Summary of my momentous 2020-2021 unfiltered

I almost don’t have the guts to crawl back into blog writing. Let’s do a recap of the year that technically didn’t happen. Warning, photos are unedited, it maybe triggering.

Insane adult break out, painful deep liaison acne

Wow, they were painful! My face was literally burning all the time and I was struggling to sleep. It has to be aging or something. They just flared up like hives. I was totally flabbergasted that I get pimples at my age.

The craziest part was when I did share bare face photos on IG, many replied by saying that I was brave lol. It’s just acne, no courage or effort needed. For instance, in the same logic, doesn’t it take courage for people who edit/filter their photos to meet people in real life? Why don’t people not call them brave?

Arn’t nobody need courage to show some pimples, ok. They’re just pimples.

I tried a bunch of different remedies and skincare. The most effective by far was just taking zinc supplement and use some salicylic products. Problem solved. Well, mostly solved, I still get the occasional breakout, but they’re not painful ones any more. I am already super happy.

Besides, unless I have a lot discolouration on my face, how can I show off my “magical” makeup skills? lol

Men don’t like to shower amplified during the lockdown

Given that I only went out every 14 -21 days during the lockdown. I did my grocery with vigour. lol. Shower, body scrub, shave, makeup, hair, nails, parfum etc. The only thing that I didn’t do was false lashes. I think I put in more effort than I did for my matric dance (senior year prom).

However, many men in my neighbourhood evidently did not share my enthusiasm. Many looked and smell like they have been living on a deserted island for months. Did I mention the semi-homeless odour? We’re in Paris, the capital for goodness sake. What’s up with the lack of personal hygiene? Normally, I can’t smell anything when I wear a mask, but these guys must have been saving water by NOT washing themselves for days. I was technically saved by the mask, can you imagine having a just a whiff without one?

Sunscreen empties going no where

Hi, my name is Joyce and I am a hoarder. That’s right, I still went through 10+ bottles of sunscreen per year during the pandemic / lockdown. I intended to do a sunscreen review thing again, but never did it. Voila, here I am with a bunch of trash at home.

Admit defeat with my guasha stone side hustle

I simply cannot deal with the type of BS marketing that’s people are putting out. For the last time, stop using the guasha stone on your face. “Effective” guasha session means releasing “sha” aka red dots. Does anyone want red dot on their face? I think not.

Yes, my https://joyceb.fr site is still around, but I haven’t updated it or anything. Literally will only sell to people that I know now. There is a fine line between selling a good pitch vs selling BS lies. I don’t want to cross that line, so I admit defeat and called it a day.

Missed out on an important friend’s wedding

The pandemic was just earth shattering. Enough said.

Picnic indoor

Yup, that’s right. During the lockdown, hubby and I came up with indoor picnic. Full effort: the picnic mat on the floor. We have no balcony, this was sheer desperation. We enjoyed it nonetheless.

I was clearly tipsy when I took the photo. There were 7, but all are off focus. Picnic at home in Paris, July 2020 #covid19

Scored my first ever A grade in a language exam

Average 18/20 for my French at university, I wanted to cry from disbelief. That’s 90%! French is my 6th language that I learn at a formal institution. Never in my life have I ever scored beyond a C for any other language. I am still living my OMG moment.

Note to myself: Demon be gone to those teachers who told me multiple times that I have no linguistic talent. Disparaging comment that I never forget. What kind of educator say that to a teenage student?

Rise of Kingdom addiction (mobile game)

Do not start playing this game! It is sooooo addictive. I started playing ROK when the lockdown started… I am still playing it religiously. I have alarms and chat app just to play ROK. It is an all immersive community / strategy gaming experience. Like we have “townhall” meetings, officer rotation, spreadsheet, statistics and “elections” etc. Thinking back, I woke up at 3h00 to participate in a group battle while listening to vocal instruction from our warlord…

Currently, I am rehabilitating myself by decreasing gaming time.

Kimono project

Had so many train smashes already. I am amazed that I haven’t given up yet. Catastrophe number 1, when I started, Japan closed its borders, the kimono cannot be imported. Er… that was… What’s a kimono project going to do without the kimono? lol

Decided to not sit and to mope about a problem that is out of my control, so I started Kikitaru by making and selling Japanese fabric goods. Zero factory involved. I made everything from my lounge. What is hilarious was that many of my ex-colleagues and suppliers who have known me for over 10+ years only realised that I can sew and make paper patterns recently lol.

Straight out of the lockdown, I did some artisan markets and now in the middle of an application to open up a physical boutique in central Paris. Fingers crossed that all goes well. I must say that I am very proud of how far I have came with this project. https://www.kikitaru .com

…. That’s way more words that I anticipated. I will stop here. So yes, many things have happened. How about you? Anything major during these lost years?