California Schedule / Week in Review (Video Games, The Sympathizer, BCD)

A quick update on how I’ve been living these days. A somewhat idealized schedule that I don’t perfectly follow:

  • Wake around 8-9 AM PST

  • Skateboard over to the local Starbucks or Coffee Bean (10 min)

  • Drink coffee while staring into the distance/zoning out/people watching (20-30 min)

  • Work at the cafe (1-2 hours)

  • Skateboard back home (10 min)

  • Take a break (anywhere from 10 min to an hour depending on the day)

    • Examples include taking a walk, playing some video games, listening to a podcast while I dangle from the backyard hammock

  • Finish up work (couple more hours)

    • I end anywhere from 3/4 PM depending on my schedule

Then after work I

  • Play some MORE video games

  • Write music

  • Read

  • Take a walk with the parents

  • Listen to a podcast/music while dangling from the backyard hammock

  • Eat

And that’s pretty much it. I try to get to bed around 10:15PM, listen to an audiobook or read for an hour and start all over again.

Some thoughts:

  • I don’t work that long… the worker drone in me feels antsy considering how “low” my work hours are but hey at least I get my stuff done. My manager doesn’t seem to care much as long as I maintain my responsibilities and that makes her a great manager in my eyes. Crunch time comes around every major project we start and I make up the hours then so it all evens out

  • This schedule is the result of several weeks of ~fine tuning~. When I first got home my schedule was a chaotic mess.

  • I’ve been trying to be conscious of spending more time outside. Something about being inside the house all the time leaves me in a fugue state where hours seem to fly by and I have no idea where the time went. Maybe the lack of variability in the day makes it all lump together?

  • I miss the routine of being in a place with other people. Those pre-rona late nights at the office ordering Mala Project, grabbing drinks at the kitchen tap, making our way to k town for Korean fried chicken… how precious those days gone by turned out to be :’). You never know how valuable those times are till they’re gone. And that habit of looking back on days gone by repeats for the rest of your life as you miss out on the present looking back on the past. :’’’’’’)

    • Being out here in the burbs mostly alone makes me feel like an aimless blob.

  • On a positive note it’s a cozy feeling to be back home with the parents (and Harry) again. How precious few opportunities will we have for all of us to be in the same part of the world. If only IF ONLY I had this and some regular contact with a group outside of my family as well. The best of all worlds.

    • Maybe I’ll move to socal someday in the near future

Some specifics this past week:

  • Spent a lot of time playing video games. The following games are ranked by how much fun I had playing them

    • It Takes Two

      • What an INCREDIBLE co-op game. Played it with Harry. Almost every ten minutes I found myself saying stuff like “this game is so creative”, “wow did not expect that”—and I am not the type to say stuff like this out loud while doing most activities

      • This game really goes places. A true unexpected adventure.

    • Demeo

      • Also played this with Harry. Imagine dungeons and dragons in VR form.

      • A bit on the short side and I can see myself getting tired of it after 3+ plays but it’s been a great couple hours so far

    • Beat Saber

      • I like to go into trance while chopping blocks to music what can I say

    • In Death Unchained

      • You go around shooting baddies with a bow and arrow in VR

      • Had a lot of fun playing. Ranked lower because it’s kinda scary and I’m not into horror :)

      • Also this one is a roguelike which feels like a bit of a grind sometimes.

    • God of War

      • Really well made game. I was very invested for the first few hours I played it.

      • It feels like an investment to get into every time I pick it up. Some activation energy required to get into it which is why it’s a bit lower on my list

      • Great game though. Put another way this is a game I admire for its achievements but it is not a game I’ve fallen in love with

Also finished The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Picked it up for a few of reasons

  • The writer is a Berkeley alum

  • I—like so many other Asian Americans right now—wanted to go deeper into our history (mostly in response to these Asian hate crimes).

    • There is a history of Asian Americans banding together in response to traumatic events to our community. Seems like there’s a cycle of:

      • Not placing much meaning in our Asian American identity

      • Being traumatized as Asian Americans

      • Rallying in response to these traumas to deepen our understanding of Asian American identity/find solidarity with other Asian Americans

  • It seemed funny

Overall good read. Reminded me of Catch 22/Kurt Vonnegut in that absurdist style mixed with comedy. Thought the premise was clever. Exploring that in between status/seeing both sides as an Asian in America. Also liked the historical context surrounding the Vietnam war/perspective given from a Vietnamese person during that time.

The writing itself was funny but in parts I found myself zoning out a bit. But that could be my fault because it has been some time since I read a book and my focus is l a c k i n g.

Will probably check out the sequel at some point.

And in other news Harry’s off in Pennsylvania again. He got a new job hallelujah! So he went off to pack all his stuff before he moves to DC next. Dropped him off at the airport and got BCD (korean tofu stew restaurant) on the way back.

Oh lord BCD was delicious. Praise be in all earnestness that some meals can taste so damn good. Got the dumpling soondubu. Got all the best banchan—kimchi, fish cake, spinach cooked with sesame oil. Great stuff.