(no title)

REMEMBERING JOSE

Most of us will experience losing someone dear to us at some point in our life. Although death may bring much pain and loss to you, I hope it may also bring you love, happiness, and gratitude as you reflect back on the life lived together.

My first experience with death was losing my brother Jose. Jose was a talented artist who could draw, paint, and sculpt. He was an avid comic book fan, created a skating crew with his friends, rented so many movies for our family to watch, listened to a lot of Beatles, and was constantly making a joke of something which caused everyone around him to laugh. His energy and comedic timing were always on point. Losing him truly was heartbreaking to all who knew him.

MEMO: FEEL LIKE AN OVERTHINKING DWEEB SOMETIMES

Raise your hand, if you care too much what other people think of you. I believe we all do this to some extent and thus I am here writing to share the chaos of what runs through my mind. I am and will always be a work in progress, this definitely an area where I want to continue to work on.

LET’S LOOK BACK…

Alex and I wrapped up our first month of living in a van at the start of February. In that month we visited areas in California, Nevada, and Arizona. I am going to do my best to look back and reflect on the highlights.

MEMO: UNEMPLOYED WITH RETAIL BACKGROUND

I left my full-time retail management job at the start of the new year. I mentioned earlier in my previous posts I decided to take time away from work to refocus on myself and to reconnect with my values. I understand that not everyone has the luxury to stop working thus this current time in my life is extremely special on different levels. My heart is filled with gratitude as I navigate through this new chapter of self-determining time.

NEW YEAR, NEW HOME

Alex and I moved out of our apartment on December 31st, we literally rang in the new year moving our belongings into our van. We still had some things to tidy upstairs in our apartment while we also trying rearranged our stuff into our limited garage and closet space. The brisk air kept me moving up and down the stairs and the new year cheers from our neighbors in the building was a perfect soundtrack of celebration.

BACK FROM HIATUS

I have not sat down, written, and published a post in over a year and some change. There was a point in 2022 where I was trying to write but that post is still in my draft folder. I wanted to make time for my hobbies, but it just didn’t happen. Perhaps it was the stress of work that keep me focused on my team and numbers. On my time away from the store all I wanted to do was nothing and be responsible for no one.

Wear Whatever F**k You Want

I love the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as it contains action, comedy, and romance in video-game-like reality. The character Ramona Flowers wore funky fashionable outfits that inspired me. She would do bold things like change up her hair color every week and half as if it was no big deal. On the other hand, I feared what others would think of me and even began to question how I felt about myself. Why couldn’t I consider myself to be adventurous and cool, like Ramona Flowers? Why couldn’t I do bold things without the concern of how others would react to my decisions? It took time to overcome this fear, but eventually I decided to bleach, cut, and dye my own hair.

A MINIMALIST CLOSET

I would consider clothing as an extension of myself. It is a self expression of who I am, who I was, and who I will be. It has taken me seven years to build my current wardrobe and throughout the years a lot styles and fits have come and gone, yet I was keeping a hold of many pieces that I no longer wore. The fact is I had too much clothing and keeping a tidy closet that large was a challenge for me.