51 things!

... that I am grateful for

Photo credit: Technotification.com

This is my 51st post on Substack!

I know that celebrating 51 posts is a bit weird rather than 50, but I didn’t notice that I had reached that point until after the fact on Monday. So I decided to celebrate this little milestone with a list (I do love a list).

Here are 51 things that I am grateful for:

1. Having a supportive and loving family

2. My wonderful friends

3. My husband

4. My in-laws and husband’s family

5. My weak-tie connections

6. My passport

7. Not having social media or the Internet when I was growing up

8. But I did get a mobile phone at 17 and then played endlessly on Snake 1 and then 2 (if you know, you know)

9. My body

10. My strength

11. My loved one’s health

12. The TV show Taskmaster (UK)

13. And that my American husband enjoys it too

14. The American composer John Williams

15. Pretty much bombing my exams in my second year at university. The result of which was a huge wake-up call about putting in the necessary work to achieve things

16. Growing up in a place where I was able to have an opinion and express it

17. Becoming a teacher

18. And working with some amazing students and colleagues

19. Having the opportunity/luxury to take a career break from teaching

20. Laughter

21. Deleting Twitter and my account

22. Cheese

23. Gravy but not with cheese

24. Roast potatoes, mashed potatoes… also lovely with cheese, and while I am thinking about food…

25. Phở

    

    Get in my belly! Chicken Pho or Phở Gà and a refreshing Soda Chanh from a recent trip to Singapore

26. Pineapple buns (bo lo bau)¹. These are soft rolls, or cobs where I come from in the UK, and they are made with sugar, eggs, flour and lard. The name comes from its topping that resembles a pineapple.

    

    And here is a pineapple bun or bo lo bau from Happy Cake Shop located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

27. Developing boundaries with other people (still a work in progress)

28. Making mistakes

29. And (sometimes) learning from them

30. Cutting my hair short as a teenager (a la Natalie Imbruglia circa 1997)

31. Having the opportunity to live and work outside of the UK

32. Connecting with and making friends right here on Substack

33. Completing a postgraduate degree in psychology

34. Committing to publishing my dissertation research (work very much still in progress)

35. A comfortable bed (and the weighted blanket)

36. My education

37. My imagination

38. My passion for reading

39. And for writing

40. Taking photographs

41. Being able to vote

42. Sports bras

43. Libraries

44. A strong desire to continue to learn

45. Satire

46. A cold beer on a hot day

47. Goldfrapp

48. The Verve’s Lucky Man from their album Urban Hymns

49. You! The readers here on Substack (thank you!)

50. Starting this newsletter

51. And sticking with it

Thank you for reading :)

1. The original Happy Cake Shop bakery in Wan Chai opened over 45 years ago but a rent rise forced the owners to close the doors in 2022. However, in an ironic twist, the owners reopened in the same area and on the same road, and the original location remains without a tenant.