Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
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Roma
Another lazy day for moi! Why is it? Because depression is a bitch and I really just find myself not wanting to do anything. Not because I have nothing to do. I do. I just find myself not having the motivation to do anything. Don’t get me wrong, I still do function, I still do the daily chores and all that. I just don’t have the motivation to do what I need to do. I mean, my morale is just shot right now. The only thing that I can do right now is read. And watch anime. Anything. Escapism and all that. But I really need to do something with my life now. This is the third week.
I started reading Heaven Official’s Blessing Book 3. I am still a few pages in. So nothing happening yet. Except that I am back in the world three years after Xie Lian ascended. I’m glad that I get to be back in this world this soon. And I get to be with them again. I really like Feng Xin. And how pure Xie Lian is.
My hun and I watched some anime today.
Horimiya. Why I’m loving this anime? The anime was too real. I mean it was about young love and the anime did a good depicting that. The awkwardness. The insecurities. The confusion. Without having them be over the top. They also made the characters so hard to hate. Sure, I do not care about Remi at all but I don’t hate her. I might not care too much about her, but I do not hate her whatsoever. Well, my favorite of course is Izumi Miyamura. But Tooru Ishikawa is definitely up there. He is such a trooper. Such a character. I love him.
Naruto. AHHHH Jiraiya!!!! I was so happy to see him. I cried a little bit at the conclusion of the Rock Lee fight. It was just so heartbreaking. I was expecting the outcome of the Choji fight. He was not ready for something like this yet. He needed a catalyst, and I was pretty sure that his loss would push him to actually train more. Anyway, my hun really likes Kabuto. I mean, what not to like? He was mysterious and he seemed like to be as strong as Kakashi. I am excited to see more of Naruto’s training with Jiraiya.
Inuyasha. For the most part, I do enjoy the anime. The only sad part is the fact that I get bored with the main storyline. It was just the fact that the conflict gets so repetitive. Was Naraku not creative enough to actually plot something else to get someone to kill Inuyasha? Will it always be the frame Inuyasha and get this character to kill him? Really? The side stories were nice. Those were enjoyable. I love them.
No big plans tonight. I might read a little bit more. But we shall see.
Because the weather has been cold-ish here, well it has been fluctuating, so I decided to just cook arroz caldo. This is a Filipino chicken porridge dish. I don’t remember my mom ever cooking this for me when I was young, but we had a neighbor who sold this in the neighborhood in the afternoons. This dish was definitely perfect for chilly weather, but I also love having this when I am feeling under the weather.
I make mine pretty simple. I used chicken thighs for the protein, but you can also add some hard-boiled eggs. Then, of course, the staples → onion, garlic, and ginger. I also used some roasted chicken base for added chicken flavor. I added some fish sauce to taste. And the star of the show – jasmine rice.
I sauteed the onions, garlic, and ginger first. Then I added the chicken thighs and let them brown for a little bit. After that, I added about maybe 6 to 7 cups of water. I waited for it to boil then I added about 7 teaspoons of the roasted chicken base. I also added the washed jasmine rice at this time too. Then it was just a waiting game at this point until the rice was cooked. I added some fish sauce of course to lift it up a little bit. And then it was done!
It was satisfying. It was definitely something that I needed at this time since I was not feeling my best as of late. Definitely comforting.
I woke up late. I guess, my body was just like, “You need to sleep in. You decided to not sleep the day before. So you’re going to sleep today.” Fine. I really need to go back to my regular scheduled things. Have the actual discipline to wake up at my regular time. But who knows? I mean I say a lot of things but I have an issue following through with some things. And me sleeping early and me waking up on time is one of those things that I really struggle with.
I was really lazy the whole day. But I managed to finish Heaven Official’s Blessing Book 2. Oh boy, this book was good. The story sucked me in right away. From the trip to the Ghost City, the drama of the State Preceptor Fangxin, then the Qi Rong mess, and the second arc. I enjoyed the backstory. I’ve been waiting for it. Anyway, the book definitely broke my heart in some parts, some parts made me smile, and some parts made me laugh. I got frustrated about certain things. But most importantly, I swooned over the interactions between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian.
My hun and I did get to hang out later in the day. His original plan was to hang out with his friends. But I guess that did not pan out real well so we got to squeeze in a couple of episodes of Naruto before he went to work.
Naruto. The fight between Gaara and Rock Lee was amazing. Rock Lee was that underdog that you really root for. The efforts he had done to overcome his shortcomings as a shinobi were commendable. That was one solid background though. It was hard watching Lee break down and question his self-worth because it seemed like no matter how much he works hard he still could not win against Neji Hyuga. Anyway, Gaara was scary but I still like him.
I live my life on the edge apparently. Because what the heck did I do last night?
This old hag pulled an all-nighter. My dog got sick on my bedsheets last night, so I had to do some last-minute laundry. And for some reason, it took way too long for the dryer to do its job. Regardless, it was fine since I was just up reading all night. And I enjoyed it.
I have over 100 pages left on HOB Book 2 because I just couldn’t put it down last night. I was that engaged with the story. The book made me smile. It got me annoyed. It made me giggle. It made my heart flutter. And it made me sad and teary-eyed. One of the backstories really cut deep and I felt that. I was determined to just continue on and power through. But once 8 AM hit, my brain was fried and I found myself reading the same sentence multiple times. I decided to take a 2hr nap.
Other than that, I was lazy pretty much the whole day. Like what happened before, I suffer when I do this. So my energy was just nonexistent today. I was too lazy. Aside from the regular daily chores, I did nothing. I practically just sat on my chair and rocked it the rest of the day. It was nice and relaxing. And yes, I have not picked up the book yet. I will do that tonight.
My hun and I were able to start hanging out earlier today. And we got to watch some anime episodes.
Horimiya. Three episodes in and so far so good. I found it charmingly funny. Seems like my hun was enjoying it as well. I love Miyamura was just so cute, with his piercings and tattoo, and then being a totally meek and shy student in school. I love Kyoko Hori as well. With her being a homebody. I mean sure for the most part she did not have a choice but be home and take care of his younger brother. These two characters slowly got closer to each other once they discovered each other’s secret and decided to keep hanging out after school, to just be themselves.
Naruto. OMG. This two-episode fight between Hinata and Neji was so satisfying. Granted since the beginning, we already knew who would win the fight, it was powerful seeing Hinata stand up on her own. And slowly become the shinobi she wanted to be. Her backstory was solid. We saw her actually fight Neji with all her might. Now, my hun compared that to the Sakura-Ino fight/backstory, and that one does not even compare. These Hinata episodes were done so well!
Inuyasha. Oh! New intro! It was a lot better than the first intro. A turning point for Sesshomaru! He saved a girl. A human girl! He even tried to blame it on Tensaiga, saying his sword made him do it. Sure. Of course, Kagome got kidnapped. Whatever. I cannot with that girl. If she is not losing the sacred jewel fragments, then she is getting kidnapped or taken as a hostage. Again whatever. Also, she didn’t use her bow and arrow in the two episodes that we watched.
You know what? It’s fine. I will just say that today was meh. I woke up in such a mood already. Why? I had a very stressful dream. I just remember that there was a lot of running and hiding. Not sure what I was running from. I knew it was some sort of gas permeating the air. And I was in search of a place to hide. And again, I was back in the favorite setting of my dreams. My high school campus. I honestly have no idea why my subconscious enjoys putting me back in that place. For some reason, the dream me decided that hiding in some sort of hostel was a good idea. I was there with three other people. And then as dream me decided to take a shower, I woke up. To say that I was confused was a huge understatement.
Anyway, my day was just laziness overload. Although, I have been reading all afternoon. So that was a thing. Also, my dogs decided to test my patience today. Phoebe was having a rough day today. And she peed practically everywhere in the apartment except on the pee pad. I do not blame her at all. It was just a bit tedious having to mop a few times today. Then Paco decided that it was a good idea to throw up on my bed. The bed sheets are not currently in the washer. Again, I do not blame him. But I just felt like today was an accident on top of the other. It was tiring.
As I stated earlier, I have been reading this afternoon. It has been taking me a while to finish a book lately. Not because I am such a slow reader, but because I started to take notes in Notion about the book and I have been putting sticky notes on some things that I enjoy or not in a chapter. Not full-on annotation. I don’t want to feel like this is a chore or homework. I just felt like, doing this made me more engaged in the story. I don’t really do this in all my readings. Just sometimes when I felt like it.
What else did I do today? Hmmm… Just the regular ol’ chores. But I also watched some YT videos. Well, listened was more of an accurate description. I preferred having background noise while reading. It was something that I picked up before. I could never focus on anything if I did not have background noise. I mean, I grew up in the Philippines, and when I studied I could still hear people from the street. Maybe that was where it stemmed from. Who knows?
Anyway, I’m barely 100 pages in Heaven Official’s Blessing Book 2 and I cannot stop smiling. Well, Chapter 1 or I should say 12 according to the book had me laughing, awww-ing, and annoyed. Chapter 2 or 13 had me swooning over Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. I just love this story. There were certain things here that I don’t understand yet and I hope to get some backstory soon. Because oh boy, there were definitely things here that I want some history on.
Plans tomorrow? Clean out the closet some more I think. That was the only concrete plan. But then again, I just wing it these days. So I guess whatever floats my fancy to organize tomorrow. We shall see.
We were never a movie-watching couple. We were more inclined to choose to watch a series or an anime in lieu of a movie. Not that we do not like watching movies, we just prefer the other formats. But today, we decided to watch two movies, two episodes of Naruto, and two movies of Inuyasha.
Scream (1996). This was a rewatch for both of us. I watched it a long time ago, and this was actually one of my favorite slasher movies, if not my favorite. How was the rewatch for us? I enjoyed it. I think the acting was pretty good. Sure there were some questionable physics, but I still appreciated it. The twist was still pretty good. I love Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard in this movie. They were awesome. It was just funny how I forgot some of the actors who were in this movie – Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber. Anyway, Ghostface was actually one of my favorites. I wanted to watch the rest of the movies in the franchise. I watched the 2nd and 3rd movies, I don’t remember much though. I just remember bits and pieces.
Tower Heist (2011). After watching Scream, I was in the mood for another movie. I was thinking of another thriller. But my hun found this movie on Netflix! He was surprised that I have not watched it yet. I love heist movies. And this one has “heist” on the title. Anyway, we enjoyed this movie. It was fun. We laughed and we got stressed. There were moments when my hands were sweating because I was getting into the movie so much. Overall, I would most likely watch this again.
Naruto. Oh, the fight between Naruto and Kiba was good. Those two episodes were deserved. For a while there, Kiba was really good. My hun loved him. And Akamaru. We love that doggo. But I mean, Naruto’s clench game was strong on this one, and that really became Kiba’s downfall because of his heightened sense of smell. Hinata was adorable. I mean, she was always adorable. But she was special, she saw Naruto when no one could. By that I mean, she was always watching him. What an adorable little creeper.
Inuyasha. I really do not like Kagome. Not one bit. Anyway, I was glad I got to see some Sesshomaru in one of the episodes. But, this anime did so many subplots. There was too much going on. I was pretty happy that there was a brother conflict between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Because I do need a break from the Sacred Jewel storyline. Because Kagome. Right now, I think there were three plots. The Naraku one. The Kikyo one. And the Sesshomaru one.
Plans tonight? Well, I need to finish my laundry. And I think read while I am waiting for the third load to be done. On a side note, the sun has been out the past couple of days. Clear skies. But also, getting hotter. I do not like it.