altessegrenouille

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More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 12 & 13

Free pass

Tuesday, July 1st 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

It's Canada day today so my partner doesn't work. We stayed up really late (or should I say early this morning) to bingewatch the last season of Squid Game and slept super late this morning. Since I'm not lucky enough to be off for Canada day and have classes this afternoon, I didn't want to spend the only couple hours of free time I had watching a movie.

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Wednesday, July 2nd 2025

I can already say I won't be able to watch one tomorrow morning either so might as well make it one post. This semester all my classes are in the afternoon but there was a student strike in May and so we need to take the classes that were cancelled. Meaning some of them are not in the regular schedule. I have a class at 8 tomorrow morning which is about an hour before I usually start the movie and there's not way I'm waking up at 5 in the morning to watch Pom Poko, as good as it looks lol.

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Healthy weight loss journey - Week 5

❯ More background about it

TW : Weight, Diet

This week has been the most difficult for sure. I'm extremely low spoon, I don't have the energy to cook, my son has entered a growth spur and has eaten so much that we ended up lacking a lot of the food I needed to eat healthy. (Not judging though, he needed it and it's fine, I just bought accordingly for this week lol).

I half cheated one night and ordered poke bowls for dinner. It's not bad per say, but it still took up a lot of points and I was short for the rest of week but managed. I ended up with 0 points left in my weeklies, but stayed within points.

I had a feeling I would've gained a little weight this week due to hormones and inflamation since I'm starting my period but turns out I still lost a little.

As for exercise, I only went for a walk once. Between being in a heat wave and in a lot of pain, it wasn't the best time for it. I'm still feeling

This week : -1.1 lbs Since start : -8.9 lbs Goal : -64 lbs

[altessegrenouille]

More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 11

Ocean waves

Monday, June 30 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

I... don't know what to think of this Ghibli. I had no idea what I was getting into except that people like it or hate it, no inbetween, and that it's depicting the ordinary. My first disapointment was that there is no English dub. I opted for the French one, even though I'm usually not a fan of them. The accent and expressions don't sound natural to me and their school system is so confusing lol. It ended up being ok though, not the best but not the worse either.

Then the story starts with a guy who's supposedly very serious about his job, more than he is with school, but just ditches it the second his friend calls just to talk and spy on the new girl. It already seemed out of character. But as the story progressed, I understood Taku is a people pleaser and it made more sense.

Then enters Rikako, the new girl who's cold and pretentious. She really hit a nerve this one. Then I understood she was just acting out out of pain, but still. It explains it, but it's not reason to be a mean brat.

Overall I feel like the characters are pretty realistic overly emotionnal teenagers. I wasn't bored, but I wasn't invested in the characters either which is problematic for a character driven movie. I don't think I'll even feel the urge to watch it again, but I didn't have a bad time with it either. It just left me indifferent.

[altessegrenouille]

I’m so tired of developping OAS to food I like!

I’m team vegetables, there’s a lot of fruits I don’t like because I’m very sensitive to sour and find most fruits too sour for my tastes. Can I please keep eating the fruits I do like?! Like, I really really hate kiwi, have been hating them for 30 years. But can I eat kiwi? Of course I can. Urgh.

It all started with apples making my mouth and lips itch like crazy a few years ago. Then avocados. Then bananas which have always been one of my favorite fruit. At least with bananas my only symptom was having an irritated tongue, like after sucking a sour candy. So I kept eating them. It’s one of the rare fruits that is really filling and I need that on WW.

But last night, after eating one I started coughing. I thought I was crazy and didn’t think about it twice.

Tonight, I’m not only coughing but my throat feels tight. I think it’s officially the end of bananas and I’m mad!

(Don’t worry, I can still breathe fine and with my son having multiple anaphylactic allergies there’s like 3 epipen lying around the house just in case).

[altessegrenouille]

TBR +3

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Every game that has a dating mechanic is a bi-problem. 😅 I stopped playing Mistria and I’m waiting for the full release (and hoping for a switch release) but I can’t wait to go back to it. Such a good game!

so I started playing Fields of Mistria and immediately fell for the two meanest bitches in town

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The garden is full of fireflies tonight and it always feels so magical. Even though I grew up partly in suburbs and partly in the countryside, I’ve never seen that many.

I don’t know what’s calling them here, but it’s our fifth summer at this house and year after year, they show up. I wish I could film them but they don’t really show on camera. I guess it’s one of those little things you really have to enjoy while it lasts.

I feel like a kid and could watch them for hours.

[altessegrenouille]

₊˚ʚ 🍊 ₊˚✧ ﾟ. all images found on pinterest ₊˚ʚ 🍊 ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

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More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 10

Porco Rosso

Friday, June 27 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

I've been saying for years that Porco Rosso is the only Ghibli I hated (from the ones I've seen of course). I'm not ashame to say when I'm wrong and boy was I wrong! I've been dreading the dayI'd have to watch it again for the challenge but I still came in with an open mind and I'm glad I did.

The first time I watched it, I didn't even finish it. Second time, I did finish it but was barely watching while doing something else. I'm gonna say though, I tried in japanese before while this time I put the english dub and it made a difference.

I like watching stuff in japanese with english subs but I found Porco unlikable and didn't like how the movie was sexist and how it was sexualising Fio. While it's still an issue with the english dub, it wasn't as bad.

I did like the characters this time around and while the story isn't exceptionnal, it's still enjoyable. The scenery is, once again, incredibly beautiful. Though, the soundtracks always being such a big part of the Ghibli experience, I was disapointed with this one. No music stood out to me, I barely noticed them except Le temps des cerises which annoyed me because I didn't understand a thing with her accent being so heavy.

Overall though, I had a great time and I will watch it again in the future. It didn't go from the worst to the absolute best but it did got bumped a few tiers.

[altessegrenouille]

More Ghibli Less Sleep - day 9

Only yesterday - Part 2

Thursday, June 26 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

Today was a bit of a fail, my partner woke me up early by shaking his protein shake like a maniac lol. I fell back asleep and skipped past the alarm. But since I have nothing planned today, I was still able to finish the movie.

Before I watched it for the first time, I was skeptical due to comments saying how boring it is. Fortunatly, I was pleasantly surprised.

I like how it appeals to an older audience. Sure, kids would probably find it boring but as a woman who's in the same age range as Taeko (a few years older but shhh), I could relate. I had my own big quarter life crisis all throughout my late 20s and I'm someone who tends to live in the past. Sometimes out of bittersweet nostalgia other times because I'm still dealing with some traumas.

The movie portrays wonderfully how little things can stick with us and become part of who we are. It's not my favorite Ghibli soundtrack, that's for sure, but the countryside visuals are stunning! A great Ghibli overall.

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More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 8

Only yesterday - Part 1

Wednesday, June 25 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

Today is not a fail, but not a win either. It's my son's first day of summer break so I don't have to wake up as early from now on. I'm planning of waking up at 8 or 8:30 instead of 7 and watch my daily Ghibli right after which wouldn't be a problem on most days. But today I had a neverending to-do list for school and my day was timeblocked from 9 to 6.

What I did was watched the first maybe 45 min of the movie and stopped right before Taeko arrives in the countryside for her summer job. Since I've already since the movie, I didn't mind stopping it mid-way and will gladly finish it tomorrow morning.

My thoughts on the movie tomorrow!

[altessegrenouille]

People who don't re-read books are so funny to me. "I know what happens"..?? Gurl I know what pizza tastes like, still gonna eat another one. I know what a rainbow looks like, you think that'll stop me running outside, camera in hand, to see the next one?

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More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 7

Free pass

Tuesday, June 24 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

It's not even that I didn't want to watch a Ghibli this morning. It should've been Only Yesterday that I really liked the first time I watched it. But today's Saint-Jean-Baptiste, our national holiday. It's my son's first day of summer break, I don't have school and my partner doesn't have to work since everything's closed.

We watched a movie togheter last night and it ended pretty late, we treated the evening like a friday night since we could sleep in this morning, which we did.

Back to it tomorrow, although with my son being home from now on it'll be different. Not different bad or different good, just different. I'll be less in my own little bubble concentrating on the movie, but I might have a watching partner for some of them which is nice. :)

Bonne Saint-Jean les quebs!

[altessegrenouille]

I received my first Kalimba!

In the last couple of months, I've been feeling like I've been losing my time. Even reading and gaming felt... I don't know... passive? Like time was just passing by and I'd be doing nothing really.

I've always loved learning. I learned english by myself, then tried Japanese for about a year but it was taking too much time so I dropped it. I tried crochet (not for me), coding (currently in school), unserious marketing for an MLM I really like (it was fun until it wasn't), handmade bookmarks (one only need so many), etc.

I've been eyeing kalimbas for a few years now but never took the plunge, until a couple of weeks ago when I ordered this one. It came in today and I've been obsessed!

It's easier than I thought, but still challenging and requires practice. (Tuning it was more challenging than starting to learn haha). I have a hard time not being good at something right away so being able to quikcly see results is great!

I've practiced for maybe an hour and I'm getting pretty decent with the first four lines of The path of the wind from My neighbor Totoro. I can't wait to keep practicing and learn the rest of it.

[altessegrenouille]

Healthy weight loss journey - Week 4

❯ More background about it

TW : Weight, Diet

This week's been a weird one. My mental health and energy were pretty low so I reverted back to my couch potato state. I kept tracking my points and eating healthy though.

I ended up going out with my mom, step-dad and son last friday so I had a cheat meal that wasn't even worth it. It was one of the worst poutine I ever had lol. But we did take a good walk and spend some time outside.

I'm already noticing a difference when I go for walks, I'm no longer quickly out of breath. I had a feeling I didn't lost much but I need to trust the process, and feeling better is already such a big accomplishment.

This week : -1.5 lbs This month : -7.8 lbs

[altessegrenouille]

More Ghibli Less Sleep - Day 6

Kiki's delivery service

Monday, June 23 2025

❯ Challenge explainations here

I was glad to start the week with Kiki. I've seen it a few times, but definately not enough. The first time I saw it I found it a bit boring but I probably wasn't in the best mood. So I waited for ever to watch it again thinking I didn't like it much, but the second time around, I really enjoyed it. This morning, I like it even more!

Kiki and Jiji are really fun characters to follow and I'm a sucker for the found family trope. And can we talk about the scenery in this movie? That town looks SOOOOO pretty! I'm really glad I gave it more than one chance because I can see now why it's such a fan-favorite.

[altessegrenouille]

I’ve always liked to know my plans well in advance. But recently, I’ve been trying to embrace spontaneity.

When my son came back from school yesterday, he wanted to go to the park, said he felt like running. As I’ve said in my last Ghibli challenge post, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather, so my immediate response was « no, not today ». But he insisted, said I could sit down in the grass and enjoy the only not scalding hot day of the week. So we went. No regret.

The wind felt so good, touching grass made wonders for my mental health and one thing led to another. I called my mom on a whim and decided we’d spend the evening together since my partner was working late anyway.

We went to the farmer’s market, unfortunatly there was no local peach yet since we’re too early in the season. But I met the cutest bumblebee.

Then we went to a cheese shop that also has a restaurant and had poutine for dinner. I’ve heard a lot about this place but to be honnest, it was far from the best poutine I’ve had. It was fun to go out and try it, but I wouldn’t pick this place again in the future.

Then we played Mario Kart with my mom, step dad and son before going out for a walk in her neighborhood.

After that, we came home, my son went to bed while my partner and I watched a movie.

It was a great day, proof that I should say yes more often.