Gleniz da MenaceI’m three months TikTok-free (my longest TikTok detox yet?), and out of curiosity, I asked my cousin what’s happening there and what are the things I should know:
First, she sent me a voice message of her singing and bombarded me with videos of her dancing. Akala ko mga general TikTok dance trends yung sinesend nya. Yun pala dance trends specific to KATSEYE songs. I told her I would finally listen to their music.
I think the holiday season officially started for us when one of Kenneth’s college friends invited us to go on a holiday train ride.
Just like the previous year, I rounded up all my published posts and organized them around the recurring themes of this blog (paid posts are marked with an asterisk) . My utmost gratitude goes to those who find joy and comfort in my writing. I hope it was worth your time. When you love to write, being seen and heard means a lot. But probably the more compelling motive is my internal one. Writing is how I make sense of the world. Thank you for being with me on this voyage of self-expression and discovery.
Writing has so much to give,
Anne Lamott
so much to teach, so many surprises.
The act of writing,
turns out to be its own reward.
I was able to achieve this year’s reading goal (yay). Since 2023, my reading goal has been the same: read 12 books in a year. This number feels right to me—it’s not too many, but still personally challenging enough.
Here are the 12 books I read in 2025 (with quickie reviews), starting with the ones I liked the least:
I rated these books 2 to 2.5 stars
Annoying kid. Mean boy. Bad friend.
December is a sensitive month for me. Kasi simula pagkabata, as mentioned before, ito yung favorite month ko. Festive and vibrant ang paligid, magbi-birthday ako, nung bata ako alam kong magkakaron ako ng pera pamamasko, nung tumanda na nakakatuwa yung mga sale, and just overall looking forward to family holiday events. My brain had a certain expectation pagsapit ng December, built from my childhood and was a constant part of my world. Pero nagbago lahat yun nung nag-move kami sa Canada.
Many years ago, after getting my first iPhone, pinamana ko yung iPod Touch ko kay Illysa (my cousin) because I figured hindi ko naman kailangan both at the same time. But now that she’s no longer using it, I retrieved it for nostalgia purposes (buti na lang hindi nya naiwala or tinapon). Nung binigay ko yun sa kanya back in 2016, ang tanging hiling ko lang ay wag syang magbura ng photos. Thankfully, she didn’t delete them all and I was happy to see some of those old photos again.
November 28, 2025
Nabilisan ako sa buwan na ‘to. November felt like two things:
and
Pero since kasama namin si Benson pabalik ng Calgary, tapos lumabas pa kami nung 19th and 22nd, parang na-extend pa rin yung trip somehow. November 28 na ngayon, and I’m still writing about this recent trip of ours. Kakatapos ko nga lang manood ng isang LA vlog nung minsan. Needless to say, hindi pa rin ako nakaka-move on. Tapos next week, December na! Parang lumipad lang talaga yung November.
Since sobrang konti nga ng kaalaman ko about LA, nito ko lang nalaman na hindi pala karaniwan umuulan sa LA. Kaya niloloko nila kami na kami yung nagdala ng ulan kasi maulan nung week na punta namin. Ngayon ko lang din nalaman na since hindi nga maulan dito, ito yung ideal place mag-shoot ng movies, plus idagdag mo pa yung varied landscapes like mountains, beaches, and deserts—a perfect shooting location. Good to know.
After Sequoia, it was inuman night. We had drinks, sang our hearts out, and stayed up until 4AM. Just like old times.
We had this one free day which wasn’t exactly a free day. We planned a surprise pre-baby shower dinner for Aryan and Hudas to thank them for hosting us, so while they were out and about (attending another baby shower), we were busy cooking. We only had 2 hours to prepare and so we were scrambling in their big kitchen, figuring out where the pots and pans and baking tools were.
November 7-18, 2025
This whole California trip was an achievement in and of itself. Our schedules were aligned, no flights were cancelled despite the US government shutdown, (and most importantly) we now have some adult money, and even with some unavoidable hiccups, we all managed to take with us special and fun core memories.
I’m happy to be traveling with Kenneth again. After so many trips these past few months (12 flights!!), it feels nice that this last trip of the year gets to be with him. I’m also grateful that my friends are his friends too! We don’t have to worry about one of us being left out or getting bored. No awkward scenarios where one of us goes quiet and the other constantly asks, “Okay ka lang?”
Gleniz da Menace