Friday Link List

A photo from my New Years' weekend. K's mom was kind enough to prepare hot pot, using broth intended for curry laksa noodles. It's similar to the curry broth at Hometown Hotpot in Chinatown.

I hope that everyone is having a good start to 2018! I'm in the process of writing a post about my goals for the year, outside of the shopping budget context, though it's slow going. I found, in 2017, that my approach to New Year's resolutions - having several broad thematic goals, with a few suggested ways to carry them out - just didn't work. 

I had commented on several other blogs, in their posts about New Year's goals, saying that while I had fulfilled my 2017 New Year's resolutions, by sticking to, say, a roughly three times a week gym habit, I still felt dissatisfied. In that context, for instance, I felt I wasn't challenging myself with my workouts or  improving my physical fitness level, that I was "coasting", just checking the boxes without accomplishing much. As it turns out, the first part of that was a lie. In actuality, I was remembering 2016's more conservative and generally more concrete resolutions, not the broader, more thematic resolutions I actually set for 2017, which I had forgotten entirely. Oops! I also didn't remember most of the concrete applications that I proposed for each of my broad 2017 resolutions. The only thing I truly accomplished from the 2017 list was hitting the ground running at my new job, as I've been working hard. 

1. // This is an interesting profile of one of the federal judges based in the California Bay Area, who, due to his location and the operation of the local court rules, see Rule 3-2, naturally gets a high number of important technology cases. The article's probably made more interesting because it's rare for sitting judges to agree to be profiled and to speak at length with a journalist. 

2. // I shared a long-ago take on the #metoo themes a while back, something that was essentially about #metoo before it was known by that name, and today I thought I'd point out this more recent take by Rebecca Traister, on the complexity of the Post-Weinstein Reckoning, given just how pervasive the problems are. I really relate to it. 

3. // This kind of shopping-related discussion never gets very far because all we have to work with is, in the end, just our personal anecdotes as individual customers, but there was a discussion on r/femalefashionadvice about quality differences between the men's and women's lines at, say, J.Crew. I don't think this discussion gets much further than any other past iteration, and I think a lot of people who read here already know it might be fruitful to look to the men's section for sweaters or looser-fit button-down shirts for more casual wear. Still, I always hope the discussion will get further. 

4. // A few interesting blog links I recommend: Archana's 100 Notes on Style & Blogging is packed with an incredible amount of food for thought; Capsule Closet is a blog I've been following for a while, but keep neglecting to add to my blogroll; and there's a bit more discussion on anonymity and blogging over on Michelle's blog.

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5. // A quick update on my search for new jeans: It's very likely that I'll stick to Uniqlo or Gap this time around, thank you again for all of the comments and suggestions on my post! My body shape has changed a bit in the last year, in part because it's starting to handle unhealthy eating habits (brought about by stress and long hours at work) differently than it used to (maybe because I'm less than a year shy of 30), so I'm not ready to put down a lot of money on a pair of jeans right now. I'm hoping things will stabilize a bit later on, as I'm in the process of implementing some fitness and eating habits-related goals.

Unfortunately, after an in-person trip to Uniqlo, I don't like their current jeans selection much. I may be one of few women who actually prefers lower-rise jeans, so even their current higher-rise skinny jean, which are called mid-rise jeans in store, don't feel right to me. Their high-rise cigarette jeans, a straight-leg style, also didn't work for me, though I was surprised to find that they don't need to be hemmed on me, which may mean that they'd be unworkable on anyone with longer legs than mine, which should be most women in the world who are 5'3'' or taller!