We're Back!

Been awhile since the last post, but things should go back to "normal" soon.  We're back from Barcelona!

It was amazing being gone for 10 days (I love tacking weekends on to the trip!) which really let us get to know Barcelona at a more relaxed pace and let us feel more like locals traveling (although there's only so much of that feeling you can get in a foreign place).  Although we had planned for a number of possible day trips, we really only took one (to Girona), instead deciding to enjoy Barcelona itself.  And with all of that time, there are still things we wanted to see that we never got around to doing.  Next time!

Recaps to come!

Fall 2012 TV Schedule

Haven't posted in awhile.  It's been so hectic here with work, getting ready for our trip and just everyday life.  This week has been exciting because of the announcements of the fall TV schedule at the upfronts.  I look forward to this every year so I can see what the offerings are (and figure out what the problem time slots will be...).  So, one last break before I get to packing, to set the DVR and look at the fall schedule!

Monday
8 pm - Bones (FOX - on demand) and maybe Partners (CBS) but I can't remember what it's about
9 pm - Gossip Girl (CW), Mob Doctor (Fox)
10 pm - TROUBLE - Castle (ABC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), Revolution (NBC) ... I guess Castle will end up being on demand

Tuesday
8 pm - Maybe Ben & Kate (Fox)?
9 pm - TROUBLE - Happy Endings & Apt 23 (ABC), New Girl (Fox), maybe Go On and/or New Normal (Fox), maybe Emily Owens, MD (CW)
10 pm - Vegas (CBS) since I gave up on Parenthood last year and Private Practice this week

Wednesday
8 pm - TROUBLE - Suburgatory (ABC), Survivor (CBS), Arrow (CW)
9 pm - Modern Family (ABC)
10 pm - Nashville (ABC), Chicago Fire (NBC)

Thursday
8 pm - Last Resort (ABC), Vampire Diaries (CW)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Person of Interest (CBS), Glee (Fox), Beauty and the Beast (CW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC - on demand)
10 pm - Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)

Friday
8 pm - Community (NBC)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Grimm (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Nikita (CW)
10 pm - Blue Bloods (CBS)

Sunday
8 pm - Once Upon a Time (ABC), Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm - Revenge (ABC), Good Wife (CBS)
10 pm - 666 Park Avenue (ABC), Mentalist (CBS)

Why does every day other than Sunday have a trouble spot?  Bah. And this is just with what I know so far about the shows, and I haven't seen trailers for most of them. Problem is that a lot of the trouble spots contain (1) shows I already watch and like and (2) the pilots I knew about and was really looking forward to.  I don't want the new shows to suck to make scheduling easier!  I guess we'll figure it out.  Midseason should be another mess but that's a long way off.

Now to finish setting the DVR so I can pack...

Goodbye to Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever, you never had a chance.

I had no idea what you were about or that you even existed, but saw a free preview on Hulu before the TV premiere and checked it out.  Best comedy I've ever seen?  No.  But I have sometimes found that comedy ensembles take time to hit their stride (glad I gave Community that chance) and to connect with the audience.  And, considering BFF was better than some other comedies out there that are succeeding (laugh track comedies and 2 Broke Girls, I'm looking at you), I hoped NBC would give it a chance.

Oh well.

If you never tuned in, BFF was (is?) about 2 best friends (with a truly believable friendship, as I think they are also real life friends?), one who recently split from her husband and another in a serious relationship.  The recently split one moves in with her best friend and her boyfriend, and they find a way to make it work in their crazy NYC lives.

I guess we'll never get to see more than a handful of episodes but it's getting burned off sometime at the end of May/beginning of June, so it's still possible to catch it.  But it's tough to commit to a show when you know it has no future.  I think this one had potential so it's kind of sad to see it go.

So, goodbye Best Friends Forever.  I'll tune in to the burn-off so I can see how the season would have gone.  Thanks for providing me with some laughs and a portrayal of a good friendship.

Goodbye to The Secret Circle

(FYI: If you haven't seen the full season of The Secret Circle, there are spoilers in this post!)

On Thursday night, I stayed up late, glued to the finales of The Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite shows) and The Secret Circle (not as great as TVD but entertaining nonetheless).  I knew The Secret Circle was a bubble show, but out of all the cancellations in the past few days, this is probably the one I was least expecting.  I had resigned myself to Nikita getting cancelled (but happily, it was renewed), as well as two other CW shows I had given up on over the course of the season - Ringer (which was cancelled) and Hart of Dixie (which I was surprised had been renewed but I guess I hadn't paid much attention to the rumors and ratings lately).  I guess if you were to give me a choice between Nikita and The Secret Circle, I would probably choose Nikita (despite being 4 or so episodes behind right now), so I can see where the CW was coming from.

The Secret Circle had a lot of promise, especially for the CW's usual audience.  I like shows that center around high school and magic so, even though I haven't read the book(s?), I knew I was going to watch this.  I also thought, since it came from the same team as TVD, that it would have the same awesomeness that TVD does.  I still think it could have, but it just didn't match up to TVD.

For example, pacing of the story.  TVD moves really, really quickly.  Things that would be season finales on other shows happen in the middle of the season and not even during sweeps.  You never know who is going to die (or be brought back to life) or face some other supernatural circumstance.  The Secret Circle was slow.  Maybe part of that was due to them being new to witchcraft and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to show their journey.  But after watching TVD, the Secret Circle just seemed to crawl.  Once they bound their circle, they didn't do much magic at all.  I wanted to watch people do magic! Talking about magic and spells isn't anything like seeing them done. In the finale, they unbound the circle, got their individual powers back, and it was fantastic.  I feel like if this had happened at midseason, maybe things would have been different.

From the finale, it looks like the direction they were going to head in was filled with a lot of dark magic and people discovering what they could do individually with their powers.  I think that would have been really interesting and just wish that had happened earlier.  We could have skipped over the whole drug dealing and creepy guy with girlfriend in a coma part and maybe we would have gotten here sooner.  I'm sad that we won't be able to see the directions the characters are going in, since, other than the hilarious foaming jellyfish that turned into a crystal skull, the finale was actually pretty good and had potential.

I guess we'll find out on Thursday what the CW is going to pair with the Vampire Diaries next season.  Maybe Cult so that Alaric stays close to his Mystic Falls pals?

Renewals and Cancellations

Before the age of Twitter, I remember eagerly anticipating the upfronts.  I anxiously awaited news of which TV shows were going to come back next season and which were going to be saying goodbye.  Every so often I would catch news of a show's fate earlier than the upfronts but I remember most of the news being broken on the blogs during the day of each network's upfronts.

How times have changed.

Now, knowledge is instantaneous.  Networks have been throwing out renewal and cancellation news for days, as well as news of the new shows they're ordering.  Tonight ABC was making announcements on their shows as late as 10 or 11 pm here, with the world learning about it seconds later.  (Not exaggerating, I saw the renewal news for Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23 within seconds, as I refreshed Twitter right after James Van Der Beek tweeted about it.)  I love being able to satisfy my curiosity and anxiety but it almost seems like the upfronts are becoming a formality in terms of renewals and cancellations and all the news will be out before then.  Are there going to be any shows with fates unknown by the time of the upfronts?  The scheduling aspect of the upfronts is always interesting so I guess there is still plenty to watch for, but it's just so fascinating to me how technology has changed things.

I had been planning to write goodbye posts for all the shows I like that are headed off to the TV graveyard but now the news has come so quickly that I haven't gotten around to writing any of them! I'm still hoping to do it so let's see how many I get through!

Today is a Rainy Day

I installed the Uniqlo Wake Up app on my iPhone yesterday and I love it.

If you've never had the pleasure of visiting Uniqlo, you might just think the app is a clean, interesting, customized alarm.  But if you know Uniqlo (which is one of my favorite stores and one of the few these days where I actually buy clothes), you would immediately recognize their style.

The app is simple.  You set an alarm with an option to snooze (and you have to leave the program open when you turn your phone off to sleep).  It recognizes your location and wakes you up with information about the date and the weather.  It also adds music, so today it melodically told me that it was a rainy day. Somehow Uniqlo can even make dismal rainy days sound cute and happy.

If you're looking for a change in your alarm (or if you love Uniqlo as much as I do), I definitely recommend trying out this app (and I've only had it for one night).  Best of all, it's free!

Weekend Happiness

It's been a fun and busy weekend so I haven't gotten around to doing my happiness lists every night. So here's some stuff that made this weekend great:

1. Our friends' kid R is almost one and he had a birthday party this weekend. I haven't spent much time with him before this weekend but it was so much fun and he is absolutely adorable. What a cute age.

2. AVENGERS. Not sure I need to say more than that but we've been looking forward to this movie for a really long time and it absolutely lived up to our expectations.

3. Good food - japchae, Korean tacos, pizza, Korean fried chicken, Shake Shack custards. Yum.

4. This afternoon it was finally sunny and warm enough to go out without a jacket. After days of waking up to a cloudy sky (almost a week now), it was so great to finally see the sun.

5. Walking around parts of Jackson Heights we've never seen before reminded me of how big and diverse this city is, and how we should explore more often.

I would repeat Avengers and cute babies over and over again but I'm not sure that's productive. Fun weekend!

Avengers Set

We saw The Avengers this morning (awesome, of course) and it reminded me of last September when we walked around the city all the time and went to go see the Avengers set by Grand Central.  It was at night so they weren't filming at the time but we did get to see some of the debris.

Even if you haven't seen the movie yet, you've probably seen the trailer, so you know that NYC is in the middle of ... some "tough times" during the film.  Filmmaking these days is crazy to me - the sidewalks and streets here look so calm and not too messy, but the actual movie is so different and the entire scene is transformed.  When we could tell the scene was coming up, we were so excited.  We were there!

We loved the movie and would definitely go watch it again.  So happy about The Avengers!

Another Cloudy Day

Another day, another day with difficulty getting up.  I just feel so exhausted.  Is it the cloudy weather that we've had for at least the past 4 days?  I've been gradually sleeping earlier every night but it doesn't seem to matter.  I feel just as tired no matter what happens before it.  Do I need to sit in front of the sun lamp?

It's supposed to go up to 80 degrees today and have no chance of rain for about 2 hours.  Since it's only 57 now, I guess I'll believe it when I see it.

Happiness List - 05.03.2012

1.  Community, like most Thursdays.  (SPOILER ALERT)  The writers of this show are so brilliant; I didn't even realize that they were portraying the stages of grief over the course of the episode until someone pointed it out online.

2.  The Incredible Hulk.  Fun movie.  Moving delayed our Avengers-prep Marvel movie marathon and we're only on movie 2/5.  We have to at least make it to movie 4 because we really need to watch Thor before the Avengers.

3.  Spicy pork rice platter from Big D's.

4.  Basil fried rice.

5.  Fitbit Aria (the excitement has not worn off yet).

6.  A good conversation about life and happiness with a friend I haven't seen in awhile.

7.  Songs that I should have already known about, but discovered thanks to Glee, like Kelly Clarkson's Cry, which I listened to all day.

Funny how Tuesday morning it felt like a Saturday morning, but now it's Friday (yay!) and it feels like it's only the middle of the week.  My brain is confused.

Happiness List - 05.02.2012

Attempting to force myself to sleep at 2 am tonight (I realize this is not very early, but it would be the earliest time this week), so I only have time for a quick post.  Luckily (or unhappily?) today's happiness list isn't really that long.

1.  Free cupcake thanks to Sweetery and the Food Network.  Brought back memories of Hawaii.  I miss paradise.

2.  Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23, quickly becoming one of my favorite comedies.

3.  More dancing in my chair to music, especially to "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris, which I listened to all day.

4.  Watching X Factor UK clips in order to follow One Direction.  I'm up to Week 5.

5.  Our Fitbit Aria arrived and I love it!

Yeah... I think that's it.

Off Schedule

I was so tired last night that I forgot to set my fitbit to sleep mode.  I hate when that happens because all that sleep time doesn't get tracked (to show me how restless I am) and because it then tracks all that beneficial sleep time as bad sedentary time.

I don't know what happened to my sleep schedule.  I was doing so well last week.  I was getting up when the alarm first went off.  I got up earlier than I had been in weeks.  It was like I was working on an energetic European jet lag.  I hoped it would last but apparently this week it's been back to old habits and I can't get to sleep early and can't wake up early.  I felt so much better when I was waking up early to meet the day and now I just feel like I'm wasting daylight.

Is it the cloudy weather?  Is it because I got home late last night because of time entries?  Is it all the stuff that's now in our apartment bringing me down with its presence?  Is there some sort of sleep inducing toxin that attached to the stuff from the old unit that is now permeating the new one?  It can't be lack of exercise because I wasn't really exercising last week either (sadly), but at least I was really productive and energetic (despite being tired and fatigued all the time - I know that sounds incompatible but it's not).  Did I just run out of energy?

I hope everything in my schedule cooperates because I am going to try really hard tonight to get to sleep early.  I keep hoping to get up early to fit in at least a 10 minute workout before work but it hasn't happened yet.  Here's hoping for energy and rest and getting stuff done today.

Happiness List - 05.01.2012

Another night of sleeping too late, but here's today's list:

1.  Crisp Africa salad.

2.  Larb gai.

3.  Music and being able to dance in my chair at work to keep me awake.

4.  Feeling like I got things done at work (despite it pushing off finishing my time entries later and later, causing me to stay later than I planned).

5.  Finished the Breakout Kings finale.  Such a well-done show.  (Still annoyed at the network and Time Warner Cable for messing up season 1 availability and access.  Thanks to them, I missed so many episodes.)

6.  Good music on Glee tonight.

7.  We're behind on Once Upon a Time but we finally watched "The Return" and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be.

8.  Our Fitbit Aria scale shipped!  I. Can't. Wait.

9.  Sent my vacation absence memo at work.

10.  The clip from Ellen where she looked up her audience members on Facebook & posted their pictures. So funny.

Another uneventful day, but at least there was some good TV.

Sleep Issues

Ever since M and I started our move I've had major issues sleeping. Maybe it was moving until at or past midnight every day which wired me up and kept me awake late, but even when I stopped moving things at 10pm I couldn't sleep. It's persisted even after we finished moving everything up. I've tried shutting down earlier and trying to sleep, but it really just isn't working. It's started affecting me more and more the less I sleep. Aside from the fatigue and lack of focus, I've started getting migraines again. I hadn't had one since last summer when we were visiting my parents. I hate that I can't sleep, and I hate what the lack of sleep is doing to me physically. Even now it's 1:30am, and I'm sitting here writing this. Just another night in a seemingly endless cycle.

Happiness List - 04.30.2012

1. Turned in the keys to our old unit. Officially done with that stage of our lives. Time for a lot of hard work to get the next stage in order.

2. Youtube videos of talented and creative people.

3. Daydreaming.

4. Healthy salad for lunch.

5. Suburgatory (finally watched the episode with the hilarious breakfast food pajamas).

6. Two expired Metrocards with money on them. Now I just need to get the MTA to transfer the money to new cards. (I'm trying not to think about older cards or cards I threw away that might have money on them.)

7. Potato salad.

8. Basil.

9. Loading up the May custard calendar on the Shake Shack website at midnight.

Uneventful day, apparently.

I can't believe it's already May. Where has the year gone?!