In Which I Avoid Being Negative and Instead Talk About Imaginary People.

I was going to write a post about my various medical problems because suddenly I have multiple of them. But I figured it would be better to pretend they didn't exist. At least on here. Hard to pretend they don't exist outside this blog, seeing as I can barely walk. Maybe I'll tell you about it another day, but I've already been to the hospital today and I don't feel like going into details. 
(Its not as bad as I'm making it sound.  I'm not really in a bad mood, really. I tend to stay away from blogging when I'm down because when I'm in a mood I will literally scream at anything that moves.) 

So, instead, lets sit down with some tea in my office and talk about writing. 
I've decided I have a writing office. I created it in my mind a while ago with Leslie; Floor-to-ceiling windows, a kitchen to make tea and various British and Parisian pastries (with the occasional American comfort food if I happen to have been reading a heart wrenching, sad book and break down), a couch for brainstorming on, a fireplace, tall bookshelves with a ladder that glide across the shelves on wheels, multiple laptops for writing, and papers strewn all over the place with my plot bunnies. 
I would literally live there. I would never leave. 

But okay, now that we're comfortable in my fantasy office, I want to share with you a few paragraphs of a story I started a long time ago. I just found it today. I don't want to share the whole thing because I'm a little self-conscious about it and it's kind of confusing, but I found a couple snippets that I really like, so here we go: 

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I stood in front of a large door with the name Mr.McCoy stenciled in gold. In my school, that name held power. Bella June, I thought. What does that name hold? The negative side of me thought, nothing. That name holds nothing. 
I didn't want to hear what the positive side of me thought. I was afraid it would agree. 
And I, Bella June, the girl whose name means nothing, stepped into the office of the man whose name, in my school, means everything. 

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So yeah, this Bella June character is a pretty depressed person. I'd forgotten about her over  the past year or so, or whenever I wrote this story. Here's another snippet: 

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I sat down in the large chair, feeling very small. Mr. McCoy smiled at me. But his smile was empty. I was just another trouble maker he was paid to talk to. 

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I was going through old notebooks and found this: 

Lucy is one of my characters from a while ago. I've never actually gotten around to writing her story, but she's fun to draw. 

I also found a backstory I wrote for one of my villains. And a whole conversation I wrote down once when I was at a restaurant and doing some "people-watching". (It's not spying, it's research!) 

I've been working a lot on Miette's story. I'm not exactly getting 5K a week like I said I would, but I'm definitely getting there. If I keep this up, I'll be at 30K by the time school starts, which is what I'm aiming for. 
Okay, gonna sign off now. 
--Abby

Convection Oven Weather and Drivers Education.

I think California's weather is drunk or something because this is so weird!! For the past couple days it's been hot (uncomfortably hot), muggy, moist, humid (I'm repeating myself with different words I think), and rainy. 

Cough I hate you, weather cough 

But seriously, the only other place that might have weather like this that I know of would be... Hawaii. My friend goes to Hawaii often and she and her family have told me about the weather there, and it sounds rather like this; hot, humid, rainy. I mean, I might be wrong, but you know... I've never been to Hawaii so... 


Last night there was some thunder as I was falling asleep, which would've been awesome if it hadn't been so hot. And humid. Have I mentioned humid? It's supposed to rain more today. Mary Rose keeps asking, whenever it rains, if the droughts gonna be over now. Then Blaze comes in and insists on being all smart and knowledge-y and says that we would have to have seven days in a row of straight downpour to end it. Which I wouldn't mind, honestly. 

So, I'm hoping for rain and cooler weather because I'm boiling. Trying to sleep at night with this weather is the worst. It feels like the convection oven of hell. 

On a totally unrelated topic, I've started studying for my drivers permit! A couple things I learned: 

• To get my permit I have to take an exam (cue me dying a little inside)(you guys know me well enough by now to know I HATE EXAMS) 
• To get my license, I have to do fifty hours of driving practice, TEN of which have to be done at night. (cue me dying painfully inside) 

I knew I had to do driving practice once I get my permit, but fifty hours??? Thats like four days worth of driving! 
Blaze is already betting how long it'll be before I crash. Thanks for the support, bro. When you're getting ready to be behind the wheel, we shall remember these moments. 
--Abby

A Post With a List of Moi's Fears.

Ronnie: Eww, is that steak?? 
Dad: Yeah. 
Ronnie: I love steak. 

... 

M'kay, Ronnie. 

Rosie has moved out of my room!!!! My room is a mess now, but I'm working on it. I might still ask her to come sleep with me every once in a while whenever I make the mistake of watching Doctor Who episodes that involve kids with gas masks or angel statues at night. Cuz I'm a wimp. Speaking of which: 

I was talking with a friend of mine today who also loves Doctor Who, and we were trying to think up a list of all the things we're scared of thanks to the show. I found this list when I got home. 
I recently watched the episode with the kids in the gas masks. And I've been warned about the weeping angel statues. 
Why is it that a show that is so good and so addictive has to be so freaky?? 
Positive things about Doctor Who are... 
Well, how much time do you have? 
It's AWESOME (despite being freaky). It's AWESOME. Seriously, I will love anything that involves British accents. 

"I like bananas. Bananas are good." 

Okay, but enough of that. 
It's RAINING! 
There was THUNDER!
And legit bolts of LIGHTNING! 
My day has been made. 
It really doesn't take much to get me excited. 

I'm gonna go have some of that steak now. 
--Me

Inside Out Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches.

The title's a mouthful. 

Me again! My last post was a bit... deep. I considered apologizing, but then I realized that this is my blog, after all, so I can pretty much go as deep as I please without feeling guilty. So ha. Y'all have to live with it. 

This afternoon I made cookies, and as you can tell from the title, they're pretty fancy. They're inside out because the peanut butter and chocolate chips are on the outside. I saw the recipe on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a shot. Here's the recipe. 

Fresh out of the oven.(They're huge!!)

Finished!

Have you ever made peanut butter frosting? And then tasted it? And then frosted cookies with it? 

Um. 

YUM. 

I feel slightly sick from all that sugar and so I'm gonna try and find some real food now. But then I'll eat these. Between me and my sisters, they'll be gone so fast. Hasta la vista, cookie sandwich things!! 

--Abby

Aerial.

So yesterday I went back to aerial for the first time in like two months. I had no idea what to expect and I was nervous. My usual coach goes pretty hard on me, which is nice, usually. But I had done next to no stretching these past two months and so I wasn't really looking forward to working until I felt my muscles shaking. 
I got there, still nervous. Found out that I had a sub that day, which gave me a little relief. Subs usually don't go as hard on me as my usual coach does. 
Warm-up was on the tumble-track (a long trampoline) instead of running around the air studio seven times, which I appreciated. 
The first thing we did in the air was climbing the silks, and I thought I would die, but as soon as my feet came off the ground, and I felt that familiar feeling of my hands and ankles against the silks, I realized how much I missed dance. I realized how much dance defines me. 
Aerial is something the body has to get used to. We spend our lives on the ground, walking, running, etc. So many people have high fears because it's not really something the body is used to. We generally want to know that we're safe, and most of the time, when we're on the ground, we have a sense of safety. (There are exceptions, like maybe you're on the ground but you're running for your life from a crazy dude with a gun, but I won't go into that.) 

The point is: 

Aerial takes getting used to because suddenly, there is no floor. Suddenly, your only safety is this fabric and your strength. Suddenly, this silk is wrapped around you, holding you fifteen feet in the air, wrapped in awkward places, forcing you to move in ways you didn't think were possible. Suddenly, you have to stretch muscles you didn't realize you had, get used to feeling those muscles shaking with exhaustion, and learn to love that feeling. We're not used to being in this situation at first. It can be uncomfortable, it can be weird, it can be painful. Sometimes, it can feel limiting, like there aren't a lot of ways you can move, there's only one way to untangle yourself and you've forgotten it. I don't know about you, but sometimes, when I'm up there, it doesn't feel good to be so limited, to have so few options. I'm used to moving around, clumsily, maybe, but moving. 

But at the same time, I've never felt so free, so alive, so beautiful. We were generally made for the ground, yes, but if you have the opportunity to defy that, to defeat gravity, take it. (Unless it's leaping off a high cliff, in which case, don't take it.) Aerial is something that hardly anyone knows about, and that's a shame, because it's really so amazing. It's painful--it's oh so painful-- and I've had people ask why. Because theres suddenly a fabric squeezing your thigh so tight you might black out, or because you're balancing on the lyra making every vertebrae in your back feel like they're being welded together. Aerial is painful. There are bruises to prove it. But it's beautiful. 

(The last few paragraphs might evolve into a poem at some point. Heads up.) 

So I'm sore. I woke up and couldn't touch my toes without groaning. Actually, I couldn't touch my toes at all. 
But it's worth it. It always is. 
--Me 

Paddle Boarding.

One of my goals for this summer was paddle boarding. 

CHECK!

Blaze, Penguin, my dad, and I were home today while my mom and the little girls were out and we decided to go do something because tomorrow the boys leave for summer camp. After we ruled out bowling, rollerskating, and golf (*shudder, shudder, and shudder*), someone suggested paddle boarding. 

It was such a great day for it, the clouds were beautiful, it was hot, and the harbor wasn't too insanely crowded. We rented three paddle boards for me, Blaze, and my dad. Penguin didn't want to paddle board, so he got a kayak, although there was some switching around while we were out on the water. 

The water was so beautiful. We went around the harbor, through the maze of boats and it was so...(dare I say it)... perfect. 

At first there was no wind, which made it a lot easier, but it got a little breezy after a few minutes. That made it practically impossible to stop paddling for more than seven seconds because the water would pull you towards the docks. Some of us did crash, but no one flipped over. Blaze dropped his paddle at one point and I ran into the pier [like a boss]. 

I love California. I love where I live. Every time I go to the beach, or I'm on the water like this, or anything, I'm reminded of that. 
But that doesn't mean I don't want to travel. I mean, I've said this before, Paris. Italy. Hawaii. [insert cliche tourist destination] 

It was amazing, and I hope to do it again sometime soon. 

And before I sign off, I said this in my last post, but I'd like to be able to fangirl at a little more length now. 
Prepare yourself. 

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*switching to fangirl mode*
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OMIGOSH DOCTOR WHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I'm only on the first season, and yes, okay, the episode about the unquiet dead or whatever was freaky, but I mean ITS DOCTOR WHO!! Rose is awesome. I love Rose. And Micky the Idiot. And the Doctor. And Rose's mom. And SCREW IT I LOVE THEM ALL. 

Okay, I'm done.
--Abby

Blogging while babysitting siblings. I'm such a good sister.

Yesterday I was talking to my grandma and she was telling me about how they found a dead bird in their backyard and it had been half-eaten by other birds or something (birds are cannibals now. I think the end of the world is upon us). Anyways, Blaze walked into the room, listened to my grandma describe the half-eaten bird to me in full detail, saw that I was about to throw up in my own mouth, and as she was saying, "And THEN--" he asked her a question about the TV. As she walked away to help him, he turned around and mouthed, You're welcome. 
Aren't brothers so wonderful sometimes? Especially if you have a weak stomach (like me). I love my grandma, but I could do without the gruesome, cannibal bird stories... 

I've been progressing pretty well on my story. I'm hoping to get to 19K by Sunday. Totally doable. Totally. :/

So, didn't get to aerial on Wednesday, but I'm starting up next week. I've been stretching too, and it feels so good, and also IT HURTS. OH THE PAIN. But it feels good to be doing something so I wont completely die on Wednesday. Not completely dying would be good. 

Summer is pretty much half-way over and I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT THAT! I was supposed to start studying for my learner's permit this summer, but I've only done one lesson and that was a while ago. I want to get my license when I'm sixteen and I can get my permit now, if I actually started studying... Ugh. Behind on everything. Story of my life. 
Also, I've only been to the beach once this summer. Hmmm... Somethings wrong here.... 

OH and I've started watching Doctor Who. 
Ahem. 
*struggles to contain excitement* 
*fails to contain excitement*
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's AWESOME. 

Okay, Blaze is starting to talk in German (which he doesn't even know...) and Ronnie is screaming what I think are battle calls. I'm winning the "Best Babysitter Ever" award. 
--Abby 

A Rather Sarcastic and Scrambled Post.

So if my memory is correct (which it hardly every is), I ended my last post saying how behind on life I am and how tired I am and blah blah you get the picture please tell me you get the picture so I can go on and btw I am strangely against punctuation right now 

0.o 

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.
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Okay I found my brain. 

So. 

Yes, still behind on life. I'm not even at 15K words in my story yet, though I'm getting close. I think I'm only 600 words away from it or something. 

In piano, I'm trying to perfect a song by Bach, even though I'm not taking lessons anymore. Might go back in the fall. More on that later (maybe. I don't tend to talk about piano much). 

Aerial. I'm allegedly starting back up on Wednesday and I'm sorta scared because I'm not at all in shape anymore. I'm gonna climb half-way up, whimper, scream "OH THE PAIN", and slide down in a less-than-graceful manner. 
Part of my warm-up is running around the air studio seven times. It's hard even when I'm in classes and in shape((ish)). So after two months of pretty much no running, I might die. 
I'm not a fan of running and it might come back to haunt me. 

...

Lilian declared a minute ago that she's going to sell Ronnie tomorrow. 
0__0
...

This post is so scrambled, I'm sorry. Sorry-not-sorry. Cuz I'm not really that sorry. The whole point of this was to tell y'alls that I'm probably not going to post much for a bit. Too behind on pretty much everything (and it's not even the school year! Gosh, I might need to question my life choices). 

(Today I did over 1K words on Miette's story and she was pretty sarcastic today and now my brain is kinda sorta fried from all that sarcasm. How I feel right about now: .-. ) 

--Me

Weekend in NorCal.

So I'm home! 

It was a ton of fun. There was twelve of us kids, ages ranging from sixteen to two. Sometimes I wish there were more kids in my family because the whole weekend was fun, loud, and awesome. 

My favorite day was Sunday. Maddie and I were walking down to a froyo shop when our parents pulled up and told us they were going out for a few hours and told us to go buy dinner for all the kids. 
Have you even walked into Taco Bell and ordered twenty burritos? You should've seen the employee's face. Walking home with all of it was equally awkward and hilarious. 

That night, we watched a show called Brain Games. We watched the episode about detecting lies. They did this exercise where you ask someone a question and say that they have to say no, no matter what, in order to see what they look like when they lie. So afterwards, Penguin came up to me, Maddie, Blaze, my cousin Max, and my cousin Phil, and said, "Okay, you have to say no. When was the last time you went outside?" We all cracked up and yelled, "NO!" We made okes about it for like ten minutes. 

Later that night, the adults were talking in the living room, Max and Blaze were playing video games, and the rest of the kids were sleeping in a tent outside. Maddie and I played a couple pranks on the kids outside, then came back inside and went into the kitchen. 
Lets make pancakes. 
'Kay. 
So, at ten-fifteen pm, Maddie and I made pancakes and ate them while watching Roman Holiday in the kitchen. Blaze and Max were in the same room and didn't notice! 

Speaking of Roman Holiday, Maddie and I love Audrey Hepburn and watched three of her movies; How to Steal a Million, Roman Holiday, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. All three were good, except for the ending of Roman Holiday. So many questions were left unanswered! My favorite was How to Steal a Million. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's

When we were walking down to the frozen yogurt place one day, we saw this across the road: 

It was so sad and also so cool! I've never been so close to a deer before, even if it was dead and rotting... 

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. It was loud and crazy and awesome. 

Yesterday I went to the beach for the first time this summer!! It was really awesome. The water was perfect and I went with friends which makes it that much more amazing. Then today, the same friends and I went to see Jurassic World. It was... Well, it was a movie about people getting eaten by dinosaurs. Not much more I can say... Except that it was intense!! And one of my friends screamed. Not my favorite movie ever, but it was good. 

Alright, I'm super tired and I'm just so behind on life I don't even know where to start. So if I don't post for a bit, don't worry, I didn't ditch you, my (four) readers. Just tired and kinda out of it. And really hungry. I might go eat a dino. 
(*whimpers* sooo tired..) 
--Abby