There's A First Time For Everything

 Where we live, we've got a little chain called "Mighty Taco." And let me tell ya, my parents always treated it as the to die for chain of our town. As for me, having NOT grown up with MT for most of my life, or having it be limited to visits at the time, I was not a fan. It could be summed up to either being a picky eater in general, or being an undiagnosed autistic (probably both). And for the longest time, I avoided Mighty like the plague. That is, up until I was around 13 or so and decided to keep an open mind. It was...Decent enough for a fast food chain, but alas, my parents finally got me to hop on the band wagon.

....That is until recently...

A couple months ago, my mom and I were off to see Studio Ghibli's "The Cat Returns" in theaters and we were in a bit of a pinch dinner wise. So we stopped at Mighty Taco for a bite to eat. And since I recently graduated from cheese quesadillas to CHICKEN and cheese quesadillas, I ordered myself a couple and they were really good. And I got a side of sour cream to dip them in. A couple weeks later, dad and I had the house to ourselves and I told him I wanted to stop at Mighty for dinner tonight. He was confused at first, but agreed.

When we got there, I asked for the same order I got last time. Well we turned out to be very mighty disappointed! I wound up not getting chicken and cheese quesadillas with a side of sour cream, but instead two burritos stuffed with sour cream and maybe 2 or 3 pieces of chicken. My sensory issues could not stomach it, but tried to make the best out of a bad situation. But the sensory issues won me over and I could not finish it. And neither could dad with his meal. So we left barely full and disgusted with the chain. Turns out, according to dad, the chain had sort of taken a dip in quality in recent months so we just stopped going all together (my mom hasn't handled it well.)

Last night, while on an evening run to the pet store. Mom was craving burritos and since we've sworn off Mighty Taco, we thought of the next "best" thing. Taco Bell. Now I had never been to Taco Bell in my life, with the exception of winning a $5 gift card in kindergarten for "best reader" that month. But I wound up just playing with the sauce packets while my mom actually got herself something to eat. We looked over the menu when we got there and at first, mom and I both ordered chicken and cheese quesadillas and dad ordered a $7 combo box. Mom liked her meal while I personally didn't like the sauce that the chicken had seemingly been smothered in. Dad also seemed to enjoy his food, but we wound up also ordering some other side dishes to fill me up.

So what did I think of Taco Bell? Well, I actually really liked it! Sure, the location we went to could have definitely been cleaner and had more staff on hand, will definitely go back again. 

Daddy Daughter Days: "Off To The Movies We Shall Go!"

 My dad and I got to see "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" for the movie's 25th anniversary! I'm aware of the fact the movie was also screened in 2019 for the 20th anniversary just 5 years ago. Sadly, I was only 14 at the time and I assumed that, like in the movie, anyone under 18 couldn't go in unless an adult was present. When I caught wind of the fact that it would be in theaters AGAIN, and now that I'm in the start of my 20s, I knew I just HAD to go. So I looked at the two days it would be in theaters and we came to an agreement to go to a Sunday showing since it would be well after my weekend job at the church food pantry. While my parents were attending service at their own church, I stayed home, sorted through my dozens of t-shirts and settled on the perfect South Park getup. A Cartman t-shirt complete with a Kyle hat and one of my several plushies. I settled on taking my 1998 Fun4All Wendy plush since she holds a sentimental value as my first plush from the show. 

The father-daughter duo left for pantry just in time for that church's coffee hour (basically just their own little brunch that's held after service.) The congregation always welcomes the volunteers to have lunch with them and I already have a few mutual friendships with the members. After that, it was straight to work. Unfortunately, it was a work shift that was severely understaffed that day. It was just me, dad, the manager's kids, and one of our friends from the church. We got to work bagging and boxing orders with the little staff we had and my dad and I tapped out early so we couldn't miss the show. I had the South Park soundtrack in my car and "rehearsed" my heart out as this particular showing was a "sing-a-long" event. (PS: I really don't care for "Uncle Fucka." I always skip over it unless I'm watching the movie). 

After work, we went home for a little while seeing as it was only 2:30 and the showing wasn't until 4:00. Once it got closer to the specific time, we headed over to our local Regal Cinema, got our tickets and concessions, and prepared to see our favorite characters on the big screen. I've been so used to being the only two people in the theater these last few years, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see there were 7 other people who came to the show! But my God, those dozens of trailers felt like an eternity! But my dad and I munched on our popcorn while we waited. But before the show began, we got a little introduction from "Little Leonard Maltin" himself. He gave us a rundown of the movie's history (pretty basic trivia that every South Park fan would know). But even though he was mentioning people like Matt, Trey, and even Chef's voice actor, he didn't even mention Mary Kay Bergman for some reason. Maybe it was because of time? Needless to say, my dad wasn't too pleased that Mary didn't even get recognized ONCE for her talents in this introduction. But getting to watch the movie itself made up for all of that. 

A photo of me, pre show.

Folks, I have no idea if this tops the "Scott Pilgrim" screening I went to back in 2021, but it's PRETTY close. Getting to see something that was a major inspiration for what I do today on the big screen was dare I say "magical." Fun fact: my dad actually saw Bigger Longer and Uncut back when it first premiered in theaters circa 1999. I guess you could say this was a "passing of the torch" thing? I already loved the movie before, but I think I love it even more now! If it winds up playing for it's 30th in 5 years from now, I think we'll be going again.

Unfortunately, the night ended in disaster as the butter in my popcorn was expired (assuming that's the case) because I became violently ill at 2:30 in the morning. I'm only gonna be getting small and medium bags for a little while until I feel comfortable enough to dive into the buckets again. 

My next movie: Inside Out 2

Daddy Daughter Days: "The Story of GWEEN"

 In 2021, I found out about a little show called "Camp Camp." The show was created by the recently defunct "Rooster Teeth" and has a simple premise. Two counselors are in charge of maintaining a (possibly illegal) summer camp while the founder is off committing several crimes. There's David, the overly positive optimist that tries to see the good in everything, and there's his co-counselor, Gwendolyn. Who's (like me) a lot more of a pessimist and doesn't really know what to do with her life, which is how she landed the crummy job that is being a camp counselor. Of course, with these two counselors, you also have the summer camp kiddos (duh.) But the show focuses solely on one kid 90% of the time while also being sure to let everyone shine: Max. Max has attributes similar to Gwen. He's a massive pessimist and it is implied that he was sent to the summer camp against his own will. Camp Camp mostly focuses on Max and David's contrast in character and David trying to convince Max that life isn't all doom and gloom. 

Originally, I watched the first 9 episodes of season 1 and lost interest. Home Movies still had me in a very tight chokehold and getting me to tune into something else was like trying to pull teeth. And initially I had thought nothing of it and labeled it as one of those "temporary phases." Well 2 years later, I discover that the show is getting not only a 5th season, but also a half hour special in honor of RT's 20th anniversary, my interest in the show quickly came back. I tried introducing dad to it, but his initial thoughts were kind of iffy due to the amount of times characters (mostly Max) drop at least 3 swears per second. But I managed to convince him to watch the show with me when we were both stuck with summer colds. We both really enjoyed it and Camp Camp became a main fixation for many MANY months. 

In September, I met someone who I will keep anonymous and we instantly clicked due to our near identical interests and fixations. Same favorite show: Camp Camp, same favorite character: Gwen, same favorite episode: literally every Gwen-centric episode, the list goes on and on. As the months went by, my friend and I discuss getting Gwen plushies to add to our Camp Camp collections. Mine is a lot smaller than hers since I don't have too much of the official merch besides the figures, plushies, CD, apparel, and other odds and ends. So the Gwen plush would be a HUGE holy grail for not just us, but the entire fandom. My friend ordered hers during Christmas time since that was when she would be able to afford it. I gave her a good word to my go-to company, Budsies since I've had excellent service with them in the last 3-4 years. Fast forward a few months and it is now February of 2024, the plush would be arriving sometime in the beginning of March, but suddenly it's arriving early (that does happen sometimes). My friend receives her package after getting home from school and the plush is... Not great. In fact, it is VERY off model. Allow me to show you a comparison.

Here is what Gwen is SUPPOSED to look like. 

Nothing too complicated, right?

Well here's what the unofficial plush looks like... 

The photo after I received it (I'll talk about this shortly)

We were both shocked, and obviously upset with the outcome. Again, I have had amazing experience with Budsies and didn't expect something like this to happen. My friend has since held a massive grudge against the company and refuses to own another custom item of Gwen or any Camp Camp character for that matter. I expressed that we could at least look forward to when I commission mine and she wasn't too happy with that response. 

As you can tell, I wound up buying the plush off her as she was so upset with the outcome that she had to keep the plush in her dad's bedroom. Both of us have since renamed the plush "Gween" and has become a bit of an inside joke between us and my many "inner circles" in general. I'll be ordering my Gwen plush very soon, but there are gonna be a LOT of difference between her and the 16 inch abomination that we call "Gween." I'll likely update this post when my Gwen arrives and will show a difference between the two plushies. That's all for now. 

UPDATE: 8\26 

She's here and she's perfect.

Daddy Daughter Days: "Yes, AND?"

 Never thought i'd see myself posting here again, but here we are. I highly doubt anyone is asking themselves this, but I bet the 2 people who read this blog are probably wondering "I wonder what M and her dad have been up to since they stopped blogging here?" Well, allow me to elaborate on my whereabouts.

...I've been taking IMPROV CLASSES!!! 

One January morning, my dad found out about a "free introduction" class a few weeks prior. I decided to give it a shot, but was quickly put back into my bubble of social anxiety when my dad signed us BOTH up for the intro class. It got even worse when I found out I was the youngest AND the only female amongst 3 middle aged men (including my dad). The intro class went over the basics and I felt like it was something worth looking into. And after much discussion and making sure my dad only signed ME up for the class and not the both of us, I was all set. 

I enjoyed the introductory class. Comedic riffing is like catnip to me. But this is "Mariel's thing" and there's no need for me to horn in on it.

I started the level 1 class 2-3 weeks later with the same nerves I felt at the intro class, but warmed up gradually as time went on. I've also been attending "open mic" improv every 2 weeks with some of my fellow classmates. My dad usually spends his time in the restaurant area of where the open mic takes place because of having some weird stage fright whenever I can spot him (or any of my family members) in the audience. (Any family member = "Dad.") And keep in mind, the open mics are in a small room. So it would be easy to spot my dad in the crowd. At most, he only really pops in if I wind up ordering a plate of fries from the restaurant. But over these last few months, I've made a wide range of improv friends that I have either seen at my classes or at the open mic nights. 

I am currently finishing my level 2 classes and have a "student showcase" coming up on the 25th. Now THAT'S something I'm more comfortable having my dad watch me perform since it's in a larger room with a larger crowd. I think it's safe to say I plan on taking the remaining levels (I think there's a maximum of four in the classes. I'll need to check). 

On another note: I completed my Home Movies Budsies collection back in February and just finished saving for my first non HM character. My friend ordered the same character at Christmas time only to be greeted with disappointment. I wound up buying the plush off of her and it since has a new, loving home. 

I don't have a photo of the "second hand Budsie" right now. 

BREAKING NEWS!

 Instagram and Facebook are currently down. Looks like we're going back to the days of blogging until this is resolved. 

Daddy Daughter Days: The End of an Era

 2 years ago, this blog was created. The reason being my dad was taking a break from Facebook, and he decided to go back to his roots to the old glory days of blogging. He had an old blog he ran from the 2000s until about 2011 or so and occasionally posted there. Then I looked at the blog when he started posting there again and stumbled upon an old post when we had a little tradition called "Father Daughter Friday" from when I was a kid (about 3 and a half-4 or so) where one of my dad's old work schedules gave him a 3 day weekend (Friday-Sunday). So we'd spend that Friday driving around to different places that we liked going to. The most common being the park, library, and Krispy Kreme (too bad we don't have any where we currently live). A while later, my dad got a new job and Father Daughter Days were moved to Saturdays instead, and it has been that way ever since.

Well a month ago, my dad came to the agreement that I was old enough to join the book of many faces. My mom wasn't on board with this when dad brought it up to her. But he simply told her that I wasn't a teenager anymore and that I'm mature enough to be on this particular social media platform. ...And we also had a deal that if I wasn't the target of an online argument for a year, I could have my own account (that's a story I will NEVER get into on here). And now that I've been on there, and my dad returning to Facebook back in February. ...I really don't see a reason to continue this blog. 

Blogging on this site was fun, sure. But it no longer has the original purpose from when it was created. So it is with a heavy heart, I come to announce that we will no longer be doing daily blogs on here. We're still keeping this page up, sure. But we just don't see a point in continuing. Thank you for reading.

-Father and Daughter. 

Daddy Daughter Days: FYI

 I got that screen recording done for you, dad. It's saved in the "videos" section of the computer.