The 52-Week Money Challenge

This past year, I took part in something called the Fifty-Two Week Money Challenge. However, I started the challenge a few weeks late, after I got a job at TreeTop. (I didn't have money before then, to be honest. Heehee.)

Anyway, the point of this challenge is to challenge you to save a specific amount of money per week. In the beginning, it seems like an insignificant amount. "One dollar this week? Two dollars the next? This is easy." 

However, as you keep going, the dollar amount increases. Two dollars, ten dollars, forty-seven dollars. It keeps climbing. The last week, you're supposed to put $52 into the jar. (I'll be putting $43 in, because that's how many weeks I'll stop at.)

Where am I keeping of all this money? Not in a mason jar, although next year, I might do that. Now, I've got this little blue jar with butterflies on it, that one of my cats in my cat collection came in.

Do you see the weird multi-colored cat here? It's sort of tucked behind the siamese and the paw-licking kitten.  It's from some famous artist in Germany. I received it as a Christmas present one year. It's interesting, to say the least!

This is my money jar (and my messy dresser). You can see my red money-box (beneath the Milka bar), my coin bank (behind the pen-jar), and my quarter-box (the Fuzzy Wuzzy cat bank), as well. I think my blue money jar's pretty, though!

[insert inner jar picture]

What am I going to do with all this money? I'm going to place it into my Savings Account. It's going to be a rather large cash deposit, and I'm sure the teller's going to look at me like I'm absolutely insane. But hey, if I've worked this hard, I'm not going to do it halfway! (I might keep a few dollars out, depending on how much cash I have in my red box by then. Otherwise, it's all going straight to the bank!)

How am I keeping track of all this money? Simple. I found a pin on Pinterest that I was able to print out and place on my dresser, beneath my money jar. I also put my money in the same day every week - on a Saturday. That way, I'm home from school, and I've also gotten my paycheck cashed. There's no way I can miss a week! (Checking off the amount helps, too.)

This is the tracking sheet. I place a star next to the week when I complete it, then the date next to the dollar amount.  That way I don't get off track.

Why am I doing this? Well, I don't think I really have a reason. I just need to save some money, and this seems to be the easiest way to do so. The later weeks are always going to eat away at my paycheck, but the end result is amazing. While I don't have over $1,300 this year, I do have $946. And for a nineteen-year-old girl, that's an awesome achievement.

Now I have a challenge for you, dear readers.

Will you take the Challenge with me in 2014?

I know it may be asking a lot from some of you, especially as y'all might not have jobs. (I have no idea of your current financial situation, but it's probably not very good, considering you're probably either on a military salary, working a part-time job, working a below-minimum-wage job, are unemployed, attending college, or are still in high school...or maybe a combination of two or more of these things!) Then there's this person's reasoning. (As you can see, I've also commented on here with my own opinion...)

However, think of the reward. At the end of 2014, you'll be able to march up to your bank, place your jar on the counter, and say, "I'd like to deposit this in my savings account." And the teller will smirk at your piggy bank, your red velvet box, your grandmother's jewelry box, or whatever else you're using to hold your money, and they'll say, "Of course." When the jar is opened, their jaw will drop, and you'll be the one smirking in satisfaction at a job well-done. 

Join me. The only reward is the knowledge that you're able to actually save money. (I've always had problems with that...this is helping, BIG-TIME!) Plus, you can jump in at ANY TIME! (I started in March, for example, after getting my first paycheck!) It's easier to keep track of everything if you start at Week One, no matter when you join. Then just start over on January 1.

What have you got to lose?

End of First Semester, Sophomore Year

Well, last week was Final Exam week for me. I had two 8:00 a.m. exams! (And one of those was Spanish! The horror!) Wednesday, I had three exams! Back-to-back-to-back! It was horrible. At least it's all over with now.

And, even with my newfound friends and awesome social life, I MANAGED TO GET ALL A'S THIS SEMESTER, PROVING MY MOTHER WRONG. (She thought I needed to stop being social and doing fun things so that I wouldn't fail this semester. She was wrong!)

I really don't know how I pulled off an A in my Spanish and Psych classes. 

For Psych, the teacher NEVER posted any grades on Canvas (the online application that allows students to see their grades, teachers receive assignment submissions, etc.), so I had no clue what I had in there. I knew I had scored low A's on a couple tests, and a low B on another one, but with the extra-credit assignment, I had no idea what was going on. So when I found out that I had an A in the class as a final grade, I nearly did a somersault.

For Spanish, I'd been holding on to a high B since the middle of the semester, when I took my first test and got an 89% on it. (My second test? A 76%. It was mostly grammar, and I'm absolutely terrible at grammar.) Somehow I pulled off getting an 102/100 on my final exam, bringing my grade up to an A. I don't know how it happened, but I'm so, so happy.

So far this year, I haven't had a lot of fun in my classes. I've had Biology (I hate science), Psychology (ugh!), Introduction to Communications (double-ugh), Spanish 201 (rawr), and Introduction to Music Appreciation (sloooow). They've all been terrible, although I loved my Spanish teacher. He was really cool.

Next semester, I'll be taking Spanish 202 (I'm not looking forward to this), English 300 (the introduction to my major), Creative Writing (I hope this is all right...), Chemistry 100 (I hate science), and some sort of analyzing-old-speeches class (which I hope is entertaining, at least). I'm not taking any honors courses this semester, because they're not offering any related to my major OR my minor, and I don't want to pay for courses that won't help me towards either of those, especially considering that my parents are the ones paying for my college (and my father doesn't currently have a job). 

How did y'all do this semester? Better than you expected? Worse? What's the one thing you wish you could tell someone who's currently sitting where you were a few years ago? 

Becoming a Pokéleague Champion

Two days before Midterms, Pokémon X and Y launched in the first simultaneous Pokémon launch ever (meaning it hit both Japan and the US at the same time, although some stores in Canada let it go a few days early).

The day before Midterms, I picked it up, with the promise to myself that I would not open it until both my Spanish and Bio tests were over (I wasn't worried about the other three). 

Somehow, I managed to hold myself to that promise and not open the game for nearly three days. It was crazy, and I really don't know how I managed to do it. Once I started playing the game, though, I was hooked. The customization you can do in the game is simply stunning (although I wish we could design our own outfits... That would be amazing!), and the hairstyles and everything are great.

The Super Training and Pokémon Amie "games" take place on the lower screen, and they're really fun. Not only do they help make your Pokémon stronger, but they also give you perks in battle and whatnot (like "shaking off" status effects and sometimes "holding on" to avoid one-hit kills, which is great). It certainly is worth taking the time to play with your Pokémon and work your way to the top!

Now that we've all completed the game, a group of friends and I have decided we're going to make our own gym teams. I'm going to be the Psychic gym leader, and I'm going to see if I can create another super team to take on my friends' gyms. (I doubt I'm going to do very well, though, because my friend Drew has been breeding the "perfect team" and he's demolished me 6-0 every time we fight. It's not pretty. But his team is super-effective.)

Anyways, sorry for having this post come a little late :) I know I promised that these "five posts" would be finished within the first two weeks of December. Guess that didn't happen, right? I hope y'all have a great day!

This is a picture from near the end of the game. I don't have a picture of me outside of the League, but this is close enough :)

[Also, if you need more 3DS friends, comment below with your friend code and I'll tell you mine! My Safari Zone is normal-type, but you can get a Chauncey!]

Becoming a DC Fan

For the past few years, I've been a Marvel movie fan. I've never read any of the comics, although my friend Erin had all of our friends read her "Trials of Loki" graphic novel before we went and saw Thor: The Dark World together.

I'll admit that I've never seen much of a point in comic books. I knew that some people had obsessions with them, but I had personally never gotten into them. Sure, I read manga (both in physical form and online), and I enjoyed collecting it, but comic books never appealed to me.

Bring in my new boyfriend, Matt. He's a big DC fan, and as most of you probably know, DC and Marvel are huge rivals. While Marvel's more of a happy-ending type, DC is known for its dark and brooding heroes (Batman, anyone?) and even more terrifying villains (Bane? Joker?). Matt said he was going to get me into comic books, so I accepted his stack of Justice League: the New 52 series and went home for a weekend.

In just a few issues, I was hooked.

So, now I'm a big DC fan. I may like the Marvel movies a bit more, but the DC comics are just phenomenal. And the writing's amazing. It's witty, moves along at a great pace, and I never feel lost. (Although I do kinda feel lost in the Green Lantern universe - I have no idea what happened before, only that Hal Jordan lost the ring because he was being stupid or something like that, and now he wants it back.)

Suicide Squad may be my favorite title, because EVERYONE IS EXPENDABLE. Also, the "heroes" of the Suicide Squad are actually villains who are trapped in Belle Reve prison (such as Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, etc.), and they are offered a space on the Suicide Squad in hopes of having their sentence reduced. Who knows what will happen?

I'm now anxiously awaiting the next installments of all the comic series Matt's gotten me into. He can't believe I've caught up with him in just under a month, and the guys at his comic book shop are a little in disbelief that Matt's found someone just as nerdy and insane as he is to run around with. 

Also, one of these days, we're going to be going to Dragon*Con, either dressed as Link & Zelda, Finn & Marcelline, or Joker & Harley. (We've already done the Joker & Harley bit for his birthday party, but it'd always be nice to do it again, with better makeup and a better costume. It should be fun, at least. Right?)

Anyways, I hope this hasn't bored y'all too much. Go out and pick up a few issues of The New 52's Suicide Squad or Justice League. You won't regret it, I promise.

"Sleigh Ride"

This is a very, very old video - December 2011. So why am I now dragging it out of the closet?

I've run out of posts for the week, and I want to share this horribleness with you.

Just kidding.

I want to get into the Christmas spirit and share a song with you! When I performed this for my recital, I screwed up royally. I hit every wrong note imaginable, and I pretty much ran off stage sobbing. It was horrible. I haven't taken piano lessons since that day. I couldn't handle the stress.

This recording was made about two hours after my botched recital. I have the sheet music in front of me, but I don't look at it at all, to be honest. I had it memorized. I may mess up once or twice in here, but it's just a little slip of the keys and it's barely noticeable. (If you notice it, sorry! I tried my best! I was a little nervous still!)

I really hope you enjoy it! Tell me what you think, please? :)

I Now Have... a Boyfriend?!

If any of you remember me from my old blog, Army Band Girlfriend Life, you remember why I had to shut the blog down: my then-boyfriend ignored me for seven weeks then broke my heart in a letter that contained less than one hundred words.

For the next few months, I wallowed in a black hole of pain and misery. Yes, much of that I brought upon myself. I would wake up at night, screaming, and would sob and cry until I cried myself to sleep and my mother could go back to her room. (She would come and hold me and talk to me while I cried.)

After a while, I gave up. I never heard from him, and he blocked me on Facebook the moment he got computer access back. I realized that I could not let him win.

Still, I went through life in a daze. I worked myself to the brink of exhaustion, threw myself into so many activities at school, and tried my best to stop thinking. (Because if I started thinking, I would start crying.)

Flash-forward to Anime Club on Monday nights. After Pokémon X & Y came out, so many people in Anime Club brought their DSs in order to play. I met a few friends by battling, and one of these friends was named Matt.

At the Anime Club Halloween Party, Matt asked me to go and grab coffee with him. I had on my Fili costume (minus my Kili, because Sarah's not into anime). 

Matt was dressed in a Superman snuggie, which you can see to the left of this paragraph. At first, I was unsure as to whether he was asking me out-out, or if this was just a buddy-date type thing. He seemed way too casual (although later, he told me he was freaking out and was actually nervous for the first time in a long time, because he actually cared that I might reject him!).

I was extremely hyper at this point in time (like, I was literally bouncing off the walls and grabbing the leftover candy at the end), and I said yes. I don't even know why I said yes at the time, but I figured, Hey, why don't I give this guy a chance? He seems nice.

Fast-forward to the next day, and we meet at Eclipse, this coffee house, for coffee. Well, I had a milkshake and he had an Italian cream soda, but it's still a coffee house. It was very nice. I had planned to skip out at 7:00, to go and watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I was having so much fun just...talking to him that I decided to stay. We ended up walking around campus, and I stayed out until nearly 10:00 (or was it 11?).)

It was a very nice first date, to be honest. We were able to be open with each other.

He's an extremely geeky person, with a deep love of DC comics. His favorite character's either the Joker or Harley Quinn (which creeps me out a little bit). He's got the Green Lantern tattooed on his thigh. And he's so sweet. He's really sweet. 

The difference between Matt and my ex is like day and night. Matt takes time to ask me what's wrong, he takes the time to make sure I feel good, and he's amazingly sweet. He's also absolutely insane, but we fit together. He doesn't care that I don't dress like a Barbie every day, and we're actually able to sit down and talk to each other.

It's also very nice to have a person THERE at all times. Someone to hold me if things go wrong. Someone I can comfort if he's having a bad day. (He has them a lot, because he doesn't have the best relationship with his parents.)

Life is beginning to look up for the first time in a long time. I'm smiling more these days, and I no longer feel like I'm worthless and not worthy of anyone. 

Now, I now that this post has probably been a bit more information than you have ever wanted to know, but I figured that if I just threw in the word "Matt" into my upcoming posts, none of y'all would have any idea what I was talking about and you'd want the backstory to all this. So here you go; there's the backstory.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a stack of comics to get back to. (He's managed to convert me to a DC comics fan. He's succeeded. My favorite person is Harley Quinn. She's just so insane, and it's awesome. I actually dressed as Harley for his birthday party, and he dressed as Joker. It was really cool.) I'm still a Marvel movie fan, but I love DC comics.

Fili & Kili, at Your Service!

So if you'll remember my post from yesterday, I had a list of five things that I was going to talk about within the next two weeks. The first thing on that list was my Halloween costume! This year, my roomie and I (after meeting each other for the first time) pretty much decided that we were going to cosplay as Fili and Kili for Halloween this year. We went thrifting to find the basics for our costume, and then to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's Fabrics one day after classes to collect the other things (like trimmings and sheathes and such). Our costumes actually turned out REALLY well.

 First of all, here's a picture of me and my hair. This is before I went to my Anime Club Halloween Party on Monday, October 28th. She pulled the top of my hair back into a little ponytail, then did four small braids on either side. The back she curled and then ruffled so that it looked dwarfish. If you were to look up a picture of Fili from the Hobbit, I'm sure we look kinda similar.

 After the Dorm Halloween Party (on the 30th), we all went outside to take pictures of ourselves in our Halloween costumes. (I'll make a separate blog post with pictures of my other friends and their costumes later, maybe tomorrow.)

This is me against a light post. Probably not the most Middle-Earthish thing around, but it worked.

 And here's my roommate, Sarah, cosplaying as Kili. She found the perfect pieces of her costume at the thrift store and TJ Maxx. She's actually wearing a blue dress underneath the outer covering.

We're just glad that it was warm enough this night for us to actually get out and take pictures without freezing to death!

 And here we are posing next to each other. This is our "serious face."

I don't think I've ever had so much fun posing for pictures. Normally, I avoid cameras as much as humanly possible, because I absolutely HATE having my picture taken. I guess dressing up as a dwarf makes me less camera-shy? Who knows?

Here we are posing on top of a rock on campus. I think my friend Erin took this shot...

It was either Erin or Jessica.

We look so majestic, don't we? 

 Fili and Kili have each other's backs!

We're standing on the chess board outside of Hill House, which is where the Honors Program resides. You can actually rent the chess pieces for this game board inside the house. I kinda want to do that some day; maybe when it warms up a bit.

And here we are posing again.

Fili & Kili have your back!
















I sincerely hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures of Fili and Kili, as played by me and my room mate, respectively. I think we did pretty well, considering that neither of us knew how to sew, really, when we started out. Every piece of clothing came from a thrift store (with the exception of Sarah's dress), and all the accessories came from JoAnn's fabric. We had a LOT of fun taking pictures, and we were so excited to win second place in the Group Costume Contest! It was so much fun!

Hello, Everyone!

-peeks around the door-

Is everyone out there still alive? Does anybody remember me?

Yes, that's right: I'm BAAAAACK!

It's been a month since my last entry (wow - it doesn't feel that long!), and I'm ready to get this blog up and running again. I've neglected it for far too long, and I want to get back into the swing of things already!

Let's play a bit of catch-up, shall we? Each thing represents a future blog post (with the expectation that this list will be covered in the next two weeks)! Here's the Top Five Things that Happened This Month:

1. My roomie & I got second place in the Group Halloween Costume Contest!
2. I now have...a boyfriend?! 
3. I've become a DC fan...although I will always remain loyal to my Loki-love.
4. I've become a Pokémon League Champion.
5. I play DDR kind-of-like a BAU5.

As you can see, this list is sorta diverse. I go from Halloween to DDR to comic books. (And a new significant other.)

I want to tell y'all that I'm much more confident in myself than I have been since May. Things are looking up for the first time in months, and I actually feel like I've been LIVING this semester. I've made new friends, and I'm back into the swing of things. I'm being social (some of it forced, I'll admit), and I'm having a lot of fun.

It's going to be an interesting two weeks, isn't it? Let's get this party started. Tomorrow, I'll be talking about my Halloween costume and giving y'all the details! Come back to see it!