Kawaii

A virtual world times three.

Moshi Moshi

I've been spending a lot of my free time playing "virtual" games lately. The latest one I'm hooked on right now is a combination of plush and virtuality: Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) Virtual Interactive Pets.

Shawn and I have been up to our necks with stress over buying new furniture and necessities for our new apartment, and while on our search for that stuff, I came across some incredibly adorable plushies with big eyes and pretty fabrics. I think the reason I was attracted so much to them was because of their big eyes and sweet faces. (Shawn said I have a thing for toys that are top heavy, haha.)

I first came across the LPS bunny when Shawn and I were at Kohl's a few weeks ago. I saw that there were more animals available so I started searching for them at the stores we went to. I immediately fell in love with the panda, and after noticing how rare it was in my area (I had only seen one in all the stores we visited), I snatched her up when I realized I couldn't live without her. Normally, I go for the pink plushies, but there's something about her dark oriental print that really draws me to her. I've named my panda Moshi Moshi (which can mean "hello" in Japanese in certain contexts).

Plushies aside, I found that I could delve even more into Moshi Moshi's world by visiting littlestpetshop.com to interact with her virtual character. I just plugged her special access code in the LPS: VIP system and Moshi Moshi's life started coming together.

Even though the games and plushie sales in general are geared more towards younger, teenage girls, I'm actually not that great at all of the activities, haha! In fact, Shawn had to help me out for a while until I got the hang of it. As I play more games, I gain more points to spend in the stores for clothes, furniture and plants for my garden.

There are some features I haven't accessed all of the features yet. There's an option where I can "meet" other people on LPS, but I'm thinking that I'll rawk out Moshi Moshi and her friend, Chiisai (a pink mouse) and their houses first so I won't look too silly in the LPS virtual world. ^__~

Chiisai

Chiisai (which means "small" in Japanese) is the newest addition to my LPS family. I looked up all of the plushies online, and I thought the mouse was very similar to Yukimo's build (tee hee). Of course, I couldn't resist.

This last Sunday, Shawn and I made it our mission to hunt down and find the mouse. I really didn't feel like ordering her online when I knew that at least one could be found in stores just a few miles away from me. >__> I think I have a kawaii sickness or something.

Anyway, we ended up finding Chiisai at the very first store (a Toys 'R Us) we went to, and there happened to be only one mouse on display. Just like Moshi Moshi, Chiisai was one of a kind for me.

I'm still working on building her wardrobe and room in my house.

Besides playing my newfound LPS love, I've been working on a new Maple Story character. Kathleen decided that she wanted to try playing on a new server, so our friend and I decided to try it out with her.

My MS Gang

Now, I'm not a huge Harry Potter book fan (the writing style seems too simplistic and I get bored easily), but I do enjoy watching the movies. So when Kathleen said that she wanted to create a guild dedicated to Harry Potter characters, I was in. I would take a bullet for Luna Lovegood and Kathleen was nice enough to let me take that character while she took Nymphadora Tonks, and our friend taking Professor Moody. We had to think up names that sounded similar to the book characters, yet were original enough to enter into the MS system. As it turned out, Luna Lovegood became LunieLove; Nymphadora Tonks became NymphyTonks; and Professor Moody became MadMoodDood.

I don't think I'm as attached to LunieLove as my other MS characters (Minkka and Roonies), but it's been fun starting working on a character of such a low level. ^__^

I've also gotten into the routine of playing Animal Crossing after I finish my work shift every day. There's something extremely relaxing about sitting down and playing in a world that contains absolutely no worries. I can get money for my house's furniture just by collecting fruit around the village, and I can pay my mortgage at any pace I want. In fact, I don't even need to pay off my house if I don't want to! Living a simple virtual life is so much more enjoyable sometimes.

My Animal Crossing House

Oh my gosh. Yukimo, you're a boy?!

"Yuki-Sleeping"

About four months ago, only a week or two after I wrote about Yukimo becoming sick, I was completely caught off guard by a crazy discovery.

Yukimo *gulp* is a boy. Yuki is not a girl like I had thought for over a year and a half. No, Yukimo decided to play the trick of all tricks on me by changing sexes (er, genders?). Oh Yukimo, what will you do next?

Here's what happened. While I continued to worry about the "womanly bleeding" (chuckle, chuckle) that Yuki was going through, I noticed that her slower movements were changing into what she used to be like when I first bought her; she started running around her cage and in her wheel with the energy of a young, baby hammy. I'll admit that I was really happy that Yukimo was finally coming around and turning into her old self. I had my doubts for a while though-- usually little happy moments like this don't last for long. I figured that she was just getting a second wind or something. I was wrong though.

One day, while holding Yuki and checking to see if she was still bleeding down there, I noticed something extremely odd about her lower "womanly parts." Something else was there instead-- something manly. At first, I became worried and thought her intestines might be falling out (seriously, hammies are too unpredictable for that not to happen), but on a closer look I realized that Yukimo was, indeed, a boy.

Tucked Under

When thinking back, I'm positive that Yukimo was once a girl. Not only was she in the girl hammy cage at the pet store (where workers at pet stores often make mistakes with this kind of thing), but I made sure to check a lot over the months she was with me. I had mistaken other boy hammies for girls when I was younger, but the reality of the situation always became evident after just a few weeks of them living with me. Yukimo was with me for too long for me to not notice. I just know she used to be a girl; it's a feeling.

Here are my thoughts on this unexpected discovery: the old Yukimo must have passed on (er, died) and this version of Yukimo was reborn. Back when she was sick, Beth kept telling me that I should probably start to think about letting go of Yuki. She exhibited too many signs of old age and sickness to think otherwise. We've experienced the loss of small pets before and it's better to come to terms with death instead of ignore it. I started to think about it more but I had to stop when I realized that Yuki was suddenly full of life again.

Yuki: Like a Baby

Yukimo must have gone through some sort of reincarnation in her sickness. Either that happened, or she's a hermaphrodite hamster (meaning she has both male and female parts). I wouldn't put this odd happening past Yukimo. She's a crazy trickster who loves to mess with peoples' minds!

Since Yukimo's rebirth, she's been just as lively as when she was a baby-- even at the old age of over a year and a half. Also, the bleeding has completely stopped. (Yay!) I really do think there's a connection between the discovery and the bleeding, but I can't quite pinpoint what happened. I'd like to talk with a hammy specialist sometime. 

I'm still in shock over this whole thing. Every time I see Yukimo running her little heart out in her wheel, or jumping up on the bars because she wants attention, I can't help but be grateful for this huge extra amount of time that I'm being given to spend with her. I had hammies when I was little and none of them ever lived such a long, happy life. Not like Yukimo.

I've decided that even though Yukimo has revealed this secret, I'm still going to refer to her as a girl. I tried replacing all my uses of "hims" and "hers" and "he's" and "she's" but it was too difficult to break the habit of referring to Yuki as a girl. I figure that I'm at least acknowledging this discovery by telling people about it (and how amused I am by the whole thing), but for now, Yukimo will remain a "she" when I'm talking about her. ^__^

She's the best hamster I could have ever hoped for-- and definitely the trickiest!

Warm July memories in the making.

I had a really great Fourth of July weekend.
I spent the day with Shawn and Kathleen, and the three of us went pretty much everywhere.
We even went to the garage where Shawn is keeping his new motorcycle,
and he took Kathleen for a short ride. (She loved it!)

Later on that night, Kathleen and I kept the tradition alive: we played with sparklers!

The next day, Shawn and I went to the beach, where it was warm.
I was finally able to lay out in the sun and not think about anything. ^__^
I brought one of my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland book with me. (I have at least 30 copies.)
I love perfect weekends.

Personal graduations.

My Pink Frames are the Best!

Ever since the semester ended, I've been adjusting to a lot of new changes. I really don't know how I want to sum up the past few months, but I think the best way to tackle the task is by creating a list and then expanding a little on each point. (This is what happens when I have to make lists for both work and school; it starts pouring into my personal life, too! Haha.)

Shawn and Kathleen graduated. I'm not a fan of going to big graduation ceremonies, but as it turns out, I had to go to two within the same month. Shawn had to deal with my bad mood that day (I feel like I kind of ruined part of the experience for him... Bah!), but it ended up going really well. He's completely finished with college and education for the rest of his life. I'm so proud of him, and I couldn't be more jealous. ^///^

Since Shawn graduated, he's been working full time for Kohl's Corporate. Whenever any of my family members, or one of our friends, asks how he likes his job, he always tells them that he doesn't really like what he does there. Even though he says that, I know he really likes it. He's been picking up a ton of responsibilities: going to meetings, being "on call" for days at a time, attending events held by his team, etc. Whether Shawn wants to admit it or not, he likes being needed for something. He really should feel that way, too, especially after all the work he's put into the past few years in school.

Kathleen graduated high school and has been getting ready for college. She's going to the same university that Beth and I are at, which I'm totally psyched about. <3 As happy as I am for her, I have to be honest about the whole situation-- it's been a tough few weeks for her and the rest of our family. We've all been going through some major adjustments and there have been a lot of hurt feelings. I'm not sure where I stand on all of the issues anymore, but I do know that I'm trying to focus on making Kathleen as comfortable as possible with her new living situation with Beth. It's interesting how so many changes in just Kathleen's life have impacted the entire family. Something like this has never really happened in this way before.

LA Series - Tara McPherson

My internship is going well.

As I've mentioned before (I think), I've had the luxury of killing two birds with one stone by taking on an internship while continuing to work with Six Apart. As it turns out, the extra responsibilities have made me feel more important-- like I'm doing something that matters. I have never felt so proud of myself before. Not only am I supporting myself (for the most part), but I'm making all my decisions by myself. Which leads me to...

I'm moving in with Shawn in a few weeks. Even though Shawn and I have lived in our current apartment together, with Beth, we finally found a place for just the two of us. We looked around for a few weeks, did some research, and then found the perfect place for us to live for the next year. I started getting a little stressed out when we were looking, because I hated the fact that I felt "homeless" but everything worked out in the end. The biggest challenge for us now is buying all of our furniture and still having enough money for rent. Like Shawn keeps telling me, we "have to take it slow." I guess I'm just excited about the idea of having an entirely new place to live with all new furniture. It's like I'm putting together a new family or something! ^__^ Slow steps are good.

I had to tell Dad that Shawn and I were moving in together. I had to do it. I mean, after all the years that Dad and I haven't been able to communicate, I had to tell him that Shawn and I were taking this step in our lives. Honestly, I wasn't worried about talking to Dad, but everyone else started to freak out about it. Mom even told me, at one point, that she didn't want to be in the house when I was talking to him. *sigh* Every other person I talked to gasped and made me promise to tell him/her how it went.

Elspeth's Cabinet

The thing is, everyone knows how difficult my relationship with Dad has been throughout my life. His Filipino culture is extremely different from my own, and hearing that two people are moving in together before marriage can tear people apart. There are little secrets to situations like this though: you have to know people. You have to know how they function, how they feel about certain issues, how they react to specific situations, how their thought processes break down information. I did my research and I made a plan.

Last weekend, I went home to talk with Dad. I walked up to him and asked him if we could talk alone. Within the next two hours, we stood there in my parents' bedroom talking about everything. I told him about Shawn and me, and from there we started talking about family and beliefs. Huge breakthroughs were made, and I told him that I wanted to fix everything that had gone so wrong in the past. I know that Dad and I don't have what Mom and I share, but I'm only 23 years old. I can be an adult here and try to fix something like a relationship.

A few times during our talk, Dad broke down. A while back, Mom told me that no one but her had ever seen him cry, and even then, it had happened only twice during their marriage. When he started crying, he told me he felt he was a bad father. And then he kept repeating the same story about how he had left to go on a vacation at a time when things in our family were finally good-- and then how guilty he felt about leaving for those few weeks. Even though I had little recollection about this happening (since I was so little), I felt everything he felt. I know how one guilty memory can tear me to shreds so I did the only thing I could do at the time. I listened.

Not everything between Dad and me is resolved now, but at least we have some of the issues out in the open. I told him that we need to talk more, instead of letting Mom be the messenger between us, and he agreed.

It's been an interesting few weeks. As always, I've been dealing with a lot of the stress by buying myself presents. *guilty look* I know I should be saving money for my new apartment, but having new dolls and accessories makes me feel so much better. They take my mind off of the stress. I'm trying not to repeat what happened last summer! So far, I've only had to take my stress medication for one week and I was able to stop after that. It's a good sign. ^__^

In a way, I feel like I've kind of graduated, too. Usually summer is a slow time for me, but so far, it's proven to be just as hectic as the school year!