February 1, 2022

month 1

hey friend, thanks for opening! long time no hear. just checking in. how are you? :) -k

January passed in a blur - like many of you, the first month was spent in lockdown, monitoring family members, friends, and co-workers in their respective COVID-19 bouts, or booster side-effects, or all of the above. Dad and auntie had theirs, so did my sister (second time around), then a handful of my co-workers too, and their respective families. It’s been a stressful time made so ordinary by the fact that everybody just had it. Thankfully my dad’s sense of smell and taste eventually returned, and my sister is already well enough to go back on hospital duty, and as of today, everybody in our small household have received their booster shots. C and I went to PLDT’s first wave of booster shots, so we immediately had that out of the way. We’ve spent most of the month glued to the TV, watching and re-watching TWICE videos and collecting photo cards. Whatever gets us past this, I suppose. It’s honestly a great incentive for waking up in the morning and going to work.

Speaking of going to work: Hybrid work is emotionally taxing. With Metro Manila going back to Alert Level 2 (based on what improving metrics, I don’t know–we’re literally still at 30%+ positivity), they’re trying to get people to return to the office. Sigh. I don’t want to go back to the office. I’m better off here at home, where it’s quieter and my internet is better. I really don’t get the obsession about getting us back there in the middle of a health crisis that nobody seems to know how to manage (with the exception of the Vice President, who could only do so much without being hampered by this government).

Anyway, it has been a real struggle trying to find irl things to write, so lately we’ve been turning to watching the lives of other people who are actually having better, more story-worthy days–if you get what I mean? Fridays we watch the weekly drops of the new “Time To Twice” episodes–the New Year special, which probably ends next Friday. It’s hilarious, and pretty simple, and simply full of pretty girls. Teaser:

TWICE REALITY “TIME TO TWICE” TWICE New Year 2022 TEASER - YouTube

TWICE REALITY “TIME TO TWICE” TWICE New Year 2022 TEASERTWICE 3rd Full Album “Formula of Love: O+T=＜3”🧪Listen “Formula of Love: O+T=＜3” HERE👇https://TWICE....

Apart from that, it’s just catching up with the rest of the content - so many things we’re seeing for the first time, even in stuff we’ve already seen before, and it’s… something like mental exercise. But with pretty girls. It feels really odd to be catching on this late, but I guess, the midnight train is still a trip, isn’t it.

From the Internet

A couple of recs from around the internet and then some:

• Eavesdropping by Helena Fitzgerald
• Keys to the Universe by xylomylo, which is the 6.2k nahyo post-disbandment fic i have been yelling about in my head for days.
• This Dahyun edit to Britney’s Womanizer - so good.
• Do you have a favorite Taylor Swift compilation? Mine is from Red, the Could You Be The One Chapter.

Favorite meme time!

Girls at the back, may nakakatawa ba!

Jihyo as a high school teacher doing the “you’re the worst section I have ever handled” monologue is proof that it is a universal experience.

Here’s to an infinitely more interesting February.

Keep safe!

XO,

K