Isolation Tool Kit: Journaling Everything

I’ve kept diaries on-and-off since I was in middle school. They’ve come in the form of handwritten notebooks, Xangas, LiveJournals, and, most recently, this very blog!

I stopped hand-writing my journals around high school, when I couldn’t find the time to sit down and write for pleasure anymore. As I got older, I became so wrapped up in school and work and personal commitments that I never seemed to have the time to sit down and write in a physical diary.

However, even in the first few weeks of self-isolation, I realized that I needed an analog hobby. I was spending the entire day either on my computer or my phone already, and my sleep schedule was getting overwhelmed at the amount of blue light I was getting every night! When I realized this, I bit the bullet and bought some new notebooks – if they’re cute, I’ll use them, right?

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Trisha Tries: Pull-Up/Push-Up Challenge

As I’ve mentioned in the past, though my “strong” lower body muscles have carried me through countless road races, I have laughably weak upper body muscles.

Over a year ago, my friends and I did a push-up challenge, where I challenged myself to do 20 push-ups every day for a month. While I technically made it through the month doing the push-ups on most days, my form is horrible and my chest gets nowhere close to the floor. I felt my muscles working, for sure, but didn’t feel like I was making any great progress toward doing a good push-up.

Likewise, I used to like rock climbing. I started with top-rope climbing in college, then moved on to bouldering after graduating. I did enjoy it a lot, but definitely felt limited by my lack of upper-body strength. Anything with an overhang or inward slope? Forget about it!

*I did a Tough Mudder and a Spartan Race last year didn’t even attempt a lot of the obstacles because I knew my limits – they were still fun, but I was definitely a little disappointed*

In quarantine, my fitness goals have shifted from running (because it’s hard to motivate myself to run, especially in the heat, especially with a mask, especially when there are no races in the near future) to general, total-body fitness. While cleaning, I came across the pull-up bar that I made as an aspirational purchase a long, long time ago, and decided to finally do something about my lack of upper body strength.

Wish my shoulders luck!

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Isolation Tool Kit: Animal Crossing

My Animal Crossing journey began on December 24, 2002, when I received a GameCube for Christmas (packed in a beer box, hidden behind cans of beer, which I still maintain is one of my favorite gifts, ever). I remember plugging it in for the first time, hearing the disc spin, and stepping off the train into my snowy village for the very first time.

I don’t remember much about that first village – it was 18! years ago, after all. I remember people leaving comic books at each other’s houses, perhaps? The only memory that stands out is my one cranky pig villager, Boris, who was one of my least favorite villagers at first, but we grew to appreciate each other over time. (The opposite of real life! ha)

Since then, I dabbled in Wild World and City Folk, but neither of them grabbed my attention in the same way that the original did. Maybe it was where I was in my life – I had a lot more time to dedicate to video games at 10 years old than any point afterwards, really – or maybe they didn’t live up to the same initial hype. I stayed connected to the community through social media (read: memes), but didn’t itch to pay off my loans or complete my museum, like I did before.

When I heard that a new Animal Crossing game was coming out – on the day after my 27th birthday! – I was ecstatic! I finally had free time to dedicate to the game, and had purposely planned months in advance to celebrate my birthday by catching fish and expanding my house. Little did I know that it would be the only way for me to celebrate!

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