Monthly Rewind: April-pocalypse

And here I was, thinking April wouldn’t be crazy . . .

Nice to know I can still be naive, I guess?

April made my crazy March look -well- calm.

Have some more 10

So now it’s May, much too soon, and high time for the month in review link-up hosted by Nicole over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Click the links to look at what participants have been up to, and/or to join up.

On the Blog:

While I was hardly online in April, I did get a few things up, in spite of myself.

  1. I posted what happened in March – including a (slightly horrifying) pile of imported cds and dvds that . . . err, grew even larger in April. And everyone laughed at a rude waiter with me. That was fun.
  2. I continued working on Red as Blood, and posted a rather long introductory piece about The Seven Sisters of Henpecked Bar and Grill
  3. I made a really exciting announcement about my debut novel, Knight of the Blue Surcoat.
  4. I counted down (just) 10 of the books that make me laugh to the point of tears for Top Ten Tuesday. It was basically just an excuse for me to use silly gifs.
  5. And just when we thought (*I thought) that I’d disappeared from the internet and you would never read anything writerly from me, I decided to post a thoroughly involved post/essay/article on the differences between Villains, Antagonists, and Antiheroes.
  6. Bonus* There was no Beautiful People for April, so I snatched an old one and featured Sull, the protagonist from Red as Blood. (I actually posted this in May, but I typed it up in April, so don’t tell anyone).

Off the Blog:

This is where things got busy . . .

I have been working away at my two jobs, which is a bit like juggling, but with all of yourself. I have been on bartending training shifts, which aren’t hard (since I have the experience), but they do involve longer hours. On the upside, I’m just living the life of my characters in Red as Blood (albeit with less space, and sadly, no aliens. Yet.)

I helped host a bridal shower for one of my best friends (cheers!), which made the imminent wedding seem, well, imminent . . . And my sister and I made many fruitless searches for bridesmaids’ dresses, as we’re both in the wedding.

My sister (the oft-mentioned Grace) made Hotteok (호떡) – or Korean sweet dessert pancakes/street food – which were amazing, but we ended up using them to make egg sandwiches because of the end of this video (if you don’t click through, it’s an interview with Bigbang, with a “cooking competition” at the end.) They aren’t exactly the same thing, but, whatever.

2016-04-30 14.18.37 2016-04-30 14.25.22

They were really good- by the way.

And while we’re on the subject of reality tv (sort-of), there is this new Korean show called “Fantastic Duos” and the concept is really fun (we should adopt it over here). A recognized artist records their part of a song, and then invites anyone and everyone to participate by recording the other part(s) as a duet on their smartphone. Some of the participants are chosen to perform later on the live show (with the artist looking on), and then one is selected to actually perform a live duet with the aforementioned artist. It’s a ton of fun to watch, and they’ve already gotten an incredible performance like this out of it:

I already knew Taeyang (from Bigbang) was a great vocalist, but this girl is crazy good, and it will be a surprise if she doesn’t land herself a record deal. Anyhow, you should watch this, as it’s beautiful. 😛

But I digress – when we weren’t cooking (how we spend the majority of our “free time”, for whatever reason) or watching snippets of reality shows,  I was cram-reading to get ready for book club in May, and a local tv appearance (more on that some other time), and getting ready for Book Expo in May.

To be honest – most of April is a blur – but I actually remember the end of it, because that’s when my sisters and I went to Chicago for the weekend. We actually helped at my friend’s bridal shower, and then got in the car and drove straight to Naperville to check into our hotel. This went faster than expected, giving us plenty of time to stop at the H Mart that was (almost) next door. I mainly just ended up buying vegetables (because that’s what I usually end up buying, regardless). The most exciting one was a radish that was larger than the upper part of my arm . . . Naturally, we stowed the vegetables and things at the hotel before we went over to the Rosemont Theatre for our BAP CONCERT!!!

(for a few pics, you can look at my Instagram feed)

At the Rosemont, we somehow ended up with pretty good seats. We were in the top section (there’s only a balcony and a floor section – it’s pretty small – about 5K seats), and we were in the direct center, so we could see really well (even without the screens). The crowd was far more diverse (especially in age) than any other concert I’ve been to – ranging from little kids to couples my grandparents’ age. And it was a great crowd – minus the extremely annoying and immature girls behind us. They screamed for the point of screaming (and so loudly/high-pitched that they could have broken glass), and talked about the band members like they weren’t even human. I’m an old-fashioned grouch though – I go to concerts because I love the music and want to see the performers live – so I might have overreacted, but still . . .

Other than those girls – everything was awesome. B.A.P are energetic, incredible performers, from their dancing to their impressive vocal talent. Despite the (moderate) language barrier, all of the guys have great stage presence and senses of humor, and they were so much fun to listen to/watch.

To give you an idea, here’s a video from one of the girls in the front row (from Youtube.com)

This is one of B.A.P’s older songs (1004 Angel – released 2014), so most of the crowd knew the (mostly Korean) lyrics, and sang along. When you have thousands of people who don’t all speak a language singing along anyway, that’s pretty cool. Naturally, if you were there you could actually hear B.A.P a lot better, but off a cell-phone camera, not so much!

At any rate, we got back WAY too late at night, but managed to beat the traffic :). The next morning, we found the closest PCA church (which turned out to be a church plant – Restoration Community Church), and they were so welcoming and friendly. After church, we decided to go to Chinatown instead of driving straight home (because I’ve actually never been there . . .). We mainly walked around, as the weather was glorious. We did stop at the Kpop store there, to buy something for my sister Lydia (who had been bummed that she couldn’t go). A cute snapback with the logo of one of her favorite bands did the trick ;P

After that, we continued wandering around and people watching (there were a ton of families out in their Sunday clothes – so so many cute babies). I thought about going to the Disney store (one of my other favorite things), but then I decided it was too hard, and we made the trek back to my car. Walking all afternoon is a little fatiguing after going to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

We finally headed back to Michigan, tired but still amped up (partially thanks to my too-loud music and the nice weather). And then it was back to work as usual!

And now, as it’s May 9th, I’m sitting in a beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and finally having time to write an update. Why Alabama? I flew down for Mother’s Day weekend (as the rest of my family was down here vacationing). And then – most of my siblings got sick, and my phone crashed so bad that it might never be fixed – so I borrowed my brother’s laptop, and here we are. I had all kinds of pictures for this post, but they are on my phone – which is too bad!

On the upside – I am stranded at the beach – so I really can’t complain. Also, I have an eARC of Memories of Ash by Intisar Khanani (sequel to Sunbolt).

I have to be in Chicago (again) for Book Expo on Wednesday, so we’ll see how things go. In the meantime, I might head back out to the water. The weather in Alabama is lovely, warm and breezy, and the swimming has been even better (though I did spot two stingrays while I was in the water). Or I’ll pull out The Last Coffee Shop and continue my read through. But here’s to hoping that everyone feels better soon, that I don’t end up with the virus, and I make it to Book Expo in one piece!!

Happy May! If you’re a Mom, belated Happy Mother’s Day!

How was your April? Do you have any big plans for May? What was the last concert you went to?

 

Author: Beck

A writer who has been doing a lot of other things along the way Currently working on my Korean fluency and editing/writing/refining dozens of novels I love music almost more than I love food #BTSARMY

9 thoughts on “Monthly Rewind: April-pocalypse”

  1. So cool you went to their concert! Chicago sounds like it was a blast! I’m eager to hear more about your tv appearance; that’s awesome!
    My April was…well you probably saw my Updates/April post. 😉 Quite a month.

  2. Wow it sounds like you had an eventful month! Yay for cooking, concerts, and travels! I haven’t been to a concert in like years. XD My favorite one I’ve ever been to was an Owl City concert for my graduation. My April was half good and half bad. XD It tanked near the end. May I’m excited for because I’m going to MegaCon later in the month! Yays. ^ ^ I just hope I can get my costume done in time because of all the hiccups I’ve encountered.

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

  3. OK, I am posting my comment NOW before something else comes up and prevents me from doing so. Gosh. (It’s been that kind of day… well, that kind of day-and-a-half.)

    Well, it sounds like you had a good April! A crazy one, too, but not a bad kind of crazy. I’m so glad you had an awesome time at the BAP show! And I hope you were able to avoid getting sick, too. Were you able to find a bridesmaid dress you like?

    BEACHES. 😀 I’m not big on tanning or spending a lot of time in the sun, but I love being near the water and seeing the ocean. Did you enjoy your trip?

    The Hotteok (is that plural?) look delicious. What do they taste like? And how about their texture? Are they similar to American-style pancakes?

    Since tomorrow is Wednesday, I’m guessing you’ll be off to Book Expo shortly – so have an awesome time there!

    1. “OK, I am posting my comment NOW before something else comes up and prevents me from doing so. Gosh. (It’s been that kind of day… well, that kind of day-and-a-half.)”

      You just summed up most of my life for the past three months, lol.

      Somehow, I never got sick. Me and my Nana were the ONLY ONES. And we were exposed to everyone, so there. And I did find a dress. It looks a lot like the other one, actually, but the color works better with the other ladies.

      I don’t tan – I burn and peel and look like a puffy tomato. So I use copious amounts of sunscreen, and swim a lot. I had fun at the ocean, but there were a lot of stingrays in the shallows, so it was kind of dangerous. I saw three of them up close – freaky.
      I plan on incorporating a bit of this into a post, but suffice it to say that I fell in love with a fish market (I’m not even joking, I wanted to live there). I got a gorgeous tuna steak and made enough sushi to feed about thirty people . . . I tend to overdo things.

      In Korean, a lot of nouns seem to be plural by context, so Hotteok works fine for both, I believe. THEY ARE SO GOOD SARA. They are waaaay better than American pancakes in my (totally unbiased) opinion. They are buttery and sweet, light yet crispy on the outside, and a little more like a “normal” pancake on the inside, but there is a mildly sweet filling inside as well. Honey is a favorite. And those sandwiches we made – *sighs blissfully*- it’s funny because I hate American cheese, but it actually tasted good on there.

      Thanks for reading/commenting!!

      1. That’s good that you never got sick! Especially with your BEA trip right after that. And that’s great to hear about your bridesmaid dress. Will you share a picture of it here, or on Twitter? (Wait – that wedding is in a few weeks, right?)

        “I don’t tan – I burn and peel and look like a puffy tomato.”

        Me too. :S I also have skin cancer in my family, so I have to be very careful with sun exposure. And I don’t like spray tans, either.

        Ohhhhhh now I want a Hotteok!! They sound so yummy. 😀

        On an unrelated note: I think we’re on each other’s blogs at the same time again. XD

        1. When I was describing Hotteok to you, I immediately started craving them too!

          I might post a picture of the dress pre-wedding, I’m not sure. The wedding is on June 11th, so it’s really close!
          *great minds think alike, lol*

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