Arizona Vacation, Cakeverse Trope and Writing

By the time you read this, I will be enjoying Arizona at the Glendale Commune. Ann has so much planned, including going to theater shows, getting massages, and having pool parties. That will be a blast. I did promise I would shave since she isn't hip to my hippy lifestyle. 

I should be getting ready. I have birthday cards to sign. I have bags to pack (dresses and shorts because it's hot in Arizona). Ann and Lucile want my Marvel puzzle, so I need to make sure I bring it.

I just spoke with Sue, and two people from her commune are going out of state, so she said she would take Emory to go pick up her wines. I almost thought she said they would stop in Solvang, but she said they would stop in Oxnard. I think they'll have a really good time too. 

I do feel guilty leaving Emory, but everyone says it's good for us. I don't know. He's my ride or die.  

I just found out that there is a new trope called Cakeverse. I even skimmed to see what stories were made with this hashtag. I don't think I'll be reading anything in this universe. I get a little squeamish with cannibalism. I can't really do zombie stories anymore and vampires.... But I might still write vampire stories, and who knows? NEVER say NEVER, right?

Writing Update:

F.C: I want to bring in someone to tease and elicit jealousy in my lead character. I am toying with the idea. I don't want to be too obvious, but when I read stories with a rival, it's always fun, so yeah, it might be good. I'm writing this from only one person's point of view.

C: Working on chapter 12 now. I had my huge fight scene, and now I'm working on the fix-it portion of the story. This might be easy sailing from here.

Fear Regulation, AZ Buddies and Writing

 Well, I have officially seen all the horror movie options on Tubi. I even tried watching the ones that were... well... harder to watch. I do have a squeamish side.

That said, there is a new horror movie coming out called "The Fairest of Them All." I really like the premise, and the preview on YouTube made it look decent. It's about princesses being kidnapped by the Mad Hatter and forced to battle it out for survival. Crazy concept, and I'm here for the chaos. How do you have a "final girl" when you're part of the problem? This should be good. 

I do like practicing fear regulation in a safe environment. 💕 

I also sometimes feel so emotionally exhausted at the end of my day, so maybe this sort of spikes my emotions... Dude, I don't know if I can really psycho-analyze myself properly.

That said! I'm going to Arizona to visit my commune buddies! I'll be out for a few days, and Ann has me booked! So do Steven and Jeffrey. It's going to be so much fun. I'm nervous to get on the plane, though, with planes having so many issues. 

Speaking of Arizona, I heard the weather is already in the 100s. I was told to bring summer clothes... but I think even summer clothing is going to be hot, so I'm going to bring dresses. I'm used to the California weather being so mild. It was in the 90s a couple of days ago, and I thought I was going to die. I can't imagine AZ being very pleasant right now.

Emory got me a new phone! It's a little strange having to relearn a phone. My last one I had for 6 years, so it has my fingerprints all over the screen. It has my 10000000 "weird" writer questions on the Google search bar. The camera on this is really sharp, so that's cool. I don't know how to use all the options for photography yet. My uncle is pretty good at that stuff. I should probably ask him. 

I saw a Victorian Haunted House out here for the weekend, but I wish I had seen it sooner so we could have planned to go. Emory was for it, but this late of notice... I didn't even bother to see if there were any tickets left for it. It looked really awesome. California really does it up.

I'm ready to go to a few bookish events. 

Writing Update:

Untitled Story: I want to tell this story. I just don't know if I'm choosing my situations and words carefully enough. I might need a sensitivity reader. I've never had one of those. 

F.C. Still editing the chapter I'm on. I see so many things that need to be cleared up. So glad I took the time to reread it before posting. 

Horror Prom Parties, Flowers and Writing

Emory and I finally bought a few things for our trip to Colorado. It might be a little chilly when we go, because it will be "autumn" by then, so the trees will start having beautiful colors. We plan to do a bit of hiking, so we got those big hiking hats. We might need new shoes, but by then... one word... tariffs. 

I want to attend Shadyside High Senior Prom'88 Fear Street Experience: Netflix. It's next week, so we really need to get our tickets if we're going to go. It's a fake prom, but when I told Ann, she was really confused. I had to tell her it was a PR event for a movie coming out. This is California! We have events for movies. 😂

I went to a Mother's Day event that allowed us to make flower bouquets for our mothers. I'm so excited. I saw a preview a few days ago, and the flowers were beautiful!! The vase they gave us was glass, which was more than I expected from the event. I had a little help picking out flowers, and you can make your own card. It was really a fun day.

I'm re-watching Peacemaker. I really like the "characters" and think that each actor really brought these people to life. I really couldn't imagine anyone else doing as good a job as they did. Honestly, I might have to watch the show for a third time. This might be my comfort.

I am finally watching DareDevil Born Again. I'm emotional about the opening storyline, but I can't give any details in case someone hasn't watched it yet. Someone pieced together this song with maybe 30 seconds of video of Frank Castle finally realizing who DareDevil is. I have watched that tiny reel a million times. If they keep getting hits... well, I'm 1,000 of those hits. 

We're finally hitting the gym again after two weeks of just running around. We stayed at the commune for a week. That was fun, but it was super cold that week that we were up there and turning the heater on... well, it's a super big place, so we didn't want to run that bill up for them, so we just turned the space heater on. 

Sue said it'd been hot at the commune the following week, so she took Miss Sass-a-Frass up to the other commune that's so much closer to the beach. It's chilly up there, but I love it. It's super close to Ventura Main Street, like maybe 5-10 minute drive. I can't go to the main street without buying something. *le sigh* 

Writing update:

I finally posted chapter 11 of a story and got the best review on that chapter. I felt a little insecure about it because I wasn't sure of the timing of the action/fight. The review I got was so freaking awesome. It really made my day. I copied it and sent it to everyone I knew. I know we're trained not to write back to comments, but I gave in and told this person that they really made my day.

I still haven't posted chapter 6 to F.C. yet. I have it, but again, feeling a little insecure, (like) is the story moving too fast? Do I have enough details? Is it logical? 

I want to work on the story I would love to get published, but again, I'm nervous. 

Horror Movies, Tasting Rooms and Writing

Finally watched "The Mean One." It's been on my watch list since the day I saw it advertised, but I wanted to wait until Prime offered it for free. It's such a toss up (sometimes) with horror movies. You never know what you're going to get; if it's going to be any good. 

This was a really fun horror movie. The makeup was so stellar. I had so many theories but of course, I was wrong, which was fine because I love being surprised. The script/acting/camera angles all good quality. I would purchase this movie for sure! 

The Final Girl tasting room has art that are faces of the "final girls" with the other half of the face being the antagonist they are up against. I would love to see this movie "The Mean One" on the tasting room wall. I really need some $$$ so I can buy those paintings. If I had to choose just one... well, nuts. What would I possibly choose?  Look it up by putting in "Final Girl vs Villains." I NEED this art for my Halloween room. 

Sue picked me up for the weekend and we went to Oxnard and hung out with the commune for a little bit. I had a glass of wine and we talked about vacations. They are going on a vacation soon and it's going to be cold for them. They're all packing winter/snow clothes. I asked Ann if it was going to snow, because she's going with the commune. She doesn't know but it might rain. 

Just to note, California and Arizona have pretty mild winters, so I can picture Ann not dressing warm enough. Once, when I was younger, we went to Alaska, and Ann and I brought sweaters and light coats. BOY! It was freaking cold and we needed to buy jackets. I left my stuff with Ann so I wonder if she still has it all these years later. What comes into the commune becomes commune property and everyone uses it. 😄

The commune invited Emory and me to go to New Orleans with them. That might be fun. Mr. M plans everything out to the letter. We read a book about leprosy communities and there is one in Louisiana that Darlene wants to go see and I agree that would be so historic and interesting. So we might go for a few days just to check everything out. Plus, they do all the cool stuff when they travel. They go on bike rides, ghost tours, national parks, etc. I don't know if I'm healthy enough for a bike tour, but why not try? 

So back to Oxnard and Downtown Ventura. Sue and I got lunch and shopped. She bought Emory and me these super cute coasters for our drinks at this little tucked away shop. We stopped by another store that we'd never seen before but the shop was way too expensive. They were selling vests for $189.00. That's too much for the fabric. 

Writing Update:

C: chapter 11 is being edited now. I'm a little slow because I like to reword and rework portions and then I have to reread to make sure that the cuts make sense. 

F.C. : chapter 6 is being edited. It's about the right length word wise but I need to reread it.

Untitled Alpha/Omega: chapter 2. I'm at a weird spot with this because I feel a little stuck so I had to reread and work it a little to get the flow since I did take a bit of a break on this. I have no words for what holds me up because its not really writer's block, its just that moment when I seriously doubt my reason for even existing.