ASL

   Yesterday evening Lauren stopped by to hang out and meet the boys before we headed out. She was a sweetie and brought us some left-over cake from her birthday night. She learned some things about The Sims 2. We're both apparently super big Sims 2 weirdos, and so I showed her how to customize her stuff even further with mods.

Turns out she also is like... the only one other person on the entire planet that loves the CATS musical as much as I do. NO ONE ever in my life has looked at me the way she did when I told her that I used to roleplay in an AOL chatroom back in the day called The Jellicle Junkyard. It was a rare and special, once in a lifetime, bonding moment. No longer will I face the cruel injustices of condescending, pity written stares from friend and foe alike over my love for Plato's super hot scene with Victoria during the mating dance.

Josh said he could rip a copy of my DVD for her. When I got home from work today I saw a dvd box on my desk with this one it.

It's probably the greatest thing in existence. I want this in massive poster form.

LOOK AT MUNKUSGRUMPYTRAP

He did this and it's the most amazing thing ever. Lauren I'm sorry I spoiled it for you but I couldn't hold it back. The world must know

This exists.

We headed out and it was about a 45 minute drive to get there. There being the ASL (American Sign Language) class she suggested I go with her to check out. Said so many amazing things about it. I have another friend, Kyrie, who also took an ASL class. She taught me a few things and I always thought it was very pretty to watch. It makes me think of the Drows' secret language that they use with each other when under pressing circumstances. They signal each other secretly with finger flicks and graceful hand flourishes to even just plan a kill. Drow are the shit like that. And that to me makes ASL even cooler.

HOW CUTE IS IT WHEN TWO BEST FRIENDS HAVE THEIR OWN CODED LANGUAGE THAT THEY WRITE TO EACH OTHER WITH?? I did that in Jr High. It was short lived, but felt special. 

At first, not gonna lie, I was a nervous wreck. Having not been on a campus or in a classroom in several years, my anxiety started to kick in and I couldn't even look at Lauren to talk to her. So I resorted to texting just to not draw attention to us. Ugh. 

She kept reassuring me that it would be okay, and that the students are probably way more nervous because they'd have to get up and do things in front of the class.

She was right.

I fell in love with the class. It is lectured by a husband and wife. Husband is deaf, but is an excellent teacher. Wife is of hearing, and also the translator. He is hilarious, and the way he goes into explaining "why" and the origins is so great. From the moment she entered the classroom she had a smile on her face the entire time. It was a 3 hours class I think? The students there had to stand up in front of the class in pairs to interpret and sign sentences for a test. They would give a thumbs up or down at the other's signing, gauging how well they did. I learned a lot! They are such phenomenal teachers. Lauren was a student of theirs. Watching her go back and forth with Peter and Margaret was mesmerizing. I'm envious. What a beautiful way to communicate.

After class Lauren and I stayed a little after to sit down and 'chat.' OH MY GOD The topic of Vic Morrow's death came up. Now... I'm not fluent in ASL but... LOL. My jaw dropped and Lauren exclaimed in laughter "that's so morbid!!!"

Margaret had (I'm guessing) signaled a helicopter with her right hand coming in towards her head with her fingers spread out and kind of wiggling, right at her neck and did a slicing motion really fast up the side of her neck. Peter was like YUP. VIC MORROW.

It was getting kinda late-ish so we said our goodbyes. All smiles and happy feelings and stuff ^_^

They glow together with such a happy, positive energy. And this is coming from the most bitter person ever. They're great. And I'm looking forward to the next time Lauren goes to visit them again.

Thank you so much Margaret and Peter, and Lauren. And Kyrie for introducing me to ASL.

Because of Kyrie I had a little bit of understanding and could follow somethings :)

Afterwards, we were super hungry so we stopped by a nearby Denny's. Unfortunately... my work schedule cut our late dinner short, but we stuffed our faces well. They have blueberry cheesecake smoothies!!! Next time. :D

mmmpf.

Today when I got home I had gotten yet another gift package in the mail. 

As much as I love the gesture of giving and doing nice things for those you care about, I'm easy to overwhelm with such things and had to put a cease to it. Getting gifts in the mail as much as I was getting was overwhelming me and making me uncomfortable. I once saw this video on youtube from my favorite youtuber Dodger, and she worded perfectly how I feel towards receiving too many gifts. But this was pretty awesome to open up and get. 

It's one of those Japanese make-your-own-candy kits. SO AWESOME. There's a youtuber that has loads of videos unboxing and preparing them. I wanna try them all, lol. So this gift was especially awesome. ^_^ Thank you, anonymous gifty giver person! 

I'll probably open it up tomorrow. But I also kinda wanna share the experience with someone else. Maybe next time I go to Little Tokyo I'll get a bunch of these and do an unboxing of them all with someone on video. :D

Also, one last thing. I'm cleaning out my closet and getting rid of some clothes!! So I put up some listings for people to check out.

It's just cute stuff. Like this top :P

OK IT'S BURRITO TIME

Direct

   Lets begin with Rotny's birthday. We did pretty much nothing and it was perfect. The exception that was "pretty much" was the very rare occurrence that we venture to downtown LA to get Peruvian style rotisserie chicken. In total it was a 1 and a half hour trek, but so worth it. Once we got home we sat our asses down, stuffed our faces, and relaxed all day. Well... I sort of had some stuff to do but it wasn't anything nuts. I did fall asleep early though.
He received his gifts the night before, and love them. Happy Birthday, indeed!

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelish!! My car still smelled like it the day after on my way to work. ^_^


Ever wondered what two clueless drivers look like?

They both didn't know what lane to be in.

The last few days I've been hanging out with Lauren. She also had a birthday thing on Sunday. But I had also hung out with her Saturday night on a whim. Wasn't planning on going anywhere until she mentioned frozen yogurt ;)

We stayed there until they closed at midnight, just talking about whatever and ranting about bitches who don't know what rape is and just throw the word around as much as they throw around resentment. It was good times. XD Afterwards we went back to her place and hung out until like 3. She was really sweet and let me borrow some dvd sets for me to watch, and even gave me some games she no longer wanted! My brain asploded >_O. What a sweetheart she is.

The next day I had a bunch of errands to do. Yucky! And had to finish my commission.

BUT once I got home I realized that I didn't have any white clay!!! So I had to leave again and head to Michael's. It was totally awesome though because... they had a sale. Unfortunately... I went kinda nuts.

WHAT CAN I SAY? Can never be too prepared! I'm super excited because now I have glow in the dark clay, and some browns, and pretty glittery red, and some more pastels. On my way to the check out counter I realized that I had forgotten to actually get white clay, hahaha. The sale was so exciting that I had forgotten why I was there. I also got silver and gold paints, for more Zelda shields and other shiny thingies! (Light sabers? Swords? Axes? EGYPTIAN SHIT?) And they also had that big storage box thing on sale, which I needed desperately. My acrylics were taking over my work desk. So now they're all mostly in there, and the ones I use more often are out. The smaller one holds my reinforcements and scrap clay. And I have another one on my desk with my 'active' clay.

Ugh that pastel blue on the top left corner under the glow in the dark is so pretty!

Later that evening I headed over to BJ's pizza ... restaurant.. place. for Lauren's birthday thing. It was really nice and intimate. I gave her her gifts and she loved them. Made me glad. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long because I had work super early the next morning, but it was a great time. I met super nice people, and even got to meet the voice of Teen and Adult Gohan; Kyle Herbert! Who actually was also in Madoka Magica as one of the pimps. Jason voiced the other one. What a fun night ^_^

It's Geoff! This time he didn't have his IPad thing for Lilo & Stitch watching, but is hokay.


Work has been nicer. I really like the shifts we have now. One of them cracks me up. He's White, with a Hispanic last name, and is fluent in Japanese. He also played Erik (Phantom) in a few productions, so the other day he kept singing some pieces for me. We've also been doing a lot of coffee tastings. It's like wine tasting, but... with coffee. This last week, work has been nice. I hope it remains this way.

Today I also wrote a small script for a scene in a short story I did several years ago for Rotny. He's basically going to give one of my characters life with his voice (or attempt to!) and I'll try to direct him. He wants to see how he fairs with voice acting, and I want to see how well I can do with assisting him in that. We have nice recording equipment with pop filters and all so it won't sound ugly- just never set it up until today. So we're gonna try that. If he does well, I'm going to see if I can come up with some characters for him and go from there. I'd like to do that for myself, but I feel like that would be bias. Coming up with the characters should be fun. I tried to explain to him that it's not just about having a good voice, but also being able to act and give that voice some life and make the character believable. There are so many fluctuations and ways of saying something to get that perfect pitch for that specific emotion that coming up with it at that second can be a challenge if you're not practiced enough for it. Fun thing to play with either way. ^_^

 Tomorrow I finish two more commissions for a co-worker, and later on in the evening I'm going to an ASL class with Lauren.

Life is good. Sky rockets in flight ;)

Magica

  I feel so thankful for everything that I have, and the people in my life.

Though I complain and am walking cynicism, my appreciation glows all sorts of vicious whack. No one sees it, but it's there. Every thank you is from the depths of my soul, because (I think) when someone does something nice for you... it should be a big deal. They don't HAVE to. They don't have to buy you anything, they don't have to talk to you, associate with you, be nice to you, they don't owe you a damn thing. For someone else to give you their time, or spend their own hard earned money on you... it's pretty fucking amazing, and I am so thankful for it.

It's probably hilarious to watch me react to a compliment in person.

You don't understand.

At conventions, it's the worst. Not worst as in a negative thing to experience, but how anxious I get.

Con-goer passerby approaches me: "Hiii, excuse me. I just wanted to say you are sooooooooooooo __________!!"

Me: Ooooooh! *worried look, turns red* Thank you!! aawwww thank you so much!! *laughs nervously* That's really sweet! *bows head repeatedly saying thank you a billion more times and awkwardly walks away slowly* thank you! hehehehehe

And it'll happen more often within a couple hours.

There should be a compilation video of me reacting to people being generous to me. They HAVE to know that I appreciate them. They HAVE to or I will DIE.

This brings me to the amazing gesture someone did for me.
I was visited at work today by Lauren Landa. We've become closer lately, but I met her at one of Jason's shows while doing merch for him at the Whiskey. She is the NICEST girl! I knew she was a voice actress, but I had no clue she also voiced a character in an anime that the other girl who was keeping me company worked on as well! Her name is Sarah. She held the fort up while I went to pee all those times.
So, Lauren and I hung out yesterday and she was nice enough to get copies of the volumes for me to watch. I haven't been able to find any versions of the English dub, so she offered that to me. The anime is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Is that not awesome??!

Let me tell something to you. It's neat when you hear someone you knows' voice in a series. I can hear Sarah plain as day. She has a really particular kind of voice, and it's cute because she raises her pitch. WHY DOESN'T HULU OR CRUNCHYROLL HAVE THE ENGLISH DUBS?!

D'aww. Isn't she gorgeous!? Even with derpy dreadstache.

She let me borrow these. I am re-watching the first volume for the 3rd time, lol. See the red-haired character in the middle? That's Lauren's character, Kyoko. And the character with the short blue hair next to her is Sarah's character, Sayaka. SQUEE-NESS.

So we hung out at my work over coffee and chit chat thangs. It was really, really nice ^_^

and then TODAY. 

Today, you guys. Today.

She surprise visits me!! With a bag of stuff in it!

WHAT'S IN THAT BAG!?

I'm running around all crazy like in my work outfit, lol and see her there all smiley like. It made my morning. 

She stayed there until I was off work and we had more chatty times. But this was what she had brought for me;

O____O right?! Just because. :)

Thank you!

And same goes for the recent gifts I've received from friends. Though I argue, lol and try to convince them out of it, I really do appreciate it. I guess, for me, when I receive them more often, because to me they're such a big deal, it gets overwhelming and I start feeling shitty about it because it just seems like such a grand gesture; though I understand this is not the same for everyone. Some people can and love handing out gifts like it's their job! Anywho- thank you! 

Oh. IT'S ROT'S BIRTHDAY!!! :D We just had a little mini thing, and tomorrow we're gonna go out and do stuff! So exciiiite. I think we're gonna go watch Star Trek. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaand the photographer I met at Wondercon got in touch with me again about doing a mini shoot at Anime Expo. YAY.

Hooray for happy, wonderful things! I'm excited for tomorrow! We're also gonna go eat Peruvian style rotisserie chicken ^_^ We haven't had that in a long time, just because it's downtown, but Rot absolutely loves it. He loves his Peruvian things ;)

Someone commissioned a grumpy cat charm. LOL.

Now I should probably get to bed.

Good night! 

OH... I think Lauren has convinced me into attempting to cosplay at Harley Quinn. :P We'll see

Checkpoint

  When I think of how long it's been since it happened, almost a year exactly, I think back on how little I regret it. Now it's time to Pocahontas this shit and see where the river takes us. QWAY QWAY NA TO-RA, YOUUU WILL UNDAASTAAAAAND. Watch it, it's on Netflix. I don't even know what that tree's saying but it sounds like she's saying qway qway. Which is weird right, because trees, if they could talk to us, would probably be like GET OUT OF MY FOREST.

June 4th. Hey, June 4th how's it been? That's cool. Welcome back.

YOU GUYS GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

GOOSEBUMPS IS INSTANT ON NETFLIX. You guys. It's instant on Netflix. I have it open right now but am waiting to finish this post. It's for my own good. Otherwise this will never see the light of day.

Stuff's coming up that I'm KIND of excited about next month. This month we have some special little things, but will be celebrating at home all comfy-like. Next month is Anime Expo!! SO EXCITE. And two Psyclon shows. I'm unsure on whether I want to attend both. I mean, it's gonna be the same performance, twice. At the same venue even. Just on different nights. idk. BUT ANIME EXPO YOU GUISE. Anime Expo.

Oh, I have this new design for my charms. Sorta love em.

These are my two favorite.
Which I'll probably make into a hybrid very soon.

My Noob Charms Tentacle Cupcakes! 

I haven't seen anything like this anywhere and am so glad to say that it's an original design.

Of course if you google it, there will be some, but not like this! OR THIS ADORABLE. amiright?

haha. There are more, but some sold already. Another batch is coming- I just suck at color schemes. 

It's the worst because I can't imagine in my head what would look right so I have to rely on tumblr and random themes. 

hee ^_^

 Also, my channel's been getting more and more traffic, which is great. I'm glad people find my musings something worth watching, as opposed to simply reading them. 

This made me smile.

Should probably turn that notification off. 

Rift went f2p. I'm stoked. :D

Also... because I see these 'my outfit' things I took some. I'm not sure if I will continue because I felt stupid just standing there capturing my outfit to show it off to the internet. lol.

but there ya go internet. There ya go. And never again.

Patent

  There was something I saw on Tumblr two days ago that sparked my analytical curiosity. I'm not sure why I have to pick things apart, but sometimes, for the sake of how much sense it makes, unfolding the rationality of things is extremely satisfying to me. I also like to ruin jokes told by obnoxious, overly-confident people.

There was an image post where someone described a fashion as being "nightmarepunk." I almost lol'd in my seat. There are so many sub-genres already for so many things that every time I see a new one a part of me wants to question it and know where it came from, and what makes it a legitimate thing. Legitimate like a real label to something. Like Grains. Fruit. Non-Fiction. Karate.

So I submitted an 'ask' to the poster with that exact same question.

"What is nightmare punk and what legitimizes it?"

This is the response I got;

You guys. It's a noun- in case you didn't see the large N. specifying that.

Cool. I get it. Except it's an obvious ploy to advertise this 'word' to their audience as a HEY EVERYONE, WE USE THIS WORD, AND BECAUSE SOMEONE ASKED ME ABOUT IT, I'M GOING TO USE IT AS A CATALYST TO ANNOUNCE IT AS SUCH. BECAUSE YOU ALL MUST KNOW. NIGHTMAREPUNK IS A NOUN. SEE DEFINITION WE TALKED ABOUT.

I wish Tumblr had an outbox. Had I realized that they don't, I would've screencapped my response. It said;
Whoa. Okay. Sounds like you guys are wanting to get this patented. No thank you. I rather not be involved, but you should post about it in case anyone else is as analytical as me :)

What is ironic here, in my opinion, is that .... this person is sort of an accomplished someone of note in the Gothic community (by accomplished I mean a professional) who seeks to, what it looks like, call firsties on a retarded title in an umbrella genre that supposedly celebrates and encourages self expression and identity despite many aesthetic and lifestyle choices pertaining to the basic understanding and appreciation of the Gothic subculture.

So I kinda rather not be a half-assed advertisement for a, technically, ego-driven paradox.

Otherwise, why else would they, lol, go through that much presentational effort if it was just for my benefit? It was totally planned. Seriously gtfo with that shit!


Saturday night I've laughed harder than I have for a while. I'm lying. I lose my shit when Rot tickle-attacks me. BUT... just from something being really really funny... seldom happens. Poo and Care came to pick me up to head to their place for a little get-together thing. I really like them, and didn't work the next day so agreed to join them. It turned into the most whack shit ever that pushed our moral threshold with our sense of humor.

Poo! She's the greatest host. I'm not really a drinker unless it tastes like candy or coffee, so she 

made a billion drinks for me in hopes that one of them would be appetizing enough. 

Sadly, my tastebuds couldn't dismiss the strong vodka flavor in many of them, so it was

in vain. I felt bad. We settled for a cranberry vodka that Ponies prepared, which... I didn't finish. =[

I'm sorry, Poo!! But thank you for trying!!! At least I didn't puke :DD

Care and Cocoa. Cocoa is so cute it hurts my soul. She is a spunky little thing that doesn't let anyone touch her! IT KILLS ME

Steven (left) brought over a game called "Cards Against Humanity."

You guys. OH MY GOD you guys. It is... the FUNNIEST game.

EVER.

Let me explaining to you.

White Cards: illustrating words/phrases

Black Cards: illustrating an incomplete sentence with a blank(s). 

Each player gets 10 white cards.

Each round, a player takes turns reading off one black card. 

Other players select one of their white cards to fill in the blank.

Black card-holder ultimately judges which white card completes the sentence the most epicly; whether that be hilariously, controversially, grossest, or all of the above. 

The winning white card submitter receives that black card as reward.

The one with the most black cards wins.

The phrase "kids with ass cancer" has never been so hilarious.

We were up until 4 something laughing our asses off before it was time to go home. I fucking love that game.

Poo grabbed Cocoa and handed her to me. Look at dat faaaaaace

 Punkyn!! She's more sociable.

Their apartment is awesome.

Last week (I think) Jason was a few houses over for his band-mates birthday bbq thing. He told me to stop by to see his puppy, Iggy. CANNOT RESIST DA PUPPIES

ugh.

This wasn't that day, but ugh, still.

Isn't he so cuute!!? Strong too, lol. I held his leash for a little bit until Rot got home. 

To be frank, I was glad to leave. Not my crowd of people at all, haha. Made me feel severely uncomfortable and used Iggy as an excuse to go to the front yard and walk him around there. :P

Also, I made this. Commission for a friend. First time with sculpting stuff, but I'm proud of it. I'm intimidated to try anything else, but knowing that I'm capable of branching out gives me confidence to pursue it... with the right motivation. haha. 

Season 3 of Bob's Burgers issssssssss really great. I can't stop watching it.