Yesterday, other than a quick news briefing over my NPR Up First podcast and a few NYT news alerts on my phone, I refused to look at news at all. No constantly checking CNN or NPR or the New York Times; definitely NO looking at Fox News or any insane right-wing malformation center the way I did the day of the presidential election in 2016. Nope. I was not going to repeat all those awful, paranoid, anxious actions I did four years ago. This time, I was going to sit and wait until this was really final.

Well, I woke up this morning hoping to get an update one way or another, crossing my fingers that the election was swaying in Biden-Harris’s direction. I had a gut feeling this would be a very close election; I refused to listen to all the idiots on the left in their own bubbles, insisting that many Trump supporters would have come to their senses, particularly given the awful way he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic. And as of this morning, when I immediately went to check my NYT and BBC apps… it’s looking painfully close; so close that I can taste the anger and bitterness in my mouth.

This is not a referendum on Trump. Nope. This is a referendum on the American people. This is exactly how stupid we are that we have made every excuse in the book for Trump, from his blatant sexism, racism, xenophobia, all the way to his total disregard, lack of care, and empathy for all of those who have suffered and/or died directly and indirectly from COVID-19.

I’m pissed today. I just feel so, so fed up with this entire country.

Welp. The day we’ve all either been dreading or waiting for has finally arrived: U.S. Election Day is finally today, and if you are American and have not either submitted your absentee ballot or completed early voting, you should be headed to the polls today for various local and state level elections, as well as the presidential vote. I’d been feeling pretty anxious in the last few days leading up to today, and I can say with total honesty that I feel pretty uneasy today.

As we both had the day off since our respective companies gave Election Day off, we both didn’t have (paid) work to do, so instead, I spent most of the day working on my social media, filming a new video, and making pumpkin spice lattes and Vietnamese roasted chicken. Yet somehow, even focusing on food and inhaling all the delicious smells in our apartment wasn’t enough to qualm my anxiety. In general, since November 2016, I’ve pretty much lost faith in the American electorate. I do not trust that Americans are smart enough to vote for their own interests instead of against their own interest. I also don’t trust that those who should know better would cast votes for everyone and not just for their own selfish interests (hello, Republicans in the Senate and House — thanks for being all about “party over people” the last four years). While everyone always says that education is key to helping people make informed votes, I would actually argue that sometimes, too much information can render people paralyzed, and thus they will completely disengage and make snap decisions based on random feelings they have about very specific issues or political situations. And snap decisions… are never a good thing.

And now, we wait. And wait.

When I started highlighting my hair back in 2017, I knew I’d always have brown, caramel-color type streaks in my hair. I never thought I’d go any lighter than maybe a light brown latte color… that is, until Friday, when I came in for a cut and color with my stylist, and she said to me, “So.. for the color, not too dark, and not too light, right?” She slammed the color book closed and said, “I know which one to use! You will LOVE IT!”

I figured I’d take her word for it. She knew I wanted brown highlights, so… how crazy could it really get? She first foiled my hair, then applied the toner with her selected color. But as she blow-dried my hair, I knew immediately it was too light. Ohmigod — my hair…. looked blonde. I really look like she gave me blonde highlights. I had never pictured my hair so light in my life. I looked like one of those self-hating Asians who didn’t want dark hair and wanted to be a white person. Noooooooo

“You look SOOOO sexy!” she exclaimed as she finished blow-drying and applied some smoothing cream on my flyaways. “I LOVE IT!”

I awkwardly looked at myself in the mirror. I did not recognize the person I saw in the mirror. Is that really me?

“I think this might be too light,” I suggested to her, as I wrinkled my brow.

“WHAT?” she yelled. “No, honey, this is PERFECT! It highlights your pretty face SO well!”

I didn’t have enough time to get this fixed right away, as I had a meeting to get to, and she also had another customer waiting. I ended up getting it darkened on Sunday to a “light brown mocha” tone — thank God. Now, I actually feel like myself again. But yes, that was about two days of being a blonde, and well, I’m never going to be that light ever again.

In the ’90s, I was the biggest Mariah Carey fan. My brother was a huge fan of hers basically through her Rainbow album, and most of the time, whatever music he liked, I also liked, as well. We had all her albums as soon as they would come out, and we used to listen to her songs on repeat. When I finally got access to the Internet in 1997, I was always reading about her, finding out about her fan club, reading fan pages devoted to her. Everything about her seemed amazing to me.

After the Rainbow album, though, I think I stopped obsessively following her and every interview and performance she gave. Part of it was because her life was becoming way too dramatic, and part of it was because I just stopped following celebrities in general. But I never stopped appreciating how she came from absolutely nothing and made her dream happen. She came from a neglected, abusive household amidst constant violence and racism, and she had massive grit to get to her level of success and fame. So when I saw Trevor Noah interviewing her on The Daily Show about her new memoir, I figured it would be good to read it.

The audio version of the book has Mariah Carey narrating it herself, and with that, each chapter begins with a clip from a song that is meaningful for her, and she actually sings each part. What many are not aware of is that she’s not just a singer: she’s written or co-written pretty all her songs (minus the covers), and she’s also co-produced a majority of them, as well. So there’s a lot of personal, intimate lyrics she’s written, many of which have proven to be inspirational for millions around the world. I still remember Ed used to play “Make It Happen,” “Hero,” “Can’t Take That Away from Me,” and “I Am Free” on repeat.

Listening to her share her violent moments with her siblings and the many racist incidents she’s had to endure was really gut wrenching. It’s only made me respect her even more for what she’s managed to survive and how she’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Today, we went back to Brooklyn and explored the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Lots of houses and brownstones were decked out in Halloween decoration, ranging from festively cut jack-o-lanterns to witches to cats with moving and glowing eyes. What was particularly sweet that we saw were some houses that still wanted to participate in the trick-or-treating experience for kids, but in a safe way: they laid out buckets of candy for kids at their doors or gates for anyone to come and take as they wished. Who knows how many kids would show up, or if others may even hoard the candy since no one was actively watching, but this gesture really just made me smile.

We didn’t witness this, but Chris noticed that the Gothamist posted on their Instagram feed that some who chose to “pass out” candy were so creative as to attach tiny parachutes to their candy and treats bags to give to trick-or-treating kids. That’s certainly a “contactless” way to enjoy the fun of trick-or-treating, both from the giver and receiver’s end!

Shortly after announcing that they would close, Astor Place Hair has reported that some awful people out there created a fake Go Fund Me account to “raise money to save Astor Place Hair,” when in fact, these people do NOT represent Astor Place Hair and really were looking to just pocket the money and be evil. It’s enraging and so disheartening to see that people can stoop so low and be so dirty to exploit a New York institution’s pain and suffering just so that they can get some extra pocket money.

With the current pandemic, the political climate, the heightened racial injustice, and now this, I’m really at my wits end with the human species.

Chris has been getting his hair cut at the historic Astor Place Hair pretty much since he moved to New York. I’ve been getting my hair cut there since 2013, and colored since 2017, especially after I was tired of getting $60 hair cuts at a Japanese salon in East Village (that free hot green tea was really not worth the price tag). We just heard this week that they will be closing right before Thanksgiving because of the awful impact the pandemic has had on their business. They were able to reopen in June, but the number of people coming in for cuts and color had decreased so drastically that they haven’t been able stay afloat. This place really is an institution though; many celebrities get their hair cut here, and even Bill De Blasio gets his hair cut here.

Does this mean my $25 haircuts are over? What about my $140 cut and highlight sessions (when the average spot in New York charges two to three times that amount…)? Who knows what the future will hold, but fingers crossed that they’ll be able to find a new location somewhere more affordable. It’s as though a little part of New York will die if they close their doors permanently.

A historic number of people have already either participated in early or absentee voting this year, and I’m hoping, fingers crossed, that these people all voted for Biden. Early voting is available here in New York state, and Chris and I went to the polls just a few blocks away to drop off our absentee ballots, and good thing we requested absentee. As we approached the poll, we noticed a long line that seemed quite endless. I did a time lapse video of just the first floor blocks of people who lined up for early voting; that line did NOT end there. It actually stretched for another six blocks along Columbus! Because we had absentee ballots, we were allowed right in to drop off the ballots and get our “I Voted” stickers. This is Chris’s first presidential election he’s voting in, and so he insists that it needs to be a Trump defeat…. because apparently he is that powerful. 🙂

Alcohol consumption at home has skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, as you are probably not surprised at all about. While many previously relied on socializing at bars, restaurants, and clubs throughout the world and buying their alcohol that way, all that came to a halt once the pandemic forced these “non-essential” businesses to close their doors temporarily. In a panic, people around the world started stocking up on alcohol. Local liquor and wine shops were in a state of bliss: the demand was going crazy, and they were the beneficiaries of the pandemic paranoia. Some liquor and wine shops even experienced shortages and would have to close early just because they ran out of product!

Our home alcohol consumption has increased, as well, so I guess we are also contributing to these numbers. Chris has been perusing different whiskys to taste, and he’s also been looking for some of our favorite wine and liquor brands that are in Australia to see if they are available here. Most notably, D’Arenberg wine (mmmmm, Australian shiraz) from Maclaren Vale in South Australia was found at a local wine shop, which Chris promptly ordered. He also managed to find one of our favorite gins from Australia available here, Four Pillars. Not only that, but there was an added bonus: they had specifically made a varietal of gin that is only being distributed in the U.S.!

Yep, there’s no shortage of botanicals and alcohol at our apartment. So, come on over. 😀