New Year New Era | Eat Your Crust

Hi, welcome back to Eat Your Cress Podcast. I'm Crystal and I'm G-Soo.

It's been a while since we've said that.

It feels a little bit weird to say, but we're happy to be back.

Yeah, we took a little bit of a longer break this holiday season because a lot was going on.

I feel like it was a good break too.

It was funny because about a week ago or something, you texted me and you're like,

life has gone on so long without podcast duties.

Yeah, I guess for a while. I mean, definitely when we're in the season,

podcast duties are such a normal part of our routine.

But I was abroad and you were off for Christmas break and everything like that.

So I was like, I can't remember what it was like to upload podcast episodes.

Oh my God.

I definitely had that thought too.

I was like, oh my God, it's like Tuesday and we're free.

Yeah, exactly.

I don't plan.

There were like a couple of our podcast meetings that were still on the calendar that we forgot to remove for the break.

And then I just watched them like pop up and I was like, oh,

I feel like this used to be a thing for us.

But as much as it was nice having some time off, it does feel really exciting to be back.

I feel like the first episode that we always record for the new season,

we always talk about our New Year's resolutions a bit.

But this time, Crystal and I were chatting a bit and she had an idea to do the resolutions

in a slightly different manner this year.

Yeah.

So the typical way people kind of approach resolutions is like, what are some goals?

And sometimes these goals can be pretty grandiose.

Or sometimes they're a little vague.

Like this year, I want to start doing this or I want to like get better at this.

But you know, it's kind of hard to measure and stuff.

So I was kind of reflecting over New Year's time.

And I kind of realized, and this is partially thanks to the podcast too,

I kind of had a theme unintentionally last year.

So I was like, oh, maybe this year I'll set like a theme as well.

I think last year's theme was kind of do new things, which we talked about around the beginning of the year.

And so I was kind of thinking about what could be an appropriate theme for this year.

What I came up with, it's a little vague, but it's basically to rediscover youthful energy.

Kind of an interesting story actually.

I was looking through some old notes on my phone.

I scrolled all the way to the bottom and I was like, whoa, some of these notes I kept really show the kind of person I was

or like the kind of interests I had.

And I don't know if I show that kind of energy in my life now.

One note in particular was literally a list of fonts that I liked.

Because I was so passionate about design and everything that I would literally follow new font releases.

Oh my God. I honestly did not know that this concept even existed.

So I was like, oh my God, like I was so excited about this stuff.

Hopefully I can kind of keep a mindset to have that kind of youthful energy and passion again in things that I do.

I really like that actually. And I feel like the theme setting does help a lot because sometimes when the goal is a little bit too granular or too ambitious.

I feel like it's hard because the weight of the responsibility of achieving that can kind of sit on your shoulders.

But when something is a theme, I feel like it's way easier to kind of imbue that theme into different aspects of your life and just keep it in mind.

And you're doing like decision making or things like that, but it's not, oh, I have to do this every single day.

So yeah, I can definitely appreciate that.

It's kind of like in yoga when they try to make you set your intentions in the beginning of class.

Yeah, true.

But I really liked the way that you wanted to approach the New Year's resolutions this year.

Personally, I thought it was a little bit funny because a couple of days before we had this chat, I had just gotten back.

And I was opening my new stationery that I got from Japan and writing down my little New Year's resolutions.

Prior years, I think I've always set very specific goals.

I think a common one is like, oh, this year I want to be more healthy or lose weight or this year I want to read more books, things like that.

And those are things that I feel like I always try to do. And sometimes I achieve it, sometimes I don't.

But it was just so much harder for me to like even think of those goals to write down this year.

So I wrote down some of the most broad goals I've ever written down.

And I would say that it's not even a goal.

I almost approached it like a Taylor Swift era almost like 2024 is going to be the year of organizing, recalibrating and reflecting.

And it will be the year of prioritizing my health and well being, it'll be the year of love and joy.

So I feel like it's things that I just want to focus on this year.

And it's things that have existed in my life in prior years as well.

But I think this year I want to focus on actually trying to improve certain aspects of my life instead of just fighting for survival because Loki 2023 was the year of survival for me.

I mean, I feel like 2023 a lot was going on in your life, especially life itself is already a lot.

And then you also had wedding planning on top of that.

And then because like you have a lot of family who's not in California, that's like a whole extra layer of just like communications and like planning and all of that kind of stuff.

So it's very understandable.

I think it does make me very excited too because I mean the wedding was just such a big focus of our year last year that I felt a little bit of guilt anytime we weren't doing wedding planning stuff like I'm like, oh fuck, like there's all this stuff I have to do that's on our list.

But we're here like hanging out with friends or doing whatever, which are equally important things, but just in the grand scheme of things, there was like a bigger worry that I had to think about all the time.

But now it feels like the end, like the boss monster or whatever it was defeated.

And now I can actually go and look at some of the smaller things in life that maybe needs some work.

So has has been a little messy, like I've been putting off closet organization for a long time.

And just in general, I want to set myself up for success before things are already happening.

Like I don't want things to happen to me. I want myself to be able to make things happen. And hopefully this year there's a little bit more free headspace for me to do that.

Ooh, I like that. You don't want things to happen to you, but you want to make things happen.

I feel like that's a really good mindset.

I feel like what you have said just brings so true.

A lot is happening in our lives. You know, we have work, we have social life, we have, you know, all these things that we're trying to balance.

And kind of like what you said, a lot of the times we're just fighting to survive.

And so yeah, like what happens is just that things happen to us. And we just try to survive each wave.

Yeah, and I feel like it's one of those things where I wouldn't say in the moment last year, I felt like I was just trying to stay afloat.

And I think looking back now, I can say that I was very stressed out last year and it was affecting different parts of my life.

Not like negatively, but I mean, it's more just like I was neglecting parts of my life that I feel like needed a little bit more attention.

So now that all of this is over, I feel like it's just such a fresh slate for me to kind of work on.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

So I guess that's like because it's so broad, it's also theme like.

Yeah, exactly. So along with the whole theme idea, there are like kind of goals attached to it.

And then there are some goals that are just standalone goals.

So I made like one very, very simple goal, which was I have this like old camera lying around in my room.

And I've had it since freshman year of high school, I think.

And I've been meaning to take it to a shop and see if it can be repaired.

And it's literally been like over 10 years.

So I'm like, okay, this is the year I will finally do it.

And I'm giving myself the entire year to be able to accomplish this one task.

Hopefully that's not too overwhelming and I'll be able to do it.

Do it. That makes me laugh, honestly, because I have a very similar goal to that where it's like this one thing.

And I have 365 days minus 14 days to do it.

Because we're recording this on the 14th, but I've been trying to read this dose to Yvesky book called the brothers Kermisov literally since I was a junior in high school.

Oh my god.

So that's a lot. That's like 11 years ago, which is like similar time frame to your goal.

Yeah.

And every time I started, I get like a hundred or maybe 150 pages in around that point of the book.

The like priest character gives a 50 page sermon like in the book.

So every time I read it, I get to that point and I'm like, I can't do it.

And the book is fairly long. It's like 150 pages, maybe something like that.

I'm like, okay, after read through 50 pages of the sermon and all the rest of the book, like I just can't.

But I think this year, I'm finally going to tackle this.

And I will no longer be like, I've been meeting to get around to it, but I'm going to do it sometime.

Like this is the time that I will get around to it.

Okay, but like, is it bad if you just skipped the sermon?

Like, is it important to the story?

I guess like a normal person would probably just read like the synopsis or something.

I think in my head, I was just like, oh, I need a like 100 percent completion.

Oh, I see. You know, this book.

Yeah. That's my life.

No skimming.

Yeah.

Okay. I believe you can do it.

Especially if you travel this year.

I feel like in my experience, reading during traveling is very, very productive.

Yeah. That's true.

I guess I also mentioned I have some small goals tied to my theme.

So as I mentioned, my theme is kind of rediscovering that like youth.

I guess the way that I'm approaching it is I'm thinking back on things that I enjoyed doing when I was younger.

So one example could be reading, watching movies, stuff like that.

I'm just kind of like thinking back to these things that used to bring joy and kind of revisiting them.

If it makes sense to, if it's possible, if it still brings joy, then you know, keep doing that.

But if it no longer brings joy, then kind of just accept that and like move on.

I like that.

Do you think you'll have like a systematic approach to it or are you just going to be like, oh, let's indulge in these things and just test things out as it comes?

I think definitely more as it comes.

So one thing I've already kind of started on it.

So like one thing that I'm doing this year is I'm using a website to keep track of every single movie I watch this year.

So then I think one thing is it'll be cool at the end of the year to look back and be like, oh, these are all the movies I watched this year.

And like what did I like and what did I not like?

But also I guess it's a more physical way of tracking like, oh, I've doing this thing that I enjoy.

And I'm not forgetting about it, I guess.

And another thing is I've started reading.

I picked up a book that I haven't read on my bookshelf and I just started reading it.

Nice.

There's definitely such a joy and almost like an incentive to like cataloging stuff that you've read or watched because I feel like there's so much satisfaction in marking something as like read or watched.

So maybe that'll also be additional motivation for you to kind of keep up with this cool too.

And I guess like, I don't know, do you feel like you get very reflective and like thoughtful towards the end of the year?

I think yes, but when I travel, it's definitely a lot more subdued because I'm like, oh, you know, involved in the chaos of like traveling or exploring somewhere new.

But I always have the urge to like sit down with a pen and paper and reflect on everything that has happened in the prior year.

Yeah, I feel like I get really reflective too. So I think like cataloging some of the stuff that you've done over the year is really nice because when I get like, you know, kind of reflective and I'm like thinking back on the year, it's nice to have something physical to look at whether it's like a list or I don't know, like journal entries or things like that.

So I think that is another pro to the whole cataloging this stuff.

Oh, actually, that's a really good point. And it kind of reminds me of this conversation that I had over Christmas dinner this year.

We were catching up with some of James's family friends.

We were trying to figure out two years ago on Christmas, we grabbed dinner together or did we not.

And it was kind of hard for us to remember exactly where the mom was two years ago.

The only thing that we found as like physical evidence of us eating dinner together two years prior was through a photo that she had taken it wasn't a group photo or anything, but it was like a photo of some dessert that she had made.

And then that triggered all of our memory to be like, oh, yeah, like I remember eating this dessert with you, like I totally remember this.

And then that's when we were all like in agreement about what happened, but it made me think a lot actually because right now, you know, we're like 27 turning 28 this year and already I was like kind of struggling remembering what happened two years ago.

And it was something so random that ended up triggering our memory and not even like an exact record of what happened. And I feel like cataloging things like books and movies can actually help with that.

Because for me when I look back on my good reads, I'm like, oh, I read this book during like my sad era because this time of the year, I remember reading this and thinking, oh, this is so relevant to me right now.

I remember reading this book and you know, so and so came over and we talked about it or things like that. So sometimes our memories are just tied to all these things that you're cataloging for such a different reason, but it still like triggers all these thoughts.

Oh my god, that is a really good point. Yeah, because I'm also making sure like when I am recording like the movies I watch or the books I read that I put like the date that I finished it.

Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see what gets tied to what you know what memory gets tied to what movie or book. I guess it's kind of like that thing where people say if you use a different perfume on like a trip, then it'll make it easier to remember.

Oh, right.

And then when you pick up that perfume, you're like, oh, this smells like my trip to Europe. Yeah. And actually it honestly made me want to take more photos as well too because I was like, damn, I can't believe this is the only photo.

Any of us had from that one Christmas dinner.

I just feel like the older I get the less I want things to like slip through my memory and I just want to like record everything.

Maybe this is why parents always want to take like a billion photos of their kids. Oh my god, we are becoming the Asian parents. Oh god.

So you also mentioned that your kind of broader goal slash theme this year is to get organized and I guess like cattle awgging kind of ties in with being organized.

Do you have any other smaller goals tied to that?

Yes, definitely. So I think one of the things that I wanted to really focus on this year was going more internal.

So definitely the cataloging thing is a huge part of this because I want to record stuff, remember stuff, just make sure that I'm appreciating and celebrating like even the small victories in life, aka like finishing a book or watching a movie.

But also making sure that all of these like little obsessions or like eras that I have even throughout the year I'm recording.

So I made this page on my new journal and it's titled my monthly obsessions of 2024.

Oh my god, I love that.

Right. And I feel like it's big enough to wear like many things can be categorized as an obsession. Like sometimes I'll just listen to one song over and over.

Or right now I'm in my snoopy era. There's like this green puppet thing on tiktok. I've been seeing everywhere and that's like one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

So I'm also obsessed with that.

Dude, that thing is actually it's from a Canadian kids show.

So a lot of people on the comments of that are like, oh my god, I don't know what this is, but like why do I relate so hard? And I was like, wait, I know what this is.

Like I watched this one. I was a kid. No way. I had no idea. Oh, so funny.

But yeah, it's just all these things where I feel like I'm obsessed with something for like a week or like a month.

And then I completely forget that I ever had that obsession because something new comes along.

And I just want to like jot that down somewhere.

Yeah, I think that's actually such a good idea.

Because if anything, you can always go back and feel like, oh, that's right. I was super obsessed with this. Like maybe I should revisit it or like, you know, see if there's any updates in that community or something.

So it could be like a fun walk down memory lane in the future.

Yeah, definitely.

I guess the flip side of all of this cataloging stuff is I also just want to be a little bit more honest with myself and able to write down things in my journal.

That maybe 2023 me would not have wanted documented somewhere.

But I saw this concept on TikTok. It was actually a concept about journaling where it said, you should be able to do whatever you want in your journal, whether that's like get literal scraps of paper, whatever and like,

like paste it in just because you like the aesthetic of it, get like random receipts and paste that in if you don't want to write a whole thing out about the restaurant that you ate at things like that. And I was like, that makes total sense because who the fuck is reading this journal, like literally no one except myself.

So I don't know why I'm like, I have to upkeep this and in a perfect way and make this all like that. It's like, it really doesn't matter.

And I'm either going to read it like once a year or like once every five years or it's going to be like stashed in some closet box somewhere anyway.

So this year, I decided to abandon this mentality of like a perfect journal and like an emotional journal and just like be like a trash journal or, you know, I'm just imagining you making like the most perfect journal as if it's about to get published.

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I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna be like, I'm just gonna

Wait, that's such a good point. Okay, have you ever finished a notebook? I don't think I have. If I have, it's because I like forced it, but it's so hard, like it's so rare, right? Yeah, I think there's maybe only like two or three times that I've ever like truly finished a notebook. Right. Which is so crazy to think because I am buying more than two or three journals like a year. The amount of pristine notebooks that I'm like, I'm like not ready to write in this. Yeah.

I know it is too perfect right now. Yeah, I think it's like in years where maybe I'm a little bit more busy or like it's more chaotic like last year. I was able to get by with like the same BS that I always feed myself. But this year I was like, you know what? I'm not gonna do this anymore. Let's just kind of do better and like just be better. And actually one of the eras that I've deemed 2024 as is I want this to be the year of love and joy.

In some way, I feel like it's a little ironic because last year I got married and had a wedding and you know a lot of our friends, including you, spent you know certain days or like weeks of the year like really celebrating me and James love and all of that, which is really great. But this year I want that love to come from me and go externally. So I was like, you know what? I want to reach out to friends more. I want to be more of a proactive texture, which is something that I like really struggle with.

So just like these small things, I feel like are easier to do. So that's one of the things that I have this year.

I like that. And hopefully this year there's like a lot more room for you to be able to do this.

Yeah, I want to start like hosting stuff again, maybe not as to the extent that I used to, but definitely like big holidays and stuff. I feel like it's doable. So wow.

I know. You know, I really like that era theme that you came up for yourself. And I think I have something that's kind of similar.

So we haven't really talked about this on the podcast before, but I am currently in a kind of newer relationship.

And there's been a lot that I've learned from it already in like the shorts ish time that it's been going on so far.

And I feel like it's a focus that I would want to have in this like new year to continuously improve and learn from it.

It's so interesting because we're both in therapy and we talk to our therapists about like how we communicate with each other.

And then they'll you know, often give feedback or suggestions or just be like, you know, good job or whatever.

Then what's funny is actually we will discuss it amongst ourselves. Like, oh, you know, this is something that I talked to my therapist about.

Like, you know, these are things that like me and my therapist decided that I should work on in the context of the relationship or even just other things.

It's like very fascinating to see an action. And also there's a really funny side to this as well, which is I think his therapist likes me.

So I'm like, oh my god, this is like great because now I have to therapist to impress.

Wait, you're right. You're a therapy.

You trade is to like always one and press with their.

Yeah. So other than that, it's just like a lot to grow from even more than I realized before.

I think before in previous relationships or just like not in relationships, I'm like, oh yeah, you know, like we're growing.

We're learning here. But then now I'm like, whoa, this is like another, I don't know, there's like another layer to it. And I feel like there's more nuance and then more like stuff that you can learn from just because it's like so.

I don't know, like inter we.

Wow. Well, I really love that. It's also kind of funny because it's kind of like couples therapy, except it's not.

Yeah.

And then you happen to talk about your relationship, which is just hilarious.

It's funny to sometimes because when me and my friend talk about it, I'm just imagining my head like, wow, we get to talk about this stuff, but our therapists don't know each other.

Like they're probably foaming at the mouth to talk to each other.

Dude, they're probably all upon your social media. Like who is she dating?

Yeah, that's that's really cool though. And I'm also interested one day to like pick your brain on, I guess relationships that you enter at a slightly older age.

Oh my god.

So James and I started dating in college. And I feel like actually a lot of our friends either started dating in college or maybe towards a couple years after college or things like that.

I just wonder if there's some sort of difference that you notice. Maybe there's a little bit more like experience and learnings that you come to the table with for this kind of relationship.

And I would have to think that it's like, I don't know, maybe different challenges, different rewards and all of that based on the age.

Oh my god. For sure. I have a lot to say.

So stay tuned, I guess.

But yeah, I really love that for you as a goal. I think also in terms of the bigger stages of life or like life out of bigger picture.

Even certain relationships can be different eras or at least start or end different areas of your life. So it'll be interesting to see how that expands further this year.

But definitely speaking of relationships, I also feel like my brother and I or have been maybe even unintentionally building on our relationship in the past couple of years.

I guess I have noticed that more recently and I feel like it's a good thing.

And I like the momentum that it's had. So I'm like, oh, that's something to like keep an eye on and hopefully continue to grow and try not to neglect.

Oh, I love that sometimes like the people closest to us. I feel like that don't make the New Year's resolutions list or something. But yeah, definitely family is key to actually called my dad like a week ago.

And I've spoken on this podcast before that I like rarely just call him I'll usually call my mom to pass the phone over or something.

But I called him and we chatted and a couple of days and soul just him and myself and James got food and whatnot. And I was like, okay, I can keep working on this every year. I guess that's the goal for myself as well.

Yeah.

So is James in your New Year's goals or anything? Yes. I think he's part. Okay.

I would say he's part of the love and joy part. So I think because last year it was so much about like me and James.

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