Cleaning to Death

What I've been calling spring cleaning included something else that might seem a bit grim. The concept is called a Swedish Death Clean, and you can read more about it here, but basically you donate, discard and otherwise rid yourself of things you own so that your heirs don't have to do that after your death. It's the ultimate and a very permanent form of cleaning and organizing.

I focused on my favorite person's things first, but once I finished sorting through and donating her possessions from college (with her full knowledge and blessing, btw) I did the same for all the boxes and bins of things I've been storing from my past. Basically I let go of about forty years of records, writing, journals, possessions and other reminders of my past so one day my favorite person won't have to.

Since the first half of my life was spent in poverty, obeying a strict religion while dealing with continuous family troubles, I wrote a great deal about it in my journals to cope. I've always kept the worst details of my life secret, and unfortunately there are many. I don't want to be remembered for what I endured, or strike back at everyone who hurt me in the past.

It was difficult, I admit. I felt at times like I was erasing myself. Yet I am not vindictive person, and once I finished it felt incredibly freeing. Now all that pain has been reduced to memories that will die with me, and I can see that there is no better way to deal with them.

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Love Triangle

The Inheritors (also known as The Heirs ) is an older k-drama that is more like an American soap opera, and yet has one of the best high-school love triangles I've ever seen. As the illegitimate son of a wealthy conglomerate chairman, Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) was exiled to study in California so that his older half-brother could be groomed to step into their father's shoes. Instead he mostly surfs and goofs off. He meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who comes to LA in order to escape her dismal life in Korea while bringing wedding money to her older sister, only to find out her sister has lied about her marriage, and is living in squalor. After the sister takes the money and runs off, leaving Eun-sang with no place to stay, Tan ends up alternately taking care of her and making her situation worse. He also falls for her, but she finally connects with a friend and returns to Korea. The money her sister took ends up forcing Eun-sang and her speech-impaired mom to mov...

Pretties

While at the antique mall where my donated throws were being sold I saw this pretty portait of a frog made out of beads, brooches, necklaces and other bling, and had to take a photo of it. This artist is so clever with how they recycle vintage jewelry and findings into new art. That day this little guy came home with me. He was cheap, made from a very old crazy quilt, very shabby, and has a serene quality that primitives sometimes possess. He'll be hanging out with me in the sewing room. Was it necessary to buy this? Nope. Do I regret the purchase? Nope. I also bought this apothecary jar filled with buttons, threads and other wonders. If you want to sort through it with me, check out more pics here .

Glorious. Kinda

Writing up my thoughts on the Chinese drama You are my Glory is going to be one of those head-scratchers; I liked it, it got annoying, I liked it anyway, it got more annoying. In the end I was left feeling like most of the last third of the series was smacking me on the nose for being a romantic and wishing, not for the first time, I was a screenwriter who could get hired to fix this script. Anyway, okay. The premise for this series is actually pretty good: poor but brilliant aerospace engineer Yu Tu (played by the fabulously handsome Yang Yang) crosses paths with fabulously wealth but not-too-bright actress Qiao Jingjing (portrayed by the genuinely pretty Dilraba Dilmurat) who was his high school classmate. He's looking for a new job that pays better; she's in hot water due to an inappropriate product endorsement snafu, and they end up spending a lot of time together. It's a cross between Notting Hill and Apollo Thirteen, sorta kinda. Yu Tu is in a life crisis ...

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