i've missed the snow / jan roundup
in which the chilly sky feels like a welcome return
We’re still kicking, dear reader!!
Usually around this timeframe is when my creative endeavors begin to fizzle out, but I’m happy to report that I have every intention of still keeping home/bound alive…even moreso after the Great TikTok Scare of 2025 instilled a grim reminder to never stake the longevity of your digital memories on a shortform, heavily politicized platform that can completely blip out in a matter of seconds (not that substack is immune to this same arc, but for now it looks like we’re in the clear, and I can still retain the structure/content of an email newsletter regardless of platform). You heard it here first: longform content is the future, so we are doubling down here.
This entry is also particularly significant because this officially marks one year since the start of this newsletter! I won’t try to give more gravity to this occasion than it deserves because let’s be real, I only stayed on schedule 5/12 months of the year, but in an effort to #bekindtoyourself, I’m honestly still really proud of getting those 5 entries off the ground and sent to each of your inboxes. It represents an ongoing commitment to staying connected to you all that I’ll celebrate regardless of how big or small the magnitude, because at the end of the day I will always be glad to stay in touch :)
Corniness aside (for now), I’m currently writing to you from a Substack cafe date with Lily (who has her own newsletter here), and I wanted to share with you my 2025 bingo board in the spirit of this season of new year’s resolutions. I saw this idea a couple years ago and really resonated with the idea: new year’s resolutions are often more a chore than a fun goal to work towards due to the suffocating pressure of meeting expectations and fear of failure. Laying out mini goals à la bingo board-style alleviates this pressure and transforms it into a more lighthearted game where sometimes you’ll meet your goals, sometimes you won’t, and sometimes you’ll get a whopping BINGO at the end of it all. Who’s to say what will happen - but that’s just how life works, doesn’t it?
January Roundup
Little Joys
Blast from the past notebooks + invitation to my 10th birthday party
Since day one Angela has always been horrible at spelling. Not sure if this discovery is comforting or not Mahjong with PoPo and her friends at the retirement home…got smoked
Squished Xoob
Been very into japanese retro poster print designs lately
Finally figured out the best way to utilize my tamagotchi by using it as a belt charm
From the Archive
January 2025 began in stride with a journey starting from Ohio to Chicago before finally heading back to LA. If you’re thinking that this is a recipe for sentimental disaster having Angela visit so many emotionally sensitive places within a short time span, you’d be exactly right! Alas, this newsletter wouldn’t be called home/bound otherwise.
Let’s start at where time itself first began: Ohio.
Once the craziness from the holidays and my birthday all died down, when the last of family and friends boarded their planes outbound from Columbus, all that was left was me, my parents, and Xoobi in one quiet, empty house. I filled most of these first few days of the new year vigorously reading through all of RF Kuang’s discography (fun fact: the correct term here is actually “oeuvre”, but that is pretentious as hell) on the new Kindle Eric got for me for my birthday, and revisiting all my favorite middle school k-pop sheet music on our dusty piano. Ohio, a place of rest and relaxation, has always forced me to confront what could have been in another life: a comforting life of buying a home with my husband, helping my parents with grocery runs on the weekend, and staying close to my grandma. As much as I am racked by feelings of guilt and longing for simplicity, I find that this doesn’t settle too deep, as spending time with my parents discussing family lore and revisiting childhood memorabilia has always reminded me that a curiosity to explore the unknown has innantely courses through me and my family’s lineage.
So off to Chicago I go, my first visit back since I last went for Lolla half a year ago. I always liken my first trip back to seeing an ex you thought you were over - rushing through the ending in an act of self preservation, telling yourself everything is totally okay, then having that resolve crumble at the first sign of a familiar sight. If this was Chicago in August, Chicago in January 2025 felt like a bittersweet run-in at the grocery store with that same ex several years later. Both of you have grown a lot since, and things are so different, and that is so okay, because sometimes change is for the best. I used this analogy to bring myself mental clarity and peace so I could get through the week calmly. Honestly, I was doing a stellar job up until Shirley uttered the words “all good things must come to an end” right before I was supposed to get my period and thus I broke my streak of crying in Chicago on my very last night there…so close.
I am getting ahead of myself here because there were so many other great highlights on this week-long trip where I was grateful to have spent quality time with everyone I love so dearly in this city:
Taking a day trip up to Evanston to see in person all the people and sights at Kellogg’s MBA program that Amy has told me stories about over FaceTime
Getting hit with a flurry of snow that continued throughout the whole day. Funny how a year ago I would have been pissed about the snow slowing down my commute
Amy’s birthday brunch at Aba
Catching up with Kiko and getting Cava twice in a row because I needed vegetables
Late night girl talks in Lilly and Nicole’s bed
Walking across the river on my way to Sammy and Kevin’s apartment, taking the route where I can cross my favorite bridge. Subsequently, literally taking over Sammy and Kevin’s apartment while they were out on a date night to watch AOT with Iris, John, and Alvin
Finally visiting studioudioudio!!! Hearing about all the freaking cool aspirations Ruby and Henry have in mind for the new year; taking the weird elevator down to the studio basement and Naruto running in the halls
Joint birthday party with Kelly and Amy and seeing everyone in one place + finally getting to introduce friends to each other :)
Journaling session with Iris and Kelly in Argyle
Going out with the girls! Dancing late into the night and getting a surprise visit from David and Henry at the bar :D
The part they don’t tell you about all good things coming to an end is that it’s often in anticipation of new good things coming soon. I felt this bubbling eagerness on the plane ride back to LA, an optimism that some would label naive and idealistic but optimism nonetheless. It’s excitement born of the thought that I have budding friendships started that I want to water some more, and an ever-maturing relationship with Eric that we’re continuing to build together. I rounded out the last few weeks of January with more memories back in LA:
Eric and I found a distribution center to volunteer at following the LA fires! We’ve been hearing about insane volunteer turnouts all over the city, and this was actually the 4th one we called because all the others were already at max capacity 🥺❤️
Got a gym membership to get swole on top of a climbing membership to help me socialize…probably the dumbest financial decision I will have made in 2025
Amanda brought back a haul from her travels in Indonesia so we hosted a Migoreng tierlist dinner party! 15 minutes into our taste test we realized we severely underestimated how oily these noodles were…but always worth the pain for my fave instant noodle brand <3
Ended the first month of the year with another new years celebration…went to General Lee’s to celebrate CNY and play some Mahjong! I’ve been trying to consistently make these sessions every week, and it’s been a good way to relax, hang with friends, and keep in touch with the #culture
Reading
Babel - RF Kuang: As mentioned earlier, I spent majority of my break going through all of Kuang’s books and can confidently say that Babel has risen as a favorite for its intriguing blend of fantasy, history, colonial politics, and linguistics.
“There was no innate, perfectly comprehensible language. There was no candidate - not English, not French - that could bully and absorb enough to become one. Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No, a thousand worlds within one. And translation, a necessary endeavor however futile, to move between them.”
(What an absolutely delicious paragraph!!!!! hope to so beautifully write like this one day)
Piper Chen Sings - Maris Pasquale Doran and Phillipa Soo - This was gifted to me by Shirley for my birthday! Been loosely following this book’s publication since I saw the iconic Phillipa Soo was co-authoring it and you can definitely feel her heart for music through all of the words.
The Invisible Man - Patrick Fealey: This firsthand account of homelessness follows Patrick Fealey, an award winning journalist and art critic whose manic depression cost him his health, career, and home 27 years ago. Reading through firsthand entries, I’m always struck by the clinical, matter-of-fact reporting on unimaginable subjects and situations that are otherwise just another day for afflicted populations.
“How many people are in this position, too poor for affordable housing—and too poor to be homeless?”
Watching
China - A Century of Revolution: RF Kuang really dominating my mind this month…immediately after reading The Poppy War trilogy, I was struck with an insatiable thirst to brush up on my Chinese history knowledge. This 6 part series from PBS is no easy feat to get through, but I’ve found it fascinating learning about how politics before, during, and after my immediate family history may have impacted their worldview
Severance Season 2: Please give this show a watch if you haven’t already!!! Season 1 is only 9 episodes long and while the beginning is a slow burn, the last half really picks up with the season finale genuinely being one of the best moments in television that I can remember in years. Season 2 will be released on a week-by-week basis, so in the downtime I’ll definitely need as many people to debrief with as possible.
RRR (2022): Besides the over-the-top storylines and visuals Indian movies are known for, RRR was such a unique watch partly because of the die-hard fans it continuously brings into the theater - so much so that the independent theater I’ve now watched this twice at hosts reoccuring screenings every couple months that sell out every single time. In terms of the actual movie, there’s so much I could say that I don’t think I could do RRR a fraction of the justice it deserves. It’s hilarious, filled to the brim with bromance, ridiculous action shots (see below - like wtf) and of course a gorgeous soundtrack that won this movie Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. Oh, it’s also over 3 hours long, so make sure you carve out a whole evening and get ready to have your world rocked.
RRR is what "you know what...hell yea" would be as a movie
Listening
Imaginary Friend - ITZY: Never thought I’d still be listening to ITZY in 2025, yet here we are. Imaginary Friend captures that feeling of summertime sadness that I have a personal soft spot for.
Doechii Tiny Desk Concert: The outfits 😍 the brass 😍 Doechii’s eye makeup 😍 the braids 😍 the energy!!! 😍😍😍
Eating
Used bday gifts - sourdough from Shirley and canned sardines from Henry - to make a delicious tinned fish plate
Homemade BDJ by Nicole ALWAYS slaps, drove to Wheaton to crash Nicole’s Samgyupsal family dinner and then got grilled by her dad by a barrage of various career and relationship questions (not pictured), successful pancit by Sammy (not pictured), and recreation of the Wholefoods Berry Chantilly Cake by Sammy
Much needed catchups over food! Modu Cafe and yap with Amanda (perilla leaf tart, hojicha mochi muffin, cream puff) + discussion about various nuances of gun control and first ever street elote with Thomas
Coffee from Good Friend and TJ’s Enchiladas that Shreya whipped up in like 20 minutes while we watched Love Island
New reader? Previous posts by Angela from home/bound can be found here:
Great news - we have some more readers joining us in this latest installment of home/bound! LA friends, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this edition and my weird ramblings that others by this point have learned to tolerate (bless their hearts). You’ll soon join their ranks, I hope. As a little treat for making it to the end, I’m inserting a much more chaotic version of a 2025 bingo board that I made at a party Eric and I went to that was coincidently bingo board themed:
Love this so much!! Looking forward to every issue moving forward :3
Always a real treat to read <3