What I Like...

...right now. I couldn't think of anything to blog about. So these are the things I'm into right now--a snapshot of my life at this moment in time, and in no particular order...

1. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)






















I blame it on Ariel--she totally got me hooked. I love how smartly-written and painfully-awkward this show is. I've only watched Season 1, but I can watch these episodes over and over and never get sick of them. And since then, I've managed to get Samson, Stephen, and I don't know who else enjoying this awesomely nerdy comedy.

2. Leverage (TNT)




























This show is actually (or at least, I think it is) an American remake of the British show "Hustle," which I loved. It has a lot of the same elements--each character has their own special skills and roles, each episode shows a different con (carried out against other con artists), etc. But TNT's version, rather than being a re-do of Hustle, works well as an American adaptation. My favorite part of Leverage is the characters--they're distinct, unique, and entertaining. It's a very smartly written show. And the comic relief isn't so bad either.


3. Snail Mail

I love snail mail. I love getting it, and I love sending it complete with colorful paper, sticky envelopes, and ugly postage stamps. Maybe it's because I'm an English geek and I LOVE paper (I'm not kidding about this--I can spend ALL DAY in a paper or stationary store). Or maybe it's because I'm suffering from a bad case of wanderlust, so sending letters and postcards to Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and England is my way of sending part of me abroad to all the friends I miss so dearly.*


4. Books

Again, I love paper, in all its lovely forms. Frankly, it was hard to simply enjoy reading during college; the constraints of deadlines, papers, and exams sucked a lot of the joy out of reading. So this summer I was determined to get more pleasure reading in. And I'm always looking for good things to read (give me suggestions people!).

Ariel's list is probably twice the length of mine, but so far this summer:

- From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler (E.L. Konigsburg)
- The View from Saturday (E.L. Konigsburg)
- Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (E.L. Konigsburg)
- The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)
- The Bonesetter's Daughter (Amy Tan)
- My Sister, My Love (Joyce Carol Oates)**
- Disciplines of a Godly Woman (Barbara Hughes)
- A Wild Sheep Chase (Haruki Murakami)
- Rant (Chuck Palahniuk)

"On deck" and "in progress":

- The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
- Half of a Yellow Son (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
- The Treasure Principle (Randy Alcorn)
- A Godward Life (John Piper)
- The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)
- River Town (Peter Hessler)

5. MMA & Martial Arts movies

The other day, I dropped everything I was doing in order to watch a SpikeTV special on my favorite UFC fighter. Daddy and I like to watch Pancrase highlights on TV sometimes. I've recently watched movies like Chocolate (a muay thai movie with JeeJa Yanin, Hiroshi Abe), Ip Man (Donnie Yen), and So Close (Shu Qi, Zhao Wei, Karen Mok).

6. Music

At the moment, I really like "Manos al Aire" by Nelly Furtado and "SheWolf" by Shakira. We introduced my dad to Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad." That was umm...interesting...I only really like the girl's part of that song. I'm really addicted to Yuna Ito's "Mahaloha" (a collaboration with Micro from Def Tech). And I frequently have the theme song from Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea stuck in my head.

7. Top Gear (BBC America); Warehouse 13 (Syfy); Primeval (both)

I was struggling to think of a seventh to add to my list, but Garrett helped me out. I just recently discovered how much I really enjoy the show Top Gear, which is basically a long-running British show about all things vehicularly-related. They've done crazy things like power-sliding in lorries, racing the big rig trucks (one had a wedding cake, one had a car, and the last had a massive pile f straw at one end with a heater at the other), and backing up the big rigs on an incline, with the drivers' prized treasures directly behind them on the hill. They try to build their own amphibious car-boats and take them across the English Channel. I love "The Stig" and all the jokes they make about him. They even have a segment where they "put a star in a reasonably-priced car." Basically, I never get bored watching Top Gear.

Warehouse 13 and Primeval are sort of my guilty pleasure sci-fi shows. I just realized that it sounds like I watch a lot more TV than I do. Part of it might be because I've moved back home, so now I can actually watch shows, and part of it is because that is how Garrett and I do "sibling bonding." We were both really busy this summer, going out a lot, running around; TV time was the only time we got to sit and enjoy something together. I'm a little sad and lonely now that Garrett's back at Biola.

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I guess in the end, this was a really random (and failed) attempt at a blog entry. Sometimes, there's too much to say and not enough willpower to put fingers to keyboard. I will try my best to be more consistent.

*Blogger's note: SEND ME SNAIL MAIL Y'ALL!
**This one took me forever to finish.