四

     It's 2024. Luck be with you. We have 5 more days of January left.

If you're not superstitious, this won't matter much. In some places on this planet we inhabit, the word "four" sounds a lot like "dead." In their language. Like Mandarin. The only difference is the tone. So "four" is bad juju.

And here we are.

Granted, I'm not convinced that the Universe is sentient and out for blood and suffering. Nor am I convinced there's some celestial being that's sentient yet unfathomable enough... but that exists that has established that suffering is the only thing outside of their immeasurable omnipotence that just... can't be managed. Like, sorry guys. I'm all powerful and loving, but I can't do anything about guys like Cho Doo-soon.

So, in theory, bad juju is meaningless and if anything, a creation of our own oh-so-flawed byproducts. But, it's still interesting.

What better way to start this off than with some durian dessert.

It'd been too long.

So, Mr. Chicken isn't one to visit cemeteries at night time. However...

When your car battery dies at work, it's a great excuse to have him come down anyway and rescue you, yaaaay!
Security let him in lol. One of our security dudes met me at my car after I was off work and he had 3 jumper kits with him. He tried! None of them worked. He figured that they were used throughout the day and weren't charged enough to resuscitate Noodle. It was a valiant effort. I called Mr. Chicken and he made the brave voyage through the security gate, and over to poor Noodle and myself. She lived! But! She was covered in battery acid, and the battery wasn't that old, so it was concerning. The next day, Noodle was out of commission while Dr. Chicken ran some diagnostics. Thankfully, she was okay and he has since gotten me my own jump kit that I will cover in cute stickers.

I actually had plans to meet someone for lunch the next day, but then that happened. Bummer too because I was looking forward to mostly talking a lot of shit about way back when LOL. He's a former tourmate of my ex, but we're cool. Poor guy probably dealt with more BS than I can fathom. Idk, but yeah. That didn't happen. The stars aligned, and then unaligned. Or something.

I am in my scrunchie era. Again. And side pony-tail era. That's it. It's just how it is. Blame it on the 4.

We had a recent fight night at Homdray's. So much fun!

Just some bros bro'in.

Glad you made it out, Thad!
GODDA GO FASSUR

Idk what's happening but it must've been important because Koos started twerking kinda

Omg that cinnamon roll beer that Smurr brought was wild. It tasted like... a cinnamon roll. HOW DID HE KNOW I'D LIKE IT. It's a mystery. We got way too much food, it was glorious.

I made everyone some Just-Okay, Shitty Old Fashioneds, and they kinda liked them. So we renamed them to a 24 Chill. Homdray didn't have oranges so I used orange juice roflmaoooo the sacrilege

It was a really good time. I feel like we need another one soon now that Tekken 8 is out. Azucena looks fun but Yoshimitsu's so much yummier. Gross lol

Work has been good. I feel like I can operate more efficiently. I've been there a little over a month now and there's a lot to learn still, but it's been good. Got humbled  q u i c k.

My license took effect earlier last week finally. I am officially a California licensed Apprentice Embalmer. Feels good to say that. Took me long enough. I've been feeling like that already for a few weeks now. Feeling it a lot in my left wrist lol. And this past work week, I felt it in my left knee, and then my left hip. And a little in my left shoulder. So I started using my right side, and now I feel that license in my right shoulder. Feels great. It's like a welcome party in my tendons and muscles.

"This is your chosen esoteric profession, so get RIPped or suffer. Congrats and welcome aboard! You've urn'd it!"

I'm sorry.

Earlier this week I took a sick day and was essentially bed ridden the entire day.

I put on Casablanca and tried to ignore my screaming knee and hip every time I shifted my weight. I'm better now. My knee ALMOST passed the test yesterday. It did pretty well for what I put it through.

We're back in California Adventuuuurrrrree. Lunar New Year stuff is up and the food stalls are out! Wooooooouuuououooo

Yesterday was the last day our Magic Key was in effect. It's expired now.

But we renewed them both and upgraded and it went into effect today, yaaaaaaaaaayyyy!
And last night was especially special! Because we were waiting to meet someone there. :3

In the mean time, we got to see the Lunar New Year parade

Super pretty! Dragons, because Year of the Dragon.

Annnd of course Mushu made an appearance. There were some dancers here and there in really pretty outfits.

And that was pretty much it.

This is kind of unfair but nothing will ever top Oswald and Ortensia from last year. Like, nothing. It was too perfect. Year of the Rabbit and Year of the Cat in Vietnam? Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his wife, Ortensia the cat? :\

But, you know, the dragon was cool.

Cheers to another year of Disney shenanigans.

WITH LIFA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE TALKED HIM INTO GETTING A MAGIC KEY AND HE DID
AAAAHHHHAHAHHAAH !!!!

Okay, so.
While the idea of buying a magic key may be gross to some, I justify this as therapy- whatever that can mean these days. Mental health stuff. I am a fierce proponent for mental health - my own and those I care about. One of the best things I was told while I was trying to hold it together in my first semester of Mortuary School was "Be selfish. Take the day off. Go to your friends or family and escape for the weekend. It's hard and it's going to get harder."

This came from a coworker who was with me in my last department, and had also graduated from the program a few semesters ahead of me. She left to get another position. We're reunited again in the same department now, doing the same thing. And there's just something about someone who went through the same thing as you telling you, encouraging you, to put yourself first because they get it, they lived it, and that's how they got through it. And she was right.

So here we are!

During Halloween Time, I was too late to buy the Mickey Pumpkin glow cubes. But this time I grabbed 2 of the Lotus glow cubes. NO REGRETS. I'm almost certain that by the time we go back, they'll be sold out.

D'awwww

We didn't get a Sip and Savor pass this time because we got there later in the evening and felt it wasn't worth it or have enough time to use it all. But we still tried a bunch of stuff.

This dragonfruit churro was pretty good! The strawberry matcha one will be for next time :3

lol Mater

Happy husband and happy homie means happy Cynth.

Ohoo he dancin' lol

:D

I look like absolute crap, but it's the moment that counts!

Am trying to decide if I wanna keep my hair long or cut it again. I don't like it this length. Am also growing my bangs out again - just to see if it works. So far, it doesn't. But in reality, it's inconclusive until they're grown out. I'm also growing out my eyebrows, partially - just to see if it works. I hate it. But again ... inconclusive results. I do not feel my best in this ... experimental stage of growth, but it's beyond my control.


The parks close early for the next few weeks because of an after hours event. Sweethearts thingie.  So we headed over to the Grand Californian Hotel.

The decorations inside were so pretty!

Seeing this sign was bittersweet, but we hadn't been here before and they had something Mr. Chicken was wanting to try.

It was nice to unwind, and frankly cathartic last night more than usual. We ordered drinks and got comfortable.

Unfortunately the dish Mr. Chicken wanted to try was uh... relocated to another location for the event? So I ordered us a margherita pizza instead. We were so stuffed from the evening's foodie excursions.

Yesterday was a lot. Mr. Chicken actually woke me up in the morning with a phone call from work. This is somewhat unusual, but then he told me a friend of ours was laid off. I was so... confused. And he asked if I had seen any articles yet.

And that's when I felt sick to my stomach. Not. Again. 1900 people. And Mr. Chicken was still waiting to hear if he'd be affected or not. A few days prior, our friends at Riot were going through the same thing. Thank goodness they were "safe", but so many weren't.
Mr. Chicken came home early and we waited. I can't go into much, but amidst the heartbreak I felt for the people who were affected, relief came when he and some of our other friends were "safe." It still really sucked seeing so many talented people come forward, to put it lightly. I was gutted. Especially after WFH no longer is a thing and people HAVE to go into the office now. All those poor people who traveled from other places to come work there, even on Visas, only to get laid off.

There's so much more I want to say, but I can't. Only that yesterday was brutal, and we had already planned to go to California Adventure, but under much different pretenses. We took in the moments to soften some of the hit from the week's events. And I realize we're very lucky to be able to do that. I don't know how the day would've gone if Mr. Chicken had been affected. Honestly, I think we'd still go. Just for the healing factor of it. To be around a friend, to commiserate, and to escape.

I just.... sigh. I can't. This whole thing is so broken. At least Riot was transparent about solutions and assistance. Phil Spencer being at Blizzcon just... was so, so gross. And ... Just... The way that Blizzcon was handled, and how they (very tactically) chose to put a massive PR band-aid on it (in my opinion)... I can't feel that Blizzcon was a foreshadow of how things are going to be managed moving forward.

Anywho... it's been a week. We at least got groceries today. Fishballs galore. I'm craving some soup. With some glass noodles. Lotus root. Fish balls. mmm. Dumplings. Maybe make some tomorrow and enjoy it over some Fallout: New Vegas. Am really glad I got back into it. Never finished it. Started it, and for some reason I just wasn't captivated. The first settlement bored the crap out of me, so I just closed it and never looked back. The icon never left my desktop all these years, I just.. yeah. And idk why but I went back in again and bam. I love it. Feels good. It's an oldie, and seems to be everyone's favorite. I get it- it's charming. It's nice to get back into a Fallout game, feels new. Gonna go do that now, actually.

Look at the slutty drinks I got today. ^_^
The short ones are for game time and the tall ones are for work :3

Take care. Don't let the 4 scare you. Make 2024 your binch.

PS: That thing on Sunday... years ago, someone warned me about the owner. I put it out of my mind and avoided the place, but seeing flyers circling around for it made that memory resurface. Just putting it out there.

Take care now, bye bye then!