The Best I Can Do Today

These have been heavy weeks. The best I can do varies from day to day, but I'm trying. I'd like to think most of us are.

Side note: I wear a mask when in public and around other people because it helps keep the virus from spreading further. It's a small thing, but I do it simply out of respect for everyone around me.

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Things You Can Hug If You're Single In A Pandemic

I drew this cartoon back in March, but never got around to sharing it.

This was a hard and scary time. We were at the beginning of several months of pandemic shutdown. Covid-19 cases were surging and we quickly became the epicenter of the health crisis in the country.

Suddenly, there were toilet paper and baking supply shortages and we had no idea when we would next see our friends and family or what the following months would bring.

Now, as New York's cases drop, we're now witnessing the virus spread like wild fires across the country and around the world. It is still a hard and scary time.

If you're struggling right now, this cartoon may not be very comforting. But it does remind me that I did my best on the hard days.

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Time Capsule 2020

For my records. A time capsule of coping in 2020.

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Sketchbook: Father's Day Drawing

I texted this drawing to my dad today and he texted back in Chinese:

"Thank you. But my eyebrows have not gone completely white."

Pandemic Diary: Maybe It's An Opportunity

The Chinese term for "crisis" is a combination of the characters risk + opportunity.

Even so, it doesn't mean that I'm ready for it!

I speak only for myself ;)

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Mentally Pacing Myself

I've been running on emotional extremes  lately and, yesterday, I hit a wall.

It's funny how small things can break us when we are stretched thin and tired. I have to keep reminding myself to pay attention to when I reach the end of my energy.

Self-care can be as simple as going for a walk, doing chores, and checking in with friends. They can make a big difference.

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'Black Lives Matter' To Me Because

The U.S. is in a painful reckoning right now. The truth about ourselves is messy, painful, and necessary.

My own reckoning has led me to examine where I fit into the historical context of this country as an Asian American daughter of first generation immigrants.

I found this childhood memory in my brain that I remembered because I didn't understand it at the time. I'm pulling it out now because I think it is a small piece of a larger puzzle.

This is not an easy conversation in the Asian American community, but let's have them anyway.

View as separate panels on Instagram

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Sketchbook Repost: Maya Angelou On Using Your Anger

Whenever I feel at a loss, I go back to this advice that Maya Angelou gave comedian Dave Chappelle in a 2006 "Iconoclasts" interview. I'm reposting for myself and the exquisite pain of this moment in the story of this country.

"If you're not angry, then you're either a stone or you're too sick to be angry. You should be angry. But you must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer; it eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything. So use that anger, yes. You write it, you paint it, you dance it, you march it, you talk it. You never stop talking it." - Maya Angelou 

Let us use it, focus it, and vote it.

"Yes, And" Mental Health

This has been a particularly tense week in the U.S., if you follow our news. On top of the global health crisis, all the ways that we are fractured as a society feels like it is ripping us apart socially too.

I had a hard time cartooning this week. Seeking relief and clarity, but that will take longer. I was only able to sketch this comic when I forgave myself for all of my own contradictions. 


Take care of yourselves; the road ahead is long.


In the last panel, I refer to American poet Walt Whitman's line from "Song of Myself": "Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)"

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Sketchbook: Earth As A Snow Globe

It feels like we are inside an upside down snow globe, being shaken up.

If we could watch ourselves from the moon, maybe this is what it would look like.

We can't know how the pieces settle again, but it won't be the same. Like a definitive heartbreak, there is only a before and then after.

Let us not forget what we learn about ourselves.

The Year Of Bread

I've been learning how to make breads I grew up with, like mantou (steamed buns), huajuan (twisted rolls), and congyou bing (stovetop scallion bread). It has been comforting and stress-relieving, if also fattening :p

Still, I'm enjoying being a total beginner at something in these days of upheaval and uncertainty.

View on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CAguswSg_4k

Pandemic Diary: Upside Down Face Masks

Slice-of-life diary comic about wearing face masks in NYC. Plus, first shopping trip to Trader Joe's since the city locked down 2 months ago! It was about a 40-minute wait to get inside, but the staff are as nice as ever.

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Sketchbook: Still Life Of A Lunch

Food diary with homemade bread!

Pandemic Diary: Quarantine Crash Course

New 4-page journal comic. I baked bread for the first time! It was awesome! Gluten is not the enemy!

Read on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CAOfMOtA5AF

Pretend To Be A Cat Day

I don't know what's "normal" anymore.

Just for fun sketchbook comic / pandemic diary.

View on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJWbwXgEIJ

Sketchbook: Mother's Day Drawing

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and the injured wild parrot who stayed for 6 months before flying off again. ⁣

https://www.instagram.com/p/CABneO6gOum/

Pandemic Diary: Nothing Like a Food Memory

Sharing a sketchbook diary page. Taking one day at a time and focusing on small routines to rest my mind on.

I've been nostalgic about food lately and cooking dishes that remind me of childhood. Such a blessing, especially now; food memories are sacred.

View as separate panels: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_7gzdDADHr

Sketchbook: A Simple Pleasure

Almond butter and plain greek yogurt with banana on toast is one of my go-to treats.

Comfort Food Boost

Less pain, more comfort today.

Hope you make something yummy for dinner too.

Knowing Your Pain Threshold

My hand is healing and I'm better, but not before going through a full range of hard emotions.

This is not a funny one, but I want to share what I'm learning about stages of pain, both physical and emotional. Doctors used to tell me that I have a "high" pain threshold, but it serves me less these days.

Especially in times of stress, I'm learning that it's important to name the pain you feel, when you feel it. Seems like it's critical to the healing process.