arbitrary rules, 7.27.24

i have these arbitrary rules that i sometimes feel are holding me back. so i have two toothbrushes, right? one i use in the morning, then one i use at night. the one i use at night i keep in the shower. i replace my morning toothbrush every month with a new one. then with the one i replace, i put it in the shower. so in reality, i’m getting two months out of one brush. the one in the shower has been messing up, and the bristles are getting spread out. as i was brushing my teeth, i was thinking how i can’t wait to throw this brush out on the last day of the month. then i thought to myself, why can’t i throw it out now? who cares if it’s not july 31st? then i started having those existential shower thoughts and the first one was what arbitrary rules do i have in other areas of my life that are holding me back?

i think there are more than i’d like to admit and it’s time to do things intentional rather than arbitrarily.

-ratha, 7:12pm, 7.27.24

going international, 7.26.24

i got a notification last week saying troubled spirits was shazamed in zurich, switzerland. this week, troubled spirits was shazamed in budapest, hungary and sydney, austrailia. that’s so surreal to me. because in order for someone to have shazamed my song, that means someone somewhere was playing one of my songs and someone else liked it so much they wanted to know who the artist was. that’s an unreal feeling.

i really appreciate everyone who has given my music a listen, i just hope they love it as much as i do.

-ratha, 9:57pm, 7.26.24

eating good for lunch, 7.25.24

i’ve been doing good with my diet, i decided to indulge today. smartlabs had thai food so i got me a heavy takeout box with rice, chicken and broccoli, and yellow curry chicken. yellow curry is my favorite curry by far. i don’t have it much because i can’t find a good thai place with it, but it always reminds me of the yellow curry fried rice from thai house off wt harris blvd in charlotte. speaking of, i gotta make my way back to the city just for some food. then, for the meeting they ordered pollo campero. the fried chicken is so good from there, plus the mac n cheese is decent as well so you know i had to grab a plate. i’m skipping the gym today, but i’ll try to even things out by having a salad for dinner.

-ratha, 3:32pm, 7.25.24

acai bowl firsts, 7.24.24

i had an acai bowl for the first time today and it was fire. i was hungry so i got it from b. goods along with their southwest salad. the bowl i got had kiwi in it. i hadn’t had kiwi since i was kid. i forgot how good it is. once you find what you like, eating healthy isn’t difficult at all. schuni told me one time how food shouldn’t make you tired, it should give you energy and lately i haven’t been feeling sluggish at all.

-ratha, 3:33pm, 7.24.24

park after dark, 7.23.24

when i woke up this morning, my mom told me to come downstairs to say goodbye to my uncle and aunt. i could barely make it down the stairs, definitely couldn’t put any weight on my ankle whatsoever. i went, said bye, then headed back upstairs. i had to take the day off from work. not a sick day, but an actual injury day lmao. i laid in bed reading with my foot iced and propped up on two pillows. i ended up falling asleep for a few hours. i took some tylenol (or was it advil?) and it felt a little better by the end of the afternoon. i felt good enough by the evening to drive to get something to eat and meet up at the park until dark. good conversation and good company on a bum ankle?

i’ll take it.

-ratha, 10:34pm, 7.23.24

hooping on a monday, 7.22.24

there was an idea in the groupchat last week to hoop on both mondays and wednesdays. we went today for the first monday. schuni texted me about having bodies for this afternoon, but i told him if we didn’t have 10, we could pick up to run full-court. he texts me that everytime we run full, someone gets injured. it’s true and it turned out to hit home today as on the last game i planned to play, i shot a three and landed on some guy’s foot, twisting my ankle pretty bad. it was a pain i had never felt before, definitely the worst ankle injury i’ve had. i was mad because it was the last game, and we were at point. yusef and schuni helped me off the court, which i felt bad because schuni got injured during the first game himself. afterwards, we made it back to binney and hung out snacking/drinking courtesy of smartlabs. we spoke on work, sports, and vacation plans. these are small details in everyday life, but some of the best times are the ones we overlook.

i definitely need more mondays like this, except without the injuries.

-ratha, 8:32pm, 7.22.24

lunch at lin’s garden, 7.21.24

i’ve really taking a liking to lin’s garden. i went there for lunch today and i’m always the only person who eats at the restaurant. the owner struck up a conversation with me today as i was eating the orange chicken lunch special. she asked if i had work and about my day. i told her what i did for a living and that i had saturdays and sundays off fortunately. our conversation went to other small details before she went back to the kitchen to fold crab rangoons as she picked up the phone for an order. she’s a very kind and hardworking individual and i hope the best for her restaurant. i know i’ll be supporting because this is the best chinese food i’ve had. next time i got i’ll be excited to try some more dishes from their menu.

i’ve heard the coconut chicken is good, so that may be next on the list.

-ratha, 4:11pm, 7.21.24

the sand sculptures, 7.20.24

we hit the sand sculpture festival at the beach today. i had never been, but always wanted to attend for the past couple of years. we hit it around 6pm and the weather was perfect. sand sculptures intrigue me because i don’t know how the hell people put them together, much less how they found out they can make sculptures out of sand. they were tall, too. some had to be at least 6-7 feet tall. the number one place was a chameleon sculpture. there were holes in the sculpture, the ratios were right, and the design was so impressive. at the festival, there were street performers, food, a cover band, and a fireworks show to end the night. everything was great except the food smh. i spent 50 bucks on food and drinks and it was all ass to mid at best. after the fireworks show ended, we did cartwheels on the beach. they said what i did wasn’t a cartwheel, but i beg to differ.
i’m happy i got to (finally) attend the sand sculpture festival.

we’ll definitely be back next year.

-ratha, 11:24pm, 7.20.24

leaving bagel, 7.19.24

i woke up a little later today and bagel was laying next to me. as i got ready, he just laid in bed still, with his eyes following me. it’s like this every morning. some people’s dogs wake them up, but i got lucky with bagel. he’ll sleep or stay in bed until i’m ready to get up and active. the hardest part (alongside with waking up for a 9-5) is leaving bagel every morning. he stays with my mom so i know he’s in good hands, but i do miss him. if bagel didn’t act up, i could bring him more places. probably not work, but you get what i’m saying. though if he didn’t act up, he wouldn’t be the bagel i know and love.

luckily for us it’s a short friday, so i’ll be back sooner than expected.

-ratha, 10:21am, 7.19.24

dinner with p, 7.18.24

after work today, i got dinner with p in seaport. the plan was to leave from work, but my dad texts me that him and my mom are in boston and they were coming back late so i had to leave work at around 4:50pm to go walk and feed bagel, then come back for our reservation. the reservation was originally 6:15pm, but we pushed it back to 6:45pm. we had thai curry chicken meatballs and calamari for an appetizer. i got the ribeye and some fries. though we were inside, we were seated on the second floor near a window to where we could look out into the water. it’s the perfect date night spot if you can get a seat outside overlooking the ledge. the food was good, and our server was flawless. he was from france, but he literally didn’t let the waters get below half-cup and he replaced our silverware each time we were done with a part of our meal. p and i stayed until 9:30pm before going our separate ways and heading home.

after-work plans are my favorite, and it was great to catch up with priyank over calm views and great food tonight.

definitely have to do this more often.

-ratha, 10:42pm, 7.18.24