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Weekend read: You Can Wind Down From Time To Time and my reflections on adulting

Saturday, September 18, 2021

After a few months of staring at my bookshelf wondering if it somehow just became a decoration in my room to make me feel and look smart, I finally finished reading a book!


Apop has graciously provided us with books we can turn to when the whole world appears to be turning its back on us and we need to be reassured it's just a temporary thing. I'd normally shy away from non-fiction and self-help books but I realized I got to do what it takes to feel better in the middle of this worldwide mayhem. So I grabbed the whole set and set aside my scheduled Kdrama marathon weekend (Hospital Playlist 2) and read my first book from the bundle - Kim Dan's You Can Wind Down From Time to Time.  


Can you tell me what am I going to read next based on what's on my bookshelf?

The book is a compilation of snippets from our favorite kid stories, and essays on how they relate to the complicated part of our lives called adulting. Yes, I am an adult and I have no idea what I am doing most of the time so it is really nice if there's some kind of a manual that would remind me not to be scared when things don't feel right, and that it's okay to feel lost and confused because eventually, I'll find my way back home. 


When I Want to Be Closer To Me

Self-care is one of the many new things I see in my social media feed these days. A lot of people are sharing their own way of coping during this time when the whole world is in turmoil and the days feel dragging and uneasy. Look, it's way too hard to look at the brighter side of things when you have no idea where to look. In this part of the book, Kim Dan reminds us that stopping just for a moment and appreciating the little things we enjoy is so much better from that grand beach vacation we all look forward to when the lockdown is finally over. Write down your favorites, the things you love doing, and the little pleasures you treat yourself to. For me, it has always been books, music, coffee, and rain, and maybe a little bit of Kdrama. It's not an escape, but definitely, an effective way to recharge and take stressful things off my head even just for the weekend. Show yourself some love, cheer for yourself, and take care of yourself, because life is self-service. 

Life is self-service.


When I Miss Talking To Someone

It was so easy to make friends when I was in kindergarten - I didn't have to worry about how other kids would feel if I decided I didn't want to play my kitchen set with them. Now I have to be careful about what I am going to say, especially these days when everyone acts like a snowflake and everything is offensive. But what makes the strongest bond is a dislike towards something - believe me, I've experienced this countless times before. Coffee dates with Khendi are not real if we do not talk about people we both disagree on, and now I am beginning to think maybe that's what made our friendship stood the test of time rather than the fact that we both love the Backstreet Boys in our youth (well yes, until now). Sugar and I have the best bonding moments especially when we talk trash about visual holes and that group of people we call whistleblowers. Look, I am not saying we should promote dislike among our friends - I am just trying to make a point. 

Sometimes, we bond stronger when we share dislikes.


When I Want to Start Over 

Who would have thought that in this involuntary, solitary confinement, I'd discover how big the world outside is? That there are more things I can do, and that there's more to life than the one I settled for. Kim always called me Rapunzel - literally because I am always confined in my room on the 3rd floor of my family home with my hair flowing down my butt because I couldn't even go to the salon to cut it short. It's just so ironic that the world showed a better version of itself to me, right when I am on my own, confined by the pandemic. I discovered my capacity to learn a new language through watching tutorials and listening to Kpop songs. I found out that my writing skills can take me farther, that I can do more than just uploading somebody else's stuff on somebody else's website. I met new and exciting people who are all willing to help me in improving myself and finding out what else I can do. I figured that starting over, in the middle of all this turmoil, is not so bad at all. 

We can achieve what we want if we are bound by limited space and time.


You Can Wind Down From Time to Time is an easy read, something you can easily finish in one sitting. This is the kind of book I'll grab on a lazy weekend afternoon, and I bet it'll feel so much better to read with a cup of coffee in the sound of the pouring rain. Calming. Relaxing. Comforting. 


I wish you could read it too!


The complete set.

xo

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JDrama review: Perfect Crime

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Here's to another Dori Sakurada drama review.


We stan cute villain leads!

After the cringe-y Coffee and Vanilla I wanted more of him to see when I'd finally stop drooling over him if he's really a good actor because I'm not gonna lie, cringe-y or not, he's acting in that drama was great, along with the other actors. Anyway, Perfect Crime made it up for previous drama's lack of execution and logic and lived up to the expectations that Love Lasts Forever has set. Although it felt sad and I ached for some of the characters, I'm glad that I decided to watch it. 

What's the story about

Okay, this is such a tangled affair that I may need a diagram to explain it perfectly. While all of the characters are essential to the story, it starts with four people - Kaori Maejima (Reina Triendl), Haruto Shinonome (Dori Sakurada), Takuma Fuyuki (Hidekazu Mashima), and Miwa Fuyuki (Lee Ayumi). 

Miwa started going out with Haruto, but in the middle of their relationship, she decides she loves Takuma more than Haruto and went with him back to Tokyo, leaving Haruto behind, hurt and bleeding. Miwa marries Takuma. Meanwhile, Takuma starts having an affair with Kaori, his subordinate. When Haruto finds out about this, he flies from New York to Tokyo and vowed to use his "charm" to destroy Kaori, allowing Miwa, the love of his life, to take back her happy married life. 


Girls, we always have a choice  

I never understood the satisfaction that women get from having an affair with a married man. Kaori is perfectly aware that her boss, Takuma is married, yet she still continues sinning with him. She's a beautiful woman, accomplished, and not just your average employee - she's a freaking amazing interior designer. Was it the lack of love? Does she feel so empty and horny that she's willing to sleep with any man who shows her affection (although this might not be the case because one of her guy colleagues is obviously interested in her)? Does she need validation? But then again, whatever it was, I'm pretty sure she can find it somewhere else. 


Likewise, you won't go running to your ex when you're fully aware that he hasn't gotten over you after you got married to someone else. No, you just don't call him while he's still vulnerable and trying to get over you and tell him you figured "he might be feeling lonely." Girl, that's just cruel and selfish. Stop giving mixed signals to people who just got broken by you.


She looks like a doll, tbh


Villain leads are the relatable ones

I bleed for the villain leads - their backstories are often too painful to warrant revenge and turning into a monster (hi, Joker!). Haruto's plan of destroying Kaori in his hands is quite heartless, all because he wants the person who broke him to still be happy. It was sad and at the same time confusing, but of course, human emotions are complex. I wanted to grab him by the arm and tell him the best revenge is be happy so please be happy with me so forget about Miwa and just live happily with Kaori. I must say Dori Sakurada did pretty well in portraying a pained character who wanted to exude cruelty and indifference but in the end, his soft side, warm, caring, and loving prevailed.


And the smut scenes, ooh the smut scenes are just way too perfect I want them to appear in one of my books. 



Boys, for once stop being shitty

I do not hate Takuma Fuyuki. I loathe him. I loathe every fiber of his being. He claims that he had no idea that Miwa and Haruto were going out when he ran away with her. Okay, maybe that's true. But to justify his scumbagness of a cheater and saying he loved Miwa and Kaori both, that's totally unforgivable. I just couldn't make sense of it. Dude, you are a married man, okay. As I write this maybe there's a reason for Kaori that I can low-key forgive - maybe she feels threatened because Takuma is her boss and she had no idea what to do first so she just said yes and eventually got used to their illicit affair which is sick that I don't want to even imagine it. Their love scenes are just outright disgusting, knowing that they are just stolen moments.


And Ono-san... Yukiya Ono, what is your business controlling Kaori in your own way? Why instill false belief in Kaori in your favor? I totally agree with what you did in the end but please know you are disgusting af until that grand gesture. 


In conclusion

Perfect Crime is supposedly a story of revenge, but it appeared to be a little too soft in that area that it just ended up being a story of passion. It effed me up, in a lot of ways and in all the right places so I'd take it as a good sign and say I enjoyed the drama. Should you watch it? Well, I told my friends to give it a chance because it has a good substance. I mean, Hitori could have just allowed Miwa to suffer the same way he did by letting the cheating be, but no. I guess he has a different logic and I think that's the angle that I would want to explore. All in all, it kept me up all night, too. 


Sometimes, a happy ending is all we need.

xo

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Jdrama review: Coffee and Vanilla

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Okay, I think I've seen this before, I told myself as I watch the cringe-y monologue of the female lead. Enter the mighty good-looking super young self-made CEO. Yes, I've seen this before, everything is oh-so-familiar. Then the first declaration of love happened before the first episode ends. 

It clicked!

It's the many Wattpad stories I've edited in the past.


I stumbled upon a 60-second clip of this drama on Instagram, and that scene made me think maybe this is another professor-student romance akin to Do Min Joon and Cheon Song Yi's initial relationship, although the title makes me think of Christian and Anastasia. And because I love My Love From The Star to the moon and back, I decided maybe I also need to watch this. But no, Google tells me its premise is nothing near the story of the mysterious 400-year-old alien and his famous celebrity neighbor. Coffee and Vanilla is a cringe-worthy, toe-curling drama that kept me up the whole night.

The cringe-worthy female lead

Risa Shiroki (Haruka Fukuhara) is popular among the boys because she is pretty. I'll give that to her but what are you gonna do with a pretty girl who cannot do anything for herself? She cannot even say "no" properly to that boy who forces her to go with him. I get that she's coming from the countryside, but she's 20 and she's living in the city on her own so why can't she take care of herself? Sakura Nanase (Love Lasts Forever) is a countryside girl too, and she's bold and totally independent. And who goes to dinner in a lavish place with a random stranger and drinks alcohol for the first time? Girl, please set the bar higher for the younger ladies out there. Please don't allow them to think that it's okay to just smile and be cute and sweet because some rich guy in a 3-piece suit would come running and save them because the world doesn't work like that. I might be watching fiction and I low-key hate it when it imitates life too closely but c'mon! At least, give us something more relatable. 

The toe-curling male lead 

Hiroto Fukami (Dori Sakurada) is a self-made CEO at 30, mysterious and drop-dead gorgeous. I'd love to know how he made it to the top, and I won't even say no to another episode or two if only to find out how severely checkered his past is that he wanted so bad to keep Risa out of it. By the looks of it, he must have had a lot of ladies on his knees - his lips and hands appear too skilled to even think he's a virgin and that's what made him toe-curling. But what made him fall in love with a university student? Was it because she was pretty and naive and that he likes girls who'd bow down to him? Maybe? Or maybe Risa is really soft-hearted by nature, and that is something anyone could really die for. But to me, he appears to be a things-should-go-my-way type of guy - a bit supportive but intimidating altogether. He's just too good to be true that even the romance writer in me is having a hard time believing he exists. 


So, what's the story?

I wouldn't say that the plot is ridiculous - it actually has a good premise but it lacks in execution. Like I said, I wouldn't mind another couple of episodes to reveal Fukami-san's past. Takaaki Akutsu (Mario Kuroba) looks like a gang member, rough and a little bit too harsh who knew how to show his power over women, so was it possible that maybe they did illegal things together like maybe, drugs and murder and being too cute to be true? And when it came to the point that Risa finally has the chance to redeem herself, she just continues being the useless thing that she is and if not for Hiroto who magically appeared out of nowhere, we would never know where she's gonna be now. 

So why did I finish the drama? I gave it a chance. I wanted to know if, in the end, Risa would do some character development and shield Hiroto from a bullet coming from an enemy or a business rival. I was way too curious about Hiroto's past that maybe chapter 10 would finally reveal it. Was I happy with the ending? Well, let's just say that the entire drama allowed me to escape reality that night. And in all honesty, spending the night with Dori Sakurada wasn't so bad that I craved more of him.

Should you watch it?

You need a quick escape from reality, this one is for you. You want to see some toe-curling events, watch this drama. But please allow your logic and reasoning to wander a little bit while watching, for that maximum experience. 

The morning after.

xo
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