supermeow

Today, I’m posting here for two reasons: one is because I’ve installed some new plugins that I want to test out, the other is because I have a food photo to share, and the other is to disclose what illness plagues me right now.

As I’ve previously disclosed, my immune system is all kinds of fucked up for the next several months and I need to be careful about getting sick. That said, guess who’s got a cold right now! Hey, guess what I’ve discovered is my new favorite thing to eat when I feel sick: congee!

I actually only had it for the first time fairly recently and I feel like I’ve been cheated my whole life by not having ever had congee before. Holy crap. Could there possibly be a more nourishing, comforting, like edible-love-type thing to eat when you feel like crap? I mean it, it’s like eating love and human validation. Maybe that’s something I need to have a chat with the shrink about, but this is really that nice to eat when you don’t feel well. What you see in the picture was made using a recipe found on Epicurious with a couple of modifications (I used more scallions in the broth than the recipe called for, a bit less ginger, and I also added around 1/4 cup of reduced-sodium soy sauce). Holy hell, I was also reminded to make more chicken broth. MAKE SO MUCH MORE. Homemade chicken broth, while it generates a lot of mess and viscera to clean up, tastes so fantastic and makes aseptic-box broth (what I usually use) taste like Chicklets water or something. Wow!!! I ate the whole batch on my own throughout the weekend and made a second batch without shredded chicken and with box-broth, and there’s no comparison whatsoever. Next time you’ve got a cold, make this, and make the damn broth from scratch. I feel like a fool for not making my own broth and freezing it, A FOOL. This is more for myself to remember than anything else. I should be stripped of a useful kitchen gadget for this carelessness.

Other stuff that’s happened: I decided to quit Anime Boston staff while I get some things sorted out, I’m also deliberating whether or not I should try for an Artists’ Alley table next year. For the last two years, I’ve gotten horribly sick while at Anime Boston, and I don’t want to be in that place again, especially with mutated immune system, although I guess the bright spot is having some manner of viral illness at con keeps me from picking up whatever strain of con crud goes around during the weekend. It’s a lot of stress, not a ton of payoff, and I haven’t been feeling terribly creative as of late. There are so many buttons you can make/sell, I think. If I do this, I do want to get a bigger table, at least. Four feet of space was pushing it last year. I also want to make a really snazzy retail display (though I take some pride in the snazzy displays that I have had). On top of that, I want to update the Supermeow! branding, and you’ll see some ideas of where I want to go on such as my Facebook page user icon.

This one:

I’m worried that I’ve missed the boat with the laser-cut acrylic thing, as there are other people doing what I wanted to do and doing it really, really well such that I don’t think I can compete. I need to think of other stuff to make/sell. You know what really bums me out? I haven’t sold a single set of my Madoka typography postcards or my Uranus/Neptune typography prints. Not one! I thought those were pretty awesome but I don’t think they’re so awesome that people are interested in paying for them, unfortunately. -_- Poop. Lesson learned.

Mirrored from Supermeow!. There is probably a featured image in the original that you're missing by looking at this post on LiveJournal, so you should check out the blog!

Today marks one year since my grandfather took his last shuddering breath of air in this life. In a few hours, I’ll be going to a memorial mass in his honor with my family. It’s still a bit hard to accept that he’s gone. When I go to visit my parents, I still wish a good night toward his apartment, even though he’s no longer physically there. My mom’s been cleaning out a lot of his stuff and has been working to get his affairs in order. I wish I could say that I’ve been a big help, but I haven’t really been much of a help, or at least I don’t feel like I’ve been that helpful, and I don’t get that feeling from my mother, either. If I lived closer and worked different hours, maybe I could help more. It’s difficult. For the past couple of months, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about what happens when you die. Is it simply the end of consciousness and your soul transcends into some other form, or is that it – you simply stop being alive and are just returned to the earth? I don’t know. I’m not the first or last person to wonder this, and I’m not eager to find out the answer if it’s even knowable or not, and I’m not ready for anyone else to die on me, not for a few years. No parents, no friends, no nobody. No more deaths in the family for a long time. I know it’s going to come and it can’t be helped and I can’t choose how or when, but all I ask is that it doesn’t come for me until I’ve lived a good, long life, or as good of a life as a person with (manageable) chronic illness can have. I’m pretty tired of having these sorts of thoughts about mortality. I think it’s time to focus on living instead, even if only for the duration of the rest of this blog post.

With that cheery thought out there, I’ll talk about some of the stuff that’s made me happy or amused this winter.  Now, I’d heard of this anime called Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but I hadn’t actually watched any of it until a couple of months ago, and I can now say that I am hooked/addicted/really into it. What seems like it’s going to be this fluffy, indulgent magical girl show takes a completely different course than what you’d expect and it’s refreshing and brilliant. The soundtrack’s great, too. It’s so great that I ponied up for the super-special limited edition Blu-ray/DVD hybrid box set from Aniplex USA (and I also pre-ordered the other two super-special limited edition box sets, too). I do this knowing full well what a ripoff it is to spend so many dollars on four half-hour episodes of a series plus some booklets and extra promotional crap plus a soundtrack CD. It’s just that good. It’s been a while since I’ve really taken a shine to a new anime series and this really blew me away. I’ve started to amass a small pile of Madoka Magica licensed goods including an Akemi Homura Pullip doll and a Tomoe Mami Pullip doll, with a Kaname Madoka Dal on the way (as well as a tiny little Kyuubey Dal).  I’m preparing to assemble an unholy army of Madoka Magica Figmas as well. When will the madness end???

Also in the works: preparing stuff to sell at my Artists’ Alley table at Anime Boston 2012. So far, I have some neat typography postcards for each of the five main puella magi in Madoka Magica, some Sailor Moon stuff, some prints, and who the hell knows. Stay tuned. Pictures some other time – I gotta go to bed.

Mirrored from Supermeow!. There is probably a featured image in the original that you're missing by looking at this post on LiveJournal, so you should check out the blog!