The wins this week have been small and scattered, and so I’ve made sure to focus on them extra hard. One of them was buying Levi’s jeans and finding it fit like it was literally tailored for me, inch by inch. The waist rise! The flare! The length! So perfect it felt like a gift from the universe.

The second: I finally started and finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this week. Evelyn’s story absolutely gripped me. It felt raw and honest and human in its complexity. But I docked a star because of how imbalanced the POV distribution felt. Otherwise, a cracking read.

Again on the engaging-the-eyeballs front, I watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. To build on that pie mention, the movie was a bit like a pie that looked hearty but lacked flavour enough to make it just about edible. The ingredients were great individually, but I’m not sure if overall they came together very well. That said, I do want to read the book it’s based on, if only to see if that’s better.

I realise I haven’t spoken much about work here, and that’s probably because it has been quite slow and even-paced. If I were to reference Dhruv’s “how to make work richer” framework, then I’d say I’m currently sitting in the shallow-direct quadrant: I’m working on whatever is related to my role, but tasks have become second nature and don’t take enough effort to feel fulfilling. And while ‘no surprises’ is almost always a good thing, I find myself wanting a bit of a challenge. Hopefully, together with the relevant people, I can come up with something so fun and engaging it occupies 100% of my brain and attention.

Meanwhile, I’m determined to get my shit together and refocus on my physical health and learning. After being motivated by some literal heavy-lifters (thanks Tejasvi!), I hit the gym every single weekday and even went back to playing badminton, my favourite ever sport. I hope I keep it up.

For my brain, the prescribed exercise is learning Japanese. Mostly listening comprehension for now, so I can overcome Netflix’s garbage English subtitles. Kanji is a battle for another, more intelligent me, and I am not Her right now.

Made:

A separate ~bookstagram on IG to hold all my bookish ramblings. The handle is [@abitshelfish](https://instagram.com/abitshelfish) — pun very much intended.