The Problematic of the Unproblematic

Anne: Hello Everyone! Hope those in the US had a good Thanksgiving break. I spent the week finishing up a project that when I first opened the box, I swore a bit (inside my head, since the 7 year old was next to me). Back story, so the little boy likes to "build" things. Usually, these are Lego sets that the adults still need to help with the "trickier" parts. However, he also like to look into these shops that sell a lot of overseas products, and they have a lot of these "building" projects. Now...whatever I could read from the box didn't really make a lot of sense to me. It talked about materials, fabrics, etc. So, the 7 year old wanted this "bookstore", which was REALLY cute. Also, they had the "other buildings" if you want to build yourself a whole tiny village. I don't know what I expected...except that my husband promised the 7 year old to start the project one Saturday when I was out with a girlfriend, and I came back to

Anne: Hello drama lovers! I am very late this week. Besides me getting very distracted by my short YouTube dramas, I also had to speed watch and finish a long over due drama, which will elaborate later. Although, in hindsight, it's a good thing that I've waited... All right then, let's get on with the discussion! Story of Kunning Palace Holy moly! This thing dropped without too much fanfare. Yes, this one has been saying that it will be "upcoming" for over a year! I thought that this show would be filed away, never to see the light of day. I started it as soon as saw it pop up on iQiyi. Everyone knows how much I love watching Bai Lu's dramas. Strangely enough, my over indulgence in the YouTube dramas, has actually made me well aware of the major plots variations that have been made and remade.  The plot of this drama is simple. Bai Lu's character is Jiang Xue Ning, who schemed her entire life to get to the position of empress, by using the people around he

Anne: Another week has gone by, and I've learned something new. I finally figured out, or rather my husband has finally figured out, where all those single socks disappeared to. It's not the dryer...it's the washer.  So...sometime on Saturday, while my husband (in one of the rare moments) when he remembered that he had clothes in the washer, he removed the damp wash into the dryer. All I heard was a bunch of cursing. While he was taking out the clothes from the washer, one of the socks dropped and somehow landed on the edge of the drum. And when he tried to grab it, he somehow pushed it over the edge and it dropped outside the drum, but inside the overall washer. After another minute of cursing, he tried to reach it with his hand, which obviously was not going to work. So I gave the obvious answer and told him to look on Google for the answer. And when he opened up the front panel the next morning, there they were...all the socks that were lost for the last year (since we b

Anne: Happy Tuesday everyone! So...recently there was a new vegetable that appeared at the China town supermarket. Water Spinach is one of my favorite vegetables. And what do I see but something called "White Water Spinach". This is a picture. It looks like the regular water spinach, but everything is lighter in color and the stem is much "larger". It also doesn't cook like the normal one, it's much easier to over cook it (like I did), but I like slightly over-cooked vegetables. It also releases a lot more water when cooked, so it will be a little watery. It also has a much lighter taste, so...it's okay. Maybe I'll have to cook it less next time. So...for this first experiment, I still like the normal water spinach better. So...I did spent last week watching a lot short dramas. But I did manage to catch one interesting new drama. The Truth of Scent This one popped up one the Chinese drama website last week, and they dropped all 24 episodes. To this d

Anne: Happy Tuesday again everyone! I had one of the oddest interviews ever. The entire time, nearly 80% of the questions had to do with what would you do if you have to give someone an evaluation rating that they or their manager didn't agree with, how would you rate two people who are exactly the same in performance (which does not happen if you account for time, milestones, peer feedback, etc), what would you do if you have a lot of work and you cannot increase head count, and etc, etc, etc. Seriously, nearly the entire interview had to do with people management. I'm thinking, either you are fishing for information, or there is something seriously problematic with this division. But my goal isn't to just go work anywhere in Asia, I want to spend a job in South Korea one day, so I can live there for a few years and eat a lot! (Yes, I am very food motivated...) Now...I spent the rest of the week watching some new dramas, continuing some dramas, and binging a bunch of short

Anne: Hello Drama Lovers! I'm late. And I'm doing a short post today as I'm preparing interview slides where I'm asked to present the talk in Mandarin (but the slides are in English because I don't know technical language in Mandarin). So... you know...I see a train wreck coming. As to why I'm doing this? I always try an opportunity if a recruiter finds me. Because...you just never know. But...enough of my personal struggles...let's get to my crack drama of the week. Forever Love Let me first state that I did see this drama come up when it first came online on my WeTV app. But I didn't really take to the synopsis, so I didn't actually start it. And I know I'm shallow...but what I actually made me start this show was a short that popped up on my YouTube feed where the ML was taking off his shirt. I can't remember what the title was but it had a tagged something like the blind girl and her bodyguard. Then I saw the title of the drama, and I wen

Anne: Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is the first day of my 4 day off from work. However, I had 2 hours of meetings and at least one hour of "immediate" things that I need to complete. Then the electricity went off for like 1.5 hours. Sigh...well...my first day of peace and quiet was not all peace and quiet. And I also didn't get to sleep in all that much...hm....I am certainly doing time off wrong. Or I'm just a workaholic and I can't stop even if I want to. Ok...let's discuss some of the shows I've managed to watch last week. Stay With Me This was also in my list on Viki and it popped up again after me watching those other BL dramas last week. Now, before we get to the whole drama thing...doesn't Xu Bin (the one in the red checkered shirt) looks at lot like Xu Kai? (Know that their last name isn't the same despite the spelling.) I only did a cursory search on google and there is nothing that would indicate that they are related. If anyone knows, d

Anne: Happy Tuesday...or whatever day it is when I finally press the "publish" button on this posting. So...I have finally come to the conclusion that I'm overworked. School has finally started again, and I'm looking to plan some personal time off where I will be ALL ALONE for about six hours every day. Is it sad that I am REALLY looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet? What will I do for a whole SIX hours?!  Ok, enough of me looking forward to whenever I will be taking off work. Let's focus on what I have been doing the last two weeks or so. I'm still watching a lot of the amateur dramas on YouTube (and what is this drug crime epidemic going on in China with people drugging people for sex???). But I did managed to catch a few dramas here and there...although I have let some others slide. Now, let's start this week's update. Stay by My Side So...I must've book marked this Taiwanese BL drama a while back, and it found it's way back to t

Anne: Happy Tuesday everyone! For some odd reason last week, I got a bug in my head to look up my old writings from high school to around when I was in graduate school. And boy...my high school story was horrid!!! It's like an Asian drama with more unbelievable plots and plots twists then what I'm watching now. Yes, let's just say nothing was rooted in reality. Now...not to say that the later writings are any more realistic, but I think they are better. Maybe I'll pick up where I left off twenty years ago and see what I can make out of these stories. Most of them, the hand written notes on the plot are somewhere either buried with my book collection or with my piano books in storage. Now, I did still spent a good amount of time watching those short drams on YouTube. I don't know why I'm so mesmerized by them. The abusive plots on some of them are WAY too much. I couldn't handle the ones where the ML was the abusive one. Seriously, how anyone can love someone

Anne: Hello Drama lovers! I am one day late, but I just had to come on here and talk about two shows that I've been watching in the past week. So...without further ado...let's begin! My Lovely Liar My Korean drama slump is over!!! I was going to wait this out a bit until more episodes aired on Viki...but I ended up taking a peek...and didn't stop until I finished the two episodes that were available. I am in LOVE with this show, with the FL, the ML, the FL's driver, and the group of shop owners. And there is a deer/moose that "attacks" people...(so funny)...the thing looks like a zombie deer. Mok Sol Hee has an unique ability, which apparently was given to her because her mother prayed to every god she knew when Sol Hee was in the womb to give her a gift that can make money without any training required. So....she was given the gift to being able to "hear" a lie.  Kim Do Ha is a very successful song writer/producer/musician, who spends his time hidin