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While we were getting our windows renovated, we spent some time out of our home— my routine got thrown off. I didn’t eat well, didn’t get my best sleep and my comfort space was unavailable— I ended up with poor indigestion & pain around my stomach area— which lead me to the ER the next day. They were able to find the root cause and prescribed me some meds… Now I just need to make sure I avoid having two heavy takeouts in one day :/ I need to not make that mistake again! Literally, I could have gone to a deli at a supermarket and pick up a salad. Yes, Bern and I did went out walking for the whole day, a way to keep our bowels moving. However, cardio alone didn't help and having something quite heavy from a restaurant can be overwhelming. I guess I'm not used to getting takeouts and my daily foods tends to be home cooked meals.

I wish our landlord allowed us more time to plan ahead because I would have been at my parents’ place, in a cozy room with no discomfort. I need my energy to get recharged. The last time I ended up in ER, was when we dealt with a broken refrigerator and had to wait for a week to get in replaced. Just like this year, this was mainly because my digestion was thrown off.

Oh, our car decided to die this week. Bern managed to get it fix. I think we definitely need a new car. I am just super tired.

It feels that every time my routine gets disrupted, my health gets disrupted too. I am just super aggravated about this week. My back hurts from hanging out in the car. My apartment currently smells like paint and I just swept up some paint debris. I may have ingested some of the construction particles. I wish I had cover my living room area with tarp. I have been feeling so crammed.

In a more cheerful vein, I was able to catch up on my sleep and I watched Bridgerton Season 4 as a bandaid for my hectic week. I was to able to get back to my art project. I even got back to my *upgraded* fitness routine: cardio & weight lifting. Anyway, I'm now relieved and I want to get back to romanticizing my personal time and quiet space.

Pictures from the past week: Georgian food & Pop Mart strolls

My WIP drawings

It's coming along!!!

Current Music: Creepy Nuts- Otonoke

Hello, my dear blog friends! I hope yall are safe and that January is treating you well. If not, please hang in there.

I just started putting my Christmas decorations away; slowly replacing my home with reds & Valentine’s decorations. Last Christmas was my best holiday within this past decade— I hope I can maintain that spirit for 2026. I had a bit of difficulties putting some of the decorations away at first, but I felt at ease as soon as I see my Valentine’s decorations up.

I know that if I don't give myself time to do my creative hobbies-- I would get upset at myself. Here’s my January so far in terms art, entertainment, food adventures, wellness:

Art

I am currently brainstorming a drawing for the year of horse. I ended up creating a couple of OCs, they’re characters loosely based on myself, my sisters, my girlfriends with big sister personalities. This drawing will be quite challenging for me. I think drawing carousel horses is a perfect way to get into the spirit. At the moment, I am in the process of finding which stylized designs feels best to draw. The pseudo Blythe body proportion is growing on to me. If my drawing turns out super wonky-- that's okay, at least I'm exercising my brain to do something new!

Entertainment

I got back into Animal Crossing after the update. I ended up restarting my island on our Switch 2. I want a fresh new start and I am okay with starting over. I will write about my Animal Crossing game play after weeks of play or major updates on my game blog. I feel posting small logs of my AC game play would be boring to read and they would just feel redundant.

Food

Bern and I discovered a new place in San Gabriel. I really enjoyed their milk tea, toast, & pineapple bun! Next time, I would like to try their noodles and pineapple bun. The interior decorations was fun to be in— I enjoyed ogling at their neon light.

Bern and I made a mistake of going into a particular “taco restaurant” in LA. The aesthetics of their place is indeed nice, customers are pretty hipstery, & their menu layout looks well done— those are sometimes the signs that a restaurant would be mediocre. It was our own fault that we fell for a gringo taco place We were curious to try them out in the first place, because a couple of people in our social group seems to like them. Then we later learned that we also have friends who also finds them very bland Obviously, I don't post pictures or share locations of the place if I am not too thrilled with the food.

We got a delicious vegan doughnut to make up for our dissatisfaction. I also got around to making my own matcha latte. Because we're in need of calendars, we went to the bookstore and wandered around... we ended up not finding a calendar that we like

OOTD Pics

Wellness

I’ve been pretty good about maintaining my cardio workout. I need to do some homework on free weights workout. I want to make sure I work on areas in my body that doesn’t get enough care.

Last week, I discovered a former friend from high school have been harboring some f4scist outlook. I haven't spoken to this person because of life changes in circumstances, so we weren't able to connect. Bern saw her posts on social media-- they're pretty vial. I am used to having people in my circle who don't have a clear, well-read, well-researched perspective on the Global South matters. However, what this former friend have posted was straight up inhumane; antisocial. To my avid readers, trust me, you'll be repulsed at her. This was the same person who was my badminton partner on my high school team & we both like the same girly pop anime-- it's disappointing.

According to Bern, he theorized that one of the reasons why people act or fall into these antisocial worm mainly because they feel that they're not significant in life and it's their way of standing out. Considering that we both have questionable extended relatives, I see what Bern meant. What do you y'all think? Do you have any former friends who fell into the a1t right hole?

As usual, I've been eating fairly clean: mostly fiber, protein, and whole wheat grain. I also been in touch with my different group of current friends. With all the anxiety-inducing domestic & global current events, I try my hardest to stay level headed-- my friends and I would vent about our days and share our personal highlight. Because if I let bleak events get to me, I would not get anything done at all.

Alright, my sweets-- I luv ya all. See ya my next post.

Current Mood: working
Current Music: SEASIDE FM

As I mentioned in my last post, my holidays were super productive! I told Bern that this year's December was one of my best Decembers because we actually went on different Winter dates, and we didn't even break the bank by doing so! Our money was spent on local food businesses, One Piece merch (Bern saved up for our shopping date), second hand items, & a fresh Christmas tree.

Art Dump

My Dollcember prompts: Angel & Gingerbread, complete.

I joined Secret Santa drawing for Christmas on a Discord chat. I hope the giftee likes the drawing of their OC! At the moment, I am working on a "Snow Queen" prompt.

Holiday Photodump

As a simple basic consumerist b*tch, we got some One Piece merch and a milk tea— some being my birthday gifts and holiday treats.

At the end of 2025, I was happy to be able to do more outings, and not get cooped up at home — we actually tried different food places in one month!

We were supposed to head to Lucky Baldwin’s Pub that night— it turns out their kitchen closes early, the posted time on we found on their website was meant for their bar time On the spot, Bern searched up some places in SGV, found a late night — that place was pretty good! Seems like there were a handful of late night joints in the 626 area. Cozy environment, family dining, easy orders, easy parking, no complicated small talks. The James Wang advertisement on food mats will forever be iconic. I feel protective of some of the SGV food places— I will NOT recommend them to random people (sheltered LA transplants) because I don’t want to send bad vibes to the businesses

Christmas Village Night Market-- A night of hangout, people watching, food & shopping. We got a couple of vintage ornaments and ordered arepas from Sus Arepas. One of the few food truck places that's actually good & not overpriced (Note: No, I do not support McD)

Holiday dinner, I baked milkbuns & prepared apple salad. And yes, I made pumpkin pie, fried chicken, stuffing & roasted potatoes (no pictures). Fun fact: Before my dinner prep, we spotted a former Twin Peaks actress at a grocery store that month! It made our night I knew she was a small lady on screen, she's even smaller in person! She was very recognizable because her of iconic voice and her large eyes.

Oh, I even spent the whole week preparing and assembling my cake. I got my cake layers recipe from Sugarologie's Cakeculator and I improvised the rest. Swiss merengue buttercream, confetti layers, orange curd filling, chocolate ganache, chocolate cookie sandwiches, & maraschino cherries. I know my cake decorating skills are very mid, but the cake itself was quite delicious! It didn't even last in our fridge for very long. I made some wishes-- Happy Birthday to me.

We finally attended a Bob Baker’s marionette show in Sierra Madre. The crowd wasn’t too crazy, we picked a late night performance & received an ice cream after the show— it felt like a fun treat. I enjoyed seeing some of the Mid century puppets’ designs! Bern and I hope to catch more of their marionette shows in the future! The location of this place is quite charming. Bern and I also did some downtown strolls admiring the decorations.

We found a pizza shop that screams Frasiercore, 90s coffee shop aesthetics trapped in time. Andddd their pizza slice was delightful!

I even spent a few days baking cookies-- gifts for my families and friends.. traditional buttercookies, matcha buttercookies, & brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I was practically living in the kitchen BUT I will gladly bake for them again. My brother and my sister-in-law liked the cookies!

And here are my Christmas decorations! Because our tree is still drinking-- I plan on leaving it up until it dries out, just like a vase of roses!

To all my friends: I hope your holidays went well! Since you've made it this far, thanks for reading my post.

Happy 12th night, we’re in a new year and for Los Angeles, the rain has finally stopped! I am not complaining because we do need some of the rain to keep our plants green. This rainy week is quite a contrast to the windy week from last year.

My holidays from last month were filled with productivity, dates & to-do’s. I prefer my December to be active because it prevents me from brain rotting. I was doing okay until a couple days ago. I am the kind of person who keeps up with global current events from time to time; sometimes I am susceptible to doomscrolling . I managed to stay level-headed by putting on a podcast and listening to the Pick Me Up, I'm Scared podcast. It’s one of the best ways for me to get historical insights without stumbling upon bots and trolls— they’re just overwhelming to weed through.

My 2025 Resolution Recaps:

Eversince I joined XHS, I’ve managed to make more friends worldwide— genuine friends. It’s nice to have friends to chat and check up our day without having to be invested with their faces, class, & background. Because I can’t meet most people physically, making online friends is a nice alternative for me. I believe my social connections skyrocketed for someone who've been social distancing in this current world. Despite being an introvert, having some company and listening to others talk is actually quite nurturing for the brain!

I lost ten pounds. I am pretty proud of myself. At this point, I just want to keep my weight under control and continue focusing on strengthening my body at this point. I have been good with cardio exercises. This time, I want to improve my weight lifting. I believe with our current state of the world, if you're able-body, I think it's important to try to stay healthy. This is my way of being grateful with my current health and it's a way to fight our problems. I not only want to be strong for myself, but I want to be strong in taking care of others too.

As for my art style, I think I improved a bit! I understand that they’re considered objectively lowbrow by the artful community, however, I just enjoy drawing doll-like fuzzy eared characters.

I didn’t end up getting married— because of $$$ and time. I may have to post pone it for years to come— even for a simple courthouse ceremony. I just want a simple cute dress, some pretty pictures and a cake. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for planning for 2025. Looking for an inexpensive dress, reading marriage license fees & booking a photographer in Burgerland can take some time. I might reach to the point of just being my own photographer....I dunno. Perhaps, I'll make a honeymoon trip and get our photos done in China or Southeast Asia instead.

Overall, I feel the 2025 version of me is different from the 2020-2024 version of my younger self. I want to turn into the person who is willing to fight; get things done. I don't like feeling hopeless and sorry. Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. 666 7.

Resolution 2026

Change my wardrobe style to 60 percent of my current style. Who would have thought a bunch of dress code- based clothes sitting in a closet can strip your style away? I think I will do some sewing & alterations to match my taste. I might just give away any clothes that no longer suits me.

Shoes upgrade— for practical reasons. My current shoes are falling apart.

Make more traditional art; avoid distractions. Get better with painting roses.

Get in touch with cerebral activities: read a book, study a language, do random crafts and engage in puzzle games

Collect more dolls

Stay organized, manage schedule better.

(Stay tuned for my next post of photodump from December)

This year, I decided to join a Secret Santa project for an art discord chat. As soon as I received my giftee and their OC request, I immediately worked on the drawing right away. I figured it was nice to get that done as soon as possible just in case my health could decline over the holidays... I wanted to make sure I do the Secret Santa gifting on time. I want to share my drawing here, but since, it's not my OC-- I will keep it private.

However, I have a Dollcember project I want to share! Here's my cute Santa honey from this year:

cute bunny girl kemonomimi

Recently, I went on a lengthy neighborhood stroll whilst admiring the residents' holiday lights and Christmas trees displayed in front windows . I had my headphones on and listened to a playlist of Cambodian 60s pop music-- particularly the super moody ones, some being music covers from folk songs. Maybe it was just my hormones, but I almost bawled my eyes out as I was admiring some of the holiday lights as I was entranced by the dinner smells from the houses that I walked by. I felt a bit of sadness and joy muddled in one. Maybe what I was feeling was a piece of nostalgia from someone else's experience? Perhaps a bit of the longing feeling? A feeling of homesickness? Am I falling in love with an idea, place & time that doesn't even exist? As I was looking at the neighborhood Christmas lights, I felt like I could cry, dream and waltz at the same time! I believe this is just me with my daydreaming personality.

To any readers who are interested and curious to experience my feelings, here's my playlist:

Chhoen Malay- You Are Ruthless
Ros Sereysothea- Remember Still
Sinsamouth- Permanent Treasure
Sinsamouth- Love Is Enough(Summer Kisses, Winter Tears cover)
Sinsamouth- Bopha Cheangmai
Sinsamouth- No Longing

For another option, you can just make any playlist of any dreamy music playlist, and you will get the idea. Most songs by Roy Orbison should work too! With your headphones on, find a neighborhood/ district in a beautifully decorated place, make sure to go on a walk during a peaceful hour with your headphones on.

*Please do not confuse me as a person who yearns over the past. That's not actually the case here.

I guess I've been so caught up with my personal quiet time that I haven't been able to interact with my friends for a week-- it's time for me to message them!

It has been about seven months since I last updated my last blog entry-- the last time I updated was one entry from Spring 2025. I just have been so preoccupied with hobbies, tasks, health, homemaking and social connection (twitch streams and live voice chats). I will say the past months for this year, I feel I was able to prevent myself from doomscrolling. As much as I enjoy certain content from scrolling through apps, going overboard can definitely lead to brainrot. -- I am glad I was able to load myself with healthy-and-productive activities for most of 2025. Does this mean I am perfect with my priorities? Absolutely not. I sometimes been watching those really ridiculous C-Drama shorts ironically, I can't help it because my online girlfriends have been sending these clips to me. There are a lot of insane ones, but there's a few that are actually well-made (art house level of direction). So many plots involving rebirths, CEOs, revenge and Cindrella-esque situations.

I don't regret watching the shorts with cursed plot lines because they're kind of campy and was learn basic Mandarin from watching these. I guess you can see this is our generation of Days of Our Lives.

My last winter felt like the holidays were cut short-- for reasons that we cannot control. This year, I am hoping to a smoother time.

I need to find a holiday dress-- I will have to see if my closet has anything that still flatters me.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Goals check ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Art 2025 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚- Here are some artwork I've made from this year:

For Spooky Szn 2025, I drew tarot-card style for my OC monsters. I've managed to do three prompts because I've been pretty busy that month.

I attempted to only draw one Zodiac character for Spring and did a DTIYS illustrations from a couple of streamer artists.

couple having ice cream city pop romance retro anime starter pack doll

These are the drawings that I did from last spring & summer. The ice cream couple was a redo of an older drawing. The starter kit was based on a trend that involves no AI.

I got back intro traditional art. I basically started doing impressionistic paintings with roses (not pictured) and ended up painting a holiday cat meme because it makes me giggle just thinking about this kitty.

I am thinking of deleting my Cara account. I just find the site pointless for me. I feel as if I could just build my own portfolio site with my drawings instead.

Currently, I'm doing my very best to work on my speed and be consistent with my drawings. There are times when I just want to finish all my tasks in one day. Obviously, that's just unrealistic.

Anyway, if any of you want to join my drawing prompt, here's mine for the holidays:

Fitness 2025 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ For the most part, I've been keeping up with cardio and video workouts. All I know is that if I don't keep up, I would feel sick and my gut would not cooperate. No, I don't have the physique of a Street Fighter character BUT I feel stronger and I need my bowels to remain happy. I do get comments like "YoU'rE wOrkInG oUT? bUt yOu aLreaDy LoOk gReAT" I have to remind some of my friends that I don't engage in fitness solely for vanity reasons-- I treat this as my personal medicine-- doctor's orders. As another friend have said, "looking great and feeling great are two different things".

Social life 2025 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
Last month, I made some new friends by collaborating in a Silent Hill F game. I don't care for others' objections with this game, I enjoyed the story line and it healed me! There were some things I can relate to the characters in the game. Spoilers: One of my worst nightmares in life is not having the ability to explore my dreams; I don't like the feeling of getting my wings clipped. That was what the main character of Silent Hill F was facing. The puzzles were a lot of fun and it wasn't super scary to watch ( I don't mind that). A friend of ours who was controlling the combat exchanged language lessons-- he basically swapped the translation text in the game to learn English from the group.

I personally don't find HelloTalk to be helpful when it comes to language lessons XD especially if you're a woman

As for physical, local friends-- Bern's friends Dragon and Koala has been pretty good about penciling their time to hang out with him. I finally hung out with my former coworker from years back, we got coffee and went thrift shopping together. As usual, she dresses so beautifully-- her personality is always full of sunshine. I am happy that to hear that she upgraded her career life and didn't tie herself down to a toxic workplace that we worked at.

I recently joined a Secret Santa for a community made by one of my favorite streamers. I believe I will be getting the giftee's name assigned by the Santa bot.

Beauty 2025 (Not part of my resolution) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
I've been wearing a lot of warm tones-- I know the color red suits me, warm red in particular. I believe my makeup skills improved since the 2010s. After going through some personal meltdowns from 2020, it's nice for me to be able to wear makeup a little more often.

Current Music: a t c a f e lofi hip hop

As somewhat who is currently still social-distancing (90 percent of the time) for health reasons, I've managed to make quite some online friends that aren't only limited to blogging or online forums. At this point, the XHS app has been my go-to app, especially since I have made friends by vocal interactions through live chats. Even despite being a bit on the introverted side, I do crave for genuine human interaction (while being able to social distance) and XHS has been a perfect app for that! So far, I'm in two different groups: a chill vibes only live chat, and a community with poetry, books, movies and film. The "chill vibes only" live chat can get pretty chaotic at times, however, I met some pretty interesting folks who have really made my day. As for the language arts community, I follow a streamer who recites poetry: both in Chinese and English-- I made so many friends from that chat. The vibes are very cozy and it was nice getting graphic novel and movies recommendations from a cultured bunch. So far, a friend of mine from India recommended me to check out the Untamed(both manhua & live series)

I am slowly learning Mandarin-- especially learning the four tones. Even as somewhat who's familiar with tonal languages, it can still be difficult for me to grasp.

I told Bern that I desire to travel once again because I feel like I am caged up in a bubble. The pandemic and c4ncer robbed most of my plans-- now that I'm feeling a better health wise, I just want to resume where I left off. We're hoping to fly out in the next two years. I do have a couple of pen pals who wants me to stop by their city and I'll have to see if I'm able to pencil in for one trip. I can't say these are promises, but just wishful dreams.

Also, when it comes to fashion-scrolling, I don't feel the need to subscribe Elle or Vogue when I can just browse through my XHS fashion feed for trendy fomos. I can say that my FYP feed sure knows my taste after a few weeks of interaction.

Because I've been so focused on physical fitness along with other hobbies, I haven't been able to sit down to reflect and update an entry. That's not necessarily a bad thing due to the fact that I've been adamant about staying in shape-- it's my priority. I'm quite content that I was able to make progress over the past couple of months. I don't expect to be extremely ripped as Street Fighter character, however I've been able to sleep better! I feel better too. I've managed to drastically decrease my blood sugar. Since egg prices are still quite high, I haven't been able to eat any egg-based foods since my last entry. It has been over a month!

I'm quite grateful that I am able to do some reflection today, especially with the rain in the background.

Anyways, I decided to fuse my Boa Hancock cosplay accessories with my OOTD. I like how that this turned out. Living in LA, I think it won't be long until non-coat season will be up again. I may have to move to a cooler location to experience full coat season once again. I'm starting to become more comfortable with taking selfies once again. If you are already following me on other social media platforms, yes, you probably seen my face. Sometimes I just want to feel like a character-- I just want to role play.

Did some journaling these past couple of months, and that's pretty much why I've been preoccupied. My hobbies are taking over my life.

I hung out with a friend who had a connecting flight at Bob Hope. He was in between times, so we just hung out and chat. We basically grabbed some kebab dishes from an Armenian restaurant.

Tasks for this month:

-Practice my watercolor/ gouache
-Continue my workout
-Reorganize my living space

Do you remember what it is like to flip channels on the television and not pick a tv show to watch?

Well, that's how my brain behaving at the moment. I hope that in writing this entry, I get control of my mind so that I can get my important tasks done. I think I have been over stimulated that I feel a bit behind at times. I can't be too hard on myself because:

1. In my county, two new fires (Santa Ana wind once again) just dropped and it was hella lit

. Sorry, dark humor and yes, fires are scary. I've been cooped up indoors because of potential ashes or toxic debris travel through wind. I haven't open any our windows yet; we kept our filters on. I ended up doing my workout indoors and I've been pretty consistent until the past couple of days. But after this blog, I will get my butt back to the floor mat.

2. I thought Tiktok would get banned? At this point, I really don't know anymore. I ended up archiving some food recipe videos and some of my art videos. I made sure to follow any moots on different platforms.

3. Since I thought Tiktok would be gone (and maybe it will get banned in the future), I downloaded Xiao Hong Shu (The Little Red Book/ Red Note) and partook in a historical American and Chinese cultural exchange. To be quite honest, not a whole lot about China surprises my American mind, especially as someone who's already familiar with world history & dialectical materialism. It is finally nice to see pen pals clearing decades of misunderstanding; exchanging language lessons; finding ways to properly communicate; sending cat memes.

People of all age group having genuine interactions with one another. It felt like a 2000s AOL chatroom. I don't know how long this exchange will last, but it certainly opened doors to the future.

This person sums up my feelings and experience regarding to the Sinophobia in Spring 2020. The Little Red Book pretty much dismantled that misplaced rage that most Westerners harbored.

I spent the whole week watching steamed eggs (ji dan geng) recipes. Here were my attempts:

I know they're not as pretty as the images I've seen on the recipes, but they're still good! I learned to not overcook these eggs and using warm water is key to smoothness.

4. David Lynch passed away. I did a bit of mental reflection of all of his films that left a big impression on me.

5. Just finished my Nutcracker Squirrel babe drawing & Boa Hancock fan art for the Year of the Snake. I got three Drawcember prompts done, that's quite something. So, yay for me.

Well then, I hope you are all doing well. I hope January has been good to you all. We have a bunch of new years inching ahead. So grab your cup, and let us *cheers* to the future.

Current Mood: restless
Current Location: Los Angeles
Current Music: Like A Virgin Cover- Kei Mizutani

a picture of the sun in a toxic air, in Los Angeles rolls of tape and scissors

About a few days ago, we had a wind storm in our area. It's quite windy that it actually took some massive trucks out as if you were to tip a cow to its sides. A friend of ours mentioned that we haven't been getting any rain at all, we were expecting our wet season. With the chaparrals region being under drought combined with the intensity of the wind pretty much equals fire. Before the wind storm happened, Bern and I feared this would happen and it did. We saw what happened in Nor Cal; similar situation with the wind in Los Angeles County. Hearing about fires is not unique to us, we have friends who lost their homes to them. However, we're still pretty shocked because it's winter.

Everyone in our local circle are from middle class, working class families, different ethnicities and racial backgrounds. These are people who work in service jobs or trade-related work. Back then around most of the 20th century to the 80s, a sizable suburban homes were affordable for working class families to purchase. People have built communities in towns where they felt belong and accepted. There are BIPOC communities. They have been living there for generations. Until after the 90s, the value of their homes increased at a high value. This is a common thing that tends to happen at any populated region with high economy.

My family called/ texted us to check on us. While the air quality was bad (the AQI is better today, but the air still smells bad), fortunately, the evacuation zones didn't catch to our district. Bern and I are currently safe. On the watch duty app, it looks as if one of the fires are going in an opposite direction? Not great for those who are on the East of the fire! I basically just have to make sure to keep our air filter on. I lost some sleep and spent one whole night sealing up our windows & door. Some of the smokey air did seeped in a bit. I added a bit of humidity to clean our indoor air. As for today, I managed to get some sleep, especially after the 'accidental' heart-racing phone alerts.

My heart breaks for those from Pasadena & Altadena. This person described a bit of Altadena's history quite beautifully. Some of my favorite go-to spots are located there! If you follow my blog long enough, you probably read that I watch a lot of Huell Howser tv and somewhat of a local history nerd when it comes stories from the 20th century. As someone who loves everything involving rabbits, I was disheartened when I heard the Bunny Museum caught fire.

I had to put my workout routines to a halt, but I'm going to get back to doing my indoor workout today! Otherwise, I'll feel crummy and end up with a bad indigestion. Apparently someone was jogging in a neighborhood through a smokey air and my reactions were ''. Honestly, it's okay to skip fitness routine for a day or two. Breathing in the toxic air with no mask is quite awful. Perhaps work out indoors instead?!

After that, I'll do a bit of house organization. I know I have some practical clothes that no longer fits, I'm looking forward to donate them. There's a reason why I don't ever drop them off at most thrift places. I rather just give them away to those who wants them. I'm going to have to do some resources-hunting. So far, I found this list, thanks to my neighbors.

Current Location: Los Angeles

Our December was cut short for these few reasons: Bern's busy work schedule, our refrigerator passed away (it was already elderly when we first got it), and I ended up with a pretty bad indigestion. Despite the mood-hiccups, we were able to enjoy the holidays by looking at the decorations from our mall-explorations*. We're pretty awed to find that more restaurants added outdoor seating. We noticed a restaurant that we liked relocated to a different street nearby! It looks like they upgraded to a sizable outdoor seating. Some places don't even require guests to walk in a building to get their seats waited. There seems to be a mixture of corporate-owned chains and family-owned businesses. It's nice to have options for brunch & dining.

I was pretty adamant about getting a lengthy walk steps, so Bern and I spent quite some time just going trough walkways, alleyways, and parking garages in the city; we basically vibed under interesting architectural spaces.

*mall-exploration- is that even a word? Well, it makes sense to me at the moment.

Alright, here's our 'mall exploration' photodump:

Taken from different days within our December/ January week. Just a stroll of visual-scavenger hunt. We had delicious doughnuts, but I think I will avoid sweets for awhile now

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: EMC Enjoy Music Club

Credits to tumblr, shopping sites, & Pinterest for the images.

Happy New Yearssssssss everybody!

On a local level, I hope 2024 was kind to you all. My whole year was a combination of things: sadness & happiness. Overall, bittersweet but I am grateful. I won't elaborate on peculiar details because even for an online journal, it's a bit overwhelming to share-- I just want to focus on being present. I want to be able to dream the future.

I ended up making my first vision board, I love this idea because it's a great way to keep me focused without getting side tracked. I am someone who gets easily sidetracked; I believe a vision board will be beneficial for me. My top resolutions are: staying super fit, improve my artwork, do more experimental photography, & collage/archive... within my income/ lifestyle, I believe this will be attainable for me.

Here are my 2025 goals break-downs:

1. Staying Fit & Being Healthy

In order to not end up in ER, between my physician and I, I do have to lose a bit* of weight and it keep them under control. Yeah, my body is weird and cannot handle dramatic changes; I get digestive problems if I am not careful. I feel a "Wellness Journal" would be a great way to keep track of the things I eat, even if I have been eating clean, certain foods can trigger me-- possibly send me to ER if I go overboard with "triggering" foods. As for my cardio routines, I need to make sure I have at least 50-60s minutes per day to keep my bowels moving. After my GERD scare, it's a wakeup call for me to turn my physical wellness into my resolution.

Also, I wouldn't mind building a bit of muscle-- I want to continue to lift weights once again. Might just start with the dumbbells that I have atm just to restart my body building.

*Key words: a bit. For clarity: I'm not one of those people who are obsessed with wanting a specific body image. I do not have a poor image of myself nor am I extremely vain in that sense. Be sure to check in with your doctor before you decide to make some drastic lifestyle changes, everyone is built different!

from the left: art from January/ February 2024, WIP drawing from December 2024

2.Improve my artwork
I believe I need to start researching some some artists, read some books and start studying different camera angles for dynamic poses. I'd like to weave back into traditional art:mainly with gouache and watercolors-- sometimes it's just nice to get into organic movements with my art pieces. For 2024, it turns out that I haven't been filling up my sketchbook enough..but to be fair, I've been drawing digitally-- so I guess that makes up for it. I do want to continue to fill up where I left off just so I can practice my energy with my line work.

3.Experimental photography
I figured since life is short and that I am becoming comfortable in my own skin, I want to get back into experimental photography: self portraits & still life, street photography. Perhaps learn some special effects? After seeing these sets of photoshoot done by Kemmiethecat, I felt a strong urge to something fun. I'd like to have a fun 'pre-wedding' style photoshoots! Not sure exactly how the LA landscapes will correspond with Wong Kar Wai-film style; I'd imagine having his style of photoshoots with American Diner places would end up looking like My Blueberry Nights, unless if I were to do photoshoots in SF.

My journal sets from seven years ago

4. Collage, Journal & Archive
I want to make sure I have time to do some physical collages and junk-journaling to treasure some memories. I may incorporate these stuff with my sketchbook ideas. There are some things I cannot express within my personal website and I rather make a personal written journal about peculiar topics. Also, I this One Piece journal looks so nice. Don't worry, I'm not going to purchase them... I don't deserve them.

Apparently the internet is not forever, so I need to make sure i back up my favorite recipes, important videos and my favorite media before they vanish.

animal crossing screenshot of bern and i

Gameplay with Bern during our first year of the pandemic

5. Stay Connected
I believe in order to improve my artwork and gain new insight to a perspective, I think it's vital to have a healthy community to keep thee brain afloat. So far, I've joined some online art communities and they've been pretty sweet. It's nice to feel that I'm not alone with the drawings subjects that I chose to draw with my current skill level.

I also need to start finding communities that are immunocompromised-friendly; because I feel like I can provide support for those who needs someone like me or Bern

Not exactly sure where to start, but I'll figure it out.

Ins & Outs

Outs:
-Hopelessness
-Endless doom-scrolling
-Avoiding situations
-Anxieties
-Complete Alienation

Ins:
-Take direct action
-Repost aids; engage; inform; educate your peers; learn to garden
-Solving problems
-No doomer mindset
-Call mom/ dad
-Talk to neighbors
-Be a warrioress; be strong

Goals I've achieved:
-No caffeine for 4+ years
-Pretty consistent with fiber intake
-No artblocks, just hoards of art projects
-Found an art community (it's like my personal dive bar like the one in Cheers TV)
-Improved my cooking skills
-Low consumption/ under-consumption

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: DJ HASEBE- Holiday CITY POP mix

Merry second day of Cribmas! Here's this Jingle Bell song in a Thai-folk style-- enjoy!

My birthday just passed! I never thought about whether or not I like having my birthday on a holiday until I had friends bring up this question in my adult life:

"Doesn't it suck to have a birthday during the Winter holidays?"

My answer to that has always been, "uhmm I don't know" or "I never really thought about it". Just recently, when I thought about it, I think I quite like being a winter baby! I don't mind Christmas or Yule decorations. Most of the time, I learned that I prefer the lack of attention between my social circles in real life. While most of my peers would be busy running holiday errands, I can go incognito with my special day. I grew up with having big gatherings with my extended family, so having a peaceful celebration is quite a change. Ever since I've been with Bern, my birthday traditions elevated to late night dinners and downtown strolls. For the past years, my birthday celebrations has been intimate-- that's how I like them.

This year, our refrigerator is now completely gone. I experienced a bit of headache (lack of sleep) and indigestion because I'm so used to having stored foods that requires refrigeration. It kind of made me felt physically off; ended up with a weird acid reflux. I think I am feeling a bit better now! Hopefully I'll feel Toguro-One-Hundred-Percent before New Years! Due to being super absorbed in my artwork, I tend to forget to incorporate my intensive exercises to my routine. This time, I will have to cut back my drawing schedule just a bit and start graduating myself towards stricter workouts. Between my physician and I, the way my body functions, we're hoping it's a way for me to smooth out my digestion. This should be another easy New Years' resolution for me, because it's super vital for me to have to keep up anyway.
Once I am well and our refrigerator gets replaced, I'll probably bake a cake for myself-- for a celebration do-over. Technically, the holidays are still around until the first week of January. I will be keeping our decorations up, just so I can space out to the warm rainbow lights...that's how I meditate.

Overall despite the acid reflux throat burns, I enjoyed my birthday. Bern and I looked at Christmas lights in decorated neighborhoods-- it was a perfect way to get our walking steps as our exercise. He took me to one of the best Thai restaurants in LA with outdoor seating; I ordered something simple (Pad Se Eew) because the dish has some green veggies in them. As usual, the foods came out perfect for both us.

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well and are receiving lots of love during the holidays!

Photodump:

Banh mi- probably was the last straw of my acid reflux trigger, I think I would have been find if I had a better digestion for that day. It was still delicious though! Pad se eww picture on the right.

A neighborhood with collaborative decorations (80 percent of the neighbors decorate).

Gifts from Bern! Got a Stussy doll; she's so pretty. Received a carbon steel wok, which means I really need to make sure I season this pan properly!

Current Music: Christmas Eve- Tatsuro Yamashita

As I said last month, I knew this December would be kind of a busy month for my partner and I! My folks stopped by; a couple of friends wanted to hang out with us over the weekend. I haven't seen my parents in person since last Spring, and we hung out with our friends (let's call them Koala & Dragon) separately last month. Basically, I made sure to keep our place tidy! We got Koala to watch archived Christmas specials for Saturday evening; just lowkey conversations of Christmas lights, their office parties, and vintage holiday specials. Dragon came over the next day to play some video games with Bern; lots of fun-competitive plays and energetic bursts. They played Super Monkey Ball. Out of all of Bern's local colleagues, they've been great about keeping in touch with him.

I baked brown butter cookies! The first batch came out a bit well done (still delicious), but I cut down the next cooking time down to a minute less and it came out perfect, with a bit of the chewiness in the middle. I also baked persimmon bread, with persimmons that I received from my parents' place. This year, they turned out humongous. My family is pretty green-thumbed.

christmas tree with icandescent multicolored lights

Oh, and so we finally picked up a Christmas tree; a fresh Noble Fir. It's been a week and it didn't dry out yet! For once, we used our own tree stand because we want room for the train toys to pass around the tree. You know how some people got miniature water fountains in their homes, with the sound of water as their asmr? Well toy trains are Bern's kinetic stimulation. I enjoy the presence of trains. I finished decorating the tree in a couple of days; it was very relaxing because I love taking my sweet time. I went with the usual: second-hand ornaments, gifted items, incandescent lights and collected pieces from the past years. I watched a bit of Kirsten & Joerg's holiday videos in the background-- they're very cozy and wholesome! They're such a handsome couple; charming personalities. I love their taste-- which is just classic deep red/ hunter green Christmas, with warm colors...similar to mid 90s holiday decors. They remind of some day time slice-of-life programs from local tv stations that partnered with PBS. Some people made comments that they lowered the blood pressure-- and they're correct!

My sister bought me some cute gifts!

I told her that she did not have to since I couldn't get her anything beyond the cupcakes and cookies that I've baked for her. She loves shopping for other people; no one can stop her. Literally no one. I'm going to save my stickers for scrap booking! She also got me practical things: mobile phone suction & slippers.

I also need to plan my birthday. I think I have an idea, but not exactly sure what I want to do during my birthday. If we do end up eating out-- it will be an outdoor sit-down place. Part of me wants to do a bit of window shopping at malls/ downtown areas, but I can't be in a place of crowds during the holidays in this timeline. I'm okay with flea markets/ open air places. I guess I can always search up some local museum stops & light installations. I'm lucky to live in area with a bunch of landmarks that doesn't involve indoor spaces. Since our refrigerator is unreliable for the third time

, I'm just going to skip out on baking myself a cake for now. There's no point in using up buttercream, eggs, ganache for them to go to waste. Dealing with improper food storage would frustrate me

, it would be unsafe to consume them. I may also have to avoid preparing dinners that requires overnight leftovers, just incase. If this continues this whole week, I would be okay with getting a local Chinese food takeout if any are open during Christmas day. Perhaps I'll end up having a 90s romcom movie* dinner for holidays.

*Okay, I know the link isn't really from a romcom movie nor is it from the 90s. But Sandra Oh looks like she could've starred in an iconic one.

Well despite our refrigeration malfunction, I was able to decorate and I had some time to work on my art! Here is my Drawcember art atm:

I made a Drawcember prompt list for myself just to simply get sucked into a festive mood. At least for me, it's pretty effective. Got my holiday movies in the background; hot cocoa around (but not close to my tablet). Yes, I'm a tad bit upset that I won't be able to cook my favorite foods but I'm also grateful things I'm able to do. Aside from essential needs....there's not a whole lot for me to ask for.

a couple pics of my autumn strolls

As I was preparing my dinner rolls dough, my mom called me earlier today wishing me a "Happy Thanksgiving". Then with concern, she asked me if my sister called me; apparently she caught a flu and haven't recovered. Not exactly sure how or where she caught the flu but hearing her getting sick made me anxious. I believe she caught some things in the past five years-- I hope it doesn't take a heavy toll on her body. I told my mom that I received a text from her related to pop culture news and such, so it seemed like she was doing fine.

Have any of you seen David Lynch's The Straight Story? Do you have sibling(s)? Not a spoiler: The lead character of this film, an elderly man by the name of Alvin Straight, gets a call from his niece that his younger brother fell. Hearing that information made the lead character panicked... his driving license is no longer good so he decides to take a road trip journey on a lawnmower to see his elderly-baby brother. He wants to go see him before it's too late.

I felt that. The bond between the Straight brothers. My sister isn't old and neither am I, but we both got health needs in different areas -seeing how things have been these past years made me cautious about how our physical health can turn out.

"I think I may have to head back to ER tonight" my sister texted. Even my mom was feeling a bit uneasy. My parents did offer to travel to her place for a wellness check, but according to my mom, she told them not to. So maybe it's not that serious? I don't think she is stubborn about asking for help if she needs it. I'll have to check back on her tonight or early morning to see if she's recovering.

I've been mostly in the kitchen all morning with 80s/90s M4cy*s Parade in the background, watching some of the clips ironically and praising certain performances. Bern basically vibed in the background as well. There were some interesting Broadway numbers/ creative floats but there were also some questionable/ outdated presentations as well. Watching the clips, we were able to gain fragments of insights on the culture and the attitudes of that time. So please note that because of our awareness of the historical past, we're NOT one of those people who romanticizes everything from our childhood era. Some things are meant to be kept in a time capsule-- that's perfectly okay for us. We want to move forward.

Bern got some days off, which means he got time to rest, disassociate & work on his personal projects. I'm really hoping my sister pulls through. I told her to make sure she gets plenty of fluid. Luckily, she got friends nearby to help out!

Anyway to my American friends: I hope you all are having a nice day off with loved ones (or alone if that's preferable)! Please take care of yourself & stay healthy!

polar teddy bear

Here are my photo dump of food pics:

Dinner Rolls Cambodian Fried Chicken

pumpkin pie with graham cracker crust apple walnut stuffing

apple salad orange mango vignaigrette

All prepared & made by me! I'm addicted to my mango-orange vinaigrette.

bunny angel

Journal update:
Seems like my sister is pulling through! She's just at the recovery stage of coughs and having a bit of a chest pain. No pneumonia atm. Probably will have a follow up the next week if she doesn't get better. I told her to have the humidifier around and eat soupy foods. I feel so bad for her because her housemate (landlord) isn't being reasonable to her and her room mate. Just seeing screenshots of texts & social media posts makes me want to scream for her-- I'm normally not the kind of person who yells. Fortunately, my sister is moving out; her plans got delayed because of the flu. My family and I are sensing she might not get her security deposit back, which I wonder if that could be illegal? Hmmmm we shall see.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Ambiance Crossing

Over a decade ago, I made some shopping errors: one of them happened to a giant Betsy Johnson bag, made of pleather. I'm starting to find that some of my pleather clothes are starting to peel, with the outcome of tedious clean-ups.

I loved the bag-- got quite some use from it. The chains seems pretty sturdy and bag liner is good shape-with such a cute cherry printed fabric! I just loathe how the exterior turned out over time. I'll have to find a way to salvage the pieces that are still intact, it would require a heavy-duty seam ripper to take them apart. As years passed, I find that I need purchase my needs with care and strict examinations. Luckily, I still have some other purses/bags that are in decent quality within my small collection... my best ones are my second-hand bags gifted by my aunt & mom (80s fashion).

It started raining this week; just a week of errands. Now that I got them out of the way, I can finally rest. Oh never mind, I still got a bit of house tasks to work on. Also, I'll be hanging out in the kitchen prepping some things. I don't know if I'll be able to get back with my artwork and do a little bit of my game logs until the end of this week.

For my OOTD: I had a sweater duster, newsboy hat, white boots, deep green sweater, & gray skirt all with solid colors. I guess I'll call it Snoopycore Autumn? Yes, I know I'm a bit of a basic witch when it comes Snoopy, but I have a connection to the character for hometown reasons. These ensembles don't quite flatter my kibbe silhouette and that's okay because: 1. it was an uneventful day 2. there's no need to disregard comfortable clothes when it still fits.

Took some photos during my errands. Bern and I hit rush hour as we head back home, we basically played, "Eye Spy Games" with Christmas lights and old food signs. We drove through several neighborhoods with some festive lights and took notes of some diner places that we passed.

Current Mood: grateful

I pretty much felt gloomy after watching the seventh episode of Dandadan series, it was a bit of a surprise to catch a serious tone from a comedic anime about ghosts and aliens. Bern was saying how the theming of Dandadan (not to confuse it with style) felt like a David Lynch's writing approach on tragic characters. When he mentioned that, I knew what he was talking about! The Acrobatic Silky's past reminded of Laura Palmer's and Diane Selwyn's backstory from Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. All three of those characters experienced intense trauma that were beyond their control, it's as if society has failed them all.

Bern also pointed out that the 'Aliens' from Dandadan felt like they represent toxic masculinity, they're about domination, control and strong desire to take over the human race. With all the 'ghosts' symbolizing femininity, they tend be filled with rage- years of pain building up over time. Every time a ghost gets 'tamed' in the series, the viewer in the end begins to understand and sympathize with the spirits. It seems as if all the spirits were once human, trying to survive life and got hit with brutal death/ or passed with no peacefulness in mind.

Both Bern and I love hearing Nerdy Daily's comments, we've been watching his One Piece reactions. His articulation with this episode was very beautiful,

"In not leering at her, not even showing the men, it is instead completely about her perspective. It centers her pain in the story and her anger and it so deeply allows us to emotionally connect with what she becomes, the spirit of vengeance.."

Similar to how Diane Selwyn was a lindy hop dancer, we learned that the Acrobatic Silky ghost was a ballerina-- both were living in a poverty with the harsh work life that involves moonlighting. Diane Selwyn's rage snapped from the feeling of rejection and humiliation, living in the Hollywood dreams. The Acrobatic Silky's case was having her daughter taken away from a group of yakuza, probably had a mountain of debt that she could not pay back on time.

As you can see from my updates, I made a new blog page layout revolving around the Nutcracker, pink tulle and frosted snowflakes. The ballerina gif is a coincidence with Acrobatic Silky character-- it is unrelated, I promise. I got my design inspiration from a number of memories: the Nutcracker ballet plays, mom's shabby chic bath set, a white gold locket gifted by mom, shopping at Claire's during the holidays, and Lipsm4ckers makeup collection filled with glitter. Just like my autumn layout, the profile picture drawing was done by Bern, from iphone doodle.

Not counting the tree, I managed put all our holiday decorations up! We have a small space, so it was a pleasant way of storing our Halloween decorations away. I find that boiling a pot of water with slice lemons, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, ginger and cloves really brings out the cozy atmosphere. We even had a friend (Bern's colleague) over in the weekend, apparently he was in Scotland weeks ago during Halloween and showed us some scenic pictures. Bern and him talked about their creative projects and caught up with their updates in their social circle. Since we'll be inching towards a bunch of festivities, we did get into a conversation on nostalgia and our family customs. We all grew up with different traditions, customs and such; we shared about the the food we loved and *certain* family events that weren't pleasant. Our friend grew up in another Anglophone country from a different continent & season pattern, so his experiences were drastically different from our childhood. It was quite interesting to hear all the food he had has a child. Between Bern and I, while we're pretty much from the same hometown and had the collective 90s American public school experience, ours were slightly different because I was raised by a large household, predominantly Asian. Bern grew up with the Tommy Pickles' holidays. Bern was explaining to his friend that we both ended up making new traditions for ourselves as a couple living together; our holidays became pretty magical once again ever since we started dating fifteen years ago. It became even more magical ever since we started moving in together. Having a place where a couple can set their own rules and lifestyle really makes quite a difference! Don't get me wrong, we love our parents..we're just adults who needs our own kitchen space sometimes. I'm lucky to have a partner who enjoys my decorations

Do you guys have any special plans for this upcoming month? Or any stressful plans to dodge? Whatever the outcomes, I hope it all goes well for you all!

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Location: Los Angeles
Current Music: Lepreezy's nostalgic winter night

Because I need to energize my mood, I started decorating my living room with holiday lights. I know it seems early to most, but I find it less overwhelming in the early weeks of November. I spent the whole day rearranging my items....and I'm not even near to being done. I hope to get most of my displays set up before this weekend (not counting the tree). Just like last year, my decorations will be a mish mash of random things-- nothing fashionable, just old items I accumulated over the years. Bern was quite happy to see some of our lights going up. We talked about how much we adore incandescent lights. It felt like our living room expanded when we switched them on.

Aside from my usual house tasks and errands, I finished my phantom and my succubus drawing, basically my prompts from my personal Drawtober. I'm not sure how long I'll last with my Drawtober prompts. It's not even that I don't want to draw them, I just don't want to draw spooky- prompts during the two last remaining months of the year. This is just how I personally like to vibe with my seasons. No offense to anyone who doesn't feel the same way.

I intend the 'phantom' boy to be my OC character, loosely inspired by Erik from the Phantom of the Opera. So yes, he's part of my vampire boy/ witch girl/zombie bride gang. He's pretty much room mates with the Vampire character I drew last month, lives in a basement with sound proofed walls, a great synth player, and is selective with his people-interaction (for instance, he's only comfortable with his vampire friend)...he is trying his best to break out of his shell. OLuckily, he got his outgoing vampire friend to help him with that. Once you get to know him, he loves getting into deep conversations that will make you think about the universe. As for the succubus girl, I'm not sure if I want her to be part of my monster critters-gang universe.

Despite falling out of October's spookiness, I had fun drawing these last prompts.

Bern and I finally got around to watching One Piece Red

. We only watched it because we just wanted some canon hints to Shanks' backstory. Keep in mind that we're pretty far behind in the manga reading, so learning a little bit of Shanks' backstory was a revelation for us. I thought the movie was enjoyable, I liked it, but I didn't love it. It's a good thing that the lead antagonist isn't canon to the series. The power-scaling of the One Piece series would be completely off.

And that was my week. I just have to make sure my ADHD doesn't get a hold of me, doing the best I can to hydrate, exercise, and snack on time. I have to remind myself to stretch more often!

Turns out I'm seeing a friend this weekend, I think my energy will be there.

Little goals for myself for the remaining of this month:

Complete my holiday decorations

Extend my exercise routines; remember to stretch

Clean/ reorganize the fridge

Move on to a different drawing project

I don't have much else to say but to just make sure you give this site a free click, if you haven't yet. Also if you're able to, be sure to check out your local communit y if they're in need of anything, (canned drives/ medical masks/ other essential needs)...or if you're in need anything (it's okay to ask for help). You can even check out the bulletins at your local public library! Talk to your neighbors (obviously don't, if they're unkind). Stay safe & be healthy.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Los Angeles
Current Music: Evening At the Jazz Bar- Youtube

My OOTD

As much as I enjoyed Halloween, it was super overwhelming for me this year.

A big part of it is that I'm not the kind of person who no longer does physical interaction with my folks on a daily basis; I decided to hang out with my sister before Halloween day..ended up being exhausted on Halloween. I don't see my sister quite often, so I have no regrets. We ended up watching The Babysitter, Bride of Chucky, and The Babysitter 2 all in one night. The movie is campy, unserious and stupid in an entertaining way. I gifted my sister a set of pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, since her birthday passed just weeks ago.

Pumpkin Cupcake with cream cheese frosting

On the actual Hallow's Eve night, our dad sent a text to us wishing us a Happy Halloween. He sent clips of his neighbors' decorations. My parents almost ran out of candies. There hasn't been any trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood for seven years until this year. New affordable homes have been built, people my age with steady income started having children since the start of the pandemic. I guess our old neighborhood isn't aging out after all. According to Bern, people who complained about Trunk-Or-Treat ruining Halloween are just imagined scenarios...I giggled when he said that.

I literally grew up with non-neighborhood trick-or-treating in the 90s/ early 200s: theme parks, malls, & harvest fairs.

WIP- Phantom Boy

Just a note for next time, I need to make sure I spread my days apart. Sometimes I wish the sink can wash the dishes itself, the kitchen cooks its own food, or the floor self-mops itself....and unfortunately that will never happen. And no, I do not own a dishwasher. As for now, I am finally happy to have a bit of time for myself. I can now get back to catching up on my drawing prompts and work on my sketches.

For the weekend, Bern and I were able to catch some Halloween decorations displayed in a city part of LA County. The city had a decorating contest, so we did a scavenger hunt looking for some interesting homes to gawk at. I was quite impressed by this clown house. It's very thematic. I do wonder if the house owner does animatronic designs for a living? Would not be surprised if that happens to be case. Prior, to our neighborhood stroll, we ordered some delicious empanadas..the place wasn't too far from our destination.

While it was quiet, Bern and I managed to check out a bookstore with an interesting layout! So much plants in there, I love the feel of green things. It looks like a bookstore with combination of new & used books.

Here are pics of my costume! I dressed up as a biblically accurate angel, the kind with tons of eyeballs. I figured it feels horrifying for me, so I went with that. Everything I did here was last minute using whatever materials I have at home: old dresses, broken jewelry, makeup, paint, crafting paper, & scrapbooking materials. I didn't feel like spending money on supplies that will sit in my closet for it to be become a hoarded item. I basically treated my costume like a one-day art project

So did I enjoy this week? I certainly did. All it is, I just wish my plans were a little more spread out. See, and this is why I don't ever complain when my peers decides to put their festive decorations up early. Okay, I still like my spooky season but I don't mind hearing Bing Cosby on the radio. Sorry, I'm a weirdo.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Los Angeles
Current Music: Jazz Cafe Ambience

Good afternoon! It's 86 degrees Fahrenheit, not much of a fall-temperature today, but I'll take it over 106 degrees. Just finished my clown girl drawing from last week! I have a feeling I may not get through all the drawing prompts all in one month, but that's fine, because it's not like I made any actual deadlines for my Spooktober (Drawtober) project. I haven't experienced any art blocks so far. In fact, I have been getting super stimulated: craft projects, housekeeping, & drawing. It also happens to be that I've been so preoccupied with tasks, and at times, I've been feeling off (health-wise). I hope this blog is a great reminder for myself to take breaks and not forget my extensive walks-- got to keep my bowels movin'!

Anyway, here's my most recent drawing:

I'm pretty content how my clown girl drawing turned out! I wanted to portray clowns in a delicate, graceful manner-- similar to Mira Fujita's artwork. I don't think I capture that mood a hundred percent, however, I enjoyed drawing this doll.

Not sure what to name her, but she's a spunky character who likes to cheer people up. I think I should continue to draw more clown bunnies? I love drawing clowns!

Oh, and here are the rest of my Halloween decorations:

Just basically items that I've been DIYing and collecting for about eight years. I just incorporate them with my non-Halloween stuff. I might not repeat this exact set up for next year, so we shall see what I come up with next time. As for this year's mantle, I'm satisfied with it. This is apartment life after all-- just making the most with whatever I have.

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: SeasideFM- stream

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Harley

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a corner of biscuits and warm tea

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Mid January

Holiday Art & Photodump

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Secret Santa & Dollcember Project

Lost in the orb of lights

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Happy March; Been Hanging out on RedNote

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Toxic air; Workout routine on a halt

Photodump, enjoying the remaining holidays

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Thoughts from a Winter holiday baby

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The urge to go on a roadtrip with a lawnmower

Closet Clean Up; Errands

Episode 7 of Dan Da Dan- my reactions

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A Lie: Trunk-Or-Treat Ruined Halloween

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