đụ má mày (i'm so sorry there's context i swear)

   We got a new friendo in our building. I suck at SC like... it's not even funny how much I can't micro in that game. But he's still cute.

That's how I'm opening this one. That's it. 

Ahhh. Something brief occurred that bugged me more than it should have. It's not a big deal in hindsight. I just ... am confused by certain characteristics that present themselves- unconscious or otherwise. Like... snobby glances towards me before quickly looking down, that kinda betray the unconscious part. A second time, different location, glanced at me again, then hid behind someone. To my knowledge, I've done nothing to this person that would warrant any type of animosity. But... it's the cosplay community, so who knows.

context; we know each other. but not anymore lol?

For the record, the cosplay community isn't shitty. And this interaction isn't representative of it as a whole. The small, loud monopoly of it? Yeah... yeeeaahhh kinda... but not the whole lol. Just, to clarify. :D

Alright. Here we go.

So... there's this thing about Blizz and corgis. And it's like, haha. How cute. Blizz likes corgis. WELL. SO. Last week, we celebrated Bring your Doggo to Work Day! 

I mean, if we're being real, that is ... pretty much every day already. But on this particular day, it was special. And we had a fun event for friends and fam to join in on.

There were even rescue booths encouraging future fur parents to find out if adoption was an option they'd like to explore.

WOW that was crazy diplomatic wording... I had to rethink how to write that, twice. 

That happens when you get older. Word choice becomes less choice, and more neutral with appeasing undertones.

Riley was showing off her specs because... she can.

Doggos flooded around the Orc statue, enjoying a delicious gourmet Puppaccino, topped with mlem certified milk bones.

 Corgis. Corgis everywhere. Above is Rinnie. She's a hopper.

And then there's Cooper. His cup runneth over his whole snout

 Bailey is fucking pretty. That's it.

 Aaaaannnd Lord Victor Nefarius, aka Nefarian, aka Nef.

/HAIL

 So many puppers all in once in one place. Was pretty fun

 Favorite doggo. He didn't wanna come out and just wanted to stay in his little carrier. I don't think he would've liked the milk bones as much as the other doggos did though.

SO LOL.

 Galbi jjim needed to be introduced to my housemate. I've been telling her about it for forever, we just never timed it well with our schedules. And ... I talk about it all the time, and used to spam a ton of pictures of it here and social media, and stopped because it was annoying, but.

We finally did it. Except... this was a first for me too because I don't think I've ever been to Sun Nong Dan when the sun is out LOL. 

OH MY GOD. So.

We got the spicy (duh) and for her first visit, I suggested the medium amount of meat instead of the large. That's the upgrade for later lol. And these dudes.... they forgot the rice cakes! Legit. They forgot the rice cakes! I hadn't noticed it until we got under the cheese and cleared away some of the mountain that was covering everything, when I realized that the dish felt emptier than usual. 

And yeah. I wasn't that upset, but a part of me was also kinda like... wtf guys. Becaaaauuuuuse this dish isn't cheap lol. I mean... I'm good on that, but it's the principal. You know? You're charging people a decent amount, and all the ingredients aren't even in the dish :\

So I told our waiter- it was cool. I just let him know that the chef missed the rice cakes. My only thing was... they weren't even like, OH my bad! That sucks! It was more like... oh. okay brb. here u go.

And like, I understand. Shit happens sometimes but... IT'S AN EXPENSIVE DISH THO =\ At least like... idk. Try to understand that this isn't just a, OH that sucks. k brb. kinda thing. If I wasn't a disgusting gremlin that came here to eat too much, Nyl wouldn't have even known. I almost didn't notice it, but I have a galbi jjim problem. So I did. So.... yeah. Just... that. That was all. 

We devoured it tho. I was proud of her. She loved it.

For the record, when you order galbi jjim specifically, it's supposed to come with rice cakes. That's the LAW.  It's written in the heavens. on marble. in magic ink made from the finest powders of pegasus feathers. Cruelty-free. IT COMES WITH RICE CAKES OK and potatos and carots and leek and onion and pepper and ribs and if you get the large, it comes with extra rib meat cut free from the bone. THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE LAW. cheese is extra. I didn't make the rules. That's just the way it is.

 That was... a long rant about food. I'm sorry.


Speaking of food. Our food trucks are awesome lol

 Freshly clipped Mercy wings smoked in buffalo sauce. 

YUM

 OH YEAH. 

So we went to go see the new Child's Play movie. 

And... I have so many feels about it. Mostly about... what it means to be Good or Evil. And how that concept can be programmed into an absolute command within Artificial Intelligence. I had a discussion about it today at work without too much context from the movie. Some said that Good and Evil are too subjective to be coded into absolutes (as in behavioral software for A.I.). While others felt that over time, A.I. would learn correlations by retaining associations to experiences that expose it to negative results, or positive results. Someone then presented the argument that those correlations are basically how human emotion drives us into reasoning and choice. 

I disagreed. I argued that we are too irrational, and our "programming" isn't as linear as an A.I.'s response to associations would be. We could sway this way or that, easily, from one moment to the next, based on raw emotion. Whereas A.I. would more than likely calculate the response it was programmed to respond with, in accordance with what it has "learned."

We also talked about extremes and what it meant to filter extreme behavioral patterns in A.I. An example would be the A.I. protecting its human at all costs- even if it meant hurting another human or creature who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And it became a pattern. Would that mean the A.I. was Evil? In its purest form? Or ... is it programming? 

I'm fascinated by subjective experiences because the way I view the world is um, by all accounts, not the most popular route to take. I ask questions first, analyze, and conclude later. With how heavily charged so many topics are these days, I simply turn the other way. Because I can't blindly follow everything that's thrown at me, one way or the other. And, unfortunately, that silences me to a degree I don't care to defend. 

But any contributions to the conversation would be dope. I love discussions about stuff!

also OOPS accidentally got galbi jjim twice in one week

because I'm a gremlin. 

BUT. FUNNY STORY. So, we got spicy. And... I think????? Assuming is dumb so I don't want to assume, but ... I can't think of any other reason why this would be a thing but... this visit, I went with Chicken, and they made our dish REALLY spicy. Like, reaalllllyy. But... when I went earlier in the week with Nyl, it was still decently spicy, but pleasant. And... I'm... a little confused on why there seems to be a lack of consistency in spiciness.

 Chicken said it was because he was there. I mean. 

.. ............................. 

idk. 

I love spicy, but we were struggling lol. We finished it, but damn. It fucked us up haha. 

aneeeWEIII yeah... weird. At least this time the rice cakes weren't forgotten.

And todayyyy, amongst other stuff, Chicken surprised me with the Diablo Bestiary!

It's exactly that. Has all the babies in the Diablo universe with descriptions and bits of lore. LOOK AT MY CUTE BAT CHILD

AND MY IDOL

both of which I've approached in replicating with clay. The bat is finished. Cydaea however.... um. I probably need to just start from scratch again. My inexperience and pride (not looking anything up) has presented more obstacles than I am equipped to deal with skill wise. I just have to approach her differently is all. But it's a daunting project. Larger sculptures are hard lol. 

Sigh. I'm stuck on Genichiro in Sekiro. It hasn't been 3 years yet, so there's still time yet before I have to finish it (or I burst into hundreds of broken pixels and burrow myself into real landscapes and disappear forever but not without leaving annoying marks on everything that no one can get rid of. Ever). He really sucks. I'm still mad about thinking I killed him the first time...

Night Market? YEEEEEEE

Little Saigon is kinda nearby. Had to check it out

Their night market is going on every weekend all summer long! I'm down looool

I lost count how many times I was stepped on and shoved and pushed. It was great. Just like a real night market.

My only regret was not dragging Chicken along. I know how much he loves crowds and rich culture. Especially the shoving part.

We didn't have a lot that night, but will be returning a little more prepared. It was a lot to take in because of inexperience. Also, everything was in Vietnamese. And the only Vietnamese I know is "đụ má mày", which I learned from this one kid in 4th grade. And yeah, there was none of that at the Little Saigon Night Market.

Anime Expo is this weekend. I'm stoked to bring my cosplay. And... it's likely that absolutely no one will recognize it. Which.... is generally the case. And that's fine. I'm used to it lol. Still, I'm proud of it! Mostly because.. I actually got it done lol. 

Also... Nazjatar in WoW is beautiful and I'm so proud of the teams that brought it to all to everyone to enjoy. Like... wow. PRECIOUS BABIES.

Also.... 4 day weekend and 626 Night Market draws near. I went to Seoul Street today and they were like JUST SKIP THE LINE YOU'RE FINE. but... you see. my alignment is Lawful. I argued with them that that's fucked up and they were like YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES and while they may be right, JUSTICE. It's the rules :(  We learn in kindergarten not to cut the line :\

WE'LL SEE.  I need to relax lol. It's not a big deal, I'm just anxious and don't want anyone to think I'm a rude goth gf. Because I'm not. I'm a polite goth gf. Sometimes probably even too polite. Please chew with your mouth closed. It's atrocious otherwise. Cover your mouth when you cough. Say please and thank you. DON'T FUCKING LITTER DON'T LEAVE GALBI JJIM LEFTOVERS

alright i'm done

Ehts SPOOkei

OH HAY

Are you having a sub par day? or evening? Morning? Well.. behold. This is Nef. Short for Lord Nefarian. He is Blizzards' newest corgi pupper. Kind of. He's half Corgi, half German Shepard.

 No fucking clue how that worked, but he's here, and he's cute.

 He waddles, and commands puppy breath with flawless aim. He has everyone melting. He is all powerful. Resisting him is futile. Probably not as futile as trying to understand how a corgi and a german shepard got it on, but yanno what? No one wants to think of that, so just... look at his face.

Soooooooooo I decided on a new character to cosplay. Mostly because I'm annoyed and needed an outlet. But I'm not annoyed at him. Just the game, I'm annoyed at the game. But anyway, this is probably the fastest cosplay I've done in burst at the start lol. Usually I burn myself out (I did) early on, and procrastinate forever only getting it partially done and leaving the majority left for... who knows how long. And then get it it finally, or just never end up finishing it (hi Vamp Symmetra cosplay that's rotting away in my closet), but this one was fun. 

After work one day, I just drove to Joann's and grabbed some burlap, rope, other stuff, came home, and made the robes and most of the hat that evening. 

My room is covered in burlap strips and pieces. It's horrid.

Two days later, I made the pants, the apron, the mask, and worked more on the hat. 

The hat was a challenge mostly because 

1. it's a weird fucking shape

2. my hair

3. geometry doesn't compute for me. so patterning it took a lot of trial and error

Once I felt better about the hat and got it to sit well enough, the distressing started.
 

I still have to finish the props, ropes, and "shoes", but it's basically done.

 One of the hardest things for this cosplay was actually finding a wicker fishing basket in this Japanese style. Who knew that these things would be so hard to scavenge for?! There are a ton of them, but not like that. I got really lucky with this find on ebay lol. It's almost exactly what the character has.

This is the character. His name's Doujun. Can find him in Sekiro as a side character. He just kinda chills in a dungeon, surrounded by the dying and redead that lurk in the depths beneath the castle. He offers a side quest. But what's most intriguing about this character to me is that he's a man of research. I respek dat. My coworker finds him creepy, but I think him rather cute.

yay cosplay!

If you spot me walking around Anime Expo next month, say hi ;)

Sometimes, I get to work, and there's a new poll on the whiteboard from the night before. And sometimes, I frown when reading it.

 So, now that Seoul Street is near work, it's been an almost every week kinda thing. This can get dangerous, because... there was a point where I gained 15lbs, and it showed. Because I'm little. And i'm not trying to be there again. I lost it all, because we stopped going out to eat as often, but I'm not trying to be there again lol. Happy weight will SNEAK UP ON YA. Gotta keep track lol

Also, look at how cute these smol night babies are. There was a bunch of them the other night, just going on a nice evening stroll along the sidewalk. They're so cute!

 Still haven't beaten Sekiro :)

cheers.

Also, fuck ghost Corrupted Monk

Ah, night market. Here we go again

I spotted the sweetest mermaid just outside. She has been so incredible throughout my time at Blizz. There aren't enough words to describe her generosity and outpour of constant support and encouragement, but she is incredible. She also had the most bad ass outfit at the Blizzard holiday party 2 years ago. I'll never forget that lol

 This time around, we tried different foods. It was really fun! We tried fried milk mochi. I really liked it ^_^ He loves elote, and I love squid.

 And there was this place with Indonesian street food. This was a must because... I played an Indonesian horror game, so it only made sense to try the street food. Like, duh. Btw the game is called DreadOut. I actually haven't finished it because it stressed me out so much lol. But there's tons of Indonesian folklore in it. I wasn't ready lol. But ... that said, I owe it to myself I think to go back and finish it. It also got a DLC!

Smol, dancing dragon babies.

 

got himself a smol goth gf 

except she likes NE instead of UD because archers with improved strength and bows can wreck bases much better than a necromancer rush even tho necromancers and UD in general look cooler and i'm not even ashamed to say that's why I rolled a NE when WoW launched :\

oh hi run-on sentence.

 feed meeee

Night market looks so much better at night. One day I wanna visit one in Taiwan. 

And eat   E V E R Y T H I N G

I still wanna try gaebul. Haven't found anywhere here that has it.. like.. proper. Except for one place, but it's in LA and that's.... lol. That's LA and that's also a hard no loooololol

 For Father's Day, we went out for dinner with his fam. Food coma was an understatement. There was so much amazing, delicious food. The curry rice and the red bean bread was my favorite!

Ahh, so cute. Food is cute lol. And amazing! Look how pretty! All these different ingredients to make up so many different flavors. It's kind of incredible if you think about it. There are thousands of dishes out there. Probably millions. Ingredients are seemingly just endless. And food can be crafted from almost any edible thing available. It might not always be awesome lol, but like... college students are pros at that, I think lol. 

Anywayyyy

Since E3, I've been so excited for Ghostwire: Tokyo and Outer Worlds. It's been so long since I played anything involving, yokai, yurei or gastly folklore, and have been resorting to books. And whining about it enough, that seeing Ghostwire announced was like... a godsend lol. And the cherry on top of the announcement was Nakamura coming out after Mikami and just... SPOOKY. 

T_____T WAAAAAAH

But, in the mean time, I'll stick to my spooky books and podcasts. And... there we go, going back and finishing DreadOut. Maybe finishing Sekiro lol. Ugh. I'm stuck between the armor dude, Genichiro, and ghost Corrupted Monk. It's fine, but then I get impatient, which leads me to play sloppy, and then I need to take a break because I can't focus. 

Annnnnnnnd I also have this idea for a short story. But who knows when I'll be able to sit and get that outline done entirely. There aren't enough hours in the day! I need another vacation, but one where like, I stay home and don't leave the house except to eat. 

I'm rambling. 

Tomorrow is going to be fun. We're going to watch Bicentennial Man at work. I'm going to cry all over everyone, and dry heave, and scream, and puke, and get a crazy congestion headache from crying so hard. It'll be great! :D