July 1st, 2024

Woops! This is the first time I've ever missed a month D: I've just been really busy! Since the 14th, I've been on my trip to the East coast with my best friend! I've had a really good time so far social-wise! I know its normal to be tired on vacation, but I've been bummed on how little energy I've had for hobbies like updating my website, languages, etc :( I've drawn a bit, and actually completed my first art fight attack today, but obviously not as much as usual. I just usually am such a hobby-driven person, I spend all day bouncing between coding and making music and drawing and writing, that the fact I've done nearly nothing has driven me a bit insane. especiallyyyy the fact ive had no energy to study either of my languages >_< I know when I get back I'll have to do a thorough review to get my skills back to where they were after a month of nonuse. My Norwegian is probably fine, but I've only been studying Swahili for 3 months so its not as cemented in my mind.

I've gone a ton of places already :D The day I arrived, I vended last minute at a furry convention. I got there straight from the airport after being awake for over 24 hours, with no set up, and made my prices on the spot. The day afterward, me Mae and Cece headed to the outerbanks. Mae's family has a beach house there - it was the cheapest one on the block, but still was insanely expensive (and nice). We stayed there for 4 days before heading back to DC.

A lot has happened. We've driven all over, met up with another one of our discord friends, gone to a handful of people's houses, went to pride (while fursuiting! In 100 degrees!), spray painted in tunnels under the highway, picked up spiders, swam, stayed up way too late on Mae's boyfriends kitchen floor just talking, ate at crazy expensive restaurants, gone to multiple concerts - the whole lot of it. I've had a lot of fun, and I only have 10 days left :( I thought I was excited to go home, but I'm really not. My family is extremely poor, and I'll miss getting every meal like I have here. My best irl friend is going on his own trip to Denmark 2 weeks after I get back, so I'll be alone again in my home town.

These vacations are really bittersweet once I return home, really. It shows me that I can have friends, and people who love to spend time with me, but its all gone once I get back to my stupid middle of nowhere conservative town. It shows me that local art scenes can be incredible, and that being apart of a scene is rewarding. Now that I'm about to be 18, I'd love to organize events myself. Or get more involved. My irl best friend Cotton found a punk basement show, maybe I can check that out and finally get involved in whatever is going on over here. We have a basement now too, I'd love to host little parties or music events. Anyways, I just really really need to build these positive systems at home too. I don't think sometimes my friends understand how fucking lucky they are to live in an area with a bustling indie scene and are born with money.

Today, me and Mae went to 2 book stores. I was on the hunt for books in Norwegian & Swahili. I naively thought that Swahili, being the language with 300 speakers (as opposed to Norwegian, which has 5 million) would be easier to find books in. Well, no, eurocentrism wins again!!! We actually only found one book in ANY african language (somali) like what!! I found 4 books in Norwegian, which I am excited to read. One is about patterns used on clothes/furniture/tableware, one is about the impact of the atomic bomb, one is a collection of childrens stories, and the last is a sex education book. I got my first book in Norwegian (Naiv Super) a few weeks ago, and I'm still working through it, but its exciting to have more. I did also get ahold of a Swahili dictionary - I don't have one yet, so thats a win. I also got some fact books on reptiles, snakes, and trains. I Also found a huge box of sputnik, a soviet-run magazine, and ot 4 of them. I'm very excited to read through them and see what type of information they were allowed to share in there :p