#it took me like 40 mins to watch the episode I kept realizing I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about because I was too focused

[kotonni]

Last Chainsaw Man ep was so stupid the animation was so well done that anything the characters said went over my head

#it took me like 40 mins to watch the episode I kept realizing I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about because I was too focused #on the hand animation #have truly never seen anything like it insane #insaneee #chainsaw man

[mariasversion]

my thoughts on young royals, a sequel (there are gonna be many annoying and pointless sequels): episode 2

YOUNG ROYALS’ SPOILERS AHEAD !!

• i’m glad to announce i now know my future wife’s name, madison mccoy. she’s so funny though and her outfits are so cool.

• oof when august and the other guys kept pushing wilhelm to stand on the chair and admit he’d hooked up with someone in the party and he started nervously laughing i felt kinda bad for him bc what was he supposed to say?

‘oh, no august. i didn’t hook up with anyone. i was too busy drunkenly and longingly staring at my crush who is very much a man and who i might be very much attracted to’?

it would’ve been funny though.

• that outfit in the intro. yeah, you know which one i’m talking about. i need more of that. i need more of those little stupid sunglasses. and how he stood up with his books and all.

• when felice left her friends to walk with wil to their next class and her friends just went ‘i mean we have the same next class bestie but go off i guess’ i lost it

• okay hear me out because their classrooms are so cute. they’re so mall and aesthetic and they just look so comfy? what is up with that

but the fact they have to stand up every time the teacher comes in just seems too strange to me. it’s just bc we’d never do that where i live but i couldn’t keep a straight face doing that. and bro, if i just sat down i’m sure as hell not getting back up because you came in.

• oh my god when sara took some pictures of felice with her horse and felice just thanked her looking all soft and shit, i ate that shit up (i adore their friendship and how it develops as the show goes on and i’d love it if they got together in a second season)

• i also loved when they’re finishing the rowing training (i think that was what it was) and wil starts giving simon some advice about it bc wilhelm went ‘oh, yea. flirting is not about pick-up lines anymore. it’s about unasked advice about rowing. thats what i call romance’. and honestly? good for him.

• plus wil not wanting to go to morning training but straight up sprinting to go when he saw simon was there? we love to see it. and how they just kept looking at each other the whole time (doing the planks and stuff)? that was everything.

it’s all about the looks. im telling you.

• and then when all the girls are studying/doing homework together and so are wilhelm and simon was so cute. plus i liked the background song.

and once again it was the little looks between them. those little glances wil was giving simon.

(yes i’m going to keep ignoring august’s whole relevance in most scenes bc i just don’t like him and he’s a little bitch)

but i will say it was very nice when my wife madison said ‘fuck you, august’. it was music to my ears.

• when wil messaged simon and immediately put the phone away bc he didn’t want to look, that was very much relatable. yes, i do that.

• it’s really nice how they actually feel like teenagers, in the way they act and talk. it feels very awkward and very relatable. for example when wilhelm and simon meet to go to the match and they just look at each other silently and then they both go ‘how are you?’

• and when ayub teases simon because he likes wilhelm and it’s so obvious to him, that was so sweet. plus when they’re all cheering for rosh,,, too wholesome

• one of my favorite scenes is definitely that scene where they’re all riding the motorbikes and wilhelm and simon keep trying to hold hands or just brush hands bc it’s so sweet and pure and fun. 10/10 loved it would do it again would watch it on repeat forever

• simon going back home after hanging out with wil and his friends all giddy and excited and telling sara about it melted my heart

• also this might be random but i really like the format(?) they use to show the messages on screen bc sometimes in many shows it’s just cringey but i liked it in this one

• i like the aesthetic of the library in the school. it’s a really pretty shade of green

• august: *giving a weird speech about simon and kissing his forehead*

wilhelm: oh, man. i don’t know what’s going on but you’re one crazy ass bitch

it was very much random and i loved how wil just lost it and how he and simon were looking at each other like ‘is this shit really happening? are you seeing what i’m seeing?’. august is an asshole but he’s so extra and it’s funny sometimes

• their pinkies touching during the film, the looks, the shyly holding hands had me screaming. that’s romance.

• but when wil leaves the room bc sara caught them holding hands and he’s doing his nervous tic (chewing on his thumb or biting it) and he looks at that plaque (?) that says they’re responsible for the legacy of the school or some shit like that it felt very ironic. bc i feel like what wil struggles with is the fact that if he’s with a man then he can’t have biological children and all that stuff about not being able to carry on the legacy.

and maybe i’m just reaching or misunderstanding the scene but then when you can see his anxiety is getting worse and he’s rubbing his chest i just felt like ‘yea, buddy. it’s rough, isn’t it?’ bc i think that sometimes it’s more difficult realizing you’re not attracted to the opposite gender than it is admitting you’re attracted to the same one (bc if you’re still attracted to the opposite one then you could have a “straight” relationship and stuff yk)

well that got deep huh

• once again i’m back on my bullshit, the looks in the first kiss scene. i live for the looks (though wil really looked ready to run for his life).

i just realized simon was wearing a looney tunes t-shirt in that scene. i love his graphic t-shirts.

okay it really isn’t my fault these are getting so long, each episode lasts 40-50 min and that’s a lot

#young royals #young royals netflix #young royals spoilers #simon young royals #prince wilhelm #wilhelm x simon #felice young royals #young royals episode 2 #ayub young royals #rosh young royals #my thoughts on young royals

[notasiren21]

My Romance Kdrama Rankings and rec.:

*warning: possibly a lot of spoilers but tbh mostly just a redone synopsis of the shows*

Also a bit lengthy as hell

#12. Melting Me Softly

This show didn’t do that well as much as it was expected to, considering it even had Ji Chang-Wook as the male lead and the adorable Choi Bo-min who was introduced and quite possibly helped quick start the recognition for his kpop group Golden Child. I’ll admit I expected more of this and I don’t hold anything against the script writer who I heard did Strong Woman, but I kept in mind that the whole premise itself was also very complex to work with. Besides the fact it had two very cute and good looking male leads to draw me in, what really did it was the said premise. This is coming from a girl who is in love with Fallout 4 where the playable character was cryogenically frozen and then thawed out two centuries later, that shit slaps with me for some reason and I was excited to see it play out in this.

The romance is okay I guess, still “aww” worthy and has an intense kiss scene that’ll go down in Ji Chang-Wook’s kissing portfolio no doubt, as well as a hot kiss with his former and now aged flame that is only dreamt of. What drives the romance is the male lead with his puppy dog eyes and loving gaze, only a few have COMPLETELY mastered this in the kdrama buisness. Choi Bo-min was a complete adorable cutie who seemed to have fallen in love for the first time and I couldn’t help but fall in love with him (we’re also the same age but that’s besides the point and I’m completely in love with Rocky from Astro so like, I gotta keep this professional).

Time and time again I have issues with female leads in dramas and feel like the men pick up the slack when it comes to acting, this was one of those times. She was funny and quirky but seemed very out of focus on serval aspects. I think her most redeeming trait besides being made for the media and entertainment business in the show was her completely devotion to her brother.

#11. Suits

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Park Hyungsik is my favorite korean actor hands down.

I’ve seen bits of the American version, the original version, and it didn’t interest me in the slightest. I took a chance on this because I saw this cutie wearing a suit and converse and maybe that’s my kink, who knows, but I was fucking HERE for it. Now I’m a huge slave to romance and the shows, romcoms, that shit. I need to ship, I need to see the love, possibly write a fanfic of it, save gifs of the couple being cute or someone pining. But this show didn’t focus on the love story brewing on the side, it focused on its original intent and purpose which was Park Hyungsik and Jang Don-Gun’s partnership as mentor and mentee, the practice of law, and Park Hyungsik’s storyline as someone who got mixed up in the wrong crowd and fauxed having the license to practice law. The love story you get is the reason it’s on this list and why it’s ranked lower, but all in all this was a good show and one of the few exceptions to a non romance focused show.

#10. Suspicious Partner

The only reason this doesn’t have a pic is because I can only use ten and I gotta figure which would need one and which wouldn’t.

To start off, this show is fucking hilarious with the cast dynamic. It was like what, 40 episodes? I didn’t realize I needed a prolonged show until this came along. At times, it seemed like the main plot was dragging and I was reminded of why I prefer typical kdrama fashion of a one season within 12-32 episode limit, but it made up for it.

Yes, yes, Ji Chang-Wook, the god of kissing, stars in this. My first introduction to him was actually Melting Me Softly and because of how he did in acting with what he could, the emotions he portrayed, I sought out another show of his pre-military duty. God, he fucking serves in glasses and a suit. His character’s jealousy regarding Nam Ji Hyun (his romantic interest) and Choi Tae Joon (Ex best friend, slow burn, exes to friends to platonic lovers that’s one sided while the other can’t stand him, 35k words) instilled the notion that he is fucking funny as hell when needed and such a mood. You want to see the (not even romantic rival bc Choi and Nam are best friends) spraying with a water hose on your lead’s rival? Want to see a hot guy like Ji Chang-Wook panic and try shoving him out of the house when the girl catches them working out? It’s gold.

The feud with the moms -granted they didn’t realize the knew they were the mom’s of the leads-, the slow burn of enemies to friends with the girls, the redemption of a broken friendship, the crackhead and large old baby played by Lee Deok Hwa and the poor father figure who is tired of everyone’s shit portrayed by Jang Hyeok-jin. It’s everything you need for at least a week. It’s possibly a great starter show to ease one into the fact that most dramas don’t hold to that many episodes.

The romance is great, the fucking pining on Ji Chang-Wook’s side is great, the kissing scenes are fucking one for the history books, and you’re guaranteed to be giggling to yourself in several scenes.

Oh and there’s like, a serial killer but yeah, romance!

#9. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?

The reason why it’s not so high on my list despite being popular is quite possibly some of the side cast.

While Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young severed as a fucking power couple and their tandem dynamic was strong as hell, there were characters who made the show’s story seen to drag out despite it being 16 episodes (see what I mean by usual number??). For one, we learn that a brown haired Lee Tae Hwan is not gonna make for a silent crush in this show. No, brown haired Lee Tae Hwan just gets on your nerves and despite it being purely because his character is mentally blocked in this twisted memory, he forces the main character into staying isolated within his own pain and nightmares from what really occurred when they were children. He lies to his family, keeps it hidden from those who are close to him and love him, suffers alone. It’s what keeps him away from chasing after Secretary Kim besides his egotistical personality -which I never thought could be so great but it is. The main character’s brother in his endless pursuit to chase at Secretary Kim himself starts to gnaw on your chill as you watch him subconsciously force this notions that they’re tethered to one another, deserve each other, etc. While you can’t entirely fault him for how he is given the psychological trauma he endured, you can get annoyed with him very easily for the other accounts and purposes.

The side story of the roof top guy with the one suit -I’m sorry, he’s great in 2PM but I can’t stand him in about every drama he’s in- and the seemly rookie girl become more of an obstacle when you just want to watch the main focus. The driver of the main character is hilarious but his romantic interest is over the top at times. Sometimes it just takes away from the show.

#8. Hotel Del Luna

Ah, I wish I could’ve put a pic.

To kick this off, can we like get a spin off with Kim Soo Hyun? Thanks.

FINALLY, A FUCKING FEMALE LEAD I STAN COMPLETELY AND WOULD WATCH EVEN WITHOUT YEO JIN GOO THERE FOR A ROMANTIC INTEREST.

This bitch, IU, fucking slays in her role as a hotel owner for the dead before the leave for the after life. Everything she does is iconic -yes, the fucking cocking of the rifle, the child like smile seeing diamonds, blessing the poor boy with the ability to see the dead then let him get chased per her own amusement before business. I really would’ve watched the show even if there was no romance. Whether it’s modern times or her orignal lifetime before being condemned to a life of immortality hell and aimlessly running a hotel, she makes for a strong lead. Her reasons for wanted to avoid love seemed so valid compared to other female leads who completely brush guys off. She doesn’t want love, and yet she doesn’t want anyone else touching Chan Sung (Yeo Jin Goo) because she’s not dumb enough to let go of something that makes her feel alive. While her character is legitimately described as cold and greedy, her intentions for holding onto him reveal an insecure part of her that’s been tucked away for centuries. His dedication to the hotel and her, to helping the ghosts move on and such, it’s great and makes for a binge full night.

It’s only ranked lower because the ending sadden me when I realized it was him picturing how they would meet one another again. And because they teased us with Kim Soo Hyun, like that’s cruel.

#7. Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (aka Goblin)

Tbh, this show would be lower if it weren’t for the Reaper and Sunny, as well as Deok Hwa.

I’ll probably get a lot of hate for this, but I couldn’t stand Kim Go Eun in this. I’ve watched her in Cheese in the Trap and thought she was good and stuff, but this I found myself growing annoyed and glaring at the television while my mom preached upon her behalf. The goblin was funny, his dynamic and weird polar friendship with the Reaper is quite possibly what really made the show, but I failed to see the spark between them until the time skip. Then, THEN, I could tolerate her a bit better.

Maybe it’s because she was protraying someone around my age in high school, but she went from this independent and driving girl to someone who became too needy and clingy. She acted like a little girl in front of a crush when she could’ve handled it more marturely with the said maturity she showed before meeting him. Granted, I know she had a very difficult home life after her mom died and she saw ghosts everywhere, and her living with the Reaper and Goblin was like this warm family she felt safe in, but I just couldn’t. Her endless pursuing of the Goblin got on my nerves and she would get upset, but then again did she ever act like an adult and do the most natural thing? Aka sit down and discuss the whole situation.

“If you’re comfortable, can you tell me why you think I’m your bride?/Why is there a sword in you?/What happens if I pull it out?/ What do you want me to do?/etc”

No, instead it was a constant “I’m the goblin’s bride”, “I’m your bride”, there was this bratty entitlement laying underneath the cutest exterior that was so apparent for someone my age, and I got pissed when she admitted to have seeing the sword the first time around. Like this man has been in total agony for fucking forever and you strung him along hoping for the possibility that you may be the key to him finally getting the ending he thinks he’ll get. It was selfish, she didn’t even know him but insisted on seeing how to be his bride. She should’ve stepped back and thought the situation out carefully. It wasn’t until that blessed time skip that I started to like her better. She wasn’t a kid then and became mature like she needed to be. There’s the need to flaw a character, but her’s was always biting at me.

Oh yeah, Sunny and the Reaper are the true couple in this story and their love that’s star crossed in two lives really hits you. There was more chemistry than the main couple, there was confusion in flirtatious banter, there was stupidity for first time romance against a tired experience woman, there was the hidden history that they both remembered after the time skip. The angst, the pure acceptance, the guilt and remorse. They made the fucking show alongside the Goblin and Reaper’s bromance and Deok Hwa’s “I just want a credit card and to be irresponsible but these two dumb fucks keep almost revealing their true selves to the world and I’m fucking done with these children”, on top of God taking his body as a vessel and becoming 10x cooler with that hairstyle while drinking with Fate (such a badass who loves her children I can’t, I stan the side character too).

#6. My ID is Gangnam Beauty

Oh my god, my introduction to Astro. Cha Eun Woo (aka Lee Dongmin). My god, if it weren’t for my mom, sister and I officially ruling Cha Eun Woo as god tier in terms of looks and making him this untouchable bias we can’t have, I would have never let this adorably hot as hell dancer and rapper distract me. Really, I kept wanting to be distracted by Rocky but I felt like I couldn’t miss the visual god in the front. Blessed I finally was able to divert my attention to the one I wanted to watch so very much and became my bias wrecker. Mom loves Moonbin like he’s her own son and we’re not her children, sister loves MJ’s psychotic idiocy.

ANYWAYS, the female lead, Kang Mi Rae, was stiff as hell when watching it a second time around and at times, knowing their age gap can be bothersome, but it was a cute slow burn of her and Cha Eun Woo’s character, Do Kyung Suk (sounds badass too, doesn’t it). While he appeared stiff as well, probably could’ve played a robot if he wanted to, I felt like he did well portraying his character who grew up in a dysfunctional house where their political father’s position took presidence over family. He was taught it was unmanly you cry, he never smiled (idk how Cha Eun Woo did it, this cutie never stops smiling or laughing), he never spoke up, etc. He appears socially handicapped until Mi Rae appears back in his life and he slowly let’s go of this anger as the story progresses. She learns she doesn’t have to be so self conscious about her plastic surgery or who she used to be because he loves both.

The villian of this story was well thought out (only kdrama where my dad actively participates in the discussions because he hated her so much and says her name with such spite while bragging he knows at least one Astro member so that’s his “idfk what a bias is but I’ll go with the Gangnam kid”). She brought the tension and there was the window to pity her and realize something was most definitely wrong in a tragic way. She sought after Kyung Suk like a prized trophy when he didn’t express interest, stepped inbetween blooming relationships, set boys off a progressive course away from her, and turned one kid psychotic. That was just with her obsession to have the boys fawn after her; completely disregarding her endless efforts to knock Mi Rae down a peg or two in meticulously planned schemes. She was incredibly smart and cunning, it can’t be denied and she drove them closer together in spite of her tries to wedge between them.

Really, this made me wish that the Webtoon True Beauty that’s supposed to get a drama adaption will cast him as the main male lead Suho. It’s almost similar but Suho seems more dimensional and expressive and I feel like he would truly shine there.

Stan Astro.

#5. Extra-Ordinary You

Ah, this one hurts me. @macaknight, just watch it.

This is a young love one and one of the few that’s not absolute cringe worthy. Set in high school where yea, there’s drama and it’s in Asia so there’s that weird “all mighty and supreme group that conquers the school” called the A3, a girl (Kim Hye Yoon) with a heart condition learns she’s a character in a manga -doesn’t realize she’s not the main one tho and that’s hilarious alone. She finds a focus with this unnamed student who stays in the background and shadows (portrayed by SF9’s Rowoon). The girl, Eun Dan Oh, is someone to worship and cherish, especially since she’s so young and very promising. I thoroughly enjoyed her character and how her efforts to derail the natural progression of the story with the catalyst of student number 13, later on Haru. There’s so many fucking twist and turns, characters to let your heartbreak for as you wish to adopt them and protect them from the world, it all hurts so much but in a masochistic against yourself kind of way you can’t let go of.

Those who are aware they’re in a comic book, they all struggle to break their “character’s” roles and expectations. The second male lead of both the drama and the drama’s manga is sick and tired of playing the violin and being this unrequited love interest that’ll lose in the end, forever the friend. Dan Oh is livid she’s expected to die from her heart disease and is forced to endlessly pine for her childhood fiancé Baek Kyung who is a complete asshole to her while in character. Number 13/Haru is tired of being an unnamed background character who continuously suffers and gets toyed with by the author. Dried Squid Fairy lunch maker is sick of how he must remember shit that’s kept a secret as he tries in vain to keep the story on track to avoid repeated mistakes and consequential devastating punishments to those who don’t follow the storyline. Yeo Ju Da (the main character of the manga) wants to experience the love story she wants without the drama. Baek Kyung want to prove himself and that he genuinely cares for Dan Oh but is forced to be an asshole because that’s how he’s written.

It’s a fucking mess and it’s fucking fantastic. The friendship of A3 (Lee Do Hwa the vionlist, Oh Namju and Baek Kyung), Lee Do Hwa and Dan Oh’s powerful best friendship after being self aware and confiding in each other (honestly I want a drama with just two of them, they’re so cute and funny together), the A3 that happened outside for those self aware between Dan Oh, Number 13/Haru, and Do Hwa where they all genuinely care for one another, Dan Oh’s acceptance that her manga best friend is a bitch but nice to her and the male lackey of their group is funny, etc.

I didn’t think another self aware comic book character show could happen without ripping off W-Two Worlds, but it did. They did it.

#4. Angel’s Last Mission: Love

That song that goes “It’s alright, it’s alright” in a sad melodic way? Yeah, they play it when it’s not alright.

This show has heartbreak galore, even in the first episode for numerous reasons. They don’t want you to be alright for the most part and yet our sadistic selves can’t help but suffer through it. L’s portrayal of being an angel is such a gift, I didn’t know I needed it. I was dead set on living my life until I saw this and felt myself crumble to bits.

You want sacrifice? You got it. Tears of cute boy and a girl who can’t catch a break? Check. Plot twists? Lmao, it’s a kdrama. Yea. Angst and hurt? Fuck yep.

While you’re at it, listen to the song too so you can suffer some more.

#3. Descendants of the Sun

THIS WOULD BE AT THE TOP IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE FACT I AM COMPLETELY IN LOVE WITH THE FIRST ONE AND THESE TWO GOT DIVORCED IN REAL LIFE. I still wish the best for them and their child. I still hurt but love them.

So much fucking chemistry and angst, so much hurt and wounds (it’s legit a show with a military background and characters), so much cool fight scenes and surgeries. Their soundtrack slaps, the backstory of characters really set the tone to their current stories, shit overlaps somehow, the female rivalry is hilarious, the cat and dog friendship of the male leads warms my heart. They have such iconic stills and scenes.

The main leads connected so fucking well they got married in real life (we don’t talk about the end result, I’m still crying but I get it.) This kdrama is probably one of the staples to korean dramas in general.

Another female lead I really liked as well as the second, I just struggled at times with Song’s character at times because of the pain she put them both through.

#2. W-Two Worlds

This is my go to for recommending korean dramas to someone for the first time -I got an ex hooked on it that he cried several times throughout it/life 1/4 of the varsity boy’s soccer team has seen this because of me.

This is the comic self awareness show that I didn’t think could be redone, but kudos to you Extraordinary You, you created an orignal that breaks my heart.

This show hurts so much as well, I don’t watch them if they don’t hurt in one way or another.

Lee Jong Suk stars as the main character (Kang Chul) who is also the main character of his own comic book he stars in. The issue is that he’s self aware and that there’s something wrong with his world and life. His webtoon/manga creator is trying to kill him because having his creation alive is driving him to insanity and was the only comfort when he pushed his family away for his career and alcoholism. The creator’s daughter is alerted that her father went missing while cooped up in his room while drawing Kang Chul’s death and end to the manga without a resolution to his storyline (Think of a korean Batman without the suit and brooding personality). Plot twist that’s in the synopsis, she gets pulled in by Kang Chul inside the comic and can come and go if it pertains to him because he controls it without realizing.

You have a main character who is written as this playboy orphan and sole survivor of his mass family’s murder that questions his existence and purpose BEYOND how we do. He meets this girl who speaks almost cryptically to him without realizing and knows more about him than needed or given, and now he’s experiencing oddities besides the notion of love that he can’t understand because it’s not how he is written and the glitches in his world.

This show is twisted in a psychological sense that messes with a comic character who is now alive and real, fucks up the mentality of the creator, puts the daughter in an immense amount of stress when she was just trying to be a fucking surgeon, yes, black haired Lee Tae Hwan is crush worthy in this unlike brown haired Lee Tae Hwan in Secretary Kim. (It’s the hair, you change the hair on a character and everything is different).

The exploration of what love is that works alongside the devoting dark plot of the culprit murderer really drives this show as well as the couple’s endless efforts to save/protect one another in any means necessary, even if they both suffer from it.

These two truly can’t live without one another and it shows with all they do for each other. There’s nothing they wouldn’t risk to keep one another in their arms.

And Lee Jong Suk delivers his share of being one of the King of Korean Drama Kisses as well, gif saving worthy and iconic ones as well.

#1. Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon

Park Hyungsik. Park Hyungsik. Park Hyungsik. Park Hyungsik.

Need I say more?

We stan Park Hyungsik’s character, Ahn Minhyuk, in this blog. We basically stan Do Bong Soon as well for how happy she makes him.

This is possibly totally bias but this is one of my two white noise korean drama shows that I continuously find myself rewatching time and time again. And that’s saying something since I only have one white noise show that’s in English. Three shows total.

People had issues with the script and what the actors had to say, but for the most part I thought the love story and the rival one was pretty well written, then again I kept watching different translations on different sites. So I wasn’t bothered at all. People also didn’t like the side characters and stories regarding the sketchy well dressed gang she hospitalizes in the first episode that stuck around until the last but I felt it was important to have them to prove how having Bong Soon in their lives can change a person and how she has this affect on people overall.

My god, the love story. Bong Soon has this massive crush on police officer and high school friend she was sweet on, Guk Doo, who doesn’t seem to acknowledge her feelings and is all about protecting the law and stuff (I can respect, I’m a LEO kid). He isn’t aware of her abilities of being incredibly strong and nearly indestructible. Nah, instead, CEO of AIN Software, Ahn Minhyuk, accidentally finds out and is like super chill but excited and curious about it and her??

He hires her as his bodyguard in the mist of receiving threats regarding his family company and they find an odd balance with each other while Minhyuk falls in love with her so hard, he literally tries to protect HER from danger. He’s so wonderfully extra that it’s no wonder Park Hyungsik and Park Seo Joon are best friends in real life, they both have the ability to play someone so over the top in a cute and funny way that you appreciate it about them. A cutie with a button nose and weird ears decked out in monochrome color scheme and dark sunglasses, whistling as he rides a hoverboard around? Die for 100%. Someone who gets crazy jealous and presents it in a healthily humorous way by dramatically posing to securitygates of his company that open automatically for him? Stan. Wants Bong Soon’s attention while she’s in a room away from him so her opera sings her name loudly and dramatically? Worship.

While it’s hard to watch the slow progression on her end yet the obvious budding of it, it’s understandable since she’s been in love with Guk Doo ever since high school and has assumably never had a boyfriend in hopes that he would reciprocate her feelings. So the second time watching it and stepping back to analyze, I could forgive her.

All the while, Minhyuk making Heart Eyes ™️ at Bong Soon for literally everything she does makes you feel. The way he holds her and treats her like she’s this precious porcelain doll that could break it handled the wrong way speaks volumes considering he knows of her Herculean strength. He openly loves her when he comes to realize what she means to him -which is a lot sooner than you’d think but welcomed-, and looks at no one else but her. The love story probably would’ve also happened faster if everyone didn’t think Minhyuk was gay (that’s a solid fact, I’m not joking), only those close to her and see how he acts/looks at her realize “lmao, he ain’t gay Hunni”. Minhyuk is this cute hottie that girls wish were straight (it’s fucking hilarious) who acts like a complete lovesick dork with Bong Soon. He freaks and spazzes out when she calls him a nickname or acts cheeky with dropping honorifics, speaks aloud to himself of his thoughts regarding her, literally can’t contain himself when she acts cute to get on his good side and distract his anger.

Oh and there’s like this serial kidnapper too so there’s badass scenes of the two working together, power couple def.

Their soundtrack slaps too and you somehow end up vibing with it. The song You’re My Garden on it, I learned to sing it because it’s one of my top favs.

They’re just the cutest with their hamster and puppy dog relationship. It’s my go to show and I won’t stop watching this. It’s so obvious how Park Hyungsik grew to fall in love Park Bo Young (that’s a legitimate fact) when filming and their bts cuts are too cute, I wish they were dating in real life.

(Also, we have another King of kiss scenes -to those who watched this drama already, you know the scene, iconic 🔥🎼)

#kdrama #kdramas #korean #korean dramas #drama #strong girl #strong girl do bong soon #strong woman do bong soon #strong woman #suspicious partner #melting me softly #hotel del luna #w -two words #w #descendants of the sun #extra ordinary you #angel’s last mission: love #guardian: the lonely and great god #the goblin #my id is gangnam beauty #what’s wrong with secretary kim #suits #suits kdrama #park hyung-sik #park seo joon #park bo young #song joong ki #ji chang wook #rowoon #lee jong suk

[brianjameson]

Sunday: The last full day

I woke up to Janusz calling me at 9:30am… Before we parted ways the night before he specifically told me that he would be calling me at 9:30am to wake me up so we could go to the black sand beach where Season 7 of Game of Thrones ended. He told me he knew how to get there and wanted to also take me to a waterfall that was on the way. I didn’t believe he was telling me the truth about 9am, but he was! I slept through all 5 million phone calls because of how fucked up I got the night before and didn’t wake up until about noon.

He came over and we ended up heading out around 1:30pm.

The entire time I was in Iceland the weather was being so finicky. It was either raining, snowing, hella fucking windy (to where people were getting hit with shit from the street) or just cloudy. I didn’t mind at all but this last day was the clearest I had seen it. Janusz was even saying it was amazing how clear the roads were when we were driving and how they don’t get clear weather like that normally. I couldn’t believe it either. When I had taken my tours the roads were a fucking mess. There was snow everywhere and I was just thinking to myself there was no way I was driving BY MYSELF IN THE COUNTRY, with those roads the way they looked. But Sunday there was no snow anywhere in sight on the roads.

The beach was about 2 1/2 hours away from Reykjavik so a trip from Vegas to Zion Utah. We stopped by a convenient store to get some snacks and we were on our way!

One thing I noticed Janusz doing was taking photos of everything. I was paying attention to how careful he was being with making sure he took a lot of good shots and he would occasionally take photos of me. It made me smile because Nick knew how much I loved having my photo taken or I’d shout at him when we were driving to take a photo of the mountains if we were up in Red Rock lol. I felt like it was another guided message from him and the universe. For meeting a stranger and him taking photos of everything, was a pretty rare thing. The similarity brought me comfort and I was grateful for all his help creating memories.

I couldn’t believe everything I was seeing when I was driving. I mean fuck, this country was absolutely incredible. We would be driving through the mountains and all of a sudden you’re now next to the ocean and then driving through mountains again. I saw so many Icelandic horses on the drive. I saw a giant Volcano that was covered by a glacier. Janusz was giving me one giant history lesson about the volcanos.

Our first stop was the Seljalandsfoss waterfall

My friend Rae let me borrow her amazing raincoat for the trip since my dumbass forgot to take one. Let me just tell you guys that a raincoat by the waterfalls is an ABSOLUTE MUST. The closer you get the wetter you get!

He took me to this other waterfall that was inside a cave and MADE ME TAKE MY SHOES AND SOCKS OFF TO GET INSIDE! The water was about ankle deep and my feet were FREEZING. I could barely walk in it. People were looking at us like we were crazy lol. But that waterfall was absolutely breath taking. There was a giant boulder that people were taking photos on and the minute we got in is when everyone started to leave the cave so Janusz was taking a ton of photos of me on it lol. My hair was DRENCHED since I was so close to the waterfall.

We hung out for a good 1 1/2 and then headed to the beach that was about 40 min away from where we were. We had to be quick because the sun was starting to set and we wouldn’t be able to see much after that.

We arrived to Reynisfjara black sand beach

We got there and when you start to approach the beach you go up these steps that lead you to the water and the waves are sooooo close to the shore to where you find yourself struggling to take a selfie because you’re running from the waves rolling in. It definitely wasn’t Santa Monica lol.

Janusz took dozens of photos of me there and then I told him I needed a moment to myself to just kind of say some goodbyes to Nick and just talk to him. So I walked away to a spot where No one could really see me and I just talked to him and told him a poem I had recently heard on the way to Iceland from the movie ‘The Shape of Water’.

“Unable to perceive the shape of you, I find you all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with your love. It humbles my heart, for you are everywhere.”

As I stood there watching the waves crash, I could feel the amount of power and energy that beach held..

I had a necklace that was a heart and a moon that said ‘I love you’ on the heart and ‘to heaven and back’ on the moon. The heart is where Nicks ashes were kept and I felt compelled to scatter them but then I thought it over and the only words I kept hearing in my head were “release me, let it go, throw it out” and so instead of scattering his ashes I unscrewed the heart from my necklace and held it tight and made a wish of love and hope.

So with all my emotions and tears I threw it as hard as I possibly could when I saw the next big wave..

To me it was another step closer to getting closure and making my wish come true. I could feel every emotion in me and realized why this beach specifically was calling to me. All I did my entire trip was follow the signs when they presented themselves and this was the biggest one as I’ll reveal later in this post.

I walked back to where Janusz was and we took a few more photos before heading back to the car. It was dark and we had such a long drive ahead of us. On the drive back to the city we could see the northern lights vaguely appearing above us. It was true magic being able to just drive through the country witnessing such beauty.

We got back into town around 9pm and went to the store. Janusz studied culinary for 5 years so ya boy KNOWS HOW TO COOK. I hopped in the shower and he started to cook. He made me fish with mashed potatoes, a mushroom sauce and some noodles. It was DELICIOUS but so much food that I couldn’t eat all of it lol.

It was about midnight now and he had work the next day so we wrapped up dinner and said our goodbyes.

I was so thankful for him and for the universe putting him in my path because he made the trip so exciting for me and was someone who really knew Iceland and told me so much of the history and showed me around the country. Not many strangers are willing to do this and till this day I’m still grateful for him and the memories that were created because they’re definitely going to last a lifetime.

I laid on the couch for a bit and just really took in my trip. One of my best friends Tiara bought me a divinity tea reading gift.

The way it works: You pour hot water water into your tea cup with leaves and swirl it around. You place your hand over the cup and put your energy into it. You then drain the water out and leave the cup flipped over on a paper towel to drain the rest of the water and then you flip the cup up to see what formed and depending on what forms, is your message.

I feel like mine looked like an anchor and this is the meaning for it.

Anchor

This ancient tea leaf symbol suggests that you need to take a restful holiday by water.

There have been many times you have been challenged by others. It may be a time when confusion and stress is likely to undermine the health of yourself and people close to you. If you see the anchor on its own in your teacup, it indicates that you have many friends and acquaintances and you sometimes never know who they truly are. As the anchor goes down to the seabed indicates that you are going to listen to your deep unconscious inner self.

The anchor is an emblem of hope and promises rest and contentment after a tumultuous episode. It may indicate that a heartfelt wish will come true. Near the rim, the anchor symbolises true friends and a faithful lover.

This message was bizarre to me considering the fact I made a wish at the beach and considering the fact I am going through a hard time in life so I’m curious what manifests from this message in the future.

I finished up soaking in the last night being in my air bnb and packed my things for tomorrow morning.

  Monday: Going home

I woke up at 11am and made myself one last breakfast at my air bnb.

I packed up the rest of my things and loaded up the car. Checkout was at 1pm and it was now 12:30pm

After I was done eating and the car was all packed up, I sat down for a moment..

I looked around at where I got to stay and just thought of everything I got to do.. I felt so much gratitude and and wrote a thank you card to my Air bnb host. It was a couple, so I left them 2 Oribe sample packets along with 2 Charlie Brown Valentine’s Day cards as a thank you for letting me stay in their beautiful home. Afterwards I felt compelled to write a sorry letter to Nick so I could get a little more closure from the situation.

I started crying and realized that everything I was saying sorry for was everything I truly did feel bad for doing in our relationship. I never did anything out of spite or malicious intent just to be clear. We sometimes got into heated arguments like every couple does, but when someone you love passes away, all of those things you said, haunt you. So I wrote down everything I possibly felt in my heart I was sorry about and kept the piece of paper with me. Hopefully in 10 years I’ll open it up and see what I wrote and see how far I’ve come from the situation.

I grabbed my backpack checked out of my place and went to go walk around the city a little longer until it was time to leave. I had 2 hours to spare since my flight wasn’t leaving until 5:30pm. I realized my gloves that my friend gave me were wet still from the water fall! I was like fuck now I need to go buy gloves otherwise I’m going to be cold. I went searching for gloves and all I could find were Icelandic wool gloves…. I DON’T NEED THAT SHIT! I LIVE IN VEGAS FFS. I knew for a fact I wouldn’t wear them again and was not going to spend $50 on wool gloves for that reason lol. Plus I had already spent a fortune on the Icelandic sweaters I bought since I bought 3! So I gave up and went to the church since it’s a huge tourist attraction in Reykjavik. There’s an elevator that takes you all the way to the top of the church to overlook the city and so I walked into the church and the first words that left my mom were “HOLY SHIT” when I saw the massive line at the elevator to take everyone up! I was like GOD FORGIVE ME FOR JUST SAYING THOSE WORDS I DIDN’T MEAN IT! I couldn’t even believe myself saying that right as I walked in and not even exaggerating but EVERYONE in that line turned to look at me. I thought I was going to pass out.

I didn’t stay very long. I felt a little uncomfortable with people sitting down staring at others and at me and to be honest the energy felt a lot like being in a museum. It didn’t feel like mass had just got out, it felt like people just coming to a church to look and leave. I was kind of shocked by that so I left.

I went to the beach where I was staying at since I had not been to it yet. As I was walking there I was thinking of how blessed I was to be able to go on this trip. To see everything I did and to see how others live. I still didn’t have gloves but for some reason I didn’t care. Even though it was cold I didn’t feel that cold.

So I kept walking until I reached the beach and went to see the Solfar Sun Voyager.

Here’s the description:

Solfar Sun is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.

I took photos of it and then I was really bored at this point and decided to just head to the airport 3 hours earlier. I got in my car and realized my body was pretty cold but I noticed I was putting all of my emotions and pain into how cold I was and not even realizing it. I was obviously on this trip carrying a lot of pain and depression but 1 thing I didn’t realize is that I wasn’t cold the entire time on my tours or anywhere because I was putting all of my emotions into the cold and when it was time to go indoors and thaw out, the pain would leave and get easier. It was a repeated process that worked as therapy and it actually helped. I know it sounds a little out there and a little over the top but it’s true. The minute that I sat in my car I had this entire realization of what I was doing the entire trip. It was a concluded moment where I now realized why I came to Iceland. Why this is where I needed to be to heal because ever since the trip, I have not been the same.

  I was driving to the airport and I had no clue where I was going to drop off my rental or how I was going to get to my gate or anything. I had completely forgot that the rental drop off place was a little further away from the airport so I was kind of rushing because I didn’t know how long anything would take.

I rented my car with Hertz and I couldn’t find it so I stopped at some random car rental place on the way and asked for directions to Hertz and they pointed me in the right way. I got there and there was seriously snow up to my ankles and I had to lug all my shit out in it and drag it to the shuttle that was taking me to the airport. It took a good 30 min to get to the airport but that was because we were waiting for more people to get on the shuttle. Once in the airport I decided to eat and that took about another 20 min of my time. I then went to go check my bag and on my way to customs I was asked 5 million questions about where I’ve traveled to and what I was doing in Iceland and what not. 

I then had to take a train to my gate which took about 45 min because I got off at the wrong stop. Got back on then had to run to my gate because I had maybe 45 min until my plane was going to take off. I got to my gate right at boarding and had 20 min until my flight left. I was blown away that 3 hours had gone by so fast. While I was in line this girl was just as late as I was getting to the gate and had an attitude from hell. She then proceeded to I think call her boyfriend or friend or whoever the fuck that she went to visit in Iceland and bitched them out for almost missing her plane. She kept looking at people and saying things like “not your business look away” to just about everyone lol. I was cracking up and irritated at the same time because it’s not like she missed her flight she was just the last one to get to the gate like, SHUT UP.

After that it was time for take off and goodbye to Iceland.

I landed in Seattle at about 5:30pm and has about 2 hours to kill. I went to Starbucks and grabbed coffee because I was tired and this time change was going to fuck me up again. I started to board around 7:30pm. As I was standing for everyone to get on the plane I checked to see if I had any notifications on my apple watch. I had 1 notification telling me that I had friends who wanted to photo share with me. It was strange because my watch has never alerted me about photo sharing. So I was thinking it was my girlfriends I went on my Seattle trip with because we had a shared album from the wedding and so I thought they might of asked me to create an album to share so they could see my trip photos but that was not the case.

When I opened my phone to check it out, it was the photo album of the beach where I went to go say my goodbyes and where season 7 of Game of Thrones ended. I checked to see who it was that wanted to photo share and the only 2 people on the list were me and Nick…. Under Nicks name it said ‘Baby’ which was strange because I’ve never saved him as baby in my phone. His name was always Nick or Grizzly Bear in my phone, that was it, NEVER BABY. I was like NO FUCKING WAY…. It could of been any album from my trip.. ANY. I was taking photos up until that last day. Why the beach album? To me that told me that Nick heard me and was telling me that he was there with me. This is just how spiritual this trip was for me. I couldn’t believe the amount of signs I was getting from him the entire time and the connection I felt with the country…

This is the big sign I was talking about earlier in this post. This is the biggest sign I could of received from Nick on my trip.

After all of this happened I looked up and I saw my friend Sonny who I used to kickbox with! She was in Seattle for a girls trip and so we got to talking and when we boarded we magically were in the same row but across in the opposite side! It was like fate was guiding me the entire time. Like this trip was meant to happen. Not to mention I was sitting next to a guy and noticed his socks. He was wearing long dress cocktail socks and so was I! lmao. All the coincidences that happened in a matter of 30 minutes lol.

I landed back in Vegas around midnight and had my mom come and pick me up. I couldn’t wait to go home, take a shower and go to sleep.

And so that concludes my trip to Iceland.

I highly recommend everyone go check the country out. There’s so much magic to it and so much to do and see.

If you’re someone looking for some solitude and looking to self explore and just center yourself with the universe then you are someone who definitely needs to go and see and experience for yourself.

I won’t say that I don’t miss Nick. I won’t say that things are easier, I won’t say I’m moving on. I will say that life has been put more into perspective for me. I understand life in a different light now because of all the signs I received on my trip. I realize that the people you love that have passed are not worlds away but right next to you and whatever energy they have, they’ll send signs with and you just have to keep your eyes open and ear to the ground to watch for them.

I’m still healing and every day is still a struggle. The hardest part of this all is still missing him and missing the things we did together and how much he loved me. Finding love like the kind Nick gave me is such a rare thing but I have hope that there’s still some out there. Regardless, I feel him around still and dream him all the time.

If you’re reading this and you’re struggling with something similar, I hope you know that everything happens for a reason and know that life works out one way or another. Nothing lasts forever and we’re all here on borrowed time. It’s what you do with that time and all the good and happiness you bring to the world that makes life worth living. 

Letters from the Arctic pt.5 Sunday: The last full day I woke up to Janusz calling me at 9:30am... Before we parted ways the night before he specifically told me that he would be calling me at 9:30am to wake me up so we could go to the black sand beach where Season 7 of Game of Thrones ended.

#adventure #advice #beaches #black sand beach #blogging #brian jameson #faith #game of thrones #iceland #ideas #inspiration #learning #life #love #love life #partner #passing away #photography #religion #reykjavik #season 7 #the shape of water #travel #travel life #vacation #writing

[opepin]

january: week one

02: i woke up late and waited for hillary to pick me up. i decided to go to gyu-kaku with everyone today but aimed to not get the all-you-can-eat. my stomach was feeling weird from the 3 arts club cafe burger. hillary picked me up and we drove to gyu-kaku. we found parking right in front of the place and then we went in and found out that the wait time was 1 hour and 30 minutes. we called up everyone and everyone said they were fine with it. so we met up with mindy and garrick and they got some coffee and we walked over to water tower. it was garrick’s first time there too! we ended up in “the limited” and i was so amazed by the fixtures and stuff. i would have bought some of it but i don’t think i needed anything. mindy, hillary, and ashley got things for real cheap because they were closing out. it was about time to head back and we got a call from them saying that our table was ready. we rushed back and sat down and everyone got $45 ayce because everyone wanted to sit together and just eat. we went for 3-4 rounds. i was the first one to tag out LOL. it was so salty and i just wanted dessert :( hahah. we managed to eat everything plus a lady m green tea cake. we were all dead after.

hillary drove home, mindy and garrick took a lyft, and then ashley and i walked to a starbucks near the red line so i could get on that and she could wait for her ride. hehe, thanks for guiding me, ashley! i got off diversey brown line and walked over to firecakes, where hen was working. i should have gotten off fullerton...because it was closer than diversey, but oh well, it was really nice to walk off some of the food. the clark st. firecakes’ location is so cute <333 hen threw out the garbage, i met her co-worker, and then we commuted home together because we were going the same way. we realized that everywhere was closed because new year is observed today so we just caught up on our ride back home. i’ve missed hen <33333 i love hanging out with her because i feel like she brings out something in me in a way she only can. we’re silly together. cluck cluck cluck. 

hen gave me one of her beautifully crafted milk bottles and a beautiful notebook and a very touching card. i love this girl so much and only wish the best for her <3 so happy that she was one of the few friends i made while at SAIC. i ended the night by exercising because i felt like poop and then talking to kevin because he’s coming back tomorrow~~ tomorrow is a jam-packed day. i can’t wait.

03: i managed to get up at 6:20 am and tom actually picked me up at 6:40 am! go us! the only thing is that it was extremely foggy outside. it was so foggy that i could see it in my neighborhood LOL. we drove out to foster beach and then talked and waited to see the sunrise. we talked about how we’ve been doing and etc and it was really nice. i feel like tom expressed feelings that i’ve been feeling but haven’t really said it out loud. it’s nice knowing that a friend is going through the same thing as you. it hit 7:19 am and it was brighter, but there was no sun to be seen LOL. i think we stayed there a bit longer and then tom drove us to yellow rose cafe in jeff park. this diner is great! our waitress/maybe owner greeted us and took our orders. she gave tom the homemade hot sauce and his reaction was lulz. she made fun of him for a bit. tom and i ate and continued talking. it was one of those deep conversations that i haven’t had in a long time so it was something i realized i needed. the conversations continued in the car on the way back to my house and then he dropped me off. thank you for spending quality 1-on-1 time with me, tom! ((:

it was around 10:30 am when i got back and i ended up napping for an hour. then i put my jacket back on and brought my book bag and stuff and commuted to SAIC to meet up with chewy! we got into the office and talked with kate and nancy! they were the only ones we knew there and apparently, it was their first day back in the office from break. it was nice talking to them and updating them on our lives. i love them so! i’m said vicki and theresa were still on break and i missed them. chewy and i went to russian tea time and got afternoon tea. we got the savory items, tea, and chocolate lava cake (as usual). he caught up, talked, and etc. I’VE MISSED THIS GIRL SO MUCH! she’s been out in LA doing her thing for so long ): it was really great seeing her again. i walked her to the train and then waited for my mom to pick me up. it was like i was in school again lol. we stopped by hong kong market (for an hour, wut) and then drove back home. my mom made dinner, i fell asleep again, woke up and ate, and then we drove to union station to pick up kevin!!! <3333

we talked about his vacation and then kevin gave my family some holiday chocolates, unpacked-ish, and ate dinner. i missed this bear! hehe. we spent the night catching up and making sure that he wouldn’t get sicker haha. we went to sleep pretty late either at 1 or 2 am, but i can’t wait to spend time with kevin again in chicago (((((:

04: kevin and i met up with nluu in ford for lunch. we got lunch at tomate and walked over. i got my chicken quinoa salad with a chicken tamale. kevin got a gordita and a burrito? or a taco? i forget. it was yummy though. we caught up and talked. ryan came by after his class and we talked. they made plans to go climbing every day LOL. we walked with ryan back to tomate and then drove him to tech. then we drove back home and chilled until kevin went climbing. i stayed home and worked out. then i showered and ryan picked me up to go to dice dojo! ryan also was the mvp for ordering and getting our dinner from 527 cafe. we found parking, walked over, and went inside. omg, it’s such a cool place! it’s also much more spacious than i thought it would be. everyone was down in the basement. kevin, ryan, and i ate while watching them play a code/picture game. my popcorn chicken salad was bomb af. i would definitely get this again. i was on a salad streak because i wasn’t eating enough greens x_x i was trying to make up for it LOL.

i played fluxx with winson, ryan, and kevin. michelle came through! then me and the guys headed to a viet restaurant so winston could fill his belly. he got pho, ryan got some spring rolls (he gave me half of one), and kevin got a chicken banh mi with taro bubble tea, which i ate 1/3 and drank some. i got a thai iced tea. ryan’s hate for new york is amazing LOL. i love how he puts it into words. i agree with him but it seems like he was scarred from a past event (he wasn’t), but he is so particular about his reasons for disliking new york. it’s great. winston is planning to get a new job and move out there so that’s what sparked the conversation. i missed everyone <3 we all ran to walgreens and got a pack of water bottles and ran back to dice dojo. ryan ran like he stole it from there or something LOL. winston got hiccups from running with us. it was great lololol.

we passed out the water and then i got strung into playing avalon, which i was confused by and really didn’t like. i effed it up for our team because i didn’t see that kevin was on my team. i thought there were only 3 spies?! so i passed it on accident...sorta, but my team guessed winston was merlin and they were right! yeah, never playing that game. then we paired up and played dix it. jia and i were in last place but oh well haha. peter and nluu were killing it for some reason, ahah. then everyone left at 12 am? i think that was closing time and we said our goodbyes. i was nice seeing matthew and winston again! hehe. kevin drove us home and then we showered and went to sleep. zzz. it’s been an eventful week so far.

05: kevin and i woke up late and then ate some congee. then we drove out to cafe orient 33 to pick up food and eat it while watching pokemon sun and moon episodes. we were going to watch ‘la la land’ but i decided against it because it was kind of cold and i don’t know if kevin would like it. so we ate (i have missed this food -- still so good) and then chilled until i needed to meet hen for dinner and kevin had to meet up with everyone to go climbing. i met up with hen at sabri nihari and the service was great. our servers were so funny. i got to spend more time with hen talking about food and life. the chicken biryani was huge and i sacrificed my stomach for mango lassi. the samosas were so good! the vegetarian one is still my favorite. everything was delicious. we ate wayy too much though. we decided to walk back home in the freezing cold. we walked together until devon and california. hen actually moved closer to me T__T we are so close but yet so far away now! then i toughed it out and walked the rest of the way home. hen had a bit less to walk but we both made it!

kevin was still out so i did an intense af workout. i mixed up videos and did 20 minutes of hiit, 10 min of intense abs, 10 min of blogilate abs, and 20 minutes of hip hop cardio. it felt good but my body feels so weak now. i took a quick shower and then opened the door for kevin. he drank all of the mango lassi i got him when he came back. he ate a lot today .__. he also ate spicy rice cake at joong boo market before climbing. lolool. did he even climb? idk. :P jk haaha. o we digested and then went to sleep after a long day of activity out in the cold haha.

06: kevin dropped me off at cupitol so that i could meet up with michelle and nluu. i got there first so i ordered tea and the gravlax and eggs plate with gluten free bread except that the cashier kept putting in the bagel and i didn’t want the bagel because it had cream cheese and he was confused whether or not i wanted gluten free bread or not. x__x another person helped us out and then i grabbed a seat at the only empty large table so i could save michelle and nluu a seat. my food was disappointing because the smoked salmon was cut so freaking thick and i only got one slice of bread LOL. then a large group of people came and they kicked me out of my seat and then they changed their mind about dining here. .___. finally, michelle and nluu came. i pretty much was anxious the entire time at cupitol. i do not recommend this place. i feel like they are also a bit on the pricey side. so yeah. omg, too many things happening in the morning for me.

we ate lunch together and chilled until nluu had to go back to research. michelle dropped him off and then we drove to ikea. i listened to the moana soundtrack and also showed michelle jay park’s album LOL. i love it so much but i hate the lyrics T_T we talked and stuff and i realized that i was being real oversensitive about things and maybe other things were contributing to how i was feeling about being back in chicago and seeing people. michelle was supposed to figure out what bed frame and sofa she wanted. we did that but also focused on buying kitchen stuff and smaller apartment things. we got matching funnels, ayyy! i also finally got tape measure for my apartment lol. i learned that other ikeas are set up with show rooms first then items unlike this one near chicago. it kind of blew my mind because this ikea is all i know.

we ended the trip with a soft serve and a freshly baked cinnamon rolll. mmm. we also got everyone else a six pack of cinnamon rolls. michelle drove us back and we talked about life lol. it sucks to be in your early 20′s. we stopped by ryan’s and then drove out from there. i didn’t know how long the ikea trip was going to be so i had the house keys so when kevin was done visiting his lab at nu, he couldn’t get his climbing stuff to go with ryan T__T i felt so bad. but he chilled at lab for a bit longer and then met up with ryan at his apartment after. also, sorry ryan! lol he ended up climbing alone. poop. anyway, we all drove to dengeo’s (after getting ashley and winston) where we met up with tom, peter, and honglin. we ate and then michelle went to get terence. then we all drove to the escape room in morton grove. the location is shady af LOLOL.

we had orientation and then we basically pushed into the room and locked in. it was terrifying. there was a butler to help give us hints (helpful or not) and he gave us the backstory. i hear chains in the background so kevin and i move behind some people. then the lights flicker and the zombie actress pops out of nowhere and screams OMG OMG OMG LOLOLOL. kevin and i jumped in the opposite direction HAHAHA. she couldn’t get anywhere though because her chain wasn’t long enough yet... we were all shitting our pants trying to find clues and kevin and winston volunteered as tribute to go into the bathroom area (where the zombie was chained). there were a few seconds of feeding time when the zombie was eating, but that time ended and they were locked in the stall LOLOLOLOL. they “died” (zombie taps you, you’re out but the butler revives you after you do something silly for him) and it’s safe to say that they were scared shitless. kevin was the martyr of the group and he kept dying. i would like to think that she aimed for him because he was the funniest to scare (kevin would literally run backwards to the furthest wall). she also liked scaring peter. POOR PETER! haha.

i don’t think i helped much other than doing the final step of getting the keys. i got a key out with my fingers but the butler didn’t accept it because we were supposed to get the tools hung on the bathroom stall to open the vent where it was stuck...i also got the key from a painting’s eyeball too after helping figure out the morse code via the top planks of wood. we only got 3 out of the 4 keys and then we all died hahaha. it was a pretty great experience tbh. the zombie actress was soooo good! she like threw things (kind of at us but not really) and acted her part real well. she wasn’t so scary after the game ended. we all drove to ford to play telestrations and it was great. sarah can draw so well!!! terence is also a pretty great illustrator. we munched on the cinnamon rolls from ikea and candy that ryan bought. we played until 12 am and then we all drove home. kevin and i hugged everyone goodbye. it was a great end to our trip back home. the escape room and telestrations seemed like they happened on two different days though haha. kevin and i drove back and showered and went to sleep. zzz.

07: you guessed it! our flight got cancelled. that was the first thing i saw when i woke up in the morning. kevin had the option of switching his flight online but for some reason, i didn’t. so i called and waited. luckily, there was a 4:40 pm flight tomorrow so we both signed up for that. kevin went climbing with ryan and i just stayed in bed. i eventually got up and ate leftover chicken biryani for breakfast. then i snuggled with my mom on the couch. she fell asleep and kevin came back. then she went to sleep upstairs because she felt like she was getting sick D: kevin and i just chilled in the bedroom the entire day. my body felt blech too. i ended up dosing in and out multiple times during the day. we did manage to make reservations at sumi robata for dinner so that we would get some outside time lol. i got my mom water from downstairs and my brother was hanging out with his friend in the living room. when it was about time to go, we changed and headed out. i dropped off victoria’s gift at her apartment and then got her delicious peppermint mocha cookies. OMG I’M IN LOVE. THEY’RE SO DELICIOUS. my throat hurt but i kept eating them anyway.

we got a super close spot near sumi and then got seated. it was way busier than the last two times we went. there were some seating issues with another group and service seemed sloppier? we also had to wait for our tea for a while and had to ask for plates. they also no longer have the chopsticks and chopstick holders that we liked x__X idk. haha. overall, the food was great though. the chicken thigh and beef tsukune slider were still bomb af and their kakigori flavor was soo good. it was an orange creamsicle flavor. we also got baked scallops and the sweet potato fries, which were new to us but SO GOOD. we would eat that all day any day. after a day of staying in and eating, we settled back into bed and kevin tried watching a dota game but we both ended up falling asleep at like 1 am, ahahha.

08: we woke up later than i told my parents, but they weren’t really bothered by it. i think they were expecting it LOL. we finished packing and headed out. we went to cai to get dim sum and it was packed af! my mom managed to get us a table quickly :P she has real good bargaining skills. then kevin and i checked off things that we wanted and everyone ate pretty quickly. i obviously ordered the mango tapioca pudding with condensed milk <333 then i struggled to eat everything else we ordered. the mango mochi had a ton of cream inside, but it had chunks of mango in it too, which made me sad because i couldn’t eat all of it. the crab xiao long bao were disappointing...but everything else was fine. my parents drove us to midway and then we said goodbye. we got on the standby list for the 2:25 pm flight straight to boston. i realized that the 7 people in front of us were from the same family so i was hopeful that we’d get seats. gg us because they decided to take all 3 empty seats and split as a family -___-” wtf. we should have called earlier and asked to be put on standby :/

we waited until 4:40 pm to get on our original flight to kansas city. before we boarded, we were told our flight to boston would be delayed about 2 hours...we played pokemon on the flight and experienced some pretty bad turbulence before landing. we were then notified that our flight to boston would be delayed another 30 minutes. so kevin and i went to the nearest restaurant, which was a bbq place and got dinner. i got this less than avarage salmon salad for $17...and kevin got their beef brisket, which only tasted good dipped in bbq sauce. sigh. there was a lady in the same boat as us and she was so nice. we connected through this tragic flying situation and she offered us half of her fries LOL. we went down to wait and i tried walking around but there was pretty much nowhere to walk to because the airport was so small.

we played pokemon to pass the time. they also had boomerang and cartoon network playing on the screens, which was nice. we finally boarded at 9:30 pm and in the air at 9:50 pm. it was a long 4 hour flight (including the time difference). i played more pokemon, we tried napping, etc. we got wheat thins on this flight, which was nice. i sent an email to southwest complaining about my terrible experience all around and i hope they answer me. it’s fucking ridiculous tbh. anyway, we landed at like 2 am and got our bags. then we took an uber back and decided to stay up until 5 am unpacking, opening packages, reading mail, and making ourselves back at home. tomorrow is going to suck for kevin because he wants to go to work but we went to sleep at 5 am. this is my worst experience traveling so far. it was literally an entire day plus some of traveling.

[lastnight-dreamblog]

February 29, 2020

I had a dream that I saw at a cabin again, the same as the dream I had a few weeks ago. I was with my family and all my cousins and I happened to again run into my ex who was staying there but then moving far away. We were friendly and talking but I didn't want to make her uncomfortable so I was planning to mind my own business. Except we kept talking and fell into being cuddly and just talking and laughing and hanging out all the time.

My mom was very wary of all this at first but then was okay with it. It was like one of the last few days there and there was going to be a firework show over the lake. We were going to watch together but I had to go find a folding chair.

Somehow I ended up in the woods and was lost I was with two other people and we got chased by a buff tiger. By buff tiger I mean BUFF. It was like gross looking. One of the people got spilt off from us. I looked up to the trees thinking maybe itbwouldbbe safer there.

A man with two massively buff arms, each was the size of the rest of his body and gross and bulging, he was hanging from the tree from is hands. He said trees are less safe bc there was more of them leaping around the trees.

I turned to look back and I was in my parents basement and this was all a Naruto episode on tv. It took naruto, sasuke, and sakura about two weeks to get back to the camp.

My mom made a comment that Naruto was very ugly with the lines on his face. I explained that it was the fox demon and that he got less ugly when he got older. (I don't actually think the boy is ugly lok)

When they returned to the camp it was burned down. I don't remember if Naruto or sasuke was the proxy for me from what was happening earlier, but whoever it was grabbed their cell phone and found a bunch of worried messages from family and then one from the ex saying they were leaving. We were relieved bc that meant that all of them weren't hurt in the fire. They tries calling everyone and texted explaining what happened.

Then I was a school. If anything it looked like one of the old middle schools I went to. But my statics proffessor from college was there and giving us an exam. I couldn't remember a lot of the equations so four questions in I got to the first calculation problem and read it over and over. It was like some kind of piston and I had to solve the shear and tensile stress. I couldn't remember the equation. I was getting there when I looked up at the clock and saw 40 mins had already passed.

I felt my head spinning. I noticed the exam sheet was already written on from a past exam (this was a scantron exam with a seperate exam problems packet) I saw the person previous had got an A+ and started copying down which ones they had circled previously.

At the hour mark the proffessor put on the tv. There were tv's eveywhere. And my desk shrunk to just a small section on the right arm of the chair. My paper kept getting messed up and I kept dropping pens, papers and calculator. The videos on the tv were Brandon Rodgers skits which I like but seemed innapropriate for the classroom. And made it hard to focus. Everyone else had already finished the exam. My hands were shaking.

I then realized the scantron didn't go top to bottom but left to right and I was filling in bubbles wrong. I told the proffessor and he gave me a new one and said I could stay after to copy things over. I managed to copy half of the answers the previous guy got and guesses on the rest. So I'd still get a bad grade but at least not failing. Everyone left the room and I finished fixing my answer bubbles.

I looked up and the proffessor Saud because I was alone he could kill me and eat me. I struggled to get out of the desk and sprayed him with my pepper spray (I always carry pepper spray and brass knuckles). I stumbled out of the classroom screaming for help while he chased me and it was very crowded but it was like no one could see or hear me I sprayed him again.

I'm not sure if I woke up briefly or if it switched to a different dream but now I was on some water raft ride in a jungle. Part of the ride was in a water raft and part of it was and obstacle course. There was like a ropes section super high up and I refused and asked to get off. I was at the start of it again and something was chasing us and we had to go through this rafts/course I got back to the same spot and started waking up.

#dream blogging #lots of chases lol #dreams

[learnspanishfans]

How I Learned Portuguese in 3 Months (Mission Complete!)

I made it! I reached the end of my three-month mission to learn Portuguese. Be sure to catch up on earlier updates if you haven’t already:

Portuguese Mission: Day 0

Portuguese Mission: 1 Month Update

Portuguese Mission: 2 Month Update

The question is: Did I reach the B1 (lower-intermediate) level of Portuguese that I wanted to? Here's my end of mission video: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctw2G8sAo7E In this article, I’ll go over my study activities from month three, discuss my final video, and take a look back at my mission and see whether I accomplished my goal.

The Final Month of My Portuguese Mission - a Day-by-Day Countdown

I thought I’d do things a little differently in this article and outline everything I did during the final month of my Portuguese mission. I kept a journal of my exercises every day as I did them, so I thought I’d share it with you so you can see how a month of Portuguese study breaks down day-by-day.

Day 57

I discovered the podcast BrazilianPodClass. All of the podcast episodes are FREE on iTunes, and I listened to episode 106.

Day 58

I listened to another BrazilianPodClass episode, but it didn’t hold my attention very well. It’s really structured, with vocabulary lists and grammar drills. I prefer to listen to more natural Portuguese. I then listened to three NHK World News Portuguese episodes.

Day 59

I went for coffee with my new Brazilian friend (who I met at a Portuguese Meetup event in month two) and we spoke for 1.5 hours in half Portuguese, half English. She explained some grammar to me. Later, I listened to the album Um Novo Tempo by the Brazilian band KLB while driving, and tried to pick out as many Portuguese words as I could. My Brazilian friend told me about some free Portuguese channels for the Roku! I downloaded CB TV Canal Brazil and Rede Nova TV (both available as Roku channels or streamed live online) and watched the latter for about 15 minutes.

Day 60

Nothing (driving all day for week-long event out of town). Hopefully I can fit some studying in this week even though I’ll be busy every day and most evenings.

Day 61

Nothing (all-day/evening commitment).

Day 62

I listened to three episodes of Practice Portuguese podcast: “A História de Amor de Pedro e Inês” (“The Love Story of Pedro and Inês”), and Diálogos 14 and 16 and PortuguesePod101: Intermediate season 1 lesson 10. I then listened to some songs from the KLB album Um Novo Tempo - about 30 minutes. On Duolingo, I earned 20 XP. In this and all other Duolingo sessions, I always dictated my Portuguese answers into my phone instead of typing them out.

Day 63

Nothing (all-day/evening commitment).

Day 64

Duolingo: 80 XP.

Day 65

Duolingo: 10 XP. Listened to more of the KLB album, got a few more lyrics from each song!

Day 66

Nothing (driving home all day from my week-long trip).

Day 67

I listened to six Practice Portuguese podcast episodes.

Day 68

I watched 15 minutes of Brazilian TV on the two new Roku channels. The shows weren’t very interesting, so I’ll try again later.

Day 69

I listened to the KLB album again during a walk, and understood even more lyrics! I need to commit to memorising a few of their songs by the end of my mission. They seem like they’d be easy to learn. I then watched 20 minutes of the cooking show “Cozinha sob pressão” (“Kitchen under pressure” - the Brazilian version of “Hell’s Kitchen”). I love cooking so I thought I’d like this show. But I’m not a big fan, because I didn’t realize it would be like Hell’s Kitchen, which I’m also not a fan of.

Day 70

Some podcast listening today:

NHK world news podcast, one episode.

Practice Portuguese podcast, four episodes: Atualidade 1 and 2, Artigo 18, and “A Lenda de Rainha Santa Isabel” (“The legend of Queen Saint Isabel”).

Day 71

I listened to the practice Portuguese podcast: Diálogo 20, Atualidade 3, and Artigo 19, then I watched the Rede Nova TV channel for 30 minutes.

Day 72 - 73

Nothing (no good excuse, just took a little break).

Day 74

I listened to a 37 minute Practice Portuguese podcast (Artigo 20) and 11 minutes of Artigo 21.

Day 75

I listened NHK World News Portuguese: 4 episodes. I was horrified at this point to look back and realize I had totally slacked off and only spoken Portuguese with a real person once in the previous 18 days!! It was time to buckle down and speak the language, damnit! I committed on Day 75 to speak Portuguese with a native speaker every day for the rest of my mission.

Day 76

I booked an instant 30-minute tutoring session on italki in Portuguese with a Brazilian community tutor. I also listened to a new Quinta do Bill album, “Filhos da nação” (“Sons of the nation”) while driving. I LOVE the title track. I plan to learn it by heart. On Duolingo, I earned 40 XP. I want to finish the tree before the end of my mission!

Day 77

I had 30-minute instant tutoring in Portuguese with a different Brazilian community tutor. Then I listened to NHK World News for the previous day (13 mins). Finally, I listened to two hours of Portuguese music on Google Play Music (though I was working during it, so not listening much). The group Vozes Trinadas (“Trilled Voices”) has some beautiful songs, but they aren’t ideal for trying to memorize.

Day 78

I completed a one-hour lesson on italki with a Brazilian community tutor. Then on PortuguesePod101 I listened to upper intermediate season 1 lesson 16, and lower intermediate season 1 lesson 23. I had a great day on Duolingo, earning 150 XP! I’m still trying to finish the tree before the end of my mission.

Day 79

I completed a 1.5-hour lesson with a European Portuguese community tutor on italki. This was intense! I also listened to two episodes of a new podcast, Portuguêses no Mundo (Portuguese people in the world). It’s about Portuguese emigrants around the world. The stories are fascinating. It took about one hour for two episodes. With Duolingo, I earned 10 XP.

Day 80

I attended a one-hour lesson with a different European Portuguese community tutor from italki. Meanwhile, on Duolingo I earned 250 XP. I tested out of some sections, so I got the XP quicker than usual. I also listened to two more episodes of the “Portuguêses no Mundo” podcast.

Day 81

I completed a thirty minute lesson with a professional Portuguese teacher from italki. We didn’t get to chat much in the language because he spent most of the time telling me about his language learning philosophy. I also earned 30XP on Duolingo.

Day 82:

I listened to the previous four episodes of the NHK World News podcast. No speaking practice!

Day 83

I had an intense day with PortuguesePod101, listening to intermediate season 1 lessons 5, 7, 13 and 14, and upper beginner season 2 lesson 22. I also had an instant tutoring session with a Brazilian Portuguese community tutor on italki for 30 minutes (I love these instant tutoring sessions!).

Day 84

No conversation practice today ! The day went well in other ways. I completed one PortuguesePod101 lesson: lower beginner lesson 10. I also listened to Portuguêses no Mundo - one episode (the guest lives in China), and to two albums by the popular Brazilian band Legião Urbana: A Tempestade and O Descobrimento do Brasil. I liked two songs by them enough to file away for memorization later. This is what usually happens with music: I listen to hours and only find one or two songs I enjoy. With Duolingo I earned 240 XP! Finally, I memorized the KLB song Vão Passando os Minutos (“The Minutes Go By”). It’s a nice song with clear, easy lyrics, but it still took over an hour to memorize completely. I find song memorization useful, but dull and repetitive, so I don’t do it as often as I should.

Day 85

I completed a one-hour italki lesson with one of my previous European Portuguese community tutors: we found out we’re both interested in French cinema, so we had a lot to talk about! I also listened to NHK World News, two episodes, and earned 90 XP on Duolingo.

Day 86:

I had scheduled a one-hour lesson with Tatiana, my regular Portuguese teacher, but she had to cancel it. On PortuguesePod101 I completed Intermediate season 1, lessons 11, 12, 15 and 16.

Day 87

I listened to two Portuguêses no Mundo episodes: Singapore, and Berlin. No conversation practice again!

Day 88

I attended a Portuguese language meetup at a wonderful Portuguese cafe and bakery! I spoke for two hours in Portuguese! Afterwards, I recorded a video of myself speaking with Fátima, one of the members (which you can see later in this article). Duolingo: 300 XP

Day 89

I listened to two more episodes of Portuguêses no Mundo. It’s such an addictive podcast.

Day 90

I did an online Portuguese placement test and scored 126/150, or 84%! The test placed me as an advanced learner! Maybe I am a B2 after all! Though I really only feel like a B1. [caption id="attachment_20734" align="aligncenter" width="997"] My Portuguese exam result.[/caption]

Day 95

I had supper at Fátima’s house (the same Fátima who helped me with my video on Day 88), with a large group of Brazilian friends from our meetup group. Such a fun way to end my mission! As you can see, my study routine was not perfect. Some days I only studied Duolingo for a few minutes, and some days I did nothing at all. But I wasn’t aiming for perfection. I just wanted to do the best that I could every day. That said, about halfway through my final month, I decided that I should be able to do better, so I kicked myself in the butt and spoke Portuguese with native speakers a whole lot more in the last half of the month.

Portuguese in 3 Months: How Did I Do?

I’ve studied seven foreign languages in my life, and I made more progress in my listening comprehension during these three months than I ever did after a much longer period in my past language studies. Whatever shortcomings my no-reading-or-writing method may have had, this totally makes up for it. I can have actual conversations in Portuguese instead of just reading Harry Potter books! Even though I probably would’ve memorized more vocabulary by writing it down and doing lots of reading, I would’ve just been learning to recognise the words by sight, not by sound. I wouldn’t understand them when someone said them to me. For me, listening comprehension is a lot more important than reading comprehension. I didn’t learn Portuguese so I could read the newspaper or Harry Potter, I learned it to go out and use it in the world.

My Portuguese Level After 3 Months of Study

Reaching a B1 level was my goal, and I think I reached it solidly. I took an online test on Day 90 and it ranked me as an “advanced” student. But the test was all reading and writing, so it was pretty easy to guess the right answers when I recognised a word root or verb ending, even if I wouldn’t understand the phrase if someone spoke it aloud. I would have liked to have a listening comprehension test, but I couldn’t find a good one online. That said, I don’t need a test to tell me that I have pretty impressive listening comprehension (in my humble opinion!). On the other hand, I’m still not satisfied with my speaking skills. Despite my last-ditch effort during the final two weeks of my mission, I know I didn’t speak enough over the three months. It’s super frustrating to look back and know I could have done more. Obviously it’s not too late to keep practising speaking, but I still have that nagging regret about not doing it during my actual mission. Lesson learned for next time! (And there will be a next time, oh yes.)

Portuguese in 3 Months: My Final Mission Video

Here is the final video of my Portuguese mission. Remember to click "CC" to view the English subtitles. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctw2G8sAo7E I felt pretty good about this video. Partly because I made it immediately after a two-hour meetup where I spoke lots of Portuguese, so I was in the groove, and partly because I feel more at ease chatting with someone in person than I do on Skype. In person, people make more gestures when they speak, so you get a bigger range of body language to help you follow the conversation a bit better.

What Did I Learn from my Portuguese in 3 Months Mission?

I took away three key learning points from this mission:

Benny has it right with his speak from day 1 approach. Do NOT underestimate the value of speaking your target language. It improves your listening comprehension at the same time. And it works your muscle memory. Those last two weeks where I spoke Portuguese nearly every day made a really big difference. My listening comprehension was impressive because I had listened to spoken Portuguese nearly every day for three months. Now if I had only spoken Portuguese every day too, my speaking skills would be equally good - and my listening comprehension even better.

With italki, I prefer community tutors to certified professional teachers. Certified teachers seem to want to follow a rigid structure where you start with beginner material, and don’t move on until you’ve mastered it. This makes sense to them because this is the way they learned to teach the language. I only did three lessons with professional teachers, and I didn’t return to them, preferring to stick with community tutors who were more flexible and more willing to follow my lead.

I thrive more in an unstructured learning environment. I learned more Portuguese in three months of studying what I want, when I want, than I did in any other language I had ever studied in all those classrooms before. And I definitely had a lot more fun doing it. I may not take an exclusively listening/speaking approach in every future language mission, but I will keep trusting my own instincts when it comes to what, when and how to study. No more following someone else’s lesson plan!

What’s Next?

As soon as my mission ended, I bought a five-lesson package from my regular teacher, Tatiana, on italki. Lesson packages expire after six months, so this ensured I wouldn’t slack off and give up my Portuguese studies. I would love to continue with Portuguese to the same extent that I did during my mission, but I have other language obligations. I’m going on a trip to Mexico soon (my first ever trip to a Latin American country) with my French-speaking in-laws, so I want to brush up on my French and learn some Spanish before I go. (I’ve previously studied Spanish for one semester at university - 16 years ago! And I got a C.) I’m pretty fluent in French so I’m not worried about studying it at the same time as Spanish, but adding Portuguese into the mix will definitely confuse me! Then, less than two months after that, I’m heading on a trip to Thailand, and I want to improve my Thai before I go. So continuing my Portuguese will have to wait a couple of months. But I’m planning on visiting Brazil in the next year, so I definitely won’t let Portuguese slip too far down my list of priorities.

Resources I Used in My Portuguese Mission

Before I wrap up, I’d like to share all the resources I used for my Portuguese mission.

Courses and Tutors

italki

PortuguesePod101

Duolingo

BrazilianPodClass

Meetup.com to meet Portuguese speakers for real-life conversation practice

TV Shows, Podcasts and Music

Got Talent Portugal, Got Talent Brazil

Practice Portuguese podcast

NKH World Radio Japão Portuguese News

Arena de Filmes movie podcast

SBS News, an Australian multilingual news broadcaster

Conta-me Tudo storytelling podcast

Portuguêses no Mundo

TEDx talks in Portuguese, but it’s very difficult to search for TEDx talks by spoken language; you’ll get hits even if it’s just subtitles in your target language

Cozinha sob pressão TV show

Bem-vindos a Beirais Portuguese TV show

Caillou in Portuguese

Dora, a Exploradora (Dora the Explorer), 17 episodes, but they have since been removed from the site I used

Bands: KLB, Quinta do Bill, D.A.M.A., Pato Fu

Apps

Flashcards Deluxe/Anki (for iOS and Android for audio flashcards

CB TV Canal Brazil app for iOS and Android, and the Rede Nova TV Roku app for watching Brazilian TV

(Not exactly an app) Changed my phone’s OS to Portuguese for my entire mission

Thanks for Following My First-Ever 3-Month Language Mission

I won’t lie, it was a little (OK, a lot) scary to put my mission out there on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) for the world to see. But I received so much positive feedback from readers that I’m glad I did. I’m thrilled to have been a part of the Fi3M language mission tradition, and once I improve my Portuguese a little more (to the point where I won’t forget it if I let it go for a few months), I plan to choose a different language and do another 3-month mission. I hope my experience encourages you to do your own language mission too! See you in the comments!

The post How I Learned Portuguese in 3 Months (Mission Complete!) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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[opepin]

september: week four

18: i woke up before my alarm went off. i didn’t sleep well for the last few hours of the morning... i’ve only been getting 6 hours of sleep on average lately x_x; i did get myself to do a weighted leg workout and then i showered and made my first chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie -- i fell in love. i washed all the dishes before leaving and then said goodbye to kevin. i got to the train platform 10 minutes earlier than usual but i still got to work at the same time -__-’ there were delays again. oh well. then i did a bit of work, played with the surface pro we have at the office, organized my spam email because outlook thinks everything is spam -_-, took a break with cole so he could give me guava candy LOL. so cole slacked me and told me he brought in candy so i thought it was something suspicious but then he gives it to me and it’s the guava candy i can find at the asian grocery market. apparently, he bought two large bags full from amazon -- he’s so funny. well, we talked about food and what we ate as children before heading back to work.

i didn’t have much to do so then i ate lunch and went to figaro’s with cole so he could get his lunch. i got a chocolate chip brownie and ate it all... steve, cole, and i ate in the office supply office LOL and talked about random things like horror movies and birthstones. it was a great time. then we all headed back to work. i headed back and realized i only ate 1/3 of my lunch. i ate another third and then packed it away -- i was too full. then i got on stand up and went right into a meeting with phil. after that, it was already 4 pm. so i headed over to steve and cole’s office and then chilled with them for a bit. i brought over the surface and drew on it and they were impressed with my drawings ;D the surface makes my handwriting look so nice :3 they just finished their work but then i think something broke? so i went back to my office, did a little bit more work and then took my laptop over to their office to work while they finished up their stuff. dave left me all alone in the office for a meeting; joe left early because he wasn’t feeling well. then i walked to south station with cole, took the train home, got all of our mail, tried talking to erin but she was gone, got my first eggie shirt, and went upstairs to the apartment. i got my $200 visa card for my laptop trade in and i got my try again tee from eggie. the tee isn’t as nice as i thought it would be, but it’s still pretty awesome.

after i sorted through the mail and stuff, i got myself to do my butt workout and i died doing the bulgarian split lunges. i think my legs were exhausted from my workout in the morning still. i think i need to cap my lifting to 30-50 min max per day until i get stronger. the workout should have taken 30 minutes but i think i took 40-45 minutes x__x; the struggle was real. i also lifted 5 lbs heavier for basically everything... ded. my legs pretty much felt like numb jello after. i stretched and foam rolled a bit before showering. then i made myself another delicious chocolate pb banana smoothie before washing the dishes. i ate the leftovers from lunch with congee and more tofu and beef while watching youtube videos. then i made kevin a greetabl for our upcoming 2 year anniversary and then did internet errands. oh, i also managed to get tickets back to chicago for thanksgiving for only $4.50 more than my previous christmas tickets. (((: so i’ll be back in chicago! oh, kevin went out to meet up with old friends and i didn’t want to go so i spent my time at home doing my own thangz.

kevin got back and then we talked and cuddled and i ended up falling asleep on the bed for 30 minutes -- i was so tired from lifting. i just wanted to ko. i got myself up and made pico de gallo while chicken cooked the chicken thigh for lunch tomorrow. i stayed up for a bit longer but then just brushed up and went to sleep at some time... probably around 12 am. kevin also showered early and then played a few games and went to sleep early. we were both tired for some reason. well, i know why i was tired. i think kevin went to sleep late last night LOL.

19: i slept in today and woke up extra sore. i ate a pork bun for breakfast and then got straight to work. i took a break when kevin woke up and decided to work from home as well :) i made us the chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie i’m in love with right now and he loved it too! he says it tastes like ice cream LOL. then i went into meetings basically for the rest of the day -- it was a day for design meetings. kevin got the entryway bench from the package room and built it while i was on a design call then i got a short break to eat lunch. i helped move the bench to the entryway and moved the shoe rack over to the other wall. then i went on to stand up and then into another design call. i managed to do some errands and ordered a new toilet brush on amazon prime now. i also booked us a river tour because i forgot about a groupon i bought and it reminded me today. so this weekend will be packed: apple picking and charles river boat tour. i felt pretty dead... maybe it’s because of the weather. x_x; after that, i did some work, took a break to do some yoga, and watched some videos and then hopped on a call with phil so i could prepare more training stuff.

i started reading ‘sourdough’ by robin sloan and i instantly got hooked. i read until kevin gamed, played guitar, and before leaving for the fitness center. it was my recovery day today so i thought i would try doing the elliptical; it was a mistake. it’s nice that i can watch food network but the motion and quad work required of the elliptical were too much for my quads because they were super tired from yesterday’s 60 minute lifting session... it felt weird and i got really bored and kept looking at the clock until 30 minutes were up. kevin ran alongside me and then we stretched and showered. we ate leftovers for dinner plus some of these glutinous rice balls filled with purple sweet potato filling and mandu! yummm. we watched 1 1/2 episodes of agents of shield and then kevin went to game and i continued reading for the rest of the night. i actually finished the book before going to sleep! it was a really great book. it’s not one of my favorites but still a really good read. i felt good. kevin and i actually went to sleep at around 12:30 am. we were both tired. x_x;

20: i woke up at 8 am and then fell back asleep until 8:30 am. then i got up and did a hiit workout but my thighs were burning... i don’t think i rested it enough. i need to rethink my workout schedule again lol. i also managed to hurt my wrist a bit too? it was a really hard workout. i stretched my quads after and then foam rolled. i showered and went to work before making my fave smoothie. kevin wanted some but didn’t tell me so i drank all of it by the time he came out of the bathroom xP i guess it’s time to buy bananas in bulk :) then i went back to work and so did kevin. we both wfh again because we were getting our ikea package today. it was a pretty packed day for me with all the meetings. we had a design meeting that kind of went over on time but then we stopped so dave and i could have lunch. kevin and i snuck in an episode of agents of shield while eating. then i hopped on stand up and then i got on a call with phil to plan out what to do for the upcoming training sessions. at this point, i got really annoyed because phil wanted me to do a run through of the first session and i wasn’t feeling it. i feel like it was kinda overkill to have me do it again. he kept commenting and he told me to slow down (which i do need to do but i was doing it fast because it was a run through). i think he’s very stressed and worried about this but my nerves have come and gone and i’ll do it like i do usually.

well, during the call, the ikea guys came and then it happened so that phil needed to get on another call and so i got off and opened the door for them. then kevin got to building the dining table. i was annoyed and just frustrated about what my role is at t7. i feel like i’ve been a shared asset in which i don’t really have a solid place in training or design so i feel like i’ve been tossed back and forth. in the future, i have a feeling that i will be set to more training and i don’t know how i feel about that. i would rather design than teach different customers something over and over again. yeah, that’s the thing, phil wanted me to prepare for something i will be doing SO much in the future and that bothers me. it seems so monotonous. sigh. i vented to cole a bit and then i hopped off the computer after work and did oblique workouts without weights and on my mat. apparently, there are a lot of isolated ab and oblique moves that make you lose your hourglass figure, especially with weights so i’ll keep weights to a minimum for now. kevin went back to working for a bit before cooking. i put on agents of shield while he cooked.

we ate and watched agents of shield and then washed up. kevin went on a run and took some cardboard with him. after i showered, i took some cardboard and recycled it, washed the wok left in the sink, checked if our new keys opened the storage room, took some suitcases back there, and then took out all of the garbage. kevin came back and showered. oh, we also took out the mirror first when our package came and put it in the room. it looks so nice! it was getting late so i brushed up and hopped into bed while kevin gamed. i think i went to sleep at around 12 am or something. i was tired.

21: i got up at 8:30 am and then did a back workout in the morning. i took it easy on the back because later in the evening, i’d be doing arms. then i came back, showered, and kevin and i got in a small morning argument but then made up before he left lol. man, i am moooody. i made 2 eggs for breakfast and tried mixing pb, cocoa powder, and milk with a spoon in a cup; it failed miserably D: i drank it anyway too. then kevin went to work and i started working. i hopped on a design call and then ate lunch while watching the ‘masterchef’ finale! then i talked with phil, hopped on another call, then went straight to stand up. yup, lots of calls today. after, phil took a break from all the calls and then i finished up the finale while working. i’m so happy dino won. this is the first time i am happy with all three finalists, actually. i wanted jason to win the most but i really liked dino throughout the competition.

anyway, after doing some edits, i hopped on a call with phil again and then made some more edits and ended my work day at 5:30 pm. then i headed over to the yoga studio and did my arm workout. it was my first time working out my biceps and they burned T__T then i came back, relaxed, and showered. kevin started cooking dinner and i watched some youtube videos. then we put on agents of shield and ate our first meal from the dinner table! yay (: then we moved to the sofa and watched another episode. well, kevin went to wash dishes and i walked around while watching to get in some activity. then kevin decided to make the ikea chest and then run. i helped make the drawers and did any two person thing but it was mostly kevin building it. the last time i made a drawer was last year and i the drawer is now falling apart because i built it angrily... LOL. so i let kevin handle that. it actually took us 3 hours to build it... i knocked out after we built all six drawers and then woke up to check in on kevin. i drooled on my shoulder... then i helped a bit and ko’d again until kevin asked for my help. then i just stayed up watching kevin hammer nails into the back and then we moved it into place along with the drawers. lol it was like 2 am and i was ded.

i brushed my teeth, kevin was not going to run so he showered, and i fell asleep before he even got in the shower. lol the first time i ko’d was at like 12 am. i am weaksauce hahah. i think we went to sleep at around 3 am...

22: kevin and i basically rolled out of bed and then kevin went to work and i hopped on my computer. then i made myself an egg sandwich with pico de gallo and a glass of chocolate peanut butter milk. i watched ‘girl’s trip’ while working and then went to practicing teaching my training module. phil pinged me to catch up and then timed myself. i got the first part of the session down in just the right amount of time, but i kind of rushed the second part. i looped back around and talked with phil and both of us felt good about going into this. then i think kevin came back and he went to do something??? probably cook. so i did an intense stretching session for about 40 minutes. yeah, i think i watched some ‘beat shazam’ while kevin cooked and then we put on shield and that’s when i finished up stretching. lol we spent the rest of the night watching agents of shield. we got up to the last episode before the season finale!! i noticed i only walked like 6k steps and tried getting to 10k steps in the last 15 minutes of the day. i got about 2.5k steps before it hit 12 am T___T kevin ended up getting more steps than me today...that’s sad tbh LOL. well, i think we stayed up a bit longer just chilling and thriving in the friday night bliss before the weekend~ we went to sleep pretty late LOL.

23: we woke up hella late. we woke up too late to go apple picking T__T lol. i think i got out of bed at 12 or 1 pm. kevin and i were so tired. mmm we ate breakfast and we moved furniture around in our bedroom. i hated the way it looked and brooded over that for a while and i got super frustrated. kevin left to game and then i got up and started watching an episode of ‘beat shazam’ while walking to lift the bad mood i was in. i felt a good deal better after walking around. then we meal planned and drove over to the mall where bdubs is. it’s our two year anniversary on the 26th and we didn’t really plan anything for it. i wanted to but we’ve spend so much money on the new furniture so we didn’t really want to spend more money on a fancy dinner. so what did we do? we went to bdubs, got fried mushrooms, and split a medium boneless chicken wing platter for only $25 to celebrate LOL. we got the right amount of food to finish everything. we tried their blue moon wings and they were pretty good. the thai curry wings taste like the golden curry sauce haha.

after lunch, we went to auntie anne’s to get buy 2/$6 pretzel nuggets. mmm. we got the original nuggets with the limited edition pumpkin spice one. the pumpkin spice one tastes exactly like the cinnamon sugar but with pumpkin / nutmeg flavoring. we walked over to target and then kind of got lost in buying stuff. i got thinkthin protein bars because i couldn’t find the oatmega bars, we tried looking for the glass bowls but they were all gone, and then i found a polar bear hooded blanket and kevin and i fell in love with it. we then found really cute appetizer plates with a clever print on them by cheeky and decided to try to find where the polar bear blanket came from. the one we found seemed like it lost its packaging? it was in aisle c10 according to the scanner but there was no c10... there was a c9 and c11... we found someone and he told us the display was c10 LOL. we looked but couldn’t find another one. :( but then we stumbled upon a bear night light that would look really nice on our chest that was placed in a spot i hated in the room. so we ended up getting that bear. we also got the last of this bear box!! it was meant to be!! we were looking for a box to fit under our entryway bench cubby to make it look more put together.

at this point, we needed to get out of there so we wouldn’t go back for the polar bear hooded blanket. on our way to the register, i found the oatmega bars and got the chocolate coconut flavor. then we checked out, went to kam man for groceries, went to bj’s for the rest of our groceries, and came home. we put away everything and hooked up the night light and put the box in its place. ahhh, everything is starting to look so nice. we were both pretty full still so kevin went to game and told me he’d come by to run while i went to work out. i did a total body strength workout for 50 minutes. i actually extended my workout because i was wondering where kevin was? LOL. oh, i also love doing clean presses. anyway, i went back, showered, and kevin was still gaming... this boy. then he cooked and i believe he did run at some point. i washed the dishes and tried out the oatmega bar -- it’s delicious! i hope the whey concentrate isn’t too kfjnskjdf for my stomach. after kevin came back and showered, we had rice cake soup again while watching the last episode of agents of shield’s season 4. woooo. the ending is super ambiguous. we cleaned up and we might start watching game of thrones and westworld now. mmm. i think i was super tired after and i went to sleep while kevin gamed. well, that’s usually how it goes haha.

24: i woke up at 9 am and then did a hiit cardio workout. then i showered and woke kevin up. we ate breakfast just in time to leave to get to our charles river sightseeing tour. i ate a thinkthin protein bar after my workout and it hurt my stomach :( it’s probably the sugar alcohols. i think i’ll stick with my oatmega bars for now. we made it just in time for the train and then kevin needed to use the washroom right after getting off the train so we looked around but couldn’t find a public restroom. we walked to the mall where the boat would leave and kevin used the washroom there while i waited outside so that the boat wouldn’t leave us. well, we got there 10 minutes early and kevin had time to use the washroom. we were the last people on, we got a ginger ale to share, and we enjoyed the rest of the ride. we spent half of our time in the front to feel the sunshine and breeze and the other half inside to just sit and chill. the boat wasn’t going fast so there wasn’t that nice breeze but overall, the ride was so relaxing. we got off and got taco bell at the food court and walked to the train station. we entered through the wrong side of the kendall train station and then went to the other side but had to wait for kevin’s monthly pass to work again. the attendant didn’t have her badge and did her best to help us though. lol. i can’t blindly trust kevin when it comes to these things now LOL. we both gotta check what side we’re entering xP

we took the train back and then we drove to the target in stoughton to check if they had the anchor hocking serving bowls. it said online they had a limited stock. we checked in the aisle and they were all gone and asked someone for help and he said there were no more T___T so we got kevin’s shaving cream and drove back home. it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions today with the boat ride, the train situation (it takes the monthly pass 20 minutes to become usable at the same stop), not finding the bowls, and then coming back home stressed because i still needed to do chores and i wanted to get a good night’s rest for training tomorrow. well, i got a tension headache and ended up sleeping on kevin’s shoulder and taking an hour nap. lol i snapped at kevin for leaving me on the couch LOOOL but then i fell back asleep. i woke up and right away, i made myself some food. i think the bar effed up my stomach. then i started the laundry and guess what happened? the washing machine drum made a dent in the metal outer structure of the washing machine and it was making sounds like it was going to explode.. it was really scary. so we had to call the emergency maintenance line and they couldn’t do anything about it. @_@ so we put it on quick rinse and finished our laundry. i feel like everything wasn’t properly cleaned though...

kevin helped me clean the kitchen and i cleaned the bathroom. he vacuumed a bit and then we both worked out. i did another hiit workout and he ran. he showered when we got back and then i waited for the laundry to dry because i had no underwear. he cooked and then i showered. we watched some youtube videos while eating and then kevin cleaned up and i folded the laundry. then we played ‘crawl’ together to see if we liked the game -- we’re keeping it. i still had a bit of a headache so i rq’d for the night and he went to game on his computer. i went to sleep at like 12 am because i was going to work from home because i didn’t want to be distracted by anything while leading training. i also learned that uni are sea urchin testicles....