Jovers

www.l2dragonwind.com turns four today.

It all started with Neopets. (I feel like every good story should start with that sentence.) My dear friend Chelsea, who I met in a guild, ran several of hew own websites. Through her I learned about HTML and CSS and running a website. I practiced on the pet pages and pet lookups. My interest began to grow and through Chelsea’s websites, I ran across some bloggers.

There were several that caught my interest and I began to follow them. I loved their style of writing, and how I instantly became interested in their lives and yet they were complete strangers. They expressed their emotion so easily and unashamedly, creating beautiful pieces of writing to share with the world.

I wanted that. I wanted to be able to share my thoughts and opinions other than on a piece of paper in a pink, glittery diary (which trust me, was not my scene). At first I thought that I couldn’t run my own website. I didn’t know anything about servers or domains or anything about anything. But I wanted a website. So I looked into some free-hosting sites and started my first website at the end of my 8th grade year (2008).

It really wasn’t much besides my angsty teenage thoughts and weird encounters with friends. Whatever site I used doesn’t exist anymore, of which I am fairly grateful. I’m not sure I would want to read some of the things I wrote about. But it was a start.

I went through several different phases after that. I quit for a time, I continued for a time. I switched websites, from other free-hosting websites to subdomains. I blogged sporadically, finding inspiration one day and then the next I would run completely dry. After years of blogging on and off, having to switch content from site to site, I realized I needed something permanent. I needed something that was completely mine, and I found it here.

I still go through periods where I don’t blog often – but I know that it’s here, and I know that it’s mine. I always have somewhere to go when I need to just think. When I need to write.

Some days I feel like I’ve spent my whole life blogging, and other days I feel like I just started yesterday. It’s weird, thinking that this blog has seen me graduate, buy my first car, meet my boyfriend, and get engaged. It’s seen many of the good times and many of the bad times. I’m not sure if I’ve inspired or motivated anyone like those first bloggers that I followed, and I know that most days my writing isn’t beautiful pieces of art, but I’m grateful all the same for the site that I’ve established and the many friendships I’ve created. <3

This past week I’ve been feeling a bit down. I restricted my availability for my first job to make room for my second job, but I didn’t get put on the schedule yet, so I’ve had the last four days off, which has left me entirely too much time to think. And when I think too much I usually get a bit depressed. I hadn’t really done anything productive with my time – I didn’t have much homework and didn’t particularly feel like doing much of anything.

This morning I woke up and remembered I was having a good friend – my old roommate – over for lunch and my apartment was a mess. So, I pushed my sleeves up and got to work.

I’ve gotten into the habit of listening to audiobooks on my Kindle. I like to get them online from the library and I can have them for up to three weeks, so it gives me plenty of time to listen to them. So with The Necromancer by Michael Scott playing in the background (the series has been a bit mediocre, honestly), I started to clean.

Normally I would say that I really dislike cleaning, but there are certain days where I really enjoy it. I like scrubbing the dirt away, having everything put away, everything right where it belongs. I took out the trash and did the dishes. I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and then I vacuumed. I threw out a bunch of junk I just had lying around and I cleaned out the fridge.

Since I’m a bit short on money with not working as much as I usually do, I’m trying a bit of an experiment by trying to eat as much of what I have on hand before going to the grocery store. So far, I haven’t had to get very creative yet. I’ve just been eating unusually healthy because I have so many darn frozen vegetables in my freezer! I also have a bunch of random Hamburger Helper boxes that I bought but am now scared to try. I tried the orange chicken and so far I am 0-1. I should know better than to buy boxed Chinese food.

I then remembered I needed to pay rent and put together a scholarship application for my church that is due soon, so I took care of that and some other paperwork stuff I’ve been putting off, when I remembered I was supposed to meet my friend an hour ago. For some reason, ~~most likely ’cause I’m lazy,~~ I just assumed that we were meeting at my apartment. But naturally as I went through my text messages, we were supposed to meet up at school for lunch. And I had already eaten.

I called her and apologized – I can be such a flake when it comes to meeting people and I genuinely feel bad. She was on her way by so she stopped by and we just chatted. I made some coffee and we giggled over boys and wedding plans, just like we used to do when we lived together the last couple of years. I miss seeing her as much.

Me and Andrew have been planning for probably the last month to watch the movie Castaway and every time our plans change, usually because of his roommate. Not that we mind, it’s just a bit of a running joke. So Andrew invited me over saying, “Let’s watch Castaway. And by that I mean let’s plan to watch Castaway and not watch it.”

And like always, that’s what happened. His roommate and friend were going to Dave & Buster’s, which is basically an arcade for grown-ups. We had dinner there and then went around playing all of the games. Andrew and his roommate were really good while me and the other girl just pretty much sucked. But it was a lot of fun, and Andrew won me the fluffy unicorn from Despicable Me so I was pretty happy.

It really is SO FLUFFY.

My Four-Year-Old Baby

Magical Fluffy Unicorns Make Me Happy