Silay
Just dropping by for a bit to say that I am very busy with sundry matters (including web housekeeping, and finding a new home for Silay) which will mean that the next update might take a little while longer. I am sorry about the irregularity! Real Life is something that demands urgent priority, but I’m hoping that as soon as things settle down I’ll be able to show something well worth the wait. The new domain promises to be pretty exciting, at least!
I had occasion to visit Baguio some time ago for a confusing mix of work and rest. Working vacations throw me off-kilter; I’m never quite sure whether I’m allowed to really immerse myself in the vacation mindset or not, and so I end up soaking in guilty laziness for the most part. But I did enjoy breathing in the cold air — it was lovely to be able to walk around without burning up in heat — and I managed to take a few pictures. Mostly of flowers.
One of my favorite things about Baguio: the profusion of great, needle-leaved trees, and the flowering plants in all their magnificent color. I thought I would share!
(Clicking on an image will let you view a larger version.)
When one is dealing with a lot of stress, comfort food often becomes an urgent necessity: given a moment’s choice between ice cream and an imminent breakdown, it’s usually better to go with the ice cream. I’ve run into a lot of people who don’t understand this, so over and over I’ve learned to explain — sometimes, comfort food isn’t an indulgence. It’s a quick shot of confidence, or a soothing morsel of comfort, or a point of stability, something that anchors me to taste and sight and touch just enough for me to pull myself together, remember to breathe, and say, “okay, I can do this.”
So it’s important to me to know just which foods will help me; some of them are common mood-boosters (like good chocolate) and some are not your usual cheer-er-uppers (crispy catfish salad and chicken satay). Sometimes my comfort food is very general — just about any kind of milk tea helps me, really, although I prefer Moonleaf blends over almost anything else — and sometimes it is very specific. The latter applies to ice cream. I like ice cream in general, but when I’m really stressed I hanker after rich deep dark chocolate ice cream exclusively. Although sometimes I like strawberry ice cream, too.
Mochi ice cream hasn’t been much of a consideration since it usually isn’t easy to find. If it were more accessible, though, it would be my ultimate ice cream comfort food because of the nostalgia factor. So when I saw a Mochiko mochi ice cream stall at a nearby mall recently, I was very excited.
Mochiko ice cream in opened plastic packaging
Continue reading “Mochiko mochi and the stickiness of inconsistency” »
Life has hit me with a trifecta of health issues + heavy workload + personal matters, so words have been hard to come by lately. I’ve been trying to let myself take it easy, which means no blogging or writing difficult journal posts. Self-care seems like such an obvious, simple concept, but it’s very hard to put into practice!
It’s been good to be quiet, though, and just learn to be patient with myself. I have quite a few post ideas, but since I can’t really blog right now I’ll just show some photos of things I’d like to write about and review.
Moleskines: detailed ink illustration, practice calligraphy, pencil notes
Some color stories emerge naturally out of circumstance and setting. Others are created — because one has something to say and one’s surroundings aren’t conveying that message. Or because, very simply, one wants to.
That’s what makeup is like for me — a color story I choose, to cheer me up or distract me or give me a needed confidence boost. That’s what clothing is like, and though sometimes it’s a story I’ve told a thousand times before, day after day it continues to be a narrative of hues. And the colors I like best aren’t dictated by anything external to me — not whatever season it is in the Northern hemisphere, not current fashion trends. They’re about taking what’s in me and throwing it out there.
It’s “I want to wear warm color today, so there, rain.”
Color story: warmth, peaches, plums
Continue reading “Color stories: gold and brown and velvet plum against periwinkle blue” »
