One of my greatest joys in life is a perfectly brewed cup of Joe–the excitement I feel when I take the first sip, at a new place, where I have no preconceived notions of it will taste or what I should expect. Sometimes, I am sorely disappointed after that first sip, and other times, I am indifferent. And fortunately, sometimes, I am quite simply happy. I’m not a coffee connoisseur by any means–I definitely don’t know enough to be one–but I think I can at least appreciate the flavor and aroma of coffee. I can tell when a cuppa has personality, and when it falls quite flat, like a bad cliché. With that said, a friend and I decided to get coffee after a rainy brunch, one day, and decided to stop by Intelligentsia Coffeebar on Abbot Kinney in Venice.

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Hello! Welcome to my newly designed blog, a labor of love that began with a punny blog name, and ended with me spending 6 hours drawing in Illustrator, and another 9 hours coding!  Things are still a little dusty around here, so let me know if you find any bugs or inconsistencies.

One of my resolutions this year was not only to finish my portfolio site, but also to finish my blog layout(s). Seeing as how having 2 public blogs is sort of redundant, I’ve imported everything I had at http://blog.meloncollie.net, to here. I’m well on my way to getting all the little things that I was supposed to have done ~2 years ago, done!

The artwork in the banner is based on a drawing I did, combining my love for gaming and my love for … rolling dice? (Click to view a larger version in my DeviantArt!)

Also, I will be trying out a new thing for 2010, starting a month late due to design delays: Blogging every single day, from February 1st, 2010 until January 31, 2011. It’s hard as it is to get me to blog even once a month, and I find that to be a crying shame. There’s definitely something worth writing or sharing everyday, so this attempt from me to make a post every day should help keep a record of what my life was like in the year 2010

With that said, keep your eyes peeled for new posts in the near future!

Well, after not having written for about 3 months now, I am back, and PAX will be among us! How exciting is that? I went to Comic Con and Anime Expo this summer, and neither of those were as fun or as enticing as PAX was, and will be. It’s good that I went–at least, I got to know what it’s like going to those other two conventions–but, I now know that, for the most part, there is only one major convention/expo/festival that really fancies me, and that’s the one that takes place during the sunniest time of the year in Seattle
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Well, er, 50 days turned into 10 days! Time flies by so much faster the closer you get to any kind of “big” day. So much has happened, and I’ve had so little time to care to sit down and update this thing. After all, between work, meeting up with people for meals, and Left 4 Dead, when does a girl have time to update her blog?

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I have a professed love for Nijiya. I prefer it over Mitsuwa, if only because it seems like a much smaller operation and is run by friendlier, tighter-knit group of employees. I have only been to the Sawtelle (Los Angeles) and Mountain View locations, but I have been pleased with both (and!! The Sawtelle location closes at midnight. Perfect for late-night snack runs!). Although Mitsuwa has better “deli” food (a.k.a. Food Courts), it sometimes feel too supermarket-y, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I delight in finding the most random things and trying out new snacks and food whenever I make a Nijiya run. The Mountain View location is right by my work, so it’s definitely not an inconvenience, and if anything, it’s a nice break from my (albeit very colorful) cubicle.

On one of these Nijiya runs, I was hurriedly going through the aisles to find something, and my eyes met this:

Instant pasta?! At 307 calories a serving? I’m down!

Review of the product, complete with pictures, underneath the cut

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