Summer break

Coming into this post is a little daunting. So alright, lets go.

• Last left off with a fractured foot, a degree in Mortuary Sciences, spring birthdays, and Disneyland in a wheelchair. Good times.

The world kept spinning, as did my body's incredible ability to repair itself (albeit very slowly). It's been a little over three months since that unlucky day in April. However it felt like the best summer vacation I've had in years. Though my foot hurt some nights and walking again felt like a far away goal, it was still really nice to stay home and not have to think about school assignments anymore. I was a little sad to have to put some career opportunities aside, but I'm back now. :D

After graduation, my studies weren't over. National board exams were a few days away and I had about a week to prepare.

The stress of my diploma being barred by these two exams, the cost of taking them, the always pending status of returning to work, the studying, and then preparing for the embalmer's exam was uh, taxing lol. So, since my testing center was 5 minutes down the street from Disneyland, I went to the parks to study for a few hours before going in for the Arts portion.

Arts is misleading. It pertains to business management, mortuary law, funeral directing protocols, FTC and health codes, history and sociology. Between the Arts portion and the Sciences, Arts personally was harder. That afternoon as I made my way out of California Adventure, Clarabelle was by the entrance. I took this as a good sign. It's not often that she's spotted walking about. We took some photos and I left feeling super happy. I passed.

The following day was the Sciences exam. This portion was more fun for me. As one can guess, it pertains to anatomy, chemistry, microbiology, restorative art, embalming, procedure protocol, and pathology. I fucking love sciences. Until numbers are involved.

I passed. And we went to dinner that night. It was the lightest I've felt mentally in years. I was done with school. Officially. And finally!

We ordered too much food as usual, but the happiness couldn't be contained. It had to be mirrored in food.

SO HAPPIIII and FREEEE

There's this adorable cafe I really like. So my sister in law and I went for a cute yummy time.

I wanna go back soon.

And....I literally forgot what we all went to go see LOL.

Oh wait, I think it was Across the Spiderverse. It must be, because Lifa's doing the spidey widey.

From what I can remember of it, I didn't dislike it entirely. I'm a terrible movie person. Unless I'm completely enraptured within the first 10 seconds, films generally are a miss. I'm afraid that my attention span is just way too unforgiving. I do recall finding it really colorful though. There were some scenes that were pretty and creatively executed, and some that were kinda overkill. Other than that, the plot I think was okay.

Finally watched La La Land recently.
The viewer watches on as Time reaps lovers towards a slow death. They will be ghosts again. Fun.

This year, I tried foam clay to craft stuff with. Kinda hate it, also kinda appreciate its simplicity.

I had to make a prop for a cosplay, and clay felt too arduous. I was zealous but like, not that zealous. Foam clay seemed much simpler to work with. And it was! EXCEPT it droops. The face became distorted and swelled in all kinds of directions overnight. It was the first thing I worked on, not really knowing how the foam would behave before it dried. The nose flattened, the cheeks dropped outwards and rounded out the face, the mouth corners and lines softened significantly. The eyebrows and just... everything drooped and flattened and... I learned my lesson.
The rest of the body was going to be more or less, covered in fabric and painted so beyond the silhouette, detail wasn't important. Overall, I learned that for larger scale projects, it's nice because it can be manipulated easily and covers a lot. The downside is detailing and gravity. It's best to work with smaller portions to keep the product less susceptible of being weighed down. This took me a while to finish, so lets move on.

Lifa's bday was something else! He wanted a fighting game bday, so he hosted a small tourney and Mr. Chicken and I were lowkey repping chars we play.

Very very low key. He likes Kiske. I wore subtle little things. A big clue was my shirt. If anyone's ever read Goethe's novel... spoiler. I also had syringe earrings and a scalpel necklace. The necklace was actually a gift from a private autopsy company lol

The drink menu lmao

Was a really good turnout. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Games, food, drinks, friends and good hangs.

 
The tourney was so much fun. Different pools; pros and casuals. On a separate white board he listed all the fighter games we could play. Whoever was up had to rock, paper, scissors their opponent for the pick.

 

But the options were all covered.

I would've loved to have seen someone get Isshin or Malenia LOL. It got spicy, but like good exciting spicy. Not salty spicy. Damn. I miss it lol. We gonna put another event like this together and hopefully get more people involved. Maybe set up more stations.

These were so funny when I realized what they were and why xD. Ugh, May lol. Honestly, idc that she's broken good, how is that fun? Victory through means of an inferior character would demonstrate a more admirable measure of finesse, no? I'm dumb, don't listen to me.

We dragged them out for dinner a few days later.

They had to try the smoked Old Fashioned and the appetizers.

Gaaammerrrrssss.
Man, I don't care for clams, but those were pretty good.

LITTLE TOKYO | pt I

My friend and colleague hadn't been to Little Tokyo. We had graduated together in May and told each other that we had to make a day of it.

And we absolutely did.

We spent a few hours wandering the district until we met up with my other friends. It was awesome  to finally introduce them to each other. They were both at our wedding but didn't cross paths really.

She and I got cute yummy drinkies and met up with them at the brewery. And then video gaaaaames :D

Yay KI ^_^

Was a lot of fun! She's not into gaming, but I teased that if she hangs out with nerds enough she'll come around. :B
Afterwards, we dropped her off and I decided to stick around and join them in their downtown LA debauchery. Ohhh man. What a night.

I don't know what it is, but either I'm too old for this or I'm just doing it wrong. They wanted to bar hop, and so we did. We went to this speakeasy that was really pretty and vintage-y/noir-y inside. This magician dude approached us and put on a show. It was fun, and impressive. I liked the drink I got.

Then we went to a few other places. I'm pretty sure I did it wrong. There was a dance room and the music wasn't my favorite but I could dance to it. Everyone was having a good time. Then this couple came towards me and one of them complimented me. One of them started dancing with me and her gf kinda walked off. She was drunk, whatever, so was I and having a good time, when she leans in and asks to kiss me. I told her nah I'm good and she was like what really, why. Told her I was married. Short story; she was flabbergasted, I gave her a pep talk and hyped her up about life, she was very affectionate but thankful for me encouraging her on life stuff, and hugged me like... I was her mom or something, said she'd never forget me and walked off. I resumed my rhythmic flailing. Friends were right there just watching probably thinking wtf is happening lol.

Then this other person approaches me. He's adorable, whatever. Starts dancing with me lol. Long story short; he asks if he can kiss me after telling me a little bit about his life. I told him nah I'm good, and he was like huh, really why LOL. Told him I'm married and he was like, this puppy thing that started to drunkenly fall apart in front of me. I gave him life advice too. SIGH LOL. He hugged me ... and again, like I was a mom, and he thanked me. He was really sweet, just drunk and young. And then he walked off. The whole time the guys were watching me like a hawk. A couple times I could see them close in and check in with me- best bros in the world. I'd give them a thumbs up to let em know I was good.

While we all had a good time, and honestly I felt like I could enjoy myself more than usual because the guys were there. Though it was a little sad to observe these people approach me this way. It's flattering, but I ended up kinda lecturing them. They were looking for affection within a stranger and the more they opened up to me the harder it was to shut off my analyzing brain. I hope that they're doing well, wherever they may be. Being rejected sucks when you put yourself out there so I hyped them up, complimented and encouraged them, and meant it. But idk. Those aren't encounters that give entirely fun feel-good feels. Not just because I'm committed to my relationship and my husband, but just as a personal thing.
As you can clearly see, I'm super fun at parties.

Now if it was a V cosplayer approaching me to give me a rose at a convention or something, without saying a word, and walking off... that's a different story. No speaking, no awkward glances, just... mystery and romance. :D

The night was fun with the guys. There were pretty bars too. I liked those. The first speakeasy was my favorite. It was quiet and dark inside and wasn't crowded. I wouldn't mind going back to that one. I really liked it. Be a little awkward if that magician was there again though. Later that night he messaged me on ig asking me out for drinks. Said nah I'm good.

I'd be down again but maybe I'd let them wander other bars and I could just stay at the speakeasy while sipping on my yummy drink. Maybe read in a dimly lit corner or something.

Swoooooon

Back to crafting!
This doll really tested me. If I had kept working on her nonstop, I think it would've taken me a day?

Took many, many short cuts. Ophelia helped.

The skirt was the worst part.

Geometry and estimating lengths and shapes and compensating for folds and dimensions and... I can't. My brain just won't. It's like... you have to visualize it in your brain first before being like, ah okay yeah so that's how it'll look like, or that's how it more or less SHOULD come out. I see grey nothingness. Or just... nothing. So everything I do creatively I need to see beforehand. This was annoying to do, but it got done. I didn't like how the face turned out, but it worked and was done before the con.

ANIME EXPO 2023 |

We could only handle one day. Mr. Chicken noped out. I don't blame him.

Had a lot of cool stuff. This year my cosplay which was pretty short lived despite all the work I put into making the doll.

The good thing was that I didn't really have to pose or try. The bad was that it was hot, and the dress kept getting stepped on.

We wandered mostly and checked in on friends.

After maybe 2 hours if that, I changed out. Perhaps if I could see better out of the veil the entire thing would've been slightly more tolerable.

Man. The most exciting thing I was looking forward to was the Yakuza panel. I was so stoked for it. Ngl, only recognizing two people on the panel gave me a weird feeling, but it's fine.

[ REDACTED OPINION ]

I enjoyed Kuroda and Sakamoto's input.

Afterwards, there was an afterparty thingie that we went to check out.

Was fun. Idk if I'd go again. As much as I wanna do stuff at these events, the music sucks. And like, clubs like this doesn't really do anything for me lol. But I like doing stuff with my group of friends, so it was cool because of them. :3

Happy July 4th from AX.

Was cool but I don't think I can enjoy AX the same way I used to. It's too big. It wasn't even the crowds. Like, I like to go because of the cosplays, artist alley and seeing the booths and stuff. But it just feels like walking through a car dealership show room. I can't explain it more than that. Not trying to be a hater. I didn't grow up in CA and my first AX was in 2012 and I loved it, but damn it feels different.

The next day, we all went for a drive.

Was a nice day out, but the heat kicked my ass. I slept on the way back down the mountain.

I wonder if they're still together.

Mountain drives are relaxing. I imagine that driving through the mountains at night is just as relaxing, but that's also putting a lot of faith in other drivers to be as cautious- which I'm incapable of doing. This was super nice. I hope we do it again soon. And like, take a picnic basket or something.

DISNEYLAND | AGAIN:D

We were back for an important mission.

The lines weren't bad! I saw someone online mentioning it was because it's the lull period between commencement and summer vacation. Wait times were down and it was smooth sailing.

He ruined my shot T_T.

We went back to Magic Key Terrace so they could try it out. A low key day of chills at the parks. That's the real magic. ^_^

Ngl. My foot was pretty sore and swollen by the end of this, in case anyone was wondering how the healing was coming along, but ...the pain was worth it!

They went on the spinny rocket ships while Mr. Chicken said nooooouuu. I kept Mr. Chicken company. That's a ride I've never been on before now that I think about it. I should go on it next time.

So something I've really been taking to heart, especially because of my foot injury, is to be selfish with our pleasures. Take that time off. Nurture yourself. Enjoy the things and people that bring you peace of mind, strength, and laughter. Be good to yourself. If spoiling yourself makes you feel guilty, it makes it hard for others to spoil you too. And as always, appreciate what you already have. Walking is crazy. I'm telling you. So I'm gonna live it up until... I'm not.

Lifa wanted to see the Captain America show! That was the whole reason we went. He had us watch the movie beforehand for context, lol. I liked it.

The show was 30 minutes, but it was well done getting all the plot in there. The Rockettes had big Andrews Sisters vibes.

We were back in the Mos Eisley cantina before noon and enjoying coffee porter stout ice cream floats for lunch. The little things. Revel in them while you can.

 

Little Tokyo | pt. II

We hadn't all hung out together since the semester ended. We were all so desperate for a break that everyone went out and got a life again lol. But oh man this was nice.

There's something about camaraderie through the most grueling experiences that just... hits hard and different. Mortuary sciences was a whole WOW, but we had each others backs through it and we've trauma bonded looolol. Not even because of the nature of it- death was the last thing we were concerned about.

It was a good day. Venting about our experiences in the industry and struggles through our education just felt good, because we had a break. We didn't get a summer break last year. Just a little over a week between semesters lmao. While Cris and I put ourselves through a deeper layer of death education inferno, the other girls said No thank you m'am, and actually respected their own mental health. Good for them. They can go into their last semester rested, refreshed, glowing, moisturized and ready. I'm glad we graduated early, but OH MAN LOL WE WEREN'T READY. Also, Cris and I are both Virgos- it's disgusting.

When Val and Han had to depart a little earlier, Cris and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking about life and work over drinks. We both work at the same company, just different departments. It's dope. I love this for us lol.

And after her to BookOff, I said posing like an anime waifu was the only way to be taken seriously in life.

Nailed it. Cryptkeeper hands uwu. They look like they need some tissue builder. I bet anything if I go that route, my hands would get it looolol. Have to put it in my will or something and be like nah they're literally just always gross like that, don't tissue build my hands pls.

And then ...

Because the train wasn't running and we didn't wanna take an uber, she suggested we use the scooters to get back to her place. I was terrified, but she assured me that it'd be fine. And! We could both fit on one scooter LOL

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I was cradled in that little empty nook and she drove us through downtown. I felt like a chihuahua. Dude... longest squat of my life. She put her embalming muscles to work every time the scooter seemed to die a little. My heart would drop every time we were crossing a street but she pulled us through.

And later, she wanted to visit a different kind of club. In the end, I think we were both kind of on the same page about it afterwards. The music wasn't great, and while she wanted to experience it, it just wasn't her vibe. Honestly, it wasn't mine either (not anymore). The band playing that night was... it was one of those bands that have whiny, high register shrieky vocals and sounds kinda metal but isn't. We didn't stay all night, but did enjoy the time we spent there.

A little bit of celebration was had before Mr. Chicken and Lifa departed for Vegas. They were on a long journey to travel through the weekend lands of FanFest 2023, stay in Vegas the entire week, and then attend EVO 2023 the following weekend.

Preemptive debauchery keeps the good vibes in check.

They also asked if I could make them some masks for their FanFest cosplays.

Foam clay to the rescue!! Honestly, after learning how to work with it earlier on, this was much easier to undertake. It still was annoying when it wouldn't set in the original shape I wanted, but the harsher lines I wanted this time around came out better defined.

This is what I stared with lol. It worked pretty well!

When Mr. Chicken left for Vegas, sis in law and I went a little feral.

 

We'd go out on lunch dates and excursions to places that didn't deserve our money but tested our will-power.

 

But if it was food it was fine. :D

Sushi is peak noms for hot summer days.

Ophelia was upset that her dad was gone at first, but she seemingly seemed okay after a couple days.

The guilt I felt over my soon also having to leave her for a weekend was definitely there.

Her dad not being home meant she spent more time at my desk. :')

So, for Evo, I was working on a lowkey cosplay.

Went out of my way to thrift the dress and butcher a red purse for its strap. Made the hair clip and collar. And I took it all with me, but ended up not wearing it. I felt more comfortable in my pleb clothes. It be like that sometimes. It's fine, I suck at Bedman.

And so began the campaign to join Mr. Chicken and Lifa on their adventures through Vegas for EVO 2023.

Thanks for getting this far!

Til next time :D