Autodidact, #bookblogger, writer, fan, photographer, gardener, foodie, gamer, liberal/democratic socialist intersectional feminist. Cat herder.
Pronouns: she/her
Garden Zone: 7A, SE TN, US
Spent this morning getting my 'new' laptop (Dell Latitude 5289) up & running in #Ubuntu Cinnamon. Swapped out the original 256GB SSD for a 1 TB SSD and getting various bits set up.
Husband's workplace was getting rid of a bunch of decommissioned laptops and thin clients, and he picked up a few laptops and desktops for us to play around with. I have an Asus ProArt Studio that is my main system, and I've set up the Dell for light photo processing using digikam & darktable.
"All you have is what you are, and what you give."
Ursula K. Le Guin on suffering and getting to the other side of pain: https://t.co/9jQAnM68q0
@doctorLURK Thank you! It was so good. Did it on my 12" cast iron skillet because my grill is under icy snow.
Made myself an excellent rib-eye steak for my dinner tonight with a baked potato with butter & sour cream and asparagus sautéed in butter and minced garlic for my birthday today
Just a reminder that I have a newsletter! Featuring weird missives about pop culture, politics, personal essay and random weirdness. It's free! I would like to have as many subscribers as the average reactionary centrist bro one day...
I never leave my husband's car on empty when I drive it, so why does he think it's fine to do it to me and my car? Urgh. I had to go out of my way to get to the gas station while I was out picking up pizza.
These are the concepts and ideas that have improved my life this year:
POSSE + Personal Knowledge Management + Obsidian = Writing 5x faster
I’ve long realised that I don’t write in a linear fashion. Meaning, my thoughts are chaos monkeys that flit from one topic to another, not following a flow or a timeline.
In the past, I’d wait for the right moment to organize my chaotic thoughts into a proper article. But I always end up staring at a blinking cursor, because these chaos monkeys have disappeared into another dimension. It took me so much longer to write articles this way, and it took a lot of brain power to do so.
A quick segue: The POSSE system is where you funnel all content from external sources into your website so that it becomes the single source of truth. I realised that I’ve been pumping so much of content into social media, and they often get lost or ignored. However, what if I repurpose them instead?
So, this year, I gathered all my thoughts and social media into my Obsidian vault.
And I found that blog posts or articles practically writes itself this way.
All I had to do was just do a light edit, shuffle a few blocks of content around, and wala, a blog post is created. No longer do I have to stare at a blinking cursor, trying hard to remember my ideas or thoughts, because I had exported it to my second brain – my Obsidian vault. This has resulted in much faster output.
I use this method to quickly write reviews for my Chinese and Korean drama blog, Drama Tea. While I have figured out how to do this for Chinese drama reviews, I’ve not quite figured out how to do so for more general articles like the one I write in this blog. But I think the same principles should apply.
I’m just a bit stumped on how to organise it in my Obsidian vault so that I can find it easier next time.
For the love of the Fediverse and Substack
I’ve never been happier and mentally healthier on social media, but I now have this problem again: I’m getting addicted to social media again 😅 This is reflected in the declining number of books I’m reading this year. I used to be able to read up to 100 books a year. This year, I barely reached 15. Gah! It’s not that I’m reading less, but I’m reading a lot more social media content, which includes blog posts. The Fediverse and Substack has enabled me to discover writing on newsletter and personal blogs, and it’s a beautiful place to be, reading the writing of average Joes and Janes rather than the anointed demigods of the publishing world.
Rekinidled my ❤ for #CDramas
I’ve been watching Chinese dramas since the 80s, but I stopped due to lack of access and also what I thought was declining quality in Chinese dramas. However, apps such as iQIYI, Viki and WETV, and ahem, third party sites, have reopened the doors for me, so 2023 was the year that I watched almost exclusively CDramas. It made me realise how much I missed watching and absorbing perspectives similar to mine and to revel in my Chinese roots.
I love Chinese Dramas so much this year that I started a blog and a podcast about it! Can you believe it? Yeah, I can’t either.
Technical writing
A friend, with perfectly good intentions said that I was wasting my writing talent writing user guides. But I feel like I’m now in my sweet spot, career- and creativity- wise. Technical writing gives me the opportunity to be exposed to one of my big loves – software and technology. I was that kid in school who learned BASIC and coded in her free time. It is very nice to blend that side of me with my writerly self.
Alternate Day Fasting and exercise consistency
Honestly, weight loss has been elusive to me. So much so that I’ve stopped making weight loss resolutions every year. But in 2023 I told myself that I had to lose the pandemic weight that I had gained. And I did, losing 6kg. The secret was consistency.
I started out super small, promising myself that I’ll walk 5000 steps a day. By the end of the year, I was walking 10000.
The intermittent fasting lifestyle has been great for me. Although I’ve not been as consistent with my fasting as with my exercise, I’m slowly understanding what I need to do to get there, so 2024 is all about being consistent with my exercise + fasting patterns. I hope to lose at least 50% of the 10kg I gained since 2018 due to work stress. Sigh.
Digital Gardens rekindled my ❤️ for blogging
I wrote about blogging the digital garden way previously. I used to treat my personal website like a content marketer, every post carefully crafted to attract leads that could improve my career or get freelance opportunities. However, it robbed me of a lot of joy. Now, I treat my personal website as my “digital home hub”. I’m much happier as a result.
Walking pads. Why did I wait so long to get one?
Since I heard about them, I wondered about getting one. I could walk on them while watching TV, for one. I was also having difficulties meeting my 7000 steps goal due to the weather being too hot or rainy. When Lazada had a sale and I spotted an RM350 walking pad, I bought it. But I had very little faith that it would work as it was so cheap. But in the end, it works, and I now complete 10,000 steps effortlessly.
I don't work outside the home, so I am very flexible, but oof it's hard to get things done when I'm sleeping funky hours.
Had breakfast, slept 6 hours, had water, my vitamins and went outside to get some sun and fresh air. I'm not too sure what I did, but hey, it's a win.
I've started sleeping four hours or less at a time again, so this is a good thing, to also be able to deal with daywalker things that require being awake and functional during business hours.
Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home. - Anna Quindlen
Salt & pepper is barely enough seasoning for seared chicken, my goodness. I mean we're also doing minced garlic and white wine and cream in a sauce but honestly. Seasoning! I did salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder & paprika on my chicken today even though the recipe only called for s&p.
I liked Hungryroot but I had a box and several cold packs to dispose of weekly, and I had to wait two days for my groceries from when I ordered. With Emeals, I get my groceries that day if I order early enough to get a same-day pick-up slot. And I can add things like cat food and household items, saving me extra trips, which helps when I haven't slept well.
Nothing like having a meal plan and groceries in the fridge to feel accomplished. I signed up for Emeals & they have a partnership with Walmart Grocery so I can order everything I need for pickup. No more managing packaging and cold packs.
Also, it's in portrait mode on my Pixel 7 Pro. He is an excellent poser.
And now Josie shows off his loaf form, complete with his curly tail. He's also purring. And this was after me telling him to stop lurking like a creep. Behind him is my cart full of books and notebooks.
@celset2 they do look like they indulge in terrorizing on the daily. Adorable babies and in Halloween colors!
Sleeping like he was not a little shit this week. Josie has been Extra bratty. But of course he is being cute while sleeping next to me.
The #ADD tax was spendy today, but it means fewer dishes for a while.
