Once upon a time, I thought it would be fun to do a Booktube channel. Or any kind of channel. Something fun on YouTube. I knew I loved editing, but the talking, not so much.
Then kpop happened, and the talking fear went out the window because of the enthusiasm I had for this subject! So.. with my sister and daughter, I started the kpop channel. And learned A LOT about having a YouTube channel. Even though there is still SO MUCH to learn.
Now, I'm feeling the pull to do the Booktube thing again, and maybe lighten up on the kpop channel a bit. I don't know. I guess we'll see. And besides, so many YouTubers have two channels, or several channels, so I've been thinking for quite awhile now to just go ahead and start another channel for my other passion and see what happens!
I've been working on it this past week and am feeling ready-ish (ha, not even a little bit ready, I'm so nervous) to share. But I have to get over this fear, right? Because I need to share it to grow, so here you go.
All that above story (and more) you'll hear in this introduction post. In this video I also lay out my plans for the channel and things I hope to do with it. I've managed to uploaded a few other things so far and yeah, I hope you find something interesting, (or potentially interesting) and will subscribe and join me over there for bookish thoughts and discussions!
Of course I'll still post things here, but the two will be sort of companions and things will be mingled here and there.
I have been overwhelmed with amazing music this week. This happens often in kpopland, TONS of new music all at once. It's kind of the best. But what to share for the listening prompt? I don't even know where to start!
I guess the one that has caused the most uproar is this one from Stray Kids. They are seriously so much and take nothing too seriously.
And then there's a small little group called DKZ that's been through a lot and some pretty crazy ups and downs over the past year and they came out with this killer of song this past week. Such a great head banger!
There's so much more, like I said, but I'll leave it at that for now.
WATCHING:
Yep, so we started the new season of Survivor. I have no idea what is so engaging about this show after so long, but it still somehow captures my attention.
I've skipped some Amazing Race seasons, but we've decided to add that to the viewing party list again too this season. So fun to see them in places I've been to. It seriously makes me want to travel so much!
We also watched Enola Holmes and that was very cute and fun!
I haven't started another kdrama yet. I am overwhelmed with the choices.
I am watching a fun k-reality show called "Young Actors Retreat" where they grabbed the stars of three popular kdramas and are making them do fun games and compete against each other. I am absolutely loving seeing the personalities of some drama stars... we don't usually get this so much like we do with the kpop stars. Dang, some of them are SOOO shy and it's crazy how good they are at acting when they are so timid in "real life." LOL!
I'm also watching a reality, just- for-fun show that features a new kpop group that has yet to debut. They are ATEEZ's little brothers (in the same company) and they are going to be AMAZING when it's their turn to come out into the world. But in the meantime, we get to learn about them through these fun shows they are doing pre-debut. They are adorable.
READING:
I am currently halfway done with Feed by Mira Grant. This is our book club book for October. I was hoping for a creepy Halloween-y book, but it's not doing it for me. In fact, I'm having trouble focusing on it and just kind of want to get done so I can get on to something else.
The something else I actually started... Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I feel like this one is supposed to be creepy? Am I dreaming or am I right? Anyway, hopefully I get to that one soon!
WRITING:
I'm frustrated with my inability to get going on this again. I would love to do NANO but I can't start another story until I finish up this one. So, maybe I'll participate as one of those "rebels" who work on an old WIP? I don't know what it will take to get me moving again. But maybe that would help a bit.
We went to another author event at the library. This time it was Sarah Eden doing a quick reading on her soon to be released book and then a Q and A all about writing. She is lots of fun and it was great to go support her. In a week or so we have another author event, this time it's the authors of our December book club book, In a Holidaze.
BLOGGING:
I think I'm caught up on both books and dramas to review! And I even did Top Ten Tuesday on bookstores this past week! Go check it out!
YOUTUBING:
So I started the Booktube channel. But I'm scared to share it. LOL! I will in a different post. If I get brave enough. But dang I've put a lot of work into it so I HAVE to be brave enough! Besides, you'll all come and subscribe so I won't look so doofus-y out there in that community, right???
Over on the kpop channel I compiled very short snippets of my favorite songs from the past quarter, as is my tradition this year. Take a look/listen and see if you find something that pulls you in!
EATING/EXERCISING:
I am starting a thing from doTerra. It's called MetaPWR. It's a whole system of essential oil, and a supplement, and a collagen powder drink. I'll do it for 30 days and then see if I feel like a new person, or what. I'll let you know! (This is the "new me" part of this post's title!)
In the meantime I'll try to keep up on the exercising. And the eating. LOL! I can keep up on eating SO WELL! Anyway, we tried oatmeal this week. Not my favorite thing. But this wasn't bad. I'm still not convinced it's healthy though.
MISC:
* I have so much stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks I doubt I'll be around here much. But wish me luck on all the things! And I'll be back eventually!
Starring: Park Eun-bin, Kang Tae-oh, Kang Ki-young
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤
So, it took me almost three months to watch this drama. That's not normal and tells you right there that it did not grab me like it did pretty much every single other kdrama watcher. It probably didn't help that I started it when lots of stuff was going on in life, trips and other things. But still, every episode took me sometimes 3 or 4 nights to get through. Sigh.
The story was great (an autistic girl gets a job as an attorney and starts making her way in the world), the characters were great (our attorney of course, and the friends she makes there, and the dude who was their boss, and her crazy fun friend, and her dad, they were all awesome), but my problem came when so many of the episodes were spent on the cases that were being tried.
Generally I have a harder time with any TV series that has a new and different story every episode, or at least the main story gets lost and buried in favor of the story that's new that episode. And then they'd go off in MAJOR detail about the case and the lawyer-speak surrounding that case and my eyes would LITERALLY glaze over and I would fall asleep several times an episode.
When we got back to our extraordinary attorney's story, and her friends, I was all in. There were a couple of interesting cases (the dude who stole the kids and went and played in the mountains with them) and when they went on a field trip to Jeju to figure out the people who were charging an entrance fee to the historic site, and even a little bit the one where the little town didn't want the road to go through their town. I nearly stayed awake for those stories!
Our main dude was absolutely ADORABLE though. But he was only in every episode for maybe ten minutes at the most. I am so ready for another drama with him as the lead where he has an actual bigger part. But alas, he just left for his military service, so that will be awhile. I just need to go back and watch him as the villain in A Tale of Nokdu.... because dang.
Our leading actress was amazing at playing an autistic person. And I totally didn't realize it was the same girl in Do You Like Brahms... which was sadly was another drama that fell flat for me. (Also in finding those links I see my embedded trailers are all gone... do the trailers disappear after awhile? I know I'm grabbing them from main sites... sigh.)
Anyway, so in the end, I enjoyed bits and pieces of this one. I wanted so much more interaction between the characters. The ending left me feeling wanting and sad-ish too. I'm really not sure why everyone loved it so much! But.. it happens. Believe it or not, there are some beloved dramas out there that I just don't vibe with us much as the rest of the world! WHO KNEW?!!
Here's a trailer (which I guess will disappear after a bit?):
This book is book 8 in the Idol in Love series, and the second book following the stories of the boy group Sky High. They continue to break all the rules by falling in love. And THIS time it's even crazier because it's with one of their stylists! (Seriously though, we always wonder how the stylists in real life keep from doing this. Especially if they are at all near the same age as the idols. Mostly we assume they are quite a bit older, so maybe that helps? LOL!)
Anyway, our girl is basically being stalked by a dude who has bothered her for years, wanting to date her. He shows up again in her life and our idol is having none of this. And he is struggling to know if it's just because he wants to make sure she is okay. Or does he really like her? Hmmm.....
This books are very short and very fast to read and are perfect to fit in when I want something fun and swoony. I love them.
So now I'm all caught up and ready to read the next one whenever Trish has it done!
Okay, I know it's hit and miss with me regarding Top Ten Tuesday (and yeah blogging in general) but I will keep trying!
Today's prompt is Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit .
Oh man there are so many! And I'd love to make it a feature on my new channel (yes I have a new channel, but I will reveal that in another post!) to visit bookstores all around the world!
Anyway, some of my favorites:
The King's English in my (mostly) local city. This is where we go for tons of author visits. Or at least we used to pre-covid. I hope the tradition starts up again.
Pioneer Bookstore (which is truly local). Tons and tons of used books!
Powel's Bookstore in Portland (I featured it in one of my unfinished stories). It's fun to have this refuge in a city that seems to be dying a slow and painful death. But inside here, things are still amazing. I always buy at least one book when I visit!
Shakespeare and Company in Paris is a must stop every (two) time(s) I've been there! All English books in the middle of Paris. And when you buy one, they stamp it on the inside cover so you won't forget where you got it. I make it a point to buy a souvenir type book here (The Hunchback of Notre Dam for instance.)
In Tokyo there's a whole street full of bookstores and I made everyone go there just to see it! There is not English here at all though, but the books are all so cool looking!
We also went to this high rise bookstore FILLED with manga! Every floor! Oh my word it's overwhelming!
I went to a HUGE bookstore in Korea too, but can't remember the name of it now. It was cool, but I didn't take pictures. It was like a Barnes and Noble type place. I bought a fan there, lol. But we also went to the library and that's a picture worth sharing:
The other day we went into a local "rare books" bookstore (Moon's Rare Books), and I was too scared to take any pictures. That place was POSH! The rare books they had were thousands of dollars. I was entranced! But it looks like this inside:
Yeah, it's also kind of a museum of this dude's collection. Really really cool stuff.
As far as where I want to go:
If I get to go back to England I want to go to the bookstores on The Strand. I think we walked along there, but didn't spend near enough time there. And I don't think I have any pictures or anything.
I want to investigate all the small town bookstores along the coast in Oregon. Any small town bookstore really.
And I'm sure there's a bunch I'm forgetting! I just want to see them all!
This was September's book club book. A bunch of the members of book club have been raving about this author and I've never even heard of her. So it was fun to see what all the fuss was about!
In this one we have two sisters, each telling their story, including what life was like growing up with their mom. Most of the story is from the point of view of the sister who seems a bit autistic (Fern.) And then we get journal entries from the other sister, the one who it seems feels a bit of responsibility for the other sister (Rose.)
Who is the "good" sister is anyone's guess at this point!
Rose is struggling with her husband and feels like having a baby would solve all the problems. But she can't seem to get pregnant. So Fern decides she is going to help her by getting pregnant FOR her. So she sets out to find a guy. And in the process, she actually falls in love with a pretty interesting dude. So things should be easy now, yes?
But not at all. This is when things get pretty interesting and we start getting the very strong feeling that all is not as it seems.
Most people say they can figure it out, but I can never do it, so I was pretty hooked until the end trying to figure out what was going on.
So, yeah. I really enjoyed it! It was quick to get into it and quite easily readable. I'm good to read more by this author should she come up again.
.jpg)
