I hope everyone is doing well and having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! It's hard to believe the school year is already over; it feels like we just started it. The kiddos were excited yet saddened because they would miss me and the rest of their friends. I was excited for the long weekend and being able to sleep in, though, because getting up at 5 am isn't all that easy when my body feels awake late at night. My aunt Lisa from Colorado came to visit us for the holiday, and we all went to a cat café to celebrate! It was a lot of fun.
Things seem rather energized, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the new moon. If you want to learn more about the new moon in Gemini, I've included videos down below.
I woke up sleepy Monday morning and couldn't remember anything from my dream. My dream recall was way too fuzzy to remember anything specific. My dream recall was rather hazy on Tuesday morning, too. There was something about merging things, but specific details eluded me when I woke up (didn't help that I was groggy, either).
My dream recall was still kind of fuzzy when I woke up on Wednesday morning, but I remembered more than the previous two nights. What I could remember was writing review articles. They were pretty optimized; I remembered seeing a lot of green, and I'm pretty sure I received a score of 88%. Not sure what specific topic for the article was. When I woke up on Thursday morning, my dream recall was still rather hazy. There was something about mythological/fantasy creatures (such as a Griffin I think( and pets, but that's all I could remember.
I woke up extra sleepy on Friday (but grateful it's the last day I had to get up at 5 am). My dream recall was rather fuzzy, but the main thing I recalled was gathering materials and creating products/supplies. Not sure what the specific products/supplies were, but it seemed important.
I ended up unintentionally sleeping until 11:30 Saturday morning, partially due to babysitting super late the night before. It wasn't what I planned, but I was grateful it occurred on a day where I didn't have anywhere I was supposed to be due to responsibilities/commitments. My dream recall was somewhat fuzzy, but I remembered there being something about my family not trusting my coworker from before care (no idea why), and I remembered saying something about how growing up, he was an only child, oldest child, and youngest child (his family is rather complicated). There might have been something about being at a park. Not really sure. There was another part of the dream involving what seemed to be a Japanese feudal lord (or something along those lines). This girl came over to his home as a guest, and he was rather excited about it. I wasn't really sure if he knew the girl/about her, but they didn't seem to know much about each other. He seemed to fall in love with the girl and made all these impressive plans to declare his love to her and all. He didn't exactly go the traditional route in his plans, either. He was so hopeful, he ended up buying a bunch of toys for her siblings/younger relatives in hopes that the two of them would have a budding and prosperous relationship. It was rather cute. There seemed to be some kind of contest going on amongst his staff for a celebration to create maybe a new dish? Details were kind of murky when I woke up. That's all I could recall in the morning once I awoke.
A lot happened in my dream from Saturday night/Sunday morning. There was something about being at a school with my art buddy. We played some sort of game with other people. It seemed sort of like Pockie Pirates. It had some kind of anime characters in it, possibly from One Piece. There was some kind of conflict between two of the boy players with emotions running high, and there was something like a duel to the death scheduled. It upset my art buddy, and we ended up going to the school office. The secretary tried to console my art buddy and said something about one if the guys that had been super emotional in the game being pregnant due to being a hybrid. It confused the heck out of me, and I thought she was mistaken. She started listing off all the symptoms of pregnancy for "hybrids," and it lines up exactly with his recent strange behavior. He was our friend, so we went to talk to him and find out more. I think it was confirmed that he was. Somehow, we ended up in Colorado at some grocery store. There was some sort of snake being (maybe it was a galactic being or like a snake youkai from InuYasha, not really sure). Our friend was talking to the snake being, and I think that he was part snake being and trying to get advice. The snake being was making a remark about using the tail, but since the "hybrid" being didn't seem to have one, the snake being basically told him that he used the wrong one and got pregnant. This upset him, leaving him rather moody. The snake being left, and the "hybrid" being seemed to be trying to pull a prank on other shoppers, convincing them to pick up all these items. He was just going to leave after seemingly implying that he would pay for those items, so I stuck around to pay for them. I got into deep conversations with the cashier and other customers. There was something about riding bikes to save the environment and something else about this lady moving because she had been certain her mother was going to die, but she miraculously pulled through; they were going to live in there dream home. Another cashier took over the transaction and tried to say I hadn't paid enough despite me counting out the exact amount. The original cashier overheard and vouched for me, causing the new one to recount and realize her mistake. This new cashier then tried to talk me out of moving to Colorado, insisting that I hadn't thought it out at all. I assured her that I had but reassured her that I was currently on vacation, so there was still time to change my mind and revise my plans. My friend (the hybrid) got offended by the cashier's haughty, rude, assuming nature and was about to rip her a new one. I was able to calm him down, reassuring him that her judgments held no sway because she didn't know my reasoning, insight, experiences, knowledge, etc. This settled him down. Apparently, we were moving out to Colorado together. Despite his current volatile nature, it was obvious that he cared a great deal for me and would always have my back. That's all I remembered upon waking up Sunday morning.
My dream recall was a bit fuzzy when I woke up this morning. From what I could remember, there were these people living in the walls of a store (it seemed to be Target). One of them was a lonely kid, and there was this group taking advantage of the kid, pretending to care so the kid would basically do their dirty work. There were secret entrances in the store to their dwellings. I had been in the store with a cat (pretty sure it was Tsuki). There was some kind of meeting going on, so the staff didn't want people to leave. The people in the meeting were arguing and yelling, which was freaking the cat/Tsuki out. Someone went to get the car, so I could bring her outside away from the noise. There seemed to be a resolution of some kind with the meeting, and people got rewarded with cookies. They seemed to be in the shape of numbers. I saw some of the kids from before care; one of the girls was trying to snatch cookies because she was impatient. One of my classmates from high school had their cookie stolen, and somehow this translated to them getting a job with before/after care. There were super sales with Target's/the store's clearance with things being marked down to mere pennies. I think Anna from Frozen showed up at one point. Ichigo from Bleach was protecting a little girl that seemed to be a cross between Kisa from Fruits Basket and Tomoe from How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom. There was this group of 4 people that had been waiting for him that had wanted to force him to show up but that could never reach a consensus. Aizen, Kenpachi, and Unohana were 3 of the people, but I couldn't remember the 4th. They wanted to fight him, and even though he was protecting a little girl, Ichigo was defeating them with ease. More happened in the dream, but that's all I could remember upon waking up.
The kiddos were excited for the last week of school, but they also felt bittersweet about it because they enjoyed seeing their friends everyday and going to before/after care. They were pretty slap-happy and were constantly silly. They decided to create banners and decorations to celebrate the final days of school.
My art buddy started creating another story, this time titled, "Glitter Girls." She hasn't gotten very far in it, but the main character is a fourth grader named Selena. Her best friend is Zelda, and Katie is a bully that is her enemy (apparently, Katie likes to go around punching people in the face). Selena also happens to have a Pegasus that she can use to get around. The introduction mentioned that if the reader notices similarities between the story and their life, they might be a Glitter Girl, too. I asked my art buddy if that meant I could be a Glitter Girl, and she informed me that only fourth graders can be Glitter Girls, so sorry if that bursts anyone's hopes of being one (I can't be one, but I'm not quite sure what a Glitter Girl is--I imagine some kind of superhero). It was great to see her dedication and investment in the creative writing process. It will take her far in life (she's only in first grade right now, after all). My art buddy discussed the progress she's made on her Glitter Girls story and some of the other kids wanted to hear about it. Two of the 4th grade girls were excited by the story and how they could become Glitter Girls (based on my art buddy's criteria, you have to be a girl in 4th grade). My art buddy told me that the boy equivalent to Glitter Girls is Brave Boys. I'd love to read her completed stories someday.
The kiddos thanked me for all the help, support, and play I've given them over the school year, emphasizing how much they will miss me. They were super excited about the goodie bags I assembled for them that were full of crystals and Pokémon cards; they all declared that these were the best gifts they've ever gotten. It was super sweet. I got a thank you note from one of the girls; she drew a picture of the day I created a puffie drawing for her and how impressed she was. Her mom included some lottery tickets with the note, and I ended up winning $10. I'll miss these kiddos, although, I will appreciate sleeping in later than 5 am.
The boys are super excited for summer break. They're eager to have a break from school and were ecstatic about how the last day was a half day. We discussed InuYasha and anime memes, and they also enjoyed sharing information on different Lego sets that have been released. The younger brother made more progress on his planning for a game, creating sketches for a boss character and weapon that looked pretty cool. The boys got frustrated, though, because we had to hangout in the basement while the neighborhood was on lockdown because two guys broke into a house and were armed. The police were chasing them down for several hours, and the boys were more than ready to leave the basement within 15 minutes. It's such an unusual world we live in.
I did some last minute babysitting on Friday night, and the boys were excited to see me. The 5 year-old was especially excited because he got 1-on-1 time with me for the first 2 hours while his older brother was at swim practice. He loved showing off the fort he built and insisted we play in it. He declared that we would be playing with his plushies, handing me a unicorn-elephant. I put sunglasses on it and declared it too cool for school. He insisted that I had to take a photo and video of it, sharing it with my friends and family because they would "burst their guts with laughter."🤣 He was feeling especially rambunctious and kept trying to climb walls. In one of his games with his toys, he had King Kong fight baby Yoda. King Kong ate baby Yoda, but baby Yoda burst out of his stomach. Baby Yoda didn't appreciate being eaten, so he force choked King Kong. That got baby Yoda put in time out. When his brother got home, we played outside before bed. When it was time for bed, the 5 year-old put up a fuss, declaring that it wasn't fair because his brother would stay up playing video games for 10 hours and until his parents got home (neither of which was true). He slumped to the floor, moaning about the unfairness of it all and how he never got to do anything fun. When it was time to brush his teeth, he offered these words of wisdom: "You don't need teeth. They're not important. They're only good for one thing. You can get money for them, but that's all they're good for." So, I guess nobody needs to brush their teeth because if you don't, they'll fall out, and you'll get money from the tooth fairy. Granted, I don't think he realizes that if your adult teeth fall out, new ones won't grow. It was a fun night full of silliness and interesting comments.
Tsuki was her typically nutty self. There was a whole lot of rain this week, and Tsuki loved watching the rain and getting super snuggly. She loved playing in the box and napping in her bed. Tsuki played with pennies and loved watching for bugs.
Artwork for the week included:
I wrote a new short story, In a Pickle, based on the pair of sisters and their antics; they were obsessed with pickles and decided we had to fill the school completely with pickles. It was pretty amusing to listen to their scheming. Feel free to read it and share your thoughts! I'm also open to suggestions and recommendations for future stories! I have other pieces in the works, so stay tuned for more stories!
I worked a lot on my online course this week, but I also watched some anime, including In the Land of Leadale. It had a refreshing story, and I'm curious to see how the story continues. It seems like the players are trapped in the game world, but it sounds like the game servers ceased. It makes me wonder how the story is going to explain that. Maybe the game world was based off visions of another world/planet/reality, and the characters ended up transported to that world. It definitely stirs the imagination. I also stumbled across Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. While I wasn't the biggest fan of certain parts of this anime, overall, I felt moved by the story. It's about overcoming trauma (and past life trauma) and finding the courage to take the next step forward in your life. There's some touching mending of souls, and the characters are believable--just doing the best they can with their human lives, even though sometimes the ego comes in and mucks everything up. I'm curious to see how the story continues since there are still missing members of the village.
Things haven't been all that easy these past two years. Many people have experienced severe overwhelm, feelings of being lost, and despair. These recent challenges have pushed many of us to the edge. While not the easiest choice to make, we can choose to persevere and see where our story takes us. At times, it certainly feels easier to give up, and it's a tempting choice to give in to. You can make that decision as a sovereign being, but it comes at a cost. You'll never see what was waiting just around the corner for you. All of your wildest dreams might have been waiting for you if you could have hung in there for just a while longer. Take a moment to breathe and relax. You're doing the best you can, so be gentle with yourself. There's no need to judge so harshly. You're doing just fine. You're learning and growing as you go, so it's okay. You're life will get better; remember, if you've hit rock bottom, the only way left to go is up. You've got this because you're not alone; there are plenty of people, who'd love to help and support you on your journey. Give yourself a chance and see all the great feats you can accomplish. You'll be surprised just how much you can achieve. Follow your passion, listen to your heart, and have some fun. It will work wonders. Stay blessed with love and light, everyone~
Food for thought from Ralph Smart:
Food for thought to consider for the week:
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