Life in Lists #10
“Pontificating on being human”. + things that brought me joy this week
What I did/doing
Recording things that brought me joy this week:
Saw Mamamoo (ok, two of them) again in concert:
Mamamoo+ is in town, so naturally I bought tickets again and me and my wife.
And just like their MYCON concert in February, they were fantastic live! Started bang on time (this is a HUGE plus point), had lots of banter, humour, visuals, meticulously structured and lovely. They even slotted in some local slang.
I think what I enjoyed the most was the duo genuinely seems to enjoy being on stage, bringing their A-game and interacting with their fans. You can tell they try very hard to connect with the country they’re in, slotting in local slang and songs.
The fan club signs and giveaways also added to the atmosphere. Although as my wife remarked for a dedicated fandom we sure are quiet and keep to ourselves lol.
This is probably the most I’ve ever got sucked into the fandom of any group. Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and I have a bit more money to spend on my interests, but this is certainly a new experience. Never done the whole “go to the airport and wait for them to arrive at the airport” thing either (ok I probably won’t go there).
Separately, I’ve never had the “fandom” experience before, although my wife says some of her female friends in school did the whole obsessing > compare which guy was the cutest > collect memorabilia > go to airport when it was in the days of Taiwanese boy bands like F4 and 5566 cycle.
So this entire experience of actually being in a fandom is interesting, yet super confusing for me.
How do people spend so much time and effort on being a fan? What drives you to print things out and hand them to strangers for free? I’m genuinely curious.
(Also shoutout to my amazing wife who volunteered to go on a Mamamoo listening marathon and MV watching before the concert)
Made cream of mushroom soup from scratch.
For my first time, it’s pretty good! The entire pot of soup cost me about $15 in ingredients (not counting my labour cost lol). Not bad when a bowl is about $5 minimum in restaurants.
The trick seems to be adding the right amount of flour to the mushrooms/onions so they can combine together. Used the BBC recipe.
I have a soft spot for cream of mushroom soup, as this was a regular thing we served to people when we hosted Christmas gatherings. Although since my mum passed and everyone moved out of the family home we now don’t cook and order our food. Kinda sad, if you think about it. But that’s life I guess.
Took my dad and wife to an interactive murder mystery theatre experience over the weekend.
He’s a serious fan of Agatha Christie and detective mysteries so this was right up his alley. Bonus, a lady in our group asked him at the end “Uncle, are you a detective?” Made his day!
I was fascinated by the medium and the discipline of the actors/actresses to stay in character all the way, even while addressing members of the public.
Think escape room meets theatre.
I was worried it was going to be super pop psychology Dr Phil type of discourse but it was more Persona (in a sense that it was the cognitive representation of a killer’s memories and psyche). Very cool experience.
Good customer service experience from Ana tomy
I needed a new planner refill for 2024, and my wife needed to replace her book ribbon and elastic band.
Problem is, hers was a limited edition Peanuts book cover and it wasn’t on sale anymore. Thankfully, Ana tomy (the Malaysian planner brand I 100% recommend for its customisability) took the initiative to create a custom order with the specific parts. Pretty impressive, as they could have said “no we don’t offer that anymore” and directed me to one of their other products” but they went the extra mile on this.
I find I’m very brand loyal. When I find something I like, I stick with it until otherwise proven. Yes, I’m the type that if I find a shirt I like I buy it in different colours lol.
First attempt at making dashi chazuke; or dashi broth over steamed rice and toppings (with some modifications).
(Ok not as pretty and laid out as the inspiration, but it was super yummy! Was a nice hearty breakfast after you pour in the dashi broth).
We had this for breakfast in Tokyo and it was so good we went back again the next day.
And it broke my brain in a good way - you can eat rice that isn’t rice porridge for breakfast??
Plus the beauty of Japanese cooking is its simplicity:
One of the more popular sauces is made out of the same 4-5 core ingredients. Light soy sauce, mirin, dashi, sugar, sake. You can use this for frying, braising and marinating. Shockingly versatile.
Also found some mushrooms growing out of a grass patch near our house. Super random can?? But they’re so pretty lol.
Reads I’ve enjoyed:
Ann Friedman’s vulnerable writing at finding herself pregnant and having a unplanned baby at 41
The Truth is Always Made of Details: a beautiful ode to noticing details
Everything is content now (video): an excellent deep dive into the bland world of “content”. Saying this fully aware that I am in content marketing (the irony!)
What I’m thinking about
I wrote this line in my notebook after a particularly frustrating week:
“I want to get paid to pontificate about the world, human trends and what it means to be human”.
I was taken aback at when this line appeared.
Where did the word pontificate even come from? Do I really want to get paid for this, considering I started this corner of the Internet to essentially write for myself with no commercial intent + recapture the joy of writing to express.
I do that enough in my business, and writing with CTAs, SEO with the intent to promote a business or sell something is vastly different from writing to express.
I guess it’s like turning something you do for pleasure into something that puts food on your table. Your relationship with it changes. One feeds your soul, one feeds your wallet. Although, does it have to be so segmented?
And I’m unsure if I want to head in that direction.
***
Looking back on my week, I always find my interests always skew towards more feminine. Growing up, building things, team sports and stuff like cars never interested me. It was only when I discovered I enjoyed cooking in uni days when an entire world unlocked.
Cooking became a place of expression, a combination of artistry and science that just worked for me. Sure, there are weeks where I default to instant noodles and packet soups because I’m so zonked from the week or don’t have the time to put together a meal. But overall, cooking is a creative outlet.
Plus, it’s always fun to surprise my in-laws when most of the men in my wife’s family don’t cook.
Anyhow, I’m in my 30s now. It’s more than past due to own! your! interests! and! inclinations! Which is something I constantly tell myself but it’s surprisingly hard to not let societal or gender-based ‘scripts’ or programming influence my behaviour.
Own!your!interests!!😂❤️