@thefridayfive 2025.10.10

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:05:10 GMT

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144268.html

Name five…

1. ... things you can't live without.
1) Phone 2) internet 3) A/C, 4) shower with heater and water pressure, 5) bug spray

2. ... of the best moments in your life.
Mm, I don't hold on to memories very well (which makes me worry about my mental health in the future) so I'll keep it to the last two years:

5 moments, with pictures

1) Decompressing with my friends in an AirBNB after a wedding. The weddings were great, of course, but I'm a textbook low-energy introvert so I remember the chill moments—or at least the feeling of relaxation—better lol.

2) Sleeping like a baby for the first time in ages in Star Hostel Taipei Main. I had been carrying so much anxiety so it was nice being in a comfy bed with cool A/C in a quiet neighborhood, and not having to worry about wasting electricity or water. I was very anxious about water supply in 2024, among other things, and my insomnia was pretty bad.

3) The morning after an overnight birthday celebration (a joint one in the sense that my brother planned everything and we just split the costs), I spotted a lot of cats (that turned out to be a family!) and had a very good homey breakfast that I still remember the taste of (not pictured: the ensaymada we had instead of cake).

4) Watching Six the Musical! It was a matinee show so I wasn't worried about getting home. I was by myself and therefore free of any considerations of other people and also free of any self-consciousness. AND the show was super fun. (I have zero energy for fun so this was a novel feeling for me.)

5) The time I followed the sound of a strange bird call to find a pied fantail perched on the terrace. When I approached, it turned around and yelled at me. It was so pretty!!! And looked so angy!!! Now every time I see a pied fantail in the sky and see the white markings of its beautiful tail I feel such a pang of admiration and a longing to see one visit again.

3. ... celebrities you can't stand.
All celebrities who became (past and present) senators. In ascending order of how much I can't stand them: Tito Sotto, the Tulfo brothers, Bong Revilla, and Robin Padilla.

4. ... books you enjoy(ed) reading.
Off the top of my head, including comics: 1) the Radch trilogy, 2) Witch Hat Atelier, 3) Semantic Error, 4) Run with the Wind, 5) Goodbye My Princess

5. ... items in your purse/backpack/on your desk.
BACKPACK: Laconic planner, pencil case, retractable correction tape, glue stick, foldable umbrella
DESK: water bottle, computer, cat-shaped coaster, washi tape that I'm too lazy to put away, pens I don't use but can't throw away because there's still ink in them.

-

Random stuff:

exercise, journaling, and this year's mooncakes

I did end up finishing Yoga with Kassandra's 30-day challenge in September. I had to make up two skipped days in the first week of October, but now I'm freeeeeee. I also got a couple of Discord friends into it, which I wasn't expecting lol.

We're on the last quarter of the year and I've managed to keep my planner filled up, which I guess is also why I've been very bad at taking photos of it, even though I keep meaning to for documentation purposes. I got a Hobonichi for next year because it felt like time for a change and I figured I should try the daily format at least once in my life? I'm just so worried I'll hate it, especially since writing has been suuuch a chore for me lately. Just updating Dreamwidth/Letterboxd takes 200% of my energy and gives me zero satisfaction. (I do it because my memory and ability to put thoughts into words are worryingly precarious, and posting entries is my band-aid solution for that.)

Didn't celebrate Midautumn in any way this year (which is not unusual, though I usually like to take the opportunity to eat something nice), but I did get mooncakes that were advertised as ~artisan~. Tried a snowskin one for the first time (champagne chocolate filling) and decided that it's not for me, for reasons of "If I wanted a decadent chocolate dessert, I could just get myself cake". The traditional ones I got were white lotus, red bean, black sesame, and houjicha.

The white lotus was nice and very traditional, and the yolks were thankfully not chalky but curiously not salty, I guess because they make their own? The less-salty yolks worked well enough for the white lotus which had a more delicate profile anyway, but for the other flavors which were much sweeter I could have used the regular level of saltiness. The other flavors also tasted same-y, except that the houjicha had a grassy aftertaste. Which was a bummer because I really wanted a good black sesame flavor. ;__; AND I probably could have found red bean elsewhere at a cheaper price point.

comments

Snake it till you make it

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:23:33 GMT

Obligatory hotpot photo because there was a satisfying number of balls:

Some personal/family stuff

Over the past few years my dad has been, hmm, reconnecting with his immigrant roots and recreating ye olde generational recipes, his most successful attempt being Fujianese mochi (麻糬). Traditionally the filling is crushed peanuts (which I'm frankly sick of, after years of taste-testing lol), but this year he made black bean ones for CNY. They were overly but appropriately sticky when they were newly made and the dough hadn't had the time to firm up yet, making them a worthy substitute to tikoy (sweet 年糕) which we never really ate anyway in spite of it being the community staple. So anyway, that was nice, as was the hotpot, which I've been craving madly for weeks. XD

New year things:

Didn't get to do much decluttering, but I did manage to... attempt to get back into putting my clothes in proper places instead of living out of a laundry basket. ^^;

Let go of my computer because I realized I just didn't want to carry the stress over into the new year. This means I've been computer-less for more than a month now, and a lot of things are more difficult: watching shows and movies (I simply do not, outside of group watches), group watches, commenting on posts (I've been reading, though!), and doing any amount of creative work... Thankfully I'm not in the creative industry, but it's been frustrating trying to make do with phone and paper in the absence of a computer in the occasions I've been called to use my ~skills~.

Felt some knot of negativity inside me untangle in the days leading up to the new year, which was a relief. I didn't realize how uncharitable I'd been feeling until it was gone and I suddenly had more room in my heart. I can't tell if it was my introvert need for space and distance making me extremely catty, or if it was just my bad personality causing me to fixate on stupid things that normal people would just move on from... Either way I'm happy to feel normal again. XD

comments

halfcactus

@thefridayfive 2025.10.10

Snake it till you make it