mdmrn

mdmrn, 4 days ago to Parenting

Per one of my 9 year olds, this is me.

This is what I look like.

I think she's added a lot of extra hair here, but I'll allow it.

What do you think?

#Parenting #Art #KidArt #KidsArt #Photo #Photography #ParentsOfInstagram #ParentsOfPixelfed #Parents #ParentsOfFedi #FediParents #ParentsOfMastodon

mdmrn, 1 month ago to Parenting

Is it still considered bloomscrolling when the flowers I post are, in fact, fake flowers from an art project I posted up at work made by my youngest kid?

I think so.

I'll allow it.

Have a great one.

#Parenting #KidsArt #Bloomscrolling #Flowers #Photo #Photography #ParentsOfInstagram #Kids #KidArt

mdmrn, 11 months ago to random

So, this is 40.

I am a 40 year old geeky Dad.

Woo.

Tags: #Selfie #Photograph #Birthday #TShirt #OOTD

mdmrn, 11 months ago to music

Swung by #DollarTree with the family. Did not plan to get anything apart from sunglasses for the kids...that was when I saw these.

A blast from the early 2000s - Goldfinger and Mest.

Had to get them both at that price. Much hype to listen to this time capsule.

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🏷 Tags: #Music #CD #PhysicalMedia #Mest #Goldfinger #Punk #Ska #PopPunk #AltRock #RockMusic #SkaPunk

mdmrn, 11 months ago to AnimalCrossing

Birthday presents from the other day. Got some #AnimalCrossing #Amiibo cards, a few manga volumes, and the new #Sonic collection.

Hype!

Tags: #NintendoSwitch #VideoGames #Manga #GoodbyeEri #FistOfTheNorthStar #ACNH #ACNHAmiibo #Nintendo #SonicOrigins

mdmrn, 10 months ago to Parenting

Nine years ago today, I went from being a Dad of two to a Dad of four. Our twin girls were born one minute apart from each other.

They have grown so much and changed so much in that time. Seeing them be such complete, separate people has been amazing to witness.

I am so proud of both of them and, honestly, still can't believe it has been nine years already. Happy birthday to them both.

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🏷 Tags: #Parenting #Photograph #Photo #Photography #TwinDad #Twins #Baby

mdmrn, 11 months ago to ilaughed

Drinks by the pool at the hotel? Must be #vacation.

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🏷 Tags: #Selfie #Photo #Drinks #TikiCup #Photograph #VacayAllDay #Vacay

mdmrn, 5 months ago to manga

New Manga Read: Fist of the North Star - Volume 10

It has finally happened. I have reached the penultimate battle of the first half of Fist of the North Star!

Kenshiro versus Raoh.

It did not disappoint. This volume (10) revealed more about the history of Yuria, Kenshiro, and Raoh that were fantastically done. The truth about Yuria an her sickness; Raoh's realization that he will never be as vulnerable as Kenshiro were huge moments.

For all the beefy dudes beating each other, which is a core component of Fist of the North Star, the masculinity of Kenshiro isn't toxic, isn't oppressive, and shows true emotion, vulnerability, and sorrow. There is emotional depth to Kenshiro that Raoh is unwilling to have. His own internalized misogyny won't allow Raoh to admit he has these feelings of love, compassion, or fear. Kenshiro allows himself to feel all these things.

As the volume concluded, I found myself far more emotional than I expected for a post-apocalyptic tale about beefy dudes fighting. It was so well done.

Now, I move onto Volume 11 and the time skip.

But here's to the story of Kenshiro and Raoh and a very satisfying ending to their tale.

#Manga #MangaCollector #MangaReview #Mangagram #MangaCommunity #FistOfTheNorthStar #Buronson #TetsuoHara #VizMedia #VizManga #FOTNS #HokutoNoKen #HokutoNoKenManga #HNK

Photograph of the interior of Fist of the North Star manga volume 10. The image shows Raoh in the foreground cringing with Kenshiro standing firm in front of him. Behind Kenshiro are various other martial artists from the series that Kenshiro has learned from or defeated. Text from the mind of Raoh reads, "The sorrow of battle has given him countless secret techniques...the deeper his sorrow, the more powerful he becomes!"
Photograph of the interior of Fist of the North Star manga volume 10. A zoom in on Yuria (striking, dark haired woman with sadness in her eyes wearing a reddish gown) looking over her shoulder toward the camera.

mdmrn, 10 months ago to ilaughed

Silly little thing I picked up for my kids...and one for myself.

It's a shark pop-it toy and it is silly fun.

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🏷 Tags: #Photo #Shark #Toy #PopIt #SharkToy #Parenting #Photograph

mdmrn, 5 months ago to ilaughed

Beard Wednesday or something.

Decided to wear a sweater vest and I think it works for me. Also, this beard is getting wild and thick. Going to need to trim it back soon, but mostly to make it more even. I kind of like how big my beard is getting.

#Beard #Selfie #Photo #Photograph #BeardSquad #Bearded #BeardedMan

mdmrn, 4 months ago to MashleMagicandMuscles

My 14 year old and a friend decided they were going to make buttons to hand out / sell to friends at school. I told them, "If you're making one, I have a very specific one I want."

I sent a pic from the recent Mashle special chapter of Mash himself being awesome.

Here's the tiny pin they made for me.

Love it.

#Mashle #MashleMagicAndMuscles #Pin #Button #Manga #Parenting

mdmrn, 5 months ago to Pixelfed

Looks at my profile for a moment.

Wait. Almost 100 people follow me? I'm at 91 right now which is just wild to me considering how wildly inconsistent this account truly is compared to my other social media accounts.

No theme, just me and my nonsense in photo form.

Thank you all for following me.

Here's to continuing more nonsense in 2024.

#Selfie #Beard #Bearded #Milestone #Pixelfed

mdmrn, 1 year ago to food

Lunchtime from Little Caesars.

Tags: #Lunch #Food #JunkFood #Pizza #PizzaPizza #LittleCaesers

mdmrn, 4 months ago to ilaughed

Tight haircut and thick beard.

It's the look.

#Beard #Bearded #BeardUp #Selfie #Photo #Silly #Haircut

mdmrn, 4 months ago to VideoGames

Outfit of the Day - Heading to @magfest, my first nerdy convention since...I think Otakon 2004 or Genericon in 2005.

My oldest and my BILs / SIL are coming too.

Hope to have fun and bring some old Dad gamer energy.

Or be weird and socially anxious.

Either way.

#VideoGames #OOTD #OutfitOfTheDay #Nintendo #TShirt #Gameboy

mdmrn, 24 days ago to photography

Welcome back to another round of organic chemistry with MDMRN.

Once again, I've taken my molecular model kit to craft a new molecule. This one, frankly, I was able to craft using the pieces of the previous ones I presented before. While I didn't say it last time, the green represents a halogen, in this case specifically chlorine.

A hint is that the production of these types of compounds has been banned in numerous countries, including the United States. It was, historically, found in electrical transformers.

Can you guess what type of compound this is? Let me know in the comments!

#Photography #Chemistry #MolecularModel #OrganicChemistry #Contaminant #Toy #ChemistryLove #Organic #MolecularModelKit #Chemist #Toys #OrganicChemistryMolecularKit #MolecularKit #OChem

mdmrn, 22 days ago to Marvel

New Hawaiian Shirt.

#Selfie #Beard #Beards #BeardUp #OOTD #Outfit #TShirt #ButtonDownShirt #HawaiianShirt #Venom #Marvel #MarvelComics #OOTD #Outfit #CasualButtonDown #ButtonDownShirt

mdmrn, 23 days ago to VideoGames

In 2023, McDonald's in China released a special Tetris LCD handheld that is shaped like a chicken nugget. For some reason, this was the tie-in for the 40th anniversary of the Chicken McNugget.

I wanted it immediately.

But, as I did not live in China and knew no one who could import such things for me at the time, I could not. So, I waited.

At Magfest, earlier this year, I saw this prize sitting on a shelf, mocking me. At nearly 50 bucks, I was tempted, but unwilling to buy it.

I forgot about it for a while when 7-Eleven announced their own new Tetris tie-in handheld, this time on a Slurpee cup. It reminded me of my long wanted chicken nugget handheld.

I went to eBay and found someone with a relatively high rating, selling them for less than 15 USD including shipping. So, I bought one. That was early April.

It arrived this week.

It's as beautiful as I expected.

No, but seriously, it's a functional LCD handheld that you can play Tetris on. It's adorable. It is literally easier to play Tetris on this, than on my phone.

Also, it's classic mode so if there is not space for the Tetromino block to do spin - it won't spin.

Anyway - short version: I imported for myself the Chicken McNugget Tetris game and it's silly fun.

#VideoGames #McDonalds #McDonaldsChina #20YearsOfNuggets #NuggetFrenzy #ChickenNuggetTetris #LimitedEditionToys #Tetris #ChickenMcNuggets #Toys #ToysPhotography

Photograph of a plastic framed Chicken McNugget toy with an LCD screen and buttons on it. Beneath it is a McDonald's sticker sheet. This is all sitting on a blue and grey tablecloth.
Collage of two photographs stacked vertically with a thick, white border around everything. Both photographs show a plastic framed Chicken McNugget toy with an LCD screen and buttons on it in a white person's hand. The screens are on in both cases. The image on the left shows a "T" in the center with the McDonald's logo in the corner and a level of 88 with a score of 9999. The image on the right shows a z-shaped block falling with a score of zero on Level 1 with the same McDonald's logo in the corner.

mdmrn, 18 days ago to EnergyDrinks

My initial thoughts trying out Rowdy Energy's "Strawberry Lemonade" - Meh, no thank.

My more detailed thoughts, plus story time - So, I was at the grocery store when I saw this sitting on the shelf on-sale for 60¢. I thought to myself, "Sure, I'll try it, why not. I like Strawberry lemonade flavoring." Put it in the fridge and tried it the next day as my early morning energy drink. The result? Meh.

The flavor was just...well, off. I didn't taste any strawberry lemonade, mostly a very subtle flavor with a green tea-esque aftertaste. It felt more like a lightly strawberry flavored bubbly green tea with such minimal flavor to feel borderline like a seltzer. But the aftertaste was strong, for me at least.

Long story short, yea, I didn't like it. I finished it because I wanted the caffeine (~130 mg) and I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it.

Survey says - won't drink again.

#EnergyDrinks #EnegryDrink #SodaPop #SoftDrink #Soda #Pop #Coke #RowdyEnergy #RowdyEnergyDrink #EnergyDrinkReview #EnergyDrinkReviews

mdmrn, 19 days ago to Otaku

New Read - My Lovesick Life as a '90s Otaku, Volume 3

Volume 3 has been read and it was a journey.

Masamune is trying to set up something nice for his sister's birthday. Megumi gets involved, trying to encourage him to do a party and maybe ask his Mom to come. Also, she finally meets Yui in person and finds out that Yui is a boy! And he tries hard to not reveal that he has a huge crush on Megumi.

It's just adorable.

But, Megumi ends up pulled in two directions and her crush / trying to help Masamune pulling her another way and it all comes crashing down as a bag full of her precious manga falls out onto the ground during Masamune's sister's birthday, which had already become a mess because of Masamune's Mom.

The ending of this volume. Ugh!

I don't know how I'm going to wait for the conclusion in Volume 4 which doesn't drop until August. Ugh!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments if you've read this.

#MangaCollector #MangaReview #Mangagram #MangaCommunity #MangaPost #MangaRecommendation #InstaManga #MangaLover #MangaReader #Oldtaku #Otaku #90sOtaku #MyLovesickLifeAsA90sOtaku #NicoNicholson

Photograph of a white person's hand holding open Volume 3 of My Lovesick Life as a '90s Otaku. The left page is blank. The right page shows three panels in the background with a blushing, dark-haired girl in the foreground. The panels in the back, from right to left, show a teenage boy with light hair blushing and holding a charm necklace, the second panel zooms in on his blushing face, the third panel shows him from behind facing the same, dark haired girl who looks confused. A speech bubble says, "I'm Yui."

mdmrn, 16 days ago to Parenting

New Read - Disney Stitch: Best Friends Forever

Story time to start. Sorry, I can't help myself.

My youngest two are 9 and this week they had a Scholastic Book Fair. One thing that they've found is that, from time to time, there is Disney manga at the book fair from TokyoPop. Which, by the way, there were no comic books at Scholastic Book Fairs when I was a kid, but I digress.

As my youngest like Lilo and Stitch, they picked up this volume called "Stitch: Best Friends Forever!" Short version: It's cute.

The story has Stitch's ship crash landing in an island in Okinawa. While there, Stitch becomes friends with a local girl named Yuna and goofiness ensues. This single volume has self-contained stories in each individual chapter of Stitch getting into silly / funny situations with an elementary aged girl and her friends.

This is, however, a compilation volume. There is a full, two volume Stitch manga that was previously released. "Best Friends Forever" picks some fan favorite chapters and mashes them together in what, at times, feels like no particular order. It's not bad, but it does give you kind of whiplash from time to time

Long story short, it's a taste of the Stitch manga. If you enjoy it (which we did), then it's worth checking out the full series (which I probably will with my kids).

It's a cute, all ages manga about Stitch and a different friend in Japan. If you like cute kid's manga, check it out.

#MangaCollector #MangaReview #Mangagram #MangaCommunity #MangaPost #MangaRecommendation #InstaManga #MangaLover #MangaReader #Parenting #ScholasticBookFair #TokyoPop #Stitch #DisneyManga #StitchManga #MihoAsada #AsadaMiho

Black and white manga photo. Central is Stitch (blue alien creature that's vaguely racoon shaped with large ears and dark eyes smiling with a large mouth) from the Disney film "Lilo and Stitch" dressed as a knight with a small sword in his hand. A young girl with curly hair in pigtails is looking nervous wearing a dress.

mdmrn, 17 days ago to Parenting

This weekend I went to a band trip with my 12 year old as a chaperone. It started with band performances, ended with them (and me) at an amusement park all day.

I met a bunch of Middle Schoolers who were friends / acquaintances with my daughter. They referred to me as "cool," "legendary," "icon," and one said I was "an icon on par with Madonna." But...but why?

I think about that day and all I can think is that I'm an adult, a parent who was willing to engage with these kids. I talked with them about music, their hobbies, anime, video games, whatever they wanted to talk about. I listened and interacted. Apparently, that's enough to make me an icon.

It feels very basic. But, the fact that just this level of interaction felt out of the norm for them from their friend's parents that it made them call me an icon, I feel that says more about the other adults in their lives than it does about my awesomeness.

...But, I'll take the compliments nonetheless.

Have a great Wednesday.

#Selfie #Beard #Beards #BeardUp #Parenting #Kids #DragonBall #DBZ #DragonBallZ #Hat #Story #Photograph #OOTD #OutfitOfTheDay

mdmrn, 11 days ago to manga

New Read - Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Volume 8 (Naoko Takeuchi Collection)

Volume 8 continued where Volume 7 left off, finishing up the story of the Dead Moon.

It continues with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask being very sick while the other Sailor Scouts are fighting against the Dead Moon Kingdom. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask try to come out anyway, and they discover some new powers within Mamoru himself! Also, our Pegasus friend is freed.

A lot happens as we conclude this chapter filled with nightmares consuming the planet. See the third pic for one of Sailor Moon's personal nightmares, and one that will haunt me forever.

The last handful of chapters of this volume are more Sailor Moon side stories telling tales about individual Sailor Scouts, their background, and a quick hit self contained story. They were cute, but I am looking forward to the next volume as we proceed the plot forward overall.

Personally, I have really been enjoying the mainline plot a lot more than the seemingly filler side stories. There have been a few good ones, but overall the mainline plot following all of the Sailor Scouts has been my absolute favorite part of reading this. Can't wait for more when Volume 9 of this edition drops.

#Manga #MangaCollector #MangaReview #Mangagram #MangaCommunity #NaokoTakeuchi #NaokoTakeuchiCollection #PrettyGuardianSailorMoon #SailorMoonManga #Oldtaku #SuperSailorMoon #SailorMoon #SailorMoon30thAnniversary

Black and white photograph from within Sailor Moon, Volume 8, showing Sailor Moon in a field of flowers screaming with her hand / wand in the air, "I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon I will punish you! I'll get rid of you and your nightmares once and for all!" The moon looms largely behind her
Black and white photograph from within Sailor Moon, Volume 8, showing Sailor Moon zoomed in on her face with what appears to be her skin melting away with Noooo! written alongside of her on the right in a speech bubble. Only her shoulders and head are visible.

mdmrn, 14 days ago to Cats

Why, it's Caturday again. Here are our kitties.

Havr a great one.

#Caturday #Cats #CatsOfInstagram #Meow #Photography #Photograph #Photo #Kitty #AnimalPhotography #CaturdayEveryday #Pets #Pet #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #CatsOfFediverse

A pretty calico cat laying about one brown couch with eyes half open.

mdmrn, 9 days ago to random

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Let's go back to fall of 2011 to maybe give us some of that cool weather vibes. Here's me at a park as a scarecrow standee where my kid (it was 2011, the youngest weren't born yet and my middle one was a newborn still) put on a lovely jacket and hat to just make me look amazing.

Have a great Thursday!

#ThrowbackThursday #TBT #Photograph #Beard #Beards #BeardUp