Never in a million years did I think I’d wear something this crass… I hate the whole “Merica!!” or “Murica” meme/misspelling, most of all when I see/hear people saying it unironically, not realizing that the way in which it is said is to mock blind patriotism without a thought for the actual wellbeing of our country (or just as a bad stereotype… see Urban Dictionary.) But… But… It has a squirrel wearing patriotic glasses… with their lil tongue hanging out all cheeky-like…
So… I’m gonna wear it when we go out to dinner on the 21st… ironically! Well. The rednecky/murica part is ironic on my end. My patriotism isn’t. I’m bursting, dripping with patriotism, but only now do I feel like I have (or will soon have) a proper right to express it. ๐
I’ve waited so long to say “my country” about the USA… ๐ฅบ๐๐ค๐
Anyway yeah. This is dumb. But I’ll wear it because squirrel. And America! With an A, dammit.
I’m sure eventually I’ll stop posting these near identical photos of Kotoko next to me on the desk. Eventually. Probably.
I hung this up by my studio door today. The “proud” is a little hard to read, and sure, it’s a little premature, but hey, give me a break, will you. It’s less than a month away!
WARNING: I’m sharing some items in this post that feature Piofiore -Episodio 1926- event CGs. If you want to avoid those no matter what, PLEASE skip this post!
I promised a post with all of my recent otome swag! Well, really, it’s all Piofiore. ๐ I’ve started to collect otome stuff a little more in earnest, and my first big purchase was the Piofiore no Banshou -ricordo- Official Art Book! So… that GIF above was basically my face when I opened this the package containing this incredible book:
It arrived last week. I’d been waffling on getting this, begging Christopher for it, not sure if I should go for it… it was costly for something that I know would ultimately go on a shelf. But oh, my god. It’s such an utter gem. For starters, it is quite big, and the quality of the artwork is simply stunning. It contained literally every single graphic from the game, down to menu/interface elements, as well as some additional/promotional ones. Here’s just a small sample:
The one of Dante with a Nintendo Switch was one of my favorites, but this one of Yang with the twins absolutely took the cake, he looks so pissed, I love it:
I became deeply fond of the twins during my playthroughs, particularly of Lan. Despite basically taking the “annoying little sidekicks” role, they are both intelligent and good hearted in spite of the ruthlessness that they have taken upon as their way of being to survive in the mafia world that they joined as children. Both really do care deeply about Yang, clearly more than he cares for them, in particular Lan. I don’t know, they are just so wholesome in their own messed-up way, and such a great contrast to Yang.
In regards to that particular image, I find it a great example of how, far more than with any other LI, Yang’s facial expressions are subtle, but intense. I can’t get enough of looking at art featuring him. I really love him as a character in every possible way.
Speaking of Yang…
I’m posting my playthroughs in order so it will take a while until I get to my playthrough of his route, but for the first time in fifteen years, Sesshoumaru has a very serious rival for my “top husbando” spot, and I really didn’t think it was possible. Which, if you know Yang, is really really wrong. (Lol) Yang makes even early-chapters Sesshoumaru look kinda, well, soft.
For all his faults, Sesshoumaru isn’t an outright psychopath. Yang is. In fact, as a character, Yang is the perfect example of a psychopath, and I would be surprised if the writer/s of Piofiore didn’t carefully study psychopathic profiles when creating him.
So yeah, when I’m losing my crap at his trigger-fest of a route, I feel a little dirty. But let me have my guilty pleasures, dammit. ๐คค
To get back on track with this post, I’ve been buying Yang swag. First though, I would like to share this 2021 Piofiore calendar I got off Amazon:
I hadn’t bought any sort of calendar in a long time. But, I’m looking forward to looking at the boys throughout the year. Kotoko broke my lava lamp the other day, so I guess this will become its replacement.
I hadn’t seen the inside of this wonderful calendar anywhere! Also, it’s Episodio 1926 themed, so I got some CGs spoiled… ah well. Allow me to share some of the inside:
When it comes to just Yang things, first we have this little acrylic standee!
I stuck him to the top of my monitor:
And one more acrylic keychain:
I’m not obsessed at all…
Sadly, none of the acrylic items are legit… they were just stuff I found on Aliexpress. (โก๏นโกโฟ) But I’m lucky to at least have these, and I did get one awesome legit item, which just thinking about the cost of it makes me queasy, so it’s probably the only legit Yang item I’ll be able to buy. A pouch!
My everyday bag has a Code: Realize ~Future Blessings~ all-over print, but my little pouch for my daily necessities doesn’t match that theme. So when I’m using this bag, I expect that I will use this pouch with it. True, I am tempted to just carefully display it, but especially given the cost I’d rather enjoy it to the fullest for years.
And now for the final thing! I used an Episodio 1926 CG to make it, which I ran into quite accidentally while looking for images of Yang. I had two CGs spoiled for me in this way (sigh). Anyway it’s a lovely CG so I made it my iPad Pro skin and wallpaper.
Anyway… yeah… pretty Yang is pretty… wasn’t braiding his hair every morning Lili’s job though? It seems she’s already slacking on that. Lol.
That’s all I have to share, and I suppose I will calm down for a while now. I can’t wait for Episodio 1926 to get localized!! ๐ซ PLEASE Aksys please…
โจ Here’s warm-up 23 of 100! โจ This one is for Crazy_Nero.
๐ Artwork is ยฉ 2023 by Marina Neira. You may NOT copy, color, reference, repost or use this artwork in any way or claim it as your own. Only the commissioner/giveaway winner & those featured in the artwork may repost with credit and following my Terms of Use.
This morning I woke up to this cuteness next to me… Kotoko purring her heart out with her paw protectively (or is that possessively?) on Christopherโs sleeping head:
So yeah, that was adorable. Later, as she has the last few days, Kotoko came to spend time with me on the desk. She played with fishies for a while:
I had lunch with my friend Al today (itโs weird to just say โmy friendโ after years of saying โmy bossโ because even though I havenโt worked for him for years and years everyone still calls him โyour bossโ). ๐ซ
Later Christopher and I went to Target for a pickup. We also got some date-night snacks and a birthday present for Nikki, his (our) sister:
Once home we watched TV and had snacks before heading out for date-night pizza…
โจ Here’s warm-up 22 of 100! โจ This one is for Againsttimescurrent.
๐ Artwork is ยฉ 2023 by Marina Neira. You may NOT copy, color, reference, repost or use this artwork in any way or claim it as your own. Only the commissioner/giveaway winner & those featured in the artwork may repost with credit and following my Terms of Use.
Nothing terribly fascinating, just photos of my lunch and snack that I took the trouble to take and decorate but they just didn’t “fit” with my other posts of today.
I had fried rice with tofu and water chestnuts, avocado, and seaweed:
I really like tonic water… I don’t drink it too often though because calories. I haven’t gone back to counting calories proper yet, but I have had a few false starts. I’m sure I’ll be back in the wagon soon. In the meantime? Panda cookies:
It’s here! I can’t freaking wait to play this game. Christopher bought it for me as a reward for passing my citizenship interview and civics test (and after a lot of whining ๐) I’m so excited to play it. This is the limited edition which comes with a beautiful Mylne figure. Here is the box before opening:
Before I show the figure I want to share a couple of trailers I found on YouTube:
And here she is! A gorgeous little thing.
I had some trouble getting her on the stand, but once I was done, it’s pretty solid:
I’m playing my games in order, it’ll be a while until I get to this one. But I imagine it’s one of those I’ll end up streaming!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I started to allow Kotoko to sit by the window next to my desk. She’s been enjoying it a lot. Sometimes she just lays as close to me as possible, and then I’ll put cat videos for her to watch. She has fun.
Here’s a little video of her playing with/watching some of it. First, some mice…
Then, fishies!
I didn’t want it to get old for her, so I closed the videos after a while, and this was very confusing for her:
Maybe they went behind the monitor…
No, down the window sill!
She seemed a bit put out… ๐
Then she started to just… watch me. Stare at me from behind the monitor with just one eye. In the past few days I think I’ve sent Christopher three or four different photos of her doing this, but all the photos look identical. It’s a little creepy.
Sometimes, in the mornings, she plops down on the rug and snores there for a while before deciding to join me at the window desk:
And sometimes she just has to come down from the desk for a cuddle (or get some cuddling in on her way up to it). Here she was pressing her head against the crook of my arm really hard:
Yesterday I picked something different. She played with some “string”. Seems to be one of her favorites for now!
We both enjoyed this video of wildlife feeding. She did snap her little teeth at a squirrel head, though. It was cute, but a little scary.
I got some video of her watching this too. She was so into it.
A lot of the time now, she just sleeps behind the monitor and I hear her little snores.
It’s really adorable… I treasure these times with her.
Good morning guys! How are you today? I’m off to a very positive start and feeling very cheerful. I started my Fitness Log again, and did my first walk of the day. I’ll be Zooming with my mom soon, and hopefully I’ll get another walk in after the sun goes down.
Kotoko came to cuddle with me this morning. I’ve decided to allow her on my desk, which is by the window, and as a result she spends more and more time with me. I took so many cute photos and video of that, it’ll be for its own post, but here she is:
When she jumped on me, I had to snap a photo, even though my hair was still uncombed after my shower. ๐
I’m still doing lots of work to finish my site’s move. Most galleries need to be remade, but that’s basically all I have left to do at this point (well, that and the small changes that I’ll be using plug-ins for… I can’t do that until I get the Business plan.)
Everything is going pretty well. I’m continuing to catch up on chores and art and feeling less stressed. I have a bunch of new followers, I want to welcome all of you! This blog/site is pretty weird but I hope you have a good time here.
Oh, also, my collector’s edition of Mรคrchen Forest: Mylne and the Forest Gift came in the mail. Christopher bought it for me as a reward for passing my naturalization interview and civics test (there may also have been some begging and cajoling involved.) It even comes with a figure! When I have time to open it I’ll be sure to share it with you all.