January 1, 2022

do what you love

hey friend, thanks for opening! this technically started as a birthday note, but now it’s also a new year’s note, so i’m not sure if it would be as useful for you as it will be for me. I do hope you find it enjoyable just the same. grateful for your time, as always. -k

I turned thirty-seven a couple of days back, and was half-teary reading Armi Millare’s interview with NME about her departure from UDD, especially this excerpt from the interview:

“Today I was thinking about the aphorism ‘Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life’. And I loved every bit of what we did together, but we were doing it way too much. I felt very responsible for everybody even when I was unwell. And many times I was unwell.”

And this one:

“I never saw UDD as a job. It was the thing I loved most; I would consider it the biggest part of me until I find something that I could love the same way. Maybe I’ll never love anything the same way again, but I would like to be proven wrong. I wouldn’t call it so much a burnout; it felt more like a heartbreak.”

The first thing I thought about after reading that was, oh no, not Armi Millare giving me an existential crisis at 37 sksksksks

Anyway. I saw my parents for the first time in two years, and we were going about the usual post-lunch chismis, talking shit about our BBM/DDS relatives (lmao) who had the audacity to say that their lives had improved under this administration because their kids were able to go abroad, and earn more, etc and I was like, “NO SHIT. This administration made me leave a job that I loved.” No one was as surprised as me when that came out of my mouth, but here we are.

I think 37’s such an awkward number–who is even 37 at any given point in time lmao. I thought 35 and 36 were nice, round numbers, but 37 feels… jagged around the edges. I know, like 29 and 31 were also prime numbers, but they don’t jump at you like that? Must be a calendar thing.

Thirty-seven though. Hmm. My mother stopped aging at 38, so we’re approaching a milestone hereabouts.

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Artist Adam J Kurtz is asking Twitter to quote this tweet with their top 3 personal accomplishments for the year. Mine would be:

-Moving to a bigger room in Q1

-Being part of the Tingle Anthology and our company-wide Pride campaign in Q2

-Seeing friends and family for the first time in nearly two years over the holidays

Speaking of Adam, a reminder he posted on my birthday:

From the Internet

Anyway, I wish I could say I read things other than fanfic over the last couple of weeks but I have not. Would you be interested in a couple of really short TWICE ones? These two really left a mark:

universe by forestday. 4.9k words of Sana searching for Momo across universes.

decaying suns & rising tides by ashkin. 1.9k words. Two engineers scavenging at the end of the world.

Speaking of TWICE: It occurs to me that between today and the last time I was on here (for Joan Didion’s obituaries), the TWICE Beyond Live concert dropped AND LET ME TELL YOU it was a truly spiritual experience lmao. Highlight of my 2021, definitely.

Anyway, my favorite worship stage (LOL) was Mina and Tzuyu in 1, 3, 2 (which is a really great sub-unit song!!!)

Are you still doing New Year’s Resolutions? As for me I just want to be well enough to be able to vote in May, because GOD HELP US we need a better President, so. Some manifestations for 2022:

President Leni Robredo

Twice III in Manila

And so we live in hope, friends. Hope your New Year’s celebrations went well. Stay safe, we’re not out of the woods just yet.

XO,

K