January Writing Challenge 2021: 23-31

So I didn't finish this writing challenge I gave myself. I got kind of tired of the prompts to be honest. Because I still would like to finish this, I'm gonna just answer as succinctly as possible the last, like 10 prompts.

23. A social media trend you detest with every atom of your being and why

Uhh I work in social media, so I guess. All of it? Or none of it? I used to hate TikTok but now I've joined the dark side with Gen Z and kind of love it. There's honestly not really a trend I detest. Maybe the overall curated fake lifestyles and expectations built up through influencer culture. Yeah, that one.

24. Go out, look at the surroundings of where you live and describe them like you’re a poet in love. Not all of us can live next to verdant, rolling hills with watery blues marking the sky- try and describe the bins outside of your house in the most gracefully ridiculous way possible

It's a snowy winter's night. White blankets over everything, undisturbed except for paw prints of a stray cat seeking shelter.  Windows glow yellow, signs of life inside peek through: a dinner being made by a couple in a kitchen, a robed dude sitting at his desktop hard at work (or playing video games, it's hard to tell).  It's quieter than quiet. Shhh,

25. Analyse a common saying that has never made any sense to you

Ugh what I don't know I don't feel like it.

26. Write about a tradition in your culture and why you love/hate it so much. This also doesn’t have to be super serious, I’d probably write about Britain’s extreme love of pubs

Because we just finished the season, I'm going to say Filipinos and their love of Christmas. The Christmas season basically starts in September, all the "BER" months, and then continues into January basically. The parols, the decorations, the Catholicism, the carols. And best of all the food. This year was the first one spent at Brooklyn without our families so we tried to recreate all the Filipino Christmas foods I'm used to. 

27. Invent a few sayings you think should be common and explain why

No.

28. Three things you wish you knew/understood at the age of ten

Honestly, probably nothing. Because the whole naivety and innocence of childhood is what makes it great.

29. Look in the mirror and describe yourself like an author would describe you. As hard as it is, try to be objective- you may slowly gain an appreciation for features you’ve never liked

Black shoulder length hair, and caramel skin. Thin eyebrows frame chocolate brown eyes, a flat button nose and full pink lips. Tiny everything: legs, limbs, hands. Short in stature, always having to look up.

30. Write about an injustice that boils your blood. Doesn’t have to be super serious- for me, I’d probably write about my dislike of Thomas Edison in how he stole several inventions from Nikola Tesla

Um. After reading it this year, I'm pissed Beach Read didn't win Best Romance of 2020 on GoodReads. Some fantasy romance won, which I guess is fine. But Beach Read was so well written! The character development! The slow burning attraction and connection! The second chance romance/fake enemies to lovers vibes! The sizzling tension! The beach houses! The dark side plots! The communication and acknowledgment of faults and baggage! SO GOOD IT SHOULD HAVE WON DAMMIT

31. What you’ve learnt during January and any goals you may have for February 2021

Well I learned that I can't complete a challenge. And that I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my career. Goals are to try figuring that shit out. Wish me luck.

January Writing Challenge 2021: 22

22. Pick a colour you’re currently wearing and write a letter to them as if they are a person. It doesn’t have to be beautiful or poetic, just write to them and let them know why you’re wearing them

Dear Blue,

You're classic, vintage, cool. You're comfortable and reliable. You're a daily part of my life. Or at least you were, before Covid. Now you're a little rarer these days, I wear you less. Hopefully this year you'll come back into my life on a regular basis. And you'll go back to being a basic, blue. Jeans.

January Writing Challenge 2021: 21

21. Your favourite piece of art and why

Hmm. Most art I think is...dumb. I'm drawn to art of ordinary things, like this painting I saw at the Whitney. It's called Pie Counter and it's by Wayne Thiebaud.

It's just a really nice painting of pie. It's very pleasant.

I also like Monet sometimes. It's pretty. 

I do like visiting museums and looking at art. I just think it's dumb sometimes. Except when it's pie.

January Writing Challenge 2021: 20

20. The things you were grateful for in 2020

Number one thing I was grateful for in 2020 is my husband Ben. We got married in 2020 and that was honestly just the beginning of a truly unforgettable first year of marriage. I definitely would not have survived quarantine without him. He took care of me, and was there when I was going crazy from work or being cooped up for too long. He put up with me when I got bored and had to bother my only other co-worker to distract myself from the work I had to do. Gave me unlimited cuddles. Loved me even when I was being the worst.

I was also grateful for healthy family and friends. My cat. Puzzles. Alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Being healthy myself. Moving to a bigger, nicer apartment now that we have to spend a much larger majority of our time in it. Taylor Swift. Loungewear. Warm socks. Did I say alcohol?

January Writing Challenge 2021: 15-19

Well the weekend really fucked with my writing challenge. Shit.

15. Your most unpopular opinion (bonus points for how controversial it is). Explain your reasoning behind it

Hmm I feel like I have a lot of these but it's hard to come up with something specific. I hate a lot of things that are popular or well reviewed/liked.

I hated the movie Snowpiercer. I though it was complete trash, and I left the movie theater upset that I watched it. I just didn't think it was a good movie, one thing happened after another that just upset me and I didn't enjoy watching it at all. 

I also extremely hated the movie Inherent Vice. I thought it was boring as fuck, I fell asleep in the theater twice and woke up upset that the movie wasn't over. It was just too hard to follow and nonsense. Chalk it up to me being not as "cultured" but fuck that movie it was trash.

I think lentils are a trash food and no one should eat them. They taste like shit usually and I don't care if you're vegetarian there are other legumes out there that don't taste like actual trash. I've only liked one lentil dish in my entire life, otherwise everything lentil-related I hate with a passion.

16. A review of where you live. Doesn’t matter if you live in the middle of nowhere or a bustling metropolis- each have their benefits and their downfalls. Give your opinions, the pros/cons and why you like/hate living there

I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It's a great neighborhood to live overall. There are great restaurants and bars here, and I live in close enough proximity to Williamsburg that it's very accessible. People shit on the G train but I've lived in Greenpoint for over seven years and I never had very many complaints about the train. Yes it's a short train. It's not that big a deal. Yes it has some issues. So do all of the other trains. The MTA overall sucks. The G is on par with the other trains.

I think the thing I like the best though about Greenpoint is that it's got some great spots but it's also quiet. People don't venture as often up here, and I'm okay with it. Greenpoint can stay this hidden gem in New York for as long as people think it's too hard to get to. More great food, drinks, and businesses for me. 

17. Write about an emotion you’re feeling as if it’s detached from you. The happiness, grief or loneliness you’re feeling is suddenly sat across the room from you. What are they wearing? What do they look like? What are their mannerisms?

Exhaustion is sitting across from me. They are wearing head to toe gray sweats with the hood pulled all the way up. They've got bags under their eyes, and a paleness that comes with not getting enough sleep. Their lips are chapped. Their hair is greasy and unwashed. They are having trouble paying attention to anything, and are also having trouble staying upright. They just want to lie down. They don't want anyone talking to them, and when someone tries to they just answer with one syllable responses. Just let them go to bed please!

18. An analysis of your favourite film scene and why you love it so much. It doesn’t have to be super serious or beautiful, maybe you really like the marriage scene from Shrek. Really dig into it, like you’re a media student. What colours are there? How is the scene framed? Who’s in it? Read between the lines

Well my favorite movie of all time is Amélie, and almost every scene from that movie is beautifully done. You could freeze frame at any point in that film and it would be a beautiful, intentionally shot frame. 

I think one of my favorite scenes is near the beginning. It's the scene where the narrator is talking about all the simple pleasures Amélie enjoys in life, including dipping her hand in sacks of grain, cracking créme brulée with a spoon, and skipping stones at the St. Martin's Canal. The close-ups of the hand dipping in grain, the surface of the créme brulée and the sound of it being cracked. 

My favorite part of this scene is Amélie skipping stones because it starts with an overhead shot of the waterfall going into the canal and then pans all the way over to the other side of the waterfall, where Amélie is wearing a red dress and skipping stone after stone. The whole background is bathed in soft sunlight and greens of the trees and the canal, and Amélie is in the middle of the shot, standing out among the green dressed in red, as the camera pans down to the canal where it ends on a close-up of a stone is being skipped across the water. 

I think my other favorite scene of all time is from the 2001 classic that I used to watched repeatedly: The Princess Diaries. It's the scene where Mia and Michael are walking to school and flirting a bit because we all know they're catching feelings, when Lily, Michael's sister comes running down the sidewalk after them, screaming for them to wait for her. As she's running, someone turns around as she's screaming "Wait!" and in a perfect moment of comedic timing, she screams back at the extra "No not you I don't even know you!" It's such a well timed delivery of that line and performance by Heather Matarazzo that I laugh out loud every time. Such a great scene. Most scenes in The Princess Diaries are great. What a great fucking movie. Is this an analysis?

19. Write a short story or article based on the last text or WhatsApp message you sent. Doesn’t matter if it’s as mundane as “yeee”- maybe you’re a lone adventurer walking along desolate streets screaming ‘yeee’ as you go. How would people react to you? Why are you screaming it? What has led you to where you are?

Last text: "I think you can follow it"

"I think you can follow it," I said, as the black and white cat jumped onto our downstairs neighbor's fence and nimbly scampered across it like a tightrope walker performing their circus routine. We watched as the cat hopped off the fence and into the next yard, walking through the overgrown weeds in circles before settling down in a patch of sun. He joined the rest of the cats who liked to traverse between the yards that spread out behind our building. And then the musical Cats started THE END 

January Writing Challenge 2021: 14

 Ahhh I forgot to do yesterday's prompt! Here it is for good measure. Dammit.

14. You wake up and realise that in a Metamorphosis-style twist of fate, you’ve turned into Jeff Bezos. You’ve got £136b ($182b) to splash- how do you spend it?

The first thing I do is pay any outstanding debts my family has, likely car payments, some stuff from both me and my brother's college tuition, my brother's pharmacy school, and any other bills. Then I set my family up so that my mom can retire. Probably buy my parents a new house or remodel parts of our current house that are old. See how we can help family in the Philippines. Set up Ben's family so that they are doing well also. 

Then I think Ben and I would buy a house ourselves somewhere. Being that rich would probably mean we could have multiple residences, so I feel like we'd likely have one here in Brooklyn, and one in Houston or Austin. Maybe both. Oh, and then I'd hire a financial advisor because there's no way in hell we would know what else to do with that amount of money. Probably have investments or some shit.

After all our families are set, I'd use the rest to travel to all the places I've always wanted to go, and then find some causes to support that mean a lot to me. Maybe something in the Philippines, maybe something to do with food sustainability. Or the environment. Etc. I dunno that amount of money is unfathomable to me, so honestly I would probably have no idea what else to do with it. 

January Writing Challenge 2021: 13

 I forgot to publish #12 yesterday and I'm writing #13 after midnight, so it looks like I did three on the 14th, but I promise I'm doing them on time!

13. A recurring dream, or your most memorable dream, and what you think it says about you

Here's the thing, I rarely remember my dreams. The last memorable one I had fairly recently was one where my mom made us have another wedding but for the Philippines, but I didn't tell anyone I knew except for the Filipinos, and I forgot to re-book all my vendors because I somehow thought they would just show up and do the same thing they did the first time. When I realized I didn't have any hair or makeup people coming, Sharon offered to do it for me. And when my mom got mad at me for forgetting to book any vendors for our second wedding, I asked her "Why are we having another wedding anyway?!" And she shouted back "FOR THE FILIPINOS!"

To be honest I have no idea what this means or what it says about me. Maybe that I have our wedding top of mind because our one year anniversary is coming up, or maybe it means I feel bad that none of my family from the Philippines was able to come here for our wedding because their visas weren't approved. Maybe it's something about my relationship with my mother? I'm bad at interpreting my own dreams.