Beanie level: Loan shark with a heart of gold

The loneliness of joining a drama conversation three years too late.

One Spring Night is good and is, so far, helping the Pretty Noona ptsd.

I also want to torch the patriarchy real bad. As always

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    But it’s nice to dive into the recaps again, thanks to you 🙂

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    Though there are still some issues— as all dramas do, no drama is perfect— I actually liked this drama in spades compared to Pretty Noona

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    Yes to all! I was talking by myself in Blind recap recently, though that comment section was dismal to begin with 😂

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    OSN is so, so good. I loved that drama, and it also helped me with Noona PSTD.

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    I did not liked it. I had to FF some scenes, and that’s something I rarely do.
    I can’t compare it to Pretty Noona because I have not watched it yet. It’s not even on my list (being made from the same team…).

    However, I’m glad you liked it! 🙂

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    I think OSN is a good antidote to Pretty Noona. I really liked it and have rewatched it a couple of times. I hate the boyfriend who refuses to be an exboyfriend, but just love his acting. He does such a good job of making the same expressions and body language of the actor playing his father that you really believe that he’s his father’s son.

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A favorite bit of silliness I read to my kids when they were very young.

Put Something In

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
’Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.

-Shel Silverstein

Love, February

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the news said the earth’s core changed its rotation and speed

it’s fine
it does that once in a while

we should change our direction and pace once in a while
it confuses and alarms those that study us

I like that

Love, February

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    I’m trying real hard to ignore the glaring grammar error. It’s fine. (It’s not fine, but I’m not fixing it.)

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    Why does this make me tearing up? I like the reminder, though, that it’s okay to take our time to re-orient ourselves. And you’re right, it’s nice to still be able to surprise people in our vicinity with those (minuscule) changes.

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    I snorted – and then smile. Thank you for this.

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Hey Beans. I feel like I don’t know anyone here anymore. I think I might possibly be making a drama watching comeback. Maybe.

First couple weeks of Crash Course in Romance are entertaining me well. However, I need less Sky Castle-type mom drama and more side dishes.

I’ve also started One Spring Night now that my Pretty Noona ptsd is no longer raging. Only took four years to forget the visceral rage towards that back half of that drama. Anyway, three episodes into OSN, I’m enjoying it Well, minus the soundtrack.

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    One Spring Night is🤌🤌

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    Egads! You should definitely post here more! No way to know people if you’re not around to talk to them, right?

    I’m personally a bit mystified by the Crash Course in Romance hype but it’s definitely popular around here.

    My main issue lately is that I have canceled almost all my subscriptions and am left with just Netflix for kdramas because money. On the bright side, I’ve watched more non-kdramas on other services my parents have! I have no issue accessing things, uh, less legally, but it just takes a lot more effort. Luckily, lots of the dramas Netflix posted in their upcoming in 2023 video interest me, so there’s that!

    I haven’t seen One Spring Night but it’s been on my list for ages! Be Melodramatic is finally coming to US Netflix soon so I’ll probably watch that next, but OSN should definitely be bumped up on my list if you’re enjoying it.

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      Ooooh, I’ve been meaning to pick up Be Melodramatic, so that’s good news.

      OSN is very contemplative so far. No one seems to be an outright villain, (well, except for the brother-in-law, but you can’t have a drama without someone being slimy, probably) and no one is perfect either. I like that. Plus, I like dramas about people with regular lives and regular jobs and regular relationships. Chaebols are fun sometimes, but I like to relate to characters lives once in while.

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    Welcome back, Egads!
    I still watch the first 8 waaaaaay to regularly.
    But I did not like OSN. I can’t stand the lead actress.

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    I was strangely quite into the OST.. maybe i had stockholm syndrome (from marathoning the episodes)

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    I really liked OSN, and I didn’t expect to after Pretty Noona. It took several episodes not to viscerally react to the FL’s mom character just because she’s played by the same actress, though. The soundtrack does get repetitive but nowhere near that HULK SMASH level – and the songs are better, at least to my taste.

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    Welcome back!

    One Spring Night is a favourite of mine. While it definitely has its flaws (the super repetitive soundtrack comes to mind), I think the positives by far trump the negatives. Crash Course in Romance has been fun so far and I hope they lean into that rather than the murder/conniving moms subplots.

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      Yeah. I’m not really feeling the need for scheming parents and serial killers right now. We can lean away from that.

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    Welcome back!
    I quite liked One Spring night. It was less ragey definitely. The social issues can be upsetting but the drama itself was good. It was hard to see the same mom is Noona in this drama initially. But they complete cast her in a reverse role I think.
    In many ways this drama felt like the opposite of pretty Noona. (My memory sucks but that’s what I remember now).

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    Welcome back! I know how it feels when you’re not around for a while and then you come back and you barely know anyone. Still, this is the best place to be to enjoy live watching. I missed commenting here last year, trying to change things in 2023.

    I loved One Spring Night, and I was very cautious after Noona, so I also get this feeling. As for the OST, you will surely feel the change upon the wind, understand that you really want to be curious and free, and that seasons change, they go away and come back again, and you may get tired of how you feel… Yes, really tired.

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      4.5 episodes in and my head just keeps repeating “Seasons change…. ” At least it’s not as bad as Stand by Your Man. Ugh.

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        Nothing is worse than Stand by your man.

        I’d rather take Tiramisu Cake a thousand times.

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          Tiramisu cake, tiramisu cake, tiramisu cake~~~
          I always winced at “Grab Me” from To.jenny

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        Hahahaha I liked “no sign of trouble lately..”😆

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    Do I know you? 😀 hahaha
    You’ve got plenty of friends here!
    <3

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This is a throwback Love, February from 2019. I’d thought I’d share it again because there’s this sportsball something happening today and it reminded me of one of my greatest social missteps.

I’ve enjoyed everyone’s posts this year, and maybe next year I’ll have the words to play along. But in the meantime, enjoy this epic love story again.

A True Story
The manager hired a handsome boy. We sold men’s clothing, from casual to formal, and his off-season minor league baseball form was sleek in that suit. “Good marketing,” said the manager. The both of us were shy. I tried to hide my red face while I marked up the suit for the tailor. His athletic frame did not have the soft waist of suburban dad customer, and the handsome boy’s neck was pink when I reached up to adjust the jacket shoulders.

For weeks we barely spoke. Just furtive looks and sometimes catching eyes in a mirror. Folding a table of shirts from opposite ends to meet in the middle, or accidentally brushing together in the tight space behind the cash register. Glances, smiles, stuttered questions, switched shifts (oh everyone knew, watched, conspired).

End of the day. Everything folded, straightened, tidied, counted, put away. Our coats were on, and he adjusted his gloves only to pull them off again. We stopped just outside the storefront. Twisting his gloves, he asked, “Would you… ”

I looked up. He was so tall. The mall lights were dimming, and only the echo of workers eager to go home lingered after a busy day. The pause went on forever. My hands clenched hard around the strap of my bag, but I wanted to reach up and push that fall of hair from his eyes. Then I heard him exhale. “Would you like to go to a Super Bowl party with me?”

“Can I bring a book?” The gate fell with clang.

The End
Love, February

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Random whining today about the state (or lack) of my drama watching led to a particular wish to be able to watch Because This Life is Our First for the first time again. So, because that particular wish can’t come true without some very real and probably horrendous brain damage in the process, I will have to make do with yet another rewatch.

Now, I have been randomly rewatching favorite scenes over the last week for, well, reasons that don’t need to be brought up here and now. But when @mindy reminded me that today is THE 4TH ANNIVERSARY, I just had to press play on episode one.

Do you know that this is an excellent episode one. We have in depth character set up. We get a thorough base for the main plotline and even some secondary storylines. And it’s taut, it’s well paced, and not a moment is wasted or skimmed over. I loved it the first time I watched it, but now I really really appreciate how well written and directed the beginning of this drama is.

Not to mention, Ji-ho and Se-hee have the best meet cute. Seriously. It’s not super contrived. There is no weird power imbalance. There’s no TOD. No one falls into a kiss. It’s two people (albeit roomies even if they don’t know it) coming together over a shared interest.

Maybe I don’t need to watch this for the first time again because maybe this watch will be just as good as a first.

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    I want to watch it again but I remember being irritated by the side romances… a little like Fight For My Way. Loved the main storyline, loved the friendships, didn’t care about the second lead love line…

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    I completed a rewatch recently; I enjoyed it more this time.

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There\’s a Vincenzo size hole in my world right now. Everything is bleak now that there\’s nothing to look forward to this week.

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I had to pause episode one of Oh! Master after a certain scene because of post traumatic drama syndrome. But when I returned after stress cleaning the kitchen counters it was all good.

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Me and dramas in 2021:

Watches 1 or 2 episodes.
Oh, that was quite enjoyable. I definitely like this one.
Never watches another minute.

This trend better not continue this week.

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Today, I woke up missing people.

Some are gone forever. Some are far away. And some are slowly fading.

But when I reach for a bowl from the cupboard my fingers graze the leaded glass panel of the door. The colored squares and clear rectangles were soldered carefully in place by my father to my exact specifications. Tracing the lead lines, I recall sifting through his bins of glass to find just the right colors.

That’s when I realize I’m surrounded by the people I’m missing. Dad’s glass art is here on my kitchen cupboard and scattered throughout my house.

The birdhouse I see from my window was made grandpa. The soup I made last night came from the recipe card with grandma’s fine handwriting.

I’m wearing a scarf sewn by a sister. Another sister painted the portrait of my children that’s propped up on the bookcase. And yet another made the glass suncatcher hanging in the window.

Just last night I warded off a chill with the blanket crocheted by my mother. And this morning my feet are hugged by the socks knit by my daughter. I have enough for every day of the week. Jealous? You should be.

Over my desk hangs the quick sketches another daughter did for an art class. I stole them from her sketchbook. I steal her art a lot. She doesn’t mind. Much. I say it’s on loan, but if she becomes famous, I reserve the right to sell them. I might be teasing. Maybe.

The framed photos in my office show the buildings that caught another’s daughter eye as she wandered through Europe. I didn’t steal those, but I would have. She also gave me a small pottery dish she made, and I’m glad because it’s perfect for catching pocket detritus treasures.

I’m still missing people, but now I see they’re here. They’re here all around me. I just need to see them.

Love, February

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Dear neighbor,

Your commitment to lighting the block with festive Christmas cheer is exemplary. The swags of red and green lights arching over and under the giant yellow stars make me smile in February. I really do think it’s a bit of charm and whimsy in these charmless times.

Love, February

P.S. can you not let your dog bark for in the front yard for 45 minutes every night? I really really don’t want to call the city, but it is very annoying and we do have a noise ordinance.

Crabby, All Year

Day 2

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The screech is loud and shrill.

So is the laugh that follows.

The interruption makes me look up.

From the window, I see the tops of two heads wagging back and forth. One small with a pink puffy pom-pommed hat. The other is larger with grey thinning hair. There’s some arm flailing, and legs kicking, until finally they get up and walk on, the tiny girl pulling her grandpa to go faster, faster.

Later, when I walk to the mailbox, I see the imprints of two angels in the snow. One big. One small.

Love, February

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I’m just here to inform you of the three best lead characters of 2020:

Nana as Goo Se-ra bringing sexy back

Into the Ring

Jung Yu-mi as Ahn Eun-young keeping the world safe one jelly at a time

School Nurse Files

And Bae Doona as Yeo-jin is just perfectly perfect.

Forest of Secrets 2

I’m not saying you have to watch these dramas to be my friend… well yes, I am saying that. Not that having me as a friend is an incentive. But well, why wouldn’t you want to watch the perfect political drama, the best fantasy adventure, and Bae Doona? Huh? Why?

And you know what none of these dramas has? Romantic angst and irritating and whiny second leads. So, go. Go watch.

(as always, gifs stolen from @mindy who needs to make more from these three dramas)

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Hey Beanies,

Hi. How’ve you been?

I swung by this evening, and I see some angst on the wall.

Something called Brahms seems to be causing you some pain. I’m not sure what the issue is, but I do remember when I was a wee angsty black clad adolescent egads, I might have worn out a Brahms Concerto cassette tape by playing and rewinding it in an incessant rotation with my favorite Cure cassette tape in my handy Walkman. (Some of you might have to google that, but just know I’m old, and way back in the day we had to deal with flipping over the tape and making sure you had spare AA batteries on hand at all times. Kids these days with their fancy Spotify have no idea how difficult we had it.)

Anyways… want to counter the angsty Brahms brouhaha?

Might I suggest Into the Ring?

Just do it. You will thank me. I promise.

(gif courtesy of the amazingly talented gif maker @mindy)

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    But sometimes we just want to make drama choices that make us sad. And then sit in our rooms alone and cry thinking about it. Seriously. This one is a downer.

    *Teenage depressed CS had a cassette tape that was the Cure on one side and Depeche Mode on the other side. I was tons of fun.

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      First big non-local band concert: Depeche Mode

      I was also super fun.

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      Oh you didn’t have Joni Mitchell on tape along with James Taylor? Oh and I had tons of tapes with Bonnie Raitt that I listened to endlessly.
      I just never understood Depeche Mode

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        Oh, I cried plenty of nights to Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor, too. I was an equal opportunity depressive! Right now, I love a cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” that Bon Iver does. It’s beautifully heartbreaking. 🙂

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    It’s much more depressing than Chocolate – so much so that I’ve thought about how much fun it would be if someone would just put anti-depressants in the water. I’ve hoped for a well timed ToD many times to bring some fun to my viewing experience. I’m waiting to finish this angst fest and then I’ll bring some joy back by finishing Into the Ring.

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    BUT, but there’s no other “Into The Ring”. I am in a total slump after FoS.

    All I want is something as delightful as Into The Ring – but none around. It has set the bar too high now.

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    “amazingly talented” You flatter me, egads.

    I’m the type of person who drops a drama as soon as it annoys me too much.

    You know what drama never annoyed me?

    Into the Ring~~~

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Scene: Egads is watching FoS2 ep 13. Mr Egads is reading in his favorite chair.
Mr Egads: This looks good. Can you fill me in so I understand?
Me: Uhhh. (Thinks of 1.75 seasons of back story) Nope.

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    My dad asks me to do this all the time when I’m already at the end of a show…

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    Also, Mr Egads put some soup cans in the canned vegetable portion of the pantry, and I just quietly moved them to their proper home without saying a word. Someone nominate me for a Nobel Peace Prize.

    Confession: If I lived alone, there’s a pretty good chance my pantry would be somewhat alphabetized. I realize this is too much for others so I suffer with the chaos of garbanzo beans and black beans just mingling willy nilly.

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      You deserve one! My pantry is organised chaos but it drives me nuts when my lovely husband helpfully puts the jam away where the cans go or something.

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      My trigger is soft plastic in the😡 recycling bin. 😡😡

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    Impossible – make him work for his pleasure.

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    Lol. I tried the same thing, its hard to explain why I’m biting my nails though, as I’m trying to explain about prosecutors vs. Police rights and who are the shady characters and why …
    Luckily he wasn’t around for previews of ep14, he’d never understand why I was having a meltdown because a character (Shi-mok) YELLED. Omgomgomg

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Day 7: A book that made you laugh: Assasination Vacation

I’m a trivia nerd. I’m was that kid who read encyclopedias and almanacs for fun. (Why yes, I did have friends. Why do you ask?) If Helene Hanff (of 84 Charing Cross Road fame) is my chain smoking scriptwriter alter ego, then Sarah Vowell is my nerdy historical rabbit hole writer alter ego. No tangent is too weird or off track for Vowell, and my trivia loving soul adores her for it. Anyways, even if you don’t care a bit about the assassinations of American presidents, check this one out anyways, because no one, and I mean no one makes assassinations or weird historical coincidences quite as much fun as Vowell. I also recommend her book about those Puritans no one else wanted the Wordy Shipmates, and if you’re a big Hamilton fan, check out Lafayette in the Somewhat United States. Hmm, I should reread that one and picture Daveed Diggs, who is always worth picturing.

Side note: Vowell is the voice of Violet in The Incredibles, and the audio versions of her books are fantastic and studded with celebrity actors, personalities, and writers.

It’s been much too long since she’s released a book. I should probably send an angry email.

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Day 6: A book that makes you sad: Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

This is perhaps the most brutal and moving book about grief I have ever read. Deraniyagala’s family, her husband, her two sons, and her parents were all swept away and killed by the December 2004 tsunami across the shores of the Indian Ocean.

This is not an easy read, but it’s also not one you should shy away from. Deraniyagala reveals the black hole of her loss with stark clarity, made perhaps even more intense as we go along on her years long journey to finally return to their home in London, only to find the mundane, yet devastating, remains of their life before they went on holiday in Sri Lanka. Her prose is beautiful without being overwrought, though who would fault her for any overwroughtness to be honest. But I was struck at how she captured her state of mind in the initial minutes, hours, and days after the disaster with the structure of her writing, and then this continues as she and the grief keep on. There is an end to the book, but this is no novel, so there is no neatly tied up resolution and pithy comments on the processes of grief. This real, and like all real life, sometimes there is no real resolution or revelation, there is just remembering.

I almost picked this up to read again the other day, but in the midst of this pandemic, and with the recent loss of my father, just moving it from one shelf to another made me a bit teary. I’m not ready to revisit this one yet, but it’s waiting.

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Day 5: A book that makes you happy:84 Charing Cross Road Here’s another book about books, or rather people who love books, and as an epistolary biographical story that is such a breezy quick read that is neither shallow nor trite, it hits a lot of my bookish happy notes. If you’re like me, you’ll wish you could also strike up a friendship with a bookshop in London, so you can send snappy letters berating them for not finding and fulfilling your esoteric literary needs quite fast enough. And yes, when I went to London I had to make a pilgrimage, and well, finding a McDonald’s there was a bit of a letdown. Anyways, this charming book is worth a look, but do also watch the film version. Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins are perfect.

But seriously, it took me all day to figure which one book to write about here because, well, books in general make me happy.

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    Hmmm, now I really want to become penpals with a London bookshop. It seems like a pandemic friendly dream.

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    Oh, this sounds interesting – I’m adding it to my reading list. I adore an epistolary novel.

    I feel you on how hard it was to choose a book for this one. You should see the document I wrote my posts in – it’s a mess of books. I’m trying not to repeat much, so there will be a lot of digging into my nostalgic faves over the next month. I half wish I were at my mother’s house so I have access to the majority of my library to refresh my memories.

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    I haven’t read this, I’ll have to look out for it because it sounds like something I’d enjoy.

    I had heaps of trouble deciding as well – in the end I’m saving some of the other ideas I had for later categories so as not to repeat myself 😊

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I’m catching up to isa’s book challenge. Will I stick with it? Well, we’ll see. Or I might bring it over to my own dusty blogsite. Anyways @isthatacorner, here’s your tag.

Day 1: Best book I read last year: Last year, I read far far less than I normally do, but Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style hit my nerdy language loving, books about books loving, chatty footnote loving reading bone early in the year. So much so that I wrote about it here https://www.dramabeans.com/members/egads/activity/717026/
Yes, it’s a book about grammar and such, but it’s a fun book about grammar and such. Trust me.

Day 2: A book that you’ve read more than 3 times: I’m a re-reader. If I like a story, and it hits my reader spot just right, chances are I’ll give it another go. So, how to choose just one? I guess I’ll choose the one I last re-read: The Blue Castle. If you want my in depth thoughts on it, well, I wrote about it here https://www.dramabeans.com/members/egads/activity/793069/

Day 3: Your favorite series: Again, with the favorites, Well, since I’ve got LM Montgomery on the mind, I guess I could say Anne of Green Gables. But there’s also the Little House on the Prairie books, Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak mystery series, Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series, the Harry the Dirty Dog picture books, Harry Potter (even though the author has all but ruined it for me). You see my problem here. How do you choose just one?

Day 4: Favorite book of your favorite series: Anne of Green Gables would have to be the favorite of this series. Though that doesn’t mean I don’t also love most of all the books that followed. Someday, when the pandemic is over, and Canada once again will allow me across the border, I will be going to Prince Edward Island. I’ve got some places to stay picked out and everything. Also, Anne is great, Gilbert totally deserved to have that slate broken over his noggin, and this series definitely was and is a bosom friend.

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    Ohhh so many good reads! I read THE BLUE CASTLE thanks to your post a year ago, and really enjoyed it.

    I still get immense satisfaction watching Anne break that slate over Gilbert’s head for calling her “carrots”. I loved Anne of Avonlea too, and the last book in the series (Rilla of Ingleside) broke my hearteu.

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    So many good books! I very nearly chose Anne of Green Gables for my favourite series – I’ve read them about a million times and they still make me cry in the sad bits. And Harry the Dirty Dog! We LOVE Harry round here.

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    Oohh The Blue Castle! I’ve only read it once, but I really enjoyed it.

    I, of course, also have a deep love for the Anne of Green Gables series. I have fond memories of my mom reading them to me as a kid and then reading them on my own when I was older. Prince Edward Island has been on my destinations list for a long time although I’m almost scared to go there for fear it won’t live up to L.M. Montgomery’s descriptions.

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    Anne Of Green Gables as one of the first books which made me laugh out loud and I will always love it for this

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January 2020, when @leetennant and I got dark and didn’t have a clue how very very prescient we were.

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    Omg…

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    *shivers*

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    Fast forward 6 months…. The darkness within us only intensified over the period.

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    I was looking at my Instagram and my post from January 8 is literally “It’s only been 8 days and already 2020 has been a RIDE” and now I laugh and laugh and laugh (until I cry) at how young and naive I was. Ah, youthful folly.

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    I was searching for something in an old text and saw that I texted “Everything You Need to Know About Coronavirus “ on January 22nd. 🤦🏼‍♀️
    How innocent we were.

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    Yikes!!!! Please write something better for 2021 okay?

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