Weather: It either is super muggy and over 90 degrees or random rain sprinkles to buckets!
Working on: Finishing Spirit Vision 3 beta reads and second edits, a little writing on other projects, but mostly, getting my classroom and lesson plans for my first teaching job ready! 🙂
Currently Watching: I JUST finished all my animes for the summer, and more! WOOT! ^_^ When I am working on paperwork, I have been watching Animantics on Netflicks.
Currently Reading: “A Thousand Pieces of You,” by Claudia Gray. This one and ONE more to meet my 10 books before August 15th. Happy I made my manga and anime goal this summer. ^_^
Currently Playing: I haven’t touched my Gameboy 3-DS since Cosplacon. Too busy! >.< I DID pre-order Pokémon Moon! 🙂
Wallpaper: The girls of School Rumble playing on the beach!
Icon: This is where Romeo and Juliet met in the anime series, Romeo X Juliet. Oh my gosh! It’s so stunning, breathtaking, exciting, and dramatic! I wanted to put this here to celebrate finishing my animes I wanted to this summer, my writing, and my Teen Academy Writers Workshop class. 🙂
Quote: “A Book is a Dream you Hold in Your Hands.”
Yo-yo my amigos! Let’s walk the dog, and go around the world, spreading the joys of friendship, cheese, and Pokémon Go! 🙂 First off, I want to say a very special: Happy 36th Birthday to my older brother, Jon! Thanks for being my shoulders of strength, support, and love. <3 This picture if from my wedding five years ago. ^o^
“WWPPP: World of Writing, Publishing, Promotions, and Paper Crane List!” ^-^
#1. July 1st is Indie Pride Day. This year, I celebrated it for the second year as an author, with amazing people! I got to have another Girl’s Writing Day with Morgan W and Kate (our sixth one together). They were such an incredible support for me, posting, tweeting, entering my contests, taking great pictures (including some with Morgan’s adorable puppies)! Kate even WON the giveaway of two FREE e-books and my new latest bookmarks early randomly out of 30+ entries! You go girl! I was able to get over 3,000 (10 pages) finished that I needed to get added to “Spirit Vision 3” before starting second edits/beta reads. Morgan’s wonderful hubby made us homemade pizza and bread sticks and we got to play random songs each to inspire the group, mostly 90’s and Disney jams, ending in three teachers belting out “Let it Go!” What a fun way for me to spend Indie Writing Day! =D
On top of all of this, I hosted a giveaway, shared my “Spirit Vision 3” YouTube playlists, updated my social medias often, marked down “Spirit Vision 2” to $10 (and that helped with sales and rankings), chatted with other authors celebrating on the Indie Books be Seen page that is in charge of making this gala event, got a new picture of all my current works (with Socks posing, of coarse), and a long post that has excerpts from ALL FOUR of my published works AND snippets from my TWO SOON TO BE RELEASED PROJECTS: “Spirit Vision 3: The Power of Mortals,” and “Code: H & B.”
To check out my blog post for Indie Pride Day, 2016, with all six excerpts, go here, friends!
#2. “Spirit Vision 3: The Power of Mortals” are now halfway done with their second edits and beta reads! 😀 The front cover is finished and soon, the blurb with its back cover! Other than edits and beta reads to prepare it for formatting then marketing release in late October, I have to write the glossary in the back and my thank you’s and dedication. Slowly, we are getting closer to the light at the end of the publication tunnel on this overly long road trip.
I got some good work on my project “H & B” after a while away from it, this last week. I would like it to be released in late Spring/early summer 2017. However, I have to write about six more pages (it is almost on 29, single spaced currently), so I can reveal it for Max-Con since one of the co-goers last year won my create a character contest. ^-^ I have read it a few times, working out simple edits. I shared it with only six people so far (just reading snippets) and so far, the listeners are getting into it! That is a reassuring sign for me, since this is a different type of work for me than YA paranormal. =D
#3. About a month ago, I did a full review on Cosplacon 2016, from all the roller coaster crazy and awesome. Find out about our cosplays, Tabby and Brown’s skit win, how I joined a cosplay group, and much more, with pictures! Thanks for another year, Cosplacon and Rodney! ^_^ Learn all my review of Cosplacon 2016 about it here.
I also filmed the Welcome to Cosplacon panel, Iron Cosplay, Opening Ceremony, Skit Competition, Cosplay Royale, and the Brass Engine Steampunk Shoot-out on my Youtube.
#4. I have had a lot of epic Top Tens since my last major June update! My 50th Top Ten was to honor a great show: My Top 20 Favorite R.W.B.Y. Characters. Also, during July, since I am always because with College for Kids, I set-up three Pokémon Top Tens. This year, I did: Top Ten Favorite Pokémon Types, Top 15 Favorite “Other” Types of Pokémon, AND Top Ten Pokémon that Don’t FEEL Like Pokémon to Me.
#5. In June, I had my friend Katy Runyon as my 28th Aspiring Author Spotlight! Read her interview and a sample of one of her marvelous fanfictions here! ^_^
#6. For my July Author’s Gold (A.U- Authors Unite) segment, I had the honor of being a book blog tour spot for Mrs. Coral Walker and her latest work, “Children of Swan.” We were gifted with an interview, a guest post, a giveaway link, an excerpt of her work, and more! It was a grand pleasure! Thank you, Mrs. Walker.
#7. My best author buddy and channel mate, Dan Wright, re-released the first book in his “Trapped in Draconica” series. He had a very busy and success book blog tour and I sadly did not get a spot although I signed-up! Mr. Popular! >.< So, at the tail end of his tour, he graced us with a excerpt. It was quite fun!
Last week, Dan re-released the SECOND book in his “Trapped in Draconica” series- ” Legacy of the Dragonkin.” The covers are GORGOUS! Get a look at the cover, the blurb, and more information on this glorious fantasy series on Dan’s website.
Yesterday was also Dan’s Birthday! Hope it was as jolly and incredible in every way as you, mate! ;D
#8. Dan and I have a Youtube Channel together, Moon Panda Power. Sadly, we have both been exceedingly busy this summer, but we have released on Top Five (with honorable mentions) animes for EACH of us (split into four videos) and, our most recent video, Top 5 Head-Scratchers in Power Rangers (but, that we still love). <3 You can check them all out on the Moon Panda Power Youtube channel, along with the videos from our “Disney Couples: Reshuffled” competition in March, a Disney song challenge, and voice acting we have done. =) More to come!
#9. We are still on the search for a narrator for “Spirit Vision!” If you are or know anyone who has experience or a talent for voice acting/narration, please contact me at mescomnick@hotmail.com for information. We really want to bring “Spirit Vision” verbally to life so bad.
#10. September 10th and 11th, I will be heading to Max-Con in my town, its and my second year, to be their Author Guest. ^_^ I am so pumped! I will be doing one or two writing panels, having my colorful, rockin’ table to sell my books and products, sign things, and meet epic peeps, hosting a Pokémon Quiz Show with my special helpers Deadpool, Mrs. Eevee, and Sailor Mars, along with some other friends I am sure, cosplaying for fun, watching the Cosplay contest, and just having a blast! I am really looking forward to it! If you are in the area, come stop by!
#11: I added TWO new links to my “Links” page: one is of aspiring local author, Sherri Lynn Howard, and my cool school counselor from the elementary I worked at last year, Nathan Perkins, who wrote a book of his experiences. ^_^
#12. In addition, I updated my “To Be a Nerdy Otaku,” page with the recent mange and anime I have read/watched over the summer and how I rated them. Sadly, I only had one anime I liked, and I am not that picky or critical! >.<
#13. This is the second year now I have taught my writing workshop class for students going into 7th to 9th grade, held at our MAC campus under Teen Academy. I had four students in my class this year, three girls and my first boy, and I knew all of them from Farmington middle school!
The format was like last year’s, with creative morning journals and fun writing warm ups, acting out four scenes from plays or books (a children’s version of “Sleepy Hollow,” “The Goose Girl,” my modern version of “Hamlet,” that is published now in “Fallen Star Dust,” and a scene from chapter 11 of “Spirit Vision.” Yes, we had props, and yes, my students wanted to gender bend for some reason!), touring the library, interviewing me and writing an interview about me, discussing muses of writing in the formats of poems, children’s literature, short stories, fairy tales (and learning the ten most creepy original tellings of them), then Mark Twain and Shakespeare, listening to my stories, notes and discussions on parts of writing/stories, characters, story elements, and genre and publication of course! I really enjoyed on top of all of this when we did our pass the story activity, they made their acrostic poems with their names collage artwork, and our search for the authors around the room games, and our quiz show on Friday for review!
We also nerded out about anime, manga, and other geeky culture. Oh! AND we wrote, edited, and shared our own works. They seemed to like to watch me with my beta reads and edits, ha! Plus, we discussed Pokémon Go since I got it the last three days of class. This was such a goofy and talented group of young people. I look forward to all the amazingness they will show the world. Although, they did dance during our bathroom breaks more than I have ever seen of children! >.< I look forward to Writing Workshop at MAC next year as well.
Their favorite things to talk quote that I taught them were:
- “I received a hurt,” were the final words of the servant in “King Leer,”
- That Mark Twain was the original, “Oh snap! Did he just say that,” and doesn’t give a d-word about what other people think of him with his white suit.
- That Washington Irving had some of the best pennames ever with his trickster nature. Our favorite was Diedrich Knickerbocker.
Rewind! Want to read about Cape Comic Con with Deadpool in April, my five year anniversary trip with Derrick, my new job, four book signing events, RWBY movie theater showing, how the Poke Crew celebrated the start of summer with water balloons and more? Check out my late May/early June MAJOR blog update.
Updates for:
- Facebook- My Likes are still in the early 200’s, but I have reached a lot more traffic with my random Pokemon fun posts!
- Pinterest- I am now up to 613 followers! Boo-yah! 😀
- E-bay- I have sold 7 or 8 mangas this summer through E-bay, which is EPIC!
- Goodreads- I have updated with the summer books I have read if you want to stay current.
- Don’t forget to please check-out my Twitter and Youtube as well. ^_^
My “Normal Life:”
=August 10th starts my first official meeting as a Fredericktown black cat! I have been in my classroom three times now. The first time, my dad and I were going to spray paint my metal desk (which is in the basement of the school) purple with silver stars and moons, but it started raining like crazy when we were at the Wal-mart after purchasing paint and looking at shelves I may want for my room. A stop sign lost a bolt and was spinning! We had to park our cars for a half hour and wait out the storm. Across the highway from me, I saw a long, bright, pale pink streak of lightning. The wind was insane! In fact, when I went back home that afternoon, so many trees were down! It took over a week to get it all clear. We were lucky we did not get any major damage by our place.
So, yeah, dad and I did not get to spray paint my desk, but we got my chairs and tables situated. He finally gave me a town of the college outreach center he teaches at there. 🙂 It was a very nice building. I have also been there to put most of my wall items up, organize through the files the last teacher had left behind, met a wonderful teacher at the other elementary building who not only helped me with curriculum and standards, but donated a large stack of books to my classroom and school! ^_^ I also dropped off my supply lists for my classroom (using my budget) to the board office and read over all my handbooks (usually at my house while watching Animantics on Netflicks, ha!). So, we are getting there! I will have more official images of it once I get my room finished.
I am looking forward to this new adventure, but, I am still admittedly nervous. I want to do the best I can for these kids and I have not got to work on lesson plans much since the state education standards are changing. Me, being a planner, is exceedingly not thrilled by this! >.<
= This is my seventh year teaching at my local college for their College for Kids program! I only had three classes make, which is a bummer money wise, but it was a little less stressful than the ten I had last year! >.< I had “Babysitting Basics” and “Percy Jackson 101” the first week and “Pokémon” my second week, first thing, allowing me to do school work after class.
For Babysitting, I had 12 eager students like normal, 11 girls and my first boy in five years. ^_^ We had a good time. They especially giggled at how I acted like a temperamental toddler, when they fought like siblings, and, of coarse, playing with our special guests. We had 9 kids total come in this year, all ages of 11 weeks to 5 years-old, and some siblings, seeing that dynamitic. Our guests were so darling and we had so much fun and I had five great friends bring them in, explaining how to take care of students so well.
We had a fairly easy time with our business cards *knock on wood*. Normally, we have a whole bunch of disasters, but this time, most of them got close to saving and finishing it. ^_^
We spiced up our graduation ceremony with the actual formal graduation song playing. Their large smiles when they went to get their official from the college certificates, shaking my hand, posing for a picture, and getting a Hershey’s kiss. We took two fun group photos afterwards, but I always ask/demand to them that I have to have a hug or high-five before they leave. Usually, I get 85% hugs and 15% high-fives, but this time, I got 100% hugs! 😀 It made me feel good! They also did an incredible job with CPR and first-aid training!
I also had one of my best and first students, 16 now, come in to tell of her experiences of babysitting and some of the things I taught her. She kept praising me and asking if she could be little again to take my classes again. >.< I felt so special having her return. This group is going far.
“Percy Jackson’s Mythology 101” was as epic as ever! Anyone who knows me know how obsessed I am with this series and Greek mythology in general! We made four new/updated games this year: one for the hippocampus and Kraken, one Ares, one for Aphrodite and one for Iris (who I ACTUALLY had two female students want to be her daughter, which was cool beans), and they turned out really well. I had two of the students I have had for six years now be my helpers in both classes that week and they helped me immensely getting things prepped for my classes, during class (especially explaining how our beloved Greek lore and games worked. They really liked playing the monsters too on Quest Day, fighting and dying dramatically ^_-), and being good company.
They even gave me a cherry blossom glass pen for when they went to Washington D.C. in April to see them bloom, thinking of me! xD Watching these ladies grow up, telling me I was apart of that, made it hard to say good-bye that Friday (they are now too old to be my students, but they could be my helpers). I was happy to give them a thank you gift, along with other three fantastic high school helpers (I have taught four of the five for years now. I’m old, but a proud teacher). And, don’t worry girls; we will TRY not to have another s’more disaster like this year. *Falls on knees and screams to the sky overdramatically* “Proque?!”
Back to Greeks! The students really had a blast, telling everyone how epic our class was. The younger students watched us sword fight on Tuesday before we left for the day, in awe, as my boss, Ms. Pam, told them, “One day, when you get bigger, you guys can take this class, Percy Jackson’s Mythology, and sword fight.” They were so pumped talking to me later, some even telling me their goal was to take my class and my Pokémon on. ^_^ Our Quest day was as awesome as usual and we had some pretty neato ideas for weapons.
When we left for the last time that Friday, we thrust our weapons in the air with pride, shouting “Demigods!” with a war-cry glee. The little guys were in front of us and confused, one asked Ms. Pam, “Why are those kids shouting ‘dipping dots?'” I lost it later! We also posed and did our yell one more time for the parents outside, some filming it. Hey, Percy gets me pumped in every cell! What can I say! DEMIGODS!
The second week, I taught Pokémon. I had to update several of the lessons because I had shorter lessons in this class, the most students I have ever had in this class (10), and they are ALWAYS updating Pokémon, so I wanted to be current. Of course, that’s not hard since I sort of live and breath Pocket Monsters, to all who know me. 😉 This group ranged in knowledge and format and had a lot of energy, but man! They were messy! -_-;; Still, after a chat, we got things surfing nicely again. I tweaked the format of the Subtraction Dice game I made-up for them to play, like they have their own team of 6, each attach actually measuring close to their in games strength, the 4 roll always an attack that causes a special condition. This on top of knowing typing strength and weakness adjustments, capturing, and battling rules. It was a tad more complex than I thought, but I modeled a mock battle and capture that first day and they got it quickly, correcting me twice when I made a mistake on accident. 😉 They sure took their time too creating their Pokémon! Coloring perfectionists.
They did like my Pokémon Gotta Dance short, but not as much as most classes in the past (I still adored it). I was just happy this group knew a good number of the generation one Pokémon thanks to Pokémon Go and season 1 being on Netflix! They also made adorable psyduck and Pikachu hats they really enjoyed showing off. I did admire how gently and respectfully they treated my original toys from back in 1999 to 2001, like they were treasures to them too. They were so careful looking and touching them and kept thanking me for bringing in these time treasures. This warmed my hearts! So did the fact I had one boy who did the Team Rocket original motto with me in a funny voice, his James to match my Jesse! HA! We trained. We captured. We showed we are the best, like no one ever was!
I look forward to my eighth year of College for Kids in the summer 2017! 😀 I hope I at least made some good memories for these kiddos. <3
=On June 14th, at my public library, I helped ran their first anime hangout for teens! The staff was so nice and it was a blast showing off my Umi cosplay a few days before Cosplacon. We were expecting maybe 6 or 8 teens, but we had 21! It did my otaku heart an incredible service to start these young people off right in their nerdy path! 😉 We made candy sushi, played/taught others the Pokémon TCG (I even taught a junior and senior in high school. I also passed out flyers for my event in June and three of my boys came from the anime night with their families). The boys playing Pokémon kept calling me sensei and thought it was funny I was sarcastic. 😉 One was bound to battle me, even betting his friend he would if he won their match, the winner got to battle me. I love how I wasn’t consulted about this. Well, I did beat that kid…in three turns, with two Girafarigs. HA! They awoke the champ and tasted my psychic blasts! 😉 We also were playing “Spirited Away,” showing off the new manga, drawing books, and anime movies the library got this summer along with the drawing manga books and manga I had for them to borrow. Some students drew and I got some fan art and fun pictures. It was a fantastic, outreach event and I know the library is interested in doing it again! I had several people my age or even older wanting one of these FOR ADULTS with lots of cosplay! HA! =D Here’s hoping!
= Mom took Miles and I to a drive-in movie. I sadly was not feeling well due to my hernia and it was raining, but I was able to see Tim Burton’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” It was much better than I thought it would be! Civil War was after that, but I was so tired, so I fell asleep in the back of the SUV while that one was playing. Miles really loved it though. We did not get home until after midnight! Still, the drive-in is always a summer treat for me. ^_^
Derrick and I have seen three movies so far this summer: “Finding Dory,” “Ice Age 5,” and “Central Intelligence.” I got sick at the end of Finding Dory, so I missed the last ten minutes, but it was cute. Not really usual Pixar gold in my mind. It was fast moving in the start, but then it got dull and the humor was sort of flat. So, not my favorite Pixar film, but Ellen is still grand. Ice Age 5 was predictable, but still cute. They have a good formula for those films. Derrick laughed at one point so loud he had to cover his mouth for several breathes! Our favorite, BY FAR, was “Central Intelligence,” with Kevin Hart and The Rock! Surely rated R, but it was action packed humor and seeing the Rock as THE DORK was a riot! We have dubbed we are going to buy it the DAY it comes out! That’s rare for us. We were rolling the whole time in our seats! So good!
I really wanted to see “B.F.G,” but it never came to my town. 🙁 I thought that “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” looked funny, but I think I mostly want to see it for I love Zac Efron! I’m SO bummed “Me Before You,” never came to my town either! GRRR! I know Derrick, my brother, and dad will die to see the new “Star Trek” film, and I will be taking him to the remake of “Pete’s Dragon,” since that was one of his favorite films as a boy. ^_^
=Country Days, my town’s annual summer fair, was the first weekend in June. We went with our besties, Evan, Brown, and Tabby. Derrick and I had some good potato twisters with cheese and Evan got to eat beef for the last time in a while (I will explain that below). There sadly were no rides we wanted to get on, but there were a lot of games! Derrick and Evan won me a silver, deformed tiger plush, a red star balloon that I still have, a blue bear, and a blue hedgehog. The games were great (and pricey). It is always wonderful to be with my friends and see others from my town in a fun way. The highlight, however, was when Evan played the Win a Fish game. The goal is to buy so many Ping-Pong balls and if one gets inside an empty fish bowl in the middle, it earns you a fish. Evan and Derrick got 50 each (they always like to compete at this game). Evan asked the young worker if there were any rules for how to throw the balls. She said no and barely turned her back before he threw the WHOLE CONTAINER OF THEM AT ONCE! o.0 The worker ducked, her eyes alarmed, as the older one by the fish tank sighed. But, Evan won 4 fish that way! HA! =D Tabby got them for her fish tank! It was the best!
= I have had a few doctor’s appointments in May and June. I had to have a HIDA and ultrasound to check my gallbladder. The results were mostly on the normal range. I still need to have an official conference with the specialist about it, but that was good to hear. Although, I was there for three hours, for two having to have them inject radioactive dye into my veins and I had to lay still for 65 minutes, only able to barely move my head and feet. And the bed was super thin, so I had to good place for my arms! >.< I tried to fall asleep a few times, but every time I was almost there, they would open the metal door to check on me. *sighs*
On the next day, June 23rd, I had my first experience of going under, a scope, again, to check for anything abnormal in my hernia or digestive track. I was really nervous and hated how much I had to pay upfront, but the staff was super kind (one of them a classmate I have known since Intermediate school). Derrick and dad were good, waiting in the lobby for me and mom and grandma kept checking on me once I got home. I know when they finally rolled me back and prepped me, I giggled my nerves as they put the mask on me. I rolled on my side like told, and then, someone was shaking my shoulder lightly! That’s all I recall! 0.o I did feel very refreshed afterwards and downed some apple juice. I did dream though, of Pokémon battles, in the style of the handheld games! HA! Again, my results were good/normal. I DO, however, thanks to blood work, have a blood condition that means I am prone to blood clots, BUT, from my mom, I also have a rare for girls bleeding disorder meaning it is very hard for me to clot at times! >.< My blood is so confused…or bipolar… -_-;;
So, Evan! Evan had to have his gallbladder out a few weeks before all my testing. He has had issues with is for a while, but he randomly had gallstones at work and he almost passed out from pain! Luckily, he works at the front desk of the ER. He had it taken out the next week. I came and waited for him with his parents and grandma. I know he was really queasy after he woke up and super hot. My hands were icy from the chilly hallway. He grabbed them and put them on his face, sighing in relief and then yanking me downward to get in the bed with him! HA! You can tell we have been best friends for too long because his parents did not bat an eye. I got him a large sea turtle plushie at the gift shop to make him feel better, because he likes Crush from “Finding Nemo.” Derrick and I checked on him at his house two days later and hung out with him a while. After my scope, he did get me a hamburger telephone like our beloved movie, Juno! =D Bestie achievement unlocked!
= Our June Pokémon Event was a blast! We had a really good turn-out, lots of new friends mixed with our regulars, and all in different ages! We also got to welcome a new Poke Crew member: Mr. Anthony. Anthony and his oldest son have been coming to our events for a while and we were co-workers for two years at FMS. He’s a cool guy and it was intense match, but his Dragonite half art had a special ability that gave him the win he totally earned! I love how glorious my battles are! ^_^ He was pumped that he won and wore his lucky crown the rest of the event. He has now joined our ranks as an official Poke Crew member! =)
August 13th will be our big end of summer event: “The Professors are Taking you Back to School Event!” We are all dressing up as Pokémon Professors or looking super smart sharp, named after trees to keep with the professor theme. 😉 Julie is making her famous peanut pies and chocolate chip cookies for treats. We will have random quiz questions that the Crew has to ask their opponents when I honk my horn and the trainer who gets the most points gets a prize. We will have some raffles, one being a homemade Pokémon plushie by our own Annihilator, and Julie is making an epic poster of all the in-game professors! The Crew will be hanging out afterwards. We will need it! 😉
=On July 3rd, Tabby, Alesha, Derrick, Nathan C (Fabio), later Evan, and I all went to my in-laws (Derrick and Nathan’s parents) to have another great BBQ, this time for Fourth of July, drown the heat out with ridged ruffles and ranch dip before the meat was served! We played a new card game that Brown (who had to work all night at his new job) bought, a game like Cards Against Humanity, but made from the beloved Rooster Teeth (the creators of R.W.B.Y), so, yeah, it is 18+ in content. You point is that one person is the judge and all the topics start with, “For a million dollars, ____________, but ____________ happens.” Such as, For a million dollars, every time I hear a horn honk, I have to pee my pants in public.” The judge picks which one is the WORST, the one they FOR SURE would never do for a million dollars. That person wins. From there, the person with either three or five wins is the winner. It was really fun! ^_^
We also, between Derrick and Nathan C, had lots of fireworks (Derrick and I went shopping for fountains and large sparklers and such. I also got a large sky lantern that ascended forever). We only had one small fountain fall over and zig sparks in different directions, one above us and one by the tree. Tabby grabbed me by instinct to calm me down. I’m such a whip! Nothing was hurt. Evan and I were goofing with his umbrella too since it rained a lot before we went out when it was dusk. It is always fun to spend the fourth with family and our friends! I hope we can keep this tradition forever. ^_^
=So, you know people will do anything for their best friends, no matter how insane? Well, I got to have one of those experiences a few Saturdays ago. My buddy Andrew AKA Deadpool (he is also the inspiration for the character Drew, in “Spirit Vision 2: New Beginnings.”), called me up while I was teaching at College for Kids. I called him back later and I thought he wanted to go shopping. He really loves to bring out his Deadpool character with random props that make people laugh, such as my pink cupcake apron, a tutu, a suit and cane, and such. I was able to go help a bit Saturday, his day off. Well, I went to his apartment and asked how I could help as we munched on D.Q. He informed me that he didn’t need me to help him shop, like I first thought (although he did want to borrow some props still). No, he wanted to help me get the fuzzies out of his Deadpool costume and since is it is made of an pricey print material, there was only one way to do it…
I had to catch my friend on fire! 0.o
NO. JOKE! So, for 40 minutes, I had to take those portable fire starters that I use to light candles with at church, make sure the blue part of the flake hits the material (which is hard to do), do it is swift motions, and wait 2 long seconds before brushing it off. We got a good chuck of the fuzzies off, considering how many stunts Andrew has done in that costume for his fans! Not a way I ever would have spent a few hours with my pal! >.< But, it went decently, except for one thing…
When Andrew had to get the fuzzies off of the…between the legs region of his costumes, I had to sit super close to him, let him put his long legs on mine for a footstool as I turned away so he could do his business. I was odd to say the least, but then, I heard a blood curling scream. I panicked, thinking he burned a very sensitive spot, but instead, I was graced with a hole the size of a dime or so between his legs. Yes, my buddy BURNT his crotch! Luckily, it was only the material, but he burnt even the thread attached to it away. We just stared at each other, not sure to laugh or pass out from the weirdness!
Well, we had to call Tabby to see if she could mend it on top of asking if she could sew a lose button and had red markers to cover up a white stain under the nostril part of his Deadpool mask. That was the hardest message I ever tried to leave on a voicemail because I was trying to stay calm and casual, but between me catching my breath awkwardly and Andrew screaming, “I burnt my crotch!” in an array of humorous voices, I was winning the gold medal in failing. While we waited for Tabby, we watched Animatics on Netflix, Andrew now getting me back into it and discussed Pokémon Go. Tabby was able to fix everything and we even went to my place for a bit so he could try on some of my attire to help with his host character for the Pokémon Quiz Show for Max-Con. What. A. Day! xD
=My mother-in-law Jolleen was fantastic and got me a new phone last week, an I-Phone 6, with a pink Lifeproof case. We now have unlimited data too. I was so grateful! They were also having a sale on a mini 8 inch tablet, so Derrick got us one, saying he’s always wanted one, but it was ours to share so I could do edits on them. I have three times so far and it’s pretty nifty noodles and handy since we have to share my desktop. She also took us out to a super yummy LATE lunch at Applebees across the parking lot. I am so lucky!
I do have Pokémon Go now since this phone could allow me to update apps (long story). I am now on level 11, have walked 42.9 where I leave it on to track me, hatched 15 eggs, and have 53 Pokémon so far, all of this in 11 days. Not horrible, I guess, but I also do not want to be obsessed with it. There are two Pokestops and a gym not too far from us. My students and random people who see my Pokémon purse from Cosplacon now think I am the bee’s knees because of Pokémon Go, just coming up to give my tips and shoot the Tatros about it. My mom wants to get into it for walking and my writing girls and I want to have a Pokémon Go Walk soon (we are all different teams and all only chose them because our husbands were threatening us, lol!) It is fun and I cannot wait for more updates AND SUN AND MOON! THE TRAILERS! So much is going down that I brain cannot process! >.<
I left my Team banner below for Pokémon Go. 😉
=I got to hang out with my good friends Yessenia, Joe, and their baby Joey, Yessenia awesome giving me some cute clothes she didn’t want anymore. Joey is SO precious! I taught him how give a raspberries by doing it over and over in his face and making him giggle between them with faces. Yessenia said she tried to get him to do that for two months! HA! Also, our organist at church (which is a Poke Stop and proud of it, ha! How I love thee!), her wonderful husband, and their four kiddos treated me to dinner at Colton’s two Sundays ago. I was so blessed and it was wonderful to be surrounded by kind friends and three amazing little ones and a darling, sleepy baby. ^_^ They kept calling it “The Peanut Place” and wanted noodles. I may have been kissed twice on my forearm…and had my hand licked a few times. Oh, precious children! ^_^
I got to hang out with mom and Miles a few times too this summer. Once, we went antiquing and mom bought me basically a three week wardrobe for school and two stuffed animals for my classroom all at Goodwill. We had such a good time, going to Pasta House afterwards before she had to take a nap for an extra work shift that night. I got to be with my wonderful grandma too last Sunday. We listened to some recordings of me, Miles, and baby Colton growing up (I was eight) and I was acting like I was a little book worm, saying there were 30 letters in the Russian language (I was in an Anastasia/Russian high that year thanks to the Anastasia animated film. Actually, it’s never gone away…) and singing four songs about the planets that were for my second grade concert. I even recalled the chorus to one of them as we listened. Derrick found it all assuming while playing with Gerogie, my mom’s hyper dog. Next time, Grandma wants to show me a VHS tape of me in PRE-SCHOOL! Oh boy…
I DO get to see Ms. Mahan this coming Sunday. We are going to lunch at Pizza Hut so I can tell her all about my new job. I hope to see some other co-workers soon after school starts. OH! I also had another sewing day on my cosplay with Tabby in late May. I just have to get some final details done for my first homemade cosplay and then I’m done. It does NOT look good by any means, but at least the materials were cute and I learned a lot from Tabby-sensei. It was a lot of hard work!
Socks is also doing well! She’s been sleeping by my side of the bed for a while now, against my Sunday school bag and clipboard. I read cats who like to sleep by their masters really love them. =^_^= I can’t believe she’s two now. She’s as adorable and playful as ever, but can be a stinker. I did find her toy mouse in her food one day and she did scratch my arm badly another time this last week because she had a random freak-out. But, other than that, she’s my baby girl and I love her so much! We’d be lost without her and everyone else thinks she’s so darling. I also know plushie Socks is ready to get her claws to be in her new Black cat classroom! 😉
Well peeps, it’s time to sign off. Next update will be about the start of my school year, Derrick’s birthday, Max-Con 2016, and “Spirit Vision 3.” And cheese! I have to include the cheese! 😀 Jump in a pool of ranch dip, hatch those Pokémon eggs, and give summer a high-five! Ado!