mellow – Page 2 – The Diary of The Deranged Writer

The Recently I

Lately, I have been delivering longer posts more than ever, and I think that I’m doing a decent job of that. Not great; decent. But anyway, the reason behind the mini-surge of lengthy posts is that, after a few years of working in my current day job, I found the right balance between doing what I have to do (e.g., my day job, relearning my skills) and doing what I want to do (e.g., enjoying my fandoms, writing here on The Diary). That balance gives me more time to plan and contemplate, and then put them all to writing here in The Diary.

That being said, I miss writing quick posts, and I haven’t made a new blog series in a long time, so it’s time for the debut of a new one: The Recently. Think of it as a page from a slumbook where I write the recent things I have watched, listened to, eaten, or whatever I have done recently.

Now, let’s begin the first edition of The Recently.

Song of the Moment C: Foo Fighters’ “Run”

I’ve had many right-song-at-the-right-time moments lately, from hearing Saya’s “Natsu Shigure” during a rainy walk to my favorite cafe last June to hearing the opening theme of Person of Interest (my all-time favorite show) when I typed the exact title during a recent online conversation. As a music fan, I truly love those perfectly-timed moments.

Today, I finally recovered from two weeks of muscle pain and coughing. (Violently coughing at night is not a good experience at all. And I can really feel the aging now. Damn.) Thanks to resting, drinking The Angel’s Cup (which is basically hot honey/citron/ginger tea), and listening more to mellow music, now I’m feeling great physically, and I went back just in time for work. The first thing I did upon my return: open my laptop, open my Spotify app, and look for my favorite songs list (which consists of songs from various genres and music acts). I was curious if the universe and Spotify would deliver at least one perfectly-timed song, so I hit shuffle again.

Listen IV: Saya’s “Natsu Shigure”

On the afternoon of June 30, 2025, I ran a few errands in the nearest business district. And when I was about to finish the final errand, heavy rain poured. I brought my portable umbrella (I always do because I’m vigilant in a way), but still… damn.

I waited several minutes for the weather to calm down, but I also wanted to go to my favorite cafe, Satchmi, early. So, I switched on my wireless earphones, opened my umbrella, pressed the shuffle mode on “My Favorite Songs” playlist on Spotify, went outside the building, hit the play button, and started walking. During my first steps, the sun slightly appeared while it was still raining.

The first song that Spotify played was the perfect soundtrack during that sunny yet rainy walk to my favorite cafe. What’s the song? It’s “Natsu Shigure” (夏しぐれ), my favorite song from Saya (冴夜), my recent favorite singer-songwriter hailing from Japan. “Natsu Shigure” means “Summer Drizzle” or “Summer Shower” in Japanese.