Wow. What an eventful fourth month of school.

The day I got back from my vacation in New Brunswick, which also happened to be my last week of summer break, I got the news that I had been approved for media at Warped Tour. One of my actual dream media gigs. I don't think I even need to explain how excited I was.

Then, the week after that, school started again. Everything was going smoothly until once again, a medical emergency decided to make an appearance. At this point, I'm about to buy a one-year parking subscription at that damned hospital since I'm there more often than I would like to admit.

The night before Warped Tour, I woke up around 2 a.m. crying because of a toothache that I very stupidly decided to push through. You can read more about that whole adventure in my Warped Tour blog post. Long story short, the toothache got so bad that the swelling temporarily paralyzed part of my jaw. I was in excruciating pain and couldn't eat or sleep at all, so the doctors wrote me off school until I could get the tooth pulled two days later. Thankfully, the inflammation went down practically instantly after that, so I was able to go back to school the next day.

So, you know. Normal month.

I also started two new classes: Basic Studio Lighting and Basic Photoshop. I'll be honest, Photoshop made me crash out a few times. But I finally started to get the hang of it and I can now make those infamous concert edits I keep seeing all over Instagram.

Fun fact: at least three people thought the edit I made and posted on my story was actually made by the band itself.

For a first attempt? I'll take that 10/10 ego boost.

As for studio lighting, we did our first project yesterday. And obviously, I had to include bones in it because it simply wouldn't be me without them. Other than that, there's not too much more to update.

I've had two tests since coming back to school, which I obviously passed. There's a third one I need to schedule because I missed it while dealing with the whole killer-tooth situation that tried to unalive me. But honestly? Things are good.

Classes are starting to get into the more serious stuff, autumn is slowly making its way here, and that means I can finally sit down to work on my blog and photography stuff with an iced pumpkin chai from Starbucks next to me. Although, if you like bananas, please try the iced banana bread chai. They somehow nailed the banana bread flavour to perfection and I am obsessed to say the least.

It genuinely feels like things are finally starting to fall into place.

Get it? Fall into place, fall is here?

Okay, I'll see myself out.

I also finally got the green light for my real glasses. If you've been around for a while, you probably know that I've been dealing with an illness that caused cataracts, so we've been waiting for my eyes to be stable enough for me to get proper progressive glasses instead of relying on cheap reading glasses. That day finally came today! That one felt like a pretty huge victory to me.

I've spent a lot of the past year feeling like my life was stuck in a never-ending doom loop. Between losing my grandmother last year, losing my grandfather earlier this year, health problems, hospital visits, starting school after not going for nine years and just... life being life, it sometimes felt like I was constantly waiting for the next thing to go wrong. But lately, I'm starting to feel something different.

Things aren't perfect. They probably never will be. But they're moving.

I'm back at school. I'm learning things that actually excite me. I'm getting opportunities I never thought I'd get this early into photography. I'm making things I'm proud of. I'm getting my glasses. I'm finding little things to look forward to again.

And for the first time in a while, it doesn't feel like I'm just surviving whatever comes next.

It feels like I'm actually getting somewhere.

The exit of that doom loop feels close.

And honestly? I couldn't be happier, or more curious, to see what's waiting for me on the other side.