3/4

It's hard to believe we're so close to the end of the year already - it feels like I haven't had a chance to stop and look around before July, August and September got snatched away. These past three months were so jam packed, I feel like I've accomplished more in these past three months than I have in the rest of the year. You puddings will (hopefully) be glad to know that things have gotten a lot better since my last update. I'm not quite where I want to be yet, but I can see everything slowly coming together. I'm not out of the tunnel yet, but I finally see the light!



July was supposed to be my month off from Uni. Last semester as you puddings probably gathered, was pretty full on. I was looking forward to a break, but it didn't come in the form I had hoped. Yeah, I didn't have any more assignments to do - but I did receive two large workbooks to learn, study and remember, along with an online exam that asked for about 90 short answer responses. This was for my piercing course, which was set to start in August, so although I wasn't going to Uni anymore, I was studying pretty much daily. I'm not complaining though, I'm so passionate about this - it was actually really exciting to learn all the stuff that comes with giving people body mods. The only downside is that with all I know about cross-contamination and infections, I feel like I should be walking around in a bubble.

In slightly more negative news, there was one particular (ex)friend that one day decided to start being pretty mean - I had a talk to some other people and I wasn't the only one who noticed. Once it became clear this wasn't just a few incidents and it was becoming a real problem, I decided to say something. This was a mistake because suddenly they turned all their aggression on me. I don't want to get into the details because I don't think you should talk about other people when they can't defend themselves *cough* but I will say that the negativity became enough that this person needed to be cut out. It took a while, but my boyfriend (this person tried to drag him into this) and I finally decided that if we cut this person out, they can't hurt us any more. It doesn't matter what this person says about me or him to others or what they think, or even if they try to send more nasty messages - if we literally just don't give them the time of day, they're eventually going to run out of ideas and leave us alone.

And it worked! Since we cut this person out, there have literally been no dramas in my social circle or between myself and my boyfriend. Puddings, if someone is giving you a hard time, I know it seems too simple, but literally just ignore them. I wish I had sooner because it would have been a lot less unnecessary stress. It's a bit different when you have to see them in places like school or work and confrontation is unavoidable - but for life in general, just remember that you're in control of who gets to impact your life. Nobody can hurt you without your permission - I think that's an important lesson to learn, so I hope you puddings can learn from my experience and not have to go through it yourselves. It's just so simple - friends who take their aggression out on you do not respect you and friends who do not respect you are not your friends. Why are you putting up with their bullshit?

In other news, July 10th was my birthday! Happy day, I'm officially on my 20th lap around the sun. I had a really nice time with a few friends and it was just what I needed.
Unfortunately, time passing means that not everybody will make it to the next round. My baby bird passed away the day after my birthday. I was pretty upset. I know a lot of people don't value pets that aren't fluffy like cats or dogs, but he was still my baby. I got him in 2011, and his name was Yuki. He was a green and blue parakeet who liked Girls Generation and Pokemon. He was super sassy and pooped on everyone except me and my boyfriend. I'll miss him.

August was when things really started getting busy; Uni started back up again, I started piercing training on the 15th, and I joined the gym! It's been pretty hard fitting it in between all the stuff I have to do, but I think I've managed quite well. Since August I've been going 3 days a week for about an hour or sometimes longer. Finally it's become routine and I actually really enjoy going. I feel good because I'm doing something healthy while kind of low key chilling out, because it gives me a lot of time to think and sort out all the thoughts buzzing in my head.
Back to uni though, I had signed up for two units this semester: media studies and Japanese 2. I had a look through the unit guides and went to mark the assignment and exam dates on my calendar and as I was doing so, I had a realization: I wasn't even through the first week, and I was already drowning in work - did I really need all this? I'm majoring in Journalism, I only decided to get a minor in Japanese to fill in the time, otherwise I would only be doing one unit a semester. And then it occurred to me: what's wrong with only doing one unit? It's literally the only unit I need to do for the next 14 weeks - everything else is optional. With piercing and job hunting and my actual major, did I really have the time to learn another language? On the first day of class, I dropped Japanese and instantly felt lighter.

Fast forward to week 3 of Uni and I'm feeling a lot better about my life situation. I had done all my study for piercing training, my work load was finally manageable, my social life was a lot more chill and actually enjoyable, and I was actually really enjoying what I was doing. I love studying media - I find it really interesting and it's something I actually enjoy discussing and writing about, which has helped me a lot with the assignments.

I took week 3 off because my piercing practical ran from 10am-6pm, Monday-Friday. I wrote a diary for each day of my practical, because so much happened that I wanted to share - I'm going to publish it once my certificate finally arrives. I also wrote a diary for my experience at the Dan and Phil live show which I went to the night before the practical started. Despite the bad timing (I really should have been studying and getting an early night), I'm so glad I went. I know deep down that I'll probably never get to see them in person again, and I'm really happy that I enjoyed the night to its fullest.

After a jam packed week of practical experience and then being thrown back into school with a weeks worth of work to catch up on, along with more online piercing training, September came at me like a ton of bricks. I buckled down and managed to get back on top of everything and even found the time to start working toward getting my drivers license! I know, I'm 20 years old and can't legally drive - but if it makes you puddings feel better, I've been driving since I was 14. Just not legally. Let's keep that secret between the 3k of us. Promise?

So yeah, that's been my past three months! Pretty full on, huh? I feel like I've done more in these past three months than I have in the entire rest of the year. I'm really happy with how far I've come, and things are finally starting to feel less crazy. I only have one assignment left for the rest of the semester and a tiny bit of theory work to get through before I get my certificate - they really do make sure you know everything.

I know there were a lot of ups and downs, but throughout this last instalment, I'm the happiest I've been in this whole year. July was pretty rocky, but August and September were kind to me. They pushed me further than I thought I could go, but helped me get where I need to be. I finally feel like I'm working through my setbacks and making progress in my life. By no chance is my life suddenly back where it needs to be, but thank God it's not where it used to be.

For the first time in a long time, I feel happy to be alive.


Holy moly there's so much to tell you puddings I'm so sorry for the long update but those were all the main things! I also started going out with friends more often (I don't know how I managed to fit it all in), I once waited in the emergency room for over 4 hours because I hurt my back and holy shit puddings take care of yourselves because God knows the doctors will not give a shit, I went to the Royal Show with my sister and dad, I sold a bunch of my clothes, my macbook had a near death experience, I made some new friends, I ditched the dreadlocks and changed my hair (instapuddins will know this), aaaaaaaaand a bunch more stuff. 
I'm tired.