unfortunately still online
I’ve had people ask me how I’m able to read more; specifically, how I decide to read over other activities like doomscrolling or watching Netflix. For context, I've loved reading books ever since I was a kid (I’ve gotten multiple scoldings for having a huge book open on the dining table during meals); I just fell out of the habit as I grew older. In the past few years, though, I made a conscious…
When I was a teen, streaming didn’t exist, so I had to walk with my friend to her house after school and ask her to download songs for me on their family computer. It was a hassle, but I didn’t care because I didn’t have a choice for me to get music. I didn’t always have money to buy CDs and we didn’t have fast Internet at home. Now, everyone and their mama uses Spotify or a similar streaming…
One of the best shifts in my mindset has been noticing how limited our time in the world is. Call me morbid, but the thought of my own mortality spurs me into making wiser choices on how I spend my free time. Take reading, for instance. I often feel panicked that despite my best efforts, I will never have enough time to read all the books I want. The thought of all that knowledge and understanding…
I’ve never considered myself a fan of romance novels. Romcom movies, sure, but romance novels never piqued my curiosity. The only reason I picked this one up was because on The Financial Diet Youtube channel, Chelsea Fagan talked about this being her latest novel and I was like, “I didn’t know she wrote fiction!” Summary Alexandra Onassis hates only two things: austerity politics and Danial Azad.…
For much of last year, I was struggling with constant feelings of overstimulation. My brain was receiving so much information throughout the day, getting a constant stream of updates from notifications, that I sometimes wanted to throw my phone against the wall in the insane hope that it’d break my screen addiction. I’ve suspected for a while that I am addicted to screens. I take pride in being…
Prior to this, I had a streak of reading for 105 days in a row. I was proud of that streak and I made sure to read at least a page a day to keep it going. However, when I spent the night with friends at an Airbnb, I neglected to read and so I broke my streak. Rather than thinking that I threw 100+ days away, I chose to see it as me being flexible with my goals and aspirations. I could think that I…
I’ve known for years that Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of my favorite TV show Bojack Horseman, came out with a book of short stories, but I only managed to read it now. Because Bojack Horseman was so well-written, somehow I got it in my head that this book will be amazing, too. I overlooked that with Bojack, an entire team was working on making it good, from visuals to dialogue and plot.…
Granted, my goal was only 6 books, but the fact that I started truly enjoying reading again means a lot to me. Despite my previously voracious appetite for reading books (and not just articles in the Internet), I had completely stopped for a couple of years, so I’m glad to be back in the habit of reading. It forces me to focus and helps extend my attention span, which is admittedly fried from all…
Do you question joy or contentment? Like how feeling good has become such a foreign concept that you start thinking about all the things you “need” to worry about, because life can’t possibly be going this well, right? There’s always something that you need to fix or be anxious over, if not now then sometime in the future. For a long time, I haven’t trusted happiness. Whenever I was feeling good,…
The city never ceases to inspire awe in me. The skyscrapers full of night shift workers, the high-rise condos, the brightly lit billboards - watching them fly by from inside a car on my way home, I'm reminded of all the places I've been. Of the person I once was. The memories I've made, with people no longer part of my life. It's a map of where I was, of who I was. Maybe it's the beer talking, but…