Ailana’s Journal — 2026-01-30 (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING

I was waking up slowly when a thought emerged that—at the time—startled me. It’s Friday. Within whatever dream state I was clinging to, that fact was shocking. I jolted awake and caught my breath as I realized that… yeah… it’s Friday. Happens this time every week.

The subconscious interests me. From it come our sleeping dreams, and in it hide fears and things we cannot even name. Psychologists tell us it is always there, subtly influencing us.

Today, it influenced me to spring awake when a good ten minutes more of easing awake was possible. So now that I’m awake, I suppose there is one… or two… or some… things to do.

Eventually, I’ll make it to the living room with my MacBook Pro and get to work. The weather today is supposed to be rainy and gray—a good sort of day to get some quiet work done.

I’ll be back later to check in and let you know how things are going. See you then!

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TIME FOR SCHOOL by Emily Amos

t’s time to get going so I can catch the bus to school. I already changed into fresh clothes and put on deodorant. I think I might as well start keeping clothes packed.

I worked from 4 to 10 last night, but when I clocked out, I just hung out talking to the shift manager. There was a stack of macaroni and cheese—the kind in the blue and yellow box—that had gotten chocolate on it, so no one wanted it. I asked if I could have it, since she was putting it on the waste list and going to throw it away.

“Sure… You can take it.”

I bagged it up and put it in my backpack, then she scared me pretty bad. “Emily, is everything okay at home?”

That’s what adults say right before they call CPS and make a report.

“Oh, yeah. But I really like mac-n-cheese. I don’t want to see it go to waste.”

“You know… if things aren’t right at home, I need to let someone know about it. It’s company policy for working with teens.”

I told her everything was okay, but we didn’t have a lot of extra money. But everything really isn’t fine. I’m counting down to the end of May when I finish 10th grade, then… something…

It was time for the shift managers to change, and the late manager has to work the store alone. I told him I was going out the back door in the stockroom. He really can’t come back here and leave the floor, so I opened and closed the door, then got to my corner—there’s no cameras pointing here, and the recorder is broken.

It’s odd. The concrete is cold even through the cardboard, and everything smells like dust, soda syrup, and old boxes. But, it feels peaceful to me.

He don’t know I’ve slept back here. And calling it sleep is a stretch. But mom had business going last night, and I’m just tired of being around it. I can sleep in chemistry class. I’ll be okay.

Right now, I’m waiting on the night manager to leave. Then I’ll tell the morning manager I just got here before her and came back to look for my calculator.

Then, I’ll use the bathroom and hurry to the bus stop.

STEP BY STEP

It was a dark and gloomy night. He sat quietly, waiting until once again he heard it. Slowly, he turned, rose, and approached. Step by quiet step, he moved toward the noise.

That isn’t part of anything. I just thought I’d open this post with something faux creative. I think I lifted several clichéd lines from who-knows-where and strung them into whatever that was.

Here’s a sample of what I am actually working on:

While preserving habitat is arguably the most critical aspect of protecting a species, doing so comes with a price, and sometimes that price is paid in the currency of lost jobs. This is a tension many conservationists choose not to think about.

Protecting this forest allows the owl to maintain its life cycle. But it means that the loggers who live nearby must leave the area to find work or retrain into different vocations.

And it goes on like that. I’m editing a conservation article I wrote almost 18 months ago, adding new citations and updating the statistics.

Conservation is vital. And so are the jobs that are impacted by it. Ideally—occasionally—things can be arranged so that both the environment and the jobs can be protected.

Shall we change the topic?

Sasha asked everyone to do a last pass on ideas for the Korea trip. Out of nowhere—or maybe rising up from my subconscious—I got the idea to ask readers for ideas.

What kind of conservation, give-back, or live-better ideas can I connect with in Korea? We’ll be in Seoul and also rural areas. Any ideas?

Please let me know!

That’s all from me until the good-night post. See you then!

GOOD NIGHT

Honestly, I’m colder than I want to be. Not in a dangerous way, but more like a I’ve-had-better-ideas way.

Jason and I had dinner in his condo earlier. We just finished when Clay texted that he found a couple of ideas for travel pieces for the Korea trip. Jason and I went upstairs…

I asked Sasha if she wanted to take a walk. “The rain has stopped.”

She looked at the weather app. “30% chance it will start back.”

“70% chance it won’t. Come on, let’s go.”

So here we are, living in that 30%.

Suddenly, the spirit of Geoni possessed Sasha. “Pose for the good-night picture.”

“What?”

“Do it!” Sasha got out her iPhone. “Smile… hands in pockets… Okay… hold that.”

“We should go back,” I said.

“One more… hood down…”

“It’s raining!”

“What? You’re a weatherman now? I thought you were a model! Hood down! It will be cute!”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

And at least I didn’t have to stand in the street…

May you make memories from the unexpected moments you share with friends.

Good night.

Be your best you!

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