Hello folx. It may be evident that I haven't been posting as frequently as before. Well, I have been enjoying the simple things in life, I suppose.
I went shooting with some friends out in the woods the other day. It was fun. This was only the second time I've ever been shooting in my life, and the first and hopefully only time I did so without any sort of ear protection. It was quite a rush, I must say.
I have new neighbors, and they are very pleasant people so far.
I am now officially a math tutor. This will be fun.
Our little puppy Hades is now at his maximum size, and has been much more well behaved. Well, he still has a bit of a Napolean complex, which almost got him killed recently, but I digress.
The new Pokémon games look gorgeous, and obviously I'll be shilling for them and choosing the little pomeranian. I used to have a pomeranian named Jasper that looked just like him. Jasper's father and nephew were both killed by the neighbor's blue healer. It was probably my first experience with death, aside from watching a cat eat a rat. The first human in my life who died was my grandma. Honestly, it did not sadden me, because she was clearly suffering and she seemed to be ready to go for several years. She was a devout Jehova's witness, and I have memories of watching Family Feud with her and listening to her Sunday church sessions over the answering machine. We had one of those phones where you could pick it up and listen to the other line, and she always listened to the Kingdom Hall sessions over the landline because she didn't have a car.
I am still coping with a recent death which did hit me harder, because this one felt far too soon. One of my ohāna, Noelle Hite, a beloved DJ and aunt-figure, recently passed, right before her sixtieth birthday. I hope she rests in a better place. We had a celebration of life for her, and my tio José served free tacos. It was a great time, but the whole time I felt a lingering sense of guilt for enjoying an event brought about solely by the death of someone I cared so much about.
I don't remember all the stages of grief, but moving beyond denial was painful. All of this is to say, rest-in-peace Noelle, you will be loved forever.
Coincidentally, shortly after she passed, my mom and I both separately dreamt that she was a ghost who was visiting us from Heaven, on or near the same night. Call me superstitious, but hey, I say she lives on, somehow some way.
I signed up for college housing... and I have to fill out an affidavit because they have me erroneously listed as an out-of-state resident, which entails a 4x premium on tuition. Yikes, let's hope I can get that one resolved.
Overall, this year has been very good to me so far; the news is distressing, but luckily I am privileged enough to be on this side of the television screen. Still, I pray for Iran. They have had more protesters murdered than the Tienenman massacre. I was super ignorant, and my whole life I thought just that one guy got ran over by a tank. Turns out, casualties on the order of thousands occured on that day, at the hands of the Chinese government. Apparently, even the date of the incident is a banned shibolleth in China. Maybe you missed the news, but Jimmy Lai is basically in prison now for speaking up about this.
Last thing I want to say, is that I have long had a fantasy of making a Pokémon fangame. I've played around with Pokémon Essentials over the years, but never commited to it. I think I'm at peace with the fact that it's just not my forte. [1] There are enough incredible ROM hacks and fan games out there that I'd never make a mark, and I could probably fill a lifetime just playing those.
Anyways, that's enough for the day. Thanks for tuning in to today's rambling session; I appreciate that.
Endnotes
[1] Apparently, the word "forte" (as in strength) is supposed to be pronounced "fort." It's only meant to be said with an é at the end if it's in the musical sense. Also, my whole life I was taught that the second r in "February" was supposed to be silent. Turns out, I was duped. Kind of. The dictionary I have on my desk says to enunciate both r's.
Links
This tune caught my ear: Salvatore Fortunato - Alegrias