Astrid's Birthday Interview!

 

Our gorgeous wife Astrid celebrated her birthday on September 10th! To celebrate, I interviewed her for my blog~ Enjoy!

1. What is your favorite sweet treat? I don't have one. I don't honestly like sweets that much, it's once in a blue moon. But I guess... Snickers.

2. What is your favorite animal? Fox, duh! (Angie's note: I knew she'd say this! She is a HUGE fan of foxes, from our super soft giant Miso fox to Save a Fox Rescue to her fox mug and more!)

Queen DixieDo! See her and her fox, cat, mink, squirrel and more family here!

3. Tell us a special memory of yours: Meeting Angie. Waiting for her at the airport, on the phone with her, and then I saw her come down the escalator. (Angie's note: Astrid and I met in 2003 and dated long distance until I came to Utah in 2007!)

4. What's a bit of advice that you think everyone could use: Just relax, try to be happy. The day will be fine. You'll be fine! Chill out and be calm, relaxed, and if you can-Happy! (Angie's note: Astrid is a comfy, happy place. I love how warm and comforting she is. *snuggle's her*)

5. What is your current favorite fashion style? Gothic Lolita, if I could pull it off I'd wear it all the time! (Angie's note: WOMAN! YOU CAN PULL IT OFF! I WILL SLAP YOU!)

6. What do you want to be for Halloween? Pirate! Arrrrr! (Angie's note: Wait... What?! How did I not know this?! Have you already found your costume?! Also... I'll plunder your booty, heh heh heh heh.)

7. Do you want coffee? Always! (Angie's note: I'll go make you some! ^_^)

So, that's the interview! Give Astrid a warm welcome and a happy birthday! She is Koji and my precious treasure and we love her so much. #^_^#

THE Shirt and A New Game

 

I found THE shirt... YES! THE. SHIRT. I am so excited and I cannot believe I found this shirt which was clearly made for me. 

When I saw this CoCoLuLu TS I almost cried! I have a lot of personalities? traits? moods? (I don't know the word) which make up who I am. Sexy is a verrrry TOP one and so I leaned more towards agejo when I first found gyaru and I LOVE agejo but something that fits my love of being comfy, casual, hyper and COLORFUL is amekaji! 

When I first started browsing Google for amekaji fits, I came across this picture... 

And I was like, that is ME in fit form. But, like a lot of clothing I see randomly, it's not something I could ever actually buy... Or so I thought. Until yesterday, when I was browsing CoCoLuLu (and I didn't even know this TS was from them) and SAW IT!!!! RIGHT THERE!!!! FOR ME!!!!

I cannot wait to wear this shirt. 😸

Oh yeah, I'm feeling better, can you tell? My thiothixene and modafinil arrived yesterday and I feel so much more like myself again. I was completely out of them and was NOT doing well. I also just had a big glass of iced coffee... 

Now, my game is done installing! For those who don't know, I am hoping SO hard that by this time next year I'll be living in Brazil. Because of that, I am doing the very important thing of learning Portuguese. I found that a game I've heard of, Perfect World, has a Brazilian server. I actually found that out by joining their Discord without knowing and seeing a bunch of words I didn't understand - but also some that I did, which FELT GREAT.

So I'll be rolling a charrie on there and learning Portuguese as I play. 

How are you? I hope everyone is doing well! Until next time!

New Project!

 

This is a short little post! I have really been loving daily status type posts, like little diary entries. Georgie does them a lot and they feel like little letters from a friend! I really love her style of blogging. 😄

I don't have AWESOME gyaru pics to share yet or personal pics to share at all, because I've been slacking... But I will eventually! 💪

I woke up feeling horrible today. Very cold, nauseous, body jolts and even my skin hurt. I'm doing much better now, however my physical anxiety has turned into job anxiety because I start my 2nd project today and I have had ZERO training! 😐

I had orientation which was great, but an hour of orientation does not prepare me. I love this company, though, so I'll do my best! I wish I could say what I do, but I'm under NDA. All I can say is that I work from home and handle tickets for a game I love!

Oh! I also started using Facebook again. I stopped using Facebook when I stopped having friends... It's hard to make friends in your 30s. But also because of all the political drama. However, some of my favorite gals are on there and even a FABULOUS gal group. (For those who don't know, gal is a gyaru term!) So, there I am. I'm hoping I'll make some friends, be inspired, promote my blog and just chill there and enjoy my time. 😌

I'm gonna go blog read before work! Take care and until next time! 👋

Loving: Astrid, Koji and the pets Listening to: Lots of bullet journal vids of people preparing for September Feeling: Slightly less sick!

Therapy and What I'm Doing

My job offers paid therapy, which is just... Amazing. You can browse a list of psychologists and choose who you'd like to meet with. All of them are lovely and I'm so grateful that they offer their experience and time! The psychologist I chose is super sweet and SO helpful. I told her how much I was struggling and she not only helped me, she helped me... Help myself. At the end of our last session, when I thanked her so so much, she told me that in reality, I gave myself all of the answers that I needed. She just packaged them in a way that would be clearer to me. I felt really empowered and also thankful, because I need that re-packaging SO much.

So, one thing I am starting is writing a to-do list in my bullet journal every night before bed. This way, I can sleep soundly without all of my to-do's running through my head AND I wake up feeling productive and ready to go!

When the week starts, I will also call my Doctor and set up my sleep study. I reallyyyy don't want to do this sleep study but my narcolepsy is affecting every area of my life, including work. So it's something that I need to do.

Finally, I will start confronting my worries. Instead of dwelling on what hasn't even happened and may not happen, I will face my worries head on. I'll ask how everything is (such as asking my boss how I am doing, asking my loan company if I can lower the payments, etc.)

I've realized that a h u g e source of anxiety for me is this... Not knowing and not addressing what I don't know.

Oh and finally finally, I will focus on self-care. Something I have noticed is that when my nails haven't been painted or I haven't had long nails in a while, it's a sign that I'm mentally and/or physically feeling very blah. So, I'll start small and do my nails and let that uplift me!

This is a little post about my health and I hope you enjoyed reading and maybe I've inspired you to get started on your own goals! Take care of yourselves, all of you. Until next time!

Comfy N' Cozy Autumn

Hello everyone! Whether you're a new reader or an old friend, I'm heeeere! I'm alive! If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see I tweet from time to time, but blogging? I haven't blogged in a long while. I always miss blogging when I've taken a break, but lately more so than ever before.

I don't have as much free time as I'd like. My schedule is kind of all over the place. I'm working for two companies, and for one company I am working on 2+ projects. It's really busy, but I work from home and I'm SO thankful for that. I also feel really accomplished! 

In September, I didn't pick up as many shifts as I would like, so I'm hoping to sign on to that third project soon.

I've been playing a lot of Swords of Legends Online, Conan Exiles and Final Fantasy XIV. On FFXIV, I have a Miqo'te Ninja named Ayame Otsuki. She and Astrid's kitty, Y'anna Fhuz, are yankii girls. Japanese gangster girls! In fact, we're even opening up a sake den...

So what did our absolutely amazing husband do? He drew Astrid and my characters in our yankii outfits for Astrid's upcoming birthday! 

Y'anna is on the left and Ayame is on the right! They fit our personalities SO WELL and Ayame has a gyaru yankii theme going on which I LOVE! Koji is so good to us. ♥ If you ever want to commission him for something, let me know! He has some spots open for September!

I know that September is still Summer for most of the month, but it's when Autumn starts and so it's really a full Autumn-y month to me. We've already ordered our PSLs (well, Koji hasn't, as he doesn't like pumpkin! Astrid and I are going to try to get him to try some this Halloween and hopefully win him over), have turned off the fan, bundled up more during the chilly nights and have been looking for lots of Halloween decorations!

But I'm not talking about Halloween yet. This post is all about Comfy N' Cozy Autumn finds. I hope you enjoy!

I LOVE Sailor Moon and holiday sweaters, so this beautiful Sailor Moon Luna & Sailor Guardian Symbols Holiday Sweater is perfect for me. It's so pink and cozy looking. I love being soft and fuzzy and this lets me be just that! It's from BoxLunch and is about $59. I'll be in this all the way until 2022 (and probably until Summer of '22 too.) 

For those who don't know, my Switch died on me. *sob* I need and want a new one SO badly. I miss Animal Crossing a lot! I'll hopefully get another one for Yule. That's my goal. Anyway! This Pusheen Patisserie Nintendo Switch Lite Skin is SO perfect for Autumn! To me, even though coffee is good no matter which season you're in, it's the best in Autumn. Plus, you can never ever go wrong with Pusheen! Grab this from the official Pusheen shop for only $20!

Astrid found these Carbuncle Slippers for me and they're SO CUTE! I love Carbuncles so much, they're the cute Arcanist pet from FFXIV. She bought me a pair in-game and Ayame loves them. Now I just wanna be warm n' cozy in real life with my own pair! They're $35 but are on a waiting list right now. I neeeed them!

I've been bullet journaling a LOT, though it's not perfect and though I know that isn't the reason to bullet journal, I can't help but wish I was better. But, with time, hopefully I will be! During the process, I'll continue stocking up on all sorts of washi tape, stickers and more. My theme for September is Comfy N' Cozy and I feel like this Pastry Shop - Coffee Shop Foodie Washi Tape from Crafty Corgi House fits perfectly! Just the other morning Koji got a really delicious sugary croissant and that just gave me such a warm and fuzzy feeling. Bonus: this is only $4.25, so you can spend a LOT in Crafty Corgi House's shop! 

Alright, I wanted to include more but it's almost time for work! I will be back later, though, I promise!

Tell me what Comfy N' Cozy things you're loving for this upcoming Autumn, friends! Happy September!

Catching Up With a Currently Post

 

Hello, friends! It's been... a while! My blog is constantly on my mind, though, and so are all of you. How have you been? What're you doing and loving currently? I hope you share with me in the comments or do your own currently post and let me know!

I've been SUPER busy with work. One is report moderation but that's all I can say as I'm under NDA and the other is being a Discord Moderator for Healthy Gamer! It's a lot of fun and the community is really interesting. Both are work from home, as is my third upcoming (hopefully!) job. I'm so excited and I'll share when / if I can!

I've been consuming loads of iced coffee to get me through both my hours and this dreadful heat. When it's dawn and night, I love the temperature. It's warm yet there's that slight chill in the air that is just... Comfortable. But in the day? It's sweltering. Thank Gods for AC!

July is also my birthday month, woo woo! I'm turning 32!

Oh and... I updated my blog header! I used a favorite physical washi tape of mine that is Japanese themed and turned it into a PNG and did this pretty header style. I LOVE IT and I'm so proud of myself! I can't wait to upload more washi tape PNGs to use for blogging.

Alright, let's get this Currently post started!

🎮 Playing: Swords of Legends Online! I have a feeling this will become my second favorite or even favorite MMORPG. It's already so popular, but that's not the point, the point is that it's SO much fun and I love my character already and all I've played is the beta! Though I did get to max level. The game's full release is on July 9th and the three of us, Astrid, Koji and I, have already reserved our names. 

ChunYue

I have also been playing loads of Shinobi Striker. OMG, this game is SO much fun! I'm a huge Naruto fan and I also love fighting games, so when I saw that this game was on sale on Steam for $4.99, I HAD TO GRAB IT! I've already hit level 10 and I chose my first VR trainer as Madara. 

Otsukihime

📺 Watching: Nurarihyon no Mago, which Koji recommended to me because I LOVE yokai and the Yakuza. It's really good and when Rikuo is in his yokai form, he's a total badass AND he has white hair.

Rikuo

I'm also watching Naruto (wow, what a surprise) and am starting Dragon Ball Z! I've actually never watched DBZ (shame) but I really want to, especially after Koji bought the Dragon Balls for the apartment! They're in the bedroom and they look so cool. I love the meaning behind them! I have a loooot of episodes to watch of both Naruto and DBZ.

I've also been watching a TON of bullet journal inspiration vids on YouTube. I'm not going to list them here, because I'm actually going to highlight some of my favorite bujo vloggers in a separate post. Just know that that is coming!  

Something I love is that bujo vloggers often have other vids that are inspirational too, like Claudia Joseph's "Morning Routine To Help You Less Anxious During The Day"! I've started following her advice and waking up early and it's made such a HUGE difference in how I feel. 

Finally, I made a friend from work named Savannah and she is SO cool and a lover of true crime, so she's gotten me hooked on listening to true crime stories on YouTube while I work. I especially love any that come out of Japan.

🎧 Listening: I've really been into Japanese, Korean and Chinese pop while working and also all female Japanese rock bands! Some of my favorites from each country are LiSA (Japan), FINLANDS (Japan), Red Velvet (Korea), BLACKPINK (Korea) and SING (China)! 

LiSA

BLACKPINK

SING

I'm really only into Korean girl groups, so that's what I focus on and I've actually found two new groups that I really enjoy and they're Everglow and Aespa! Give them a listen!

📚 Reading: Nothing right now. Boring, I know! I'm planning on reading a novel about a man who's a dragon and has been asleep for 500 years... But I need either Koji or I to remember the name! In the meantime, I might read some other dragon cultivation novels just to sate my thirst for dragon-y goodness. 

💪 Working on: My bullet journal! I am working on this so hard. I've been collecting washi tape, stickers, markers and so much more for my bujo. In fact, for my birthday, Astrid bought me my first actual A5 journal from Notebook Therapy! I'm so excited. This is the one I picked:

Tsuki 'Sakura' in Petal Pink Limited Edition Bullet Journal 

from Notebook Therapy

I'm also working on being more zen. Having a morning routine, especially because of my narcolepsy. I have a certain number of reports I need to do for work per hour and narcolepsy can really really bring down my number. So I'm trying to wake up earlier, so that I can be fully awake while I work instead of waking up right as I start. I also just want more time to do my journaling, gaming and exercising!

Obviously, I am also working on my little blog! I love this space. I miss this space. I constantly think about and plan posts for this space. ♥ So I'll put more effort into being present here, especially now that I love my theme.

😊 Loving: Astrid, Koji and our babies • good friends • nice managers and co-workers • inspirational vloggers • Slime ASMR • ASMR in general, especially if it's about being in the spa or getting ready for a Victorian ball • ambient music vids on YouTube • Dragon Blood incense • planning on buying Yerba Mate tea so I can have the traditional Southern Brazilian drink • iced coffee • icey Coca-Cola • 7-11 taquitos • feeling more like myself • and so much more!

Wuxia and Xianxia Book Club

 

Hi, friends! Today I am trying to see who'd be interested in a little idea of mine. To start with, I love Chinese and Korean media. Novels, manhua and manhwa and live action TV series' and of course, anime. Traditional Chinese and Korean music is also beautiful and I like Chinese pop, as well. Anyway, moving on!

For years, I've loved the idea of being in a book club but never have found one that fits me. Whether it's trashy romance novels or deep romantic drama novels, I've just never been involved... Until I thought of starting my own for wuxia and xianxia.

Wuxia (武俠 [ù.ɕjǎ]), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China.

I like wuxia a lot, but even more so, I love xianxia...

Xianxia (simplified Chinese: 仙侠; traditional Chinese: 仙俠) is a genre of Chinese fantasy influenced by Chinese mythology, Taoism, Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion and other traditional Chinese elements.

Let me give you an example or two or three or four.

This one, Nano Machine, is the manhwa I recently read and caught up on (and have now started the novel!) It's so wonderful and the MC (main character) is the morally grey, out for himself but still cares for those under him and his friends, that I really like. I also like villainous MCs. They aren't cartoony villains, either. They're hardcore and I love that. 

Summary:

After being held in disdain and having his life put in danger, an orphan from the Demonic Cult, Cheon Yeo-Woon, has an unexpected visit from his descendant from the future who inserts a nano machine into Cheon Yeo-Woon’s body, which drastically changes Cheon Yeo-Woon’s life after its activation. The story of Cheon Yeo-Woon’s journey of bypassing the Demonic Cult and rising to become the best martial artist has just begun. 

Now, I did say I don't like trashy romance novels, but... There is a harem romance novel that I absolutely love. In fact, it's my favorite Chinese novel. Yes, that's right, my favorite! Especially because of how badass the female characters are in the story. It's called Dual Cultivation.

Summary: 

Su Yang is a powerful Dual Cultivator who was imprisoned after he offended the Heavenly Emperor.

His crime?

He committed adultery with the Moon God’s wife, kidnapped the Dragon King’s younger sister, seduced the Divine Goddess, and he even tasted the forbidden fruit that is the Heavenly Emperor’s beloved daughter.

Inside the prison, Su Yang meets a mysterious old man who offers him a chance to leave this place, but that method requires him to experience reincarnation.

In his new life, Su Yang swears to reunite with his partners and hold them in his embrace once again, all the while finding new ones along the way.

Disclaimer: Dual Cultivation is a unique method of cultivation where a man and a woman cultivates together by having sex.

So whether you want to read about something in ancient China or Korea, something more modern, a romance or even a more feminine story, I really have found something for everyone and I even plan on writing my own one day! All this to say... If you want to be introduced to wuxia and xianxia or isekai novels, for that matter, you've come to the right place. Should I make a book club? Would you want to be part of one? Let me know below!