NFDA 2023

  Cozy time beckons all. The sweetest time of the year is upon us! Warm scents and colors have us all in a puddle of bweuuuggghhh. Psychology of color theory shows that yellows invoke a sense of joy, cheer, optimism, and laughter. Red is innately passionate - neither positive nor negative. Mix them together and what do you get? Literally pumpkins.

Made myself a latte because there's some catching up to do. Lets rewind again.

I took this in September. It's a reminder to work on my writing project. Not really sure what to call it? It's a story, but I'm unsure of the direction it'll take - whether it'll be a short story or draw out into a longer novella type thing. I have it started, just can't get myself to sit and continue. The desire burns. OH WELL.

This photo is cute. Ah, our cemetery. It's huge, but also special in that it's a park as well. There are sections much older than others, this being one of them. And it's my favorite area.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have ended up working somewhere that has its own cemetery. It's the best. The only negative to it, I think, is that by the end of the work day all I wanna do is go home instead of exploring other cemeteries lol. I've gotten so comfortable despite my yearning for exploration. Perhaps if other friends were to bribe me with their sense of adventure and excitement, I may endeavor to leave the comfort of my home for other green pastures. 

Has there ever been a time when you're driving home from work, and out of the blue your friend goes Ya'll down for Disney? They got Kingdom Hearts stuff at like 7:38pm?

The same day that these pins were announced, we found ourselves meeting up in Downtown Disney.

That day was loaded. I was supposed to be off work at 3. The last time I thought I was gonna die was when my old Starbucks store got robbed and the guy held a gun to our faces. Welp. On this particular day, I stood in the chapel with my colleagues, looking out the glass panel wall at the plants... and then the sky, the pebbles on the ground, the colors of the beautiful view before me, a cruel juxtaposition to circumstances- my back to the commotion behind me. I took a deep breath and just accepted that there might be a chance I may not go home that night. Spoiler; we all did, thankfully. We just had to be escorted back to the mortuary by the sheriff's department. This impromptu Disney outing was exactly what I needed to ease my mind after the day's events.

Once the quest items were acquired, it was time for breweryyyy!! The crowds were winding down and it was a weekday. That's always the best. That espresso crème brulée was divine. Pumpkin cheesecake was also yummy! Considering a lot of stuff in Downtown Disney is being offered for the season, I think we can arrange another trip there for tastings. :D

This year's Halloween costumes for the characters are really cute. I'm not sure how obvious or deliberate it is, but the color palette gave me nostalgia for old cartoons that used the 2 color process in the 1930s.

Source: Disneyland News Today

Poor Cinderella (1934), Fleisher Studios

While we never leave empty handed in spirit after a visit to Disney, some shot glasses were spotted that we had to bring home.

And of course the best queen's pin.

I'm not sure if it surprises me or not that folks are still unaware that Emperor's New Groove takes place in Peru.

NFDA 2023 | Las Vegas

"You should go", they said. "It'll be fun!" they said. "This is the first and probably only time that this convention will be this close to the state of California!"

I had JUST been there a month prior for EVO. And back for the National Funeral Director's Association International Convention & Expo. The excitement was unreal!

We got so lucky with the hotel too. It was right next to the convention center and I think we got one of the last 2 rooms available through NFDA. Thank goodness.

So, what is it? It's what you might expect. Funeral professionals from all over the world gather to educate, learn, showcase and network. And maybe party. No cosplay, though. It is where we can all go to discuss and commiserate in our profession on service and how to get good. More good. Gooder. The goodest. To serve.

 

The drive was smooth and quick. We were allowed to check in early and promptly went to get our badges. Easiest process ever. We had a lot of time to kill so we wandered around for a bit before dinner.

Now this is where I admit, I messed up. Or rather, I feel like I did. I had made us reservations at the cute spot. She was down and it's something I was excited for her to experience. When we arrived at check in, we saw banners with info for a rooftop event!! At our hotel! For NFDA peeps!!! THAT SAME NIGHT. I had no idea!! We were torn. I was bummed because on one hand, we wanted to go to this thing. On the other, reservations had to be made days before. A part of me wishes that we had gone a different route that night. C'est la vie.

We had to go to the Paris, in the middle of the strip. This took us on a little bit of a fun detour while we waited for our table. I found this really cool lounge with curiosities. The anatomical statue summarizes it entirely. We didn't go in there but this made a mental note for me to revisit the next time we're there.
We also got to go on a VR thing. Like, you get into this doombuggy thing and wear the VR thing. It was cool. We got 2 scenarios.
The first was a scary/horror themed one where you're in a wheelchair, rolling through the corridors of a haunted, demented asylum. You begin in a room that looks like something out of Silent Hill, with some kind of gross medical practitioner chick vivisecting you. Then you're slowly being pushed through the corridor, passing by other rooms, gurneys with bodies on them, a room with a meat grinder beneath you as your only path is a metal bridge from one door to the other. There are off putting characters throughout, and the end is an uncomfortable, slow submersion into water after dangling off the edge of a narrow path looking into an abyss. The room slowly fills with liquid as psychological triggers go off in your head that can be only described as anticipating faux drowning. And then you see it.

I enjoyed that scenario quite a bit :D

The second scenario attempted to create the vertigo that comes with centrifugal force felt in a spinning ride. You're in the middle of an empty city, on some ride in the little car kinda like a ferris wheel buggy, looking down from super high up, and it drops and just spins all over the place for a while. In the end, it crashes and gives a mild sense of anticipatory dread. I found it less exciting.

Cris is awesome. She's so chill. Her words are deliberate in similar fashion to my own deliveries. There's little to no embellishment. When there is embellishment, it's more of a hyperbolic tool for comedic effect. I find this to be one of my favorite traits in people. But that's just my bias. My husband is similar.

No offense to peeps who utilize embellishing to convey meaning, lol. I'm the problem. Pagliacco shid.

We had a delightful little meal. It doesn't look like much but we left really full. From there, we had a long way back to our hotel. We had some choices. We could uber again back to the hotel. Or we could see if we could take the tram. Or...

We could walk all the way back.

With warm tummies.
We were in the mood for something sweet and refreshing. Quest completed. And they gave us free double tequila jello shots.

Even though the walk was 40 years long, it was pleasant. The weather was nice and we weren't catcalled. Lowest common demonitator but ya acknowledge the good when it happens.

By the time we reached the hotel, we were pooped. The rooftop event had already concluded, sadly. When we walked through the casino we could see attendees everywhere. It was exciting. There's a thrill to the sight of people gathering for the same reason as you. But we were already in bed by 8:30pm. We knocked out instantly.

We were up early the next morning which gave us time to enjoy the breakfast buffet!

Being here was kind of an extra special thing. We weren't sure if we were even going to be able to make it this year. Attendance could simply be paralleled to having access to a multiple courses, with several continuing education credits at our disposal for our professional growth. Costs absolutely reflect this. NFDA membership cushions some of the cost, but it is a unique event meant for opportunity and investment.

We were able to attend thanks to Frigid Fluid. It's a long story, but I will try to make it short and sweet. Because it's definitely sweet.

One of my professors also happens to work with Frigid. Aaaand an artist I came across on social media (who is also a funeral service practitioner) also happened to start working with Frigid as well! Turns out they know each other! No surprise there really, but still a cool thingie. It was cute. He'd see her stickers on my water bottle and tell her. Or I'd talk to her about school and his class and ... it was just all cute. She sent me a really sweet little care package while I was going through it. I'll never forget it.
Anywho, Frigid Fluid is a company that distributes stuffs and things for the prep room. They're all nerds. The lot of them. Cute nerds.
SO, Frigid was holding this sorta raffle thing, I guess? For an opportunity to attend the conference free of charge.
Cris and I both applied. I wasn't expecting to get it, but we were both approved! And... it's because of Frigid Fluid that we were able to be there at all this year.

Aaannd the cherry on top, personally, was that I finally got to meet Amanda.

She gives off this aura, this amazing Jill of all Trades with a warm heart. That morning she actually had a seminar and it was a full house. She is a mom, an advocate for funeral service and families, an artist, a designer, a monumental pillar of support for gremlin students that express their grievances for mortuary school, and the list goes on. Amanda was so sweet, I was thrilled to have finally met her and I can't wait to see the stuff she's coming out with. We saw the prototype for her kit and it's *chef's kiss* perfect. I want one.

AND. I've been slacking, but there's a thing I'm working on, with her permission, that will be revealed when the time is right. I can't wait for peeps to see it.

What else? Oh. And see Doc too I GUESS.

Juss kidding. I really liked my professors throughout my studies. Ngl he was kinda hard to approach initially, but once I worked up the courage to nag him all the time after exams, I found him easy to communicate with. I think it's because he too is weirdly terse.

Ahem. Please forgive my enthusiasm, mm?

My excitement for these has no bounds.
They are urns and urn keepsakes.

This reminds of an urn that my old mentor told me about. This girl lost her boyfriend. They played DnD together with their group of friends, so she had a custom urn made in the shape of a D20 just for him. Their yearly ritual would be to roll the die to see how the year would play out as they moved forward with his loss. It's one of the most touching stories I've heard. And despite the sadness that it bears, the urn itself brings a palpable comfort just hearing about it.

I wannit. Both of them.

There was so much stuff to see. So many booths. So many people from all over. Nothing short of amazing.

These are alternatives to memorial sign-in books. Messages are recorded by guests and kept for the family to revisit whenever they want. I can see the value in this because when guests arrive, if there's a line behind you there's a little bit of pressure to hurry and just sign your name. How lovely would it be to hear the beautiful stories about your loved one from so many people that came to support you?

Pretty is an understatement.

And there was a station full of snacks and lattes being made for people.

 

Cheers to thanatology

There was a whiskey tasting booth guuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrlll

We won teddy bears!



SO.

We got to have a really, really cathartic and positive chat with a former board member. And... that's all I can say. That book will be mine. It blows 5th Edition out of the water. Like, I could see myself going through it, meticulously, easily, over and over, and admiring the visuals because it's just so damn beautiful. I'm getting this book.

Height adjustable tables save lives backs.

Sooo purddyyyy

The capeless heroes.

I wish service dogs were a more frequent option for families to have during services. There are I'm sure, a slew of additional things that go with having a pupper employee for grief work but my mind wants to just imagine puppers being present if the family requests it for guests. It adds more work for the family in finding out if guests have allergies, too, so perhaps it won't be the best option but I feel in this day and age, there are always work arounds with these things. Idk. This message brought to you by idealistic Cynth.

This was fun. We were talking with peeps here and I asked them what they'd use on me in a specific scenario. I used to think that was weird, among other idealizations, but was comforted when my professors shared their own expressions and said I was normal.

We wanted to be back at the Frigid booth by 4:30 for the cake cutting ceremony.
 

Yaaaaaaayyy!

Embalming machine cake woooo!
Buttercream yumness. We were served pieces of the tank. It was delicious.

So stinkin cute!

The floor was closing I think at 5 or 6, can't remember. But man, what an awesome first day. We had so much fun and got so much swag and probably a billion tote bags with stuff inside.

 

On our way out of the convention, I spotted Kari! She's a FS Practioner who has a youtube channel advocating education and understanding of funeral service. I've referenced her videos a few times to help with papers. Being able to meet her and thank her in person for her contribution was an unexpected highlight!

We got dropped our stuff off at the room and winded down for a bit until we got hungry.

Crossroads was open, so we went there. We got some stuff comp'd because there was a blonde hair in the food.

We had saved these lol. They were great before going to bed, hahaha.

 

I forget which night this was but we kept running into Doc

He caught me wearing the best tshirt. It was appropriate! I nagged him about making the stickers into a shirt, and look! It's the best shirt ever. lol He was like eww why are you wearing your badge still. Look. I'm a cosplayer, it goes everywhere with me even when it's ugly lol.
Anyway, selfie!

Idk how to pose so I flashed him a gang sign after this, it's fine.

The next morning we checked out and got breakfast. While the event went on for I think another day, we had to get back. But we were gonna enjoy the last day as much as time allowed.

The hall didn't open until a little later, so we tried our luck in the casino. Surprisingly, I finally won! Not surprisingly, Cris's first time with the machines taught her the unforgiving lessons of Vegas casinos.

We headed towards the convention center to take in and enjoy our last day there.

And enjoy, we did!

We had to come see them again. It was so good getting acquainted with the other Frigid peeps, they were so kind and excited about everything, and just so fun to talk to. Doc's face lit up when Cris talked about how the Frigid machine is at work. He's so passionate about stuff, it's both fascinating and entertaining watching him elaborate.

MEOW MEOW

Gaaaah, NFDA was so so much fun.
Frankly, I was somewhat nervous going in because I'm so used to feeling looked at kinda judgey-ish in professional settings. I tried really hard to tone things down and look as conservative as possible. My nervousness was quickly gone upon being greeted by all of the booths and how friendly everyone was. I got to meet so many professionals across several fascets of funeral service. There's so much innovation happening. There was even a booth that works with humane societies across the country for cremating the most tragic euthanasia cases, due to overpopulation and not being adopted. Their remains made into beautiful stones as keepsakes, showcasing an alternative option for keeping or creating something beautiful with beloved cremated remains. Cristal and I were fortunate enough to bring a stone home with us. I don't know who the fur baby was, but I will treasure its remains forever.

Such a fun, friendly, warm, welcoming environment. There was only one time where I was like, ew wow alright bye then, but it was literally just one time. Everyone else was amazing. I stress this because we're young, barely getting our footing in and were surrounded by people who have been doing this for 10, 15, 20+ years. It's a little intimidating. Granted, there are things that time has readjusted for the better, but experience and knowledge, as expansive and adaptable as it is over time, is respectable. So, being welcomed as we were, and being engaged with in conversation with such enthusiasm as a newb felt great.

This is the shirt I grabbed for Mr. Chicken. It's beautiful.

So much swag. This wasn't even all of it. 

THERE'S THE STICKER.

It's for embalm calc. It's a calculator app for formulating embalming solutions. I need it because I'm only good at girl math, which is only useful at Disneyland because it's, at it's core, denial.

Well, thanks A-Latte for getting this far. This went on longer than I thought.

My coworker made me this bat plushie for my birthday!

And Mr. Chicken bought this spirit for us to have fun with. I haven't come up with anything to mix it with. Yet. The color is super pretty.

We're nearing the end. It's late. I have work early tomorrow morning. This probably wouldn't have taken me 12 hours to write if I hadn't put on Haunting of Hill House again. Been distracting me all day.

Speaking of late..
When I work late, I get these beautiful views as I make my way down the cemetery roads.

Photo doesn't do it justice, of course. But I love these views. So much. There's something comforting about the darkness around you, the quiet, and then this brilliant glow along the horizon. Like diamonds or something. It's rare that the stars are viewable because of how the city lights illuminate the smog, but when they're out, it's... amazing. Sigh. I'm so ugh, ew lol.

Anywho, I'm gonna spend some more time with the Bent-Neck lady and hopefully not get sleep paralysis. Tis the season for spooks, after all.

A thousand times goodnight. Oh, I finally beat Elden Ring.
Okay, good night. ^-^