Tag Archives: Me

A self reflected evaluation

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
― Bruce Lee

In life, you must absorb what you need in order to grow. However, in doing this, you shouldn’t forget where you came from. Some can say that this can also be applied to pop culture. In this class, I have become more aware of the history of Asian Americans in the U.S. that isn’t usually told while also analyzing the popular culture of today and making connections with these and my own passion for the time being.

That is the key to popular culture; making connections through time. To be able to see that the popular culture of the past isn’t always different as you think from the popular culture of now. We explored the origins of the trope known as the Dragon Lady, placed on Asian/American actresses in film, the stereotype of the overachieving smart Asian student, and websites like alllooksame.com. We learned to analyze things in a new way using our hello kitty lunchboxes; an item of time can be an ipod, used to measure time based on when a song ends. And letter can be a movie used to show your appreciation for a popular culture that is from a different shore.

With class, I began to grow curious, delving further and further into the cosplay community. I found out that, just like with popular culture, not everything is as it first seems. There are so many problems going on; inequality among cosplayers, elitism, and public harassment (sexual and otherwise). Even with events like Cosplay World Summit, which is an event that supports the coming together of many different cultures for a common passion, these problems continue to persist. This is something I refuse to let continue, one person can make all the difference.

Though, you can only do so much when you already have too much on your plate. Unfortunately, I overestimated myself and took on way more than I could handle. This caused my work to slip along with my health, and gradually I fell into a hole that I couldn’t get out of. Looking back, I should have talked to my faculty and been more inclined to ask my classmates for assistance. With all of the challenges I faced this quarter, I’m relieved I was able to make it until the end.

As I continue with my higher education, I will remember these notes:

  • History is usually told by the victor. Try listening to the victim instead.
  • Use your “supapawa” to be the change you seek.
  • Popular culture is an ever-evolving concept that is enhanced and widely received by society.
  • I may not know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to do everything and then some. Set your priorities and manage your time wisely.
  • It is ok to not be ok and ask for help, communication is key.

Rantings of a Stressed College Student

I read

I did

I did the reading, I swear!!!

Please just, I did the readings…. I did. Sadly, I don’t remember them.

If you were to try to quiz me, I’d fail.

But… But I did them. And in the time I was supposed to.

I even spoke up during seminar, and tried to make connections.

I asked questions.

But nothing stuck. I couldn’t write about it because nothing stuck. None of it. No matter how hard I tried, nothing stuck.

The cover is bent, the spine is wrinkled, some of the pages are dogeared.

I read I swear.

Chibi Chibi Con Aftermath

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What can I say? I had a blast. Though parts of it was really stressful.

I didn’t totally finish my costume, actually I had an emotional breakdown the morning of because of not finishing everything I wanted to.  I stressed myself out, made myself sick. And I cried. For a good 10 minutes, I cried. My friends were so confused and didn’t know how to react. I was miserable because no ones costume was finished and everyone was so stressed. I just wanted to dress up and have fun with my friends. I got so caught up that I forgot why I cosplay in the first place.

I walked to the convention. Eyes red, mother on the phone trying to cheer me up, heart in my stomach feeling like things were just going to get worse. Some of the volunteers actually saw how miserable I was, I explained the situation and they understood wholeheartedly. They’d all been there before. 

About an hour went by and the con was in full swing. And people started recognizing who I was cosplaying as. I was met with smiles and sweet comments on quite a few occasions. Though there were multiple times throughout the convention that parts of my costume broke….

Then the most memorable moment of my cosplay career happened. I was about to leave the con, to go and get ready for my performance in the Vagina Monologues, when one of the volunteers caught my attention. They told me that someone had been looking for me, talking about me a lot. It caught me off guard, I already ran into everyone I knew. Who else would be looking for me? With further explanation, it became clear. They were looking for me because they were a fan of RWBY, the series that the character I was cosplaying as was from. I agreed to come along, figuring they just want a picture or they were just going to be let down because of some self deprecating reason. To my surprise, when I entered the room I was met with a boy who was sitting on the floor, his hands on his face, a huge smile appeared, his eyes lit up with joy, the purest expression of awe. He exclaimed that he was so happy that he got to see me, I was the first Ruby cosplayer he’d seen. He was overjoyed (and of course asked for a picture, which I was ok with). I couldn’t believe it. He said he wanted to cosplay another character but wasn’t able to make the costume in time, didn’t have the money for it. I understood and decided to make him a promise.

“How about I cosplay Ruby again next year? That way you can make Jaune, and we can take a picture together.”

He was ecstatic, agreeing to it in a heartbeat. I smiled, nodded, then told him to not forget and have a good rest of con. I quickly used the hot glue gun and left. I just kept running the scenario over and over again in my head. I still couldn’t believe it. It didn’t matter that I was black, it didn’t matter that my costume wasn’t complete, just seeing that I cosplayed that character made him that happy. I felt like crying tears of joy (but of course I couldn’t, wearing makeup and all that jazz), for years I had gotten backlash for cosplaying characters that weren’t my skin tone or my body type. But this boy didn’t care about any of that.  I was dressed like her, acted like her, and that’s all that matter. And you know what? I had fun.

That’s what I had forgotten earlier that day. I cosplay to have fun, to bring joy to other fans, to pay homage to the series. I don’t do it to be accurate, I don’t do it to please elitist. I will try my best to never forget this again. And if I do, I will look back to this post.

4632 people showed up, but one person made my entire day.

My Feel Better Soup :3

A recipe for what I call, egg-drop ramen. This recipe changes based on what ingredients I have on hand.

This time it includes:

  • 1 pack of Ichiban Ramen, Chicken Flavor
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Roasted Garlic
  • 2 eggs
  • Turkey Luchmeat
  • Soy sauce
  • Worcestershire Sauce
  • Oyster Sauce
  • Red Pepper flakes
  •  Thyme
  • Black Pepper
  1. Cut your vegetables! Cut the carrots into rounds, cut your cabbage to your preference (I just tore it into pieces), and chop your garlic to however fine you want it!
  2. Fill a pot with enough water to immerse your vegetables and noodles (don’t put them in yet), and heat it until it boils.
  3. Add your vegetables, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, turkey, thyme, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Let this boil for about 5ish minutes. It won’t take long.
  4. Add in your noodles, seasoning packet, and oyster sauce. Let it cook for three minutes.
  5. Your noodles are almost done! You just need to add in the eggs. You will have to stir based on how big you want your egg bits to be. For bigger egg bits, wait for a moment then stir slowly. For smaller almost nonexistant egg bits, stir quickly and immediately after you add the egg.

And voila! You’ve successfully created my version of Egg Drop Ramen (aka Feel Better Soup, aka Broke College Student Who’s Tired of Plain Ramen’s Delight)! This is a very filling meal and the best part is, you can interchange ingredients based on your needs! I make it like this when I’m feeling sick or if I have friends over because it’s easy to mass produce.

Enjoy~! I know I will!

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