Leap Day

It doesn’t particularly feel like an extra day of the year. Still, it’s pretty interesting to me to have a day that only occurs every four years, give or take. I still don’t understand all the rules involved. It feels like one of those “i before e except after c” things, where there’s a rule, but then there are rules for the rule, and it just gets confusing.

I ended up spending the day running errands with my husband and son, finishing folding a truly absurd amount of laundry, and watching my kid play. I also tried to squeeze in a little bit of website design while he was napping, and managed to crash Photoshop mid-save. So, I ended up making negative progress somehow.

But now I’ve recreated everything that I accidentally deleted and have finished my design. Now to see if I remember how to write CSS sheets…

Like A Dragon

I’ve been doing some web design for the first time in years. It’s been a lot of fun, although I’ve just been messing around in Photoshop so far without actually coding. I’m kind of dreading that part.

In the meantime, my cat spent the day sleeping in her pile of toys like a dragon guarding her horde.

Cute Kitty

My son is sick with a bad cold, which I’m getting, and I’m exhausted. But I also don’t want to give up on my “post every day” plan on day two, so here’s a cute picture of my old lady kitty, Usagi, with the hope that I’ll have more energy tomorrow.

Ambitious Projects and Bad Ideas

I used to go to anime conventions and cosplay at least twice a year. Between adopting a child and everything else that’s been going on, I haven’t actually made a costume for about two years, outside of throwing something together for Halloween. I’d like to get back to sewing and costuming, and since I’m not the type to ease back into a hobby (a.k.a. a dumb person), I’ve decided to go straight for the most bat-shit crazy option I can think of.

For those of you unfamiliar with animated vampire films of the early 2000’s, that is Carmilla from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. I am a huge fan of the Vampire Hunter D light novels, and even though Carmilla does not actually appear in them, I have wanted to do a costume from the series for a while, and hers is amazing.

Seriously though, I’m not sure what I’m thinking taking this on as a restart project. The wig alone is the stuff of nightmares. And that dress defies physics in the way only an anime outfit can. But, you know, I guess I’ve had worse ideas than this.

Time to dig up my swatch book and see what I need.

Mardi Gras

I honestly didn’t realize today was Mardi Gras. Normally I don’t realize it, but I had a plan this year, and missing Mardi Gras actually would have messed my plan up.

I was raised Catholic, and even though I no longer go to church or practice, the only real holdover from my past religion is Lent. The theory is you’re supposed to give something up as a sacrifice. It was never a practice that made a lot of sense to me, even though it’s supposed to be symbolic. But when I would give things up, it would always be something kind of silly, like chocolate or ice cream or something, and half the time I wouldn’t even manage to get through 40 days without slipping.

So a few years ago I changed my plan. For the 40 days of Lent, I gave up procrastination. I forced myself to create something every day and posted it on the internet for accountability. It was hard, but I did it with no slips. It might not be as much in the spirit of things to give up something so intangible, but it genuinely helped me and made me feel like I was actually doing something that mattered, instead of just pretending to give up something trivial that I would totally go back to the second Lent was over.

So this year, I’m giving up something more intangible again. I’m giving up ignoring my blog. However dumb I feel about it, I’m going to post here everyday until Lent is over. Heck I might even try to push for Easter. We’ll see how things go. I suppose I accidentally picked the right time to come back here and start writing again. Here’s to happy accidents!

Here We Go

So, a lot has happened since August. The biggest thing was that my husband and I went to Tokyo once, and Seoul twice, and brought home a son the second time. Suddenly going from having no children to having a small toddler running around the house has been, to say the least, an adjustment. I naively thought I’d have time to write over my parental leave, but not so much. Hopefully I can start to remedy that now.

I probably won’t end up writing about my son that much, even though he’s now a huge part of my life. This is mostly so that some future spouse or employer can’t Google four hundred embarrassing stories about things he did when he was two.

I do want to write about our trips to Japan and South Korea, hopefully before I forget everything that happened. And I’ve got some other fun stuff in the works, if I can just find some free time.

So, in the immortal words of Stan Pines…

Here we go.

Sewing in the Dark

I’m dealing with a bad migraine today, and it’s the worst. Add terrible ringing in one ear, and I’ve been pretty much out of commission all day. My new pain meds are helping, but are making me feel like I’m experiencing life through a layer of cotton.

To distract myself, I’ve been watching old movies on Netflix and cross stitching. My current project is a wedding gift for a friend. I’m maybe halfway done.

My progress so far

I’ll put up some more pictures once I’m finished.

Back Again

Oof, has it been a while. I’m still alive, contrary to how it looks from the lack of writing. My husband and I have been in the process of adopting a child, so the last year and half has been an exciting/nerve-wracking stream of paperwork, meetings, inspections, and waiting around for stuff to happen. But, we’re finally getting close to having everything finalized and actually getting to bring our son home.

The good side of this is that now I actually feel like I want to write again, and actually have things to say. So, once again, I’m going to try to be a little more present around here, even if it’s just to post silly nonsense.

Just Keep Eating

I have no idea if this story is actually true, as I heard it second hand about a friend of my mom’s.  That being said, the story has always been presented to me as though it is true, and it always makes me smile, true or not.  Take it with a grain of salt, perhaps, but enjoy.

One of my mom’s friends was living in Italy several years ago.  For the sake of simplicity, let’s call her “Teresa”.  Teresa was close friends with a local family, and often attended dinner at their house.  For anyone who doesn’t know, a formal family dinner in an Italy can take hours, as there are a ton of different courses.  One evening, during one of these long dinners, Teresa noticed that the matriarch of the family, the old grandmother she was sitting next to, kept leaving the table.  She’d get up, go to the kitchen, bring out a course of food and, once she’d made sure everyone was served, she would leave the table while everyone else was eating.  After about fifteen minutes, the grandmother would come back and eat her own food.  This process repeated for several courses, and finally, Teresa asked the woman what was going on.

“I noticed you keep getting up from the table,” said Teresa.  “Is everything okay?”

“My husband,” the grandmother replied.  “The old man… he is sick.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Teresa said, and she let the subject drop.

And dinner continued.  After several more courses, the grandmother stopped leaving the table.  Teresa leaned over to the grandmother again.

“You’re staying at the table,” Teresa said to her.  “Is your husband feeling better?”

“No,” the grandmother said.  She made a slashing gesture with her hand across her throat, and replied “Morto.”

That translates to “he is dead”.  Teresa was distraught.

“Oh my God!” she said, “we have to do something!”

The grandmother, without missing a beat, replied.

“The old man… he was sick.  Now he is dead.  What can you do?  Just keep eating!”

And every time I feel like the world is overwhelming me, I just think of that Italian grandmother, and repeat her words like a mantra.

What can you do?  Just keep eating.