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.

You know those people who only see food as fuel, and not something wonderful and delightful? I wish I were one of those people. :/ The diet/exercise thing is going well so far, but I don't know how long I can keep it up. I haven't really given myself an exercise break, because I'm afraid that by stopping one day, it's a slippery slope and I'll go immediately back to my old bad habits. Food wise, I've been mostly good, but do allow myself to cheat here and there -- not big cheats, but I'm not trying to be perfect, which I know wouldn't be sustainable.

Also, I've decided that once a month, I'm going to allow myself to make a treat of any kind. I enjoy baking, but baking is pretty much always involving something non-healthy. And I've decided once a month, THAT'S OKAY. It will be part of my strategy to keep up the healthy stuff long-term. I can't have NOTHING to look forward to making! Right now, I'm trying to decide between an Oreo roll cake and "easy" croissants; croissants is leading atm. I think every day about making them, lol. I figure having to go through the trouble and work of making them (or whatever my cheat item is for the month) is part of the "payment" for being allowed to eat it!

The headlight situation has been semi-resolved. There's apparently some kind of fuse (or whatever the real name is... I'm using fuse because I can't remember) that connects the headlights to the battery (or something). Lexus has determined that that fuse isn't heavy duty enough, and isn't strong enough to provide the needed wattage to the bulbs, causing them to fail prematurely. The problem is, the fuses are on way, way, WAY backorder. For now, they've replaced the lights, so I have working headlights, but at some point (in the distant future, apparently), I'm going to have to take the car back in, at which point they will replace the fuses and also give me a new set of headlights (the ones in the car now will be removed to be used as loaners for someone else in my situation). The only issue is that the extended warranty on the fuse thing has an expiration, and it will likely expire before the new fuses are available. Now, it seems obvious to me and likely any reasonable person that it's not MY fault if the part needed to fix the issue is on backorder, so this veiled implication that I might somehow be responsible for the cost of the fuses/lights after the warranty has expired is bullshit. The consultant I spoke with said he was "fairly sure" that because I reported the issue before the warranty expiration, it would still be covered... but that is not sure enough for my liking. I hope I won't have to throw a fit at some future date if they try to make me pay for it. :/

I liked Black so much I actually ordered it on DVD. Netflix can't be trusted to keep what they have on the docket, in the future. I got it on eBay knowing that it wasn't an official version (which doesn't seem to be available), but given the availability of HD these days, I wasn't too worried about the quality. It claimed "excellent English (subtitles)," and that was actually my biggest concern. I did test a few episodes, and I was satisfied with that part. I suppose I should rewatch the whole series on DVD just to make sure none of the discs skip and such.

Right now, I'm actively watching four things, which seems like a lot, though if I think of back in the day when we used to watch TV on a network's schedule, I probably watched more.

1) I'm Not a Robot: Two more eps posted last night, but I got home late for work and decided to save them for today, because two more eps will post, so I'll have a total of 4 to mainline all together.

2) Travelers: This one is interesting enough to keep me going, but I also have significant issues with it. ( Spoilers! )

3) Forest of Secrets/Stranger: This is a really good show that is more about the plot than the relationships -- or at least, I don't care about the relationships, if they're trying to go there. However, because of the lack of that element, it's not always the easiest to watch. It's like eating roasted Brussels sprouts... delicious and good for me, but not the only thing I want to eat.

4) Good Morning Call: Pretty much the opposite of Forest of Secrets, lol. This is pure mind candy... not even the good kind of candy, like Swedish Fish or Aero chocolate bars. This is more like the leftover junk candy from Halloween that you're forced to eat because you're desperate and other people have already eaten all the Twix and Snickers. It's a Japanese drama, and they are at least 10 years behind Korean dramas in look/feel/plot/acting/everything. This one was made in 2016, but it reminds me strongly of Boys Over Flowers in almost every way. I almost never find the Japanese actors attractive -- this guy is ok, but needs a new hairstyle -- and Japanese isn't pleasant to my ears (like mainland Chinese accents, but for different reasons), but this one has a super GP premise so I endured the pilot and will likely endure a few more. Nothing has been so offensive yet that I can't go on, at least. The plotline is basically a rip off of It Started With a Kiss, with some stuff changed. It's interesting, though, because Netflix actually had a hand in producing this one. That's probably why it has multiple seasons, and why, from what I've read, S2 ends poorly. >< Ugh, American television ruins everything. (I might not even watch S2 for that reason!)