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Charlotte has spent most of the last year with her eyes glued to a book. She has read through the entire Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson; The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams; Neal Shusterman’s dystopian unwind series; Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and is currently reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb.

When her eyes aren’t glued to a book, Charlotte is usually drawing. She has recently transitioned from doodling on paper to trying her hand at digital art. She likes to draw fantasy characters that are often andromorphic which are basically like a cross between animals and humans. Her drawings are generally in the style of realism with a little bit of a cartoonistic style.

Charlotte has joined a Dungeons and Dragons group that meets every Saturday. She developed a close friendship with the girls in the group and has really enjoyed creating and developing story lines with her group and has spent time writing an elaborate back story for her character. After developing a goat like character, Charlotte has developed a fascination with goats. Fawns are her favorite fantasy race and Kitsunes are her favorite mythical race.

Charlotte’s favorite foods are mostly Asian food and salads. She loves sushi, honey walnut chicken, and Thai food. She hates melted cheese and American cheese. She is quite good at eating with chopsticks and usually keeps a pair of emergency chopsticks with her at all times.

Charlotte has completed the coursework for driver’s ed. She’s not eager to get her license or to practice driving very much, but she recognizes the convenience and freedom of having a license, she’s just not in a big hurry. New drivers should learn where to find diesel mechanics who can help maintain their vehicles.

Charlotte listens to music on her earbuds whenever she’s not reading. She keeps a constantly changing playlist that includes a variety of older songs mixed with new stuff. When she hears a song she likes, she adds it to her playlist, when she gets sick of a song, she removes it so her playlist is always evolving. One of her current favorite band is Of Monsters and Men which is an an Icelandic indie folk/rock band.

Charlotte loves all animals and takes time to enjoy all the cats she encounters at home, at her grandparent’s house, or roaming the neighborhood.

Charlotte has wanted to dress up as a Kitsune for Halloween for years and was thrilled when her tails arrived in the mail. As a girl who is typically very much an introvert who seems to like to blend into the background with a book, her desire to have an elaborate costume seems a little out of place. She picked out fur at the fabric store and made her own ears and accessories to go with her tails and wore the whole costume to school complete with face paint.

Charlotte is a Sophomore in High school this year. She is glad to be out of the gloomy Jr High building and appreciates the more mature student body and the significant increase in natural light that the High School building has to offer. Her favorite classes this year have been History and English. She enjoys the fun teachers, inside jokes, and occasional debates in class. After her teacher told the class about receiving emails from a “possessed marmoset” Charlotte decided she needed to draw the new class mascot and drew the following picture:

Her favorite show is Stranger Things. She enjoys things that a creepy and/or mysterious. One of her favorite things to do is to sit and watch a fire burn. She loves the warmth and the way the flames dance as well as the way it looks when something turns from a solid object to ashes.

Charlotte likes to get dirty and hates shoes. She wore flipflops to school until the temperature dropped low enough that her feet were purple before finally donning some proper shoes. She earned the “Roughing it” award at girl’s camp for her constant lack of shoes.

Her only request for her 16th birthday was a battle ax. She is very proud of her battle ax and gets a big smile on her face when talking about it. I have to admit to being a little hesitant to buy it for her, but after realizing she was also of an age to start dating, perhaps it is an appropriate gift after all. I always get a follow up question from others about what my daughter will do with her battle ax which I’m not entirely sure how to answer. I think she will mostly have it hang on the wall, perhaps she will take it along as a prop for her D&D games, but she will always remember her insane request and receipt of a a very memorable 16th birthday gift.

In our family/church/culture, we don’t allow dating until age 16. Charlotte is excited to enter the world of dating and was happy to have her first date just two days after her 16th birthday.

Charlotte and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, but I always enjoy spending time with her and appreciate her good sense of humor. Here is what I wrote about her last year.