Hello! It's been a REALLY long time since I last posted on this blog. Well, I've felt a little inspired to start writing things on here again, mainly because I have so much that I've been enjoying doing lately and thought it would be fun to write some of it up! I honestly wouldn't do it for views or whatever, but for my own enjoyment and also for archival purposes. Future me will read this one day and it'll be nice to have a record of what's been going on in my life and in my head. The person reading this might not be future me, it could be a stranger, a friend, my partner, or someone who knows about this blog and used to be close with me! Either way, I hope you enjoy :)
I wanted to make a 2021 recap even though it's already March 2022 lol. But some context of where my life up to the beginning of 2021 is important! Since the last post on this blog and since January 2021, I had...
- Become single lol
- Graduated from UCLA with my Bachelor's
- Left UCLA with a lot of close friendships and really really fun college experiences, including a trip to Vegas, a trip to Joshua Tree, apartment living with cool people, etc etc
- Done an internship with the City and met my now-boyfriend and then eventually started dating him. :) We've been together for over 2 years, officially dating for over a year and 5 months!
- Survived 2020 and a really big mess of a pandemic year... I had moved back home already after graduating UCLA so I was with my family and working from home
- Oh yeah, got a full time job!! It pays really well, has good benefits, and I get to work in water conservation and fun stuff like that.
- Started doing an online Master's again with UCLA! Luckily I have friends from undergrad/work doing the same program and classes so it's been very bearable.
Now that we're up to date, here's a recap of how my 2021 went!
January
Not much happened at this point, this was pre-vaccine and mid-holiday covid surge so there weren't any events or trips going on. I spent a lot of time with Kevin (my partner) and Arya (Kevin's dog and the closest thing I've had to a baby) as usual <3
February
Kevin and I went on a trip back to the Lake Arrowhead cabin with Arya, were super domestic, did a house roll hehe. That same weekend we drove down to San Diego and went to our first wedding together for his cousin! We stayed in a fancy hotel, got super drunk, and got super soft with each other. It was a really fun weekend. :)
March
Not much happened this month either; the usual hanging out with friends from home, spending quality time with Kevin and Arya! Oh yeah, since I was living at home and he lived almost an hour away, we only saw each other on the weekends. Every date we had felt so precious! Finished my Winter quarter for school! Also, I got vaccinated!
April
Most memorable thing that happened was going on a weekend Joshua Tree trip with friends and doing shrooms lolol. Spent a lot of the shroom trip indoors and hallucinated a LOT, but it was really fun haha. I was also SPENT from so much socializing and making my brain go through a lot of stimulation! Haven't done a trip since but maybe it's time? Also got my second dose of the vaccine :))
May
Started off on a really stressful and bad note; one of my best friends of almost 10 years aggressively ended our friendship after I had miscommunicated my future living plans to her. That miscommunication opened up a whole can of worms about how she thought I never cared about her, respected her, and was a shitty friend because my actions made her insecure about our friendship and I didn't do enough to make her feel better. The situation made me see how much we had grown in different directions and made me reflect on how a lot of our friendship... wasn't great. Thankfully, thanks to my amazing friends, family, partner, therapist, and commenters on a Reddit post I made about the situation, I realized I wasn't at fault and I had done all I could on the situation. I haven't talked to her since and don't plan on it.
Also, I went on a trip to Seattle with a few of my closest friends! It was a little nerve wracking at first because one of those friends was someone who is close to both me and my ex best friend but decided to remain neutral in the situation. I was worried about how she thought of me, but she still cares about me and the trip was an amazing time. :)
June
Did so much apartment hunting this month since Chelsea (my best friend from UCLA) and I decided where and when we would move in together at this point!! Got serious about training for a 5k that was happening the next month that I was doing with Kevin, turns out running is fun when you properly train for it. CRAZY. Also saw Nicole Byer live with Erica for her birthday <3
July
Moved in to our new apartment! Still living here now and it's so surreal to be in Pasadena, away from my parents and fam, closer to Kevin, and officially on my own. It's incredibly sad to no longer be with my family all the time, but really freaking nice to have my own space, do things on my own terms, etc!! At the beginning of this month I also ran my first 5k! Kevin ran with me at my pace and it was nice having him there next to me while I was working so hard :') It's something I'm really proud I did! Also went bar hopping in Pasadena with Chelsea for her birthday <3 I spent a lot of time this month hanging out with friends, going to parties, and going to Disneyland!!
August
More transitioning to new apartment life! It was really hot this month... Started seeing Kevin more than once a week (so nice), baked an ube cheesecake for my dad's birthday, got my nails done with my friends and got my first acrylics set and i haven't been able to back ever since, and stayed over at Kevin's house a lot :) Also went to Filipino Dodgers night and had a really good time hehe.
September
Kevin's birthday month!! We went to Lawry's, dressed up really fancy, and ate some insanely delicious prime rib. We also went to a Kygo show with our friends where I took a little too much ecstasy because I can't remember much of it and got too stimulated by all the lights and sounds. But it was still a good time! We ended up being stranded after the show because no one on the ride share apps would pick us up... Chelsea had to drive all the way down at 1 AM to get us, bless her soul. I got another tattoo this month!! Got matching Mitski tattoos with some friends on my side abdomen, which fucking hurt but the tat looks cute as hell. Went bar hopping with Kevin and our friends the same night and that ended up being a mistake because guess what!! You're not supposed to drink for like a week after getting a tattoo!!
October
Went on a 5 day trip to Denver with Kevin at the beginning of the month as an early anniversary trip and it was just... amazing. I can't even get into it because it deserves its own post but in short, I love Colorado and I love Kevin. <3 Hung out with friends a lot and went to Halloween Horror Nights for the first time! Kevin and I celebrated our first anniversary as an official couple this month! Saw Phoebe Bridgers live finally, and ended the month going to Halloween parties! Dressed up with Kevin as Hinata and Kageyama from Haikyuu hehe. Also, this was the month that I started reeeeally getting into Formula 1. Holy shit man I love Formula 1.
November
Birthday month! Spent the start of this month seeing IDLES live with Carrie again, getting drunk with Erica and Carrie for the first time (this was really fun haha), and having a little at home work vacation with kevin during veteran's day weekend. Also went to Erica's graduation, saw my little brother in his first play (and cried)! My birthday was on Thanksgiving this year which I learned I don't like at all. My favorite birthday activities were not on my actual birthday but it was still a really nice week <3 Kevin and I went to Majordomo for dinner and wowow it was so delicious! Also started going to F45 this month and I've been obsessed ever since. It's been a great way for me to stay in shape but also a good way for me to be social because I found out this year that I am a lot more extroverted than I care to admit.
December
So many things!! Saw Trevor Noah live, saw Spiderman, went out clubbing for the first time in a long time, so many holiday things, and then the biggest thing that happened was going to Hawaii with my family!! By the time we got back, Omicron had reared its ugly head so my New Year's plans with friends were cancelled.
I achieved a lot of my goals that I set for myself, like moving out, saving X amount of money, getting down to 25% body fat, and finishing more books.
Going into 2022, I have more goals of course! But the biggest one is to stay present and enjoy my life since time seems to be passing so quickly. In particular, it made me really sad when my Hawaii trip with my family ended and I realized how much of it passed me by because I was busy being stressed about what we were gonna do next, how we were gonna do it, etc. The time spent with my loved ones is the most important thing to me and I can't really do that if I'm not here in the present!
Main goals for 2022:
- Maintain a 3.0+ GPA for school
- Pay off one of my student loans
- Visit/experience 3 new places with Kevin
- Meditate and journal everyday
- Bring phone screen time down to less than 6 hours a day
Side goals for 2022:
- Finish reading 3 books
- Keep learning dances, get better at dancing in general
- Add at least $X to savings account
- Open an IRA and investing fund for stocks
- Completely unpack and decorate my room
Ok thanks for reading bye!!
