Sunlight-Colored Roses

I’m excited to finally have a sit-in at the new Burleson Starbucks. I never thought I’d have a Starbucks so close to my house, although the Forest Hill one is pretty close.

This place was being built during the pandemic, and I was excited for it, but all of the local Starbucks stores closed their dining rooms till relatively recently.

I’m trying the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino for the first time. It’s really sweet. I’m still trying to stay off the caffeinated beverages as much as possible. I don’t like Starbucks’ coffee anyway, so it’s better to save my caffeine intake for better opportunities.

I have been feeling a little disengaged lately. Big milestone. I sent my article off today with all its revisions. It may be published. I don’t know. It’s a huge thing. My work on my dissertation and class prep has gone way down this week. I’ve got to get my concentration back. I feel burned-out. It’s also discouraging to keep getting these emails about the contingency plan. It sounds like the university is thinking about reverting back to online.

Doll plan wise, I was considering getting a Dollmore sculpt secondhand, but that didn’t work out. When I researched the Spanish post situation, it did not sound good, and I decided to hold off. I think it’s for the best. I’ve barely gotten to know Mason. I have my first item from China coming for him. This is the first item I’ve bought from China since an item was lost early last year. I have been wanting to collect some American Girl food for him and will probably use my sales funds toward that and also buying him a track suit, since the pattern I bought to make one didn’t work out well. I really like spoiling him, anyway.

I thought about getting Mason some new wigs, but I don’t think anything will beat the one I have. It has never worked for my larger dolls, it’s older and even a little threadbare, but the color, texture, and shape are perfect for him. It also looks just like the one that was included in his sculpt’s (Dikadoll Jose) fullset. He also has some dark blue glass eyes I ordered in the wrong size a while back. Again, they are perfect for him. Right now he’s wearing jeans made from my old bootcut jeans from the aughts that I figured I would never fit into again, and just random shirts.

I started reading this book called Personality isn’t Permanent that I really like but haven’t had the chance to really continue lately. It’s about having the personality you really want and not being stuck in a category. The underlying theme is that you have to work through the trauma that keeps you stuck in the category. It really struck a chord with me.

I discovered the Otomania app, which is overall expensive, but I limit myself to $5 worth of rubies per week. The first game I played, Blood Moon Calling, was incredible. The next few I tried did not grab me. However, The Rondo of Oblivion game has the same kind of production values as Blood Moon Calling and did grab me. I may also continue with Angelic Kisses since I like the promise of the one route. Luckily you can try many games and just go back into the game you want at will. A universe of apps within an app.

I also got into Tappytoon, which I have tried to avoid for a long time, but I do feel really depressed at missing out on new manhwa. The smartphone kind of manhwa isn’t the same but it definitely is compelling in its own way. The royalty genre is really huge. I had been reading The Great Wish a while back. The one I began on Tappytoon is Light and Shadow.