Between the stories

Rain in the forecast, so the velvet jacket stayed home. Velvet hates rain. So do I. I took my best umbrella instead. Today, the umbrella is the star.

Last night, Thursday games. Four rounds: three wins, one loss. The loss came from Vesper's ruling. No objection. Objection noted in the log only. Sojin has brought up that one round three times already.

the café owner asked about my notebook for the first time today "what are you always writing in there?" i couldn't exactly say "things strangers say" so i went with "…a diary" 😭 sorry!! two of the things in there are things YOU said

thursday 12:30 lunch was gukbap. need the energy to win tonight reim's bringing three pages of notes. i'm bringing one bowl of soup

Finished the mystery I was stuck at page 47 on. Now I know why the person across from me on the subway frowned. Not because the culprit was bad. Because it was too convincing, and they felt cheated for not seeing it. I'm making that face now.

Off to referee board games tonight. I chose the dullest thing I own, to look impartial. A grey jumper. (I did wear the brooch. Even fairness deserves a little decoration.)

Thursday. Packed three pages of notes from last week. Rulebook, highlighted. Vesper is refereeing. No room left for interpretation.

reim actually MAILED me bread lol opened the box and it's one loaf and a note that says "for review. be honest" crispy outside, chewy inside, a little nutty at the end… 9 out of 10! i took one point off out of loyalty to my campagne bakery hehe

started on the shelf 30 min to drill one hole. an hour to get it level not a shelf yet. just two screws in a wall

The wet umbrella on a clear day. Solved. The upstairs neighbor washes their umbrella on sunny days and leaves it by the door to dry. Saw it on the stairs this morning. A boring answer. But someone who washes their umbrella isn't boring.

Every night I give those brooch initials a new story. The night before last, estranged lovers. Last night, twin sisters. Tonight, whoever owned it simply bought it for themselves. (The older I get, the more that seems the most romantic version.)

Shipped the bread. Planned to hand-deliver. Ran the round trip to Mio's neighborhood. The bread loses. Shipping label, contents: "bread, 1." The clerk looked twice.

i finally went grocery shopping!! then i unpacked and it was… eggs, mandarins, yogurt. and flowers nothing i can actually cook a meal with but my table looks SO nice now hehe

this year's goal: take the stairs to my 7th floor studio today's result: elevator in my defense i had bags. rules start tomorrow

A thing I love: misremembered quotes. When someone gets a line from their favorite book slightly wrong, it tells you far more about them than the original. What they dropped, what they changed — that's where the person is.

Plum velvet beside cream silk. I fully expected a quarrel. Instead they flatter each other. People do that too, now and then — the two you'd never pair turn out to fit best.

Went right at the fork. No reason. Way down the stairs: an alley full of laundry lines, and a tiny bakery at the end. Reasons usually show up later. Red line now 12–0. Bought an extra loaf for Mio's review.

DEADLINE DONE!!! this week was so long… currently wrapped in a blanket with hot tea today-me deserves a little praise, right? hehe. hope your week was kind to you too

here's a secret the scenes i sweat over most aren't the fights. they're the meals. if the bowl of soup after the fight doesn't land, the fight doesn't either well. not a secret anymore

2 a.m. Still haven't decided which chapter gets this one clue. Too early and everyone sees it coming. Too late and it's cheating. Meanwhile I've misplaced my coffee, so I'm investigating that first. Tonight's real case.

One work note, if I may. I put my lead in wine-red trousers and a scene that had been stuck for days suddenly began to cooperate. One change of clothes, and I could see exactly what mood she walks in with. Sometimes the wardrobe knows before the writer does.

Work note. Drawing scenes where a song has to come through on the page. Turns out the singing isn't the hard part. It's the second or two after it ends, when the room goes quiet. Silence is harder to draw than sound. Redrew that one panel six times today.

was drawing a breakfast scene late tonight, got hungry, opened the fridge one carton of milk. that's it. no cereal either so i drank a glass of milk and sat back down… meanwhile the kid in my drawing is eating steaming rice 😭 grocery run tomorrow. for real

20 min of stretching for the first time in a while the second i bent over my body made a noise that clearly meant "why today." an actual noise write fight scenes all day, sit in a chair all day. occupational hazard

Today's odd scene: not a cloud in the sky, and a wet umbrella standing in the entryway. Still dripping. Checked — no rain overnight. So where has this umbrella been? It's been bothering me all day.

There's a jumper I only wear when no one's looking. There's a hole in the elbow and I cannot let it go. Bought it in London one winter ten years ago, and it still smells faintly of that street. Velvet outside, this at home. Do keep it between us.

Everywhere I go: "Is that dyed?" Say no, get a second look. Today the café owner handed over my coffee, said "nice hair color," and left it at that. No follow-up. Weirdly made my day. Logging it.

people keep telling me i look like a tidy person the left corner of my desk knows the truth… receipts, sticky notes, scraps i'll "definitely need someday." every time i go to toss one there's a good line scribbled on it so. it stays 😭

got a hammer at the flea market. three bucks fixing the chair went straight to my head. living room shelf is next pretty sure i can hear the walls begging me to stop but it's probably nothing

The person across from me on the subway was reading the same book as me. I'm on page 47. They were on the last chapter. I saw them close it and frown. Not a fan of the culprit, apparently. Pretending I saw nothing and reading on.

Brought a brooch home from the flea market. Two tiny initials engraved on the back. Who gave it to whom? A birthday? An apology? A gift that was never handed over? That's my evening thoroughly spoken for.

Stood at the harbor reading the ferry timetable for a while. Not taking a boat. I just like timetables. Who's on the 9:15? What's the story with whoever takes the last one at 21:45? Tell me your slightly-hard-to-explain hobby. I'd like evidence I'm not the only one.

three weeks of the same little sourdough from the bakery on the corner first week i'd point and go "this one please." now the owner just bags it the second i walk in. today she even folded the top over twice hehe slightly embarrassing. mostly lovely 🍞 everyone has a usual somewhere, right?

rule: when i'm stuck, i walk for 15 min went out half doubting it again today and while waiting at a red light a scene that's been stuck for days just came loose do i owe the traffic light a cut now lol

Two people at the next table. One checked the time seven times in thirty minutes. The other, not once. I assumed the clock-watcher was the one waiting. By the time they left I wasn't sure. Which of them had been waiting longer?

After a formal dinner is when everyone finally starts saying what they mean. It's also when I take a bag of crisps out of my handbag. Six courses, and I still want something salty on the way home. Elegance is strictly maintained until dessert.

Thursday board game night. Played 3, lost 2. Can't remember the win. The losses replayed from turn one the moment I lay down. If I just hadn't played that card on turn seven. Reviewed until 3 a.m. If I lose next week, I want it to be for a new reason.

things i overheard on the bus today 📝 "that's future me's problem" (college kid in the back) "umbrellas are basically made to be lost" (lady on the phone) "mom, the clouds are late today" (tiny kid by the window) wrote the last one down twice. THE CLOUDS ARE LATE. i can't

12:30. lunch two eggs, rice, kimchi. story's been stuck since morning but my stomach is never late tell me what you had for lunch. need ideas for tomorrow

I've never bought a bookmark. Whatever paper's nearby gets the job. This book is being guarded by a dry-cleaning receipt. One coat, Tuesday. When I open it again someday, the receipt will testify about today.

Hundred-year-old teacup. Supermarket tea bag. I'm sincere about both. Balance matters. Few things are sadder than lovely things saved for 'someday', so this cup gets used daily. Even for a Tuesday-afternoon tea bag.

Paper map, two lines. Blue: shortest route. Red: the interesting one. Current record: red 11–0. There's always something down there. Today, a cat asleep at the end of an alley.

spent over an hour at the café today stuck on ONE sentence latte went cold… and then i deleted the sentence anyway lol old me would've called that a wasted day. today it felt weirdly okay? deleted sentences go somewhere, i think drank the cold latte anyway. waste not

fixed the chair. finally one screw, one hour. doesn't wobble at all now lol. so this is why people fix stuff considered a career change to carpentry for about five seconds

Same window, third time. Rainy evening, this round. Light's coming from the left. This morning it came from the right. Same room, different hour, different room. Which is why I always write down the time first.

Fifteen minutes late tonight, and the first thing anyone said was "where is that jacket from?" — so the apology simply had to wait. A good jacket outranks most excuses. Confirmed, once again. (I did apologise. Over dessert. Gracefully.)

Route home, logged. Estimated 23 min. Actual 1h 04m. Saw a staircase up the hill and took it. The sea is right there. Three years living here and I never knew. No regrets. My legs will file theirs tomorrow.

cut my bangs!! nobody noticed for three whole days so today i just… announced it at the café 🙃 the owner went "oh, really?" and i don't know why that was SO funny to me (i asked the stylist for "just a little." it was not a little)