Melbourne entered Spring this month, and despite today being 10 degrees and raining, we have had a few warm weather days. Brighter colours, lighter drinks, and shorter skirts have been frolicking Chapel street on the weekends.
We went to Chris D’ Ellia’s live performance at the historic Athenaeum Theatre. The show was a real treat; congratulations convinced Fafa to start listening to his podcast. Congratulations, something I asked him to do months ago.
I worked on Diwali, which sucked because I will instead be with my parents, eating Amma’s and aunty’s home-cooked Diwali feast while hanging out with my cousins. I sneaked during lunchtime to see Hokusai’s exhibition at NGV to cheer myself up. It didn’t help. Over the weekend, we were invited to home-cooked lunch at a Shoba’s home. The same night, we went to Bhishma’s housewarming party and hung out with some interesting people. In conclusion, Diwali sucked a bit, but not really.
Another favourite day in October was when I spent the whole afternoon recording an hour-by-hour iPhone pre-order with Ji, which included emptying a “celebratory” bottle of wine, being accused of being a grape killer and missing out on the first batch order because I was too drunk to focus.
New and Favorite Things
You know how sometimes we do weird things to feel better? I have been playing Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men on a loop at work all month. It has been helping. Tremendously. I also released the birthday balloon while requesting the Universe to grant all my intentional wishes.
Liz took me to Madam Brussels and Kettle Black (perfect flat white!) on different days to have a heart-to-heart session (yeah, a lot of heart-to-heart has been happening lately). I love both places.
Life Happenings
We had a Halloween party in the office today. Many dressed up as witches, including yours truly, obs! I decorated the non-existence cubicle with crystals, Miaw, and tarot cards. I even managed to read my colleagues’ futures on which hair colour to get next and whether they would score a girlfriend before the end of the year. We also celebrated Diwali at work with not-enough Indian food, 80s Hindi songs and bright colour clothes.
I have been drinking a lot, and my Instagram feed looks like an AA ad lately. Okay, that sounds sad, but my reasons include figuring out whether I like Pinot Noir or Shiraz better. It turned out I like both equally.
We had to pronounce death on my Bikini Bottom II, the kokedama succulent. I don’t know what went wrong; I watered it, put it in the sun, didn’t water it as much, put it in the shade and everything in between, but still, it withered and died. I know I should give up, but I am a self-proclaimed plant mama! So I am studying the Little Veggie Patch book on growing chilli in the pot. I will be damn if there is no self-grown chilli in the food I cook next month!
This might be the most mundane question, but how often do you buy socks? I thought socks were a lifetime thing, but the ones I owe have been torn apart.
I started journaling; this is not new, but Jik pushed me to write down crazy thoughts as she said it, and I have been doing it.
Another weird thing I have been cooking these days obsessively, so far, I am pretty proud of how my version of shrimp, coconut soup, Amma Indo noodles and pasta turned out.
I went to a Leo moon herbal workshop and was drawn to the Nature’s Wisdom deck. I have incorporated it into my weekly reading and removed clear affirmations—an excellent addition to my rituals.
Media Consumption and Internet History
I have been reviewing Masha’s blog archives, Unlikely Pilgrim. I first read about her walking journey from my current read, The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World: Love, Loss, and Other Catastrophes–through Italy, India, and Beyond by Torre Dorche. I love how Torre writes, and it’s raw, happy and humble. I am so in love with this book, almost as much as I was with her first book, Love with a Chance of Drowning.
You will be happy to know I am reading Chicken Soup For The Soul series—all thanks to Liz for putting it in my head on our charity walk day.
Meanwhile, Yin inspired me to read How To Fall In Love With Anyone, but I stopped when the memoir touched on her grandparents’ love story; I couldn’t relate. I also hit pause on The Dead House halfway because even though the concept is brilliant, it’s too complicated for a commute reading. So the only fiction I finished was Good Me Bad Me., easy to read and was so damn delicious!
I also read many poems this month, thanks to Rupi Kaur’s The Sun and Her Flowers; it made me crave more. I devoured No Matter The Wreckage, Letting Go Is An Acquired Taste, The Last Time I’ll Write About You, and Pillow Thoughts. I remember how much I wouldn’t say I liked poems as a YA before finally understanding their magic. Does this mean I am ready for Rabindranath Tagore’s?
I finished Dirty John in one lull afternoon and will give True Crime Sister a chance soon. Also, as a hardcore true crime fan, I find this article utterly fascinating.
TV God has come through for me in this challenging month. I am treated with This Is Us (hello Jake!), How To Get Away With Murder (hello Nate!), Scandal (hello Fitz!), Grey’s Anatomy (Hello Jackson!), Broad City (Hello Ilana!), Law & Order SVU, Law & Order: True Crime, Criminal Minds (Hello Eric, I mean Luke!) and Will and Grace (Hello Karen!). I tried to watch Slasher, Mindhunter, and Riverdale; all were too boring, even for me, who has a shallow silver-screen standard.
Fafa used the movie-date voucher I gave him out of love on a random day and made me watch Thor: Ragnarok. You would think I hated it, but my non-superhero-knowing brain enjoyed it, especially the pagan parts.
I scored an awesome-sauce boho throw from a hippie store in Fitzroy and featured it on the new apartment tour. I also wrote about solo travelling, 88 reasons why I love Singapore, 50 ways to celebrate World Food Day, Singapore cafe, Nice France, and fun facts about Kulture Kween.
Despite never doing it myself, I like Tihana’s and Joanna’s weekly blog links, Weekend Reads and Weekly Witch Review.
The star articles of the month were the magical blue fire in Kawah Ijen, Indonesia and 100 exciting questions to ask a travel blogger. The rest was about Sydney; the time I hated Sydney; Sydney fish market and Sydney Aquarium; staying at Sydney AirBnB, and my BFF’s Sydney apartment; I still owe you a weekend in Sydney and BFF’s new apartment posts, but it will have to wait.
Tiny Joy
A silver lining of what felt like living in a particular hell in the past few weeks is realizing that I have an iron-clad support system. Fafa has been patient, kind, understanding, and friendly whenever I had my “episodes”. I also hung out with my best friends in Singapore and had a heart-to-heart with cousins over vodka and tears. Vi and Jik took time off their busy lives to be with me at my lowest. I rekindled with my friends from Uni. I had a Starbucks date with Che, just like old times. Finally, there was Liz, who has become a quintessential part of the immigrant life in Melbourne and Frida, who introduced me to cater to the inner child.
Also, rainbow makers!
Time Machine
Read more about last year’s happenings.
Thank You, Next!
I am counting the days until Manda returns from her US trip so we can finish our discussion about Harry Potter being a loser for marrying Ginny Weasley. I also owe her lunch for not keeping up with my promise of not touching the phone during working hours. Ugh!
Travel-wise, I and half of my office mates will be overcrowding the Gold Coast this weekend. I don’t think we will bump into each other; they plan theme-park afternoons and drunken nights, while our itinerary includes whale watching, road trips, and nighttime beach walks. Jik is coming for a short visit next weekend, yay! And at the end of the month, Liz and I are going on our first girl trip together to Adelaide.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
