Category: Wellness

Categories
Insights Pals Secrets

Best Friends

You have full access to this post because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

I was listening to a podcast and one of the hosts talked about having a best friend and how they had a falling out, and I naturally thought of my best friends and how we had a falling out. Back in grade school, I still think fondly of all the ‘best friend things’ we did. Listening to boy bands and girl pop stars (we loved Christina Aguilera), sharing our boy band crushes (mine is Ben of A1), gushing about our real-life crushes, gossiping about girls we didn’t like, skipping my piano lessons and hanging out at their house for hours (yung pambayad ko sa piano teacher ginawa kong pang-meryenda namin), and all that cutesy naiveté that childhood brings.

I find it incredibly cool that back then, living in a small province, we’d just tell our parents we were going to our friend’s house and then just walk there on our own. No cellphones, no way for them to track us, no texting our friend to say we’re coming over—we’d just show up on their doorsteps completely unannounced, and all that was just normal. What we had was pure, unadulterated quality time with our friends, and there were no cellphones to distract us. If there’s a landline phone, its main purpose was to prank call our crushes (hindi kami nagte-telebabad ng best friends ko kasi kung gusto naming magusap, pupunta kami mismo sa bahay ng isa’t isa para mag-chikahan). Those were the days indeed.

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Books Food Nutrition Secrets

Life Updates | Social Media Detox (Again) + Baked Goods + Disappointing Author

You have full access to this post because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

1.

Deleted my social media apps (except Threads). I just said goodbye to TikTok and *with a conflicted heart* Instagram. Where am I gonna find my recipes? Where am I gonna share my cooking and baking and our cute kitties? But my willpower prevailed, and I’m going to try and stick with it for as long as I can.

I don’t think an explanation is needed for this move because, at various points in our life, all of us wanted to take a real break from these apps. And last week, I had the guts to go cold turkey and just live a quieter life. I’ll get my recipes somewhere else and I’ll still be able to share stuff here.

2.

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Food Secrets Wellness

The Menace Bulletin No. 2

You have full access to this post because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

Welcome to The Menace Bulletin! It’s where you’ll find a curated collection of little discoveries, interesting tidbits, and all sorts of odd curiosities.

THE GOODS

Cool people and things I stumbled upon.

Micro library

I discovered this last July nung maganda pa ang weather at araw-araw pa kong naglalakad. Lumihis ako sa usual walking route ko at nakita ko ‘tong maliit na building. Nung mas nakalapit pa ko, library pala sya!

Parang greenhouse pero mga libro ang laman

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Calm Secrets

Thursday Letter #12 | Letters to Self

You have full access to this post because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

Hello from my cozy little home office. Ang aga kong nagising ngayon (5:30AM) which meant more time to read, journal, and write my 12th Thursday letter. After reading my saved articles (hoping to spark some ideas), hindi ko pa rin alam kung anong isusulat ko today. So binasa ko yung latest entry sa journal ko at meron pala akong ginawang list:

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Insights Life

Goodness Gracious

I wanted to share an article I read about being a good person. The author—drawing from social media standards and contemporary novels—humorously summed it up this way:

First and foremost, a good person possesses a deep understanding of power structures and her relative place in them. She has a sense of humor that never “punches down.” She doesn’t subtweet, buy stuff on Amazon, or fly on too many planes. She has children in order to fend off narcissism—a bad quality—and develop a stake in the future of planet Earth, but she would never presume to judge another woman’s choice. And though she occasionally makes mistakes—cheats on her boyfriend, offends her friends after drinking too much, doesn’t call her mom very often—she admits them. A good person is not perfect (she has read enough not to fall for that trap), but she is self-aware.

Lauren Oyler — For Goodness’ Sake
Continue reading “Goodness Gracious”
Categories
Career Insights Secrets

The Okayest Employee

You’re reading this because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

I’ve downloaded the LinkedIn app again just to take a peek of what’s out there. I even  received two messages about remote job opportunities na para bang alam nilang babalik na ko sa trabaho soon. Pag nakauwi na ang Mama sa Pilipinas, I will be in my full-on job hunting mode.

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Art Hobbies Wellness

The Menace Bulletin No. 1

Welcome to The Menace Bulletin! It’s where you’ll find a curated collection of little discoveries, interesting tidbits, and all sorts of odd curiosities.

First edition is on the house, but I’d probably reserve future ones for paid subscribers *finger heart*

THE GOODS

Cool people and things I stumbled upon.

Steal like an artist

Austin Kleon is one of my favourite artists and I’m happy to see that he has a new podcast guesting! He’s a treasure trove of knowledge about other artists and is just filled with creativity wisdom. I like how he can almost immediately pull up a quote relevant to the topic being discussed and cite his sources at the same time—his most popular book is Steal Like an Artist but he doesn’t neglect to credit the artists he’s “stealing” from. I appreciate that about him. Because what I can’t stand is when people bring up an insight or copy an idea but neglect or forget to mention where they got it from. It doesn’t give the opportunity for curious consumers to explore and dig deep into the source. Well, the worst thing is passing off an idea as their own and that’s just plain sleazy. Not cool.

Continue reading “The Menace Bulletin No. 1”
Categories
Life Wellness

Mid-Year Check 2025

Bilis ng panahon. A lot of things happened. Winter turned into spring, tapos ngayon summer na. Met new people, wrote a lot, feelings were felt, tears were shed. There were joys and laughter too—which I badly badly needed. It’s hard to face the second half of the year without feeling a sense of fear. I just really hope our family can take a breather and wala munang mangyari na mabigat.

Each start of the year since 2021, I make a game plan for the upcoming year. I also set a theme. This year’s was:

Make maximum personal impact through simplified effort

This theme’s goal is to prevent myself from being overwhelmed and just gain more clarity. I just want to keep things simple as much as I can. Whether it’s my routine, my clothes, how I eat, or my hobbies. I intend to have more feelings of peace and less anxiety.

So far, the feelings of overwhelm I experienced this year is less than last year, so pakiramdam ko nagagawa ko naman unti-unti.

Now let’s revisit my 2025 goals:

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Categories
Insights Secrets

Listening to Your Gut

You’re reading this because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

After I published this essay about my social life, ang daming leftover thoughts na nag-flow after. Parang ang dami ko pa palang masasabi. So consider this as a continuation of that previous post.

Unti-unti kong nakokolekta yung mga factors kung bakit pa-intense ng pa-intense yung pag-question ko sa quality ng social life ko:

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

Categories
Insights Life Secrets

Is My Social Life on Life Support?

You’re reading this because you’re a paid subscriber. Thank you! 🤍

Minsan, pag kuntento naman akong nakatambay lang sa bahay, tapos excited ako sa mga plano kong gawin (either magsulat at magbasa lang naman yun, or manood ng TV or mag-chores), tapos makikita ko online yung mga tao na lumalabas with their family or friends, I feel this pang of anxiety. Pag nawi-witness ko sa social media yung ganun, parang napapa-question ako na, “Ganun din ba dapat ang social life ko?” And I think kaya medyo kakaiba yung impact nun sakin, kasi ilang beses ko nang na-encounter sa mga libro at podcasts na isa sa mga importanteng aspect daw ng well-being ay having a rich social life.

As an immigrant na ang family at close friends ay nasa iba-ibang parte ng mundo, in comparison sa mga nakikita ko online, it seems like my social life is lacking. I get confused. Is it a real lack, or just perceived lack? Kasi kung hindi naman ako nagbukas ng Instagram at hindi ko sila nakita, I would be perfectly content with my books and my cats’ fuzzy company. Ito yung dream ko simula nung highschool ako—I’m in my cozy home, peacefully reading books, bonus pa pag gloomy sa labas or umuulan. I’m finally living the dream! Pero pag nawi-witness ko sila na madaming ganaps, pumupunta yung isip ko sa well-being ko. Not even naiinggit na gusto kong lumabas din, naco-conscious ako na since hindi ako masyado mahilig lumabas, baka nakakasama sya sa health ko.

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.