'm not special because they really liked all of their gifts, but I was happy that they really appreciated my gift. When I asked where they were going to put all their gifts in their apartment, they said they were going to store it at one of their parent's homes. We'll see how that goes.

Best wishes to Gina and Eric!

"Love You Like A Love Song"

2013-07-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Gina's Bridal Shower is tomorrow and I decided to give her a Marriage Survival Kit that I found on a DIY blog. But like every DIY, my present came out a bit like this:

I have included pictures though to see how "close enough" was my gift. The bag is different because the blogger went all fancy and made her own bag. I just took one from our hoard.

Though it is not as cute, I think it still looks presentable.

I didn't do the fancy ribbon and replaced Chips Ahoy Middles with Betty Crocker Fun-da-Middles. I think the later change was an improvement. First because it is a cupcake mix. Second because it will not melt in the hot weather tomorrow.

I went rather large with the Schticky (and the mat) but those were the only decent ones I could find. I didn't go all fanciful on the photo album but I included a few pictures that they don't have and aren't on Facebook yet.

I burned the CD and put it in the bag with all the other gifts. Though it doesn't look as pretty as the original "Marriage Survival Kit", I think they will like it very much!

My 25th Birthday

2013-07-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

We did not SUP this intensely

My birthday was pretty low key but that was great for me. Since my birthday this year was on a Sunday, I started the day by going to church. Chrissy paid for my coffee even though it was my week to pay. We each used to pay for our own coffees but by switching week paying for coffee makes it so much easier for us. Also, I feel pretty special paying for someone's coffee and having someone pay for me even though the cost ends up evening out.

After church, Ashley and Chrissy took me on a "surprise adventure". The adventure happened to be what I had already guessed it was: Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP). We did not end up using the Groupon we had talked about last week Instead, we went to a little place called Nashoba Paddler's in Groton, MA. If we used the Groupon, we would have probably used the money we saved on boarding in gas and not have enjoyed ourselves nearly as much. We paddleboarded on a river! Nashoba Paddler's has just started offering PaddleBoarding so there were only four boards in total. Since I was the heaviest (sad panda), I got the large board. Ashely got a medium board and Chrissy got the short board. One of the workers went over how to get up on the board and then he set us off on our boards. What he didn't realize that the three of us are very clumsy. Surprisingly, our stripes didn't show. Only Chrissy fell off her board and she had the most difficult one. Another worker told us that that the crew tried out the boards before they offered them to the public and the people that went on the short board fell off significantly more than those on the medium and large boards. Paddle boarding was a lot of fun but tiring. I had a fun birthday adventure and we completed our new thing for July!

After boarding, we had cupcakes. Unfortunately, the frosting melted in the car. As soon as we got back to Ashley's house, she had them refrosted. They were so good! The cupcakes were Red Velvet (which is a flavor I constantly get at FroYo shops) and the new frosting was vanilla with blue sprinkles. I was very happy. We then cooled off by watching some telly and discussing the Iceland trip in October. I have been hesitant because I have never been overseas and the trip would be a bit pricey (or at least for me!). I decided to go though because:
1) We will have a new, fun and exciting adventure
2) I have had a passport for 3 years and never outside the continental US
3) We can possibly see the Northern Lights
4) We can ride horses in lava fields.
- I'll be like Sherlock!

At least, like Sherlock in this picture. Actually, I'll be like me normally, pretending that the ground is full of lava and we're running away from evil llamas.
There are several downfalls to my Iceland plan though:
1) I am a temp so I will not have a steady income
2) I am a temp so I need to find a job and I don't want to turn one down because I'm going overseas
3) I have Gina's wedding in the first weekend of October
4) I am invited to Allie's wedding that is also in October.

So I guess we'll see what opportunities God opens up for me! I would love to just come across a large sum of money and not have to worry about it but that is unrealistic and not actually very healthy.

Wealth gained hastily will dwindle but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

Proverbs 13:11

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

Not only can it be negative spiritually, but it can also negative relationally. People may view you differently and expect you to give them some which can get uncomfortable and stressful. But I'm not saying I don't want it, but God gives us what we need not always what we want.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. Back to my birthday...

After cupcakes and Iceland, I went home and celebrated my birthday with my family. I opened presents and we went out to eat at Chili's. I really love my family and friends and appreciate what they did for the 25th anniversary of my birth.

Party Hardy

2013-07-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

Yes, this is a picture for Mario Party. No, I do not plan on taking it down anytime soon.

Today was an exciting day! I did two party things: I got supplies for one party and attended another.

The party planning was for Gina's surprise bridal shower (it's okay for me to post that here, she doesn't read my blog). I'm not sure it's really a surprise now anyway. At a wake that Gina went to last week, one of her relatives said, "I'll see you on the 20th!". So of course, Gina was like, "What's on the 20th?". Her mother and fiance quickly tried covering it up by saying it was the relative's birthday. Apparently that didn't work because the fiance told her later that it was her bachelorette party (which is next month and is going to be super awesome!). So Gina now knows it's something to do with her wedding but she doesn't know that it is actually her bridal shower. She also doesn't know where it is so he is going to blindfold her and carry her to the Matron of Honor's house so she doesn't know where she is until the blindfold is off. I'm the Maid of Honor. I'm not really sure how it works having both but I guess we shall see! There are 5 ladies in the bridal party but only the Matron. the Maid and the Lizard could make it. By the way, the "Lizard" is Liz's pet name, she just doesn't know it yet. We went to a bunch of party supply stores and got everything done! Well, mostly everything. Matron had to pick up a couple small things on her way home and Liz and I got something on our way home. Then Liz and I got lunch and got to know each other more. She is a really cool chick and I am glad we got to bond. Actually, I am glad all 3 of us got to bond. Matron is super cool too. And by cool, I really mean geeky, funny and easy-going. Planning the Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party has been super easy with this group; I really could not have asked for better girls. Gina did good.

The party attended was for Lorie being back on the East Coast to visit family and friends. She has already been here one out of the two weeks she plans to stay but I have yet to see her. After I got home from my super fun adventure with Matron and Lizard, I left to go to Lorie's parent's house. We ate food and sat out on her porch, catching up on what has happened since we last saw Lorie. Some milestones were Mia bought a condo, David and Yuquing are getting married, Amanda and her husband bought a house and Ester and her husband have a baby. All the people there (well, minus the husbands, baby and Lorie's family) were connected through the Christian group at our alma mater. While I was there, I got to meet the husbands and play with baby Noah. He is so cute! He was really active and kept wanting to jump on my lap. He reminded me of my niece because she is so active too. Then I was sad because whenever she visits, I am working. But I was surrounded by some great people, so I was all better.

But wait...there's more! I am going to party tomorrow as well. It's my birthday party! I will not cry if I want to though. We'll see what Chrissy and Ashley planned for us to do!