Adventures

Tomorrow I start a new adventure. And the day after that, I start another new adventure.What are these adventures you ask? Well. Tomorrow, I start language maintenance class. It's been a really long time since I've REALLY studied Korean, so it's definitely going to be an adventure. And the day after tomorrow (we really need a word for that) I start Camp NaNoWriMo April. This will be my first time doing a Camp, and I'm pretty excited. I have my story all laid out in my head, my cast of characters keeps developing to be better and better, and I'm actually excited about this one. It's going to rock.

Do you have any upcoming adventures? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Once Upon A Time

I got into the Once Upon A Time (OUAT) franchise back when the first season was airing. I watched it on Hulu with my roommate at the time, after doing homework and before going to bed. It was a nice way to wind down after the long day, and a great way for me and my roommate to bond over. Somewhere around the middle of the season things came up for me and she wound up watching without me, and then I just sort of stopped watching it. It wasn't that it wasn't interesting, it was just that the fun watching it together-ness had been lost because she went ahead and watched without me.

When season one came out on DVD I bought it and eventually finished watching it. It was good, and had a happy ending, with the usual American TV cliff hanger tacked on at the end. Then, when the second season came out, I bought that as well. However this time, I only got around to watching one or two episodes before I set it aside for other viewerly pursuits. It wasn't that the second season was bad or anything, I was just in the mood for something different, and my reading and watching of things is all dictated by my mood.

Then two weeks ago at work, we caught season three on the TV, as well as some episode of the spin off series, and my interest was renewed. So last week, on my off days, I marathoned season two to catch up. Then I got the iTunes season pass for the spin off, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland (OUATWonderland), and watched that over the weekend and my days off this week. Watching almost all of it all at once has given me a unique perspective and a glimpse at the big picture, as well as a pretty good idea of why I fell in love with this show, and why I keep coming back.

Because honestly, this is one of the best American shows I've seen in a long time. Both of them, although I prefer the spin off by a small margin, are very well done, with all well-rounded characters. But here's why I'm watching this show, and will continue to until it's series finale, hopefully in the far future.

Every character has a back story that is relevant to the story. There are no flat characters anywhere. And best of all, the villains all have logical motivations and histories that lead them to do what they do. It all makes sense, and is completely transparent about it. This is what I like. Real characters with real dreams and wishes and motives. There is no such thing as an evil-to-be-evil character in either of these series. It's very much like real life; everyone has a story of how they got to where they are.

Another thing is how the stories really delve into what love is, and all the different variations it can take and how a person's past and character can influence how things turn out. For example, in OUAT there are many different relationships to look at. There is the 'true love' relationship of Snow White and Prince Charming, the mother-son relationship of Henry and Regina, as well as the different type of mother-son relationship between Henry and his biological mother, Emma. And those are just a few from OUAT.

The biggest contrasting relationships, and the ones I enjoy watching the most, are the main and secondary couples in OUATWonderland. The main couple is Alice and Cyrus, and theirs is one of those adorable 'true love' romances that everyone wants. It  makes me all giggly just watching how hard they work to be together, how much faith they have in each other. I talked a bit about them in my Top 10 post on Sunday.

To contrast that relationship, there is the secondary couple of Will and Ana. Now this relationship is the perfect example of a failed relationship because of personal weaknesses on both parts. Ana was tempted by wealth and a life of luxury, and succumbed, though she regretted it almost immediately afterwards and this regret became her motivation for everything she does afterwards. Will, other the other hand, didn't have the faith to keep waiting for her to change her mind and come back to him, and he allowed someone to talk him into making a stupid decision. And so he suffered for it, and she suffered for it, and it is so heartbreaking to watch them both struggle with the consequences of their weaknesses.

To say I'm excited for the next episode of OUATWonderland would be an understatement.

What is your favorite movie or tv show that has the realest characters you've seen? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Top Ten Most Adorable Couples

The last little bit I've been watching the TV show Once Upon A Time and it's spin off, and it's got me thinking about all my favorite TV and literature couples. These couples making reading and watching worth it. Their adorableness makes me smile and root for them through all the crappy things they have to live through. Now, because there are so many to choose from, I have to set down some ground rules. The first,
I can only chose one couple per franchise. The second, they have to actually elicit a response from me when they are together. e.g. squealing, hand-flailing, general fan-girling. Third, they can't be a real-life couple. That would make a different list. And the fourth, they have to actually end up together in the end.

So, here's the list of my top ten favorite adorable couples of TV and literature.

10. Cath and Levi, from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - This is one of my top favorite books of all time, and surprise! it's a contemporary novel. The realness of these two makes the adorableness even better and while it took them a bit to get together, once they were official it was just perfect.

9. Katie and Tomohiro, from Ink by Amanda Sun - This couple was just adorable, as are all the couples on this list. They started out antagonistic, but once they got to know each other, oh the sparks were so cute. It was especially great to see the very American Katie trying to come to terms with the very Japanese Tomo.

8. Cutter and Leetah, from Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini - These two had a very rough start. But once they reconciled and really got to know each other, they were so perfect together. The rough and the refined, the moon and the sun, the wild and the civilized. They were perfect opposites and yet so perfect for each other.

7. Ruby and Liam, from The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken - Two slightly broken teens in a very broken world. The romance that happened between these two was so sweet and cute to watch, and it was truly heartbreaking to see them part. But they got back together because NOTHING stands in the way of true love. Not even having your memories stolen.

6. Amy and Rory, from Doctor Who - How can you say no to the man that waited 2,000 years to see his girl again? How can you say no to the woman who gave up all of time and space to be with her man the rest of her life? You can't.

5. Katy and Daemon, from The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout - This couple makes me giggle and fan-girl until I'm silly. It's hard not to enjoy reading about the girl who won't take the boy's crap and the boy who would burn down the world to make sure his girl is safe. And this boy definitely could do that, so no one had better stand in his way.

4.Alice and Cyrus, from Once Upon A Time In Wonderland - It was hard picking this couple because in the OUAT franchise there are more than a handful of couples worthy of this list. But of the couples, my favorite is by far Alice and Cyrus. They are an adorable couple together, and the faith they have in each other is amazing and something few get to enjoy.

3. Cha Bong-seon and Seo Jae-hee, from Me Too, Flower! - This couple went through so many ups and downs together it made all the ups that much more special and adorable. Especially since the two of them needed each other so much that when they weren't together it was hard to keep watching. But when they finally managed to get past all the crap standing in their way, the fan-girls cheered and the world celebrated another perfect couple.

2. Kim Boong-do and Choi Hee-jin, from Queen In-hyun's Man - Their meeting was fate, and their romance was adorable and heartbreaking and ended so wonderfully. A sword-wielding scholar from ancient Korea and a B-list Korean actress? You could never guess how right they were for each other, and how hard they fought to be together.

1. Alice and Hatter, from SyFy's Alice - I thought it would be hard picking a number one couple, but this was far from the truth. Because Alice and Hatter have always been my favorite couple and always will be. The way they go from strangers who are just using each other to further their own goals to the couple who trust each other as much as they did in the end, it was just beautiful and natural and wonderful and lots of other -fuls. And their reunion at the end? Nothing short of perfect. Buttercup and Wesley ain't got nothing on that kiss.

So who are your favorite fictional couples? Tell me about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Note: All pictures were taken from the internet and belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

It's All Just A Matter of Opinion

Unless it's fact (e.g. the sun is round, the Earth goes around the sun, etc.) everything is a matter of opinion. That song was great. This movie was amazing. That was the worst food ever. [insert type of person] are stupid. Those kinds of things cannot be stated as fact, and are statements that should be made with caution. Because someone somewhere didn't like that song, thought the movie was poorly made, loved that food, and wants to be [insert type of person].

So when you call me stupid and fadish for the kind of music I like to listen to, slam the type of movies I like, say mean things about the type of books I like, that hurts me and makes me upset. Just because your opinion is different than mine does not make it any more or less valid than mine. I don't slam your likes, so I'll thank you if you don't bash mine.

Thanks for reading.

Things

Sometimes life has an annoying way of getting in the way of things.

This week has been a bit stressful at work, more so than usual, and it's carried over into my off days, where I've been too overwhelmed and stressed to do anything more than sit and crochet while watching movies. I've progressed a lot on the lap blanket I'm making, but other than that nothing has gotten done. Which is why I missed three days of blogging. I'm really sorry about that. I knew it was bound to happen at some point, but I'm still sorry it did.

But like all things in life, it's best to just acknowledge the mistake and move forward. So here I am, moving forward.

I've been in a really bad writing slump recently. Nothing seems to be able to pull me out of it, and while this is really good for my reading (I'm reading a ton nowadays) it's really bad for my future as a writer. Today I picked up my first novel and started re-reading it. I wrote it for the 2008 NaNoWriMo, and it was my first winning year. It's a great story idea, about a teenager girl who learns she is the Greek goddess Artemis, although at the time I wasn't the greatest writer. It definitely been a laugh, reading what I had written as a 19 year old. It's almost like taking a peek at my state of mind at the time, like a time capsule.

Someday, I'm going to finish getting this story publishable.

Starting today, I'm going to be back on schedule, so look for a post on Thursday, and again on Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks for reading!

Coming Soon

I need to write more. And not only do I need to write more, I need to include writing as a topic on this blog more often. Technically that's what the blog is supposed to be about, but I got a bit distracted. To fix this, I've come up with an idea. I already do regular posts on Sunday and Thursday. I never thought I would actually be able to keep up with that, but so far I have managed it pretty well. There have been a few times where I've slipped up on writing something interesting, but there's always been something to read on Sunday and Thursday.

So here's my idea: Once a week I find myself a writing prompt, either on creativewritingprompts.com, Sunday Scribblings, or the Brainstormer app on my iPad, and spend half an hour writing something based on that. I will then post that something here on Saturday, which will hereby be called Story Saturday. I will also include at the beginning what prompt I used, and you are welcome to take it and use it to fuel your own story-writing.

My goal is to improve my writing craft on a more regular basis, as well as give you something fun to read other than my sometimes ramble-y or dry posts.

Then maybe to even things out, I'll find some kind of series or other to post on Tuesdays, like Korea or food or something. It's going to be great.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: This is going to start next week, because this week was kind of hectic at work.

The Great McDonald's Bulgogi Burger

 A little bit ago I promised my best friend I would try the bulgogi burger at a Korean McDonald's for her, and tell her how it is. So, on my way home from a trip to Seoul, I stopped at the McDonald's outside the main gate and got one.

I'm not one to eat burgers very often. I only sort of like fast food, my wallet doesn't like fast food at all, and my body tends to react in annoying ways, like gaining weight. But occasionally I 'treat' myself, usually when I'm with other people. So it's not like fast food is a foreign concept for me. On the other side of this, however, most of the time when I do get burger-type fast food, I go for the chicken, instead of the beef. I don't know why, it's just been a thing I've done for the last couple of years. I don't think I've had an actually 'ham'burger in a really long time.

The McDonald's was a bit busy. It was about nine o'clock and the bars were all hopping outside, so of course the food places were full of people as well. And the girl at the counter didn't seem to understand my Korean, which left me a little disappointed, but oh well. I ordered a bulgogi burger meal with orange Fanta, got my food, and escaped the press of tipsy couples to finish my trip back onto base.

The line for a taxi just inside the gate was a bit long, longer than I was willing to wait, and so I walked. It's really only a fifteen minute walk, and while it was getting a bit chilly and I only had a light leather jacket on, I wasn't going to freeze to death walking back to my dorm. My hands were full of bags of treasures from my shopping in Seoul and my food, so I was worried that the burger and fries would get smooshed, but when I finally slid my key-card into the lock and got out of the cold into my room, everything was fine.

I set my treasure bags aside, to be gone through later, and put the McDonald's bag on the desk. The bag was a little crumbled from where I held it, and I was so sure that the food had gone cold. The only food normally hot that is also good cold is pizza, and I wasn't looking forward to trying a new food cold. I hesitantly reached into the bag and pulled out first the fries, which thankfully were still warm, and the burger.

It was small, or rather normal sized, compared to the burgers I was used to in the states. It wasn't hot, but at least it was still warm, which was more than I had been expecting, and probably more than I deserved after trekking through through the cold for fifteen minutes. The Hangul on the wrapper said 'Bulgogi Burger' and 'Anytime, just right for my mouth!' as well as some English I didn't pay attention to. I opened the wrapper with some trepidation: What kind of burger was it? What would it taste like? Would I like it?

It looked surprisingly like a normal burger. It was pretty plain, too, just the patty, lettuce, and some sauce, which is just how I like things. No tomato or pickle to pick off. I looked at it for a moment before realizing that the longer I waited the colder it got. Fearing it had already gotten too cold, I grabbed the burger, a little roughly, and stuffed it as far into my mouth as I could fit it. (Not very lady-like, I know.)

Immediately my mouth was filled with the most amazing flavor, like nothing I had ever tasted before. It wasn't like a hamburger, or a chicken burger, and it was definitely not the same flavor as  Korean bulgogi, from which the bulgogi burger is supposedly derived. But that didn't matter because the flavor was so mouth-wateringly amazing that I couldn't find any words to describe it.

A lot of times I scarf down my food and don't take the time to really enjoy the flavor. It has a lot to do with the mindset I have that taking the time to eat, prep and clean-up included, is a waste of time, and is also a remnant of my time in Air Force Basic Training, when we didn't have time to eat like normal people. However, with this burger, I ate as slow as I could manage, savoring eat mouthful and wishing I had bought two. It was worth whatever I paid for it (it was loud and I wasn't paying attention) and if I wasn't so stridently against regular fast food eating, I would eat this every day.

If you visit South Korea, which I feel like everyone should at some point in their lives because it's a wonderful place here, the bulgogi burger is something you must try, along with bibimbap, kimchi stew, deokk boki, pickled radishes, and banana milk.

What is a favorite dish of yours that is from a foreign country? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

February Reading Wrap-Up Video

As promised, here is the video, my very first in a hopefully long career of bookish videos. Note: This is my very first video ever filmed and edited, so it might not be the greatest. Also, it took me two days to edit it because my program kept crashing and losing all my hard work.

Have you read any of these books? If you have, tell me what you thought!

If you have some video filming or editing suggestions, tips, or tricks, I would love to hear about them!

Thanks for reading and watching!

February Wrap Up

I was going to have an awesome video to post, and it would have been my first foray into the booktube world. But it took me 3 hours to edit the video, and before I could save it the program crashed and I lost all the editing I had done. :*( So instead, I'm going to edit it again Saturday night, and it will be up as the regularly scheduled post Sunday morning. Until then, I read 11 books in 28 days, which is my new record, and I found a new favorite.

Thanks for your patience!