4/11/25

Dear Diary,

Oh boy how today has tried me - and it’s only 4pm. I’m being very overdramatic right now, but you'd understand if you had to wait for an hour and a half in the waiting room of a doctors office for no good reason! I was gonna describe that whole experience to you all, but quite frankly I think that’s kind of bratty and I should be grateful I have medical insurance and all that. Let me know if I’m over-intellectualizing my emotions (I think I’m good).

Instead, I’m gonna talk about how exciting it is that we’re kind of going viral right now. I'm not gonna lie, it kinda freaked me out. I’m not great with this level of attention and some people are being unexpectedly mean or weird. But most of you guys are really nice and it’s so cool to have people reading my words and following me on Letterboxd and stuff. At the end of the day, I’m just a girl who likes to rant by means of a computer screen. Also, I have so many ideas for blogpost essays in the future. I kinda can’t wait until this semester is over so I can get into writing again. Speaking of which, I have less than two weeks left of my freshman year of college, which is insane, and frankly I’m in disbelief about it. It’s been a very weird, very transitional year. But, all in all, I’m so excited for what’s to come! I have a great summer job I’m excited about, and at the end of the summer I’m moving into a new apartment (and I’m gonna have my own room to decorate for the first time).

Summer is such a hard time for me because I hate hot weather and respond poorly to having no expectations to live up to. But I think this year has the structure and balance I’ve always wanted. I’d like to get into reading more too. Speaking of which, please give me book recommendations! I like pretty much everything except fantasy (sorry). You can leave those here by clicking the date at the top and scrolling to the comments section. Saying that felt like when you’re playing a video game and the character has to randomly be like “by the way, you can press X to jump!” and it completely breaks the immersion. Sorry about that.

Anyway, today I think I’m gonna do some schoolwork and go for a walk by myself. Pasta for dinner, of course. I appreciate you reading the inner workings of my twisted mind.

Take care,

Sophie

4/8/25

Dear Diary,

What up party people! Haha. It’s Sophie here to tell you about my day yesterday! Get excited!!!

Yesterday I woke up at 7 (completely unnecessarily as my first class wasn’t until 10) and took my time getting ready before watching some X-Files to brighten my morning. If you didn’t know, which you don’t because I haven’t told you, I live in a dorm with three other girls. This can cause a bit of disruption when getting ready, so I find it useful to get up early even when it means I go to bed at 10pm. Also, Abbi if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I’m so loud in the morning. I really try not to. Really.

I went to class from 10 to 11:15. It was uneventful so I won’t tell you about it, but imagine me being studious and participating in class (I know. I’m kind of a big deal). Eventually I got lunch with my aforementioned roommate, Abbi. Whenever we get dining hall food I only get a salad because everything else scares me. I then did some work before going to my Intro to Graphic Design class (that’s my major!) which is actually not my favorite of my classes. We had a full two and a half hour long critique on posters we’ve been making for the past week. It is very exhausting and anxiety inducing and scary and I hate it. But it’s very nice to get feedback on my work (which everyone was so kind about. Shoutout my classmates).

After a trying 2:30 to 5, Maddie picked me up to spend the night at her and Allison’s place. Maddie and I are basically codependent so I sleepover like once a week and we hangout and I eat Maddie’s food. This time, we had big plans to watch one of my favorite movies, Empire Records. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a fun, kinda cheesy, and slightly controversial teen flick about a bunch of employees in a record store. The movie takes place on April 8th, 1995, so naturally the 30 year anniversary was big among me and mine. First, though, Maddie and I did a fun photoshoot for both her artwork and my Intro to Photography class. We do a photoshoot every couple months, usually just for fun or to photograph one of Maddie’s pieces, but this was definitely a favorite. You can check some of them out on Maddie’s instagram (@madeleyess)! Subtle plug.

Anyway, we got to watching Empire Records (Allison joined in too). Maddie had never seen it and I think she liked it. I have seen it 5 times now. What can I say, I like to rewatch things. At some point, I’m going to do a blog post about teen movies — feel free to recommend any underrated ones you love (especially if I haven’t seen them already, which you can check at my Letterboxd).

I’ll talk to you all soon!

Love ya,

Sophie

4/4/25

Dear Diary,

Hiii! Sophie here. My good sister Maddie answered my prayers by providing me with my very own online diary here on Carousel Thirteen!!! Which you know because you’re reading this. Anyway, I haven’t had any particularly exciting days recently, which is unfortunate because I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to share my thoughts with the world and I really wanted a special day to tell you guys about. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers, and Maddie wants me to put something on here, so you get this.

Today I woke up to gorgeous early morning light streaming through the window of my childhood bedroom (Maddie and I are home for the weekend because she has a dentist appointment tomorrow). I think that’s poetic or something. At the very least, it set the tone for my morning very well. I had my yogurt for breakfast, got dressed at some point, and hit Maddie up about visiting the thrift on this fine day.

Since we had actually already established that we’d do that, Maddie obliged, and we hopped in the car jamming to her early 2000s playlist. Today was a good thrift day because the only people who were in the thrift store were older couples and the occasional small child. I personally get really insecure whenever I run into people my age at a thrift store (or anywhere, really) because I usually buy some BS that warrants judgment from those without joy or whimsy in their lives. It was also a particularly good thrift day because the Christian ballads the store was playing were not so blaringly loud I couldn’t hear myself think. Now onto what I got. As usual, I had my best luck in the men’s department. I found a short sleeve plaid button up perfect for summer layering, a navy long sleeve thermal, and a Tom and Jerry t-shirt that has some tagline on it I cannot remember right now and I cannot check because it is in the washing machine. As you can see, the Tom and Jerry get-up is exactly what I typically buy that can be safely placed in the “BS that warrants judgment” category. Regardless, I am excited to wear it out and express my fondness for cartoons that were most popular 65 years ago.

Once we got back from the thrift store, I made a scrumptious salad (recipes section coming soon) (not really but maybe someday) and chowed down before Maddie and I went for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Pretty much every time Maddie and I are home we take the same walk around our neighborhood because it just rocks. We could talk for literally the rest of time about anything so it goes by fast and is a great way to get some brain storms going. It’s actually on one of these walks that we concocted an early idea of this website! So, clearly, big things in the works here. Today, though, our minds were mostly occupied by the animal kingdom of our neighborhood. On our relatively short walk, we saw two cats, two cardinals, two bluejays, and approximately 400,000 squirrels. Among these critters were quite possibly the strangest squirrels I have ever seen. Their bodies were dark brown/black while their tails were a stark blond. Writing this, I’m afraid that I have an uncommon fascination with squirrels that may not be interesting to literally anyone reading this right now, but honestly this is my diary so I don’t even care. They were so cool. Seriously if you haven't seen them before you should look up a photo and also add that to your bucket list.

Anyway, I’m gonna shut up now because nothing I did for the rest of the day was interesting. If you have to know, I made pasta and now I’m about to watch Aliens (1986). Goodnight world. Pleasure doing business with you.

Best,

Sophie