On playlists, work, home, and memory
A roundup on different but related topics
In true newsletter roundup fashion, here are the following themes for this issue: playlists and memory, ruminations on work, and home.
If there are podcast junkies, I guess there would be newsletter junkies, like me (or perhaps only me.) Who willingly signs up for different newsletter for my inbox to be bombarded from time to time with some interesting stuff.1
I created a single Google document to dump drafts for the content for the newsletter For now, however, I think these topics are kind of related to one another. These also serve as prompts for me in the future once I decide to delve deeper in the following topics.
This can also serve as a quick introduction to my world for those who don’t know me personally. So here it goes—
Spotify playlists and nostalgia
Music and memories are often intertwined.
I have been listening to music with Apple Music since 2021, around the time that I had a three-month trial and I remember streaming Lorde’s Solar Album **constantly** during the time. I continued my subscription with the service ever since then as it works well with iOS and Dolby Atmos just elevates the listening experience.2
That’s why when I opened my Spotify account recently in an Android phone which Pat recently bought,3 It really felt like a time capsule of listening activity since I jumped on the service in high school up to my first months of work.
Some playlists are more nostalgic though -- specifically the college playlists.
The playlist yosi break was created way back when I was a sophomore in UST AB before transferring to UP. I don’t exactly remember the exact state of mind I was in at the time that the playlist was created but I believe the songs try to capture the vibe of angst, surrender, and just feeling asi-asi (so-so). I describe myself as having been a social smoker. I usually didn’t smoke alone and preferred to do it with company -- often discussing worries, hopes or simply catching up over a cig or two.
fin de semana was a playlist which I created to carry me off to the weekend or be the soundtrack of my weekend. The cover image of the playlist was taken along University Avenue at around dusk. So unlike normal people who would take a jeep from the UP campus to Katipunan/SM North/Philcoa/an Ikot when going home, I prefer to walk all the way from AS (Palma Hall) to Philcoa.
“some weekend beats to step back and relax before another hellish week starts”
Most of the time I was alone but I liked the solitude. It was meditative, actually, to just take in the fresh air along Acad Oval or that street passing through the university registrar and the archaeology building before making a turn to the grand and wide Univ Ave. Just putting your feet one in front of the other and letting your thoughts pass through, simmer, and just run wild as you go to your destination.
Similar to this playlist is drained and down, a playlist which I think was supposed to help me up my mood or to help in feeling the feeling. I completely forgot about pauwi na/pagod which was more utilised in commutes to and from work right at the height of pandemic prior to vaccines being developed.4
Work and Wednesdays
How are you my fellow corporate slaves or another term that I like is alipin ng salapi?
Do I love my work? I think so, I guess. I say so with reservation because a job is a job.
The workload is kind of light and manageable at the moment and it’s far from being burnt out like in my first job as the first and sole “Content Creator” or a mix of social media manager, graphic designer, video editor, digital marketer and other ad hoc responsibilities. Working under a Filipino boss, with Asians, under a Japan-based company left a bad taste on my mouth. I know that it was a very specific experience and there are better workplaces with fellow Filipinos out there.
In my current job, I work with a multicultural Berlin-based team and can I just say how I appreciate the work culture. Work-life balance is extremely prioritised and the atmosphere is just light no matter how heavy the workload can be at times. I guess a diverse and inclusive environment benefits everyone.
I started this draft last Wednesday, a day that I treat as my midweek weekend. Wednesday is Pat’s5 Sunday, that’s why it’s usually the day that we go out after my shift when we have the budget. I like it when everything aligns and my tasks for the day are just little to none. Which means I can just take it easy, relax, and treat the day as if it is also my weekend.
Treating Wednesdays as an additional weekend made me realise that the weekend can be a state of mind.
I’m not asking you to find your Wednesday or a day to treat as an extra weekend. It can be a part of your day, after work, or even just a minute upon waking up. Remember to take the time to feel that you’re human too.
Homesickness
Is the title of a song from Kings of Convenience, which played and was part of a playlist named Feeling Homesick on Apple Music. It’s a playlist that was also suggested when I searched for Taylor’s Daylight.
The concluding lines of the song are:
Homesick
‘Cause I no longer know
Where home is
I am actually trying to come up with a poetry piece that I want to submit to a poetry journal which has a deadline on the 31st. The theme for the issue I’m trying to submit in is “Neighbourhood.” I plan to write something about my home in Sampaloc, along the riles, where a portion of the NLEX-SLEX connector is being built on.
It is indeed hard to write poetry on something personal. It’s quite hard to put things into words when you’re still fond of that place. Through writing, like what I’m doing now, I’m trying to record and memorialise it. I can’t expound on it much now as I still feel emotional whenever I pass through España and see our neighbourhood being replaced by towering columns.
On the other hand, I’m just glad to have found a home in Pat.
This newsletter is already getting long, dear reader, so let’s try to close this. I also write to rediscover myself;6 To try and go back to that self which is full of creative energy before the plague years started and before the toll of being a corporate slave is.
The next song that played after Homesickness is Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.7
Nostalgia definitely hit at that point.
More on that in the inaugural post, but I haven't really expounded on my appreciation for newsletters as I just wanted to publish something ASAP before the new year. Watch out for that content, I guess?
Spotify Wrapped is of course better in interpreting listening data beyond the top music you’ve been listening to throughout the year.
I opened mine in the Spotify Lite app though since her account is already signed in the main Spotify app.
That time was really crazy. It was my first job right out of college. Glad to have been in a better work environment now.
Who is my newly-wed wife and partner for almost a decade btw. I don’t know why I didn’t explain it up there haha
That’s why I challenged myself and submitted two poems I recently created in another online poetry journal last 15th Jan.
Pat’s favourite song :D
On writing poetry about something personal, I disagree that it is difficult just because. My Creative Writing professor mentioned that all poetry is personal one way or another. Perhaps the process in itself is difficult since you're drawing your muse from your own experiences?
Nevertheless, I'm trying to write actual stuff too. Dapitan Folio has a deadline on March 31st about the concept of Panopticon. This entry gave me an inspiration to write about the stories behind my spotify playlists and how they are a proof of navigating my life through it. Looking forward to your newsletters as always!