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I got back from my trip a few days ago. I had a ton of fun but I won't go on too much about it. It's always eye-opening to go to a place where people are living a different way, and realize how arbitrary the norms at home are. Also, being away from the internet for two weeks has broken the spell temporarily lmao. Since getting home I haven't had any desire to go online or even draw on my computer. Trying to take advantage of that and get lots of stuff done.

My cat also had a great vacation at my family home. After the initial 2-3 days of hiding under the bed, she started having lots of fun exploring the big house. My parents and brother love her too, since she's gentle compared to their cat and, even though she's shy, she likes to be in the same room as people. I'm considering leaving her there since it's a much better environment for a cat than my one-bedroom. Of course it's lonely to come home and not have her come say hi to me.

My dad got Tears of the Kingdom so I've been over there a lot to play together. The gameplay loop is so addictive we end up playing for 5-6 hours without realizing, and we've still only done one temple. It's also a top cozy hiking/hunting/cooking sim.

What else? When we had downtime on our trip I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I love how detestable the protagonist is. I also think the author nailed a certain type of female friendship very well. It's funny when people say women have stronger friendships because of emotional openness, or men do because of camaraderie etc... it's never as simple as that, right?

I went on my trip with someone who I've been friends with for a long time. She's actually the person I tend to go on trips with the most, now that I think about it. She's good to travel with because she's reliable and has a similar energy level to me. She's very vain and demands you take a thousand pictures of her though lmao, but that's one of my favourite qualities about her. It's refreshing to be around someone who will talk brazenly about conventional beauty, cosmetic surgery and so on. My culture/generation is all about affirming and validating everything, which is great in certain contexts.

But when you reach out to a friend asking for advice and you get back a "whatever makes you feel good, babe", it's pretty annoying isn't it? Like, you asked them for a reason, and you sort of make yourself vulnerable by implying you're not 100% secure about something. You're hoping to make a real human connection when they acknowledge the same vulnerability. When they hit you with the canned validation response, it feels a bit like they're deflecting you. By implying they're above all that and you aren't, you feel humiliated for asking...like rather than take the chance to connect with someone, they took the chance to feel superior to them, or something. This is why I treasure my bitchy friend who will tell you the pros and cons of lip filler vs. lip flip. I've got another friend who's very straightforward and grounded about politics (most of my friends have vibes-based politics) who has been invaluable as politics get weirder and weirder here.

Anyway, none of that has got anything to do with the book. It has a twist at the end identical to a movie with Robert Pattinson I saw a few years ago. It completely blindsided me the first time, but this time around I saw it coming. I never stop evolving!