Obligatory Summer Post

I went ice skating last night. How's that for the beginning of summer for ya? I went to my cousin's senior night, the first I've ever been to, and it was a blast. I was a little boring near the end as I grew progressively more exhausted and she went up and down the giant blow up slide over and over. I also realized that I used to go to that exact rec center as a child and was overcome with pieced-together nostalgia. I jammed my pinkie, the little worm.

My brother is joining band! Looks like he's gonna be a sousaphone. I'm hoping and praying that people will be nice to him and that he'll pick up on everything quickly and that he will actually like it and stop kicking and screaming about it. I guess we'll see what happens at our 8+ hour camp tomorrow...

I think I enjoy people reading and liking my writing more than I actually like writing it. That sounds extremely... vain? I can't find the perfect word. But really, I hardly notice when I write. When I am writing something plain and ordinary, like a normal post or paper for school, I definitely don't pay attention to how the act of creating phrases and paragraphs makes me feel. But established and specific things, things I want to keep and think about and enjoy, like my chapbooks and most of my letters to Preethi and detailed Facebook posts, the words and ideas just come naturally. It took all of two milliseconds to think about the Tabernacle being a warm and happy place and connecting that to a teapot. Things like that just happen. When I write like that, words just somehow end up on the page or screen. I take a minute to look over it, and then I'm done. I didn't have to think or fight or sweat; it just works out. But when someone likes it, when someone reads it of their own free will or quotes it on their blog, I feel everything. I look back and think, "Yes, I actually wrote that. I spent time on it and rolled some ideas around and made my fingers sore. Those are my words, and somebody besides myself takes pleasure in them." That's what makes me realize I love writing.