"I have no enemies"

a january 2023 overview & raving about my now favourite anime/manga

hey bros,

With the first month of 2024 wrapping up it’s time to newsletter/friend updating time:

January Overview

• Snow (and WFH discord parties)

  • It snowed a woopton in Vancouver for about a week, and one highlight of this was actually just hanging out on Discord while we all WFH since everyone was snowed in anyway. having that social accountability to work and just that ambience that simulates working not totally by yourself really helps me focus throughout the day.

• A date at Sushi Mura

  • While this one didn’t really go anywhere past the first date, having both of us mutually acknowledge that we weren’t what each of us were looking for was a breath of fresh air, instead of the silent ghosting and ignoring lol.

• Resubscribing for a box of Chef’s Plate

  • One of my goals for the year is just to cook more things. I used up one of the Chef’s Plate promos to get two recipes for 4 people (basically 8 servings) for the week for $27 and it turned out pretty bomb. I think it was definitely worth it, at least with the promo, and it’s a cool way to just get exposed to easy meals to make on your own.

• Nerding out on personal finance

  • Lately I’ve been finding more and more of my time has been spent researching personal finance topics like how other people budget, investing accounts, and what all these foreign finance terms are, and it’s made me feel more control of the things go around me. I’d like to give a special shoutout to YNAB for being an approachable way to budget that works for me 🫡 and will gladly help anyone tryna figure it out too!

  • Also a special shoutout to the homies reading this working on their personal finances too and being able to discuss this stuff with them wahoo

• A pause on eating out for January

  • Another goal I have for the year was to simply eat out less. Last year I spent ~2k on eating out and thought… ya i can improve on that. This month I vowed to not eat out (except for a few exceptions), and not only have I spent less money, but challenged me to find different ways to get that hit of social dopamine and routine friendly catchup that usually comes with this.
    

  But see you at big way once February hits 🍲

What’s cool lately

“mfs who have no enemies be like”

If I’ve talked to you recently, I’ve probably brought up that Vinland Saga has been taking over my life a bit. During the December break I was looking for things to watch and potato with, and I remember seeing people recommend Vinland Saga on Reddit, comparing it to Attack on Titan. I think someone was looking for other dark, serious, character driven anime and that came up. It also had all it’s episodes on Netflix already so I downloaded a few episodes to watch on my Toronto flight back in December.

What I found out

• the music? bangers that I will gladly shower to 🚿

• the writing? like if my mom’s mango pudding was a plot 🍮

• the animation? so clean it’s dirty 💩

The tl;dr of this anime is (minor spoilers ahead) that it is a historical fiction taking place in Nordic Viking times, and follows a lil dude name Thorfinn who’s set out to avenge his dad. The fun part is that he actually ends up being taken in by the person, Askeladd (askeCHAD) who killed his dad and his group of vikings, and you get to see some sick brutal viking battles. He becomes the pack’s most skilled warrior, with his only motivation being to have enough skill to take down Askeladd in an honorable fight.

But for me the real entertainment comes in Season 2 when it becomes about farming. sort of not kidding.

Without getting into too many spoilers, Thorfinn’s character goes through a dramatic change, and he begins to convert from a life of killing and brutality to one of being a pacifist — leading him to his iconic quote and realization of “you are not my enemies, I have no enemies at all”.

Anyway, season 2 is only caught up with about half manga but I just gots to know that happens and now I’m caught up on all 202 chapters and am really sad that I have to wait one month for each chapter and it’s right at the peak of it’s last arc and im a bit emptier inside now.

Because this is a “historical fiction”, characters are actually based on real life people like Leif Ericsson or Prince Canute, and features real events that happened it’s kinda interesting to be able to predict what happensat the end because well history already happened. Again without going into too many spoilers, the message of the story still stands. The story ends up becoming about finding “Vinland” or a promised land where no war or slaves exist, representing freedom and being able to live according to your values. The protagonist faces a bunch of obstacles to get there, and adding in the “real” factor of what actually happens in the real life story (aka history), it feels like there’s lots to unpack.

tl;dr: Vinland Saga is taking over my life rn and i just want to talk about it a lot so pls watch it too

Narrative identity theory

This one’s a bit out there but I found this going through some of my older Notion pages (expect a blurb just about Notion somewhere down the road). I used to have a “resonance calendar” (video about it here) here in which I would document anything that would resonate with me, and I stumbled on “Narrative Identity Theory” from one of my psych classes.

Here’s a quick summary from ChatGPT:

Narrative identity theory suggests that individuals construct their sense of self and identity through the stories they tell about themselves. It emphasizes the idea that our personal narratives, the stories we create and share, shape how we understand and perceive ourselves.

Think of it like this: imagine you're at a party and someone asks you to introduce yourself. You start by sharing where you're from, what you do for a living, and your hobbies. These elements come together to form a narrative that reflects who you are. It's like crafting a story that captures your essence and helps others understand you better.

For example, let's say you're a passionate traveler. You might tell stories about your adventures, the places you've visited, and the cultural experiences you've had. These stories become part of your narrative identity, showcasing your love for exploration and your adventurous spirit.

So, narrative identity theory recognizes the power of storytelling in shaping how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. It's about weaving together the threads of our experiences to create a meaningful and authentic narrative that reflects who we are.

---

With 2024 coming in hot and with being in the prime quarter-life crisis years, I’ve been pondering on what my “identity” really is, or what my narrative is. This started to come up with planning out my website, but came up in a different way on my date when she asked me “How would your friends describe you?”. Im ngl I did get caught off guard a bit with this question, because it’s not really something I’ve thought of before. I didn’t necessarily not have anything to say to answer it, but it made me realize that I wasn’t super satisfied with what I had to say to, or that I think there was more that I wish I could say to answer it (also this isn’t to underappreciate what I do think my friends or anything close to me thinks of me i luv yall).

I want to have a clearer picture of what my “narrative” is, and work towards it being one that I’d like to share more of.

Looking Forward

It’s February soon and with that I’m currently looking forward toooooooo:

• 2000 pushup challenge — Feb 1-23 I’ll be doing 2000 pushups for mental health baybeeee. Read about it here

• more 2024 goal check ins — A few of my friends and I started doing regular IRL check ins to keep each other accountable with personal goals, and thats some good good 🫡

• a sunshine coast cabin trip — first time cabin trip n lets play poker

• seeing Juice (with more joos; juice squared) at the Biltmore Cabaret

• NieR Concert — first time going to see an orchestra concert that isn’t st pats chan on my own accord, and it’ll be some great nerdy JRPG fun/

A few cool links:

(from the resonance calendar if ya’ve heard about it 👁️👄👁️)

• This Page is Designed to Last: A Manifesto for Preserving Content on the Web

  • Admittedly have not read through this, but the author reflects on how to preserve current webpages, encouraging site owners to preserve UX and longevity over complex technology.

• How the Way You Respond to Boredom Changes Your Life

  • “Sometimes just being a good and decent person, a good friend to a few, a dependable partner to one, a well focused participant in a thoughtfully chosen career. Is as heroic and successful as anyone can truly be”

  • real

• The Pudding: a rabbit hole of cool visual and interactive essays. thanks itsen!

and thas all folks buh bye