It Started with a Journal

I have been watching all the things. And doing some cooking, too.

I am currently having a really brutal morning, beginning with the fact that I have a visit from Aunt Flo, and she has brought with her a lot of pain and fatigue. Like every third or fourth cycle, it is particularly fatiguing on the first day, to the point where I can nearly fall asleep at the wheel while driving to work. And today I can't even duck out early because I have a bunch of meetings. UGHGHGHGHGH. Meetings scheduled for Friday afternoon are THE WORST. All I want to do is go home and sleep forever. 나는 자고 싶어요! 너무 피곤해요!

Anyway, I'm hoping writing this entry will help me stay awake in between meetings.

On the diet and exercise front, things are going well/as expected. Though if truth be told, I was kind of hoping to make more dramatic progress during the first month, because I feel my habits are SO different from what they were before. It's, as previously mentioned, a little demoralizing to have improved my habits so drastically but not see a drastic change in results, but that said, I haven't been entirely rigid with my diet, either. I want it to be sustainable, so I don't deny myself treats here and there, and I am not nearly as restrictive with myself as I was when I first did this, many years ago. I am simply being more responsible with my choices, and at least thinking about what I decide to eat before I eat it. I have been exercising faithfully every day, including this brutal morning, so I really can't fault myself on the exercise front. However, it just adds to that sense of disappointment that I haven't seen dramatic changes, because seriously, compared to how I was before, it's like night and day! Sigh.

This weekend is the Super Bowl, and other than rooting for the Patriots to lose, I don't really care. Still, I'm using it as an excuse to make chili in the Instant Pot, which will be nice during this cold and rainy weather, and because I haven't made chili in a long time (and never in an Instant Pot). It's comfort food! I also have to put together a coffee table that I bought from someone at work. It might be a little too big for the space I have planned for it. >< I am the worst when it comes to measuring ahead of time for furniture I buy. :/ I just assume it's going to fit like how I see it in my head, and that doesn't always work out.

Okay, so on to the things I have watched recently. Due to MoviePass, I have seen a bunch of movies. :D jade_okelani and I have watched a few of the Oscar nominees, including the two which seem most likely to win, as well as some fun movies just because. Some years, I've already seen many of the Oscar-nominated films, or are at least interested in seeing most of them. This was one of those years in which I had only seen one (Dunkirk), and the others I either had never heard of or didn't have any interest in.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure - Mostly I wanted to see this in order to support Dylan O'Brien. :D I am so, so relieved that he has now recovered from his on-set injury, and the movie also seems to be doing very well at the box office, so yay. It's not the best movie in the world, nor had I expected it to be, but my bar was pretty low going in, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Maze Runner was one of those book series that I enjoyed... until it started going in a direction I did not like. And I hoped, hoped that the movie version would actually fix it, though I didn't have that much hope, because these days the movie versions of books seem to try and stay true to their source material. But happily, THEY DID FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( Spoilers. )

Disaster Artist - It is a travesty that this movie was not nominated for Best Pic, because it's what deserves it the most. It was fascinating and hilariously funny. I can only assume it wasn't nominated, despite winning the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, because Hollywood cannot stand the idea of giving an Oscar to a movie about someone they deem(ed) not worthy of being in their ranks. James Franco is a weirdo, but also a genius. For every really dumb movie he makes, he also makes something equally amazing, like 187 Hours, or Disaster Artist, or even Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I loved watching him and Dave Franco act together; after the first few scenes, I totally forgot they were even brothers.

The Shape of Water - This is apparently the leading contender for Best Pic, and I cannot support this. It was beautifully shot; the look and feel was top notch. For a good half of the movie, possibly more, I really loved it. And then it went downhill. ( Spoilers. )

Jumanji - This was the perfect movie to see with MoviePass. It's the type of movie I'd never pay actual money to see, and yet it looked enjoyable enough that I would probably like it. So with MoviePass, I have the perfect freedom to see it without feeling like I'm wasting money. ( Spoilers. )

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri - Oh man, I loved this one so much. It definitely has my vote for Best Pic. Seems like it's the second-most-likely contender, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a crime if it actually loses to The Shape of Water. It's looking like Frances McDormand is going to get another Oscar, and Sam Rockwell will get his first. AND THEY ARE BOTH SO WELL DESERVED. ( Spoilers. )

Coco: I had never even heard of this movie before Jade suggested a few days ago, lol. I don't know how Pixar does it every time, where they can tell a heartwarming story about family in a mostly unique way that reduces me to a sobbing mess. LOL. I really enjoyed this one, even though going in I knew next to nothing about Los Dios de los Muertos.

WHEW! That is a lot of movies. :D Because of MoviePass I'm also now Ruby status with Regal Rewards, and all the points I'm racking up will go toward movie treats I'm not allowed to eat and tickets I no longer need to buy! LOL. Maybe for a treat one day I will have a popcorn. I don't know why movie popcorn with that fake butter is so delicious, but it is. :/


Now, when it comes to drama watching, mostly I have finished things that I was already watching, only one thing here is new.

- Strongest Deliveryman: I love Go Kyung Po, and I like a nice-guy hero, and I generally liked the story, but it was simply ridiculous that he would have been responsible for everything that they gave him responsibility for. ( Spoilers. )

- I'm Not a Robot: I don't know why Korean dramas find it so hard to end things in a super satisfying way, when they know from the start how many episodes they have to work with and in theory have a story arc in mind. But once again, a K-drama goes out with a whimper rather than a bang. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't as good as it could have or should have been. The show peaked at ep 28, I think. ( Spoilers. )

- Shopping King Louis: Still in the middle of this one. I'm enjoying it a lot, though I keep picturing Sungjae in SIG's role. :/ DAMN IT, 성재. ( Spoilers. )

- Descendants of the Sun: I've decided to quit this drama. I've given it a fair chance; I finished ep 12. I cannot watch 6 more episodes of it. IT GOES NOWHERE. The plot and the relationships never seem to actually go anywhere. It's the same push-and-pull cycle in every. single. freaking. ep. I'm not particularly fond of the main heroine, and even though I love Song Joong-ki, even he cannot keep me interested. Maybe it's all of the overly drawn-out speeches in English that his character is forced to have, maybe it's the fact that he keeps having to save her stupid, headstrong, reckless ass (she reminds me of Bella from the Twilight series), whatever it is, I'm not into their relationship and I'm not into the story. I like the secondary pairing a lot more; I love the actress, and the actor is okay. But they, too, suffer from the same boring cycle of we will-we won't that is plain TIRESOME. Both of these couples are constantly sort-of getting together and then breaking up again, and all the manufactured angst is not believable nor compelling. I mean, clearly I'm an outlier here, because many people loved this show (as they did Goblin, the other universally loved show that I did not enjoy). But whatever. I'm DONE with it.

- Travelers: God, this show. It makes me so insane, and yet the story/plotline is compelling enough that I can't make myself stop watching. I just finished S2. ( Spoilers. )

- The Great British Baking Show: I finished S1 and have just started S2. I liked the S1 bakers a LOT more. The S2 bakers are constantly injuring themselves, making stupid mistakes, and also don't seem to be as nice and supportive toward one another as the S1 bakers were. My only issue with S1 was that the person I wanted to win, didn't. In fact, I thought the person who won should have finished 3rd overall, but whatever. ( Spoilers. )

- Rebel, Thief of the People: I've only finished the pilot of this sageuk, but I like it so far. I've only actually seen the adult main characters for a few brief moments; I wasn't into the male lead, and the female lead is, once again, Chae Soo-bin. She's apparently in everything these days. This is another one where I'm going off the rec of Drama Beans.


As for food, I have made:

- Croissants: I tried the shortcut version shown on Food Wishes. It actually turned out fairly well! They didn't look perfect, but they tasted great. I made both plain croissants and ham/cheese croissants. The only problem was that even though I only baked a half batch, it still made 8 croissants, and we could not finish them in a day. Yet after the first day, they lose their crunch and basically turn into highly caloric dinner rolls.

- Parmesan cheese crisps: I had a huge tub of Parm in the fridge because Costco. I can't even remember what I purchased it for, and wasn't sure what to do with them. And then I thought -- of course! Delicious cheese crisps! They were super easy to make and are extremely delicious. Not so great for the diet, though.

- Murgh makhani (Indian butter chicken): Made this in the Instant Pot using chicken drumsticks, and it turned out really well. However, I think it was definitely excessive with the butter. I'm going to try a different recipe at some point that will hopefully be more aromatic and less buttery.

- Chana masala: Also made in the Instant Pot! I even made my own chana masala powder, which required roasting a bunch of different spices. However, the end result was AWESOME. I've always said that if I had to become a vegetarian, I could maybe do it with Indian food.

Subject line: From The Disaster Artist, but first from The Room.

Update on Lasik: I'm still enjoying not having to wear contacts/glasses, but my right eye seems to have gotten "fuzzy" again. Fuzzy is perhaps too strong a word; if I cover my left eye, I can see fine out of my right, it's just not as SHARP as my left. The result is that when I have both eyes uncovered, it "feels" like I have something in my right eye making things not as sharp, which makes me want to rub it, which is a big no no. Sigh. I'm not sure what's accounting for it, because previously I was told that it was due to post-op inflammation, but that should no longer be a factor. I guess I'll just have to see what comes out of my 1-month post-op checkup.

I have been making a lot of food recently. ( Details + recipe for Hong Kong style milk tea )

I've also finished a handful of K-dramas since the last time I think I wrote about them... ( Okay, maybe it's more than a handful... )

Football season has started again! I'm participating in 3 fantasy football leagues this year. Two are on ESPN and one is on NFL.com, which totally sucks. Yahoo is my favorite, but it's not as popular as ESPN, and the one league that uses it, I bowed out of this season.

This weekend, adelagia and I made kimchi! :D We are totes ready for when we're dating and/or married to Onew and Seo In-guk, respectively. LOL. (Links go to pics of said celebs, in case you're curious.)

Here's adelagia mixing up our batch. I had a HUGE tub, so there's more kimchi there than it might seem. More than six pounds worth!



I also made buchu (Asian chive) kimchi and dwaejigogi-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), both of which were AMAZING. Soooooooo delicious. I only have a pic of the pork pre-cooking because I was too hungry to remember to take a picture of it after it was cooked. >< Also, I didn't have a pound's worth of pork belly, so subbed some shrimp instead. ALSO DELICIOUS. I think you could easily substitute with firm tofu for a more healthy version... which I may try in the near future. The buchu kimchi is a little too salty, which may or may not be because I didn't have enough chives... I halved the recipe, but I was using older chives, so I had to weed out a lot not-so-good ones. Anyway, I will probably use less fish sauce next time.



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One of my Christmas gifts to myself arrived today, and I'm soooooooooo happy. I love American Giant's stuff, especially their Essential Full-Zip Hoodie. I have several of the Classic, as well, but I like the lighter weight and softer feel of the Essential.

ANYWAY... Recently, they came out with a new product, a stadium blanket. I saw the email about it, but wasn't able to actually take a look until two hours later... and they were all sold out already! GRRRRR. A few days later, they said they'd made a limited quantity available again, and I was able to nab two in the only color that remained at that point, a heather navy. I would link it, but it looks like they're totally sold out now, and have even deleted those webpages. Sheesh. Like all their stuff, the blanket is really well made, heavy with quality material, and very warm. <333333

(I was going to link a promo code for 15% off, but it looks like it can only be sent through email. So let me know if you want it! And of course, I get something out of it as well, natch.)

I'm a big blanket person, kind of like Linus. Even when I'm not cold, I like having a blanket on me. It just feels so much cozier! Anyway, I have a lot of blankets.

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Watched another episode of Descendants of the Sun. I'm actually still OK with the show, despite the fact that, as expected, the two leads are already "broken up." It helps that I like the male lead, and the female lead isn't super annoying.

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I wasn't going to take any time off during the holidays -- other than the days off that everyone gets -- because it's a super quiet time anyway, and I was thinking I'd save my vacation days. Only... it turns out that I have so much vacation saved up (I can only carry over a year's worth, which for me at this point is 200 hours/5 weeks) that I would be forfeiting over 43 hours if I didn't take it! Which would be intolerable. So now I'm going to take Wed/Thu off, as well as all of next week. I still might be sacrificing a few hours, but that's better than 43. I don't work for free, yo.

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Speaking of work, we did a white elephant gift exchange... only I had my annual physical during that time so I couldn't actually participate. I contributed a set of R2D2/R2Q5 salt and pepper shakers and an R2D2 measuring cup set. (I may have little use for Star Wars, but I know other people love it, so that stuff makes for good anonymous gifts.) My manager played for me, and he had told me ahead of time what he'd gotten for the exchange (a cast-iron fondue set). Since they were going to allow "me" to go last, thus being able to nab whatever I wanted, I told him that that's what I wanted. I figured it was a safe bet -- I didn't know what random crap other people were going to bring, and I don't really trust my manager to know what I'd really want, so it seemed the most prudent course of action. I still need to get it from him, though.

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My December beauty boxes have arrived! I know, it's once a month but seems so much more frequent, doesn't it?

( What this month brought! )