Monthly R.E.P.O.R.T. : February - 2025
Feb 21, 2025
R.E.P.O.R.T. February - 2025
We somehow made it to February!
Welcome to the R.E.P.O.R.T. of the month. This is a post that goes over my monthly braindump. This will include recipes, life, and other tidbits that you may find interesting. Try out them, let me know about it! Wanna see what I watched and read this month? Check out my reviews on Storygraph(https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/breadgloves?redirect=true) and Letterboxd(https://letterboxd.com/breadgloves/).
Reading - 1984 by George Orwell
Does the control of knowledge control the masses? Do we still have freedom if every word we speak or action we take is surveilled under the guise of protection? Do you continue the status quo of oppression and censorship or risk your safety by speaking out? Stand in solidarity or be betrayed in totalitarianism.
The feeling of helplessness that you have is curated and designed by the people who want you to stay unmotivated and powerless. The people in power do not want the proles to know that they hold the key to everyone's liberation. They systemically took down the political movements that dared threaten that power imbalance of class disparity. Will you submit to Big Brother? Or become the next "unperson"?
More of my thoughts on 1984 can be found on my StoryGraph page (linked above)
Eating - Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
Translated as "spaghetti [with] garlic and olive oil," spaghetti aglio e olio has been my favorite dish for this month. It is very simple, only four ingredients. You can customize the level of spice with how much crushed red peppers flakes you add in. The proper way to eat pasta is by taking a spoon and fork; placing the spoon in your pasta; twisting your fork in the spoon; creating a swirl of pasta that you can then eat with your fork. The basic recipe for spaghetti aglio e olio is as follows:
Ingredients
12 ounces spaghetti
Kosher salt to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to your liking)
1/3 cup grated parmesan (more or less to your liking)
Instructions
Salt water and bring to a boil
Cook spaghetti until just before al dente (still a bit firm)
Reserve about 1 1/2 cups pasta water
About 3 minutes into cooking your pasta, start sautéing garlic in olive oil until golden brown
Add in crushed red pepper flakes in your garlic oil sauce
Drain cooked pasta
Slowly add in pasta water into garlic oil sauce then simmer until 1/3 reduced
Add in cooked pasta and stir until coated.
Turn off heat and add parmesan
Enjoy!
Playing - The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: The Game
Originally released in 2004, this game was my favorite to play on the GameBoy Advanced. It closely follows the plot of the original movie. SpongeBob must save the Krusty Krab and Bikini Bottom from Plankton, Patrick tagging along. It plays like a 2d side scroller with some big clams that will swallow SpongeBob and Patrick if they get too close. The soundtrack is funky with sound effects that could only been found in the early aughts. There are emulators that will let you play the game on other consoles, but I actually still own my game cartridge! I am not sure how much longer it will last before it starts to degrade as it is now 21 years old, but I hope that day isn't any time soon.
Obsessing - Somatic Movement
I believe the body holds onto trauma. It presents itself in chronic pain, autoimmune conditions, or mental illnesses. We become stiff and rigid with stress and negative emotions. Walking isn't a relaxed controlled fall, but more of a nervous march. I have been trying to go walk as soon as I wake up, doing hip opener yoga poses, and dancing. If the body can keep count of trauma, there has to be a way to shake it out of your body. It is said that after seven years, your body has completely regenerated all its cells. Does that mean our trauma is still there? Should we still be chained by what our past was? Or can we be free to ourselves?
Recommending - Journaling
I have kept up a habit of journaling everyday since the beginning of the year. If I miss a day, I just write about the day I missed, so I don't feel that bad if I miss one or two days because I will keep up with them in the end. I try to describe my feelings and thoughts around them. It helps to go back and see what you were feeling when something was happening in your life. There are special journals that only have a few lines for every entry, but you keep entries, for that date, for the next five years, so you can read what you have been up to the last couple years as you write in it. Historical journals used to just be logs of people's days. It is how we have centuries of history, so why did we stop with the invention of technology?
Treating - Life Admin
I have been mentally preparing to get my passport renewed for weeks. I kept putting it off, avoided making the time to get the documents in order, and felt the deadline approaching quickly. I broke down the task into several parts so I could try and get some progress in it:
Make passport appointment
Fill out the application
Get the old passport and Identification documents
Get the money order for application fee
Go to a pharmacy to get photo taken
Go to passport office
Do you know what took me the longest? Making the appointment. My executive disfunction had me sat for weeks getting the mental courage to finally get the tasks done. In the end, it wasn't that much work. I should have been able to do it last month, but I was the only thing stopping myself. I usually get scared doing things that I haven't done before. I am learning that I still need to do the scary things, I just have to do them scared. Treating myself with taking care of life admin tasks makes the same things a lot easier in the long run.
Final Thoughts
Did you like my R.E.P.O.R.T. of the month? How was your February? Let me know by sending me an email or following me on Bluesky. We are in unprecedented times, all we can do is keep moving forward with our heads up. If you are in need of help, let your peers know, you can build healthy support systems. It is a lonely world, but we can still help each other out. Have a fun and safe month!