MIA in May and June - July 2024
Hello!
Your girl has been MIA thanks to her 9-5 job! I never thought I would turn into one of those people, you know, the workaholics, but once again, life has thrown this curveball at me. I now find myself, constantly cranky, and glued to my laptop. The corporate girlie is in and misses the slow-life girlie.
Sometime earlier this year, I wanted to turn on paid subscriptions for Substack. Since I am now based in India, and this feature has not been rolled out entirely, I was in the waitlist for approval. But the request was shot down. And this lack of incentive makes me less inclined to use the platform for publishing.
Reading Corner
Have I mentioned Convinience Store Women already ? I have started this book multiple times, each time making little to no progress. With limited time at my disposal this month, I reached out for it again. Reading it makes me feel like I have read this before- not because of the plot or the story but because of the ease of the language. It feels easy, and the theme is universal. It is very common among Eastern Cultures to be concerned with marriage prospects, and asking intrusive questions without any sensitivity.
Why would the society be okay with an unmarried woman, who is working at a Convinience Store for a paltry pay. How can it allow her to be alone, without poking its nose in her life.
Obviously the theme was extremely relatable to me. I don’t often talk about my status as single woman in her 30s in my newsletter because society makes it difficult to ignore that in real life. I am constantly reminded of it, and I would like to get away from those trains of thought, I allow my newsletter to be a safe space where ideas and feelings lie beyond just my marital status.
In the book, we read about the lengths with which, the Convinience Store Woman goes to avoid this scrutiny, to avoid being caught as an outlier. It took a bizarre turn in the middle, and the end was equally bizarre. Ughh!
Writing Corner
My roommate brushes her teeth when she is in love. Whenever she would meet a new love interest, she would begin having a new routine of brushing her teeth before going to bed. It was very evident when she was in love, even to someone like me, who had no stake in her love life. We weren’t close so I didn’t know a lot about the men she would date. Also, I was told it’s not good manners to pry. I didn’t ask her, but you could tell that she liked being in love. She would dress up in pretty clothes, and smell nice every time she went out on dates. This was a side of femininity I was being an audience to, for the first time. She wasn’t the prettiest girl in the room, but she looked her best when she went on dates.
Sometimes, I would hear her talk on the phone with her best friend, constantly giggling and I would understand that they were talking about boys. Another side of girlhood I knew only from a distance. I was curious though, how it felt to be on the receiving end of attention constantly. I was not envious, just mildly curious- whenever I heard her chirpy voice - wondering how she found them. One after the other, as if it were a never-ending Netflix series, each season ready after the previous one, ready for her to binge on.
Learning Corner
Some interesting things that I found on the internet
Lounge Corner
June was here
Thank you all for reading!
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