122

Or, Over The Hill

Jan 27, 2025

Hi! Thanks for reading this newsletter. A click of the ♡ button makes a difference. You can also share excerpts on social media, forward it to someone who might enjoy the vibes, or text it to a friend.

My birthday is on Thursday! You can find my wishlist here and any and all gifts will be appreciated 🙂
(I’m happy to accept birthday gift throughout the year 🙂)

Reader,

This time on Thursday, I’ll be a year older. As a person born at the cusp of a lunar year, I always use that as a reason (excuse?) to reset and start the year afresh. This year, the Lunar Year begins a day before my birthday - on January 29 - so it feels fitting that I should start another trip around the sun.

Unlike previous years, this has been a distinctly plan-less pre-birthday time. As I write this, I have no idea what I’ll get up to on my birthday. Being unemployed has meant that the birthday getaway I’d tried to make a tradition is not really possible this year (I didn’t book a holiday last year because of my short-lived stint in grad school. I still…have feelings about it all) and the recovering Protestant educated at Catholic institutions in me almost wants to spend the day making job applications as something between self-flagellation and seeking to make next year’s birthday different. I’ll report back (with another birthday of books; if past years are anything to go by).

If the last week or so is anything to go by, I’ll almost definitely: read, watch Severance Season 1 before I start watching Season 2 with a friend in February (and listen to this podcast, and this one, about the show), and watch a short film. Everything else is unwritten.

Quasi-related: Please send me any and all media (books, especially) that you (or someone you know) have found useful when it comes to healing one’s relationship with one’s body and food. As a person on the larger side (I was recently in a conversation where a relative made a comment about my body that left me speechless hahaha I’m laughing so I don’t cry!!!), I’d especially appreciate something that’s about body acceptance, moving away from pathologizing food etc from a Global South perspective or from the perspective of Black, queer, women. I feel like there are many things I may not be able to change before my next birthday (cue birthday blues!!!) but maybe feeling stronger, happier, in this husk is something to aspire to. Thanks in advance!

I Know You Think This Newsletter Is About Books

Discussion about this post