Another Year of Life Granted
This is crazy that I haven’t been blogging and posting any form of art here because of what I’ve written in my last entry. It’s been seven months since the last time I made an art diary entry that I pretty much forgot how to blog. What I meant was that I no longer have the knack of starting my blog entry with something a little witty or some kind of a hook. I don’t have that many readers/visitors anyway except for some friends, so I shouldn’t worry too much about the quality of the first paragraph. Lastly, if you stumbled upon here for the first time out on a whim, hello and welcome!
From my last entry, I mentioned that I was going on hiatus because I enrolled in a coding bootcamp through my However, sadly, I have failed to fulfill that goal. Unfortunate circumstances had to happen that caused me to drop out of the program, but other than that, I have no regrets. I just need to find another program suitable to my lifestyle and simply just go from there. I may say that I failed in fulfilling my bootcamp-style advancement, but sometimes, my dropping out also ended up being a blessing in disguise.
This Entry’s Artwork
As of this writing, it’s October 16, 2022. Two days ago (Oct. 14) was my birthday. To commemorate another awesome year of life for me, I recreated my birthday cake. 1 This is a Filipino dessert cake that we call Brazo de Mercedes,2 basically it’s a rolled meringue cake with egg custard in it. It’s very simple, but you can’t resist the fluffiness of the meringue skin and smile at the subtle (?) sweetness of its custard.
In my area, there’s a huge Asian prominence here including the Filipino diaspora, meaning there are a lot of Filipino eateries and bakeries all around. Brazo de Mercedes isn’t a cheap cake. I bought a small size of it for about $18, but at least it’s enough for a small party of five people during my birthday lunch. I’ve never learned how to bake this dessert on my own, so maybe one day, when I find a good and easy recipe of it, I’ll try to make it here at home.
The Brazo was quickly wiped out, but I took a photo of it before we ate it for reference. Just making an artwork of the Brazo cake would be a good subject for this entry’s artwork. It’s simple and obviously doesn’t resemble the real thing, but close to it.
I can assure you that this is not AI-generated artwork. I made this using Procreate and 2 brushes, which are the same brushes that I’ve been using as the previous artwork I’ve done for this blog.
what’s been happening these past 7 months?
Back in August, CRX 2022 happened! I started writing about it on my J-POP fan blog, Chika Wota Blog, but I haven’t finished my reports yet. Life had gotten in the way again and I simply lost motivation to continue on. But the memories of CRX 2022, my second IRL meeting with my kamioshi J-POP boy group MADKID, my first concert with J-POP powerhouse girl group Atarashii Gakko!, and other discoveries more J-POP related than anime-related. I met new friends whom I would normally meet on Twitter, and one discovery that I permanently fell into the rabbit hole: VTubers. 3
My art diary blog is meant to have short blog entries because I wanted to write more about the art I posted here, but it’s just my birthday cake. New life means new beginnings, new experiences, and more chill.
Going back to the vtuber bit, I thought about creating a whole new blog just for that. However, I’m starting to change my mind and just squeeze in the vtuber scene in either the Adri Mars INK blog or the Chika Wota Blog. Decisions, decisions.
More art to come, I hope. Till next time!
November 1, 2022 @ 6:19 am
Belated happy birthday, Adri! :) Wow, I haven’t had Brazo de Mercedes in a long time! Haha this makes me want to eat some!
Ooooh I’ve heard of Atarashii Gakko! from my friend, they’re really cute and I like their song NAINAINAI :) It’s so cool that you got to see them perform live!
November 4, 2022 @ 7:08 pm
A belated happy birthday! Art looks good as usual.
I feel you with blogging. I’ve been so bad the last couple years with blogging. Hope to see more from you when you can!
November 9, 2022 @ 6:14 am
Happy belated birthday! That cake sounds delicious. It has to be with both meringue and custard… ?
I know what you mean about trying to find a hook, I usually struggle with that too. And just overall finding some clever angle or point to make, even though I know it’s not necessary. I do hope you create more art and post it. Art diaries are so fun and your work is cute! ?
February 5, 2023 @ 8:14 pm
Happy belated birthday! Woot ^^ And I get you for not blogging in a long while; but for me, I have a lot to write but don’t usually know where to start or just end it XD