Planting my content garden
How a late night pep talk with ChatGPT shifted the geography of my brain
Hello, and how do you do?
If I had a hat on, I would tilt it down slightly to show my deep respect for you.
We’re back with another installation of Picnic Journal! Did I mention we’re doing this weekly?
Before we get into it, I just wanted to take a moment for this colour palette. Do with these HEX codes what you will, and then let’s get back to our regularly scheduled existential newsletter crisis.
My content garden is a work in progress
I had a bit of a revelation this week, thanks to ChatGPT (sorry). I mostly use Chat to translate Korean and support my life as a foreigner in Seoul (super helpful btw). Occasionally, I will ask him for a little pep talk. We all need them. And we don’t all have pep talkers on call at every hour of the day. This is what I asked he/him:
He replied with a bunch of stuff that I didn’t really take notice of. I was already drifting off into the abyss of 20 other tabs by the time he collected his thoughts (I’m the worst). After I thanked him for his diligent beep-boopping (I was raised to always thank my chatbots), he left this little gem:
Chat! Who R U? That was all I needed to hear the first time! It shifted my whole brain geography. Every word I share, doodle I post, or random string of daydreams I send out into the world is not for nothing. I’m growing something I believe in and am passionate about. It might not make sense, but if I just keep at the thing that makes my little over-caffinated heart sing, people will eventually show up at my garden and marvel at its beauty. You’ve got this, keep planting!
The Joriwon Diaries
I finally posted something I had been sitting on for over 2 years: my experience at a Korean postpartum care centre. It’s pretty honest, but I hope it can be helpful to other foreign women making their decision about their postpartum experience in Korea. Go and check it out, or save it for a rainy day, or send it to a friend!
Autumn is here
This week, I posted a wrap-up of pictures I snapped during the rainy Chuseok holiday in Seoul. With a toddler. It was wild and chaotic and cosy. Exploring Seoul with a toddler is a lot of fun, mostly because public transport is easy and very exciting for tiny eyes.
We visited Changdeokgung and MMCA Gwacheon, which has a Children’s museum (both were free during the Chuseok holiday). We also went to Seoul Forest, our local kids’ cafe, the library, and Kyobo bookstore — making sure to sprinkle in a lot of yummy meals and cafe adventures in between.
Toddler adventures are great because you don’t have to stay in the place you’re going to for very long. You can just sort of see the cliff notes and get the heck outta there. Also, prams! Naps! Snacks! Hydration breaks! Stopping to find little ant friends stomping around. Simple and so joyful.
Links to things that don’t cost money:
This week, I went down a bit of a Jonathan Anderson rabbit hole after watching his Fashion Neurosis episode. He talks a lot about art, creativity and why he wears what he wears. I love hearing about how creative people think, and which creative people they like to hear about how they… think? Help?
A cool Korean website for a font called Nanum Square Neo (made by Naver). I love collecting websites with interesting designs and thought I could share them with you, too. It’s like going to an art gallery on your computer!
I feel old because I just want to listen to the sounds of my youth, but I’m always forgetting whether the artists of my youth have been cancelled or if I can talk about them in a public forum. Having said that, I’m on a bit of a Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix kick lately. Sometimes I lie on the couch at 2 AM and fall asleep to a playlist of songs I listened to in 2010.
Content creators I’m loving lately: YouTube: Life of Pyper, Jaclyn Salem, Tiffany Ferg talking about the “influencer accent.” Instagram: bry.washing is posting great reels of Tokyo in the lead-up to his book launch, and my fave fashion creators atm are dahanadcr and aprillockhart.
This one does cost money, but if you are a writer or an aspiring writer, entries for The Hope Prize are closing on October 31!
Feel free to share links to free things you think are cool in the comments!
