Goodbye 2016: You Were a Roller Coaster

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

A new year is on the horizon. For some, it may mean the apocalypse with Trump’s reign as the new president. For others, it may be a chance to start anew or continue in growth as a person. 2016 has been a festering pile of garbage – bearing ghastly moments we never thought would occur such as the death of some iconic people, tragedies with no end in sight, and political debates as wayward as a curved road.

We are standing on a hazardous shore with rough tides, wondering what exactly 2017 will promise us. We can swim out to sea and brave the choppy waves and roll with them, becoming a stronger being. We can stay at the shore and bide our time before making a move. We can watch from afar and carry on our lives as best as we can. We have choices, but we can’t turn away from 2017.

Despite the harshness of 2016, this year was by far the best year of my life. Not because of any celebrity’s death or the ungodly tragedies that scattered our world or even the winning elector. Rather, it was a year of meeting Internet celebrities I’ve been following for years, for being more of myself and becoming empowered, for meeting someone who I want to spend the rest of my life with, and for broadening my mind and world more than what I’ve already known.

2017 for me will mean moving on with my life. Yes, I’m absolutely terrified of what Trump will do especially to people of my feminine gender. This fear, paired with my depression and anxiety cannot dominate me. I’ve allowed it to win too many times in the past and frankly, I’m done with them.

Here are the things I need to do in 2017:

1.       Live – 2016 flew by and the older you become, the faster time flies. I need to take time with my hands and do with it what I want. By that I plan to live – go out more and try Cuban food or go to that museum I’ve always wanted to see especially with the one I love by my side. Time can’t stop me anymore.

2.       Work out – Hey, did you know your metabolism slows as you get older? Want proof? In January 2016, I weighed 120 and now I weigh 134. I need to tone my body, shake off the extra weight, and continue my fight to cut soda from my diet. Albeit, I do accept who I am physically and mentally, I realize that I’m getting older and my body isn’t what it used to be. I need to take care of it now more than ever. 

3.       Write – This goes in hand with taking time into my hands and doing what I will. I have to utilize time to finish my original works and work on the blog. I have allowed time to get in my way of publishing my entries due to my social life, a relationship, the holidays, and going out into the world around me. Yes, I apologize, but now I understand what I need to do.

4.       Improve  - This also ties in with working out, but more so on a mental note. While I do already accept myself mentally and physically, I still want to improve my anxiety which seems to attack me most in my life. I need to find ways to quell it so that it doesn’t affect me as much.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry! If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment and critique.

So tell me, what are your New Year’s resolutions?

Goodbye 2015

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

With a new year ringing in tonight, everyone is making their resolutions. Everyone’s resolutions are for different reasons, but most are usually for self-improvement. Below are my resolutions for 2016.

1. Get Cooking

The one thing I learned about myself this year is that I really enjoy cooking. Albeit, I’ve only made cakes and dirt cups (with chocolate zombies coated in hot sauce) for my game night and work, but still I had fun with it. What I’ve done has pushed me into actually wanting to cook more. I already know how to craft simple foods, but I want to try more complex dishes like Thai Coconut Curry and the perfect quesadilla. I have my eye on what I need – now it’s just a matter of getting it.

2. Do More Cons

This might be my last year for attending conventions because of life and wanting to move forward with it. So far I have a few local ones I want to do and some out of state for a total of seven events (five cons, two Renaissance faires). Since this may be my very last year to do these things, I want to have a little fun with them and do cosplays I have had my heart set on.

3. Write More

This will always be a New Year’s resolution for me because I feel as though the older I get, the more time I lose. If I want to accomplish my dreams, then I really need to hustle it out. This will not stop me from writing my blog entries or fanfiction for all you lovely followers and readers. When I write what I do it gives me experience that I use towards my original works. These entries and fics serve as writing exercises for me to better myself and my craft and I couldn’t be happier to do them.

Thanks for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

Happy New Year! What are your New Year’s resolutions?

2015 New Years Resolutions

Good evening everyone and welcome to a new year at The Magical Mystery Blog.

Last night we celebrated the end of 2014 and welcomed 2015. 2015 is a new year to make a difference, a new year to succeed and be happier with our lives, a new year to live and work.  While I’m sure many of you made your resolutions last night, I was unable to do so (mostly due to the beer and dancing). So tonight, in the start of the new year, I will make my resolutions.

• Living. I’ve always believed in living and carpe dieming, but I have only started acting upon this notion in 2014. As one of the highest beings on the food chain, humans are designed to survive. But life isn’t always a matter of surviving financially and with essential needs (food, clothing, shelter, and warmth.) It’s also a matter of living. We must embrace this one life we have to do as we please before our time runs short and we’re hopefully incarnated into something better if not equally as good.
  
  
• Settling is for suckers. Never settle for anything. Settling will not only make you lower your standards for someone or something you disapprove of, but it will make you miserable and regret your actions.
  
  
• Stay motivated. In my life I know I want to be a writer and obtain a full time job. My motivation comes from the fact that writing has been my dream job since I was a child and I fell in love with reading. The ideas that the words produced, how the imagination grew with every sentence, and how the writer spoke to me while I read their craft; those are the reasons why I chose to walk this road and why I will always travel it.
  
  
• Be more confident. I will be confident with the things I want to do in life and know that they make me happy. I will be confident in the things I want to do, the events I want to experience, and allow them to show me more of myself, which will add to my confidence. I know I can be a confident individual and I understand that I can be that, but I always want to be confident, and let nothing strike me down.
  

If you have anything you’d like to see discussed or have feedback, feel free to contact me.

What are your resolutions? 

It's a New Year for Eating

Greetings everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Ah yes, the day after Christmas. It’s time to shake off that hang over (until next week), celebrate Boxing Day and Kwanzaa, delve deeper into the functions of your Christmas presents, and snap yourself out of that food coma.

With just five days away until the new year, here are some recipes to lift your spirits regardless if you’re alone in welcoming 2015 or with friends and family.

5. Kahlu-hoo

Chocolate milk is a classic childhood staple. As an adult, a glass of Yoo-hoo is good every now and then, but why not shake it up for New Years? Simply fill your glass with Kahlua and Yoo-hoo. The best thing about this beverage is you can regulate how much you want of both ingredients. If you’re a featherweight, you can have a little Kahlua and a lot of Yoo-hoo. Or if you want an even balance, you can go half and half.

4. Bacon Jalapeño Cornbread

Not too long ago, I was given Fleischmann’s Cornbread Mix because I love baking. I also love bacon. Put those two together and you have a match made in the kitchen. You start off by making the cornbread mix (instructions are found on the back of the box) and throw in chopped up bacon and chopped up jalapenos. Make sure the seeds are out of them and proceed to bake as the instructions inform.

If you feel like adding a little cheese (whichever one you prefer, in this recipe I usually use cheddar) to your cornbread, there are two methods you can use. The first method is to allow your cornbread finish baking and remove it from the open. While it’s still hot, spray cheese wiz all over the top. The second method is to add cheddar cheese (bagged or sliced (I usually use the bagged one)) to the top layer of your cornbread while it’s almost done baking. If you add cheese to this recipe, sour cream would be a great for spreading onto the finished cornbread or dipping.

3. Pesto Dip

Pesto is what bacon is to chocolate: amazing; just like this recipe. Mix together 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1 cup of sour cream, 7 ounces of pesto sauce, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ black salt in a bowl. Chill it until you’re ready to serve or eat it no sooner you’re done making it.

2. Cream Cheese Candy

I think this is by far the easiest candy recipe I’ve ever seen in my life. It could be made by children, procrastinators, adults, dragons, anyone.  All you need to do is mix 1 (3 ounce) package of cream cheese, 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of peppermint extract in a bowl until smooth. If you have any confectioner’s sugar left over, proceed to knead it into the dough. Afterwards, take the dough and shape it into ½ inch balls. Place them onto baking sheets, flatten them with a fork, and allow them to set up for an hour and twenty minutes. Proceed to eat them up when they’re nice and firm. For storing them, use an airtight container and put them in the refrigerator.

1. Snow Punch

Winter is the magical season where half the world freezes and is sometimes enchanted by the white wonder that is snow. Snow is a curse and a blessing for driving, school, and shoveling.  So who would want to drink this wintry weather? You do, of course!

Simply take 6 chopped up bananas, 2 cups of half and half cream, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup of white sugar and blend until smooth. Proceed to pour this concoction into a punch bowl and slowly stir in two liters of lemon-lime flavored soda. Top it all off with a scoop of Dumbeldore’s password (aka lemon sherbet) and serve it up.

If there is anything you like to read about on this blog, feel free to comment or PM me. Feedback is always welcome and I am always open to writing about new topics and ideas. Happy Holidays and here is tonight’s question:

What do you enjoy baking for the holiday season? 

Hints for Surviving the Holidays

Season’s Greetings and Welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Folks, it’s just two days away from Christmas and I’m more excited than a dog with a chew toy. The holidays can usually be a hit or miss time of the year, especially with family and friends.  Some people dread the holidays due to in-laws, parents, being alone, and other reasons. Here are some tips for the upcoming holidays.

5. Baking Makes Any Soul Happy

As I’ve mentioned before, I have depression. I know the symptoms too well and still suffer them, but I accept it as a flaw of mine that can be healed with time. You know what makes me happy though and forget my depression? Baking. Baking is as therapeutic as cleaning and is an art. Baking takes your mind off everything and helps you focus on the situation at hand: to ensure that you bake the best food the universe has to offer.

It’s your baking; you do it how you want to and it will teach you what you did right or wrong. If people don’t like what you made, it’s not your fault. You didn’t ask them to eat what you made, they just decided to eat it. You just made it because it made you happy and there’s nothing wrong with that.

4.  Treat Yo Self

Ah, yes the concept from “Parks and Recreation” that the Internet has adapted. You may be someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas or any holiday for that matter. You may be a person who doesn’t buy gifts for people. Either way, you have your reasons. However, this is the season of giving and there is no harm in giving yourself something. You’ve worked for it all year, you’ve had your eye on that one thing that you know will make you happy. So by all means, order it online, go to the store and buy it, because you deserve it.

3. You Don’t Need a Partner

One of our primal needs is intimacy, which can be thought of as love. The first and most important type of love is to love yourself. Accept everything about yourself even if your mom hates your hair or your aunt thinks you could be prettier if you lost some weight. Whenever anyone criticizes your appearance, you immediately question what they were like at your age, and disregard their negativity.  Chances are they were like you in their youthful years and will never admit it.

After loving yourself, there are many types of love: infatuation, admiration, adoration, and so many others. Then there’s true love, the type of love you often associate with a relationship. When your family questions why you have no one during the holidays you just tell them that you don’t need one. That’s it.

You don’t need a partner for the holidays. It doesn’t make anything more magical or special, if anything it just offers companionship which you can have with a friend online or in person. Even if you never want someone to stand by your side, that’s perfectly normal and all right. You are a strong person who can stand on their own two feet and love yourself in a way that no one else can. It’s a special type of love that only you can have and makes you feel fantastic.

2.  Don’t Worry About Life

Yes, you will figure out what college you want to go to, what major you want to pursue, what you want to do in life, where you want to live, and much more. It doesn’t need to be decided in the blink of an eye or as a hurried response to someone who questions your life. They’re asking anyway because they care about you and want to see you succeed in life, which is the want of parents and relatives everywhere. However, nothing can be gained by rushing through life and finding yourself working at a job that makes you miserable with a degree in something you never wanted. You decide what you want to do when you’re ready. Eventually things will work out.

1. Let No One Ruin Your Holiday

I emphasize ‘no one’ because no one: parents, exes, friends, enemies, relatives, should ruin your holiday. This is a day of celebration, a day of looking back and realizing that you made it another year, that you are strong and can go onto the next year, and a day of overall merriment.  Holidays are like your birthday: they only come once a year and since our lives are so incredibly short, it’s best to embrace them, and do whatever we please with them. If you don’t feel like having dinner with your family, but rather see a friend then do it. If you rather sit in your room all day and treat the day like any, then by all means go for it. If you want to do nothing, but drink the holiday away then have fun (just please don’t drive or turn into the Hulk when you’re completely smashed).

In short: let no one take your happiness from you, especially during the holiday season.  Parents and relatives can be ruthless and relentless with their questions, concerns, and antics, but at some point you can’t just run from them anymore. You must stand up for yourself and slay their words with your own sword of justice, crafted by your personality, desires, and emotions.  They cannot rule over you and what you want to do. At best, they can offer ideas, but it’s up to you to take them or not.

Gaming in the New Year

Thank God it’s Friday here at The Magical Mystery Blog.

A new year is upon us to accomplish many things, do activities we always wanted to do, and make our lives as interesting as possible. Yesterday I managed to achieve something I've wanted to do since Christmas Day: defeat Pokemon Y. Pokemon Y is the latest game of the Pokemon franchise and hosts the sixth generation of Pokemon. This new generation includes Pokemon you grew up with as well as seventy new creatures which is a total of over 700 pocket monsters to capture, train, and play with.

I honestly wanted this game for nostalgia, the incredible graphics, the fantastic gameplay, and to see how my favorite childhood game has advanced over the years. This game did not disappoint me on any of those levels and I was satisfied through and through. Here are a few things I specifically love about Pokemon Y.

5) Music

At first, the music for this was all right. It was your typical battle jingle and victory music. But as you face the gym leaders, Team Flare, and the Elite Four, the themes transcend and evolve into excellent tunes. From what I’ve seen and heard, tons of fans seem to enjoy Lysandre’s battle theme the best. Frankly, I can see why: it’s a mix of wayward insanity, jarring evil, and badassery.  As for myself, I enjoy the Champion’s combat music because it pumps you up for the battle to end all battles, it beckons you to strive towards victory, and it fits the Champion’s character perfectly.

4) Mega Evolution

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Behold the ultimate power of Blastoise with three cannons!

One of the most anticipated features of this game prior to its release was mega evolution. This concept is given to only a few select Pokemon in which they hold a stone that temporarily enhances them. In this advancement, they have the power of a t-rex tearing through an enormous cube made of titanium bricks and bacon (which is epically powerful). They also get a new look so Blastoise becomes Mega Blastoise, Gardevoir becomes Mega Gardevoir, and so on.  As a long awaited feature of the game, it made me feel like I had the power of the Pokeworld in my hands and nothing could stop it.

3) Pokemon Amie

In the Pokemon movies and shows we see trainers interacting with their Pokemon outside combat. As a child, we probably wished for something like this to happen to us. To be able to play with a Vulpix or surf on the back of a Lapras, it would have been excellent. Some of us to this day still wish for that fantasy to become a reality. In Pokemon X and Y, we are presented with Pokemon Amie, a program that allows us to play with our Pokemon. The more you play with your Pokemon, the more they will interact with you in combat. This is the closest we have ever gotten to fulfilling our childhood wishes and it’s heartwarming. We get to pet our Pokemon, feed them, and even play mini games with them.  We are given the opportunity to see our Pokemon smile and feed them as they cry in content.  What’s even better is if you have Lapras use Surf, you will actually ride a Lapras on the water, and not some cluster of pixels.

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Surfing on Lapras before....(Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire)

serebii.net

Surfing and fishing on Lapras after....(Pokemon X/Y)

2) The Graphics

These aren't your 1996 graphics where everything was one primary color in variant shades. Pokemon’s graphics changed with the years and for their new game, they took no chances. They spent hours creating 3D models for each Pokemon and making them move. On top of that, the settings they had to design for this game took days, hours, minutes, and nanoseconds. The results are utterly beautiful and by far, some of the best graphics I've seen. 

1) The Memories

As I've mentioned before, I bought this game for nostalgia. I’m a nostalgic and sentimental person even though I know it’s unhealthy to live in the past and that life only goes forward.  While I do move on with life, there are just some things that never leave me. One of those things happens to be Pokemon. The games always intrigued me because they drew me in, allowed me to combat without the sight of blood or be extremely violent, and gave me some wonderful memories. When I play Pokemon Y, I’m reminded of all the reasons why I fell in love with Pokemon.

How do you feel about the new Pokemon X/Y game? Love it? Hate it? Would never play it? Feel free to leave your thoughts below and as always, feedback and followers are welcomed.

Also if you like what you see here and want to get to know me better, check out my tumblr at #vannillafudge or this link: http://vannillafudge.tumblr.com/. 

Countdown to a New Year

Greetings everyone to a post Christmas version of The Magical Mystery Blog.

I hope all your Christmases were fantastic and that you received many gifts from Santa, Krampus, Cthulu, Sandy Claws, or someone you know and love. My Christmas was filled with food and presents, most of which were clothes, antiques, and a few games. But now a new year is just around the bend and with it comes hopes of a new life to be lived, new resolutions to follow through with, and changes to lifestyles, homes, and more. Below are my top three New Year’s resolutions.

3. Getting in the Field

This past year I graduated as a Communications major with a Writing minor from New Jersey’s distinctive college. Since then I have been doing casino marketing work and putting some of my degree to use. However, as much as I love my current job, I would like to get into writing, preferably for a newspaper. I've been taught to create excellent profile stories, press releases, and other forms of writing. I have the skills, it’s just a matter of finding a place that will give me a chance.

2. Live

If there’s one thing I believe in, it’s that we have one life to live. Given this one chance, we might as well use it to our full advantage, and live every day as though there’s no tomorrow.  Going through college I started to live the best I could – embracing the fun moments when they presented themselves, embarking on trips to places I've never been to before, and many other activities. I began to see the wonders of life, the elation of spontaneous moments, and the beauty of random adventures. With my college days over, I want to continue living, and experience everything life has to offer me. I've even created a bucket list to guide me on the life I want to live. So far, I've knocked a few things off the list and I don’t plan to stop.

1. Work

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a procrastinator which can be a cursing or a blessing for me. But what qualifies as ‘work’ for me might be considered as a hobby for others. My work entails crafting short stories, honing novels, and basically, writing. It’s my dream to become an author, not for the fame or money, but for the concepts of being remembered for fantastic writing, and bringing joy to people.

I grew up reading constantly, always hungry for more, and having a strong admiration for creating and writing.  My New Year’s resolution is to keep working and aiming to get a book out filled with a few short stories and some poems within the next year.

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Feel free to leave them below and as always, feedback and followers are welcomed.