This morning I watched day 2 of the BtoBfan meeting, and if anything it was better than day 1 - despite starting an hour earlier than yesterday (why?).
The ill-advised staying up finally caught up with me today so the rest of the day has been very relaxed (meaning I haven't done anything much). I am currently watching a Twitch stream for Boys Planet, despite saying I wasn't going to watch it anymore as it stresses me out too much, but once I've finished this I'm heading back to my one true home - Hogwarts.
I really don't have much to say as my brain isn't really working this evening, and for once there are no birthdays (although it is Mother's Day over here - yes, we bought her some lovely flowers).
This week is a busy one for K-Pop, especially with my kids, Kingdom, having their 6th comeback on Thursday - more about that closer to the time - so there should be things to talk about other than that game 😉. The March playlist continues to grow; it's already as large as January's and heading for the size of February's with almost 2 weeks to go still. Check it out if you haven't recently, there's some great stuff on there (as always).
I’m just checking in quickly while I’m waiting for my dinner
to cook. Tonight, it’s butter chicken and pilau rice, and I’m looking forward
to it because I’m starving. I will post this after I finish eating.
Yes, I know I missed yesterday – sorry Changsun (Tan)
that I didn’t wish you Happy Birthday, but I was busy playing Hogwarts
Legacy. Belated warm birthday wishes to him, and the same to Shin (Ghost9),
whose birthday is today.
Chansung and Shin - HBD, guys! 🎉🎁🎂
I wasn’t originally going to mention this, as I already
previously said if I didn’t blog it would be because of that infernal game, but as I'm treating this place like a diary, I really ought to record this.
So, what happened was that on Thursday evening I finished
the C-drama Warm on a Cold Night and didn’t feel in the mood for
starting anything new, and most of the stuff I’m behind on has several episodes
so I didn’t feel like diving into them either. With a day off to look forward
to (I just fancied a day off as it has been a long and stressful week at work),
I intended to sleep in anyway, so decided to pop into Hogwarts Legacy
for a bit.
And that’s where it all went wrong 😂.
I joined the game just before midnight on Thursday and
proceeded to get so involved with the task I was doing that when I next looked
at the time it was almost 5 am. As I wasn’t feeling tired, I decided to
complete the task and then go to bed. However, by 7 am I was still going and
still wide awake, so instead, I made a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich and
continued playing.
All day I played, stopping for more tea and loo breaks, plus
a break to make some lunch. I still didn’t feel tired; amazingly, I didn’t have
eye strain either, so I decided to continue 🙈. I had also reached that inquisitive stage – you know, like
the one I had with the fairy lights – when I began to wonder just how long I
could play for, so I continued into the evening and past my chicken salad
dinner.
I finally stopped just before 1 am this morning (24 hours and 45 mins
after I started playing to be precise - 39 hours and 21 minutes of being awake), not because I was tired particularly,
but because I remembered that I had a BtoB fan meeting to attend this
morning. Having paid to see it, I didn’t want to end up missing it because I slept
right through it, or was too tired to enjoy it properly.
I needn’t have worried, though, because as soon as BtoB
began to sing all my energy came flooding back. They were absolutely brilliant –
every bit as charming, hilarious and chaotic as they have been for the last 11
years. They were so good that I decided to buy a ticket for the show tomorrow
too. So, while I may be popping into Hogwarts Legacy later, I won’t be
staying too long, as I need to get up early again.
Right, I’m off to eat my dinner and watch the first 2
episodes of D.O.’s (EXO) new variety show No Math School Trip.
Okay, just dropping in briefly so I can keep my run going. I'm on the last episode of Warm on a Cold Night and I want to get back to it.
Hogwarts Legacy
I beat the Witch's Tomb, finally. And it gave me access to my vivarium, so now I can catch and play with beasts. You'll be unsurprised to hear that I'm finding beast-catching tricky, but I'll get there. I just need to rearrange my spell set so I can catch them rather than hex them. I also unlocked level 2 of Alohamora, so hopefully I can get more loot and demiguises. I did manage to defeat a whole camp of bad guys but of course, I have no idea how. Thank Merlin I don't have to fight a big boss at the end of the chapter or I'd be dead (at least I hope I don't).
Surely by the end of the game I'll know how to fight properly, won't I? Maybe I need to go to one of the battle arenas - no idea how I find one, though. I know a Dark Arts one was included with my pre-order (or was it the Harry Potter fan club link?) Anyway, I ought to think about that at some point but I've got so many other things to do - another 2 or 3 quests just popped up so I've got a page full now. I am a quarter of the way through the game though (I assume that's the main game, not all the side quests too, so maybe I'll crack it by Christmas 😂).
That was the main thing to talk about, so I'm off - I did say I wasn't coming back until I got out of the tomb and I did it so I had to deliver.
You'll have noticed from the picture my error from yesterday that U's birthday is actually today. Yesterday's birthdays were Hyuk from Omega X and Jinjin from Astro. My apologies to all of them for getting them confused. My excuse is having to deal with Korean time, which is 9 hours ahead of us. At 3pm UK time I start posting all the stuff that's just dropped in Korea at midnight and sometimes I get confused, especially when I'm in a rush or tired. Anyway, here's a picture of them - I hope they all had great birthdays 🎉🎂🎁.
Yep, Hogwarts Legacy again. I've had enough of the moth puzzles although this is only the third (and last), I think. I can't really remember, I seem to have been stuck in this tomb for weeks. I am going to have to hit the articles and videos to finish it because no amount of changing the entry point will help this time and there must be a way for even me to crack it.
I really don't have much to say today, apart from Happy Birthday to U from ONF
Today is the second anniversary of my beloved Pentagon's fab album Love or Take. I was going to post the official MV as I love both it and the song (so did they as they released English, Chinese and Japanese versions as well as the Korean), but then I remembered the band being their usual chaotic selves on this lyric video, so I'm posting that instead - and this is them on a chill day 😂.
Oh, go on (as Mrs Doyle always used to say). Have the official MV too, it's too good not to 😉
And now I'm off to catch those bloody moths . . . and I'm not coming back until I've done it.
I got past the bit I was stuck in (yay me! 🎉). I did it by reloading the game slightly before I had the problem (I fell off a half-built bone bridge and couldn't get back up again) and then replayed it properly. Before you all roll your eyes and point out that this was the obvious solution, this is the first time I've played a game that allows multiple saves - normally you can only go back into it where you left off, so it never occurred to me to do it.
Anyway, now I'm stuck trying to get moths on a door again and it involves timing and running on moving things, which I'm absolutely crap at anyway but isn't helped by my problems with the panning thing so I keep finding that I'm going the wrong way. What this game really needs is a skip button (like the puzzle games I usually play), even if only in the Story mode that I'm playing.
It does, very helpfully, allow you to skip the lock-unlocking puzzles rather than have to faff around every time you want to unlock a new door. If I was on a higher-level version of the game (or it wasn't included in Story mode) I would get really pissed off with having to waste so much time on picking locks. Surely it would be better to do one (harder?) puzzle for each level of lock (there are 3 in total, as there seem to be 3 of everything) and once you've cracked it all the locks at that level are automatically unlocked. But no, instead, every time you find a new lock you have to go through the same puzzle.
Anyway, I was a bit disappointed to discover that I'm not going to get the highest level in the game (although I will probably still win the award for being the slowest player) as there are apparently only 40 levels and once you pass those you don't get more points etc. As I'm already well into my 20s and haven't even finished the first quest of chapter 2 yet, I think I'm going to hit the limit before I even get halfway.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad - bad, I think, as I assume the foes I have to battle get tougher at the higher level and we all know I'm totally rubbish at fighting. My brain completely forgets what and where my spells are and I just end up pressing all the buttons randomly until they all die. I really need Avada Kedavra urgently (yes, I'm a Slytherin so of course I'm going to use Unforgivable Curses). Supposedly it unlocks at level 27, but I'm pretty sure I should be like 70% of the way through the game by then and I definitely won't be. I expect I shall be level 40 before I get it.
I do know 'Q' is Protego so I throw that in every so often in case anyone's getting too close because my brain can't think about fighting and dodging at the same time (they're a different set of keys and I can't do both). I think on the Normal level I'd have died a million times by now and possibly given up completely, but fortunately, in Story mode I just have to give them a hard stare and they die 😂.
What I need to do is learn to fight with plants but that's yet another different set of keys (potions are also on there, as is the place to start flying) and I've already explained the problem there.
Anyway, I am going to try to fit in another couple of hours this evening (famous last words . . . it's normally more like 3 or 4 🙈).
Food
I'm having a 🥗 for a change 😂. My body says steak, so that's what we're going for - and it's quick and easy.
Music
I've been a good EXO fan and have been streaming Kai's Rover album on Spotify all day. I set up a playlist with loads of other good stuff in between. Z.Tao (Chinese ex-member of EXO) dropped a single today called Love Lost. I'm not sure if it's an OST from his upcoming drama or not, so I've stuck it in the March playlist for now. Verivery also sneaked out a Japanese version of Tap Tap, and Drippin released their 3-track Japanese single Hello Goodbye too, which have both also been added to the playlist.
Drama
I shall continue my ongoing watch of Warm on a Cold Night while I'm preparing and eating my dinner.
Birthday
Today is the birthday of another of my kids (I have loads, I'm like the old Mother Hubbard of K-pop 😂) - Jihoon, who is the joint leader (along with Choi Hyunsuk) of the wonderful Treasure.
Jihoon (Treasure)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Okay, so that was longer than I expected, mainly thanks to the Hogwarts Legacy rant. Let's see if I can keep up the streak tomorrow.
Look at me blogging 2 days in a row 😏.
Yes, I know it’s not really worth crowing about, but I don’t have much else to
say, tbh.
So, let’s have a quick catch-up – the weather today has been
very windy. It’s quite warm at the moment (about 11 degrees) but there is
colder weather on the way again, according to forecasts. As I’m not intending to go anywhere, I’m not
really bothered, but I’d prefer it not to snow.
Work was relatively stress-free, mainly because I ignored
the problems, deciding to deal with them tomorrow. There’s no point in being
stressed for 2 days when I can fit it all into 1 (look at me prioritising my
mental health for once).
Dinner was (and I’m sure you’re not going to be surprised by
this) a poached salmon salad. However, my body is definitely craving chocolate
today, which isn’t so good.
I’m off to watch Warm on a Cold Night as I
only managed a couple of episodes yesterday and there is a lot still to get
through.
Tomorrow, I am intending to play Hogwarts Legacy again,
so a post might not happen if I get too engrossed – in fact, I think it’s
probably fair to say that for the time being, any time I’m not blogging it’s because
I forgot thanks to the game, but then I won’t have much to say anyway as I’m
not going anywhere and I have loads of salad in the fridge.
The one exciting thing
that happened today was that Kai from EXOreleased
hisexcellent new mini album, Rover. The title track is an
absolute banger – check out the MV below. I really like all the other tracks on
the album, too.
Yes, yesterday was another day without a post. And yes, it's because I was playing Hogwarts Legacy.
Actually, I didn't do anything apart from playing the game, so there wasn't much to post about, anyway. I did manage to finally get through Chapter One and we're now into Autumn - which means new quests that I can't do 😂 - but I'm sure another 24 hours of playing time will see me moving on to the next chapter (assuming I ever manage to get out of the predicament I'm currently in). I have talent points to spend but I'm not sure where - it seems a waste to put them into combat when I'm so terrible at it, but then maybe it would make me better?
Maybe I should just stick them all in the Dark Arts tree and learn the Unforgivable Curses as soon as possible. But I know Avada Kedavra doesn't open up until much later in the game so it's going to be a long time until I get to use it and it seems a waste of points. Then again, I'm aware that them sitting around not being used on anything is a waste too.
However, I wish I had remembered that I had a Key concert to watch this morning (G.O.A.T. in the Keyland in Japan) which was starting at 7 a.m. when I stayed up until gone 3 a.m. to try to get through the latest puzzle. I ended up doing the same as last week after his SHINee bandmate Onew's concert and went to bed for another few hours.
Anyway, the concert was brilliant and well worth seeing - it's being re-streamed on 9 April if you want to check it out on Beyond Live. I would have done, but it's the same day as the live streaming of EXO's 11th anniversary fan meeting (probably also on Beyond Live), and that obviously takes priority for me. I can't remember if I mentioned that the Onew concert is being re-streamed on 1 April. I will be watching that, and I will also be watching BtoB's fan meeting (it's also their 11th anniversary this year) next Sunday. I must remember to have an earlier night - although I think that starts a bit later.
Today I listened to a short audiobook, which was the pre-story of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, that I listened to a few weeks ago, called Kill Joy, which was originally given away for World Book Day 2021. It was pretty good, except that I had forgotten that it was set before the first book, so couldn't understand why one of the characters was so blasé about mentioning the murder over and over again; that was a bit jarring. Also, the ending too, but I don't want to give away any spoilers.
This evening, I am dedicating myself to drama and giving my brain a chance to cool down after all that gameplay. The final episode of The Island (Part 2) dropped (on Amazon Prime) on Friday, so I'm bingeing it all. You may recall it's about demon hunters on Jeju Island and their battle to stop lust (and other) demons from breaking free from hell and taking over. I am still enjoying it, and we're just starting the end game, so hopefully the horror (and blood and gore) will ramp up for the last couple of episodes (it is an 18 after all).
Once I finish that I shall move on to Warm on a Cold Night as I need to catch up, and really need to clear some watching room for all the new stuff coming out (including, apparently, a new drama with Tao (ex-EXO), and then I think an earlyish night is in order, as tomorrow is a big day with EXO member Kai releasing his third solo album - he's live on Youtube at 8 a.m. for the countdown to release.
Before I go, as ever it's birthday time.
First up and celebrating his 21st birthday is the newest member of the wonderful Kingdom (who have a new album coming out on 23 March), Hwon. He is the King of Storms and was introduced in this secret video last year:
Another of my kids, who has just turned 18, is Yewang from Epex.
I missed a day. I did mean to blog yesterday (honestly), but
then I was watching dramas (and doing a jigsaw) and by the time I decided to do
it, it was gone 1 am, so too late anyway . . .and I didn’t really have much to talk about.
The dramas I watched were Kokdu: Season of Deity,
which is a very silly Korean supernatural romance and features another really
annoying female lead, who is so incredibly stupid for a doctor that you can’t
help but wonder how the hell she qualified. But I’ve seen most of it and it’s
quite fun – although it’s just reached the end game, so it’s suddenly gone a bit
dark and intense. I then went back to Warm on a Cold Night, which
is still just about maintaining my interest. I do quite like the lead male’s performance,
but I’ll be honest, I really want to watch something with Zhang Binbin (Vin Zhang)because
I miss seeing his pretty face.
The most important thing to happen today was that the last
batteries on my Christmas plant fairy lights finally gave up the ghost. I can’t
remember if I mentioned the plant before (I should have done at least once) but
I’ve been having a running battle with the batteries for some time now.
So, to recap, the Christmas before last my line manager bought me a
plant which vaguely resembles a Christmas tree but is only about a foot high. It
had a string of 10 yellow lights on it but looked so weedy that I added another
3 sets to give it something like 150 multicolour lights (possibly overkill
given its size, but who cares, they look pretty). I changed the batteries (3 x
AA per set) just before Christmas last year, so they were festively bright, but
by January they were beginning to wane again. However, instead of replacing
them as most normal people would do, I decided to leave them on to run the
batteries down completely before changing them.
And thus began my battle with the batteries because I was
torn between wanting pretty lights again and a sudden obsessive need to know
just how long they would hang on (all the colours but green had died by the
time February arrived). The answer was 57 days of the lights being left on for 24
hours a day, which just goes to prove that when we replace the batteries as
soon as performance dips we replace far too early.
This morning I realised that the only light still visible
during daylight was the 1 hanging by the container, all the ones on the plant
itself were so dim they could no longer be seen. I finally got to change the batteries
and it looks pretty again.
1 sad light all alone on day 57 and the full glory of new batteries
I haven’t got any further with Hogwarts Legacy, but I
am intending to play it this evening, as soon as I finish this, as I feel I’m
finally getting somewhere and want to press on and get my Room of Requirement
up and running. I also have a side quest to meet Sebastian (another Slytherin 🐍)
and practice illicit spells with him 😉
– honestly, he’s such a flirt.
Before
I go, I want to say a very happy birthday to my BtoB best boy, Peniel,
who is celebrating today.
Happy birthday, Peniel 🎂🎁🎉
It’s
also the first anniversary of Tan, who wowed me with their debut track Du
Du Du. They have released a special anniversary digital mini album called Essege,
and dropped this MV for the lead track, Fix You, of which part was originally an
intro on their first EP.
I honestly did mean to go back to blogging every day but,
well, you know . . . .
Okay, so on Monday I got caught up with Hogwarts Legacy
– I finally made some real progress – I have now played 14 hours and managed to
finish all 6 of the main quests in Chapter 1, so I’ve just entered the Room
of Requirement 🎉. I finally got to fly a🧹,
and I was every bit as bad at that as I have been at every other thing I’ve attempted
to do in the game 😂. Actually, to say I was bad would be an understatement,
it was a bit like me when I was first walking. I was bumping into everything
and couldn’t get the hang of directions at all. I missed almost the whole flight
around Hogwarts because I was stressing about how to move.
I still think part of it might be using the keyboard rather
than a controller. Also, not being used to playing these types of games. I have
been watching a LOT of videos on Youtube giving hints and tips (because
I really need them – I am no good at working out what to do with random boxes
etc.) and one of the channels I watched was talking about their non-gaming
friends not being able to get used to moving and panning around at the same time.
This is something I definitely have a problem with, even now, and is the bit of
the game I find most annoying, tbh.
I can put up with not understanding the fighting as I’m
playing the lowest level (story) so most foes don’t need much to beat them; basically,
if you’re pointing your wand in their direction they’re as good as dead. I can
even put up with all the running (and getting lost because I have the
directional nouse of a house brick and always end up going the wrong way – this
is a real-life problem as I guarantee I will always choose the wrong way when
driving too 😂) and I figure I’ll find all the yellow and
blue stuff I keep seeing with Revelio eventually – I mean, I am getting
better at the game, it’s just a slow process.
It probably doesn’t help that by the time I get to it it’s
always almost midnight, so my brain is winding down for bed, not looking at solving
puzzles. It has definitely affected my dreams. For the last few days I’ve been
running around all over the place in my sleep and anyone who knows me knows
that in real life I have enough trouble walking (especially without a stick). I
don’t think I’ve run anywhere since I was at school (and had no choice because
of PE and stuff) 😂.
Yesterday, I totally meant to do a lot of things, but then my
beloved EXO member, Baekhyunwent on Instagram and did a
live ‘insta-fest’ as he called it, while he was driving home from his schedule.
He spent about 35 minutes singing various songs. When it was originally broadcast
I was still working, so had it on in the background and while I was
appreciating his voice, I couldn’t really have told you exactly what songs he
sang, except that they were his solo ones.
But then I thought I heard him singing Hoppipolla’s
‘Your Ocean’, which is a wonderful song, but not very well known (or
maybe that’s just outside Korea – maybe the band are far more popular than I realised).
Anyway, I dismissed the thought, as it was unlikely. But later, on Twitter,
someone posted a video of the whole Livestream. Obviously, I re-listened
and found that yes, indeed, Baekhyun did sing the song, and better still
he sang all of it. I’ll be honest, I was a little emotional, that someone so
amazing, knew and was singing such a perfect song – and he did a really good
job too (that song always makes me soft for some reason).
There was nothing for it but for me to spend what ended up
taking far longer than anticipated downloading the video, isolating the cover (one
of several he actually did in the end) and turning it into an MP3 so I can
listen to it whenever I want (thank Merlin for iTunes and the ability to
upload stuff. I have a whole playlist of covers that I’ve cribbed from various places).
So, for your enjoyment, here’s Baekhyun singing Your
Ocean and also the video of the original song because everyone should hear
it because it’s so bloody good (you really should listen to their entire playlist, it's not very long but it is consistently excellent).
I then realised that I really need to start catching up on
some of my dramas as I’ve done a lot of listening to music recently (mainly EXO, a newone full of my most relaxing music, and the monthly playlists),
so of course, I started 2 new ones instead 😂.
The first, Delivery Man, is a k-drama about a taxi driver who gets
an unwanted passenger in his cab; a ghost that he can’t get rid of. Having
scared away all his normal passengers, he ends up taking on more ghost
passengers and helping them with their final wishes.
The second, Warm on a Cold Night, is a c-drama,
starring Bi Wen Jun, who was one of the leads from The Silence of the Monster. He plays the prince of a shapeshifting nation, who is in a neighbouring country searching
for someone when a series of strange murders related to his country take
place. He teams up with a clever constable of the investigation bureau to solve
the murders. The constable has a strange illness that makes her feel cold
constantly, lose her energy, and faint at inappropriate moments but discovers
that when she touches the prince her energy is boosted and she feels warm, so
she spends a lot of time trying to touch him. Not something he relishes as he
is very anti-touch.
Neither series features big-name stars but I’m quite
enjoying both dramas. I’m still not sure about the female leads, though, one is
very screechy and the other is just generally annoying – but not enough to stop
watching just yet.
Tonight, as I’ve spent so long on this blog, and have spent
something like 12 hours solidly listening to music, I’m going to dedicate the
rest of the evening to drama-watching. I really need to catch up with The Heavenly Idol, as I saw the first couple of episodes but never got any
further. It’s a bonkers story about Pontifex Rembrary, a religious man with the strongest divine power
ever, accidentally being transported to another world while fighting a demon.
There, he finds himself being mistaken for a member of an unsuccessful idol
band called Wild Animal, which is on the verge of disbanding and having
to deal with suddenly becoming famous as an idol and yet still dealing with his original day job – perfect for a Wednesday night 😂.
And on
that note, it’s time to go and make something to eat – tuna and sweetcorn salad.
Not ideal for the weather (I forgot to mention that it snowed today . . . and
settled too so everything is very white ❄️😒
– you know how much I detest snow). But the body needs what it needs and as ever
it’s craving salad 🙄 – why not a stew or something hearty for a change?).
However, before I go, as usual, I have a few birthdays to
mention. First, and most important is my mother – happy birthday, Mum! 🎉🎁🎂
Mum
It’s also the great love of my life, Gary Numan’s birthday. His posts on Twitter
and Facebook earlier seem to indicate he’s going through some tough
times at the moment, so I hope he’s had a good day and has better times soon.
I love you, Gary!
Finally, Won Jun from E’last(who, funnily enough, is appearing
in Heavenly Idol) is also celebrating today, so happy birthday to him too!
Won Jun (E'last)
🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉🎂🎁🎉
Oh, and really finally, as I missed it on Monday, Onew's new album Circle is every bit as good as I was anticipating (I fully expect to see it in the album playlist at the end of the month/year).
Here's the MV for the title track (check out both the beautiful voice and face)
Right, I'm definitely going now. See you tomorrow 🤞🤞
Just doing a quick post today as I want to play Hogwarts Legacy for a bit.
Onew's concert (O-NEW-NOTE) this morning was brilliant, as I fully expected it would be. He looked so pretty and he sings like a dream. It was well worth getting up early for, and I look forward to watching the re-stream at the beginning of next month. Next up is his SHINee bandmate Key's Japanese solo concert (G.O.A.T. in the Keyland) on 12 March, which is also being live-streamed at stupid o'clock (again, I'm sure it will be worth getting up for).
Jinki looking pretty throughout the concert
I haven't done much else today as I'm still not feeling great. I am really fed up with this virus now. I want to feel normal again. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
Before I go, it's time for birthdays again. Today it's the turn of BX from CIX,MJ from Astro and the Chinese actor Xu Kai.
Yes, yes, I know this was going to be a daily blog, and it
is (was), but real life is a tricky thing and sometimes it foils the best-laid
plans.
Last time I posted I wasn’t feeling too well, and unfortunately,
it only got worse. By the weekend I was so ill I couldn’t even get out of bed
(I wasn't alone in this as Quincy went down with it too – must have been from The Rose concert). Between the shivering/overheating, bone-breaking pain, aching,
coughing, sore throat, earache and just generally feeling bloody awful I had no
energy to do anything, let alone blog. Even watching TV was out because I
couldn’t get my brain to process what I was seeing and listening to music was the same.
Sleep was pretty much the only option.
Unfortunately, despite still feeling more dead than alive,
the following week at work was a tough one. While I would have preferred to
stay wrapped up in bed feeling sorry for myself, it wasn’t to be. Instead, I
ended up working late almost every day to get everything done that needed sorting.
I dosed myself up with every type of drug I could think of and battled through,
recovering enough to attend the Ateez concert at the O2 on
22 February – there was no way we were missing it given what the tickets had
cost.
Ateez in action
Fix on! Mingi spitting bars
It was a brilliant evening and was just the boost I needed
to help cheer me up and pull through the virus (I guess all the work helped
too). Although it has dragged on and I still have little energy even now, and
some weird possibly related side effects (complete loss of smell and taste at
the time which is still 90% gone even now, and vertigo whenever I lie on my
left side (my preferred sleeping position) which may have something to do with
an ear infection, plus general ongoing light-headedness all the time), I’m
finally beginning to feel as if I’m heading back to normal . . . just in time
for hayfever season (hurrah for all the silver birch trees around my flat that are
currently pollinating like crazy 😖).
So, although I felt a bit better, I still had little energy
for doing anything much and with work still crazy it made me less inclined to
do anything but settle back and watch TV (The Blood of Youth – a Chinese
wuxia drama with some crazy special effects starring the ever-pretty Lee Hong Yi, which I’m just finishing today). I know it’s probably because
I’m old, so it takes longer to recover from everything, but I am honestly fed
up with being knackered just from walking to the loo and back.
I also finally went back to Hogwarts Legacy and
began the game in earnest. Currently, I’m about 9% of the way through (I’m pretty
certain I’m officially the slowest player ever). I have finally mastered the
art of running up and down stairs (sod being a Hogwarts student. I had never
considered what those 142 staircases meant in terms of getting to and from
classes – you need to be bloody fit), although I do still walk into things:
walls, people etc. more than I probably should. I have been duelling, despite
not having a clue what or how I’m doing it – although I had to quit from the
game a few days ago because there were some foes that I just couldn’t work out
how to attack.
I have generally been pootling around, working my way
through the main game, picking up side quests as I come across them, although I
still can’t work out how to find the stuff that shows up when I cast the Revelio
spell (I’m assuming that I’m not currently at the right level and it will come
to me eventually). I’m not sure I’m playing it right as all the tips videos I’ve
watched have talked about stuff becoming available at various levels (generally
8 upward) but I’m level 12, I think, and only a few things are available to me
so far, and none of the big stuff. At this rate, I’ll be at level 100 before I
finish the main quests 😂.
Anyway, it’s horridly addictive, extremely frustrating but
also incredibly challenging – both the general navigation and keyboard use and
the puzzles in the game itself. I have to admit I’d like to learn to fly so I don’t
have to keep running everywhere!
I had intended to play some more this weekend as I took a
couple of days off to do laundry/tip business and general adulting (like buying
food), so was expecting to have a bit of free time, but villainy virus has kept
my energy at a minimum, so everything is taking longer and I haven’t yet gone
back to it because I know when I do I’ll just get lost in it for about 4-5
hours. Maybe tonight, although I really want to finish this series and I can’t do
both at the same time, plus I need to be up early tomorrow as it’s my beloved Onew’s
solo concert at stupid o’clock in the morning.
One thing I did do earlier this week, was to sort out my Spotify
playlists. Now, I know I’m still way behind with sorting out my 2022 lists (I
will finish them one day . . . or maybe I just need to admit defeat and go with what
I already have) and rather than get into the same pickle at the end of 2023 I
have devised a new strategy. First, I’m creating a playlist for each month,
with an accompanying spreadsheet which lists everything on the playlist. I’ve split
the spreadsheet entries into the 3 Spotify categories: albums, EPs and singles.
At the end of each month, I’m choosing my 3 favourites in each category and
adding them to separate playlists. By the end of the year, I should have 36 entries
in each playlist, which should theoretically make choosing my top 20 for the
year that much easier.
In order to share easily, I have added the current playlist
(March) to my blog sidebar. This will be updated to show the current month's
entries. I will also add the links to the monthly playlists and overall Top 3s
when I get a minute. Interestingly, so far, it’s been the ‘singles’ category
that has given me the most trouble with choosing a top 3. I did decide not
to include Key’s Killer in the album playlist as it’s a repackage
of his 2022 album Gasoline,which was my album of the year (this much I know), so
I can’t really add it this year too, although I do really love the extra tracks).
For that reason, I also excluded Yesung’s Floral Sense
as it’s a repackage of Sensory Flows (that was a really quick re-release
as the original only came out on my birthday).
Fortunately, it only seems to be SM that releases
repackages, and as they’ve now been taken over by Hybe (long story for another
day), maybe they won’t be doing that any longer. However, fair warning, when
EXO has their comeback (scheduled for the second quarter), if they repackage, I
probably will include it because I’m biased like that (and there’s unlikely to
be anything released in either month I’m going to like more – calling it now).
I also, rather embarrassingly, discovered Zhang Binbin’s
Spotify page and have listened to his tracks so much in the last few weeks (I
love his voice, okay, and it was soothing listening when I was ill – that’s my
excuse and I’m sticking with it), that he topped my monthly Receiptify
list (in the top 3 spots 🙈). Unthinkable by FTIsland
also made a return, as did a lot of Lay (I was listening
to a lot of Chinese music in general) and Woosung, plus an entry by
Corbyn, who released my favourite album in February, the absolutely
perfect Our Static Seatbelt.
Anyway, I think that’s enough from me for today, as it’s
time to join one of my Twitch streams for more K-Pop (stuff I wouldn’t normally
listen to/watch myself – it’s a good way for me to find new artists or songs I’ve
missed, especially from before 2019).
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