Brick

So, I've been really practicing Spanish(Duolingo, talking to myself, watching shows in Spanish), and I really want to be fluent in it

A while ago, I spoke with my friend's grandma, who only knows Spanish, in Spanish, buuuuut- I got really nervous and only managed to utter "Hola" and "Gracias". I was so pissed because I knew the words to respond, but they just wouldn't come out.

And then yesterday, my friend's dad(his first language is Spanish but his English is as good as mine) was quizzing me on a few words, which I got right-ish, and then he jokingly asked me to write a random lil essay. I ended up doing it and he wanted me to read it to him, and when I nervously finished, he said "Good job" 🥹

I'm learning Spanish with Duolingo, some help from a friend, and music. And broooo it's been over two years of learning and I'm still making such bad mistakes.

FIRST: If you want to say "I'm scared", you'd say "Tengo miedo"(I have fear). But I'd only heard people say that phrase, never seen it written. So, while I was talking to my friend, I said "Tengo mierdo". He just accepted it as correct and moved on... He didn't notice I said "I have shit" and just thought it was pronounced like that for so long.

SECOND: My friend is Puerto Rican, so of course he hooked me up with some Bad Bunny. And I've actually learned some words from his songs. One of the things I learned was that "PR"(pronounced Pe erre) means Puerto Rico. So in another song, I was confidently singing "Perreo baby"... Heck yeah, Puerto Rican pride. Guess what Perreo means?

Twerk.

But to be fair, my friend didn't know that either.

THIRD:

...

WTF DOES "YA" MEAN??? I'M SO TIRED OF PRETENDING LIKE I UNDERSTAND. I SWEAR YOU GUYS ARE JUST PUTTING IT IN THERE FOR FUN.

And I asked my friend and he said, "Idek man it's pretty difficult to translate"

So, I was on a road trip in the south, and we needed to stop for gas and snacks. We pulled up to this run-down little gas station in the middle of nowhere called Texas Quick Mart(we were, in fact, very far from Texas). When we walked in, I was hit with the smell of cigarette smoke, as any good gas station does. There were a lot of very Southern people all just shopping, and to my SHOCK, the song Born This Way started playing(a song about supporting LGBTQ). And there were two women working the register, one was older and just wearing normal clothes, and the other was younger and very alt dressing.

Today was opening night for my school's performance of Something Rotten(a musical based on memeing shakespeare)

So, nobody really cares, but I think this is so cool.

This year I decided to audition for our school musical for the first time, and I got in!!! I got in as Brother Jeremiah(In Something Rotten). And one of my friends in my class is Nick Bottom. And of course, we're reading A Midsummer's Night Dream in class, which is a Shakespeare play. And my friend keeps pointing out every character and reference between the two(the musical is based on Shakespeare).

And every so often, he and I will just shout MAN I HATE SHAKESPEARE!(a song in the musical).

I was slaving away moving bales of pine straw for NHS, and it was supposed to be from 8-11. We ended at 10 and I couldnt be picked up until 11:30. But luckily, I recognized a kid from band. He isn't even in my class, but we play together for MPA and concerts.

Long story short, I got a ride home and it all worked out. Thanks, band!

Pictures under cut for proof

So, there's this kid at school, we'll call him Trumpet. And there's this girl, we'll call her B. So, I was kinda friends with B in school. Like, see her in the hall, I'd say hi, but we never really hung out much. Nothing wrong with her. Trumpet is obviously in band, and an annoying teenage boy. Anyways, they're dating, which is a long story but not the point.

ANYWAYS-

You know how sometimes you dream about someone and wake up feeling differently about them. Yeah, that happened to me with Trumpet. Except I had a dream that he died.

I was in the hallway walking with them, and I mentioned I had a dream this week about Trumpet dying. B said she did too and we held hands and jumped around and celebrated and Trumpet just looked mortified.

So, my dad and brother have been into taking walks after school lately, but I'm usually busy when they go walk around the neighborhood. The other day, I convinced them to walk at this one park with trails. Now, the trails aren't too long, but it has pretty good woods, and I LOVE just exploring in them. And, the park is pretty empty, just us and this older woman walking her little dog.

While my dad and brother are on a different trail, I'm just walking around and taking in how pretty everything is. I stand on a little part of the trail out of the way to admire a pretty bird. I hear the lady walking behind me and her little dog scurrying in the leaves, so I just pretend to be interested so I wouldn't be awkward and, like, walking right beside her. Out of nowhere,

"Hey."

I am honestly kind of scared because A, I'm antisocial, and B, I have no clue who this woman is. So I just call back a little

"Hellooo"

I keep looking at her, waiting for a response or a follow-up question. But there's nothing. She just keeps looking at me while her dog sniffs around in some leaves. So I walk away on another trail and she doesn't follow. She was acting really strange, so I just chalk it up to her maybe being mentally ill, or just older.

A few days later, I was telling this story to my mom, and she made it all make sense. She said the day before, I was at the park, a MILE from the park, some young teenage boys stabbed each other. So this poor lady probably thought she just saw some murderer teen fugitive in the woods. The poor woman was probably so scared.