-:{Behind my smile is everything you'll never understand.}:-

Well. Here I am! Since I'm supposed to explain the purpose of this journal...well. It's my journal, in which I can divulge more things than I usually can in RL, and I can get feedback from people(who won't judge me, hopefully. ^^) and talk about my life. ^^

I like to talk/write, so my posts tend to be kind of long, though it really depends on how much time/energy I have. I may include the whole mood/listening to/reading thing too...and occasionally I'll have a quote that I'm enjoying, or a piece of poetry that really hit me. I hope you'll all enjoy reading my journal, though! :)

(I hope this is okay?)

Okay. A little more of a intro. ^^

I'm Yumi, but my real name is...Mary. Boring, huh? Ehh...I like it. ^^ It's simple, quick...a bit like me. I've been told that I'd make a good Zoe or Kate as well, so...if you'd prefer to call me any of those, you can go ahead. :)

I live in Minnesota, and up until August of last year, I lived in the Twin Cities, but because our family was getting smaller(people moving out), we decided to sell our 100+ year old home and move, so...here I am now, in an entirely different home. It's kind of funny how you think of things when you're a child. I always expected to live in my old house until I moved out/got married...and right now, I'm sitting in an entirely different county. Funny how it kind of snaps things into perspective. ^^

I come from a family of ten(eleven, really, but...yeah. ^^ Naomi.), seven brothers, two(three) sisters...so I've always had quite a few people around me, and I like it. I've always said that when I get married, I'd like to have quite a few children, but...yeah. That's me.

I'm also homeschooled, so...that's why you'll see me around in the middle of the day, when I *should* be in school. :)

Anyhow...today. ^^ I spent quite a lot of time outside; I absolutely love fiddling around in the crick behind my house. It's really nice to have that there; I never would have dreamed a year ago that I'd have a little stream in my back yard. :)

My brother, sister-in-law, and their three kiddies came over today...so it was nice and loud and hyper and hectic for a while...but now they're gone, it's 9:30PM, and I've got to go very shortly for bed...but I'll come on tomorrow morning bright and early. ^^

Sorry for the shortness of this...but yeah. :P Happens, I guess.

~Yumi(and LUFF! ^^)

Heya~ Nice blog Yumi =) You're only 15 and already an aunty? wow, you're exactly the same as me XD I have a 1 year old niece! I hope to see you around the boards =)

^^ Thank you!

Yep...my oldest brother is 33 or 34 or 35, so...yep. ^^ I've got ten nieces and nephews; four boys and six girls...and boy, are they a handful when we're all together...but I love them all. :)

I hope I see you around too! Everyone here is so awesomely nice...I can't wait to really get to know more people. :)

Yay! You started a journal blog thing! I can't wait to read more!

That is so cool how you are home schooled. :)

^^ I'm happy you enjoy reading it so much! I really like writing it, so...yeah! :)

I think it's pretty cool too, though I do have a bit of a problem with slacking off. :P But I've been working on that lately, so I'm doing a lot better. :)

Todayness then!

Let's see...I *accidentally* slept in; I forgot to turn my alarm on to ring at 5:40, so I woke up at 8 instead and lounged around for a bit, just because having a nice warm bed is so luxurious sometimes...y'know?

Then I got up, had breakfast...and ended up playing with the little sis for a bit. We were outside swinging and jumping on the tramp too, then my mom came back(she was out to breakfast with some of her sisters) and took my little sister off to her riding lessons. They left around 10, so they were gone until 12, and I had some time to come on and all that good awesomeness. ^^

Ohhh...but I spent about half an hour out on the deck, sunsoaking. ^^ It was so nice today...I had my dog for a pillow, and nice music playing(Sakamoto Maaya and some other stuff...and classical too. :D), and the birds were singing their hearts out...and the sun. Ohh, the sun. I had a black shirt and blue-and-white pants on, so I was able to use the shirt to get a lot warmer. But wow...it's kind of funny how it takes three months for you to realize how much you miss going outside and laying in the sun...and being warm for once. ^^

So yeah...I was out there for about half an hour, and I even dozed off for a while. When I got up to go inside and come on, I saw a family of Cedar Waxwings, so that was a nice surprise. Usually we don't see them at all, let alone this time of year. :P In fact, until today, I've only seen pictures of them in a book, so...yeah. :)

I got to talk with a friend(IMing, I mean) that I haven't spoken with in a while, and we had a wonderful time. We're both writers, working on our *first* novels, so we got to talk about that a bit...she's doing really well with her OF; about 70,000 words. Mine is still hovering around 50,000, but that's because I haven't had much time to work on it. She's also the one working with editing my stuff with me, so she's awesome. ^^ I just need a week or two to finish up my bigger projects, then I'll print off the 20 pages she's edited, and start working on that. :)

The bigger projects I'm talking about is my career report, the shadowing and interview that go with that, and the oral presentation that comes afterwards. And that's only homework for one class...heh.

Maybe I should explain more about that now. :)

I am homeschooled, but there's a special kind of school - it's more like tutoring - that I go to for a few classes. I take Spanish 2, Drawing, and Educational Skills 1(It's like Study skills, I think), and Ed. Skills is the class I'm in that I have most of the homework with. But yeah...the classes aren't too huge, but it's more like a normal school, I think. ^^

I only go one day a week for each class, so those three I have on Tuesdays. My first hour, 9:30-11:00, is Spanish 2, my second, 11:00-12:30, is Drawing, I get a half hour lunch break, then I have from 1:00-2:30 Ed. Skills. After that, I get to pack up and come home, where I finish any classes I haven't been able to finish that day already.

But yeah...the career report, shadowing, and interview are due this Tuesday, so...I'm kind of rushing to get things done. I'd have to say the that most time-consuming part of doing the report is having to put all the citation things in, but...yeah. *shrugs* It happens, I guess. And it could definitely be worse, so I'm okay. ^^

Erm...so, back to today...

When they came back, I was just finishing lunch(Ramen noodles and baloney = <3 ) and had a bit of time before we had to head off again.(A bit more explaining to do)

My mom and I decided that I would do 50 hours of community service a year for me to pass high school(nope, I'm not a felony. :P), so this year I'm working my hours off at my church's food shelf. Helping includes making up boxes of food and stuff, helping unload food when they get it, all sorts of things. :) And I must say that I really enjoy it, even if some of it is hard work, so I'll probably continue helping during the summer. I work there Wednesday evenings from 5:00-6:30ish, until I leave for youth group, so that's a good chunk of time. And then Fridays, my family and I help the caretakers of the food shelf unload and all that good stuff.

Anyhow...after I got done with that, we headed home. My dad and one of my brothers(David, 19) had to go help one of my other brothers(Stephen, 21) because he'd gone to the Anime Detour(Look it up on Google, the first link should be it) and he'd accidentally locked his keys in his car, so they had to go help him get out and all that. So funnnnn times. ^^

After that...I pretty much just hung out until this evening, when we went to the meeting(Revival meetings; church stuff. ^^ Which I really enjoy as well.) and I spent an hour with a couple friends(Jamie and Elizabeth) planning out what we were going to do for when we got to preach in youth group this Wednesday. That was fun, then we had the meeting.

After worship and stuffs, me and another friend(Sarah) went into the back to do our Spanish homework together(we're in the same class) and we had fun with that...and ended up discussing everything but Spanish. ^^

At 10:00, we came home, after picking up some stuff...and here I am now. :)

Heh...I apologize for the ginormous post. If you read all the way through, free luff and glomps to you. ^^ I guess it's the writer in me; I enjoy it so much that I tend to go on and on...ah well. :P

~Yumi

That is cool that you are writing a novel. I write quite a bit too... .but I have never been able to finish anything since I slack off waaaaay too much. XD

That is awesome how you got to sleep in. Sleeping in is so wonderful. XD

That is awesome how you only have to go one day a week. That sounds so cool.

Wow... that bites how he locked his keys in. XD My mom use to do that a lot. XD

You had quite a busy day. XD

Kyoki wrote:That is cool that you are writing a novel. I write quite a bit too... .but I have never been able to finish anything since I slack off waaaaay too much. XD

Hehh...don't we all. *sighs* But that's awesome you write too!

I wouldn't say it's really a novel yet. Sure, it has the word count requirement, but it's still a pretty rough draft. :P I'm glad I used paragraphs this time, though, because a couple years ago when I was writing a novel, I used no paragraphs whatsoever, so I ended up with 22 pages of solid words. Scary. :S

Kyoki wrote:That is awesome how you got to sleep in. Sleeping in is so wonderful. XD

XDD...it really is, sometimes...but sometimes I really need to get up, and it's frustrating that all my willpower the evening before is totally gone, and I end up going right back to sleep. :P

Kyoki wrote:That is awesome how you only have to go one day a week. That sounds so cool.

It really is, and I love it...I get a little taste of public school, but it's once a week, so it's not so bad or anything. I do get a ton of homework, though, so...it keeps me going. :)

Kyoki wrote:Wow... that bites how he locked his keys in. XD My mom use to do that a lot. XD

Hehh...yep. According to my mom, though, he's the only kid to have been driving so long and have not locked his keys in his car or lost them already. Kinda sad, but...I guess it happens. :P

Kyoki wrote:You had quite a busy day. XD

Hehh...yep! ^^ Sometimes I wonder if I have too many commitments, but I really don't, compared to some people I know.

Wow! That is scary! 22 pages? Whoa... XD

LOL! I know. There are days that I have to wake up earlier than what I am use to, and as much as I don't want to... I have to force myself to do it. XD

Ah, you do get a little bit of both. Ah! Tons of homework isn't good. But I guess it makes since you only go one day. :)

wow... that is amazing.

Yea. Some people are so busy they never have time for themselves. That is kinda sad. ^_^;;

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:^^ Thank you!

Yep...my oldest brother is 33 or 34 or 35, so...yep. ^^ I've got ten nieces and nephews; four boys and six girls...and boy, are they a handful when we're all together...but I love them all. :)

I hope I see you around too! Everyone here is so awesomely nice...I can't wait to really get to know more people. :)

Your oldest brother is in his 30's and you're only 15? wow, your brother's age and yours is really far difference XD and you have ten nices and nephews? that is really great =) My older sister is 25 and I've got only niece though, I want more nieces or nephews XD

Misty wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Yep...my oldest brother is 33 or 34 or 35, so...yep. ^^ I've got ten nieces and nephews; four boys and six girls...and boy, are they a handful when we're all together...but I love them all. :)

Your oldest brother is in his 30's and you're only 15? ohmy wow, your brother's age and yours is really far difference XD and you have ten nices and nephews? that is really great =) My older sister is 25 and I've got only niece though, I want more nieces or nephews XD

Yep! My parents are fairly old, I guess...my mom's in her fifties and my dad's just beginning his sixties. They've been married something like...36 or 37 years, I think. So yeah...they've been together a while. ^^

Yep, I do! I know; I love having so many little kids around when we have family gatherings. I really love large families, so you can be sure that I want a big family of my own someday. ^^

Kyoki wrote:Wow! That is scary! 22 pages? Whoa... XD

Yeah...no kidding. :P It was pretty immature writing as well, so I don't much miss it...but I can't help but look back on it with fondness. :) It was my first serious attempt at writing, and I learned so much from it...*gets all sentimental*

Kyoki wrote:LOL! I know. There are days that I have to wake up earlier than what I am use to, and as much as I don't want to... I have to force myself to do it. XD

It's suck sometimes...yeah. *sighs*

Kyoki wrote:Ah, you do get a little bit of both. Ah! Tons of homework isn't good. But I guess it makes since you only go one day. :)

Nope, it's pretty bad sometimes...especially since I'm a procrastinator. :P But yeah...I've gotta make up for the time that I'm not actually in school, so it's okay. :)

Kyoki wrote:wow... that is amazing.

:P

Kyoki wrote:Yea. Some people are so busy they never have time for themselves. That is kinda sad. ^_^;;

Yeah...I mean, I love having stuff to do, but there's a limit that I'm not willing to push myself past.

Whoo! I have a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it, because my family and I are cleaning the house for Easter.

So. I'll...try and sum stuff up as best as I can.

My career paper got written...I'm not expecting a very good score on it, because I felt incredibly out of my depth for once, so...yeah. *shrugs* Ah well...it's only 20 points out of 50 for the entire assignment, so I'm not too incredibly worried.

On the other hand, I have an oral presentation to prepare for on Tuesday, and I still have no idea what I'm doing it on...*sighs* The thing is, my class is nine guys and one girl, and me. So I don't know what kind of thing would be interesting, because I'm being graded on how interesting my paper is, so...yeah. I was thinking maybe swords or something, but I don't think it'll work out. I was thinking flying as well, maybe; a brief history and something like that, but...yeah.

Does anyone have some good ideas/suggestions? I'm kind of worried, and I need to have it ready by Monday, at the very latest. *sighs*

Other than that...life is pretty good. ^^ I can't believe that I'm going to be done with school in less than two months...Tempus Fugit!

I wasn't on much this last week/weekend, and that's because I was having computer difficulties. It turned out to be some faulty spyware, and the whole thing is that it was telling me that I had all kinds of trojans and viruses and bugs and all that...so I disconnected it from the internet and tried to fix it, but it didn't work. So my brother told me to delete the spyware, and see if that did anything at all, and so I did, but the program was lingering because I hadn't restarted the computer, so I thought it was still broken.

So here comes Thursday, and I turned on my computer to burn off all my writing and anything else important, and nothing was wrong at all. ^^ So yayness for me!

That's pretty much it for right now...things have been a lot more busy than it sounds, but I just don't have time to write it all down, sadly. X0

Luff and glompifies! ^^

~Yumi-chan

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Yeah...no kidding. :P It was pretty immature writing as well, so I don't much miss it...but I can't help but look back on it with fondness. :) It was my first serious attempt at writing, and I learned so much from it...*gets all sentimental*

Once I wrote a nine page story (it still isn't completed) but it was pretty bad. It was one of my first stories that I created. I have gone back and reworded some things so it makes sense. I will always keep it and try to add more and improve it. Which reminds... I really should finish it. XD

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Nope, it's pretty bad sometimes...especially since I'm a procrastinator. :P But yeah...I've gotta make up for the time that I'm not actually in school, so it's okay. :)

I'm a procrastinator too. I'm surprised that I passed high school since I always put things off and just assumed that I would graduate no matter what. LOL!


Hm... that sounds like a hard paper to do... especially since there are so many boys... I know most boys like cars and video games. That is all I can think of. ^_^;;;

Kyoki wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Yeah...no kidding. :P It was pretty immature writing as well, so I don't much miss it...but I can't help but look back on it with fondness. :) It was my first serious attempt at writing, and I learned so much from it...*gets all sentimental*

Once I wrote a nine page story (it still isn't completed) but it was pretty bad. It was one of my first stories that I created. I have gone back and reworded some things so it makes sense. I will always keep it and try to add more and improve it. Which reminds... I really should finish it. XD

Hehhh...I know how that is. ^^ I'm working on revising a fanfiction I'm in the middle of writing, and it's not going to well, especially since it's the middle of my tough school stuff. *sighs*

But wow...I have written some...ehh...bad stuff as well. :P I used to be scared of writing kiss scenes, or anything like that(I think it's NBK syndrome. :P), so I made myself write a looooong fic stuffed with all the mushy stuff...and worse. :P Nothing actually bad, y'know, but...yeah. I'm pretty much cured since then, though. ^^

Kyoki wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Nope, it's pretty bad sometimes...especially since I'm a procrastinator. :P But yeah...I've gotta make up for the time that I'm not actually in school, so it's okay. :)

I'm a procrastinator too. I'm surprised that I passed high school since I always put things off and just assumed that I would graduate no matter what. LOL!

Heh...sadly, I'm homeschooled, so anything I don't do, I really get points taken off. I've been getting really crappy grades because I'm a procrastinator, but also because I have motivation problems. Yeah...it can get pretty tough. ^^

I has a question for thee. ^^ Are you finished up with school, or are you still in college? *unsure*

Kyoki wrote:Hm... that sounds like a hard paper to do... especially since there are so many boys... I know most boys like cars and video games. That is all I can think of. ^_^;;;

Yeah...no kidding. :P I was thinking if I do it on something gross then I'll be set, so I was thinking about doing it on Guinea worms...look it up on Wikipedia; it's actually pretty gross. *mimics throwing up* ^_^

Welp. Nothing much to report today; this morning's church service was really good...I enjoyed it. :) And Easter with the fam' is okay...the kids aren't nearly as loud as they can actually get. ^^

Ooh...did I mention that another of my brothers is getting married at the end of May? Yep! I'll have five siblings married then! The think I'm really excited about, though, is that she(Ruth) is Cherokee(totally awesome), so yeah...it's kind of funny. Way before they'd even met, I remember thinking about how awesome it'd be related to someone with Native American blood. ^^

Anyhoo...so yup! Happy Easter, Resurrection Day! ^:^ Bunnies and luff to you all!

~Yumi-chan

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Hehhh...I know how that is. ^^ I'm working on revising a fanfiction I'm in the middle of writing, and it's not going to well, especially since it's the middle of my tough school stuff. *sighs*

But wow...I have written some...ehh...bad stuff as well. :P I used to be scared of writing kiss scenes, or anything like that(I think it's NBK syndrome. :P), so I made myself write a looooong fic stuffed with all the mushy stuff...and worse. :P Nothing actually bad, y'know, but...yeah. I'm pretty much cured since then, though. ^^

I'm not good at fight scenes or kissy stuff either. I think I was never good with the romantic stuff since I had never been in a relationship before when I wrote. But now that I have a boyfriend who I have been dating/living with for the past nine months, I think I am able to write that kind of stuff. I just need to work on the fighting. LOL!

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:I has a question for thee. ^^ Are you finished up with school, or are you still in college? *unsure*

I finished high school. I did go to one year of college, but stopped since I really don't know what I want to take classes for. I don't want to waste a bunch of money taking classes for things that won't help me later on. You know? ^_^;;;

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Yeah...no kidding. :P I was thinking if I do it on something gross then I'll be set, so I was thinking about doing it on Guinea worms...look it up on Wikipedia; it's actually pretty gross. *mimics throwing up* ^_^

Eewwww! That is so nasty! *shudders* I hope I stay so far away from those things!

Kyoki wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Hehhh...I know how that is. ^^ I'm working on revising a fanfiction I'm in the middle of writing, and it's not going to well, especially since it's the middle of my tough school stuff. *sighs*

But wow...I have written some...ehh...bad stuff as well. :P I used to be scared of writing kiss scenes, or anything like that(I think it's NBK syndrome. :P), so I made myself write a looooong fic stuffed with all the mushy stuff...and worse. :P Nothing actually bad, y'know, but...yeah. I'm pretty much cured since then, though. ^^

I'm not good at fight scenes or kissy stuff either. I think I was never good with the romantic stuff since I had never been in a relationship before when I wrote. But now that I have a boyfriend who I have been dating/living with for the past nine months, I think I am able to write that kind of stuff. I just need to work on the fighting. LOL!

Ahh...yeah. I can relate. :P And I definitely need to work on fighting stuff as well...(by the way, NBK is never-been-kissed. :D)

Kyoki wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:I has a question for thee. ^^ Are you finished up with school, or are you still in college? *unsure*

I finished high school. I did go to one year of college, but stopped since I really don't know what I want to take classes for. I don't want to waste a bunch of money taking classes for things that won't help me later on. You know? ^_^;;;

Ahh...that makes sense. :) I mean, I don't want to go to college unless I know what I want and stuff - which I do now, but I didn't a couple years ago. But yeah...that totally makes sense. ^^

Kyoki wrote:

Yumi_Kyoshi wrote:Yeah...no kidding. :P I was thinking if I do it on something gross then I'll be set, so I was thinking about doing it on Guinea worms...look it up on Wikipedia; it's actually pretty gross. *mimics throwing up* ^_^

Eewwww! That is so nasty! *shudders* I hope I stay so far away from those things!

Hehhhh...I know. :P I was rereading up on it, and actually...it's kind of interesting. I'd hate to get it, but...so long as I don't have it, it's morbidly fascinating. I think I'm going to be doing it on Guinea Worms after all. I don't have other good ideas, so...yeah. ^^

They do sound interesting. I just would never want to come close to them. LOL!