Tuesday, June 28, 2022

MAY: Chicago Trip, Avoiding Covid, New Job, Extreme Cheapskates, Jackie’s Bachelorette, Hiking & Repotting Plants

This month was WILD. So much happened in the span of a few weeks!

First, I went to Chicago with Alec and Jessica and hung out with my cousin for a couple of days. You can read more about our food adventures here.

Then, as Alec and I were waiting to board our flight back home, Shelle texted me not to go home because she tested positive for Covid and that they were waiting for Kyle’s results, but he probably had it, too, because he started developing symptoms not long after she became sick. Luckily, they were fine. They just felt super tired for a few days and mainly had cold symptoms.

But I had to go home because I started my new job in a few days. I needed to go to the office for my orientation and everything, so I needed to pick up clothes and stuff from home and bring it back to Alec’s house. He let me stay at his house while he and his family drove to DC that week to move his parents’ cars and help unpack at their new condo in DC. They were also stopping by some family’s house in NC, so it was a weeklong trip.

Basically, I was staying at my bf’s house alone for a week while I started a new job over an hour's drive away. It was a weird situation lol.

But work was fun. There was a lot of information to take in and a lot of people to meet in the team and sitting around our area in the office, so I’ve been enjoying it so far. I really hated the drive because there’s just SO MUCH TRAFFIC, especially if you’re driving south. But I got used to listening to podcasts during the drives to keep me awake and interested. I also didn’t really want to cook, so I was lucky enough to have leftovers to eat at home, and there were a lot of food options near the office to keep me fed during the week lol.

Shelle and Kyle still tested positive the next week even though they both felt fine, so I stayed at Alec’s house for another two weeks. Luckily, Alec came back from DC, and I had someone to feed me again lolol.

We also somehow got into watching TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates on Youtube and were both shocked and humbled by the way people acted. We later found out that a lot of it was exaggerated or scripted, so we felt bad for the Asian girl, Kate, on the show who got bullied after it first aired.

One extreme cheapskate was an older lady who was dating this guy. They had a one month trial period of living together, and it was interesting seeing how she tried to keep her living expenses down while living with another person. It also made Alec and I realize that we were basically having a one month  trial period living together, too. And it seemed to go over pretty well! My main complaint is the long drive to work!

We had Jackie’s bachelorette one of those weekends. This bachelorette was planned over 1.5 years ago when we had high hopes of traveling again lol. But then the outbreaks kept on occurring, so we decided to just have it in downtown Atlanta since Jackie said before that she hasn’t really experienced it before because she’s always been too scared to drive in Atlanta herself. Luckily, she really enjoyed it!

The last day of the bachelorette, Shelle texted me and said that they were finally negative, so I could finally go home. Unfortunately, I had all of my stuff at Alec’s house, so I didn’t go back home until that Friday just because the weather was bad all week, and I didn’t want to deal with that traffic lol.

Alec also drove up with me because it was Memorial Day weekend, so we were planning on hiking on one of those days. Because it was so hot that weekend, I decided to go to the Leita Thompson Memorial Park nearby instead because I knew that it was shaded and less likely to kill me lol.

After that, we drove back home and found out that Shelle was repotting her plants outside, so Alec helped out because he loves plants. That guy was in his element helping her out lol. Meanwhile, I just read on the side while occasionally grabbing stuff for them.

But yeah, it was a long and eventful (sometimes exhausting) month!

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Webnovel Review: My Sister is a Female Partner by 闲杬

Title: My Sister is a Female Partner
Author: 闲杬
Chapters: 137 chapters 
Publication: 2016
Summary from Wattpad:

A certain girl finds herself dressed as the soul character of Marie Su's apocalyptic novel. The sister of the original owner is one of the most miserable female counterparts in the book. The sister must be saved, and the hostess can fight. There is nothing terrible about it. But first... She has to live by herself and change the fate of the cannon fodder in the three chapters... 

Copywriting scum, please include the content tags: Doomsday Female Wearing Book Search Keyword: Protagonist: Su Yunshui┃ Supporting Actor: ┃ Others: Female Matching, End of the world, wear the book

2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

This novel started off pretty well. Su Yunshui's struggles to grow and level up as a cannon fodder character was realistic, especially whenever she would clash with the female lead who had the Mary Su halo advantage. 

However, the mysteries and forced being kept in the dark for so long got really long and boring. Instead of keeping my attention using all of these hints and cut off conversations, I got bored and didn't care about it because it seemed like it was stalling for time instead. When everything was finally revealed, I still wasn't interested. I think it was because I got tired of all of the family drama. 

Su Yunshui was always worried about her family. If she wasn't being forced to do something because of her family, she was out trying to prevent something from happening to her family. She was always reactionary and seemed to only live for her family. I could understand that better if she was grew up with her family and had indelibly deep ties, but she only transmigrated into the book three years ago! Three years isn't too long or too short to create bonds, but the amount of time she spent worried about her sister and mom felt like she had no personality for herself, which made HER boring. 

Also, I didn't even really know that there was a male lead until maybe a third way through the book. Even then, he didn't show up often. If you were hoping to read romance, read somewhere else. There's like, a crumb of romantic interest right at the end of the book. I wasn't even expecting it. I thought that Su Yunshui was only going to live for her family with the way things were going. 

This was not the the best zombie apocalypse book I've ever read. Wouldn't recommend it unless you have time to kill and like reading about family drama.

Monday, June 20, 2022

Jackie's Bachelorette

Friday, May 20th:

  • Emily picked me up before we drove down to pick up Shanice at the airport
  • Met up with Meethu and Jackie at Krog Street Market for lunch. We ordered food from half of the places, and all of it was great!
  • Rode Bird scooters down the Beltline to the Ponce City Market area
  • Ordered drinks and sat outside in the shade to chat while we waited to check into our Airbnb nearby
  • Stopped by Kroger for some supplies and snacks before heading to the Airbnb
  • Dressed up for a night out and all unintentionally matched wearing black
  • Surprised Jackie by going to Lips! The food wasn’t super great, but the performances were fun
  • Went back to the beltline to order more drinks before going back to the Airbnb and talking super late at night. It was great catching up with everyone; still weird that I’m the only one left not engaged or married lol


Saturday, May 21st:

  • Went to brunch at The Roof at Ponce City Market. Sat outside under the awning, so we had a great view but weren’t burning under the sun. We wore our matching Hello Kitty bride and bachelorette shirts, which was super cute!
  • Walked around Ponce and bought more snacks
  • Walked to Kroger nearby to buy wine and snacks for later that night. After drinking a mix of great and just okay drinks, we decided it was better (and cheaper) to buy some wine and drink at home lol
  • Went back and got ready for our fancy schmancy dinner at Canoe. Our waiter was AWESOME, and the food was nice, but I think I definitely prefer food with more spices in it lol
  • Took an uber to the Battery nearby to go do an art heist escape room. It was only fitting since we were already dressed up and ready to go to a museum like in the escape room lol
  • Walked around the battery before going back to the Airbnb to drink wine and eat snacks for the rest of the night


Sunday, May 22nd:

  • While everyone else was packing up, Emily and Meethu walked to Bomb Biscuit Atlanta and picked us up breakfast. We’ve walked past it a couple of times during the weekend and wanted to give it a try since it seemed pretty popular. The Hot Honey Fried Chicken biscuit was good, especially if you had some of the hot honey sauce on the side to drizzle on top!
  • Checked out and went home.
  • All in all, a successful bachelorette! One down, one more to go! :D

Friday, June 17, 2022

Mini Reviews: Married to the Male Lead’s Brother, The Boss Became My Three-year-old Son, Lucky Bag in the 1980s

Title: Married to the Male Lead’s Brother
Author: 美人无霜
Chapters: 125 chapters + 8 extras
Publication: 2021
Summary from Novel Updates:

Ning Zhi transmigrated into a female supporting character who ran away from her wedding.

The original novel was a fluffy book on the love between the male and female leads.

The cannon fodder female supporting character, who had also married into a prestigious family, was caught while trying to escape her marriage which had led to her difficult days in the prestigious family.

In addition, her husband was autistic and, for the sake of pursing true love, she made a tragedy out of her own life.

Recalling the awful ending of the female supporting character in the novel, Ning Zhi expressed that she would never try to run away from her marriage. What was wrong with having globs of money? Or was her husband not cute enough?

3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW:
 

This was a light and fluffy book. Lu Jue was super cute, and I loved how Ning Zhi and him both slowly fell for each other. It was fun reading about how Ning Zhi loved teasing Lu Jue to death lol. 

A main point should be stated: The autism depicted in the book is not accurate nor can it be cured. If that bothers you, then don't read it. If you just want some cute fluff, then I highly recommend it. 



Title: The Boss Became My Three-Year-Old Son
Author: 美人无霜
Chapters: 132 chapters
Publication: N/A
Summary from Wattpad:

In the book, the beautiful and cheap female paired with the male protagonist couldn't ask for it. After the male protagonist's death, she picked up the male protagonist's three-year-old son, facing a face that looked very similar to the male protagonist. Child abuse is fun.

Later, when the female partner ended tragically, she was told by the heroine that the child was not the son of the hero, but the hero himself.

When she woke up, Tang Su found herself dressed as this arrogant and vicious female partner. Looking at the three-year-old cute baby sitting in front of her house, Tang Su's extremely beautiful face was instantly full of smiles. Fortunately, everything was still too late, and the female partner had not yet begun to abuse the child.

In order to prevent the tragic ending in the book from happening, she needs to take care of the child, take care of him, care for him, pet him, and wait for him to be picked up by the hostess.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW: 

This is another fluffy romance about a girl transmigrating into a villainess and trying to prevent her tragic ending. It's just a little funnier because the male lead randomly becomes a 3 year old after a car accident, and his slow progression of feelings for Tang Su is pretty amusing. It also never explained why he shrunk into a 3 year old either. 

This is a slow romance with lots of face-slapping and unnecessary descriptions about how beautiful Tang Su is and how handsome Yan Jinyang is. There's also lots of spoiling and pampering. If that's you're cup of tea, then start reading this book!



Title: Lucky Bag in the 1980s
Author: Yang Sheng Luobi
Chapters: 61 chapters
Publication: 2021
Summary from Wattpad:

Upon waking up, Ye Jiaying dressed as the daughter of the captain of the Red Star production team. The third house of the Ye family gave birth to nine sons, but Ye Jiaying had a beautiful baby girl. The whole family was extremely rare. Grandparents guarded, father and mother petted, and nine older brothers held them; everyone in the village said that the little girls of the Ye family are always blessed. In stark contrast to Ye Jiaying is the son of Li Lap's family in the east of the village; his mother ran away after giving birth, and his father drank and beat him all day, refused to eat, and was scolded as a broom star by the villagers; Ye Jiaying saw that he was pitiful, Save the eggs and snacks secretly to him.

 As a result, one day, a small car came to the village, and a couple came down crying while holding Li's lame son; "Son, we are your biological parents!" Ye Jiaying ate a civet cat in exchange for the crown prince's melon, but didn't want to be small. The boy held her hand tightly before leaving; "You are not allowed to give food to others in the future, no one can do it!" Ten years later, when an extravagant boy driving a luxury car appeared in the village, he picked up Ye Jiaying. When I was in college, the whole village was a sensation! Ye Jiaying looked at the young man against the light, the little lone wolf in his memory finally became the dazzling existence everyone looked up to; the young man stood still in front of the beautiful girl, she was the only light in his dark world! He just wants to pet her, pet her, pet her. 

Reading Guide: Healing Fairy VS Meiqiang and the Great Devil Content Tags: Traveling through time and space, sweet and cool, chronological search keywords: Protagonist: Ye Jiaying┃ Supporting role: ┃

3 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

I quite liked the slice of life, gradual growth between the main leads and their family. It was refreshing to read about strong family relationships where there's no toxic sibling or in-law conflicts. However, this book also showcased terrible human beings who have no right to be a parent. 

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Shows I'm Currently Watching: The Masked Singer, Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs, Spy x Family, Haikyuu!! To the Top, Obi-Wan Kenobi

I haven't made one of these posts in a while, so I thought I'd share the shows I'm currently watching!

CURRENTLY WATCHING:

The Masked Singer Season 2

We started watching this a while ago when my parents came up to visit, and my dad surprisingly really enjoyed it. I think it's because the show is pretty similar to Paris By Night where there's lots of live singing and small skits lol. My dad also liked the whole guessing parts even though most of us didn't know any of the contestants lol. I got Alec to finish watching the first season with me when I was staying over at his place, so now we're planning to start watching season 2 soon!


Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs

Alec and I watched the first episode on a whim when it first came out and unexpectedly really like it! I love how the main guy keeps on acting like a jerk to the main characters in the game lol. Also thought it was pretty funny about the world setting being a reverse harem, so guys in the show have to try to woo women with tea parties and appointments. 

So yeah, now Alec and I are waiting for the new episodes every weekend! 


Spy x Family

Funny enough, I bought the manga volumes when they first came out because I thought the art was cute, and the plot sounded funny. I was waiting for more volumes to be released before binge reading them all. Next thing I know, there was an announcement that it was being turned into an anime! Then, life got busy, so I never read the manga and the anime premiered. Alec had already started watching it and convinced me to watch it with him weekly, so here I am, impatiently waiting every weekend for a new episode to come out. It's just so cute and wholesome! I love their fake family lol.


Haikyuu!! To the Top

It's been almost half a year since Shelle, Kyle, and I finished watching the third season, so I definitely forgot a lot of characters after we started watching this season. But what can you do, we've been busy these past few months and haven't had enough time to sit down and watch a show together for a while since we've been in and out of the house for a while. Either way, Haikyuu continues to be super wholesome and funny and inspiring. 


Obi-Wan Kenobi

We've been watching every episode once they come out because Kyle is a big Obi-Wan fan, and I really like it! The amount of details each episode shows is astonishing! I do feel bad for the actress playing Third Sister. Apparently, she's been receiving a lot of racist, hate comments because of her character. It's just a show! Obviously, her character's not real! I don't know how they totally missed the spaceships and aliens to think otherwise!


RECENTLY FINISHED: 

In the Land of Leadale

Finished watching this pretty quickly in the span of two days after work because I needed something cute and relaxing to watch while I decompressed from the long commute for my new job while I was staying at Alec's house alone. I liked how even though the show was a slice of life, Cayna still had little side missions to help keep the plot moving and how the plot wasn't about how OP she was. Instead, she was just enjoying life since she wasn't able to before she died.

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Mini Reviews: Luobei of the Last Days, Su Qin Reborn in the Last Days, The Prince in His Dark Days vol. 1

Title:
Luobei of the Last Days
Author: Su Su Xiu
Chapters: 92 chapters
Publication: N/A
Summary from Wattpad:
The strong cute girl from the Magic Continent has become a female partner in a book she has never read. How can Luo Bei, a cute and soft girl, deal with this unexpected situation? Let's look at how Luobei recruited younger brothers, created her own business, and met beautiful love in the crisis-ridden apocalypse. Cute martial arts high-strength soft girl VS domineering loyal dog male white dog blood, don't like a cross, don't spray ==
2.5 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW:


The writing style was immature, especially for the first half of the novel when the author kept on saying "Let's go back to Luobei..." as a transition and breaking the 4th wall by inserting her own author's comments into the text.

The whole book was okay. The female and male lead were OP, the romance was boring, the female lead won people over with just her cute face and eventually her skills, and the action scenes weren't that exciting. I actually preferred Luobei dynamics with her siscon brother lol.

I wanted to quit after 70 chapters, but I was close to the end so I started skimming the rest of the chapters. Not the best apocalyptic novel, but it's also not the worst.



Title:
Su Qin Reborn in the Last Days
Author: 请叫我山大王
Chapters: 140 chapters + 10 extras
Publication: 2014
Summary from jjwxc:
The end of the world is approaching, zombies are rampant, and people's hearts are strange.

Su Qin struggled to survive for three years in the apocalypse. Seeing that there is a glimmer of survival in the future, she was killed by her "relatives" who had been desperately protecting her for three years, together with her life.

When she opened her eyes again, it was already three years ago, and the apocalypse had not yet come, and she had a chance to start over. This time, she had no other expectations, but just hoped to live and live well. .

And the weak cousin who can't help screaming when she sees zombies three years after the apocalypse, she really wants to see how she can eat people in this zombie without her protecting her from the beginning. The human world is struggling to survive...

The heroine of this article has a cold personality, has a coffin face for many years, and has strong hands-on ability...
3.5 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW:


This was super exciting! I stayed awake until 5AM finishing the book because I couldn't stop reading!

Su Qin's adventures with her team was super fun and exciting. They all encountered so many life and death situations that her team formed an indelible bond that was hard to find even when some members left the group. Thanks to them, Su Qin slowly came out of her shell from her past betrayal in her last life.

Also, the romance is very light. It's more hinted than anything else, but don't let that deter you, because everyone else notices the love interests except for Su Qin lol.



Title:
The Prince in His Dark Days vol. 1
Author: Hiko Yamanaka
Pages: 160
Publication: 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
Atsuko's father is a drunk, and she's shunned by her classmates as "the poor kid." Walking the streets in a dark fog of despair, Atsuko cons perverts out of their money to survive. Then, one day, she meets Itaru, the heir to a wealthy family, who happens to look exactly like her. Itaru hatches a plan: Atsuko will live his tedious public life for him, and she will get a taste of the luxuries enjoyed by the 1%. Everybody's (finally) happy. Right?
2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW:


Like the title implies, this manga was kind of dark. Atsuko deals with a lot of crap just to survive at home with her drunk dad. The other characters also slowly reveal their dark histories as well. But, I just couldn't get into the story.

Atsuko isn't treated well by others because they look down on her, and she also doesn't treat herself well either. It's just bad incidents piling on top of more bad incidents in the name of her feelings about how others treat the guy she's substituting! I wasn't interested enough to read more volumes about how things could maybe get better.

Monday, June 6, 2022

Weekly Haul 148

Shelle's Christmas present for me were these pre-orders from Rightstuf, and they finally came in!

Heaven Official's Blessing vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol. 2 Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation vol. 2 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Books I Want to Read This Month

Gonna try to read something physical this month! I will! 

  1. Oksi by Mari Ahokoivu
  2. Spy x Family vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
  3. Spy x Family vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo
  4. Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo
  5. A Man & His Cat vol. 3 by Umi Sakurai
  6. A Man & His Cat vol. 4 by Umi Sakurai
  7. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori
  8. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 13 by Fujino Omori
  9. Tamiko and the Two Janitors by Forthright 
  10. Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav
  11. Euphoria by F.S. Yousaf
  12. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
  13. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
  14. Home Body by Rupi Kaur
  15. The Sun Will Rise & So Will We by Jennae Cecelia

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

May in Retrospect

Since I've started my new job, there really hasn't been much time for reading :(

I read: 

  • Run with the Ball in the Last Day by 萝卜精
  • I'm The Vicious Cannon Fodder In The Book by 廿乱
  • Rebirth of the Little Mute by 穆青延
  • I Have More Meat in the Last Days by Fei Dao
  • Full Level Bigshot Only Takes the Career Path by 李温酒


I watched: 

  • Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (2022)
  • The Other Guys (2010)
  • The Gentlemen (2019)
  • In the Land of Leadale (2022)
  • The Masked Singer season 1 (2019)