Just a short update and plans

I know it's been a long while since I even posted anything here after that last one.  The truth is, I've neglected this account for various reasons.

1. I don't have anything to post about.
2. I was worried that no one will ever come visit this page at all.
3. A lot of things had been occuring and happening in my life that I even lost track of the events happening around.

Yes, I am aware. They're not good reasons at all. Until now, I'm still dealing with that insecurity and fear that NO ONE will ever visit here. But now I know the reason if they never cared to visit this.

That's because I didn't even post anything worth mentioning. I didn't post anything worth reading and having it catch the attention of the people. Sad that I didn't realize that early, right?

In any case, here's what I've been up to recently.

1. I'm planning on writing an e-book based on two things. (1) About my life as a 31-year-old single woman and (2) a mini collection of quotes that I wrote. More into that soon since they're just plans for now.
2. I've been consistent with my journal writing and about 200+ days more for me to reach my goal of journaling for 1000 days. That's crazy!
3. I decided to give it more time and attention to learn a new language beside the ones I already knew (which was Filipino and English). I've passively learned Japanese/Nihongo before over the years and were already familiar with a few phrases. But I want to take my learning to another level to the point that I could hold a conversation with a Japanese person. And along with learning Japanese, I also decided to learn Italian. It was supposed to be Spanish back in late 2021, but I changed my mind around September this year. I don't know why. But for now, I decided to stick with this two. Now I just have to come up with a workable study plan and stick with it, as well.

For now, I'm going to use my Ko‑fi account as a blog of some sort, filling people with updates on the journey I chose to undertake. They may be a lot for now. But I know I just have to take it one step at a time. And I know I can do it, as long as I dedicate myself into it.

Thank you for reading this entry. I truly appreciate it. 😄💕✌️❤️

800th Day of Daily Journaling! (Wow! I actually did it?)

800th days? Wow! Can you believe it? Okay, even I couldn't believe it. But yes, here we are. I mean, here I am with writing a blog entry to celebrate another journaling milestone. Not sure if it's a good thing that I'm able to write an entry only when another milestone happened. Even if it's a small one.

But if I'm going to be honest, since posting an entry on my 700th day of daily journaling, things hadn't gone well for me. A lot had happened during those last 100 days that, I guess, affected my journaling enthusiasm. Even writing on my 6-year journal became a daunting task for me. I don't like that feeling at all.

Thankfully, I have my dotted notepad and my phone's notepad. Even if I couldn't write on my physical notepad on that certain day, I couldn't jot down highlights either on my small notepad or on my phone's notepad ー depending on which was readily accessible at the certain moment. I just don't want to miss writing a journal entry on that day, that's all.

Along with this, I also got back to using my bullet journal. It's not entirely for writing-related anymore ー at least task-wise. But I guess I have to use it again at some point, even though it's not entirely about fiction writing anymore. I just love the feeling of crossing out tasks that I did for the day. That feeling of accomplishment, no matter how small.

And now, I should be using this for my Preptober since I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. You know, I might be able to document my progress here once I started. Possibly an entry on my weekly progress and my daily ones on Twitter. Why not? It's a good plugging.

I actually miss documenting a lot of my feelings and my emotions on my journal in which I could fill up 3 pages of entry for that day alone. Or maybe I got caught up in the rush of emotions that I don't care if I rant all the way in my entries, as long as I get to release it in a way. There were times when I couldn't even write a short entry on my journal and it truly disappoints me, even now. But you know, I knew I had to force myself. I just needed to release it in a way. And journaling is the only option I had to do that.

I'm just glad I managed to reach this far. 200 more days and I'd be reaching my goal of journaling every day for 1,000 days. I owe that inspiration from Carrie Walker. After watching her video about it ー

ー it gave me the drive to do the same. Who knows? Maybe watching it would inspire you to do the same. 😄✌️

My Camp NaNoWriMo 2022 Update (Week 1-ish)

 It's July 11 now that I'm typing this here. And yes, I've passed my supposedly post date for this blog. But here I am. Still doing it. Let's just say I just want to post something up-to-date here somehow. I'm not going to mention what this writing project is all about at this point. But I'll let you know once I reached my minimum word count goal.

The picture above is my latest update from yesterday (July 10) and yes, I know I still have lots of words to write for me to reach my word count goal for this month. This is actually my official participation in NaNoWriMo, even though this profile was made back in 2018. Weird, huh? I guess you could say that I still have no idea what to do at the time. I still have no idea what to do even now, but I'm learning along the way. I'm taking baby steps if you want to put it that way.

So as you can see, I've also earned quite a few writing badges here which I'm happy about. But that means, for me to reach my 30,000-word count goal for this month, I have to write almost 1,500 words every day. And with people around the house constantly calling me to do this and that (I'm sure you know what I mean), along with a few other writing-related tasks I'd set for me to do every day, as well... It's a miracle that I could still finish writing 500 words a day.

Then again, every word I write is still an achievement despite the time crunching that I had to do every day. Yes, I might be crunching my time here. Not to mention, I get too distracted by Youtube, as well. Should I curse Youtube for that? But I earned every idea and the words I get to put on the blank pages. They were the reason why I'm still able to keep my sanity intact from all the craziness going on in my reality. They were not even easy to deal with, to be honest.

Let's see if I'd be able to write an update on the 14th or the 15th. Hopefully, by then, I get to reach my minimum goal of 10,000 words so that I could finally share it online for people to read. And I'd like it if you're one of those who'd read it, as well.

700th day!

Yes, that's right! I was able to journal every day for 700 days. Can you believe it? I still think that making it a goal to write for 1000 days in my journal and actually doing it was a farfetched (not to mention, crazy) idea ever. At least around the time that I decided to do it back in 2020. But now here we are. I've actually written for 700 days in a row.

So many memories were placed there, I'm not going to lie. The majority of them might be mundane, similar things for me since my life had been such a routine that I could only write small changes in them. But hey, they were memories, regardless of how I categorized them in my life. They're still my life's documentation.

Of course, there were other thoughts that I wasn't able to write due to the constant thought running in my head that someone would read them without my knowledge and they would hate me because of it. But I would eventually realize that they were my thoughts. My real thoughts at the time I was writing those entries.

At the moment, I could only write about small changes in my life. Sometimes, even decisions that might be weird at this point, but could possibly give me the biggest change at some point. Then again, I'm not sure. We'll see.

My Journaling Journey's 3rd Year!

3rd year anniversary of me getting back to journaling. Wow! What do you know? Anyway, hey, everyone! I know I haven't been able to post a "proper" blog post on this site for quite a long while. I haven't answered any journal prompts and written any Sunday Currently entries, as well. My writer life got a little busy -- at least that's what I felt.

So what do I mean by getting back into journaling? Well, here's the short story for that.

I recalled journaling when I was in high school. Though I don't do it daily as I do it today, I know I'd journal things -- short ones -- about what I felt, mostly. I could recall journaling even before 2006. But it's either I threw away the journal or I lost it for some reason. I can't recall. So the only surviving old journal that I have in my collection was the one I used from early 2006 to possibly mid-2009. And that was the last time I journaled (was there even such a word? 🤔).

Sadly, I didn't journal throughout my college life and also a few years after that, for some reason. It's probably because I got busy with college or I didn't find the need to journal. I don't know. Recalling it seemed to be a little hard for me. But I'd like to say that my life at the time was chaotic enough -- both at home and at school. Oh, right. I recalled that I also focused on my fiction writing when I was in college.

I only found out recently that I put off journaling on hold for 10 years since that last 2009 entry I wrote on my surving journal. I got back to journaling on this day 3 years ago, a few days after a bought a notebook that I thought was pretty. Though at the time I bought it, I wasn't thinking of going back to journaling. I thought I'd use it to write something else there.

Well, that's the short story of it. And I guess it's a good start to go back to blogging again after a long while. Since getting back into journaling, I already filled up 8 notebooks and I'm about to fill up my 9th journal.

I don't use A4 size journal notebooks, by the way. Big pages scare me in a way. 🤣🤣 I tend to use A5 size notebooks and I think I have a few A6 size notebooks, as well. Got to check my notebook collection again.

I could post a photo of my journal collection on IG or Twitter -- depending on my mood. Or should I place them here, as well? Anyway, we'll see.

The Sunday Currently | 39 |

Okay, so it's been more than a month since I last posted a Sunday Currently entry or any other sensible blog post here. I'm sorry. Things got a little chaotic here since two members of our household were tested positive for COVID. Then my Mon seemed to be dealing with depression that affects the mood and relationship within our family. Honestly, it's hard to deal with the heavy air in here, especially when my mom and my sister were having some misunderstanding or changing the way they interact with each other. I'm still sane and I'm doing my best to keep my sanity intact just so I could deal with it. But sometimes, their stubbornness is really getting on my nerves, as much as I hate to say it. Dealing with their changing moods can be pretty daunting.

Complaining wasn't exactly my intention when I decided to write a Sunday Currently entry here. I apologize, but it seems that I can't really help it. Maybe I should write a separate entry for more life updates, huh? Not sure if I could accompany some photos on that, but I'll try. We'll see.

In any case, let's get on with the real part of this entry.

So this Sunday, I'm currently:

The Sunday Currently | 38 |

  

My first Sunday Currently entry of the year 2022! What do you know? I'm actually posting something here today. Well, I'm doing this a little earlier than usual since this is the only time that I can use the computer. And yes, while I still have the drive to write this down here. I kind of miss writing a Sunday Currently since I kept on putting them on hold because it could be either I was tired or sleepy or lazy or other reasons. Yes, there were a lot that I could think of as to why I haven't posted more Sunday Currently entries.

In any case, I have to do this before I lose the drive again. A lot had happened, anyway. So here we go!

This Sunday, I'm currently:

Habits I Actually Did (And Still Doing)

My first blog post for the year! What do you know? I was supposed to do a lot of year-end reflections and stuff but didn't have the energy to do it. And then I was visiting my Tumblr account where I found this. And since I don't know what to post here, I'm doing this for now. It's still something personal, and I'd like to share it here. Out of the items/activities/ways/habits listed in The Guardian’s 100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying article, let’s see what I’ve actually done over there since... Well, I just want to see what I’ve done. At least since last year.

Let’s go!

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2 On the fence about a purchase? Wait 72 hours before you buy it. - Well, this is more of the contemplation over whether or not it’s worth spending any money over it.

4 Bring fruit to work. Bring fruit to bed! - This is more convenient than buying biscuits in stores on a cold night when I decided to stay up late.

13 Feeling sluggish at work? Try the Pomodoro technique: 25 minutes on, five-minute break, and repeat. - I’ve tried this a lot of times over the last year, especially when I have to work on so many pending writings.

16 Set aside 10 minutes a day to do something you really enjoy – be it reading a book or playing Halo. - The maximum had been 20 minutes... before they decided to call me again to do some errands and this and that. You know what I mean, right?

18 Reuse all plastic bags – even bread bags. Much of the packaging you can’t reuse can be taken to larger branches of supermarkets for recycling. - We were limited in plastic bags that we can use ever since eco-bags were on the roll here. So yeah, every plastic bag that can be reused is important.

22 Laugh shamelessly at your own jokes. - As weird as it would appear, I’m only doing this when I have my alone time.

23 It might sound obvious, but a pint of water before bed after a big night avoids a clanger of a hanger. - Not always, but I managed to do this for nights -- even if it doesn’t happen every night.

24 Start a Saturday morning with some classical music – it sets the tone for a calm weekend. - Well, this is more of a way for me to set the mood so that I could write better right after.

25 Look closely. - Literally and metaphorically, yes. I did this several times because I have to analyze some of them. As weird as it sounds.

27 If possible, take the stairs. - This is more because I like to walk. And a lot of areas here in Baguio use stairs instead of just a straight road or path or something.

30 Be polite to rude strangers – it’s oddly thrilling. - Well, this was hard, but I managed. But I’d rather not talk to them and would just choose to avoid them in order to avoid trouble. It’s better and it’s quieter for my sanity.

32 Connect with nature: stand outside barefoot for a few minutes – even when it’s cold. - Done this a lot, since I tend to forget wearing slippers, anyway. Hahaha!

42 Don’t have Twitter on your phone. - I don’t have Twitter or any other SNS apps on my phone for about a year already.

44 Try taking a cold shower (30 seconds to two minutes) before your hot one. It’s good for your health – both physical and mental. - I’ve been doing this for quite a while now, honestly, than boil some water since... I’m impatient in waiting for the water to boil, anyway. And yes, even if the temperature here had already dropped to 10 degrees Celsius and below.

45 Text to say thank you. - I mean, it’s manners, right? Especially when they did something to help you.

48 Buy secondhand. - Did this around the time I was looking for heels that I’d be wearing for my younger sister’s wedding. I don’t have enough money at the time, so... you know the gist.

49 Buy in person! - Same as # 48. I mean, I have to. I’m the one who has to choose the design.

52 Say hello to your neighbors. - Done this to some of them since not all actually deserved it, in my opinion.

66 Don’t save things for “best”. Wear them – enjoy them. - And enjoy them I did.

67 Sing! - I do this a lot... for a reason, of course. And when I’m alone.

74 Respect your youngers. - Also doing this even when talking to them online.

79 Ignore the algorithm – listen to music outside your usual taste. - Did this a few times and somehow, I liked how I managed to find songs that I’d want to listen to, even if it’s not my usual taste of music.

84 Handwash that thing you’ve never cleaned. - I never cleaned it because I actually forgot about it. I know, my bad. Sorry.

85 Don’t get a pet/do get a pet. - The bold one is actually my choice. But my mom actually got three.

86 Nap. - I mean, I ended up having naps before I could even stop myself. Seriously.

87 Learn how to breathe deeply: in through the nose, out through the mouth, making the exhale longer than the inhale. - This was hard, but I was able to do it a few times.

89 Politely decline invitations if you don’t want to go. - Actually, I decline invitations when I really have no drive or desire to go anywhere except my room.

93 Do that one thing you’ve been putting off. - Folding my clothes in my cabinet. Finally! And it’s been a long while since I started contemplating doing this.

96 Keep a book in your bag to avoid the temptation to doomscroll. - Been doing this since I don’t want to complain on the fact that the line was long or the wait was long. And I have reasons not to look at people. Hehe!

97 Listen to the albums you loved as a teenager. - They’re still cute, in my opinion. And they do give off nostalgic emotions in me.

Do you feel your chronological age? Why or why not?

 Honestly speaking, I don't. I don't feel like I'm 30 years old already, both in my mind and my body. Probably because I wasn't even thinking of it that way. I felt like I was still in my 20s or something. And it's also probably the reason why people don't see me as 30 years old. I have to add that my mindset doesn't seem like it was something a 30-year-old would have, anyway. I know this is just me thinking it and feeling it. But it really appears that way to me. I know that there are healthy 30 years old out there who rarely get sick. And I'm glad that I'm one of them.

Do you believe in New Year's resolution? Why or why not?

I believe in them. But for some weird reason, I couldn't do it fully. I know it's a weird answer, so let me try to explain it a bit. Resolutions are like a long list of goals to me. Things that people wanted to do within a span of one year -- or more. I don't know. It depends on the person, I guess. But for me, these resolutions should be things to be done with conviction and determination. It's easy to say them. It's easy to say that you'd do them. But can you actually do it?

That's the real question there. But I believe that they are a great way to start changing your life if you truly intend to do so. I don't recall having made New Year's resolution, even when I was younger. But it was a running joke in our family when I was younger since my Mom made it her New Year's resolution to actually fold her comforter/blanket after waking up and getting out of bed. But she never did -- like, at all.