New Year

      According to some magical thing somewhere written on some papyrus in some tomb in manhattan, the passing of a year into a new year is supposed to signify some kind of cleanse and the chance to restart whatever it was that we were running from, right? 
A whole new begging to better oneself, and to improve on the self and our current life situations, and just everything as a whole in general.

  In theory, this is ideal. 
But.
It's horseshit. Not because of my own sucky experiences, but because it's astronomically impossible. The universe doesn't give a fuck about your or my problems. And if it did, how much weight we all put on in the last year wouldn't be much of a priority. BUT for the sake of argument, I'll go on. 


 Usually for the holidays, I'll stay home and work. In 2014, I visited my family in Pennsylvania for 2 days, lol. The money just wasn't there. This year, I saved up vacation time and visited for 5, but only before the holidays. And worked instead when I returned to L.A. While there, I absolutely gained weight.

BUT before we go into that, the end of 2015 has been pretty cool. It's been a long time since I've been single, even before my ex, I was single for just a few months before he came swooping in with all these fancy, persistent things until I finally gave in to his advances.
However this time around I've been focusing on living for myself and myself alone, and basically that's pretty much it. It's nice. There's a freedom and confidence I have now that I don't think I'd ever fully gotten a proper grip on when I was younger. I've been in long term relationships since high school, and never really understood what it was to live a single life, at least not for real. Not for very long. And it's a huge deal for me now because I feel a confidence I've never felt before, and I think that had a lot to do with my dependence on other people to make me feel confident, where as now I'm just on my own, and being dope and shit. It's... enlightening.
I'm not in a rush to get into another relationship any time soon. Or at least nothing serious. 

There's been a lot going through my head lately.  So, for therapy.. I dragged out this fool with me to Redondo Beach just before I left to see my family. 
He was up for the trip, as seldom few others are. Which I completely don't understand. The beach at night is infinitely more beautiful than it is during the day. But that's just me.

 It was cold, and the air felt crisp. 

Completely barren, and we saw a bunch of seals

 I am in love with this place. It's become my get away.

 this fool is too pretty for his own good.

 I'm gonna go again before classes start next week.

And as much as I'd love the company, everyone's been busy lately, so it'll most likely just be me and my switchblade.

Hopefully I don't die?

 We stayed out all night. We drove back to Burbank, got some del taco and hung out at a view until 4 am in company of coyotes.

These night trips are so therapeutic. If I could turn into a dude just to be able to walk around everywhere at night by myself, I would.

My plane was scheduled to leave 2 days later.

 There were like 3 parties that happened within 5 days. 

My mom put on a welcome home thing for myself, with all this food. Which was amazing

Then someone's baby shower, and then some other thing I can't remember the theme of. But there was so much food. And I ate the fuck out of it every day

 I also learned that one of my nieces, Ingrid, is a budding geek.

I got the feeling last time I saw her when she showed me her little comic strips that he liked to doodle, but this year she shared with me her interest in manga and anime, in addition to her growing book collection. 

And she loves Kingdom Hearts! For christmas, I got her the Dark Elf Trilogy and another manga. We also talked about Hellraiser, lol. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. Very quiet, observant, reserved and cautious. She's also crazy smart. She's 13, and I'm so excited to watch her grow up and like, be awesome.

 On my trip I also hung out with a friend from high school.

 this guy broke my heart so much, lol.

 but we always try to see each other when I'm in town. It's crazy how our lives played out. 

So different...

 chinese buffets man.... they're a weakness.

 we also drove around and went to a view in Lemoyne. 

the last time we'd been there, I had long, unlocked red hair and still wore blue jeans.

 (a really long ass time ago. and yes that's him holding the camera)

you don't understand. i keep photos FOREVER

they're so important to me.

you're immortalizing moments.

and contrary to what apparently some of my friends are convinced of, I actually do like to get my picture taken. I just prefer being captured naturally instead of posing. 

it's why I don't often do serious faces in group shots with people... it doesn't feel natural.

 And then we went to Hershey's Chocolate World!!

 SO much has changed over the years.. but it was still wonderful to go back. I missed it.

 It's very similar to the way the Haunted Mansion ride is in Disneyland. 

You get in a buggy and ride around, except you see what goes on in a chocolate factory instead of a haunted mansion :P

 AND IT SMELLS SOOOO OOOOOO GOOD

 I don't even like chocolate, but i bought some. fuck it

 this was me during the parties.

 While the trip was lovely, I was anxious to get home and go back to work.
There's no way that moving back in with my parents could ever be an option for me. I'd go insane. Absolutely insane.

The flight back was really nice.

 molten lava in the sky

Once I was back home, I needed a detox.

So ... off to Little Tokyo lol.

which reminds me... I should probably eat something. Was up til 6 again this morning and woke up around almost 2. 

Anywho... while in Little Tokyo, I ran into Christine and her friend! She saw me sitting outside and came up to me to say hi. We had only briefly met once or twice before, but she said she remembered me from Bats Day and I was like ooohhhh yeaaaaahhh :D 

I like her, she's cool.

 At derp faces, we are evenly matched.

 lol She's great. I wanna see her again.

 Oh and I made these. 

When I feel uninspired I just make stuff and put gore on it.

 And I was craving more tea, so I went out of my way to seek out some good fucking tea.

And regretted how much I spent on it. 

Fuck teavana lol

it IS really fucking good tea though, lol not gonna lie

i don't know why i took this.

and that's probably a k-drama in the background

 after the holidays, my life was full of lots of fruitcake and Salsa and Beer.

 I ate 4 whole fruitcakes by myself. in my room.

 and I don't regret it.

 NEW YEARS EVE i wholeheartedly anticipated just sitting in my room and playing Fallout 4.
Everything was perfectly set up. I prepared myself some boba milk tea, had my snacks ready to go, and Fallout right in front of me. everything was perfect.


until Ponies texted me.

 SUDDENLY I'M IN ORANGE COUNTY AT THE QUE SERA FOR RELEASE THE BATS NEW YEARS EVE PARTY

 I was trying to be his wing man. some girl he was expecting flaked at the last minute, so we creeped on another girl.

 JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMES :D

 he's like my little brother, I was trying to give him motherly advice that night lol. so far... things have gone well from what he tells me. and i'm happy for him!

 Steveeeeeennnn

is fun to torment

because he has dis cute widdle face

but he's so serious around me

so 

 i like to tease him

 and talk to him in Spanish. he has no idea what i'm saying but bless his heart he tries to go along with it.

 :DDD

 and then one night i dragged Pretty Fool out with me to old town pasadena. 

 we got burritos and walked around on the suicide bridge.

which was basically one of my goals lol.

burritos make everything cooler 

bless him, he had to deal with me kidnapping him in the middle of the night til way late when he had work early in the morning. 

I'm sorry. lol

 And Trenny had ramen for the first time.

It wasn't the perfect ramen to try for your first time, but it's still pretty good, and it was nearby. 

He is a changed man.

 he's also a little too comfortable with my computer desk

 and then we went out to umami burger because he'd never been there either.

 this poor guy

 he's so metal.

So... I don't do much outside-y things during the day. Like ever, unless it's to get food lol.
but this time around, my friend Chris and I went decided to explore what hiking trails the observatory had to offer. And hopefully reach the Hollywood Sign. because... why not

 It was on a Saturday and finding parking was a bitch. We parked waaaaay at the bottom of the hill and had to make our way up past the Griffith Observatory, and continue up the trail.
But we could see our goal!

 RADIATED WATER

 Fallout 4 references were never ending

 lady was taking a picture of her dog in front of the sign xD

 we got lost lol.

there were a bunch of forks that went off somewhere

and we just randomly picked one hoping it was the right one.

 it wasn't. and this climb hurt my soul and my everything else that i didn't know could hurt

 but we made it to the top.

 as it got darker we made our way down again but this time it was like... survival horror mode because phone flashlights

 and the view was a trillion times more beautiful

 he had to pee so we stopped by the griffith observatory and looked at thingies

 hold your breath and make a wish

 we were both really hungry so we went to eat some fucking FISH

 Chris is dope. 

He's the most relaxed, chillest person ever lol. 

I see him come into my work every day in the mornings and that's how we met.

My radar went off and one day I was like "are you a gamer?"

and the rest is history lol

And 2 weeks ago I went to see Jason at the studio. He said he'd get me burritos lolol.
i feel like a hamster around him

 Geoff was there toooooooo :D

they're inseparable

I owe him coffees. but he's always so busy! I'll have to bug him again this week and show up with yummy cappuccinos ^_^

DISKU NEKURO

KAWAII DES

 Krieg being adorable giving no shits again

I feel like I take pictures of him the most because he's just such a great subject lol

 Ran into Tenebrae there.

He smells like cinnamon buns.

 the most awesome thing he did that night was while we were dancing on stage,

Sisters came on, right? naturally. 

and out of absolute nowhere on this fucking planet, he pulls out these big Andrew Eldritch sunglasses and SO NONCHALANTLY 

places them upon the bridge of his nose, and poses looking straight at me. 

and I LOST IT.

It was probably, hilariously, one of the most goth things ever.

 It's da Chichi famirrryyy

 She has Bowie and Harry Potter in her hair at the same time.

It was an emotional evening for many people, to say the least.

 you'd be surprised at how many pictures i have of homies about to kiss or are kissing lol

 KRIEG, COME HERE

HA

 Bowie was a thing that night.

 Mister cinnabonnsss

 WELL HI THAR

if we take this capture with a literal meaning, its probably the most offensive photo ever

lololololol

Jess is a glow worm

 KRIEG

 KRIEG STAHP

 this woman is

the sexiest woman

alive

i don't care who you are

also, i totally had to color correct this because i looked like absolute shit, still do but she looks hot

Aaaaaand I've been so so lucky enough to make the most awesome friends through work.

 i'm grateful for them

and for everything that they do

Release the Bats was 2 nights ago and I was basically given no choice in the matter of attending lol.
So I put on my best face and grabbed a Pokemon shirt and headed out to a waiting Ponies and Stitches outside in the driveway.

 hee

 was gonna text this to one of my friends lol, haven't yet. but i will xD

 Ponies shirt is awesome

says "Read a fucking book" lol

 KRIEG

KRIEG STAHP

 It was an awesome night. Had a lot of fun and danced HARD.
Stitches got onto the stage and brought up Ponies with her, I followed after them with Krieg, and we were just shakin' our bootays. I felt so gross by the end of the night lol. sweaty! yuck! >_<
but... super fun.

So... there have been a lot of amazing things happening, but there were two, or rather are, 2 things that kinda stressed me the fuck out lol.
The first was my car. I had to drop a crazy amount of money out of nowhere to get it fixed. The power steering hose had a hole in it and all the fluid drained out and got everywhere. So my car was virtually un-drivable. It turned on, and everything worked fine, except... that.
I'll spare how much of a proud asshole I am and what I did the day I had it towed to pep boys, but it's fixed now and good as before, but now i worry that something else will eat shit, even though i feel i take pretty good care of it.
which brings me to my next yucky thing.
i have to move. by march, mid march at the latest.
and that's as far as i'll mention until i have a more concrete idea of what exactly is happening.
but... it's going to be a huge ordeal, and with classes starting next week... it's just going to be the most stressful fucking thing. especially since ... well. nevermind.
i'll more than likely have to hire movers, or pay people to help me load all my things onto a truck. especially my bed and bedframe. it's just gonna suck.
i know that once i'm settled in, things can only get better, but the move is going to seriously, tremendously suck ass. so.
yeah.
in the mean time, i'm trying to figure things out one step at a time and enjoy the time i have left here.
unfortunately, that means i can't go crazy with money, which means upcoming cons are out of the question. At least... weekend passes lol. ALA was going to be a thing, but unfortunately, not anymore. At most I'll probably just go on Sunday just to check it out, but even that's not a sure thing at this point. Especially with Helter Skelter being the same weekend.

So, the beginning of this year has been all kinds of weird. Good weird, but then those two big things hit and everything just... bleh.
I'm rambling. but at least I'm caught up with mostly everything, I think?

With all the shit I have, I should probably start packing a lot sooner =\