The sun will shine again (:

It seems that a lot of people right now are having a pretty hard time of it. February seems to just be a stressful and difficult month for many people. There's the weather and day-lengths. There's winter sicknesses. There's family problems and romantic heartache. There's school and final major projects. There's confusion and stress and isolation. It's hitting my family, my friends, and people all around me. It makes me sad and worried that so many people I know, even if only as acquaintances and new allies, are finding things hard right now. You guys have been amazing to me, even some of you who barely know me, with advice and support and all that jazz. So I just wanna say thank you and offer a huge hug to everyone on my friends list, whether we speak often or not. Things will get better. And if anyone wants to chat, any time, just hit me up via PM, email or messenger. If you're on my friendslist, you're awesome, and you're always welcome to talk, about anything you like.

So, how goes it with ol' me? Not so bad, really. We've had a little sun (even though it's grey as heck again today), which I think has actually helped a lot. Yesterday, of course, was Valentine's Day. Jei and I didn't do anything major, but we made fun silly things out of chocolate and ate pizza. It was good. We've worked out a lot more plans and basic ideas for our future. There's a grant for around £5,000 that her school gives to some of its students who want to start their own businesses, so we're looking into whether Jei - as an international student - would be eligible or not. Chances are that she's not, if it's government funded for example, but if she was it would be amazing and we would put it towards a 3D printer which is a tool we'll really need if we're to get our doll-making business off the ground. She just got done printing out the joints for her dolls today, ready for moulding and casting and body sculpting next, and I'm really proud of how amazingly her project is coming along o.o A lot of it is highly mathematical, something she's never liked, but she's very good and intuitive with it. The finished dolls are going to be awesome. I can't wait!

Scourge and Miles watched Dungeons and Dragons the other day for a laugh after seeing the Nostalgia Cricket's* review of it, and found it fun. Miles thinks that Profion is the best villain ever and has perfected his "*Exaggerated hand gesture* Hah-tch-tch-tch-tch!", much to Scourge's amusement. Scourge has been talking/laughing/doing odd things in his sleep, which is always very strange because it's always him and never Jei, regardless of who was fronting when Jei goes to bed. Scourge is an odd creature. So, yeah, things are sorting themselves out with those two anyway. I'm glad they're no longer trying to kill each other even if things are kinda strained between them at times, understandably ^^;

One thing else that Jei and I talked about is what name we're gonna take/keep when we get married. We won't change any names when we have our UK civil partnership because that will be likely to arise suspicion in the US immigration desk when I try to come into America for my nursing studies. However, once we get married proper in America when I'm a proper citizen, we would like to have the same last name and one we can pass down to our child(ren). At some point before all this, I already plan to get my first name legally shortened from Alexandra to just Alex, and also have my mother's last name (Kimber) inserted somewhere before my surname. My brother has 'Kimber' in his name (as a middle, not last, name), but sadly I do not, and my mum is the very last Kimber in our line now that my all-female cousins have married. Alex Kimber Perea instead of Alexandra Maria Perea (Mariaaaaaa...!) would suit me just fine for now. Eventually, though, I may in all seriousness adopt 'Prower' as my last name. It sounds similar enough to 'Perea' that it won't massively distort the way my name sounds (Alex Perea vs Alex Prower), it has a deep meaning for me, and Jei is happy with the idea too. We already know beyond doubt that our first child - male OR female - will be named Max. Max Prower works well (: So, yeah, most likely someday down the line that is what I will do.

I've managed to lose a stone (14lb) since starting this diet in January, but I've kinda stagnated for a couple of weeks. I know exactly why - I've been not eating for days because of the anxiety, and then binging like a monster when the anxiety turns to depression. It's a ridiculous circle, and while I haven't GAINED back any weight, I've just kinda been plateauing for a while, bleh. I really wanna be in fine shape for our little Ireland excursion at Easter, so no more excuses. Back on the wagon, Jai! :P I can SEE the difference, and I know it won't take too much more to be in a really good place, so... yeah. I just need to be disciplined, even when I feel crappy. I reckon by March I'll be starting to feel much better anyway. Like I said right at the top there, February is just a crappy month in general. Bring on Mad March!!

So that's it, really. I hope things get better soon for everyone, and lemme know if I can do anything for anyone, k? I've been a drain on everyone's resources and I'd really like to give something back if I can, regardless of whether you're someone who I talk to a lot or very little ♥ All right, peace out!


*Jei accidentally called him that one time, and it just sorta stuck XD *Chirp!*