Submachine 10: The Exit

Today, the final installment in my favorite game series was released, and I'm really excited. The Submachine games aren't all that popular, but they are truly fantastic. The stories are amazing, the gameplay is clever, and the graphics and audio are always stunning and chilling.

I've been playing Submachine since about 2011, and I've been waiting for each subsequent installment since about number 6 or so. Today, Submachine 10: The Exit, was released, and I am so freaking excited to play it. It's like a tv series or book series. I'm so excited to know what happens, but also really sad it'll soon be over.

I've heard these games refered to as the "Lost" of online gaming, and I think that's fair.

You should all totally go look up Submachine now, and play them all from the beginning, but only if you have a lot of time and patience and don't mind getting very frustrated sometimes. And if you don't mind a fascinatingly creepy and complex story.

These games are fantastic. I'm off to play the new one. Go look them up and support Mateusz Skutnick's amazing work. That guy is fantastic. All his games and art are work checking out and supporting.

A Year of Change: 2015

Now that 2015 is almost over, I think it's time for a review of the year. It's been a crazy year for me. Things have been changing rapidly, and it's both terrifying and also kind of awesome.  Here are scattered pictures and links to past blog posts. This was my year.

We started the year out with a sleepover and some terrible selfies. 

Back in January, I was in my second quarter at Whatcom, and I was just beginning the college search process. The winter and spring for me were defined by visiting schools, deciding where to apply to, and a lot of personal growth. Being in college and taking much harder classes was challenging and forced me to grow and adapt a lot, and there were personal and social challenges that forced me to make decisions and grow up a lot very quickly.

Dancing really took off for me. In 2015, I had many chances to dance and perform and they were terrific. I learned a lot from those, and became a much more confident performer.

Highland Games 2015

This is from dancing at Boundary Bay Brewery - one of the best days I had all year.These are the memories I'll always cherish from the era of dancing that is now closing.

Our dancing dream team.

First dance performance with the new group. I have high hopes for us!

I had the opportunity to teach quite a bit. All of the winter, spring, and summer I was able to teach Latin classes to my very favorite students. I haven't been teaching the last few months, and I miss it so much. Over the summer, the Homeschool Academy was a big success and I taught things like dance, yoga, geology, literature, and more over my time there.

I had a birthday and turned 17!

All year I volunteered at the library and also babysat for a family I love a lot. In the fall, I had the opportunity to get a job at the library, but had to turn it down for many reasons. I started working at the Writing Center at WCC, and that has also been a wonderful experience for me.

I successfully pulled off a surprise party for my mom's birthday!

A tree fell on my house. That wasn't the most fun.

This summer was a great one. Along with the Homeschool Academy, there was the awesome trip to Oregon, and lots of time spent hanging out with friends.

My favorite people in the world <3

Candid camping shots - these people are the best

We went to see A Comedy of Errors in Vancouver!

This fall has been a time of a lot of transitions for me. I'm a full time college student now. I practically live at school. I'm working now. Socially, a lot of shifts have happened in my life too. A lot of changes happened in my dance life as well.

I've gotten a lot more involved at school. As seen here: serving cake at the german club Winterfest.

These chairs are my home now.

I finished my college applications, and now have gotten two acceptance letters.

PLU sent the first acceptance letter.

On the whole, this year has been hard, but I've moved through it and honestly, I'm happier now than I've been in a long time. I have absolutely no idea what the next year is going to bring, and while that is pretty freaking terrifying, I'm also excited.

Some Bill Cypher art I did - cause why not?

My interests changes a lot this year too. I got really into podcasts like Hello Internet, Nerdist, Welcome to Nightvale, and 99% Invisible. I've gotten into shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe. Don't Starve is my current favorite game, and has been for a long time now.

It's been crazy.

Life is a roller coaster that never stops getting crazier, but I'm a little more ready now. I wasn't prepared for this year, but I think it was a good test run for what I have coming. I made it through all this year's challenges stronger than ever and I'm ready to tackle whatever happens next. I hope.

Finals are done!

Note, I wrote this all up on Sunday, then totally forgot to publish it. *smh*

Now that finals are over and a few days have passed, I have managed to gather the energy to do a life update here of what I've been up to the last few weeks. Last week was finals, and I had three finals, four take home tests, and two papers that all were due at various points in the week. It was exhausting.

This post is going to be in the style of a photo spam, with stories and such mixed it. If you're friends with me on Facebook and Snapchat, you've probably already seen a lot of these, but not all of them. They are in reverse chronological order because that's how blogger likes doing things, and I don't feel like changing it all manually right now.

 Yesterday, our Irish dance group performed at a local nursing home, which was really great. It went well, we all looked good, and nobody really messed up much (except me at one point) which is rare.

 Terrible quality picture from the rehearsal before the performance.

 Crazy rainbow at school on Thursday. To the right of this picture, it was actually a double rainbow, but I didn't get a picture of that part.

 Lots of late busses and fun stuff like that. Hopefully I'll be able to drive to school next quarter and not take the bus anymore. That would be awesome.

 On Wednesday was the german club Winterfest, at which we sang lots of songs in German, had a Christmas tree with actual fire on it (that was a little scary) and lots of cookies and things like that.

 My friend Damian made a cake that says "Frankreich ist supergeil" (which roughly means France is super sexy) on the top, with the French flag, but when you cut into it, has layers in the colors of the German flag. It was a big hit.

 At the homeschool Christmas party last week, I had my name drawn in Elvish on my hand by one very talented friend.

 Another wonderful friend did this artwork on my arm.

The Wednesday before finals, I took a shift tutoring in the library from 6-10, which meant I was at school for 14 hours that day. I don't usually say no to working extra hours when they are offered, though.

On the whole, the last few weeks have been incredibly exhausting, but school is now over until January 6th. I'm not totally sure what the break will bring, but hopefully good things, like sleep and Steven Universe. And maybe some friends and parties too.

Other things that have happened that I don't have pictures from include seeing the Nutcracker last night, which was absolutely fabulous, literally falling asleep on a couch at school after my last final on Friday because I had slept so little the night before, and