I hope everyone is doing well! It's been a busy week. I've been working through my online courses with Jake Ducey's 10K in 10 Weeks and The Wholesale Formula. I'm eager to make financial freedom and abundance my reality, but it's a process. These programs/courses are definitely helping, but they can be time consuming. It's definitely a time of great change. It's felt like the energies have been fluctuating, too. Balancing proactively accomplishing items on your to-do list and resting can be a bit tricky, especially when these crazy energies are thrown into the mix. Hopefully, it hasn't led to burn out for anyone.
I woke up on Monday morning a bit sleepy; my dream recall was somewhat fuzzy. What I could remember was that I was hanging out with April and Corliss. It was night time. We were driving. We ended up at my grandpa's house for some reason. There was some being that was either Sonic the Hedgehog or something like him (and/or aliens). We ended up covering ourselves in pillows and blankets to hide for some reason. Not entirely sure why. Specifics were hazy when I woke up. We were also at Target (or a store like it) at one point. We were going to get flowers. There was a bit of a line. One of the people in front of us at the checkout ended up cutting off all the stems of the flowers she bought, leaving only the "heads" of the flowers. She left them all littering the floor. She tried to claim that she didn't do it and even got security, insisting they check the cameras because it wasn't her. The security went to check the camera footage, and the lady/girl started trying to distract the security guard/obscure the footage because she didn't realize how clear it was that she did it. She started trying to dance in front of the screen, as if that would make it obvious "it wasn't her." The security guard wasn't buying it, though. That's all I could remember upon waking.
I had difficulty getting up Tuesday morning, feeling extra sleepy, and it didn't help that my alarm didn't go off (meaning I got up late). My dream was rather hazy. There was something about my siblings and I being younger and my younger brother "cleaning up" by putting a bunch of stuff under my bed. I told him to stop it, but he didn't--he continued to put a bunch of junk under my bed, and it was really ticking me off. There was something about my mom and my other younger brother having a headache and my mom asking for some kind of glucose headache medication. It must have tasted really good as my youngest brother was trying to eat it all like candy. There was another part that involved babysitting one of the kids that had been in the Toucan class a couple of years ago; he forgot ask to go to the bathroom and needed new pants. More definitely happened, but that's all I could recall from the dream upon waking up.
I woke up rather cozy and kind of tired on Wednesday morning (getting up for before care wasn't exactly easy). My dream recalled was pretty hazy, too. I think there was something about an asteroid or meteor, but it was all so fuzzy--it was difficult to be certain.
From what I could remember my dream from Wednesday night/Thursday morning involved me going to some school/college for tests/exams (although, I think I had been with April at the local children's museum before that). I had never been at the school before, but I was expected to take (and pass) all these exams. I ended up arriving a few minutes late to the first exam because I had no idea where to go. Someone like an adviser or something had told me the general direction to go for my first exam, but as I had never been there before, it didn't help much. The room was completely full of people already testing, which made me feel super uncomfortable for arriving late, but the teacher took pity on me since I had never been at the school before. I took the test, and it was interesting that there were "codewords" that students could announce that then allowed the teacher or another student to come assist them with a certain question on the exam. I ended up heading to another exam, and the professor there had quite the dramatic flair (he was kind of dressed like Cruella DeVille but not exactly). It seemed to be a music history exam. While I was working on the exam, the results from my previous exam were delivered. Turns out not only had I gotten a perfect score, the teacher had given me a huge chunk of extra credit
I woke up extra cozy and kind of sleepy on Friday morning. My dream recall was a bit fuzzy. What I could remember involved me traveling/driving; I couldn't remember if I was the one driving or if I was a part of a group that was driving. I think I was setting up some business or helping someone with their business. The dream probably was inspired by all the learning I've been doing with the online courses with the 10K in 10 Weeks and The Wholesale Formula. I knew more happened, but that's al I could remember upon waking up.
I woke up Saturday morning still feeling sleepy. My dream recall was fuzzy. I was in some other city/state (maybe even country). I drove past a large park and school. Details got hazy, but for some reason I was returning a bag of cheese balls that my brother opened and ate a few from. It wasn't his, so I guess that's why. I ended up at this building that seemed like a modern version of the Galaxy Federation's headquarters. One of my former coworkers, the lead teacher from the meerkat class, was there in the lobby. Apparently, the cheese balls were hers. I returned them to her upon learning that and went up multiple floors to the top to look for more snacks or something. There was this arcade/playground at the top with games and climbing structures. That's all I could remember upon waking up.
I woke up kind of sleepy and wishing Daylight Savings wasn't a thing this morning. My dream recall was a bit hazy. I was walking down this road, and it seemed like I was a mail carrier. Most off the houses seemed plain/average, not leaving a lasting impression, until I reached this one house. I was suspended pretty high up in the air on this tower/stilt thing. For some reason the house was tilted/leaning back, too. It had this detachable driveway/road up to the house that would attach to these track-like things in what seemed to be a ground level garage. There were these two small patches of pavement next to the house for parking attached to the house, too. This guy arrived to the house and seemed to be a business partner/organization collaborator with the owner of the house. He seemed convinced I was the owner/his partner, chatting away about the current project and extremely familiar with the strange house. I stumbled upon the laundry room and got into one of the machines. It was super high tech as it could detect potential "contamination" or dirt. While I was fiddling around in the machine, thinking I would put up the laundry for some reason, the machine announced that it detected dirt and would now begin the washing process. It seemed to be both a washer and a dryer. There was also this piece of furniture that seemed to be a high tech dresser-type thing; it had a glass door and drawers/shelves full of rows of folded articles of clothing. It seemed to fold the clothes on its own. It got a bit fuzzy, but I think a couple of my cousins ended up showing up, exclaiming that it was important to park at the beach rather than in the driveway, as this house was nuts. Details got a bit fuzzy again, and we were out in the backyard (not sure if it was floating like the house or on ground level). Some alarm started going off with someone stating it was an Amber Alert. Apparently, it was required that we go in this (high tech) shelter/bunker until it was over. People seemed to think it was normal and weren't worried about it. Some teacher either joined us in the bunker or was already there. He started teaching us about this book. He had made animations/songs to go along with this read aloud. Apparently, the book was from like the 1950s. More happened in the dream, but that's all I remembered when I woke up.
On the drive to work I saw a group of deer most days this week. The first day there was a group of 6 of them, traveling down the road and making driving rather tricky. There were 5 young/baby deer and what was probably their mother. I only saw four of them the following day, off grazing in a field, and only 3 of them the next day. I didn't see any on Friday, but I guessed that it was due to the snow. The kids had fun this week in before care. My art buddy wanted to see new pictures and videos of Tsuki, and the kids basically started a fan club for her, crowding around to see the pictures/videos with coos of how cute she was. My art buddy also had me read books to her again.
One of the girls brought in Pokémon cards and wanted to learn more about them, like what type they were, what HP meant, what the little symbol (the energy sign) with a 2x meant, etc. The kids had lots of fun talking about various Pokémon and the new gen 9 starters (they're in love with the cat and duck the most but adore all of them). We ended up drawing Pokémon, and the kids all wanted to take my sketches home. More and more kids joined us in drawing Pokémon, and they decided to create a Pokémon book with all the drawings. Some of them weren't so confident about their drawings, insisting that they weren't very good, but I told them that if we can tell what the drawing was (i.e. which Pokémon), they did a great job. They kept exclaiming how amazing I was at drawing, and I continued to emphasize that I had more practice, so it would make sense that my drawing skills were higher than theirs--the more you practice, the better you get. It made a lot of them want to dedicate time to drawing more. We had a group of 6 kids working on the book by the end of Tuesday morning, and we had 20 different Pokémon drawn. They were so excited about the book, and kids, seeing what the group was working on, excitedly would ask if they could join us and add to the book, too. They were excited to continue working on the book each day, urging people to bring in more Pokémon cards to use as references for new drawings. My art buddy was being mischievous (I swear Tsuki and her are one and the same--they both come up to be me to be all sweet and loving, and then there are the times where they get a bit "sour" with things like surprise hugs that are merged with tackles); Friday morning she did not want me to continue drawing because the drawing was "hers," "too perfect," and "more perfect than Isabella" (from Encanto). I was working on Amaura, and I made little progress because she was quite insistent, trying to move the pen, snatch the paper, jerk my arm/hand, etc. She kept saying how much she loved me while she did it, too, which reminds me all too much of when Tsuki comes up to me, purring, and then starts chomping me like crazy or knocking everything off the table/counter/shelves. I ended up rushing the drawing a bit, but the kids are still blown away by it. By the end of the week we probably had around 50 Pokémon drawn.
The boys were excited to see me; they started making all these plans for the summer when I'm with them all day. They decided that we will be going to all sorts of arcades this summer so we can play games. They started planning which arcades we would go to, like the one at a movie theater in the area. They're so excited, and it was great to see them so happy. We discussed games that we have played in the past and different arcades we've been to before; we also talked about what kinds of arcade games we'd like to see/play. The boys ended up drawing while we talked. We also spent some time looking at InuYasha memes and discussing funny moments in our lives. We got into a deep discussion about Sword Art Online because they asked what the last movie I saw in theaters was (it was the Sword Art Online Progressive Aria of a Starless Night). They wanted to know what the premise of the story was and had me explain the plots of the various seasons. We got to talking about the abridged series by Witty Entertainment because I remembered Kirito drawing a cat face on Asuna while she was sleeping, and they enjoyed watching the clip. It was a great, relaxing week of babysitting.
Tsuki's such a goofy kitty. She was super playful and wanting to cuddle this week. She's too adorable for words (but she can be quite ferocious when she's feeling playful). Tsuki was quite keen on attacking my bracelets this week, especially when I was on the couch reading. She was eager to hang out with April when she visited on Tuesday. Tsuki also loved the sunshine this week, soaking up the warmth. I bought her some new toys, which she was excited about, and Tsuki decided to play with the plastic bag.
April stopped by on Tuesday this week, looking to lift her spirits. Lots of drama is cropping up in her life right now, and she was feeling rather smothered by it all. She was revealing some of the events that has transpired at her work, and it sounded like a soap opera with all the shenanigans and drama. It left me in disbelief, questioning whether it was real life or not, but I know that April wouldn't lie about that. Sure, she's made up stories for fun before, but it was never so gossipy or toxic. I kept insisting that she should write a book about it all; we'll see if she takes me up on that offer (it would definitely help with her financial struggles of being a single mom). Thankfully, spending a hours with me before I had to go to babysitting helped lift her spirits, and I had her laughing and smiling frequently. We even ended up getting free cookies for lunch (it was a pleasant surprise). It wasn't how I planned on spending my Tuesday, but I had no regrets. I was grateful to be able to help my bestie since 6th grade when the whole world felt like a negative cesspit for her.
I've been playing with liquid water color and color diffusing paper. My experimentation resulted in this really neat blue tie dye-looking piece that I uploaded to products on Teespring. Feel free to check it out: https://destination-creativity.creator-spring.com/listing/blue-tie-dye-liquid-watercolor
Perler projects for the week included more star constellations:
I did more writing, reading, and anime watching this week. I started a Medium account; if you want to check it out, it's https://medium.com/@Destination-Creativity. My newest story is also posted now and is based on an an afternoon/evening babysitting. It was last minute (the parents tend to do thing spontaneously). I've babysat for them a handful of times, but this time was quite the experience. Their two boys are always full of creativity and imagination, but this time was a first for having a swarm of boys from the neighborhood take over their backyard. I didn't particularly mind, as they weren't hurting or bothering anyone, but it was definitely a different energy level. Kids are full of the unexpected and always keep things interesting. 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! Fanfic for the week included: Outside of Time, Rainbow Tongue, However He Proceeds: Sesshoumaru Vignettes, Tea Time, and Temporal Fray.
Since I had hung out with April and Corliss all last weekend (and did some babysitting), I caught up on YashaHime on Monday. The story's so exciting! I'm getting so hyped! Akuru made me want to cry, though; his act of selflessness helped the girls return home. The Higurashi's also made me feel all warm and fuzzy; they're just so open and welcoming with huge hearts. I find it ironic that the "younger" sibling got left behind in the future again; first it was Sota, and now it's his biological daughter Mei. Sota and his family were so good to Towa and eventually the other girls (after they show up). It makes me wonder if the girls will be rewarded for all their efforts in the end and be able to travel freely between the two eras (the ending kind of leads me to suspect so). I'm wondering if Osamu Kirin is the secret villain. His actions in that episode were rather suspicious; it almost feels like he's playing everyone. I'm wondering if he truly wishes to save humanity, or if he had just told the girls that to get their trust while trying to stop the comet. The Grim Butterfly is likely why there are so few demons/youkai in present day. It makes me wonder how much havoc it will wreak before the gang can stop it. Quite a number of them have already poofed into butterfly food. It makes me wonder if it's an automatic thing if they get in range of the butterfly or if they have to be weak or if there's some other qualifier. We receive more answers just to get more questions. That wasn't the most exciting thing for me, though. Sesshomaru finally woke back up! I'll be honest--I squealed like such a fan girl when it happened, and Tsuki felt the need to check up on me and see if I was okay (LOL). He didn't send Rin away, which definitely surprised Jaken, when Kirinmaru came to attack. I'm wondering if he's planning to draw off the strength of having someone to protect. I know he cares way too much about Rin to put her in danger, so he must be certain he can protect her. The fight between Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru is bound to be epic; I look forward to seeing how the story continues--I'm so hyped.
This week's episode of YashaHime didn't disappoint, either. Each episode is making me more and more hyped. Sesshomaru was so freaking epic in this week's episode. Kirinmaru's trying to be "the strongest," and I find it ironic considering how Sesshomaru used to be fixated on the path of supreme conquest. Kirinmaru wasn't acting honorably, though, becoming desperate and willing to use Rin and Jaken as "weaknesses" for Sesshomaru and get the upper hand. Sesshomaru called him out on it, too, pointing out that you could hardly be the strongest if you sink to such a level; if you're the strongest, it should be based of your strength and skills rather than trying to manipulate the situation. Communication between Rion and Kirinmaru (and by extension Osamu Kirin since he started spouting that he knows Rion best since he's her father--debatable but kind of true as it'd be more accurate to say that he was part of her father, specifically his right arm) definitely broke down. Kirinmaru (and Osamu Kirin) assumed they knew what Rion wanted/what was best for her. Setsuna and Moroha's teamwork severing threads of fate revealed that Rion is resentful of her father, feeling as if he didn't care. Riku came to a sudden realization but before he could impart that crucial insight, he gets swept away by a bunch of threads/spider webs. Osamu Kirin is ranting about how humans erased demons from their history, despite the numerous times demons have come to the aid of humanity, furious that they have been written off as myths. We also learned that he had originally wanted to be a history teacher (but he was probably too butt hurt upon finding no trace of demonkind in the history books). He mentioned something about Rion being the king, so I'm guessing that they plan to put humanity and any demons that oppose "in their place." Osamu Kirin had Towa backed into a corner after swiping her demonic energy, so I'm curious to see how she gets out of that pickle (I don't doubt that she will, though). Rion's triggered by Moroha and Setsuna despite how they're trying to understand her. It made me curious about what Rion actually wants; I had thought that she merely wanted to stop her father from starting the Degenerate Age, but I'm not so certain any more. She's been eliminating demons but also might be out against humanity, too, if Osamu Kirin's words hold any truth. Sango and Miroku's entire family teamed up with InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Takechiyo, Hachi, and the demon slayers, which was great to see. There's definitely a competitive nature between their twin daughters. I wonder how long their barrier will hold up against the Grim Butterfly. I'm left with so many questions, but I know that, ultimately, Sesshomaru's going to beat Kirinmaru (there's no way Kirinmaru wins--he's getting too desperate and not thinking clearly) and that Setsuna, Towa, and Moroha will save the day. Not sure on the exact how or when, but it's practically official. I eagerly look forward to next week's episode! The story is getting so intense and exciting!
I hope everyone is takes time for self care; sometimes it becomes a bit too easy to forget when there's so many other things on our to-do lists. Time has certainly been flying; as I've been working on the online courses and establishing multiple sources of income, time has escaped me. I'll plan on doing something for an hour or two and then practically a whole morning, afternoon, evening, or even day has gone by. At that point, my intentions for the day are basically scrapped, but I breathe and adjust. There's nothing that can be done once it's already passed, after all. Creating time for leisure has been a bit tricky between my two jobs, my responsibilities, the courses, and figuring out more sources of income (working on selling stock photos, adding to TeeSpring merch, staring up a Redbubble shop, etc.). It doesn't feel like there's enough hours in the day. I do my best to focus on the progress and taking steps forward bit by bit, though. Obtaining financial freedom and abundance can sometimes feel like trying to reach the summit of a massive mountain, but we do better when we focus on the next step ahead of us rather than getting fixated on the monumentous climb. Yes, the goal is important, but sometimes the sheer size of the goal can leave us paralyzed in indecision of the best move and/or exhausted by the prospect of it all. If we cut ourselves some slack, allow for breaks of rest and relaxation, and take off some of the pressure we unnecessarily put upon ourselves, the climb will be much easier. Making progress and learning along the way are what's most important. There could be some hiccups, detours, or mistakes along the way, but they are opportunities to learn and grow. It's okay if they happen. There's nothing wrong with you if they do. You're human, and you're doing the best you can. You're incredible and amazing. You're worthy and priceless. You deserve love and prosperity. Take your time; there's no need to rush. Follow your joy while listening to your heart, and your life will feel magical. You have a brilliant light to share with the world, and I look forward to seeing all of you shine. Take care, be gentle with yourself, and stay blessed with love and light, everyone~
Food for thought from Ralph Smart on Infinite Waters:
Food for thought to consider for the week: