Sunday, January 19, 2025
The Prompt: What would your best friend say about you?
Okay, here's the thing. I don't have friends, at all, much less a best friend. There were kids I played and hung out with when I was younger but I never felt any kind of attachment to them. As long as they were nice to me I'd be nice back. That's as far as it ever went. And I'm fine with that. No, really, I am. There's no sour grapes in this fruit salad. I don't feel lonely, and the only way in which I feel isolated is that I keep having to handle things myself that I shouldn't have to handle alone or at all.
Speaking of handling things. This trailer is as drafty as a prostitute's underwear. Mom and I are trying the bubble wrap trick to insulate the windows. Just make sure the inside of the window is clean, mist with water, and smooth on the bubble wrap bubble-side against the glass. It's cheap, and if it works we'll just save the bubble wrap to do it again next winter. Once the bubble wrap is done I'll walk around the trailer with a lit candle; anywhere it flickers is drafty, and we'll know to insulate that spot with old clothes or something.
Days making my bed: 50
Days cleaning the kitchen: 14
Days studying html: 8
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Monday, January 20, 2025
No School
The Prompt: What was your childhood bedroom like?
I shared a room with my mom in various temporary living situations for nearly the first decade of my life. I didn't mind as much as Mom did, and she felt guilty because I didn't have my own space. We finally got a two-bedroom apartment when I was nearly ten. For almost a year I'd play in my room but go to sleep in Mom's just out of habit. When we moved into this trailer three years ago Mom made me take the 'master suite' and she took the smaller bedroom. I've offered to switch with her since she gets up first and having an attached bathroom would be better for her, but she says it's all fine the way it is.
I completely forgot that today is MLK Jr. Day as well as the Inauguration. On the one hand, yay! An extra day to get caught up on my backlogged homework. But on the other hand I'm annoyed that I've lost a day to observe the Noah situation. To my mind, this is the week when I'll be able to study the effects of the spell best. If it worked, releasing Noah from it should cause the friends-group to reunite — or at the very least cease hostilities.
Days making my bed: 51
Days cleaning the kitchen: 15
Days studying html: 9
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Tuesday, January 21, 2025
The Prompt: How would I rate my overall physical health? What improvements can I make?
I assume I'm healthy. I get an annual free check-up — medical, dental, hearing, and vision — plus any vaccines. No one's ever found any problems and I feel okay. I'm in the lower middle on the Presidential Physical Fitness test. Not nearly the best but certainly not the worst. I'll have to give this question a deeper think when I don't have so many other balls in the air.
Today everyone at school was talking about the Inauguration and what Trump signed and all that. It sounds like a good old-fashioned clusterfuck to me, and it's amusing to watch the debates raging in the halls. One non-binary kid who uses they/them pronouns got into it with another kid who was insisting they were invalid because 'the president said so.' Naturally the non-binary kid had a few choice words about that. It barely stopped short of a physical altercation.
About Noah: Travis, Matt, and Chris were more civil to him and wanted him to hang out. Noah declined. He's hanging out with a couple other guys on the team and trying to catch the eye of one of the cheerleaders who wouldn't have had anything to do with him when he was being a douche.
Days making my bed: 52
Days cleaning the kitchen: 16
Days studying html: 9
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Wednesday, January 25, 2025
The Prompt: Describe your morning routine.
Boring. I wake up at 6:30, shower, dress, hair and makeup, spend a few minutes with Mom before the bus arrives, grab my bag, and go. On the bus I use an app to study html on my phone, slid down in the seat so I'm not even visible to the people behind me. When I get to the school I go straight to the cafeteria and eat whatever they're serving as breakfast. Then homeroom, etc.
I used my old locker mirror for the Thief Trap spell. First I cleaned it, then cleansed it according to the spell directions, used a sharpie to draw the symbol on the back while I said the words, then wrapped it in black cloth — an old t-shirt, actually. When I got to school I put it in my locker, being careful that I wasn't reflected in it and no one else was either. Supposedly if someone gets into my locker their reflection will be trapped in the mirror and I'll be able to see it. So I can tell if someone's been in my locker I put a piece of masking tape over the gap between the space between my locker and the next, down low so no one will notice it. If my locker has been opened the tape will be torn or have come off.
About Noah: He continues to more-or-less politely rebuff his so-called friends. Matt and Chris seem confused about how to handle this. Travis is getting pissed off.
Days making my bed: 53
Days cleaning the kitchen: 17
Days studying html: 10
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Thursday, January 23, 2025
The Prompt: What's one challenge you're ready to tackle?
Magic, evidently…
When I got to school this morning the tape was undone and crumpled a bit. I opened the door — again careful not to capture my own reflection or anyone else's in the mirror — and wrapped the mirror in the black t-shirt before looking to see what had been done. Someone put an air freshener in my locker. It stinks to the rafters of fake tropical smells and is just as putrid in its own way as the tuna. When I'd put the wrapped mirror in my bag I relocated the damn thing to the boys' bathroom.
About Noah: Chris and Matt talk to Noah in the halls and hang out with him when Travis isn't present. When Travis with them they seem not to know what to do. Travis told Noah to lighten up; Noah told Travis to sodomize himself with a golf club. I'm strictly neutral in this situation but still. Damn.
About the mirror: When I got home I shut the blinds over my bedroom windows, lit a candle, and whispered the 'reveal' part of the spell as I unwrapped the mirror. And I nearly shit myself! I could see Sandra Johnson, one of the preppy cheerleaders, as she opened my locker and put the air freshener in there. She was giggling and talking to someone over her shoulder. Then the locker door shut. It was all as clear as a YouTube video. After I saw it there was a loud crack/crunch sound as the mirror broke. I jumped back and then just… sat there.
I'm going to need some time to get my head around this…
Days making my bed: 54
Days cleaning the kitchen: 18
Days studying html: 11
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Friday, January 24, 2025
The Prompt: What brings you the most joy, and how can you do more of it this year?
Joy may be a strong word, but I like cooking. I cook every Saturday, now, and make enough for at least one meal of leftovers. I suppose I could concentrate on healthier meals to offset the questionable stuff they feed me at school. I'll look into that this weekend.
About Noah: Matt and Chris are more on Noah's side of the fence than Travis'. I know Travis is livid but he's trying to be nice, use some persuasion. I don't think he's going to get anywhere but it's fascinating to watch him flail. Meanwhile the other three are acting more like decent people and seem to be happier away from him. I'd have never realized how much Travis influenced them if I hadn't hexed Noah. Now I'm watching Travis to see what he does next.
I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that spells and stuff work. There's been talk about weird stuff for the past couple of years, but most people lump it in with aliens and Big Foot. It would be easy to dive headlong down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what's real and what's not but I don't know how to do that without becoming a conspiracy-theorist basket case. I can cast spells and observe if and how they work, though.
Days making my bed: 55
Days cleaning the kitchen: 19
Days studying html: 12
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Saturday, January 25, 2025
The Prompt: What causes or issues are you passionate about, and why are they important to you?
I've never given it any thought. Over the past couple years I guess I have been thinking more about tenants' rights and anti-bullying. I understand those because they've affected me directly. As far as I'm concerned, people who are assholes have automatically volunteered to be lab rats in my magical experiments.
I'm putting Sandra aside for now. I'll figure out a way to make sure she doesn't mess with my locker any more but I have a more pressing focus. Since magic works I'm going to use it to get us out of this trailer park and into the nicer one that's more 'mobile home community' than meth haven. I had trouble wording my search to find a spell that precisely fits the need, but I came across a spell called Desperate Wish. That should definitely do it.
Evidently you would have to be desperate to cast it. There's even a warning and disclaimer on this one: something drastic and potentially dangerous will have to happen. Not just happen, but have to happen. It's cast on the New Moon, peaks in intensity on the First Quarter Moon, and will come to fruition on the Full Moon. The New Moon is Wednesday, so I have time to get things together to cast it.
Days making my bed: 56
Days cleaning the kitchen: 20
Days studying html: 13
Days until the New Moon: 4