Hey guys! I’m back with another post. Before I start, I’d like to welcome back both old and new viewers. I hope you guys have been doing well despite the scorching summer we have had and still continue to go through. Tell me how have you been in the comment section below. You can tell me about anything. Your day, your week, your month. I like hearing from you guys.

Just gonna go straight out and say this. I am going to be jumping from topic to topic. I tried to organize this post, but I think the whole point of a catch-up post is to just be able to say anything without worrying too much about the direction or structure of the post. But with that being said, I will try to keep subjects I wanna talk about in a certain cluster so it doesn’t go too far off from one subject to the next. No promises, though. Also, I will be discussing some shows so please be aware of light and heavy spoiler alerts. This post is also very lengthy, so I understand if you just skim through it and just decide to look at the curated photos. Some of it might come off as cryptic, and it basically just makes sense to me, but you don’t have to worry about it. It’s just me letting you peruse through what’s going on inside my head.

What I’ve been up to lately is going to physical therapy. I think we’ve done five sessions so far and I’m supposed to have at least twelve. My therapist is really lovely and wonderful. I always feel supported in all the exercises that I have to do. She also does an integrated health practice, where she includes meditations in our sessions which is awesome because I like it when health or medicine practitioners understand the whole psychosomatic aspect of the mind and body, and they are not two separate entities. For our warm-ups, I’ve been enjoying Elliptical and Total Gym machines. I think I got a bruise from when we changed the resistance levels from 1 to 3 though. I asked my mom about the random bruise on my thigh, and she said it was from my period and not from working out. My progress has been going really well and I can’t believe it. My therapist also recommended to me podcasts and books she thinks I’ll enjoy when it comes to our targeted goals. I’m kind of sad that my next appointment will be virtual, because I’m starting a second job, and I’m not really sure what my break time is gonna look like. So for now, everything will be virtual. But I’m really hoping that my clinic will offer Saturday appointments again because I think I prefer in-person visits rather than virtual appointments.

What do you guys think of the new Marilyn Monroe movie? I think it’s dumb. Haven’t seen it, but it’s dumb. I love Ana de Armas, I do. She was great in Knives Out and in No Time to Die, but why did she say yes to this movie? It’s just another movie romanticizing the crap out of rape culture. I really hate American films and TV Shows that say they want “accuracy” for a biopic or a certain era (Looking at you Game of Thrones producers) by trying to include “rape scenes” when it’s not fucking necessary at all. It’s so fucking annoying. And not only that, it’s wrong. You don’t need rape scenes in storytelling. All that does is re-traumatize SA victims. And I hate how the premise of this entire movie is just for the male gaze. It’s stupid on top of being stupid. They could’ve covered the side of Marilyn that wasn’t about being a blonde bombshell, but the part where she likes to read all kinds of books, how she was a true feminist, and how she was anti-racist during those times when being racist was so fucking normal for everyone in the 50s. It’s just sad that they’re condensing her iconic status to just being about her SA victim instead of the different facets of her as a person. Anyway, I hate this movie. You shouldn’t watch it. If you really want to get to know the real Marilyn Monroe, just watch her actual filmography. I love “Some Like It Hot” (1959), “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953), “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953), “The Seven Year Itch” (1955), “Monkey Business” ft. Cary Grant (1952), and “The Prince and The Showgirl” (1957). Marilyn Monroe was very talented, and one of my favorite parts that I’ve read from her biography is how she responded to people that immediately disliked her just because she became a sex symbol. I like how her retaliation is just about harmless fun, including that part with Laurence Olivier (her co-star disliking her on set), and she proved him wrong by getting all her lines right in one take, or that potato sack photo shoot when someone insulted her about her body image. She’s so cool, and I wish Hollywood would stop making a mockery out of her.

So I just remembered from my last therapy session, there was this really lovely lady at the front desk, and she was helping me get scheduled for my next appointment. And she commented about the big three-oh. Because I’m turning thirty soon. And she’s like “You know, my daughter did a dirty thirty party theme. And I’m like, ‘Girl ain’t nobody calling thirty, dirty’” And she made me laugh so hard, which I rarely ever do in public, and it’s got me thinking of what I will do for my thirtieth birthday. I’m thinking of making a mocktail of a chocolate dirty martini and just rewatching James Bond movies all day. But I think I kinda did something similar for my 21st birthday already. What did you guys do for your thirtieth birthday?

Some Pride Month Part Two Victory Celebrations. Obi-wan Kenobi is bi (It’s in his name twice) and it’s great that one of my favorite characters in Star Wars is just like me. What did you guys think of the Kenobi Finale??? I loved the whole thing. It’s too bad we didn’t get any Satine flashbacks. But I did enjoy the bond between Obi-wan and Little Princess Leia.

Next time someone tries to give my full address online and giving an overall threatening vibe in my messages, I’m just gonna send them a Texas Chainsaw Massacre gif.

My crush on someone for three years (streak) is finally over. I was on her Instagram page and I accidentally read the caption (I never read captions when it comes to my crushes). It said, “happy to be together for seven years” or something along those lines. And I was like, “Gurl, just celebrate his birthday or something. That’s kind of mean to say to your adopted son.” And girl, guess what happened next? That man next to him, that’s not her son. That’s not even her step-son. That’s her husband :(((( I feel like such a damn fool. But in my defense, it didn’t say anywhere in her bio on Twitter or her Instagram profile that she was married. So, I didn’t know she was taken. Ughhh. Anyway, the whole point of having a crush is to be stupid and to be crushed. So I guess I accomplished that. Haha, take a shot, every time a Capricorn says they accomplished something. I still wish I was Mariah Carey at that moment though, “All of A Sudden, I Can’t Read” 🙃 It’s kind of boring right now without a crush, but I’ll live.

I’m starting my second job tomorrow. I’ll still keep my other job during the weekends. It hasn’t been completely sorted out yet. But yeah with the inflation and the gas ⛽️ price rising, a new job was needed. This inflation has been kicking everyone’s butt, I know. And I shouldn’t complain, but it’s really got me on a chokehold. And not in a good way. Like the other day, I ordered Gumbo from my favorite restaurant and they didn’t include crabs anymore as part of the ingredient, but they still charged me the same price. And then there was this one ingredient that my mom needed, and it used to be fifty cents, and now it’s three dollars for a single fucking thing. It’s insane. I’m paying more and getting less. It’s so frustrating. And then I also noticed how the Panda Express container is so much smaller now, and I used to be able to pay $7 for the whole thing and now it’s coming out to $14 :((( Not happy about that. Even McDonald’s doubled their price for the McDouble :\ I’m not having fun out here. Also had to cancel our Cali trip, at the last minute because inflation is everywhere.

I’m not even sure how I was able to get my second job. I thought for sure I wouldn’t get it. I looked up how to do well in interviews because I haven’t really officially needed to do interviews since high school (I had to apply to a high school 🏫 after middle school, that needed to prove that you smart enough to get in, and I did well/I guess pretty good because I got accepted/I really don’t like how American culture is built on showing off, because my interviewer wasn’t that pleasant and she had to really squeeze it out of me to talk about my accomplishments - like I took first chair in orchestra and essentially dethrone a friend who probably hated me ever since) and just brush up on stuff. What I should’ve looked up is how to accept offers properly. The first booth I went to for the job fair(was a really prestigious establishment/company - had no idea until one of the interviewers mentioned the name in the middle of the interviews. Didn’t really look up at the table display initially because I was so nervous). So it went really well, and I’ve never heard of the phrase they used to say that I did get the job. All they said was they’d like to “move forward” with me and then they redirected me to go online, to finish some HR stuff. And for some odd reason, I took that as a euphemism for them just considering me as one of the candidates they’d be considering for the position. And I thought there was gonna be an interview panel later on with like six more people. But I should have clarified that, but I didn’t know how to professionally say it because I didn’t look up about accepting multiple job offers. So, I thought, I’d try my luck in another booth, and I also got another offer from there. And when I left that floor to go meet up with my dad and his co-worker upstairs, one of the people that interviewed me earlier, kinda chased me at the front of the building, and they were like, “We hired you,” and I was flabbergasted. I was like “Whatt??? I thought they were letting me down, easy.” Anyway, long story, short I accepted that job offer, which is good because it’s also close to my dad’s workplace (10 minutes away) and we can just carpool to work every day. TLDR; I didn’t mean to be a jerk, but that’s just another day of being socially awkward. I promise I don’t have any intentions of being rude, it just happens when you’re socially challenged :))) I just remember going in there, thinking “I can pretend to be an extrovert for a couple of hours and talk to people” and before I know it, my extrovert armor was slowly falling off lol.

The summer rains have been really nice. It’s been 116 degrees in my state. And the rains really did help with the heatwave. July Jams can be found on my Spotify | SoundCloud | YouTube.

I’ve been going to my local Dollar Tree Plus and Daiso Haul and their craft section looks so good. I’m thinking of becoming a crafty girl soon because I wanna be able to recreate Howl’s Jacket during the scene where they walked on clouds during the parade. I also wanna make a Kumihimo bracelet.

Speaking of Dollar Tree, I went on a strawberry craze. I only ended up finding two strawberry items. And I went to like seven Dollar Trees in my area. No luck. They all got snapped up. But I still did find a lot of cute finds. You can watch some of it in my haul videos on Tiktok and Youtube Shorts.

I hope for PPU (Polish Pick Up) September, we get a Rewind. I’m gonna look for voting times because I definitely wanted to get something for August, but I didn’t have enough budget for the nail polishes I wanted to get plus the merch and nail tools, I wanted to get my hands on. By the way, did you know that Raising Cane’s sells nail polish? I didn’t. It’s so cool. I wish they were available locally, but I think you can only get them online.

For my summer reads, I’ve been really enjoying my best friend, Kat’s articles on Medium. I’m so glad she’s back online from her blogging hiatus. She has eight articles so far, and I love how all of them are so insightful and incisive. I think you will enjoy her work as much as I did, so please go give her some love xx

Also found out a lot about my birth chart. I have Libra rising. Like how is that possible man? I heard someone say before that you always fall in love with Libras at first sight, and I couldn’t agree more. There’s just something about them. They’re so magnetic and so charming. They could take over the world if they wanted to. But they don’t because air signs are so chill lol. My moon sign is Cancer. My Venus sign is Aquarius. And my descending sign is Aries. I don’t have a lot of fire in my chart so, I’m glad Aries is there :)

New Snack Alert: The Hokkaido Butter Chips are so goooood. I wish I grabbed some more. But it was my first time trying them. Gonna go back some more when I get my paycheck. I know people are like “Girl, you live paycheck to paycheck?” “Yes, girl, most Americans do o:”

New Hobby Alert: My newest hobby lately is collecting stamps. Not mail stamps, but the one where you play with the messy ink. And I got back into journaling again after I saw a lot of Kat’s tweets about her sticker books and how she stores her washi tapes :)

My weight gain journey has been going really well. I’m sorry I didn’t include a before and after picture. It’s not really a noticeable change except for me. But I will include a before and after photo after I transformed into “The Shredded Cheese 🧀 ”. We’re getting these abs (soon), baby! If it doesn’t happen, then maybe the abs on the inside, are what’s gonna count. Why am I already acting as if I’ve lost my abs smh? And for people that are angry that I can finally look at my body and not vomit and cry, I’ll have you know that I didn’t design this flesh suit. Maybe take it up with God. Well, I wouldn’t suggest that. You might get struck by lightning. But maybe go to therapy. Unravel why you hate women’s bodies so much. Maybe, it’ll give you a clue on how to shape yourself to be a better person. Just try babe. Just try.

Watching Spider-Man: No Way Home with Mama Bear, Brother Bear, and Tommy 🐈‍⬛ is my favorite memory of 2022 so far. We didn’t have any popcorn, but we just grabbed whatever was in the pantry. But we propped our feet up late at night, and watch a couple of Tom Holland’s movies and it was awesome. It was so cool how we got a little bit of Filipino representation in the Marvel universe. That was so coool. I’ll take whatever I can get at this point, in a white-saturated media. Anyway, my husband Tobey Maguire (Unreliable narrator in The Great Gatsby) has wrinkles now, but he still looks super cute. Second best memory is when we all go down to unknown, local bakeries and ranked pastries together. Mama Bear also took me recently to this neighborhood to watch this lady’s fairy garden. It was so pretty. There were dwarves, wishing wells, old water pumps, a plant nursery, and so many giant 🌵 cacti! It was so pretty. Garden viewing and pastry ranking with Mama Bear and Little Bear are simply the best.

I remember writing an article about heartbreak three years ago, and 26-year-old Mari, she didn’t know shit. Heartbreak and happiness are tied together. I noticed this when I was getting the mail for my mom and Tommy (our stray cat) decided to follow me. One of the neighbors had a new fence, and it had that new wood shave smell, and Tommy was over the moon with it. He rolled around and showed me his belly and I noticed his armpit is all bloody and he was also losing fur around his ears. Tommy slowly deteriorating because of his cancer still makes me cry. We did find new ways to stimulate his appetite. Every time we fry fish, we use cardboard to soak up the excess oils, and Tommy really likes that smell. So we put his regular cat food on top of it (instead of using the cute cat bowls we got for him), and place it safely inside an old Pizza Box, and he’s been eating a lot more than before! My true loves: our stray cats, kittens, bunnies, Mama Bear, and little bear. When I see them get sick, I just always remember that heartbreak and happiness are from the same connective tissue. And there’s no sense in separating them.

On a lighter note, polio and monkeypox are here to stay. That was sarcasm. Btw. Just me pouring chaotic energy out here for no reason haha. But while we’re on this topic, I just wanna say that since 2022 is basically giving 13th-century vibes, I wanna become the new Pope. I’d look great in red. And I’d have a flock of cardinals waiting for me to die. But I won’t. And my new pronoun is going to be “We.” Because me and God are besties. And then I can just go up to one of my wealthiest patrons, and be like “You’ve sinned too much” (Confession booths are for gathering intelligence, not begging for forgiveness) and proceed to collect his titles and property. And then give it to my newest mistress in the countryside. I also have a triple crown, because I rule all of Europe. Not just Europe. But the sweet, underbelly of Europe. It’s just a sweet, sweet, Pope fantasy, babbbbyyyy. I think all this craving just means I want an Italian summer. So I’m gonna rewatch The Borgias ft. Jeremy Irons and The Godfather, while eating cannolis and drinking grape juice. No wine over here. We a hater when it comes to alcoholic drinks in this blog. Ew alcohol forever. I say all this when I am in fact, going to have a lazy summer. Who can do anything in this heat?

These past two years have been a wild ride. And I found a loophole btw. When it comes to moving on. I’ve been carrying the hermit mode and hangman energy from 2020 til now, and I’m having a grand time. I don’t need a new person to obsessed with to enjoy life. I’m able to enjoy my own company without that feeling of craving another person’s skin. Overall, I’ve been really happy with my quiet life. I think I’ve said that before in my other personal posts. And it’s still true. I’m not gonna say goodbye to my bisexual identity. Don’t get me wrong. I’m just having fun solidifying my identity as an asexual person too, and it’s been one of my favorite things for this past couple of years.

I’m a cat mom now, you guys. My Kitten trio: Vader (grey), Shiv (pale gray beige - wheat thins), and Palpatine (orange). They’re all boys. Vader has swimmer’s syndrome. So I gotta bandage his legs to help him walk better. He’s been doing really well. I do butt checks for him often. He’s been doing a lot better than before. Vader has green eyes. Straight on, his eyes are blue, but from the side, they’re yellow. I guess it makes sense because just like Vader, he has both dark and light inside of him. Same reason for his fur, (“Why did you name him Vader if his fur isn’t black? Because he’s the balance between the light side and the dark side! I’ll essay anyone up). Shiv is really sweet and he gives off that comforting, grandfather vibe that Chancellor Palpatine offers to all the main players in Star Wars haha. Shiv kept his blue kitten eyes, while my other two kittens didn’t. It’s giving innocence. It’s giving manipulation lol. Shiv also purrs loudly before destroying something. Palpatine, on the other side of the pendulum, likes to knock things off. He likes high places and keeps looking down on everyone. He also doesn’t like being petted very much. He’s one spicy kitten lol. His eyes also immediately became yellow. Like I thought he’d gradually lose it but, his eyes I noticed just became yellow-grade with no fading involved. I love that photo we took of him in the garden with the red plants. He looks so smug and arrogant as if he’s saying “Kneel before your Emperor.” That’s my Palpatine. He always wants to rule the galaxy before dinner time. Palpatine does enjoy the strawberry bed I bought for him though. And I bought a squishmallow Gudetama for Vader since he’s taking a lot of naps right now. He’ll run pretty soon though. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway. Right now the kittens are watching Castlevania, because they’ve already seen all of the Star Wars movies.

Got around to finally watching FRIENDS because I love Lisa Kudrow. I’m on Season 4, and I took a quick break, but I plan on restarting it again this coming weekend.

Back in my slut era lol. By that, I mean depression, not me taking photos of my natural body. Slut deriving from the word “dirty.” So, basically Cinderella’s nickname. But I’ve been trying to get back into romanticizing self-care, including the ones that aren’t fun to do like chores and sending out emails. But I just hit this weird slump, where I couldn’t get any joy out of taking showers or doing skincare, or eating delicious food. I wasn’t ungrateful, but my mind couldn’t enjoy anything for a while. Not even small pleasures of watching the sky. I’m glad I was able to slowly crawl out of that ditch. But it was hard to get out of that struggle train, man.

One of my favorite book bloggers and Instagrammers has followed me back. I’m so STOKED. But she probably did it by accident lol. But I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts. I hope she doesn’t read this paragraph because I’m about to drop a diss record on fantasy books. I’m sure not all fantasy books are like this, but I can’t stand the enemies-to-lovers trope. I don’t get it. How do you go from the most powerful to the least powerful gradient by participating in that trope? I guess from, “keep your enemies closer, POV” it makes sense, but I can’t stand that part so much. I always recoil from watching the MC go from a powerful stance to being a simpering fool :(

I watched Spy x Family Season 1 and I loved the hell out of it. Shall we head home? Here's what happened today. My favorite lyrics from the ending song: That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Dancing on a creaking bed/Rolling around in laughter. This anime is so good. I can’t wait for Season 2. I hope we see Bond soon.

Been really happy watching friends become happy. Doing their own thing, being in a new stage in their life. I’m always rooting for you, babes. I’m so happy for my friends being happy after going through stuff no one should go through.

That last (seen) message finally exorcized me. But Spirit Halloween is finally starting to open up. I can’t wait to go inside and pick up more Sam merch (Trick r Treat). I’ve also spotted a lot of delayed Halloween goods from last year, this past July. I’m still on the hunt for the Pumpkin topper by Rae Dunn! So far, I’ve only spotted the ghosties and haunted houses.

Peaky Blinders Season 6 was phenomenal. Even with its last and final season, it still finished off strong (unlike other TV shows that start to dwindle in quality after the release of only two seasons.) I love the tribute to Helen McCrory. It was done beautifully. I can't wait for the movie to come out. If you're not into spoilers and discussion, look away. I love the Tarot reference at the end with the rider on a white horse, and they always try to make my heart jump up my throat when it comes to Arthur.

P.S. I’m a redhead now sometimes. It’s giving “I survive Squid Game without even trying”. Our newest stray cat, Boba lives in the greenhouse. Named after Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) because of his green eyes which I think correspond well to Boba Feet’s Bounty Hunter armor. It’s always funny how I call his name several times before breakfast, and he always comes padding out of the greenhouse and looking at me like, “YOU RANG???” LOL. He loves the Inaba Churu treats I get from Pet Smart. He’s the one sleeping inside the red cat bed.