The Deranged Writer

XXXVII: Started Great, Now Frustrated (A Rant)

Today, August 23, I had the day perfectly planned out. The plans are not much, but I already imagined how and when to execute them. But there are things I can’t control, and they end up scrambling those few yet important plans. (Important to me, at least.)

And I’m pissed.

30-Minute Warning XL

It’s been a while since I had a 30-Minute Warning post, and I’m already drunk from an upgraded version of The Devil’s Cup, The Devil’s Float. And I quote “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, “What do you wanna talk about?”

Firstly, I want to talk about my recent trips to Satchmi, my favorite cafe. The past few weeks, I tasted my beloved affogato plus a different drink. I drank their house blend iced tea (my second go-to drink) and their iced chocolate, and both are refreshingly sweet. I might order the iced chocolate more often if I need a break from their caffeinated drinks.

I also tried their seasonal drinks (if I may call it that), a raspberry mocha latte and a sakura matcha. Both piqued my curiosity, so I tried them. (Not all in one night though.) The raspberry mocha latte is… let’s just say, interesting. (Sorry, I’m terrible at describing my food and drink experiences down to the tiniest detail. I should work on that.) Anyway, as for the sakura matcha, I’m not much of a matcha drinker, but… imagine a transparent cup with matcha on top and a sakura pink liquid below. Lovely, right? And the greater thing is that it tastes just as lovely. I applaud the barista who made this!

Speaking of pink, after so many visits to the nearest Converse store, I saw a pair of pink Chuck Taylors, and they’re also on sale! Yes, I know, I’m a man who covers himself in monochrome, but I also mentioned in the post “XVII: The Deranged Writers’ Favorite Outfits of The Undertaker” (my most-viewed Diary post so far), that “I love a pop of color on any dominantly dark or light design”. There’s nothing wrong with color in my life every once in a while, and I also need to update my wardrobe. Also, I collected Chuck Taylors before, but now the only Chuck Taylor pair I have is all black (which I adore). I want a new pair.

Crap, my 30 minutes are almost up, and I want to enjoy The Devil’s Float more, so I’m ending this post now. See you in the next post, and have a nice weekend, everyone!

Header image: Aidan Carney of Pexels.

Updated on August 28, 2025 at 1:52pm. Edits were made since I updated an old post’s title mentioned in this post.

XXXVI: The Nocturnal’s Struggle of Waking Up Early / Notes to Self XVI

If you have been following The Diary lately, you should know that I’ve been making gradual changes in my life. One of those changes is waking up early for work—ideally at 8:00am. I did just that on most workdays after ToyCon 2025, and there were times I even woke up at 6:00am. (That’s a feat for a nocturnal person like me, and even my family is shocked by the fact that I woke up before they did.)

Now it’s beyond the middle of August 2025, and I admit that I haven’t really been waking up as early as 8am lately… and that’s fine.

(Buckle up because this is going to be a long post.)