Weekly Haul 165

A birthday present from my bro. This has been on my TBR list since it came out! Don't ask me why I never bought it. Idk! Such is life!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

AUG: Luna's Birthday Cancellation, Filipino Fest, Agent Breakup, First Atlanta United Game

I'm a bit behind on these life updates since the hiatus. However, I didn't want to completely skip these last few months, so these posts will probably be a bit shorter and less detailed, since I can't remember everything that happened anyway lol.

August was Luna's first birthday! We were so excited and had spent the last couple of weeks preparing for her party... Until the fire nation attacked. Jk, she got hand-foot-mouth the night before the party and was not allowed around other babies until her scabs healed over. So we had to cancel the party at the last minute :(

Also, her whole class in daycare was out for a bit because they all caught hand-foot-mouth.

Fortunately, people (without kids) stopped by during the whole weekend to drop off presents and see her for a bit, so that was nice. She still had a good time with family and friends around.

The next weekend, Alec and I went house hunting in the morning with John before stopping by the Filipino Festival near downtown. It was hot and sunny and smokey from some of the food stalls outside. It was pretty unpleasant, especially because the lines for the food were all super long. 

Alec and I split up to go to two different stalls, and we both waited for over an hour to get to order anything. What sucked was that I was in line for this dessert stall and wanted to order halo halo because it was 80 degrees out there, and when it was my turn, they said that they ran out of ice, so it would take another hour before they served it again! The only thing that didn't have ice was the hot tofu drink they had instead! 

This was the amount of people in front of me halfway through waiting for this dessert line.

Overall, Alec and I agreed that the festival wasn't worth the hype. All of the stalls were inefficient (a lot of them also spent a lot of time just chatting with the customers) and unprepared. It was not worth the effort to only get two food items after spending almost three hours there. Also, parking was bullshit. 

Online, they said that regular parking was like $10 and closer parking was $20. When we got to the only entrance, they, a bunch of shirtless guys who smelled like weed and one guy who was rolling a blunt in broad daylight, told us it was $20 and we could park anywhere. Later, Alec heard from someone behind him in line that they paid $30 for parking. So the guys were jacking up the price throughout the day!

Then, the next day, our real estate agent called and basically broke up with us. He basically said that we didn't know what we were looking for, were undecided about the price we were willing to pay, and that we wouldn't give him a lot of commission anyway even though he's basically just doing this for fun because he could retire at any time. 

Alec also thinks that because he called us the day before about an offer we could put on a house while we were at the Filipino Fest, but we asked to have a call the next day because we were busy, so Alec thinks that John thought that we weren't as serious about buying a house anymore.

Anyway, because of that and because my dad offered to help us, Alec and I decided to take a break from looking at homes for the rest of the year and start again in January.

My work sponsors some local local sports teams, so we had discounted tickets for upcoming Atlanta Braves games and an Atlanta United game. Since I've gone to many Braves games with SITA before and because Alec had two opportunities to go to an Atlanta United game before but always had to cancel last minute, we decided to go to our first soccer game together!

I took Alec to Momonoki for dinner before the game. It was his first time there, and he really enjoyed the food. It was my first time trying mazemen, which you typically don't find in most Japanese restaurants. It was really good!

The game was at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The only time I've been there before was to get my first two Covid shots, so it was nice to see it bustling for an actual game lol. The game was against Nashville, and we actually won! We were in the lead the whole time! 

So that was August. Lots of highs and lows lol. Part of the reason why I stopped posting for a bit. Too much happened. 

Manga Review: An Observation Record of my Fiancée - A Self-Proclaimed Villainess by Shiki & Natsume Hasumi

Title: An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess
Authors: Shiki & Natsume Hasumi 
Chapters: 33 chapters 
Publication: 2018
Summary from Manga Updates:

Crown prince Cecil was so brilliant that everything in life was easy to the point of boring him, then one day, his fiancée Bertia suddenly said "Prince Cecil, I am a villainess!" Claiming that this world is the same as that of an "otome game" from her past life and that she is playing the role of the "villainess" in it, she aims to play her part well and have their engagement annulled. With that goal in mind, she sets about causing turmoil in Cecil's daily life.

5 STARS - I LOVED IT

MY REVIEW: 

Most protagonists who remember their past life and realize that they're currently a villainess will try to change their fate. They usually try to avoid their bad ending or try to become the new heroine. Instead, Bertia tries her hardest to be the BEST villainess and doesn't realize that everything went downhill from the moment she told her bored, intelligent fiancé, the crown prince lmao.

I loved that this was told from Cecil's POV because Bertia's POV would have been a completely different story. Every "mean" thing she did would seem true, but from Cecil's POV, you can see that she's actually a very kind, if oblivious and reckless, girl.

Seeing Bertia try her best to get the plot in the right direction only to be foiled or sidestepped by Cecil's immaculate planning was hilarious. Their interactions together were cute, and Cecil's character growth was great.

Love Kuro and Zeno as well as all of the side characters! You can see just how popular and kind Bertia really is by the people she surrounds herself with.

The art took a bit to get used to, but it definitely improved as the volumes continued.

Definitely recommend if you're looking for a different twist from your usual villainess protagonist!

There's also a sequel series called An Observation Log of My Wife - A Self-Proclaimed Villainess, which is currently ongoing, so I'm excited about any new releases for that series!

Books I Want to Read This Month

Still haven't read off of this list in a while... Still trying to get motivation to read... We shall see! 

1. Cheeky Brat vol. 1 by Mitsubachi Miyuki
2. Cheeky Brat vol. 2 by Mitsubachi Miyuki
3. Cheeky Brat vol. 3 by Mitsubachi Miyuki
4. Cheeky Brat vol. 4 by Mitsubachi Miyuki
5. Wotakoi Love Is Hard for Otaku vol. 1 by Fujita
6. Wotakoi Love Is Hard for Otaku vol. 2 by Fujita
7. So You've Been Publicly Shame by Jon Ronson
8. Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol. 1 Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
9. Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol. 2 Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
10. Bailin and Li Yun by Jayessart
11. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Novel vol. 1 by Fujino Omori
12. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Novel vol. 2 by Fujino Omori 
13. I Name Him Me by Ma Yan, translated by Stephen Nashef
14. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
15. Home Body by Rupi Kaur

October in Retrospect

October went by really fast. I was busy watching shows and on vacation, so I didn't read much. More about the trip to come!

I read: 

• After Rejecting the Boss, the End of the World has Come by 曙歌
• Doomsday's Rabbit Essence by 大卉
• I Just Want to be the Second Generation of the Rich, I Lost and Became the Richest Man by Hot Stove
• The Villain's Nephew Loves Me Too Much by 明识

I watched:

• Sex Education Season 4 (2023)
• When I Fly Towards You (2023)