It's Freddie Highmore's Birthday!

I don’t relish the idea of watching medical dramas. The thought of all the blood and slicing and focus on gore-covered organs is nauseating and instantly off-putting. Nobody is literally beautiful on the inside, in my opinion. This is the main reason I chose to stay ignorant rather than submit to the mass hysteria that spread like the plague with series like House and Grey’s Anatomy. Medical dramas were not for me, thank you very much. I would happily go through life without watching a single one, without willingly inflicting such suffering upon myself.

Well, that’s what I thought until I saw the promo for The Good Doctor.

It looked very interesting, as most trailers do, but what caught my attention was the lead actor. There was something so familiar about him. Freddie Highmore.

I get very excited on unexpectedly seeing someone familiar onscreen. The excitement is directly proportional to how much I like someone and, often, the amount of time and energy spent in finding out who that someone is and where I've seen him/her before.

So, I figured that since they were airing the first two episodes of what seemed like an interesting show which happened to star someone I knew when he was "yea high", I had to check it out. Since it would be on TV, they’d probably censor some of the gory stuff with the careful precision of doctors cutting open patients. (I’m kidding, I know TV doesn’t care to be subtle about censoring)

Well, they did not edit out gory bits. But apart from that, the series is lovely. I'm not sure how different it is from other medical dramas - a gifted doctor who isn’t quite understood by most people shows up at a hospital and makes you wonder how many people who died there could have been saved if he'd been there before. There are some surgical procedures that are shown in excruciatingly graphic detail, but everything else is quite pleasant to watch, although it's often quite emotionally heavy.

There are lots of lovely characters, including gentle, kind Dr Glassman and sweet, spunky Dr Brown, but Shaun Murphy is quite possibly the most beautiful character I've seen on TV in a long time (or, quite possibly, ever). I may be a little biased since I already love Freddie Highmore, but he makes Murphy instantly likeable, and everything about him feels authentic. He reminds me of a high-functioning autistic student I had - the incredible elephant memory, the visualisation of places as maps, the attention to detail, the discomfort with physical contact, the repetition of words and phrases when upset, and so on.

Murphy is so adorable and simple he'll make you laugh and cry, often at the same time. I love that part in the pilot where he talks about wanting to make lots of money so he can buy a TV (and his TV is, in itself, pretty darn adorable). One of my favourite moments on the show so far is when he says he likes Hershey because "Lea is there". Hits you right in the feels.

The Good Doctor is moving but not depressing, and I love it (/him) enough to watch every single episode despite all the blood and gore. Kudos to the writers and everyone involved in making this. And thank you, Freddie Highmore. You're awesome. Here's to many more wonderful characters. Happy birthday.

My First Graphic Novel

Mom and I were cleaning out part of my room a couple of days ago. Here are three things I'm glad we found among the several piles of junk:
1. My 12th grade final exam report card (in tatters, but somewhat recognizable as a report card)
2. Four skipping ropes
3. A story I wrote and illustrated in the second grade. At least I think it was in the second grade because it was in a grade 2 notebook. I have no other way of telling because I don't think my stories have developed all that much since then and I still draw Christmas trees the same way.
Anyway, we happened to find it a little ridiculous and randomly funny, so here you go:

 

 

I once played a tree in a play in Kindergarten. Maybe that's why I can feel for this tree, never mind that I looked a lot less tree-like.

Sugar Sugar

Over the last couple of weeks, I've eaten huge amounts of cake, mainly because of the number of people I know who've had their birthdays then. It's made me think of all the birthday parties I've been to, especially the ones that really stood out. Most have been reasonably good.

A couple of them were plain confusing.

One was remarkably terrible.

Then suddenly, last month I went to one of the best birthday parties I've ever been to. Everything about it was great: wonderful people, beautiful place, delicious food, and surprisingly cute and lovable kids.

The birthday girl

 Well, she didn't exactly look like this, and she was way cuter. I think I got the bow on the hairband right, though.

Here are the things that made the party seriously awesome:

Yes, the cake really was that green. Normally I'd think, "Green cake? Eww!" but this one was pretty, and absolutely delicious. Again, my picture doesn't resemble the actual thing that well, but I had to try. The rest of the food was great too, but a good cake makes a good birthday party even better.

Helium balloons! I'd been looking for those for a long time, and I actually took a couple of them home. Whee!

And I think this is what made it perfect for me:

I was probably the only person above the age of 7 standing in line for candy floss (or cotton candy, if that's what you must call it) but standing there, and then eating with bits of pink sugar sticking to my hair, glasses, and clothes, I felt truly happy, like I was right where I belonged.

I guess some of us never grow up.

Food

I just felt like putting up a picture of something I ate yesterday because it was so delicious. Look:

Penne in a mushroom and butter sauce with parsley and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. For once, here's something that even my vegetarian friends can drool over.

Exactly two months since my birthday! (Yeah, even I don't know why I find that exciting) I shall find a picture of an awesome cake mom made me many years ago and put it up. 

Update: here it is - the purdyful cake she made exactly 14 years and 2 months ago

It's a photo of a photo, thus the graininess. 
My Barbie doll was broken in half and converted into a wonderful Eliza Doolittle cake. I think that was the only time the doll was of any use.

And this is what she made exactly two months ago

But hey, it tasted great!
If this is my last post, it's because mom's killed me for putting this up. If she wasn't going to kill me for putting it up, she'll probably kill me for saying she'll kill me for putting it up.
That probably didn't make sense to anyone except me, but that's okay. 

My Beginning

Originally published on: 22/02/2011 - Remember the date.

Birds flying high, you know how I feel

Sun in the sky, you know how I feel

Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day

It’s a new life for me

And I’m feeling good

-Michael Buble (because I like his version best)

IT’S MY BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

Random fact: this background theme (Dusk) was launched on this day five years ago, so I had to use it. I might soon change to something else, though. Something more bright and happy. This one’s really pretty, but it’s too dull. I was hoping I could create my own template, but apparently I can’t do that, unless maybe I pay for it. Bummer.

Ah, it doesn’t matter now, because it’s such a wonderful day :)