Thursday, May 28, 2020

Kpop Appreciation Post: BIBI, IU, LUCY, Raiden x Chanyeol

I know, another Kpop Appreciation Post so soon? But I've been hearing some great songs during quarantine!

I've never heard of BIBI before, but I really liked her song "KAZINO". The whole song and music video's message is dope. I really like the whole kickass, mature vibe going on. 


Wow, I take it back. I didn't realize that this is the same girl who came out with "Nabi" last year, which was also really good! She's got such a unique voice!

I'm sure everyone's already heard IU's new song, "eight" (prod.&feat. SUGA of BTS), because it's such a good song! As usual, I love IU's voice. It's just so soft and light and unique. The music video is really cool too since it combines real life with animation. I read some of the top comments, which said that this song is a tribute to Jonghyun and Sulli TT__TT


I know, you might be thinking that LUCY is another girl singer. You're wrong! It's a band who was formed on a band competition show. Apparently their name is after the dog who they spent a lot of time with on the show lol.

I was initially interested in the song because it immediately started off with a violin playing, which you don't hear often in music. Then everything interested me lol. The singer's voice is really nice and smooth, and the drums go so well with the violin! Just listen to it to understand!


Chanyeol has a new song with Raiden which also features Lee Hi and Changmo! I haven't heard much from Lee Hi in a while, so it was really nice hearing her on the song. She has such a smooth and soft voice. And you mainly hear Chanyeol rapping in EXO, so it was nice to hear him sing in the song along with his rapping. 


Anyway, that's it for now!

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Weekly Haul 125

Kept on forgetting to blog about my newest books for the past couple of weeks since I've ordered a lot of stuff and have had Kickstarters finally come in! I just realized that all of the books I bought have been inspired by Youtubers to buy some more books and support local bookshops using Bookshop.org.


Beastlands vol. 1 by Curtis Clow & Jo Mi-Gyeong
Beastlands vol. 2 by Curtis Clow & Jo Mi-Gyeong
Beastlands vol. 3 by Curtis Clow & Jo Mi-Gyeong
Beauty is Truth: A Collection of Poems by John Keats, illustrated by Evan Robertson
So You've Been Publicly Shame by Jon Ronson
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger

Friday, May 15, 2020

MAR: Parents, Dinner Plans, Farewell Brunch, Social Distancing, Daily Stand Ups, Quarantine Depression, Tattoo

I've been putting off posting for the past two weeks because Blogger changed it's layout, and I'm not a big fan of its posts' layout anymore. The font colors also changed! I'm just not feeling it lol.

March was an interesting month. It started normally and then ended like the beginning of an apocalypse, so there wasn't much to talk about.

The first weekend, we went home to visit the parents and help them with their taxes as usual. Mom made a feast as usual, and I'm sure I gained five pounds just from that weekend alone.

That week, Carina randomly texted me asking me if I wanted to go to a major basketball game since she won free tickets from work. COVID had just started spreading around Georgia at that time, so I turned her down since I didn't think being around crowded areas was a good idea. Lol she ended not going either, but we made plans to get dinner the next week anyway.

We decided to try out Orient Express because 1) it's in a train station! and 2) Asian restaurants, especially Chinese ones, were losing business because of racism, so we wanted to support an Asian restaurant. It was really good! I already knew it was good, because my coworker really recommended it, and I trust him since he's a big Asian foodie lol. 


Then we walked around Vinings and caught up some more. We made so many plans since we were both introverts who needed to get out of the house more. We had already made plans to hangout again next week and go to concerts with each other since no one else we knew liked the same niche bands like we did! 

Then everything started closing because COVID was rampantly spreading around the state. My office also announced that we'd be work from home for a while until things got better that Friday.

I was supposed to meet my girlfriends for a going away brunch the next day because Shanice was moving to DC in the next few weeks. Originally, we were going to eat out, but we decided to make brunch at my place since a lot of restaurants were take-out only and we weren't sure if it was safe to go to public places anymore. It was still fun even though Meethu wasn't able to make it, since we caught up, made a lot of food, and watched a movie lol.

Then, I spent my first week work from home with my siblings since they're companies also issued that order. I was okay the first few days, but I definitely lost motivation towards the end of the week. Luckily, I created "Daily Stand Up" meetings at lunch every weekday for my coworkers and I to catch up every day, so we could still goof off together at lunch like usual. It was definitely a good idea so that we could chat and see each other at least once every day or two and have human interaction with people outside of our homes lol.

The second week was definitely difficult for me. It reinforced the recent realization I had that I actually enjoy going out and being busy on weekends. I learned that even though I am a homebody at times, I like being home on my own terms. I realized I wasn't doing so well when I started losing my appetite and not want to eat at anytime of the day. However, it led me to design and get a new tattoo that Friday when I took a day off of work lol. 

I've been wanting a new tattoo for a while, but it wasn't until the previous week that I finally decided on what type of tattoo I wanted, which was a band of magnolia flowers wrapping around my upper thigh. It took around five hours and was pretty painful around my inner thigh (I wanted to die lol), but I love it so much! Getting the tattoo really helped improve my mood because I always felt happy whenever I looked at it.


I forgot how much tattoo aftercare was a pain though lol.

March felt like it was a whole year in itself. Every day felt so long. Work felt like forever. Even when it was March 31st, it felt like it had been a week. 

One of the highlights of the month was the fact that my cousins kept us fed in the groupchat with lots of adorable pics and vids of their babies! :D

Overall, March was a mixed bag of emotions. 2/5 would not recommend!

Monday, May 4, 2020

Books I Want to Read This Month

I read two books off of this list last month! Let's keep this trend going even though I've been mainly reading Chinese translated novels lately lol. I'm gonna try to balance it out by reading physical books since I have been buying some more books recently.
  1. Steel Crow Saga by Paul Kreuger
  2. Fuck Happiness: How Women Are Ditching the Cult of Positivity and Choosing Radical Joy by Ariel Gore
  3. Yona of the Dawn vol. 1 by Mizuho Kusanagi
  4. The Bride was a Boy by Chii
  5. The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins
  6. Hope is the Thing: A Collection of Poems by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Evan Robertson
  7. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
  8. Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
  9. Uncaged Wildflower by Jennae Cecilia
  10. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
  11. becoming. by Renaada Williams
  12. beyond rock bottom. by Kara Petrovic
  13. Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav
  14. The Consumption of Magic by T.J. Klune
  15. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Friday, May 1, 2020

April in Retrospect

This is probably a record for me. I managed to read 20 books this month! Lol most of them are Chinese translated novels, so you can definitely tell what's been my latest obsession last month. I stayed up late multiple times reading through the night because they're so addicting. Do I regret it? Probably. I think my body hates me since I've been getting headaches if I stay up later than 2 now lol.

I also managed to watch a couple of shows and movies off of my Quarantine to Watch List, which I'm happy about. A couple shows I'm currently watching have finished airing, so I expect to finish watching them this month!

I read:
  • 101 Corporate Haiku by William Warriner
  • My Vegetative Partner Opened His Eyes in Anger After I Ran Away by Black Cat Nini
  • Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen
  • Physical Contact by An Qi
  • Wang Ye Captures His Wife by Tang Yin
  • My Daughter is the Family Head by Yu Wanwan
  • Good Morning, Miss Undercover by Guan Jiu
  • Flash Marriage by Jiu Xiao Qi
  • Honey Stewed Squid by Mo Bao Fei Bao
  • The Most Majestic You by Sui Wei
  • The Daybreak by Momoka Inujima
  • You're My Glory by Gu Man
  • Tea of Summer by Si Zhi
  • My Dad Is the Galaxy’s Prince Charming by You Qian
  • Film Emperor's Reincarnation Script by Bing Mao, Yuanyang, & Xin Yeyu
  • I Just Want to Be in a Relationship by Lian Shuo
  • My Former Significant Others Were All Alphas by Yan ZhouMu
  • The Daily Task of Preventing My Disciple from Turning to the Dark Side by Black Cat Nini
  • When an Angst Writer Meets a Doting Writer by San Yan
  • The Short Story of ShaoWang by Little Ice Cube

I watched:
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments (2018)
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath of the Gods (2019)
  • The Founder (2016)
  • Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)
  • Wait, My Youth (2019)