Wow, the first proper picture of myself posted in over a year. Crazy.

Picture taken by my friend moderndayviking , with a tiny bit of touch up work by me.

I have once again been elected as the new president for Otakorp Inc., the corporation behind Otakon. I might be crazy to sign up for this position a second time, but I'm pretty excited!

Well, kids, it's official. I've reached the pinnacle of the Otaku experience by being animated into an actual Japanese animation from an actual Japanese animation company. That's me at 1:20! So awesome :)

I'm way too excited about Otakon for coherent thought, so instead, let's play a game! Stolen from the lovely onceupon:

Leave me a comment and I will leave you a compliment, genuinely intended. They won't all be super deep but that is okay, too.

Leave compliments, if you so desire, for other people you recognize! You can do this anonymously, if you choose.

The most important rule: you can't argue with the compliment you receive. No trying to downplay it or wriggle out of it. Just say thank you and sit with it if it comes down to it.

Weeeeeeeeee!

ETA: Hey Awesome people! You don't actually have to compliment ME, the original idea is that I compliment YOU. You could tell me that the sky is blue, and I'll tell you why you're awesome. It's just that simple.

That being said, thanks for the compliments, anonymous internets :)

So I'm writing an article on crazy flavored Pepsis from around the world. This madness is currently sitting in my fridge waiting to kill me. I mean yogurt? I love Calpis, another crazy Japanese yogurt drink, so maybe this'll kick ass. Or maybe I'll die.

Two Spanish guys came in to the store today. The first guy spoke decent English and did all the ordering, the second guy spoke only Spanish and kept fairly quiet. As I rang them up, they started chatting.

The first told the second (in Spanish): "That's my girlfriend. But she doesn't speak Spanish."

My response (in Spanish): "Actually, I do speak Spanish, but I'm not your girlfriend."

Yeah, they were pretty surprised. Newsflash: Spanish is pretty weak as a secret language!

This was at the Phuket FantaSea, which is a very odd sort of a Thailand for Tourists theme park. At first I was all worried about the exploitation of wild animals AND THEN I WAS FEEDING A BABY TIGER, IT WAS SO AWESOME.

Today a girl had a tattoo in Katakana on her arm. I was a bit confused by it, so I asked what it meant.

"It's my name!"

"Your name is...Yachimonechi? Really?"

"No. Tasha."

"Oh, right. Right."

Wow, awkward.

______________________________

So, can anyone tell me what this might actually mean?

ヤチモネチ

We went to Thailand! And I fed an Elephant! And it was awesome!

We rode on them for about 45 minutes through a rubber plant plantation and some jungle, and then hopped off and fed them little pineapples. How cool is that?

(I'm reposting this from Sean's stream, because of it's awesomeness.)


More photos from the trip are here! (As soon as I get them up :)

This is Jeremy's gorgeous and incredibly sweet girlfriend, who's name I am completely and embarrassingly forgetting.

Get your own valentinr

Man, did I love Valentine's Day as a kid! My teachers always subscribed to the "Bring one for everyone in the class" school of thought, so everyone was assured a box full of love and candy. It's never really been about romantic love for me--hell, I actually dumped someone on Valentine's one year, even after he brought me roses. To me, Valentine's is simply about showing affection to all the people you care about.

And cupcakes. It's also about cupcakes.

If you come over to my house, there is a high possibility that I will force you to stand in front of my camera for a minute. Be warned!

Anyone else read this? I got it for Christmas and I'm quite enjoying it. Light and fluffy for a book on neuroscience, but a bit dense for a "just got home from a long day at work" book. Still, very enjoyable. I especially liked the chapter on Escoffier and deliciousness. I like deliciousness.

In annoying news, I just discovered that the author was speaking downtown TONIGHT and I just missed it. I suppose it's for the best, as I've had a lingering cold for ages and didn't really need to be running around the city tonight. Sigh...

One of my goals for the new year is to cook more and spend less money on take-out. This was extremely simple, just boiling the gnocchi and heating the sauce, but I'm still proud of myself for making the effort. Also, it was ridiculously tasty.

These are my favorite ornaments--they look like candy canes. Time to pack them up, I suppose...

It's almost time for our very first Christmas tree to come down, and I realized I hadn't really taken any pictures of it. It makes me happy :)

I was bored, and got silly with the Photoshop. Wee!

Not only was Mat & Jen's wedding cake actually tasty, but it came with these adorable chocolate mice--a genius combination of Hershey's kisses and chocolate covered cherries. Too cute to eat!