MONDAY

I was having a nice peaceful productive afternoon and then BAM.

BTS ANNOUNCED FOUR CONCERT DATES IN LOS ANGELES LATER THIS YEAR!!!

SCREAMING AND KEKEKEKEING ENSUED.

This will be their first live concert since November 2019, before I was even a fan. I immediately got myself signed up for the third tier of pre-sales…and couldn’t get my first choice of date (I REALLY wanted to go to the FIRST ONE as it is going to be SO EMOTIONAL, they get so emotional, and we all know I LOVE EMOTION), but I got into the 2nd night category, which is the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. Which only means I may have a CHANCE to buy tickets. It’s a very complex, tiered system so every category of fan has an opportunity to purchase tickets.

Pre-sales for my tier go on sale on October 7 so you better believe I’m gonna be a nervous wreck that day! I don’t even know yet what the pricing is going to be like., I’m expecting $$$$$. PLUS, I really want to get soundcheck tickets, which means getting to be there BEFORE the concert, when they’re just doing run-throughs of the songs, basically a dress rehearsal, making sure everything works right…but withOUT 50,000 other people crammed in around you.

I’m watching airfares…and ALMOST pulled the trigger on a really good deal NY-LAX not even knowing if I would even get BTS tickets (chances are slim) but I figured worst case scenario I’d get to spend Thanksgiving weekend with my SoCal family. Win-Win. But unless I see a STUPENDOUS fare, I will TRY to wait a week to see if I get concert tickets.

TUESDAY

So glad my baby is living a life filled with adventures.

My big excitement of the day was a Korean VERB CONJUGATION BREAKTHROUGH!!! Haha. I learn SO slowly…and retain SO poorly…it’s like a mini-miracle anytime the lightbulb switches on over my head and I feel I really understand something. I’m grateful for the few remaining brain cells I have.

WHATTA WEEK!!!

WEDNESDAY

Oh those glowy leaves

After last week’s work chaos, we thought this week would be a lovely, peaceful respite.

WRONG.

Ha. I don’t know what’s happening. Well, I KNOW what’s happening but…I’d hoped things would remain more manageable.

On a brighter note, I had the “least bad” Korean class probably since the very beginning. Ha. In part, I credit the tutor…and in part it’s just cuz we started something new – telling time (“What time is it now in Norway? It is 5:20pm now in Norway.” THAT will come in handy if I ever go to Korea) – and the question/statement formatting made sense to me so I was able to keep up pretty well and did not feel hyperventillatey all through class like I usually do.

THURSDAY

Today’s highlight was POKE BOWLS FOR LUNCH. AND the loveliest tea-grapefruit slushy drink. It was so pretty! I want that every day now.

I had to EMPTY OUT MY CAR. My car is like most people’s storage shed/garage/basement. It holds all the things that don’t belong in the house…and YET: beach chairs, laundry supplies, plant pots, Black Lives Matter signs, many books and magazines, multiple umbrellas and ice scrapers, recyclable grocery bags, antifreeze, motor oil, windshield wiper fluid, party decorations, blankets and a rug. I HATE emptying my car to fit other things in, cuz it means lugging all that nonsense up the steps to the apartment, filling the car with stuff from somewhere else (in this case, work), and afterwards, unloading all the other stuff, then lugging all the stuff BACK to the car from my apartment. I hate lugging and I REALLY hate repetitive tasks.

Isn’t that what MEN are for??

I’m a little cranky this week. I apologize.

FRIDAY

BTS merch. Oh, it is a slippery slope, my friends.

Had kind of a rough morning. Lay in bed for about an hour, hitting snooze (that is not uncommon) thinking, hmm…HMMM…I don’t know how this is POSSIBLE, but I FEEL like there’s a kidney stone about to wreak havoc on my body. I mean, I JUST HAD the lithotripsy in August, although I did have pain the following week…and they never actually confirmed to me after the boatload of scans they did that every speck of stone was GONE, I just ASSUMED when they didn’t say “There’s still a stone” that all stone evidence was gone. ” So I don’t know WHAT was happening this morning, but I took a painkiller before heading to work (I feel no effects for at LEAST 30 minutes, so I was safe to drive 20 minutes to work) and an hour in I had to go take a little nap in my car. I felt nauseous and foggy. This all in-between lugging folding tables and water bottles and snacks and chairs, etc., out to my car for an event tomorrow.

By noon I was feeling more human, but still with a twinge of DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON. So. That was my morning.

Plus, this is not really Friday for me cuz I have to work tomorrow.

So. Cranky.

SATURDAY

Oofah. Ha. I’m exhausted and crippled. Sound familiar? Like LAST week’s work event.

Today was Bike to the Beach, an event each year when we volunteer at a rest stop to give out snacks, water, band-aids, etc to riders doing the 100-mile bike ride for an autism charity (not us, but we get some of the proceeds). In the past, this has been like The Greatest Work Day of the Year…but now it’s on Saturday, so…it’s in a different category. It IS a very nice event, which has grown to seven rides across the country, and has attracted more and more riders every year.

Bike to the Beach 2019

But any day on which I have to be lugging, walking, and on my feet all day is…rough. So when I got home I pretty much went straight to the sofa, read for a bit, watched tv for a bit, and was in bed by 9:30 and asleep soon after.

On a more positive note, it was very energizing and therapeutic to be away from the small box my world has become to be doing something completely different – no computer, blogging, BTS (well I did sneak a couple songs onto the playlist for the day), sinkful of dirty dishes, dark/quiet apartment, etc. I KNOW all these things are good for me, but it is VERY challenging to fit them in more than once a week (if that).

I have several people in my life who regularly comment/ask me, “for someone who likes to relax/get away/not be obligated, you sure obligate yourself a lot.” Even if the obligation is just to myself, once I take something on (blogging, learning korean, photography, selling on ebay, whatever) I do really give it priority in my life…even over my desire for free, relaxing time.

Sometimes I think this is what has saved me. Being so preoccupied with these things I “get myself into” (a phrase I hear consistently). But when I think of the alternative – not having something that just consumes me…but having more free time instead? What would I really be doing with that time?? I can tell you what I’d be doing. OVERTHINKING. Riling myself up and talking myself into sadness.

It Is What I Do.

Better that I’m too busy to think.

SUNDAY

Cheating. This is from this week last year. But it looks exactly like this outside right now.

A planned quiet day. Quiet, not unproductive. Quiet as in solitary. It’s just me today. Breakfasting, dish-washing (why do the dirty dishes keep returning??), K-homework and studying, blogging. The usual. If I can keep my nose to the grindstone, I might be able to end the day at the park again with a book.

PS: park reading did not happen.

I DID take a look at some old Week in Review posts…and I used to share So Many Pictures! Whoa. Makes me a little sad that that is just not as much a part of my life these days.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

Mal. Me. E. – The Secret Mission. I’ve been waiting to see this for a year. It stars Yoon Kye Sang , who was the male lead in the first k-drama I watched, Chocolate (that tv show that changed my life). He was So Good. But this movie (not a series) has been unavailable in the US all this time…until now (yay). Partly based on a true story, The Secret Mission is set in 1940 during WWII when the Japanese were trying to literally stamp out the entire Korean language. A group of people form a secret alliance to rebuild a Korean dictionary and protect their native language. If you’re a history buff this might be interesting to you.

Okay. Hopefully, this week was the last weekend work event for awhile and I can have my full weekends back to myself. Maybe next weekend I can go do something FUN. Fingers crossed.

We’ll be right back.