Dear Faith, They Say You Are What You Eat and I Have Eaten 9 Cheese Sticks Today

They say you are what you eat and I have eaten 9 cheese sticks today (Sunday) and I plan on eating more soon. Yes, that’s a concerning amount of cheese sticks, but consider this. They taste good with jalapeño chips. My little sister is kinda on the same wave as me, except she told me she thinks jalapeño chips with cream cheese is fire. I have not tried yet to confirm. I am not sure I will.

Before we get into anything—besides my cheese stick consumption habits—let’s talk about the homework you gave me last week. We’ve talked many times about how we should absolutely be cast in a coming of age best friend comedy and you know I agree. Here’s the movie poster for our buddy comedy movie, Penpals. You said I had to name it myself, and truly what fits us better than the name we’ve been trying to use for years and years. It’s just so us. I had to dig so hard to find an image of the photo slot on the side of a vintage machine JUST so I could do a little photo editing magic and make it look like our photo strip had dropped seconds ago. Worth it.

booksmart who

These past two weeks have been absolutely jam packed, my google calendar finally had more events than me reminding myself to take Spironolactone and Vitamin D every night. Your last letter ran through The Very Fack Weekend Trip we took together but I have even MORE to say about that weekend (it was insanely fun):

First off. I GOT TO SEE SEVENTEEN LIVE AGAIN!!!!! The whole weekend trip to California was originally planned just for that, but I knew I wanted to see you again since it had been so long and I would’ve died if I was in the bay area and DIDN’T get to hang out with you.

I landed at SFO the day of the SVT concert and headed to the hotel I was staying for the night. My beloved Carat best friend, Nate (not her actual name but I cannot imagine calling her anything else because I’ve called her by that nickname for 4 years), who got us both the tickets for the show snuck up behind me as I was checking us both in. (Getting tickets was such a last minute decision, Nate called me as I was driving and said ‘Do You Want To Go See Seventeen In Oakland On November 6th’ and of course I said yes. How could I pass up seeing The Seventeen Mack Line in person (Dokyeom, Woozi, Joshua <3)) I only ended up hitting my head once at the front desk while trying to find my ID which I consider a win seeing as I had hit my head 3 times already that day. I was starting to see a theme.

We got to hit up a really good Japanese fried chicken restaurant before heading straight to the venue. I cannot find the words to explain how insanely fun the whole concert experience was. Get yourself a friend like Nate to match your Carat freak. Also you aren’t into Seventeen so I must add for context that Seventeen’s fans are called Carats. *Valley girl voice* Slip into the diamond life betch. Seventeen are THE funniest kpop group to exist so the concert was equal parts musically phenomenal and funny as hell. Kinda like that Michael Buble concert we went to together except instead of a dude in his 40s telling all the single people to find the nearest couple and form a threesome, it was 11 dudes in their 20s giving speeches with Vernon’s auto tune microphone because they found it wildly entertaining. This definitely won’t be the last time we see them live, hopefully next time will be with all 13 members.

THE GUYSSSSS

The rest of the trip was FACK TIMEEEEE!!! Everytime we’re together, I have the most fun time of my life. From eating cheap pizza while sorting through Superfan submissions to spending far too many quarters at the vintage arcade in Fisherman’s Wharf on games we’ve already played but will always come back to, all of it made me so happy. Since moving to Washington in 2022, I haven’t made lasting in person friendships and seeing my best friend in the world again made me both grateful that I have you in my life and sad that our time face to face is so limited. I love you forever and I WILL be back. But I’ll have to put that on pause until my bank account recovers.

(I also got to see my old best friend from high school on Saturday (Shoutout ABBYYYYY <3). It was so great to catch up after all this time and I hope we can do it again… I MISS HAVING IRL FRIENDS BRO)

Speaking of money. Oh my god. YOU KNOW THIS ALREADY BUT !!!!! I GOT A FULL TIME JOB FINALLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! The months I was unemployed and searching were some of the hardest moments I’ve had to deal with. The current job landscape is deeply flawed and I feel for everyone who is trying their hardest to land a new role, whether it’s because of layoffs or career transitions. SHIT’S HARD MAN!!!

I start the new job on December 2nd and I am actually really excited to be working in person as my last design roles were remote. While I love the convenience of a WFH job, GOD it’s lonely. I’d just be home all the time and I never really felt like I was actually part of the teams I was in. Now I’ll be working in a physical office and I’m hoping I fit in well… FINGERS CROSSED. I’m going to be the personality hire and by that I mean I will be the slightly annoying marketing designer with a Cowboy Roronoa Zoro figure on my desk. Everyone else will be normal I think. IDGAF! Maybe I WILL put a photocard holder on my desk! You only have one life and what’s the point if you’re not putting your silly little guys on your corporate desk.

During the few weeks I have before starting the job, I got a part time retail role to both kill time and make a bit of extra money but Lord Almighty I Think That Was A Mistake. It’s been 4 years since I worked retail and I am NOT made for this. The customers are never right and that is all I have to say. Anyway I quit after a week because I wanted to have these last 2 weeks to myself to work on the Superfan Mag design and attempt to relax before starting the next part of my career.

My current attempt to relax consists of:

★ Seventeen’s variety show ‘Going Seventeen’ where they just act incredibly stupid for 30-40 minutes at a time

★ Eating bowls of various crunchy snacks (Toasted Cheez-Its, Jalapeño Chips, Everything Pretzel Chips, Tempura Seaweed Snacks, etc), sometimes I will add cheese sticks. I really need to cook for myself.

★ Love is Like a Poison, Netflix’s newest gay little J-Drama I get to watch with Mil, the person I love to watch corny dramas with most. I can’t hit my computer too hard when a good moment happens because I’m afraid I’ll break the screen like I did the last time we watched a drama together.

★ Junior Varsity’s new album, My Love. Tracklist so sweet I got a cavity. My Airbuds history is soooo normal and not that album on repeat 50 times in a row.

★ Trying my hand at prototyping my own jewelry invention. Not saying what it is yet but my next step is to get E6000 glue…

★ Cracking open the window enough to hear the cars driving on the wet highway roads and watching as the rain turns to snow turns to rain and washes away any snow that might have tried to stick.

For months I had been continuously stressed, to the point that I found I couldn’t remember the last time I felt calm. I’m trying to bring that calmness back. IT’S HARDDDDD but I am TRYING. Such is life.

Now. Question. Actually TWO questions. They are related, don’t worry. With my attempt to get back into watching dramas, I’m all too aware of the most common tropes and what I LOVE to see on screen. Personally, I can’t say no to an enemies-to-lovers plot… Or opposites attract dynamic… Would die for a rain confession scene OR a rain kiss… So. What is your all time favorite relationship trope(s)? AND if your next relationship had to be based on a trope of your choosing, what would it be?

Miss you terribly,