Adventure with Lea #10: Winter Break and the Year in Review!

    Hello hello my lovelies!  It is almost 2016 and it's been a while since we've had a nice, long post about all the stuff I've been up to!  You see, I like to do recaps of the year, but to be honest, less really happened this year worth talking about until this break!  Last year was pretty eventful though XD  Soooo, let's talk all about my now half-completed winter break, a few other big things that happened this year, and what's to come in 2016! 

    Firstly, a quick look at some of the things that DID happen this year:

January-

• Helped clean/redesign my sister's laundry room
• My big sister moved back into town for college
• I did my first Tag video!
• Not much else really!

February-

• I had a Valentine's Day Livestream where I drew requests!
• I was cast as an extra in a student film, and wrote about the differences between film and live theater!
• I also went on some fieldtrips for the first time since like, 9th grade!
• One and two

March-

• I received and reviewed the Fizzy Fairy Apothecary Pokeball Bath Bombs and the Jewelscent Soap
• I went on an awesome trip to White Sands with my friends!

April-

• Did a TBH Tuesday with lots of info!
• My grandparents got a puppy (who has since grown into a missle with legs)
• I started taking medicine for my anxiety/depression
• I did a more in-depth description of Mate's emotions

May-

• I turned 19

June and July-

• I made my first What's Up With Lea
• I was truly happy for the first time in my life for some reason
• I watched E3 all the way through for the first time!
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• I found out my Godmom, practically my second mother, was moving.
• My livestream was filled with spam, hate, and a terrible post and so I went on haitus.

August-

• I finally wrote my Top 10 Gen 2 Pokémon
• I sorted and showed off my whole Pokémon card collection!
• I started streaming again

September-

• My poor Laptop began breaking

October-

• I got and reviewed Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer (and I still like it!)
• I made a guide to livestreaming!
• I competed in a local SSB4 tournament and got my butt handed to me
• I made a list of my top 10 Ghost types and compiled all my Halloweeny posts together!
• I dressed as a college Hufflepuff for Halloween and like a big jerk, didn't show you guys!  So here the pictures finally are!  Jaimi and Austin were Gryffindor and Slytherin!  You might notice I have a little dragon popping out of my pocket and I bought cream soda as Butter Bear for us!  I also had a bag of Jelly Beans in my pocket I ate throughout the night ^^  (and my Umbreon slippers because of course)
  

November-

• I did a 24 Hour livestream for UNM Children's Hospital and raised $125!
• You can still donate if you want to!!  All money goes to the hospital, not me!
• I also met two awesome, loyal viewers!
• I became obsessed with Undertale!

December-

• A "friend" sent me into a pretty deep depression although I was in one already.
• I did my first giveaway!
• I integrated my very active twitter account into the blog to keep you guys always up to date!

And here we are!

     Now, the break began on the 11th, which also marks approximately one year of being single yet again!  However, being single means more time for streaming amiright?  Now, the biggest things that have happened so far have been mostly pretty good after the aforementioned depression.  I discovered Pippin and I will be moving into the famous land of Ap'rtmant very soon which has brought some conflicting feelings, but overall, I'm excited!  The best part about this is that it means I won't have roommates, a loud dorm building, etc so I can livestream a lot more or at least as frequently.

    Then of course, CHRISTMAAAASSSS!!!!  I won't go over everything I got of course, but the vast majority ws kitchen/house supplies for the apartment including a toaster, some whisks, multicolored knives and spoons, etc.  I also got a few movies and an XBone!!!!!  Yaaaayyy!  The best part about that is it also will function as my DVD/Bluray player in my new house so two in one!  Woot!  Also, my grandparents got me this silly Deathstar Jelly Bean dispenser and I love it.  I have decided all who enter my house must bring a jelly bean offering to this great being.  It's dorky and I love it!  I also got a new, much better editing software and was finally able to upload my BirdKeeperToby "Wants to Battle 2015" Tag video!  Also, you'll notice I FINALLY colored in the Lea reboot outfit for the thumbnail/my profile picture.  I did it painstakingly in MS Paint because my Photoshop trial ran out, so it looks a bit pixely, but it's better than just black and white!

  

   The day AFTER Christmas, we finally got snow down here!  I recorded a vlog, talking about all the things in my life, snow, and building my first really large, beefy snowman!  I had a really great time filming this video so I hope you guys enjoy a brief tour of my snowy desert backyard in NM.

      The next day, I traveled through the snow all the way to AZ to visit my Nonnie and Uncle Brad and had a pretty awesome time.  I got to try a lot of food, see their new house, and more!  On the last day, we went to the zoo and then departed for home.  One weird thing about where I live is the sheer amount of weird things to stop and see along the road.  One such side track is "The Thing."  All my life, I've driven past huge one of the 247 billboards for "The Thing" and never been, but finally, on the way home, I convinced my mother to stop and we had a quick stroll.  Now, I won't ruin the mystery of The Thing, but if you enjoy a good laugh, silly, kitchy sorts of things, and are in the area, I suggest you take a quick walk.  It's only $1 for adults and was pretty amusing.  I decided to snapchat a bit of that day (but none of the actual The Thing so it keeps the mystery), so here's my story from that day!  Pardon the length of some of the still images!

Now, to end the year off and start the next on right, I'm hosting a livestream tonight starting at about 11p.m. MST and going until about 2:00 a.m. MST!  I hope you can all be there to talk about whatever!  I'll be playing Cave Story+ and of course, talking!  You guys are free to ask anything, talk about stuff, ya know, just have fun!  I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and will have a great New Year <3

Happy Holidays, I Come Bearing News!!

   Hello hello my lovely people!  I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season!  For the first time in a couple years, we haven't had snow yet down here!  Last year, my eldest sister and I built snowmen and had a mini snowball fight at our college, but this year oddly enough, we had rain more recently! 
   Anyway, a lot of stuff is changing on this side of the screen, and so there's a lot to go over!  Let's get right to it!

1.)    The first really big piece of news is that I'm moving!  Not to another country, state, or even town, but just to another house.  In fact, I'm going to live basically next door to my middle sister!  The new place will be a basically mini-apartment built for one with a single bedroom, bathroom, mini-kitchen, and a fair sized living room.  My kitty Pippin, who you've seen in a lot of my videos including the most recent one, is going to come with me!  Bilbo has actually been harassing her to the point that she is constantly scared, so having a whole house and cat thingies to herself will hopefully make her a lot happier.  Also, since I'm moving, most of my Christmas presents were house/kitchen items like spoons, knives, a toaster, etc! 
    What does this mean for you guys?  Well, I won't be moving until we're sure I have internet and all that jazz at the new place, so that's not an issue!  The coolest part about this is that, although this is a big scary experience for me, you guys will get to be there with me!  I'll hopefully be Vlogging more, including a brief tour of my house video.  The best part is that, although I have school, I will surely have at least some downtime, especially later at night.  Now, here at home I usually watch TV with my big sister and don't want to bother the family by streaming, but there I can make dinner whenever and there's no one to bother sooooo.....

2.)  There will be a lot more livestreams!!!  I don't want it to be set in stone, but I'd love to livestream once a week or at least twice a month, every month!  I'm hoping to make my bedroom or living room a bit like a studio and have everything always set up, so streaming is easier!  I also got some money from my grandparents and steam had a pretty awesome sale, so I was FINALLY able to get Binding of Isaac Rebirth+Afterbirth, as well as Cave Story+, which PikaJack asked me to play on stream!  Some livestreams might also just be me cooking like I've done once or twice before and we can learn how to together ^^ 

3.)  On a slightly unrelated note, I've been feeling very conflicted recently due to the giveaway and sale.  What I hoped would spark my readers, viewers, etc to interact with me resulted in the same nothingness as always.  However, unlike before, I had the amazing Bread and Jack to actually participate and show their continued devotion!  These awesome guys have been around since the November...9th?  7th? 24 hour charity stream and have been absolutely awesome!  So while I am really depressed that I'm not booming into popularity or getting the comments, questions, and views I'd love to see, I'm still glad that the people who are loyal are VERY loyal.  This isn't so much news as just something I wanted to say.
       If you are out their audience, I'd love to see you at more livestreams, on twitter, here on the blog, and on YouTube!  Just ask Jack and Bread, I try to answer all comments quickly and really get to know my amazing viewers! 

    Soooooo as far as I can tell, that's about it.  For the TL;DR,

1. I'm moving to a new apartment for 1
2. I'll be streaming/making videos more often
3. I really want you guys to become an active talking community so I can get to know all my viewers and readers :D

 Tomorrow, I have to pack to go to Arizona to visit some family for a few days.  If all goes well, I should either stream sometime in the next week.  At this stream I'll tell you guys all about my Christmas :D   The stream announcements are through twitter, which is now in the handydandy side bar soo you guys can see it!  If not this week, I want to do a late night ridding into the new year stream!  This stream will probably start around 10 or 11 p.m. on Dec 31. and ride into 1 or 2 a.m. Jan 1, 2016!  I'd love to see you all there!  At this stream, I'll probably either do Cave Story or BoI! 

That's all folks!  Have a great rest of Christmas!!!! <3 

And the Winners are...

Bread and Jack!  Only two people actually entered the giveaway, so they both win!  I want to give these guys a huge shoutout.  They are an amazing inspiration for me and have been coming to all my livestreams, having out, and just plain being awesome!  Guys, pm me on twitter and I'll send you your codes today/tomorrow!  Congrats!

Everyone else, go check out these guys on YouTube!
Bread: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkyEfwJFkFNt8tO0afawJ1w
Jack: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vQX24IBOjk6DPMppsu9aA

Last Chance to enter!

Last Chance to enter the giveaway! 

Holiday Giveaways, Gifts, and More!

    As you all know, I have been receiving Loot Crates for the past year and opening a lot of them on my YouTube channel.  However, doing so costs money and gets me a lot of items I'm not necessarily thrilled about.  Most of the time, I just give the stuff I don't want to my co-host Jaimi, but even then, I have some left over. 
      First of all, I have a lot of digital codes (I'm not sure if any have expired though...if you know for sure any of these have expired, please tell me in the comments) that I want to hand out!  I have a few sets of digital codes that I want to hand out, however I'm scared they might have expired, so I'll be giving them away to two lucky people!  Here's how this is all going to work.

1. Everyone who comments (not spam, hate, or random nonsense) on this blog or my YouTube channel between now and 11:59 p.m. MST 12/20/15 will be entered in a RANDOM raffle to win the following download codes:

• Doctor Who: Legacy App (Game)
• Defense Grid: The Awakening  (Game)
• Halo Escalation #1-3 (comic)
• Ninjak #1  (comic)
• Digital Mega Man comics (comic)
• Gauntlet exclusive in-game helm (DLC)
• Thanatos & Jack the Reaper Skin for Smite (DLC)
2. There will be two winners contacted at approximately 10:00 a.m. MST 12/21/15 (I'll post when the emails have been sent out here and on twitter) and asked to give a list of their preferences going from 1st to last choice. 
• I'll try to give both winners their tops choices or at least equal rewards. 
• If any of the codes have expired, I will provide whoever was awarded the code a custom drawing by me of you/your oc/your favorite character sent to you in the mail! 
• (If you send me a screenshot showing it's expired)
3. If the winners do not respond to the email by 10:00 a.m. MST 12/22/15, the raffle will be run again and new winners will be chosen.
• If only one winner doesn't respond, only one new winner will be chosen and asked to email me a list.
• They will have until 10:00 a.m. MST 12/23/15 to respond. 
• Should there be no response by the 23rd, all codes will go to the original winner of the raffle, or if there are no winners who respond, the raffle will be over and the codes will be used elsewhere.
4. The results will be posted on the blog either the afternoon of 12/22 or 12/23 (depending on #3) and the codes will be sent to the winners via email/personal message at this time.
• Note: If you do not want your name to appear on the blog, you are welcome to give a nickname, or ask me to just refer to you as Winner 1 or Winner 2 etc. 

   Didn't win the raffle?  No worries!  There are still TONS of items I need to get rid of!  Many items from Loot Crate videos will be put either on my ebay or 99gamers accounts to buy/bid for!  All the money from these items goes towards paying off the new filming equipment and software I've purchased this year as well as Loot Crate (or other boxes?!) for next year!  I'm going to be much more diligent about uploading Loot Crate openings since we have the new format!  Finally, if you don't want any of the items but you still want to support me like an awesome person, I'll include a link to donate to me below!  <3 

    A video about exactly what items are up for sale will be uploaded to Youtube soon!  If you're not already, make sure to follow me on Twitter for updates (or check the sidebar with the new Twitter feed!)  Also, there will most likely be another art stream celebrating Star Wars sometime this week so make sure to check out the twitch link below!

Important Links:

Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/c/GalenS_Lea

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/Alias_Lea

Donate: 

https://www.twitchalerts.com/donate/leanasta_w

99Gamers:

https://99gamers.com/Leanasta

Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/usr/leanasta_w

Twitch:

http://www.twitch.tv/leanasta_w

Happy Holidays!  <3

Real Talk About Depression

        Being depressed is the worst thing ever because it's not being "sad."  When you're sad, you can watch things you like or make active decisions to make yourself feel better, but when you're depressed, you can't.  First of all, you can't think of what to do to make you "happy" and even if you can eventually get yourself to watch a video or whatever, there's no guarantee you'll even feel better.   Nothing sounds good or feels worth doing. Then, you question every single life choice you've ever made.  No matter how many times people tell you not to do that, it's hard not to think about everything that's shitty that's going on or has happened or could happen.  This is when you start making crappy decisions and deciding drastically how to live the rest of your life.  Then everything piles on and you start to feel like total crap. 

       Then, there's the hours where everything is nothing.  You're not sad, you're not happy, you're nothing, until the random spout of crying.  Then, you start to think about how everyone else will perceive your sadness and you start to feel guilt because there are billions of people who have more reasons to be sad or depressed than you, so you feel like you shouldn't be sad and the guilt makes it worse.  You feel like you're an even worse person than you decided from all the previous gathering of reasons to hate yourself.  Then of course, everyone wants you to do something to "get out of your depression" but it seems like a personal assault on you and turns into more self loathing.  Then, you want people to know how you feel, you want to tell others, but the truth is, no one wants to hear about it.  Most people label it as a "first world problem" and walk away, or on the other side, people try to "fix" you and make it better, when really you just want people to know you're not feeling good and you don't want to feel worse. 

     I guess that's why I wrote this.  I don't want sympathy or apologies or whatever, I just want to talk about how I feel awful.