May Review (Month 5 of Quests)

May 2016 Questing Report

Quests Completed

Quest # 19: Live Active - Boss Battle

I successfully completed a 5k race! The Comics for a Cure 5k benefited St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and was held at a popular local comic book shop on national Free Comic Book Day. I was one of only two people dressing up as a Dr. Who character (yes! Dr. Who has a comic book series, I'm not making this up. Published by Titan Comics, look it up ;-p ).

Quest #28: Acquire Transportation

Finally had to make the tough call on Walter, my '91 Camry. He was a tough, super solid old dude of a car, but when I found out it would take nearly $2,000 to fix him up to pass the safety inspection, I had to tap out. His repairs and maintenance were getting to be just too much. I took that money and put it down on a newer car. The great thing about this is, now I can travel regionally with ease and freedom! Like unlocking access to more rooms on a map, or new cities; I finally have my Epona to take me throughout Hyrule!

Quests-in-Progress

Quest # 1: Biographies

May was a two-parter: Stan Lee's Amazing Fantastic Incredible: a Marvelous Memoir, and Felicia Day's You're Never Weird on the Internet [Almost]. These were in honor of the national Free Comic Book Day on May 7th this year. I cannot recommend Felicia Day's book highly enough. As a former homeschool kid myself, and a grown-up geek, I related to a lot of her story (although, these qualities are NOT required in order to get a lot from her autobiography). Her story of how she has persevered through anxiety, depression, and ::gasp:: sexism in Hollywood (and the gaming world :,-( ), and on to personal success was truly, honestly inspiring.

And... of course, Stan Lee's comic-book-styled autobiography was a blast. It's Stan Lee. Is counting comic books towards your yearly goals on Goodreads fair? Or is that kind of like cheating?

Quest # 2: Finances

Commission work has been good to my bank account. Buying the (much needed?) new used car was not. Seems to me that, whenever one has collected a lot of money, there is always new gear one needs to spend it all on, in order to continue to the next level. So, the finances quest was bittersweet this month: so thankful and happy to have enough to pay some money down and get that car I needed; a bit remorseful for having car payments now.

Quest # 3: Tithing

Catharsis has a name, and that name is Donations.

Or something like that... My whirlwind of donations this month helped allay my anxieties caused by watching/reading too much news, especially on the topic of politics (which ... is necessary to stay informed. I wish there was less sensationally-written news floating around)

Quest #6: Exhibits

Shakespeare's first folio (one of the extremely rare copies circulating North America) was on exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History. I tagged along with my older brother and his wife - both Shakespeare / English studies nerds - to check it out! There were a few really cool things that I learned in that exhibit... but the one that really stuck out was a realization that one of the main characters in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Titus Andromedon, appears to be a nod toward Shakespeare:

"Titus Andronicus" was one of the plays included in Shakespeare's First Folio. Coincidence?

I also went to "Artsplosure," a yearly collection of local artists and musicians downtown, set up street-fair style. I even ate some friend foods! I decided I need to start my own company, maybe a cafe...? Someplace with walls, for sure, so that I can purchase a bunch of art and write it off as a business expense. There was just so much beautiful talent! I want to buy all of it and be a patron for at least a few good artists... but could only really afford a few postcards. This time around. I will be back with a business card and a decorating budget someday....

"Artsplosure" festivities included chalking an intersection downtown.

Quest #12: Utilize Pinterest

Used Pinterest to get ideas for my TARDIS costume for the race!

::ooooOOOEEEoooo EEE OOO OOOOO:: (attempting the opening song/theremin noises)

Quest # 13: Garden

I have little peas growing on the plant ^_^  ::so much joy::. I've got poor drainage in that pot though...so it looks like maybe the plants are rotting from the roots up. I don't know if I'll be able to expect much more out of them this year...

My hanging herb garden. Lookin' healthy in this photo.

Baby peas!

Quest # 16: Job Work

I'm getting faster, but still not super happy with my quality. There were slightly fewer reports the latter half of May, so I was able to catch my breath a bit. I love when I have time to get out of the office for a bit for lunch, or to stay but leave a little early to go to the gym (or Gladiator Camp. So. Much. Fun.). It's a little harder to focus now though, without all the adrenaline of "Oh sh*t, this report is due tomorrow" coursing through my veins. This feels like deja vu...maybe student behavior is a little indicative of your work behavior.

Quest # 18: Exercise

I've been taking advantage of a two-week friend-pass to join my sister-in-law at her Gladiator Camp workouts. Holy cow it's a fun challenge! Reminds me of my high school days, learning hapkido: laughing through the pain and struggle, and loving (just about) every minute. Not sure if I want to switch spending money on a gym membership to spending money on this... the gym comes with a shower (which is good when I spend the night at the office), but Gladiator Camp is wayyy more fun. (Dear Reader, if there is a Gladiator Camp group meeting near you, I recommend trying it out if you can).

Quest # 20: Meal Plan

:: musical interlude:: "Say something, I'm giving up on youuuu...."

Quest # 24: Floss

The one constant on this list. If there is but one healthy thing I shall succeed in...

Quest #27: Family

The Superhero Run at the beginning of the month with my older brother and his wife was good bonding, especially with my sister-in-law. She was such a huge support while I struggled through my walk-running of the 5k. I know she said she was glad for the walking bits, that she was kinda tired too... but I kind of suspect she was being generous about that. She's pretty darn fit.

Coming up next:

Quest # 1: Biographies

The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee, a memoir by a North Korean defector. I chose this one in honor of World Refugee Day in June.

Quest # 13: Garden

Revive and possibly replenish the garden! The mint died... totally peaced-out. But I may be able to cure the rot for some of the other plants and resurrect the sage plant...

Quest # 15: House Work - deck remodel.

I think Tim and I will really be able to finish the deck this month... As long as the weather and our schedules allow for it (which it didn't last month).

and... continue with the above Quests-in-Progress!

KJets

#6 Exhibits

"Artsplosure" in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is a yearly festival of local artists and some performers; set up in a farmer market/fair style

First sight I see: Magical Poodles!

Chalk art and rows of artist's stalls.

Jeghetto: a wooden puppet creator/performer

Deep fried Reese's!!!!

Frida Banksy. That's me. But don't give away my identity to too many people, shhhh...

Impressive sand castles in the "Kid Zone."

KJets

#19 Live Active

Boss Battle: "Participate in a race, or something similar."

The Race: Comics for a Cure, a 5k charity race (with superhero costumes) to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.


I only realized now that I don't have a picture of me actually running, or even with my racing bib on... but I promise, I DID run the race! I wouldn't lie about dressing up as a fictional character to help raise money for sick children!

The whole getup: I dressed up as the TARDIS (a machine that travels through space and time), from Dr. Who.  

I had a whole theme going: Space tights; a tutu with twinkling fairy lights, as if it was a nebula full of stars; and a hand-made Police Box/TARDIS top. Finished it off with TARDIS blue nail polish and ribbon in my hair. Being my first foray into something kind of like cosplay (we won't count a typical school girl outfit worn to an Anime con), I have to say, 1) I enjoy nerdy dress-up, and 2) I have so much appreciation and respect for people who have actual, high quality, handmade costumes.

We made friends during the race!  (Side note: my sister-in-law makes a great Wonder Woman when she poses.. totally looks the part...)

Right after mentioning the fact that I wouldn't have the guts to wear a Flash shirt/costume to a race, up jogs two guys, one wearing The Flash shirt, and the other a Batman. They were down for the weekend for a friend's wedding, and figured a superhero 5k would be a great way to occupy themselves the morning of the wedding. Can't argue with that logic. Flash made a most excellent comic book recommendation: Gotham Academy. It really is like a DC comic version of Harry Potter. Totally adorable, exciting, and fun! 

KJets

#3 Tithing

For May, I first had to make up for missing the April tithing goal - donate to Rebuilding Together. Serendipitously, it goes nicely with my May tithing goals! (which... I planned after I failed April...which makes it not so much a surprise....but...shhhh... let it happen) These new goals are outlined in the following pleasantly passionate paragraph:

I have been so darn frustrated by politics and current issues lately, which I suppose is to be expected. I'm pretty sure everyone gets frustrated with politics during election years. But I want to do something constructive about my frustrations and anxiety. I'm sick of feeling helpless every time I listen to, or read about, politics in the news. To re-empower myself and "put my money where my mouth is," I went on a donation spree, giving to causes I feel most passionately about:




Publicly funded news (non-big corporation): My local NPR station





Sexual health and education - Planned Parenthood





Human rights and equality - (global) Human Rights Watch





Affordable housing/home repairs - Rebuilding Together



There are plenty more charities and non-profits I would love to donate to, even within just these four categories. I'm constantly learning about more opportunities to donate from sources like my favorite actors, Humans of New York (HONY), and various charity events happening in my area. Certainly, there is never a shortage of places to send my money off to, or ways to financially do good in my local, national, and global community.

A good website to get ideas of charities to donate to is: Charity Navigator
They rate the effectiveness of the charities - how much of your donation goes to the actual project versus the CEO's wallet, as well as the effect they've had on their cause- so you have a better idea of who/where to invest in, in order to have the effect on the community you want.


KJets

#27: Family (Tea Party 2016)

I helped plan and host a tea party at my brother and his wife's home, and it was so much fun. We got to do so many Pinteresty things! And people wore fun outfits, and we had fun drinks and cute foods... this party is definitely going to be an annual for us. We did a tea party last summer, and I think Spring has been a much better time - people were able to more comfortably spend time outside and on the back porch.

Welcome to the party!

We were going with a modified "Alice in Wonderland" sort of theme, mixed with sort of a traditional (or what I think of traditional, with the pastels, lace, and flowers) tea party.

It may have been a lot of work getting ready for the event, but it was the exciting type of work and the exhilarating type of stress (if anyone is looking to hire an event planner, I am game. I loved planning fundraisers when I was working in the non-profit world too). 

Photo Credit: Justin Jetton. Dueling photographers!

Got to play a bit with my camera during the party, so that was another quest that was worked on -_^

Kyo wasn't too happy about wearing a top hat.

Talbot was cool as a cucumber, as always.

I did some portraits too, especially in our "photo zones," but I decided not to put them up, since I'd really prefer to have permission before putting them up on the webs.

Help! I've grown too big for my teacup!

I used my board on Pinterest to help plan for this event. If you are interested to see some Tea Party ideas, check it out! :-D

KJets

April Review (Month 4 of Quests)

April 2016 Questing Report

Quests Completed

Quest # 15: House Work - Boss Battle 1
We finished the renovations to the upstairs bathroom! It's so clean, bright, and beautiful now! It just needs a little decorating, and it's absolutely adorable.

Quests-in-Progress

Quest # 1: Biographies

April was The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, which was about love, sexuality, expression, motherhood, and thoughts on gender, as Maggie contemplates parts of her life as if talking to her spouse. Nelson was very intelligent, philosophical, and really helped me think of this topic from a different viewpoint. Because I don't generally read much anymore - let alone read academic level writing - I'd like to read this book again. I'm not sure I understood everything she was trying to convey. It would make an interesting book club read, as long as you had a group of people willing to talk deeply about sex, sexuality, and gender.

Quest # 2: Finances

Commission is going pretty well so far... mostly because I've had so much work coming through that I've been spending the night at the office and coming in on weekends trying to get the reports done on time. My cash amount in the bank is now back up to what it was my first year of living in Korea. My debt is still exponentially higher. But, if I can keep up this pace, perhaps I'll have made a decent dent in things by the end of the summer.

Quest # 3: Tithing
Spacy McSpacerson. I had planned to donate to the non-profit my friend works for, Rebuilding Together. So... that'll be added to my May tithing. Along with, again, making up for a lack of volunteering.


Quest #5: Performance
I went to see Felicia Day at her book signing! (Yes, I'm totally counting this as a performance. She was on a stage, answering questions). This month has been so celebrity-filled: I got to meet Felicia Day, and I got to see Sam Heughan (Jamie Frasier in the Outlander series). Felicia Day was so brave, cool, funny, thoughtful, and positive. I kept thinking (for both actors, really, just change the pronoun) "She's real?! She's a real human?! Look, she has a real human body! Not just a moving picture you see on a screen all the time! She's 3D and everything?! I totally fangirled.

Quest # 11: Photography
Got some portrait experience in during the Tea Party! Yay! A place where people are totally ok (or mostly ok) with me sticking a lens in their faces (sometimes literally).

Help! I've grown too big for my tea!

Quest #12: Utilize Pinterest
Basically, the entire Tea Party was based on Pinterest ideas we wanted to try. "Planning the tea party," was basically code for laying around the living room sharing what was on our Pinterest boards, and then quietly Pinteresting together the rest of the evening, occasionally perking up with a "How about something like this...?"

Quest # 13: Garden

I now have a little two-plant herb garden on my deck (sage and mint), and a fairly healthy tomato plant (small but mighty!), and some pea vines curling up the cage I stuck in there with them. It may be little...but it's staying healthy (for now?). I'll be so happy and grateful if they last the summer).

Quest # 16: Job Work

Another month faster, yet remaining sloppy. I did do one report very well apparently... but then the next one... I was so sleep deprived I accidentally sent the bank the rough draft of the report, not the final draft. Whoops! I got lucky and had a super kind reviewer though. I think she just thought I didn't have a diligent boss, since she took a teachery approach to showing me what needed to be fixed (most of which my boss had actually corrected already in the final draft).

Our office manager brings me flowers. Them and my Funko Pop characters keep me from raging. Keep the beastie docile...

My cot...so I may work 'til I drop and get started all the earlier the next day.

Quest # 18: Exercise

What is this "ex-er-size" you speak of?? I have a race this next week, the first week of May. Haven't. Done. A. Damn. Thing. To. Prepare.
At least my knee should make it. It's just a 5k though, right? That's like, the one everyone can run..... ... right? I know I need to make time to exercise, but right now I really need All of The Time to get my reports done.

Quest # 20: Meal Plan

::musical interlude:: I dream a dream of meals gone byyyyyyy....

Quest # 24: Floss

The one constant on this list. If there is but one healthy thing I shall succeed in...

Quest # 26: Friends

New Yooooooork! My friend and boss from my life in Korea came to New York City,  and it was fantastic to see her again. We had a mini-reunion for us East Coast friends. Being in a big city like that again, it really felt like we could have been Anywhere, World. I
t was heavenly. I was floating on Cloud 9, grinning pretty much non-stop. We stayed in Harlem, went bouldering at a club in Brooklyn, saw men(and women) parading in kilts in Midtown/Manhattan (Sam Heughan, my Jamie!), drank expensive bottles of sake, danced our hearts out at a jazz club until it closed for the night, ate some shawarma (why did I put the crazy hot sauce on it?? You're the one crying, not me... T-T), and ended the night in a swanky back room of a bar that distilled their own vodka for their lemon-vodka martinis.

Hello NYC!

There appears to be a Whovian in Brooklyn..

What do you do when your friend comes in from Korea?? Japanese food?! T-T Good times.

Beautiful Spring flowers!

Sam Heughan! What a trooper, cheering the Scottish pipe and drum bands on through 40-degree, raining weather.

Quest #27: Family

How was this not on my list before? Maybe for lack of concrete actions to take... I have a lot of quests already on my list that don't have concrete goals. I'll try to add goals for this one... This first one has been to help plan and host a tea party at my brother and his wife's house. It was a blast! This is our second year for it, so we had a few more people, and bit more decorations. Got to practice some photography skills during it too, which was great.

Coming up next:

Quest # 1: Biographies

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day. For a bonus, "Amazing Fantastic Incredible, A Marvelous Memoir" by Stan Lee (it's in comic book form. Yasssss).

Quest # 13: Garden
Don't let the garden die!

Quest # 15: House Work - deck remodel.
I think Tim and I will be able to finish the deck this month... As long as the weather and our schedules allow for it.

Quest #19: Live Active
I'm participating in a race on Free Comic Book Day (May 7th)! It's a 5k, and I'm not quite prepared. Everyone is running in costumes, so, I also need to finish preparing for that. My sister-in-law is going as Wonder Woman, and I have part of a costume (so far) to be the Tardis (Dr. Who).


and... continue with the above Quests-in-Progress!

KJets

#26: Friends (NYC reunion)

Taking a rest after some bouldering at Brooklyn Boulders

In April I got to see some friends from Korea! One was my good friend (and later, boss) who is currently on a three-month vacation around the world.

She stopped in New York, so most of us on the East Coast could come meet up. We used to all come hang out at her cafe/pub in Korea - and then continue the night after she closed up shop by carousing downtown the rest of the evening. Until finally, the buses would start up again, around 5:30 AM, and we could make our way back home.

 At her cafe we would play board games, talk politics and philosophy and other thinky-nerdy stuff. The rest of the night was typically mindless shenanigans. So, there were a lot of good memories with these folks. It was great to have another night or two like that with them. It was a year (this month) since I left Korea. Excellent timing for a reunion.

Beautiful spring flowers!

We went bouldering the first day, over in Brooklyn at Brooklyn Boulders, which was super chill and fun! Then, checked off "east delicious NY pizza" off our list before heading back to Harlem for the night. The next morning, we made breakfast together at the apartment and went out to see the National Tartan Day Parade in downtown Manhattan.

Sam Heughan aka Jamie Fraser

It was a cold, drizzly day, and I was the one that was dying to go see the parade (THANK YOU MY DEAR FRIENDS FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME AND MY OBSESSIONS!!!). My friends were good sports about the weather as we went speed-walking through the crowds to get to the front of the parade. That was where the main focus of my attention was, wearing a kilt on top of a double-decker tour bus: Sam Heughan, one of the star actors in the tv series, Outlander.

I've read the books and love them, and the tv show has been fantastic so far (mom and I obsess over the show together. It's good to have something to bond over -_^). Sam plays the character, Jamie Fraser, who is the most dreamy man in fiction (sorry Sherlock, Gambit, and the Winchester boys). Both a studly, brave, warrior of a man, as well as a thoughtful, wise, and loving husband ::swoon:: Doesn't fiction just ruin real life sometimes?

That evening we played downtown like we were back in Korea: 5 PM to 5 AM.

We started with two Japanese restaurants (Kenka was especially...unique) to get our appetites started (and the drinks flowing), followed by one bar for a quick shot (The 13th Step), and then on to a bar with tall ceilings (Off the Wagon) and cheap beer.

After that, we went to enjoy great jazz at Groove, near Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. There was an amazing bass player in the band! We danced and cheered our hearts out until they closed up for the evening. We even got a picture with the band!

Our food break - because you need to refuel if you want to keep the night going - was shawarma, and then a final bar of the evening.

This last place we went to, we went straight to the back where they had a room (very different from their front bar), that was all "red velvet this" and "fringe on the lamps that" and mood lighting that helped accentuate the fact that they had fireplace in the corner. They made their own vodka there, so we got the house special: lemon vodka martini. So yummy! I guess it was kind of like a "speakeasy" sort of bar (although, it's not like we needed any special code to get in or anything). Google let me know later that this was The Fat Black Pussycat. Google really is on the fast track to become my new bf.

It was a wonderful night of laughing, dancing, hugging, singing and even some crying (why did I put so much hot sauce on my shawarma?!). I was beyond happy. Just, totally in love with being there, goofing around with my Korean friends again (as in, we met in Korea... only one was actually Korean).

This reinforces my need to hurry and make money so I can go back and visit. "I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'till I own it." (Beyonce) (she totally rocks.)


KJets