Jiangshi

 The world feels like it's spinning quickly by me, while I'm in this slow hum of respite. This isn't to say that school isn't clenching asses. It is. Though, I feel I'm starting off more confident this time around than before.

I've gotten into the rhythm of keeping to my journal. Admittedly, it's because of how attractive I've endeavored to make the experience.

Much of that comes from my new washi tape set that recently came in. It's added another layer of activity. And it's attractive! Seeing tangible results motivates me to continue.

The theme is antiques. Old shit is cool. Simple. Intricate. Designed to be alluring, dignified, and functional.

These two rolls are my favorites. The bottom one has multiple designs, though this graphic made me smile when I first saw it.

Another wonderful thing was the surprise Mr. Chicken came home with.
While we were in Disney Cali Adventure, he got stuff for his coworker who also likes Oswald. In turn, his coworker gifted him these bad boys.

I recognized them instantly. They're Tokyo Disneyland exclusive Oswald ears. I lost it. Thank you so much, H. I will wear them proudly when we go again. Which is soon. Hopefully. We'll see how burned out I get lol. I feel like... I spoke too soon with the meltdown thing. I think this time around it's gonna be more burnout than meltdown. We'll see. I don't know. But these ears made my day! I can't wait to take a billion selfies in them. :3

Another amazing thing was the beginning of our specialized training.

I'm wearing the scrubs that Ponies gifted me. That day has come.

I don't know how to compartmentalize what I'm feeling in regards to this, but myself and my colleague are both tremendously excited and optimistic. This presents an imbalance in my morality department because I don't know that it's socially okay to be excited over this... part- all things considered. Regardless, I am. Very much. It was our first opportunity to work as involved as we were, alongside our mentor.

We left exhausted, sore, but full of experience and confidence. And it felt good. The end result is something we all want so much to be an kind of help to someone, or a group of people.


Following that amazing thing was another amazing thing!
A few months ago, I got to meet an artist whose work I admire. At Designercon! Imagine!
I didn't learn my lesson with @Tokyo_Jesus. I was a shy gremlin then, and was still a shy gremlin this time around but we got to talking. But we chatted, his lovely lady was there too. She's so beautiful in person. Super sweet! ^-^

Next thing ya know, we're out and he's treating us to dinner and I'm face launching feral screeching at what he brought us.

The artist is Jryu. He's a sculptor and multimedia artist. It's been years actually that I've wanted one of his lil jiangshi pieces. Now that I was finally able to, I ended up commissioning him for 2; one for myself and one for Mr. Chicken. They're the most adorable little babies in the entire world omfg.

The place we went to was so quaint and yommy. It was nearby, so may stop by again sometime. Super chill evening. Was really nice to connect to someone who like, gets it. As far as like... things that are a little darker, but also is a nerd.

Our closest friends are all right there too, and I can't stress this enough;

Surround yourself with people who are chill, at peace with themselves, and flow with your wavelength. It's life-changing.

It was so nice to hang with this dude. Looking forward to the next hang.

Me screaming, probably.

I was foaming at the mouth when we got home because I grabbed Mr. Chicken's camera lights and went to our back yard for very important thing.

INTRODUCING THE BABIES.

Nothing says Asian horror like a cyan light.

Is that ... FOOD?
Why, YES. IT IS.
The babies have FOOD in their cute little hats!

Beef Noodle Soup and Sashimi
🖤

Says so on their cyoo little talismans.

Jesse went in and cooked us up the yummiest noms (delicately sculpted) on the cyootest babies.

The packaging took me out. He handed us the bag with the little take out boxes and I-

My heart. I just. They're both just. With their little boxes. I-
gasping.

Says sashimi, that's adorable. Chirashi bowls are one of my favorite foods. I inhale them, it's feral. And beef noodle soup is also a favorite, but it's complicated. I'll never be able to say why on here, but you can't even imagine and don't want to. Sorry. And I mean that.


Another cool thing is restorative art class. Moving along through all of the parts of the face and how to sculpt them. This was challenging at first, but I like the results.

I didn't mean to make Denethor with Corey Feldman lips, that was total coincidence. But fun! I feel good about sculpting. It's my preferred medium. Mostly because I can see what I'm doing right in front of me and correct in real time as opposed to trying to imagine something, calculating angles and translating that onto a one dimensional plane. Too hard uwu. Professor feels I'll do well. That's encouraging. ^-^

No days off for the next few weeks. I'm okay with that. Today my patience was tested a bit. Certain personalities simply rub me the wrong way. The types who default to complain and are catty while trying to spin it in a blithe, comedic way. It misses. Bitterness is exhausting.

So once we cleared that we didn't have to be there anymore, my friend and I left. Grabbed some essentials at Daiso and had lunch to decompress.

We were in luck. After the headache we'd just escaped, the restaurant provided us with a quiet afternoon lunch.
Loud environments in a confined space are... unpleasant. We have this area in the back corner that we sit at to deliberately keep to ourselves. I'm not sure what happened to encourage this, but it's not quiet there anymore. We must re-establish a new base. There are so many voices going on at the same time, by our once little quiet corner... why? There's gonna be a day when I'm gonna look like an asshole because I'll resort to standing up mid lecture and walking to the empty side of the room, and sit there. I'll feel bad for leaving my friend in the loudness. But I foresee this happening if our base continues to get rushed like this.

In spite of this, I'm home now. Exhausted. But drunk on happy little moments all throughout the week. I wanna sit and journal but fear I'll start dozing off as soon as I lean onto the table to write. I may nap for a bit. There's more I'm going to work on tonight. A lot to do and study for. But brain needs to recharge.

Here's hoping the weekend brings little yays to you, reader. Happy Friday! ♡

M & MF

Aw yeah, aw yeah. We're coming into this entry brains melting and butt clenching.

Meltdown & Move Forward. That's the motto this semester. Just got out of the capstone class. Migraine? Burned out? Nausea? First impressions feel a little weighted. I'm not using one of my meltdowns though. That's why.... I'm drinking wine tonight accompanied by a fat pot of yummy white tea with mango honey and a yummy croissant sammy while I worked on stuff.

I wasn't prepared. I love the material we're learning. And my teachers are fun and engaging. The workload is def gonna clench booties. It's cool because I know it's all in preparation for our national board exams. It's just... I'm in the process of learning how to organize it all in my brain. Wine is great for that.

I feel kinda sick honestly, but uh... it's cool. lol. Did I mention that we accidentally went to the Disney parks for Lunar New Year stuff?
I had a feeling this semester was gonna take a lot out of me, so we were selfish and enjoyed the last moments of glorious fishbraining before I gave myself over to the semester. Frankly we spent most of our time at Disney California Adventure.

To my disappointment, Oswald's shop still barely had any actual Oswald merch. Just these two items. He has his own event, I'll get over it. I wore my Oswald ears for this day.

Decorations were really cool. It was crazy to see him and Ortensia everywhere. Like... that's crazy to me.

Omg, Mr. Chicken just walked in here and handed me a bowl of stir fried edamame in garlic and miso sauce.

During the event there was this food thingie. Lots of food booths all down the main walkway to the pier in DCA. We decided to get this pass. You pay an amount which gets you a pass for 6 food items.

Worth it, imo.

Only thing it doesn't cover is booze. No problem. I don't remember what this was, I think it was the mango beer, but it had like, sweet, frothy, foamy meringue on top.

Someone I follow on IG recently showed some pins I had to get my hands on.

Not this one. Tempting, but I didn't get it. And then there was a parade! We got good spots ^_^
Never really bothered with the parades before, but this one was special.

Snack and drink. We ready.

There's my Oswald!!! He's so precious uwu. Mr. Chicken then lovingly pointed out, and he wasn't wrong, how Oswald just Ricardo Milos'd in our direction. I saw it and it was true and it sucked lol.

Hyuckin motherhyucker

Parade was neat. The best part was that rides weren't even on the itinerary. Being there to enjoy the food and event was the highlight.

So many compliments on our hoodies and ears. Once upon a time in 2018 I could've directed everyone to get them both at the Oswald store. :)

These pins are gorgeous.

Of course, it goes without saying that Oswald's return to celebrate year of the rabbit, and my being a rabbit, is like, super neato. Rabbits are like, supposed to be chill, wise, quiet and patient. Idk if that's entirely me (I feel like it is), but it's nice to read lol.

There was a lot going on for the event, with musicians and all kinds of food to try.

So many wishes for 2023! I wish to overcome challenges and get stronger. ^-^

We didn't leave wishes. As Mr. Chicken says, we fulfill our own wishes.

 
I finally got to see Oswald again!

And... I knew my phone did this little animated function but I didn't bother to learn how to export it until tonight. :)
Please enjoy my euphoria in gifs.

Line attendant dude clued us in that right after him, Ortensia was scheduled to make an appearance. I dragged us back in line :D

These are from a video. I was a bouncy, incoherent, squeaky idiot. Look at her when Mr. Chicken jumps in, SHE'S SO ADORABLE. AAAHHHH

Get your spotlight girl.
FINALLY

Ah, what a happy day. SIGH.

Man, DCA is so much better than Disneyland (in my opinion) simply because of the food and libations. Not just that, but they do more stuff during Halloween. And themed events tend to occur more there. This beer flight was a must.

I was insistent on making sure I drank green tea beer this week. Embrace the insult, become one with the green tea bitch aura and live up to it. Honestly, cheers. :D

The mango sticky rice thing was more of a custardy thingie. Was amazing though. Taro and coconut with a mango compote. Woof. And I decided to give the ramen a try.

Disney ramen? Bruh.

I don't wanna go there but I'm gonna keep it real. The ramen at Disney California Adventure was seriously decent. It was leagues better than the diluted product Kitakata serves. But that's not even a big deal, that's probably standard. The broth was actually really good. Lots of flavor. Not too fishy. Too much dashi can leave that fishy aftertaste but nah, you can taste all kinds of flavors. Nice, well rounded broth. The pork chashu was also really nice. Not like, WHOA, but for what it was... respectable. The noodles were good. Simple, lots of umami. I liked it. Mr. Chicken too. It passes. And now that I know it's there, I'd totally order it again. If you go, it's at the Lucky Fortune Cookery in Pacific Warf, next to Rita's Margarita stand.

I forget what this was but it was kinda like a jiggly citrus mousse cakey thing. It was really smooth, lots of flavor and soooo satisfying to cut into piece by piece. He also got a matcha coffee I think? And then I got a yummy black iced coffee with Kahlua and he got an Irish coffee.

They don't make butt chins like mine anymore.

As the sun set, we wandered and realized the parade would go again. Night time is a beautifying filter.

I like when they get close :B

The entire zone was lit up in red. So pretty!

Best park.

If there was more Oswald stuff, I woulda grabbed it but it looked like there were only pins. That card set was too good to pass up.

Ahh, what a fantastic day. We went to Disneyland towards the end of the day just to see if anything was different. It wasn't lol. But the lights were lit and everything looked pretty. I wanna go back soon. Hopefully before the event concludes next month- we'll see where I am mentally lol.


School's been fun so far. One class in particular. I kinda do what I do at home but like, bigger scale, less cute and for a completely different reason.

Restoration is highlighted.  I don't think I need to elaborate.
Noses are hard lol. It made me think about this one lady (on YT) who creates prosthetics for trauma survivors and how she has to like, make them perfect. That's gotta be a lot of pressure. I don't know what it's like to live without a nose, and to have a opening in the center of my face that draws attention away from like... me as a person. I can probably imagine it to be kinda dehumanizing considering how fish brainy people are when it comes to distractions and attention span. That said, There are 2 especially handsome people I saw on the youtoom who had that very unique feature, and they looked cool.
The woman decided to have a prosthetic done, but she didn't wear it much. And the gentleman intended to wear the prosthesis regularly. To each his own. What's the point of this? Nothing.

Noses. Yeah. I've sculpted 5 different noses now? I'd sculpt mine but it might kill someone. So pointy and evil.

Yesterday after class, my coworker and I attended an industry event. First one of the year! Said I'd do it!

Did it.

Lookit that nose. Can stab someone's eye out.

We're good on paper but we're so introverted and quiet and scared to do anything or talk to people... but we tryin LOL. (Earth sign supremacyyyyy womp womp woooommmmpp)

Was a lot of fun! Board members, professionals, educators, coworkers, students... was neat. Proceeds go towards education and all around positive stuff the association uses to help out. I had good talks with people I look up to and got a lot of encouragement. I've never been someone who was into the whole rawr women, but this profession has an overwhelming amount of women professionals. I found that I can talk to them about stuff that comes up because of our experiences. There's a lot to unwrap, but I left yesterday feeling really good being surrounded by powerhouses of experience and wisdom.
We started it, dudes took over, and we're getting our footing back to stand proudly next to our dude brothers. I like the Next-to part. I rather stand next to someone than to demand they kneel. And yeah. It's nice.
Now I'm here, Friday night. Feeling kinda overwhelmed. I needn't stress myself out. That's not gonna do me any good. But... it's stressful lol. Today was a lot. Never felt nauseous in class before from just digesting a schedule of the curriculum. It's cool. I got this. I can do it.

In spite of my readjusted chaotic calibrations, I'm excited for the future. I hope that you dear reader had a fantastic week. Spoil yourself and do something nice for you this weekend if you're able. I'm gonna try to not be stressed. :D

baaaaaaaaaai bai ^-^