Turning 24

This space has been quiet, I know. I feel like I say that every time I post. I never have much to say to be honest. I've fallen a bit out of love with blogging. It's something I want to bring myself back to though, I just need to sort out what's important and what I want to write about regularly.

Today though I do know what I want to talk about. My birthday was yesterday and I am now 24 years old. The last year or so has been rough -the roughest it's been in awhile. My life has gone through a lot of changes and I'm still not where I want to be. There's still so much I need to do. I feel like I'm always chasing after this "adult" ideal and I never get there. A lot of it is my own fault, I know that. I need to step up my game.

I'm hoping to snowball those changes in the coming months though. Unfortunately my best friend has lost another roommate. She was given only a week's notice about it and now has no idea how she's going to make ends meet. I want to move in and help her out of course, but there's a lot I need to do before I can do that. I need to get my id renewed as it expired this year, which is proving to be a pain in the ass as I can't seems to find the time to wait at the RMV for hours. I wanted to do it online but I don't qualify to do so. I need the id so that I can apply for work out there so I could actually, you know, help pay the pills. Plus I need to renew my debit card, but to do that I need to get my bank account out of the negative numbers. Which is difficult without a regular income. I'm also finishing up school and am actually breaking from writing a paper to type out this post. And my grandmother gave me a driver's manual so I'll probably be getting my permit soon. I have no idea who's actually going to teach me to drive. I can't afford a car anyways. Plus school loans, medical bills, and a myriad of other stuff that just piles up. It's exhausting.

But, on a much brighter side, my birthday was yesterday! Sue came over to spend a few days with me and got me so many presents I was pretty overwhelmed -clothes, new pens, rainbow moonstone, a card filled with nice words, sunglasses, and a Teen Wolf Beacon Hills lacrosse hoodie. We went swimming, lounged in the sun, and went for food and ice cream.

Oh, and the best of all her gifts -A MEET AND GREET SESSION WITH TYLER HOECHLIN DURING HOWLERCON THIS NOVEMBER. He was announced as a guest yesterday (happy birthday to me!) and she bought me the meet and greet the second it was listed in the shop. I am so excited! Have I mentioned that my best friend is absolutely incredible? Because she is.

I'm still hoping to scrounge up some extra cash for a photo op & autograph as well, but I've got time for that. We sorted out our train tickets as well (many thanks to my grandmother for helping us figure out the scheduling and paying for them) and are planning to launch the online Teen Wolf Punk shop we've been scheming by August 1st. That shop will also be making it's way to the convention as Sue purchased a vendor slot -it's her brain child really. It'll be pretty awesome.

There's a lot going on here and at the same time not much at all. It's a strange sensation. I'm ever-picking away at my novel and trying to shape it into something decent as well as doing homework, cleaning house, trying to work out more, job hunting, and reading a lot.

Moving forward, slowly but surely. I hope.

x

(As always, for more frequent updates you should follow my twitter, instagram, or tumblr if you can stomach all my Teen Wolf fangirling.)

Good Things I'm Looking Forward To...

Real talk: not a lot of good shit happens in my life. I mean, good things do happen, but not as much as I would like. That's just the way things are I suppose. I make the best of it.

HOWEVER! There are some pretty awesome things that I am looking forward to and I want to share them all because it makes me feel better and also because I wanted to update this blog but had no idea what to talk about.

• A good friend of mine is coming up to visit in a few days and I'm looking forward to seeing his face again. (He lives in Florida now.)
• Warped Tour! This Sunday! So excited! I'm going with Sue, her brother (said visiting friend), and will be meeting a friend of mine that I met via tumblr and who is an absolute sweetheart.
• My birthday! I mean i'm not really doing anything for it, but it's my birthday so maybe there will be cake. I'll make myself cake if I have to, I don't even care. (it's July 22nd, I'm turning 24)
• I will be graduating in August! My last class ends August 7th and I will be getting my degree via mail after that. I'm so excited to get it over with!
• My uncle and his long term girlfriend are coming up in August as well. They only come up once a year an I love seeing them. My uncle is one of my favourite family members and I love him to pieces.
• We're also supposed to be finding out the sex of my sister's baby sometime in the next month.
• And of course, in the distance (November) Sue and I are going to Howlercon! We have our tickets and rooms booked, we just need train tickets and to save up money for photo ops and meet and greets.

There, some excellent things going on in my future. Hopefully I can add to this list: Manda actually finds a fucking job, Manda finally gets her stupid permit, Manda finishes her manuscript already, Manda is given free coffee. You know, important stuff.

x

Wednesday Words

Guess who's doing Camp Nano again this month? It's me! And hopefully I can do better this time than I did in March. I am working on the same novel I was for NanoWriMo last November. It needs a lot of work and I have made some setting and plot changes, as well as switched the POV again. My goal for the end of July is 30k, but we'll see how it goes. I also am taking another class this month so I don't know how much that will interfere as it will be a reading and writing heavy course.

Anyways, here's some of my writing from the past week or so.

from The Necromancer's Daughter (original novel/campnano project)...

Somewhere in the dark, between one world and the next, a demon dreams but does not sleep. Behind closed eyelids he plays a stream of nightmares, a collection of fear and sickly sweet despair. He opens his jaws with sharp teeth and bites into the terror and swallows it down. It sits in his stomach like a warm meal, fueling him for what is to come. 

There is a woman he looks for. He knows her dark hair and keen eyes as he knows his own. And he knows what her power tastes like. She is blood and death and rage, and she has taken what does not belong to her. She has broken a contract and now she is to belong to him. 

But she hides somewhere, in a different darkness than his own. She is clever that one, his future pet, but she is human at her core. And humans can only hide for so long.

from a Teen Wolf fanfic (wip)...

“Nice vest,” Lydia said, taking in the studded and patched denim she wore over her t-shirt. She’d done it herself, the studs pried carefully from an old belt and the patches made by a friend of hers back in New York. 

“Nice boots,” she replied, not knowing if Lydia had actually complimented her or was making a jab at her fashion choice. The fact that Cora wasn’t sure which category her response fell into either was something she was going to ignore.   

Lydia smirked, a small tilt of lips, as if to let Cora know she wasn’t affected and could play the game just as well as she could. It was a rare person who didn’t back down from her; it was almost admirable. Almost.

x