Envy

I've always called where I live a town, but turns out it is technically a city. Not the vision I ever had of living in a city, but okay. lol

I live in the god-awful state of Oklahoma. One of the worst states in the nation. It's way too hot, way too bug infested, way too disaster prone, way too religious, and the leadership is laughably bad. (would be literally laughably so if they weren't so harmful). Looks like I'll be leaving soon for the great state of Connecticut! =) (far from perfect, but I look forward to living in a state of which I don't despise in every single way).

I currently live in a suburb and have the vast majority of my life so far. I lived a couple of years in a smallish college town out in the middle of nowhere. I like the suburb life, but I haven't had much experience with anything else. But I can tell you that I absolutely don't want to live in a rural area. The town I lived in for college was kinda rural, I guess, but didn't feel a lot like that being a college town, so it definitely was different from many of the negative aspects of rural towns. But it always felt like the town was too small to deal with the traffic of the university - stores and restaurants were always packed to the brim and it was annoying. Also, the lack of many stores around meant that if the stores didn't have what you wanted, you were SOL. So I can safely say I don't want to ever go rural. A true rural small town would be hellish for me for many, many, many reasons. Just not a good fit. Urban I've never had any experience with at all so I don't know how I'd feel about it. I may have to live an urban life for some time when I move and that makes me nervous as cities have a lot of crime and are noisy. This is why I like my suburb life experience, safe and not too noisy. But urban life has one plus - better public transportation. Something my town suffers at and the small college town was abysmal at. Overall I wish I could just keep my current suburb life... if only I could transplant it somewhere that has a better climate and better leadership.

I had corn flakes cereal for breakfast.

I get hot much easier than I get cold. Particularly because I get hot at temperatures that everyone else finds perfect (70s F). I can even find the 60s F to be too hot under certain conditions (of course, not after I've been through the summer lol). I'm such an oddball. My parents both get cold super easily and like warm/hot temperatures. It's like I was a Northerner born in the South! I shall remedy that soon! As probably is evident from so many of my posts over the years I've been here, Southern climates do not agree with me at all. And it's only gotten worse over the years, I get hot even easier than I used to. =/

Probably on the non-US scale of things, I'm moderate, leaning left. By US standards I am definitively left, I have nothing in common with today's Republican Party. The US's scale of politics is skewed so far right I have to make this clarification because it would be weird for me to call myself left by European standards.

Good news! A couple of years ago or so my sister and I officially reconciled. =)

The Sims 3 is the better game. Open world added so much to the game and made me get used to managing different sims on different lots. The Sims 4 fails hard by not only reversing back from open world, but also regressing back to The Sims 1 in terms of neighborhoods being set in number and placement of lots. And of course, eight years in, there is still no create a world. The Sims 4 is so limited, it's pathetic. One thing that The Sims 4 has gradually been better about is sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. You can finally have sims set to be straight, gay, or bi (or ace? I forget). The added gender expression options means that all clothing and such are available for every sim. That may seem small, but this is a life sim game so it is a pretty major. I'm afraid I did end up coming to The Sims 4, and for the most shallowest of reasons... Seasons. Aesthetically, The Sims 4 did a great job with winter (snow depth aside, that was a bad failure)... Something that always bothered me about The Sims 3 Seasons. Winter aesthetic is so important to me because I love winter IRL and to see no visual detail be put into it aside from bare trees and snow makes me sad. The Sims 3 had flowering bushes and green grass in the middle of the winter. Lame. The Sims 4 Seasons, to my complete and utter shock (because TS4 has been a very low-detail game) got it right: Embarrassingly enough this most shallow of reasons got me playing the game.

I have a bowl of Corn Flakes cereal and a can of Polar Seltzer Lime.

Masks were never a requirement in my stupid selfish town. In the local city they were, but were dropped fairly quickly. Outside of rehearsals (where I play wind instruments, so...) I still wear a mask, as I am immuno-compromised, and honestly it's an incredibly minor inconvenience. Vaccines were never a requirement either? They just counted on people being smart and care about others, but those traits are rare in my town. I can't wait to move!

Hard to put my finger on it. I don't want to say "bad", because a lot of things are fine and I'm not in a hospital or anything. Alas, I have some health issues that aren't expected at my age, arthritis being one of them. Before it was treated, I was very miserable, and at my lowest point was suicidal (after a surgery that didn't fix the issue - because we didn't know it was arthritis at that point). Even treated, I'm still limited. It's hard to put that in words, it's different from before it was treated, but I do still avoid being on my feet much because it does still flare up (even though it is different and resides much faster). I'm also a bit overweight. People laugh at me when I say that because apparently I don't look it? I kinda get that, but I already have some features of my body I dislike, like wide shoulders, so I'm VERY sensitive about my size. I am truthfully overweight, my doctor has acknowledged it and started me on medication and I am trying my best to change my diet for the best... It is a struggle. Overall, I am trying to take better care of myself than I ever have. I have made great strides - went to the doctor about my ears after being scared for nearly two decades that something was horribly wrong and found out that perhaps it isn't and got cleared to return to playing music. And...Hey, I'm doing a lot better than I was in 2018 and 2019. Soooo much better. The misery of that pre-treatment time for my arthritis... I'm so unbelievably happy that's been treated.

I think Branson, Missouri is three hours away, so I'd go there. I have childhood memories there. I hope to visit once more before I move.

Pretty sure I wouldn't. I haven't signed up anywhere with the username Envy in years now. For nearly a decade now my usernames have now been musical in some way.

Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton were big pop acts back in my teens. I don't keep up with pop music anymore, but I haven't even heard of them in a long time.

I no longer go by this name. The reason I ever went by it is because my ex had a best friend with my real name and so she decided to call me Emma and it stuck for years thereafter. That's a bit odd looking back on it. My real name, which I've never talked about here, I'm actually okay with. I go by it exclusively now, since my ex is long gone from my life. It is a common name, but not so common that I typically run into situations where there are others with my name. (it happens, for a short time there was a girl at work with my name, but she's not there anymore... working from home, now? Totally threw me off when she was there and I'd hear my name. xD). My name means "grace", a very Christian Biblical name... Eh. But the name is so common nowadays that I think you're more likely to associate it with a pop star (or character? IDK) than with the Biblical character. I'm not giving my real name itself, but it would probably be pretty easy to figure out with those clues.

Opinions are fine. It's just that we must realize that there are opinions and then there are statements of fact that are falsely given off as "well that's just my opinion", when it's just a false statement. On top of that, there are 'opinions' which are inflammatory and harmful to others, in which case, then you're going to get pushback. That's just the way it is. Like, if you say that you like country music, that's fine. That's an opinion. It's one I disagree with, but it is an opinion and it's over something that doesn't effect me in any substantial way. However, your 'opinions' on political matters are not immune from criticism, because those ARE detrimentally effecting the lives of myself and others. Especially since I currently live somewhere where the bad ones are in power, and then there's the Supreme Court... >.< Besides, there is a lot of "political opinions" nowadays that are based entirely on propaganda and lies. There's nothing real going on to back up these views on how society should be run. The facts and experts and flat out reality are ignored. (which then we're getting "opinions" on matters of fact, which is frustrating). I have no patience for these "opinions". No patience at all. My state, many other states, and SC are a straight up disaster right now and it has all to do with lies and ignoring the facts of reality. I'm so ticked off.

I use Suave Cherry Blossom. Cheap, but smells nice and gets the job done. Sometimes I'll get the Sweet Pea & Violet one to mix it up. I used to use Axe For Her that they had at Walmart, but I haven't seen it in years.

Somewhere around 10:30 pm to 7 am.

I don't recall any such thing if I did. It would have had to have been really young. I hate the outdoors during summer. I always have. Insects, heat, sunshine, humidity. It's misery. I tolerated it (barely) for marching band in high school, but not anymore! Which, by the way, never had anything called "band camp" even though I was very active in band from 6th grade on. I am left wondering what that even is... Probably for the best I didn't experience it. Lots of reasons. I don't think I would have been able to handle it.

LOL... So... Totally got myself a bass clarinet the next summer after this post was posted. Was excited to try to learn it when I got inspired to learn and play the oboe for real instead and yeah... Late last year I got the opportunity to play tenor saxophone for one event (a pep band event, very casual). I got to actually sit down and learn it and then play it! Amazing. I'm really hoping I find more opportunities in the future. When I made the first post, I owned my bassoon, tenor saxophone and oboe, but only was able to play the bassoon. Over the last 9 years I have learned the other two (with the saxophone being my weakest, of course). That leaves some others still... Bass clarinet of course. Looking for an excuse to get to learn and play it for something. It hasn't happened yet. I also want to learn recorder. I got a tenor recorder, but the holes are so far apart and it hurts my hands to stretch my fingers. D:

Anyone get to go to their local Pride this year? I did. I was hesitant with the heightened situation we are in, and living in a red state. But I had a friend who hadn't been and wanted to go. I also thought this is very likely my last chance to go to a Pride here in my home state as I am moving, and it's one of those rare opportunities to not feel so outcasted around here, so I went. Another friend ended up being there, as well, and I was able to spend some valuable time with both of those two friends, who I am dearly going to miss when I move. I got new Pride flags (a Progress one, and a Bi one -to add to the Lesbian one I already have - I know that's conflicting, and it looked just as conflicting at Pride as I wore the Lesbian one as a cape and had a bi fan LOL.) and a neat tank (or actually more of a halter?) which is bi colors but very subtly so and I'm totally going to wear it to work this week. =P (I...work in an environment where I can't be open).

Not casually. But at work I do, as we use caps a lot in our data entry program for some reason.

Any violent game outside of the Assassin's Creed series. That includes many, many popular games.

Let a MLP Tales song explain it!: But also I struggle with Gluttony and Sloth as of late.

I'm leaning toward yes now. I've been back and forth on this over the years, but now that I'm in my mid 30s, I think my brain is like "You need to have a child, now!" But truth be told, I won't be having a child, I'd prefer to adopt. No reason to bring a new life into this messed up world when there are so many children already born who are stuck in agencies and need a loving family. I've told my mom my intentions, but it will be a while still. For sure, I'll be moving first, and I will need to get financially stable before I can even begin to think of this. I also have lots to work on with myself. Also, I'm scared of being a single mother, but I don't think there's another way for me.