robby town project part 1: humble beginnings

 Back in first to second grade, I would play to toys in this make believe town called Robby Town. Robby Town kinda mimiaced the are me at the time. At this point of my life, I was living in two very notoriously southern states.Also, my grandparaents on both sides lived in very small towns that are around hour drive from the city. Even though I didn't live with either of them, I still enjoyed the coziness of it all. Robby Town was supposed to be the small town just like that  That same feeling came back to me when we had to visit North Carolina again and took a detour to see Mt. Gilead. Now that the introduction is done, lets get into the nitty gritty.:D

Expansion packs

I feel theres an unwritten rule when it comes to Sims and their expansion packs, "Once you have all of them, you use to all of them.". Taking in account, I will probably do that too lol. However, Back in the Future pack will be a hard no, though. The ones that I will use a lot of are Pets, Pets, Ambitions, and Generations. Generations (aka one of the best pack) is very grounded in reality and has a heavy thing on family. Pets has a southern/appalachian aesthetic so, that's obvious. Then, I am picking Ambitions, since this little town is made up of working class folks. I don't know why but Ambitons give me that kinda vibe. Even though, I have some items from the Sims store, I am not gonna put that in a lots and sims.

The World Itself

I read somewhere (I think the sims 3 websites idk) that it is easier for a lot of computers to run smaller worlds. So I will be doing that :D. I am not making this little small town a desert (like how some worlds that I have seen). Humidity like that doesn't occur in the desert. The world would maybe look like maybeee a saturated Moonlight Falls or Twinbrooks. I am not too sure yet. Once I get to that stage, I will post reference and stuff like that! The town hub (rabbit holes, and other community lots.) will be congregation in the center. The residental lots and maybe one or two community lots/ rabbit holes are spaced out in the outskirts. It won't be easy for sims to walk to lot of community lots. All of the residential lots will have a car there. I will be making only five or four type residential lots for these locals, almost all of them being affordable. All of the expansion houses (which will be like two lol) will be taken by the Southern Belle-like families in the world.

Getting cheery with cheerwine poke cake

     Out of all of the states that I lived in, North Carolina was the one that my family goes to more frequently. We recently went back last year in June for an important family matter. While we were there, we went to Pinehurst, Charlotte, and Mt. Gilead (aka a quick but, lovely drive-through). I will make a blog post talking about my travels in North Carolina later 🤣. However, the food staples in North Carolina (that aren't homemade) are Showmars, Cookout, and Cheerwine. Unlike the first two, Cheerwine is a singular item that you can buy from any grocery in NC. So, what is it you ask? Cheerwine is a cherry soda with a taste that is both a candy-like (similar to a Jolly Rancher) and natural cherry flavor. Honestly better than any cherry soda I tasted. Just like any lemon-lime soda, Cheerwine is used in EVERYTHING. Barbeque? Yup. Desserts? Of course. Alcoholic cocktails? Duh. Even chili?? Yes most definitely! Soooo, when I snagged two bottles from Alien Beef Jerky in Baker, I had an idea on what to do. When I got home, I chose between a bundt cake recipe or a poke cake. I chose the poke cake because it was more iconic and, it was cheaper and easier. You can easily get your ingredients from a 99 cent store or Walmart.

Making it  

 You mainly needed Cheerwine, white box cake (I used french vanilla), cherry jello, oil, eggs, maraschino cherries, and whipping cream. You followed the instruction of the box cake, except you replaced water with Cheerwine. This gave the batter an adorable pink color.

the good ol' american ingredients of a box cake (without the water ofc)

a cool pic of the Cheerwine fizzing up on top of the dry batter

Once it's in the oven, you make the poke concoction: boiling Cheerwine and adding cherry jello. Let that cool and wait when the cake is done. 

adding the cherry jello water to the boiling cheerwine

When you're cake is done, poke it and pour the mixture. Honestly, that all you do, if you choose not to put frosting on it. But, the poke cake without frosting is kinda ugly honestly. I forgot to take a photo of the process of it. 

poke juice being poured over

the cake with poke juice (?) after being in the fridge

For the frosting, you need the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and some of the liquid from maraschino cherries. Use the electric mixer until there are stiff peaks. To be honest, if you don't have an electric mixer, get you some cool whip and mix it with the maraschino cherry liquid. 

💖my cute cake 💖

I followed two things for this recipe: this youtube video and directly from their website. The slice looks very cute with Cheerwine jello swirls.

My Feelings on it. 

After some years of living in an area with many many Asian bakeries and having homemade cake for a lot of my life, I am not used to eating boxed cakes. Boxed cakes in America are very structured and firm. I am not sure if it's because of me using french vanilla cake (which has pudding already in it, but it is firm. So, that was something I wasn't used to. Apart from that, I like the plain cake part. However, the cake/poke concoction part was too favorable to me. I love jello AND cake. But, having the two textures together mashed together is something. I can't put into words the texture of that combo. I would enjoy it more if I omitted the gelatin and maybe make the Cheerwine into a syrup or cream? I would love to make this again but with my own cake batter. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the cake, I thoroughly enjoyed making it. It was fun doing all of the different aspects of the cake. Also, it smelled amazing. For this big cake, it took 11/2 glass bottles of Cheerwine to do this recipe. Luckily, I had enough to make a soda ice cream float, which was absolutely amazing. I would recommend it but, next time I am making a bundt cake.

my hella firm cake slice

Revisiting a genre I don't like

 Recently I have been getting into country music. however, I only like listening to female singers in that genre. you can tell that using AND controlling their voice. a lot of male country singers kinda sound the same to me. it's weird how I've lived in texas and hardly heard any female country singers. the only I actually heard was American girl by Carrie underwood (from coming across a random music video) and Dolly Parton (Hannah Montana cameo). the rodeos and fairs that I went to only played men. it would be the all the same stuff, too! "out with my friends with a six-pack and some red cups, woo wee women in short shorts partying with us." is the summary of what they sang. meanwhile, a lot of the women in country music have a lot of variety in the topics they sing. I'm glad that I gave it a chance again. their backs must be cramping up from holding up this damn genre.

2020 Reflection

Recently, I had been rolling around in my room, bored up the wazoo. I tried to pass the time by learning Korean and watch my favorite YouTubers. Everyone says that Korean is probably one of the easiest East Asian language (Japanese being the hardest). But, it is the complete opposite of me. The pronunciation gets me all mixed up and hangeul is such a struggle for me. The sound of the double consonants is tripping me up. Chinese script was a cakewalk. However, the way I speak Chinese will make native speakers want to choke me out. The only way I will survive in China is just me carrying a whiteboard and dry erase marker. Just depressing. In addition, one of my favorite J-dramas (Sunshine or おひさま）is off of Viki. J-dramas are already hard to look for in the first place. I am just fortunate that they still have A Girl's Breakfast on there. That drama is pretty much about four women (office worker, yoga instructor, bartender, and a housewife) who were friends since high school. Each episode to either focus on one of their lives and breakfast. It reminds me of the novel of the girls and the traveling pants that I read back in third grade. The girl(s) in each episode would eat and kinda review the food of an actual restaurant. It is nice seeing that honestly. It takes me back to a school day back in Japan where I came home early enough that I both come home earlier than my host sister and watch a bit on the drama that my host dad was watching. Except the food wasn't easygoing breakfast spots that would be featured in the magazine for OL but, a warm eatery that blue-collared workers went to smoke, eat and laugh with their co-workers. Things like this make me miss Japan (Nagoya especially). I will never forget the simplicities of just taking public transport, the hugs that my friend would give me the mornings at school, cicadas and, eating with my host family. Even playing Uno with my host siblings and mixing soy sauce with my host family give me internal fuzzies. I would die to go again but it is reallllll pricey. Maybe I could just survive on capsule hotels and convenience store food to save up. Then again I need to save up for university so, I doubt that I will be going this summer :/ 

Oh dear, oh boy, birth control

Back in like 2009, I would watch MTV and BET after school (I was so obsessed with being older omg). I remember a lot of the commercials on MTV mainly because BET had the same medical compensation commercial over and over. One the commercials that I both remembered was the bedsider commercials. Those commercials reminded me of the weird commercials from the The N. Eight year old me was like man, that will never happen to me. Now before you press the back button and search somewhere else, those two commercials that I did not really relate to then. Who knew that their weird quiet, The N-ish commercial would prove me wrong. In about n the span of two years, I had to deal with TWO different types of birth control, The first was one that I would oppose of at first: nexplanon. I didn't really like where the placement beforehand. One of the girls from the orientation had it and it kinda changed my perspective on it. I did it in late August of 2018 and it was really quick and painless. I was legit shock by the process. Just please PLEASE do not watch videos of people getting it put in and taken out. I did that mistake on the day before it and freaked out (especially since I have a fear of needles). Thank god, my mom calmed me down about it and gave me support of the day of. After the application of it, I ended up having a loooong period that lasted from really August (29th) to February. It would switch up between spotting to light+medium bleeding. It settle down in March and it was a little irregular. Before the implant, my bleeding was very regular but, the bleeding was terrible. My "light" bleeding was medium. I had to change my pad almost every hour, that's how bad it was. With the implant, it was better and shorter (6 days) too. Then it went downhill in this August. It was the second time where I had two lengthy periods in one month. In addition, I had intense mood swings and decided to call it off. That when I got the IUD (Oct 3rd). I got the Mirena one because of the time length and the hormones. I did not have a period until the 29th or so. That's a real big gap. The immediate recovering of it lasted like two days for me. Now I had a period since the 29th which is composed of light bleeding and spotting (medium here and there). The reason I wrote this because when I got it the implant, the experiences was black and white. Either people absolutely love it or would've murder it if it was a human being (most extreme being YouTube comment of a someone cutting it out their arm by them-self). Personally, my experiences and feeling are not that. Before getting the nexplanon, understand that there is a high probability that you will get irregular periods and long period. That's just the truth. I liked it because it lowered my amount of bleeding and cramps. Also, it's really convenient and, good for folks who are bad with routines or busy bodies. On the downside, I got multiple periods in one month and the mood swings would get real fierce for me. With more and more people getting birth control for either sex or just mensutral cycles, remember to keep an open mind. Keep others's experience with different method with an open mind. Your desicion on choosing BC should be a halfway glass of water: one half with awareness of the cons and the other with pros. And do not assume that all birth control is rainbows and glitter pies. Even with "the one", there will be troubles.

How to make an impressive host letter

On April 20, I got my acceptance letter for my study aboard scholarship.! I am going somewhere in Japan and as of right now, I am not sure as to where I am placed and who's my host family. In order to celebrate my acceptance, I decided to post a guide on how to write a host letter.

                                                 ★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★
   Personally, I feel as though not many talk out or clarify about writing host letter when it comes to the study aboard process. Host letter is quite important. It's an honest introduction made by yourself (duh!) to your future host family. The letter is supposed to be intimate yet, public. Yeah, I know it's a bit strange but, it will make more sense once I explain. Recommended length is perhaps 4-5 paragraphs (including introductory and conclusion paragraph). Make sure, your letter isn't too long or short. Too short would it seem like you aren't too interesting and sluggish. Too long could bore your possible host family. Your outline should be in this order: introductory, SAYL*, SAYL, SAYL, and conclusion  Similar to the name, go ahead and introduce yo' self! In this paragraph, it is wise to avoid going into details about your interests and relationships. It is way better to give each big aspect of your life, it's own paragraph. For example, this is okay, "I live with my two parents and have two siblings." but, this isn't, "I live with my two parents, Raymond and Elizabeth. My dad is an inventor and we constantly go the movies together and...". Put all of those juicy details into one of the body paragraphs. For the body paragraphs, focus on a big part of your life. It is recommended to go into your interests (like your favorites), your relationships (this can include both family and friends) and school life. However when talking about these things be aware to not put in personal information. Most of the times, study aboard companies put these on a forum or send them host family that can fit your criteria. So, it isn't a good idea give out names, phone numbers, etc. You could tell them those things yourself if you want to when you meet your host family. In the end, conclude your letter. Tell why you think it is important for you to study aboard and the beneficial parts and effects of foreign exchange. This can be a bit tricky but, view this part as if your travel agent or a charismatic salesman trying to ease into booking a trip. If you are still blank, search up pros of foreign exchange or maybe ask people around on their feelings about. That could give some inspiration. Your concluding sentence should be something like this, "Thank you for reading my letter and please consider hosting me. From, Jane.".  Here are a few tips that I can offer:

1. Don't put anything in the letter that could prevent you from getting the host family and application. I don't know how hard that could be for some people but, try not to. It is not the brightest idea to talk your frequent recreational drug usage or, you how much stuff you lift from your local Dollar Tree. Study aboard companies doesn't want you or your host family sitting a jail cell in a different country.
2. Be aware of the country you writing these letters to. If you know that you writing a host letter to a country is pretty conservative on certain acts, please try to avoid to talk about that. Of course, there are progressive folks in countries like those. It is safe not to mention them. Additionally, if you do not know if a country is alright with certain things, avoid adding it in.
3. Include some of the stuff from the country into one of the paragraphs. I am not saying to go full butt kissing but, draw some connections from the popular cultures and norms into your life. Simply saying that your interest is learning that country's language in your free time or you love a show that is currently being there is a nice way to connect with your host family. That being said, don't lie! Don't talk about how you read all of that country's iconic literature even though, you don't know one of the names of any authors there.
4. Steer away from taboo subjects. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT TALK ABOUT POLITICS AND RELIGION!!!  Please don't go on about how you love a leader that everybody and their mam know that treated the country you want like crap or, traumatizing event that impacted and sacred that nation. It is okay to talk about how you go to church and youth group and stuff like that. It is not okay to talk about your religion is the best in the world and other religions can go suck eggs. Just be kind and safe.

 I think that about does for right now! After this post, I could possibly write a pretty good sample host letter. I just hope that this can help someone out there. I could try to talk about more study aboard prep like funding, pack list, and all that good stuff. When I do go, I will take pictures and post a bunch.

Public school funds and things on my mind

   I don't know about schools in other countries. But, the spending in public school in the great almighty United States is absolute crap. A lot of the spending goes towards atheltics and anything besides the arts. At my school, my IB art program only has a few types of art mediums: matte acriylic, tempura paint (the type little kids paint with), colored pencils, and oil pastels. We don't even have canvas. Band is another program that is really underfunded. I mainly brought this because of what I've heard.
So, I have been placed at a table where I am surrounded by girls either in ASB or just locals (sometimes both). Only one of them really talks to me (let's call her H) and actually knows my names, the other two don't care and forget about my presence(aka J and F). Anyways, the local three were talking about the following:

1. Rise in breakups 
2. One of the girl's jerk of a recently ex-boyfriend
3. Some girl they condemned just because she embraces her sexuality
4. Girls that are stuck up
5. ASB

Because they think I am some lousy rock on the chair across them, I was able to listen on while looking bored. I overheard something that ended kinda pissing me off. J bought up the yearly ASB retreat,which I found out on that day - Thursday, and H continues on that conversation. Then, J added that fact that the head of ASB was thinking of  flying out the entire ASB! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH AIR FARE COST FOR AROUND 15 KIDS AND ONE FREAKING ADULT?! Absolutely ridulous. Just for a reminder, I am at a public school. Where's the money coming from? What's need for it? All of they do are decorate and pick themes for school events. Nothing real important there. Additionally, they're like Julius when it comes to club money. In freshman year, when I was in the Feminist club, we planned to give snack bags, basically a decorated brown paper bag with garnola bars, PB&J sandwiches and water aka simple. We had to give one hundred snack bags, so we decided to use our sorta useless club money the food. After going back and forth with ASB and the president (who was my friend, so were most of the club counsil), we can't use the club money that was saved from the food fairs we did. Not joking, ASB only allowed us to use the money only for the two most important and serious situations: pizza parties and T-shirts. In order words, donation for a shelther = a waste of money and time but, pizza parties= make it rain like a nigerian wedding.

                                     ASB:"That's almost $2 worth of club to a women shelther"

This rant felt longer than I thought. I wanted to talk about something else but, I ramble on any longer it make people fall asleep.