I’ve been busy watching Gilmore Girls instead of studying again | Snapshot#1 December 2024

I did intend to get this one out before New Year’s Eve but here we are. Wish you all a good start into 2025 and a happy new year! It’s a very pretty number if nothing else, it sounds so round and right. Honestly though, the English language can be so lame sometimes, ‘happy new year’, how boring. In Swiss German we say ‘guete Rutsch’ which approximately translates to ‘good slide’. Much more personality, much more wit. So yeah, I hope you all enjoy the smoothest slide into the new year without much complication xD

Photo by Carli Jeen on Unsplash

For the newcomers (which is all of you for this first edition lol): Welcome <3 This newsletter is a snapshot of my past fortnight, documented in my notes app. It is intended to be read in a very specific way: in comfortable clothing with a warm drink of your choice curled up on the couch. Or whatever comes close to that for you xD It usually starts with a segment on where I have been at lately and, more importantly, some recipes and media recommendations, books or movies or shows or music I have been obsessing over. Then we get into a bit of an educational part: worthwhile noteworthy topics I’ve been studying at uni or generally been doing some research on. If you are more into general reflections on life aka things that have been taking up my brain space, ghosting around in my mind, check out my blog off the record. Hope you enjoy 🙂

recent vibe and where I have been at:

  • still feeling like it’s autumn with my black boots, my coat and colorful scarves. winter here used to mean snow when i was younger, now it’s just a continuation of autumn, a bit colder and a bit more grey.
  • always rushing for the bus
  • looking out of the train windows as it rains, feeling like I am the star of a music video
  • studying a lot because exam season just started (did pass the first two, yay!) but I am entering the phase where I am so sick of non-stop studying that I end up watching four episodes of Gilmore Girls in one sitting instead
  • lots of family time around our wooden kitchen table, the darkness outside illuminating the bright bubbly warmth of community and conversation. yes, i also count my closest friends that have grown up with me as family.
  • went kerzenziehen, massive throw back to when I was in primary school. not sure what the exact translation is, candle dipping? candle making?
  • freshly washed sheets are the most amazing thing
  • tea. i am obsessed with tea. i’ve been having at least one a day. maybe the British have been on to something here.
  • started a commonplace book, finally. and what an amazing thing it is, a little time capsule of my evolving thoughts, scribbled tapestries of my own mind. captured words and images and ideas that resonate(d) with me, that lingered and sparked my curiosity or made me feel something, anything. no more saving posts to boards or taking screenshots i’ll never look at again. if it’s worth the time it takes to write it down, it’ll be in my booklet, otherwise i am choosing to let it go, letting it descend back into an endless abyss of lost thoughts.
  • finally came through on some tough decisions for my health that i have been avoiding and postponing for probably years. proud of myself for taking some steps.
  • dressing up to go out with friends is so fun actually. and i love dancing. i think i never liked clubbing much when i was younger because i was so uncomfortable in my own skin and so painfully aware of being perceived at all times. now all i see is my friends and I letting loose, dressing up together, enjoying music we like, hanging out, leaving as early or late as we feel like.

recommendations:

food and drink:
  • have been mostly cooking familiar things lately, but here are two small ideas:
  • been making this basic toasted panini bread with my favorite cream cheese and some scrambled eggs with tomatoes on top. easy, fast but still makes me feel a little fancy, like i put some thought into it. and it’s delicious.
  • if you like baileys, try adding a bit to your coffee to spice it up. makes me feel Christmas-y.
TV shows
  • it’s been a tv series kinda month for me. watched way too much. i never spend time on my phone anymore though. don’t know if this is better though ahahah.
  • watched the first few seasons of ‘New Girl’. i stopped it because i started ‘Gilmore Girls’ but it’s a really good show to put on while cooking or folding laundry etc. it’s a comedy about three guys and a girl that are flat mates and it’s such a lighthearted watch, very charming. obviously i am years late, like always, but i have been on a real run of watching shows that were filmed in the 2000s and it’s such a vibe.
  • speaking of Gilmore Girls: i cant believe i have never watched it before and i know im a bit late in the year (also years late lol) but damn. i am so in love with it. i think i knew i would not be able to keep myself from watching once i started, so what better time to start than exam season? (horrible decision. i am already on season four. it’s not good.) this show is so cozy and so funny, genuinely funny. i think i don’t need to write much on this, you guys have probably been watching this for years. like i said, i am way late. but please, no spoilers. also, it’s so funny that jared is playing a character called dean (i love supernatural).
  • rewatched ‘Night Agent’ on Netflix. would recommend. very action packed, the plot is crazy, the plot twists are amazing, quite a phenomenal first season. my sister tells me there is a new season coming soon.
  • DNFd ‘the secret lives of mormon wives’. reality TV show about a group of mormon mothers, one of which was involved in a sex swinging scandal. that’s how it starts anyway, there is lots of drama. hard to keep the women apart at first cuz they all look the same lol. it’s absolutely crazy to me that that is people’s ‘real’ life. absurd. makes for a fascinating watch, sure, and even though i only watched one and a half episodes, it has sparked quite a few conversations with friends, but i decided not to finish it because i don’t like the way it makes me feel. pure brainrot. i never watch reality TV as a disclaimer, but if you do, this might be worth a try.
  • rewatched parts of ‘Sherlock’, the TV series on Netflix with Benedict Cumberbatch. honestly, the pilot is brilliant. they hit the nail on the head right from the start. if you have not seen that show yet, you’re missing out. if you have, time for a rewatch maybe?
podcasts
  • spotify wrapped which, as much discussed, has been quite lacking this year, tells me that
    • ‘Goes Without Saying’ (conversations between two friends about life and women, cozy, funny, entertaining, insightful. probably my favorite podcast ever, i have listened to every episode of the last three years, some twice. my comfort podcast for sure.)
    • ‘P1 with Matt and Tommy’ (my favorite Formula One podcast), and
    • ‘The Rest is History’ (a history podcasts, as the name says. a great one at that, quite extensive, done by two British historians)are my top podcasts of the year. no surprises there, i listen to podcasts almost daily, and it’s always one of these three. honorary mention to ‘Diary Discoveries’, which is a podcast that reads parts of old diaries with extensive research into different eras and peoples lives.
  • ‘the matcha diaries’ has been a new addition of the month. it takes a lot for me to get into a new podcast because i already have my standard choices. this one is similar in concept to ‘Goes Without Saying’ or ‘Bobo and Flex’, both of which i really enjoy. i just love women and women’s thoughts and conversations.
books
  • ‘beach read’, ‘book lovers’ and ‘people we meet on vacation’ by emily henry. i read ‘happy place’ by her a while ago and i loved that one so much i decided to give some of her other books a go. i just generally immensely enjoy emily henry’s writing. her characters are very three dimensional and fleshed out, the dialogue is realistic, the romantic chemistry on point. That’s all you really want from romances, isn’t it? Also, the characters are all around 30. Which is so refreshing after having read many young adult and new adult romances.
    • ‘book lovers’: Nora is cutthroat literary agent, romance novels are her life and yet she doesn’t identify at all with the female love interests in those books. She is convinced to go on vacation with her sister to a small town, where she keeps on bumping into a brooding moody editor. And like the official synopsis says: ‘It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.’ Both Nora and the love interest are quite sure in who they thought they are, but they unravel each other’s carefully crafted facades piece by piece. My sister hated Nora’s sister and how many coincidences there are, which I am willing to admit she might be right about, but it’s an easy read and I heavily identified with Nora. I also devoured this book in two sittings, which always makes books better.
    • ‘beach read’: this one is about two acclaimed authors, one romance and the other literary fiction. they have met before and for varying reasons they are stuck at neighboring beach houses, both broke and plagued by writer’s block. Through *circumstances* they end up making a bet that she will write the literary fiction novel he has been stuck on and he will write her romance. They show each other what inspires them and end up uncovering a lot about their motivations for writing and their respective back stories and how they are actually not that different *obviously*. it was a very fascinating book to read because it puts into words a lot of stereo types about different genres and because ms henry is just so good at creating interesting characters.
    • ‘people we meet on vacation’: i actually haven’t finished this one yet. i had to interrupt my reading flow because i needed to study. i think i like this one less but i feel like it’s more famous? anyhow, it’s about a woman and her friend from college, the two of them go on yearly trips. there are two timelines. the first one is the now, where they haven’t talked in two years and she hits him up and they decide to go on another of their vacations but it’s rocky, and you don’t know what happened to make them stop talking and it’s about them rekindling their friendship, and, I am guessing, falling in love. Every other chapter is made up of flash backs to trips gone by, it starts with the first one they ever took and then it gets closer and closer to the now. What is really incredible about this book is the way that their friendship is portrayed, the conversations they have, the jokes they make. It’s so unbelievably realistic, I make those kind of jokes with my friends.
  • ‘not my problem’ by Ciara Smyth. a short book about a young teenage girl that only really has one friend which treats her quite badly and has a difficult home life. It starts with the day she accidentally and reluctantly befriends the principal’s daughter, and through that falls into a business of helping people at school out in exchange for favors. She ends up making unlikely bonds with other kids and falling in love with the principal’s daughter. It’s a whole crazy endearing journey and told through her POV, which is written very believably. Our MC is very funny, let me just say that. It’s a bit weird, surprisingly deep, and very very wholesome. I loved it. But then again, chosen family and young queer love is always going to get me.
music
  • Raye’s ‘my 21st century blues.’ what a masterpiece. if you take one thing away from this, i hope it’s that you go check out this album. raye is quite decently famous and this album has broken the record for Brit awards, it’s not like this is completely underground. but it’s her debut album and she has fought a long battle to get it out, and the artistry is simply top notch. her voice is unbelievable, she bends genres so easily, she doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, and she knows how to orchestrate a catchy tune, the production is insane and so is her song writing. this album is freaking phenomenal.
games
  • codenames
  • stadt land vollposten
movies
  • bridget jones‘ diaries – another 2000s classic i hadn’t watched before. bridget jones is a single woman in her 30ies who, of course, is being put under a lot of pressure by everone around her to get romantically involved with someone. the comedy is on point, honestly. it’s also sweet, with a happy ending. totally recommend. my flat mates and i are planning on watching the second and third ones also soon because there is a fourth one coming out soon.
  • midnight sky. this is on Netflix and my flat mates and I were looking for something to watch and we stumbled upon this. it’s cute and dark at the same time. it’s about humanity fucking up earth. we find that one of Jupiter’s moons is habitable and set up a small colony but by the time part of the exploration team comes back to earth, it’s impossible to land or save anyone left on Earth. the main topic of the entire movie is family.
apps
  • flora: i use this app to study. it’s basically a screen blocker for my phone. you set a time where you intend to study / not use your phone, and then in that time a tree grows. if you break your promise to yourself and use your phone before the timer is up, you kill the tree. this app or similar ones have been around for a while, but as with many things, i am jumping on the train late lol. It’s really fun to grow your own garden, and a strong incentive is seeing your friends also studying, as you can link up your accounts.
  • finch: this app is for self care. you have this little creature that you take care of by taking care of yourself. you can set daily goals, examples are getting out of bed in the morning, washing your face, brushing your teeth, changing into fresh clothes, doing a little workout, calling your mom, vacuuming, breathing exercises etc. You decide on your own goals and everyday you do something, your pet grows, and the more you do per day, the more you can dress up your pet and change the interior design of the pet’s home and so on. I think this app is especially helpful if you have trouble with the little things or if you are very busy and taking care of yourself is the first thing to go. The little pet is adorable.

I have quite a few educational topics and links for research I’d love to include here since most of what I have been doing is studying, but I am late for my New Year’s party. I’ll tell you all about it next time. See you at the end of January!

Lotsa love, Skye

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