(lack of) Work leading to Life

I’ve been shockingly bad at working this week, even if I’m counting writing as working. I suppose it makes a little more sense that I’ve been bad at getting things done considering this week doesn’t really exist - having started on December 25th and ending on New Year’s Day - but I was holding myself to a higher standard and I failed it. Let’s enumerate why.

I spent Christmas day at a dear friend’s birthday/mehendi celebration, and her family pulled out videos of her speeches and dance performances when she was a child. Of course it was so beautiful and we made great fun of her way of speaking, but it was endearing how driven our friend has always been. To me, it was also a sign of how much support this friend has always had behind her. Parents who showed up to every event, cataloguing them and holding on to the media thirty years later. I had a similar childhood - I did a lot of things and my parents showed up for me a lot work notwithstanding. So what went wrong? There’s this disconnect between liking someone and loving someone, and I think I need to figure out how to interface with, be pleasant to, and build relationships with people I don’t like. These relationships still deserve investment and respect. If I’m afraid that they will take an undue toll on me, I need to figure out how to navigate that.

The weekend was filled with this friend’s wedding reception and intimate post-wedding brunch. Honestly, the way this couple has managed to navigate being married and wanting to not capitulate to unnecessary religious bindings vs making their parents feel good is #goals. \ This week was filled with a lot of people-hangs. Brunch with a friend I haven’t heard from in a while, dinner with two others visiting from overseas, casual evening tea where intense minor but impactful group-dynamics-affecting topics were discussed. Then of course there was new year’s eve, which confirmed to me that I do not enjoy any event that extends beyond 10pm.

I’ve made decisions about where I want my career to go, with inputs from some people I look up to. If I don’t flipflop again, hopefully I’ll have a fun update for y’all by the second week of March? And if I do change my mind, well then those who know me will not be surprised.

One thing I would really like to see this year is a byline. Maybe it’s for fiction, but maybe it’s also a technical article, or a travelogue. Manifesting✨

Health

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings saw me wake up with the worst flares I’ve had in a while - this is despite the Magnesium, which is usually a panacea. My theory is that the flare is a response to getting less than 9hours of sleep in the few days before it. I was hoping to get away with a sufficient amount of coffee but alas, it is not to be. I will have to figure out some other way to maximise my awake time.

Apart from this I’ve had a good week - nice appetite, no headaches - and I got a workout in 5 days ago!

Learning

I’m introducing this new section to explore new things deeper.

I started learning Mandarin 2 weeks ago. The time I spent in Taipei in September last year was so good that I definitely want to spend a few months there again - if not this year maybe later. The city and infrastructure is fantastic, and there is some excellent diving to be had. And the food!!!

It also helps that the nesting partner is conversational in Mandarin. I like having uncommon languages in common with the people I love, it makes me feel top-secret. Hindi and English definitely do not count, and the boy isn’t going to learn Kannada or Konkani any time soon. He even rejected my offer of teaching him p-language, which I’m still sore about. And it’s definitely easier to learn Mandarin than Malayalam :D

So, I’m doing Duolingo. Loving the vocabulary additions, hating all the “technical difficulties” that are preventing me from buying super (why won’t you take my money!!!) or doing speaking exercises. I’d love recommendations for other things to do to augment this learning - maybe a YouTube channel or podcast? A course for spoken mandarin? Some music?

Media Diet

Watched

• Mufasa in the theatre this week. I really enjoyed the musical aspects of this movie. While I’m not sure it will become a cult classic the way the first one was, it was no surprise that the music was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I should probably play this soundtrack a bunch more in the background.
• Zendaya and Tom Holland lip-sync battling each other. Holy crap this one is for the ages.

Read

• Finished The Jinnbot of Shantiport. I have thoughts, not all of them positive. While I’m not a big fan of the way the characters were built, the world building was compelling and I suppose I will grudgingly pick up the next book when I want a comforting read. Review up on Goodreads later this week.
• This article on supplements - specifically omega oils. Most Indian ones have dismal levels of EPA and DHA, so I’m still figuring out what the one for me is.
• My friend Natasha’s end-of-year blog! I love it when friends do things that don’t live in walled gardens. More of you do this, please!