Awwww, Leafy. *hugs* I’m sorry. Life can really suck sometimes, I get it.

I’m not really sure what to tell you about your Halloween costume. I think both of those ideas sound cool, and you should go with whichever one inspires you or whichever one you think would the most fun. But I get the stress of trying to choose and feeling torn; it’s awful.

I’m sorry you’re sick! I hate being sick. I hope you feel better soon!

And let me just say, I completely get how you feel about your birthday. When I turned thirteen I kinda freaked out. I wasn’t ready to be a teenager, I didn’t want to grow up, and I didn’t want everything to change. I still feel that way, but what I realized was that being thirteen actually wasn’t so bad. I honestly didn’t feel any different. It was just a number, and it didn’t change who I was. I still get depressed when I think about growing up, though. It scares me. 

I’m not exactly sure what to tell you about your friends, either, except that I hope you work it out. Maybe you could have a sort of belated birthday party a day or two after your actual birthday so that your best friend could come?

Anyway, all of this is to basically say that I get it. I get stressed out and overwhelmed all the time, and it stinks. In fact, I’m stressing right now just thinking about all of the things I need to do and probably should be doing instead of procrastinating on the CB. I wish I could help somehow, fix things for you, but since I can’t, I will at least sympathize. I hope I’ve been of some help, and I hope you feel better soon. Just know that you aren’t alone. <3

Leafpool, I'm so sorry *hugs*.

I'm terrible at giving advice but I'll give it a go.

1. Since you've been sick and halloween's so close, maybe try the easiest costume out of the two. It might not be what you planned, but there's always next year.

I promise you'll have a great time.  

2. Being sick really sucks, but remember it'll get better. Take it easy, okay? *hugs again*

3. Turning thirteen is...scary. I know how you feel, when I turned thirteen I was a little skeptical. I don't want to grow up so quickly, and no way was I ready to be a teenager! But, as Leeli said, you're not a different person. It's just a number.

On my birthday a few of my friends couldn't make it (it was on a Thursday, which wasn't particularly convenient) so we had a sleepover and watched a movie the weekend after. It was still fine. I know, it's not the same though. 

Aww. *hugs* That sucks. I'll tell you what I can think of.

1. This is either the best idea or the worst: Go as all of them. At the same time. (Don't) Trust me. Wili veil and skirt, Jyn's bangs, scarf and vest, Rey's triple bun thingy and whatever it is that goes over her shirt and pants, and a choice of footwear and under-top. I drew it. It's crazy, but it just might work. Might.

Don't worry about having fun. Worry about how cold you're going to be, how long you can walk, and how much candy you're going to get. Candy heals many wounds. 

2. Use the fact that you're sick and miserable to get out of doing stuff. What kind of stuff is up to you. Wallow in thy germified state. Drink hot beverages and indulge yourself completely. Cuddle a plushie. Watch TV. Eat cough drops like candy (I recommend the strawberry ones). Carefully knot tissues together into a more-hole-than-pseudo-fabric shawl. Make informational charts. Go crazy. It's your right as a sick person. 

3. I hold the opinion that having a birthday only makes you one day older. The only thing that changes is you have a new number to remember and try to work into equations so that you can more fully become one with math, hopefully gaining some shred of understanding of its mysteries in the process. Getting your new number doesn't mean you have to grow up. You'll grow up when you're good and ready, and if that's never, it's never. The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder says that there are four simple rules for staying young: Know all the questions, but not the answers. Look for the different instead of the same. Never walk where there's room for running, and don't do anything that can't be a game. Also, I paid simulated checks today. It was weird.

So you're having your birthday party on your birthday? *squints at her mental image of a calendar* And that's... Friday? Well, then, why not have your party on Saturday? It might not be quite the same, I suppose, but like I said, the anniversary itself only gives you a number. Birthday parties are simply parties that use the excuse of birthdays to happen. Assuming your friends don't have anything going on Saturday, you can spend an entire day with them, maybe even the whole weekend! Make it a birthday festival! There shall be cakes and flowers and movies in your honor for a whole week if you can wrangle space for them out of your Halloween-candy-induced coma. 

Now, remember to take care of yourself, and I hope that if this wasn't helpful, it at least made you laugh. 

Part 2. (*thunk*)

4. There is more about growing up and especially about careers but let's just leave it at this one sentence.

5. Non-lucidity? So...I don't know how to explain this but sometimes, I'll just be doing something normal and all of a sudden I'll feel very removed from it, like I'm not really there or everyone else is not really there, or nothing is significant or I'll know everything is real, but I'll feel like I'm in a dream, or something...it's like I zone out and can't help it, and I keep doing whatever and I just have to wait until it passes. It's not like, depression or something, it's a physical feeling that I get that makes it feel almost like I'm in a holodeck (Star Trek) or....I don't even know. I only got it once in a while for a long time but now I feel like it happens all the time. Like, I'll just stop recognizing things as being completely real. Maybe it's because I spend too much time thinking about scenarios that may or may not happen or imagining things in the future or thinking about other people's lives, or maybe it's a stress thing. I have no idea. But on Sunday I was at a small fall festival with my older sister, walking around and looking at the booths, and she was talking to someone she knew and all of a sudden I just zoned out, and I could do nothing to help myself and when I feel like that, I can talk to people and move around and stuff but just nothing feels absolutely real, even though I know and remind myself that it is, and so I think I did speak a few words to someone but I was still feeling zoned out. I could act normal, but it's just such a weird feeling...like I'm watching myself from far away or not even completely controlling my actions with all of my feelings. 

And I have to get off the computer again so there will be a part three. I might continue talking about the out-of-reality feeling.  

1.) I propose Viola?'s idea, because #1, I cannot top that, #2 Its original, #3 It looks fun!

2.) To get rid of sicknesses, sleep a lot, eat healthily, find a good book, and a little chocolate (JK  a lot) are the key ingredients to feel better!

3.) I just turned 13 this year, and though its a little spoopy and scry at first, you get to LEGALLY WATCH PG13 MOVIES, and you can't get a job till you're 15-16! Also, reassuring the fact that one never can grow up if they don't want to, I have three stepsisters (all older than us), and they are all just as childish as me and Darkking!

4.)  About the best-friend-coming-over thing, propose a sleepover? (heh sleepover, its impossible to sleep when you're having fun! hehehehheh) It would mean spending more time, and if there is a younger sibling, you said there was an hour before she had to leave, right? So, their mom could take the younger one home, and leave your friend there! (To bring her stuff, leave it in the car and don't bring it into ballet)

Hope this helps! (also, feel better) 

I don't know how helpful I am, but I have some advice for numbers 3 and 4!

3. I think I've found that that happens over time. My brother's 14, and he didn't want a big fuss over his birthday. My dad doesn't even want presents ("hey Dad, what do you want for your birthday?" "I don't want nothing, Liza.") Every year. 

You don't have to be exited for it to turn out fun! I promise, whatever you do, you're going to enjoy yourself. 

4. Think of growing up like this: once you turn 13, you have 365 days until you need to worry about what happens when your 14. As for career choices, dude, you got time. Once you find what you really love, you can decide what you want to be.

This is pretty lousy advice, but I hope it helps a little! 

Boo finally said his first word! Mode.  

Thanks, guys. Yes, that's a super-cool costume but I don't actually think I'll go as that. It's a little too crazy for my tastes. (Crazy cool, though.)

I think I only have one last thing at the moment. And it's kinda silly. 

6) IthinkI'mgonnabeinthesameco-opclassasmycrushonFridayandaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

Um. So I'm homeschooled. I go to a Catholic co-op on the second Friday of every month. This fall, I've started going to a new co-op that meets every Friday morning, too, but that's not relevant to this. I've loved going to the monthly co-op. We've been doing it for a couple years, and it's not very big (and not very well-organized) but we kinda made it ourselves with the other families, whom we mostly all know. It used to be a book group. So anyway, the boy I have a crush on goes to it. His name is Sam, and he's really cute. Basically, he's my best friend's younger brother's friend. He has a younger brother who is more like friends with my best friend's brother, but anyway. I've sorta vaguely known him for years, just because they do the same things that my family and our friends do. We've never really known each other, though, because my friend's family has a weird thing where they basically seperate the girls and the boys and it's kind of just a habit to have the boys hang out together and the girls hang out together, and why would they ever want to mix? It's sort of a thing in our co-op, too. But it's never been something where we would do stuff with them. There's an age difference, too, between the main group of boys in our co-op and the main group of girls. (Which consists of me, my friend, her sister, and like 2 others). I feel like I'm not explaining this well.

So...out of habit we never interacted with each other. At all. He was just like, Sam. One of the boys and my friend's brother's friend. But last summer, I kinda realized that he was my age...ish. And cute. Since then, I've had a crush on him. Long-distance, basically. I know almost nothing about him. Almost. 

I'm not sure exactly when his birthday is and I think he's a little younger than I am, but he's the same numerary age and my height. He has brown hair and he's really athletic--not muscly, just like...graceful, and he can run fast. 

So. I've had a crush on him, and in our co-op, he's always gone in the group of younger boys, since he's friends with them. I've been with the high-schoolers. But this year, for the high schoolers, we had an Apologetics class and that's basically learning how to argue the Catholic faith to athiests. I'm not technically Christian myself and...I have to get off. Tomorrow.