Honest Lies – Page 60 – "Okay, so I'm the dragon. Big deal. You still get to be the hero."

Welcome! Honest Lies is the personal site of a 26 year old graduate electrical engineer living in the UK. Covering every day life, books and various other randomness. Read more about me and the site here.

protect the boss

I don’t usually like to post about dramas while I’m watching them. It’s almost like I’m scared of jinxing it- I rave about how awesome it is, only for something to go wrong and suddenly its not quite as enjoyable. However I have to rave about this drama because currently airing Protect the Boss is so awesome. This show is nothing original, but its done very, very well. It takes a cliche premise and turns it into something thoughtful, clever, witty, funny, romantic, and in-touch-with-reality. There is a brilliant, sly sense of humor to the show- nothing slapstick or in your face but still it manages to be completely hilarious at times. I love all the characters- all of them. The things they do and say, and the way they react, are very human. There are no villains, not even the rich chaebol parents. The bitchy chaebol mothers are so harmless, and so amusing, that I find myself liking even them.

As for the main characters? Na Yoon may be proud and selfish, but she is also vulnerable. I liked her when I saw her crying in the bathroom, and then the ice cream scene? Where she is even shocked she would do such a thing? Priceless. I think she is endearing and I find myself rooting for her to end up with someone, even just a friend. (I actually hope that she and Eun Seol become friends.) Mu Won is ambitious, but at the same time he is not devoid of humanity- he is not cruel and he won’t take things too far. I’m fairly sure he’s been heavily influenced by his mothers own views too. I find him cute, although the fact that’s it Jaejoong may make me biased. Ji Heon is intelligent but doesn’t have the confidence, and is hindered by his condition. Mostly I love that he is not conceited- he knows that he has flaws, and that his money and background do not automatically make him better than others. And Eun Seol, oh Eun Seol. Such a strong heroine compared to our weak (and slightly pathetic) hero. I adore how even though she has two rich men after her, she’s not interested; she’d much rather keep the job she had worked so hard for, and live ordinarily. She is not about to give up her own dreams and ambitions easily. “I like myself” – how often do you hear a drama heroine utter such words? Ji heons and Eun Seol’s friendship develops so naturally, and is so precious, that I cannot wait to see them become lovers and I can believe in their relationship. It helps that both Ji Sung and Choi Kang Hee are talented, experienced actors who express their characters flawlessly.

The family dynamics are also well done and one of the many things I find myself enjoying – from the immature moments between the chairman and his sister in law, to Ji Heon and Mu Won being childish and play fighting together, to the petty rivalry among them all (and the tough grandma keeping them under check). The chaebol family are delightfully ordinary behind closed doors. Most of all I love the pacing of the show, how misunderstandings don’t get dragged out for episodes; people will sit down and they talk things out, or argue, even apologize and admit to their mistakes (I grinned like an idiot when Ji Heon’s dad apologised to his son for slapping him. And then when Ji Heon apologised to Eun Seol for grabbing her wrist and dragging her into the car. No hero ever does that and it always looks so painful ¬__¬) Every thing about this drama is so wonderfully done, so natural and real. The only thing I could pick on is the bland OST- too little songs used too many times – but that’s just one tiny thing. This is truly such an enjoyable drama. I could go on and on about it tbh, I’ve already turned this into a ridiculously long post.

I am hoping desperately this drama stays this wonderful, and doesn’t become an overly melodramatic mess as it moves into its final episodes. Bring on Wednesday (and Thursday).

T-ARA, Roly-Poly in Copacabana – I have been more than a little addicted to this song lately. When I first heard it I thought it was ridiculous and annoying and then I listened to it again and well… it grew on me. It’s stuck in my head now and I’ve grown to love the retro theme. It makes me laugh, but in a good way. It’s fun and different and kinda bold because I’ve seen these kind of moves used as gags on variety shows. Posting the copacabana version because it’s my favorite of the zillion pvs and possibly my favourite version of the song.

Vanilla Biscuits

Baked some biscuits this afternoon using a recipe from my Granny. I’ve eaten these throughout my childhood so safe to say, they’re a favourite. The recipe for these biscuits I had pinned on my notice board for about 3 years. Then I changed my noticeboard, put the recipe away in a safe place and of course, lost it. The things you put away carefully will travel to Narnia, whilst that you chuck on your floor or in the nearest available free space will get in the way and never be lost. It’s a law of the universe that isn’t it? Or is that just me being hopeless like always? Anyway, whilst on holiday I made sure to ask my Gran for her recipes, including these. These biscuits are just simple vanilla biscuits. They were terrible easy to make, though I had some trouble at the end using the biscuit press to actually form the biscuits. I had to call on my dad, who then phoned my gran, in order to get it to work. My dad and I had some minor arguments but we figured it out eventually. I love having a biscuit press. Even though at first it’s tricky, once you get how it works then it makes the whole process of shaping biscuits so quick and easy! I got a load of different templates but I chose a plain and boring one for today XD Then I cooked them and then I ate them and I can say they turned out pretty good. Almost exactly like my Gran makes them :D Next time I am adding cherries on top for a bit of extra decoration and taste though, and I also need to make the spice version and chocolate version of these. Yum.

Listening To: CSJH - One More Chance

PARADISE LOST

I went through and cleared out my old review blog today, a year and then some after I should of done it. I had it on hiatus with the intention of updating it again or closing it down but eventually I just forgot about it. It’s all deleted now though.

I was looking through all my old reviews as I deleted them and they aren’t something to write home about, but some aren’t bad and I can just tell how much time I spent on them. I must of been crazy, writing those long paragraphs about every song on a 10+ track album. You know- I spent so much time writing them and they aren’t even that good. That kinda sucks. I’ m glad I finally wiped them off the Internet although wayback machine and google cache might still cling to it. After all the Internet never forgets, for bad or for worse. I’m sure I could find my very old websites, from 2005 when I believed I could make awesome graphics and neopets was still cool. Man, I don’t even want to know. It’s embarrassing thinking about all the websites I used to run, and the things I used to post, the user names and alias I used, and the terrible graphics I used to make and promote as if they were the ‘best thing ever!!!” gah. I hated my 13 year old self in so many ways.

Then again sometimes even looking at blog entries from a few weeks back makes me cringe and I find myself fighting not to just erase it. Sometimes I go through a phase where I hate my website entirely and I just want to erase it all. I am clearly too attached to this old domain that I a) think about these things at all and b) never actually get rid of it. Although I guess I did enjoy it all at the time. It was fun creating those graphics and writing those reviews. I used to love writing about the things I listened to and the things I read. It used to be a great way to take my mind off everything, and it’s not like I could talk to my friends about gackt or ayumi hamasaki or any of the artists I listen to. That remains the same so in a way I still do, enjoy the whole writing my opinions about media thing, but I don’t think I could ramble on like I did a year ago. I find it increasingly difficult to express my opinions, even in 140 words. Especially now. I’m not very confident in myself right now, with the approach of university and the start of my degree, among other things.

I do wonder when I will get tired of this blogging thing. It’s the one thing that has stuck with me, even as I got bored of the neopets and the graphics and the fanlistings and the reviews. Sometimes it’s awkward, sometimes I have ideas for a post but no matter what I write it all comes out weird and awkward. But it remains fun to maintain this blog, to write about my life and the things I like and scribble down all those thoughts. I guess as long as it remains something fun then I’ll keep doing it. Reviewing was no longer fun, and although I still enjoy playing around making crappy graphics its much more fun just to do it for myself than to share them on any website.

Listening To:: Kaya - Walkare

view from plane

I met up with my friends today, just for drinks at a local cafe, which was fairly chill and nice. One thing that did come up was my one friend has never been abroad, doesn’t even a passport. I always find that amazing. That people have never travelled, have never explored other parts of the world even if it is sitting on a beach for a week. I hate flying with a passion (try 12 hours on a plane with plane sickness aka severe nausea, dizziness and very little sleep so utter exhaustion), but I’m fairly used to it. Put it this way: I like going to new places, I just don’t like the process of getting there. Either way, I cannot imagine not having experienced being stuck on a dry aired, too cold/too hot, cramped plane for 12 hours wishing desperately for fresh air and land. I cannot imagine not having experienced travelling half way across the world in 16-24 hours, seeing the world in miniature from above and the shadows of the clouds on the earth, the rush of customs, the sinking feeling in the gut from a cancelled plane, the exhaustion and relief as you step through arrivals, the joy of experiencing a new place, the confusion of working with new currency, the intrigue of other cultures, different places. It’s not like I’m widely travelled either; I’ve actually been to more airports than actual places. But still. Travelling is good. I have spent the last month and one day abroad. And now, I have been back in the UK for a week. In some ways I’m struggling to get back into things. I feel tired and lazy. It’s somewhat odd being away for a month, doing all new and exciting and wonderful things, then coming back to the same old routine. Not bad, but strange. Probably quite good in many ways. For a holiday it wasn’t always relaxing. Not in a bad way, but it was busy and sometimes awkward and sometimes I just wanted to shut myself in my bedroom and chill by myself but I couldn’t cos I was always sharing space with somebody. But more on that some other time. I will write about the big holiday some other time, if I write about it at all. There are some memories, some thoughts, some experiences I like to keep close to my heart and not talk about here.

For now, I am back in the UK. I am 19 years old, my last year of being a teenager (as people love to say, as if I’ll magically turn into an adult when I’m 20). I am moving out of the house to go to university in September. My sister has graduated from university and is now looking for work, and I have no idea what kind of graduation present to get her. I am a little sad, a little angry, a little scared but mainly happy. The holiday was good for me. I had a mostly wonderful time being abroad, and now I am gradually slipping back into the old routine. I do in a way miss the family, and miss Cape Town, but not too badly homesick. Things are good right now. I’ve been catching up on the RSS feeds I follow, enjoying Internet shopping once more (Ebay <3), and watching the variety shows and dramas I wanted to (like material queen. omg SO GOOD. SO PRETTY. SO DIFFERENT.) I love having my cat around me again. I’m enjoying waking up late, goingg to bed late, and eating whatever I want without that horrible feeling of being judged by the relatives for my relatively poor diet. And I can eat chocolate again! And I don’t have to have 3 meals a day. Seriously, I eat like a bird. On holiday all I did was eat- from 4 course meals to tea times. Being on holiday is great but after a while it gets too much. By the last day in Harare I was desperate to get back- to my house, my cat, to the food I want when I want etc etc.

In many ways it’s good to be back. Very good to be back.

Listening To: Zooropa Yellow- U
mood: content

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