just jaime

Every day feels like the day before. And this is something being universally felt around the globe as countries enact shelter-in-place rules. The basic rules are as follows: 1) Don't leave your house. 2) If you must leave your house, lest it be only for essential trips      a) Essential trips include: getting your socially distant (6ft/2m) daily breath of fresh air and picking up the items intended to keep you alive. 3) If you are a non-essential worker: stay home. 4) If you are an essential worker: thank you from the deepest depths of our hearts (and I'm sorry for how tough it has been). 5) Keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. When this quarantine began, I was in the midst of a new job -- a three-month-part-time contract that was about to be extended and eventually, or rather the hope was, full-time. Now, due to lay-offs and concerns about how long this will go (and we all know it'll go for much longer), I'm about to be unemployed once a...

Hello! Long time, no see! I sort of forgot to keep posting about my time on exchange... that's my bad, y'all. Things got so hectic! Clearly, I survived my time abroad -- or else I wouldn't be here posting -- and it was a very rewarding experience where I learned a lot about myself. I will forever thank my lucky stars for the experience, even with all the ups and downs of being away from home. I definitely came back with more confidence and a renewed sense of purpose. Sorta. Anyways. Fast forward to 2019! And what a year it was. I went out for coffee with one of my close friends in early 2020 and when I joked about all the difficulties of 2019, she looked me in the eyes and said, very genuinely, "It really was rough, huh." And I guess it was. I tend to brush these things off with jokes, but I'm working to really work through the pain and issues that arise instead of pushing them down. I got my heart broken (a couple of times) but I also was filled with ...