May Favorites
It’s May! And you know what that means. *Cue an impending realization that almost half a year has passed and that you’ve almost reached the 1-year mark since you’ve graduated and you’ve done exactly 0 things.
Ok fine maybe I did a thing or two. In true adult fashion, I finally moved out of my family home and into the city! Yep you heard that right — ya girl finally got her own apartment and can stop doing that hour long commute to work.
To top off the adulting — I got my wisdom teeth removed — all four of ‘em! For the longest time I was pushing it back but one day I woke up with a toothache that refused to go away and I knew it was time. The dentist said I could split it into two different removal sessions but I decided to rip it off like a bandaid — why go through the experience twice? And it honestly wasn’t that bad! I think the part that sucked the most was post-operation. I had to eat soup/porridge every single meal for a whole week while watching my coworkers and friends eat real food.
I also got my first pet dog! (Well, not really, but my housemate adopted a senior chihuahua named Guava. I’m basically the fun aunt. Details, details.)
For those who are close to me, you know how big of a deal this is. I grew up with this HUGE fear of dogs since I was a tiny human. Like if I saw a dog come down the sidewalk, I would literally SPRINT to the other sidewalk from across the street. It wasn’t until college, when I lived with a bunch of doggo-lovers who would legit stop our group to pet a dog they see before I started to go “oh they’re not too bad”. After countless dog encounters, my fear of dogs slowly went away (i.e. I became desensitized lol). Isn’t it funny how fear works? Sometimes it just comes from a place of minimal exposure and fear of the unknown rather than the thing itself.
Before I dive into philosophical musings of what makes up fear, here are some things that kept me sane in the midst of my move. You know that I was really busy this month with adulting when you see how short my Eye Candy list is. Usually my favorite thing to do right after work is to watch something so that typically makes up the bulk of my monthly favorites. Not the case this month. On the other hand maybe it’s a good thing that it’s short this month? Maybe it means I actually socialized for once. ?
? ♪ ♫ Bops ♪ ♫ ?
Songs that make me feel like I’m the main character of a music video:
orange – CLAY (love the imagery in the song!)
Everything Black – Unlike Pluto (ft. Mike Taylor)
Songs that make me feel badass
Songs to play in the background
Songs that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside:
Falling for U – Peachy!, mxmtoon
Songs I just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
WHY – NF (new fav artist!! I’m usually not into the rap scene but this guy’s lyrics are so well written. He puts feelings into words and matches the emotional intensity through his voice. I can’t explain. You just need to give him a try)
NO ONE – Lee Hi (throwback to my high school days. Once a kpop fan, always a kpop fan. Also if you’re a kpop fan and you’re reading this, can we talk about Lee Hi’s glow up? Like dang girl you go)
Throwback songs I rediscovered:
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye
??Eye Candy ??
Sky Castle
Plot: South Korea’s top 1% families compete against each other to get their children into the top colleges.
I put off watching this for the longest time after hearing countless good things about it online and finally started watching this late April and into May when I got bored. I read the plot summary and was like “eh”. It sounded too heavy for me. But once I started the first episode, I instantly understood why it was so widely talked about. In essence, the drama really is a satire of Korean society by looking at the lives of their most reputable families (i.e. stemming from a long line of doctors, lawyers, professors, etc.) who would do anything (and I mean anything) to get their kids into their version of the Ivy Leagues. And honestly, I noticed a lot of parallels to families here in the U.S (“cough* like the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal that blew up this year) and I’m sure in many other places where the community aggressively pushes for higher education with their children as THE measure of success. This show explores the consequences of taking college admissions too far, to the point where it’s no longer a measure of just the child’s success, but rather a reflection of the success of the parents. As dark as this sounds, it was also comedic at times to see all the ridiculous antics the parents would conjure up against each other just to have their children get their way.
The Amazing World of Gumball
Plot: I don’t even know. Is there one? This wild cartoon show follows the daily antics of a cat named Gumball with his brother-friend-pet (?) goldfish Darwin, and his genius baby sister Anais.
As I preluded in the plot overview, I don’t think there really is an overarching plot to this series. Yes, this is a cartoon show, and yes this is possibly a kids show. But I say possibly because honestly the scriptwriters drop a lot of intelligent and hilarious references in the episodes that I’m pretty dang certain anybody still in primary school just would not get.
For some context of how I got into this (because I’m sure I’m getting some judgement eye-brow raises right now — I SEE YOU) — Claire, my housemate, was watching this in our living room as I was passing by to do God knows what. Then… it just sucked me in. Honestly I don’t know how it happened. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on the couch laughing my ass off. So that happened.
In all seriousness though, I really like this series and here are all the reasons why (yes you must go through them).
- I love it from a creative standpoint: All the characters are drawn in differing art styles overset a real world backdrop (like a photograph).
- I love it from a casting standpoint: The dialogue is witty, the voice actors are hilarious and memorable (particular Darwin’s voice actor)
- I love it from a storytelling standpoint: Each episode has a tight storyline and resolution within their 15 minutes time frame AND incorporates really clever and creative references to our generation that I have not seen in other shows. For example, there was one episode where the characters literally went into the interwebs (somehow?) and it was full of internet puns and memes and honestly a huge vomit (and satire) of our internet culture today and it was great.
??? Words or People that Make Me Think???
How to Fall In Love with a Man Who Lives In A Bush
At the top of my bucket list this month along with “moving out” was getting a library card and I finally got that checked off my list! I was passing by the library on my way back from a festival and I thought “heck, when was the last time I read something for fun?” I used to read ALL the time when I was younger. I loved reading fiction and fantasy books, and was especially a sucker for the plots that involved a badass female lead (with a bit of romance lol). But it stopped once I got to college and I barely had any free time. The free time I had was spent with the extracurricular orgs I was a part of, with friends, or with my boyfriend.
I spent 2 hours at the library, but only walked out with one book. Walking in, I was swept away in this sense of nostalgia of my younger self having a grand time reading all these fantasy young adult books. Yet when I went to the section for young adults, I just could not pick out any book from the shelves there. I think after all this time not reading anything for fun (i.e. wasn’t a class assignment) and I did so much growing up in between, the stories that used to entertain me no longer piqued my interest the same way. All the summaries felt so cheesy or predictable. It became one of those surprising moments when I realized I’ve grown up.
I strolled up and down all the floors of the library. I thought maybe I’d enjoy some business books since I work in that field and find the subject interesting. But nope. I tried reading the first chapter for a few books but couldn’t find myself reading past the first few pages. It reminded me too much of work. Which then felt unenjoyable lol.
Then I went to the adult fiction books section and I found myself just walking back and forth from aisle to aisle, not really sure HOW to find a “good” book. I couldn’t remember how I picked out books back then. In contrast to my memories of easily picking out books in high school, these book covers were less …colorful, more mundane… The summaries on the book cover sleeves didn’t catch my interest too.
Except for this book: How to Fall In Love with a Man Who Lives In A Bush by Emmy Abrahamson. From the get go, the title on the spine caught my eye right away. I found myself grinning at the cheeky title and plot summary. As soon as I started reading it, I fell in love with the quirky story. Just like the name implies, the main character of this book falls in love with a homeless man from the park! And get this — it’s based on the true love story of the author and her husband!! There’s a little excerpt at the end of the book where the author talks about the similarities and differences between her own story and the novel’s.
The book itself was relatively short; coupled with the author’s smooth writing and hilarious musings, it was an easy read. It was a story that didn’t take itself too seriously but it also buckled down during important points of the character’s self-journey and relationship with the significant other that made the whole story flow tight. Memorable and funny — it was the perfect “gateway” book if you will to getting back in the habit of reading for fun.
On a side note, reading a fun story like this has been giving me the idea to write stories of my own. I used to do this with my best friend from childhood. We started writing a book (to call it a book is a stretch because we only wrote a few chapters lol) and it was so fun building a fantasy world and building our main character from the ground up. Maybe I can pick up story writing again. TBD.
LoneFox
Since I’ve moved into my apartment, I’ve become obsessed with watching room makeover videos, which is what this channel focuses on. One of the first few videos I watched were his $1 DIY decor videos where he would take items from the dollar tree to replicate cool decor items from Urban Outfitters, IKEA, etc. I also liked his DIY videos recreating ideas sent in by his subscribers or he had seen on Pinterest.
I thought his creations were super creative and original and really inspired me to make my space in the apartment my own without breaking the bank. Plus I love LoneFox’s editing style! The videos are v aesthetic.
So last month, I said “When May rolls around, I hope to move into my apartment in the city by then and to really dive head first into my personal development goals of getting more involved, getting back into reading, and becoming more fit by going to the gym more frequently.” I can say off the bat the last one didn’t happen LOL but I’m proud to say I hit all my other goals! Here’s to hoping this becomes a trend.
