The food I’ve always found comfort in is usually sweet, especially if it’s chocolate:
Milk chocolate
Dark chocolate
Dobash cake (I just learned this is the Hawaiian variation of a Hungarian cake, then adapted in New Orleans, called, “Dobosh torte. I didn’t know this was a thing and I grew up with Dobash cake!!!)
Chocolate ice cream
Triple chocolate fudge ice cream
World class chocolate
Chocolate with caramel (Rolo’s)
Belgian chocolate (I WILL go to Belgium for the chocolate alone!!!)
Chocolate Chantilly cake (Hawaiian style, not Mainland style)
Anything that has chocolate, as long as it doesn’t have nuts or mint or coconut shreds or is white chocolate, I’ll eat it. I’ve been made fun of for liking a “very plain” flavor and I just shake my head at people. Like, “Seriously? I don’t make fun of whatever flavor you like and you throwing shade at what I like? Forget you! I wouldn’t want to share anything more with you anyways.”
There might be other types of chocolate that I’ve never heard of, but as long as it doesn’t have any of the things I listed above, then I would like to try it. Everyone has their own way of making chocolate, so I wouldn’t mind getting diabetes (knock on wood) if I got to try the differences in other people’s chocolate!
That should be the reason I should travel, besides visiting the local libraries and bookstores in the area of whatever state and country I would like to visit; I should go on a chocolate tasting spree! I wonder where I could go after visiting Belgium being my first stop. Where else in the world could have really good chocolate treats? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know in the comment section. It would greatly help me map out the destinations I could go. Thank you!
Some aspects of a typical day followed the same patterns that I barely noticed, though noticed enough, the disruption in said patterns. The day only becomes “atypical” if I believe something has changed, something shifted, and I experience a mixture of emotions all at once:
I felt dread and trepidation because my vacation ended, I have to return to my full-time job that drains me. Yet, I feel relieved that I can step away from the keyboard for a little bit.
I felt hatred and resentment towards myself because not much has changed since taking my vacation; I’m still working for a corporation that pays me well enough being a college drop out, offers great benefits, but kills me on the inside every second I’m present. However, I get to dictate what I want and can do in the day.
I’ve gotten curious to try something’s from Pinterest because I want to be proven right and wrong at the same time. At least, until I can work at my part time rage room job, then I’ll be hating everything and everyone at work. Unfortunately, that’s typical for me until I wake up without the help of caffeine or energy drinks.
I’d want to finish up the work week already, jump straight back to being my days off, so I get to decide how to spend my time without someone looming over my shoulder or dictating me: be it learning, experimenting, or pursuing new outlets and passions.
I feel dreadful that I don’t want to get out of bed, I don’t have much energy to bother, but I have to get up, follow my routine, or I’ll fall behind again.
The main difference from my typical day shifting to an atypical one is mostly from the small progress and projects I hadn’t done before, but gave it a try anyways.
Been working on my story telling and writing skills.
Read and finished 1 more book than the prior years.
Learned and advocated my needs and boundaries, even if that meant walking away from people I used to call “friends”, but they never really called me that in return.
Taking charge and accumulating wins from the moment I wake up to when it’s time to sleep again.
The list goes on and on, it provides a small silver lining within my usual pessimistic and neurotic perspective, yet I am grateful that things are slowly changing. Small acts of courage, even when I feel afraid, has given me another “second chance” I never gave myself years prior. Things can change, are changing, and are becoming something different that I can’t wait to see what and where it could lead to.
I’m terrified, although I feel more courageous to move forward regardless of that fear, and that is the most atypical of a day it could get for me. Wouldn’t that be one of the best feelings in the world to experience?
Slight Change in The “Typical/Atypical” Part:
Update: So, this became an atypical day because a few things happened today:
1) According to my coworker, we had a tsunami watch last week, even though I told her that I didn’t get a notification. She said a lot of people didn’t get it, but lots saw it on Facebook, which I don’t have.
2) The tsunami watch was supposed to have ended the same week it was announced, but it didn’t.
3) Now, the watch became a tsunami threat, so a lot of people were panicking, driving crazy, all because, and I understand, they’re trying to get home to evacuate the coastal areas and move to higher ground or further inland.
Thankfully, I made it home to my apartment, my family are packing everything to move to higher ground or further inland, but this has been the first ever tsunami threat in probably decades. We’ve been able to avoid a lot of tsunamis and hurricanes for a long time now. I guess Mother Nature decided we needed a wake up call, get us to set our priorities straight, and see if we are ready for her violent and vicious visit approaching in a few hours after this update.
I’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, everyone makes it to where they have to go safely because I’ve seen first hand how crazy people can get from small inconveniences. I know I would get upset and mad if someone cuts me off in traffic without using their blinker. That’s over an inconvenience.
But when we feel our life, and our loved one’s lives, are being really threatened? That’s a completely different story. But the only thing we can do, especially what I can do, is wait and see. Thanks for letting me rant a bit, but things should be okay for now.
The kinds of food I make are simple and depends on how much time I have to meal prep. Since I’m living on my own now, I don’t have to make a lot of food as I used to when living with family. I wouldn’t want to waste a lot of food too often.The things that I like to make are:
Chicken long rice
Chicken or shrimp pasta with mushrooms, broccoli, and home made Alfredo sauce
Chook or Jook (Not sure how to spell it, but its a rice dish)
Spam, egg, and rice/fried rice
Boiled eggs
Saimen (sorry, Ramen) with egg
Tuna sandwiches
Fried/baked Salmon with asparagus
Chicken or beef (Japanese) curry/stew
Steak and hot dogs
Something simple, something fast, some things can be eaten cold, others are quick to heat up (without a microwave, stoves are good too). I can make enough to last a few days, have for lunch or dinner, and can last me during long work days where I have no time to cook. Adulting is tough, but it’s only making me tougher!
I used to think about this question often in high school and in university, exclaiming, “the world is messed up! It needs to change; politicians need to do better; If only things were done a (vaguely specific way without evidence or driven by assumptions).” You know the kind of rant I’m talking about, right?
I would love to make changes to (modern western) society, but I don’t know enough, let alone properly informed, about what changes are necessary. I don’t have social media, I stopped watching the news years ago, and most of my information comes from people’s opinions. Are they anymore reliable than FOX or CBS News? I don’t think so, but people do provide information to potentially look into.
Otherwise, everything from me would be to ask questions:
What is it about (modern) society that is terrible?
Am I projecting what I dislike or am unhappy with in my situation onto the whole society?
Have I taken steps to solve a real tangible problem in my power to change? If so, what, when, and how did I contribute or could contribute?
Am I listening to the opinions of others who, if asked to elaborate on why they think about X and Y, they would be able to provide clear and concise answers?
It’s likely easy for me to ask questions because, whatever is going on in the world, things haven’t impacted me as harshly as the people in the mainland. I live on an island, we have our fair share of problems, but it’s still problems that need to be addressed.
Infrastructure
Tourism
Homelessness/Available housing
Education
Although, trying to change society is WAY above my pay grade, even if a hypothetical. I’d rather, for now, donate my time, money, blood, and spare resources I could share. I can start small, set a goal for how much and what, research where to donate to, and simply do my part. That’s good enough and easier for me to manage – society is too vast – and engage with.
I wouldn’t know where to begin if I were to describe myself to someone, be it familiar or stranger. No two people would say the same thing twice. I could be anything to anyone at any point in time:
Friendly
Empty
Neurotic
Dull
Lazy
Bitter
Angry
Excited
Loyal
Curious
Inquisitive
Experimental
I could be everything in between or nothing at all to anyone. I could be polarizing, neutral, or static, but the answer changes and it’s never consistent. We’re all the strange phenomena of, “Schrödinger’s Cat” – we’re all walking paradoxes of being both alive and dead – we’ll never know the answer unless we open the box, right?
Even if my task is to describe myself to someone, I wouldn’t be able to. I, myself, have an insufficient vocabulary, so, I wouldn’t have much words to properly express myself well. I am whatever the other person perceives me to be and nothing – reputation or action – could change their mind. I’ve slowly have come to terms with not changing someone else’s mind. Trying to is a terrible waste of time, energy, and resources.
The one thing that I could share though, despite it all, is that I’m still here; I’m still navigating the complexities of life and seeking simple pleasures wherever and however I can. I know I’ve made strides from the person I used to be to be who I’ve grown into, but old patterns linger and have festered when I thought they were gone. Nope. Out of sight, sure, but never far from mind.
So, in essence, I’m still fighting to live, fighting to remain, the only word here is fight. I might not be standing on a blue mat, I’ve been thrown around by life, be it by choice or circumstance: surviving, battered, beaten, bloodied, even without obvious evidence showing otherwise. I get up against my severe need for rest and I keep getting slammed anyways. Eventually, I’ll be able to retaliate, I’m bidding my time and waiting for the chance to strike. I know how far I’ve traveled in my own journey, some people don’t need an explanation, only I do and that’s enough.
The activities that make me lose track of time are:
Daydreaming
Playing Video games
I’ve gotten accustomed to my own company that my mind will wander often. I would entertain the thought of what it would be like to be wealthy and then I could plan my way to wealth; I could imagine being someone of little importance, yet be so well connected that I could have spies everywhere. Just a snap of my fingers and an elite squad of trained mercenaries answering my call.
Or I’d wonder what it would be like to pick locks, steal something, working with computers, opening electronics up and putting them back together again, repurposed or for it’s intended purpose, just being highly skilled at something useful and hiding it away from the world. More for my entertainment than anything. Although, most of these skills I could learn, so it’s not too far from being only in imagination.
This is what happens when someone watches too many movies and doesn’t interact with enough people often.
Then there’s the video games – a past time I got from my dad and one I kept because it’s a solitary activity – the thing that always distracted me. I’ve gotten better at managing how long I play, but when I was younger, you’d have to fight me tooth and nail to get me to turn off my gaming systems.
I’d wanted to level up my fictional character that I never wanted, until recently, to level myself up in real life. I’ve changed my tune, although, I am making up for the years I spent staring at screens. Though I could say that my personal stats are pretty decent. Especially if I use D&D stats to represent how I’m doing, then I could say:
Strength: 4
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 3
Intelligence: 5
Constitution: 5
Dexterity: 4
I could improve my own stats, but at least my personal stats aren’t 1’s anymore, so that’s an improvement!
