a corner of biscuits and warm tea

Happy Birthday to me! And happy birthday to Tony Tony Chopper. I baked myself a cake made up of: vanilla Swiss merengue buttercream, semi-sweet chocolate ganache, rainbow sprinkle cake tiers, candied cranberries and mango curd filling. I made a few wishes, blew my candle out, and pigged out by the end of the night with Bern. I'm definitely no pro when it comes to cake decorating, but it came out pretty tasty. We're down to one slice left.


We for sure did other stuff before hand: we got Ike's sandwiches, got dressed up, and took a neighborhood stroll in LA County's historical site in Altadena.


We went to look at the world's oldest & largest electrical-Christmas light installation. Parking was simple, it's free and open for the public. I think there are also a lot of interesting museums nearby! Most people would just drive by. I'm kind of a sucker for landmark sites because I like to imagine Huell Howser's ghost saying, "What in tarnation?!"

There was a reviewer who complained about the lights being dim. I'm going to guess they were probably experiencing traditional incandescent light through a camera phone-- you would have to best experience the lights in person, especially since they were first installed a hundred years ago. Imagine trying to capture the moon; it tends to look very beautiful in person, but wildly different in pictures. It certainly did not look dim in person, each bulb was like a size of a house lamp's bulb. Even the cable wires looks very different from a lot of modern-day Christmas lights (I'll stop nerding out now). I know I've been feeling somewhat solemn & helpless for these past few months, but walking under those lights was a nice way to regain my spirit. I was happy that Bern took me out, because the installation was sincerely amazing to look at.


I told y'all that I was going to have a lowkey-holiday, so my birthday was lowkey too (not complaining). I didn't get myself anything else for my birthday. At this point, I haven't even step foot inside a shopping mall.... just not feeling the shopping vibes at all



*Note: Please do keep in mind, like with a lot of historical sites in this country, it comes with a dark past. It's just something we should all learn to recognize.

I don't mind aging because I do feel it's a privilege to age, there are some cool people in my life who didn't make it far , and objectively, I'm still a young person. I look forward to finishing up my favorite tv show, trying new foods, reconnecting with people and finding new indie games to play. Hopefully, if I can get a bit of accommodations with my physical health, maybe I can bring some stuff to my local community? I want to do something. I'm still trying to figure out ways to break out of my shell.

Happy Sunday, and happy first day of October! I hope you all are doing okay, and if not, well, here's a *hug*. Lately, I've been keeping myself busy with personal photography, drawing prompts, & basic housekeeping. I think I found a perfect ratio of ingredients for a hot chocolate. I find that the Market Pantry's pumpkin spice whipped cream adds a nice touch to my chocolatey oatmilk. I no longer drink caffeine, so was quite delightful for me to have! It was a pleasant way for me to experience autumn in a region that's mainly mild in weather.

So what are one of the artsy projects I've been talking about? Well, I've been working on these Drawtober prompts. One prompt was made by me, and the other was made by another artist on Instagram. I liked that their prompt was everything "witches", so it's very easy for me to follow through because I like to focus my drawings on ideas that aren't too abstract. This will be a perfect way for me to study poses & figures. 

So far, here are my Halloween critters:

 This is another of my random, but typical reflection that I've been doing from time to time. These are just some personal life lessons I've accumulated over the years that have been helpful to me in health, lifestyle survival & spiritual sense. As someone who grew up in a predominately working-class household (if this matters in any way), they're like a list of reminders for myself. So here they are:

1. Always take care of yourself, listen to your body. 
In the past, I was pretty bad at making physical health check ups because I was the kind of person who used to be flexible for my old workplaces. It is quite easy to live with an underlining issue undetected. I may have been unkind to my bowels simply because my work hours didn't fair too well with my body. Please, please don't pass up on a medical appointments (if you are able to) and take your full break from work.  Just remember if you're off the clock from work, you are off the clock.


2. It's okay to crave for attention 
I grew up in a time & space where asking for positive attention were seen as a negative trait.  It probably doesn't help that I mostly grew up in a small town, haha. At times, there would be a couple of teens taking Myspace selfies at a public space and there would be some bah-humbug person in the corner making complaints to a random passersby as if the teens were in the wrong for doing a harmless activity. I had peers who literally shouts "poser" at everything. Luckily, after all the peer pressure of not letting yourself have fun, I was able to remove myself from people like that. I'm still a little sad that there are people around my age who still cling on to this attitude. We humans are social beings. I'm so happy to have my sis, Bern and a few friends who gives a damn & would hype at every little thing for me on social media. It's also nice to not feel alone.
Life is short AF, please let people live and also, at the very least, let yourself live. 

3. Kitchen pantry supplies
I find that keeping cream cheese, frozen veggies, evaporated milk, boxes of pasta noodles, and a jar of flour is soooo versatile for dinner ingredients. They're budget friendly, full of nutrients, and they don't go bad as easily.  Like for an example, I could have a box of cream cheese in my fridge and plan out broccoli pasta bake, a pizza bianca, & toasted bagels all in one week. If you got some powdered sugar and yeast packets in your baking pantry, you could even whip up a cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting for a special day. 

4. Once in awhile, treat yourself
Ever since Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks suggested this, I've been looking forward to live for the smallest things. One of my favorite days happens to be a day at a local park and grabbing a takeout sandwich afterwards. Or the time when I ordered a Cookie Butter Latte from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.  I'm going to have to find a non-caffeinated recipe for this, haha. 

5. Planner stuff & ADHD
If you're ever in need of a calendar, Sanrio got some cute print outs. I personally like having something physical to schedule my plans, especially cute stuff. I tend to remember things better when I record tasks with a pencil and paper. 

Again, just like last time, I've been busy again..and in a good way! My freelancing project has been very slowly picking up. Because of my circumstances, I'm not fit to work outside of my home environment. It's nice that I am able to work at home, set my own schedule and still earn a little bit of money while working on stuff that allows me to be creative.  Not sure if I'll be making as much as I would like to by the end of fall *crosses fingers*, but we shall see. As long as Bern got his job, I know we will be okay in the long run.

Recently, I found another youtube channel that's related to One Piece manga discussion. The creator had his mom, who is an English teacher, as a guest speaker. She just started reading, and her inputs on Oda's writing were interesting to listen to.  I'm super jealous of the creator because he got a mom who is willing to share an interest with him by keeping up with the anime/manga. I'm so used to seeing parents who don't invest in their children's interests, so it warms up my heart by watching his channel. It was also nice hearing that she genuinely likes the story and made every note of little details throughout the first few arcs. They treated the whole discussion like a book club discussion...I can't wait to hear more from them. 

I finally started an episode of the tv series What We Do In the Shadows. So far, I'm loving it-- it's amusing! I find it hard to get attached to random mockumentary shows outside of Abott's Elementary and Flight of the Conchords, so I think the writing seems very clever. Enunciating lines while wearing vampire fangs is not easy, I think the actors nailed their speeches. 

Oh, and I finally got around to doing full cosplay (safely at home) once again. Sometimes, it's just fun to dress up. I'm at this point in my life where I'm pretty comfortable with my body and not give a f**k from the opinions by others. The life clock is ticking and I want to be able to have fun with it. I made a separate social account just so I to share my outfits, photography, sewing templates and crafting ideas between a few of my cosplayer friends. It's nice to find a little corner to nerd out with people who actually cares. Hopefully I'll be able to build a community based off of the fandoms that I like? If not, I'm super happy with my very little-and-cozy following. 

As for the tropical storm (from Hurrican Hillary), at least I was in part of LA that wasn't too bad. No blackouts or power outages. It seems like our hot weather evaporated everything out the following day. Unfortunately, I've read that our neighboring regions got the unpleasant end of it. 

This One Piece drone show at the Santa Monica Pier looks awesome! 

 
July has been feeling dreadfully long. The past weeks has been nothing but heatwaves during the day, I feel like I'm living in Hey, Arnold!'s episode, Heat. I ended up preparing most our dinners early in the day-- anything to prevent heat in the house. I have been fixing up variations of cold pasta salad. They're refreshing, well-balanced, inexpensive & super satisfying...I'm not sure how we didn't think of preparing pasta salads in the past. I know for sure having a Kewpie mayonnaise makes a whole wheat pasta noodles tastes a whole lot better. 

At least this month, Bern and I were able to cool off by seeing Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie at an *empty theater* during a quiet viewing hour-- we want to support writers, actors, & artists. As we're both familiar in the art& entertainment industry circle, we're amazed with the usage of practical effects, like painted backgrounds and silent-film style showcasing a moving vehicle. I thought Ryan Gosling's Ken was hilarious, he reminded me of Jack Black's Bowser from the Mario movie. Bern even agreed. 

My babysister (she's actually an adult btw), who is also a fan of Barbie, watched the movie as well and we ended up having a deep conversations about it. The movie made her cry, and I totally get why. For different reasons, we both experienced our childhood getting zapped out before middle school. It's not like our parents forced us to grow up fast, it's just when you're caught up with time, you're sucked into an environment that takes your imaginative play time away. 

Because we moved a lot, I ended up losing most of my dolls (Disney, Mattel, dollar store brands). I believe my most favorite of them all was a Barbie (or was it a Teresa doll?) that came with a blank denim jacket, and it came with embroidery gel. I remembered I even got better about keeping my dolls in decent shape when as I reached towards fourth grade-- I would put them back into my glass hutch after playing. I had a cousin who thought claimed that it was weird that I didn't let my sister (who was a baby at the time) play with it. My sister was still teething and I'm pretty sure it would kind of hazardous for her to play with them. Reflecting back, I concluded that my cousin wanted to play with them... and she didn't know how to express it considering that she was also going through a pre-teen developing stage. I think she used my baby sister as an excuse to get my dolls out. Also, our dad did our best to preserve some of our childhood stuff.  Before they disappeared, he was protective of my dolls *being out of my encased hutch* since I wasn't assertive about setting boundaries with my childhood toys when it comes to neighborhood friends. He was the same way with my sister's belongings, but this time, he was very *hardcore* about it. 

Unfortunately, I don't think some of the other people close to me were that great about letting me embrace my femineity in a way that was comfortable for me. It's like you have to be a *proper lady* but you cannot go full out glitter and lipstick. It took me some developing years to figure out what was right for me. 

Even after high school, when I fully embraced my doll-like fashion during my hipster years, I was still struggling with it back and forth. I remembered thinking how beautiful Zoey Deschanel looked in her vintage dresses and ribbons in her hair. She was technically indie Barbie for me. But in art school circles, people have argued that her look wasn't very "feminist" and she was childish to be rocking her pretty ribbons.T__T  Luckily, I ended up not giving into that afterall...got my cosmetology license the following year. Some of my fiercest colleagues ended up being people who were always covered in blings and sparkles. I am serious. 

 I still got most of my Pokemon cards and my sister still got some of her Barbie dolls (she took better care of them than I did & thanks to my dad). I was able to retrieve my childhood Happy Meal dolls from a second hand shop. Also, me being on the old web doing html is also part of it too! Seeing dollz around brings joy to my thirteen year old heart. Right now, I have my sister's unbuilt Gundam model.  We're hoping to have a holiday get together and build the model for the occasion. Once it gets on Blu-ray disc, maybe we'll be able to rewatch the Barbie movie together for Christmas? Whether you're a teen or a person pushing sixty, I guess the perks of growing old is that you will always get to go back to your playtime & make newer memories.  Also, if you're truly into the sparkly stuff..just go right ahead and get into it, life is way too short to not enjoy em'!

Spoilers: mentions of my Tears of the Kingdom gameplay in the first - third paragraph. 

So far with my Hyrule summer, I have unlocked three different temples in LoZ: TotK.   I think I'm left with one more temple... I need to explore more of the Gerudo region. Lately, I've been finding lightroots in the Depths.  So far, I think some of the *temple* boss battles have been pretty fair. I think the Wind Temple was the easiest in terms of mechanics (and yet thrilling too, like a ride). I did however, got just a bit confused with the Fire temple on the second part of the battle.  I personally love going up against Master Kohga, from the Yiga Clan in the Depths. He's so babygirl, I cannot loathe him at all...he's so precious. I'm happy that Nintendo decided to add some goofy villain characters.The Yiga clan reminds me of Pokemon's Team Rocket.
To whoever who's been catching up the game: Master Kohga's music theme is addicting, isn't it? 

Just for fun I took some pictures from TotK. 


Bern and I didn't do a whole lot yesterday. We basically stayed home, got caught up with chores and discussed the kind of music playlists our dads would have made during BBQ events....it was a funny discussion. Bern's dad was clearly into classic rock from the 70s. My dad, in particular, had music taste that was all over the place, mostly 80s pop songs.  Bern and I somehow ended up on the Bruce Springsteen youtube, then we watched some One Piece reactions. 

I made peach pie & smashed turkey sliders for the weekend. I made a mistake of not going with my own instinct in preparing the pie filling. I felt like the peach pie filling would have been better without the boiling process (might be great for cobbler), because I've made better peach pie that way. It was still good, just not my most favorite. Smashed turkey sliders turned out well. 

I guess since the Hyrule map in TOTK is starting to feel a lot smaller, I finally cut some of my gaming hours and incorporated a bunch of side hobbies. I got back into drawing once again! I did a redraw of my OC clown couple, kind of inspired by Mira Fujita, but without studying her works too carefully and having a faint memory of her illustrations. I'm hoping to get better with the Procreate *crosses fingers*.


Bern and I have been caught up with One Piece series for quite awhile now, the painful part is having to wait every week for a new episode. Last week episode was just a recap. The past weekend's episode was INSANE, we get to see a battle with Kidd & Law versus Big Mom. Bern found a really good One Piece (mostly for the manga) reviewer on youtube, it's nice to hear from someone who've been thoroughly reading the pages, researched the materials, and articulate the piece with appreciation and care. As much as I find power-up battles to be entertaining, to me, I personally think a decent shonen is not always solely about that. I appreciate a good character development& characters who aren't physically strong, but managed to play big supporting roles in the series. I'm finally happy to listen to a reviewer who isn't obnoxious about a medium.

I'm sure most of y'all loathe TikTok and many fast social media apps in general, and it's valid to feel that way, BUT I finally found a decent recipe to make a better youtiao this time (this person actually listed the directions in the caption). I also upgraded my kitchen tool by using a wider pot. I'm so happy how it turned out. My grandpa used to dip them in his coffee drinks, but unfortunately I can no longer have coffee, so I dabbed some Nutella on them instead-- they tasted pretty bomb.

I think these are the best youtiao I've made so far. I grew up eating them with congee, kuyteav/ hu tieu or condensed milk. Maybe I'll t try them with hot chocolate during the winter time?

I haven't been updating because over a few weeks ago, mainly because I've been in a semi-hibernation mode playing Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Usually Animal Crossing & Dragon Quest are my go-to-games for the past pandemic years, BUT not as much as Tears of the Kingdom.  I feel like I could get lost for hours unlocking temples and getting in touch with physics in the most intuitive way. I believe I will be spending most of my summer wandering in Hyrule. I'll have to remember to set my schedule accordingly to not exclude my essential activities.

Besides these  TOTK gaming weeks, a lot has happened for sure: phone convos with a couple of difficult family members, wisdom tooth extraction, Netflix series binges & 60 degrees weather cloudy day strolls (very unusual for LA County). 

I finished the Netflix series featuring Margaret Qualley and her mother, Andie MacDowell, in Maid. Apparently, it is based on Stephanie Land's book, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and A Mother's Will To Survive. I think the series did a decent job showing the difficulties our system (and our societal attitudes) has made for those trying to survive & escape the cycle of domestic violence. 
Luckily, I've always had supportive parents/grandparents who were (and currently still for my parents who are very much alive) pretty stable in their marriage life, certain scenes hits home for me. I'm familiar with the feeling of living in a nice home for a few  years and not having a home the next day. Like I said, I was lucky...they were by no means perfect, but I had my grandparents( AND cool aunt & uncles teenagers )who helped my parents raised me while they worked full-time to start from scratch.  I'll probably have to check out Land's books. 

Since I do enjoy cooking for Bern and friends, I got into The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House series. It's very wholesome! Loads of scrumptious food scenes, satisfying senses, and happy non verbal moments... but not in a way that would make you want to escape reality, instead, the drama encourages to wear your heart on your sleeve and appreciate the connection you've made with your friends in a tight knit community. 

Speaking about connections with friends, significant others and all.... I'm happy to have Bern by my side!  If you're a grown ass person like me and you need your other half for medical appointments (this is the week where I got my wisdom tooth out) and such, please please do not hesitate to bring someone you love and trust to help you take notes. Especially if you need a friend to help you articulate things better (I get spacey af). Two brains are better than one! This is something I've learned within these past thirteen years... it's okay to not do certain things alone if you are able to. 

Since I do have life outside of Hyrule, here are some pictures from my anniversary stroll with Bern at the Arboretum in Arcadia:


We ended up having Ike's Sandwiches that day. It was delightful as usual. There has never been a day where I've been dissatisfied with an Ike's sandwich: halal chicken, avocado, lettuce, pepper jack cheese, and honey mustard in Dutch crust bread!