January 2018

Found

• The dog
• A better understanding
• Shells
• Stones
• Sticks
• Not what I was looking for

Wrote

• About 2017
• What are you so afraid of? – In Pastry Box Project
• Postcards
• Half a notebook full of late-night & insomnia notes

Overheard or said

• “I accidentally hit him with my pineapple.”
• “Are you fighting the coconut again?”

Read

A few links to articles I enjoyed reading.

• Meme’s Best Friend: The Rise of ‘Doggo’
• The 7 Rules of Compliment Club
• The Men Who Want to Live Forever
• The Ways You Know It Isn’t Love
• Does This Year Make Me Look Angry?
• This is How You Say Goodbye
• What to Say When You Meet the Angel of Death at a Party
• How You Promote People Can Make or Break Company Culture
• As the whole story around Aziz Ansari unfolded, here are a few articles dissecting it (or re-shared since they’re discussing related topics), all of which I heavily nodded to many times (yes they’re a lot of articles, but they’re good articles, and all important):
  • What Should We Expect From Liberal, Feminist Men Like Aziz Ansari?
  • Here’s why Aziz Ansari’s behaviour matters
  • Stop Waiting For The Real Aziz Ansari
  • What Aziz Ansari’s “Apology” Says About How Men View Their Encounters With Women
  • Aziz, We Tried to Warn You
  • Aziz Ansari and #MeToo backlash: We won’t stop talking about consent
  • Aziz Ansari Didn’t Do Anything Illegal But That’s Not The Point
  • Consent alone is a low bar for sex: “We have become more comfortable talking about girls’ victimization than girls’ pleasure”
  • Aziz Ansari, Consent And The Difference Between “Okay, Fine” And Yes
  • Liberal men think they know feminism. They really don’t
  • Aziz Ansari and Me

Was

• In Italy
• At home
• In Hong Kong (and there are pictures!)
• In Thailand (here are a few photos)
• On planes
• On boats
• The luckiest woman

The best pictures

• The sun shining a bright light onto the forest on the hill, with a backdrop of a very dark sky.
• The hills in twilight.
• A sky so full of stars.
• Opening the curtains and seeing the sunlight through the olive trees.
• Sitting on a wall, having gelato, watching the sun set over the hill.
• The view of the city from the top of the hill.
• Piña Colada on the beach.
• The jungle, after coming out of the cave.
• The fire show that ended before it’d really begun.
• The time I almost accidentally blew up a gas station.
• The lighthouse.
• Butterflies, bigger than the palms of my hands.
• Standing on the boat, the wind blowing the wind into our faces.
• The rainbow-coloured fish. The corals. And the turquoise sea.
• The time we got into a fight with a monkey gang.
• The time someone™? fed the monkey with papaya peel.
• The time a monkey peed on my shirt.
• The dinner in the restaurant that was likely not actually a restaurant.
• Floating in the warm ocean water in the dark, looking at the lights on the beach, the moon and my favourite constellation above my head.

Did

• Take a horse-fie.
• Find out that there’s a version of my face without dark under-eye circles.
• Lock myself out of my suitcase [sic], three hours before a long-haul flight.
• Forget my wallet at home.
• Build a LEGO tower to represent myself (it was made of Duplo, had a turtle as foundation, and included a polar bear and an airplane carrying a tiger, a dolphin, and angry superwoman).
• Drive a scooter for the first time
• Have the best pineapple of my life
• Wear a helmet (and we’ll never talk about the ordeal of finding one again; also, let’s all pray that the pictures of that helmet, that was mostly on top of (instead of on) my head, never end up on the internet)
• Snorkel.
• Swim through a cave
• Save a guy from the jungle (not kidding)
• Make decisions
• Climb a mountain

Had

• The most wonderful New Year’s eve with a treasure hunt, outstanding food, and lovely people.
• The best pasta in the world, cooked by the 87-year-old Nonna.
• An anxiety attack over the thought of my vacation ending.
• A very dirty car.
• A good cry while driving to the airport.
• Oversized luggage because too many edible souvenirs.
• A breakdown on a Monday morning.
• Drinks with dog.
• Six nights at home.
• Tim Tams.
• Tepache.
• Chinese cucumber salad for life.
• Thai food every day.
• Pineapple and fresh coconut all day every day.
• An in-depth conversation about dragon fruit.
• Thai pancakes. And sticky rice with Mango!
• A good conversation about caring, and what happens if you don’t.
• Another good cry while driving to the airport.
• The worst cold in combination with a long-haul flight.

Books I finished

• – (having quite a few in progress is also important though!)

Heard

• The wind in the olive trees.
• The city.
• Tongue twisters in three languages.
• The waves.
• The honking scooters.
• The strange birds.
• The loudest crickets alive.
• The humming of the machines.

Watched

• This is Us: Season 1&2 (FINALLY)
• Grace and Frankie: Season 4
• Rita: Season 4

Listened to

• Low — Especially Me
• Phoebe Bridgers — Funeral
• Alex Turner — It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind
• Albin de la Simone — Le grand amour
• Sequoyah Tiger — Sissi
• We Invented Paris — Bubbletrees
• Flunk — Only You (Yuleboard Live Version)
• Ringo Starr — Photograph
• Keaton Henson — Beekeeper
• Brian Tyree Henry — We Can Always Come Back To This

Thought about

• How things end