A collection of things I’ve saved from the past few weeks:

— film recommendations

— a free ticket to Les Misérables, thank you Tito P.

— Chapter IX Bookstore. I went with Aldrin and Don after work and walked away with a collection of essays and a copy of a book I’ve already read.

— bus ticket

— Garapata sticker

I wonder what the things we save say about us. I’m kind of a notorious hoarder—a total predicted failure at the KonMari method. I still have projects and reports from as far back as grade school. I still have palanca letters from people I don’t even talk to anymore. I still have that piece of paper on which a guy asked to be “[my] Lloyd Dobler.” (It’s kind of really cheesy but cute, and I was, as you can imagine, over the moon, because I liked him a lot.) I still have cassette tapes (mixtapes with too-long songs that carry over to side B because the tape cut out too early) and notebooks I passed around—the ancient version of a Whatsapp Group Chat, probably. My favorite things to keep are letters, though.

I’m going to post an office address here, and if you send me a letter with a return address, I’ll write you back.

Carina Santos
48 West Avenue,
Quezon City,
Philippines

I don’t know if this is a desperate attempt at connecting, or if I just like writing and receiving letters. In any case, please write. In other news, I feel a little shamble-y lately. I hope it’s not contagious.

— Jack Gilbert, “The Abandoned Valley”