weeklysparksofjoy

[weeklysparksofjoy]

9.7.20 - 9.13.20

Music

Grow by Hoax - I heard this song in one of Linda Sun’s videos and it instantly caught my attention. I love the positive vibes and the singer’s voice is just beautiful. I kind of get some Bruno Mars vibes, just a little. Anyways, check out Grow by Hoax.

This week was the first week we actually could open our windows. My boyfriend replaced our hole-ridden screens and the weather was cool enough. It was beautiful and it was like Fall had arrived.

Food 

Apple cider - I bought some apple cider - the second hallmark drink of Fall after PSL - and boy, had Fall arrived. There’s nothing like a chilled cup of apple cider, especially for a kick to restart my afternoon. 

Turmeric latte - This was my first time making a turmeric latte and honestly, I was previously repulsed by the idea. Anyway, I sucked it up and made a cup, and man, was I missing out. I used my milk frother to mix the spices, which helped make it less gritty. This is the perfect drink before bed. Don’t be fooled because it’s called a latte. It’s heated milk that’ll make you sleep like a baby. 

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

8.31.20 - 9.6.20

This week was the first week of classes, along with my week of cooking. At first I was a little nervous about managing my time between classwork, exercise, cooking and respite, but I have to say I did a great job this week. I’ve found the rhythm of work during my doctorate program, where I excel while maintaining a life. Let’s get on with this week’s sparks of joy that allowed me to cherish life during the first week of an arduous journey.

TV Shows

Made in Abyss: Mother’s Basement posted a new video praising this anime and I vaguely remember the title. Long story short, I finished the whole first season this week. I think I spent Tuesday evening after one of my “long” days (by long I mean 9 to 5 with few breaks) binging 5 episodes. Made in Abyss takes place in a city prospering over relic scavenging within the giant abyss in the middle of the city. Scavengers are revered as heroes and are ranked based upon the depths they have traveled. As you can imagine, the further deep scavengers travel down the abyss, the greater the physical and mental toll there is upon their ascension. The protagonist of this series is 12-year-old Riko, an orphan who yearns to be a White Whistle, the highest scavenger rank and one of a few to have traveled to the bottom of the abyss. After hearing that her mother, a White Whistle, may be alive at the depths of the abyss, Riko absconds and journeys down into the abyss, fighting the monsters down below and for her own life. Don’t let the age of the main character fool you. This is by no means a children’s show. This is a show with very adult themes told through the struggles and triumphs of children. Do be warned, too, that this show is not for the faint-hearted or for those who do not like to tear. Additionally, there are some scenes that may make some feel uncomfortable, but I think this Youtube video does a good job of explaining their portrayal of  child naivety, which was kind of my interpretation of them. I only watched the first 6 minutes of the video to get his interpretation of it. Anyways, I really enjoyed this anime and would highly recommend it, especially for anyone who loves world building.

Food

The Woks of Life’s Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce: As I mentioned, this was my week to cook. My boyfriend and I started to take turns where each cook for a week. Anyways, I made this dish twice this week and absolutely devoured it. My boyfriend doesn’t really like eggplant and I think for one of the meals, I ate the whole plate of eggplant by myself.  

Tofu with Shrimp: This recipe was so easy and scrumptious. Both my boyfriend and I inhaled this. When there was no tofu or shrimp left in the dish, my boyfriend drank the sauce as soup. This was so darn good. 

Miscellaneous

Finishing work on time and ending days by 5 pm: Also, as I mentioned in the introduction, I have found a way to end my school days by 5 pm. My classmates ask me how I do it, for some of them continue working until 9 pm, and I just told them the key is time management and prioritizing tasks. We’re given so much work, but a lot of it is shallow work that won’t help advance my career or pertain to my research interests. Instead, I focus on completing the assignments and only do the readings that interest me, unless I have time to spare, in which case, I’ll do all the required readings. I also block out my hours on Google Calendar to help give myself deadlines. More importantly, though, I guess my evening respite is my reward and I very much want to have that respite, so I make sure to stay focused throughout the work day. This has really helped with my sanity and I love the feeling of accomplishing my day’s tasks within the deadline.

Learning about sociological concepts: This term, I am taking a class on the Sociological Perspectives of Public Health. A lot of what we have learned so far are sociological theories and with my Biology/mathematics/quantitative background, I really missed out on quite a few of these theories. I really enjoy learning about theories related to human behavior, philosophy, etc. because it provides me with a new lens to view the world. This week this one new lens was provided by C. Wright Mills’s “sociological imagination”. Sociological imagination describes one’s ability to understand how societal level structures impact the individual and vice versa. Without understanding society, one cannot know themselves or their fate. For example, I didn’t have to worry about working in a factory as a child, because we have child labor laws, but if I lived over a century ago, I may have had to sacrifice my education to help provide an income for my family. 

Reading and eating breakfast at Patterson Park: During this whole COVID situation, I found myself withdrawing inwards not just mentally, but also physically. The entire nature of COVID and the preventive actions of social distancing promote more homebound activities. Some of it, however, was spurred on by fear from the onset of the pandemic that slightly diminished over time. For the first two months of quarantine, I don’t think I left my apartment, except to throw out the trash in the dumpster out back. We had Instacart deliver us groceries and stayed indoors at all times. Then, our Instacart subscription expired and we moved to a house with a convenient parking spot, so we started doing our own grocery shopping. It was uncomfortable at first and perhaps a little suffocating, but we became acclimated. We had our reusable face masks, we bought our groceries, and we had a chance to be free of our house. Now, I’m starting to feel the growing need for space - without physical delineations marked by walls and with greenery. I’ve made it a goal of mine to spend more time outdoors to improve my well-being while still maintaining public health precautions. Thus, this week, I came up with the spontaneous idea of eating breakfast and reading at Patterson Park. I am so glad we did. We found a picnic table away from everyone else, I’m not talking about close to each other like they are at restaurants. We were literally 50 feet from the closest people. I enjoyed my Bagel with Lox from Charmed Kitchen and got to discuss the history of racism within US Drug Policy with my boyfriend. Afterwards, we ventured to a nearby park bench by the fountain, where he played TFT on his phone and I read Wicked Fox by Kat Cho on my Kindle. It was so refreshing to be outdoors - to feel the warmth of the sun and to see the wisps of clouds slowly meandering across the sky. It was such a great time that maybe I’ll see if we can make it a weekly event, at least while the weather is still nice.    

[weeklysparksofjoy]

8.24.20 - 8.30.20

WIth orientation and meet-n-greets this week, I shoved in whatever fun activities I could before starting classes. Thus, we have another short list this week, but this could also be a reflection of fewer financially-motivated joys, which could be a good indication. 

Video Games

Dead by Daylight: I tried out this game over a year ago as part of a demo, and it was too spooky for me. In Dead by Daylight, you have the option to play as one of four survivors trying to escape or as the killer who is trying to sacrifice all survivors to this supernatural entity. This time I tried it out with my sister, her boyfriend and my boyfriend, and it was a completely different experience. It wasn’t as scary since I had some people who knew what they were doing, and I just got braver with more time spent playing the game. Overall, though, I enjoy the quality socializing time with family, even though it’s filled with characters shrieking and some gore.

TV Shows

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: I heard about this anime from Mother’s Basement, who compared this show to One Punch Man. I was a fan of One Punch Man and was super entertained by the power dynamics. I like the idea of an overpowered protagonist whose rivals cannot even compare. The Misfit of Demon King Academy is similar in this sense, but I was intrigued by the drama between the two sisters within the first few episodes. This genre may be overplayed for some, but for me, it’s still new, and I really enjoy seeing a good guy beat the immoral guys to a pulp. Also, I’m a huge sucker for magic and my current shows list is quite lacking in the powers area. 

Songs

Sunny by Boney M.: Everytime this song comes on my playlist, I find myself rocking my upper body side to side. This song is so dang catchy and warm. I love the beat and the violin section. Plus, this song is a constant reminder of The Umbrella Academy, where I first heard this song.

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

8.17.20 - 8.23.20

This was my last full week of respite before beginning my doctoral program. Although I would have thought to cherish more of my free time, this week was a challenge for me, because I had to wrap up a volunteer project. It required putting in extra effort, and being flexible to changing plans, but I survived, albeit with my fists dragging beside me. On top of that, I had started to shift my alarm earlier to prepare my body for 8 am classes three times a week, while restricting caffeine intake, so I wasn’t in the greatest mood this week. As a result, I have just a short list of sparks of joy. The main lesson for this week is that amidst stress, there is still joy to be found.

Items

Non-slip yoga towel (1): This Shandali non-slip yoga towel has been such a game changer. I profusely sweat and now that I’m working out every day, I was finding the excuse to work out less intense because my sweaty arms were sliding all over the place. This towel works and now I can’t blame my sweaty arms for not holding a plank. Now, every day when I do pilates or HIIT, I make sure to have my yoga towel on my mat. The one unfortunate thing is that I can’t do some jumping exercises, but I couldn’t do them without it anyways since my yoga mat slides along the wood floor. 

Video Games

Bizzleberry (2): Bizzleberry is a Twitch streamer who I watch to learn more about playing the Support role in League of Legends. Sometimes I’ll focus all my attention on his stream, but most often, it’s on my second monitor as I work or play another game. This week, Bizzleberry made my list of weekly sparks of joy, because he provided me with much needed laughter as I felt like my mental integrity was failing. 

Among Us (2): Man, oh man, do I enjoy this game of social deduction. Among Us is probably my current favorite social deduction game. For me, it excels beyond The Resistance, Avalon, One Night Werewolf, etc., because the game is so darn fast. With all these other games, I find myself prone to raising my voice, aggressiveness, and just dominating conversations. In Among Us, I am surprisingly so chill, even if I feel wrongly accused. There isn’t much time for discussion, which helps me stay calm while enjoying the game. I highly recommend you check it out. Currently, the game is so popular that the servers are strained, so be prepared to be patient.

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

8.9.20 - 8.16.20

What a whirlwind of a week. This week was my first week off for summer break. I had finally wrapped up my internship and spent a week soaking in the pleasures of life, aka just video games since it’s quarantine time. As a result, this week was filled with fun leisurely activities and naturally, house cleaning. So look down below for what really sparked joy during my period of respite and of fulfilling homeownership responsibilities. 

Items

IKEA Karlby (1): Given the current times, a good work-from-home place is a must. It was time to upgrade our cheap $34 Linnmon tables. This was our desk table for 3 years! 3 years! We had silver legs instead of the bright blue ones featured on IKEA’s page, but still, this was literally the cheapest table we could get from IKEA. Now that I will be starting my doctorate program and my boyfriend is working fully remote, plus something called COVID, it was time for us to get a proper office set-up. Enter the Karlby. Yes, it is a countertop. It’s a beautiful, 60 lb., long slab of sort-of wood that gives me enough space to lay 3 monitors on it, if I pleased. If you remember last week’s post on the IKEA Alex , those are the base for our desk. We have one underneath each end of the Karlby and all we had to do was put a non-slip adhesive on top of the Alexes and that was it. No drilling necessary to put two and one together. Essentially, our set-up looks like this (thank you random person from the internet for the photo). It is beautiful and freeing and space to breathe. 

Ridgid Shop Vacuum and Toshiba Dehumidifier: Now, for a not as freeing item, but a stress-relief item that I am just truly grateful for. I love storms. I love the sound of the rain hammering against the glass. I love the color of the sky. I love the nostalgia of childhood rainstorms. What I had not yet experienced until this week was what comes with rain - possible flooding. Maryland was hit with rain for almost a week. It was flash flood warning after flash flood warning. Being in the new house, we were tricked into comfort that our sump pump was in working condition. It had only been a month since we moved in and it had passed inspection. It had worked. But let this be a life lesson, after any storm, just check your basement to be sure. We had moved our old Linnmon desks into the basement to make room for the new desks when we stumbled upon the shallow pools of water. Long story short - we had to replace the sump pump. But the basement doesn’t slope down towards it, so we still had standing water. I ran a quick google search after my failed attempt to mop all the water towards the sump pump left us with only a little bit less of water and found that pros recommended a shop vacuum. We rushed over to Home Depot to get there 30 minutes before closing time. Initially, we planned to rent the shop vac for a third of its selling price, but who knows what might happen in the future, so we just bought the thing out right. We purchased the Ridgid 12 gallon wet/dry shop vacuum and watched that thing just inhale all the water from the floors. I had essentially wasted 30 minutes of my life mopping that mess and should have just purchased the shop vac instead. This was such a relief. I was worried we’d have to hire more professionals to clear the flooded waters, but nope, this made it so easy. Sure, there was a bit of water left, but when coupled with the Toshiba 50-pint dehumidifier, which we bought during the same trip, the floor was clear of a single drop of water the next morning. We felt guilty placing the sleek dehumidifier in our unfinished basement, but it fulfilled its role with 5 stars. As a first-time homeowner, the flooding was rather stressful - from worrying about safety to waiting on available professionals, but these two items let me sleep soundly after a long, hectic day. Last, but not least, I need to thank Len the Plumber for sending us a technician within the specified time window (unlike Roto-Rooter) and for the tech replacing our sump pump so quickly! This was definitely a learning experience and although it seems more like a spark of gratitude, I do have to say a clean environment sparks joy for me!   

Weed B Gone: Another spark of joy from a clean environment came from our backyard. When we moved in, our backyard was completely ridden with weeds. There was not a blade of grass to be seen. Nevertheless, the weeds were probably about a foot tall. Fast forward a few weeks, where us naive millennials had neglected to care for this problem while continuing to move out of our old apartment and into the new house, and we have ourselves 3-feet tall weeds. I lie not. They were up to my hip. Anyway, they were a major stressor and a persistent nag in the back of my mind. Thus, I got to work and sprayed some Weed B Gone after identifying the majority of the weeds as crabgrass. Alright, so the label says it works immediately - that’s a lie, but it did work in a couple of days. Each day, I would stand by the back door and gloat over the sight of the increasingly limp weeds. Within a week, they were yellowing and hanging over the patio. Once again, this week I found joy in cleanliness and in accomplishing a stress-inducing task.

Video Games

Darkest Dungeon (2): I promise I did not spend my entire week off cleaning. I actually spent most of it playing Darkest Dungeon. I normally hate single-player games, but this one was so fun. I was so addicted to it that I played it almost every day. I really enjoyed building my team, figuring out how to defeat the enemies, and just learning the inside tricks for dungeon interactions. It’s not difficult to learn and I would definitely recommend the game for others!

TV Shows

Star Wars (3): The Clone Wars: My boyfriend and I began watching all Star Wars content in chronological order back in June and we finally finished all of The Clone Wars. I really enjoyed watching The Clone of Wars even though it’s touted as a children’ show. Those final four episodes of season 7 were so beautifully done and had us rooting for Ahsoka the entire time. As a side note, we actually watched Revenge of the Sith in 4(?) different chunks. We followed a guide that showed us where to stop, so that we actually heard some lines repeated in the movie and in The Clone Wars, which was pretty cool. We didn’t follow this guide, but this one is more precise than the one that we used. If you are remotely interested in Star Wars, I recommend you give this challenge a try. It was a lot of fun and touching to see the character development. Also, this may be heinous to say - but the writing in The Clone Wars was better than the prequels’.

Videos

Chloe Ting: I’ve been doing Chloe Ting’s workouts for over a month now. I’ve wrapped up the 4 weeks summer shred challenge and am currently in the middle of the 15 days intense core challenge. I have to say that her videos have successfully transformed me into a daily workouter (I practice Yoga with Adriene during rest days). I actually find myself needing to workout daily, like if I know that I have a busy day ahead, I will figure out how to fit a workout in - no excuses. The truth is I look forward to these workouts and to reflecting upon my progress. I find myself becoming stronger, completing exercises I couldn’t execute the first time around. Even though my weight has actually increased, I feel great and more confident. 

Makoccino (4): Last, but not least, this week I made more time for art - something I haven’t done for a long time. I think after high school I was such a workaholic, bouncing from club to club and job to job, that I didn’t give myself to have fun by myself. Makoccino’s videos helped me take the step forward and purchase the art supplies to get started in my watercolor painting journey. I began with her beginners video, which was super easy to follow and although my painting still turned out to look like a product of those wine and paint classes, it still encouraged me to continue further. Watercolor painting is so relaxing and seeing the end product is just so satisfying. 

That concludes this week’s sparks of joys, but just to highlight a pattern throughout these posts, joy comes in different shapes and sizes. Joy is often intermixed with other emotions that may sometimes obscure it. If there is anything this practice has taught me is that identifying joys in life on a consistent basis requires patience and a willingness to tease apart the whirlwind of emotions inside us.

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

8.2.20 - 8.8.20

This week we added a few new additions to our house, so be prepared for some unsponsored IKEA love.

Items

1. Board game cabinet from IKEA: We had always known how many board games we had, but as we moved in and the stack beside the fireplace grew, it became apparent that they needed a proper display. Since we are going for an industrial farmhouse theme in the house, we bought FJÄLLBO from IKEA. I love this shelving unit! I love the black metal frame and I think it fits perfectly with the house. More importantly, I love how there was enough space for us to display our board games. I personally think our display is akin to something you would see in a board game store. It also provided us with a new perspective that we actually didn’t have as many games as we thought. With the gallery light shining on it, the board game shelving often catches my eye throughout the day. 

1. Desk drawer unit from IKEA: We’re in the process of expanding our office space at home since we’ll be working out of it for the distant future. We purchased these Alex drawers from IKEA - two for each desk, and I just love having actual drawers. It has been so long since either of us have had proper desk drawers. At our old place, I had one drawer unit that actually was from my childhood bedroom and only had two deep drawers. I love that the Alex drawer sizes are just right and I can be way more organized than my old two-drawer system. Plus, we have so much drawer space now that I should be able to find everything more easily! 

Music

2. Umbrella Academy soundtrack: I binge watched the Umbrella Academy this week. It was a great show, but what really sparked joy for me was the soundtrack. The tunes were spot on and just made everything even more of a blast to watch.

2. Say So - Doja Cat: I have been in love with this song for the past two months when I first discovered it from MYLEE Dance’s video. This dance was so fun, and I just did it so often that I really fell in love with this song. It is so smooth and is seething with pink vibes. When it popped in my Spotify playlist, I couldn’t help but groove to it. I still haven’t become sick of it.

2. Lion - (G)I-DLE: I used to love Kpop in high school, but really fell out of it for the past 10 years. The Twitch streamers I follow, however, have been obsessed with Kpop and are constantly playing Kpop tunes, so I thought I would give Kpop another try. Lion is so catchy and I just love the chorus. 

Miscellaneous

3. Bathroom plants display: This week, my boyfriend’s sister sent us plants from B. Willow as a housewarming gift. We received a Calathea, a Peperomia, and a Bird’s Nest Fern - all non-toxic for cats. I ordered these two blue ceramic pots for the Calathea and Bird’s Nest Fern that reside in our bathroom due to their preference for high humidity. Besides the thoughtfulness of the gift, I really enjoy the bathroom vibe now. We have a wooden countertop with a plant seated next to a burgundy soap dispenser. The color scheme is just very zen and in line with my vision of what I would like my bathroom to look like. 

Cooldown after Chloe Ting’s Summer Shred Challenge: I successfully completed Chloe Ting’s Summer Shred Challenge this week. At the end of each workout session for the past month, I did her cooldown video. I never did cooldowns that weren’t built into the same video, because I was in a rush to finish the workout. To be honest, I only started doing these cooldowns, because I was trying to complete my month’s challenge to stretch daily. This was an absolute blessing. By the end of the summer shred challenge, I was not only feeling stronger, but also more flexible. I was actually able to touch my toes when seated! I have been practicing yoga for a while, but have not practiced the same stretches daily like this before. It just made me really happy when I would stretch out my arms and not just graze my toes. It was a little unintentional win! 

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

7.26.20 - 8.1.20

Food

1. Chicken Rico: Normally, when we order out, we order Chinese, Poke, or occasionally Greek. This week, we dared to explore other cuisines and ordered from Chicken Rico. The dark meat was so moist and the seasoning on the skin was scrumptious. My boyfriend heated up his leftovers for dinner and the scent of the seasoning had me craving for more. Moreover, I tried yucca and I have to say, I think I like it more than french fries. It’s super dense and more filling than french fries. Food is always a source of joy, especially new ones!

2. Peppermint tea: This week was the first time I had peppermint tea without other flavors, and it’s so refreshing. Before this week, I would avoid any tea with peppermint in it during the day, in fear that it would make me too tired to function. I had it wrong the whole time. This week, I resorted to peppermint tea to destress and unwind at night.

Items

3. Oxo silicone baking cups: I baked Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal Cups in our new Oxo silicone baking cups and these baking cups are godsend. No more paper cupcake cups sticking to the tin or the muffin sticking to the paper cup. Everything just comes out smoothly. More importantly, they’re great for the environment and save me money in the long run! They are dishwasher safe, so clean up is super easy. As an extra plus, the colors are so bright and cheery. They give me Oh Joy vibes and within my gray-painted walls, I appreciate any pop of color.

Film

4. RuPaul’s Drag Race: I must admit I had never watched RuPaul’s Drag Race before and I decided to give a try this week. First of all, I have to say these drag queens are super talented - from creating their own outfits to dancing, acting, and lip-synching - it’s super entertaining to watch. Second, the real joy from this show is RuPaul’s positivity. I’ve only watched two episodes so far, which have had plenty of drama, but I love that there is a lot of positive feedback on the show and it’s usually very constructive. There’s not much of the histrionic, hurtful comments I remember from reality shows like America’s Next Top Model. I do wish the commercial breaks didn’t try to bait you into thinking there’s more negative drama than there actually is, because I find the show somewhat wholesome. Despite the competition, the contestants often treat each other with respect and kindness and still manage to support each other. There are still some who throw shade, but the balance between the shade and positivity is fairly equal. I think RuPaul is the most positive of them all. I love how RuPaul has concluded each episode thus far by stating, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” It serves as a reminder to not just the contestants, but also the audience and what an excellent reminder it is. 

Miscellaneous

Morning senses: Last but not least, this week, I found joy in my mornings. Every morning, I sat on the living room couch, feeling the warmth of the sun’s rays on my toes, watching the sun’s light stream in, and hearing the soft chirps of birds nearby. This embracement of my senses has rekindled my joy and appreciation for mornings. At our old place, every window was met with a brick wall from an adjacent building. If I were to extend my hand out of any window, I would have touched the adjacent buildings. As a result, sun streaming in and chirping birds weren’t a luxury we had. It’s amazing how these two things could improve my happiness.

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/

[weeklysparksofjoy]

7.19.20 - 7.25.20

Now that we’ve settled into our new place a bit more, the new setting has provided quite a bit of distraction from my usual work mindset. Lowered productivity and guilt have resulted in a shorter list of joy for this week.

Food

1. Bagels with chive and onion cream cheese: This breakfast was just a pure throwback. I slathered my Thomas’s plain bagels with Philadelphia’s chive and onion cream cheese spread and ugh, it was so yummy that even my cat was constantly trying to get a lick of it. It’s not by any means healthy, but it reminded me of my childhood, when Thomas’s plain bagels was a staple.

2. Tantanmen with bok choy: I cooked this recipe this week and substituted oat milk for soy milk and it was amazing. I loved the rich flavor of the spicy broth and that a bite into the meat (I used ground turkey since the grocery store didn’t have ground pork) offers a different flavor. The clean and pure taste of the boiled bok choy (I accidentally skipped adding sesame oil to the boiling pot of water) led me to recreate boiled bok choy as a side dish for another meal.

Items

3. Trash bags that fit our garbage can: This is a really silly one, but it is incredible what kinds of frustrations can emerge from a garbage bag-can mismatch. We own simplehuman’s semi-round step trash can, which we love, since we no longer need to lift a lid. When we first settled into the area, we had purchased a cheap Ikea trash can where the lid was a separate piece and each time we wanted to throw something out, we’d have to take the lid off and either hold it or lie it on the ground. These are all small details that when added up can cause a lot of disruption in daily living. Onto our current trash can, we tried to skip the cost of purchasing simplehuman’s liners and instead lined the cans with any plastic bags we got from grocery stores. No surprise that the weight of the trash’s contents would cause the bag to fall to the bottom of the trash can. More small ripples in our daily life. It was pure frustration reaching our hand deep into the can and try to scrap our dishes into the narrow slit of the crumpled plastic bag. Ultimately, we caved into simplehuman’s custom liners, which are the only bags that will fit this trash can, and there have been no small frustrations. In the end, this is also probably better for the environment. We were consuming plastic bags at a rate of once per day - the sum of the surface area far outweighs the surface area of a single simplehuman custom liner for a week. Additionally, now we can bring our plastic bags to the grocery store to get recycled. We’ve also been avoiding plastic bags at stores by bringing our reusable bags, so we would have likely run out of bags for our trash in the long run. Next on our list is composting! 

Miscellaneous 

4. Morning pages: This week I began filling 3 pages in my journal with whatever’s in my mind. I heard Youtuber Jenn Im fits it into her daily practice, so I thought I’d give it a try. I think it did help make this week a little better. It gave me an opportunity to write out what concerns I have and then propose possible solutions.

Special thanks to Cassie for designing the image! Check out her work on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meta__morphosis__design/ 

[weeklysparksofjoy]

7.12.20 - 7.18.20

This week we moved into our new house in Baltimore, so the change in environment likely spurred a new perspective on life.

Food

Bambao’s Sambal Honey Fried Chicken Bao - Let’s start with the good stuff. This was my second time ordering this from Bambao, but this time it tasted way better. Eating the daikon and carrot salad first was likely the game changer, because it saved the best part, the crispy, flaky honey dried chicken bao for last.

Sheet pan chicken thighs with bell peppers and white rice - This week, my boyfriend did all the cooking, which was something else to be grateful for. He likes very bare-bones, straightforward dishes that require minimal effort. One night, he just placed chicken thighs on a sheet pan with sliced bell peppers and onions and served it with cooked white rice. The juice and oil from the chicken thighs just add so much flavor to the rice. It tasted just as good the next day. Not the healthiest, but pretty tasty and surprisingly, leftovers I eagerly awaited.

Items

Flamingo razor - This razor makes your legs feel so smooth. The packaging is also so sleek and minimal. Also, I love that the color is Taro and Rose Gold.

Nasty Gal Born to Mule Wide Fit Flat Sandals - These sandals are so cute and comfy. I have wide feet and these fit perfectly.

Video games

Playing Zyra on League of Legends with the Electrocute Runes - This past week, my month-long boycott of League of Legends came to an end as I put aside the toxicity to test out Bizzleberry’s Zyra guide. As a new player to League, I like playing support since I’m not good at last-hitting minions, but I still like to do a lot of damage. When I came across Bizzleberry’s guide, he suggested using the Domination primary runes for extra damage. Since using these runes, I’ve consistently performed well on my teams, placing at least top 5 out of all players in the game. It’s a great feeling to come out of a game seeing how much damage you did, especially after feeling so demoralized to play as a noob.

Watching Twitch Rivals Spirit Blossom Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends - I’ve been watching a lot of Twitch streams and I really enjoyed watching individual streamers come together as a team in this triathalon-like event. I watched from GrandVice8′s perspective, but I thought it was cool that he was coaching his teammates in TFT. It was also funny to see him, a non-Runeterra streamer play Runeterra while chat and my boyfriend were freaking out over misplays.  

Miscellaneous

Getting up at 8 to spend an hour on the couch, scrolling through Pinterest - As I mentioned, we just moved to a new house. Our previous apartment was surrounded by brick walls on all sides, so we didn’t get much sunlight. Now, in our house, we get so much sunlight that we actually need blackout curtains (which are a blessing). Now that we have so much sunlight, I enjoy sitting on the couch in the mornings, sipping on my hot coffee while scrolling through Pinterest for interior design ideas.

Freedom to chill - Throughout my whole life, I’ve felt this pressure to be working non-stop, like if I’m supposed to work from 9-5 with a one-hour break, then for 7 hours I’m working with no breaks. It was so foreign to me that people take some breaks during their work and maybe end the day a little early. I think I’m a workhorse, such that when I have a goal in mind, I will trudge ahead at full force with my blinders on. I think this work ethic, however, has contributed to my increasingly frequent tension headaches, because although my mind is 100% in, my body needs breaks. Realizing that these breaks are okay, also opened the door to the revelation that I don’t have to go all out every single day, especially now during the summer. As a graduate student, my classmates are relaxing while I work 40-hours a week. Yeah, I might get ahead, but at this rate, I’ll probably fall behind the pack when the academic year starts due to burnout. There’s a reason we have summer break. This week, I’ve embraced this freedom to chill while still getting some work done and it’s just changed my whole perspective on things. I’ve been racing along in my work that I didn’t really stop to enjoy life during work. This is what’s encouraged me to start this blog - to slow me down so that I can find the sparks in life.