February 13, 2021

OK let's go: Year of the Ox

Manila, 13 February—Happy Lunar New Year greetings! Last year was actually our year, if you’re a Rat like me, and gah. What a year—certainly something the old feng shui masters did not foresee haha. Musta na kaya si Master Hanz Cua1? Char.

Anyway, this year we welcome the Year of the Metal Ox2, a sign viewed as strong, trustworthy and faithful. That SCMP multimedia special is great, btw—TIL that Thatcher, Obama and Hitler were all born in the Year of the Ox. Who knew??

Anyway, the page also has some choice ‘greetings’ under What to Say During the Lunar New Year, and this is my favorite:

And so we live in hope. Also, sa mga nagsabing “sa Chinese New Year na lang” re: New Year resolutions—well, here we are :))

From the Internet

• Have you watched the New York Times documentary on Britney Spears3? You should. It’s infuriating, and my heart breaks for Britney, whose music I enjoyed as a young person slowly getting into music in general. The cruelty, the opportunism, the abuse that surrounded her was astounding and unfair. I hope she gets her due, and soon.

• Have you heard Taylor Swift’s re-released version of Love Story4? Istg the woman’s productivity during this quarantine has been through the roof. The official lyric video has snippets of Taylor posing with fans through the years and it’s a nice gesture. Also gives a whole new meaning to we were both young when I first saw you, huh. I liked that line then, and I still like it now.

• Anybody else trying out YouTube premium? Haynako ang low-hanging fruit ko talaga haha. A friend5 pointed out that it’s better than Spotify Premium—PLUS you get to NEVER SEE AGAIN Karlo Nograles dancing to Dynamite while talking about (of all things) ending hunger. I will not be roped into your YouTube comm plan, politicians of 2022!!! Also, no more ads while in the middle of bingeing Betosky6 videos! Bless.

IRL round-up

So we’re about half-finished with our move—we hope to get to 60% this long weekend! You ever get that extra inexplicable urge to clean and organize when you’re approaching your period? (Sorry is this TMI??) Well, imagine a house of lesbians. Who are moving.

Anyway, in the process of moving our stuff, we unearthed a solution for now to our coffee situation—C’s office had distributed Vietnamese coffee filters7 and ground coffee in a recent event and voila. Non 3-in-1 coffee for a change. We count our wins.

Favorite meme

This week’s favorite meme features a lawyer who is not a cat (of course!) It all just seems very 2021, doesn’t it?

I love how the Judge—who was the one who posted this material in the first place, so it’s safe despite the no recording rule—really meant for it to be light but educational, plus this caveat:

I think this is useful if you’re posting something on social media that’s likely to be picked up by media outlets—attach a caveat, and some conditions re: context in which the material ought to be used (e.g. should be aligned with your original spirit).

Anyway, someone pointed out that it’s close to impossible to find that cat filter for use today because it’s meant to be for old Dell computers—and back then, it was already notorious for being quite difficult to remove8. Malas.

Of course, this has spawned some quality memes, and my favorite:

Thank you for making it this far! I hope the Year of the Metal Ox brings you good health and all your heart’s desires!

XO,

K

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