Flap

     Time feels melty. It's probably from the lack of sleep. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a New Game +. The rewards are good but when it's tough, it's like, whoooaaa. Sleep depravation ... I can totally see how that would be an effective method of torture, lol. 

This is the cozy energy I'm trying to bring myself for the rest of eternity. 

Journaling, my book, my PC desk, food, and watching my baby girl.
MANIFEEESSST.
This is how I regen HP.

The funny thing is I don't really regret the WHY or WHAT of what's resulting in sleep depravation. It's something I look forward to every night, even after work. I just hate the feeling of utter exhaustion and then... having to go into work still, lmao. It suuuuuucks. But then I remember that it's all temporary. And one day, I'll find myself bawling, wishing I could go back to this time for more co-sleep cuddles. SIGH.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Oh, there's so much to catch up on, but the end of the year, and the beginning, have been the shiny cherry on top that tipped the scales to balance perfectly. So much pain :)

But lets dial it back to
October - Ahh, it was a lot of fun ^_^

My department put together a really cute thing with food and snacks and a pumpkin carving contest and mini games. Everything was decorated and we had movies playing all day.

I appreciate my management team so much, they're so spirited and love to spoil us with these get togethers and I feel like the luckiest peson ever because of it.

And instead of carving pumpkins like last year, I wanted to have a scarecrow. To keep the wildlife company, of course.

Mr. Chicken donated pants, but I ran to the thrift store super quick to grab some shirts. Super important.
He was beautiful and absolutely terrifying after it got dark. Worth it. He's still back there. :)

One of the coolest things about October are the dumb themed things that food establishments do. Burger King was one of them.

I am not a junk food fan, but the marketing got me. It was delicious and fun.

And Oktoberfest, of course.

I still can't believe Mr. Chicken just bought this for me on a whim. It's so impractal. But it looks so cool. I hate this part of me.
Thank you, hunniii

We got a good spot this year, and enjoyed many a huzzah! I had to strategize my booze intake, but it was good to kick it with everyone this way again.

I'll always remeber this night as the night Mo almost died. She almost swallowed a shard of glass from taking that shot. Huzzah!

Parent date?

Huzzah! Mr. Chicken's old work peers also became parents shortly after we did. We met up and comiserated on... life. And just everything. It felt nice. Hope they're doing cool :3
Being a parent is wild, lol. I'm convinced that gaming helped me prepare for it mentally.


Annnd the obligatory Pumpkin Patch. We had to! It was such a cute day omg.

Here's Homdray being a Silent Hill monster that heard you moving:

because we were going through the maze, so.

Soooo sweet T_T
Our pumpky girr

"This one's rotting."

He found the One P- ...umpkin.

Of course, October didn't have Disney shortages.

It was important for mommy to try the different themed foods.

Mung Bean and I shared many a brisket and turkey leg :D

And we had a Halloween Boo-Basket exchange at work. One of our coworkers organized it, and it was SO wholesome. Everyone involved was beaming with smiles and warm hearts.

Cris was my person, lol. The purple one with bats is what I got for her, I hope she liked everything T_T

And this was mine, lol. My person got me a TWILIGHT SHIRT, and the glass mug has bats on it. I screamed, lololol. I wear that t-shirt religiously. 

New member of the Labotomies; Soy Milk. Courtesy of Mr. Chicken. I'll just call this my wedding anniversary gift lmao

BECAUSE LOOK

FOR OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, HE WENT TOO FAR 

3 years already, and it's gone by so quickly. And I just need to throw out how romantic this was, I can't believe he put this together. I mean, I can, but also it was so ... just. I wanna cry just thinking about it.

So because I didn't know where we were going, just that it was semi-nice, I dressed in my best Mr. Bean's Girlfriend outfit. Modest, boring, prude, uninteresting librarian. Ready to party.

We get there and as soon as we walk through the giant shrubbery entrance thing, I wanna cry. It's SO PRETTY AND ENCHANTING, LIKE A FAIRY TALE.

Mr. Chicken took us to Briar Rose Wineryyyyyy

WAAAAH

I couldn't believe it! It was SO pretty. I'm a massive romantic and cry when rocks grow moss on them because my mind goes into like, Life. I get sentimental over how beautiful it is to exist because of the laws of the universe and stuff and how Horton heard the Who's on that small speck of dust, it's ridiculous, I romanticize everything. Like, I'm insane. But walking into this blew me away T_T

The host was this sweet lady, she said we could sit wherever we wanted. There was a wedding reception inside, so outdoor seating it was, but it wasn't even a bad thing because the outside was so BEAUTIFUL. We had wine samples and a charcuterie board and just enjoyed our time there.

Our hostess cracked me up. She asked about my cardigan, I told her it was from a mortuary I used to work at but I customized it, and she said one of her best friends owns a mortuary. They just started it up and the husband is in band. It was this whole fun coincidence thing that felt like a real life Sims conversation gone extremely right.

We left with some artisinal jams and wine :)

I haven't been able to indulge in the wine as much as I want to because I'm still nourishing Mung Bean daily. If I'm gonna drink, I need to strategize the timing lol. So I haven't bothered, buuuut perhaps tomorrow night?

That wasn't even all, we weren't done.

He took us to another winery... in a CAVE.

It's so Lord of the Rings, omfg. Coolest thing ever. He booked us on a wine tasting tour- HE BOOKED US FOR A WINE TASTING TOUR, IN A CAVE. ghawd. Das my husband T_T

Salud

Tastes like dope words.

There was also a wedding reception going on, but the tour guide led us through to see the view of the side of the mountain. Man. Breathtaking.

So, I have a new thingie. Aspiration, if you will. I am going to have my own wine barrel. In that cave. It's like, the most obnoxious, hoity-toity thing I can think of that I want for us, and I don't care. I want it. I'm gonna do it. For our friends to.

There's like this membership thing (of course there is) and if I remember correctly, one of the tiers includes your own barrel of wine with your family name on it. And it's ours. And the tier includes like, some hidden lounge room access thing for like ... I forget how many people, but we get a bnch of wine tastings and discounts on food.

SO. 

Once Mung Bean weans off mom's gamer fuel, I'm dragging us and our friends down there for some Middle-Aged(Earth) adventures. 

The tour took us deep into the cave, it smelled like earth and the air was colder. So awesome. There was this really beautiful room that looked like an ancient study. The earthen walls were lined with bookshelves, and in the center of the room was a very long Lord of the Rings table. It seated like 100 people, easily. 

Jk, but it was very long. There we were given our charcuterie boards and sampled lke 8 wines.

I spilled some, like a dang baka-chan.

So awkward, lol.

There was a group of girlfriends who flew in from like, Michigan or something to visit their friend that had just moved to CA. I thought that was so awesome of them, and during our sampling, I like... told them how special that really was, to travel to see their friend and do all this for themselves, they should take it in and celebrate their friendship. I made them cry. 

Made my day, rofl. I TOLD YOU, I'M SENTIMENTAL. Like, it's not that deep, but it is. Get me? They got it. They thanked me and we all cheers'd. Annnnd one of the girls offered to take our picture as everyonoe was stepping out. It kind of caught us off really guard, so we look awkward and uncomfortable lol.

MOAR DRINKS

After the tour we went straight to the bar, where our bartender had fun making our drinks.

He got the Old Fashioned, I got the Espresso Martini

I thought we were done.

WE WEREN'T.
HE TOOK US TO ANOTHER WINERY

FOR DINNER RESERVATIONS

It was all so old world... 

We're just a couple of awkward nerds that don't venture out from the house as much, but he catered to my romantic heart so lovingly. This was so special. I hope he knows how much this impacted me.

We are also kind of foodies, and we like to go out to eat a lot. But this was so sweet and so lovely and just...

Thank you Mr. Chicken. Le sigh.

I tried to decorate my embalming machine really cute so that it's less weird that I have an embalmling machine. Hope this helps.

As Halloween approached, I vowed to make Mung Bean's costume... so cool.

I did. I did it. She had a cool costume.
My little Jiangshi

I frickin bought a white sailor hat and pained it, wrote the caligraphy on yellow cardstock and made her jiangshi "robe" with blue satin fabric I bougth specifically for this lol.
The talisman says "Mung Bean"

For Homdray's Halloween party, we showed up cyoot.

She looked amazing. I was so proud of this lol. The hat is a prop in her room now. It has granted me eternal bragging rights.

My costume was a large grey tshirt that said "Pretend I'm a bat" on it.

Everyone's costumes were so cool. He made it Bootleg Wonka themed this year. The decorations were so funny

My babies

And Blizz had a Halloween thingie for families. For this, I decided to do a half-assed Orpheus "costume", from Hades (the game).

He wears a grey robe, so. Same oversized shirt it is!
I need Orpheus on a t-shirt.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about:

Okay?
I love him.
He's my favorite Hades character.

I wasn't exaggerating. 

I took my parents and Mung Bean and met up with Mr. Chicken there. It was a lot of fun. Can tell how much love went into putting everything together so everyone could have a good time. 

Ah, and Mung Bean got compliments on her costume. frickin... heck yeah.

Oh, kindly behold; My adorable coworker, Megan.

She painted her needle injector. I saw it and was like... whoa. That's cute. 

Ah yes, me in the throes of edging sanity after a pumping session at work, trying to keep it together mentally. :)

When I felt like myself again, I'd capture the moment. They're few and far between.

Mr. Chicken got my parents some parkhopper tickets while they were visiting, so I dragged them to the parks.

It was a good day. We got on rides and my mom fell in love with her turkey leg.

October was good to us. Such a cozy time. September through December is just like... the best time of the year. It really is. Everything just feels so warm and inviting and cozy and chill and more quiet. 


Ah, November. The month that, a year prior, made me a mother.

Thank you, Ponies. This was so lovely.

Just wanna point out that Mr. Chicken baked all the sakura cupcakes and made Mung Bean her very own smash cake. AND made a smaller version of that for Mung Bean's amiguita so that she could enjoy cake too.

He is the most wonderful girl dad ever. Mr. Chicken has full tilt leaned into his girl dad-ness and it's just... so heartwarming, and fantastic, and lovely, and fulfilling, and feels every hue of safe and beautiful and ... he's just so great T_T

The party was incredible and so sweet. We decorated with lanterns and had a sakura dragon theme, cuz she's year of the dragon. Fun turnout all around and everyone had a good time. I was surprised by who showed up and was so happy!! Everyone spoiled her, I could cry. It was wonderful. Our circle is wonderful.

So, in trying to organize all of my photos here, it's become a hassle. I'm considering moving my blog over to another site because this happens every time and going in to manually fix it is keeping me from writing as much as I'd like to. 

Anyway, December and November are all kinda jumbled together. In my mind as well as this post.

Hi, I hate the term "mommy" being used in a sexualized context. 
I hate it with every fiber of my being.

Anywho, Mr. Chicken has been spoiling me all month long with little gifts. One of which is this really cool kit.

My mugs and plates have met terrible fates since moving in lol. It's not really a big deal except for the fact that some of them are hand sculpted and painted... and from Europe... and expensive. And some are one of a kind... like gifts from Blizzard... and special edition Halloween mugs... and.. and... well. Yeah. 

So this is a cool way of meeting sadness in the middle. I appreciate it a lot. I love my mugs. 

It's this whole sentimental thing; They house your comfy beverage. And that comfy beverage brings warmth to your moment. Could be the start of your morning, an afternoon tea, or just something spur of the moment in the evening. So the mug is part of it. It has be cozy and nice and cute and pleasant to look at. You get me? You pickin' up what I'm putting down?

Romanticize everyyythiiiinnngggg

Another gift was him randomly printing these buildings for me to paint! They're from WC3. It's so sweet and special. He got another 3D printer and this was my gift from his splurge, lol. I love it so so much. I wanna do it right and not rush myself, so once I have things that I want to finish out of the way, I can focus on this calmly. Having multiple projects going on at the same time stresses me out.

Yeah, yeah.


Moving along, I was totally embracing my Goro Majima arc this holiday season. 
What does that even mean, Cynthia? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Not that Majima would read Edward's POV of the first book/movie, but if he had to he'd do it with one eye. 
That's the Majima part.

What happened?
Well, wha ha happen wuz
Mung Bean scratched my cornea off. The pain rivaled labor contractions on induction drugs. Sent me into orbit. It was pretty Souls-Like, I'm not even gonna pretend it didn't suck worse than the previous worse pain I ever felt in my life. Very lame. 

Story time?
    We were in the kitchen, she was next to me on her learning tower. I looked down and her right arm shot up, and one of her fingers went right into the center of my eye. Her nails were long and sharp. I was down. I wailed. Cried instantly. Mr. Chicken was there and I was trying not to react strongly, I didn't wanna scare them, especially her, but I was shaking and trying to hold in my screams through muffled sobs. It was like she CRIT me. 

RL Crit damage SUCKS.

So... I kind of forget what happened after that. I think my brain went into some kind of defensive shock or something. I know eventually I laid in bed sobbing because the pain wouldn't stop. Mr. Chicken had to do an eye check, that sucked. He said my eye was really red. 

No one asked but it felt like being shot in the eye with a gun that shoots soapy eyelashes that never leave the center of your eye. Keeping my eyes shut didn't help with the pain, and I was too distracted to focus on just opening one eye, so I had to navigate with my hands.

Mr. Chicken miraculously found an eye place near our house that would take me in. It was the 3rd location he called. He was so fantastic in this omfg. As soon as he told me I instantly thought of the eye numbing drops and the bliss that would come from them. Just a little longer and I'd get some relief.

We walked in, I was cupping my eye with one hand, sobbing quietly while holding Mr. Chicken's arm with the other, while his other arm held Mung Bean. They called me back almost instantly.

Relief. For 15 minutes, but oh my god. It was like ... the epidural all over again. 

Turns out Mung Bean took a chunk of my cornea off. Thankfully the flap was still hanging on. Loved that. So my eyeball flap and I had some fun days ahead of us into 2026.
I was prescribed antibiotics and Mr. Chicken got me medical eye patches with tape around them to keep my eye shut, as well as the Majima eye patch.

The next morning we were off to Vegas to spend New Years with family.

Before my Majima arc though, November was super nice. As I mentioned before, my parents were visiting to spend time with Mung Bean. And we dragged them out to places to enjoy together.

We went to go visit Chronos



Watching him walk with her here felt like... leveling up. My chest was warm, I was at peace, happy. I think I got more Mana or something. Definitely more Wisdom, Constitution. Idk about Intelligence because



I bought these two Jellycats for an absurd amount of money from the gift shop and then lost the Gingerbread one a few days later

So.

But I felt like no one on this continent could say ship to me to ruin my journey to this very moment. 
We've been together over 8 years now, created our own little family and found our footing together. I'm so proud of us, and so happy for us and everything we've walked through together. That's what I felt while I watched them walking together.

Is this what Pokemon feel when they evolve lol ?

Mr. Chicken said we should go visit Disney again, so we did.

I think it was on a day he was working, and shortly before they had to go back. We wanted them to see the Christmas decorations.

It was a perfectly dreary day, and it rained later on. But we got on rides with Mung Bean, and my dad was so happy pushing her stroller around the park. Lots of photos and memories. I'm so happy we got to just relax at the parks with my parents. I hope they get used to it! That's how we roll ^_^

And to top it all off, we all went to this Christmas lights thing the night before they left.

Abuela and Ama

There it is again. That moment, captured. 

Wanna know why I'm such a sap for this stuff? I'm setting up my flashback for when I die. It's gotta have good content. I'm saving these moments and savoring them, and revisiting them, so that when I'm on my deathbed I have that good, rich, hearty life soup to feast on every night before going to bed. And if I die tragically, I can Terminator 2 ending-it. Y'know? Set yourself up. I hope that, for my family and myself, I live a long life full of love and discoveries. Same for everyone that I love. In the mean time, that's all I can do, and I'm gonna fill my hope with these moments.

Even the eye thing. That was crazy omg.

They were so happy

Everyone out together doing Christmas things, ahhh. My heart!

Mr. Chicken and I were daring and we went down the slidey thing in the donuts! We had 3 turns, but called it quits after 2 lol. That was enough, rofl.

My dad wanted to go to an auto show lol.

He'd never been to any conventions and the LA Auto Show just so happened to be that weekend. Can't say no. He was so excited, lol. 

 

Demo the big vroom vroom that can go up and down really scary steep angles?
SURE.

We gave Lifa and another friend (D) a heads up to come through.

We had fun!



As to be expected, there were a lot of cool vehicles.

Every time I go to this convention center I think of Rush Hour. Someone stopped us, I can't remember why. It was some guy. I think he was working a booth, I don't know. And he was asking how I was enjoying the show. I told him it was cool being back at the convention center ... because of Rush Hour. And proceeded to point above our heads and go 

"CAH DAH. AY CANT HOLD ETNYMORE"

The laugh that exploded out of his face made me feel better about our interaction, lol. 

I don't know what this thing is. Looked like a competitor puppy to Boston Dynamics' puppy.

But I want one.

Bless the... operator? Puppeteer? 

He sent the thing right towards me.

Another one for the death bed.

It's the same feeling I get when the Wall-E robot at conventions comes over to me, looks at me and starts vocalizing. I want to cry, it's so cute.

My dad wanted to get into the Light Blue Land Cruiser. I told him we have one he could drive, he was like... not in Light Blue!

man.. -_-

Anyway, it was fun. Everyone had a good time. I was glad D came out. It's always good to see him.

The end of November was marked by my finishing the first Twilight book. I actually really enjoyed it. It was cool to read it with characters already established that I could visualize. Comical, too. Every meme about Stewart's acting is unraveled in this unholy, sparkley scripture. She actually captured Bella's awkwardness perfectly. I get it. It makes sense. They were cast perfectly.


December highlights include


My realization that Atropos' confidence is like... unfathomable, right? It's gotta be. She's so unshakable. Decision? Bam. Did it. She's gotta be so sure about that snip, and that's how I need to feel. About everything. Even where to go to eat.

So I had this stupid idea at work, because I was deciding on how to approach something, and looked around and was like omg. I HAVE AN IDEA. And that's it. 

The Three Fates. That's. That's the idea. I thought it was cool. Sorry if you don't. Atropos by yours truly. Cris as Lachesis and Stef as Clotho. They're so patient, lmao. One of our sweet drivers captured the shot because I ran out of hands. See, I only have two. So. He was instrumental in all of this.

ANYWAY, THAT WAS ONE OF MY NEURON SPARKLES MKAY

We had cute stuff going on at work the whole month. Our bosses decorated and ahhh, it was just so great. I got to wear my gingerbread cookie earrings and my scrooge top hat headband. Harumph!

Here's another one of Mr. Chicken's gifts to me that I was talking about. 

It's been so long since I got to do anything with clay. I muse about getting into it again all the time. Aside from time constraints, conditioning clay that's been sitting for a long time is not only whack but super time consuming. It's a deterrant to be sure. So he got me these essential clayworking tools to make it easier. 

I AM BLESSED, I TELL YOU. BLESSED. RICH, EVEN. He's so. ugh.

It's the little thingsssss, it really really really isssssss.

December brought us to Pasadena, specifically to my favorite ramen spot. It's been 84 years.

Felt that if Mung Bean was to try ramen for the first time, it had to be there.

Not as good as I remembered it, LOL. But what the hey, it was a cozy dinner on a cold night out.

Oh, and since the Gingerbread jellycat was misplaced somewhere, Mr. Chicken found it and his lady Gingerbread and bought them for us T_T

I was so happy lmao. They're so cute omg. Yeah, I have no idea where it could've gone. I'm convinced it's lost somewhere in the house but... who knows. We have them both now though. Everything is well again,  hahaha.

Dude, my department was doing this "spirit week" thing where every day was a different thing we did. On the last day, we were encouraged to make a tree ornament with a globe we were given to DIY. I took the miniature ziggurat that Mr. Chicken printed for me and speed crafted this bad boy in 30 minutes lmao. Had no idea what to make, but I had sparkly silver pipecleaners, festive ribbon and paint. And WC3 structures. Voila.

The decorations at work were so cute. I loved it so much.

Aaand this year we had our holiday party! For once, Mr. Chicken was my +1, haha. 

Love Christina. She fed me spaghetti when I was pregnant, rofl.

It was cool. I was like.. dayum. They really made it like... adulty and like, formal. Super nice. I felt like an adult lol. Except my department knows that's a lie, I'm actually a shell that periodically gets posessed by spongebob and elmo and they fight over which brain cell to control because there are only 2.

December highlight number 98209831

We didn't go to Santa. Santa came to us. In Disney California Adventure.

While grabbing some milk for Mung Bean!

Year made.

We were getting her some whole milk when Santa walks in as casual as ever in a red track suit, looking like he was enjoying his day off or something. It was so surreal. The lady at the cashier lost her mind and asked him for a photo. He was all for it. Mung Bean couldn't stop staring at him, and my heart was crying happy tears because SEE, CHRISTMAS MAGIC IS REAL IF YOU BELIEVE. He said he was there with his wife just enjoying their time there together and I was like omg T_T

We captured the moment, it was too wholesome. Everyone around us was in awe. LOOK AT HIM 
God that was so cool T_T

Anyway, yeah we went to Disney lol

Because why not

I'm feral and my rewards card means we can go see Darth Vader
But Mung Bean was asleep

This was wild. She woke up to the sound of his respirator and was like wHOa.The cast members were laughing, Mung Bean was confused as heck but also fascinated. She was also only wearing one shoe because the other one fell off somewhere on Main Street.

The funny thing is she woke up mid greet during photos and everything was captured. It was so funny

"because why not" turned into hell yeah, awesome Disney trip

It was a wonderful day. 

And then I took her another day during the week.

Just a few hours, but she got to walk around in Toon Town and interact with some of the princesses

This time, she was able to walk towards them. It was a first, and very sweet.

We also saw Mulan, but I wasn't able to get a proper photo of them that I can post here. 

To her, the princesses are just other people with really cool outfits. I'm excited to see what kind of characters she ends up genuinely liking and being inspired by. 

And as a Christmas surprise, Mr. Chicken got us tickets to Universal Studios for the Holiday stuff. We'd never been before, so this was really exciting!

I couldn't believe it. He told me when we were settling down to go to bed and I couldn't sleep, lol. 

THERE WERE WHOS
They were celebrating the Whobilation lol

It was so cute how they interacted with Mung Bean omg T_T
And yes, that outfit was her Christmas outfit. We had to get as much use out of that dress because this was the only time she was gonna fit into it waaaah

We absolutely underestimated how busy and crowded it was going to be.

We're also inexperienced traversing these lands, especially during the Holidays. It was extremely crowded. The Hogwarts area was just as beautiful a I remember it from Halloween Horror Nights, but we were sardines in a sea of people. It was kind of nasty.

Our bellies rumbled, so we went to the food place there. Super busy, but we found a spot where we could kind of regen for a bit. That's the chug of a dad who's about to change a soiled nappy in uncharted territory so that mom can start eating lol.

The only other thing that we wanted to check out was Super Nintendo World, until we realized it as in the lower lots. We were like naaah, we'll come back another time.
But then were like, ugh we're here lets just go see it.

My butterbeer was perfectly and wonderfully Okay.
Super Nintendo World was quaint. Super tiny though. I had this whole idea of what it was, but it's moreso one giant photo op with 2ish rides and a shop. And it's all Mario stuff, not so much Nintendo. But still, it was cool to see in person. I wish we could've taken more photos with some of the backdrops but it was super crowded. It was small and quaint and we enjoyed it for what it was.

The food was surprisingly somewhere completely different, on the main street. These hot pocket type things, super cute! Pizza. The red one was like a pepperoni pizza inside and the other was a pesto and cheese situation. They were just okay, but I liked the presentation. The drink was also just okay. It was club soda and you're given this little mushroom that dissolves. It's flavored and has edible glitter.

While we were getting ready to leave, accepting that we weren't going to wait 180 minutes to talk to the Grinch, these two show up out of nowhere. Mr Chicken alerts me and I book it over to them with Mung Bean. Bride comes over and starts examining my bags. I'm fangirling so much inside while also trying to keep it together.

She says just a few words. "What this" to my bag charms. She really liked the Tokyo Jesus Dunny lol. I said "Monsters. Artists made them" And then she beckons Mr. Creature over.
They turn their attention to Mung Bean. I'm a mess internally from how insanely cool and adorable this all is.

She points to Mung Bean's pig tails, then points to Mr. Creatures' neck bolts, "Same."

loool CUTE I'm screaming internally.

She examines her, pointing and poking the stroller and all the things around her then finally points at Mung Bean, "Why small?" 

"I'm still adding pieces to it"

She stares as if she's processing what I just said, but I could see her holding a smirk back lmao. It was so cute. All of it. I just. Oh my god.

Grinch who? Year MADE.

Real Santa. Princesses. Creature and Bride. HOW IS THIS ALL HAPPENING

And then the cherry on top... Count Dracula shows up. Oh man.

I had to. I couldn't keep it together because his make up was so good in person and I was SWOONING. He was like, GLARING at me. That's normally not a good thing. I look like an awkward, bright red evil version of Mr. Bean's girlfriend, but I'll remember this forever lmao.

That was our trip. It was educational lol. We realized a lot, but oh man. What a finish. I've only even gone for Halloween Horror Nights, and like, once during the day like 10 years ago or something. This was cool though. I like the characters we did see. Thank you for this trip Mr. Chicken :*



Christmas Eve was cozy. 

Mr. Chicken got me the bad ass typewriter gaming keyboard you saw at the beginning of this post. It's so yummy. He got it with brown keys. So yummy. Mung Bean helped me open it. That wrapping paper was so cool, too.

I got Mr. Chicken golf stuff, because he's a dad now. Turns out he rather have golf glove and use the money for something we could all do instead T_T lol. He's so sweet. He has golf club sets that were handed down to him, but ah well. He's so sweet though lol. And Ophe got a gift too! Of course she did.

I told myself I wasn't going to become a Pottery Barn parent...
But that rocking Alpaca was necessary because... it's her heritage. Super important. And it's so soft. And cute.

ugh. Damnit. -___-
I hate pottery barn.

I worked Christmas day, and we did our Christmas basket exchange that I set up!

SO FUN AND WHOLESOME. I can't believe how many people signed up for it. It was great. My coworker got me sour candy, socks, hot cocoa  stuff, a bookmarker, and a steam gift card rofl.

All of these amazing things. There's a rule though! At least... I'm convinced that there's this immeasurable but veridical thingie... that works like the principle of what goes up must come down. Balance. WE MUST BRING BALANCE TO THE FORCE. It's true. I believe it.

So in order to keep things balanced, a chunk of my cornea got scratched off but the flap hung on.

I'll take that as symbolism for hanging in there when the scales tip against my favor.
Dust in the wind? Nah.
I'm just a flap on a cornea. 

And my year closed out thusly, with my Majima arc.

But also among family

Can't be sad about that part. The pain sucked, yes. But I didn't hate the eye patch, and since my left eye is my weaker eye, it kinda forced it to get good. That's another good thing. 

My eye is healed now, but my vision is still returning gradually. Still blurry, but at least my glasses help. When we drove home after NY, Mr. Chicken had to drive me to work the first couple of days because of it, but it's slowly improving. 

And that was 2025, for the most part. 
2026 had me back in the optomotrist chair but that'll be for the next one.

We had a fantastic year, especially with Mung Bean. Becoming a parent has been so rewarding, beyond anything I could fathom. My convictions to protect my family and my peace, our peace, have fortified x100. Everything else is dessert. The exhaustion is real. I'm tired all the time, and it's challenging to get time to myself longer than 30 minutes, even on my days off. But on the flip side, this was the life I didn't expect to have, and it was worth all the bs in my late 20s.

Anywho, it's late. Happy 2026
Don't be afraid to embrace your cornea flap energy. I don't know what that means exactly, but it just felt right to say.

January is off to a funny start already I'M READY MR. KRABS