The past month has been really rough for me in just about every way imaginable. The biggest cause of stress has been money. Ever since moving out on my own I've been struggling to get by. It didn't help matters when my bank account got hacked 2 months ago and I had about $300 stolen from me. I'm still trying to recover from that. *sigh*

Yesterday was particularly bad. For the last week I've been locked out of viewing my bank account online, forgot my PIN number for my debit card and needed to call to reset it so I could use my card again, had my electric bill payment due by 5pm otherwise everything would get shut off (and leaving me with no air conditioning in the middle of summer is like Spanish Inquisition level torture for me), had my rent overdue, had important appointments to reschedule and one that I missed because my friend never showed up to take me there, and did not have enough money to cover everything. I was in a bad way.

When my friend Alexx called me to see what I was doing I pretty much broke down. I hate crying in front of him (or over the phone) because I know emotional displays make him uncomfortable so then I just feel even worse, you know? But I just can't handle things. I'm not right in the head, you see. Anyway, he pretty much told me to get dressed and he would be here in a minute. So after puking my guts out from the stress and from crying so hard, I met him outside and he proceeded to more or less save the day.

Alexx made all the phone calls that needed to be made and drove me to the bank/s so I could take care of the things I needed to do in person. He even got me a money order to pay for the late fee on my rent. After all was said and done, I was feeling really exhausted and drained and I just wanted to come home and go back to sleep. He asked me if I didn't want to get some ice cream from this awesome ice cream place in town and I told him that what I really wanted was chicken katsu, but that wasn't gonna happen so I'd just go home.

A couple hours later I was laying on my couch like a big lump and there was a soft knock at my door. I opened it to find Alexx's boyfriend's little brother out in the hall with the big grin he always has on his face and a take out bag in his hands.

Brief aside: Alexx's boyfriend is an incredibly cute Vietnamese guy named Vinh. His brother Tony is one of the cutest, hottest guys I've ever met in real life. And also completely and totally off limits because he's only 15. And that's not fair! LOL He's like a super hot Vietnamese version of Mir but with a better body and living in my town. XD I have to wait at least another year before I make any kind of move. Yes, 16 is legal in my state. hahaha

So anyway, I open the door and there's Tony and he's smiling and holding out this bag and he greets me with this string of pleasant-sounding Vietnamese (of which I only caught a few words; I don't know that much Viet) and what strikes me most is that he's speaking really gently, which is weird because even though he's not like loud, he's usually pretty oblivious/awkward when someone (ie. me) is upset. But he was different yesterday and he lingered in the doorway and I was like thinking to myself how badly I wanted to just give him a hug because he was being uncharacteristically sweet and I really needed that.

Alexx had gone to Tokyo Seoul and gotten me chicken katsu and then sent Tony up to my door to deliver it to me. He knew exactly what would cheer me up the most. And it really did. I sat there eating with a smile on my face the whole time.

I'm going to have to bake Alexx some thank you cookies. And something with noodles for Tony. Kid doesn't really do cookies, but he's crazy about noodles. When he first told me that, I told him that was the most Asian thing I've ever heard and all he did was blush and shrug and point to his face and go, "Well..." And then we both laughed.

ugh I hate how much I like him. Why am I not 15 anymore??!

But yeah. Crummy, stressful day was saved thanks to a wonderful friend and wonderful food and my wonderful crush. It's nice that even in the midst of feeling like I'm cursed, something can happen to make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world for a few minutes.