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10 Years

2020-01-16T23:34:00.000+00:00

On this day in 2010, I wrote my first blog post.

Honestly - it wasn’t very good. I didn’t really know what I was doing. Hell, I still don’t, but I liked it and carried on with it, albeit sometimes more frequently than others.

Let’s recap. In my first post. I was 21, a recent graduate searching for my dream job in film, and had just quit my job as a shop assistant at a high street store.

21 year old me would be thinking where the hell did it all go wrong. I was supposed to be successful in my career, married with kids and happy with life by now, but instead none of those things have worked out for me.

In so many ways, I’m just back to 21 year old me, contemplating giving up all security to chase a dream that probably will never work out anyway. Now I think about it, there are so many similarities between my situation now and 10 years ago. The thing that’s different is the dream.

Hi. I’m Heather. I’m 31. I’m a teacher, with a house and a cat but I’m oh-so-desperately hoping for a family of my own.

So I guess I’ll let you know how that goes.

This blog has been my outlet over the past decade - I think about posting a hell of a lot more than I actually do. I don’t know who reads this, but thank you if you have been a consistent reader, and sorry for all the random drivel. Here’s to the next decade!

Rereading Potter

2019-09-02T23:32:00.002+01:00

I love Harry Potter.

I was 11 or 12 when I first read it, and started with book two because we were reading it at school. I remember being slightly annoyed as it was already very popular and I didn’t want to pay any attention to what everyone else was interested in. But I’m a good girl, so I did what I was told and got hopelessly sucked into the magic of the Wizarding World.

I’ve read all the books countless times. My first three books are falling apart. From book four onwards, I was a release day sort of person - not as hardcore as the midnight releasers, but as soon as possible thereafter and then it was a race to try to read it as quickly as possible. I remember being particularly proud of getting through book five in 16 hours, because that was obviously my priority half way through my GCSE’s.

Recently, I decided to read them all through again. Only this time, I felt the need to note down a few points. All of the below are the notes I made as I read the books. Some make little sense.

In the style of a Buzzfeed article - Thoughts I Had While Rereading Harry Potter in my 30’s

Philosopher’s Stone
- mean to make them do Astronomy at midnight but then be in lessons the next morning.
- why did Dumbledore take so long to get to and from the Ministry. He could have flown on a broom, apparated from Hogsmeade, floo powdered it, hell even got Fawkes to drop him off, but no - did he walk there?!

Chamber of Secrets
(everything is in response to Harry being collared for Dobby’s magic)
- how does the Trace work, when do they put it on you?
- surely Petunia knows that students can’t do magic outside of school having grown up with an underage witch
- doesn’t this mean that the Ministry knows about Hagrid using magic to get Harry in book one?

Prisoner of Azkaban
- how long are the summer holidays?! 5 weeks before Harry’s birthday, which is at the end of July, they break up in the last week of June? 8 or 9 weeks off, no wonder Harry hated the summer holidays.
- Hermione missed a trick not using the time turner to sleep more. Or you know, catch up on homework or whatever.
- why doesnt Harry seem to watch the other quidditch games? What happens when a non playing house wins the cup if they present the cup at the last game?
- 200 slytherins

Goblet of Fire
- 11 teachers
- why didn’t Harry just accio the egg
- Moody’s eye can see through robes = pervert
- do all spells make jets of light
- why can’t Harry see the thestrals
- did Hermione feed beetle Rita Skeeter? Beetle food or human food?

Order of the Phoenix
- must not use magic - Tonks uses all the magic
- summer holidays = 4 weeks before rescue few days after 2nd Aug, break up beginning of July
- 6 lessons a day = single, break, double, lunch, single, double. Single 90 mins, double two hours?
- different break times on different days? Tues no break, 2x double, lunch
- Harry is so mean to Hedwig ALL OF THE TIME
- have to go outside at break
- paintings can talk but photos can’t
- lessons end 5 o’clock
- why do the Order take so long to get to the ministry. Adults only apparate when they don’t have to be somewhere quickly. Oh no, Harry is in mortal danger, LETS WALK THERE
- why don’t use memories as proof Voldemort is back

Half Blood Prince
- Stan is 21 = 19 in book three so why didn’t he recognise Harry when he was at school with him for two years when Harry was kind of a big deal?
- being arrested nowhere near as scary now dementors have gone
- why did Harry let first years try out for the team when first years aren’t allowed to play quidditch
- they say snog a lot in this book and it makes me uncomfortable
- glad Hermione spent Christmas with her family - probably last time before she deletes herself from their memories ... unless she stayed at Hogwarts to study ... which she probably did
- Hermione is a much better friend to Hagrid than Ron and Harry combined
- where are all these kids getting Dumbledore’s notes from, why can’t he just give them directly
- Dumbledore doesn’t need Harry to translate but knows what is being said - can you learn parceltongue?!
- do the teachers sleep in their offices?
- not only is a teacher giving 16 year olds alcohol, but it’s the first thing in the morning
- Zonko’s closed because Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes so popular?
- CAN SLUGHORN STOP GIVING MINORS ALCOHOL
- Dumbledore hand - why is Snape at school in the holidays?
- sword only griffindor relic - hat?
- why don’t students get train back?
- Harry could have just grabbed the broom that was RIGHT THERE to chase Snape
- where did Hagrid put Dumbledore - does Hogwarts have a morgue?
- is it automatic that a portrait of previous/dead headteachers goes into headmasters office or did someone put it there?
- Fawkes, where you go?

Deathly Hallows
- why didn’t Moody’s curse on Grimmauld Place break when he died?
- Harry overly harsh on Scrimgeour - blames him for actions of Fudge and Umbridge, doesn’t appreciate that Ministry has helped keep him safe too. Ministry is corrupt but not Scrimgeour
- why did Snape lock the door after searching Regulus’s room?
- Ministry witch called Wakanda
- how did Hermione have time to disfigure Harry, Ron to turn out the lights and for them to listen to the voices get nearer but not to disapparate? All sat next to each other within touching distance, 15 seconds of dialogue, Hermione could have just grabbed the boys and disapparated before a word was even spoken
- Bill is his own secret keeper = why get anyone else involved? Whole faff with Pettigrew pointless
- but awkward, spending 1000 years with the guy who stalked then killed you
- I get that Fred dying with the ghost of his last laugh etched on his face is supposed to be poetic, but picture it, it’s hella creepy
- what happened to all the bodies in the Great Hall when the fight moved there?

And on that cheery note ... that’s it!

Absolute Boyfriend

2019-04-21T23:01:00.001+01:00

So I’ve just found out that SBS is releasing a Korean remake of Zettai Kareshi, and I am very confused. I am simultaneously excited and heartbroken.

The Japanese version was one of the first dramas that I really loved, and certainly the first to have a lasting impact on me. Even just looking it up on Instagram threw up an absolutely devastating screen cap and I wasn’t prepared for. My heart dropped and my eyes started to prick with tears. This blog tells me that the manga had a similar effect. I had forgotten how sad it was - or maybe I’d blocked it from my memory. Poor Night ...

However, it was also 8 years ago, and Zettai Kareshi was only the second drama that I watched. I have watched 100-odd other dramas since then. Yes it made me cry, but I never even considered it for a spot in my top 5 Asian dramas. I never considered any Japanese drama to be honest, and that’s probably because, with the exception of Buzzer Beat, the barbie kisses were just too lame.

I’m definitely going to check out the new Korean version though. I just hope they do it justice.

In other news, while trying to find if I wrote about the original Japanese version in this blog, or whether it predates my reviews (it does), I found a post called How To Find Love (According to Asian Drama), which I think totally deserves a part two. The 2012 version basically requires you to be an antisocial and scary cross-dressing high schooler. Cool. That’ll be why I’m still single then.

BOA Day 11

2019-04-11T23:25:00.000+01:00

I am B A D at blogging every day in April.

Therefore, I hereby rename BEDA BOA, Blog Occasionally in April, which amuses me because of the korean singer, and we all know how SM biased I am.

I was just about to go to sleep, but suddenly remembered that I hadn’t posted for like a whole week, so thought I should probably put something up. Here follows a load of random things that I have been thinking about.

I want to rewatch Healer. Having recently rewatched DOTS, I feel a little inspired to rewatch all my other old favourites. Top of the list are definitely Healer and W Two Worlds, but also Secret Garden and Chicago Typewriter. I think this is mostly because I am so not bothered about Mr Sunshine. I’ll finish it, but it is just not inspiring me to power through.

Despite my earlier claim of being so SM biased, I have been playing Mino’s Fiancé A LOT lately. I wasn’t bothered by it at all the first time I heard it, but somehow, months later I heard it again and now it’s got to the point that I’ll just listen to it on repeat. I don’t even know how, I’ve never really paid any attention to Winner before, let alone their solo acts.

I kind of feel like this post has a korean favourites feel that I should continue with. I’ve covered music, and drama, so I guess now it’s beauty?

I don’t really have a Korean Beauty favourite at the moment, but my current YesStyle order is at like £150 and I honestly feel like I need all of it. I’ve been using the Banila Co Clean it Zero, and while it is FINE, I much prefer the Heimish All Clean Balm, purely for the scent. The Clean it Zero smells so sweet, and while it’s not unpleasant, I like the slightly medicinal freshness of the All Clean Balm. The rest of my skincare is much the same, and my make up is ok, but I’ve yet to find anything that I really love enough to talk about. I’ve got some Pony Effect in my current YesStyle order, which I have very high hopes for.

Finally, korean language. I’m still sticking with my 1 hour a day, and feeling pretty proud of myself. I’m about a quarter of my way through level 2 of TTMIK. I wish I had a language partner but I’m scared and have nowhere near enough knowledge to even try attempting a conversation. It’s ok, I have a year to practice!

That’s enough now, I’m going to watch the video I embedded above and then go to bed myself.

BEDA Day 5

2019-04-05T23:59:00.000+01:00

What do you mean, where’s BEDA days 3 and 4?

It’s not exactly surprising, although I was hoping to remember for a little longer than just two days. I’m doing well on my other resolutions though, apart from the cleaning schedule, where I’ve just kept to my old routine rather than implementing the new one.

There’s another new thing I decided to implement this month that I didn’t mention before, and that’s playing the lottery. I decided that I really want to win it, and while I recognise the likelihood of winning is slim, the chances are much higher than if you don’t play it at all. So I’m playing just one line on Saturdays and Wednesdays for the month, with a lucky dip set of numbers. My team at work have been talking about a syndicate too, so maybe that will start up after easter as well. I might try to talk them into going for the euromillions, as it would be more to share. A couple of million between like 8 people wouldn’t really feel like hitting the jackpot as much as a share of £50 million would.

It’s 2 minutes until tomorrow, I should probably post this.

BEDA Day 2

2019-04-02T23:58:00.000+01:00

I finished Level 1 of Talk To Me In Korean today. This is very exciting to me, especially when I could follow the dialogue in the review sample that was in 100% korean. Sure, there were certain words I didn’t know, and I couldn’t have said most of it myself, but I could understand it, and that is definitely progress.

Learning a new language is hard, especially when you are trying to self teach. I skipped around a lot of different methods, and I honestly don’t think any of them are really particularly great.

App wise, I preferred Memrise over LingoDeer, but both only really focus on memorising vocabulary or phrases. Memrise was great for helping me to get to grips with Hangul, but from that point on, especially into level 2, there was a lot of guess work. It also mixed up the honorifics quite a lot, which is confusing to a new learner. I did like how much it made you review though, as I think that really helps you to remember information. If I opened Memrise now, I’m sure that it’s been long enough that I would have to review absolutely everything. LingoDeer I found I flew through, but when it came to testing that knowledge, I had retained very little and struggled to move on. I have heard that it’s no longer free so I doubt I will be returning to LingoDeer any time soon.

In terms of books, I have the whole collection of Go! Billy - Korean Made Simple, which I will work through. I’m about half way through the first book, but have taken a little break to try and work on what I have already learned rather than starting anything new. This book was perfect for helping me to learn to write Hangul, especially the importance of the stroke order, and I found it worked well in conjunction with Memrise for the pronunciation. He also has a YouTube channel, which is helpful too. Billy focuses more on the 니다 form and explains his choice, as it is better to be too formal than not enough, which does make sense.

More recently, I’ve been going down the TTMIK route, and while I really want all of the books, they have plenty of information online for free. Level 1 consisted of some 25 lessons, each taking around 20 mins to half an hour long to complete. There is a podcast and PDF for each lesson, and each lesson is easy to follow and understand. They also have a very popular YouTube channel, although there is nothing very obvious to match up with the lessons. So far, TTMIK has used 요, but I don’t think they have really touched on the differences in honorific forms, but I do think that learning with TTMIK is much slower and more simple.

I don’t quite know how this has happened, but apparently this post is a review of how to learn korean. Obviously my favourite way is by watching korean drama. I like to think of it as listening practice. Viki has a learn mode, maybe I need to try that out next!

BEDA 2019

2019-04-01T23:23:00.000+01:00

Today is the First of the Month. It is also a Monday. It is the perfect day to start new habits, as everyone knows that you can only start new things on a Monday or the First of the Month, and when the First of the Month is a Monday, you will have a 100% success rate. Therefore, naturally, I’m starting a load of new habits today.

The first is that I am going to try and do 30 minutes of exercise every day. Hang on, screw that, I AM going to do 30 minutes of exercise each day. Luckily my workplace has a mini gym now so I figure I can just sneak in and use that for the most part, or else go for a walk or whatever, and the fact that it’s only half an hour won’t put me off too much. I had a shitty end of the day today, and then I did 10km on the bike with Kpop blasting and then I wasn’t so pissed off anymore. Success!

Secondly, I want to do 1 hour of Korean study a day. I don’t think I am very good at self motivation when it comes to my language learning, and have looked into courses, but the only place that seems to do it is Leicester Uni, and not only are they far away, but it’s also a little expensive. So back to TTMIK and Go! Billy it is. I did two lessons over an hour and a bit today, so so far so good.

Lastly, I want to get back into blogging. I thought really hard about whether I wanted to commit to BEDA again, but thought, why the hell not, it’s not like anyone expects me to succeed anyway. I don’t know what I’ll post about, as my life is very boring and I haven’t even posted reviews on the last three dramas I have watched (My Secret Hero, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, rewatched Decendants of the Sun and currently am watching Mr Sunshine) but we shall see. I suspect this one is the one I’m mostly likely to fail, as already I’m leaving it until the last minute when I’m in bed and sleepy.

I have a few other little day to day aims, like being 90-95% vegan, not spending unnecessary money, following my cleaning rota and trying to be a better person, but these are just your bog standard ones, not important enough to warrant the magic of the First of the Month being a Monday.

See you tomorrow, hopefully.

Encounter

2019-01-29T21:38:00.000+00:00

I’m writing this post right after having finished the one for Defendant, but might schedule it to publish tomorrow or something instead. I don’t really know why, it just doesn’t feel right to post twice in one day.

So I started Encounter before Defendant, and was actually really quite enjoying it, until I ran out of episodes. Then I watched Defendant and pretty much finished that series in the time it took two new episodes of this to come out, and I don’t know if I just lost the flow, or what, but I just didn’t enjoy this series so much from then on. I think it had a really strong start, and I particularly liked the Cuba scenes, but it just fizzled for me to the point where I just wasn’t really invested at all at the end, and couldn’t really have cared less if they stayed together or not. I’m not sure if it was just me, but the last episodes sound mix was shocking, which if it is how it was aired, just proves that they lost their way a bit at the end. Also, my Korean is good enough to realise that the Korean title for this drama is Namjachingu (남자친구), which means Boyfriend. Can we all agree that Encounter is a significantly less lame title?! I mean, sure, it sums up the plot well but still, lame.

Soo Hyun is the divorced daughter in law of a chaebol family who still lives under their thumb due to her fathers debt, but runs a successful hotel chain. One day, while on a trip to open a new hotel in Cuba, she has her bag stolen and falls asleep on top of a wall, nearly plunging to her death until luckily, the only other Korean there, Jin Hyeok, catches her. After a little nap, they walk back to the town together and she makes him spend literally all his money on dinner, wine, shoes, and salsa clubs. None the less, it’s very sweet and they definitely have a spark, but as chance would have it, they don’t see each other again .... until .... Jin Hyeok randomly gets a job at her hotel, realises she is the CEO and they start their love story.

I mean, it sound ridiculous now I’ve written it down, but it was a really sweet start.

For the most part, it was well done. You could really see the character development in Song Hye Kyo’s Soo Hyun, in that she started very sad and serious, and slowly, as she fell for Jin Hyeok, started to smile and laugh more. I mean, who wouldn’t, Park Bo Gum was absolutely adorable. I have to say though, that I did much prefer Song Hye Kyo in Descendants of the Sun, and thought her chemistry with now real life husband Song Joong Ki was much more ... chemistryish. The only thing that really bothered me about this series, other than it’s predictability, was how they didn’t do more with Woo Seok, Soo Hyun’s ex husband who literally faked an affair so she could divorce him because he loved her so much. You all know (ha, ‘all’, like I’m talking to anyone other than myself, let’s be honest here) that I love me a second male lead, and they just made him totally pointless and pathetic. It was such a shame, because he was really pretty and had real potential to properly shake up the story.

TLDR
It was ok.
New kdrama fans will probably like it, or those who like the samey romance style as 90% of korean drama.
I probably won’t watch it again.

I was probably going to watch My Strange Hero next, another currently airing series, but I’ve decided to rewatch Game of Thrones, so that will take me a while. I have also found myself with access to a Netflix account, which means I have subsequently found myself with access to shows such as It’s Okay That’s Love, Hwayugi, and My ID is Gangnam Beauty, as well as many other series not available on Viki, so that might complicate things somewhat.

Defendant

2019-01-26T20:35:00.000+00:00

You know, there is a very good chance that all of my posts in January are going to be about korean dramas.

After finishing Reply late 1980’s - 1990’s, I started watching Encounter. However, being a show that I started while it was currently airing, based on my high hopes due to the Song Hye Kyo and Park Bo Gum combo, I soon found myself caught up and with days before the next episode. So naturally, I started on a new show to watch as a filler, and ended up much preferring. This show was Defendant, another high ranker and one that I had avoided for looking a little too serious. I remember it coming out, and thinking that while I love Ji Sung, the idea of a drama set in a prison just didn’t appeal.

I don’t know why I don’t learn that the high rated non-romance dramas are almost always absolutely amazing.

Park Jeong Woo is a successful prosecutor with a perfect life - he runs around catching the bad guys and then goes home to his loving wife and adorable daughter. He is just starting to crack the case on a suspicious CEO who he thinks is actually his criminal twin brother who apparently committed suicide, when he wakes up in a prison cell. Somehow, it’s four months later, and he discovers that he is on trail for having murdered his wife and daughter, has admitted to it, and has absolutely no memory of any of it. Slowly, he starts to regain his memory and figure out who has framed him and to plan his revenge.

Firstly, I love Ji Sung. He is the lead in of my favourite films, My PS Partner, and played the main role in the slightly forgettable Protect the Boss and in Kill Me Heal Me, which was amazing. He was great in this too, able go from stony seriousness to goofiness to heartbreakingly sad. The guy who played Cha Seon Ho was really good too, in that he made me hate him for being such a despicable person, although Seok his dirty work assistant person also did horrible things and I kind of just crushed on him, so take that as you please. Kim Min Seok from DotS and Because This is My First Life was also in it as Seong Gyu, and he bloody well broke my heart and didn’t deserve anything but a happy ending where he was adopted by Jeong Woo as a younger brother and Ha Yeon’s uncle and they all lived happily ever after.

It was interesting actually to learn a bit about the prison system in South Korea. I found out that people are still sentenced to death, although these sentences haven’t been carried out in decades. People on trial wear beige, those who have been sentenced wear blue and those on death row have their identity numbers in red. They aren’t referred to by name in prison, but instead by number, and live in small rooms with six other inmates, unless they are rich, in which they get a private room which looks more like what we associate prison accommodation to look like.

It was a really good series. It kept you guessing, and while you kind of know it’ll all end up ok in the end, the constant twists and turns and cleverness of the plot does make you doubt it occasssionally. There was zero romance subplot, which is rare, but you really don’t miss it, and I think anything of the sort would have totally ruined the key aspect of Jeong Woo’s character. I enjoyed the comic relief of the cell mates, and that they all got their happily ever afters - apart from Seong Gyu who I actually think I had a bit of second male lead syndrome about, in that while he was only a supporting role, I did root for him hard.

I just can’t fault it, really.

Tldr
It made me cry - like a fair amount. That means it’s good.
You should watch it, but maybe only if you’re a non squeamish adult.
I’d totally watch it again, but would wait a while to forget it first.

Having said all that, I don’t think it will knock any of my Top 5 off the list. It is probably safe in my Top 25 though.

Luckily, I finished this and only had to wait a day until the finale of Encounter came out and was subbed, so expect that review shortly.

Reply 1988

2019-01-05T17:13:00.000+00:00

This drama has sat high up on the rankings for long time, yet like Six Flying Dragons, is one that I have avoided. I don’t really know why, it just didn’t appeal to me, which is surprising when a few of the main cast are actors I’m familiar with. However, I decided to trust in the high ratings and watch it.

Essentially, Reply 1988 is about a small neighbourhood and the families that live there, namely five childhood friends going through the end of their high school years and growing up. Deok Seon seemed to be the main character, being the only girl, and is kind and bright, although she struggles in school. Sun Woo is a model student and perfect son to his recently widowed mother. Taek is the baby of the group, somewhat spaced out and clumsy so that the others all feel protective about him, although he is a child prodigy baduk player. Jeong Hwan and his family became rich overnight, and although he may seem emotionless, he is really very sweet. Dong Ryong is a geek more interested in girls and having fun than studying. Together, they are the closest of friends, and all their lives intertwine. Taek and Jeong Hwan both have a crush on Deok Seon, but she likes Sun Woo, who is actually in love with Deok Seon’s sister. There is a nice side story about Jeong Hwan’s brother and Deok Seon’s best friend getting together, and lots about their parents and their friendships too. It was quite funny, although jokes being punctuated with goat bleats was weird to start with.

Firstly, the episodes are long. Like, 40 to 50 minutes longer than normal. That’s basically like watching a whole other episode. It took me a long time to get through the series because of that, because I would often have to split the time up, taking me two or three days to watch an episode.

Secondly, I think this series isn’t really for international audiences. It is filled with references that made absolutely no sense to me, although sometimes I could get it when they talked about western imports, such as Hollywood films. For the most part though, a lot of the humour was centred around reminiscing about Korea in the late 80’s and early 90’s, from adverts and comedy shows, to home life and politics. Much of it went totally over my head. Although I did enjoy their little tribute to Secret Garden, which made prefect sense, being a show that aired in 2010 ...

Thirdly, the Rui Effect was strong in this one, and totally confusing as to who was actually the second male lead. I thought for sure that Deok Seon and Jeong Hwan were going to end up together at the end, and that Taek was the Rui in this case, but apparently not. Also, side note, I was not bothered at all about Jeong Hwan until I saw him in his Air Force uniform. Thinking about it now, I’m kind of angry that Jeong Hwan didn’t end up with Deok Seon from how much I was sure that he would, although I think I would have angry whatever. There was just no winner in that scenario.

I feel like Dong Ryong was sort of the forgotten main cast member as his story didn’t get padded out nearly as much as the others. It seemed like he was thrown in for comedy value, and to prevent all scenes of the boys at school just being of Sun Woo and Jeong Hwan studying like the good kids they are. I also feel like they forgot about Jeong Hwan a bit at the end too, instead focusing more on Sun Woo, Deok Seon and Taek. The last episode tried too hard to be sad and sentimental, and while we all know how much I love a series that makes me cry, everyone at a wedding getting all happy emotional just doesn’t do it for me. Also, while we are talking about negatives, why is it called Reply 1988 when most of it happens in 1989, and fair portion of it in 1994 and ending in 1996. I think there was more screen time of the flash forwards to Deok Seon and her mysterious husband in 2015 than anything in 1988.

TLDR
Although it was good, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I were a 35 year old Korean person.
Don’t be put off by the long episodes - so much happens it’s easy to break them up.
I would watch it again purely for a couple of the kiss scenes and Jeong Hwan in his uniform.

2018 Rewind or Whatever

2018-12-31T19:46:00.000+00:00

It’s New Year’s Eve and everyone is reflecting back on the past 12 months. My social media is full of picture collages and soppy reminisces.

Fair enough, I guess I’ll join in. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.

1) Agi
In January, I got a kitten. Her name is Agi and I love her. She makes me happy and she is SUCH a cat. She does a lot of cat things and is generally just perfect.

2) Family
My baby niece grew into ... a slightly bigger baby, and her big sister turned into a little girl. These two girls are absolute angels, and their mother has done a far better job raising them than she gives herself credit for.

3) Bridesmaid again
I was asked by a dear friend to be her bridesmaid, which was somewhat of a surprise. It really moved me, in ways that I simply cannot put into words. It is a honour that I do not deserve, because she is a far better friend to me than I am to her, but it means so much to me that I will always strive to be as good to her as she is to me.

4) Korea
This year, in celebration of my 30th birthday, I had originally planned to man up and travel solo to Korea. However, I procrastinated for too long, and the tickets for the tour I had settled on had sold out. I was pissed off with myself for being such a coward, but also was finally able to recognise that I will just keep prevaricating unless I found someone to come with me. So I did. Yes, I have to wait until 2020, but Elle has promised me that she will come and I am holding her to it. Or I will kill her.

5) 30
Oh yeah, I had a sort of big birthday.. Somehow, I have managed not to die over the past 30 years. I’ve also managed to stay single, childless and poor, so you know, I’m not sure how much of a good thing making it to 30 really is.

6) Croatia
I went on holiday. It was nice, and I didn’t get burnt. Yay! It cost me a lot of money and I didn’t even get to go to the place that was the inspiration for going there. Boo!

7) Clear Skin
In the middle of 2017, I went off the pill and my skin exploded with the hormonal mess that is my body. This is something that I really struggled with for the past 18 months, physically but also mentally and emotionally. It messed me up. Big time. It still does. But I think that I have finally got it under control. Skin care and diet have made all the difference.

8) Infertility
In October, I found out that I cannot naturally have children. I had suspected it for a long time, but to have a doctor who specialises in your condition say those words to you is a whole other thing.

9) Media
I got Apple Music and started listening to a lot more kpop in my every day life. I also signed up to Viki Pass, so I’ve been watching a lot more Korean dramas, especially since I got an amazon fire stick and could watch them on my TV. Both of these have been amazing, although likely to have played a massive part in me not wanting to socialise much.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

2018-12-08T21:56:00.000+00:00

I’m going to start this post by just saying that this drama literally just made me cry a lot, and that I really like when films or dramas make me cry. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have started watching the last episode while waiting for my tea, because my food went cold and slightly soggy as I sobbed my heart out during the last 5 mins.

I don’t even think I want to do a normal review post.

It’s difficult because the first half of the series felt very different to the end - even half the cast seemed to just vanish. It starts out with Moo Young, the main guy, his brewery friends, Jin Kang, the main girl, her friend and her overpowering boyfriend, her brother, Jin Kook and all of his police buddies, one of whom becomes Jin Kang’s boyfriend. But by around half way through, we don’t really see any of them again apart from the main three, which felt a little weird. I get that we needed the start to show Moo Young’s cold and calculating side, to get unnerved by him, and to see how this changes with his relationship with Jin Kang, but it did divide the series for me a little too obviously.

Despite this, I did like this series a lot. Seo In Guk as Moo Young was worlds apart from the adorableness of Shopping King Louis. I wasn’t familiar with Park Sung Woong, who played Jin Kook, but very familiar with Jung So Mi, who played Jin Kang. Some bits were funny, some bits were sweet, some bits were shocking and some bits were sad. Viki did spoil a lot of it for me, but that didn’t stop me from getting caught up in the twists and turns. It was beautifully shot too - the cinematography was stunning, and the whole thing was presented in wide screen, which gave it a real film like feel.

Towards the end, I was thinking - you can tell this is a Japanese story. Korean writers seem to like to leave you on a happy ending, to give a glimmer of hope no matter what. Take Train to Busan. Practically everyone dies, there is a heartbreaking scene between the Dad and his daughter, but they end it with the pregnant lady and the daughter getting to safety. Not Japanese writers through. It’s like Koizora, in that the ending leaves you with nothing but a broken heart. No resolution, no indication of what happens next, just the end.

I just watched the end again because I’m a masochist.

Tl;Dr
It’s a proper drama drama
Watch it if you like being sad
I wouldn’t not watch it again

Next up I’ve decided to finally bite the bullet and watch Reply 1988. In fact, I stopped half way through the first episode to write this post. So far, Go Kyung Po is making me want to rewatch Chicago Typewriter, but other than that, it’s a bit weird.

Why I’ll never go back to Slimming World

2018-11-12T23:41:00.000+00:00

A couple of years ago, I was Slimming World’s biggest fan, to the point that I even considered becoming a consultant. Now, I look back at those few months as a member with disgust, especially when they announce plan changes as ridiculous as their new ones, announced today.

My biggest problem with Slimming World, other than it triggering very unhealthy behaviour, has always been that it is shit for vegetarians, and bloody impossible for vegans. Meat eaters could eat their weight in steak, and yet I had to syn most of my protein sources. In their new plan, they have removed many of the vegetarian and vegan protein options, such as baked beans, peas and broad beans. These options are still free, just not a P food, which means that you can’t have them on SP. they have also decreased the healthy extra allowances of dairy free milks. You used to be able to have an entire litre of almond milk, but now, you can have 200ml of whole milk at 87 calories, but 400ml of almond milk at 52 calories. How can these two milks be considered equal? Sure you can now have two healthy A options a day, but these options have drastically different nutritional values. They seem to be linked only by calcium content, meaning that Slimming World is disregarding the the most basic rule of eating healthily - making sure you have a sensible split in macronutrients and don’t over consume calories.

There is just so much about this plan that doesn’t make sense to me. They recently announced that muller lights were no longer syn free. Fair enough, it never made sense to me anyway, but still, it’s a bit weird that such a staple of the plan is no longer free. My first instinct was that Slimming world were coming out with their own line of yogurts, but no sign just yet. They also decided that blueberries should be a speed food now. Other processed foods changing around a bit you can understand, recipe changes and what not, but blueberries, suddenly they’re healthier than they used to be? It’s ridiculous.

Yes, I lost a stone and a half on Slimming World. I also put on two stone at Slimming World, spent over £300 for the pleasure, developed a starve/binge/purge eating disorder and ruined all my bakeware.

Since I left Slimming World, I have a better knowledge of nutrition and a healthier relationship with food, and I don’t want to ever put that at risk again.

Three

2018-11-11T00:52:00.002+00:00

A couple of days ago, I saw in the news about Onew’s enlistment date being set for next month. Initially, I was just sad that SHINee would be losing him for two years, but then I thought about seeing them promote with three members, and I’m not going to lie, it broke my heart a little. I cried when I saw Super Junior reduced to just four people on stage, but there is something so very much more heartbreaking about SHINee missing members.

Because that’s what it’s going to be like from now on. Assuming Taemin doesn’t enlist until he has to, it’ll be another 5 or 6 years until they can promote together again. It wouldn’t be ridiculous that at some point they’ll all be in the military except Taemin, or Onew after he’s back.

No doubt they’ll all keep busy in their personal careers. Hopefully Onew will go back to acting, and I’m sure Minho will before and after. Key has just launched his solo career so no doubt he’ll do more of that, and Taemin is already a well established solo artist. They all have back up plans.

To be honest, with the new laws in place, they have less time now, and less freedom. For Super Junior, they could defer until 30, and it didn’t really affect them before, but now, they’ve knocked two years off and added travel limitations. Onew may be cutting it fine enlisting 4 days before his 29th birthday, but Key only has 10 months until he is 28, and just over a year for Minho.

I’m assuming the 28 is in international age, because if it’s Korean age then they should all pretty much enlist right now. Except Taemin. Because he’s the baby.

They SHOULD all enlist together and then SHINee could just go on hiatus for as little as 21 months until they all come back ...

With SuJu, they could cope without pretty much everyone except Donghae and Eunhyuk - apparently - seeing as they didn’t do anything while they were away but revamped everything for their return. There were so many of them. With SHINee, its not so simple. I guess technically any combination of Onew or Taemin and Key or Minho would work, but that doesn’t mean I want to see it that way. I think I would rather wait for them to return together.

There’s already a massive empty space in SHINee, I don’t think I can handle another one.

Thirty but Seventeen

2018-11-01T23:20:00.000+00:00

Normally, I try to write these posts immediately after completing the drama, but I finished Thirty but Seventeen a couple of days ago now, and have only just got around to actually putting together a post.

Normally, when choosing what series to watch next, I base my decision on ratings - the higher the rating, the more likely I am to watch it. This plan doesn’t necessarily always work out, but for the most part, it’s stood me in good stead. At the moment, I’m at the 9.6 sort of mark. However, I ignored this method, and jumped into a 9.4 because I had seen Thirty but Seventeen advertised and really liked the look of it. Party because of the main lead being the guy from Degree of Love, but mostly because the premise intrigued me.

There is a huge accident that leaves a girl, Seo Ri, in a long term coma and a boy, Woo Jin, blaming himself because he thinks he killed her. 13 years later, she wakes up and as luck would have it, the man now living in her old house is Woo Jin, and he reluctantly agrees to let her live there while she tries to find her family, but doesn’t realise who she is. Obviously they grow close and fall in love and live happily ever after etc etc etc.

The Rui Effect was strong with this one. The second male lead was the main guy’s nephew, and a 17 year old athlete. Chan. He and Seo Ri clicked instantly, she felt comfortable with him and he was always just a little ray of sunshine in a very confusing world for the girl who is essentially a 17 year old stuck in a 30 year old’s body. They were so well suited in so many ways, and let’s be honest, Woo Jin was a bit of a dick at the beginning, leaving an already lonely person feeling even more abandoned, so I think she really needed Chan at that time. I get that a 17 year old hooking up with a 30 year old would have been oh so wrong, but still, mentally and emotionally, it was hard not to support him in his one sided love.

It was funny, in a very not obvious sort of way. Just little throw away lines here and there. Like one of Chan’s friends randomly having a bubble bath in their house when Chan wasn’t even there. I felt sorry for the SA guy on Chan’s team who was always left out when the other three (main cast) were so close, but it did amuse me when they called themselves out on it at the end. I much preferred the main guy in Degree of Love rather than in this - I didn’t sense much chemistry and he seemed kind of awkward, and I honestly can’t tell if that was a character choice or not. Seo Ri was really good at portraying a teenager, but I struggled to ever think of her as an adult to be honest. Chan was lovely. The supporting cast were good, but I’m surprised they didn’t make more of Seo Ri’s childhood friend turned doctor - he seemed a little forgotten about and then just randomly chucked in here and there. I get that they didn’t really need him with Chan providing that corner of the love triangle, but still. It was sad in places, and I definitely had a few tears in my eyes at one point, but for the most part while it was really predictable, and kind of slow, it was actually just a nice, fun story.

TLDR
Chan was the sweetest.
Watch it if you want ... or don’t ... I don’t feel that strongly about it to care.
I like Chan.

One Hundred

2018-10-31T00:04:00.000+00:00

I have watched 100 Asian dramas. One hundred. That’s crazy.

Having just completed Thirty but Seventeen, I went onto mydramalist to update my drama list - which is something I do to track the series I have completed and the shows I want to watch next - and it kindly informed me of this little statistic. It also informed me that I’ve watched exactly 1700 episodes, plus 2 TV shows and 6 movies. All of this adds up to a grand total of 67.5 days worth of Asian TV.

And you know what? I don’t regret a second of it.

Lawless Lawyer

2018-10-24T23:26:00.004+01:00

I am not doing well at blogging through October. I even finished Lawless Lawyer days ago, and never posted about it. I’m like 5 episodes into my next drama already. Bad blogger. Or maybe I’m just bringing back BOO - Blog Occasionally in October.

Anyway, Lawless Lawyer.

I actually really enjoyed this drama. It had lots of action, a bit of a complex story line and a romantic subplot that didn’t totally overpower the whole series. It kept me hooked throughout and Lee Joon Gi has grown on me A LOT.

The story revolves around a young boy who witnesses his mother being murdered for discovering corruption within the legal system of their city. He is brought up in a gang, but eventually becomes a lawyer with a plan to bring down the system. Throw in a similar background story for the female lead, a couple of twists, a amazing theme song, quite a lot of 50:1 fights where the main character escapes with a few cuts but wipes out everyone else and a hell of a lot of people calling other people hyung-nim, and you basically get the gist.

The two main bad guys are pretty big deals, although I don’t think I’ve seen either of them in anything before, nor have I seen the male lead before, although I know he has a huge following and will be the main reason for the success of the series. The female lead was in Moorim and Hwarang, and had a hair cut half way through this series.

While the story was concluded well, it did seem open to a second season, so I’d be interested if that did happen, although it’s rare in korean drama.

I’m not going to go into anymore because a) I can’t be bothered, and b) I finished it ages ago and can’t really remember what I wanted to say. I mostly remember wanting to talk about how I didn’t understand the fuss about Lee Joon Gi until I saw him in this.

Tl;Dr
This was really good fun.
Don’t rush to see it, but don’t avoid it either.
I’d watch it again, but I’m in no hurry to do so.

I’ve started watching Thirty Not Seventeen now. I’m enjoying it so far, and the Rui Effect is already in full force.

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?

2018-09-29T17:31:00.001+01:00

I have just finished watching What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. To be honest, I thought I’d powered through this drama, but actually, I’ve certainly watched a series quicker. I think it was just in comparison to the behemoth that was Six Flying Dragons, that watching this seemed to fly by.

Not going to lie, I had high expectations, and I’m not sure I can honestly say they were totally met. It was good fun but predictable; easy to watch but not addictive. Let’s just stay it doesn’t knock off any of my top 5. I’d very much rank it alongside the likes of Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo as a lighthearted romantic drama that I enjoyed but wasn’t anything particularly special.

It’s the classic rich man falls for penniless girl plot, with some memory loss, family strife and copious amounts of very obvious product placement thrown in. Just like The Heirs. Just like Boys Over Flowers. Just like Shopping King Louis ... I could go on. There were a fair few side stories, a rather disappointing second male lead*, and literally everyone had a very predictably happy ending. I do enjoy watching Park Seo Joon, and I thought Park Min Young was beautiful (I’ve only just realised that she was the lead in Healer and City Hunter - did not recognise her at all). It’s basically just crowd pleasing fluff with big names and pretty faces. So just like 98% of Asian drama.

* they could have done so much with his character, but no, they basically wrote him off. He is listed as main cast, had a solo title card in the opening credits, the set up for a love triangle even past the big reveal - but no, I think the SA who played an intern had more screen time than him. And we all know how much I love a second male lead (it’s the Rui Effect).

It is really highly rated on Viki at a 9.8, which puts it on a level with DotS, Bong Soon, Weightlifting Fairy and Healer, but I get the impression more and more that these ratings can’t be trusted to truly represent what they are supposed to mean as opposed to popularity scores. You see series that have yet to start airing with high scores because people start rating it based on the casting. They do tend to drop down quickly, but it’s a lesson to learn, to only pay attention to ratings on older shows.

Edit: I feel like this post has come across as much more negative than I meant it to. I think I just missed the action and significance of Six Flying Dragons. This series was a classic kdrama - nothing new. I enjoyed it a lot, I really did, and it would probably be up there in my top 20 or so.

Tl;Dr

It was enjoyable.

I recommend it to girls with unrealistic expectations of men.

I probably won’t watch it again.

Six Flying Dragons

2018-09-20T20:42:00.000+01:00

I finally did it. I finally finished watching Six Flying Dragons, which I have been watching since April. That’s 5 months. I’m actually a little shocked by that.

You know what, I did really enjoy this series. It was really well done. It made me smile, it made me cry and it had the extraordinary ability to make me simultaneously horrified and sympathetic to the main character doing some truly horrendous things. The acting was great, the characters were interesting and the production value was amazing. Mostly, it was just fascinating to learn about such an influential period in korean history.

That being said, I have never had a series send me to sleep so quickly. I would start watching an episode wide awake, and less than 10 mins later, I would be asleep. That’s not to say I found it boring, far from, but it was heavy going and just too much to cope with at bed time. Whenever I watched it during the day, I could easily power through multiple episodes, but during the week, when I only watch drama right before I go to sleep, it would take me all week to finish one episode.

I think that pretty much sums up everything I want to say. I could write a more in-depth review but I don’t know that I see much point. It kind of feels weird not including the plot, but there were 50 episodes, each at an hour long, and a lot happened in every single episode - I’d be here all day. I’ve heard it’s a prequel to Tree with Deep Roots, so maybe I’ll watch that at some point, but at the moment, I’m more interested in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim ... I mean, it’s Park Seo Joon, can you blame me??

Tl;dr
I’m glad I watched it
I recommend others watching it
I probably wouldn’t watch it again

Solitary

2018-09-13T22:46:00.000+01:00

I live on my own. My family live over two hours drive away. My friends are anything from 25 minutes drive away to a little over an hour. Most have kids, most have jobs, and all are unable to get to you quickly if you need help.

Sometimes, you become very aware that should you need someone in an emergency, you have no one that you can call on, and that makes you feel very lonely.

Explore

2018-09-01T23:54:00.000+01:00

Instagram has a feature called explore, a page which shows you suggested content based on things you’ve previously liked, searched for or that people you follow have liked.

Normally, my explore page is full of something to do with the korean entertainment industry, namely funny clips of SHINee, BTS and Super Junior, with a few other artists shown in on occasion.

However, you watch one video of a puppy dancing while getting a hair cut * and all of a sudden, half your explore page is of dog grooming videos. I don’t like dogs, and I don’t care for seeing them with or without a pair of scissors in their face.

You somehow get sucked into a series of food asmr videos one time, and then you are bombarded with people eating ice and aloe vera for weeks to come. I get some people find it relaxing or tingly or whatever, but I’m not going to lie, I watch these things unwillingly with morbid fascination. Like I can’t not look at it. Nobody wants to straight up bite off a chunk of aloe vera and eat it, and you can see that she finds it bloody disgusting too, but hey, each to their own. **

Give me back SHINee being dorks and kiss scenes from korean dramas.

*ok so I may have watched that one video like a thousand times, but it was cute, he was DANCING.

** there is a part of me that quite wants to start an asmr account where I eat squishy foods and they make crunching sounds and vice versa. Like I’m eating a doughnut and instead it sounds like I’m biting through a raw potato. I think that’d be funny. Plus I think asmr makes a lot of money. I’d like to get paid to eat.

Shuffle

2018-08-09T01:17:00.000+01:00

My music preferences are no secret - almost exclusively Korean with a splattering of Japanese and Chinese. Don’t get me wrong, I do like western music too, but I find that what is on the radio while I’m driving is more than adequate for me, and I don’t think I have purchased or downloaded western music since my ALLCAPS, Cameleon Circuit, Oceanic Six and Skyway Flyer days. That’s not to say I don’t have English language music, it just tends to be sung by someone in the Korean entertainment industry.

I don’t normally do tags on here, but I saw a post on a friend’s blog that I thought was quite a nice idea, so here I am.

Normally, I listen to music on YouTube, or via my iPod or my mix CD* in the car when the radio gets repetitive or just plain stupid (read; most of the time, specifically late night weekends). However, I recently updated my phone contract and with it, got 6 months free of Apple Music, so I have been using that lately because not only can I do it in the car, but it also plays when you shut the app, which is amazing. Anyway, the point of this is that my Apple music library is therefore more likely to be the newer stuff than the old favourites, but I guess we shall see.

10 songs, randomly on shuffle**. I’ve had to use an English title or romanisation because I don’t have hangul on my iPad, but obviously these aren’t their native titles.

1) SHINee - Love Should Go On

I much prefer the remix to this song, so much so that this version doesn’t sound quite right. This was from SHINee’s debut album, and boy, have they improved in that time.

2) DBSK/TVXQ - Don’t Say Goodbye

Again, not one of my favourite DBSK songs, but it is kind of nice to hear the original 5 members. This is from the Mirotic album, which is one of my all time favourite songs.

3) Super Junior - Walking

I love SuJu title tracks, but normally I’m not a fan of their albums as a whole thing. I do like this song though. It makes me think of holidays and rum in coconuts. It’s from Mr Simple, which was the album cover with Siwon in his lime green boxers, which I talked about a lot when it came out. It’s also really nice to hear all the members together here too, as I’m sure this was before they started going off to the military. Maybe minus Kangin.

4) EXO - Can’t Bring Me Down

So far, this list is very SM biased, which I suppose sums me up really. This is from an EXO album I haven’t listened to all the way through yet, and therefore I don’t think I’ve heard this before. I like it though. It’s very EXO.

5) SHINee - Woof Woof

Ah I love this! I first saw this song on a SHINee World concert video, where the boys were all dressed up as dogs, and it’s just so SHINee. I love them. They are such dorks. It’s so catchy too.

EDIT - After posting, I was re reading through this post for mistakes and to check the videos worked. Watching this had tears running down my cheeks! Just seeing them all having so much fun together makes me so happy, but also breaks my heart.

6) Taemin - Sexuality

I was low key hoping this would come up! Taemin is in SHINee, and this is from his solo album. In SHINee, Taemin is the little kid, but for some reason, as a solo artist, he’s all sexy. I find it very confusing. Especially in Move, it took me a good few times watching that to believe it was actually Taemin, he looked so grown up and ... sexy and wet.

7) SHINee - SHINee World

Dibidibidi bling bling is Jonghyun ....

8) BTS - War of Hormone

Oh thank god, I was starting to wonder that we weren’t going to have anything other than Shinee, SuJu and TVXQ (I may have had to cheat just a little bit) . This was the first BTS song I ever heard , thanks to Eat Your Kimchi. I enjoyed it but it didn’t hook me into the band as a whole until Dope came out. I just remember thinking about how happy they all looked, in fact I think I even blogged about it. I really like V’s voice when he does the low sexy voice. I admit to doing the dance every time it comes on, especially in the shower.

9) Troublemaker - Troublemaker

I remember the buzz surrounding this subgroup when it came out, despite never really been interested in either artist before. It certainly made waves, being very provocative for korean broadcast, but that just seems to be HyunA’s concept. It’s so catchy, and while I haven’t listened to it for ages, I was reminded of it with the whole HyunA e’Dawn scandal right now.

10) U-KISS - Tick Tack

Woo, finally, a Japanese track . I was obsessed with this song when it came out, and for some reason I much prefer the Japanese version over the Korean one. U-Kiss are an odd one, I love them but I discovered them during a rough patch so they have a weird bittersweet association. I’ve only downloaded my favourite songs so it’s quite impressive that they came up really.

11) Jonghyun - End of a Day

🌹 I have no words for this. I’m just going to listen. And cry.

* Yes I made myself a mix CD. Sometimes my iPod is dead and the radio is on shit hour. Yes is warn out and skips through half of Overdose, but what can you do?

** Watch this list be 90% SHINee now, because the first thing I did was to get their whole discography.

Plastic Surgery Monster

2018-07-19T23:48:00.000+01:00

Usually, when I order things, I have them sent to my parents house, as I’m rarely in when parcels get delivered and there is a pretty good chance of someone always being around at my parents house, what with them both being retired and all. This means that when I come to stay, I usually have at least one parcel waiting for me.

This time I had two... and they were both from Yesstyle and filled with Asian beauty products.

I was very excited, especially about how I now have a full skincare and make up regeime using exclusively korean products, and my dad made a throw away comment about whether I was going to have plastic surgery now too.

I laughed it off at the time but over the course of the day, it’s got me thinking, if money was no object, what would I change about myself?

I would definitely have some form of vision correcting procedure. My eye sight is awful. To wake up and be able to see clearly straight away is something I cannot even comprehend. I’ve spent my entire life in glasses and contact lenses. I can’t even walk the familiar path from my bed to the toilet without putting my glasses on, not to mention the saga of the sunglasses. From the limited research that I’ve done, as I understand it my eye sight is too poor to have laser eye surgery, which leaves me with a lens transplant. Having someone slice open my eyes sounds terrifying, but I would definitely do it to be able to see.

On a slightly related note, I would also have some excess skin on my eyelids taken out. I have quite hooded eyes, and to make them just a little less so might be nice.

I’ve looked into this a few times, but something along the lines of invisible braces would be good, like invisaline. I have overcrowded teeth at the front on my lower and upper jaw, and while they aren’t awful and certainly don’t stand out, they have always been a feature I have felt insecure about. It’s the reason why I try to avoid smiling with my mouth open in photos.

I suppose while I was at it, I would also have my teeth whitened. I have used whitening toothpaste all of my adult life and I don’t think it’s done anything to improve the colour of my teeth. I don’t even consume all of the typical offenders, like coffee or tobacco, so I guess I’m just naturally susceptible.

The final thing I’d do is liposuction. It’d just be nice to be slim without having to do all the work first.

So nothing too drastic then I don’t think, and nothing too painful! It’s not like I’d want my whole face reshaped, although I do think that loosing some weight will improve my face shape a lot. I’d love to have defined muscles - not in a really hench sort of way but just a strong way - although I recognise that building muscles takes a lot of time and effort and isn’t something that plastic surgery or a quick fix can achieve. So I’ll just have to keep slowing working on that, I guess.

Cats and Korea

2018-07-19T00:22:00.001+01:00

Today has been weird.

The plan was to head down to my parents today, but then I woke up to a load of cat sick on the floor, liquid cat poo in the litter tray and a very sorry for herself kitten. She didn’t eat her breakfast and seemed to just want to sleep so I held fire on bundling her up into her carry case for a two and a half hour drive until she perked up a bit.

This meant that from about 10.30 onwards, I wasn’t really sure if I’d be heading down south today or not.

I complain about wasting my weekends a lot on this blog - the days when you don’t do anything productive. Normally on those days I do at least something though, be it putting some washing on, or running the vacuum around. I did all of that stuff yesterday. I did absolutely nothing today.

Unless you count me filling a teabag dish with water every hour or so and putting it next to my cats face so that she’d stay hydrated. This was when she wasn’t moving from her make shift bed of the lid of my open suitcase, which is where she spent most of the day.

She seems ok now, and has had a few biscuits. She’s moving around again now, so that’s good, as it wasn’t like her to spend so long in one place, especially when I wasn’t in the same room.

You know what’s just occurred to me? This blog is either about my cats, or Korea.

Sounds pretty representative of my life, then.

Kitten Riddle

2018-07-17T00:41:00.000+01:00

Its getting dark. You give the kitten some biscuits and lock the cat flap so that she’s in for the night. She meows a little when she realises, and scratches around a bit, but she soon settles and goes to find something else to do. You watch the end of your film.

The film finishes and you head up to bed. The kitten isn’t downstairs so you expect to find her in your room somewhere. However, when you go into your bedroom, the kitten isn’t on the bed, which isn’t that unusual as she rarely sleeps on the bed unless you’re there. You look under the bed, but all you see are bottle tops she’s being playing with and abandoned. You look under the wardrobes. Nothing. You look in the drawers. Nada. You wonder whether you were being totally unobservant and missed her being in her bed in the living room, so you go back downstairs. She isn’t in her bed, her hidey hole, behind the sofas or anywhere in the hall or kitchen. You double check the cat flap - definitely locked. You rattle her biscuits but you are greeted by only silence.

Baffled, you return upstairs. You look towards the window, and notice the gap is a little wider than normal.

No.

No, she couldn’t ... could she?

You fling open the window and look out into the dark night. There is a distinct lack of kitten with four broken legs directly below, which is good. You make a noise, and hear a meow. Followed by a scrambling noise, and then the kitten appears over the fence.

So yeah, Agi jumps out of buildings from the second story now. She’s also learnt to climb fences without the aid of bins, sheds and plants apparently, but I feel like the key point here is that she jumped out of a window.