Blog

2013 was another big year for me, from taking better care of myself, growing in my work and enjoying life. Here are some of the highlights.

• I spent a lot of time in nature this year, and felt overall more connected with the cycles of the seasons and the moon. My partner and I bought ourselves a tent this year, and we went camping 5 times–twice in Wisconsin, twice in Michigan and once in Ohio. We also went on day hikes throughout the year and explored some parks in the Chicago area. We checked out Pulaski Woods, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Kegonsa State Park, Salt Creek Trail, Chain O’ Lakes State Park, and of course Chicago’s Lakefront Trail. We hiked and swam in caves at Parque Nacional del Este in Dominican Republic. We went stargazing at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.

• A lot happened in my social justice world this year. A dear leader in my South Asian arts and political community passed away. I became a Rape Crisis Counsellor. I started a feminist book group with some of my guy friends. After the factory collapse in Bangladesh, I made a map documenting where my clothes were made. And I took a selfie with Arudhati Roy.

• I took good care of myself physically this year. I started learning yoga in the fall of 2012, and I continued doing 30 minutes of it every morning this year. I wasn’t consistent with it, but it did happen. I also did some runs with a friend from New York–a 10k trail run in the Chicago suburbs, a 10k in Connecticut, and a 5 mile run in Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving morning.

• I wrote a song this year. It was a sad, personal song about growing up as a child of immigrants. I haven’t shared it with many people, so I don’t have anything to post. Maybe in 2014.

• I became a beach person this year. I never really learned what to do on a beach. It may sound weird, but between not learning how to swim until my late teens, and never spending time at the water growing up, I just never got it. But this year, I got it. At my cousins wedding in Dominican Republic, I spent entire days on the beach–swimming and splashing around in the waves, sitting in the sun, and grabbing meals when I got hungry. That was it. When I was in Florida for Christmas and when we went camping, we made it a point to get into the water. And it was amazing.

• I’ve always took my finances seriously, but this year my partner and I started documenting all our expenses, and started making some long-term plans to pay off our loans and increase our savings. I paid off my student loans this year. And I started doing freelance work for small library websites.

• My halloween costume made it onto Angry Asian Man. And a museum colleague made this amazing animated GIF of me.

Overall it was a great year. 2014 is gonna be great, too. Happy New Year!