sure. wait. what?

MARCH OSCILLATED between busy and boring, mirroring the weather’s vertiginous swings from spring to winter, winter to spring. One day I’d wake up to bright sunshine with nothing to do; the next day it was all fog and flurries again and my calendar was jam-packed.

No complaints though. It do be like that sometimes.

I wrote the bulk of this log over Easter weekend, so I had some time to ramble. I talked about my newfound love for swimming, the books I read in March, my favorite movie of the month, the ongoing war in Iran, and many other digressions. I hope you have fun reading as much as I enjoyed yapping.

Money

Tier	Target (% of salary)	Invested (% of salary)
Tier A	30	–
Tier B	20	–
Tier C	10	2.4

I got a big bonus at work, so I invested a small chunk and squandered the rest (sort of). I’ll share more about it someday. Heh.

Fitness

Now this is where the fun starts.

In March I took swimming lessons. Each class started with a warmup drill, like practicing our flutter kicks for at least two laps or doing front crawls for however long we could. I was exhausted every time, but I had so much fun.

Exercise Days	15
Walk	8
Swim	6
Run	1

The classes were held on weeknights, which forced me to plan my evenings better. On days that I swam, I left the office earlier than usual. I still cooked dinner when I got home, but I pre-chopped the ingredients and made easy-peasy dishes. At first I was worried that my evenings were going to get hectic, but everything worked out fine.  

Better than fine, actually. Not only did swimming help me streamline my after-5 routine, but it also freed my mind from work-related anxieties. My weeknights are typically stressful because I’m the type who ruminates about work even after I’ve left the office. But on nights that I went to the pool, my brain was severed from all work stressors. Looming deadlines? Annoying coworkers? Not today, Satan.

Instead of thinking about work, I thought about the water.

Maybe because swimming came with its own laborious liturgies that it kept my mind from spiraling. Unlike with other workouts, I can’t just show up, do the thing, and leave. There are rituals I must go through. I must change into my swimsuit and take a quick shower before I dip into pool. After class, I take a second shower to scrub the chlorine off my skin. I get dressed, of course, and I pack all the wet stuff into a dry bag. I also dry my hair, wipe my feet, and put my shoes back on before I finally head out and drive home.

All these little tasks entail planning and intention, pulling my mind’s spotlight away from imagined dangers like being devoured alive by my bosses. Man I can’t wait until I become a better swimmer.

Social

I didn’t swim with friends, but I did hang out with them outside the pool.

A few of my friends went through some form of life crisis in March, so good company was very much needed. Lots of beer and pho were had. Lots of boardgames too.

Interestingly, the people I know who are into boardgames happen to be non-drinkers (except one, but he likes sour and cider). There’s barely any overlap among my friends who love boardgames, and my friends who love alcohol.

MM is one of the folks who’s indifferent about boardgames but is enthusiastic about liquor. She also likes tea, camping, and going to punk rock bars. In March, she and I went to a dimly lit bar that played Green Day songs the entire time. It was a Saturday, and the bar was packed. There was a bridal party at one point, and the people around us were playing along with their bridal bingo (“Dance with a stranger? Let’s do it!”). I witnessed twerking in the flesh.

After a few bottles of lager and two orders of pizza, MM and I headed to a nearby ice cream store for dessert. It was almost midnight but the sidewalks were still bustling with people. The earthy scent of weed with a hint of grilled meat wafted through the cold air.

Spending Saturday night downtown isn’t usually my scene, but for MM, I’d happily show up and do it again.

Hobbies

There were several moments in March when my social battery was in the red. Naturally, I defaulted to doing the things I normally do, like reading.

I read two books in March. 

R.F. Kuang’s Babel was tremendous. It brought me back to my adolescent years when I gobbled up the Harry Potter series, and when the first thing I’d grab in the morning and the last thing I’d see at night was a book and not my phone.

I didn’t know how popular Babel was until I read the reviews. The feedback was mostly positive, but there were a few gripes about the book’s not-quite-nuanced depiction of colonialism and its lack of subtlety. I mean, I agree; but also, I don’t mind.

I don’t think it’s fair to expect a single book to capture the entire breadth of a complex subject, and I dig the book’s on-the-nose critique of imperialism. Also, the title says it all, doesn’t it? You pick up a book called Babel, Or The Necessity of Violence and you expect subtlety of all things? That’s on you, my friend.

The other book I read was Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital by Elise Hu. It’s an essay collection (and also a memoir?) that examines South Korean culture through the lens of an Asian-American journalist who used to report from Seoul. The author traces South Korea’s beauty industry through the country’s various social and cultural threads, from K-pop to Confucianism to the Escape the Corset movement. If you’re interested in K-culture beyond its entertainment value, I think you’ll like this book.

I also watched several movies in March, and my favorite was Project Hail Mary (2026) directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Both L and I had read the book, and we didn’t even wait for the weekend to see the film. What a fun movie! There were moments when I was the only person laughing audibly at a joke, and I’d glance at L beside me and see him smiling and chuckling. Fun fun fun!

I thought the movie was a faithful adaptation, but L, who had read the book more recently, had flagged key details that didn’t make the cut. He still liked it though. It seems a lot of people did too, because the reviews are raving and the ticket sales are soaring.

When I first read the book a few years back, it instantly became one of my favorite feel-good stories (a feat, given the stakes of the premise). That same heartwarming optimism carried over nicely to the screen, and boy do we need something to feel good about right now.

Do I think a global collaboration to save the human race is actually possible? Bruh. Not in a world where laws like the Wolf Amendment exist and where two superpowers are racing to build bases on the moon. But hey, Project Hail Mary made me suspend my disbelief. It’s really fun. Go watch it.

Looking Ahead

I know I already wrote a lot but no mamsir I’m not done yapping yet.

I removed the Fails and Flops section in my logs because my life is generally flat and steady. But if I were to put the section back, I would write about the ongoing war in Iran instigated by US-Israel. 

It’s bonkers, isn’t it? The US is once again messing with the affairs of a sovereign nation — and for what, exactly? To liberate Iranians from their oppressive leaders? Positive-sounding words like liberation and change, as in regime change, mask the grim realities on the ground. Iran’s regime must be taken down, but it must be done so by its own people and not by a global bully trying to assert its dominance over an oil-rich region. This is why books like Babel hold no space for subtleties. Violence is necessary. 

But of course my opinions are just opinions. I live away from the chaos, and though the view from my window is currently gloomy, the sky is otherwise clear of war jets and missiles. My life is still flat and steady. (And this is why books like Maria Reva’s Endling hold space for personal and political contradictions.)

Anyway, looking ahead, I am probably just going to read more books and hang out with friends and do the same things I did in previous months. I am lucky and grateful. But always, I keep in mind these words from one of my favorite authors: 

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”

– Arundhati Roy

Okay, now I’m done. If you read the entire post, nice!

I wish you all peace and joy. Have a happy April.