1. Amazing food. Peking duck, tofu soup, taiyaki with soft serve. All in the same 5 days. I love this access to all these excellent places in the same 30(?) miles. Don’t even get me started on the drinking options.
2. Fireworks on rooftop bars. Two other people had to help me get ready. I was wearing a dress that, in a good day, should be called a sausage casing. But there were literal fireworks, good drinks and too much laughing that could be called appropriate.
3. Art that makes you feel things. Being around art, I think, is best when it elicits emotion. Whether it’s discomfort or disbelief, it still makes you feel something. I like art.
1. Homes and homies. I have been shuttled around so much, and have had access to friends’s homes and families. I have slept better, ate better, and have laughed harder than I have in so long, and I cherish every moment. I am a sap, and will hold snapshots in my head as long as I can.
2. Private karaoke rooms with like minded friends. Singing at the top of my lungs, with friends who were also singing as loud > hitting actual notes.
3. Access to family who are usually so far away, and loved ones who trek with you when you forget things. I was able to hang out with a beloved aunt and come back in the same day. I know how lucky I am to be here, I just forget sometimes when I’m extra whiny.
I feel like this week has been filled with things I’m extra grateful for, that I’m a little nervous of what the blowback is for this week. I also will remember to take this week to week to week.
Song of the week: Lost Cause by Billie Eilish
1. A long weekend. I had a ton of grownup errands I had to run this week that can’t wait and I was able to accomplish all the things on my list without dying at my first day of work.
2. A batch of my favorite Filipino food, kare kare. It is such a pain to make and takes so long so I never make it. It’s also hard to find the version we have at home since we use tripe (which, fyi, I love) instead of oxtail.
3. Speaking of tripe, a friend sent over a batch of her specialty callos. I had to eat it immediately. It lasted like 12 hours (aka when I got up and told the family I was gonna finish it).
4. Another friend even sent over a surprise loaf of homemade sourdough bread and a batch of tomato soup. (How lucky am I?!)
5. I also got to catch up with one of my favorite people at work. Being extremely busy and having a ton of things on their plate makes it hard for them to just have a conversation, but we had a really significant one.
1. Small wins. Like this Thursday’s end of day dinner of tacos and ice cream. I did not deserve it because I have not earned it workout wise, but boy did it feel great after a long day.
2. Good people. We had five new folks start with our team this week, and it was fantastic to confirm that they were good folks and really fit the team, culture and brains wise.
3. The Roadrunner trailer coming out. With his third death anniversary being today, him being everywhere just feels like a healthy way to celebrate his life. I can’t wait for it, and will also need a ton of ice cream to get through it.
4. A productive weekend. Picking up Cheester’s meds. Seeing our cousin that we haven’t seen in more than a year. Doing a little bit of retail therapy. Moments that matter a lot.
I can’t even remember half of it honestly, but these are the bright spots.
1. Finding out that Cheester’s nose thing isn’t cancer. When I heard it last week, I was literally on the floor a lot with him, just giving him extra attention, fattening him up because he had lost some weight. To get lab results that said infection and the vet figuring out how to give him the right antibiotics, was a sigh of relief.
2. Living room getting an upgrade of airconditioning. This was something we had been campaigning for months for, but have not been able to do because of paranoia during installation. Summer has been blistering hot, and having cool air in the hottest hours of the day have been a relief. This cost a pretty penny but I think the quality of life has been going up since. (I am honestly afraid of the electric bill though)
3. Being able to productively spend my anxious energy into a paint refresh. It’s not done yet, and I am not great at it, and I may or may not have gotten paint in my eye, hair, and knees all in one, but I repainted the gare scratches and also painted the bathroom door. Maybe I should have put this energy into exercise but it is just too damn hot to row right now.
4. Hitting farmer’s market suddenly on an errand day. It was just supposed to be picking up Chester’s antibiotics and a quick grocery run, but we hit Cubao anyway for our favorite kimchi, greens and herbs for what i hope is a less brown all the time week menu.
5. This birb. I have been opening this link and wiggling with this birb for a week. It’s silly and the buns have majorly side-eyed me whenever I do it, but I love it.
1. Lavender things. I realized this week that most of what I buy for myself in scent is lavender, for sleep help. I got myself a tub of Sleepy from Lush that I only use for when I am lying down to sleep, and it is slowly making my pillows the same scent, which is a nice plus.
3. Getting a banoffee pie delivered, and getting ingredients for margaritas. Same person who is much more patient than me in food styling and driving, making me doubly happy in the same day.
2. New songs on my playlists. I have been listening to more music lately, and I have been needing more new things to switch out the songs I have been listening to death. Song of the week is Hang On Me by St. Vincent, feels too real but also is a bit comforting.
4. Parents’ anniversary and Mother’s day in the same weekend = more food. I am a chonk but a happy chonk.
It’s still weird (I’m still weird), but I am getting a little more used to the weird.
I only went to work 3 days this week, but it felt like an insanely packed three days nonetheless. So here’s what I’m grateful for:
1. Another trip around the sun. Since this is my second quarantine birthday, I will count them as both a non-entity and have also 10x aged me more than it should. I am immature, I didn’t say aging has helped me on that end.
2. Birthday surprises. It is no secret that I love birthdays. Not even mine, but everyone I love. I think, as a middle child, and the third one in a month’s time, and fourth in 2 month sequences, people lose momentum when they get to me. So the fact that a few people actually sent over things or just remembered, means a lot.
Gestures count.
3. Cooking more. I was able to cook longganisa from scratch, chili, spaghetti all last week. For fun. I like the instant reward of cooking, and hope to keep being able to do it.
4. Amazing food delivery. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be stuck in lockdown but the fact that most of our favorites have pivoted to delivery options have been a godsend. I have been ordering a ton of Dong Bei dumplings, Cochi Loco food, and found out our old favorite Tokyu can do all deliveries.
5. Pulling off a creating a team from scratch. It was a finicky, weird project that I’m handing over soon, but to pull it off, building the flows, processes, etc is an adrenaline rush. It is still like a newborn baby alien that we don’t know will do, but I can’t wait to build on it. (Also don’t you love the beginning of things when everything is full of promise?)
1. I got a new workdesk last week as a gift. It was so mindblowing to me, that it’s still sinking in. I’ll write about it in a separate post because I am so flabbergasted by the whole thing.
2. I bought a nixtamalization kit, which is step one of having my own hominy, which is also the key to making myself happy. Posole is one of my favorite comforting things, and it’s really not the same without hominy. If I get this right, I’m going to keep making posole rojo and hopefully attempt posole verde.
3. Midweek catch up with a few friends that also surprised me, like so surprised I think coffee was redundant for my workday. I’m still shaking my head and laughing to myself about it now.
4. Learning new things at work. Work is not perfect, not by a long shot (because what workplace is?), but I am enjoying mostly learning about every cog in the machine. And working with really smart people keeps me on my toes, especially the ones that are funny too.
I will try and keep this up, and not be too dramatic about it. I am approaching this year with a ton of caution and hope. So here are a few things I’m grateful for the week for:
1. This guy, with the Goku hair.
2. The buns getting salad greens, kale and basil and random treats and them being happy about it.
3. Finally finding matchy comfortable cotton pajamas (and on sale).
I have been wanting to get one of these since we saw them more than 5 years ago. Thank goodness for small favors (and the randomness of shopee) that we’re now able to have this on the car, it feels a bit more like Christmas.
This year is going to be so different in how we celebrate the holiday, and I use the term celebrate loosely. While we understand how lucky we are to have all members of the family still here this year (unlike millions of other families), it’s a significantly smaller table, and an incredibly quiet one as well.
I have made my feelings about Christmas pretty clear. I love it. I love being around my extended family. Using one glass because we’re too lazy to pick up one of our own and fill it with ice. Arguing over who ate this much of the food before it even got to the table. Our family is loud and we overeat, and we have traditions that make me happy. We are pivoting this year to celebrating apart, and will see each other post vaccine, when we can share glasses again.
This has been making me less enthused about something I usually wait months for, and plan food and gifts for almost half a year in advance. It’s no tragedy. There are actual tragedies people are dealing with and I am aware of that.
I guess I’m a sucker for the hope that next year will be different. For the family. For other families going through difficulty. For everyone who thought this year was going to be THEIR year.
And six readers, I hope you are a few of those hoping with me. It’s been a hell of a year and it’s not over yet. And I know it feels like hoping for a different year just because we’re writing down a different number seems like an exercise in futility, I still want to.
Because what else do we have but the idea of hope and joy to come?
