Hello, hello. First month of the new year: fin. I just finished watching a movie and painting my nails, the latter of which are now drying! I considered reading a book, but am not sure how well that will go when my nails are still slightly wet. They’ve gotta last me at least until Saturday evening, because I’m going to a party tomorrow. I’m not really the type of person to get all dolled up, but this nail polish is just…darlings, I’m in lurv. It’s officially my go-to color for when I want to make a statement. Jane is in the house.~

(I mean, if I’ve got it, I’m gonna flaunt it. Obviously.)

This month, I focused a lot on refreshing my skincare routine. Whether it’s cultural appropriation or not, I’ve adopted many aspects of the Korean skincare routine for myself. At first, it started out as a curiosity—that is, how can I take care of my sensitive skin? And then, the first helpful article I landed on was about the Korean routine, and so it just…happened. I was so fed up reading about how I needed to use coconut oil this, coconut oil that; the article was refreshing. I’m not sure whether it’s working because of the order or because of the products having more natural ingredients in it, but my face is clearing up—despite allergens from foods I eat, etc.

The second thing I focused on was a theme for Charlise’s blog, ’cause it’s a whole rebrand. I’ve been working on this thing since last year, but I started over on the whole thing this year, a few days after Github allowed even free accounts to have unlimited private repositories. It’s…different. No spoilers until it’s live on the site. 💁

My oldest younger cousin (by seven months) had her baby, and I met him this month. It seems I might be allergic to him, whether because of vaccine shedding (I’m allergic to Hep B [yeast], plus others containing certain ingredients), a fabric softener, or a lotion.

I developed one new smoothie recipe. I bought frozen fruit for smoothies and started drinking a lot of smoothies, as I’ve been bugged about doing more of, and—get this—I got criticized for it because I wasn’t eating actual food. 🤦 I can’t win. I think it has to do with being on anti-psychotic medication, because it seems every little thing creates reason for criticism and it’s always something about me needing to stop taking the medication. Because it’s only ever either working “too much” or “not at all”. Whatever that means. I never realized how much stigma surrounded taking medication for mental health, but it’s all total BS.

Entertainment

• Movies watched: 11
• Books read: 4

Book haul

Alas, I know it’s not Janely possible to finish these all these books I have, but I have high hopes for myself.

e-Books

Excludes what I purchased for free thanks to BookBub and sites like it. BookBub curates lists of free and discounted e-books for me depending on my interest lists, and is how I found out about most of these books!

• The 5-Ingredient Italian Cookbook: 101 Regional Classics Made Simple by Francesca Montillo
• Given Away by Briar Lane
• The Rule of One by Ashley Saunders
• Perfect Together by Harper Logan
• You Know What You Have to Do by Bonnie Shimko

I don’t know what else to say! I’m going out of town tomorrow and will return the following week sometime. Two posts are set to publish, but I’ll be back in the boondocks, so correspondence will be rare. I’m taking two physical books + an Android phone comprised of games and the Kindle Reader app to occupy myself.

How was your January?

P.S. I was featured in Medium’s 2069 magazine re: using autistic coping tactics to overcome digital burnout, thanks to Alexandra Samuel. Please give it a read. 😊💖