Sunny Serenity

Every morning when I prepare for the day, I play some background music whether an artist, an album, or a particular song. I previously mentioned that I discovered the track "Never gonna be alone" and so I would let my streaming platform play that song as some sort of "seed" (a programming simulation term meaning a starting random number) and let the platform play the succeeding songs. I realized that the songs that start to play after that are really nice related tracks and so I created a playlist based on the upcoming suggested tracks that I liked.

I just had a brief walk outside and I shuffled the tracks on my new playlist. It was a great complement to the sunny and breezy weather this afternoon. And because my walk was short, I didn't get to play all of the tracks. Looking forward to a much longer walk and having this new playlist as the soundtrack. The playlist title I assigned is literal--if you think the type of music is something you might want to listen to when you spend time in the present moment, please go on ahead and add it to your library or maybe choose some songs as your "seed" and then create your own playlist. I could rename the playlist title to "sunny serenity" or "smooth optimism" or something that is related to being uplifted yet calm. I'll keep it as is indefinitely. 

Cheers. 

Happenings

 

Clockwise from L: the massive sun setting at past 8pm, the new moon and Venus from a few nights ago, great hall event I attended over a week ago, my first beef stroganoff with penne (it was *chef’s kiss*), a plate of lazy mom chocolate chip cookies (store-bought dough)

Absolutely love the mundane. It is charming. I hope you’re having a nice mundane day. 😄🌸🌺🌻🌷

absolute belter

 

I made this collage of things I recently enjoyed. I saw the first two seasons of the BBC show Sherlock years ago and wasn’t able to see the last two, so I was so thrilled to find out that it’s streaming. Just fantastic writing—genius, artistic, snarky, witty, great entertainment. So many quotable quotes. Lots of tea, interestingly.

—

I finished watching Queen Charlotte and as expected, I loved it. It’s not based on a Julia Quinn book, but was created as sort of a backstory for the reigning queen in the Bridgerton universe. I’ve read the Bridgerton books  in which each book is the story of 1 of the 8 Bridgerton siblings with names starting with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. Season 1 of the show was about the 4th sibling Daphne and season 2 was about Anthony who is the eldest. The show and the books are not exact copies, which is actually great. How lucky is Julia Quinn to have captured the interest of Shonda Rhimes, eh?

I’m not ashamed of being a fan of romance novels. LOL. I know there’s a lot of intimacy in that genre, mainly written by women for women so the storytelling is packed with emotional action (angst, humour, heartwarming stuff, etc.). Nonexpert notes, of course. Just an observation as an end user. But you know what really draws me to these stories? The anticipation of how the main conflict(s) get resolved. Great escape.

—

I was scrolling IG last night and saw a clip of Conan O’Brien talking to Julia Louis-Dreyfus and just started laughing because of a lipstick incident. Today, I listened to that podcast episode and then Julia’s podcast episode with Jane Fonda. I was thoroughly entertained and educated by both episodes. The main theme was aging. Like Julia, I’ve gone completely grey but have been dependent on hair colour to mask it. I’ve entertained the idea of going chemical-free…I’m still not ready…? Woe is me. Futile attempt to feel youthful? 

I thought that Jane Fonda’s insights on aging were helpful. It really is important to move and take care of our bodies. I’m glad I’ve decided to move daily now. How amazing is YouTube and free stretching and workouts. I’m certainly not hardcore like a few years ago when I subscribed to a gym membership for personal training and HIIT classes. It’s expensive in this country. 😆 On a positive and pragmatic note, moving consistently this past 1.5 months has done wonders to my mood and body.

Cheers to edutainment! 

— 

Happy Mother’s Day to fellow maternal units! 

head of state

 

I took a nice image of my mid-morning snack. The box of Typhoo tea that I bought two years ago will expire this year so I need to finish all of it (it’s by the hundreds…erratum: box of 80). Why did I buy aforementioned tea? Because it was a rare sighting for me; found it at a grocery store from an out-of-town trip. LOL. I put unsweetened oat milk on it, because it doesn’t overpower the taste of the tea and it’s my way of cutting down on dairy. 

Beside the mug is a pack of Skyflakes crackers. Delicious common Filipino crackers. Great with canned tuna or any type of cheese.

Fusion snack. Indulge me and my pretentiousness.

——

I understand that the monarchy is a touchy subject and that this may be an unpalatable post to some folks.

——

Three years ago, I pledged allegiance to the monarch of the United Kingdom as a citizen of a Commonwealth nation. I’m certain that my peers from my home country either quietly frown upon this or are indifferent. After all, it was only in the late 1800s when my country of birth first gained independence from over 3 centuries of Spanish colonial rule. A lot of other occupations happened after that. Looking at this from a very zoomed out perspective, it’s a sequential change in allegiances, isn’t it? Whichever is convenient—is that it? That doesn’t feel good when I think of it that way.

I watched the highlights of King Charles III’s coronation online and the pageantry is certainly spectacular and familiar at the same time. It’s interesting to see representatives of different Christian traditions (a Roman Catholic cardinal included) stating scripted blessings to the newly crowned monarch at some point during the ceremony. 

Going back to my remark about the familiarity of pageantry and how I grew up exposed to it…Pageantry is probably not the best description especially since it’s as if I’m projecting this idea that I think it’s all for show…I actually like it. Why? It’s because of the tradition tied to the rubrics of whatever ceremony is taking place. That the choreography, words, and tools have been around for centuries and that these somehow connect me with our ancestors. Don’t get me wrong…I like change as well, rather, I like adaptability. My opinion is that the centuries old traditions that can still be done today keep us connected with the greater human story.

I am a person of structure in most aspects of my life. A sense of order represents stability for me. Routine, lists, schedules…certainties amidst uncertainty. It is comforting. It is identity-building. The comfort lies in knowing who I am based on where I’m from, knowing the circumstances that made me who I am, and the common day-to-day things I do. Now that I think about it, I’m probably a good target for criminals for being predictable, eh? Am I glad I’m nobody and don’t have hefty assets or some important information to be ideal prey. But that’s who I am—almost robotic. Most of us are, I think. Like those NPCs (Non-Playing Characters) in video games (disclaimer: I am not a gamer, I am old, and I learned that term from my kids). I always felt like the filler. I mean, I am surely of value within my nuclear family, but if we were to consider the bigger picture…I am on ordinary citizen. The common folk. A count on the census. If I haven’t been blogging, nobody would know the joys and travails of the ordinary human in this specific era of human existence. Because the things in my head are now concretized in this medium—whether or not this persists in the succeeding millenia—I hope it helps some future version of an archaeologist. The common citizen cyber-excavated from an ordinary cyber location surrounded by ordinary fragments of data that existed at a particular point in time. Well, I hope this helps someone’s thesis in the future. Maybe I should write a post that is purely in my native language—deepen things a bit. How vain am I? LOL. 

Back to our theme of tradition. Cheers to tradition and rubrics and pageantry. And as is appropriate during this time…God save the King. Mabuhay ang sangkatauhan. Malayong lupain amin mang marating, ‘di rin magbabago ang damdamin. 

The darling buds of May (updated)

 (update) The original post title I wrote made me cringe…omitted that damp statement…shivering from the ew-ness. (end of update)

It has been drizzling/raining this past week, but I was able to find some window of time to take walks outside. Nature’s floral display is undeniably beautiful. Unfortunately, my pollen sensitivity is competitive. What have you been up to, my imaginary audience? Same same? Me? Ditto. I’ve been enjoying the serenity of more real-life living with a reduction in exposure to internet scrolling. Not a complete elimination of exposure—there are things online that facilitate access to happiness and/or inspiration. 😄 Everything in moderation. FOMO is an illusion. AM radio headlines, traffic, and weather: basic nice-to-know. The point of this post is to encourage you to go outside and enjoy nature. If I’m preaching to the choir, then perhaps we can spread the mood? Excellent.