"Kitty Check-Up" by Kenner sold alongside Puppy, Baby, and Newborn Check-Up 1994 pic: [otsukai listing] pic/info: [ghost of the doll] pic: [ebay] (buried in source code)

[id: the first image is retro-looking box art for a plush cat. the plush has fluffy, pastel pink fur and white paws. its face is pink rubber with blue eyes and a smiling white muzzle. on the box are the "kitty check-up" logo with the caption "make kitty feel 'purrfectly' well again and again!" and it comes with a toy teaspoon, thermometer, and medicine. the second image is a black-and-white instructional drawing of a girl using a stethoscope on the toy cat. the final image is a photo of the toy on a pastel wallpaper. /end id]

Family Christmas

And heaps of snow.

December has been a wild ride. After my JLPT exam I spent a few days celebrating Independence day with mum and relaxing. The last couple of weeks before submitting my thesis were super busy with proofreading and reformulating a lot of my text. It was a tight schedule but I got it all submitted on the 15th - albeit super hastily. I’ve been both relieved and stressed because I’m happy it’s out of my hands for now but I also fear the feedback I’m going to get. I just hope I won’t have to do anything drastic to it. I do aim for the highest possible grade because I got one from my BA thesis and I’ve kind of set up expectations from all the good feedback I’ve gotten during the process. I want it to be worth the effort and the hours spent.

Dance recital came and went. Did not screw up anything, although the sole of my pointe shoe did snap in the last official show on Sunday evening. We had one extra show on Monday and the stage was littered with torn newspaper where I had to do a bunch of really quick pique turns on the shoe with a broken sole. I’ve never feared pirouettes as much as I did then but somehow I managed and didn’t break anything. Basically all size 5½ shoes were out of stock so I’m going to get a text message to schedule a fitting sometime this or next week.

My ballet gals and I had a little pre-Christmas party where we planned a lot of fun variations for next spring. We’re hopefully doing a pas de quatre from The Awakening of Flora, and me and my friend are doing the pizzicato polka. It’s up to our teachers and rehearsal schedules at this point though. We kind of already ordered a test tutu though and we’re super excited. Fingers crossed it’ll work out.

Christmas week was busy with a thorough Christmas cleaning. I cleared our kitchen cupboards from random used batteries, empty bottles and computer parts, organized our tools and office supplies, organized our walk in closet and bedroom closet, did two loads of laundry, cleaned the toilet, washed the floors and aired out all rugs and textiles. It took me three days and was super exhausting but also cathargic. On the 21st me and my friend went to see Star Wars VIII The Last Jedi. I didn’t really like the movie because of all the death and destruction and dark themes although I can totally see why it has been highly acclaimed. It was objectively a good movie but I just wasn’t feeling inspired or happy after it, which totally has more to do with me being oversensitive rather than anything else. I’m used to playing Animal Crossing and avoiding the news, how do you expect me to see so much death, destruction and depression. The original trilogy is so much more playful and because of the physical effects and stage props and tin can droids it’s easy to see it’s a work of fiction. Modern movie tech makes everything hit too close to home I guess.

I’ve been playing literal hundreds of hours of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp this month. I’m level 37 right now and hunting down Fauna to add to my campsite. I just got Marshal invited yesterday and gosh I love him so much. What an ABSOLUTE cutie pie.♥ I just wish the campers would give out more cotton since all rustic, cute and natural themed items require cotton...

I spent 5 total days with mum and dad over the Christmas holidays. We spent Christmas eve traditionally watching TV, going to place candles for my grand aunts’ grave and memorial stone, going to the sauna and eating an amazing dinner prepared by dad. We had a starter of fish and salad, a main of beetroot casserole, pork with a cream and pepper sauce, sweet potato fries, caramellized red onion with carrots, and a desert of crème brûlée with a mulled wine topping. The only thing that broke tradition this year was coming to spend some time with the bunny and letting him roam free for a while.

I got some really cool gifts even though I wasn’t supposed to get anything besides the insanely nice and expensive Clavinova piano. Dad got me a rad shirt with a dabbing unicorn and some really nice bluetooth headphones. Mum got me all the things that I wished for: a book, a big light box with letters and symbols, and a glass drinking bottle. I went to feed my friend’s cat on Christmas day so she got me the Lottie and Kicks amiibos. (Gosh I hope they make Leif and Luna amiibos at some point, they’re some of my fave NPCs right alongside K.K. Slider, Digby, Celeste and Reese&Cyrus. So basically all AC characters are my favourites lol. My fave villagers are Julian, Flurry and Marshal.) Grandpa gave me an adorable indoor thermometer he’s carved and painted himself and grandmum sent me 50€. My guy’s family got me a soup bowl with choclates in it and his grandpa knit me some new wool socks. They also got the bunny some sawdust for his litter and a bag of grass hay.

On Christmas day me, mum and dad went skiing. It’s been snowing like crazy and everything is so beautiful. It’s supposed to rain for a couple of days so I hope it won’t all melt away though. Skiing was so hard but not as hard as I thought it might be. It’ll take a few tries to get back in shape but we did around 5km, which is really good for a first time. Today we went and practically dug our summer house from a pile of snow. We had a little campfire going and we roasted sausages and had coffee/tea over there. I’ve been dreaming about our summer house a lot lately, and in my dreams it has been threatened by a bear, a leopard and a nearby prison. I’m sure it’s something to do with feeling threatened since the summer house is my safe place. Anyway it was really nice to visit and everything looked so pretty covered knee deep in snow.

I miss my boyfriend so much. I found out that he had skyped with his parents on Christmas and so I confronted him about why he hasn’t told me that he has a working video call connection. He told me he forgot, which obviously indicated that either he was lying or he did not want to, which is why it did not cross his mind to talk to me at any point. Eventually I managed to dig out that he’s been really homesick and Christmas was really hard for him. He also said that he isn’t sure if calling me would make him even more homesick. He’s been concerned about how strongly I’ve reacted to his exchange year. I can’t help it that I feel a lot of things and I was genuinely depressed for a month after he left. And I can’t help it that I do miss him a lot. But there is nothing I could do about it right now so I’m managing. And I’m learning how to be alone and how to be left alone. And I’m learning to be stronger and less selfish. In any case it does make me feel a bit easier to know that he is missing home as well. I would want to know that I’m loved and missed as well though, and it does make me really sad to think that he doesn’t necessarily miss me at all or want me back. I don’t know. I just want to feel loved because right now it feels like a really one sided relationship, and I feel like a backup plan or a safety net he’d like to get rid of but is too afraid to rather than too in love to. If it makes any sense? In any case I’m eternally grateful for my friend who’s been spending time with me weekly, and who’s coming to spend New Years with me. A true friend is so needed right now. And a fluffy bunny.

I’m both excited and anxious for 2018. I’m happy to make some resolutions and reflect on a lot of things at the end of 2017. In the New Year I’m definitely going to continue working on doing as I damn well please instead of fitting my schedules to everybody elses. I’m also thinking of travelling and taking advantage of this stage in-between but I don’t know where to go because my guy hasn’t invited to visit him and I’d like to have some company wherever it is that I’d go to. At the same time I’m definitely anxious regarding the big life changes of graduation and job hunting and everything that comes with becoming an actual adult of sorts. I know life will take me where I need to be and I’m a smart and savvy lady with brains and a working etiquette any employer would be happy to have. Still, there’s no-one who wouldn’t feel nervous in my position.

A few more days of 2017 remain and I’m going to enjoy video games, good company and hopefully some more skiing and winter nature. I also need to get the rest of my resolutions in check. It looks like melting New Years tins is going to be difficult as the EU has banned most tins.. We need to come up with a back up plan if we can’t find any leftover packages.

30 more minutes until new ACPC campers. I’m tired but Fauna is almost on level 7 and I’ve almost got the stuff she needs to join my campsite. I’m going to stay up and see if she’s there.