Exerpt 0.1

Sitting at my desk, a lady approached me. Her short white hair waving through the wind from her walk. She came up to me, extending a broad smile, asking where she might find the earliest  open physician. Realizing that she has been the first person I've to talk to since I started my 12 hour shift, I introduced myself. 

I watched her face, her eyes catching a glimmer of sudden intrigue and her eyebrows in high arches.

"Who has the other half?" she said referring to my necklace as she tried to hide a smirk. I remember a gold chain with a matching charm, dented at the bottom point of the heart hanging around my neck. 

Her eyes shining and her expecting smile waiting for a name that might carry significance, a name that encapsulated long-desired lover and best friend. Someone I would have been dating for months or years. A person that I would say the name of in the expectation that I could share memories of an awkward first kiss and an incredible first date. A man that I could share a picture of with his arm around my waist and my head tilted looking up at his face. Gitty, at the thought of who might be the man that must have given me this necklace. A man that I have been waiting for. A man, who believed I was worth the risk and chose me-- and continues to choose me every. Single. Day.

"My sister" I said looking down, sparing myself the disappointment that must have projected onto her face. I look back up at her, greeted by a reaction that expressed how sweet it must be knowing that two sisters are currently wearing matching half-heart necklaces. She responses with a sweet smile, kind and reassuring. 

"Oh, how cute" she said softly, "Thank you so much for your help. I hope you have a fantastic day!"

"Thank you, " I said going back to writing the fictional short stories I distract my mind with.

My First Summer In Redding

Some of my homies here in Redding. #Summer

I find myself sitting at a coffee shop, which is the next big thing to do while in Redding (LOL), but after two full months living in a city (a.k.a. village), which is about three hours away from anything, I can't help but enjoy this time that I have away from the familiar. 

Don't get me wrong I miss the brisk mornings, the fast-pace community, and the unending diversity that a cluster of cities like the Bay Area offers. I miss my family, eating homemade food, and waking up to smells that remind me of comfort and home. 

If you haven't picked up on the title of this blogpost, this is my first summer away from home (Da Bay). I got a job working on campus cleaning the buildings and resident halls of Simpson University along with nine other students and this whole experience has been a constant learning process. A learning process, not only in the job itself, but practically living on my own without the constant worry of deadlines, classes, and exams, which has been a main attachment that I have with Redding.

These past two months have consisted of getting acquainted with the whether, not knowing what to do in a city that doesn't get cool until 9:00PM-- even then it's still 98 degrees outside and I'm in bed by 9:30PM (because I have to be up by 6:00AM the following morning)-- and trying to stay on a budget. Sure, this may not seem like qualifications in which should be difficult to get adjusted to, but they are conditions in which I'm not familiar with. 

If you are at all aware with the geographic location of Redding, California, then you know how insanely hot it gets over the summer and for those that actually live here in Redding: you have my utmost respect and gratitude because I do not know how you guys do it. Redding has reached a high of 112 Degrees Fahrenheit and let me tell you, that I have not sweated as much as I have just standing outside. Even though, my job here at Simpson allows us to stay indoors for majority of the time, which I am so thankful for, but there are moments when we have clean outside of the building (mostly windows) and I feel like I'm in a sauna. *Slowly dies inside* There are other students here doing other things around campus, such as the Grounds Crew, and they have it hard. Their whole job is working outside in the heat mowing, cutting, pruning-- just about everything and I pray for their souls. Needless to say, they are the real MVP's!

As for doing things in Redding, the church community here is absolutely phenomenal. I attend Bethel church and I am in love with everything the church has to offer: the worship, messages, and people that I get to meet. But since the beginning of my summer break, God has put on my heart a deep desire for a sense of community. Not only with the community that I have with my co-workers and other friends that are staying in the Redding area, but wanting to be a part of a church body. Because Bethel is such a big church, it's hard finding that source of utilizing where God wants to use me in such big place. Before Bethel, I've attended other churches in the area, such as The Stirring Church and Haven, which is a young adult service at Little Country Church. So my first step was to get reconnected and see if God has anything for me there. 

So, I began attending The Stirring in the mornings and Haven at night, encouraged and excited to experience what God wants for me, which also has been a learning process. Because of this, I'm not going to stop attending Bethel church completely (they have a Friday night service that I plan on attending as well (LOL)).

While living on my own, I really want to take care of myself, which constituted watching what I ate and exercising often. For the past month, I've been going to the gym right after work and cooking more instead of eating out. Out of the two, I never know cooking would be SO HARD!!

Now with two months into figuring out Redding (more or less), I know God's not done with with me in this place. With one more semester to finish in my undergrad career, God's never going to take me out of school. Overall, I miss home deeply, but I think God is teaching me to find home wherever I am because He is home.

Watching "The Flash"

I believe that there are about four other blogs (give or take) that have been inspired by things in which my little sister has introduced to me, things such as music, books, and movies and this blog is no exception.

During my winter break, I had planned to read countless (Okay, maybe more specifically three) books, run rampant in the streets of the City (more like get lost and find myself in unplanned adventures that awaited me), and watch all the movies I missed out on. Sure there's still a little less than a week until I have to go back to school and I may not have done a sprinkle of what I had hoped to do during my winter break, but the best things happen unplanned. One of those best things being that I watched 2 seasons of The Flash on Netflix, which I have become a fan of!! Although this entire post may be about watching The Flash, my winter break has not been limited to this activity exclusively.

My little sister, Cristina had a t.v. show playing in the living room during the first week of our winter break and I didn't pay much attention to it until she started explaining the plot line to me. When I decided that I wanted to watch the show for myself, she insisted that she watch the entire show with me from the beginning. So, we embarked on a journey together in which consisted of heavy scientific concepts, clever fan references, and standing-by-the-end-of-each-episode. Now, I sit here on the couch in my living room a couple of hours after finishing Season 2 of  The Flash and trying to process all that has happened.

I really hope you consider on watching the show for yourself because this show is truly amazing! Each character is brought to life creating a distinctive personality. The nerd references (No offense, I am a proud nerd) are on point! But, of course, if you ever do watch The Flash, go in with VERY low expectations because I wouldn't want to contribute to you going in with very high expectations and not really enjoying it (which will NOT happen regardless). So, if you do start watching it, I may have started talking about some of the key components that happen in the show later on in this blogpost. So, I sectioned off the part in which is **spoiler-filled** and you can skip down to where it's safe to continue reading. But if you are past Season 2-- by all means, continue reading.

**SPOILER ALERT**

I would like to think that I was able to follow along with the majority of the scientific theories that were proposed/ happened on the show--my foundation being that I am a big Back to the Future fan and I've practically studied the films in which I believe that I have a good idea of how time works. And because of that, I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!! For example, when the reverse flash disappears from existence because Officer Eddie killed himself, shouldn't everything have gone back to normal, as if Barry's mother hadn't died? I guess that issue is address later in the season when the Reverse Flash comes back, but has no idea of what has already happened and, if I remember correctly, Eddie's action of killing himself hasn't taken action because the Reverse Flash is on a separate timeline. PLEASE, correct me if I'm wrong and if you can, explain this to me! BUT!!! The season finale for season 2--- That ALL does not matter anymore! I have yet to watch season 3 and it's killing me! There was a whole bunch of other questions that I had throughout the show, but I can't remember them, which I might just rewatch the entire first and second season-- to make sure that I didn't miss anything!

But, nonetheless, I am very excited on how the season 3 will begin! And for those who have waited week after week for the next episode to air on tv, I salute you.

**END OF SPOILER**

If you're in the mood to watch a superhero show with science fiction, love and hate relationships with the characters, surprises, controversy, and intrigue, then The Flash is for you! But, highkey, you should decide for yourself and if you do decide to watch it, I promise you won't be disappointed.