Hi there.
…
Let’s get on with it.
Life lately
I was really hopeful for an easy start into the year but… it was not to be.
My grandfather passed away, only a month after we returned to the city from the holidays and less than a day before his 84th birthday. He was our last living grandparent and the one who had been there throughout our childhood and teenage years and until we became young adults. I miss him so so much. It’s been incredibly difficult for the family and we’re still pooling together funds to pay for the hospital bills.
Add to that, I was also let go by my company as they head into a merger with a bigger company at the end of this quarter and none in my team were retained. So now I’m actively applying for new work. I’ve done an interview and have a few other prospects so fingers crossed I’ll find work soon.
There’s no equivalent bright side to any of this, I’m sorry to say. What I do have are a few little sparks of light that I am clutching preciously in the darkness, so to speak. I had a quiet birthday dinner where my sister cooked me pasta and we ate a bucket of chickenjoy from Jollibee and then that same weekend had an overnight stay at a local resort. I am quite proud of myself for accomplishing a few personal admin tasks I’ve been holding off for years and surviving tax season with as minimal stress as possible. But I’ve decided to hold off the rest of the big adult tasks for as long as I can and just take things easy for a while.
Media lately
On the other hand, I am pleased with how I’m balancing my different media consumption. I feel I’m finding a really good balance of what to consume without feeling neither lacking nor overwhelmed.
Music
I added 27 songs to my 2026 playlist this first quarter. Starting the year and this playlist off with the 2017 remastered version of “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac was me having an intentional and optimistic outlook onto the year. I, of course, had to add some songs by Sarah Kinsley, Magdalena Bay and Caroline Polachek in there — it just wouldn’t be a playlist of mine without any of these artists. The journey into the alt/indie scene of the 90s to early aughts continue with the likes of The Cardigans and Milky, of course. And I’m fully exploring Cocteau Twins’ discography now. I enjoy the dreamlike quality to their production and now understand why some of my favorite artists are inspired by them. Cico Buff is my favorite of theirs so far. I also came across Aperture by Harry Styles which I surprisingly enjoyed! (Surprisingly, because I wouldn’t really call myself a fan of his.)
Anime and TV series
Before the start of the quarter, I had a list of six anime shows releasing on the Winter 2026 season that I wanted to watch… I only ended up finishing two of them lol. The second season of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End exceeded my expectations! They were able to maintain the emotional depth that I loved in the first season and still had space for some really cool and refreshing action sequences. Tamon’s B-Side also exceeded my expectations in a whole different way. The voice performances were all so great and I felt that the studio (J.C. Staff) was quite smart and intentional with their animation/direction choices and it was just an overall enjoyable, lighthearted show. I also only realized like a few episodes in that the manga was created by the same creator as Takane and Hana and that ‘whipping’ sense of humor in the show suddenly made sense.
I also watched two other anime that were recommended to me by my friends. Of the two, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-be Wife, recommended to me by Nora of All The Fujoshi Unite, was a particular highlight in my weekly lunchtime watch schedule! It had a similar lighthearted vibes as Tamon and the studio (Project No. 9) were similarly very intentional with which scenes they highlight without dropping the overall quality of the show.
I started several TV shows in March but haven’t finished many of them. Of the shows I have finished, I really enjoyed season 4 of Bridgerton and BBC’s limited series The Other Bennet Sister. Both are historical romances but that’s where their similarities end. They are so different from each other! And I’m side-eyeing the people who are comparing them like they’re apples and apples. I loved Sophie and Benedict’s story and I appreciated that we got more focus on what’s happening ‘downstairs’ (i.e., the servants) this season. All the subplots feel like they add to Sophie and Benedict’s story too instead of unnecessarily veering away focus from them. It’s probably my second favorite season after season 2.
On the other hand, there’s something so endearing in seeing two dorks fall in love. The Other Bennet Sister is a retelling of Jane Austen’s well-beloved Pride and Prejudice and is primarily focused on Mary Bennet. I understand there are a significant number of Austen fans who read the book and watched the series adaptation, and were disappointed in the portrayal of some of the beloved characters. I am not one of them. I loved the story’s portrayal of Mary and her dynamic within her sisters and the family as a whole and her subsequently stepping away from that and finding her own footing. It’s a lovely series!!
Movies
Speaking of Austen, I started my Austen marathon very early this year and more frequently than the year before, haha! I already rewatched all my favorite iterations of Persuasion (2007 and 1995), Sense and Sensibility (because they have it on Netflix currently) and finally watched Kate Beckinsale’s Emma which was fun in and of itself. A chain cinema had the Lord of the Rings trilogy showing one film a month too in celebration of its 25th anniversary so I got to see all extended editions in the big screen with my best friend.
Of the new movies I watched this quarter, the standouts are probably The Holdovers which I watched post-New Years celebrations and will very much be part of my holiday tradition from now on. I also watched Robots for the first time ever!! I loved the allegory on class and the perils of capitalism in that movie. I kept thinking about how companies have abused the subscription model nowadays as a way to milk every coin they can get out of people — something that, considering the release date of this film, feels lowkey prophetic. I also watched Zootopia 2 which was a huge throwback to when I was trying to navigate AO3 so I can read a Nick/Judy fanfic lol. (Origin reveal I guess haha!)
Books and Manga
Earlier this quarter, I decided to get a non-resident library card to a relatively huge public library and I’ve been making use of my library card to access not only novels that have been in my TBR for years but also reading magazine articles and nonfiction.
Which brings me to my biggest accomplishment for this quarter: I have officially reached my reading goal for this year.
I ended the quarter having read 23 books which has exceeded my goal of reading 19 books for 2026. Now, to be fair, I did start including manga and webtoons in the count last year — so long as it’s in Storygraph — and majority of what I read this quarter were manga.
I breezed through volumes 3 to 9 of My Love Mix-Up! since it was available to borrow in Libby. I also plan on rereading the first few volumes of Witch Hat Atelier in anticipation of the anime adaptation (as of writing I already saw the first two episodes eep!!) and have already finished the first volume. My favorite new manga is Emma by Kaoru Mori, absolutely surprising no one. Mori continues to amaze me with her amazing background work and detailed art style that I first saw when I read the first volume of A Bride’s Story. I’m really hoping to buy the subsequent volumes on Bookwalker gradually because I really enjoyed Emma and William’s growing friendship and am curious to see where things go.
For books, I read T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart which I find as enjoyable as her Saint of Steel books. Typical of the Kingfisher stories I have read thus far, there’s always that smidge of horror present. In this book, it is largely represented by the Vagrant Hills and the weird creatures inhabiting it. I’ve heard it’s featured in other books in the White Rat universe so I’m part-excited and part-dreading when I read about it next. I also read All Systems Red by Martha Wells and OMG IT’S SO GOOD. That one Tiktok video talking about how much they related to Murderbot — I totally get what they’re saying now.
Creating lately
I’m still going strong with my art journal, and for the month of April I’m joining this chill art challenge by tenshi.wrld, ‘30 drawings in April‘. Each week has a simple prompt so I’m integrating those prompts into my art journal. I’ll update here on how it goes. Outside of my art journal, I didn’t really do much creating this quarter… I did a graphics design thing for a Tiktok post in early January and I did some quick digital paintings on Procreate to warm up and prepare for a fandom project I’ll be submitting this April.
I hope your first quarter of the year went by with ease. Here’s to a better April for us. ♡
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