Reforged

    It's never good when this happens, but I've been thinking a lot about the clown in "Grandpa's Magical Toys" (1988). His name is Punchinello. He's a marionette clown. 

Spoilers: towards the end of the film, the topic of being young at heart gets briefly discussed, and Punchinello tells Peter and his friends that he's known Grandpa a very long time, and that the first time Grandpa visited them was when he was around Peter's age. That even though Grandpa is old on the outside, he's young on the inside.

If I had to guess, Peter is maybe 10?

So, Punchinello meeting Grandpa when he was around Peter's age means that it was around the time of WWI. This just unravels so much for me because where does a child's mind go during war time, where technology is nothing like it is today? 

I wonder what their conversations were like. What the other dolls had to say. How they consoled Grandpa. And then...

What will happen when Grandpa dies? Will his toys understand? In a way, they will have to either watch him get older and wither, or they will say goodbye to him one last time and either wonder what happened or mourn him. What kind of conversation would Grandpa have with them?

All of this just flashed into my head in like 3 seconds and it's just... I don't know. I wonder about stuff that doesn't matter. It's all just me projecting but I guess that's what working in deathcare did to me. Wow, my empathy game is a joke.  

Am I teaching bad habits? I don't know. We'll see.

But she pulled a Durian Man Space Molly and it matched her XBox shirt. If that's not the universe saying we're fine, I don't know what is.

She's my little gal pal and we're gonna have fun. Ironically, she actually doesn't have a buttload of toys. She has activity toys, majority of which are made of wood and require brain power to interact with. I don't like giving her anything that idles. I think she has 3 electronic toys total, that were gifted to her from friends/family. So these brainless blind box moments are extra fun, lol.

Our life has really turned into just... Disney trips. Like, every week. I'll tell you... it's literally because I feel safe there, LOL.

This particular visit I was so proud of her little outfit, lol. 

She looks like she's doing that lordosis pose, lol. 

We finally saw Stitch!!! I was so so so thrilled! It was at the cardmember perks photo area thingie. Obviously, he's one of the characters and I was hoping with all my heart that it would be him. And when we turned the corner my jaw DROPPED. She ran right to him.

Daddy made reservations for us at Lamplight Lounge!

We hadn't been here since... I think 2018? When we accidentally got seated in the downstairs dining area overseeing the water at the pier during World of Color and had our minds blown. We got seated downstairs again. It made me happyyyy. This was a loaded meal, we had lots to talk about and kinda unload. I reflected on myself a lot, especially after a random guy took our shaded spot because I had to reach for Mung Bean. Pissed me off. He knew we were there waiting to get seated. Ugh. Rude.

Mr. Chicken is, for all intents and purposes, perfect. In every way. HE'S THE BEST DROP EVER. He's like, a Legendary drop. 

So many things in my life didn't work out, and I'm SO GRATEFUL THAT THEY DIDN'T.

We have our quiet life. With our smaller-than-life thingies. And our small circle. And it's peaceful.
No noise. No show. Just smol yays. ^_^

Oopsie, more blind boxes.

I was so excited for this Nommi box, but I got one of the two I didn't want. I was gutted. It's so not cute, lmao. And she didn't care for it, so I'll probably resell it.

Alright, I need to talk about my glasses. The ones that BROKE IN HALF WHILE I WAS EATING DINNER AND JUST FELL OFF MY FACE. And now that I have them back, I'm missing my replacements more and more.

For context; I paid a buttload for these glasses. They're these frufru Japanese brand that cost me more than a GTX 5080 graphics card. They've needed repaired 3 times now. I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WHEN I GOT THEM. The tech suggested them, saying they looked good on me, and I agreed. I didn't ask how much they were, just said ok yes. He rang everything up and I got spiritually bodied.

Apparently they're hand crafted and the metal is poured manually and assembled by hand and whatever, so that's why they cost that much.

So they're like samurai swords, made with Japanese steel. That has to explain why the temple broke, because the metal was so hard, and the wear and tear from Mung Bean trying to grab them all the time... that's why they had to be shipped back to Japan and get completely... Reforged.

こわれたメガネ 

REFORGED

Derailing for a second, I'll never forget what a VA director told me when I asked if the original voice actors were going to re-record their lines for WC3: Reforged. Basically said the actors didn't do a good job and they wouldn't work with them again. Crushed me. Because if you listen to stuff now, and I'm probably going to get hella negative karma points with this, but I don't care, if you hear stuff now, there are insane amounts of dramatic pauses in between lines, for no reason, and deliveries are like, obscenely overdone. WC3 line deliveries felt organic. I doubt that director grew up with WC3, which to me is the only explanation for their opinion. Because those pauses are LOUD for NO REASON but alright.

I've so much more to say but I just love WC3, and dissing it like that never sat right with me. It pioneered so much in gaming and gave you a job. Chill.

Anyway. I'm going to resist calling my glasses my Japanese steel forged samurai glasses for the time being, but woe to the poor fellow who asks me "wha ha happen?"

Oh look, another trip.

She was like, huh?
I was like, oh that's just Mickey
And she was like aight, das cool. ANYWAYS

HAAAAAAAAAAAAY OSWALD

I'm a hater, lmao. I'm not. Mickey's cool.

But he's not married to Minnie though. It's been like 500 years. Oswald and Ortensia are cannonically married, bro. She's a CAT. HIS NATURAL PREDATOR. WTF IS MICKEY WAITING FOR.

We went to go look for Stitch, but we pulled a Minnie and Pluto. That's okay, she made woof sounds at Pluto and called him gougou ^_^
It was so cute, he sat like a puppy and let her pet his nose. Aaaaahhh T_T

We don't even bother with rides except for the must-dos, but meeting the characters has been actually a lot of fun, I'll admit.

So, the last time she saw Ana, Mung Bean was like, I don't know her- didn't care for her whatsoever. Refused to interact. We watched Frozen together (my first time), and I actually like her character. This time around was completely different, and the Ana performer was such a doll. She was warm and inviting and so so so tender and sweet with Mung Bean. They shared a decent amount of time before she walked Mung Bean to the next princess. 

It was actually Mulan, but I didn't get any photos without Mung Bean's face showing. That was also really sweet. She showed Mung Bean her lucky dragon jade pendant and let her touch it. It was a whole thing.
I'm always floored at how wonderful these performers are with people in general- Of all levels of sociability. Mung Bean's intellectual development can be no different than someone elses' with special needs. The performers read the room SO well. They bring that soft skill and layer it with performing these sentimental characters. It's incredible.

Mung Bean has been curious about the espresso bar. So, I've set up her water play stuff at the sink, and we've also been having lessons on preparing her ube latte and mommy's lazy coffee.

I know the horror stories and saw that story about the little boy who accidentally spilled hot coffee on himself off a counter and the horror that followed all of that. Well aware. A lot of it is pushing buttons, pouring dressings and stirring. It's fun watching her unlock new skills lol.

Garbage day at work continues. I look forward to this each time. I can tell that folks are getting kinda over it, but that's so okay because I'm not gonna stop lol.

Mel and I pulled our babies and while we didn't get the ones we wanted, it was still exciting. Hers is so cute!!

We have embalmer nails, lol.

ANOTHER TRIP, OH NO.

This was yesterday, lol. I actually wasn't sure that I was even going to go. A friend hit me up to be part of something he was doing, but when I got more details it didn't end up working out. I was bummed, but Mr. Chicken ended up reserving the day for me anyway without telling me. When I woke up in the morning he kinda asked what I had planned for the day, I said I don't know, maybe go out to do something with Mung Bean, maybe Disney? He said "Oh. Okay, I reserved Disneyland for you."

THE MAN IS PERFECT. I'M JUST SAYING.

It was hot out. I don't like it. It's so gross. But we make the best of it. I'm learning to deal with a lot now because of Mung Bean. I don't know if that technically makes me stronger (upgrade in mental resilience) or just more patient. For they are not the same. I will say that my patience has grown astronomically, though.


It was the same 3 princesses again, but in different order!

NEW DIALOG UNLOCKED:

"I remember you!"

It was the same Ana from last time. I mean, this would happen eventually, but also omg T_T
I was so happy to see her. She remembered us. WAAAHH.
What irony; Mung Bean completely shutting Ana out the first time she saw her, to making a little friend in her.
[Audience laughter]

This Ana is my favorite. For forever.

As you can see... Mung Bean was in her Oswald Disneybound. That was my fault. However ! She was insistent on bringing the Oswald plushie. I don't like bringing it because it's rare, but we met in the middle. 

This time around, we did some more wandering than usual. I went to Off the Page, the art store on Hollywood ... street? I don't know. And ... sigh, I just love that place so much.

I kinda forget to check it out, but it's always got so many beautiful pieces up. 

RIP Daveigh :(

Halloween stuff has been released. I'm trying to keep it together but I bought the tote bag. It ended up being extremely useful when I got home because instead of making mulitple trips while holding a sleeping Mung Bean, I just threw everything into the tote and we were good to go inside.

Good job, past Cynth.

She saw a Bat Stitch plushie. I saw it, too. 

No thoughts, only buy.

*breathes in*
THIS ISN'T EVEN EVERYTHING, IT'S JUST SOFT LAUNCH STUFF

The Downtown Disney art gallery/store had cool stuff, too.

Seeing Vanessa was a delightful surprise. There's an Ursula graphic on merch right now that shows her as this like, skinny version. It's weird. Why do that when she's literally Vanessa? Frickin evil, man. She didn't even go after Ariel, she went after the guy Ariel needed to not be screwed over for the rest of her life. That's low. Pffbt, Villains! Amirite?

Anywho. I'm binging Silo's first season, again. The third season released and we're halfway in. And I just. I love this series so much. It's incredible. I've never had a show make me pivot so hard to reading the book as quickly as this show has. It's a trilogy but I read through the 1st book while watching the 2nd season, which is part of the first book, and it was GLORIOUS. I wanna read the second book but I can't read multiple books at once. And the one I'm currently reading is a chonker. Started it in February. It's not even that I read slow, it's that I literally only read for 20 minutes each reading session, during my lunch break at work. And that's pretty much it. Sigh. But I'll just relive watching Silo again. So dang good.

Especially on these monitors that Mr. Chicken replaced for me T_____T

He got me another drive and replaced two of my monitors HE'S SO ugh. He takes such good care of me. I could go on an on. Sigh. He got me flowers the other night after going to get me snacks from the store at like 10pm. Came home with snacks AND flowers. I don't ever have to ask. He just does. 

I thought that relationships got stale after like, 5 years, but we're going on 9 and we bloom together so beautifully, constantly. WE'RE LIKE CORPSE FLOWERS. Worst analogy ever because they bloom overnight really fast and then are vegetables for like 3+ years, but I'm just saying. We're always blooming. And... yeah. We're veggies, kinda. lol. We're chill homebodies that don't need much. And when we bloom, WE'RE STINKY AND DRAW POLLINATORS. 

So bummed we missed the exhibit at the Huntington Library this year for the corpse flowers. My coworker said it checks out. All I could do was nod in envy. I wanna see them :(

ANYWAY, CYNTHIA STOP BEING WEIRD. 

MKAY, hope life is stinky blossoming for everyone else, and if not, get yourself a blind blox and a boba milk tea. It's amazing what a little treat for yourself can do. 

Good night, sweetest dreamings, and watch Silo.