Last night I learned of the K-pop group Kara through a random comment someone made in a MoMusu forum, and today I have had their song "Wanna" on REPEAT. I have no idea why I love this song so much, but omg, I kinda do. (Even if the video uses that "hey let's go destroy my ex's stuff" trope that leaves such a bad taste in my mouth.)

Anyway, I am only letting myself get into K-pop if I can put on hold my desire to study Korean. (That writing system just seems like the coolest thing to me!) I'm supposed to be passing the JLPT in two months!!! And somehow keeping up with my Spanish as well, somehow ... Studying multiple languages was so much easier when I had classes in both of them. I was looking at the list of language tutors on the UVic web site today, but before I get a tutor I should probably decide what I'd want from them, haha. Because I mean, it's not like I have specific homework they could help me with or anything. :/ Or maybe I should just start making use of all those language-learning sites I've signed up for in the past, hahaha, oh man I'm so disorganized.

I did study some JLPT grammar yesterday, though! So. There's that. :) Oddly enough I've been doing better on this workbook's kanji pages than on its grammar pages, something I definitely did not expect! I am a grammar fangirl, hahaha.

In other news, I find this fandom!secret kind of sad but also amusing, because it's so different from my life! Pretty sure when the_wykydtron and I go see a play, as soon as intermission hits we're already discussing gender. Especially when we went to see "The Fantasticks," which was ... interesting. D:

Oh my gosh you guys I actually finished a book!!

5. Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier -- and How We Can Make Real Progress for Ourselves and Our Daughters, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney
I have two criticisms of this book. The first is that it includes at least two instances where Congresswoman Maloney declares the U.S. to be the best country in the world. This always grates on me, no matter who says it and no matter what country they're referring to (every country has its good and bad, let's just accept this and move on), but it seems especially silly when it comes at the end of a chapter in which she discusses the many ways in which the American health care system does not live up to the systems in place in other countries. My second criticism is that LGBT issues are completely ignored, which I confess I didn't even notice at first, but what a huge omission!

Other than that, I would definitely recommend the book. Each chapter includes information about the topic covered and what governments (well, mostly the U.S. government) have been doing regarding the topic, as well as stories about individual women and a list of different actions you can take if you want to help. It is a very U.S.-based book, so a lot of organizations included in these lists are only located in the U.S., and that was a little frustrating to me, but I guess it just means I'll have to do a bit of my own research! :p

And I suck at book reports, obviously, but this book was very interesting and I really liked it and it kind of makes me want to go and become an awesome politician like Congresswoman Maloney makes herself out to be. ;D

Three more movies:

9. City of Ember, 2008
This should actually be the first on the list, since I watched it on the plane from Tokyo to Vancouver, but I only just now have remembered to list it. xD; I actually really enjoyed this movie, it's of that family-friendly fantasy genre that I seem to love (see Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3-D xD; ), but afterwards when I was thinking about it I discovered a lot of plot holes. haha oh well, it kept me distracted for an hour and a half and that was really all I wanted. xD

SORRY GUYS, from here on this post is all politics. :P

10. Right America: Feeling Wronged - Some Voices From the Campaign Trail, 2009
( forgive, sounds good )

11. Shut Up and Sing, 2006
( forget, I don't think I could )

Also, I want to watch more documentaries. What are some documentaries I should watch? :D