April Favorites
HOORAY!!! April is here and that means i can finally wear my flip flops again without freezing my toes off. As best described by this meme I saw on instagram: Welcome to San Francisco where it feels like winter in the morning, spring by noon, summer in the afternoon, and fall in the evening. Yep, sounds about right.
This month I actually did stuff and went places instead of staying at home all the time (shocker I know). I started off the month with a week-long work trip in Utah. My team and I went to our company’s office there for a fast-paced training bootcamp. It was our first real overnight trip for work so we were all incredibly excited. It also meant free food every day hehe (yes, even after college, free food gets me excited).
From Utah, I flew straight to Florida to visit my childhood best friend once my work trip ended. She worked at the Disneyworld College Program… which meant free tickets — one of which went to me due to best friend privileges ?The trip itself was amazing fun buuuut it was also all over the place. Nothing went the way it was supposed to and I almost got stranded in Orlando lol. …That’s a story for another day.
Towards the end of the month I went on my first work trip for a client that was based outside of SF — this client was based in Irvine. Since it was near LA, I decided to stay an extra day there to visit one of my closest friends from college. We rented an airbnb together that ended up being in this fancy condo with a big pool and hot tub, which we soaked in until we got kicked out because it was past hot tub hours. Weirdest part though: our Airbnb host was this 12 year old kid.
When he picked us up at the front entrance, he whizzed us away up and down the numerous elevators and through the complex to show us all the amenities. At one point in the elevator, my friend tried striking up small talk as one does and asked him what he did that day, to which the kid shortly replied, “Work.” And that was it. No explanation. No elaboration. Nothin’. My friend and I looked at each other deadass in the eye and tried so hard not to burst into laughter. You forget that at age 12 you don’t really get the concept of small talk. And I’m pretty sure this breaks some sort of child labor law but I respect the kid’s hustle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Amidst all of the traveling, there was plenty of ~adulting~ involved as well. For one thing, I did my taxes on my own for the first time ever.
Back in college when I had to do taxes, I passed everything along to the accountant my family goes to. Now that I’m a Big Girl™ with a big girl job, I figured it was time to stop leeching off my parents (except for our T-mobile plan though, can’t say no to that). After some searching around, I used H&R Block’s online self-service basic package. It was super quick, super cheap, and super easy to use. Plus I got a fat refund out of it. Smiles all around.
I also started to look for apartments. Since I’ve started working last August, I’ve been commuting from home in the East Bay to SF. On a good day with no traffic, carpooling into the city can take just 35 minutes but on a bad day it can take up to 1 ½ hours. After work I would bart back home. Barting was what took a toll on me over time because EVERYBODY and their mothers and their grandmothers would be going back home. The trains would be jam packed with sweaty bodies and a lot of awkward eye contact happens because you have nowhere else to look at.
In April, I decided that it was time. I saved up enough money where I wouldn’t feel guilty about spending my paycheck on SF priced rent. Plus, my boyfriend would be moving in with me, so I would only need to pay for half the rent. We joined our efforts with one of my best friends from high school, Claire, who also was in the same situation as me and was looking to move out. We spent the latter half of the month just going to apartment viewings.
To wrap up the month, April also marked the 4th anniversary of Andrew and I. It’s kind of crazy to think about how we spent college together and now we’re in the Bay Area together, working. We used to go all out for each other with presents but this time we decided to spend that money into an experience instead — and for us, that experience meant one that was centered around food (duh), We went to our first 8 course dinner together at this Michelin star Japanese restaurant in Japantown. It was d e l i c i o u s. I didn’t know fish could taste like butter.
Enough of all the travelling and adulting though — here are some of my favorites from April that helped me unwind in between all the hecticness.
? ♪ ♫ Bops ♪ ♫ ?
Songs that make me feel like I’m the main character of a music video:
Time in a Tree – Raleigh Ritchie [fun fact: Grey Worm sings this!! Legit just found out he does music on the side. If you know, you know]
Songs that make me feel badass
~ Hipster ~ v i b e s
Aawake at Night – half alive [yes they spelled awake with two A’s, it ain’t a typo]
Songs that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside:
Songs I just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Throwback songs I rediscovered:
All the Stars – Kendrick Lamar, SZA
??Eye Candy ??
Huge in France
Plot: This bigshot comedian in France gets tired of his fame and loneliness and moves to the U.S. in hopes of reconnecting with his son — except he doesn’t get the warm welcome he expected from both his son and the Americans.
The first trailer I saw for this made me burst into laughter right away and as soon as i started watching, the laughter didn’t stop all the way until the end. The script/dialogue is hilarious and every character memorable. If you’re looking for a lighthearted show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this is the thing to watch. What’s most interesting is that the main character is ACTUALLY played by the real comedian himself, Gad.
In the show he plays a fictionalized version of himself, but it’s still based on Gad’s very real experiences with the America x France culture shock and his adjustment to a no-fame life in the U.S. Talk about trippy.
And extra brownie point for the lowkey satire vibes going on with all the subtle jabs and social commentary on our millennial generation. Disguise that under all that humor and you almost miss it. Well played, well played.
Green Book
Plot: It’s the 1960’s in ‘Murrica. A (lowkey racist) Italian-American is in need of a job and becomes the driver for an African-American pianist on a tour. What can possibly go wrong?
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I watched this on the plane ride to Orlando and boy was I glad I chose to watch this one out of all the other movies they had available. I decided to give it a shot since it was always on my list after I heard it won an Oscar. After watching the film, I can definitely see why. It does a beautiful job with showing character progression in a way where the pacing felt natural and where the team really paid attention to the fine details in physically showing this change in the main characters through their little quirks and behaviorisms. It was also directed in a way that makes the audience take a second look at the parallels between the world in the film and current times and how structural racism seeps through our society even today. In fact, the title of the movie was named after “The Negro Motorist Green Book”, a travel guidebook distributed during the Jim Crow era which gave suggestions on establishments that were friendly to African Americans and were not segregated. Crazy to think that something like that existed not so long ago. This film really makes you reflect on how far we’ve come and how much more work we have to do as a community.
Working Moms
Plot: This comedy shows the very real struggles that professional mothers go through after giving birth.
I watched this in the evening during my work trip because there are literally no bars in Lehi, Utah (lmao) and honestly– I have no idea how I got sucked into it. My coworkers would not stop teasing me for watching it since it clearly isn’t targeted towards my demographic LOL. I’m telling ya — it’s the trailers that get you. While this isn’t something that I would re-watch and there’s nothing particularly riveting about a certain aspect of the show (in terms of dialogue, acting, etc.), what I do really like and appreciate is how it highlights the rather taboo problems that mothers face when going back to the workforce after giving birth to a tiny human. It ventures into topics that are not openly talked about, from postpartum depression to losing attraction to your spouse to juggling between being a “good mom” and building your career and whether that should even be an “either or” type of situation. And for that reason alone, I found myself really enjoying the experience because it opened my eyes to a new perspective that I haven’t really thought about before despite these issues affecting such a large group of our coworkers/community — and perhaps even us if you are a woman and are thinking of starting a family!
Someone Great
Plot: This romcom follows Jenny, an almost-thirty something (?) who rallies with her 2 best friends after a harsh breakup with her boyfriend of 9 years.
I think out of everything I’ve watched this month, this movie tops the list. As soon as I saw that Gina Rodriguez was starring in this (any Jane the Virgin fans?), I knew I had to watch it.
At first glance reading the summary, it sounded like a cliche story but after watching it, the finished result doesn’t come close to cliche. There’s just something about the casting and the chemistry between the main actors that is honestly phenomenal. It felt like they really ARE best friends from college. The audience is let in on all the inside jokes and just like we do with our own friends, they call each other out but also raise each other up. Gina’s performance was also amazing (as expected). She brings to life all the roller-coaster of emotions in a break up to the screen — I haven’t even been through a break-up and I felt everything her character was going through (plus some tears here and there). Breakup aside though, I think that this film does a terrific job showing the strong friendship between the three gals and how their individual struggles represent the very real and common challenges people face when coming of age. Highly highly recommend watching this film if you want something that makes you belt out laughing but also makes you feel all the feels.
⚙️? Beep Boop ?⚙️
Robinhood Snacks Podcast
I’ve been trying to get into podcasts but I always lost interest after the first couple of minutes. Until I stumbled upon Robinhood Snacks. I think I first got the email version of their podcast where they do a summary overview of what they talked about. I read through it, immediately got intrigued, and searched for their podcast on Spotify. I’ve always been interested in tech and business news, which is what this podcast covers, so it was exactly what I was looking for. Plus it was the first time I listened through a podcast from start to finish. The pacing was perfect for me — it was quick, punchy, to the point, but also full of juicy details and enough of a background overview on the company for context. What really made this podcast stand out was the chemistry between the two hosts on the podcast and the fluidity of the entire conversation. They spoke with ease and excitement, cracked jokes with each other (I find myself chuckling in every podcast), all the while transitioning from one topic to the other seamlessly.
SetMore
One of my goals this month was to start getting involved more. And by involved, I mean do things that wasn’t just work or spending time with Andrew (sorry boo). I missed being involved in numerous projects and organizations which I did plenty of back in college. Then I thought what better way to ease into that by doing something that’s related to the university I went to? So earlier this year I reached out to my major’s department because I found out that they just launched a Digital Mentoring service where students can set up time to chat with an alum about anything they wanted to talk about. This is done through an app/website called SetMore. It basically helps you schedule appointments by syncing up with your calendar (could be personal or work), and then showing only free time slots to the requester without revealing the details of your schedule. All in all this and the Digital Mentoring program was perfect for me because I wanted to do something more meaningful with my free time and I was able to do that this month with my first mentoring calls by candidly sharing my own experiences with the students.
Looking at all the stuff I did, April was a pretty jam packed month. I’m surprised I did this much, as I am starting to realize I usually do at the end of each month lol. When May rolls around, I hope to move into my apartment in the city by then and to really dive head first into my personal development goals of getting more involved, getting back into reading, and becoming more fit by going to the gym more frequently. Idk about the last one happening but one can hope right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
