Tisn't the Season to be in Debt

Hi all! With the holidays fast approaching, we run the risk of trying to purchase well above our means. That means we feel pressured and compelled to make credit card purchases for most of our gifts. While this seems like a quick and easy solution, credit card debt can definitely become overwhelming once the novelty has warn off. Now don't get me wrong, credit cards aren't inherently bad. They can even help you build up a credit score, but there are plenty of opportunities for pitfalls and misdirection when it comes to credit card usage. I will be discussing some lesser known credit card myths and do my best to debunk them.

Myth 1:

• Using a credit card for all purchases will increase a credit score

This is a huge myth because while yes credit cards can help you credit score, they can also hurt it. If you are wracking up high rates of spending, and only paying the minimum, you risk your credit score dropping.  Essentially, you are spending more than you can pay.

Myth 2:

• Applying for multiple lines of credit at one time won’t hurt my score

Unfortunately, this hurts your score because for every line of credit you open, your average account age lowers. As a result, your score may potentially take a dive. It also makes you look like a risky borrower, if all the lines are new.

Myth 3:

• Closing the account with the highest credit allowance/limit is better for your score than closing a lower limit account

 The main issue with this is that say you have four accounts: Three accounts are a limit of $500 each and one of the accounts is a $1000 limit. If you maxed out the three cards at the $500 limit, but have paid off the $1000 card and closed it. Before, it looked like you owed $1500 out of $2500, which isn't very good, but compared to owing $1500 out of $1500, it wouldn't have hurt your credit score as bad. When in doubt, look at the amounts owed on all cards collectively before considering closing out a high limit card.

Myth 4:

• Closing the oldest account can help my credit score

The primary issue with closing out the oldest account is that it makes your credit history look shorter by lowering your account age.

Myth 5:

• Tossing out old cards will make your account disappear

This is a big myth in the sense that unless you actively work to close your own accounts, they will not close on their own. Be sure to pay off your balances, call the customer service department, and insist that they close your account. Typically, upon closing an account, you'll receive letter confirmation about the account closing within a week or so. If you don't get that confirmation, be sure to call the customer service line again.

Lastly, remember to monitor your accounts in order to notice and address unexpected or authorized activity that could seriously hurt your credit report. When it comes to disputing errors that appear on your credit report, always address discrepancies immediately to avoid lasting damage.

I hope that my debunking of myths was useful to you, and be sure to check out the following guide to learn more about how a poor credit score can affect your financial health!

Let me know in the comments below what tips you have for people using credit during the holidays.


Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Welcome to the Grave Harvest

Hi all! We are three weeks away from Halloween! Isn't that exciting?! I feel like Halloween is a favorite holiday of many cosplayers. As a result, several conventions, parties, and gatherings happen this month. I was recently at a Halloween con, this past weekend, called Grave Harvest in Fullerton, CA. I got to be a part of the press and spent a majority of my day there. I would like to tell you all about this con and hope you like what you see!

I decided to be Vampire Harley with a dress that I upcycled from the thrift store, my Timeless Trends corset (I'll be doing a full review on that later), and my Sony A6000.

Grave Harvest 2017 was the convention's second year in operation. It was at a very affordable price of $10, online only. It is also a one day con, which is good for conventions just starting out to do. It allows the organizers to gauge the interests of the attendees and eventually decide whether to change locations or add more days to the con. Guests were greeted by friendly and enthusiastic staff, which was a wonderful way to start out the day. As press, we were also welcomed with cookies from one of the vendors, Lucky 13 Sweets and Treats, based out of Costa Mesa, CA. They were some great cookies, as well! :)

There were two rooms full of vendors and I took it upon myself to interact with as many vendors as I could, collect their cards, and take photos of their goods. That will be shown below in slideshow format. The vendors were extremely nice, cordial, and welcoming. All of them were very enthusiastic about the con too. Some of the vendors stuck out to me more than others given the uniqueness of their craft, but all of the vendors that I interacted with were friendly and open to talking with me about their items.



I also attended two of the three workshops during the con. The first was Skeleton Corpsification led by Larry Carr. He demonstrated by usage of latex, cloth, and spray paint how to make a plain skeleton look like a mummified corpse. It was extremely cool and well received as I counted over 50 people in attendance. I don't even always see those numbers in my own panels I participate in at larger comic book conventions! The other panel I attended was in regards to making armor out of EVA foam called Foam Fabrication 101. That panel was very relevant to me as I am a cosplayer and have made my own armor before. While this panel had much smaller numbers, it made for a more intimate experience. The workshop coordinator, Dave King, did a very good job explaining the ins and outs of armor building and even stayed later to talk with us all.

I ended my day by looking at the hearses outside and left feeling good about the con's atmosphere. I really hope they do it again next year. Here is a complete list of all of the vendors at the convention, so I hope you check them all out and help support their passions!


Well everyone, that's all for today's blog! I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned to my next con related blog when I "cosplay" as a member of the press for Stan Lee's L.A. Comic Con, always known as Comikaze Expo! Do any of you dress up for Halloween? Let me know in the comments below !

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Vancouver or Bust: A hypothetical, yet Strategically Planned Vacation

Hi all! I know summer is nearing its end, but that doesn't mean that planning out an ultimate vacation has to! Can you imagine if you had a budget of $10,000 to plan your dream trip? Think of all you could do and where you could go with that kind of money. While that seems like a lot compared to the lesser amount that I usually spend on a five day vacation or trip to a research conference, I decided that this will be a challenge accepted, courtesy of Earnest!

I decided I would base my hypothetical vacation off of a real trip that I have planned out for November. In November, I'll be flying to Vancouver, BC for a research conference. I might have mentioned in a previous blog that I do Psycho-linguistic research and enjoy presenting my research at conferences when I can. Anyhoo, let me see if I can make an itinerary that can get my to that $10,000 budget, or close to it. I feel like with the excessive amount of thriftiness in me, the princess of bargain hunting, I won't make it anywhere near that budget. If I am lucky, I will get to $5,000 with some cheating😉, but I feel it is worth a try.

Well the first decision I would make would be whether to fly or take the train. Flying would be the faster option, but if I have a good amount of free time before hand, I would also consider taking the train. Everything else follows after I decide how to get to Vancouver.

To and From Transportation:

Flight -

Date: During the middle of the second week of November 2017

Price: $267 round trip from SNA (John Wayne Airport - Santa Ana) to YVR (Vancouver).
This particular flight is also the fastest way to Vancouver from Orange County. However, the flight happens to have multiple connections as seen with cheap flights. In order to avoid connections, LAX is the closest option. I don't personally mind connecting flights as it gives me a chance to stretch my legs, so I will keep it for this hypothetical itinerary.


Train -

Date: During the end of the first week of November 2017

Price: Utilizing my AAA discount, I would have to take the train straight out of Los Angeles to Vancouver, BC, as no connecting train from anywhere in Orange County to LA Union Station would work for this particular mode of travel. The stressful part about this train is that it only leaves two times per day, 10:10 am and 3:10 pm and it is reserved travel. So if you miss your train, you might risk paying extra to catch another one. The cheapest train is $112 one way for a coach seat, but since I have "money" to spend, I would go for the sleeper car. My train riding goal is to go on a long trip in a sleeping car, but they are expensive that I haven't been lucky enough to do so yet. That sleeping car will set me back $361 one way. Taking the train requires a 34 hour one way ride too, so this is only useful if I had free time to leave earlier and return later.

Transportation During Stay:


Walking:

Vancouver is considered to be Canada's most walk-able city with a score of one, so I would probably just walk everywhere like I mostly do in San Francisco.


Housing:

Hotel:

Fairmount Waterfront Hotel

If I am really going "all out", I would have to pick this hotel because it boasts amazing views of the city and the harbor. It is also only $189 CAD/ $151 USD per night. This is actually far cheaper than any of the hotels I have stayed at during any of the research conferences. Based off of a five night stay, this would be $945 CAD +tax/ $755 USD +tax.


Activities:


The most exciting part of this hypothetical itinerary, because there is actually one thing I am definitely doing in real life while in Vancouver.

Conventions:

Fan Expo Vancouver: I was extremely excited when I learned that my research conference and this comic/pop culture convention were in the same location during essentially the same time. While, I am only intending to go one day in real life, for the sake of hypothetically spending money, I will go all three days and get the deluxe package. The price of this would be:$229 CAD/$183 USD. Now, if I was able to purchase comic books that I need to add to my collection, this price would jump up about $500-$1000 extra.

Other Activities:
Realistically, I would probably do primarily free events and activities like I do during most of my vacations. However, since I HAVE to spend money, I would go on to Vancouver's primer tourism website and sample from paid activities that pique my interests. My estimate is that I could try to spend about $1000 on activities in 5 days (that's if I picked mostly expensive activities and did them multiple times)

Food:

I have a funny feeling that my largest expense would be food, and that I would be able to eat somewhat extravagantly. I would push for trying the priciest meals on the menu at swanky restaurants and hope that can get me to spend at least $100-200 per meal . So if I ate 3 meals per day, that's $300-$600 per day, just by eating. That's another $1,500-$3,000 down the drain.

Stock photo of Vancouver from Patrick King

That's all for now, my friends! I knew I would fail this miserably, being as thrifty as I am, but it was still a fun thing to plan out. Ultimately, by train with sleeper car, the most I would have spent: $6,495 and by plane, the most I would have spent: $3,505. If you’re interested in planning a similar trip, budgeting and travel research is the way to go. It is definitely possible to make due on less if you have good money management skills. Let me know in the comments below where you would go and three main things you would do on vacation with $10,000. Hopefully, you guys are better at this than I am. 😅



Till Next Time!

-Hachi

My, oh My! Mini Apple Pies!

Hi All! I am getting ready for my trek up north for the holiday today. That should be an adventure. Before all of that, I am doing some winter cleaning, and finishing up some baking. Here's a post of my mini apple pies recipe :)

Mini Apple Pies

While I made my own dough (which I will add in a later recipe), store bought dough will work just as well. :)
Here is a conversion chart from U.S. to metric units too.

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package of store bought pie crusts - should have two dough rolls in it (room temperature)
• 1.5 - 2 apples (chopped/sliced/diced -whatever suits you)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (add a few dashes more if disregarding the nutmeg) (or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon / 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (or less depending on your tastes)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of sugar for sprinkling on the pie tops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees (F)
2. Grease a baking sheet with either butter, or baking spray (lightly)
3. Roll out your dough to 1/8 inch thick and using a 2.5-3 inch diameter cup (or cookie cutter) cut out 24+ circles.
4. Refrigerate the circles for 15 minutes
5. Mix together the cinnamon (or cinnamon/nutmeg), sugar, and cornstarch in a separate bowl.
6. Mix the dry ingredients with the apples. (You might have extra filling left over if you choose to make more pies later.)
7. Beat the egg and set aside
8. Add 2 teaspoons of filling to each bottom circle and lightly dab the egg wash to the edges of each bottom circle.
9. Cover with the top circle and pinch to seal.
10. Poke or slice four holes or slits in the top circle
11. Lightly cover the tops with egg wash.
12. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.
13. Bake 20 minutes

I hope my recipe made sense to you. If you made some, post a picture of your creations in the comments below :)

Merry Christmas (eve)!

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Quick Updates! Happy Holidays :)

Christmas tree at Fashion Island

Hi All!

So sorry for another random hiatus! School and life have just been crazy these past two and a half months. I hope everyone has been well.  I am on winter break right now for the next 5 and a half weeks so that should be fun. I hope that gives me more time to blog. I miss it! This will be a quick update and the next post will be about my holiday baking adventures. :)

• Just finished my first complete year of grad school! YAY!
• I'll be attending Anime Los Angeles, next month and cosplaying as a Fairy Tail character. So expect a cosplay post as well, next month. :) 
• I'm starting to get back into gym life again, and would like some tips on proper lifting form, if anyone has it.
• Just finished another tutoring job at a different community college; that was an adventure.
• I've found a new passion for driving through the canyons of Southern CA (mostly Orange County). 
• I did my longest drive in my car yet (North OC to San Diego). 
• Still applying for research conferences: 
• I also went to a research conference in Chicago, IL during the week of November 17th. 
• That was great. I saw some of my old research labmates from undergrad and my former mentor. 
• I also saw some of my paternal family that I haven't seen in over 12 years for some and over 20 years for others.
• I've experienced the loss of one of my college friends during the San Bernardino attacks, and had a great support system to get me through that. 
• I also just celebrated my 26th birthday, last week.

That's about it for my update, I had some very good things occur and some very bad things occur in life these past two months.  Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope everyone has a great holiday season. :) Also, comment below and let me know how life has been for you recently. I hope well!

I tried out some pin curls, and failed haha

Snow in Chicago, IL 11/2015

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Merry Christmas :)

Hi all! Sorry for a slight delay of posts. I've been a bit busy with my research and winter house cleaning.  Right now, I am back in Northern California visiting family for a few days and then it's back to Southern California to await the start of graduate school.  So to keep this post short, I'll wish you all a nice and safe Christmas day and a happy holiday season :)

 Till Next Time!

 - Hachi