Okay, here we go. This is going to be the first weeknote that I’m ever going to post on the internet. Over the past few years, I guess I’ve already written quite a few weeknotes without me realizing that I was in fact developing a some sort of a habit to take stock of how a week (or fortnight) went by. Though most of those contents are now only confined to my journals, I’ve become aware that most of my journal entries about how my week really went by focus on the not-so-pleasant, rough, and tough happenings through that time period. So in an attempt to find a better balance where I become more conscious of the easy, pleasant, and good parts of the week along with the usual hurdles and sufferings of life that keep popping up, I figured that sharing these weekly stock-takes of life here on the internet where other people can take a peek at it might be a good idea, or who knows it might be a ridiculous one. I guess there’s only one way to find out. So I will try to write these weeknotes on one of the days from Wednesday to Friday every week depending on my mood fluctuations. I know (I know) that I’m posting this on a Sunday, but sometimes life happens and one can get busy figuring out the right flavor combination for the marination of pork, and then also getting the cook on it right(which was a success by the way for what it’s worth!).
What’s been happening
It’s been a week of two halves, where the first half was almost a whirlwind hazy blur that threatened for me to lose my sanity(read shit) on multiple occasions. The first half was mostly spent in me trying to settle into the new space where I shifted last week along with a new addition of a flatmate (MG), setting up the place, and taking care of other essential chores. I think I’m still carrying some of the exhaustion that came from moving houses, and carrying goods up three floors to the new place which has no lift(!).
But I think I feel settled enough in the new space now, and getting used to the new rhythms of this new environment.
I’ve not shared a house with another person in the longest time, so still trying to figure out some of my boundaries with regards to safeguarding my physical and mental space, and working on being more assertive about them. In the past few days there have been some occasions where I’ve felt a little uneasy and uncomfortable when it comes to having control over my space. Still early days, but I feel I’m making good progress on this front.
New space also means that I have a new kitchen! So far I’m quite pleased with how I am able to move around while cooking in it. Though the kitchen is not significantly bigger than the kitchen in my old place I’ve been more mindful with the organization of the cooking equipment and ingredients. At the time of writing this I’ve only cooked two proper meals in the kitchen: Dal for dinner one day and Upma for breakfast on another. They both turned out be quite decent.
I also finally bought off a 13 inch MacBook Air with M4 chip. Since the time I’ve started working I haven’t really felt the need to have a personal laptop, so this is the first time in almost five years now that I will be having a separate machine for my experimental tech needs. I’m yet to set up the machine to my liking, so more updates on that next week.
I was able to sit(lay) through a 20 minute meditation routine this week after a really long time, where I’ve been finding it hard to sit and meditate for more than 10 minutes in recent times. Small wins!
Speaking of small wins, I have been able to clock more than 10,000 steps for the past couple of days. My legs hurt a little now, but my bowel movements are happy. Fun times.
Besides that I’ve been mostly busy with the prep for Banh Mi for the third(Vietnamese-Themed!) Kitchen Table edition of the 11AM Club which is hosted by one of my friends (Anne). It’s a lovely ritual to just slow down on a Sunday and meet new fun people over fun activities, though as the name suggests it’s too early in the day for me to really be a human of any use.
Top Meals of the Week
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My flatmate’s parents stayed over at our place for a few days so I was having the most wholesome home-cooked food almost every day for that duration. Though I might have gone a little overboard by consuming way too much cholesterol in form of ghee and other fatty accompaniments during the time, my gut is still reeling from the after-effects of that.
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I stumbled upon a random food cart selling home-cooked South-Indian fare near my house, and the sambhar rice there was just lovely along with a banging bottle gourd palya. All for 50 bucks.
Reading Diet
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Still reading Dust Child, and still yearning for Vietnam.
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Also sifted through the Banh-Mi Handbook to get some ideas and inspirations for the Kitchen Table. Though most of the recipes in there are a little americanized, still they are good enough to start building a flavor foundation for Vietnamese style of cooking.
Nice things around the internet
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This piece by Ankur was really clarifying with regards to finding words to describe my feeling towards social media and attention-deficient world we live in: Social media is a threat to my psychological sovereignty
P.S: The phrase “I have a whole barbecue full of beefs with social media” really made me chuckle. That’s how I’m going to respond to any questions about my frequent disappearance from social media from now on. -
And another essay on self-respect, this time by one of my favorite writers on the internet: Feeling Free. It’s part of the latest issue of the here/now studies newsletter by her which is paid, and it is worth every penny paid for it. Trust me.
I see it as the decolonized counterpart to Joan Didion’s On Self-Respect, which is an incredible essay, and was deeply impactful in developing my ideas around self-respect. Though there are parts in it which hint at casual racism which didn’t really sit well with me. Rega’s piece is almost like a palate cleanser for the bit of a bitter aftertaste Didion’s piece left me with.