The Holiday Chill List

by Latoya Peterson

*Yawn*

Hello readers. I’m surprised to see how many people still frequent the site over the holidays. I was going to chill on posting, but it appears that most of you are raring for good conversation. So, we’re back on something resembling regular content. I’m still technically on staycation though.

It also occurs to me we haven’t had a reading/watching/listening/doing thread in a while. One of my favorite things about holiday breaks is that I get to catch up on my reading.

I just finished Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and it reminded me why I love Haruki Murakami in the first place. I’ve got some back issues of various magazines to catch up on (most notabley Edge, a UK based gaming magazine and Shojo Beat, the Viz manga magazine) and I hope to dive into Kenji Yoshino’s Covering, and Drifting Towards Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York by Kai Wright.

However, I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like. I’ve been spending entirely too much time in Ivalice (aka the World of Final Fantasy XII – yes, fellow gamers, I am *that* behind on my playing). It appears that my trip is soon coming to an end – and after 102 hours in game it isn’t a moment too soon. I should have that done by the New Year, which will go along way toward assuaging my gamer guilt.

There are a lot of tempting things to watch as well. I just saw Cadillac Records, Talk to Me, and I hope to catch both La Dolce Vita and Slumdog Millionaire before vacation ends. The Dramabeans blog just posted about a new site to catch streaming legal K-dramas called Drama Fever. It’s still in beta, so it may be a while before I can finally watch, but I’m looking forward to indulging my drama habit. It also reminds me that I never finished the last episode of Hotaru no Hikari.

I’ve also been getting a jump start on my New Year’s fitness resolutions. Being behind a computer at all hours during the day and night is wreaking havoc on my body. I plan to take a couple yoga workshops and hit up a bhangra class and a hip-hop class between now and January 3.

Finally, I got my Itunes Japan account working again and treated myself to a bunch of new music, including Namie Amuro, DSBK, and Ayumi Hamasaki.

So that’s been it with me, readers. I am coasting toward 2009, and I am about ready to get the New Year started.

What are y’all reading, watching, and listening to?