Eyy guys! With the month settling down and the school semester starting, I'm officially returning to full time work. I'm only taking one class this semester, so the other days of the week will be used for commissions and, if I can get join.me to work smoothly, digital art streams! I unfortunately still cannot begin my traditional art streams again yet, as I'm still stuck to my brother's laptop. Neither my PC or laptop are fixed or in working condition, so I'll be restricted to this set up for an indeterminate amount of time. Luckily I can scan things in just fine, and we'll see about digital art soon.

My birthday was earlier this moth, August 15th, and I have to say... It wasn't a bad one at all! I turned 26, which is still surreal as I never felt older than 20. I was able to see a good deal of my closest friends throughout this month, who all made an effort to spend time with me, even if they had no money. Animefest in Dallas happened over my birthday, which... eh. Over the years I've come to realize I don't really enjoy going to a convention on my birthday. So I didn't. But two days before, I did drive to Dallas to see one friend who was down for the con, and we literally just chilled in the hotel room and talked shit and spent hours on makeup. She let me do hers, I took forever on mine, and then we took a million pictures. That was it. That was the day. It was fucking fantastic, as I rarely get to do my cosplay makeup full out now that I'm almost always selling behind a table at cons.

On my actual birthday, we got rained out on zoo plans, but my roommate/best friend and another sweet friend from Way The Fuck Up North and I went to a pretty sweet aquarium about 45 minutes away. Took another million photos. Filled up my phone memory entirely lol. They bought me lunch and I got to spaz out over fish and it was really fuckin nice because I got to just do my thing with no judgement or feeling like I was forcing them along. Fish are really kind of a "me" thing, I guess, and I'm usually very sensitive to others seeming bored or impatient to "get it over with" when they're with me. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and that meant a lot.

About a week later, another friend came down from out of state and treated me to a trip to The Dallas World Aquarium, and HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS. It's not so much an aquarium, and not so much a zoo... But kind of like a multi layered ecosystem? The number of plants and trees in that place was mind blowing. You got to see every part in layers: The birds up in the trees, the mammals and reptiles on the ground, the fish on the surface of the waters and in separate tanks, and finally the fish underneath ALL that. You saw every exhibit from two or three angles. The shark tunnel was a fucking spiritual experience. We stayed until close, so just before close they'd begun feeding all the animals and the sharks went crazy. The waters were so dark, and then suddenly a HUGE sawtooth shark would come out of nowhere. I had to delete a ton of photos on my phone just to make room for a million more. I often feel a bit rushed through zoos, and I feel guilty meandering or staring at one exhibit too long. This friend is a photographer, though, so I got to take my damned time and even go back and revisit exhibits twice. Afterwards she bought me my first In-N-Out burger, which was pretty damn delicious actually?

I also got a free meal one day this month when my parents took my brother out for his birthday (his is 4 days after mine), and I'd gotten a home cooked one from my mom on my own. I mean I even got a cake with candles on it. I can't remember the last time I had candles on a cake. I feel so spoiled.

The thing is, my birthday is a very personal day to me. It's a bit selfish, but I've always wanted my friends to pay attention to me and make an effort to show me they care on that day. This doesn't mean they have to go and buy me lots of shit, but just making an effort to see me in person or call me or tell me they love me means a lot. And I get that people have lives and are busy. But so many of my friends and family went so far out of their way to make me feel special and included this year. I'm so damned blessed, you guys. Depression and anxiety might try to tell me otherwise, but I'm so damned blessed. I haven't felt this loved around my birthday since I was 18.