The beginning of my winter break

4 minute read

So, it’s the first weekend of my winter break and I’m off for three weeks! I’m not going anywhere. My only plan is to “do nothing” and see what happens 🤠

1
Yesterday, I attended the first meeting of the Classics Book Club to preview Wuthering Heights with 18 other people. I felt quite at ease in the library, sitting around a table with other readers, feeling like a student. It’s been so long since I’ve joined a book club. I had given up on them because I would always fall behind schedule and show up unprepared to discuss anything. But I’m in a different mood now. I miss novels, and I want to read more deeply again. If I only finish 4 great books a year, that will be enough for me.

2
Then I went over to Phirany’s dinner party (❤️). She invited a group of us over to motivate herself to cook Cambodian dishes. We mixed together a bowl of fried noodles with tofu, chives, shrimp, bean sprouts, and peanuts. My parents make a version of this with rice vermicelli and now I’d like to add this to the list to make it myself. There was also a stew with carrots and potatoes. WHAT IF I got a dining room table that could fit 8 people and then I could do the same thing??

3
Throughout the week, I’ve been writing notes on relationships. What can I offer, what can I not? It’s been a helpful exercise, assigned by my new therapist. It’s the second time I’m trying to see one, and this time, it’s much better because I have clearer goals. The idea came after experiencing the ease of booking virtual appointments with my physical therapist. And you know how I like to solve problems. So I immediately scanned my life from top to bottom to think: ok! what else is bothering me?? (my attitude toward relationships, needing other people, feeling emotions, intimacy)

4
Today, I started the morning by dusting off my Chinese notebook and opening up Google Translate so that I can practice some Mandarin sentences with Melody. We’re both at a similar level with how little we’re able to speak, but we got on a video call and focused on a scenario between a grandma and granddaughter: “Have you eaten?”, “Have you bathed?” and “Did you sleep well?” It really made me nostalgic for my commitment to language learning in late 2019 - maybe 2021.

5
Then, this afternoon, I learned how to boulder at First Ascent in Humboldt Park with Outdoor Asians Chicago x Asian Climbing Collective. I was eager to go because without a group, I would be intimidated to walk into this environment on my own. There is a bag of chalk, there are shoes to change into, routes on the walls that are numbered and color-coded, and the assumption that everyone in the space knows what they’re doing, except you. I’d been curious to climb ever since watching Free Solo. I managed to finish a few very easy routes and get a hands-on reality check for how hard it is. Grateful for Matt guiding the complete first-timers. Met cool, friendly people + did not injure myself = success. Not ready to get obsessed with climbing just yet, but the community is so warm and strong, so it’s on my mind. . .

THE REST OF MY WINTER 2024 PLANS

  • ✅ Renew my library card [still need to return a buncha items]
  • ✅ Go to the gym 3x each week (eat + sleep well)
  • ✅ Memorize a poem and attend Other People’s Poems [this was so warm/encouraging/cool/beautiful]
  • ✅ Open up the guitar case, humidify my poor guitar, tune it, and run through at least one warmup routine
  • ⛔️ Look through Sohla El-Waylly’s Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook and try to cook a single recipe
  • ✅ Find a time to catch up with Patricia [➕ Korean bbq with Lemis, ➕ going to my 1st boxing class]
  • ✅ Watch a tbd movie [Challengers] with Alex at my place
  • ✅ See School of the Holy Beast (1974) at Facets [with McKenney]
  • ✅ Attend Silent Book Club in Lakeview, at which I will try to continue reading ch. 1-8 of Wuthering Heights so that I can participate in the next discussion [great, will go back]
  • ✅ Meet up with late 30s/early 40s women from Chicago Girls Who Walk for board game night at Athena’s [this was lovely!]
  • ⛔️ Show up to the Snail Mail Sundays meetup so that I can finally reply to letters and write cards that are way overdue to my friends, maybe send a few holiday cards [this is postponed to Jan]
  • ⚠️ Don’t forget to do chores and tidy up the home, esp. ✅ installing a new toilet paper holder! C’mon [but it was an incredibly tacky job, half-done, terrible hole-y wall]
  • ⛔️ Host Melody for a night on Christmas Eve
  • ✅ Spend a day with my parents and brother to “celebrate” Christmas
  • ✅ Catch a couple films back-to-back at the Siskel (L’été dernier [didn’t make this one] + La Bête [still thinking about this one])
  • ✅ Finalize this “Solitaire” draft I’ve been holding onto since last year
  • ⛔️ Write a reflection of 2024 and post it on my blog here
  • ✅ Celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends (Anna + Jim and Brianna + myself at home, by midnight)
  • ✅ Outline plans for 2025
  • ➕ Join Audrey and others at the New Year’s Day bonfire at Somme Woods