Why is Summer real

   Backlog of thoughts, chapter 394.


A P R I L |  Mom's Visit

She was in town for a few weeks to just hang and celebrate her birthday here.

Her 1st mango mousse cake; the in-laws picked it out, can't go wrong with mango cake honestly.
And I dragged her to Disney parks lol.

She got a lot of experiences this trip. We had to ensure that she wasn't gonna insist on cooking the entire time. That's usually what happens every visit- and she'll argue with us when we wanna take her out somewhere lol. But NOT THIS TIME.

Meeting Micky was totally accidental. I took us to Toon Town to wander around, and asked if she wanted to see his house. We walked through and ended up being coralled to another little area where people were waiting for something. Normally we just exit but ... I got kind of lost? Somehow? LOL in his tiny house? I don't know. Anyway, it led into this little narrow hall and opened up into a theatre room with a line, and people just waited there. Then a cast member was like THIS IS FOR PHOTOS WITH  MICKEY and we were like oh. So we just decided to stay, and... it was cool. He was in this room with lots of old timey things and my mom was excited. Totally last minute fun thing. He liked her outfit :)

My outfit is lazy, what can I say. I tried with the polka-dots just to coordinate with her a little bit LOL.

We had a lot of yummy drinkies and treats.

She didn't care to go on too many rides, but we went on a few.

She's so cute. I was trying to be her hype man.

There's always that one (extended) relative in the family that throws backhanded compliments and comments that are so out of line. so... I told my mom we can cheers to that relatives' misery in front of the Mickey wheel in the Disney parks.

I hope this relative and I can catch up face to face on my next East Coast visit. I don't even have to be confrontational. Just hold up their own mirror and smile. They picked the wrong one.

Mom's 1st omakase!

Took the whole fam out for her to experience this. I knew she was gonna be apprehensive. But that's part of the surprise!

Our first plate comes out. Tare tare with lots of stuff on it.

lol, she was like,
:\

My mom wasn't accustomed to raw food. Can't blame her, I used to be against it too. We just weren't brought up with it. But all it takes is someone you trust to not steer you wrong with food to change everything.

When she took that first bite
I watched her closely for a reaction.
She said,

:) wow

The rest was a breeze.

God, I love this place.
Bless our immune systems.

Cheers to mom going out to eat instead of arguing to stay home and cook for everyone lol :D
And her birthday!

As always, everything was delicious, and my mom thoroughly enjoyed it. As did everyone else.

Ella Fitzgerald
Louis Armstrong
Fred Astaire
Frank Sinatra

The greats said it best, "Heaven, I'm in heaven. And my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek."

When we're out together eating yummy noms
:)

The courses kept coming

I'm so glad my mom enjoyed this as much as she did. She didn't know what to expect- perfect stage for this.

We're bringing my dad here. That's already established.

The bone marrow fried rice was just mmpf.

For the cherry on top, the server brought out a shot of whisky just for the birthday girl. She was like omg lol. My mom doesn't drink much, super lightweight. But she gets really bubbly. 

The server then took one of the emptied bones and directed her to hold an end of it up to her mouth, and open wide! He took the shot glass, showing it to her, she's giggling, he nods at her asking if she's ready, she confirms with an "uh huh" and he pours it down the hollow of the bone.

It was a celebration for the ages. I sent the video and photos to my dad.

Mission accomplished. ^_^


My In-Laws took us out for dim sum.

Mom's 1st lol

She was like ohoho man dis crazy. We were like ya. She liked it!

And then we took her to have wagyu hot pot

She liked it, but felt overwhelmed. Which is understandable. She also was like you guys need to stop, and we were like, no lol.

I had some doctor appointment that she came with me to, and afterwards I was like LETS GO GET FOOD and she was like omfg again and I was like ya

Where my parents live, there aren't that many food places with the diversity that we have here in LA. Or the numbers. She also just prefers to cook, it's like, her love language. Acts of service for sure. But when she's here, we wanna throw stuff at her that she doesn't get to experience back home.

So I took her back to my work's cemetery!

The last time I brought her and my dad there, we only went to a section in a completely different part of the park. This time I brought her to one of our grottos where there's a lake and a little waterfall thingie where water friends live.

Widdle buddies.

While there, we also saw a coyote friend traversing the grounds for snacks. I wanted to give it food, poor thing. But at least it has access to water. There was also one of the groundsworkers nearby. I think he was on break, but he called us over to tell us there were turtles in the water.

We went over and I introduced myself. Thankfully he spoke Spanish, and he kindly gave us over-ripe pears to feed the fishies and turtles. He said he brings fruit there from his trees to feed the animals and had plenty to share. So, so sweet. I gave the pear to my mom and she would throw bits of it to the friends. It was such a nice, serene moment in time.

I learned some things about him, and he learned some things about me. It's funny, we both work there but don't really have the opportunity to run into each other during work hours. So this was especially pleasant. Good convo. I hope my answers satisfied his curiosity.

My mom hated her hair. Some lady cut it weird. And now that I think about it... I should've had the common sense to take her to get her hair cut. But I didn't even think about that. She got it cut anyway by my aunt that went to visit my parents after she left here, but still.

See, this is why I suck at doing girl things. Being pampered looks different to me. I don't want to be touched, let alone pay someone to touch me or handle my keratin.
But... next time my mom comes to visit... I'll try to take her to do more... girl things.

She also had her first bowl of pho! Was a long drive for this one. Sister suggested it, and it was worth it. Had a richer flavor, a little thicker but still light. I think this was my mom's favorite. More than ramen. I get it. I think pho, beef noodle soup and ramen are all great contenders for dope soup. beef noodle and pho are top 2 though.

Dragged her to the aquarium.

Hai

Sea puppy!

There's a Netflix show titled "Atypical" that features this spot at the aquarium as a respite. My mom watched a few episodes with me after some convincing on my part. It's about a teen boy navigating life through his lens with Autism. I'm quite fond of the show.

Oh hai

So jellies!

What a pretty buddy ^_^ 

Ah, so magnificent. I hate myself for being so fond of diverse food.

She liked it

Water Birb

And then we calmed down with the food and went to Hooters lol.

Her flight was the next day. I can't wait for her and my dad to return so we can spoil them again. We can spoil them in PA too, just gotta travel a little further.

In the meantime, we spoil this one.

Not long after, we celebrated Mr. Chicken's birthday!

At Disney parks lol.

It's just nice to go for a few hours, enjoy some drinks and food and leave lol. I don't know what to say. Doesn't have to be anything more than that.

And of course, celebratory birthday sushi. Because that's also very important.
And a few days later, more sushi.

Shakespeare himself couldn't describe the way sushi makes me feel.

Especially All-You-Can-Eat sushi
Maybe something synonymous with "pretty good". 

GHAWD

There was one nigiri that was my absolute favorite and I would, without hesitation, return just for that; yuzu salmon nigiri.

Like, I don't know what else they threw in there, but it was divine.

Screaming.

Ugh. I love sushi. Get it away. I want more. waaaah.

One of my friends from school finally got to go through commencement! She graduated last year during the Winter, but the commencement ceremony is only held in the Spring. Cristal and I had to show up to support.

Was cool seeing our cohort finally finish their journey. The relief is immeasurable. This program absolutely wrecks you, ruthlessly. Getting through it and acknowledging that is a big fracking deal.

We were so proud! 

Hayyy, I know that guy :D
He taught me stuff.

You did it, guys! After all that stress and crying lol. YAAAAY

I don't know who provided these cookies, but they were so good lol. Best sugar cookies of all time.

D'AWWWW

lol He in his Shakespeare robes.

While the other girls had plans to celebrate with their families, Cris and I defaulted to ramen. 

It's a spot we'd all go to after exams on many occasions to decompress. Even though it's over, I look back fondly on my experience at Cypress College. It's known to have a ruthless mortuary science program. The professors are strict with their expectations, but I've come to understand that when it comes to the nature of what we do, there's little to no room for an extra day, or extra chances. First impressions are paramount in every aspect of our profession. I get it now. So... like I said. You either have it, or you don't. And if you don't, you're out. Which frankly is for the benefit of all down the line. 

In another dimension, the funeral service profession is riddled with people who don't care ... you can imagine the results. Like, imagine a jaded nurse with a bad attitude taking care of your most precious treasure just for the paycheck. Just saying. That's another thing, it's drilled into us time and time again - you don't go into this profession for the money. At all. We're grossly underpaid lmao. It's kind of both funny and insulting, considering everything that is expected of us- especially during world wide crisis. I love the work we do, but I guess it's just not valued or as cool as being a medical professional by societal standards. Which is weird because mortuary practices have always existed alongside medical practice, all the way back to ancient civilizations. But whatever. I digress!

It's a tough program, tough profession, but I fucking love it and wouldn't trade it for anything else. It was all worth it. And anyone that gets through it and pushes to follow through is dope in my book. ^_^


Homdray's birthday followed soon after.

We celebrated appropriately.
I took shots of coconut dr. pepper, I can't with jack daniels anymore. We are not okay lol

Which by the way... I don't like or drink soda really, but... it's kinda not bad. Finishing a whole can isn't easy, but 2oz at a time... it's pretty good.

Homdray was gifted a sword holster and sword for his bday from Mr. Chicken.

It looked fantastic with his Fallout vault shirt.

He also got a waifu lmao.

T'was a good day. 

The highlight was recreating Denethor's eating scene. See, this was important because

this is who we are.

There's video. It was glorious. Many takes, many lines. And many cherry tomatoes that met their doom betwixt the jaws of Stewart Homdray that day. 

The Fellowship of the Orgrimmar Squatters.

With some Strive

He spit all over his cake -_-;

Happy Birthday you fumb duk.

Family lunch! With the cousins!

Family functions have always been a struggle, despite the warm atmosphere.
I prefer not to talk about myself. :)
But it was a nice afternoon. I wish Mr. Chicken's other cousin was there. He a doctor. I wanna pick his brain. His mom is so proud of him lol.
Food was good! I'll get better at talking some day T_T

I was sad one day about something, so Mr. Chicken got me this.

It worked, it cheered me up. If you're not a toxic person and don't know what this is, these are blind boxes. The entire set of characters in the line for that theme (hopefully). 

We opened like 5 the night we got it, and saved the rest to open after I got home from work the following couple days until we revealed them all. 

The one I really wanted was this little guy:

Maybe you recognize it from my last Designercon post. He's a little jiangshi. I don't have enough jiangshi. I need more. 
The rest were bonuses. I had no idea how cute they were all gonna be.

Something happened with a stray cat that I fell in love with.

Got kinda pissed about it, but it's neither here nor there. I hope she was taken in by a loving family and not, you know, eaten by coyotes the way other cats have been in our neighborhood as of late. I am resentful still, likely always will be. But I can't do anything about it. So whatthefuckever.

Instead, we got a shelter for the strays that we set up outside and I put food in for them almost every night. I did order a fountain but Amazon took a shit and ran out without notifying me. In June. Canceled that order today and am looking for another garden fountain. I just want them to be safe and have shelter, food and water.

At least we have Ophelia. 

She is our everything.
And no, I will never rehome her under any circumstances ever; no matter what anyone's ignorant, uneducated, narrow minded, stupid, incompetent, poor excuse for a pet owner coworker said.

That was resentment that you just read there. Not all of it, just an infintesimal fraction of it.

No, it's not my husband. I wouldn't marry, let alone date someone who didn't like, didn't want, or didn't have compassion towards animals.

My loves.

She's perfect.

EVO's approaching and I'm excited to cosplay. Mr. Chicken printed me stuff for cosplay props :D

Nothing crazy. Just for fun. But am stoked. Am actually excited for these prop pieces to become display items lol. Have a couple cosplay props now on display and this is just extra joy to add to it all.

I still have a lot to do. Been procrastinating, honestly. I go back to work on Monday, so I gotta get this done before we leave for EVO.

Mr. Chicken got me and Alexander buddy. Now Pot Noble has a pot friend to keep him company.

I need to repaint him lol. Made this like 3, 4 years ago I think? Such fun NPCs. If you know, you know.

The unboxing of collectible blind box babies has shifted gears and hit my coworkers with a ruthless blow.

I needed an excuse to buy more Skullpanda (with better purpose- my own desire is insufficient for achieving optimal indulgence) and this is it.

We had an unboxing at work and it was glorious. People traded lol. This isn't the only time. :D

And we hit up Anime Expo for a day. Mr. Chicken nope'd out. Can't blame him.

It's the same thing every year. I got to basically shop and maybe check out some stuff that might interest me at this point lol.

Candles! Buy candles :D
I would've, but none of the scents they had caught me. It's okay though, Lifa bought one.

This was such a fantastic Stanly Ipkiss cosplay. Phenomenal lol. I'd just watched The Mask a few days prior to this, so it was cool to see. Aaand this adorable booth "Mini Boba Boutique" 100% took my money. So much of it. I don't even care. I got two candles and two soap bars. Milk tea scented candles and bath stuff? But like, they actually smell like the product they claim to smell like? Take my wallet. Haha.

Chavo del Ocho! Hispanics represent ^_^

There was this super cute yokai booth with an interactive thingie where you offer up your soul (email) but got yokai stickers in return. Worth it.

I decided not to go in cosplay. Didn't care that much, lol. I think by that point, the only way I was going to go in my Fia cosplay was if I could find info on an Elden Ring cosplay gathering. I looked a while back and couldn't find anything, so just dropped the idea. It's fine, no one knows (or seems to care) who she is anyway. Shocker. 

Last FromSoft cosplay I did, one guy recognized it. It was someone from a booth. He called out to me as I walked away and I was like omg, the stars aligned. 

Same thing happened with my Fia cosplay. It was an artist who had a booth with Elden Ring art and he was like, Fia? The stars aligned.

It's cool. I rather people recognize a niche character anyway, hehe. More exciting conversation!

Ramen followed. It was so hot outside though T_T
I'm honestly surprised that Kopan doesn't have tsukemen.

I got a yommy salmon cucumber thingie though. This whole summer thing is crap.

I lost my wallet at Anime Expo LOL. They found it and got back to me 2 days later, but I was at work, and Lost & Found  closed at like 5PM or something. They called me at like 3PM. Tf. I tried to find someone to get it for me on their way out, but it was too last minute. And then the next day I called the convention center and left a voicemail. They called me back the following day. I spoke to them and they said they could mail it out to me. Great. I just had to sign the release form or whatever. Cool, np.
I get a form asking for my credit card number to pay for shipping. 

HOW AM I GOING TO PROVIDE THAT WHEN I DON'T HAVE A PHYSICAL CARD first of all. Second of all, no? 

I called them back, left a voicemail. She called back, she couldn't talk but wanted to find more options for me and left off saying she'd call me back. That was the day before yestserday. So we're here now.

Thankfully, my cards were all locked within 15 minutes of realizing my wallet was gone and no weird charges are on my accounts. Nothing in there that was super valuable. I just want my membership cards back, honestly. And the wallet itself. It's small and efficient. When I don't lose it.


This last "Friday" for our work week was another unboxing of Skullpandas.

She didn't get the one she wanted, but it was still pretty cute. 
I wanted the clock and got super lucky with this pull. I couldn't believe it. Was so happy lol. We have 2 more to unbox, but are only opening them on the last day of our work week. Other coworkers are slowly joining in. It's so much fun ^_^


This brings us up to now. Went to a cafe with the Chickens. Wholesome ^_^

It's gonna be a busy week, but am so so so stoked. I also miss Disney. Haven't been in a while. We got tickets to Oogie Boogie bash this year. I already know what I'm gonna go as, lol. She's beautiful, I don't care.

But here's hoping summer isn't grossing anyone else out. All is well on this side. I have Shadow of the Erdtree that I'm slowly chipping away at, and Withering Rooms that has me super hooked. The Steam Summer Sale is cruel. I also got Against the Storm. So much fun. SO MANY DISTRACTIONS.

Anywho, gotta get up early for adventure tomorrow. Happy July and stay hydrated!