Meal prep
Don't get me wrong, I did my meal prepping before, beginner-level I’d say, but what truly shook my world recently was not only just planning out my "menu" and doing the cooking for days ahead – but also immediately portioning it out into easy grab-and-go meals. Though it does take effort and time, and food in containers may not sound all that fancy, it really makes a difference for someone like me who used to be big on skipping breakfasts, living on snacks, and struggling with decision fatigue when it came to what to cook next. As a bonus point, it can also work wonders for controlling how many proteins, carbs, and fats you eat every day – and let me tell you getting your daily nutrients isn’t all easy. – Marina
Piter FM
My brain has a peculiar feature (which is mostly a bug): after storing them for several years on my RAM, it tends to erase the plots of movies I’ve watched and the books I’ve read completely. On the bright side, I can rediscover some gems over and over, almost as if it's the first time. This is exactly what happened to me last Saturday while watching Piter FM (2006). In the light-hearted romcom, St. Petersburg is just as important a character as other actors. Through the lens of the authors, the city looks just perfect with its imperfections: the streets are slightly shabby and ad-soaked, with simple people leaving their little lives. Shortly, I wish I could live a day inside the movie! There’s the only little lie I find it hard to forgive: they try to make us believe that a part-time cleaner would really live in a loft with a panoramic view for free. – Elizaveta
Going solo
For a while now, I’ve been following Maddie Borge, a Norwegian living in London, who brought to my attention the concept of solo dates. Essentially, it’s just going somewhere or doing something by your lonesome, but if you call it a solo date it actually feels fancy. On a Saturday in March, I took myself to my favorite coffee shop, then to Gold Apple to bask in the fancy beauty vibes, and finally to Rodina cinema, a truly beloved place for me, to watch In the Mood for Love (2000) for the first time. Somehow, even though it was a full house at the cinema, the screening still felt very intimate, and as the movie's main musical theme began to play while the end credits rolled, I just couldn’t move.
When I finally did leave the cinema (apparently one of the last visitors to do so), Manezhnaya Square greeted me with utter silence and emptiness, surreal for nine o’clock. I went to the metro fully dazed, still mentally inside the movie. The whole day felt special, and I realized that as much as I love sharing experiences with my loved ones, saving something just for myself can be magical, too. – Catherine
Touching (metaphorical) grass
A couple weeks back, I found myself in quite a pickle. You see, I usually have two phone chargers at home – it’s just that I had loaned one to a friend and then left the second at yet another friend’s house (get a load of Mr. I’ve-got-several-friends over here!). Further compounding the issue was the fact that both actually live in different towns. With the battery quickly running out, I was faced with the prospect of spending the whole next day without my phone. It wouldn’t be that much of an issue at home – you can do most things off your PC, but what about going outside?
When I ventured into the outside world, at first I felt incomplete, as if I’d lost a part of me. It was a revelation just how instinctive these things became to me: checking Google Maps for directions, taking a picture of something I like, even using the calculator! No, I was now in full 90s mode: remembering which bus I should take and from which stop, asking passers-by for directions, and in moments of curiosity – not googling the answer straight away, but either letting it go or remembering for later. Even getting my charger back required us to go old-school, agreeing on a time and place in advance and hoping for the best. By the end of the day, the unease gave way to a sense of freedom. I was indeed, as the oft-repeated meme goes, “living in the moment.” – Vadim
