#Notdead || 2016 Roundup

Hello, people of the internet! 

You are all so awesome to have not abandoned this blog, even though the blogger did. You are good, kind people, and I love you all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, by the way! How did you all spend it?

I shall be considerably better at blogging from now on, I have been quite literally run off my feet with socializing over December.

ANYWAY, it's time for my annual end-of-the-year tag, and it's gonna be fun!

1.) What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?

     2016 was actually a whole year of firsts for me. I flew by myself, I went to Front Sight, I bought a gun, I went on a boat, I cut my hair, I went mini-golfing....

Crazy year. lol.

 2.) Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make one this year?

    Pshaw.

3.) Did anyone close to you give birth?

      My sister did, and I held that baby when he was two hours old and it was freaking amazing.

4.) Did anyone close to you die?

      No, not really. I've been really blessed.

5.) What countries/states did you visit?

      WELL I went further into Nevada than usual. (For Front Sight, and it was awesome.) And I stayed with my sister and her family in Montana for a few weeks and it was a gift.

6.) What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?

      A sense of self-worth.

      KIDDING. Gosh! Ehm... a Glock 43 maybe. 

7.) What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory? 

      December 23rd, cause reasons.

8.) Did you move anywhere?

9.) What was your biggest achievement of the year?

      I'm not a terrible shot anymore. *high fives*

10.) What was your biggest failure?

        Ehehe... life?

11.) Did you suffer illness or injury?

       I didn't, nope.

12.) What was the best thing you bought?

        My gun.

13.) Whose behavior merited celebration?

        My mom is amazing.

14.) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

        Some person. Said person has a tendency of leaving me appalled and depressed. 

15.) Where did most of your money go?

        Rent? Art supplies. Movie tickets. Christmas. Gun related things.

16.) What did you get really, really, really excited about?

        Holding my sister's baby. Front Sight. This one person...

17.) What was the best concert you’ve been to this year?

        I didn't?

18.) What song/album will always remind you of 2016?

        Better Place by Rachel Platten for the song, and then probably Ghost the Musical for the album.

19.) Compared to this time last year, are you:

        Happier. I'm a happy little cookie at the moment.

     

20.) What do you wish you’d done more of?

        Praying, I think. And drawing.

21.) What do you wish you’d done less of?

        Stress. Haha, I think that's the same answer every year.

22.) What was your greatest musical discovery?

        Erhm. Probably Ghost the Musical? Rachel Platten's Superman.

23.) How did you spend Christmas?

       With friends and family and my adorkable neices. 

24.) How did you/are you spending New Year’s?

       Okay, this was one of the best New Year's I've celebrated in a while. We were having a Lord of the Rings marathon with Sammi, and so we watched RoTK at her house on New Year's Eve, and it finished at like 4 minutes to midnight... (I know, the timing was perfection.)

So we poured champagne, counted down to the New Year, hooted on noise makers, and popped poppers.

I did some fancy relationship changing on facebook and it was really really awesome. 

25.) Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?

        Gina, cause we pals.

        But she's being outed by someone else. We talked for longer than I care to admit, thank you very much.

26.) What was the best book you read?

        The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud

27.) Did you fall in love in 2016?

      

28.) What was your favorite TV show?

        Probably Hawaii Five-0, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and recently Lethal Weapon. 

29.) Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

       Hate's such a strong word... lol. I do have a couple people that make me just...

30.) What did you want and get?

        I'm getting a little embarrassed at how many time my gun is my answer on these things.

        ALSO MY STUFFED BAYMAX PLUSH, LIKE YES, HI... AWESOME.

31.) What did you want and not get?

        I don't really want a whole lot of stuff. I'm pretty content. 

32.) What were your favorite films of this year?

        Captain America: Civil War and Magnificent Seven.

33.) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

        I... worked. And then my entire family, and several friends of the family came over to my tiny apartment and we had cake and coffee and watched Jurassic World because Chris Pratt acts just like my brother-in-law.

I'm 21 years old.

34.) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?

       It's called classy-cas..? I dunno, I just threw that out there. There were many maxi skirts.

35.) What kept you sane?

        Um. God. And my family and Sammi, and also TV shows.

36.) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

        Gianluca Ginoble has the most magnificent voice, my people.

37.) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

        ..... I don't know?

38.) What political issue stirred you the most?

        The Presidential Election. That was stressful. Dang.

39.) Who did you miss?

       My sisters, Sammi, and Charlie.

40.) Who was the best new person you met?

        Charlie.

41.) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.

        

42.) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

        "I'll tell the world, I'll sing a song: It's a better place since you came along."(Better Place, by Rachel Platten.)

         And then probably, "You crossed the line too many times, I'm gonna put you in your place. You play with dynamite don't be surprised when I blow up in your face." (Done, by the Band Perry.)

       

43.) Five personally significant events of 2016:

       1. Art.

       2. Bought a Glock.

       3. Visiting my fantastic sister, and fantastic brother-in-law, and their fantastic kids.

       4. Found myself this cupcake of a lad. He's awful dear.

       5. Went to Front Sight.

44.) Five things I want to do in 2017:

        1. Art.

        2. Visit my sisters.

        3. Visit the boyguy. (Inside joke, sorry.)

        4. Get my concealed carry license.

        5. Front Sight

45.) Five people I’d like to know better in 2017:

        This question kills me every year. I can't figure out how to answer it because there are never five people that I actually want to get to know. At the moment, there's only one. 

 And that, my dears, sums up my 2016. 

2016 was simultaneously one of the best and worst years of my life. It started out great, sucked big time* over the summer, and then got better again. 

*I mean. BIG TIME. 

But so far, no year has managed to top 2012 for absolute suckiness so hurray!

I'm looking forward to 2017, it might actually be an awesome year. 

Alright everyone!

Question Time!

Best gif usage?

What did you do for New Year's?

Can you answer at least three of the tag questions for me? I'm interested!

You can expect a Picture Saturday for the first time in freaking ages. 

I love you all!

And here's to 2017! I hope it's wonderful for all of you. 

 

Life Update || All the new things!

Wherein Treskie actually wrote the life post she's been saying she was going to do for months...

Hey guys! And welcome to the not-very-frequent information dump about what happens to be going on in my somewhat dull existence.

Alrighty! So what's been going on since.. gosh the last time I updated was... I don't even remember. June? Well, buckle up, here we  go.

1.) Chloe turned into an Avatar because I bought The Last Airbender series and it made Chloe fangirl. It was adorable.

2.) Sometimes we go to the lake and watch the sunset, because why the heck not, our lake is wonderful.

3.) I BOUGHT A GUN!! And it's so pretty and black and it makes me happy. It's a Glock19, and I want to get to know it so I can actually say that I can shoot well. (We're probably going to go shooting on Sunday. I'm excited.)

4.) We went on a hike up Desolation Wilderness and it was gorgeous. It always amazes me how I can live here my whole life and still have my breath taken away by a view. Like wow, God is so good.

5.) I saw this sign while I was delivering flowers, and that's just a testimony of how contrary I am. Because I saw it, and my initial reaction was, "No! Don't tell me what to do!" (A friend of ours has taken to calling me 'Your Honor' because I'm so judgemental. I think it's accurate.)

6.) I went on a boat for the first time ever... which is weird, considering we live like five minutes away from the lake. But whatever... Let me just say: Holy goodness, that's one amazing ride, people.

7.) We walked around in Hope Valley, and it's so pretty there. I think I want to go again, now that the leaves have probably changed color. (Everything turns gold and it's amazing.)

8.) And finally!! I actually went through with it, and chopped my hair off! (I know, crazy, right?) 

Not gonna lie, I really, really like it. I'm absurdly pleased with myself for doing the thing. (Anyone who knows me or has followed my blog for any length of time, knows that I do not like trying new things. So getting my hair cut was a way bigger deal than it should have been.)

(Just so you know, I don't usually take this many selfies. BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PONYTAIL? I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A PONYTAIL THAT FLIPS LIKE THAT.)

That is the last selfie I'm going to post for a while, because I'm really not a selfie-just-to-selfie kind of girl. But yeah, I'm really happy with the hairstyle. I think it suits me so... yay.

9.) I'm currently feeling very sentimental about Roy Mustang. *Facepalm*

10.) And also about the Magnificent Seven because reasons.

Anyway!

It looks like we're going to take the gun class at Front Sight next month. (*Cue panicked screaming from the general area of Treskie*) Hopefully I will not have to go to jury duty, because that would suck, and I wouldn't be able to shoot things at Front Sight. So if you could maybe just say a quick prayer that I don't have to go, that would be wonderful. I have to check on Friday. (*Dies inside*)

Question time!

What's new with you guys?

Have you ever been on a boat?
Have you ever used a gun?

I love you all!

 

Let me tell you a thing.

Once upon a time, about 10-12 years ago, there was this really obnoxious girl.

I kind of super hated her.

My family was the only one by this big apartment complex, and because we had a pretty nice sized yard with a cool swing set, it wasn't uncommon for the kids living in the apartments to come over and play. (We'd have at least 15 to 20 kids over on a regular basis.) And seeing as I was the oldest girl playing in our yard, I was in charge.

I was the Queen Bee. The neighborhood was my turf. I owned the joint, see?

And then there was this girl. Her family moved up from LA into a house down the street from us, and since we were about the same age, our parents thought it would be a great idea for us to be friends. Well... we weren't; in fact, we took a pretty much instant dislike to each other.

She was used to being in charge, and I was also used to being in charge. So she'd come down to our house to "play," and she'd try to take over. She'd make up rules, she'd boss the apartment kids around, she thought she knew everything. Excuse me? That was my job! I made up the rules! I bossed people around! I knew everything! I was the queen bee! And this... this twerp was invading my kingdom!

We clashed all the time. Rules for baseball? Nah, didn't agree. Playing house? Um, there actually aren't rules to that game, okay? Running away from the Orphanage? (Yes, that's a very popular game for lots of little kids.) Yes, hello, hi, I GET TO BE THE EVIL ORPHANAGE LADY, OKAY? OKAY.

This rivalry went on for a good, oh I don't know, four or five years? We didn't fight constantly, but we definitely had strong opinions about how things should be run, and there was a certain cattiness when we disagreed. (We disagreed a lot.)

It was a hard-fought battle for supremacy.

Then when we were about twelve, both of our families started doing home remodels at the same time. We took out a wall, they added a bigger kitchen... You know how it is: exhausting, stressful, dust every-freaking-where. UGH.

Anyway, the same guy who was working on their house was working on ours. He was a jerk. He was unprofessional and rude, and had mood swings worse than a teenage girl. (Like, bro, get a grip.) So, he eventually ended up swindling both our families, he quit, threw a few tantrums, he called my mom some interesting names... (Like let me tell you, I almost hit him with a hammer, because NO ONE TALKS TO MY MOMMY LIKE THAT, CAPISCE?)

And that was when this obnoxious, bossy girl and I finally had something in common.

"You hate him!? I ALSO HATE HIM!"

Sammi and I have been best friends ever since.

Sammi is family.

She's my best pal, we've seen each other through thick and thin, from mutual hate of the handyman, to her being a solid brick wall of support when my family went through some killer hard times back in 2012.

From her dealing with my downright creepy obsession with Dean Winchester to her losing her dad to cancer a couple years ago.

We've seen each other through the best of times, to the worst of times, from when she won the Tahoe's Got Talent competition, (which is why she now has the nickname Liquid Velvet) to mutual emotional breakdowns over stress and personal issues.

I was there when she tried to use curlers to style her hair like the forties. (Which ultimately resulted in an afro)

She was there when I made the poor choice to be Rainbow Dash for Halloween, and ended up with a very orange head, and a very brown braid. (To which I repeat: Never. Again.)

But literally every time I needed her, she's been there, because that's just who she is.

Yesterday, she packed up her car and she headed off to college, and she's going to be eight hours away for quite a long time. She's studying to be a worship leader, and honestly, I couldn't be prouder.

She's off being all grown up and fabulous, and I'm like, "Ra ra ra! You can do it!"

But in the back of my mind I'm like, "Ugh, this is the longest time ever we've gone without seeing each other, how am I supposed to deal with this nonsense?"

Mostly, I'm proud of her.

That other 20% is already ready for her to come back.

Just feeling a little melancholy, and I do not want my best friend to be gone.

SO UGH. She's coming home for Thanksgiving, which I think is a good plan, because A.) I miss her, and B.) I miss her. Until then I intend to keep her occupied with texts and messages and snapchats, because I have a prescription grade need for attention.

When's Thanksgiving again? 

Treskie out.