HUGE update!!!!

Hi guys, Mariah here. Sorry I haven't written in a while. Things have been nuts on my end. My summer took the craziest turn and it turns out that I'm here in woodland park working at a summer camp. I'm doing mostly dishes and that stuff, but it's plenty easy and it never fails to tire me out. On top of climbing a long staircase in order to get to work and back is helping some as well. Plans have changed for me I the aspect of comic con not working out but I found another one that's happening in October so I'll try shooting for that one. It's been a mixture of scary, nerve wracking and the feeling that I'm among complete strangers here. It's something different. Which is what I like. In a way, to be completely geeky about it, this is sorta like my own TARDUS adventure: you never know where you're going to end up once you step inside, the merry chases you'll be making and the friendships you'll be making. I guess it's my first official adventure away from what I consider normal, which is fantastic. Feeling really tired, will write again soon.

Saturday

So for the past month or so, I've been doing something new: Tennis. It's been fun, I've been able to learn some things about team work, and the dynamic of it all has been something different, which is good, cause everyone needs a little difference in their life. What's been difficult about this new different challenge, are the matches. Never thought I would be good enough to really be able to play in a match, but I was able to play a few. All of which I lost. Wasn't fun. Yesterday was the last official tennis matches for the Junior Varsity, which was an all-day tournament. All in all, the Junior Varsity had a pretty good winning streak, so when I walked onto the court, I was pretty sure our match was going to end in victory. It didn't. First match was close, with the final score being 6-8, and I was okay with it. But second match it nothing short of slaughter.  Our opponent's coach had the rule that every time the ball bounced on the white line, it counted as a point. Second match's final score was 2-8. My partner and I were pretty down in the dumps afterwards. I was upset cause for me the whole season has been nothing but losses for me. But as the story goes, your first year doing sports like tennis aren't exactly going to go well. This was also my first year of really getting to understand the pain of losing. Losing in family games is okay, cause there's just something about it that makes the feeling of losing easy. It still doesn't feel good, but it's a little less sharp in that case.


 Losing in team sports, however, is an entirely different concept. This side of it is much sharper, much more painful, much more everything. I just don't know how to describe it. Losing in a team sport is like tripping into a mud puddle, only when you're trying to get up, someone just keeps shoving you in. I never understood why my brother was so upset coming home from basketball games after another loss, but I think I can understand where he came from a little better. The question remains, though: Will I be taking up the racquet again any time soon?? answer: I have no idea. After you end up losing so many times the first time you do a team sport, You find it hard to want to do it again. That's been the same problem with me. I want to do it again, but I just wonder: Will I lose again? Will it be as bad as the last season?Why do I want to do it again after taking so many losses? the best advice out there, though, is that if you want to get better at something, keep doing it. For those of you who might be rooting for me, I am thinking about doing it again, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Tuesday

Everybody moves someplace or another. Speaking for myself, I have definitely had the experience. Going from there and back again, only our moving hasn't been as epic as Bilbo's journey had been. It involves, cleaning, packing everything up, clearing everything out, vacating. I've been all over the place when it comes to moving. It was a bit different, though, because I was doing it with my family. There was always someone to help, a lot of able hands, someone to help you continue even when you were dog tired. But now, I'm not the one who's moving. And for some reason, it's becoming difficult to get used to the idea of a family member who had been a huge part of your life to pack up and move on. I don't want them to go, but circumstances are such that things must happen this way. Visiting is definitely a possibility, but I'm going to miss them. I'm going to make a weird analogy here. Siblings are like the Doctor's companions: in the end, they either leave because they have to, or sometimes it just happens unexpectedly. And it's up to us to be the ones to get used to the absence. It's not like they were super close in the first place, but they visited when they could which was fun. I'll just miss them a whole whole lot. But things can never stay the same. Change is always in the wind whether you want it to be or not. And change is something I'm used to, but I'm not used to this kind of change, which I will need to. But some of the best quotes are from Doctor Who, so I'll just end this post like this.

February

Ugh, would you look at that, guys, I've forgotten to post. I guess it's cause I've been paying a little more attention to my other blog (which I have dubbed "My geek blog".) But I guess I could give you guys an update. What's been going on for me is that I've been looking for work, been making a lot of stuff, a lot of school, that sort of thing. My sister and her husband are getting ready for a move, although I am still struggling with letting them leave. I'm learning guitar, and already know the first few chords of Space Oddity, by David Bowie. I have realized that guitar costs you: the ability to feel your fingers, massive blisters, and the like. But it's still been pretty fun to learn. I'm hoping to know enough so that I can get an electric guitar and play around with that. Been dealing with bad colds and stuff that's been going around, which has been fun, my siblings just returned from mexico which was a bit of a culture shock for them. I've been planning for comic con, which is only 4 months away, although I'm not counting down or anything.

 What else? the upstairs part where all five of us biologicals live has been remodeled a bit so that everyone has their own space. I wasn't all that happy about it at first, but it sort of grew on me. Been working on my adventure novel that I'm supposed to write in a year, and I'm actually getting some pretty good ideas, so no writer's block (as of yet.) Oh, yeah, I started Daredevil recently, which is pretty epic, besides Doctor Who. It's something to keep me distracted while I wait for season ten of that. There's also Sherlock season 4, though that's probably not scheduled to come out until next year, but I'll survive. Surprisingly, My brother likes Daredevil too, so we end up watching it together on Netflix sometimes. I have some goals for this year, like travel, get a job and a phone which is definitely a need cause I am kind of tired of using my ipod for contact all the time. Oh, and I'm starting tennis. It's always a good idea to think about going out for sports, which will be a welcome change for me. Been reading a lot, and I ended up reading The Fault In Our Stars for the third time. What can I say, it's a good book.Can't really think of anything else, so I'll just sign off here.

Happy Friday!!!!

Saturday

As the year of 2016 rolls in, it brings many new things: new movies, new trends, new fashions, but it's also brought a few heartbreakers. Just yesterday I heard about Alan Rickman's passing, and was deeply saddened. We've lost so many shining lights these past couple of years: Rickman, Bowie, Christopher Lee, I mean, it's just been a lot of mourning for those who've known the who've graced the silver screen with their presence, as well as those who have used their talents to make music and other such genius pieces. As a bit of a 'In Memoriam' kind of thing, I thought this clip from the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special seemed appropriate. It seems right in a way, cause it does tell a truth: We're all on different paths in the journey of our lives, but we're all going the same place: Home.

January

So, it's 2016, people. New year, new goals.....new trends, new fashions new technologies, just new everything. One thing that I've been thinking about a whole lot is the fact that my 18th birthday's in a few months. August seems very far away, I know, but 18. It's a lot to think about. 18 basically means "It's time to do adult stuff, get a car, rent an apartment, and do something with your life!" When I was younger it was something I used to dream about, but now that it's so close, it's something I think about with nail-biting anxiety, almost. Sure, 2016 means new stuff, but for me, all I can think about is me turning a new age, and frankly I'm a trifle terrified of the notion. Of course everyone says "Congrats! you've made it! You're an adult now!" But 18 means I have to start flying even though my wings have been underused. It's not like it's an exact push out of the nest, I still have a lot to do before I get to that stage, and who knows, maybe it might be fun being my own person (and I have to admit that it does give me a thrill when I think about being able to buy my own groceries one day). But, it's still a few months away yet and I have a whole lot of stuff to do before that. And for those of you who were slightly missing posts from this blog, sorry if I've kept you waiting. I've been really enjoying working on my other blog and have been quite frankly lacking imagination for posts on this one. Happy 2016, and thanks for staying with me for so long!!!!!

Monday

Please don't be offended by what I'm about to say. Since the attacks in Paris on innocent civilians happened on Saturday, when many lives were claimed by the hostility and brutality of the attacks, there were those of you who thought maybe it would be a good idea to keep the Muslims out of our country. If we did, we wouldn't just be turning away possible terrorists, we would be turning away the women and the children. We'd be taking away their chance of redemption. Did you know that a large number of Muslims, jihadists, and others have been visited by Jesus in the night and have been converted because of that? Did you know that Muslims can get second chances, too?? We can say "poo, poo" like Madeline does to the tiger in the zoo to the Muslim radical it's who have harmed innocent people in Paris, but what about the people being harmed here? What about the possible people we are taking away the chance of life from in abortions? Why is it that we care so much about the people of Paris? They can definitely hold their own. 

Of course we should stand with them while they grieve the many losses of loved ones, but what about the people who are hurt and killed here, and they don't even have a voice. When we have abortions, the baby has no voice, isn't able to say, " I am here, I am here, I am here!" The baby has no voice to tell us anything! So why stand with a nation who can defend itself, when we can't seem to understand who really needs our help: the ones who can't defend themselves, who don't have a voice, who has no power to retaliate. 

And it's not just the babies who need our help, too. Foster children in the system with an abusive past who just need someone to love them for who they are. They have no say in what happens to them. And there's the millions of children in the sex slave trade. They have no voice on what happens to them. They have no right to tell their parents about what they think. Why are we so focused on Paris when we're not focused on what matters right here in America? Please forgive me if I'm coming across as rude, but I feel like we need to look at ourselves before we talk about kicking anybody out of America. At least that's where I am on the issue. 

Happy Monday, everyone!!