Journal Entry:
Mon Dec 24, 2012, 2:41 AM
First off! Merry holidays, everyone! No matter what you believe and or celebrate, have a good one!
Now.... STORY TIIIIME (feel free to skip this journal, peeps, it has nothing to do with art.) Also, uh, it's late--there will be errors in my spelling and grammar. Forgive me.
Most people who know me know that I love telling stories--if I was born years ago, I would aspire to be a bard. I enjoy talking with my hands, using sound affects, and reenacting what I can, so writing out my stories always seem to be a bit difficult. I just can't get the same 'voice'.... Off topic, it's no wonder why I love creating comics. Storytelling, okay? Passion.
Alright, Alright, story time. This weekend had some good adventures in it, so why not share them? It had basically everything--the good, the bad, and the ugly. It started out with a five hour drive through rain, fog, and snow and escalated pretty quickly. You see, nobody in my family is really comfortable with driving--we can do it, but we don't enjoy it. So driving through a snow storm at 9 at night on a winding mountain road that happens to be beside a roaring river isn't exactly our strong suit... wait, back it up. Lemme back it up.
Every Christmas (or at least the past three), my brother, his girlfriend, and I make a five hour trek from our homely little town to a nice, faraway little condo (we get it for free from my uncle) to see my dad and his girlfriend. The condo is in Leavenworth, it's... an interesting town. It's sort of gaudy and tries very hard to be Swedish.... or something. I do have to admit that it's absolutely gorgeous during the winter--it's known as the Christmas town for its bright lights, evergreens, and non-stop snow.
Damn that snow.
We're not good at driving in snow. But, hey! We made it. We're alive for now. We arrived at the condo--which is at the tippy top of a mountain, about forty minutes (an hour in the snow) or so above Leavenworth. We were greeted by my father and his girlfriend (both perfectly fine with driving in the snow. Canadians. They got this down to science.) though the two of them quickly went to bed.
The internet was down because of the heavy amount of snow the mountain was receiving, so my brother, his girlfriend, and I decided to have fun playing zombie video games--then around three minutes after midnight the power went out.
Of course, may I remind you that this happened on 12/21/12, and all through the day we were making apocalypse jokes. Of course the power had to go out at midnight. Only slight creepy, but we enjoyed the night none-the-less.
Soon enough we were tired and we all got ready for bed. Though, uh, my bed was a couch with two blankets and no heat, needless to say it got a bit cold. But JESUS, why am I complaining? No, seriously, it's not that bad--it was a pretty comfy couch and I had some bomb pajamas.
GLERGH, moving on, look at me rant--is anyone still around to read this? BITCH TITS AND MONKEY FARTS. Energized? Okay, let's go on--because this is when it gets interesting.
It was probably ten in the morning, and because I was still having problems trying to sleep I was listening to some soothing i-pod tunes (God, I am so spoiled. I really, really am. I apologize, glargh, I'm sorry, gah, I must sound like the average American teenager argh), wheeeen suddenly I heard a very clear, loud knock. I almost thought it was my father trying to wake me up, but nyet! The front door. I heard my father answer and a man with a burly, harsh voice begin to speak.
He demanded we get leave the condo and that it was too dangerous to stay. There was such heavy snow that those tall, evergreen trees were dropping like flies and that the pass--the only way to get in or out of that mountain--was soon to be closed. We later found at that a family has been injured (one or two killed) from a tree falling on their vehicle.
Sooo, we were evacuated. Would you believe me if I said this is the second time this year? Ahahah... haha.... It gets better. Did I mention we were nearly out of gas? Our car--my mother's--was nearly on empty, we knew we could make it to the gas station a few miles out, though we had no idea if it was even in service.
Turns out it wasn't. People who had the same idea as us were out of luck as well, and we prayed for our car to make it to Leavenworth. Please remember, this was 12/22/12 now--and I was only slightly worried about a... I don't know, zombie apocalypse.
Let me fast forward a bit--I don't want to be too uninteresting, though if you've read this far--bless your soul, I don't know how you made it--COG FLOCKERS. Awake? Okay, let's move on.
We spent most the day in Leavenworth. We decided to do Secret Santa with our group--though that's hard with five people, seeing as it's easy to guess who everyone has--but dammit, we had a lot of fun. Because CHRISTMAS, okay? Fucking awesome. I mean, if you celebrate something else or don't, that's really awesome, too.
BAM, we were no longer staying at the serene condo in Leavenworth, but we found a cheap Hotel 8 in Wenatchee. Ah, Wenatchee... Many a jokes to be had about such a... erm... quaint place. There's nothing really to do--and if you want to do something, it won't be open for you. It's like the town has some sort of loathing toward all its visitors, it senses your need for fun then automatically takes your entertainment, shits on it, then eats it like a possessed Satan-dog. Wenatchee. Fucking Wenatchee.
But goddammit, we were going to celebrate Christmas. And I was fucking stoked that I got to sleep on a bed.
Marlene, Serenity (my brother's girlfriend), and I decorated a lamp as our Christmas tree. We made a string of popcorn to cover it, put some cut-out stars on that fucker, and taped some Christmas 'lights' mad out of cupcake containers to it. Don't ask why we had all that. You'll get no answer. But after, we put wrapped our Secret Santa gifts and put them around the tree. It was awesome--and I really hope none of you see that as sarcasm, because I really did have a good time.
Weeeell, we were going to open those presents that night, but, uh, one of the members of our party got hammered and was not able to participate. I think that was the only downer of this weekend. See, I really hate booze, no--I don't mind booze, I'll drink a little, I don't mind if you drink a little, I just hate drunks. Especially when they act out, but we'll skip over that, eh?
It's time for Sunday morning, which we considered our Christmas day (12/23/12). The story is nearly finished, I'll make sure to go fast. Nobody must be reading, I'm seriously no writer. COCONUT BUTTS. Okay, let's go on.
'Christmas' morning was fun. There were delicious mimosas. We opened presents, we ate chocolate, we took pictures, then we plotted for what we'd do for the day. We ended up seeing the Hobbit (FUCK yes, alright? Just fuck yes.) and eating some damn fine burritos. Damn fine.
By the time we got back to the hotel, it was 7. NOW the last step of the story. I wonder if I've lost watchers from this long journal entry >.>
THE HUMBLING. If this was a chapter I would call it that, because somehow we started talking about crazy shit.
None of you know my father and Marlene, but if you had to know one thing.... their lives are cray cray. Forever cray cray. They have experienced more in their fifty years than most in a 100--and hearing their stories will always blow my mind and make me regret ever complaining about, well, anything.
As an example, if I was to complain about....say, sleeping on a leather couch, my dad could retort "FUCK YOU I LIVED IN AN ABANDONED TRAIN WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN." Ya know, except he would say it all quiet-like and without the cursing... and probably a little more drunkily. That's not a word. Whatever, it's late, I'm rambling, I'm not replacing the word.
Well, eventually we got Marlene to tell us about some stories, and, well, shit... ya know? The stuff we take for granted...
She told us about when she used to work in Africa, and the horrible things she seen there. Ya know, newborns who had their hands and feet cut off by rebels--ya know the movie Blood Diamond? Yeah. It's worse than that. She met a woman who was forced to choose and kill one of her children to save her other five children--a real-life Sophie's Choice.
Mar then told us about when she used to take foster children--and in all, she's had over 23 kids she's taken care of. Her brother had a two week old (he's now two-ish years old).... and, okay, two weeks old. TWO WEEKS. He was placed into her brother's care after this baby was burned with cigarettes and raped. The parents of this infant wanted custody after that, too. They weren't put under arrest. Nothing. They were still allowed to visit this child that they did this to. Just... holy shit, okay? There's no way to wrap your mind around it, and at this point Mar was crying, and she had every right to.
Okay... Let me just see if I can find a point to this journal. I'm not Charles Dickens, I don't think I can make a valuable point to a story--especially if it comes from real life. Sometimes there isn't a point. I guess, though... Hm. Suddenly the bad drive, the evacuation, my drunken dad--it's nothing. It doesn't matter, and I mean... all those bad times aren't really that bad. It's nothing to focus on, I shouldn't dwell on my little boo-hoos because that's what they are. Little.
I'll still get upset. I'll still whine. That's normal, even if I was rich I would find something to complain about--and sometimes we need to complain--and that's fine! But wasting my life on it is pointless. There's so much worst. I could be starving in a gutter and there's something worse than that. Be thankful for those little things--even if those little things are really fucking miniscule. Be thankful for the good foster parents and that guy who knocks on your door to tell you to get the fuck out of your uncle's condo.
I mean, we've all heard it before from movies, commercials, books--"be thankful for the little things" it's not new... but maybe I've just heard it so many times that it's turned into white noise... but it isn't tonight, and I hope it won't be tomorrow or the next day, or months after that.
Okay, you guys.... for whoever finished this, you should get a medal. You're a winner! It's 2:30am right now, and who knows if this was written well or like complete shit. It's been a long, emotional weekend, one I'm thankful for, but I also have a long trip tomorrow (and even though I've learned some lessons tonight, that won't stop us from having a heart attack while trying to drive tomorrow--and when I say 'we', I mean my brother and Serenity--I'll be riding bitch like a happy little girl)
Happy holidays, guys! I'll be celebrating Christmas with my mom tomorrow, and hopefully drawing out some comics for some updates. I wonder if I'll delete this journal some day.
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Listening to: Pyrodrifter
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Watching: Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century
Woooork Loooad
it's gonna be fun, I swear.
Sta.sh
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