So yesterday's post was pretty depressing.

Don't worry guys, I'm back to myself again, as far as I know. I have decided to deal with the problem by grabbing it by the horns and violently thrashing it back and forth like a shark until it slowly bleeds to death.

Okay, maybe more like a puppy with a sock puppet, to give you a better idea. Because, judging from my skill in kickboxing and Taekwondo, I'm about as likely to beat someone up as the moon is to fall into the sun.

WAIT WHAT IS THAT A ZUTARA REFERENCE.

Moving on...

So yeah, I've cheered myself up again. Maybe this has something to with going to Laura's communion today...?

I wore a black-and-white skirt, a white sleeveless blousy thing, black flats, and a necklace that the Grandmother made me wear (hah!). I also had tights. Feh. The package said they were for women who weigh "66/78 kg". Yeah right. Let me crap in your mouth, why don't you? (common Spanish insult... haha).

Okay, so I have to admit that the communion, despite me being super nervous about it and Marian fraying her nerves about it for a long time, was, as a whole, enjoyable. The religious church part was uncomfortable and cold, and I somehow didn't feel the churchliness that I do when we go to Kensington every Christmas for their Christmas special thing. I possibly felt more churchly-togetherness at Youmacon during the Vic Mignogna panel. Because everyone was screaming in joy at the same time and it was just this whole feeling of unity and togetherness and love and excitement... But whatever, the choir was pretty good. One thing I dwelled on for a while in the church was the fact that Marian had reserved a bank near the front for Laura's immediate family, and when I followed her there she told me I had to find a seat that wasn't reserved, i.e. all the way at the back. That hurt a bit, realizing once again that I'm apparently not considered part of the "family".

I managed to swallow that though.

The part after the church, however, was way more enjoyable. We went to a very fancy hotel and had lunch there. For appetizers someone had rented us this little open-inside area with loungy lounge chairs and huge televisions and general luxuriousness. Everyone was walking around, talking to all the other family members, and servers threaded their way around us at regular intervals, carrying trays with cheese-cream-filled-cones, slices of cured ham, tiny fried fish, croquettes, fried calamari, larger fried fish, teeny bread-things with tomato paste... in general, delicious things. I also forced myself to introduce myself to the older kids that I didn't know, and after extreme awkwardness in the beginning it was pretty nice. One of the boys was from Sevilla (I could tell by his accent; Sevillans don't pronounce the 's') talked to me for quite a while, which I appreciated. There was a two small incidents with Luis, one of which included broken glass and wine all over the floor, and the other being him getting feisty with his cousin, which resulted in two insulted, sulking little boys with rumpled shirts. Which was very amusing to the rest of the, erm, non-adults.

The food we had after, in a big white fancy dining room, was delicious. I got to sit at the table with Laura and her two female cousins, as well as all the little kids (as usual...). But I did get the adult food. Which means I got vegetable pure instead of spaghetti, some kind of fish, and a hunk of beef. It was yums. Also, there was scrumtious and chocolatey and just mmmm.

Even after that was enjoyable. I spent a while at one of the adult tables talking to some random relative, which was fun and made me feel happy. She really seemed interested in my parents and why I was in Spain and such. At the very end, Luis, Laura, their various older cousins and I prowled the rest of the hotel, where we eventually found a little girl playing "River Flows in You" by Yiruma on a piano. I also attempted to play, but I haven't practiced in forever and I didn't have any sheets so that didn't turn out too successfully. The little girl was super cute and also from Sevilla, and we talked about the piano and how cold it was in Madrid right now and how comfy the hotel was and general small-talk.

When we got home, I scrubbed off what little makeup I had on, extracted my legs from the tights and the skirt, and proceeded to dress myself in jeans and a T-Shirt. Such bliss...

Oh, and I've also spoken a bunch to Luis and Laura in English, both today and yesterday.

I am going to freaking take this challenge.

I will prevail.

Nothing can stop me.

I will become the badass multitasker that I have to be.

Anyone else want to add fuel to my fire? You're all welcome to...

MAWKMAWKMAWKMAWKMAWKMAWK GRAWWWWWWWW

*hundreds scream and cheer*