Whether it’s been a good day or a bad day, the pleasure I get from arriving home remains the same. I love that moment when I close the door behind me and slide the lock across, shutting the whole world out. Maybe today it’s a horrible, scary, stressful world… maybe yesterday it was a wonderful, [...]
Relief
I am a worrier. I get horribly, horribly nervous before doing something where I feel that there’s a lot of pressure on me to do well. It used to be school tests, giving speeches in front of the class, and performing in plays – I would be unable to sleep the night before, and eating [...]
I’ve always loved getting mail. When I was a teenager, I wrote constantly to my penpals, and received letters almost every day. For me – someone who loves to read and write – there was no greater joy than the anticipation that came from holding a promisingly thick, handwritten envelope in my hands. I savoured [...]
Private jokes
They’re horrible when you’re not a part of them, and you can only smile awkwardly while others laugh uproariously at something that didn’t sound at all funny to you. But when you’ve spent enough time working or socialising in the company of someone (or a group of people), and those in-jokes develop naturally without you [...]
Words
I’ve been given expensive jewellery, money, things that cost so much that I’m scared to touch them. But no gift makes me happier than someone taking the time to either make something for me, or write me a note. That’s the gift I will cherish, and I will read those words over and over again [...]
Sports fever
I used to hate sports. I still don’t exactly see myself playing them, but my feelings about watching games have changed. I love the atmosphere in a packed stadium, the crowd singing, chanting, and moving in unison as they support their team. The crazed frenzy that comes with a goal, or a home run – [...]
Singing with my friends
Korean noraebangs could’ve been designed with me in mind, but I’m taking their existence as proof that there are many, many more people like me in the world than I ever imagined. A room on every street corner for you to pile into with your friends after dinner and drinks, containing sofas, disco lights, a [...]
Nature
I went on the school’s autumn picnic today. Before we ate, we went for a walk through a forest. We looked at dragonflies and grasshoppers and butterflies, we took pictures of the river and the mountains, and we gathered fallen leaves for our next art project. We blew bubbles and the children chased them through [...]
Childish fascination
On the way to work, I saw a little boy standing outside a building, presumably waiting for a parent or the school bus. He was wrapped up warmly against the cool morning air, and kicking absently at the golden leaves on the ground. Suddenly, he stopped, and froze with his hand outstretched, staring ahead. I [...]
The end of summer
That first morning when you step outside and realise that instead of sticky humidity and heavy, hot air, there’s only cool, fresh air… when you forget to take your fan out with you and discover afterwards that you didn’t even need it… when you shiver a little on the walk home and wonder if you [...]
