Healthy Living

Today starts the exercise portion of the healthy living lifestyle I started. For the next 7 weeks, there will be no soda and no foods containing high fructose corn syrup. Breakfast will mostly consist of bagels or fruit. Lunch will be salads or soups. I hope my husband will keep dinners on the healthy side as well. (He does the cooking in our family.) Then, on Wednesday nights I have my jazz funk class and on Thursday nights I will have zumba. I don't think I'll drop tons of weight but it would be nice to lose something like five pounds. At least it would be a start! And once I get thin, it'll be time to get young! Wrinkle creams review, here I come! (Kidding!)

Jdorama review: Rookies

Title: Rookies Broadcast dates: 4/19/08 - 7/26/08 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Sports, drama Cast: Sato Ryuta, Ichihara Hayato, Koide Keisuke Plot: The baseball team of Futakotamagawa high school has been banned from playing for six months after fighting on the field. Rookie teacher Kawato Koichi arrives with promises to help them achieve their dreams. Together, the group fights to get to the Koshien baseball tournament. What is good: Sato Ryuta is a very good actor. What is bad: Aniya (Ichihara Hayato) is a bit of an annoying character. Letter rating: C+ Overall: I was hesitant to list this as a 'sports' drama because, really, the baseball takes a backseat to the personal dramas of each of the characters. Granted, the main plotline is to get the team to Koshien but it's still not the core of the story. As such, I found myself getting a lot more enjoyment out of the show. I'm not a huge sports fan so usually things like this are lost on me. However, by making the characters the meat of the story, it makes the show more interesting for people like me. I'm actually looking forward to watching both the special and the movie to see where this goes.

One more day

Sadly, I was not able to finish Rookies over the weekend. (I'm sorry! Put away the box cutter!!) I have a half hour left of the finale to finish, which I will do tonight. So tomorrow you will have your jdorama review. Then, with any luck, I'll be able to kick out the special quickly and that will be posted before the end of the week. Time to get back on the jdorama track!

Favorite Friday

After I got home yesterday, I figured out that it was not exhaustion that had me. It was a migraine. Sometimes my migraines start out feeling like I haven't slept enough. Then something triggers the release and *bam* full blown migraine. It sucks a lot. But I am better now. Time to get back to my jobs. I guess that means I need to figure out a Favorite Friday, huh? What the heck. I wasn't going to post this but...well...I changed my mind. Here is Katy Perry's non-appearance on Sesame Street. It was recorded and released on YouTube. Parents were upset over Perry's clothing and the clip was pulled from the show and the YouTube channel. I think it's cute. I haven't heard of any of the Sesame Street staff complaining about her clothes. It's not like it was just her and Elmo on-set. I just don't understand people sometimes.

Play: The Addams Family

About a month ago, when I was in New York City, we managed to get half price tickets to catch the matinee for The Addams Family. My daughter enjoys the old television series and I love watching both Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. It would be a good time for everyone.

The play advances the lives of the family slightly. Wednesday has grown from the delightfully morbid little girl we knew into a young woman in love. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a "normal" young man. In an attempt to break the news of their impending wedding to their families, Wednesday decides to invite the Beinekes to dinner at the Addams mansion. Both teenagers beg their parents for one "normal" night, but can anything ever be normal in the Addams house?

I went into the play not knowing the storyline. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised that the characters had been aged a few years. Luckily, everything came together amazingly to produce this fantastic production. Not only is the story well-written, but both the acting and the stage effects gives it even more oomph. (Yes, they even have Uncle Fester lighting a bulb in his mouth onstage.)

Krysta Rodriguez plays Wednesday. I was absolutely floored every time she opened her mouth to sing. If Kristin Chenoweth is a modern example of a Broadway actress 'making it big,' I predict that Krysta will be closely following in her footsteps. I am definitely looking forward to seeing bigger things for her in the future.

As I said earlier, I am a fan of both Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Unfortunately, Nathan Lane was not in the production we saw. (Which is probably why the tickets were half price.) However, we were lucky enough to have Merwin Foard in the role of Gomez. Once again, an amazingly talented actor was cast in a difficult role. Everyone in my group agreed that he was the perfect actor for the role. None of us can even imagine Nathan Lane doing as good a job. As for Bebe Neuwirth, I was a little hesitant to like her as Morticia at first. With a bit of time though, she grew on me. I enjoyed her performance, even if she doesn't seem to be a perfect fit.

I definitely fell in love with this show. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to figure out a way to get my husband to New York so he can see it as well. If you have the chance to see it, even if you need to buy the half price tickets, GO. You will not be sorry!

Coming Soon

Coming up on The Geek Within: I still have one more play from my New York trip to talk about. I just need to do a little more research on the cast members' names since it was slightly different than usual. This should be up by the end of the week. (Maybe today, if we're lucky!)

Back to j-dorama! I'm currently watching ROOKIES. Though I've only finished the first two episodes. I probably won't be able to watch much more until this weekend. I'll have to figure out my schedule for this week.

Until then, I shall be doing research on Christmas party invitations for my work holiday party. Yes, it's September and I already need to be thinking about these sorts of things. It sucks but it must be done.

No HFCS for me!

As I said on Friday, my sister and I will be taking a Zumba class. (No, this isn't about hcg platinum reviews or anything. All healthy for me!) In addition to this, I'm also going to work on keeping high fructose corn syrup (which may become corn sugar if the lobbyists have a say about it) out of my food. This means I will have to give up my beloved Coca-Cola. If they had a sugar version like Pepsi does, I would drink that. But they don't. So it's either no soda (the better option, to be honest) or something like Mountain Dew Throwback. I guess we'll see how caffeine deprived I am after dropping the Coke.

Game review: Reincarnations: Uncover the Past

Sadly, I did not realize that Reincarnations: Uncover the Past is the second in a series of hidden object games before I started playing it. I think I would have liked to have played the original game first. Anyway, in the game, you play Jane, a woman who has been traveling through time via her past lives. I imagine the first game explains this a bit more. In this game, Jane has been committed to a mental institution. She plans on using her past lives to help her escape.

I found the game to be tons of fun. My favorite parts were where you have to combine objects in order to find something on your list. For example, you need to combine a brush and a boot to make a shiny boot. I also find the different storylines interesting. Each past life has it's own story and problem to solve. This keeps the game fresh so, even though they are the same puzzles, each one has it's own flair.

I actually haven't finished the game yet. I went ahead and got the full version. Hopefully you'll find it as fun as I did!

Anti-aging?

I went to the drug store with my daughter last night. For some reason, I always feel the need to walk through the aisle with the anti aging products. I don't want to buy them...mostly because I don't think they really work...but I sort of enjoy reading the claims. "This will get rid of crow's feet!" "No more wrinkles!" I understand that no one wants to look 'old.' But it's going to happen unless you get plastic surgery or something. A jar of lotion won't magically make you look 18 again. It just won't.