January 21th, 2026- Resolution Upkeep
Listening to SEASIDE FM DJ

Hello, my dear blog friends! I hope yall are safe and that January is treating you well. If not, please hang in there.

I just started putting my Christmas decorations away; slowly replacing my home with reds & Valentine’s decorations. Last Christmas was my best holiday within this past decade— I hope I can maintain that spirit for 2026. I had a bit of difficulties putting some of the decorations away at first, but I felt at ease as soon as I see my Valentine’s decorations up.

I know that if I don't give myself time to do my creative hobbies-- I would get upset at myself. Here’s my January so far in terms art, entertainment, food adventures, wellness:

 Art

I am currently brainstorming a drawing for the year of horse. I ended up creating a couple of OCs, they’re characters loosely based on myself, my sisters, my girlfriends with big sister personalities. This drawing will be quite challenging for me. I think drawing carousel horses is a perfect way to get into the spirit. At the moment, I am in the process of finding which stylized designs feels best to draw. The pseudo Blythe body proportion is growing on to me. If my drawing turns out super wonky-- that's okay, at least I'm exercising my brain to do something new!

Entertainment

I got back into Animal Crossing after the update. I ended up restarting my island on our Switch 2. I want a fresh new start and I am okay with starting over. I will write about my Animal Crossing game play after weeks of play or major updates on my game blog. I feel posting small logs of my AC game play would be boring to read and they would just feel redundant.

Food

Bern and I discovered a new place in San Gabriel. I really enjoyed their milk tea, toast, & pineapple bun! Next time, I would like to try their noodles and pineapple bun. The interior decorations was fun to be in— I enjoyed ogling at their neon light.

Bern and I made a mistake of going into a particular “taco restaurant” in LA. The aesthetics of their place is indeed nice, customers are pretty hipstery, & their menu layout looks well done— those are sometimes the signs that a restaurant would be mediocre. It was our own fault that we fell for a gringo taco place We were curious to try them out in the first place, because a couple of people in our social group seems to like them. Then we later learned that we also have friends who also finds them very bland Obviously, I don't post pictures or share locations of the place if I am not too thrilled with the food.

We got a delicious vegan doughnut to make up for our dissatisfaction. I also got around to making my own matcha latte. Because we're in need of calendars, we went to the bookstore and wandered around... we ended up not finding a calendar that we like

OOTD Pics

Wellness

I’ve been pretty good about maintaining my cardio workout. I need to do some homework on free weights workout. I want to make sure I work on areas in my body that doesn’t get enough care.

Last week, I discovered a former friend from high school have been harboring some f4scist outlook. I haven't spoken to this person because of life changes in circumstances, so we weren't able to connect. Bern saw her posts on social media-- they're pretty vial. I am used to having people in my circle who don't have a clear, well-read, well-researched perspective on the Global South matters. However, what this former friend have posted was straight up inhumane; antisocial. To my avid readers, trust me, you'll be repulsed at her. This was the same person who was my badminton partner on my high school team & we both like the same girly pop anime-- it's disappointing.

According to Bern, he theorized that one of the reasons why people act or fall into these antisocial worm mainly because they feel that they're not significant in life and it's their way of standing out. Considering that we both have questionable extended relatives, I see what Bern meant. What do you y'all think? Do you have any former friends who fell into the a1t right hole?

As usual, I've been eating fairly clean: mostly fiber, protein, and whole wheat grain. I also been in touch with my different group of current friends. With all the anxiety-inducing domestic & global current events, I try my hardest to stay level headed-- my friends and I would vent about our days and share our personal highlight. Because if I let bleak events get to me, I would not get anything done at all.

Alright, my sweets-- I luv ya all. See ya my next post.

January 6th, 2026- Art & Holiday Photodump
Listening to Winter Jazz Lofi

As I mentioned in my last post, my holidays were super productive! I told Bern that this year's December was one of my best Decembers because we actually went on different Winter dates, and we didn't even break the bank by doing so! Our money was spent on local food businesses, One Piece merch (Bern saved up for our shopping date), second hand items, & a fresh Christmas tree.

Art Dump

My Dollcember prompts: Angel & Gingerbread, complete. 

 
 

I joined Secret Santa drawing for Christmas on a Discord chat. I hope the giftee likes the drawing of their OC! At the moment, I am working on a "Snow Queen" prompt. 

Holiday Photodump

  
           
   

As a simple basic consumerist b*tch, we got some One Piece merch and a milk tea— some being my birthday gifts and holiday treats.

At the end of 2025, I was happy to be able to do more outings, and not get cooped up at home — we actually tried different food places in one month!

We were supposed to head to Lucky Baldwin’s Pub that night— it turns out their kitchen closes early, the posted time on we found on their website was meant for their bar time On the spot, Bern searched up some places in SGV, found a late night — that place was pretty good! Seems like there were a handful of late night joints in the 626 area. Cozy environment, family dining, easy orders, easy parking, no complicated small talks. The James Wang advertisement on food mats will forever be iconic. I feel protective of some of the SGV food places— I will NOT recommend them to random people (sheltered LA transplants) because I don’t want to send bad vibes to the businesses

Christmas Village Night Market-- A night of hangout, people watching, food & shopping. We got a couple of vintage ornaments and ordered arepas from Sus Arepas. One of the few food truck places that's actually good & not overpriced (Note: No, I do not support McD)

Holiday dinner, I baked milkbuns & prepared apple salad. And yes, I made pumpkin pie, fried chicken, stuffing & roasted potatoes (no pictures). Fun fact: Before my dinner prep, we spotted a former Twin Peaks actress at a grocery store that month! It made our night I knew she was a small lady on screen, she's even smaller in person! She was very recognizable because her of iconic voice and her large eyes.

Oh, I even spent the whole week preparing and assembling my cake. I got my cake layers recipe from Sugarologie's Cakeculator and I improvised the rest. Swiss merengue buttercream, confetti layers, orange curd filling, chocolate ganache, chocolate cookie sandwiches, & maraschino cherries. I know my cake decorating skills are very mid, but the cake itself was quite delicious! It didn't even last in our fridge for very long. I made some wishes-- Happy Birthday to me.

  

 

We finally attended a Bob Baker’s marionette show in Sierra Madre. The crowd wasn’t too crazy, we picked a late night performance & received an ice cream after the show— it felt like a fun treat. I enjoyed seeing some of the Mid century puppets’ designs! Bern and I hope to catch more of their marionette shows in the future! The location of this place is quite charming. Bern and I also did some downtown strolls admiring the decorations.

We found a pizza shop that screams Frasiercore, 90s coffee shop aesthetics trapped in time. Andddd their pizza slice was delightful!

I even spent a few days baking cookies-- gifts for my families and friends.. traditional buttercookies, matcha buttercookies, & brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I was practically living in the kitchen BUT I will gladly bake for them again. My brother and my sister-in-law liked the cookies!

And here are my Christmas decorations! Because our tree is still drinking-- I plan on leaving it up until it dries out, just like a vase of roses!

To all my friends: I hope your holidays went well! Since you've made it this far, thanks for reading my post. 

January 5th, 2026- Happy New Year
Listening to HWASA- Good Goodbye

Happy 12th night, we’re in a new year and for Los Angeles, the rain has finally stopped! I am not complaining because we do need some of the rain to keep our plants green. This rainy week is quite a contrast to the windy week from last year.

My holidays from last month were filled with productivity, dates & to-do’s. I prefer my December to be active because it prevents me from brain rotting. I was doing okay until a couple days ago. I am the kind of person who keeps up with global current events from time to time; sometimes I am susceptible to doomscrolling . I managed to stay level-headed by putting on a podcast and listening to the Pick Me Up, I'm Scared podcast. It’s one of the best ways for me to get historical insights without stumbling upon bots and trolls— they’re just overwhelming to weed through.

My 2025 Resolution Recaps:

Eversince I joined XHS, I’ve managed to make more friends worldwide— genuine friends. It’s nice to have friends to chat and check up our day without having to be invested with their faces, class, & background. Because I can’t meet most people physically, making online friends is a nice alternative for me. I believe my social connections skyrocketed for someone who've been social distancing in this current world. Despite being an introvert, having some company and listening to others talk is actually quite nurturing for the brain!

I lost ten pounds. I am pretty proud of myself. At this point, I just want to keep my weight under control and continue focusing on strengthening my body at this point. I have been good with cardio exercises. This time, I want to improve my weight lifting. I believe with our current state of the world, if you're able-body, I think it's important to try to stay healthy. This is my way of being grateful with my current health and it's a way to fight our problems. I not only want to be strong for myself, but I want to be strong in taking care of others too.

As for my art style, I think I improved a bit! I understand that they’re considered objectively lowbrow by the artful community, however, I just enjoy drawing doll-like fuzzy eared characters.

I didn’t end up getting married— because of $$$ and time. I may have to postpone it for years to come— even when I intend to for it to be a simple courthouse ceremony. I just want a simple cute dress, some pretty pictures and a cake. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for planning for 2025. Looking for an inexpensive dress, reading marriage license fees & booking a photographer in Burgerland can take some time. I might reach to the point of just being my own photographer....I dunno. Perhaps, I'll make a honeymoon trip and get our photos done in China or Southeast Asia instead.

Overall, I feel the 2025 version of me is different from the 2020-2024 version of my younger self. I want to turn into the person who is willing to fight; get things done. I don't like feeling hopeless and sorry. Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. 666 7.

Resolution 2026

Change my wardrobe style to 60 percent of my current style. Who would have thought a bunch of dress code- based clothes sitting in a closet can strip your style away? I think I will do some sewing & alterations to match my taste. I might just give away any clothes that no longer suits me.

Shoes upgrade— for practical reasons. My current shoes are falling apart.

Make more traditional art; avoid distractions. Get better with painting roses.

Get in touch with cerebral activities: read a book, study a language, do random crafts and engage in puzzle games

Collect more dolls

Stay organized, manage schedule better.

(Stay tuned for my next post of photodump from December)

December 10th, 2025- Secret Santa & Dollcember Project
Listening to Akira the Don LOFI CHRISTMAS

This year, I decided to join a Secret Santa project for an art discord chat. As soon as I received my giftee and their OC request, I immediately worked on the drawing right away. I figured it was nice to get that done as soon as possible just in case my health could decline over the holidays... I wanted to make sure I do the Secret Santa gifting on time. I want to share my drawing here, but since, it's not my OC-- I will keep it private. 

However, I have a Dollcember project I want to share! Here's my cute Santa honey from this year:
 

 

December 7th, 2025- Lost in the orb of lights
Listening to Akira the Don LOFI CHRISTMAS

Recently, I went on a lengthy neighborhood stroll whilst admiring the residents' holiday lights and Christmas trees displayed in front windows. I had my headphones on and listened to a playlist of Cambodian 60s pop music-- particularly the super moody ones, some being music covers from folk songs.  Maybe it was just my hormones, but I almost bawled my eyes out as I was admiring some of the holiday lights and was even entranced by the dinner smells from the houses that I walked by. I felt a bit of sadness and joy muddled in one. Maybe what I was feeling was a piece of nostalgia from someone else's experience? Perhaps a bit of the longing feeling? A feeling of homesickness? Am I falling in love with an idea, place & time that doesn't even exist? As I was looking at the neighborhood Christmas lights, I felt like I could cry, dream and waltz at the same time! I believe this is just me with my daydreaming personality.  

To any readers who are interested and curious to experience my feelings, here's my playlist: 

Chhoen Malay- You Are Ruthless
Ros Sereysothea- Remember Still 
Sinsamouth- Permanent Treasure
Sinsamouth- Love Is Enough(Summer Kisses, Winter Tears cover)
Sinsamouth- Bopha Cheangmai
Sinsamouth- No Longing

Or you can just make any playlist of any dreamy sounds-- you will get the idea. Most songs by Roy Orbison should work! With your headphones on, find a neighborhood/ district in a beautifully decorated place, make sure to go on a walk during a peaceful hour with your headphones on.

*Please do not confuse me as a person who yearns over the past. That's not actually the case here. 


I guess I've been so caught up with my personal quiet time, that I haven't been able to interact with my friends for a week-- it's time for me to message them! 

November 25thth, 2025- Seven Months Blog Free
Listening to a t c a f e lofi Hip Hop

It has been about seven months since I last updated my last blog entry-- the last time I updated was one entry from Spring 2025. I just have been so preoccupied with hobbies, tasks, health, homemaking and social connection (twitch streams and live voice chats). I will say the past months for this year, I feel I was able to prevent myself from doomscrolling. As much as I enjoy certain content from scrolling through apps, going overboard can definitely lead to brainrot. -- I am glad I was able to load myself with healthy-and-productive activities for most of 2025. Does this mean I am perfect with my priorities? Absolutely not. I sometimes been watching those really ridiculous C-Drama shorts ironically, I can't help it because  my online girlfriends have been sending these clips to me. There are a lot of insane ones, but there's a few that are actually well-made (art house level of direction). So many plots involving rebirths, CEOs, revenge and Cindrella-esque situations.  I don't regret watching the shorts with cursed plot lines because they're kind of campy and was learn basic Mandarin from watching these. I guess you can see this is our generation of Days of Our Lives. 

My last winter felt like the holidays were cut short-- for reasons that we cannot control. This year, I am hoping to a smoother time.  I need to find a holiday dress-- I will have to see if my closet has anything that still flatters me. 


Art 2025 - Here are some artwork I've made from this year:

For Spooky Szn 2025, I drew tarot-card style for my OC monsters. I've managed to do three prompts because I've been pretty busy that month.

 

I attempted to only draw one Zodiac character for Spring and did a DTIYS illustrations from a couple of streamer artists. 

 

These are the drawings that I did from last spring & summer. The ice cream couple was a redo of an older drawing. The starter kit was based on a trend that involves no AI.

 

I got back intro traditional art. I basically started doing impressionistic paintings with roses (not pictured) and ended up painting a holiday cat meme because it makes me giggle just thinking about this kitty. 

I am thinking of deleting my Cara account. I just find the site pointless for me. I feel as if I could just build my own portfolio site with my drawings instead. 

Currently, I'm doing my very best to work on my speed and be consistent with my drawings. There are times when I just want to finish all my tasks in one day. Obviously, that's just unrealistic. 

Anyway, if any of you want to join my drawing prompt, here's mine for the holidays:


Fitness 2025  For the most part, I've been keeping up with cardio and video workouts. All I know is that if I don't keep up, I would feel sick and my gut would not cooperate. No, I don't have the physique of a Street Fighter character BUT I feel stronger and I need my bowels to remain happy. I do get comments like "YoU'rE wOrkInG oUT? bUt yOu aLreaDy LoOk gReAT" I have to remind some of my friends that I don't engage in fitness solely for vanity reasons-- I treat this as my personal medicine-- doctor's orders. As another friend have said, "looking great and feeling great are two different things". 

Social life 2025
Last month, I made some new friends by collaborating in a Silent Hill F game. I don't care for others' objections with this game, I enjoyed the story line and it healed me! There were some things I can relate to the characters in the game. Spoilers: One of my worst nightmares in life is not having the ability to explore my dreams; I don't like the feeling of getting my wings clipped. That was what the main character of Silent Hill F was facing.  The puzzles were a lot of fun and it wasn't super scary to watch ( I don't mind that). A friend of ours who was controlling the combat exchanged language lessons-- he basically swapped the translation text in the game to learn English from the group. 

I personally don't find HelloTalk to be helpful when it comes to language lessons XD especially if you're a woman 

As for physical, local friends-- Bern's friends Dragon and Koala has been pretty good about penciling their time to hang out with him. I finally hung out with my former coworker from years back, we got coffee and went thrift shopping together. As usual, she dresses so beautifully-- her personality is always full of sunshine. I am happy that to hear that she upgraded her career life and didn't tie herself down to a toxic workplace that we worked at. 

I recently joined a Secret Santa for a community made by one of my favorite streamers. I believe I will be getting the giftee's name assigned by the Santa bot. 

Beauty 2025 (Not part of my resolution) 
I've been wearing a lot of warm tones-- I know the color red suits me, warm red in particular. I believe my makeup skills improved since the 2010s. After going through some personal meltdowns from 2020, it's nice for me to be able to wear makeup a little more often.