Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Weekly Haul (108)

I absolutely loved The Tempest's cover, so I had to buy while I was in New York. I was so close to buying a bunch of books just for their covers while there lol.


The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Monday, November 26, 2018

New York Trip with the Bae

While initially drafting this post, I wanted to quickly jot down all of the events we experienced  in New York when I came back so I wouldn't forget everything. Looking at the post again, I decided to keep the bullet format to keep the post shorter since they don't need that much explanation.

Overall, this trip was a whirlwind. It started out stressful, was chill and peaceful in the middle, and then was stressful towards the end again lol.

THURSDAY
  • Did not take into account 6AM traffic so we were late to airport
  • Made it to our gate 5 minutes before boarding
  • David put in the wrong hotel in the GPS, so we were walking to the wrong place
  • Didn't look at my gift certificate and ordered way too much food at Kailash Parbat because we hadn't eaten since 6AM, and the menu was slightly confusing (the food was good, so not many regrets lol)
  • Gift certificate didn't even work because we didn't order off of the regular menu :(
  • Explored the New York Public Library and Bryant Park
  • Checked into our hotel room (check-in was at 4PM even though we landed at 11AM)
  • Took a (well deserved) nap
  • Ate our leftovers and walked around Times Square
  • Took some pics and watched a street performance where this guy jumped over a kid and then jumped over 5 adults and ended up hugging the last guy in line lol


FRIDAY
  • The places we had gift certificates to weren't open until noon, so we got brunch at this Korean food court I found the last time I was in New York with my family
  • Walked to Chelsea Market
  • Tried goat milk ice cream with tahini toppings (so good!)
  • Bought a book
  • Walked The High Line and took lots of pics
  • Walked to Keki Modern Cakes and bought one of their famous bouncy cheesecake (had to wait 10 minutes for one since they ran out; the place smelled so good!)
  • Ate it back at the hotel and napped afterwards (amazingly delicious)
  • Got soaked walking through the rain to the ramen shop we passed on the way back from Keki in Korea Town
  • Spent the rest of the night reading my book because we were so wet from the rain and didn't want to explore anymore


SATURDAY
  • Took the subway to Lavain Bakery for their famous cookies
  • There was already a line outside, and we hadn't had breakfast yet, so we ate at the pizza place around the corner (it was so good!)
  • Took the cookies to Central Park to eat and people watch
  • Explored the park and took lots of pictures
  • Took the subway to Chinatown for lunch
  • Walked around and decided to eat at a place with tasty looking pictures at the front and because we overheard a group of millennials say that the place was great
  • Stuffed ourselves with delicious authentic food (you know it's authentic when they play the authentic Chinese music lol)
  • Walked around and got street food (those little waffle bubbles from childhood!)
  • Got ice cream at The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, which is where Amanda took Shelle and me a few years ago (matcha oreo flavor is a great combination)
  • Went back to the hotel to rest
  • Walked to Abiko Curry for dinner (delicious but my curry noodles were so hot that I basically burned my tongue eating it lol)


SUNDAY
  • Took an extra 20 minutes finding the right train and bus to the airport
  • Arrived when we were supposed to start boarding our plane
  • Made it 10 minutes before take off (I was so stressed the whole time lol)
  • Went to get lunch at Pho Dai Loi after we landed
  • GPS wasn't working for a bit when we left, so I got mad
  • Finally arrived at home and rested until Shelle and Kyle came back home
  • Chilled for the rest of the day since I didn't have work the next day since it was Veteran's Day

I hope you like this new format! I might use it in the future (if I remember lol).

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Book Unhaul (16)

Some more books I'm planning on selling back to Second and Charles. I just keep on forgetting to bring them every time I go there lol.


Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff
Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty vol. 1 by Megumi Morino
Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty vol. 2 by Megumi Morino

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Games, Food, Indoor Skydiving, Birthdays, Games, Third Wheeling, & Poetry

If September was a super busy month, I would say that October was a more chill/relaxing month. It was still pretty eventful, but I think I spent more time at home just trying to recover and get more sleep (even though that didn't work lmao).

On the first Saturday of October, David finally got to meet of my coworkers, Dom and Archana. Archana recently bought this game called Who Should I Be With? that we made plans to play on Saturday. Then I realized that David was coming up to visit, so we rearranged our plans to go to Starbucks earlier to play the game, and then get lunch with David at Chai Pani afterwards.

The card game is to help you figure out what traits you want in an ideal partner, so we didn't want to play it with David around since it might make things awkward lol. But we were at Starbucks for around two hours, and we only made it through a third of the deck, so we had to pause the game for another day to make it to lunch on time.

Archana has been wanting to go to Chai Pani for a long time since a lot of her Indian friends told her that it was really good. Then we get there, and she's dissatisfied with the decor because it's too Indian lol. She was like, "It's too Indian! We don't even decorate like this in India!" lmao. But the food was really good, especially the drinks! I wish I remembered what David ordered because his drink was delicious and reminded me of my mom's homemade yogurts. I got the strawberry lassi, which was pretty tasty, too. I almost got the salt lassi until the waitress gave me a sample, and I realized that it was good, but I couldn't handle a whole cup of it lol.


We walked around the area after stuffing ourselves full of food. There seemed to be a roasted bell pepper booth that day, so the smell was really obvious when we walked by. It was such a hot day even though it was a cool morning, so I regretted wearing jeans lol. I also didn't get the memo that we were dressing up that day to take pictures either lol.

All in all, it was a good day. David went home with me afterwards, and we spent the rest of the weekend being bums. :)

So Dom, Archana, and I have been talking about going to iFly, an indoor skydiving place, for a while since there's one super close to our office. The last time we brought it up, I had recently found out that I had an ear infection and opted out lol. But the week before, we finally bit the bullet and booked an appointment for the next Tuesday.

It was really fun! We were poor, so we booked the cheapest option, which was two flights lol. However, we ended up paying an extra $10 to get another option that let us fly super high for the last 30 seconds of our last flight. I'm glad we did! It was awesome going so fast and high!

Because we were all beginners, we had our instructor with us inside of the tube, which was cool since he helped us straighten out and learn how to control ourselves with all of the air blowing at us from below. Lol Archana's first time in there had her bent backwards into a teardrop, and we all learned how flexible she was. XD Dom and I also realized that smiling and laughing was a bad idea because we ended up drooling since our mouths were open lol.

We also weren't able to bring our phones with us into the tube because one person in the past forgot to leave his phone outside and entered the tube with it in his pocket. It slipped out of his pocket and went straight to the top of the tube and shattered into a million pieces because of the fan at the end. So yeah, all phones have to be locked up in their little lockers now.

However, we were able to take pics with all of our equipment on afterwards! Lol this pic is of Dom and me deciding to look like we hit the side of the wall.

That Saturday, I finally had an eye appointment. I haven't had one since I went to Vietnam in 2012, so it's been a while. -__-" Luckily, my doctor told me that my eyesight hasn't changed much, but I got new glasses anyway since it's been so long. They came in this past weekend, but I haven't had a chance to pick them up yet.

The next Wednesday, Dom, Archana, and I went to a Starbucks after work and finished playing Who Should I Be With?. We stayed there until nine playing! In total, we played for around six hours! Our brains were fried towards the end, but we were committed to finishing it that day since we were already so close to the end.

At the end of the game, you're supposed to choose your top six traits that you prefer in an ideal partner, and I found out that I basically want someone similar to me and that David almost fit perfectly into those six traits. That made me wonder if I was being biased when I played the game because I was thinking of David while choosing traits. However, I am dating him because I like him and how he is, so it makes sense that I would choose similar traits in my ideal partner.

Jessica and I were supposed to go to a Gallant concert the next day, but it got canceled because he wasn't completely ready before his tour started. I was really looking forward to it too. :(

That day, Archana spammed our group chat after work about her crisis on trying to find a pair of boots to wear to work when she was at the mall earlier. It was so cute lol. She really didn't know what to choose, so after work on Friday, Shelle and I took her to the mall and helped her find some boots. She ended up getting two pairs and was super happy about them. The most hilarious part was when she asked us, "Why do I have no opinion???" when we were talking about the boots she already tried on lol.

Not long after that, Kyle, Shelle, and I went down to visit the parents. It figured that the one weekend we came to visit, Brian went to Atlanta with his friends lol. Our family hasn't been all together in a while since everyone's all over the place.

It was David's birthday that week, so I saw him the next day. We went out to Your Pie for lunch since I haven't been there before. He actually had food poisoning for the past few days, so we weren't sure if he could handle solids yet, but he was tired of porridge and wanted real food, so we compromised on getting a smoothie afterwards just in case lol.

We went back to my house and napped and hungout until everyone else came home. Then Mom cooked a feast for dinner. She had 10 lbs of ribs that she was waiting for us to visit to finally cook since it was just too much food for her, dad, and Brian to finish alone. She also accidentally bought some giant Idaho potatoes, so Shelle, Mom, and I ended up splitting one potato since it was ginormous! She also made chicken fingers and bacon wrapped shrimp, so I was full pretty quickly lol. Then she packed up most of the food and told us to bring it home with us since it was too much for them to finish at home, so we didn't have to cook anything for that week. :D

David recently started playing Stardew Valley thanks to his sister, Steph, since they have a new multi-player option. I couldn't believe he was playing it since I totally remember him making fun of me when I played it a year or two ago! Lol but he convinced me to start playing again, and now we have a farm together. I definitely don't play as much as him though. He's already so far ahead of me in the game!


That night, we left to go back to Kennesaw since we had plans for the next day. For brunch, we went to get Dim Sum at Happy Valley with one of Shelle's coworkers, Melanie. She was pretty hilarious; I could see why she got along so well with Shelle at work lol.

Afterwards, I had enough time to chill for an hour or two before heading over to Emily's house to carpool to Antico's. Jackie had told us a few weeks ago that she was moving out and moving in with Ben on the 21st, so they were going to Ikea in Atlanta on the 20th to get furniture and wanted to know if we could get dinner together. Obviously, we all tried to make it since Ben has been wanting to meet us for the past few months since it's hard for all of us to get together lol.

So you know how I'm basically third wheeling at home since Shelle and Kyle are married? Well, that night, I became the seventh wheel. Apparently everyone got the memo to bring their boyfriends to dinner except for me lmao. So there was I was, enjoying my own company while everyone else was coupled up. XD It was fun anway; we were just missing Meethu, and it would have been the whole crew. Also, Ben was really nice and was prepared for an interrogation lol.


A few months ago, one of our coworkers, Jessie, posted that she and a friend were going to see one of my favorite poets, Rupi Kaur, in October, so of course Dom and I were interested in going as well. We got Archana hooked onto Rupi as well, so we bought tickets to see her and made plans to get dinner with Jessie and her friend beforehand.

We ate dinner at Alma Cocina, which was downtown and close to the venue, so it was nice to eat and then walk a few blocks to get to the Tabernacle. If anything, it got me excited for David and my New York Trip tomorrow because I liked walking around downtown while it was slightly chilly.

Rupi was hilarious. I've never been to a poetry event before, so I didn't know what to expect, but she was so funny and down to earth and realized how millennial she was at times as well, which made it more funny and relatable lol. I especially liked it when she explained why she wrote some of the poetry she performed.

David spent the following weekend up here with me while Michelle and Kyle went to Texas to see their friends. He had a job interview on Friday, so we mainly just ate out and chilled that weekend.

So yeah, that's how October went. Time flew by so quickly. I'm surprised it's November already. I'm surprised my birthday already past lol. I'm officially a quarter of a century old now. XD

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Books I Want to Read This Month

So I haven't received a copy of Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal yet since Amazon estimated that it'll arrive sometime between this month and December due to being out of stock. Instead, I decided to pay a little extra to get a personalized copy from the author and get it shipped immediately. :) I really hope to read it this month!
  1. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon? vol. 9 by Fujino Omori & Suzuhito Yasuda
  2. Seraph of the End vol. 1 by Takaya Kagami & Yamato Yamamoto
  3. Dengeki Daisy vol. 1 by Kyousuke Motomi
  4. Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal by Forthright
  5. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
  6. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
  7. In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang
  8. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur
  9. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
  10. The Bingo Theory by Mimi Ikonn
  11. On Love by Alain de Botton
  12. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
  13. The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic
  14. The Consumption of Magic by T.J. Klune
  15. Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan

Thursday, November 1, 2018

October in Retrospect

I actually read something this month! However, I mainly got addicted to a Chinese drama and watched anime for the most of this month lol.

I read:
  • Re:Monster vol. 1 by Kogitsune Kanekiru & Kobayakawa Haruyoshi
  • Re:Monster vol. 2 by Kogitsune Kanekiru & Kobayakawa Haruyoshi
  • Re:Monster vol. 3 by Kogitsune Kanekiru & Kobayakawa Haruyoshi

I watched:
  • My Hero Academia Season 3 (2018)
  • Meteor Garden (2018)
  • ReLIFE (2016)
  • ReLIFE: Kanketsu-hen (2018)

Monday, October 29, 2018

Weekly Haul (107)

I bought a couple of books this month and then received a book from Archana who loved On Love so much that she got Dom and me a copy lol.


On Love by Alain de Botton
The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace
Viz Manga Sample 2018
Kenka Bancho Otome vol. 1 by Chie Shimada

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Shows I'm Currently Watching: Tokyo Ghoul:Re, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, ReLIFE, Adam Ruins Everything

I've been watching some great stuff recently! :D Also, this post turned out a lot longer than I expected lol. -__-"

CURRENTLY WATCHING:



I started watching Tokyo Ghoul when I was spending the night in London because I saw that it was available on Netflix, which isn't available on Netflix in the US. That and because I had a lot of friends and family recommend the series. After watching the first few episodes, I finally understood the appeal. I ended up staying up for most of the night and finishing the first season before taking a nap and then heading to the airport a few hours after that. When I finally got back home, I finished Tokyo Ghoul Root A and started Tokyo Ghoul:Re. It's been a few weeks since I started watching it, but I'm hoping to finish it soon since the second season of this just started recently airing.

I was really interested in seeing how Kaneki's philosophy on ghouls changed throughout Tokyo Ghoul, especially towards the end. Tokyo Ghoul Root A was not what I was expecting either. It wasn't as exciting as the first season for me. I found out that the season deviated from the manga, so that was why it was different (and according to most fans, very disappointing). That's why Tokyo Ghoul:Re was pretty confusing for me in the beginning. Apparently this takes place after Root A but is supposed to follow the manga storyline? I'm not too sure, but I was planning on reading the manga after I finished the series anyway to make sense of everything. Lol, everyone in the comment section were all like "Just read the manga. It's better and makes more sense." I also really hate how they censor all of the gore scenes too. I felt like it distracted me from the gravity of the scene.



I had to watch this because the summary was too weird not to lol. Basically, this high school boy finds out that he's to be the wife to this fluffy creature, and the show details the start of their married life. And that's it. That's the summary. The art looked cute, so I was interested to see how it went.

What I didn't realize was that the anime is only five minutes long, and the outro song is around 1:30 seconds! You basically only get 3 minutes of plot! But I'm still interested in it since it has the same vibes as How to Keep a Mummy, which was one of the cutest anime I have ever seen. There are only two episodes out now, but they were pretty entertaining as it is, so I'm going to continue to watch it since it gives me fluffy feelings lol.



I've heard about this light novel series for a while now, but I wasn't interested in reading it since I knew it was still ongoing. Luckily, now it's being made into an anime, so I started watching it to see if I would want to buy the light novels after the anime's over to continue with the plot like how I did for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

I've watched the three episodes available, and I really like it! Yeah, the main character is OP, but he's literally a slime just eating everything that he thinks might be useful for later and becoming powerful because of it. I like the way Rimuru thinks and his friendship with a tsundere dragon is the best lol. I'm looking forward to see how this anime pans out!



I was interested in ReLife for a while since I've seen the webtoon around manga sites I visit. When I found out that it was being adapted into an anime, I was interested in watching it. I planned on waiting until it was finished being aired, and then completely forgot about it until recently when I found it again.

I'm about halfway through the anime, and the plot is interesting because it's about a 28 year old almost NEET taking a pill that makes him look 10 years younger and attending his last year of high school all over again. The characters are entertaining and funny, the animation is nice, and I love how you see the main character slowly start caring about his classmates. Plus, there's hints about a failed test subject before him that look intriguing, so I'm interested to see what that's all about.



The show has been added to Netflix recently, so we've watched a couple of episodes in between cooking and chilling at home. I forgot how informative his show is; I've definitely learned a lot in the few episodes we've watch so far. I remember when his show was super popular on Facebook with everyone reposting his videos. Wonder what happened since I haven't heard much about him recently.

FINISHED:



Michelle and I have been planning on watching as soon as it was finished airing on Netflix, but between my Abu Dhabi trip and vacation, we only recently got around to watching it. Omg, it took over our lives for 9 days straight. I'm so sleep deprived now lol.

But the drama was really entertaining! I loved how childish Dao Ming Si was; once he got over his bad boy image, he was literally an immature child who's used to getting his way and pouts when he doesn't lol. Shancai was pretty interesting, too, but she was also really wishy washy towards the middle, which got annoying. Lei was also great! I loved how he always had these witty remarks after he got over his issues towards the beginning. Plus, he always looked so adorable, like a puppy lol. One of my favorite scenes was when Dao Ming Si's friends try to help him practice apologizing to Shancai by trying to get him to look innocent like Lei. It was too funny!



This was such an important season regarding character development. We've got Midoriya learning better ways to control his quirk and understanding the importance of his role with All Might's big reveal. We've got his classmates' growth during the provincial license exam and just how impactful having Midoriya and Bakugo as classmates have inspired the rest of 1A to be better heroes. Finally, we've got Bakugo's character growth, an accumulation of recent events finally getting him to explosively talk about his feelings and ending with them as proper rivals. It's been a long time coming, and I am living for it. ;__;

But yeah, a great season, and I'm looking forward to the next one since the anime is about to catch up the where I left of in the manga series two years ago. :D