Long Story Short, I Survived
February recap and just random blabs as usual
February was a literal rollercoaster for me - I started getting so busy with work, some major things happened in our company (that I feel like I’m not entitled to talk about), and I struggled so hard with keeping my focus. There were a lot of things I said I’d do last month that I never got to doing (like writing every week and getting myself re-evaluated for ADHD) but as usual, I chose kindness over beating up myself about it.
February 2023 Recap
First two vinyls! It has been a dream of mine over the past six years to own a turntable player. The turntable itself and the hobby as a whole seemed so expensive when I was still back home but I feel like it’s something I can invest on now. Karl has promised to buy me a turntable player when we move so I already bought two vinyls in advance! Not in the photo was the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) vinyl I bought over the weekend from Target. I also have a ton of albums on my wishlist which I’ll eventually buy later - I’m so excited to build a collection!
Donut Chew. We went to visit my Tita Rose in Gaithersburg last month for a quick catch up. It’s almost an hour from where we are so we take advantage of exploring the place when we visit. After four months, we also finally got to drop by Donut Chew again to buy mochi donuts to take home. I love this place so much! Very artsy and the desserts are really good in my opinion. Not too sweet.
View in Rio. This place has a very special place in my heart so I love coming back here. I took this photo while we were walking after lunch and the main reason why: the cute little ducks.
Heart’s Day Date. My FIRST actual Heart’s Day date with Karl! For the past five years, we were always apart around that time so it was nice to finally go out and do something ~fancy~ for a change. Food was great and the ambiance was amazing!
Hogwarts Legacy kept me so busy! I just finished the game last weekend and I really loved it. I feel like it’s both a blessing and a curse for someone with ADHD because man… the amount of things you can do and see on the game, is just… wow. It’s a mix of a lot of games I love in terms of gameplay so I enjoyed it so much.
Some overdue catch-up. It was nice to catch up with a friend last month. We talked about a lot of things about life, work, and other things in general. Lala is one of the few friends I have that I feel just so comfortable talking about everything going on in my head without the fear of being judged especially when it comes to mental health. I made a joke that I should seriously send out invites to my friends for catch up sessions.
Sundays are for God, always. I haven’t found a church nearby that I feel comfortable attending - I have been praying about it but for now, I still watch livestreams from CCF.
Trying to clear my Switch backlog. I finished a couple of games in February - A Musical Story, A Normal Lost Phone, and Before I Forget. I haven’t bought any new games, in case you’re wondering!
My updated desk set-up. I still feel so cramped to be quite honest but only tell myself that this is all temporary. I won a desk mat in a giveaway last month too so I saved a couple of bucks because of that.
February reading/listening list. I didn’t read much this month compared to January. I struggled to finish Spare and finishing Beyond the Wand was just because of the sudden surge of nostalgia from playing Hogwarts Legacy. I plan to read more this month and finish all the books I’ve started in February.
Rae’s Currently List
Watching: Criminal Minds S12, The Last of Us (all caught up!), Parks and Rec S1 (rewatching just because I subscribed to Peacock)
Reading: Kindle: Tales from the Cafe, Toshikazu Kawaguchi; Audiobook: Portrait of an Unknown Lady, Maria Gainza
Playing: Death & Taxes, Little Misfortune
Thinking about: how expensive things are everywher
Listening to: a lot of new songs really - here’s my current favorite playlist
Hyperfocusing on: anything related to personal finance - I just opened up a HYSA (high yield savings account) recently so I’m reading more about investing now
One of the things my father-in-law told me when I first moved here is that days go by so fast here in the US. I thought at first he was just joking and I didn’t take it seriously but now I feel like I understand what he was pertaining to. Even if I only ever stay at home most of the time, I still feel time ticking by so fast. Didn’t help that February was short of 2-3 days of what normal months have. It’s not its fault though.
I have a major life update that I wanted to share in this entry, but figured it deserves it’s own full-length blab from me. Hint: an amazing miracle. Well, it’s not really a secret anymore because if you follow me on Instagram, I posted about it the other day. Maybe I’ll write about that this coming week? So don’t wonder if you get another e-mail from me soon!
I missed writing to you guys,
Rae