2020 Gratitude: The Korean Wave

I spent a lot of time in early quarantine watching YouTubers in Korea (like cari cakes, Korean Englishman, and HojuSara). I actually spent enough time watching them that I decided to teach myself how to read and write hangul before eventually progressing to learning the language itself. To do this, I bought a few Talk to Me in Korean books and watched many, many more YouTube videos.

I thought my obsession with Korea would end with a few TTMIK books and some study sessions with my friends! But, no, that is not what happened. At the end of the summer, BTS released the song Dynamite, and a new era of quarantine began.

B-side best side!

Okay, so I’m not full ARMY (yet!), but I did go through a period where I was fully obsessed with Dynamite. I listened to it on repeat, watched every performance, even learned the dance (as best as I could, at least). This was a gateway into the universe of BTS YouTube, and I graduated on to watching hours of Run BTS and interview clips with chaotic editing and crazy sound effects. Before I knew it, I had a bias (V, thank you very much) and knew all the obligatory memes, inside jokes, and crazy moments.

Again, I wouldn’t consider myself full Army at this point – but then again, I didn’t think I’d be into BTS at all before quarantine! It’s been a wild ride!

At the same time, Selena Gomez released the song “Ice Cream” with Blackpink. My boyfriend, who is a big Selenator but did not know much about Blackpink at the time, stayed up to watch the premiere on YouTube and was likewise immediately sucked in to the world of K-pop, but from another angle! He has also watched lots of chaotic YouTube edits, and has listened to The Album in his car (sometimes with me in the passenger seat) too many times to count. He’s even gotten me to walk around the house, humming “How You Like That” to myself!

But with meows, of course

I know, I know – the obvious missing piece here is watching a K-drama. My mom is actually obsessed with them and has tried to get me to watch them! However, if my love for devouring YouTube videos is any indication, I’ve never had the attention span for long TV shows, especially ones that are entirely in another language. Maybe when I actually learn Korean! Maybe!

2020 Gratitude: Time for Self-Reflection

I will be honest here – one of my family members passed away from Covid-19 over the weekend, so it feels weird to write another “gratitude” post about things when there are very clearly other things in life that I want to show gratitude for right now. This time around, I’m grateful, simply, for time.

I can’t stress enough how lucky I’ve felt throughout the entire pandemic. I’ve had a stable job that allows me to work safely from home and gives me a steady income. My partner has the same. We’ve both been healthy and the worst we’ve suffered from is a cold, though usually it’s just boredom. We’re in the very, very fortunate minority here, and I never take that for granted!

I’ve used the seemingly endless hours at home to think about what’s truly important to me. How do I want to spend my time? Where do I want my money to go? Who do I want to keep in touch with? What makes me feel good? What doesn’t? Why do I do the things I do? Why am I the way I am?

This time last year, my life was extremely busy. I was working a full time job, training for a marathon, practicing improv, and using my precious spare moments to catch up on Netflix, or go out to concerts, bars, or travel. Looking back, I never really had time to think about where my life was going – it was a blur. I’d look forward to my next race or my next show, but as soon as it finished, I’d only let myself rest for a little bit before going on to the next goal. I dozed away at my desk every day, wishing that I could just work remotely and/or be a hermit for just a week to relax a little. (Imagine!)

While I don’t have any great answers to any of the questions I’ve posed above yet – I honestly don’t think I can fully answer them until things go “back to normal” anyway – it is genuinely nice to have the time carved out for me to really reflect on them. This downtime is especially important now, as I approach my late (!) twenties and anticipate some big life decisions in the not-so-distant future.

I’ve written a lot on my blog already about why I prioritize my mental health and the things that I’ve been able to do in quarantine. Though it seems like I’ve been going at a mile-a-minute to fill every waking hour with things and stuff, I also want to remember this period as a time of reflection and re-prioritization. I want to look back and say that I used my time wisely and learned as much about myself as I possibly could – because who knows if I’ll ever have a chance to slow down like this again? (As nice as this has been for me mentally, I truly hope we don’t ever have to do this again! Please!)

2020 Gratitude: Flight Club

This one feels like a bit of a stretch because I only went once this year, all the way back in February. It was my last day in Boston before leaving for Japan, and we were celebrating my coworkers last day in America before moving back home to Asia. It was a crowded and fun night full of foods, drinks, and friendly competition.

(I learned that night that I am horrible at darts! You might think that it was because of the alcohol, but alas, no! I was bad from the beginning! I was still bad after several drinks! I never got better!)

For me, that night at Flight Club represents the last time I was able to enjoy “normal life” at home. After that night, I went off to Japan, where my worries about Covid-19 became more apparent and imminent on an every day basis. When we came back, lockdowns were announced at home, and we’ve been self-isolating ever since.

Though my score that night was terrible, I think back to that night with fondness. For one, I haven’t seen almost all of my coworkers in person since that night – which is very hard for me to believe! We picked finger foods off of shared plates (including the cotton candy pictured above), took sips of each other’s cocktails, and handed each other darts between turns without a second thought. Nobody was wearing masks, not even the servers, who often had to squeeze between us because the music was playing too loud for us to hear their “Excuse me”s!

Truly, it feels like a completely different world from the one we’re living in right now. If only I had known at the time…