Sandwich.

I don't think I'll ever have many "lovely comments" lol. It doesn't help that I don't know anyone in the.. blogosphere? I kind of like it being away from people I know anyway. In which case, I suppose I'm just doing this for myself. It's kind of like when you talk to yourself or make a scrapbook: you try to be interesting and creative, even though no one else really cares. Although scrapbooks are kinda cool to show off. I actually want to make one, but I'm creatively challenged.

Sandwich progression.

Yeah, it's whatever, but I enjoy it. Maybe someday, when I learn to actually cook, my sandwich will be way cooler.

Confused

Ahh, I just finished watching The Devil Wears Prada. I love that movie too much. I remember when I saw it the first time I laughed out loud when Emily's talking about her diet: "Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese." Which is totally funny, albeit a sad commentary on our society.

Anyway, another thing I was pondering today was - Why do people make plans to do things and then never see them through? It seems like so many people just tend to make empty promises. Myself included. For example, I'll be talking to a friend about how we should go to Six Flags this summer ("a lot" specifically, but even going once would be an accomplishment), but it just doesn't happen. People tell me they'll make me CDs of pictures or music, but they never get around to it.... I guess that happens.

Blueberry Muffins (w/ a side of frustration)

Hmm.. I'm not even sure what I'm gonna blog about this evening. Not a whole lot because it's already kinda late (and I want to finish watching The Devil Wears Prada tonight).

Well, I forced down my last piece of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread yesterday! I wanted to share that she made Blueberry Muffins this morning. I'd been wanting them, so I asked her to make some. I had one this morning as soon as they were done, but as they were still warm it was harder to tell how good they actually are. Know what I mean? While I like melty chocolate chips, blueberries are something I was craving in a more tangy, crisp form. I'll just have to wait til later to see if they have the flavor I crave.

Mmm, muffin innards.

Everyday Foods

Many pictures, minor commentary!

Friday - After Dentist
Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino - oishii!

Friday - Dinner
Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad! (Very over-exposed.)

Saturday - Dinner
Honey Bourbon Chicken on wheat. Sooo frickin' spicy!!!

Sunday - Dinner

Mmm Eggplant Parm!

My lovely plateful.

^click for recipe^

First Impression/Lasting Impression

First Impression
I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!! In a way I'm saddened by its finality. But at the same time... it felt right. After alllll that's happened, it's kind of good for it to just be over lol. I feel more fulfilled than empty, but I actually don't feel that fulfilled or impacted. Perhaps it's because after a while nothing surprises you anymore; or because I've been waiting for the end for so long. Not that I wanted it to end per se, I was just pretty anxious to know what happened.. how everything turned out. Like by the time I got to the last 5 chapters, I couldn't put the book down—I just HAD to finish it. I HAD to know what happened next. Which is, obviously, a good sign. Most of all, I can't believe I finished it in just over a week! For some reason I didn't expect to speed through it that quickly. Though I know it still doesn't compare to people who finish it in a matter of hours/days.

Lasting Impression
And as a closing note (er, rant), I HATE—that is to say HAAAAAATTTEEE!!!!!!!!—Windows Movie Maker. Yes, I've made many an AMV (anime music video) with it in the past, but now it's so slow and terrible and keeps freezing up.

Enchiladas

I read a lot of HP today! And I got a postcard from my cousin, who is coming back soon from Spain! Just to clarify why there's a postcard blocking Harry's face :D.

Yesterday my mom made these Marvelous Chicken Enchiladas. They were very tasty!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ah, Rivendell. I'd gladly live anywhere in Middle Earth (with the obvious exception of ugly evil places like Mordor, Isengard, etc.) The Shire would be bliss.

Ugh. I hate web browsers. Like if I have multiple tabs open sometimes they'll just be like "now seems like a good time to freeze up and cause endless frustration to the user." Like just now I thought I'd lost what I'd written so far because just that happened, so I freaked out for nothing. I definitely have a new appreciation of autosave. Ok - check out these vibrant peaches. My mom baked some wonderful Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I will share pictures!

Mmm, warm right out of the oven.

This is the best closeup I could do. Sad, I know.

There's also this salad I made.

Otakon: Day Two

And all in one post! Promise.

So we (well, I) got up at like 6am on Saturday. That gave me about 3-4 hours of sleep—luckily, I never really got tired that day. I was hungry so I already ate, but I did get this McDonald's apple juice:

Mostly it just looks cute on the gingham. Color-wise. Ronald's not cute. Anyway, as soon as we got to the con we got in line for the Dealer's Room. It's not necessary, but it's nice to beat the rush early on. We walked around... saw most of the same stuff. I got a Loveless shirt and Chuchu pin (from the anime Utena). Eventually we got kinda bored, called up my sis and decided to go to lunch! I had never been to California Tortilla, but I knew they're a chain. At the very least it had the convenience of being close to the BCC because our food was NOT good. Our burrito bowl (more salad-like)—the Hickory Chicken Bowl—was chicken, lettuce, and an eensie amount of vegetables. The chicken was fine, but the whole thing was DRENCHED in dressing. It was kinda gross. The meal also includes nachos and queso, which were the kinda thing you would get at a movie theater or a cheap food kiosk at a theme park. So we went back to Otakon and watched a few weird Japanese music videos, followed by some lame AMV overflow. It's amazing what some people submit. Since they were boring, we went to watch some ADV Premiere anime, but they did the Jap w/ subs bit again. Normally that would be appreciated, but not when big heads are in my way and I can barely see the screen at all, much less the bottom of it. After that we all went to watch Iron Editor. It was pretty cool!! Two AMV editors have 2 hours to make a video with select sources, plus a "Secret Ingredient" (haha, I appreciated that). In this case it was Blizzard footage, which was pretty rad. The end was annoying cuz they announced the AMV contest winners and had all these other.. special formality things that took forever. We all just wanted to know who won and then go to dinner cuz it was like 8 ~_~. When we got outta there we went to Chipotle (which pwns California Tortilla!!!) for a nice late dinner. Yay. The End.

Otakon: Day One (cont'd again) and the Deathly Hallows

Between reading Harry Potter book 7 and troubling myself with banana bread I think it's time for another entry! Yes, the second one today!

Anyway, our story left off with us leaving the Dealer's Room and deciding it was a good time for lunch, I think. So we walked ourselves to California Pizza Kitchen (which is about 1/3 or so of the way back to the car).

Strawberry Italian Soda

BBQ Chicken Pizza (front) & Hawaiian Pizza (back)

I didn't have any say in what we ordered (I sort of opted not to I guess), but this is what we ended up getting. I think every time I've actually been to CPK we've gotten the BBQ Chicken.

So after we ate we went back to Otakon and I think that's when we watched... Fate/Stay Night? When they started it and changed it to Japanese w/ subs everyone (including Em and I) was like "whooo!!" cuz, y'know, dubs generally suck. But then we realized that we couldn't see over everyone's head and... well, I could barely even see the screen. It would've been bearable, but then some dude with a big head sat right in front of me. Anyway, a bit later we went downstairs to see the AMV contest. Emily's brother came to that too, which was cool :D! It was really fun to watch, but we could only see 3/5 categories due to Emily and I wanting to get the new Harry Potter! Yah yah! Oh my gosh. Books-a-Million was a frickin' zoo. Not just a lot of people, but a lot of chaos. They had some dumb thing where there was no line, but you had to go get some green ticket and wait for them to call your number. It was slightly exasperating since we had no idea when to expect to be called. But finally we got them and read the first two chapters that night!! And if we didn't have to get up at 6 the next morning, we would've read more >_<.

Otakon: Day One (cont'd)

So, after Cheesecake Factory we made our way to Otakon and headed straight for the Dealer's Room. We did a bit of looking around, but it actually wasn't very impressive this year.... It's usually not as good on Friday anyway, but it was already surprisingly occupied (it didn't get much better on Saturday). But I did find a couple adorable things, such as these folders!! ^_^ The back of the pink one says "It's great to have plenty of delicious and lovely things." Oh, it sure is. There were so many frickin' cute stationery items at this one place that I couldn't even choose. I also got some funny food stickers (like with dish soap that says "GOOD JOB" and detergent that says "WASH!! Dirty clothes become beautiful at once." Also some panda head random stickers. I kinda wish I had gotten the sparkly sushi ones instead. But omg.. the absolute cutest thing I got from that place was this notepad:

ZOMG kawaii!!! ^____^
So, the story behind that is that my friend actually bought one and a minute after we left that kiosk(?) she was showing me. My basic reaction was: "Oh my God. Oh my God... Oh my God!" and I hurried back to get myself one. It includes pages that say "With many thanks! This ! looks groovy." (yes, that is a randomly placed exlamation point) as well as "Let's go out in a dreamy mood!! I like to be showy." Ah, Engrish. But even before I got that, there were other lovely things I bought!! Like this really cute cell phone charm. Not to mention... MY POCKY BAG!!!!!!! I had been wanting this one online for the longest time (and had been asking for it for the longest time...) until finally, one day, they were sold out. Like forever. I found one at one of the first places we stopped!! It was like a dream come true! I got the Strawberry Pocky and sister got the Chocolat-Banana Pocky bag. Yellow is one of my favorite colors and I also kinda prefer chocolate/banana-ness, but the strawberry bag was so way cute that I had to get it. Ftw. Let's see.. the last thing (first I bought, actually) is an Otakon pin. Their merchandise was meh, but I always like some sort of commemorative token. Plus this pin is pretty cute.

Otakon: Day One

The first official day of Otakon. The first time only we, the Otakon badge holders, can set foot into the Baltimore Convention Center. But before we could do that, we had to get lunch at The Cheesecake Factory!

I got the tropical iced tea, I think it was called. I added two sugars, but it still tasted weird. I missed the bread—altogether, actually. Yeah, they hardly left any for me. I got the smallest piece. Everyone else really liked our waiter, but I thought he was just okay. Nothing personal.

So this was the "lunch portion" of the Santa Fe Salad. And it's even bigger than it looks!! I've never been a big fan of CF food, mainly I'm just in it for the cheesecake. But this salad was quite enjoyable.

This was a cute bird that was stealing cheesecake off the table next to us. I love how it has some on its beak.

Caramel Turtle Pecan Cheesecake. Need I say more? But okay, I'm getting tired of blogging so I'll leave the rest of the weekend for future entries. I really need a computer break. DX

Youkoso!

"Welcome!"

I'm so excited to have a new Blog: a clean slate. I'm always so bad at staying dedicated to these things, especially when I hate everything I write. I feel like my Blog needs more of a purpose than simple rambling. So my purpose? To document things! Well, more that than just rambling.

So, let's get it started. I suppose the most logical place to begin would be this past weekend's big event: Otakon!

Thursday evening we went to pick up our pre-reg. It was my first reality check of how much we'd be walking all weekend. There was a funny building across from our parking garage (where we parked for free! (hence all the walking)). It said "BROOM CORN." So we walked and walked (luckily it was the only grossly hot day) all rushedly and finally got to the BCC. There was virtually no line, so getting badges was a cinch. It was harder to pick them out! :O Especially since they always use a bunch of anime that I haven't yet seen (or even heard of). None of them looked all that awesome either. I ended up choosing #1 (Paprika) because it intrigued me. I watched the trailer earlier and it looks potentially really awesome!! So.. gotta see that when it's on dvd! I think the badge makes a nice little addition to my collection. Anyway, after we got that business out of the way, we went to Uno's for dinner. Omg, the service SUCKED. We hated our waiter lol. I mean, if the food was just a little bit slow or if it was really busy (which it absolutely wasn't), I wouldn't blame him, but he treated us like barely an afterthought. It took about 10 minutes just to get our drinks. Gosh. But we gave him a crappy tip, so that helps. Onto the food!

My best friend and I both got raspberry iced tea, which, as she put it, "tasted classy."

We got some potato skin appetizers. You can tell just by all the grease that they're horrible for you haha. Of course the picture would have looked nicer if I took it before everyone dug in, but I forgot.

Here's my Honey Crisp Chicken salad! The "Small" size, which was actually pretty realistic.

Closer-up.

And I think I'm going to take a break and probably continue my Otakon weekend in a different post. Otherwise this will get very lengthy.