Amari's Log
My diary entries from all throughout 2026. Here we go!
2026年1月26日
It's finally my first entry of 2026! I've done a lot since I've last written in here, I even just got back from an anime convention yesterday morning ^^ I've had a wonderful winter break and my birthday was especially fun, I can't believe I'm already eighteen! For my birthday I decorated my cake again this year, which was another strawberry shortcake. I did a lot better decorating, but I wish i added more strawberries to the middle layers since it just tasted like a regular white vanilla cake outside of the strawberries placed on top. It was still delicious, though! After I decorated my friends came over and while we waited to go to the arcade I opened presents, I got a figure of Max from Sam and Max (I quite literally jumped for joy seeing the box^^;) and a very nice handmade card and a plush of Sam from my other friend. I've been obsessed with it as of late (see my October 2025 entry!), so I was extremely happy recieving these gifts (and finally buying The Devil's Playhouse). The rest of my birthday was spent at an arcade, and we all used most of our points getting as many prizes from the UFO catchers as we could as well as trying to get perfects on any rhythm game they had (They took out the Project Diva cabinet ;;).
It was a really fun time, but I haven't really done much in between then and the anime convention I just got back from, which was superb. I stayed for an entire weekend and got to see one of my favorite English voice actors, Justin Briner (I even got his autograph on a photo of Ryota Mitarai from Danganronpa ^^). I also stayed for a bunch of panels and took photos of any cosplay I knew as well as attended a Maid Cafe (thank you Tomato-chan!) I was so glad there were a ton of Twisted Wonderland cosplayers because of the anime. One of my favorite interactions was speaking to a woman named Sarah while waiting to get in on Saturday morning, I couldn't help but notice her CLAMP ita bag, as well as her Lucy cosplay (Elfen Lied), so I shyly chatted with her for a bit while in line. I wish she won something in the cosplay contest! We talked about a lot of different anime, and she was even surprised when I mentioned anime she thought I hadn't seen, like Mawaru Penguindrum or Flip Flappers ^^ I sadly couldn't keep in contact with her due to her having to make it to a panel, but I'm happy I was able to share some of my favorite animes with her as well as my blog. I hope you'll come visit someday, Sarah! I guess this is a case of ichigo ichie, hm? But I digress, I've really had an exciting month or so! Although I feel like it's only going to get more eventful as I get closer and closer to graduation (to my nervousness ^^;) Thank you for reading!
Will add photos here!
2026年1月27日
A bit of a short thought, but do you ever visit an old website or profile somewhere and wonder if the owner is doing well? I was thinking about this after I decided to browse some websites hosted on The Geocities Gallery, and saw that many websites on there had very personal photos from days long past. I feel a bit melancholic looking at them, as if these photos are a time machine back to a time I never knew. A specific one I visited particularly caught my eye, since the images really felt like I was alongside the family in 2001-2002, going on their trips to Japan and such. I wonder if there's a word for what I feel towards this website? Longing? Nostalgia? I never knew, and probably will never know who these people were exactly, but I hope that despite how old these images are, someone is still thinking about them and wonders where their lives took them in the years since, and hopes they're doing okay. Someone, somewhere, is still thinking about you! This was a short blog entry as it was on my mind currently...I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience?
2026年4月09日 This entry can be distressing for some. Take care when reading!
It's been a long time since I've written in my log, hasn't it? I've actually been extremely busy as of late, as well as dealing with a sickness for the past month ;; Luckily after a trip to the doctor it was just caused by stress, but I'm worried that as graduation gets closer, I'll have more and more things on my plate that I don't know how to deal with. I'm really nervous for the day I graduate...it's a giant change, isn't it? Life's too stressful rignt now, honestly. Sometimes I even wish I wasn't a senior this year so I wouldn't have to deal with graduation and finals and all that. But even when I do walk out with the rest of my class, it'll be tough knowing my mom won't be there to see me, as my older brother is graduating from boot camp the same day, states away. I just don't know what to do at all ;; I'm hoping this next week will be better once I turn in all of my current projects, but for now it's a race against the clock to get everything in on time. I'm so tired...
2026年5月11日
As I'm writing this, I'm a mere few hours away from giving up this computer I've had since tenth grade back to my school. It's a bittersweet feeling, the fact that I just completed school and am now awaiting my graduation day. In all my life I've never thought I'd make it this far...I always thought I'd remain that same version of me for the rest of my life. I'm really proud of muself for growing past those days despite it all. Looking back, my high school years were quite rough, especially my first two years directly after eighth grade...They were honestly the worst years of my life and yet, I survived them. Of course, I know many of my problems weren't as bad as those who are less fortunate than me, but I'll still congratulate myself for making it here while I think of others. Let's see... in other news, I've been playing a lot of older games on my Xbox 360 again! I actually recently picked up Double Fine's Brütal Legend! I really really enjoy the game despite the fact I'm terrible at RTS games, and despite its sadly short length, Brütal Legend really makes up for it in terms of style and its OST. I feel like I've been consuming a lot of western media lately...hm? I'll always be a weeaboo though XD I've even been watching Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! (One of my favorite mangas ever) as the episodes release! It's a rarity for me to actually watch seasonal anime as they come out... I think the last time I did was for Oddtaxi so this is definitely uncommon for me. I think this is it for now, so thank you everyone for supporting me through the years! Bye for now!!
2026年7月10日
It's been so long!! I have so much to write about, I don't even know where to begin ^^ At the beginning of June I ended up making it to another convention! The entire experience was just amazing and I can't believe it was so fun!!! This time I ended up going with my friends and it was really nice taking them around as they had never been to a convention before, we ended up spending hours just down in the exhibit hall checking out each booth as well as taking as many photos of cool cosplays we could and attending a couple panels (the Saturday Morning Cartoons one was so fun ^^)! Saturday/day two was honestly the best day I've ever had at a convention, so many amazing things happened I'm getting excited just thinking about it!! My friends and I decided to cosplay that day, with one of us as Stocking from Panty and Stocking and I as Sam from Sam and Max, I got so many requests to take photos from other attendees as well as many wonderful chats with exhibitors who knew what Sam and Max was or grew up with it. I was surprised so many people at the convention knew who I was (but maybe the fact I had brought my plushie of Sam and a Max paper bag hand puppet helped out ^^;), I chatted and even took a video of my puppet with two exhibitors who may have actually been friends with Steve Purcell himself, and apparently now own the standee he used to bring to San Diego Comic Con (I asked them to bring it next convention XD
THE CROWNING JEWEL of the convention though, was after a chat with some attendees, they told me that none other than the voice actress Nicki Rapp (Sammun-Mak, Sam Jr., Lili Zanotto) was attending as well, and that tip truly set me on a quest of asking around the convention to see if she was indeed there ^^; During the search I was close to giving up, but rather cliche-dly(?), I found her booth and immediately rushed over! I remember Nicki lighting up as soon as seeing my Sam cosplay and puppet (a friend currently had my plushie) and we ended up chatting forEVER about behind the scenes things, her characters, and other trivia... She told me she was surprised I knew so much about Sam and Max ^^; Words can't describe how happy I was to finally meet not only someone who worked on Sam and Max, but someone who helped make the final game what it was as Lord Sammun-Mak himself (and the equally as adorable Sam Jr.)! Alas I couldn't get a photo with her at first or even purchase any of the art at her booth (including a poster of the events of "They Stole Max's Brain!") due to my own foolish spending habits (313 USD for Cardcaptor Sakura and Sebastian Michaelis fgurines ;;), so I decided "Why don't I give her something instead of her giving something to me?" and painted a small card of Sammun-Mak to give as thanks for her chatting with me. As it turned out though... she loved it so much we took a photo for free, and she told me I made her day meeting her as well while chatting more about The Devil's Playhouse (She even said a few lines in-character)!! I'm getting giddy thinking back on it XD
As for the rest of what I've been up to this summer... I finally had my graduation party (it was Hawaiian themed!!) as well as recently returning from a trip to New York (and Vermont) with my mother... both were fantastic!! For my party, I had so much fun meeting with my family and friends... including the rare appearance of my favorite cousins whom I grew up with (they surprised me XD). My friends loved meeting them too, and we spend hours laughing about whatever came up in our conversations or in between eating Hawaiian food (I love manapua XD). The rest of the weekend was full of watching anime and discussing otaku culture with said cousins ^^ Sadly for my trip to New York I was rather ill, but I still found enjoyment in visiting the northeastern US (I come from the desert ;;) with my mother and eating even more delicious food (I had amazing ratatouille and french onion soup during my stay!) and browsing shops in whatever small town we had stopped in. I'm extremely happy though, because while visiting a small used game shop in Vermont...I finally found physical copy of Psychonauts for the Xbox! I was ecstatic seeing it on the shelf as I've been looking for a (reasonably-priced) copy for years at this point, but after a small 20 dollar payment (well compared to online prices which are typically over 60 USD ;;). I am now the proud owner of the game and have been binging it ever since (I am also a huge fan of both Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello).
All in all I've had an amazing summer so far, and I can't wait to see what else I write in the coming months! I'm so excited to see what my future holds now that I'm out of school... but as for now, I'll continue updating my website more often (perhaps I may even add more images after so long). That's all for now, though! Bye bye!!
