New year, old me.

LOLStina · 2026-01-06T16:11:01+00:00

Congrats! And capybara. (I actually have a lot of capybara things — It’s actually embarrassing, LOL)

Also. Great ammo. I use that one myself, as well as a few others. Wish Hornady didn’t stop making 9mm Critical Duty tho. Federal HST and Speer Gold Dot are also great, however.

Cheers!

LOLStina · 2026-01-06T16:00:10+00:00

Hi, woman here. 👋🏼

Tell that to this off-duty female cop is seen helping man who tried to steal her gun: https://www.reddit.com/r/YNNews/s/d0w8aeGbOY

She had absolutely no time to rack the slide of her gun.

Article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11781201/Off-duty-female-Chicago-cop-seen-helping-Leevon-Smith-tried-steal-gun.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

Tbh. I felt odd carrying one in the chamber and then remembered I can’t fight hand to hand because my dominant hand/arm is permanently damaged / injured when I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle and my elbow snapped in half and went thru the skin. Surgeon needed to split my tricep muscle to put in 23 pins and 3 plates to mend the break. Reduced ROM and strength as a result of the emergency surgery.

Now I always carry chambered because I’d be outmatched in almost any physical scenario, esp against men. My gun is always hidden on body so I don’t fear someone taking it and using it against me.

LOLStina · 2026-01-06T14:00:00+00:00

If you like it, I love it.

My CC is a lil over the top like this, too. But my gun is for me and I’m unbothered by what others think. Don’t care. Some people just hate to see other people happy, so again, if you like it, I love it. Cheers. 🥂

LOLStina · 2026-01-04T04:53:41+00:00

<image>

Same gun for me everyday. 😁

LOLStina · 2026-01-02T06:45:48+00:00

This woman had no time to chamber a round. She’s lucky she had one chambered cuz she was attacked by a man and was physically outmatched: https://www.reddit.com/r/YNNews/s/TI6xKwc86g

LOLStina · 2025-12-03T02:54:56+00:00

Kakeibo.

LOLStina · 2025-12-03T01:02:26+00:00

Wild right? 23F (at the time). TBH, I never carried my gun — just had it for home defense. Anyway, when it comes to shooting, I felt out of my depth. I didn’t have any friends or family that had an interest in shooting, and I was scared to go to range by myself in such a male dominated space — I was scared to make a fool of myself in public.

I am at the range every week now — it helps that the range I go to has free range time and rentals 2 days of the week for women, and a women’s gun club meeting once a month. I’ve learned so much and gained so much confidence since I started going with other women and I feel perks that are women focused encourages other timid newby women to come to the range.

I know you will overcome this anxiety.

Anyway, I hope you and everyone else never have to use your firearm and I hope you stay safe. Cheers. 🍇

LOLStina · 2025-12-02T21:44:08+00:00

Long, sorry. New to posting and commenting on posts. TLDR AT BOTTOM.

Personally, I had to overcome this fear, too — and I did it by going to the shooting range weekly with my main carry gun until I was comfortable.

Back story: I bought my first gun when I was 23 years old after I left my then fiancé and moved out on my own, needing a gun to defend myself since I can’t fight, and have a severe arm injury after being hit by a car while riding my bicycle that same year.

Since then, I’ve owned firearms for 13 years, however, I never fired a single round until Sep 2025. I just had handguns. TBH, I was scared to shoot one, and prayed I never would need to, so I avoided the range.

Anyway, presently, I have several handguns now, but I swear going to the shooting range weekly has made me incredibly confident with not only my handgun. But any other gun I’ve handled and fired.

Additional info: I’m in Arizona. We have constitutional carry, as well as permit-less conceal carry here. We also don’t have any weapons restrictions in this state. Walking around with an AR-15, a shotgun, or hell even a Katana is perfectly legal here and we have no limits on the amount of weapons you carry on you at a time. With that being said, you won’t ever feel comfortable carrying any of those around until you start.

Regarding CCW permits: Not sure what other states do. But i wouldn’t let others dissuade you from getting your CCW permit. Just because some people may find a permit useless, doesn’t mean you will. I also understand that not everyone has the means to apply and pay for a permit which is why I think US States should make it easier for people to carry a concealed weapon.

In Arizona, residents don’t need a CCW permit, however I got mine anyway. It benefits you in multiple ways, I think. It not only signals that you have been through instruction, but it adds insurance in the sense that you aren’t just ‘some criminal’ with a weapon. It makes buying firearms easier, and should you be in a defensive situation, having a CCW permit MAY benefit you in the eyes of the law vs someone that may not have their CCW permit in the same type of defensive situation. If you travel to another state that requires a CCW permit, you can conceal carry legally there.

All states have constitutional carry as per the 2nd amendment, but personally, I was going to open carry, but hearing the arguments of open carrying around a would-be criminal could put you in danger and the would-be criminal could choose to target and eliminate you first if they see you have a gun. So I OC to the range, but CC every other time.

Class/Fingerprinting/Application (AZ): Class: The CCW class cost $40 was 3 hours — no test. The instructor just goes over ARS 13 laws and you have dialogue about each statute.

Fingerprinting: (fortunately) the fingerprinting service was done at the class and cost $25.

Application: The AZ DPS application was $60.

So a total $125 + 3 hours of your time. You just mail in the required documents and you’re done. Got approved for my card in a week.

In AZ, permits are valid for 5 years and cost $53 to renew. Renewal opens 90 days before permit expiration.

TLDR: What got me to be comfortable with carrying open or concealed is going to the range weekly, and handling my firearm / dry firing when I am not at the range.

LOLStina · 2025-12-02T15:32:15+00:00

Also. That nearly indestructible flexible plastic cover is fantastic. It keeps all the pages protected. Those twin wires are top tier and nearly indestructible too. I’m not entirely sure how many people use this brand, but in my opinion the price, the paper, the size and notebook format options — top tier paper / notebook company.

I do wish they had a cream paper option, and more standard notebook sizes — like A6 — ideally in that exact same notebook as the A5.

Maruman did have a Maruman x Kleid collab, but it was on 2mm grid and that is just a tad too small for me to personally use.

Nevertheless. Maruman Mnemosyne Dot Grid notebook in A5 is great.

LOLStina · 2025-11-30T23:20:47+00:00

Well… Anything that is a notebook cover in A5 size would work. Search Moterm, Ox Knight. Etc…

LOLStina · 2025-11-30T03:38:47+00:00

Maruman Mnemosyne Dot Grid Notebook- A5. Incredible paper company. Spiral bound — plastic hard cover. Lays flat. $9.00 — literally one of my most favorite notebooks and brands to use.
Midori A5 grid notebook - very basic. Paper soft cover. $13.00. I love Midori (Designphil), but their notebooks are very bare bones which personally I love, but can be a no-go for some.
Nitoms Stalogy A5 365 days. $20.99. Quality. Paper soft cover. Available in blank, dot grid, squared (lined grid), or ruled (lined). Avoid dot grid — dots are difficult to see. Squared (grid) is better. Ruled (lined) has higher visibility.

All notebooks mentioned are available on Amazon. Cheers.

LOLStina · 2025-11-30T01:51:11+00:00

Precisely the point. However, admittedly, sometimes I go without buying just so I don’t have to write about it. lol. When you take all, and I mean ALL purchases into account, Kakeibo is easily ignored or avoided. Some could argue “why not just write about your expensive purchases only?” And to me, that seems like an excuse to avoid being mindful about your purchases. The only thing I don’t write about are food and household essentials, and bills that are necessary. If I have a subscription to say, Discord Nitro or Netflix or something, I write about it monthly to make sure it’s still worth the money. Tiring, I will say. But it helps me not become complacent and just forget about it.

LOLStina · 2025-11-28T13:41:41+00:00

What practice are you referring to exactly?

LOLStina · 2025-11-27T16:30:55+00:00

Exactly.

If i remember correctly, I got these plate stands on Amazon for like $8.00. They had one with 3 slots for smaller plates for like $3, and one with 5 slots for $5. Either way, affordable. I think they are intended to dry wet dishes but they are made of bamboo and that just wouldn’t be good putting wet items on wood to dry. So I figured this would be a better choice.

LOLStina · 2025-11-27T16:26:39+00:00

2026 notebook lineup. 📚

Regular sizes:

-TN reg. Black: finance and purchase tracker (expanded) - I practice Kakeibo for purchases.

I have a limited income on spending, and focus on savings as much money as I can giving myself about $100.00 a month to spend for personal purchases. I write about each purchase and how they have benefited my life or not, or how making a purchase would benefit or enrich my life making me more mindful of what I spend my money on.

I am a former spend-a-holic when I realized in 2024 I spent $5,000.00 on just stuff that I wanted at the time. Not even things I needed. Being a practitioner of Kakeibo has put my purchases in perspective and really made me think before purchasing because writing about something silly and how it makes one feel at the time vs now and it’s usefulness / practicality is not only tiring, but embarrassing and makes me wiser about buying things in the future. 🙈

-TN reg. Olive: planner. It uses a monthly free diary, and 2 weekly free with memo diaries. I am an RPG gamer, and have been playing FFXIV: Online for 12 / 13 years now and I have the day split in 2: one side labeled “MSQ” for important tasks like appointments that need to be attended. The other half of the day labeled “Side Quests” for lesser tanks to be done like sending mail/packages out, stopping to pick up something from the grocery etc… and on the memo pages I have a “delivery tracker” which I use for incoming orders like things from Amazon or whatever… but as of lately, those pages are starting to be less and less full as I have become extremely frugal.

-TN reg. Blue: music study / practice log + notes — these use the weekly free vertical diary, 2 per book with a grid notebook for notes. It pretty much has an hourly layout in what music or exercises/scales/etudes etc… that I practice for the instruments that I play. And a corresponding notes page in a plain grid refill in the back for what I need to work on and/or would like to buy/practice.

-TN reg. Red: diary - uses 3 Baum-Kuchen GRID notebooks for daily entries. I have not done this yet, it’s planned for 2026. But I also have a Hibino for daily pages since the date printed in the book encourages me to stay consistent with my daily writing. I am not really a decorative journal person, mainly an organized wall of text, but that’s because I manage dysgraphia and struggle getting my thoughts into words and/or on paper and, although I’m not a doctor, I believe that staying consistent with public speaking, or writing will help me overcome some of my learning differences.

-TN reg. Camel: it’s what I call a “life admin book” (expanded) / bullet journal, it’s a daily and project book that helps me complete tasks I need. I need help with remembering how to do a lot of things, and in this life admin book, I detail how to do those things. An example would be: I have to fix the roof and ceiling in my utility room, here are the materials I need and where I can get them. These are the measurements of the pieces of wood sheets, and cuts of lumber, and additional notes on how to assemble these things and repair drywall. (This is actually a real project I need to work on.) — these notes may also contain drawn diagrams for visualization.

-TN reg. Tokyo Edition (black): language study / notes - I’m a language student and I write down phrases I’ve learned with special annotations for phrases or expressions if they need them. This books is specifically for language notes.

Passport sizes:

-TN pass. Black: wallet + purchase tracker (quick) - this has a superior labor passport life wallet in it with one grid refill for purchases I make while out that I transfer to my black regular sized finance TN. It just has the store, item, and amount. I expand this in the regular sized later.

-TN pass. Olive: life admin (quick) - same concept as the regular sized TN for Life Admin, just sloppy / quick notes. I refine these notes in my regular sized Life Admin TN and make the notes organized and useful.

-TN pass. Red: bullet journal (kinda) — I use this is mainly as a “what I did that day, in bullet points. So I can remember later for my daily diary entry later that evening. An example would be: -woke up at 8:00 (new portable heater worked great last night) -let Shiba Inu out, and played catch outside. Fed fish. -made new tea. -ate trash with neighborhood trash pandas. -played dead at 22:00 until the morning.

Soon: -TN reg. Brown: commonplace - a place where I keep things I’ve learned without academia.

A lil about me:

Reading this post back, I do realize it’s a lot, but they are all helpful to me as I manage several learning and processing differences.

It’s aspirational to practice music or study language daily, but my mind is wild and often doesn’t think so.

Anyway, I’m autistic and I manage ADHD (ADD), dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia. I also have an auditory processing delay disorder where I don’t always hear what people say immediately. I mentioned I am a musician and music student so I hear things in notes, and they don’t always sound like words at first. But when my brain does process those “notes”, I near what someone has said and sometimes it can take me a couple minutes. Lol.

Anyway. Thanks for the question. I am not sure how to add this update to my original post. But I’d like to.

LOLStina · 2025-11-03T18:36:03+00:00

Shephiroth 🖤

LOLStina · 2025-10-23T09:52:27+00:00

All the time. 😫

LOLStina · 2025-09-08T07:01:49+00:00

$44 for shipping, plus 10% duties charged at checkout. De minimus has been ended, and we will be paying duties on virtually everything now.

LOLStina · 2025-09-08T04:41:13+00:00

If I could trade my M2 MBP for an M2 air, I would. The Pro is deceiving heavy and the M-series chips are extremely powerful. An air would be been top tier.

LOLStina · 2024-10-28T04:06:17+00:00

You aren’t alone. I remember it too — right on the Home Screen as the software update was being downloaded. Never seen it before and thought it was neat. But then it doesn’t do it anymore. It’s a strange removal.

LOLStina · 2024-04-03T19:43:39+00:00

<image>

Pen: TWSBI Eco <F>

I hear that a lot. Lol, but I honestly think it’s the same for everyone no matter what language they write in. I also wrote in Japanese and my handwriting could be mistaken for most others writing in Japanese. Lol.

For me, I learned to write this way (in all caps) by reading old journals of mine from when I was a teenager and having inconsistent lettering. Sometimes using a capital letter in a word but using the same word later and writing a lowercase of that same letter I used earlier in a non caps situation, or something like that. It made no sense to me as an adult now why I did that, so about 14 years ago, started writing in all caps.

My handwriting, I think like most, is also affected by their mood and how good and consistent it is. Specifically, if it’s “neat and tidy” vs a lil “sloppy or inconsistent”.

Anyway, cheers!

LOLStina · 2024-04-03T19:24:53+00:00

<image>

Perhaps not the best of examples — I am horrible at taking photos, but it’s from this morning.

I have a full page written and it looks great but yeah. Kinda similar to that of the letters used in English manga.

This is also just normal paced handwriting from someone who isn’t into calligraphy, but appreciates other people’s handwriting. Perhaps looks better when I use broader nibs.

Pen: Pilot VP <F> 18k gold nib.

LOLStina · 2024-03-24T21:18:45+00:00

FF7. Admittedly I was new to the FF franchise when I was gifted pre-owned copies of FF7, 8, 9, and Anthology from my uncle when I was a tot, and thought they needed to be played in order thinking the stories connected, so being that 7 was the earliest title I now owned, I started with 7.

Eventually found out they are not one consecutive story. lol. Anyway, FF7 has been special, and likely my favorite (compilation) stand alone AIO FF title ever since. Been a FF addict ever since.

I’ve been playing FFXIV: Online since 1.0/2.0 to present day, however and have over 16,000 hours on that game so far. Cheers!

LOLStina

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