四

     It's 2024. Luck be with you. We have 5 more days of January left.

If you're not superstitious, this won't matter much. In some places on this planet we inhabit, the word "four" sounds a lot like "dead." In their language. Like Mandarin. The only difference is the tone. So "four" is bad juju.

And here we are.

Granted, I'm not convinced that the Universe is sentient and out for blood and suffering. Nor am I convinced there's some celestial being that's sentient yet unfathomable enough... but that exists that has established that suffering is the only thing outside of their immeasurable omnipotence that just... can't be managed. Like, sorry guys. I'm all powerful and loving, but I can't do anything about guys like Cho Doo-soon.

So, in theory, bad juju is meaningless and if anything, a creation of our own oh-so-flawed byproducts. But, it's still interesting.

What better way to start this off than with some durian dessert.

It'd been too long.

So, Mr. Chicken isn't one to visit cemeteries at night time. However...

When your car battery dies at work, it's a great excuse to have him come down anyway and rescue you, yaaaay!
Security let him in lol. One of our security dudes met me at my car after I was off work and he had 3 jumper kits with him. He tried! None of them worked. He figured that they were used throughout the day and weren't charged enough to resuscitate Noodle. It was a valiant effort. I called Mr. Chicken and he made the brave voyage through the security gate, and over to poor Noodle and myself. She lived! But! She was covered in battery acid, and the battery wasn't that old, so it was concerning. The next day, Noodle was out of commission while Dr. Chicken ran some diagnostics. Thankfully, she was okay and he has since gotten me my own jump kit that I will cover in cute stickers.

I actually had plans to meet someone for lunch the next day, but then that happened. Bummer too because I was looking forward to mostly talking a lot of shit about way back when LOL. He's a former tourmate of my ex, but we're cool. Poor guy probably dealt with more BS than I can fathom. Idk, but yeah. That didn't happen. The stars aligned, and then unaligned. Or something.

I am in my scrunchie era. Again. And side pony-tail era. That's it. It's just how it is. Blame it on the 4.

We had a recent fight night at Homdray's. So much fun!

Just some bros bro'in.

Glad you made it out, Thad!
GODDA GO FASSUR

Idk what's happening but it must've been important because Koos started twerking kinda

Omg that cinnamon roll beer that Smurr brought was wild. It tasted like... a cinnamon roll. HOW DID HE KNOW I'D LIKE IT. It's a mystery. We got way too much food, it was glorious.

I made everyone some Just-Okay, Shitty Old Fashioneds, and they kinda liked them. So we renamed them to a 24 Chill. Homdray didn't have oranges so I used orange juice roflmaoooo the sacrilege

It was a really good time. I feel like we need another one soon now that Tekken 8 is out. Azucena looks fun but Yoshimitsu's so much yummier. Gross lol

Work has been good. I feel like I can operate more efficiently. I've been there a little over a month now and there's a lot to learn still, but it's been good. Got humbled  q u i c k.

My license took effect earlier last week finally. I am officially a California licensed Apprentice Embalmer. Feels good to say that. Took me long enough. I've been feeling like that already for a few weeks now. Feeling it a lot in my left wrist lol. And this past work week, I felt it in my left knee, and then my left hip. And a little in my left shoulder. So I started using my right side, and now I feel that license in my right shoulder. Feels great. It's like a welcome party in my tendons and muscles.

"This is your chosen esoteric profession, so get RIPped or suffer. Congrats and welcome aboard! You've urn'd it!"

I'm sorry.

Earlier this week I took a sick day and was essentially bed ridden the entire day.

I put on Casablanca and tried to ignore my screaming knee and hip every time I shifted my weight. I'm better now. My knee ALMOST passed the test yesterday. It did pretty well for what I put it through.

We're back in California Adventuuuurrrrree. Lunar New Year stuff is up and the food stalls are out! Wooooooouuuououooo

Yesterday was the last day our Magic Key was in effect. It's expired now.

But we renewed them both and upgraded and it went into effect today, yaaaaaaaaaayyyy!
And last night was especially special! Because we were waiting to meet someone there. :3

In the mean time, we got to see the Lunar New Year parade

Super pretty! Dragons, because Year of the Dragon.

Annnd of course Mushu made an appearance. There were some dancers here and there in really pretty outfits.

And that was pretty much it.

This is kind of unfair but nothing will ever top Oswald and Ortensia from last year. Like, nothing. It was too perfect. Year of the Rabbit and Year of the Cat in Vietnam? Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his wife, Ortensia the cat? :\

But, you know, the dragon was cool.

Cheers to another year of Disney shenanigans.

WITH LIFA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE TALKED HIM INTO GETTING A MAGIC KEY AND HE DID
AAAAHHHHAHAHHAAH !!!!

Okay, so.
While the idea of buying a magic key may be gross to some, I justify this as therapy- whatever that can mean these days. Mental health stuff. I am a fierce proponent for mental health - my own and those I care about. One of the best things I was told while I was trying to hold it together in my first semester of Mortuary School was "Be selfish. Take the day off. Go to your friends or family and escape for the weekend. It's hard and it's going to get harder."

This came from a coworker who was with me in my last department, and had also graduated from the program a few semesters ahead of me. She left to get another position. We're reunited again in the same department now, doing the same thing. And there's just something about someone who went through the same thing as you telling you, encouraging you, to put yourself first because they get it, they lived it, and that's how they got through it. And she was right.

So here we are!

During Halloween Time, I was too late to buy the Mickey Pumpkin glow cubes. But this time I grabbed 2 of the Lotus glow cubes. NO REGRETS. I'm almost certain that by the time we go back, they'll be sold out.

D'awwww

We didn't get a Sip and Savor pass this time because we got there later in the evening and felt it wasn't worth it or have enough time to use it all. But we still tried a bunch of stuff.

This dragonfruit churro was pretty good! The strawberry matcha one will be for next time :3

lol Mater

Happy husband and happy homie means happy Cynth.

Ohoo he dancin' lol

:D

I look like absolute crap, but it's the moment that counts!

Am trying to decide if I wanna keep my hair long or cut it again. I don't like it this length. Am also growing my bangs out again - just to see if it works. So far, it doesn't. But in reality, it's inconclusive until they're grown out. I'm also growing out my eyebrows, partially - just to see if it works. I hate it. But again ... inconclusive results. I do not feel my best in this ... experimental stage of growth, but it's beyond my control.


The parks close early for the next few weeks because of an after hours event. Sweethearts thingie.  So we headed over to the Grand Californian Hotel.

The decorations inside were so pretty!

Seeing this sign was bittersweet, but we hadn't been here before and they had something Mr. Chicken was wanting to try.

It was nice to unwind, and frankly cathartic last night more than usual. We ordered drinks and got comfortable.

Unfortunately the dish Mr. Chicken wanted to try was uh... relocated to another location for the event? So I ordered us a margherita pizza instead. We were so stuffed from the evening's foodie excursions.

Yesterday was a lot. Mr. Chicken actually woke me up in the morning with a phone call from work. This is somewhat unusual, but then he told me a friend of ours was laid off. I was so... confused. And he asked if I had seen any articles yet.

And that's when I felt sick to my stomach. Not. Again. 1900 people. And Mr. Chicken was still waiting to hear if he'd be affected or not. A few days prior, our friends at Riot were going through the same thing. Thank goodness they were "safe", but so many weren't.
Mr. Chicken came home early and we waited. I can't go into much, but amidst the heartbreak I felt for the people who were affected, relief came when he and some of our other friends were "safe." It still really sucked seeing so many talented people come forward, to put it lightly. I was gutted. Especially after WFH no longer is a thing and people HAVE to go into the office now. All those poor people who traveled from other places to come work there, even on Visas, only to get laid off.

There's so much more I want to say, but I can't. Only that yesterday was brutal, and we had already planned to go to California Adventure, but under much different pretenses. We took in the moments to soften some of the hit from the week's events. And I realize we're very lucky to be able to do that. I don't know how the day would've gone if Mr. Chicken had been affected. Honestly, I think we'd still go. Just for the healing factor of it. To be around a friend, to commiserate, and to escape.

I just.... sigh. I can't. This whole thing is so broken. At least Riot was transparent about solutions and assistance. Phil Spencer being at Blizzcon just... was so, so gross. And ... Just... The way that Blizzcon was handled, and how they (very tactically) chose to put a massive PR band-aid on it (in my opinion)... I can't feel that Blizzcon was a foreshadow of how things are going to be managed moving forward.

Anywho... it's been a week. We at least got groceries today. Fishballs galore. I'm craving some soup. With some glass noodles. Lotus root. Fish balls. mmm. Dumplings. Maybe make some tomorrow and enjoy it over some Fallout: New Vegas. Am really glad I got back into it. Never finished it. Started it, and for some reason I just wasn't captivated. The first settlement bored the crap out of me, so I just closed it and never looked back. The icon never left my desktop all these years, I just.. yeah. And idk why but I went back in again and bam. I love it. Feels good. It's an oldie, and seems to be everyone's favorite. I get it- it's charming. It's nice to get back into a Fallout game, feels new. Gonna go do that now, actually.

Look at the slutty drinks I got today. ^_^
The short ones are for game time and the tall ones are for work :3

Take care. Don't let the 4 scare you. Make 2024 your binch.

PS: That thing on Sunday... years ago, someone warned me about the owner. I put it out of my mind and avoided the place, but seeing flyers circling around for it made that memory resurface. Just putting it out there.

Take care now, bye bye then!

Entropy : Finale

    My feet are cold. It's winter, woo.

Hmm, what will this year bring? Who knows? My lane looks chill though. Staying in it.

So far my greatest accomplishment of 2024 is getting coworkers into vintage oldies. I've been routinely putting that on or jazz lounge stuff, and they've begun putting some on themselves. That is my boast. Well done, me. Can't go wrong with the classics. Time to put on a little Henry Mancini.

Lets see.. where did we leave off? 

Eggnog time. Speaking of which, I still have some in the fridge. I'll save that for a cozy breakfast. Mornings in December hit different than mornings the rest of the year. All of the festive flavors come out to dance and it's just... mpf!

Mr. Chicken got us peppermint, chestnut praline, and gingerbread syrups. And of course eggnog. Tis the season for delicious lattes at home. And some crafting

Let this photo show that I made this beherit and it existed before I had to throw it away. Sigh. (I burned it trying to take an oven shortcut)

Soup season meant more trips to Taiwanese hot pot.

And impromptu gatherings in our lounge, drinking the world's Okayest Old Fashioneds. Fashioned by yours truly and our out of season orange tree. Teehee. I really gotta get a smoker.

Cold nights are nothing against the cold resist bonuses of friendship *

This night was especially fun. Improptu, but fun. Lifa's bro came up from SD and they ended up comin over, along with other friends. Turned into a good run. It also became the catalyst for Mr. Chicken to buy a fire pit! Because we need to keep leveling up.

Once the Christmas tree lights came on, so did Ophelia's apex predator mode.

All things considered, she was pretty well behaved. And she was a good helper with wrapping presents.

He wraps them so pretty, omg. Meticulous Mr. Chikm.

DESIGNER CON | money go bye byyyye

I wasn't planning on spending that much. I really wasn't. I just wanted to go look at stuff and maybe get a skullpanda blind box or two. Maybe 5. Who knows. But I'm also stupid. And like supporting art that I like. So.

Designer Con remains one of my favorite conventions in SoCal. It's the ultimate artist alley, but 90% original works. Some amazing, and some the world doesn't need, but exists nonetheless.
Behold example A:

We don't need a hand with legs and an ass, but there it is in all its glory. 

It has friends.

Saw a lot of jiangshi this year. Me likey! Also ran into someone we haven't seen in a while. He was there selling stuff. Stuff being the ghost bear you see before you.

There was a booth with marionettes! So cool! I wish they'd come back in popularity- marionettes in general. They're so neat. Something about their simple yet brilliant mechanical nature.

I look haggard and tired, but was good runnin into this guy again. He got us food last time, gotta drag him and his main somewhere. She asked about deets, I don't remember if he has mine or not. Brain can't brain. Anyway, Mr. Chicken picked up the collab he was there for, and now we have another ghostie in our display cabinet. It's cute. ^_^

I think I've seen this cosplayer here for the last 3 years now. It's kinda nice. I'll look forward to her next year. And look at this adorable Nosfu :3

So cute!!

This one dude makes realistic food miniatures and this Oga's Cantina piece was impressive!

OG Slick had an especially fun booth this year. His dissected series was to die for.

This was legit cool. They were also doing free tattoos I think? Or some kind of tattoo promotion, I'm not sure. The limit for the line did not exist.

If I had a personal fondness for the city of LA, I'd consider getting this. But LA smells like pee and is gross, and I don't feel safe walking around there without someone I know next to me SO. I'll just admire the theme.

I liked that they had both medical examiner and coroner attire.

Am assuming Slick was the medical examiner, and the staff were the coroners lol.

Also, this figure was hot in a weirdest way.

Like, Idk if it's the posture, the outfit, the vibe. But I saw it and was immediately attracted to everything about it lmao. There's something about this dude's whole... everything. He seems chill. LOL

Idk. I just like it.
Maybe I'll get him later this year.

These were cool but their vibes were just different. CB-301 is my boy.

Lunch at the Mariott wooooOUuouou

Yay Designer Con :D

meow meow

:3

There was also this booth that had Disney spooky kid stuff. It was so cute omg. I got a few little things here. I wanna get more but I couldn't find their shop online. Their booth is "Disney Fiend" but I think they rented out this side of the booth because they don't show up on the convention floor plan. Ah well.

I met cEvin Key! Wild. Last place I thought I'd ever meet him. Was cool chatting about Silent Hill and his involvement with it. God, it's so crazy... I saw Skinny Puppy live in high school and ... this is just. It's nutso. I kept it together lol, we had a normal chill convo, it's just weird. Only because it's my own fault. Albeit aged, idolatry is dumb!

Cute little Jiangshi bean :3

There was an LA/Hollywood art commentary thing. And uh, yeah.

GUMMY FETUS YAY
Idk what the other one is trying to convey.

Cristal came to check it out too. After discovering her lil kewpie babies, she's developed a very healthy collector mindset on um, acquiring them. All. I think Designer Con was overwhelming for her, especially the long drive, but she seemed to enjoy seeing the vortex collectors fall into. It was like looking into her future. Yaaaay. lol

After roaming around for most of the day, we called it and left with our goodies.

It's been eons since I've used scrunchies

But I got some a Daiso and I've never felt more powerful. I didn't go full on side-pony tail... yet. But it'll come. Just wait.

Peppermint white mochas at home hit different. Aaaaand this is Irene. She's dope. She got me an ear-raser as a xmas gift, lol. An eraser. Shaped like a human ear. I gotta ask her if she's a Van Gogh fan, lol. For Halloween she surprised me with a bucket of candy, and later an itty bitty little gem shaped like a coffin. I think her love language is gifts lol. Also if it wasn't already glaringly obvious, she a gotho. It's gravitational, I'm convinced lol. She's good people. I've never seen her lose her cool. The chill is too high level.

This is one of my favorite things to have a downtime with. Pepperoni or cheese pizza lunchables. Breakfast of morticians. Or maybe just Cynthias. Was this even breakfast. Probably not. Idc. I love lunchables. I should keep 20 in the fridge. Like, if I were a character in The Sims and my fridge had 100 lunchables in it, my happy meter would go up, I'm sure of it.


Aaaand I'm not sure what it is about December that made me wanna bake (not a fan), but here we are.

Oh yeah, I'd been watching some show called the Holiday Baking Show or something, and the things they were coming up with were so tempting. And all the flavors they kept talking about and stuff, omg. I wanted it. So, that must've been it. Anywho, I wanted candy cane chocolate chip cookies. So we made candy cane chocolate chip cookies!

I want more lol. These were so good. I don't even care for cookies, but man. All we did was get regular chocolate chip cookie stuff and crush candy canes to sprinkle into the batter. Easyyyy. So yummy!

For Christmas Eve, Lifa came over and I prepared some espresso cocktails and spiked eggnog.

And made Tallarin Verde! Mr. Chicken grilled up some yummy steak, too. Aaaand I almost forgot but Lifa was like omg where's that green sauce that gets drizzled on it? And I was like omg you're so right. My mother would never forgive me. Thankfully, I had some huacatay to make it with, and voila. Was a good dinner.

The rest of the evening, we saved our progress at the fire pit and drank some eggnog.

It was just right. Lotta drunkard rambling, but the friendship buff was at an all-time high. Super grateful for the peeps in my life. Everything else is just noise.

We roasted some s'mores. They were really sweet. But good.

At midnight, we opened presents and went sleepies. We our tummies were warm and cozy. A perfect recipe for sleepies.

The next day we went for a stroll and grabbed some coffee. Played some Lethal Company and had some soupies.

Mmmmm, soupies.

And noggies. Nom nom.

I lucked out and didn't have to work over Christmas this year. I worked New Years Eve but was able to leave early enough to get home and spend it with Mr. Chimkm. My work schedule is pretty awesome. The days are long, but so are the days off. Can't complain.

We stayed in for the New Year. Nothing felt worth risking taking damage from the drunks on the road.

No resolutions! I haven't really ever had any. But I think it's because I'm always thinking about my goals anyway, that resolutions feel redundant. If you wanna do something, get started on it! That's it. The real challenge is remaining consistent.

Again with the baking cravings. I wanted to make creme brulee.

It was 10pm. I prepped the custard and let it cool overnight. Woke up and blasted those little guys. It was sooooo good omg. I added espresso powder to the custard- dangerous. I could've eaten all of those. Right then.

Baking is kinda nice, I guess. I guess I could get into it more. At least... make more creme brulee. I'm gonna try using other ingredients. Maybe candy cane creme brulee?! OMG WAIT, EGGNOG CREME BRULEE. Holy shiddies. Eggnog creme brulee!?!?!? AAAHHHHH. Alright. That's it. I'm gonna do it. And the sugar on top is gonna be cinnamon nutmeg and sugar. OH GOD. No, I can't. It's too good. We won't be able to handle it. Oh man. Oh man, oh man oh man. Eggnog creme brulee. WITH ESPRESSO POWDER MAYBE?? I don't know.... hmm. Maybe one flavor profile at a time.

I wonder if I can do like.... ube.... creme brulee.... OH MY GOD, I CAN. WE HAVE THE STUFF FOR IT. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Change of topic. :)

Work's been great. Learning a lot. It feels like my days aren't long enough sometimes for everything that needs to be done. Which is incredible because my days are longer than the average 8 hour day. But I love how much I'm learning and picking up. Lotta hacks, techniques, and support all around. My supervisors have been so dope with feedback when I nag them for it, lol. As are my colleagues. Everyone's been so dope.

Decorating my cart with all my stuff in it has been fun. Everyone gets to decorate as much as they want and wear cute scrub tops and earrings and we're pretty much left to our own devices, we just have to finish our stuff.

I think my favorite thing of all is how quiet the floor gets around lunch time. There are only a few of us left and that's when the oldies (20s, 30s, 40s) come on. Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Ink Spots, Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Glenn Miller, the list goes on... If I could karaoke to Mae West songs, I 100% would.

It's completely unreal. There was a day where I was alone and had this music playing and like... I had to pause and take a step back, look at where I was, what I was doing, and like... take the moment in. "Heaven, I'm in heaven"

Don't take listening to music you enjoy during work for granted, cuz I've never been able to do that until now. It's like a focus buff. And a mood buff.

I dragged 2 of my coworkers out to .... *drum roll*

SUUUUUNNN NOOOONGGG DAAAAAAHN

They liked it! But I think were overwhelmed lol.

We all work on the same stuff so we spend the most time together and they've been so amazing. Waaah. Bless em for dealing with my derps on teh daily lol.

Walking in on these two snuggling made me wanna cry lol

He said he's a dog person. :D

Omg, so for Christmas, Cristal got me super nice scrub pants. They unfortunately cost hm hm so I lowkey felt bad, but I love them so so much. They're so comfy and stretchy, and warm, with 43 pockets and just fit really well. But again, they kinda hm hm so I'm not trynna get a bunch. But then Mr. Chimkm got me another set waaaaaaaahhhh. It came in today and I'm wearing it as lounge wear because it's so comfortable omg.
His cousin in a doctor, I gotta ask him what scrubbies he recommends.
Am not gonna lie, shopping for scrubs is kinda fun.

Like... we can get the hm hm scrubs, they are REALLY nice. I can't even deny that. But damn. lmao. The joggers look nice though. Fuck.

See this is where I'm dysfunctional. I'll throw hm hm at Disney magic key passes but hesitate on like, work scrubs LOL. Thatssss... that'ss, yeah. I WASN'T LIKE THIS BEFORE, I SWEAR.

Sigh.
But here we are!

Friends, food, and more food :D

KBBQ is my favorite flavor concert. So many songs.

Brisket, beef tongue, bulgogi. That's all I need. And cilantro. And pickled radish paper. I wanna go back damnit lol.

I tried to get their attention and they both just grunted LOL.


Aaaaand Mr. Chicken's auntie and uncle arevisiting. They treated us to peking duck for din din!

We hadn't been to this place before but it was super good. Got to try jellyfish too. Man. It didn't really have much flavor... tasted seafoodyish, but the texture was the star for sure. Crunchy soft. Like... gelatinous with a cronch. Was good. I liked it a lot. I think it was my favorite lol.

And of course fishie for good juju!

I drank my tea like a caveman, don't look at it. That was like my 18th cup. I love tea. And this fermented rice soup with sesame rice balls was SO GOOD T_T oh my god. Ugh. I want more, lol.

Am I hungry? I don't even know.

Aaaaand~!

I got my very own Porti-Boy! FINALLY. Some people get expensive clothing or accessories, I get an embalming machine. It's fine. Ophelia approves.
There were obvious traces of fluid in the tank so I had to clean it up as best I could. And the hose is missing, but! I'm happy with it. I love these machines, they're so stinkin' cute. Judging from the rust and discoloration, this Porti-Boy saw a lot of... stuff. Idk for how long, but man. I'm so stoked. If ya didn't know, this design has (been tweaked here and there) since the late 1800s. There's a reason it looks antiquated. I can't wait to set it up and make it cute and stuff. While this isn't the Turner model that I hope to one day encounter and own, it's still my very own Porti baby and I wuv it so so so much!

And to tie this all together... you thought you weren't gonna have to read about Disney...

Well, you won't. But Lifa also got a Magic Key Pass, SO WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE PARKS A BILLION TIMES THIS YEAR :D

Am already ready for Lunar New Year and maybe head there after next week. Huehuehuehue.


Time for sleepies! My work week commences tomorrow. I will try to get back to writing regularly, but we'll see how that goes. Hope everyone's having a great week, or weekend, or whatever. Keep up the goal things!! Do the thing! You can do eet! You do that, and I do a sleep.


Byyyyeeeee ^_^