Hello ̶f̶a̶l̶l̶ winter?

It’s been a long time since I’ve engaged with much writing on the internet both on my blog and on social media but gosh has a lot of life been happening. The world is messy to say the least and I’ve found disconnecting from media and going offline more and more necessary to focus on the things I can actually change. I’m beginning to feel perhaps larger posts like this are a better way than shorter social media posts for sharing more widespread news with family and friends. It feels almost like going backwards with old-school mailing lists/Christmas letters.

That being said, there’s been a lot of offline developments lately and I’m pretty excited to share some meaningful endeavours coming rather soon. Gee where to start, since moving to Calgary, my partner and I have been able to find a stable place we can call home. We’ve always had a place to call home in Vancouver, but that place changed every 10-12 months over six years. With the housing crises happening all over the world including larger Canadian cities, I cannot fully express not only the gratitude but relief that our sub-annual adventures relocating cardboard boxes from one basement suite to another have finally come to an end (as far as I’m aware). For the first time in years, we passed the 12 month mark of needing to pack up our entire life once again. That ease of mind and stability has brought forth the time, energy, and resources to build so many new things, rather than resetting, restarting, and rebuilding our basic needs, habits, and overall way of life (there were always so many small things like figuring out a new work commute from a new home, or remembering which drawers held the cooking utensils). The impact I didn’t know it could have on my (generally pretty good) mental wellbeing was so significant, it made me wonder what else I had been missing out on simply because well… we didn’t have access to it. 

I’ve been trying hard to be intentionally slow. I had no idea it was so hard! The thought was to find a more sustainably healthy pace, and I wanted to take advantage of a rare opportunity that is a sort of life “reset” with this move. In that time I feel like I’ve been able to organically get to know different parts of Calgary (still plenty to explore I assure you), know my neighbours, and actually build that old-school in-person community across the different activities and groups of people I’ve found myself in. I joined an orchestra, played in a musical theatre pit orchestra (a 16-show run of Sweeney Todd!), found a noise show venue, held a sound design workshop for a lovely cohort of young artists, made new friends, restarted martial arts, and even added one more to the family… Yumi, our Samoyed puppy 😛 With this new pace, I wanted to prioritize my relationships, my health, and see if I could develop habits to make things easier (automated!) for when life becomes busy and chaotic again. I think while challenging and different for me, this different pace forces me out of a scarcity mindset and lets me focus on quality over quantity in every living moment, present and future.

In reflection, I admit to myself the last few years of freelancing in Vancouver, while incredibly rich, was challenging to sustain - financially, physically, mentally. There was so much opportunity, so many curiosities to pursue, and so many wonderful artists I wanted to collaborate with and learn from, that I would burn out mid-project(s) every few months or even sometimes every few weeks. Since deciding we would be leaving Vancouver, I definitely wanted to make the most of my remaining time living there and prioritized in-person activities and projects with my wonderful colleagues and friends in Vancouver. While well-intentioned, it was a “do everything with everyone before I'm gone” that was never long-term and definitely didn’t help with the burn out. At that time, the goals were simply to do what was needed to get by, pay rent, and still create meaning in life by appreciating what I currently had to the fullest of my capabilities. However, this move out of Vancouver has made me wonder if I could work smarter (not just harder) with a more sustainable approach. See the thing is I’d like to keep doing these things for a very long time! And surely there must be a balance in which I can find that can allow that without sacrificing so much health - physical health, mental health, social health, financial health, even creative health! Additionally, I had noticed as I continued to spread myself thin across commitments, I wasn’t able to give the depth of care and attention I wanted to my involvements, be it a project, a contracted gig, a new collaboration, a hobby, a curiosity, a friendship… How can I set up my lifestyle to live a more deeply engaged life? 

Domestic and Crafting Activities. In Calgary, I read for enjoyment for the first time in a very long time. I made things with my hands, things I could’ve simply bought - embroidered a hat I often wear and macrame knotted plant hangers. I’ve decided things are just… things. So if I’m going to have objects that take up space, they should be objects that mean something unique to me or have a story! I learnt to bake fresh focaccia bread and chicken pot pie, learnt to make soups, dumplings from scratch, fun pastries and bite-sized delicacies… healthier bulk meals to prep not only for caloric sustenance, but in the spirit of efficiency with time and most importantly, for joy and sharing that joy. I feel like I went through most of my life passing over domestic skills as unimportant, but gosh does a nutritious tasty meal or a fluffy homemade vanilla cinnamon latte motivate (and energize) you to go about your day, and at a fraction of the cost too! I’ve learnt a lot about caring for plants. They say you hit 30 and pick up a few new hobbies right? 

Physical Activities. Domestic skills and hobbies aside, I joined a jiu jitsu gym and tried a bunch of martial arts MMA/kickboxing studios. Unfortunately, I needed to delay re-starting kickboxing/muay thai from some minor injuries, new and returning. It’s been a bit difficult to maintain consistent practice with the nature of my job (be it travel, or more intense periods of work, or simply the mental aspect of setting boundaries as a freelancer to do non-work-related things!) but I’m glad to have this in my life. I tried a few aerial (circus arts) classes in both silks and lyra/hoop and was quickly humbled by my lack of upper body strength. I’ve started and re-started resistance training again in hopes of building consistency for healthier bone density (so important for women!). 2025 happened to also be the year I completed my first pushup, and recently a sloppy clap push-up? My physical abilities keep surprising me. I skated outdoors for the first time last winter, as well as tried ice-biking and dog-sledding for the first time! I had wanted to get into other snow sports, gymnastics, and swimming lanes but there is only so much time. I’ll have to push those to 2026+. 

Music/Sound Activities. Outside the fun large ensemble playing I’ve found in Calgary, I happened to surprise myself this year; turns out 2025 was the year I’d release 3 albums, some that were in-progress for a while, and others that had the most surprising turnaround time since its conception. Recording and album-making is still a newer form of music sharing for me. I’m looking forward to learning and shaping my approach as I practice and produce more. I’ve found it’s a wonderful type of project to especially keep in touch with music friends. 2025 was also the year I felt ready to take my self-taught guzheng limitations to a traditional Chinese guzheng teacher. I found Vicky at the music conservatory and was so grateful to have found a mentor whose approach and knowledge was such a perfect fit for what I was looking for. I’m really looking forward to what I push myself to do on this instrument, technically and musically, and share this with others in the coming future. 2025 was also a wild year of performing. Many times I feel strange if my job is grouped in a “musician” category because that’s conventionally tied with playing and performing music which is really not how I make most of my living. So the rare times those opportunities to perform come up, I always feel so lucky to share those special moments on stage with others. That stage happened to include the Vancouver International Jazz Festival this year as well as a more cozy venue hip-hop gig with rapper Scope and his Yellow Academy friends. Little Andrea would never have dared to dream so wildly! Looking forward to growing my skills as an artist and seeing where those go. I have some very exciting 2026 projects coming up which I’ll share at a later date. 

Friends & Family. I’m reaching that age where you not just know, but experience and realize life is rather short, and it’s important to carve out time for family and close ones. I feel lucky to say a lot of the people I work with are not just colleagues, but good people and friends, so it makes it very easy to prioritize work-related activities. However in 2025, I tried to be more intentional with the time I reserved for my family. I think it’s still a work-in-progress but trying to call my parents more and reaching out to schedule in-person visits with relatives rather than texts. This year my husband and I went on our belated honeymoon in Asia which was so full of adventure and cultural exchange. We had so much fun eating different regions of Chinese food, lots of exploring and hiking, and interacting with locals. It was also the first time he met my maternal side in Hong Kong what with vacation-booking challenges, long flights with elderly joints, and covid. The wait was well worth it. My grandfather turned 90 and we celebrated with food and mahjong. I hope to visit them more in the coming future. 

Somehow this post took me 4 months to write, but here we are well into December! Looking forward to spending a holiday season of joy and warm beverages with loved ones before diving into a new year. Let the new year bring us hope and strength to come together and make 2026 a good one.

With warmth,

Andrea