Jittering From Joy (or Coffee) 😬

Dear Friend,

Hey, how’s it going? Quantitatively speaking, my productivity metrics from this month are down compared to March. But it recently dawned on me during one of my daily walks that, no numbers can represent all the flowers I saw or the breeze I felt that day. April was a tough month in the beginning but things took an upswing when I got a job at Apple!

There are way too many thoughts and feelings about this milestone, so of course I sorted them out by writing it out. I’m a blogger, after all!

Here are some of the things I did this month:

•  I started a new job at Apple!
• 🏃🏻‍♂️ Ran 13.74 miles (average 3.43 miles per run) this month, down from 40.6 in March.
• 🚶🏻 Walked 51.64 miles (average 1.84 miles per walk) this month, up from 48.01 in March
• 🧘🏻‍♂️ Meditated 19 days in March (average 22 minutes per session), down from 27 days in March.
• 🕰 I haven’t been as diligent with my intermittent fasting habit ever since I kicked it up from 16 to 18-hour durations. But it’s still helpful give my body a chance to reset.
• 📷 Here are some of the photos I took in March (link should be viewable in any browser)

Social Gatherings:

• Surprise party with Rajvi & Vipul
• Brunch with Chris, Dreya, and Shannon
• Brunch with Melissa and Scott
• Dinner with Esme and Kathleen
• Quite a few work lunches!

Here are the things I enjoyed and would recommend this month:

• 📺 TV: Green Eggs and Ham (2nd Season) (Netflix). Yes I’ve recommended this show before, and yes I know Severance is also an awesome show. But sometime it’s also good to just watch a silly show at the end of a stressful day. This season has a great “James Bond” theme to it, and the jokes are just as clever as the first. This is especially great with families (not to mention with Mother’s Day coming up)!
• 🎬 Movie: Everything Everywhere All At Once (YouTube Trailer). I’m so glad this movie is doing well and gaining more traction by the day. While this movie is truly as its title suggests: everything, everywhere, all at once — what’s fascinating to me is that my friends who’ve seen this all have very different reasons for why this movie is special to them. I’ll spare you my thoughts (for now), because ultimately it’s more meaningful for you to experience this movie and see what emotions may light up for yourself.
• 🎤 Podcast: Maybe it’s because my parents are still abroad, but I’ve been listening to a lot of Cantonese podcasts this month. For those who understand Cantonese and are interested, check out Not A Romantic Story (conversational from a newlywed couple) or Alohagwa (random topics from an ex-radio DJ). Then let me know what you think about these shows!
• 🎧 Music: Solar Power, by Lorde (Apple Music) I’ve previously recommended this before as well, but truth be told I just keep coming back to this album. There was a week before receiving the job offer where I kept ruminating about how things aren’t going to end well. The music video for Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All) came out during this time, which this line of lyric jumped out at me, “Remember what you thought was grief before the call?” Needless to say, I held on to that line and remind myself to please just wait for the call — until it finally did!
• ▶️ YouTube Sundries:
  • Ke Huy Qian on how Crazy Rich Asians brought him back to acting (Be EW)
  • Why was India Split into Two Countries? (By TED-Ed)
  • Are You Stuck in The Sad Gap? and How Do You Cross The Sad Gap? (By Vlogbrothers)

Sadly I still haven’t touched Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu this month. The book was recommended by Book of the Month Club (a bday gift from my friend Rebecca). I look forward to picking it back up in May! Please reply and LMK if you have a book recommendation for me! I’m currently trying to read more fiction.

🤔 A Moment of Zen: With everything one tap away and immediately within our reach, we sometimes rob ourselves the moments to anticipate, to yearn, and to savor. Close your eyes and picture something you’re looking forward to… this could be a mail package, an upcoming date, a new movie, etc. How does this anticipation make you feel? Exciting? Scary? Joyful? Or something else? What can you learn from this anticipation?

And that’s about it for the month of April! I hope it’s interesting for you as it was nice for me to recap for the month. What are you up to and how are you doing? Let me know what you’ve been up to please — it seriously makes my day 🙂

Love wins

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Love wins