Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from Woodland Hills, California!

If life were a game of limbo, I’d be that person awkwardly bent back, trying to shuffle under the bar but not quite sure if I’m going to make it. You know, stuck somewhere in between—waiting for what’s next but not quite out of the game yet. 😅

I’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern, navigating decisions, moves, and unexpected twists to my year. But more on that limbo dance later—this week, I’m jumping into a reflection of what else was up in September.

So, let’s take a stroll through the wins, lessons, moments, and all the beautiful in-betweens from the past month. Ready?

Let's step into letter 231 from a fellow learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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❓Question to think about

What happened in September?

🤔 Reflecting

❤️ Ten Wins I Loved

1. I shared the advanced reader copy of my memoir Letters to My Life with 28 readers. The official book launch will be on Amazon in less than two weeks.

2. Time in nature and seeing some of the leaves change in Michigan.

   

3. On September 16, I received my teaching certification after passing my final exams and 20 hours of co-teaching students locally at my dad’s elementary school and online in Taiwan.

   

4. Received my international visa and job placement to go move to Southeast Asia. I’ll share more on this update another time :)

5. Packed up my life from Michigan and have no idea when I’ll be back. Diving into an uncertain future.

6. Finally healing from either the flu or covid after being in bed for two weeks. I lost 10 pounds, had my first migraine with nausea, spinning room, and light sensitivity.

   

7. quality time with family from a brunch at my sister’s new restaurant to a girl’s trip in northern Michigan and a wedding.

   

8. Quality time with domestic animals.

   

9. I held two baby boys for the first time. (Kat you are raising such handsome Hobie and Archie)

10. Appointments galore - eye, hair, teeth. I’m still in the no cavity club and my eyes didn’t need a stronger prescription.

✨Eight Beautiful Silly Moments

1. Seeing the golden doodle doggies Paisley and Polo swim like little sea otters in Lake Michigan

2. Eating my first Chicago Coney dog

   

3. Dancing to Inside Out by Spoon nonstop in my hotel room. I was tempted to add this song again but I already did before.

4. Thanks from my friend’s dad for introducing his daughter to her now husband.

5. Hearing the kitty choir of Bubba and Twinkie in the kitchen howling at each other, both trying to declare it their own.

6. Witnessing my parents' enthusiasm for making progress on renovating their kitchen—a project 20 years in the making.

7. I thrifted with my sister, and magically, all the clothes fit me. What a success.

8. I said grace with my sister and cousin, celebrating a fall feast of squash and being able to process our lives together. We also played uke on the patio and enjoyed each other's creative company.

🤓 Nine Things I Learned

1. I have TMD (Temporomandibular disorder) which means that my jaw clenches and creates migraines. Botox can relieve it and that is a current experiment I am on day 10 of.
2. Observing and noticing life around me is perfectly okay and doesn’t mean I need to belong or find acceptance in every room I step into.
3. Sharing and hearing personal news in person is far more rewarding than social media stealing the thunder.
4. I don’t like talking about the future all the time. I want to notice what is around me and take it all in.
5. Bring a sweater on the Amtrak trains. It is an absolute ice box.
6. “Rushing” on a football scoreboard means the number of yards that a team has ran versus passed down the field.
7. It’s rewarding when my vulnerability is reciprocated with the same level to form connection.
8. My cousin Kelsey’s definition of negotiation is to have clarity on what you want and the courage to ask for it.
9. Trying Polish foods is actually quite tasty at a poprawiny. I actually like gołąbki and kapusta.

❓ Four questions I’ve pondered

1. What do I yearn for?
2. How can I cultivate trust that I will be healthy and happy no matter where I live?
3. How can my body feel less tension?
4. How can I explore writing fiction with the most ease and play?

🖌️ Things I Created

1. My first Dutch Baby pancake

2. Wrote four letters and shared two of them in an experiment of new format of taking a picture of my handwritten letters:

   1. 💔 Feeling Heartache from Leaving Hawaii

   2. 🐶 On Embracing Life’s Everyday Averageness

   3. ⚖️ Discipline or Grace?

   4. 🦋 On Cocoons & Wings of Change

   

   

3. Voice memos to myself playing music. In letter A and letter B above, I shared these recordings.

🎧Listening to eight songs

(1) Beautiful Day by Mike Posner makes me smile. I went on a call the day Mike launched this song, and he’s so passionate about serving people and making this life a more beautiful place. He has a beautiful spirit, and his lyrics reflect that.

(2) Bleeding Out by Chance Pena makes my heart rate slow down. I can breath more easily.

(3) Finally by Swedish House Mafia and Alicia Keys. I highly recommend dancing to this song. It gives me hops I didn’t even know I had.

(4) Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. I’ve been living in a box with other “nobody yahoos” because of the fact that I didn’t hear this song before my sister introduced me to it. At the Chicago Cubs game the whole stadium started sining and dancing to her music. What a quick rising star!

(5) Risk It (Acoustic) by Nahko and Medicine For the People. Ooof I love this piano. I recommend listening to this while walking with a yearning to feel existential. Crying might happen. Or maybe I was just on my period. “And it definitely matters how you look it. If you think you can’t risk it well what an opportunity to be free of it.”

(6) Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. I have no idea what genre this music is. But I love it. It’s the theme song for Peaky Blinders.

(7) Heal by Sleeping at Last. My earlobes hum to this song.

(8) Breathtaker by SYML. I learned to play the first 20 seconds of this song on the piano but then once the tempo picked up, I lost all competence.

🎬 Watching

I never watch TV shows but this month I made an exception. It was a part of my evening routine and that’s okay.

Here are the three seasons I *loved*:

1. Wednesday - I usually hate thrillers and my sleep the week I binged this was less optimal but I loved the character development in this. I love how Wednesday doesn’t allow others to get to her or how she lives.
2. Peaky Blinders - Usually despise gore but gangs are always so interesting. It doesn’t hurt that’s there’s a love story subplot. What a sly spy.
3. A Discovery of Witches - Kind of like a modern day Twilight but more sophisticated and more supernatural creatures.

6️⃣ Movies:

1. Aloha - loved this movie purely because I love Emma Stone, John Krasinski, and Bradley Cooper
2. 27 Dresses - a classic. I watch this mainly for inspiration when I sing Benny & the Jets at Karaoke bars.
3. Family Switch - Felt like a Cheaper by the dozen meets Freaky Friday. I loved it. Also if I were to be a Jennifer in a different life, I’d love for it to be the last name Garner, she’s the best.
4. Sweet Home Alabama - “We can have roots and wings to fly.”
5. Saturday Night Fever - Felt like I watched The Outsiders with some lit up floors, polyester pants, quaffed hair, disco balls and Bee Gees blasting. What a time to be alive. I’d kill to know what it felt like as John Travolta on fire boogeying on the dance floor.
6. Ghost - The pottery scene. Wow I now want a wheel in my house someday.

🔭 Looking Forward in October

1. My first book Letters to My Life will be on Amazon by the end of the month(!!!!)
2. I’ll be doing some quick trips to San Francisco and Seattle in the next couple weeks. Let me know if you’re around and lets go for a walk, get tea or have some deep talk about life.
3. Take 5 candy (recently discovered this and dare I say they might be better than Twix and snickers.)
4. I’m participating in the Write of Passage bootcamp (that got me started on this online writing in 2020) for the tenth and final time this month.

🔍Six Words to define

1. Gracious (adj):  courteous, kind, and pleasant
2. Zenocyn (n): the feeling that time is passing more quickly, particularly as people age
3. Cachet (n): the state of being respected or admired; prestige.
4. Ubiquitous (adj): present, appearing, or found everywhere
5. Nugget (n): a small lump of gold or other precious metal found ready-formed in the earth.
6. Marsupialization (n): a minor surgical procedure that treats cysts and abscesses by creating a small permanent opening to allow fluid to drain

🌟Eight Quotes to inspire

1. “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
2. “Even if you have literally zero people who read what you write today, it is still worth writing that thing today because you will produce an asset that you can use in the future in 1-on-1 conversations.” -Patrick McKenzie
3. “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.” — George Santayana
4. “Reflect upon your blessings, of which everyone has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which everyone has some.” — Charles Dickens
5. “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don’t give up.” —Anne Lamott
6. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” —Walt Disney
7. "The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself." —Peter Thiel
8. “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” —Elon Musk

📸Photos of the month

Peppered throughout this piece :)

I tried something by new and made collages this time. Open to observations on how these landed. I’ve been dabbling in Figma more in an experiment to get better at visual design.

🙏Shoutouts

• to family and friends I was able to reconnect with this past month. The list is long and based off my fallible memory here goes: Steph, Mom, Dad, Mitch, Christa, Ben, Christina, Allison, Kat, Matthew, Aunt Lindy, Uncle Matt, Alivia, Dan, Joos, Cullin, Kersten, Mackie, Connor, Sydney, Maddie, Maria, Andrew, Alex, Audrey.
• My friends Naseem and Aaron launched an online leadership course called Craft Your Career. Join to start your journey toward a dream career that fits your life and aspirations. They’re rockstars with decades of experience in this arena.

I appreciate you reading this!

If ideas resonated, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetjl@gmail.com.

Keep on learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen

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