2020 Gratitude: Brewing Kombucha

In the “before times”, I often treated myself to a bottle of kombucha whenever I needed a pick-me-up. In my head, I likened it to, “basically juice, but it has probiotics, right? so it’s healthy too!” (I wish I could say it more elegantly than that – but it is the truth! Kombucha is Millennial juice! My blood glucose levels are not fooling anyone!!!)

Though I knew it was possible to brew kombucha at home, and even got a kit as a Secret Santa present a few years ago, the convenience of getting right before checking out at the grocery store always won. However, the price started to add up as well. Quarantine gave me a great excuse to finally tear into my Christmas present and try out kombucha brewing for myself.

The process was surprisingly simple – brew some tea, mix in some sugar, add water and starter, and let sit in a cabinet. After my second or third batch, I was pretty comfortable with the process, and was happy that I could now sip some Millennial juice in the comfort of my own home, without having to go to the grocery store to satisfy my cravings.

The next thing I have to experiment with is flavoring – maybe in the new year!

2020 Gratitude: The Amazing Race and Big Brother

I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole of reality TV in quarantine! My love for Survivor (and now The Bachelor/ette!) is much better documented at this point, but I also gave two other shows a try this year: The Amazing Race and Big Brother!

I watched only one season of The Amazing Race before this year – not coincidentally, the one that included Survivor contestants – and while I enjoyed it (spoiler ahead!), I fell off after the last Survivor contestants were eliminated, and didn’t see the rest of the show through. With nothing else to do, I decided to start watching the next season!

Again, not going to spoil any gameplay, but the nice thing about watching The Amazing Race was pseudo-travelling through watching the race. After all of this time spent at home, even watching complete strangers on TV fly to India, South America, and even The Philippines felt like a tiny, little change of pace. It was even fun to jump into The Amazing Race fandom for a bit, if only to look into fan reactions to specific moments!

On the other hand, I also tried following this summer’s season of Big Brother. While I was really excited to give the show a chance, given my well established Survivor fandom, I was not impressed. I even had high hopes because it was an all stars season! Though there were some funny moments and genuinely interesting characters, I couldn’t bring myself to watch three times a week, especially as I grew more and more disinterested in the game.

I can’t talk about why I disliked the season without some spoilers so… spoilers ahead!
I actually had a few favorites early on in the season… and they were promptly eliminated. I stopped following right before some controversial moments happened as well. I actually thought the gameplay had the potential to be super interesting, but I tuned out when it became more obvious that the dominant alliance was going to dominate. In terms of gratitude… I guess I’m glad that I bailed before things got too nasty!

I’m happy that I’ve had the time in quarantine to watch more reality TV competitions, which I’ve kind of relied on throughout this time as a security blanket. Comfortable! Repeating tropes! Manufactured excitement! Now, truly, my concern is how I am going to keep up with all these shows once “real life” starts up again…

2020 Gratitude: Lemon Water

I never thought I would be a lemon water person! 2020 has changed me!

I had always associated lemon water with a lot of other wellness “trends” that I never thought were realistic, like “waking up early to work out” and “meditating regularly”. However, I listened to multiple podcasts that referred to lemon water not as a way to jump-start my day with hydration and Vitamin C, but instead as a sweet morning ritual (and also that I should just have fresh lemons on deck anyway because they are delicious).

Normally I wouldn’t take life advice from a podcast, but hearing it on multiple episodes of different shows felt like a sign!

As the days get colder, lemon water has been a sweet (or rather, tart) little treat for me to look forward to after my morning coffee. Any joy that I can program into my life is a win in these times, right?