It's awfully quiet here today.

Hi. How've you all been?

I'm just impatiently waiting for the next meeting of the Liberation Club.

When we read about k-dramas, we often get literal translations of the title. Sometimes, things get lost in translation. But the series OUR BLUES is on point with its title.

The Blues is a unique genre of American music, born as field songs in the Deep South during slavery. After the Civil War, the music started to move with the freed slaves.

Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. It was predominantly acoustic, often played in bottleneck guitar style. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the style.

Chicago blues is an electric blues style of urban blues. Chicago blues is also known for its heavy rolling bass. Urban blues evolved from classic blues following the Great Migration of African Americans, which was both forced and voluntary at times, fleeing from poverty and oppression in the south to the industrial cities of the north.

I have been lucky to personally see and experience live well-known Chicago blues players including singer/songwriters such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Chicago Slim and Koko Taylor; Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Buddy Guy, Eddy Clearwater, Mighty Joe Young, and Junior Wells. My friends and I used to go to the famous blues clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge to see the house band play on a small stage under a single bare light bulb. There was nothing like being at the Kingston Mines at 3 a.m. when other bluesmen would show up to jam until dawn.

Much of classic British rock n roll was based on Chicago blues. The Rolling Stones would come to Chicago before most of their tours to jam in blues clubs. Led Zeppelin said blues guitar playing was heavily part of their sound.

Blues songs are lyrical rather than narrative; blues singers are expressing feelings rather than telling stories. Blues music is focused around harsh realities of life: gritty hard work, injustice, sadness and loneliness. Love is also a central theme of passion, heart ache and heart break. Most of the time, there is no happy ending.

And I think that is what has been captured so far in OUR BLUES. It is unfolding like an album of individual blues songs.

Hi Beanies. Have you seen the first two episodes of the The Killer's Shopping List? Kwang-soo Oppa really pulled-off his role. He's perfect for such scene having a serious face but using a bubble gun on a gunpoint stunt. hahahaha. I hope the ratings is good.

hi all! I’ve been out of town and was finally able to satisfy my craving for missed K-dramas by marathoning galore this week (18 episodes to be exact)! Our Blues is totally my style; I blew through the six episodes so far in one very late night. You get solid mini stories within the larger story and the writer and the cast are out of this world. Jeju Island holds a mystique for me anyway, and this drama radiates Jeju charm and brusqueness and salty air and dying tradition.

My Liberation Notes – also intriguing. When the siblings return daily to Sanpo Village, it feels as if they enter a place and time set in the past. The evening air there feels heavy and has a stillness that could drive a person crazy. I find myself holding my breath waiting for something or someone to explode. I’m dying for Mi-jeong to break free~ Just watched "the jump" episode, it made me swoon!

I finished Business Proposal and liked fairly well, but the Netflix season approach is annoying.

Also finished Twenty-Five Twenty-One with a heart flutter. “We’re lovers only during the good times, and a burden to each other in the bad times” (ep 16). Does anyone else feel that couples can’t pursue their two career paths and stay together or marry easily in Korea? At least it seems that way in K-dramas.

From Now On Showtime – I’m excited for another ghosts-behind-the-scenes and not-so-behind-the-scenes antics (looking at and loving you, Ghost Doctor).

I can’t find where to watch Crazy Love and I’m looking forward to starting Shooting Stars. Watching 6-8 episodes this week is going to be a breeze compared to my catch-up week!

Loved this definition from I Am Solo 42: sigh – the sound of time passing sluggishly.

Happy weekend, Beanies! Peace owl

There's this episode in Drink Now, Work Later with the girls getting sick because of their excessive consumption of alcohol. They thought something like that couldn't happen to them, but it did. And they felt old and sad.

Well, I had a similar experience this wednesday. Because of stress I don't get hungry, but I get anxious so I snack A LOT. And well I guess if the only thing you eat for a month are snacks your body can't handle it.
Tbh, I had no idea I was eating so much crap until that day. Everyone was like "did you eat something weird" and I was like "nah, I've been eating the same stuff for days. And then I was like 'ohhhh. Right. I've been eating trash for days'.

It was super weird since I'm used to treat my body like that (Oreos and milk can be lunch!)... I guess my body is done with me.
That day was horrible, I don't know what was worse. literally dying or not being with my mom. I guess both because I felt like I was dying and I was alone so it double sucked.

I'm eating sugar once a month, I don't want to get sick ever again. I never get sick so this experience was kind of traumatic tbh. People in kdramas that get sick so easily wow, like how can you survive all that? I experience this one time every 10 years and I'm already exhausted.

Sigh.

I was planning to watch 4 hours of kdramas today in prep for What We're Watching tomorrow morning, and feeling lucky that I caught Pachinko last night...

... Then Monstrous decided to dump multiple episodes this morning and it looks like I'll have at least 6 hours.

I'm doomed. #firstworldproblems

Today I exhausted my baking cells for another few weeks whipping up several chocolate cakes and cupcakes. Goals: feeding grandma's retirement home and stocking our freezer. Grandma complains quite a bit about the food she gets, so we bring along homemade cake every weekend, enough for residents and staff to get a piece too. This week was my turn to bake and I tried to be smart and up the quantities ("what difference does it make whether I'm baking 1 or 2 recipes?"). Famous last words.

Like a number of beanies I am in catch up mode after having a house guest for almost a week and the day my guest left leaving myself for a three day mini-vacation. Is I have a bunch of episodes to watch.

However for those who still have room on their viewing card all 12 (30ish to 40ish minute) episodes of Wavve’s POLITICAL FEVER/GOING TO THE BLUE HOUSE LIKE THIS (2021) are now available on Viki US and Kocowa.
(Wavve is a joint venture between SK Telecom and (the big three) KBS, SBS, and MBC.)

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!

Yesterday I had my obligatory medical check-up that was requested by my employer. I have been on sick leave for almost a year, so the need for a medical update is a normal and neutral thing. Unfortunately, it has been a struggle to keep that tidbit in mind this month. I have been stressing about this all month, and I do not quite yet feel relieved to be done with it. In fact, things are only starting now.

My therapist wrote a medical report that explains that I will be able to work again in the future, but that I should be transferred to another job in another department. This serves as a request to my employer to offer some assistance and guidance while finding a new job in their ranks and maybe some extra coaching while on the new job.

Fortunately, the medical examiners agreed with the medical report and will notify my employer accordingly. However, their hands are bound as to whether my employer will be able or willing to comply with that request. Chances are very likely they won’t, which means I will have to do all the transfer arrangements - or worse, job hunting elsewhere - all by myself again. I am grateful to have all these medical professionals rooting for my professional future, but after all the job hunt trauma I have collected over the years some assistance would be appreciated.

If only K-drama watching could count as a paid fulltime job!🙏🏻