Bananarolls Newsletter | 01
Happy new year, and a happy Chinese new year in advance!
I hope things have been going well for you, and that you’ve had a restful December and a motivating new year.
Things on my end have been alright. I spent my December and most of January meeting with friends who are finally making their way back to Hong Kong after the pandemic (we only recently opened up), and on days where I’m not catching up, I’ve been resting, cleaning and sorting out the house, and watching an unhealthy amount of Netflix and Disney+. After years of avoiding the dentist, I finally went and had a root canal treatment.
But perhaps my biggest update is that I’ve resigned from my job of five years at Asia Art Archive in preparation for finally making the move to Europe in the Spring. I am terrified because I have never left my family or hometown for longer than two weeks in all 26 years of being alive, but also so excited to be reunited with my partner. More on this as things move along this year.
UPDATES
Welcome to the new edition of my newsletters! As mentioned from my last tinyletter in December, I have decided to move my monthly over to Squarespace, where my website is hosted. It’s less straightforward than the email format before, but I’m also able to make things more formatted. So, what do you think?
As I was prepping the move of newsletters from Tinyletters to Squarespace, I realised how underused the blog section of my website was; so I wrote up a short lil’ year in summary to capture my end-of-the-year melancholy for 2022, as well as a more solid resolution list for 2023.
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a year in summary : 2022
If I were to measure my 2022 the way I’ve done it nearly my entire life, 2022 would be by far, my most successful year yet.
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If you follow me on Instagram, I also have this mini tradition (5 years in running!) reviewing my year via the story feature. I actually really enjoyed looking back at this year’s memories, and was able trace the ups and downs of the year.
TAROT READINGS
Monthly Tarot Readings
As with every month, the monthly tarot general readings for every horoscope are now up on my tarot-centric Instagram account. I’ve also updated the posts by grouping signs of each element together. Again, sun, moon, and rising signs apply. (Always take readings with a grain of salt!)
Tarot Readings for 2023
This year, I wanted to do a little extra and wrote up general readings for every sign as an overview for 2023 — this is also a newsletter exclusive as a little thank you for being here and reading my rants and rambles.
Speaking of tarot, it really means a lot to see reviews and love for my work, and since I’ve sent out the decks, there were two wonderful, and compassionate highlights / walk throughs of the Gwai Lenormand on Youtube that I wanted to share with you if you’re curious about what the final deck looks like:
The Gwai Lenormand Unboxing and Walkthrough by Meredith from The Oasis Spiritual Empowerment Tarot
The Gwai Lenormand Walkthrough by Logan from LarkandLegend
Logan also has several Lenormand decks out as well as a upcoming campaign for the Black Salt Tarot (will definitely be looking to getting my paws on his decks once I get settled).
JUST THINGS I LOVE
This December/January, I spent the break from work recuperating from the year and really just stewing in my emotions and processing them.
9-1-1 (2018 - ongoing) – My family and I binge-watched the entire 5 and a half seasons over the two weeks of Christmas break. Though fictional, it was weirdly educational and relaxing to watch the multitude of freak accidents and paramedic emergencies.
Strange World (2022) – The movie straight up presents itself as another addition to the line of generational trauma-centric movies that Disney have been pushing out (others include Encanto and Turning Red) yet halfway through the movie, it turns out to be something else entirely and a truly creative way to sum up the concerns of our generation.
Samsen – I recently had a very long catch-up with a former professor of mine and we decided to grab food at a Thai restaurant not too far from my office. It was there I rediscovered my love for coconut ice cream (it comes with pieces of sweet corn and pieces of coconut meat, and I definitely went into a food coma of sorts).
The Disney Villains Tarot — This came as a gift from my dear colleague and friend, Lydia during her trip to Japan, so this is the Japanese version but it just makes my disney fanatic heart so happy.
Pokemon Scarlet — I’ve been gaming HARD this Christmas and completed the main playthrough of Pokemon’s latest within two and a half weeks of its release. I also got copies of Violet for my cousin and partner and it’s been a real bonding experience, trading pokemon, going on co-op mode, battling each other, and working on tera raids. Despite all the negative critiques about the graphics, this definitely has the best gameplay (I’m so happy with the post-game).
Of course, I went with one-brain-cell Fuecoco as my starter — I am a fire-starter fan through and through.
Hope you have a wonderful January, and a good year ahead.
And again, thank you for being here.
Lots of love,
Char