I’ve been meaning to get my screen protector changed for months now. It’s cracked beyond belief—still usable, but the unevenness of the glass skews the front camera’s lighting. I’ve never put one on myself, though. I wait for my dad to do it. Maybe I haven’t bought one yet because I’m secretly hoping he’ll do it for me. But he’s not here so, in the meantime, my photos are locked to a certain angle, and my fingers risk bleeding every time I touch my screen.

—

My nails are chipped—the design has been on for almost three months now. I’ve been meaning to get it removed, but I’m not sure how to remove gel on my own, and that would mean making a phone call. So in the meantime, my nails have become overgrown, digging into my skin, cutting me over and over and over while I forget to get rid of them.

—

It’s always embarrassing to admit that I’m not fluent in my native language. “I was fluent until I was four” just doesn’t really cut it, but it’s true, I actually was. Then I moved to an English-speaking school and lost it for good.

“You know, my friends all speak Tagalog worse than me.”

True, for the most part. I speak it conversationally, enough to get by back home. If I was American, people would be so impressed. But I’m not.

—

I’ve forgotten to wash my water bottle for over a week straight. Now, that sounds disgusting, but I’m not actually using it right now—I bought a bottle of Vitamin Water from a vending machine and have been refilling that instead. But the Vitamin Water bottle doesn’t have the bulky water filter my dad gave me when I started freaking out about the tap water’s trace lead contents, so it can really only last me so long. Maybe I’ll finally get around to washing it tomorrow. Maybe the day after. Probably not today.

—

My friends tell me to buy a new video game.

“Come on, we can play it together. It’s cheap. It’ll be fun.”

They’ve said this about so many games, and each time I listen and buy it, we only play it once. Then it rots in my library for years as we revert to that one game we always play anyway, because nothing does it quite like that. I forget about it until my friends find a new game and beg me to buy it once more.

—

I don’t have a lot of childhood memories, especially ones of Christmas. 

I grew up with three seasons: hot, hotter, and hot and wet. Hot and wet peaks around July and August, which is also called the Philippines’ typhoon season. These months, the most unpleasant of the year, are also the most destructive.

From September onwards, the malls fill up with Christmas music and decorations, starting the four-month countdown to the holiday. The rainy season typically ends around this time. Maybe that’s why Christmas is such a big deal—we need something nice to look forward to, and Halloween just doesn’t seem to cut it.

I used to open my Christmas presents on New Year's Day. When I wanted to open them earlier, I had to sneak them from under the tree and hope my parents wouldn’t notice that one was missing. I couldn’t open too many because we had to bring them to my grandmother’s and open them together. 

Christmas lasts almost half the year where I’m from, so the day itself has never felt that distinct. I remember staying up past midnight just because I felt like I should, but in terms of memories of Christmas itself, I have close to none.

—

As a first-year, I bought a pair of earrings. For some reason, I’d assumed they were waterproof, so I never took them off. I showered with them in and wiped them with hand sanitizer when I was worried about an infection. It wasn’t until I took them off months later that I realized they’d rusted. I still keep them, though, even if I can’t wear them anymore. I’m hoping one day I’ll get the energy to get them cleaned so that I can try them on again.