10 months...

This update will be short, yet the next update I do-within the next few days or so-will contain a second of the icons that Denise made for me. I used to enjoy the number 13 despite the tradition that comes with the number being unlucky. I never thought of it like that...until this day, 10 months ago, on May 13, 2004-nearly a year to the day that I lost my grandmother.

The strangest thing was that I didn't even cry on this day-it wasn't until a week later, at her funeral, that I came to the realization that I had truly lost someone I deeply loved, someone who looked after me during my youth, and that I cried a number of times. The hardest I shed my tears was when I looked at her for the last time before we had to go to the cemetery.

Some people think of crying as a weakness. Until the 20th of May, I thought that as well. Now, I see it as a strength, a way of showing the world that you are human...This evening's quote will be from a past issue of Teen Titans, when Robin dealt with the pain of losing his father to Captain Boomerang.


"For the first time in a week...I stop thinking like Batman. And I start thinking like a Titan." -Robin, Teen Titans #20: Hiding

4 hours of near-total darkness...

The only good thing that came out of this dismal day was the knowledge that my mom was able to spend some time in San Fransisco-she left around noon, and has yet to make it back home. Aside from having to wash dishes, from 5:00 to 10:00, I had to endure over 4 hours-which nearly became 5 hours-of darkness, due to a blackout that took out my area of the city. The power came back for a few seconds, but then it went out for a second time. Since I'm back online, the power was fully restored.

Despite this ray of sunlight, I'm not happy. The time I spent in the dark, having only my mother's flashlight that also served as a lantern, could've been spent conversing with Denise, or some of my other fellow authors. Now, they've had to get offline, and I'm left with negative feelings that haven't even began to subside...

There won't be a quote this evening, but as promised, here is the other icon Denise was nice enough to make for me.