It Started with a Journal

Still going through stuff with my dog. ( Poor little guy. )

As for the kombucha, my first batch was surprisingly delicious. I've already drunk three bottles. I know. It looks gross, but man, can that thing make some yummy brew. My kombucha had a much milder flavor than GT Dave's Synergy kombucha drinks. I let it ferment for two weeks, but since it's not super warm here, it probably needed more like three. I flavored it with a bit of pureed peaches and blueberries (a little goes a long way, so I filled each bottle with about a finger's worth of puree, and it infused the whole bottle) -- so delicious! I was as shocked as anyone. Because the two week fermentation period wasn't long enough, the brew I started with was sweeter than what you buy. My second batch is fermenting now, so I won't decant that for three weeks at least. What my bottles of KT could have used more of was carbonation. The bottles with blueberry had more fizz than the ones with only peach. And I've heard that strawberry makes the fizziest kombucha of all! :D

I sent my mom to the airport last night. Traffic was insanely horrible. I will miss having her around, and she was such a big help with Talis, who will now be alone while I'm at work during the day. :( But it also means that my weekends have opened up again, so adelagia, hotpot? lol

I've been playing Guild Wars 2 for the last couple of months. I finally leveled a toon to 80. I leveled about six different toons to 20, so that I could get a feel for the classes (or professions, as they're called in GW2) I was interested in. It took me awhile initially to get used to GW2 because I was so used to WoW, but now WoW is a distant memory. GW2 is actually a lot better in some ways, and it has constantly updated and dynamic content. It's just as rich and beautiful, and THERE IS NO MONTHLY FEE. :O That alone makes it attractive, and you could forgive it if it wasn't as slick as WoW... but that's not even the case. It's some of the best $60 (or whatever, if you can get it on sale) you'll ever spend, considering how many hours of fun you get out of it.

Also, I've been on the ASOIAF messageboard a lot. Boy, are those people hurting for fanfic, lol. And they constantly denigrate it because GRRM hates fanfic and the people who run the boards hate it, but it is so obvious that none of them have a clue of what "real" fanfic is -- the good kind, not the kind that's always made fun of. Anyway, I love, love, love all the theorizing that goes on. A lot of it reminds me of when I was studying lit, wherein it's just a lot of bullshit that people read into, that the author probably didn't even intend. :)) But there are some things that blow my mind wherein it's obvious the little clues are there, but I just didn't put the pieces together. This is why I love this series so much! It's clear though that in order to really keep up with the discussions, I need to do another read or three because everyone else is so well versed in the characters and details, whereas I'm like, "Who?" "Wait, that happened?" "That's a thing?"

So far so good on the kombucha front. I made the nutrient solution (which is a fancy way of saying "sweet tea"), stuck in the SCOBY, and now I just have to let nature take its course. It doesn't help though that it's cooled down considerably here, so the temp in my house may not be ideal for yeast to thrive. :/

Apparently there's a Kickstarter to make an American version of Boys Over Flowers. There's less than a week left and so far under $1k in support. LOL. All I have to say is... GOOD. American TV would never be able to adapt YA Asian drama well. The studios don't appreciate the *sanctity* of a pure-hearted, guilty-pleasure romance. They'd totally want to ruin it with intrigue or infighting or sex or whatever the hell else to break the couple up -- not to mention, would either try to cancel it prematurely if ratings aren't good, or if ratings ARE good, try to unnaturally extend the series well beyond anyone's enjoyment. It's fucking sad that that pretty much describes all American TV. They don't know how to tell a good story and then let it go. All they care about is MONEY.

Never let it be said that Asian dramas can't actively improve your life. Not only do they provide a bunch of happy endorphins and make you really hungry for good Asian food (it's funny/awesome, food is such a big part of the characters' everyday lives, whereas on American TV, food is pretty much an afterthought -- characters pretend like they're gonna bite into a slice of pizza but never do, they push food around on their plate or eat one pea, etc.), they also give you great ideas like a bath headband to hold your hair back when you're watching your face! Now I have four of my very own. It's not as nice as Kotoko's (from J-drama Mischievous Kiss, the latest remake of the manga Itazura Na Kiss, though the best remains Taiwan's It Started with a Kiss), but it'll do, pig. It'll do.