A mostly visual weekly newsletter because time management is hard
Picnic Journal Issue #18
Hi! Hello! Here are three things I spent a tiny bit of my time thinking about this week:
1. I have no friends
Okay, so I literally have no friends but I also have no friends according to a Korean doctor who this week said, “If you don’t have friends infected [with covid] right now, you don’t have friends.” But, I blame covid for my lack of friends because for 2 years I have been paranoid about not only getting covid but mostly of accidentally infecting a vulnerable human without knowing I have covid. I’m stuck in a vicious cycle of avoiding getting covid —> having no friends —> going out —> not getting covid —> still having no friends.
2. Encanto was better than I thought it would be and I haven’t even finished watching it yet and I never want it to end.
Okay, I loved Encanto and I’m so glad that I finally watched it after months of listening to the soundtrack. The songs, the costumes, the laughs, the Colombian culture, everything. It was great. I was also so confused that Rosa from Brooklyn 99 and Mirabel from Encanto are the same person!!! Stephanie Beatriz’s voice was amazing. AND I read that she was literally in labour while recording ‘Wating on a Miracle’. Who does that!!!?
3. If you store your clothes away seasonally, it will feel like you’re going on a huge shopping spree every time its’s time to swap out your clothes.
Honestly, the best way to go shopping for a new season is to look inside your house at all of the stuff you already have. And then hate all of the stuff you have and wish you could burn it all and start again but then you won’t have anything to wear and you’ll be worse off than when you started.
4. Bonus thought: this
My Week in Photos (because I left it to the last minute to write my newsletter)
Sunday - Kites stuck in the trees in Gyeongju, South Korea. These beautiful trees were covered in kite strings and it made me really sad but it was also kind of pretty to look at. I just hope that nobody (or thing) was harmed in the process.
Monday Evening - An evening walk after work. It’s finally warm and bright enough outside when I finish my work to take a walk outside. The novelty of remote work has well and truly worn off and I’m ready to go back to whatever we did before all of this. There aren’t enough desks in my company’s office to go fully back to work so looks like I’m stuck with remote work for life. It’s no way to live!
Wednesday Night - My bedside table is where dust, expired vitamins and unfinished books go to die.
Thursday - I ordered a coffee delivery and I was very excited by the design on the cup even though I felt like a useless and worthless human for ordering something I could just buy at the bottom of our apartment building or make myself.
Every night - I wrote a comic this week and subsequently spent hours tracing the lines with a sign pen, erasing the pencil markings and colouring in with pencils. It was a messy hobby but I’m really happy with the outcome. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to try and finish it and show it to someone.
Saturday Morning - I bought this seasonal Midnight Bergamot Cold Brew coffee from Starbucks after hiking up Namsan. I had to weave my way through a group of sweaty cyclists to find a place to quietly enjoy my overpriced cup of sugar. I loved every moment of it. I also thought to myself… Ummm should I be a cyclist? And then I immediately shook the thought off and remembered that I hate riding bikes and I hate lycra and I hate socialising in groups.
Saturday Afternoon - I found a new hobby, DIY gel nails. I spent one manicure’s worth of money on a beginner gel nail set and this is the result! I definitely didn’t colour within the lines for this one but I’m excited to try and get better. My intention was to save money by doing it myself but I can definitely see this becoming an expensive hobby. My husband rejected my offer to let me paint his nails and practice.
Recent YouTube Videos
Want to see what I get up to as a foreigner living in Seoul, South Korea? Check out my YouTube channel. I post videos every so often on there!
Getting ready for Spring in South Korea
Watch me clean my wardrobe and get it ready for spring while also being exhausted because weekends are too short and I always try to fit too much in!
Working remotely as a UX designer in Seoul ~ Day in the life vlog
Goals for this week
I’m going to try and wake up at 5 am this week at least once. Why? Because I really need to stop waking up at 8:00 am, scrolling on my phone until 9:29 am and then scrambling to log into my laptop and tell people I started work.
Edit: I wrote this goal at the beginning of the weekend and now I’m rolling my eyes at my formerly optimistic self. There is almost no chance of this happening. Just wake up at a normal time and don’t look at your phone? Why did I think I needed to wake up at 5 am? I’m sorry you guys had to see this side of me.
