HI.
Jesus a ton has happened. And I'm hating myself for not compartmentalizing everything sooner. BUT IT'S BEEN SO FUN. Lessee...
I'm dragging friends out to conventions. Because who wouldn't wanna be subjected to this shit? Especially when it's people who've never been. Their only experience has been from cons like SDCC and AX, but smaller cons, especially anime cons, are like... awesome.
Frankly, I prefer the smaller ones. They feel more... less rancid and over-saturated with pop culture stuff that's seen everywhere. They also feel more liberating in that people can be like, uninhibited because there isn't such a massive spotlight to be 100% perfect in the way SDCC and AX can impose. From a cosplay perspective, that's what it feels like to me. AND, the artist alleys at smaller cons are great because you can take your time and really look at the artists work! As opposed to larger commercial cons... it's cramped, uncomfortable, a fire hazard... etc etc lol.
Also they just feel more chill.
So, I dragged Lifa with me to Anime LA! His first time going. I wanted to drag Chicken, but he admitted that after 2 hours of wandering, he'd be ready to retreat back into his cave. This is something I understand profoundly, so I left him to his tinkering on his car and computer parts, while Lifa and I ventured to Anime Los Angeles.
Which is actually in Ontario. And will forever be a joke that everyone mocks. every year. as if it's new information. hahahahahawhawhwahawhaw.
The main reason I wanted to go was to see my friends Jason and Lauren. I've known them a very, very long time. Moving to Orange County made it massively inconvenient to see them regularly. So. I couldn't miss this up.
I met up with Jason and his handler. Biggest hugs. He treated me to lunch and we caught up on everything everrrrr.
Jason is the longest friend I've had here in CA. I don't even remember exactly how we met, but I've done merch for him and we've been tight forever. Not to mention the added bonus that he's a talented and versatile jack of all trades. I'm proud of being his buddy ^_^ He's gonna do many, many more awesome things. JASON, YOU'RE THE SHIT. mker?
i ii i
bess boy
not just because his stuff is cute, but because he's been through shit and has championed things many of us can't fathom.
Brian, you're dope. and also you're like, everyone's dad.
Especially Herm.
So throughout the con, we were trying to find stuff of Chicken's waifu; A2. But it seems that no one really... gives a shit? About her? That... or they didn't get far enough in the game to get an opportunity to have a shit to give about her. So... the A2 art and merch were lacking horribly. We did come across this awesome figure... but it's not $105 awesome lol.
And the one art piece of A2 we did find was in the discount pile LOL
And it wasn't even the version of her with long hair- which is the version of her that he likes. Same, tbh.
RIP
Cosplays were so awesome!
We went to the library and I found this and and and it's one of my favorite animes T_T
I don't have many issues of this manga, but I wannit because the anime is WEIRD.
AND LOOK AT THIS POE COLLECTOR COSPLAYER
THIS IS THE 2ND ONE I'VE SEEN, EVER. The only other Poe Collector cosplay I've seen was MY Poe Collector lol. We met at Wondercon by chance. I was in my Poe cosplay, and he was wandering around. I spotted him and I think, shat 4 whole bricks, and waddled up behind him. He couldn't see me because.... obviously. And I like... waddled in front of him kind of squatting, and waved my arm up to his like, field of vision, he bent down to look at me, and .... we didn't leave each others side the rest of the convention LOL. It was the cutest cosplay moment ever.
Poe Collector is my favorite LOZ character everrrrrrrrrr. And it's just awesome to see people cosplay him because... no one does. Like, ever. LOOK AT IT, IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
this booth had so many awesome pieces T_T
Jason told me he had a performance that evening. So...
We went up a little early and sneaked in to get good seats in the front :D
das muh jaysuuuurrrnnn
After the show, we hung out for a bit and one of the organizers busted out his magic stuff and just... did magic tricks. Lauren called him out basically, and he was like WELP. He goes back stage, brings out this fancy suitcase thing that folds out into this table thing, and just... goes to town. Was REALLY cool!
AND I saw LAUREN! We recently went out to get dinner because it'd been forever since we hung out. Ah, she's been with me through my biggest ups and downs after moving here lol. I met her at one of Jason's shows a looooooooonnnnggggg time ago. And it wasn't until after we became close that I learned of her also amazing versatility and... jill of all trades skillset!
Honestly these two are treasures to me and seeing them blossom and just projectile launch into success is awesome.
The best part is introducing Lifa to them! He was happy to get a signed from Lauren, who just so happens to voice one of his favorite characters in ... a fighting game I can't remember lol. And at Jason's show, Lifa had no idea what to expect except for the fact that it was "country-ish" music. He loved it.
My boyfriend actually really enjoys Jason's music also. And they both loved what he did in FFXIV. So when there's an opportunity to introduce everyone, it's like.... the coolest moment. Fucking... inspiration shit all over the place. I love it. Biggest smiles. mmpf.
AHH I'M SO HAPPY LOL
ALA was so much fun. We stayed late for the hentai voice over panel lmao.
S k a d o o s h
And there was a karaoke thing for voice actors that I had to watch because.... yeah lol.
That was fun xD
Just in casies, if you're curious about Jason or Lauren and the work they do, can look up Jason Charles Miller, or Lauren Landa. You've probably heard their voices in games. Jason's also done music for a bunch of shows, and you can hear him singing in the FFXIV Shadowbringers trailer that just came out. I know this, because Chicken and Lifa told me, right before Jason told me lol. So yeah! They're usually at cons, can find them at their booths and stuff. ^-^
It was cute. Last weekend, while Chicken was working on modifying his miata, he was listening to Jason on spotify. Made my heart happy. That is all. ^-^
Lastly, I loved ALA... because there was an artist who was selling yokai stuff! No one understands how annoyingly dumb it is that ... there just isn't a market here for spooky shit. There just isn't. Especially at conventions. Not even MONSTERPALOOZA. It's all... monsters. The classic monsters. Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf dude, aliens, and more monsters. It seems diverse, but it's not. Not at all. So when I saw his booth, I was the happiest ever. And immediately bought his book and the yurei pin. Yurei are the most fascinating yokai to me. There are so many kinds of yurei, but onryo are my favorite. And just seeing this there was amazing.
BRIIIIAN. I'M CALLING YOU OUT. GIMME KOWAI. WE NEED IT, IT'S AN UNTAPPED MARKET FOR STREET EDGELORDS.
Speaking of creepy stuff... While i was shopping at vallarta, I came across this little clay planter pot. And immediately thought of the pot nobles in Sekiro. And how much I love them. And how I want one. And how no one fucking makes them.
But I'm no one. I fucking made one.
Hands are a difficulty I wasn't ready for. The points of articulation suck. And
And the result wasn't 100% what I wanted, but close. I see so many flaws, but for a first attempt, it's not terrible! I'm happy with it. SPOILER: there are two so I can always try again.
I have a little pot noble in my room and it's cute ^_^
A simple pleasure:
We went out to get food. When we got seated and began ordering, the table next to us was celebrating something. They were loud, but jovial in their body language. It was contagious. Suddenly, one of them turns to us and offers us bottles of beer and soju. To keep. It seems they ordered too many, or simply wanted to be generous in their high spirits. We happily took it, and it was just one of those moments where like, that's just really cool.
We joined them in a cheers, whatever it was, and ate with full hearts.
Fleeting moments of joy.
Had to capture this night. I'm smiling about it as I type this.
A N I M E I M P U L S E |
Never been. Any of us.
omg i just made kimchi fried rice with a little side of miso soup and it's so good i'm so happy right now
What had completely escaped me for this was that it's not just an anime convention!
But we'll get to that.
As soon as we arrived, they had to fuel up
photogenic fuck lol
this is not the first time i've seen them, and i love them lol
Again, AI is one of those not-so-commercial cons with tons of artists and gaming stations, arcades, merch and all that good stuff. Was a lot of stuff to look at. It looked like there were tournaments too. Presumably Smash. but still dope.
If jerks I no longer associate with could control themselves and not blatantly stare at me though, that'd be *chef's kiss* magnifiqué!
He hates us
And I match the logo uwu*
I ALMOST BOUGHT THIS.
I hate this stupid ass character so much. We watched this on Christmas day 2 years ago. He wanted to. And in spite of myself, I like the movie lol. ugggghhhh.... ANYWAY... Yeah. I like this character. He's unique and stupid and hilarious and I hate him. And that's why I like him. Um but the dude selling him I think just made up a price out of his ass because originally it had a sticker price. I looked it up online, and kinda was like... alright fuck it. It's right here, and I want it. But I noticed it had like... a dent in the box or like... idk, something. It was scratched somewhere, and it wasn't subtle. So I posed as a collector and tried to haggle LOL. It didn't work. Then he looked something up on his laptop thing, and told me a price. His booth was upselling it by over $20. I was like holdup the sticker on this says this much, and he was like oh ya.... no it's actually this much.
"thank you." i walked out immediately. idk if disheartened is the right word, but it was um, dumb?
So when we walked outside to look around for food trucks, we noticed that we could keep going into other hangars.
After food, we discovered a whole other ... situation that was going on. Anime Impulse is actually a part of the Asian American Expo! And there was a whole other... just... stuff.. area.. to explore. And explore we did. This was amazing because our tickets were extremely cheap, and we thought it was just for Anime Impulse! Biggest win.
Since everything was connected, the attendees and the convention weirdos all mingled together in a beautiful symphony of what the fuck, and everyone had a good time. Ed and Afro Samurai dancing together made me happy.
Note: that Ed cosplayer is everywhere, and I love him, too.
"It smells like Taiwan." - Chicken
Bless this booth
lol
We stayed as late as we could, taking another few strolls through the magical isles of artist alley.
And because we were nearby, our outing wouldn't have been complete without a visit to....
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| "yooooooo thas dope" |
I told you, it's serious.
We brought Homdre before, but not Lifa.
Of course they liked it. But....
One thing I did notice was that
this dish normally comes with tteokbeoki. But this time it didn't. :(
MY PURPOSE ON THIS EARTH IS TO TEACH EVERYONE ABOUT THIS DISH. Galbi jjim has rice cakes in it. Ok? That's it. That's it. No questions asked. So when you're eating it, and you see 2 total, or 1, or none at all... take a deep breath, own it, and tell the server nicely (not their fault) that your rice cakes never made it to their final destination; your tummy.
Our server delivered us a whole thing of rice cakes. Unfortunately, we had already finished the dish. I was disappointed with myself for not catching it earlier on, I was probably talking too much to notice. But we got our rice cakes.
AND.
Our best friend was working :D He was very glad to see us with more friendos.
I've mentioned him before. He's awesome to us and likes to talk about Starcraft and being Korean lol. He used to be semi-pro back in the day.
OUR SUN NONG DAN BESSFREN.
Chicken learned to tighten my locs with a crotchet hook. He worked on them entirely about a month ago and was so proud of his results. I was too! The only person I ever went to for my locs is now unavailable (good for him! He's a Kinjaz member doing all of the things!), so it'd been a while since my roots got touched up. Him taking this initiative was so cute T_T. I can say that my Chicken does my hair! And with so much attention to detail. Waahhh uwu
Our days are comfortable, cute, spontaneous, perfectly uneventful, and cozy.
Baby's first escape room was super fun! It was themed to be on a space station on mars. A bunch of tech geeks coming together to solve the puzzles was pretty beautiful lol.
C Y B E R S P A C E C O W B O Y
Every now and then, we are treated at work with a very special treat and honor of having a guest author come speak to the teams. "Learn and Grow" indeed! And this is an awesome way of incorporating that value.
This time around, to everyone's "oh shit" o meters, we were graced by the cyberpunk father himself, William Gibson. The turn out was fucking just... the color of television turned to a dead channel.
I love that description and that was probably the most... awful way to use it lmao. I'm sorry
BRUH
I had no clue lol. Someone walks by me while I was having breakfast and probably reading Ghost Bride, and is all like, hey qorl william gibson's gonna be here. And I registered nothing that he said to me. I looked at him probably deadeyed and was like huh? The name rang a bell, but I couldn't remember. And he was like, qorl.... neuromancer. And I shat 4 bricks again. Just like that.
MY NEUROMANCER BOOK WAS STILL IN MY CAR. What the chances were of that, I have no idea. Why? Because I read it a while ago and left it there. BUT HOORAY. I thanked him in screeches and once my lunch break came around, I hauled ass to my car for the book. His talk didn't start until 2PM. And after the talk would be a signing until 4PM.
I was crushed. Because I couldn't escape from work long enough, even though peeps organizing stuff offered me a seat T_T BOB AND JEN ARE SO SWEET.
I told Jen that I may miss out because even if I did escape, it wouldn't be for much time. So she offered to hold onto my book and get it signed for me no matter what happened. I was like omg qorl. And she gave me a gameplan to follow for when I had time to come out.
So, the day went on. Unfortunately, I missed the rest of the talk. But People are like it's cool, we got a thing for you to watch. And after I got done with work, I came out and got the last copy of Peripheral. It was the last one because the corner of the cover was flayed. Which made me feel bad for it, because it's exactly like all the other books, just a little different. It had been rejected. So I scooped it up, and now I have this very special book from that day ^_^.
The autograph line was still going, but there wasn't much time left until the signing ended. We might not all make it. I tracked down Missy, who Jen had forwarded my book to, and she was like don't worry. We're gonna get your book signed no matter what! I was like omg no lemme stand in line, she insisted on holding onto my book (it was in a bag under his table by his feet lol) so I said okay. But I'm getting in line because I have this other book!
It was getting closer and closer to the cut off time, when Bob walks by, spots me and whispers "we extended it up to 4:30" and did that shh thing with his finger to his lips. I was like omg you angels. The line was long when I got in it, and it grew even more behind me. There were a LOT of people who were just then able to show up for a bit to get their books signed.
I reached the front of the line 2 minutes before the original cut off time. Missy was smiling and super happy. She went around to get my book and handed it to him. My heart overclocked on its own and I just broke down. I went up to his table and looked at him and he looks up at me and smiles, and I'm like... I just said "thank you for everything you've done." His smile remained and he thanked me in return. I watched him sign my books, the whole thing felt so quick. I would've loved to ask him questions, but I knew time was precious. I turned around and mustered up the courage to ask Missy if she could capture this moment for me, she said of course!
I look like a doodoo, but I can now look back on this moment :D
As I got my books from him, we exchanged smiles again and I was so happy and awestruck.
After the signing was finished, I was wandering around campus decided whether to relax there for a bit or go straight home, as I often do. While I was sitting at the tables by the orc statue, Missy comes over to me. She was waiting on someone, so we chat idly for a little bit. Everyone was gone by then, and the stuff was being packed up and taken away. Then I notice Bob and Mr. Gibson walking towards us from one of the main buildings. Missy must've been waiting for them.
As they drew closer, I could make out their conversation. They were talking about Virtual Reality and the distinctions between it and Augmented Reality. It was the most ... sobering moment to take in. Missy and I just sat and listened in on their dialog. It was like ... so cool lol. Just listening to them talk about this. And the direction we are going as a society with both versions. And how they're being implemented. And and and... my god. So awesome. Because he was writing about this stuff in the 80s! And ... now he's walking through a campus that creates virtual realities... and... yeah. I was like, oh my god. I can't believe I'm here right now LOL.
As they figured out their plans and stuff, Missy checked in with people and they had to be off. We all exchanged goodbyes again, and I left with the biggest smile on my face.
L U N A R N E W Y E A R
That very same day, later that evening, was our movie night. But since it was LNY, I wanted stuff to be cute. So I ordered lanterns to hang up, and we set the lighting appropriately.
After watching Parasite the week before, The Host felt appropriate.
Lunar New Year weekend was cute. We went out with his family the following day. And I indulged in a delicious rose latte. I think I'd go back just for that latte lol.
Mimosas for lunch hit perfectly ^_^
That evening we went and got stuff to prepare a little LNY dinner.
Chicken prepared fancy stuffed burgers, while I prepared mapo tofu and the bao. Lifa choreographed the baijiu shots. Also, I have no clue where those sun glasses are :)
F
I'd never had baijiu before lol. but..
I'll take Baijiu shots over whisky thank you very much.
We were stuffed and silly
and DDR was a good/bad idea immediately after
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| rip |
idk how we started talking about Initial D, but Lifa went and found some tracks just for DDR
Voldo + our trip to EVO 2020 this year =
Happy New Year indeed!
NIER : O R C H E S T R A C O N C E R T
Ever since I finished Nier: Automata, it's been a string of jokes and my lovely covers of Memories of Dust. Lifa surprised us with tickets to the Nier concert in LA. He wanted us to go, and I wanted to go, but it wasn't looking good because that was the week I started classes. But then Chicken goes, "guess what. Lifa got us tickets to Nier" and I was like ohHHH
It's one of those moments where you're like YAY but also like HNNNGGGG. But you know what?
Fuck it.
A concert in LA, in the middle of the work week, the day before our company event, that I didn't request the following day off for, the same week I start classes?
Rip. Fuck it.
Did I put together a last minute cosplay for this?
I SURE DID.
BUT.
I wasn't allowed to have my helmet on T_T. Or keep it on my person! Security was really nice, and escorted me to the booth where people check in their belongings. They were impressed with it, which made me feel better lol. But then she remarked that my helmet was different from the helmet another man had brought by. How his didn't have holes that he could see out of, but mine did. I was like lol yea that'd suck to wear anywhere. She gave me a ticket for it, and we made our way back up to the lobby, where we ran into people from work!
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| my shoulder pads are 1337 |
We watched Emi Evans perform Weight of the World in the chaos language live and it was so beautiful and I cried and and and
I didn't know originally that there are actual words in that song. It's apparently taken some words from a dying language in Peru called Chamicuro. I thought Peru only spoke Quechua and Spanish, but stand corrected. And knowing that, I don't think I could be more attached to a song than this. Ugh, my heart.
When Yoko Taro came out, it dawned on me that he had to be escorted because his helmet basically rendered him blind. Then I remembered what the person at the booth said when I checked my helmet in. Was she referring to Yoko Taro's helmet, and did I shit talk his helmet for not having holes in it to see out of? LOL
Ahh, it was so good. IT WAS SO GOOD T_T
I was tired though lol. It was late. And like, when we went outside after getting my helmet, things were awkward because there was a memorial for Kobe Bryant right outside. And... there were also Nier cosplayers everywhere. Was just.. an odd concoction of... people. And emotions. It didn't help that I put my helmet on, and while I could see, my field of vision is quite narrow. So Chicken had to navigate (basically lead) me around while trying to meet up with Lifa.
Someone recognized my cosplay! Without the helmet! That was a nice surprise lol. They walked by me and were like hay, you're the lady in the camp right? With the helmet? (Sans helmet) and I was like yeaaaahh! lol. It just was nice because I was sad that I didn't have my helmet, but someone recognized it, so it was okay again!
We met up for drinks. I, the responsible DD, had none. But while it was late, we had a huge day waiting us the following day, and I had to be up early. So we left early. I am forever grateful for Lifa. He is.... idek. Thank you, mang. We love you, brother
B L I Z Z N E Y C A L I F O R N I A A D V E N T U R E
Yup! We rushed the Disney parks once again this year, but this time, our swarm gathered in California Adventure. Which personally is 84579327401x more awesome than Disneyland, but that's me.
AHHHHHH I WAS SO EXCITED.
We arrived just as it was getting dark. After learning that my favorite parking spot was converted to a "you guys suck so now you need parking permits" area, we had to condescend to park in the actual parking lots designated for the parks.....
I just used "park" three times in different contexts. What the shit is our language?
FOOD
this picture is so upsetting
Same place we went to last year, I indulged in my yummy red wine.
So... Lifa somehow manages to pose in every picture. Even if we don't tell him it's coming. He just poses. And it became a thing to try and catch him not posing.
my mask matched my Oswald purse :)
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| So no one told me life was gonna be this waaaayyy |
At 8PM.... the park was OURS.
As the line wait times went down significantly, we hit the big rides.
The park being ours meant we each got our own car!
MICKEY MADE KISSIE NOISES AT ME AND KISSED MY HAND
Minnie grabbed Chicken but you know what? I'm confident lol. She's cute, go on girl, try it.
Mickey noticed my hoodie and purse, and he motioned to me to turn around to see the giant Oswald emblem on my back. He gave this like, strongman almost like gangsta sign and I was like YEAH, OG and we had a moment. And that's when he made the noises looolol. I was like.. damn LOL. And he took my hand and kissed it. Throughout all of this, I was too distracted to see if Minnie was trying to charm Chicken, but in the end, all that matters is...
That Mickey recognizes that Oswald is a g.
That's it.
This night was magic.
So cuuute!
Since it was Lunar New Year, decorations were up. And it was SO beautiful!
Another reason why California Adventure is awesome is because it gets decorated more elaborately throughout the year during seasonal stuff. And it's GORGEOUS at night. The Mickey ferris wheel, the pier, the lights, the restaraunts, the hotel, everything comes together in this beautifully lit .... thingy. Disneyland has a charm to it, but not like California Adventure. Especially during Halloween. And since it was just us, we could take it in in the quiet of night without any other distractions. Man... this was so pretty.
Haven't seen this movie, but the lights drew me in ^_^
Buzz was on a mission, but briefly stopped for me so that I may snap this. My immersion remained intact.
We stayed the entire time. And as we were leaving the park, I ran into my boss, and my sweet mermaid, Madi ^_^
Um. the next day.... was a struggle. So much so that my boss brought us donuts. Which was insanely cool of her. Because she was dying too lol.
A lot of people who came in were also dead. It was funny and sad, but mostly funny.
Also, random thing, but.... I never cared before. The thought never even crossed my mind. But watching him maneuver a manual shift is like, attractive. Somehow. I haven't dissected it too much, but something about him driving a manual is like... hey.
Yup. that's it.
HI SAM
I'll always remember these selfies as the side effects of waking up with a nose bleed. Also, daylight is great natural lighting.
N O O D L E
lol our neighbors came over and were like, here are noodles! And we were like, HOKAY :D
The noodle demand is no joke. They sold out of the spicy miso boxes so had to go get more LOL. On top of selling like, the fancy noodles, they were giving away sample shoyu packets. Best day ever lol. I think in total I got like 6 boxes.
I bought 1 shoyu box (of 5), plus got a free sample packet. By then I had two sample packets because my boss's boss got me one lol. And then when they brought more miso boxes, I went back and bought 3 miso boxes and 1 more shoyu box. Someone in line behind me didn't realize it was cash only, so I got him a box. And then on my way back, I saw my friend who was eyeing the booth and ... here I am with a ton of noodle boxes lol... she didn't have time to stop by, so I gave her a miso box. By that point I had two of each, I'd give Chicken a miso and shoyu box, and the other two were for me. That was a good day. I still haven't gone through my supply. And Chicken said he'd trade noodles with me. Turns out, I like the shoyu noodles way more, so I'm gonna give him my spicy miso noodles for his shoyu :D
I ROASTED COCAO BEANS in attempts to make a valentine's day treat for Chicken. He had no idea. Which was probably for the best lol. It wasn't even on purpose. I went to vallarta to find cocoa powder, but they didn't have any. And in my laziness to not put up with the outside world longer than I had to, I spotted cocoa beans and decided to just make my own cocoa powder.
This was a learning opportunity, to say the least.
So, I looked up how to roast cocoa beans. Did that. They smelled AMAZING. Just... raw cocoa smell. So good. But then... I had to minnow? Which... I didn't understand until halfway through PEELING them. Nyl was so nice and helped me peel them for like 94875013948 years. But yeah... I learned something.
Um. and then grinding them. And... honestly. I had no clue what I was doing. It didn't grind into the powder I needed it to be for the thing I was making. And the ingredients I had just didn't work with the grind I DID have. So... in the end, the result was a giant fail. Nyl tried to salvage it by turning the failure into some kind of brownie mix. So recalled everything she could in her knowledge of baking, and
The next morning...
This was the result. I tried a little.... and... it wanted to be something. But wasn't... quite there. LOL. We tried. It was our frankenvalentine chocolate monstrosity. I learned later that she added frosting to it. Which Chicken tried and said it wasn't horrible LOL.
So with my botched experiement, we just ended up going to Seoul Street instead, which was amazing. Angie gave me dumplings just because. I love them so much omg.
And on Friday, during our lunch break, Chicken brought his miata so we could zip around campus to go get stuff. Zips must be done in the miata, otherwise the zips won't be zippy enough.
Black velvet on black?
I will love this shirt forever.
Pretty sure I stress drew this. I don't even remember.
IT'S BEEN FUN. Was this long?
My bad.
THat's IT. I'm done. lol
I have rice waiting for me in the kitchen.
Friends are at Dreamhack this weekend. Tempting. But so are jammies and not leaving my room. THE WEEKEND MUST GO ON in comfy mode. Farewell. And sorry for the long post. And uh.
Everyone is awesome and
uh
I'm excited for the future. Because.
NDA.
YAY, STUFF.
ok bye.