It Started with a Journal

Exciting news: I finally won one of my fantasy football leagues! I was in three of them this season, one of which I ended up placing nearly last, the other which I ended up somewhere in the middle, and of course, the one where I placed first. Woohoo! The winnings from that league was $400, so not too shabby.

I've started a new drama. It's call Stranger/Secret Forest/Forest of Secrets. It's another suspense/cop/prosecutor drama, and the premise itself, of an emotionless prosecutor (literally; he had a partial lobotomy as a kid and now can't feel emotions) teaming up with a spunky cop to catch a killer, would probably not have caught my interest. The reason I'm watching it is because it was selected by Drama Beans' editors as their best drama of the year, and for that reason I'm willing to give it a shot. The other drama all the DB editors seem to be watching and enjoying is I'm Not a Robot, so I feel vindicated in my enjoyment of that one, lol.

Oh, and I also watched the pilot of East of Eden, which came out in 2008 and man, really feels its age. K-drama has come a LONG way in a decade. Anyway, I started it because Song Seung-heon (from Black) is the star in it, he won the Daesang for his work, and the show itself is quite famous. But it's suuuuuuuuper soapy, lol, and as I said, feels its age. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to go on, or if I do, how far I'll be able to go (I might be able to get through at least Kim Bum's scenes... he plays the younger version of Song Seung-heon's character.)

Before Christmas, I noticed that one of my front headlights was out, after receiving a notice from Lexus saying that it was a known issue with my particular model of car, so would be eligible for an extended warranty. I also got a notice about some other important service they needed to perform, but the dealership said that they needed to get parts to perform the service and would call me when they came in. I didn't want to have to take my car in twice, so I was going to have them perform both services at the same time. Welp, that plan was shot to hell last night. When coming home from noraebang, my OTHER headlight went out! Argh. It was quite scary to have the road be completely dark when in areas without streetlights. I turned on my high beams, annoying the cars on the other side of the road, and when turning them off in order not to blind them, would get flashed at to tell me my lights weren't on, annoying ME. Hello, you JUST saw my high beams on; maybe put together that I'm trying not to blind you, idiot. In any case, I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow at the dealership to get this taken care of; I hope it's quick and easy. :/

In cooking news, I have now made triangle kimbap (삼각김밥), and it is DELICIOUS! I'm not the biggest fan of rice, though I've grown to like it more as I've aged (I really disliked it as a kid). It's still not my favorite, but somehow when you add seaweed to the equation, it all combines into something super yummy. So far I've made two types: tuna mayo and spam and egg; my favorite is definitely the former. Since making real triangle kimbap involves using seaweed covered in plastic (to keep the seaweed crunchy), I've started making it with normal square seaweed that's slightly too big for triangle kimbap. It doesn't have a negative affect on the flavor, but it's a little messy. However, Japanese onigirazu is apparently the same thing, only made into a square shape (more reminiscent of a sandwich), so maybe that's what I'll be making from now on.

I've also made miyeokguk (미역국), Korean seaweed soup. Koreans typically eat this on their birthdays or after giving birth, but it's a healthy and delicious soup so it can be eaten all the time! And it's so easy to make!

Today I also made hot and sour soup for the first time. It was super easy, but it didn't taste like I was expecting. I'm not sure what it is -- it's still good, so I'm not disappointed with the result; I just don't get what it's missing. I've reviewed several hot and sour soup recipes, and they all generally use the same ingredients, so nothing obvious seems to be missing. Granted, my mom doesn't like bamboo shoots so I didn't use those; it's possible whatever flavor component it brings is what's making me feel like the soup doesn't taste "right." But I also don't feel like that's the answer. Oh well.

Seahawks vs Green Bay... I don't... I can't... what an embarrassment. Does the team have an "off" switch when they play games on the road? They're 0-4-1 this season with 2 TDs. TWO. WTF. Our offense is offensive to me. Not that the D was that great this game, either. I realize Earl is gone, and that was always gonna hurt. I expected them to lose this game -- they were playing at Lambeau, they've been shitty on the road, they were coming off a big home game, Green Bay has been trending up, etc. But JFC. Oh and they snapped an 85-game streak of not losing by more than 10 points.

Almost as bad as the team doing poorly was the crapshow they made of my fantasy football games this weekend. I managed to squeak into the playoffs in both leagues with a 7-6 record (go figure; I have a whole different cast and play entirely different people, but still managed to get the exact same record). One game is now an impossibility to win, unless Ezekiel Elliot gets like 70 points ON HIS OWN, while the other one will take monster games from LeGarrett Blount and Julian Edelman tomorrow night, which, given my luck with these things, they will not have. UGH.

I even drafted Eli Manning with the intention of playing him in place of Russell Wilson. I don't how he'll do tonight, but it certainly can't be worse than how RW played today, good gravy. I didn't end up playing Eli because I felt that I was not being fair to RW or the team coming off a good game, and I would feel really bad if Eli was horrible (very real possibility) and RW was amazing, for multiple reasons.

Next season, I am not drafting ANY Seahawks in my fantasy football leagues unless it would be absolutely ridiculous not to (like the next SEA player is miles above the next-best). It's too fucking stressful. Every week, I end up not playing FF the smartest way because I have to consider stupid shit like "feeling guilty" if RW has a good game. If I have no Seahawks on the roster, it won't matter who I put in; I just have to pick the best players, and the Seahawks doing well or poorly won't affect my FF games (well, other than when my opponent has a SEA player, of course).

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I was felled this last week by some kind of cold or flu or whatever the hell. This one was brutal. When I got sick in New York, it was like a little baby cold compared to this one. That one I was completely over with in less than two weeks, and never even got to the really bad symptoms. This time has been the mother of all viruses. (And how annoyed am I to get sick twice in such quick succession??) I'm still not fully over it, but am on the road to recovery. A few days ago I was like, LET ME DIE, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. I don't even know how/where I got this thing. And if it's the flu, eff you flu shot for not covering this strain.

Oh, and even better? Aunt Flo came to visit. So I had to deal with that on top of body aches and hacking my lungs out.

On a more positive side note, have you heard of Thinx? It's period underwear, to put it bluntly. It's my second month using them (I have a full cycle set), and it's official, I love them. jade_okelani is a fan as well. You can read this article to learn more; I've read several like it where women tried to use them as their ONLY source of protection, and I think they're nuts. Or their cycles must be quite different from mine.

( More TMI. Seriously, I am very frank in here, so don't click if you don't wanna know. )

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I have accomplished the feat of finishing two of my many WIP K-dramas. I finished High School: Love On, which was okay, and Coffee Prince, which was better than okay but had the most boring and annoying side pairing of all time. I've also watched a few more episodes of Oh My Venus, which has gotten to a super angsty part, and I have no idea where they're going to go from here. It's quite disappointing, actually, that it started out so lighthearted and cute and has now brought us to this. Sigh. Henry Lau is still the best part of the drama. Also? Much of it seems to hinge on the viewer finding So Ji-sub brutally attractive. I mean, he IS attractive; he's just not THAT hot (to me).

Because of finishing off two of them, I allowed myself to start a new one -- "Hello My Teacher" aka "Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy." It stars Gong Yoo and Gong Hyo-jin. Gong Yoo is the primary male lead from Coffee Prince that I ended up really loving, and Gong Hyo-jin is the female lead from Master's Sun. She's another one of those actresses who gets a lot of work and critical accolades, and I don't understand why. To me she's basically Korean Maggie Gyllenhaal. Anyway...

Synopsis: Na Bori is a 25-year-old woman who desperately wants to be a teacher at the high school she was expelled from, so that she can work with her high school crush, young art teacher Ji Hyun Woo. However, the only thing that enables her to get the coveted job is by signing a contract to essentially babysit Park Tae In, a 20-year-old troublemaker who starts attending the high school, of which he quickly becomes the king.

I'm sure I found it when looking stuff up on High School King of Savvy. Anyway, Gong Yoo plays the troublemaking high school student. :D I've only seen the pilot, and so far I'm "meh" on it. It seems to have all the stereotypical characters you'd expect of a K-drama, as well as flight-of-fancy fight sequences and such. I suppose such things should be expected, given that it aired in 2005. The content and the format (it's in 4:3 aspect ratio, *shudder*) shows its age. I'll give it a few more episodes to see if Gong Yoo and Gong Hyo-jin can somehow work their magic.

I have no one to turn to to vent my frustration other than LJ.

( Rage rage rage )

It's been a fairly nice week, but of COURSE the clouds are rolling in and it's supposed to rain all weekend. Why do you do this to us, Seattle? Why?

My September Ipsy and Birchbox hauls have arrived. ( Pics )

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I mentioned that I won both of my fantasy matchups last weekend, but Monday's game hadn't been played yet so I didn't know if I would get high score of the week in my ESPN league, but I did! Seriously crazy considering I was SO far behind early on, and my TE scored a big fat 0. However, all of the rest of my lineup scored double digits, so that help me beat the second-highest scorer of the week 121.1 to 120.5. I squeaked by with 0.6 points! Ha.

I am extremely waffley about my lineups this weekend. ( Fantasy football blah blah )

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I've been chatting with ropo and lore about Jamberry nail wraps, and after checking them out I've decided that while they are nice, they are way too pricey for me, because I have so much nail polish and I've just invested in nail stamping tools, etc.

In fact, I put that to good use last night:



( Another pic )

Did an ombre gradient of purple, pink, and blue-purple. Put on a single glitter trace coat. Topped that with Seche Vite. I chose a sketchy flower design on one of my plates, and used white stamping polish to stamp. Topped that with Seche Vite again, and viola!

After having used the stamping plates a few times now, I can say that my experience with it has been hit and miss. ( My explanation, if you're interested. )

What a great game to start the season. A nail biter that went to the very last seconds!

For this one moment in football time, all's right with the world. The Broncos won, and most of my fantasy football players did OK. I wouldn't have minded a stronger performance from Greg Olsen and Graham Gano (despite the fact that I would have gotten more points if he'd made that last field goal, I can't say I was sorry to lose those 3 points), but Kelvin Benjamin had a great comeback-from-injury and boy am I glad I drafted and decided to play C.J. Anderson!

I know how this goes, though. I'll be feeling good about my team on Thursday, and then come the weekend disaster will strike. I have Russell Wilson in one league and Doug Baldwin in another league, so if the Seahawks offense splutters (which may very well happen since they have cardboard cutouts serving as an O-line at the moment), that will kill both of my matchups. And let's be honest, this early in the season, who the heck knows how anyone is going to perform? Last year's star wide receiver could suddenly be feeling his age, and be slower or less steady with his hands. It's all such a crapshoot.

But at least for one night, things are OK.

Got an email from Birchbox today to ask me what my September box preferences are; I now have a lot more clarity on how the customization works. On a monthly basis, you get one of three choices:

1) Total surprise box - You don't know what any of the 5 samples are going to be, but they will tailor it based on your beauty profile.
2) Surprise + 1 box - You get to choose one sample from a selection they give you, and the other 4 will be based on your profile.
3) Know all 5 samples - They tell you what the 5 samples are.

I'm not too crazy about this month's "known" samples, so I'm going to go for the full-surprise box.

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I've done something probably crazy, considering how my first experience turned out, but I have 3 more paintings from Afremov coming. I don't know what they look like; it'll be of their choosing. All I know is that they are original paintings.

Here's my thought process: I clearly like his original work more than the recreations, and these were reasonably priced. I specified that I preferred landscapes and flowers over people and music. If I don't like them, I can return them at their cost. So I feel like there's very little risk involved; they clearly pride themselves on their customer service. The worst thing that would happen would be that I would have to get some unwieldy paintings mailed back; since FedEx should be able to pick up, I'm willing to see what comes of this venture.

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Football season is around the corner, and that means fantasy football is starting up again, too. I can't even remember how I did last season. I seem to recall that while I didn't win any of my leagues, I also wasn't too terrible. That could alllllll change this season.

Edit: Apparently I actually placed 3rd in one of my leagues! Well, that's exciting.

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OH LARDY, LARDY.

I have a lard issue. This weekend adelagia went with me to Chef Shop, a local artisan food shop, so that I could pick up some rendered Mangalitsa leaf lard. I'm subscribed to their newsletter, and the latest issue was all about pie baking (mmm). I've actually rendered my own leaf lard before, but it was a long process and it made my house smell like pork for days, everything I used to make it was greasy for a long time, etc. This lard was reasonably priced and high quality, so score!

There was some confusion with the front counter people about the lard -- which one it was, the size, etc. They asked if I was planning to bake that day, and I said no (the lard was frozen solid, so how could I?!), I paid, and we went on our merry way.

Well just now I got a call from the shop, very apologetic, saying that they had given me the wrong lard. They had given me just regular lard, not the Mangalitsa leaf lard, and hoped I hadn't baked my pies yet. I said that I hadn't (thank goodness). The plan now is for me to go pick up the right lard sometime this week, and they said I could keep the lard I had. (On the one hand, I was glad they said this, because for sanitary reasons alone, that should be the case. They would have no way of knowing if I'd kept it at the right temperature, etc., so if they'd taken it back to sell to someone else, I would feel really skeptical of them as a food store operator. On the other hand, I have zero use for regular lard, especially four pounds of it, so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it. I feel bad just throwing it out, though.) Also, apparently, they have new pricing on the leaf lard, so I'm actually going to get a credit on my credit card for the difference in price. So, other than the pain of having to go to Seattle twice, it's worked out OK.

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I forgot to mention in my LA post that I tried Lyft for the first time! I've added those details now, in case anyone's interested.

So.

The Seahawks lost in the most frustrating way possible;

My fantasy team is doing that thing AGAIN wherein the person playing against me has players who all do inexplicably well, so that even though my score would beat out just about every other person in the league, I'm still going to lose my matchup;

One of my star WRs (Odell Beckham, Jr.) that is on my team in BOTH leagues looks like he might have a hamstring injury, something that is totally unpredictable in terms of healing and has kept Marshawn Lynch out for two straight games (though part of me wonders if it's on purpose, so that they can work Thomas Rawls into the lineup in preparation for Marshawn leaving/retiring at the end of the season);

Players who I dropped the previous week inevitably have monster games this week;

I slept funny so that now my left shoulder and arm ache like crazy;

The no-knead cinnamon rolls that I made came out waaaaaay too sweet;

I worked Friday night, half of Saturday, and part of today;

Which led to me having to cancel plans with a friend.

So I am going to slather on some Biofreeze, then go to BED, and there may be watching of The Strain, and possibly reading of a guilty pleasure book, and I am NOT going to do my writing assignment. Because all of those things above have combined to kill any creativity I might have had.

I won my Yahoo FF matchup, but I didn't get the high score for the week. I was seriously bummed about that. It was in the bag until the final Monday night game, and it would figure that it would be the 49ers who screwed me. Carlos Hyde got freakin' 30+ points!!! That elevated some other guy to the top of the point totals, while I got second. GRRRR. In prime fantasy football drama, that guy and I are matched up next week, so that's exciting.

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Finished season 1 of iZombie. This show makes me so frustrated. It's fun to watch, and I like (most of) the characters, but it doesn't get my blood going. I don't support any particular ship, and none of the plot stuff that happens makes me feel like I'm dying to know what happens next. ( Spoilers. )

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My next cooking project is going to be a chocolate souffle. I need to get some appropriately sized ramekins first! I am such a level 7 suggestible... even if I'm the one who suggests it. I wrote a scene in which the hero and heroine order chocolate souffles at a fancy restaurant, and suddenly I was looking up videos on YouTube. Sigh. The best chocolate souffle I've ever had was at this French restaurant jade_okelani and I went to a couple of times. It was hideously expensive, but the food was sooooooooooo good.

I really need to find some friends who are into gourmet cooking. (I know, it's sad, so many of my lamentations are about how I need more friends.) All my friends are like, "What? I have to boil water for that? Too much trouble." OK, maybe not that bad, but they're not... cookers. I need cooker friends! :))))))

I feel very envious of my manager whenever he does this dinner thing with his friends, where they all prepare gourmet dishes. A sampling from their dinner this weekend:

- Shigoku oysters with Sevruga caviar and dashi
- Garden velouté with king crab, deep fried squash blossoms and mustard cream
- l'Arpège farm egg (served in the shell - egg yolk, sherry cream, minced ginger, barrel-aged maple syrup)
- Seared foie gras with compressed preserved strawberries, cumin caramel, black pepper papadam
- seared halibut with spicy eggplant, peas and potatoes, feta cream, pine nut vinaigrette, pickled raisins
- Rouelle of poulard wrapped in Swiss chard, with bacon and prunes
- Candy cap mushroom ice cream with pine nut pudding, cocoa sweet potato chips, maple gel and a beignet

I mean, obviously a ton of work and expense goes into these annual dinners, but for the right crowd, that's part of the fun/excitement of doing it! You know, for people who like to cook. (I always think of cooking as being like a science experiment, and I've always enjoyed chemistry. I bet Potions would have been my favorite class at Hogwarts.)

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Look out, I'm doing a Rory/Logan compilation. It makes me angry all over again, what they did to that ship. But also happy to see them. Fanfic will fix all this.

Finished S5, now about a quarter of the way in to S6.

Finished my second fantasy football draft about an hour ago. I feel... OK about it. I had to once again use the "skip RBs until later" strategy, because I was drafting eighth and all the elite backs were already taken.

What I like about Yahoo FF over ESPN FF is that Yahoo attempts to editorialize your choices, giving grades to your league's drafting and also trying to project a winner.

Surprisingly, even though I got a "B" for my draft, Yahoo predicts that I'll finish first in the league. Ha! Since this prediction will no doubt fail horribly, I can at least enjoy the moment while it lasts. :))

( Yahoo's summary and prediction of the season based on my draft. )