I’ve been living the easy life with family this month. Taking it slow. Holding onto that December energy even though it’s already January. Feeling very zen about it. Not concerned by thoughts of catching up, getting back in the grind, or making big plans. Completely unbothered.
Yeah you bet I frickin watched it!! And yeah I like this song! I also like Olaf’s song; I never related so hard to a snowman. I hate Kristoff’s song. My favourite scene was Olaf’s recap of Frozen I. It gets me rolling every time (had to look it up on Youtube to rewatch). Enjoyed Frozen II overall—so many laughs—but the end was way too quick and tidy.
Poll: the original version with Idina Menzel/Aurora or the contemporary version with Panic! At The Disco?
(I have discussed this with my brother and we prefer the original because “Into the Unknown” isn’t “Into the Unknown” without Aurora! But we prefer Panic! over Idina for everyday listening. Yes everyday. But Aurora ♡ So the original wins for us.)
It snowed! Beijing hasn’t snowed like this for awhile, so it was a real treat. This is the view from my bedroom of the first snowfall and the morning after.
Maybe I should clarify: that was the view from my new bedroom, as I’ve swapped with my youngest brother since leaving for college. Well actually, technically it was his room, but he never used it, so it was pretty much just a storage room.
My first orders of business upon arriving home were finally decluttering my old room that my youngest brother had somehow been surviving in for the past five years while I’d been away (simply adding his own stuff on top of my old stuff), and decluttering and sprucing up my new room (“his” old room/the storage room).
My new room, previously the storage room, had been housing my old bed frame and desk set from my childhood bedroom in our old house in Los Angeles. The desk had been sitting unused for 10+ years, piling up with unused chargers, earbuds, wires, papers, cards, toys, souvenirs, and other unidentifiable objects, but now it’s back in working condition. The only thing I’ve left on it is the trusty ol’ Power Mac G4 Cube we used back in the day, the monitor decked out with purikura stickers of me with my brother (the older younger brother, not the youngest brother, as he wasn’t born yet) and grandpa.
It’s so nostalgic to be in my new room. Back in the same bed. With the same desk. With a dinosaur of a desktop computer. I’ve really leaned into the nostalgia and decorated the matching cabinet above my desk with the few children’s books I decided to keep after decluttering, sentimental video tapes I unearthed (Fantasia, my childhood), and a cassette tape for aesthetics (the tape is of some kind of prayer, which is kinda creepy now that I think about it, but it’s plain white and only has text on one side, so I keep the blank side facing out).
Afternoon coffee with the family at Maan Coffee, a hot spot from my high school days.
Bagged milk tea because I’m casual like that. It was leftover from a restaurant meal with family, and I guess takeout cups weren’t a thing at that restaurant haha.
Haircut! I usually get my hair cut once a year, getting a chop, dye, and perm all at once. This time I just got a trim and perm. My hair dresser really went to town with the blowout, so those curls are more from her blow drying magic than from the perm.
This was at the beginning of December. I’m thinking of going back to the salon right before I head back to Philly to chop off as much of my dyed hair as I can, depending on how much more my hair grows out (I’m not trying to be bald here); I’m not really a fan of the perm I got this time. Usually with a perm, I get effortless waves so that I never need to maintain my hair on the daily (no blow drying, no brushing/combing, no nothing!!), but I think this time, the curls were too small so my hair is tending to go frizzy unless I give it the love and attention it needs. Which I won’t. So snip snip.
It seems that the only time of year I ever get a manicure is for the festive season, so I really like to go to town with it. Cute ass Rudolph. (Scroll to the end of last year’s December recap for last year’s festive manicure!)
The only books I brought with me on vacation were Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino and three ARCs, due to be published in January and February; I read Trick Mirror prior to the holidays but wanted to bring it with me because I hadn’t finished processing it yet and because I wanted to write a full review on it, and I still have yet to touch my ARCs. So yeah, the reading I have been doing has mostly been happening on my Kindle. But I’ve also been recruiting my youngest brother to check out books from his school library for me hehe.
Had lunch out with dad at a fancy Japanese restaurant, the most interesting point being the fancy fried rice: fried rice with foie gras and caviar. Is this what royalty feels like?
煎饼！！My love! It’s crazy how prolific 煎饼 has become since I’ve been gone. When I still lived in Beijing, I got 煎饼 after school all the time. There was a 煎饼 cart right outside campus, and me, my friends, and everyone would line up for it, 5RMB at the ready.
Just so you know the love is real: the only detention I ever got in my entire life was for “leaving campus” during school hours because I left for 煎饼 during my study hall in my junior year, and only seniors were allowed to leave campus. But c’mon, the 煎饼 cart was RIGHT BY CAMPUS. Yes, technically I was outside of the school gates, but I didn’t even step off the school’s sidewalk!!
I don’t know where that 煎饼 cart is anymore, but my youngest brother has informed me that the school cafeteria now has 煎饼. Those kids don’t know how good they have it!! Now they don’t have to sneak out anymore!
煎饼 has also entered the supermarkets. I was so surprised when I saw it while doing groceries with mom. I must emphasise that 煎饼 is street food!!
Another high school hot spot was Jamaica Blue; it was in the clubhouse of the housing compound right next to my school. Now my clubhouse has a branch as well, so I don’t need to traverse all the way there for it anymore!
I’ve been visiting Jamaica Blue pretty regularly, going on morning coffee runs with my dad before he heads off to work. Though now, at the end of December (let’s pretend it’s not January yet and I’m not way behind on my blog posts), my sleep schedule has started going haywire as the holidays have progressed, and I don’t often wake up early enough anymore, but my dad will grab coffee for me before work anyway and drop it off for me to wake up to ♡
I also got brunch with my mom at Jamaica Blue and ordered what I always order: tuna pesto pasta—a staple of my high school diet.
Greetings from an egg.
And now, that brings us to Taiwan! It’s mostly been drinking hella boba, eating hella food, and seeing relatives. We spent New Years Eve at The W hotel and it was lit. And more hip than I’ll ever be. Music pumping, neon flashing, disco balls twirling, young bellhops dressed all sleek.
Looking down from our room, we counted down to 2020 with the humongous crowd gathered at the base of the building, watching Taipei 101 light up with fireworks. Then we stayed up until 3AM doing various things, including watching The Mandalorian.
How did you spend Christmas and New Years Eve?
PS: november, october, september, august, july, june, may, april, march, february, january