Finally, a K-Drama you can finish in 6 hours
Picnic Journal Issue #8
Happy… today! I was going to say ‘happy birthday’ but I don’t think it’s your birthday.
Did you at any point this week freak out over the fact that the last 2 years of your life have rocketed by and maybe I shouldn’t have spent so much time doom scrolling and also I should eat more vegetables? Neither did I!? That was weirdly specific. Actually, if I’m being honest, there are very few moments in my day where I don’t think about these things. Hahaha, soon we’ll be saying Merry Christmas! Oh boy. Welcome to the eighth edition of Picnic in Your Pocket! The world’s smallest Picnic Newsletter (it’s a thing, I checked)!
Here are three things I spent a lot of time thinking about this week:
Question: Will I ever be a person who eats the pizza crust?
Answer: No.
Do I actually like working in tech or do I just like saying I work in tech?
Staring at screens all day, working with humans who are bad at talking to other humans, endless work, minimal rewards. Hmm is this the life for me or do I just like to feel like I’m part of something bigger than my tiny self?
Now that I’m not getting paid to do what I love, I am actually doing more of what I love. So why did I think I have to love my job?
This one doesn’t make sense to me. Let me set the scene. So, here I am, working away in a job that involves about 4% of my creative brain (if I’m being generous), and all I can think about is making something and being creative once I clock off. In my previous company, I used 85 ~90% of my creative brain on a regular day of work and had very little energy to do my creative hobbies in my spare time. The creative work I did in my previous company all belongs to them. The creative work I am doing now is all mine to do with what I want. So who the heck started telling people to ‘do what you love’, or ‘if you love what you do, you won’t work a day in your life? It’s all nonsense. I’m going to continue working in a job that I enjoy, gives me purpose and will accelerate my career, and continue to draw pictures and flowers in my spare time to see how it goes.
Weekly Doodles
Here are two characters I drew this week. They are both self-portraits (obviously). I used to love wearing overalls but then I hit puberty and the only thing that really grew was my torso so now jumpsuits and bodysuits don’t fit me properly. So, I draw myself in them! Problem solved!
What I watched this week
D.P. (2021 — )
Finally, a Korean drama that has an appropriate amount of episodes: SIX! D.P. (Deserter Pursuit) follows two D.P. soldiers who are responsible for tracking down their peers who have deserted their military duty and bringing them back. D.P. is set in 2014 and some of the hazing incidents in the series are based on real events from this period of time. The drama is based on the webtoon by Kim Bo-Tong, who is a former D.P. soldier in the Korean military.
Widely watched this week by many South Koreans, D.P has resonated with many men who have served in the military. Most Korean men who are able-bodied are required to serve a minimum of 18 months of military service in South Korea. I highly suggest you watch this drama but there are some disturbing scenes so viewer discretion is advised.
Taylor R - Fertility Journey Series on YouTube (2021)
I watched the three episodes Taylor released on her channel this week about her fertility journey. It is really well made, heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I would definitely recommend it if this kind of topic interests you!
On the Blog
Yeah, this isn’t going well — Working remotely in South Korea
I’m calling it. Remote working just doesn’t work in South Korea…I’m a month into my remote working journey. I’m surprised, confused, proud and exhausted that I’ve made it this far. Continue reading
Drawings I did this week during Zoom calls
Here are all the drawings I did this week. I didn’t do them all during zoom calls, only some of them (for legal purposes). Enjoy. See here
Favourite social media news this week: Steve from Blues Clues addressing his audience
This week, Steve came back to us. He told us what he’d been up to since abandoning us all from our screens and our hearts. Blues Clues was, and still is, a big part of my childhood. I am being dramatic. But it was super weird to hear him address his audience like this. We’re all grown up, he’s all grown up. I am probably around the age he was when he decided to leave the show. It’s like he came to us to tell us everything would be okay and that we’re on the right track. It was a really bizarre experience and I’m not sure if anyone felt the same way so I wanted to share it with you here. Thanks, Steve, thanks a lot! Watch it here if you have any clue what I’m talking about.
Goals for This Week
Daily drawing challenge
This week I started a daily drawing challenge for myself. I decided to set up a new IG account to document these quick doodles. After watching Struthless’ video about the best drawing advice he’d ever received, I learned that I have to ‘draw the same thing every day.’ So that’s what I’ve been doing. And sure enough, I’ve found a lot of inspiration to draw things when I’m trying to draw the same thing over and over. Go follow along if you’re interested:
Thank you for reading. Have a great week and don’t forget to start using a Vitamin C serum if you haven’t already. This is the one I’ve used for the last 2 years. (Not an ad)
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