700!

Hello, Beanies!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world. Here we continue to wait patiently for our turn to get in line for the covid vaccination......we are so very appreciative of all the brilliant work and effort on the part of the developers.

Hello beanies! The sun is shining on this fine Friday, particularly appreciated as most of this week was grey, cold and rainy. Last night I was feeling particularly frustrated and defeated by how the country where I live is handling the pandemic and the vaccine rollout. But this morning I woke up and finished reading the latest story thread on the Humans of New York page. I was so moved by it, and when I clicked the link to donate to the cause, I tell you - my faith in humanity skyrocketed. The kind words and giving of strangers to help other strangers reminded me that many small actions can add up to some really big good. There was a pep in my step on my walk today, and I was smiling at literally everyone - I know they couldn't see it because of my mask, but I hope they felt it.

Also, I made japchae for the first time last night, and it turned out fairly decently. I'll do better next time, but it was delicious enough for a first try.

HI Beanies! It's Match Day! "What is that?" you may ask. It's the day where US 4th year medical students determine which training programs they have been accepted for the next 3-? years of their lives, getting the on-hands learning and experience they will need to become certified medical doctors. Every country does this a little differently. This is a hugely anticipated day and I've wished a couple students who asked me for advice and recommendation letters good luck today. They have already found out that they will be training somewhere, but today, they find out where. Those that didn't match have also been told earlier this week so that they can call those training programs that maybe didn't fill all their available spots for a place (very stressful, indeed). Anyway, it's an exciting day all around.

But more exciting for me is that my kids are at their aunt's and I have a weekend to myself (and my hubby, of course). She's had her 1st set of COVID19 vaccines as her husband. Much of our families have had it now. I do have an aunt on the east coast that refuses to get vaccinated and telling that side of the family not to get one (funny and unfortunate because she has 2 sons who are or will be in the medical field). You can only teach those who want to learn, I've found. I did have a patient tell me this week that I saved her and her 90 some year old's mother's life this year since neither of them have had COVID19 and both have now gotten both doses of the COVID19 vaccine and feel so relieved. She headed my advice.

I've also been using the piano as a stress reliever (from the atrocious River episodes 7-8) and composed a few songs this past weekend and week. They're on my wall if you're interested. And now River episodes 9-10 were the cutest and I'm totally on board the On-dal/Ga-jin ship with this past week! I'm super impressed with Na In-woo now. Shooting two dramas at the same time and stepping into this one a third of the way through. Truly amazing. And the steam emanating from the screen with the Silla herbalist and General Go is ... hot. That's all.

And Hello? It's Me! continues to delight! Kim Young Kwang is the most adorable. The relationship between Chairman and Chaebol is perfect. I can't predict what will happen to young Ha-ni, and that's ok, I love the story so far and I'm loving everyone in it--except the scheming aunt, but there's always the villain.

Sisyphus, dear, sweet, Sisyphus. It's my no thought, no brain power show. Just enjoying the ride. I do like Park Shin Hye in this. She's very convincing.

And Rebel Princess is on hold as I continue through Money Flower. Jang Hyuk, mad respect.

Conversation with the husband about height differences:

Me: *Prattling on about the new On-dal and the size/height difference between him and Kim So Hyun.* "OMG, it's so adorable..."

Me: You know who else has an adorable height difference?

Hubby: You and...

Little Boy - 2715k - 19 March - still good number of hours left.

2775k - 1st week April

2915k - 19th of April

1st April no Little Boy Anymore!!? - let's see.

Korean box office hit a record low in February. Major theater chains are scrambling to find new ways to survive pandemic restrictions and loss of audience. Megabox, a large chain, is seeking help from industrial start-up companies to propose new ways to revive their business model.

In the US, a few theaters tried to "rent" out screens to private parties or showings. Pre-pandemic, a few companies would rent out screens to show foreign distribution films. This is how I saw many Studio Ghibli films. But movie house private rentals do not drive business, when much of it has moved onto conglomerate streaming services.

I suppose some theater chains could "stage" small concerts, theater productions or other "live events," but there are already other venues doing the same thing. Besides, the development of music acts live streaming concerts globally has been hugely profitable. People are now conditioned to react and interact on an internet screen. The promise of vaccine immunity and a return to normalcy is still a long way off.

And much of the movie industry talent is aware their motion picture industry is in a long hiatus. Many Korean film actors are returning to TV shows and streaming content webtoon distributors.

I'm happy Rowoon has confirmed his next drama with Yeonmo \o/

I love Park Eun Bin in every roles, so I'm really excited to watch them together.

But Rowoon should find an actress whose height is higher than 1m65 (Kim Hye Yoon = 1m60 ; Won Jin Ah = 1m63 and at least she could wear high heels ; Park Eun Bin = 1m63 she will be a little King beside him 😂 )

Hi beanies, how are you all dying. 2020 really messed up with my study pattern so I am now making schedules and stuff to get back into the habit of studying regularly. Also I am trying to look for online courses on Coursera and Udemy so that I can improve myself and have something to show on my resume. Coursera certificates are a bit expensive in my country but Udemy is offering considerable discounts so I might opt for those. Also taking up new things made me realise how much pressure my generation has put on itself to be perfect at what we do. I feel like a lot of it is due to social media and the desire to have a "glow-up" and succeed at your hobbies. On the other hand, the good thing that came to me from social was sex-ed from certified professionals ( the Indian education system miserably fails its students at providing it), some really good and funny content creators and the increased awareness about mental health and various forms of emotional abuse that women might face . I have uninstalled Instagram from my phone for a while but I might get back to it once I feel like it. Also a side note to all parent beanies, please tell your children that you love them, it really boosts your confidence, knowing that you are loved by your parents. I saw this because I come from a culture where parents don't explicitly say that to their children and while I know my parents love me, there are times when I seriously doubt their feelings because they have never said the three words to me. It was like on 18 Again, Dae Young loved his children but after a certain point, his children didn't feel loved by him. All i am saying that even though you may not be a very expressive person, just say those words to your kids once in a while

I made it.

Today we finish the first book to learn korean. 9 lessons, face to face lessons, pandemic, zoom classes, pandemic, holidays.. pandemic. It is the most basic korean, dont get me wrong, but I wont starve now if i magically land in Korea. And numbers kicked my ass, but I survived.

Also it went from nonunananananana view to 너무 아름다운다운다운다운 view.

Today is the third day I am taking a nap in the day. (Even though I work)... I am discovering, I have more energy and good humor the next day if I take a nap the day before (I hope it is understandable).
Anyway... until now it's been one hour nap each day. I will try today only half an hour, and collect what difference does it make.
Wish me success! 🙋

Still waiting for Sungrok new project news. Nothing so far. Not even a rumour. Waiting is hard. Sigh.

Today is the day I learned that.....there's a World Sleep Society and.....

19th March 2021 is World Sleep Day 2021.

Sweet dreams all 😴

Hello, Beanies! I hope you’re all well. It’s been a sad and frustrating week here in the US, particularly for those of us who are immigrants/minorities. I have no answer, and too many questions and too much exhausted outrage to muster much more than the usual platitudes to describe our situation.

On the plus side, I got my first Covid vaccine jab this week, and my spouse is already fully vaccinated. After a 18-mo. break, my kid gets to see his extended family this weekend. It’s a small joy, I know, but it feels big to us.

On the drama end of things, I’m still watching Vincenzo, but not loving it quite as much as I did early on. Also, I just started Hello, Me!. It’s kinda bananas and I love it.

Happy Friday! I wish you all peace.

Hello all:
Winter is still holding on. I am not happy about this. But, eh...what to do. We have crappy winter weather but on the whole we don't suffer horrible weather calamities as other regions do so i will shut up and be grateful.

Well, i'll just get this off my chest here. I dropped two dramas i was having fun watching. Sword and Brocade, a cdrama. It was fun. It wasn't particularly well-written but it sustained my interest. But i simply could not stand the way the main male lead treated his concubines. I understand that he's all tsundere and all but something both feminist and romantic rose up within me and i had to let it go when the decent second lead popped up and i fell in love with him but knew he hadn't a snowball's chance in hell to get the girl.

The other drama i dropped was MOUSE. Oh my gosh, the best serial killer drama of the season. So well thought out, so twisty with nary a gaff (okay, i will let the plot point about the girl getting to the cathedral before the cops go. Because...well...the drama is perfection.) But then the end of episode 6 came and yep i had to drop the entire drama. Some wimpy non-nihilistic thing in me cried out, "NO! I will not allow this!" And seeing the drama is already done and was never in my hands to allow or disallow, well... i had to step aside and put my attention elsewhere. I'm hoping it will have a happy ending. So i will be reading recaps but i just can't continue watching.

Now to dramas i am loving:

Hello Me. It is solid, standard, perfect run of the mill rom com. A sweet breath of fresh hair and just goodies all around.

Times: another solid entry with twists and turns and dratted cellphones that affect the future and the past. Unlike Mouse which is like a twisty and breath-catching passionate but scary hottie, Times is like Seo Jinnie -- Trustworthy, determined, normal but worthy of our trust and inclined to suddenly surprise us when we are ready to just complain and look around for someone more exciting.

At this point, the three best dramas online are Times, Hello Me, and Mouse. I started Beyond Evil but that town, guys! That town!

Have a great weekend, all.

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!😀

You know what is better than a day off? A SPONTANEOUS day off!😊
Okay, it was a study day, but extra sleep!🥳 My workload dwindled down for a bit and to savour the calm before the storm I decided Wednesday morning to take leave on Thursday to catch up a bit on my formation studies.

Of course today all hell broke loose at my return this morning, and I was swiftly informed of all the brand new cases and job tasks that I need to perform from next week onwards, on top of my formation.
I guess that day off was a wise decision in the end!😉

One of my main problems with the drama Oh My Baby was that the drama never showed the FL exploring other options to motherhood. She was fixated on biologically becoming a mother through pregnancy. She had a throw away line about not wanting to look at adoption until it was a choice and not a last resort which would have landed more (with me) if they showed her seriously considering adoption before coming to thwt conclusion.
I feel like maybe I was a little hard on the FL.
But then again. Maybe I wasnt.
Today I had to make that decision. To have the surgery that will make me unable to ever carry my own child or to continue suffering unbearable pain every month. I choose surgery. Someone is going to call me next week to set it up. And getting pregnant will no longer be an option for me.
I made the decision. I smiled at the doctor through my mask and felt a kernel of relief bloom through me. I dont have to think about it anymore! The decision is made! Its for the best!
And then the thought hit me like a TOD: I think I would have been a good mom. I made it to my car and sobbed. I drove to Burger King (my bad day meal) and sobbed the entire way. I kept thinking to myself: I think I would have been a good mom. I parked in front of hobby lobby amd gorged myself on a burger and fries and an oreo shake while listening to Obamas book, texting with two of my friends and sobbing.
I eventually stopped crying and wandered through the aislea of hobby lobby looking at their cheesy wooden pallets with bible verses. I bought two (I cant help it. I love them). And as I wandered back to my car I had a few new thoughts:
1. Theres more than one way to become a mom. I may not be able to grow a kid in my own body but...Ive never been good at growing things ANYWAY! And I hear labour is like--stupid painful. There are other options. My body may not be able to take a pregnancy all the way through but that doesnt mean Ill never be a mom.
2. Barack and Michelle Obama are the freaking BEST. Not even talking about their politics. Just them as human beings roaming this earth they are THE BEST. One of my favorite parts of Michelles book is the fact that she knows EXACTLY how much shes worth. One of my favorite parts of his (so far) is that there was a time that he was this skinny, earnest, guy who was a little bit shy and he decided to change that about himself and so he did. Ive always been lacking in will power but I can change myself, cant I? Just a little? Sure I can! Im not trying to change myself into President Isthatacorner. Just...a happy isa.
So...today was a pill. It was an entire piece of work. But. Ive opened the shades to let the sunshine in. Theres ACTUAL SUNSHINE outside! And at least for right now, Im done with tears.
And I still think that drama sucked.