There's a few things about my blog that you should know.
I go by Hopeless Romantic for many reasons, but I guess one of them would be to protect the innocent. I'm not afraid to say what I think, so that also might be another reason. Haha. So, if some person I know irl were to come here and read every single one of my entries, they probably wouldn't know it was me. That's also why I make nicknames up for people I blog about.
I'm probably a lot more different than what most people would expect someone my age to be. Sure, I love clothes and make up and I'm a huge sucker for boybands.
But, I've been told that I have an old soul (Google it). Who knows? Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But please, take me seriously. That is all I ask. I'm a girl who's never been in a relationship before, so I don't throw the word 'love' around like a hot potato.
But I'm bound to have many crushes on the way, so, please enjoy reading about my roller coaster of a life.

Name : Sarah

I'm black, age 23.

Waist length hair, baby face, social anxiety.

Likes: Daydreaming, writing, reading, learning, fashion, eating, movies, all kinds of music, the color pink, kpop/jpop, kdramas/jdramas, the hollow heart emoticon, things that are cute, making people laugh, comic books.

Hates: Spiders, clubbing and or partying, really hot weather, close minded people, bigots, extreme sports.

contact:

email : here.
[NEW]twitter: @xohplssrmntc
follow me on twitter!♡


F.A.Q.

"Where are you from?"
The United States, in the western region of the country. I used to say 'mid-west', but just so you know, I didn't actually know what it meant, and I was using it wrong. Haha.

"Who do you think you are?"
Someone who's scared of everything and who hasn't completely figured out how to live yet.

"If you're so afraid of love, why are you so obsessed with it?"
I still haven't figured that out. But aren't we all?

{ ♡ }

imboycrazy I Wrote This for You. Le Love Gala Darling Caroline Calloway Insta-Memoir
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Internet!! Happy belated October!

It's been a little while since I've updated. How have things been for you guys?

As for me, things have been pretty good.
BULLETPOINT TIME.

• I succeeded in getting my futon, and my little main/living room is now a great success. My futon is comfortable, cozy, and makes the whole room look better. My basement is not just my basement now--it's my own little apartment! The one thing I still have to get is my cute little microwave, but it's only $59, so I'll get it in no time. Which is good, because I'll need it in time for hot cocoa season, which has not yet started here. (It's weirdly warm right now. And in October, of all times. What the hell?!) 
• I've been doing fun autumn activities with the fam, including a hot air balloon festival and a harvest festival, which included a petting zoo and a pumpkin patch. Now I've got a 20 pound real pumpkin to go with my 4 fake pumpkin decorations, hahaha. I haven't done those things in years, and I'm so happy I've gotten to do them again.
• Speaking of decorations...soooo many decorations. One thing that I think may be an indicator of me growing up is this huge sudden interest in decorating. Holy hell, I LOVE DECORATING. Especially seasonal decorating. I've been buying fall and Halloween decorations left and right, which I never used to care about before. And lately, I've been saving up already for Christmas decorations, which I'm going to start buying this weekend while they're on sale. Yes, I'm buying Christmas decorations in October. Yes, I am 1000% aware that I'm crazy. But at THOSE prices? Hell yeah, I'm buying them. Come the 2nd week of November, my little apartment will be a pastel winter wonderland. *snap snap*
• I've been applying to jobs, which has been of course, unsuccessful as usual. But at least it helps me feel like I'm not doing nothing.
• After 2 stints of having my baby cousins over at our house overnight (babysitting reasons) I am once again reminded about how glad I am that we don't live with them anymore. Soooooooooooo glad. (During the first stint, the stress in the house was so great that for a day afterwards I had stress-induced heart palpitations. Yeah. Yikes.)

Labels: babies and marriage?!?, change, growing up, halloween, jazz, johnny, life, online dating, tinder

Internet. The day I had been so nervously waiting upon with mixed feelings has finally happened.

The closer this day has gotten, the faster the days seemed to go.

As (some of) you might know, I've been participating in the summer edition of NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month). Which means that every day of July, I've been writing my ass off. At the end of July, I will hopefully have a completed full first draft of a story on my hands, which will make the second full, novel-length story I have completed just this year. (WOW.)

So far this month, I've been typing away at my laptop. And between all that typing and plotting and such, I've been thinking about this wedding.

Earlier this month, Jazz has visited twice. Once as a just-dropping-in kinda thing, and another the next week to give my mom a haircut (she's an officially liscensed hair stylist now. So proud of her.) The two visits put some things to rest that I'd been worried about the past couple of months.

The first one: she's definitely not moving. Her and her fiancee (now husband, but I'll get to that in a second, whew!) have bought their first house and have moved in already, and are getting things together in their new house. She even mentioned that after the wedding, we could hang out more. Which meant a LOT.

And the second one: She told me that I was the only person from our old school that she invited to the wedding. The ONLY ONE. She didn't even invite Colbie, who she's drifted away from the past couple of years and then permanently cut herself off from early this year when the aforementioned girl got MARRIED two months after calling off another wedding with a completely different guy, which she had originally asked Jazz to be a part of and made her buy an expensive bridesmaid's dress and everything, yikes. (I hadn't even known Colbie had gotten married! Me and Jazz were pretty tight with her in middle school, and she and Jazz were even closer in high school, so it's totally crazy that she would treat Jazz that way. The girl is nutso.)

Anyway, that told me that she really did value me as a friend, and that I wasn't just some obligation, or something. My worries about being left behind were put to rest.

The day she cut my mom's hair was her birthday. She came in the morning, and I wasn't feeling too hot (monthly gift), but I had written her a handwritten birthday letter.

Basically, the summarized gist of it (because I didn't keep record of exactly what I said, and dammit I should have) said, "Your 21st year will probably be the most important year of your life so far. There will be a lot of changes in your life this year, but I'm certain that if anyone can handle them, you can. Some changes I may not be able to relate to, but that doesn't matter. You're still my friend. I know that I don't act like it sometimes, but our friendship is important to me. I'm trying my best to work on that, though. I hope that no matter what changes we both go through, we'll still be here for each other and remember how important our friendship is. Happy Birthday. See you at your wedding!"

It was basically the simplified version of how I've been feeling, but she seemed to really love it. I hope she did.

So, back to the big day!!

In the days leading up to it, I took extra good care of my skin and hair, wanting to look good for pictures that might come back to haunt me in 10 years (HAH). That morning, I got up extra early to shave my legs, check the results of the sleeping mask I wore as I slept to get plump, flawless glowing skin (a great success!), do my makeup and hair, and I wore the pink dress that I got at that boutique downtown for my birthday.

Me and my parents headed over to the venue, which was a gorgeous, outdoor garden, with gazebos, fountains, statues, flowers, string lights, butterflies and lush green trees. The whole place was straight out of a fairytale book. They offered guests water and coffee upon entering, along with cute pamphlets for the wedding that had a crossword puzzle on the back with facts about the bride and groom.

After talking to Jazz's father (and giving him a hug of course), who was jittery but happy, we went to go find seats.

Determining which angle I would get the best pictures from (after Jazz told me her wedding would have an official hashtag for Instagram, I told her "I'm gonna Instagram this wedding like it's my job."), we sat. After a while of waiting, (and swatting flies with my pamphlet) it was time.

Her sister (her only bridesmaid) walked down the aisle, the groomsman came down the aisle, and then the music for the Jazz started as she came out in her beautiful white dress.

It's kind of strange, I didn't cry that much. Before, I was positive that I would be a wreck during the entire thing, but I wasn't. I only teared up once during the entire ceremony. My mom cried more than me, actually. Thinking back, aside from snapping pictures of all the important moments--her dad walking her down the aisle, her and her husband standing at the podium together holding hands, their first kiss together as man and wife--the whole thing feels like a dream.

I watched in a daze, half wondering if I was imagining the whole thing. In fact, looking back now, I'm crying more.

Even during the brunch reception, seeing them sign the certificate didn't make me cry. I didn't even cry during their first dance, although I enjoyed it and got a perfect, 15 second instavideo of it. (They danced to We Found Love by Ed Sheeran.) I didn't cry during the toasts, either.

It just hadn't hit me, I think. I can be that way with big life events, I'm learning--when something big happens, it doesn't fully hit me until much later. I watched one of the best friends I've ever had get married. I went to her wedding. Jazz has a husband now.

Speaking of their first dance, during it, I got a special surprise.

After taking my short instavid, I was standing there watching them dance when someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Sarah?"

Turning, I was facing my middle school nurse, Mrs. R*.

Some background here: Mrs. R was not just the middle school nurse. To me and Jazz, and several other girls at the school, she was a counselor. She was a friend. Our middle school years were our most tumultuous, and when things got really bad, we went to the nurse's office. Not just when we were sick, or when we were injured or didn't feel good. We went there for emotional counseling. Friend drama? Mrs. R had advice. Boy troubles? Mrs. R always had boy advice. Trouble at home? Mrs. R had advice and a shoulder to cry on.

She's probably the single reason that I made it through middle school in one piece. She's the reason I made it through all my Ricky Bobby troubles in the eighth grade, plus all of my other troubles. (I talked to her about him all the time. I remember right around when I realized how much I liked him, I was in her office one day during lunch, and I told her, verbatim, "Mrs. R, I just...I like him so so much. What am I gonna do?")

So, as you can imagine, seeing her was an enormous welcome surprise. I hugged her and squealed (she's shorter than me. Me, who's shorter than everybody.) and we talked for a little bit. She asked how I'm doing, and even though that's always an awkward question for me to answer (because I never know how to answer it. How am I doing, anyway? Am I good? Am I not? And why would I say if I wasn't?) I told her I was doing all right, and that I've been taking things one day at a time. I asked how she was doing, and she told me she doesn't work at the school anymore, and just works part time now. We talked for a little more, and then I told her that me and my parents were just about to leave, but that it was so nice to see her again (Looking back, I think I kind of seemed like I was in a rush to leave, and I feel bad about that. Damn social deficiencies.)

Talking to her again for the first time since middle school really was the cherry on top of an already nice day.

Before leaving, I went over to Jazz to give her a hug and say congratulations again (the first time was earlier in the reception, where I also forced her to take a selfie with me HAH), telling her goodbye and that I love her and that I kept my promise to post to Instagram with her hashtag. (Can you believe I was the only one at that wedding that used the hashtag? THE ONLY ONE. I saw lots of phones out at that wedding, how was I the only one?? But from the looks of it, my pics were the best ones--my brand new phone's high res. camera, crystal clear zoom and cute filters? Pfffft. No question, mine were definitely the best.)

Walking out of that fairytale wedding was just as surreal as walking into it.

I'm still in a daze about it all, although it may be finally hitting me now, somewhat. Seeing Jazz update her relationship status on Facebook may be part of it (from 'in a relationship' to 'married'. Whoa.). When she changes her last name there, it may hit me even more. When I got to their house for the first time, my head just might explode.

One thing for sure, though, is that I feel so grateful that I was able to be even a small part of this major event in her life.

After seeing them together, and seeing how happy she was, I can't believe I ever even questioned her choice. I can see now that this was a good decision, and that they're made for each other. Sometimes I'm such a cynic that it's hard for me to believe that other people could actually be happy together, and genuinely want to spend their whole lives together.

Maybe it's hard for me to believe sometimes because I haven't experienced a relationship at all, let alone that kind of love. I have no idea what that feels like. But seeing Jazz get married, I think I finally have a teeny little hope somewhere inside of me that someday, I could be lucky enough to.

This Hopeless Romantic has gained back some of the romantic inside of her after this wedding.

Congratulations, Jazz. All the best to you and your new husband. As you step forward in this new phase of your life, I'll be here, cheering you on, for as long as I possibly can.

xo Hopeless Romantic

Labels: adulthood, babies and marriage?!?, blast from the past, growing up, jazz, weddings

Internet!

Here comes the second part of my rambling update where I talk about ordinary things that happened in excruciating detail!

So first. My birthday. My odd, exhausting but also mostly uneventful 22nd birthday.

Now. I had planned what I wanted to do on my birthday months in advance. Not down to the very smallest detail of course, but I'm a meticulous person. I like lists, I like organization (except for in some places in my room), and I very much like planning far far ahead. I planned from the beginning that I wanted, during the day on my birthday, to go shopping at some fun stores. Then, for later on in the evening, I wanted to eat at a yummy restaurant and have yummy wine with family and at least my one friend (since Jazz and I weren't really talking around the time of my birthday last year.) and have a generally nice day.

Well. That...didn't exactly happen.

The way things tend to go wrong when you need them to go right, that is what happened on this day. I mean...pretty much everything went wrong. It would've been hilarious if it were on a sitcom and it weren't my life.

One important detail--in my family, we have one car. Let me repeat. One car. As we have had issues with several times before. When your family can only afford one car, let me tell you, it creates lots of problems. For instance, if one family member works full time (my dad) and needs the car pretty much 80% of the time, then going out and getting activities done while they're hogging the car is pretty much impossible (and since we live in the suburbs, walking to places is time consuming and would be like trekking to Mordor and back).

We had arranged ahead with my dad to let us drop him off at work, borrow the car for the day, and go shopping like I had planned. And said plans got pretty much beaten to a pulp and thrown in the trash. As our plans got pushed back, pushed back, and pushed back, and I had begun to lose hope in them even coming around at all, I started to get ready anyway.

The night before, I put my hair up in sock curlers--which I'd done at least 20 times for nights before school, and it had always turned out adorable and neat and super easy to take out and make my hair look like I'd spent 2 hours working on it. Imagine my horror when I take them out of my hair and--lo and behold--my hair turns out AWFUL. Just the frizziest, matted, greasiest-looking mess you could ever imagine.

I had seldom ever had hair as terrible as this before in my life. And it was my BIRTHDAY.

So, a frustrated, frizzy mess, I went upstairs to my mom to complain, all like, "LOOK AT MY HAIR!" And so as she calms me down, she suggests that I use heat (something I rarely do these days anymore) to fix the problem. Reluctantly, I agree, because at that point there was nothing else I could do to fix it.

So I go back down to my basement, go to my bathroom, and as I try to comb through the knots, it seemingly makes the frizziness worse. And I look at the clock and realize how much of my birthday has gone by, and that it's almost dinner time, and I was trying to salvage my hair. Then I start to panic.

Not just any old panic, however. Nope. I just had to pick my birthday to have my first panic attack in a while.

Yup. I hyperventilate. My heart feels like it's trying to beat its' way out of my ribcage. I get dizzy. I sit down on the bathroom floor. I begin to sob hysterically.

Even though part of me knows it's ridiculous and really freaking sad that I'm having a panic attack on my birthday of all days, as always, it's not something I can help. I sit there and try to fix my breathing and cry and think of how it's so fucking sad that I was turning 22 and I couldn't even get out of the house of my own choice on my birthday.

20 minutes later, the attack subsided and I pulled myself together. I flat ironed my hair, did my makeup decently enough but not the way I'd planned to do it originally because I didn't have time now, put on my birthday outfit (a cute black birthday dress I'd bought a month before, my black platform combat boots, and pink Minnie Mouse ears--but I forgot my sweater, and it was windy and chilly outside) and finally it was time to leave.

Throughout all of this mess was also the restaurant mess. My dad failed to tell me before this day that the restaurant I had chosen was too expensive, so I literally had to pull some other restaurant off the top of my head to go to instead. (Red Robin. Yeah. Not so exciting. But my only requirements at this point were 1. food that I liked and 2. alcohol. Which they have. And I needed, especially the second one, after the day I'd had.) And then I had to keep texting Jazz to let her know of all these changes and reschedulings.

I felt awful for putting through all of this, especially the day of, and when it was getting near the time to meet her at the restaurant, I could tell she was getting exasperated and I wondered if she still wanted to come at all--a thought which upset me even more because after not having a friend with me there to celebrate my 21st birthday, having a friend with me on my 22nd birthday meant a lot more than I realized. As soon as we arrived at the restaurant (after making a quick run to a store downtown to get a dress I'd seen there a week earlier, which will be the dress I wear to Jazz's wedding btw) I apologized profusely, telling her that I was embarrassed and would understand if she didn't want to be there.

She took it all in stride, though, and the dinner went mostly okay, especially after I began drinking my sangria and all the edginess and upset melted off.

As we finished dinner, I asked Jazz if she wanted to come over and have some cake, and she agreed. I rode with her in her car on the way over, and during the ride, I vented to her about the woes of that day--excepting the attack I'd had. She doesn't know that I struggle with them, and it's not something I tell people about easily. (I even refrained from writing about them on here for a while. I'll save that for another entry, though.) She understood why I was frustrated, and said I didn't have to apologize. And at that moment, I was so relieved she was there.

When we arrived at our house, we sliced into my delicious birthday cake (chocolate, with light pink and white frosting, strawberry halves on the sides, and 'Happy 22nd Birthday, Sarah!' written in red frosting). We chatted for a bit about different things, planned to go to our favorite pottery painting place soon, and then she left.

Thus was my odd, exhausting but mostly uneventful 22nd birthday.

Thinking about it now just exhausted me mentally all over again, and I'd rather not think about it any more, to be honest. Thank God it's over, Hah.

So now here comes the last big part I need to update on: Jazz.

About a week or a week and a half after my weird birthday, Jazz picked me up and we zipped on over to our hole-in-the-wall cute pottery painting place. She introduced me to the place, and going there is the most relaxing, peaceful experience. (Except for the country music the owner plays. But hey, it's not my business.) If I could, I would spend all my time between there and the library and my favorite bubble tea cafe.

So I painted a cool bowl-mug type thing, and she made a glass jewelry necklace type thing, and enjoyed each other's company without feeling like we need to talk, which I've always liked about Jazz.

Afterwards we drove by Starbucks so I could get a panini and a frappe, because I hadn't eaten and I was starved (also, in a weird moment, inside the cafe, I thought for a moment that I saw Rose there out of the corner of my eye--I'm pretty sure it wasn't her, but it was pretty weird). Then she had a customer's appointment to get to, so she dropped me off back home. It was an overall fun day.

The thing I need to talk about though is this: the wedding.

The impending date seems like it's coming faster and faster. Now it's in approximately a month, when it seems like they just got engaged yesterday. They sent out invitations already, with a prim and neat engagement photo on the inside of it.

On the day we hung out, she confided in me that after the wedding, they might move out-of-state for a job opportunity for her now-fiancee-but-soon-to-be-husband.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm happy for Jazz. I am. It really seems like she's found something real, and I'm happy for her.

But there's a teeny, tiny, very self centered and selfish part of me that feels like marriage might just force us to grow further apart than we already have. That my last friend here in town is going to have this whole new big married life without me in it, and she'll forget all about me.

So feeling this way, that's probably why the littlest things have bothered me lately--like her not following me back on Instagram when I've been following her for 2 whole months now, and her posts on Facebook about wedding planning and her and her fiancee signing a lease for a house together. Not going to lie, seeing those posts makes me feel...strange.

It's selfish, I know. It has nothing to do with me. It's not my business. She's starting a whole new life now, and it's not that I expect her to stay the same just for me.

But the further into my 20's I get, the more I feel like this big, clueless kid whose old friends are all growing up at the speed of light and my old life is breaking down and fading away faster than I could have ever imagined it would have.

It's scary, you guys. It's scary, uncertain, and it's left me feeling alone and like I've accomplished nothing.

But it's not my place to place those feelings on her. I have to be the happy, supportive friend. Because that's what she needs me to be now.

Maybe she will forget about me. Maybe we will drift further apart. But I don't want to be the bitter bitch who ruined her special day.

I will be here for her as long as she needs me to be.

xo Hopeless Romantic

Labels: babies and marriage?!?, birthday, bitterness, growing up, jazz, sarah flipping a shit but what else is new, updates

All right, Internet.

Getting back into the swing of things, let's talk about some things that I haven't talked about in a while (or just touched on briefly). Since we have so much to catch up on, I'm going to split all these updates into separate entries over the next week or so, so I don't end up with one giant update post the size of Webster's English dictionary.

First things first: Rose. (Formerly Best Friend Rose.)

As I briefly mentioned before, we don't speak anymore. Or, more accurately, I don't speak to her anymore.

She's reached out to me several times on Facebook (albeit shallowly--it's never been anything more than something to the effect of "Hope you're well, I miss you!" and maybe a compliment if she's commenting on a picture), and the most I've done is liked the comment or post.

The last time I responded to something she sent me was last year, on the 4th of July, when she texted me for the first time in 7 months to ask if I wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival, just me and her.

It would've been the first time we'd gone together since the wonderful summer of 2011, when we'd gone twice (once in costume) and obsessively got feather extensions.

It felt significant, because it was her first real attempt to hang out with me since the time we hung out after the disaster that was my 20th birthday. I politely declined, because the day she suggested was when we would have out-of-state relatives here, but suggested that maybe we could do something else another time soon, and I would let her know when I was free. She replied, saying she'd wait for when I was free.

For me to even offer to hang out some other time was huge, because before this, I had basically made up my mind to never see her again. But a conversation I'd had with Kenneth on our date had somewhat inspired me. I'd told him about the situation I had with her, and how long we had been friends.

He'd suggested to me that I try to talk with her and explain why I felt so upset with her--and he'd told me that it's hard to reconcile with people, especially after you've been hurt, but sometimes those people that you go to school with will end up being some of your closest friends later on in life. There was a lot of truth in what he said, and needless to say, that conversation made me wonder if maybe breaking away from Rose was a mistake. And when Rose texted me not too long after that date, I wondered if it was some sort of sign that maybe I should talk to her face to face.

On the day that she originally suggested we hang out, she ended up going to the Renaissance Festival anyway, with another girl named Sarah that she worked with, as if I needed anything else to make me feel lousy.

It took me a long time to muster up the courage, but two and a half weeks later, I texted her first, asking her if she maybe wanted to have lunch later on that week (just to give me a few days to prepare emotionally for what would probably make or break our reconcile).

I received no response.

After wondering if maybe she'd gotten a new phone and cleared her contacts, I checked her Facebook to see if she'd mentioned anything like that happening. Nope. She still had the same number. I checked my phone, double checking to see that the message had really been sent. It had.

I don't know why, but this blow was just...devastating.

In a way, I couldn't help but feel like she was trying to punish me. For not immediately saying yes to her original plan to hang out, and for not talking to her. Because that's something that she used to do to me, and it made me miserable.

This was the last effort I was putting in to rescue our friendship from the shambles it had crumbled into, after months of anger and sadness and loss, the last hope that I had to get my best friend back. And it went completely ignored, not even dignified with a reply.

After this, I knew that I couldn't afford suffering through any more heartbreak caused by this person who used to be like a sister to me. This was the final straw. After this, I stopped trying altogether. After this, I knew that living a life without her in it in the future would make me a happier and stronger person.

A few months after this happened, a weird period of time passed where she and her sisters and mom started liking and commenting on everything I posted on Facebook. Her mom even posted this really old picture of me and Rose on my wall for Throwback Thursday, from freshman year of high school (which immediately horrified me because I was making a duck face and my hair looked awful and I didn't know what good makeup looked like yet and UGH). This sort of thing probably would have worked on Past Sarah, who was insecure and craved any sort of positive attention at all, even if it was just stupid likes on Facebook.

But not me now. If anything, it just weirded me out and confused me. In these comments, they all acted as if everything was normal and we were all still close. That's the exact sort of phony shit that I cannot stand, from anybody. And they just kept doing it.

The only ones I'd respond to would be from one of her sisters and her mom, because to be honest I have no issue with them. They didn't do anything to me, and they were there for me like my own family at times, so I can't bring myself to avoid them still.

As for Rose...the likes and comments have slowed down some, but she's persisted. I think she's finally understood that I'm angry at her and that she's probably lost me for good this time.

She broke up with Holly* earlier this year, and from what I could tell from passive-aggressive status updates, it wasn't an amicable split. Though, if you ask me, it never seemed like much of a healthy relationship to begin with.

Her dad eventually found out about them, by the way, and it wasn't pretty. And by that I mean he went totally nutso. I mean batshit Bible-thumping crazy. I only heard about this through my dad who talked to her mom sometime towards the end of last year, but apparently her dad went ballistic when he first found out, then for months afterwards refused to speak with her. The only form of communication he ever had with her was sending daily Bible verses and telling her how she was going to hell for being bi.

Yeah. Awful. And totally freaking insane. I don't even know if they've talked recently, or made up, but despite the situation between us, I felt bad for her. And I lost even more respect for her dad. If I ever see him again, it'll be too soon.

Also, she's a bartender now. Dropped out of college. Made a new bar-going friend who apparently has a taste for sexist and racist jokes (as I discovered upon taking a glance at her Facebook). Still is a terrible judge of character, I see.

The more days go by, the less I recognize her, and the less I miss her. The person I miss is who she was in the past, someone she can probably never be again. I don't blame her for changing, because hell, we all change. But it seems that the way she's changed and the way I've changed have completely destroyed everything we once had in common as friends. Clearing the air may be possible, but I don't think friendship is possible anymore.

I've written a letter to her to air all of my feelings out (like the ones I've written to Jazz and Ricky Bobby, twice now). I'm going to post it here after I make some edits to make it sound less...bitter and angry. Even though I kind of still am. But there are parts of the letter that are petty, so I could stand to fix it up a bit.

I may or may not send it to her, although what I've learned in the past (from sending Jazz's letter to her) is that sometimes airing out and spilling everything you feel at once doesn't always go over so well, and can get messy.

Which is the same reason that I've, for now, decided not to send Ricky Bobby the new letter.

I talked about it with a friend of mine (who has way more boy experience than me), and she strongly suggested that I don't send it. She said that guys take even the smallest emotions from girls and blow them way out of proportion, so if I unloaded all of that on him in one emotional letter, he would probably think I was crazy, and it probably wouldn't give me closure at all. And after thinking about it, I realized that she was right. I was so riled up with emotion from writing the letter that I think I didn't even stop to consider what consequences might actually come from it. I'm really glad that I decided to talk about it with someone first, because I could have really made a mistake.

I've still been thinking about everything, but my worries and regrets have eased a little since writing the letter and getting it all off my chest. It hasn't completely gone away, but I'm just trying to take it one day at a time.

So, okay! That's all I have to offer for this update.

First update entry down, at least one more to go! In the next one, I intend on talking about what I did for my birthday this year (but it wasn't all that fun, so don't get too excited).

xo Hopeless Romantic

Labels: best friend rose, facebook problems, growing up, kenneth, rose, updates

Hey Internet!

So, for the past couple of months I've been busy, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Getting used to school life again this semester went really well, and I adjusted much faster than I thought I would. I actually am feeling quite proud of myself for how well I handled this semester. (It was only one class, so it was pretty easy to handle, but I still feel really proud, haha.) I also finished the class strong. (I forgot to check my final semester grade online before the semester ended, but I got As on all of my essays, midterm, and I got a B+ on my final, so I'm pretty sure I did great!) As you already know, this was a huge step for me, and I'm proud of myself for even starting and finishing strong.

Going back to school is my biggest accomplishment of 2014, and it gives me some confidence for next semester as well.

So aside from getting used to school again, I've also been continuing some of the social growth I started over the summer. As in...I've been talking to somebody.

NOW WAIT. Before you get all excited, let me assure you, we're just friends.

But with Kenneth moving to New York City back in July(did I mention that here? If not, yeah he moved. It's too bad, we had planned to meet up again before he left, but I ended up getting sick and had to cancel. He was super sweet about it though, told me that he wanted me to get some rest so I could get better and that maybe one day we'd see each other again. Aww.), I kinda wanted to meet someone else to talk to now and then.

SO. His name's Brennan*, and we've been talking since the end(?) of July. He was really flirty with me from the get-go, which sort of overwhelmed me at times, but he's nice and knows all about my weird hobbies and doesn't judge me for it (HAH).

For about 2 months, October to the beginning of this month, we stopped talking for a bit because honestly I kind of felt like things might progress, and I wasn't into it, so talked to him honestly and said that I wasn't ready to date someone right now and that I'd prefer to stay friends. He was cool about it, though, which was nice. (I actually...haven't rejected anyone? At least not that way. It was a strange new experience for me.)

So the beginning of this month, I got bored with finals stress and decided to download Tinder again (which I'd deleted for a few months to focus on school as well), and we ended up matching again, haha. So we started talking again, and then...

On Christmas Eve Eve (two days before Christmas) we had a coffee date.

God, it still feels so weird for me to talk about dates. This was my second date this year, Internet. SECOND. What's happening to me? Who is this person???

It wasn't as long as the date with Kenneth, so I'll keep it fairly simple:

So. The night before our coffee date, it snowed. Which made commuting the next morning pretty exhausting. I was pretty damn late, like 20-25 minutes late, which I kept apologizing for over text on my way there.

I was already pretty nervous, so I felt pretty terrible on the way. But at least I looked really cute. (I'm telling you, Internet. Going back to school has put my makeup and fashion game BACK ON POINT. I think after 21 years I have FINALLY gotten my sense of style down. I don't want to jinx it, but I feel like I have a sense of style for the first time in like 4 years. And ngl, I looked pretty damn good on that date. Snap snap snap.)

So, I walked in, and I couldn't spot him at first, because he was sitting on the bar stools on the side. Then I noticed a guy bent over his phone with a beanie on the back of his head. I slowly walked over to him, unsure, and I said, "Brennan?" And he turned around.

He was smaller in person than I had imagined. He stood up, and for a moment I wondered if I shouldn't have worn heels. He was about an inch taller than me with my heels on. We hugged, a little awkwardly. He was pretty quiet, which worried me. Then my knees were shaking, so I told him I was gonna buy my drink, and while I was buying it I tried to compose myself. I was pretty successful, and by the time I came back I had loosened up a bit, which made him loosen up too.

We began to talk, and really it was just like us talking over text, only I tried to talk more to fill up any silences. We get along well, and I thought that he was nice to talk to.

It only lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, because he had to go to work, but overall it went nicely. But...here's the thing.

Brennan's nice. He's sweet. Seems kind of more introverted, like I am. Takes school seriously (I think his major is computer science?). Doesn't judge me for my weird hobbies and ramblings about my favorite books and writing, in fact he said it's nice to hear people talk about what they're passionate about (which I liked). Met my dad by chance when he was pulling up to pick me up and called him sir and shook his hand (which my dad liked). And I would definitely for sure hang out with him again.

But.........there was no chemistry.

Dammit. This is really starting to irk me. It's like...all the people that I should have chemistry with I just have...none. Why?? WHY??

And the thing is...with Kenneth...I definitely found him attractive. Within the first 10 minutes of meeting him, I knew I was immediately attracted to him. But Brennan...god. I want to be attracted to him. I really really do. Considering his personality, I should be attracted to him. Why aren't I? I feel so bad that I'm not. I feel terrible.

It's not even like he's unappealing, or anything. He has a nice face. He's half white, half Chinese, with a little scruff on his chin, and he wears kitschy glasses that suit his face. He's not tall, but not short either. Cute smile. Maybe a little boyish, but that works really well on some guys.

When he talked, I kept staring at him, waiting for a spark, but there was just...there was none.

And I keep feeling like maybe I'm not giving him a fair chance, but really I am. I wouldn't have met him in person if I wasn't giving him a chance. I'd hoped that though we lacked a spark over text, maybe we'd have it in person...and for me, I didn't.

I still want to be friends with him though, definitely. I'm just sort of worried that he may be developing feelings for me while I don't feel that way about him.

There's no way to know for sure, though, unless he tells me. So I just...I don't know. Sigh.

But while I struggle over here with this foray into the dating world for the first time, my ex-classmates and ex-friends have been...well, I'll just say this bluntly...having babies.

I mean literally, having babies. And getting engaged. And married. I shit you not.

And one of them that has gotten engaged? Jazz. To her boyfriend of 3 years.

Guys...I didn't think I would have to deal with this until at least my mid-twenties. The fact that this is even happening already...surreal. And sort of...alienating.

I get that some people's goals and priorities are different, but I can count on two hands who has either had a child or gotten married already. And I mean...I don't judge them, it's their lives. But I can't be the only one that thinks that 20/21 is too young to get married and start a family. Right? I mean this is 2014, not 1950. Things are different now, or at least I thought they were.

But maybe it's this area. My city is compared to some parts in the south a lot, and for some cultural points and values important to many people here, we really might as well live in the south.

But...yeah. Jazz got engaged two weeks ago and flaunted it all over Facebook, or course. And of course I congratulated her, because even though I never went to school with him, I've met her fiance a handful of times and he seems to be a nice, stand up guy. So I'm happy she's happy.

It's just like...why now, you know? It's so soon. We're so young and have our lives ahead of us.

I definitely want to get married one day, but not anytime soon. Maybe 27 at the very earliest, and even that seems too soon sometimes. I want to go out, see the world, have my own career, my own life, before I even think about settling down. Even being in a relationship sounds stifling.

But hey, that's me. And that's her. And I just hope that if she makes me a bridesmaid, the dresses won't be ugly. (I'm such a good friend.)

And Fiddy (remember? From freshman year? Wow. Forever ago.) and the girl he knocked up 4 years ago got married around Thanksgiving. (They seem to be doing well. Good for them.) Two people that had babies recently? Jerry, with his current girlfriend (yes, the one that wanted to date me) which was a bit shocking (just think, if I'd given him my number, that could've been me. Yikes.). And most recently (two weeks ago)one of Rose's sisters, Lauren, in a shocking turn of events (she's a year and a half older than me, and I recall numerous times in high school that Lauren swore up and down that she never wanted kids, and that she hated babies. Welp.)

Sooooo...yeah. Like I said, alienating. Crazy.
Not in a bad way, it's just that I think of so many of these people the way that they used to be in High School. Kinda feels like babies having babies. I still feel like a kid sometimes, so I can't even imagine myself having a kid right now. Seems scary.

Adult life, man. This is weird.

But, hey. All things need adjusting, right? Now I'm just looking forward to a New Year, and my next semester in school.

I'll keep you guys updated on Brennan. I just...I hope there won't be any rejecting in the future. (Gulp.)

xo Hopeless Romantic 

Labels: adulthood, babies and marriage?!?, brennan, dates, growing up, online dating, tinder

Well, Internet. Little while no see, again! First things first: Finally updated the blog title. Because as of March 29, this anonymous blogger is officially 20 years old.

20. I'm 20. I'M TWENTY YEARS OLD.

It doesn't make sense to me even when I say it out loud to myself again and again. I'm twenty? Me? But.....what?

I mean, for me, when I was a teenager I hardly felt like I was actually a teenager. So now I'm a twenty something. God.......what? WHAT? I STILL FEEL 14 YEARS OLD INTERNALLY. HOW AM I TWENTY.

Of course I know that age is just a number but seeing it just freaks me out, ahahaha. And in the grand scheme of things, 20 is actually quite young. In the grand scheme of things, in terms of adult years, I'm still more like a kid. And hey, I still can't legally drink alcohol. So I'm not fully grown up yet, hahah.

I don't know. I don't think I'm old or anything, because I know I'm not. I'll start freaking out about getting old when I hit 40.

But it's strange. Technically this is no longer a teen blog anymore. That's weird, right? Wow.

Well, speaking of my blog, my 5 year blogoversary was a good few weeks ago, on May 24! I've had this blog for five years. The entire later half of my teenage years. That's pretty long. I'm sorry I didn't create an entry for it on the day of it, I'm still trying to figure out how to balance out all of my hobbies with being healthy, lmao. I'm working on it, though!
Anyway, those of you that have continued to read my blog, thank you so much. I honestly appreciate it. What first started out as something I made to keep my emotions straight and to keep myself sane, it has become a place where I can truly be myself. Thank you for tolerating my crazy. I love you.

So, you guys are probably wonder what the title of this post means. Let's get to that, shall we?

First, let's talk about my birthday. I'm sort of irked that I didn't write about this earlier, but I think that now that I'm writing about it much much later, I'm more rational about it after the fact. Had I written this the day after my birthday, however, I think it would have been super emo and angry, lol.

BUT BUT BUT before my birthday, a few weeks before in fact, something big happened.

Best Friend Rose came over for the first time in.....gosh, I don't even know. It had been at least a month and a half since I'd last seen her. Which I understood, because she'd been super busy with her job as a hostess at a restaurant and with school which was burying her alive. She seemed really stressed, so I didn't want to nag her about not being able to hang out. But finally, she came over for a bit, although she couldn't sleep over because she had work later that night.

We were watching TV and catching up a little bit on what had been going on the past few weeks. I got up and said I had to get something to eat because I was starving, and then suddenly she got really serious and said she had to tell me something important when I got back from getting some food.

I was immediately curious about what it could be, because I hadn't seen Rose look so serious in a long time. In fact, she's rarely so serious. She even looked a little nervous. So I said okay, left and got some food, settled back down on the bed and told her 'shoot'.

She was even more nervous now, so she took in a deep, shaky breath and came out with it. She said she had started seeing somebody.

And her name was Holly*.

I paused for a good 3 seconds before it sunk in. It was just a good few seconds of shock. "Oh," I said. ".....Oh!"

Now Internet, here's why I was shocked: Rose has never once shown any interest like that towards girls before. Like.....ever. I mean, showed in interest at all. No sexual interest, no emotional interest, not even any attraction, from what I can remember. If there had been examples of this in the past, this probably wouldn't have come as much of a shock to me.

Nevertheless, after getting over my momentary shock, I asked how they met. Rose started telling me about her, about how Holly had shown interest in her first and treated her amazingly, and about how Rose really really liked her for her personality. She did mention that she isn't attracted to her sexually, and how if they were ever intimate she wasn't sure if she would be used to it. So I do wonder about that, but honestly, she seems really happy.

I told her as long as she's being treated right, and she's happy, then I'm happy for her and I support her. After I told her that, she started crying. I can imagine it was really hard to tell me all that, especially considering the way she grew up.

She was raised in a very very strict Protestant family, and while Rose told me that she told her sisters and her mom already, and they were very supportive of her, she still hasn't told her dad. Which I completely understand.

Her parents got divorced while we were in middle school, and while I like her dad......how should I say this.....he's controlling. While I think he considers himself strict, it's more that he's a bit controlling and a bit of a misogynist. Growing up, he never hesitated to tell Rose, her sister, and his wife when they were 'getting fat', or other similar criticisms to that. He was very strict religiously, as well. He forbade his daughters from watching shows and movies that were what he called 'ungodly'. Made sure they never wore low cut shirts or shorts or mini skirts; (if I'm remembering this one correctly) if things were written on their clothes, they had to be Bible quotes. I kid you not.

So..........yeah. As you can imagine, telling her dad would be a complete and utter disaster. I honestly feel like he'd end up doing something crazy, like disowning her, or some crazy shit like that. Which is really sad, but you know how some people are. And he's just one of those people.

So I completely understand keeping this from her father. In fact I think it's the wise thing to do, tbh. And I'm happy that her sisters and mother are super supportive and happy for her, as well. Shows the kind of people they are, I think.

So yeah! Shocking, yes. I never expected Rose to be bi, like ever. (She says she still likes guys too, by the way. Holly just happens to be the first girl she's ever liked.) But I felt honored that she trusted me enough to tell me, and I'm glad that she's happy. I don't think she's ever been this happy in a relationship with a guy, which says something I think.

But while this is all well and good, we come back to the original topic.......my birthday.

Weeks before my birthday, I asked Rose if we could do something on my birthday. This idea meant a lot to me, considering the fact that my 19th birthday had been very lonely and somewhat disappointing. (Refer here.) I told her I just wanted to have a nice day and spend some time with my best friend, since I hadn't gotten to last year. We decided on seeing a movie and going to lunch afterwards, since she (awesomely!) had that day off. I was excited about doing something fun for a change on my birthday, as I hadn't done something with her on my birthday since my 18th birthday. I even kept reminder her of it, telling her not to make plans. And as the day drew closer, the more and more excited I got that I actually had birthday plans.

Then the day of my birthday came.

The day started out with me waking up somewhat late (whoops) but seeing my birthday card and birthday money from my parents (they had to go to work early) getting texts and tweets from my k-pop friends saying Happy Birthday (I'll breach this subject in another entry). And seeing them all put me in such a good mood, and I was in a breezy mood all throughout getting ready. I picked a super super cute outfit, did my makeup all pretty, and about the same time I finished getting ready, Rose and her sister arrived to pick me up.

Her sister dropped us off at the theater, and we were already late to the movie so there wasn't much catching up done at all as we power-walked into the theater just as the movie's opening credits were playing. (We saw Oz, by the way. I kind of hated it, but this isn't a movie review so ANYWAY)

Sometime during the movie, Rose leaned over and whispered that her sister couldn't pick us back up again as she'd said, so Holly was going to instead.

All I could do was whisper back, "Okay," and hope the movie wouldn't end too soon.

However, when the movie ended, and we both went to the bathroom, I asked to clarify, "Is Holly having lunch with us?"

"Yeah," she said. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. "Why?"

Immediate unease and slight annoyance. So, she had just invited her to my birthday lunch? Without asking me first? All righty, then. "Oh. I was just asking."

At my stiff tone, she glanced at me again. "It's okay, isn't it?"

This question annoyed me even more, tbh. On the one hand, the way she had said the question had made it sound like it wasn't a question. Like she just expected me to be cool with it even the hadn't even asked me about it. On the other hand, I didn't feel like I had any choice in the matter. It wasn't like I could just say no, because this situation 1. felt like a set up just so I could meet her girlfriend and 2. felt like a true test of my 'support', which I didn't think was exactly fair. But what could I do about it? Say no and walk home?

"Yeah, sure." was all I said.

Now, let me clarify here: I wasn't uneasy and annoyed that she wanted me to meet her girlfriend. No, no no. Far from it. I told Rose I wanted to meet Holly before, and I really meant it. Of course I wanted to meet the person that was making my best friend happy. The reason I was uneasy and annoyed was because of the following reasons:

• No one else would be there. And I fucking hate being a third wheel. With every fiber of my being. Especially when Rose is involved because I'm sorry but whenever Rose is dating someone, they're always super PDA-y and nauseating and there's nothing I hate more than couples like that all up in my face, to be quite honest.
• I'm really horrible with meeting new people, and before meeting new people, I like to kind of prepare myself so I don't come off as a standoffish bitch because of my shyness.
• It was my birthday and all I had wanted was to spend some 1 on 1 time with my best friend and catch up and talk like old times. That was all I wanted, especially after my terrible last birthday. And now that was ruined. 

So, it went pretty awful. As soon as Holly arrived, they went off into their own world and Rose pretty much ignored me the entire time. When we went to lunch, Holly paid for all three of us, which I really honestly did appreciate, but right after that it was back to me being invisible. And I did try to talk to Rose, believe me, it's not like I just sat there and went "PAY ATTENTION TO ME", or anything like that. But every attempt was futile. So I pretty much sat there miserable and picked at my food and texted my other friends while they were practically on each other's laps and kissed and talked about inside jokes.

Finally when it was over, I gave Holly directions to my house, and when I got there Rose walked me to my door, I stiffly hugged her goodbye, and when I got inside my mom was home. I basically ate the rest of my food from the restaurant, told her how horribly things went, and then cried because of how angry I was.

Later that day, after going out to dinner with my family and having a much better time compared to lunch, I quickly logged onto Facebook to reply to and like the birthday posts on my wall. And it wasn't until then I realized that I'd never gotten any birthday messages from Rose. Not one Facebook post, not one text. Not even when she had greeted me that morning in person.

Not one.

And I realized something. Something that I'm honestly shocked took me so long to figure out.

There have been times that Rose has been good to me, even great to me, and our friendship was really strong. But there have also been times (that have been increasing the past year or so) when she's, honest to God, treated me like shit. This was one of those times.

And honestly? Every other person in my life that has seen how she treats me has told me this. My parents have said this to me many times. Johnny used to say this time me all the time. Jazz has told this to me multiple times over the years, the most recent time being the day we both got in the car accident last year (look here). It's what I cried about in the middle of Panda Express, because that day, for the first time, I'd realized that she was right.

So fast forwarding back to my birthday this year, after realizing that she hadn't even told me Happy Birthday at all, I felt sorry for myself. I really honestly just felt sorry for myself. Had I really been treated that way, by my own 'best friend', on my birthday? And I was just going to take it?

Of course I was going to take it, I thought. Because I always had. I was always Sweet Sarah. The Sarah that never got mad. The Sarah that was always understanding. The Sarah that always got stepped all over because people could get away with it.

And if you'll recall, this isn't the first time I've felt this way. (Refer to this whole entry.) And I'm just...really really really fucking sick of feeling like this.

I need new friends. I need friends that won't make fun of the things I like and friends that actually want to talk to me and friends I have stuff in common with and friends that won't treat me like shit. Which I have found, by the way. They just don't live here. (Again, I'll write about this in another entry sometime soon, hopefully.)

I'm sort of torn at this point because...well. It's not good timing.

I've seen Rose once since my birthday, and I told her that I was upset about my birthday and why I was upset. And I made sure to make it abundantly clear that no, it wasn't because I didn't want to meet Holly. That was why I was hesitant to tell her in the first place, because I thought she would immediately assume I wasn't supporting her relationship. I reiterated multiple times that that wasn't it, and I didn't want her to think it was.
But I still told her how much I hated being a third wheel, and how uncomfortable it made me to be one, and it didn't matter that it was me being a third wheel with Rose there because being a third wheel makes me super super super uncomfortable and nervous, regardless of who's involved.

I always was with her boyfriends before, which was why I never hung out with her alone while she was around any of them, only with other people there as well, and her being with a girl now doesn't change that fact at all. It's just part of my personality that I can't explain and that hasn't changed since Middle School, and I'll probably always feel skiddish being alone around couples. That's just how I am, and I've accepted it.

However, when I told her, she seemed to understand, but still seemed to approach it from a 'So, how can we fix this aspect of you?' angle instead of just accepting it. But at least I told her, that was what I had to do, and I felt a little better about it after I got it off my chest. Also, she said, sort of unsympathetically, that she hadn't meant to make me feel that way, and apologized (sort of half-heartedly). I still don't think she really gets why I was upset, but there. It's done now at least.

I'm just......really tired of this. I don't know if it was a combination of what happened on my birthday with the realization that she walks all over me, but I feel like I'm at my wits end. Again, this is really bad timing, and I'm torn because I don't want her thinking that I'm distancing myself from her because of her new relationship. And I can imagine she's probably going through a lot emotionally right now, because of these new changes.

But on the other hand, I'm tired of being walked all over. I'm tired of trying to be there for someone who is never there for me. Tired of being ignored for weeks at a time. I call her my best friend, but is she? Is she really? Because I can count on one hand more people I'm closer to right now than her.

I think it just happened gradually, and I'm only really starting to notice it now. As of late, I feel like I can't talk to her like I used to, because we have nothing in common anymore. We used to talk about reading and books and movies and manga and concerts and boys.
She doesn't read at all anymore. She doesn't like movie marathon nights and sleepovers anymore. She just wants to party and get drunk and go to bars all the time when she's not working. She hates 'anything asian', as she calls it; she used to watch anime and read manga with me all the time, and now she has this prejudice attitude towards anything remotely from Asia, even says she doesn't like Asian people which....doesn't fly with me for many reasons. (One being that Asian pop culture is like...my whole life basically? And another being that saying you don't like an entire race of people is entirely ignorant and borderline racist and completely not okay to say at all.) We don't even like the same music anymore.

By the way, did I mention Holly is 25 and has a 3 year old? Oh. Yeah. I left that important fact out. She's a mom. And Rose is completely gung-ho about becoming a step-mother figure already. At age 19. She already spends all of her time with this kid, and they're all basically a family already. Which is something else I can't really relate to.

I mean, if she's happy, that's good. I'm glad she's happy. But at this point it's like....it's like we're not even at the same point of our lives anymore. And I've hung out with her four times in the past six months. I just...don't even know who she is anymore.

We're still friends. Of course we're still friends. We've known each other since we were 4 years old. We'll probably always be friends.

But best friends? ...............................No. I have to be realistic about this. We're not best friends. Not right now. Maybe we will again someday, but not now. Maybe not for a while.

I know this happens. I'm mature enough to realize that people grow apart after High School. It happens to everybody. It's not this huge disaster, it's just a part of growing up. Plus, considering all the time we spent together in High School, and in Middle School before that, and in Elementary School before that, it's just time. I think it was only a matter of time before we'd start to grow apart, and it just so happens to be now. But I think this will be good for me.

Because to be perfectly honest, she was a huge part of my childhood. And I'll cherish the memories that we have already had, and they're wonderful memories. But it's time for me to grow up now.

I need to learn about who I am without her. I need to make new friends that I didn't grow up with. I need to find out who I am. And maybe that will be without her for a while.

And that's okay.

We'll probably still hang out every once in a while like it is now, but the other day I was thinking about this. I realized how all throughout online school I basically...relied on her to have a life outside of schoolwork. Whether I left the house or not, whether I did fun things or not, where all dependent on her. I basically revolved my whole life around whether she was free or not.

Do you realize how sad that is? No wonder I was practically miserable all the time.

SO, yes. Growing apart. But it's natural. And to honest...it's needed. And now it'll give me room to find other friends, and people that will actually be there for me as much as I'm there for them.

It's scary making new friends at my age, lmao. Now it's much more beyond just asking someone to push you on the swingset or sharing your chips with them at lunch. But I can do it. Life goes on after High School, you know.

xo Hopeless Romantic 

Labels: age, anniversary, best friend rose, birthday, friend issues, growing up, jazz, rose

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