Ok, so recently I decided to cave into (or RE-cave) my coffee addiction. It started in high school when I started using my mom’s prized coffee maker for sleepless all-nighters spent doing calc homework and studying for the SAT’s. I didn’t spend a dime on Starbuck’s frappuchinos unlike the school newspaper nerds or my favorite student council president. But my favorite coffee back then was Starbuck’s ground coffee, and I never looked back since.

I’ve been meditating since I was a kid. Forced to live in a Buddhist monastery by my Spartan father, I had to meditate for hours. Meditation helped me gain focus, concentration, and discipline. Without it, I would have still been the hyperactive, restless kid with the attention span of a goldfish.

I got my first pair of ballet shoes when I was five years old. I started taking ballet classes in the UK because “all the other girls were taking it” and I liked all things pretty. I was the only paradox in my ballet class, sporting a bowl shaped haircut and a pink tutu with leotards as the other girls had their hair in buns.

I remember in 2017, sitting at my desk during work at break time and reading through Exodus on my iMac. I had embarked on a year-long plan to finish the Bible in chronological order. During this time, I didn't have a physical Bible but relied heavily on apps and websites, using my iPad to pore through devotionals. I had forgotten about the importance of having a physical Bible, having forgotten a lot what I knew about Christianity from my youth and younger days.

I’ve been doing yoga since 2019. There are a ton of benefits to yoga, and I’ve recently started signing up for yoga classes again. Previously I was doing it off of Youtube and constructing my own yoga routine that I do every day. Yoga’s really calming and keeps me grounded in my body and well as tones the body and stretches the muscles. I highly recommend yoga to anyone wanting to relieve stress and be more grounded in their bodies. It helps with anxiety as well as reduces stress and increases breathwork.

I recently FINALLY got a classpass membership. I don’t know why it took me this long to get on the classpass bandwagon, but I’m glad I finally did. I took a boxing class yesterday and enjoyed the experience. I had to buy boxing gloves and wrapping tape at the front desk, but then I felt like such a legit warrior after wrapping my tape on my knuckles. The class was mostly free-style with some demonstrations and sparring, which was fine with me, I mostly needed the boxing for stress relief. There are so many benefits to boxing, which I wanted to stipulate here.

Ecclesiastes speaks of the seasons that all humans go through; in life, in work, in love. Not all seasons are meaningful; some are rests, between stanzas, between eras we’re noted for.

I know the feeling of unrest that Solomon the Teacher reminds us again and again: life is just a chasing after the wind. I want to be productive every minute of my day, but I find myself taking more breaks than I want to be known for. Each day passes by, another paragraph to my story.

I went to a costume exhibit at the Met last weekend. It was the Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion exhibit. There was so many beautiful dresses, decorated like roses and butterflies and seafoam. The exhibit had perfume scents scattered along the dresses and it made for an exhilarating experience. Going to the Met made me appreciate New York City all the more; the city's full of life and vigor and things to see and things to do. I feel so fortunate to be living in one of the best cities in the world, and I'm been so grateful towards God for directing my steps back to this city. Here are pictures of the fashion exhibit along with me and my beautiful friend.

You know I’m obsessed with routines. I used to watch Youtube videos of morning and evening routines. There's something so comforting about seeing people get ready for work and wind down after work. Routines and rituals also take a load off your mind because you don't have to be making decisions -- it just becomes a habit for you, and you can escape decision fatigue.

In a previous post, I talked about the ideal morning routine. I’ve been reading a lot of productivity books and trying to adjust my morning routine to accommodate my work schedule. I started getting up at 5am because I needed more time in the mornings before heading to work, since I have to get to work by 9am and transit is notoriously a time-killer. I chug a couple cups of coffee to optimize my energy levels, and so far, it's been working. I have enough energy to last me to 10pm at night, when I usually go to sleep. I also have enough energy to work out after work. I like to run at the gym instead of outside now because I just feel it's more efficient. Optimally, I would like to run in the mornings, but I feel it takes a huge chunk of time and makes my mornings feel somewhat cramped. But the point of the morning routine is to be productive and optimize your day.

“Gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law” - Galatians 5:23

Recently I listened to a sermon by the late Tim Keller on self control. This was spurred on by an act that I deemed as my loss of self control. On Sunday, I left church early. I was dealing with anxiety, and I didn’t feel comfortable with my environment or with myself, so I left church in the middle of a sermon. Thinking about it, I was debating on whether it was the right thing to listen to my body or was it the wrong thing to leave church early. I had already gone to Catholic mass earlier that day, and I was mentally exhausted from the day. Against my body’s and the weather’s wishes, I tread to church, and it just didn’t feel good when I was there. And listening to myself, I decided to leave.

I started running regularly since January 2023 and haven’t looked back since.

It was really tough getting into running. I used to run sporadically around my neighborhood, but I would give up on making it a habit because of physical exhaustion and inability to keep myself accountable. But after I started taking multi-vitamins and supplements and started eating better, my physical form improved. In January 2023, I decided to brute force myself into running. I ran 1 mile a day for 5 days a week every week for 1 month. My time ranged from 9 minutes a mile to 12 minutes a mile. I was more focused on getting my legs adjusted to running than improving my speed or distance. After 1 month, I got major shin splints. I also didn’t know that stretching was necessary before and after running, so I incurred some running injuries, mainly around my hip. I walked strangely for a month or two before getting back into running.

“But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.” - 1 Corinthians 15:46

We’re tied to the earth. 1 Corinthians 15:46 speaks of the physical body coming first, then the spiritual body. Without our physical body, a vessel for the spirit, we would be unmade and unformed. It is hard then, to resist things of the material world. We were taught first to live materially, than to live spiritually. For me, engaging in the teachings of Christ to nurture my undying spirit is an ongoing investment in my spiritual health. Caring for my soul relates to not tainting my body with immorality of the flesh, from sexual immorality to material greed to earthly desires.

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.” - Madeline L’engle.

I don’t believe that people don’t change. It doesn’t matter the terrible things you did as a child or as an adolescent, but if you repent for them and come to Christ later on, you will be granted eternity as well. I used to think that the people who are saved had their names written down since their birth. I was privileged in that I was baptized at birth, but the struggle to grasp on to God in the midst of sin and to hold onto faith despite the inundation of secular messages from this world ruled by Satan are battles that I’m still fighting.

I’m a pen geek. I inherited this hobby of collecting pens and all things stationery from my mom. She’s a major fan of fountain pens, which I don’t actually find super appealing due to the necessity of ink. Too many ink blots, too little time, and too much hassle to deal with fountain pens. They look good on a wooden oak desk next to a paper weight, but unless I was a CEO, I don’t see the need for them.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” - John 15:18

Ever since I was a kid, I wondered, why some people hated. And why some people hated me. It was part of my personality to try to make everyone love me, and I thought if I loved people, people would love me back. I’m naturally reserved on the surface, but my father told me that I was a lover of people, a people-pleaser, yes, but someone who actually loved people, and he knew me better than anyone else did.

I recently looked up Andrew Huberman’s morning routine, because not only is he the most talked about “neuroscience expert” due to his scintillating Youtube videos and verbose podcasts, but his morning routine is espoused by many to optimize your day. I found similarities between his morning routine and mine, with some key differences.

Mornings are hard. Especially if you’re not a morning person. But is there really such thing as “morning person” and “night owl”? Sure, our biological clocks run a huge part of our lives, and our physiology and biochemistry affect our productivity and routines. But for Christians, “with God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).

When I was a kid, I used to watch the news channel every day before school while my mom did my hair. My favorite channel was Fox News, not because I was Republican (what kind of third grader is Republican?), but because they told a lot of stupid jokes.

Ok, I was actually Republican. The only Republican in my grade, I touted conservative ideals to my non-believing classmates and tried to convert them to my party. My Democratic teachers intervened and sent me to detention for being against labor unions.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Life isn’t going to happen the way you want it to or even planned it to. When I was 5 years old, I planned out every year of my life from age 5 to age 100. What accomplishments I would make each year, what schools I would go to, what jobs I would have. I micromanaged my life to the point of obsession, giving myself more anxiety than necessary.

The old gods have deceased, leaving chaos in their wake. Seven planets competing for pagalite, a dwindling essential mineral that is needed to control the elements, host a competition to be crowned God of the godless world. The new God will be given the power to make pagalite from the 4 elements and as a result save their planet. 

Kaya, a girl from the planet Kairos, enters the competition with three others from her planet. Chosen by the Elders, Kaya cannot fight but she possesses a special gift given to her by the moon: the power to create minerals from water. She can hence heal people’s pain through using the water inside them and talk to others inside their minds. 

Kaya, a girl from the planet Kairos, enters the competition with three others from her planet. Chosen by the Elders, Kaya cannot fight but she possesses a special gift given to her by the moon: the power to create minerals from water. She can hence heal people’s pain through using the water inside them and talk to others inside their minds.