Status report: 3 full days of migraines, 2 tylenol and 1 ibuprofen for breakfast. Cooking my liver in not fun ways.

1. Catching up with a friend and getting into new habits for good. What I’ve realized a lot from my (not Filipino at all) American friends is that they do well enough alone. Checking in every so often is more than sufficient, and consistency is rare. But I digress. My friend has been through emotional upheaval one after the other, and I’m glad he’s (almost) out of the last one. He got me into an app called HabitShare, and is influencing me to do better for myself. I’ve clocked three routines versus his 20 but I am all about the slow build, achievable goals in a limited time.

2. Investing in creature comforts. Summer is here, and the Philippines can roast like no other. Computer melting hot. It makes doing a lot of things much harder to do. I’ve finally got that airconditioner installed, but it resulted in cement dust on every single surface. A friend offered my favorite birthday gift of the year yet, a trusted cleaning lady. It was four hours of her cleaning everything, when it took me two just to clean off surfaces to sit. She’s going to spoil me for sure, and I will try to not make things hard for her every month.

3. Art. It took two years for art I commissioned to find its way to me, and two countries. Now that it’s here, I can’t wait to find the place for it. It’s highly sentimental and beautiful and I love it.

Song of the week: Novacane by Frank Ocean

-J