we are so back

new years ins/outs, resolutions, and substack

hello everyone! it’s been awhile since we chatted on this side of the internet… since august 2022... horrifying. here are my new years resolutions:

1. learn how to drive (the story is: i got my driver’s license in 2020 when the dmv only required me to park for the test and because of pandemic safety protocol, the instructor couldn’t sit in the car with me and further, i wasn’t asked to drive beyond the dmv parking lot, so, needless to say i don’t think i should be on the road all things considered… yet)

2. get conversational in vietnamese & french (vietnamese because it’s my cultural language and french because i did 100+ days on duolingo preceding my france trip in 2022 and got decent enough that i could talk to my bed & breakfast hostess in the south of france who spoke no english… so it honestly feels like a bit of a waste i don’t remember anything anymore. and also im frankly embarrassed about being american and only speaking one language)

3. get up to 30min daily meditation

4. relaunch my substack (here we are!!!)

5. stick with a daily morning routine (i’ve designed it to be incredibly basic so i can absolutely do this: 1. wake up 2. stretch my legs 3. drink a glass of water 4. make coffee 5. meditate for however long as time allows (10 min probably))

i’m a new years resolutions kind of gal. i understand the haters, but i think resolutions can be a motivating way to take steps forward to enriching your life. and i also found, from experience, that the more general i am with them (e.g. “drink more water,” “exercise more”), the more likely i am to not follow through. so that’s why this year, i tried to make these resolutions simple and concrete. these are measurable goals, not abstract ones.

and because i’m monkey see monkey do at the end of the day, here’s my ins/outs lists:

these are pretty self explanatory. re: the first in point: i watched seinfeld over the holiday break at home and i realized what my new york life is missing is a third place where all my friends hang out at regularly and you never know who you’re gonna see walking into it, but you know you’ll see at least someone you know. i think this is beautiful and we need to bring this back. for anyone reading from a smaller town, the concept of this place probably already exists for you, but the conundrum with new york city is that you have an endless amount of places to go. and it’s hard to lock down a particular spot that everyone wants to go to multiple times a month when there’s so much else to see/experience. that’s why, to make this amenable to the new york it girl, i suggest we make it a traveling third place. perhaps, a different spot every week? passed along ideally by word of mouth (romantic) but most likely via google spreadsheet (practical).

a major theme on my outs list is 2023 lobotomy girlspeak, which has gotten so many think-piece write-ups in the past month that there’s nothing more i can really add or even want to add. i literally left twitter in part because people outside my target audience were getting angry at me for criticizing “girl math.” but i will say that critical thinking is inherently sexy. nuance is erotic. and women are complex and different… we are not a monolith, so let’s celebrate that beautiful fact. i’m also emphasizing the word woman because this is the year i (personal i, you can do what you want) stop being a late 20-something year old teenager and start romanticizing the fact that women get to live so many phases of life past adolescence that are equally beautiful and romantic and meant to be celebrated in present-time.

i also saw on someone’s “outs” list - “saying the word ‘vibe’ too often” so i’m adding that one belatedly to my outs list too. a related thought i had when reading the new york times 2024 predictions article comes from this particular excerpt:

As Gen-Zers have basked in the glow of youth, they’ve also told older generations that everything they do is embarrassing. (Two words: OK, Boomer.) That attitude may catch up with them now that Gen Alpha, a younger cohort, has arrived online. The new kids are already mocking terms embraced by Gen Z: “It’s not even funny how out ‘slay’ is,” one Gen Alpha member said on TikTok. Some members of older generations are ready for the skewering. “Watching Gen Alpha come for Gen Z is gonna be the highlight of my Millennial life,” a commenter responded.

as an online zillennial, i feel like i’ve been decent at figuring out what trends have come in/out and how to align myself more staunchly with gen z when it benefits me. and a lot of this strategy hinges upon online language. every generation has its own -isms (see: “don’t get fresh with me” above) and so, the dead giveaway that you are part of an increasingly “irrelevant” generation is relying on lingo from said generation. nothing brings back millennial cringe to zoomers as much as the phrase “i did a thing.” nowadays, as a creature of habit aka a creature who spends too much time online, gen z lingo has seeped into my day-to-day irl life, most notably the word “vibe” to describe literally anything. and not only do i feel it stunting my vocabulary but also, i have the ominous sixth sense that i’ll end up being the target of future gen alpha attacks on “zoomer cringe.” which is fine because it was meant to happen anyway i guess. but again, i could live with a bigger vocab.

so this is where i’m at on january 2 around 10am. thoughts are due to change (see: outs list on judging hypocrisy). as for this substack: i’ve rebranded it to high brow for consistency’s sake (used to be the gremletter). i’m also planning to write more on here. i’m bringing back my advice column (sporadically), will be talking about things i bought/things on my wishlist, short essays and musings on the culture, fashion, movies, and books. maybe in the future i’ll put up a subscription model. i just know one of my personal faults is getting overly excited about new projects only to burn out fast, so i’m trying to lock down consistency first… and see if anyone still cares that i’m writing this… and we’ll see where it takes us.

happy new year everyone. sending lots of love as always.

forehead kisses,

mina