Blog Archives

2018 marks my 10th year of attending anime conventions. My very first was ColossalCon 2008, which ironically fell on my 18th birthday weekend. I’d like to think that I’ve learned a lot over this past decade of shenanigans, mischief, and sometimes outright puzzling situations.

Before ColossalCon 2008, my then-boyfriend advised me that you do not sleep at cons. You do not eat much. You spend tons of money. You drink far more than you should. And you party hard. Most people shared that same sentiment, and that’s how I treated conventions until around 2013.

Five years of torture.

Good grief.

This outlook is not restricted to just anime and gaming conventions. I have heard similar statements from people of all ages at professional conferences as well...

Last Thursday, I released the first book in my four-part series The Belle Âme Chronicles. Not only did this mark the start of a new series that I am madly in love with (and plan to submit for my graduate school application), but it also marked the end of my previous saga.

My initial two novels were based on a short story series written from late-2002 through mid-2008, known as the “Fab Gang”. Featuring a plethora of characters loosely based on my favourite anime protagonists and antagonists, Fab Gang was a hodge-podge of chaos that only a teenager’s mind could manifest. Still, you can’t write something for so long without giving it a proper ending, and The Banana Avenue Chronicles did just that.

But my high school pennings are in the past...

Every ten years, a Census is held in the United States, aiming to count the entire population of the country and determine the location of each resident. Questions asked include 1) how many people live/stay in each home, and the sex, age, and race of each resident. The goal is simple: to count everyone, at least once, only once, and in the right place.

Easy, huh?

Giving your data to the government might sound like a bad horror movie in the making, but its actually quite beneficial 🙂

The results of each Census determine the Federal funds, grants, and support allocated to each state, meaning that communities benefit the most when everyone is counted and reported accurately...

Eczema runs in my family. It affects my grandfather. It affects my mother. Of course, that means that it was destined to affect me, too.

My eczema first made an appearance in 1996, when I was around six-years-old. My mother noticed large flaky patches on my scalp as she styled my hair one day. These patches were itchy, so I scratched them as any child would do. This led to some of the flakes scattering into my hair—which well-meaning elementary school kids misconstrued as lice on occasion—and sores appearing on my scalp.

This image is a lie. No one’s hair looks that good with this goo on your scalp.

My mother applied this nasty oil called Sulfur 8 on my scalp to try combating the eczema. Not only did it stink, but the heavy oil weighed down my hair...

Prom night. An event that most teenagers look forward to for all of their lives. From the time we are toddlers, the media conditions us to perceive prom night as the pinnacle of your adolescent night. And in a way, it is. Whether a teenager makes a big deal about their prom or not, their friends and family certainly will.

“What did you do for prom?” remains a talking point for adults long after they’ve collected their diplomas and moved on to adulthood.

On April 22^nd, 2018, 18-year-old Keziah Daum showed up to Woods Cross High School’s senior prom with her closest friends. Following the evening’s festivities, Daum posted an album with four photos on her Twitter account, consisting of two solo photos, a photo with her date, and a photo of her squad...