#i need to renew my license... (rewatch the show/game)

[abluescarfonwaston]

There is a right answer

[thisislizheather]

January Jewels 2020

I’ve purposely put off writing this monthly wrap-up because, well, christ. January was a terrible month. I don’t need to go into the details of why, but the consensus from everyone that I’ve talked to fully agrees with me on this. What the hell happened? Starting a new decade is supposed to be great. In any case, I’ll always have high hopes for the future. And I’m just thankful to begin a new month. Here’s what went down in the pit that was January 2020.

First things first, I recapped how my 2019 resolutions turned out. Why don’t more people do this? Where’s the accountability in reviewing your past resolutions? They’re not fucking birthday wishes, they’re intentions! More people need to follow through with this, even if the results aren’t what you hoped for.

I made my 2020 resolutions.

I fell absolutely in love with this sketch.

I did two podcasts with Nathan - one where we talked about the pope incident and one where I absolutely scream at him about Hillary.

I read Jenny Slate’s new book as well as a tiny little book about how to live a good life.

I ended up buying another J. Crew swimsuit (the same one I bought a few months ago, but this time in red) and I have no regrets.

In love with Trader Joe’s (dairy free) coconut whipped cream, I can’t stop using it in hot chocolate.

I rewatched (or watched for the first time, I truly can’t remember) The Staircase and it’s so good. I’m pretty sure Marla got me MP3 copies of this years ago and I did watch it, but I completely forgot about it in detail. Such a good watch. If you’ve already seen it, do you know about the owl theory? It’s a wild one, but, like, I think an owl did it now?

I’ve been using a small bottle of OUAI’s Wave Spray and if I can figure out how to not overspray it, it’s a great product. Once you use it though, your hair only looks good that day. After you sleep on it, your hair looks like shit. (Is that true of all hair products? I have absolutely no idea.)

Bought this Banana Republic top for $13 on sale and I love it because it does not feel like it cost so little.

I don’t know if it’s a Canadian brand but I have found a wicked alternative to Dollarama: Buck or Two. I went to one in Brampton and they’ve got everything.

I watched most of the SNL with Jennifer Lopez and wow did it suck. 99% of the sketches were basically “She’s pretty. That’s the joke.” Fucking hated it. They do this a lot of the time with certain actresses and I can’t ever tell if it’s because the actress loves doing these sketches or they’re afraid she can’t be funny. Whatever the reason is, blow my brains out, please.

I went to the Ear Inn in the city and it was lovely! Super old place. Service was great. Burger was great.

I went to Glossier with the intention of buying the cheek stain and then decided against it. It’s not a good product. I literally pinched my cheeks and got a better rosiness.

I came across probably my favourite winter children’s book of all time, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. Look at one page of this magic.

I was so happy to hear about this matter finally being settled in New York.

I went to The Dutch again for Restaurant Week for their steak tartare and it’s just heaven on a plate.

I rewatched the great What Lies Beneath and man, it’s still just such a great movie.

As you may have heard, Papyrus is going out of business, so I’ve popped in twice to see what the closing deals are and they aren’t worth it yet (only 30% off! C’mon! I won’t get out of bed for at least 60%), so I’ll keep stopping in every so often until they’ve become desperate.

Love this part of a recent SNL (below). (If you can’t see it in Canada, search for “white male rage SNL.”

I finally went to Boulud Sud for their pasta happy hour and man was it not worth it. The place has a terrible setup if you’re sitting at the bar, the food was absolutely nothing special and had ridiculous portion sizes. It’s also a bad sign when the bread is tastier than the entree. Super disappointing.

I tried on the bras and underwear from LIVELY in Soho and even though it’s priced reasonably, I couldn’t find anything I loved. I have a feeling that I could be into it though, so I’ll go again sometime in the future for sure.

I’ll forever love the lunch special at Pil Pil on the Upper East Side. I know I probably bring this up too much, but man. Love tapas.

I can’t stop buying sunglasses for sale at ALDO. And I won’t.

I finished season one of The West Wing and it was really good. I keep forgetting about it, but I should stick with it. People, like, loved that show, didn’t they?

I started using Sol De Janeiro’s Bum Bum Cream… on my butt. That’s what it’s for, no? So far, I mean… it feels smooth? It’s not at all greasy, which I like. Seems weird to have a cream just for your butt, but who am I to criticize.

Ate the fish tacos at Summer Salt and they’re good! It’s insane and great that they sell margaritas at a fast casual place, too.

Very into this Pat McGrath mascara that I got as a Sephora reward.

Love this Wells For Boys sketch (below) from a few years ago that I just saw for the first time (thanks for showing me, Irene!)

I haven’t been there in years, but I went to Sweet Afton for happy hour in Astoria the other day and had the pickle martini which actually wasn’t terrible. Love that place.

Tried the lunch burger at Peter Luger finally! And yes it was a good burger (love that they use American cheese and the bun was very good even though it's not a potato bun). Steakhouse burgers are always hard for me to rate since a steakhouse burger is a real *entree* unlike the regular, everyday burgers that other places have which are not as big and overwhelming. An everyday burger is easy to rate since it's either great, overrated or shit. A steakhouse burger has nuances, how juicy is too juicy? How's the quality of the meat? What are the ideal toppings? Should someone shoot me for my extensive burger thoughts? Yes.

I went to see a free orchestral performance put on by Julliard at Lincoln Center and it was great. It reminded me so much of going to my brother Gary’s recitals when I was a kid, just loved it.

Had dinner at Portale. The pasta was insane. This place might be a rival for L’Artusi! Dare I say it! Every bite was phenomenal. MUST return. (Noteworthy: it also just got two stars in the Times.)

LOVED this piece about Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes. Favourite line: “The least risky thing in the world is announced apathy.“

Maybe you don’t know this, but 90% of post offices in the U.S. have bulletproof glass between the workers and the customers. It’s obviously because awful things have happened, but I’ve been going to this one post office in the city on 23rd street that doesn’t have the glass and the workers are SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT. I wish all locations were like this one. Just a thought.

Just bought another one of these UNIQLO shirts that I love in dark grey.

Every January I make sure to:

Mark down all holidays/birthdays/anniversaries (Valentine’s Day, Daylight Saving Times, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving)

Check expiration dates for passport/license/health card/insurance and write down any important renewal dates

I’ve watched the first two new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and it fucking blows. There was only one thing I laughed at (when a server thought Larry was “oggling” her but he was really just keeping an eye on her tray with pigs in blankets) but OTHER THAN THAT, what a piece of shit season so far! I fucking hated the part in one episode where he videotapes the consent given between him and some woman as they’re making out. ALSO, and this has happened a few times over the seasons, he’s recycling fucking Seinfeld jokes. FROM THE SHOW. Talking about when it’s too late to get “Happy New Year-ed”? Are we kidding here?! Fucking lazy as hell. I might just stop watching.

I watched the new Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix and it’s really good. Even if you have zero opinion on her, I really liked it. (It also introduced me to this great song.)

Things that I’m looking forward to this month: seeing a Raptors game at Barclays Center, finally sitting down and watching season two of Shrill in its entirety, reading Joan Rivers’ book Enter Talking and and maybe going to another Restaurant Week lunch before the end date. February, please oh please don’t be as terrible as January.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in December over here!

[orderuponthe99prettygrimmdiaries]

Well it’s been a while, Tumblr 👋🏼

Okay, damn shit, I’m at least 3 weekends late now to this post. Well there goes my weekly/monthly posting goal.

So much has happened since then, and before, since technically I haven’t written in like 2 months. I’ve since ended work about 2 weeks now, which I’d say the last month was pretty good cos we got to write, though I only ended up having 2 published. But I guess that’s better than nothing. And then on the 2nd last week, they had a new intern joined, and she turned out to be my middle school classmate. I guess she recognises me but we never really speak, I mean we’ve seen each other in college and had a mutual friend but didn’t speak either then. 

I also managed to pass my basic driving theory test (48 outta 50 baby!), and gonna get my final theory book tomorrow and then book for the test! Fingers crossed I can get my license by my 22nd birthday or by the end of the year.

And in sadder news, another show got cancelled - Shadowhunters. Though I haven’t been caught up with the series, I’m still sad to see them go.. And still trying to get Lucifer saved and Timeless renewed too, and the worst thing is my Twitter got locked because of their dumb birthday ban. Thank god I’ve got another account, though it’s definitely not the same. I’ve lost over 18k tweets, my followers (which I don’t really care as much, maybe Kendall’s follow) and most importantly, my friends. 8 whole years of my life just ripped away from me. Fingers crossed that all of us that were wronged by this shitass rule outta the blue will get our accounts back! And if we don’t, I guess the positive side is that another clean slate. Sigh.

But speaking of fangirling and friends, managed to make a couple new friends. It’s been so long and honestly I kinda feel like I wouldn’t make any more new friends through fandoms again, but I guess I was wrong. Met a LuciFan on Twitter and we’ve been talking almost everyday now, and met a local B99 fan (and found out she’s actually my high school’s friend’s sister!) who helped me make friends with 2 other B99-ers! Really happy to get to know them cos now I can finally use my B99 references on someone who’d get it!

And with real friends, it’s great but also a mess. I kept feeling like I was a terrible friend to this girl, and maybe I was, but then my other friends did convince me that true friends need not talk to each other everyday, and sure enough, now we’re talking a bit more now and it does feel better. Also got closer with an old friend, someone whom I was somewhat close to, but there was still a barrier. Funny thing, now she might be the one I feel closest to. We even got to hang out alone together, for the first time really tbh, and it was really fun. Bumped into her bf before we met, then we went for some Mexican food (my first time! TOTES AMAZING!) and went to the arcade and had dinner together. And I even got to meet my middle school friend after almost 10 years (we did bump into each other a couple years back, but this was a proper hangout and catch up sesh) and it was really fun and not even awkward at all.

Well, my emotions have been on a real rollercoaster ride all week (thinking about the past, about him, stirred up feelings - a little, and finding out the local b99 friend knows of him oops), but I can finally feel it getting back on track. Thanks hormones. Also managed to bake some brownies today so yay! And pretty good for a first attempt too!

Realized I have a couple drafts I wrote but I didn’t post, and I also haven’t gotten to edit my New Girl farewell or write my OUAT Farewell yet, guess I’ll get to that soon (probably in a week or two, or a month).

Well, time to get back to my gaming for now. And then crying over New Girl again (already on the final season for my rewatch ahhhh!).

Hope everyone has a lovely week ahead!

Xx