10 Things That Are Bringing Me Joy Right Now!

Crimson wrote about ten things that bring them joy, and their post got me thinking about the things that bring me joy.

1. Coffee. I usually start my day with coffee. My go-to coffee order is one cream, one sugar. I like to order pumpkin drinks in the fall and iced coffee in the summer. When I’m at home, I use an AeroPress and add frothed milk on top.

2. Danmei. There is a lot of anticipation happening now in the danmei community. We are expecting Immortality (hopefully) and a few other BL dramas. Heaven Official’s Blessing Season 2 will be released (hopefully), and I’m still clinging to the hope that The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Season 2 will be released. I’ve preordered Guardian Volume 1, which will be released later this year (hopefully), and there are other danmei series being published, like The Husky and His White Cat Shizun.

3. Manhwa. There’s been a rise in anime and webtoons where the villain/villainess is the main character and there are a lot of revenge stories. The stories I like are either A) the main character reads a book/plays an otome game, dies, wakes up in the book/game’s villain’s body, and acts differently in order to avoid a terrible fate, B) the MC is murdered by a loved one, goes back to the past, and hatches a revenge plan, or C) the MC is betrayed and hatches a revenge plan. My favourite manhwa at the moment is probably Remarried Empress. What I like about the female lead in Remarried Empress is that I don’t think she’s intentionally getting revenge. She’s just improving her situation because she’s been wronged, but it’s so satisfying.

4. Animal Crossing. One of my 2023 goals is to start a YouTube channel. I want to give a tour of my island. My island is my space where I have total freedom and control. It’s almost near completion, so I want to show it before I restart. I hate that you can’t have more than one island per Switch. I’m not willing to buy another Switch just to start a new island (some avid players have) so I want to make a video of my island so I can remember it. I might dabble in making AMVs as well, but one thing at a time. 😉 One basic thing that recently occurred to me is that we can do so many things, and I intend to take advantage of that. I learned how to play Go yesterday.

5. Samsung watch. My boyfriend gifted me a Samsung watch for Christmas, and I really like it because it records a lot of data. As someone who has volunteered and worked as a research assistant on different teams for several years, you could say that I love data. I’m most interested in my sleep data, but it’s also nice for other reasons like snoozing my alarm and notifying me when I’m getting a phone call.

6. YETI water bottle. I was gifted a water bottle for Christmas, and it has motivated me to drink more water. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. It’s like when people buy a new keyboard to motivate them to write more. I have the mint YETI bottle.

7. Keychron keyboard. Speaking of keyboards, I love my keyboard. My boyfriend gifted me a Keychron keyboard when I got a new PC last year, and two of my friends donated their spare keycaps. I customized my keyboard with three sets of keycaps. I also added a Bulbasaur keycap because it fit with my theme. Cosmetics do matter. My keyboard is wired and supports Bluetooth, which I’ve taken full advantage of.

8. Music. The music I like best is very niche. Most of it is not on Spotify, but I pay for it for the convenience. I like to listen to music throughout the day. My current favourite song:

9. Subbers and translators. I always feel like a part of my mind is elsewhere because I breathe, sleep, and eat fiction. I love novels/web novels, manga/manhwa/webtoons, Asian dramas, anime/donghua, games/visual novels, and more. Anyway, subbers and translators have my love.

10. Handwritten cards and letters. I’m always happy to receive something handwritten because it feels special and intimate. Somebody thought of me and took time out of their day to write me a card. I’ve kept all of the cards and letters I’ve received.

Thanks for reading!