I'm two months too late, but Happy New Year! How is everyone's 2022 so far? Hope you're all doing well. This is my first post of the year, so I thought I'd start with a little life update 🌱
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October 2021. I turned thirty-two! Aian and I celebrated by going out to have my yearly birthday ramen (which I wasn't able to have the year prior because of the lockdown). This was the first time Aian and I went to dine out since the pandemic started, so we were so surprised at just how many people were out 💀 My birthday fell on a Saturday, too. Payday weekend! When we went to queue at Yushoken we were 17th in line. Crazy. We eventually got in after an hour or so, and I got to have my birthday ramen, so it was all good. I got to have coffee and cake, too. I actually have a few more photos from this day, but it was such a chaotic day that honestly it didn't feel like my birthday LOL. I shared them on Instagram and Tumblr, if you're interested in seeing them!
I really liked my makeup that day, so I did a quick shoot when we got home 🙈
+ a bonus photo with my baby Jakejake 💜
Got myself a late birthday gift! Converse Run Star Hikes 🤩 I've been wanting to get these for YEARS but I just couldn't justify buying new shoes during this point in time. When will I even wear these? But they were on sale for almost 50% off, so I just went ahead and got them. So pretty but SO HEAVY. It feels like I have weights on my feet when I wear these. But they're cute, so! As with all cute but useless things that I like, I just have to suck it up lol.
Had to do a Halloween-themed shoot for a contact lens review, so I racked my brain to come up with a look I can do with the limited makeup skills that I have. I remembered I've had this one necklace for years but never got to use it for a shoot, so I built an outfit around it. I came up with the look after watching Red Velvet's Psycho and Dreamcatcher's Odd Eye. I think it turned out pretty good? I didn't know I could blend eyeshadow like that, I was surprised at how nice the makeup looked in the final pictures! Thank you, Youtube.
+ another photo with Jakejake hehe
Went to Laguna with my mom's side of the family to celebrate a tita's birthday. There was a pool, so of course I had fun, but then I ended up getting my left ear clogged with water. I spent the next few days not being able to hear properly out of that ear. I had to keep asking people to repeat what they were saying, and so I had to keep apologizing because I felt like it was such a hassle for the other person 😩
November 2021. First order of business: get my ears checked 😪 Can you believe this was the first time I scheduled an appointment with the doctor by myself? I've never had to do so before (my parents would always do it for me). My social anxiety always tells my brain to prepare for the worst, so I was relieved that the whole process was simpler than I thought. I still had to bring Aian along though, for emotional support. When the doctor checked my ear, it turned out to be *drumroll* earwax. Like, super impacted earwax. From regularly using cotton buds to clean my ears. Yeah. (Super TMI but I'm sure this has happened to other people so 😬) I had to go back after a few days because they couldn't get it out the first time. When they did finally manage to get it out, I was so relieved to be able to hear out of that ear again!
I bought a binder to hold TN inserts that I'm done with! I initially wanted to get the one from Traveler's Company but they're a bit expensive. I got mine for less than half the price of the TC one. Quality is just ok, but it does the job. I bought one for my passport-sized inserts after this. Might need to buy another one soon, since my 2019 inserts got too chonky and couldn't fit in just one binder lol.
I forgot why we went outside on this day. I only remember we went out to buy something, had dinner somewhere, then decided to check out the nearby All Day because we've never gone inside even after living in BF Resort for ~7 years. We were only supposed to take a quick look, but, well. You know how it is.
Got photos printed for my journal backlog, finally! These are photos from January to October 2019. Was so excited to get back into journaling after almost 2 years ðŸ˜
Spent the next day cutting everything...
December 2021. Started the last month of 2021 like this..🤧
That one day our power went out but then I remembered I had my sunset lamp hooked to my powerbank LOL.
Apparently after recovering from the food poisoning incident I really missed eating good food, so when my appetite was back to normal I asked Aian if we could eat out. This was from our dinner at Tablo, one of our faves inside BFRV. The last time we ate here was ~2 years ago! I'm glad the food is still as good as I remember.
Looking through my phone I realized we ended up eating so much in December...na-miss ko talaga kumain, ok.
I got an iPad Mini 6 🥰 I got the purple one. Aian paid for it though LOL. It's supposed to be his late birthday + early Christmas gift to me. I'm so happy! I can finally stop editing photos on my tiny iPhone 6. (Being able to play Genshin on it is just a bonus, albeit a very big one heheh.)
Happy Bbangnyu mail + last sky photo of 2021 💕
January 2022. Spent the start of the new year resting because I got sick after getting my flu shot. Journaling, watching Korean variety shows, eating, sleeping, repeat. I didn't get sick when I got the shot the previous year, so I wasn't prepared for it. I ended up passing it to Aian too, so I felt really bad.. And then in mid-January I woke up with sudden vertigo which left me super dizzy for about 2 days 😵 After some research, I found out that it was BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). Thankfully I managed to make it go away thanks to this video.
My cousin got married! The wedding was so beautiful. We grew up together, so I was super happy for her.
After successfully dodging COVID for 2 years, it finally got me 😞 I fell sick on the 25th, got tested on the 28th, and the test turned out positive 💀 Because we live in a studio apartment, I had to wear a mask indoors at all times. Even when I went to sleep, the mask stayed on. I disinfected everything I touched. When I had to touch the cats, I washed my hands or disinfected with alcohol. I felt like a crazy person but I wanted to make sure that I didn't pass it on to Aian. On top of that I was dealing with cold-like symptoms, vertigo (it came back on my 3rd day of COVID), and weird GI symptoms. This was my life for 10 days. One of the things that helped me during this time was the OVP's Bayanihan E-Konsulta program. When I started developing symptoms, my anxiety was through the roof. Having someone connect me to a doctor and constantly check on me helped a lot. The day after my teleconsult session with one of their partner doctors, they sent me their COVID Care Kit. It came complete with meds, a digital thermometer, a pulse oximeter, masks, etc. Every day for the next few days someone got in touch with me to check how I was feeling. It felt like someone was holding my hand through it, in a way. I'm super grateful 🌸
February 2022. And so my 2022 finally starts in February. I got to shoot some stuff for reviews again. I even got to walk outside for some sunlight and fresh air! And because I missed eating good food (again) I've been eating A LOT (again). I realized after not being able to eat properly that I really do love eating..
It's been 2 weeks since my isolation period ended. I'm still not at 100%, but I'm feeling a lot better. Apparently my case was "mild" but I couldn't eat and felt off the whole time. Like I was on a boat. I lost 3kgs in those 10 days. Even now I still have to keep strenuous activity to a minimum. After my isolation I changed bedsheets and washed everything I used during that time and I already had a hard time breathing afterwards. I was told I'll need at least 2 more months for my lungs to recover. I can't even imagine what it would be like for moderate-severe cases. If you haven't yet, please get vaccinated. And if you can get your booster, please do so. Wear your masks, wash your hands, take your vitamins, stay hydrated, get enough rest, etc.
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Honestly after finishing Chainsaw Man last year, I haven't been reading updates from the titles I follow. Manga usually update on a weekly or monthly basis, and I didn't want to be left hanging after every chapter. I usually stop reading after a certain point and just pick up from where I left off when I feel like it. Recently I picked up Jujutsu Kaisen again. I've been pestering Aian to read it for so long. He started reading it maybe last year? But dropped it midway. When the trailers the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 came out I kept telling him to continue reading it, and he eventually gave in and did it. It's so funny because this time he got so into the story that afterwards he started pestering me to pick up from where I left off, because he didn't have anyone to talk to about it. And so I ended up reading everything up until the latest chapter, lol.
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To absolutely no one's surprise, I'm still playing Genshin Impact. To be honest I don't think I can get into any other games because Genshin already takes up so much of my energy.. The new content is so good but sometimes the motion sickness gets so bad that I can only play for a couple of hours at most. The recent event with the tanuki was so cute though! I took so many screenshots of this little guy.
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Mostly Korean variety. Mostly Amazing Saturday (my favorite!). Just recently I finished Three Meals a Day: Doctors and I really enjoyed it. The cast's interactions were fun to watch, and Mido is so lovely 🥺 I can't watch Hospital Playlist because of personal reasons, so I was happy I could watch this instead.
These days I've been watching House on Wheels. I wanted to watch something similar to Three Meals a Day and found this on Viu. I remembered IU and PO guested on Season 1 so I thought I'd watch it finally. It's pretty chill so I usually just let it play on my iPad while I journal. But once I got to S2 I couldn't do that anymore because Im Siwan is so cute wtf. I already knew Siwan because I was familiar with ZE:A, but I don't remember him being this cute?? The whole of S2 is just him being sweet to the guests and constantly feeding people on the show 😩 I was watching this show for the food and the pretty scenery but now whenever they show him making drip coffee my heart hurts. I'm a little relieved he isn't on S3 because then I can finally get back to watching the show in peace!!
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Pretty much the same stuff from the same people. WOODZ, Victon, The Boyz. Though I've been obsessed with this song ever since I heard it on Street Dance Girls Fighter. I used to listen to Lim Kim a lot way back in 2015, but didn't hear any news about her after that. She came back in 2019 with a completely different sound, and I couldn't really get into it anymore. But MAGO is so good. My only gripe is that the song seems so short?? I wish it were a bit longer.
That's it, I guess! Right now I'm mostly focusing on recovering and getting back on track. I still have a ton of reviews lined up, so I'm doing my best with those. I'm actually doing pretty good, but working on content while having to deal with all these annoying post-COVID symptoms can be so draining. Here's to hoping the coming months will be much better. Stay safe and healthy, friends! 💜
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