Margins of the Week || March 2026

We grow a little each day so it's hard to recognise the ways we've grown or changed unless we look at it from a bird's eye view. It's especially hard to point out the ways our daily lives are different because those are the days we don't record or don't consider enough to compare to. You just have to do it to see if it's worth it.

I came up with the idea of "margins of the week" a year ago. I thought it would be interesting to document (almost) the same week a year apart. I'm going to be talking about my days and ruminating over how similar or different life is compared to then. Grab a drink and settle down, this will be a cosy post ☕️

Welcome to Margins of the Week! Instead of a diary-style blog, this is an informal post written after the events with "annotations" emulating the concept of taking notes in the margins which are messy and interleave with the main content. Tangential thoughts may or may not overtake the narration of the actual events, but that's how our minds work.

sunday, march 8

I woke up around 9:30 am. I had gone to bed late the previous night after basically binge-reading the entire day. I was ready to finish reading the book this day. After about an hour of slowly waking up and having breakfast, I settled down to finish the book.

I had about 130 pages of House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas remaining. I started it on Friday night and decided to binge-read it over the weekend. It's been a long time since I read a series of big books and I was nostalgic for weekends during my high school and college when I'd spend the entire weekend reading. I wanted to do that again. After reading 200 pages on Friday and 500 pages on Saturday, I was well on my way to finishing the book on this day.

I considered not reading until the evening because I planned to go to a reader's meetup anyway but I was in the middle of the most important part and I didn't have the patience to wait haha. So, I spent the a couple of hours reading and annotating. I finished the book around 1 pm.

Crescent City has great world-building. That was my favourite part. It was elaborate with so many non-human races and even hints of other worlds. I liked that everyone in the series had their own agenda and worked together because it suited their different aims. It made for a very chaotic plot which does not go in an expected direction. I liked that.

I didn't like a lot of things, though. I didn't like a couple of "important" characters. I wish we didn't see them at all, they took up too much page time for no reason. Book 2 was clearly very plot driven because the trigger was clearly some random thing that the main character focused on which didn't fit her character. There was a lot of random set up throughout the series which didn't add value. Some characters were there clearly only to further the plot along. I don't agree with a few of the characters' endings in book 3. I was confused by a couple of things too because it looks like book 3 is not the last book, one character's story abruptly ends hinting at a follow-up.

All-in-all, it was an okay series. Engaging enough to read easily, not good enough to show up in my favourites lists. I'm not looking forward to book 4 because it's apparently going to be about one of the character I wish we didn't spend time on. I'm considering book 3 as the end.

Since I spent so much of the weekend hunched over a book, I needed to be active. The rest of the afternoon went in chores and lunch. I didn't have anything to do around 4 so I sat down to knit for a bit. My scarf is progressing slowly because I'm not listening to any audiobook currently. Since I had a bit of time before I had to head out, I knitted a bit.

During a conversation, my mom and I discussed the thuvarppu (astringent) taste and how foods with it help in regulating periods. I wanted to note it down and instead of writing it in my notes app, I wrote it in a new notebook. It's the start of my commonplace book! I want to maintain a commonplace book for information that I want to record for the future. I have a habit of noting in my notes app but I'd love to note miscellaneous topics that I wouldn't need to carry around with me in a notebook.

At 5, I headed out with a Kindle in my hand. In an effort to create a social life here, a year after moving, I've been going to reader meetups in this city. People gather at a café every Sunday and read for a couple of hours followed by socialisation. Discussions start with what other people are reading and it goes from there. Since there are a lot of people, it's easy to drift around if you're not vibing with the people around you. It's also a no-expectation event so it's completely okay to not become instant friends. I decided not to exchange information with anyone until I speak to them a few times in person over multiple weeks.

I went to the meetup a couple of times before and my social energy lasted only until 7:30 pm so my aim was to last longer this time. I hoped to meet people whom I've spoken to before and vibed with. Since I already read enough this weekend, I went late.

It was women's day that day and the organiser handed me a greeting card wishing happy women's day when I arrived. It was such a nice gesture. Kudos to the organiser for creating a space for people to read and socialise and doing it every weekend. There were many people this day, maybe around 40, and there weren't many empty seats in the area. I grabbed one at a table with 2 others. Since it was still quiet reading time, I whipped out my Kindle and continued A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer. This was taking me too long to read and I wasn't enjoying it, to be honest.

After around 30 minutes, at 6pm-ish, silent reading time ended. I was unsure of how to start a conversation with the women I was seated with because they were still reading. Thankfully, a person I met last time saw me and came over to say hi. Then another person came over. They started the conversation at my table and our circle slowly grew to 6 people. It was mostly small talk because 3 of the people were new. We spoke about what we were reading, whether we're regulars, what we're doing in this city and where we're from.

At 6:30, we left the space because the café was hosting a watch party for the T20 World Cup finals and most of us weren't into it. The 2 people I knew from before suggested going to a nearby bookstore and hanging out for longer. I said yes. It took another 15 minutes to invite a few others—some accepted and some denies—and actually make our way out. It was in the car on the way to the bookstore that I finally became more comfortable to have a good chat and get to know the others.

Unfortunately, the bookstore was closed so we went to a bookstore + café nearby. It was 6 of us there. We explored the books first. We each explored on our own and had mini conversations individually. I sadly was not vibing with one of them so my social energy was zapping out quickly. I didn't buy any book but I recommended books to others and I'm proud to say that 2 people bought a book each on my recommendation 😎 The books were Fahrenheit 451 and Tuesdays With Morrie. I hope they like the books.

We eventually sat down in the café and began to chat as a group. Unfortunately, the café only had coffee-based drinks so I had an iced latte despite not wanting caffeine. Thankfully it was quite light. A 7th person arrived at this time—he had something to do and said he'd meet us later—so we were a good group size to have shifting conversations. Most of them were my age too. I won't lie, the conversations weren't smooth and they weren't necessarily what I'm interested in, but that's a part of meeting new people. It's a part of hanging out with different people.

We finally winded up at 9:30 pm and left for home. In a stroke of luck, the 2 people I knew from before stay around my area so we travelled back together and got to know each other a bit more. Overall, a successful social evening.

monday, march 9

I don't know if it was the caffeine or the increasing heat of summer, I had restless sleep until 4 am. My brain wouldn't shut up and when it finally did, the lack of air in my room woke me up. It took so long for me to fall into proper sleep. I fully intended to go into the office but I chose to work from home at 8 am. I needed another hour of sleep.

I finally woke up around 9 am. My head was foggy and I felt lethargic. I decided to start working and have a nap in the afternoon when the heat would peak again. The summer has come on so quickly, it's jarring. It's already hitting 36°C in the afternoons.

The nice part of working from home is being able to do whatever I want during breaks. There aren't that many options in the office. At home, I can read or do laundry or other small chores. Such activities keep me moving during my break. The only moving activity is walking around in the office and there isn't a lot of indoor walking space there. Playing table tennis is dependent on having others to play with, hindered by the fact that my team is busier than last year.

Another nice part of working from home is being able to read while I wait on something. There are often small pockets of time when I'm waiting for my code to build or some things else to happen. I'm not confident enough to whip out my Kindle at the office to read during those times. I do it at home. I reread books at such times so that it's not hard for me to return to work when I have to.

On this day, I reread A Redo by C. M. Owens. This used to be a comfort book a long time ago and now I'm more meh about it. I scrolled through my Kindle archives and picked one randomly. This was it. I really like the family in this series—the way they all show up for each other and orbit around each other. A Redo is the only romance I actually liked in the series. The rest of them were.. not my thing. It kept me company throughout the work day.

I ended up working through the hot afternoon which meant I was sleepy in the evening. I logged off around 5 pm and went to take a nap with the AC on. I napped for about 1.5 hours. It was so good. AC is much needed now. I didn't want to wake up from the nap. I could've easily slept for 8 hours. My mom woke me up, though. It's a superstition that we shouldn't sleep during sunset time (AKA praying to God time). I don't believe in it but I live with her and she's very superstitious 🙃

Mom made chai so I journalled a bit while sipping it. Spent the rest of the evening doing chores, admin, and other not-noteworthy things. I got back to reading only at night. I felt like rereading something else before bed so I picked up Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan. The duology is really good. The emotions, unparalleled. I began reading from a family reunion scene and skim read parts I like until the end.

tuesday, march 10

Probably because I read Finding Eden before sleeping and Alchemy of Souls was still on my mind, I had a lowkey disturbing dream which was a mixture of both stories. At least, it was at a good part when I woke up.

I woke up a little later than planned which put me at the time of office login rush, so I waited an extra ten minutes before leaving. I spoke to mom about random things until I left. It felt weird to be at office after a whole week of working from home. Had a regular day and left around 6:10 pm. I would have left early but I ended up chatting a storm with my teammates and it just didn't end. Apparently they continued for another hour after I left.

After freshening up at home, I did some purchases that have been on my mind for a few weeks. One of them is a Kindle remote. I've been seeing people loving it online and I see a use for it when I'm reading on a table. I hope it arrives soon and is as helpful as I expect.

I journalled for a while after that. There were a few things that I could do but I didn't feel like doing any of them. I wrote 3 pages in my journal instead. Then I spoke to mom for a while before we had dinner. The rest of the night was uneventful.

I honestly wasn't in the mood to read on this day but I had a 40+ day reading streak going on Storygraph so I read A Vow So Bold and Deadly for 15 minutes before bed.

wednesday, march 11

Due to going to bed early-ish, I had a good sleep and woke up energetic. Sleep timing matters so much. I went to the office at 9 am and had a fairly good work day. It wasn't an eventful day, again.

I left work early at 4:30 pm and went for a slow run after many weeks. I took a break from exercise due to my health and now that I'm doing better, I want to ease back into my earlier routine. I missed running and playing. The onset of summer has meant that sunsets are back to being late-ish so it's easier to go for runs after work.

It wasn't a great run—my pace was slow and I constantly checked my heart rate to make sure I wasn't pushing too much. But it was nice to run after a long time. I saw 4 majestic peacocks, a couple of pretty blue birds, and blooming flowers in different colours during my run at the park which made me happy.

I journalled a couple of pages later in the evening about my day and how the run felt. I meant to write more but I got the urge to blog while journalling so I stopped and started this post haha. I blogged for about 40 minutes until my work meeting. I don't usually have late night meetings often in my current job but it does ruin my evenings sometimes.

During and after dinner, I read and finished A Vow So Bold and Deadly. It took me over an hour but I was so ready to be done with this series. I ended up disliking most of the characters. They grew and changed but I wasn't a fan of the way their relationships changed and how the core of some characters wasn't there anymore. The only thing I liked was Rhen and Grey's relationship at the end. I didn't care for any of the romance.

After struggling to finish the above book, I deserved a reward so I started And Now, Back to You by B. K. Borison before bed. I read around 20% and found it really cute so far.

thursday, march 12

I had a great sleep after run the run yesterday. I woke up refreshed and with barely sore legs so I knew that I didn't push myself too much.

During breakfast, I renewed by Kindle Unlimited subscription. Catherine Cowles's newest book Across the Vanishing Sky released recently (I'm subscribed to her newsletter) so I decided to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't check the book on Amazon before resuming my Kindle Unlimited subscription. Turns out it is not on KU in India 🙁 I responded to the newsletter asking if it would come to India soon.

I already paid for the month, I might as well use KU to read other books on my TBR. Hot for Slayer by Ali Hazelwood is a short story the author released as part of a series with other romance authors for halloween. It took around 40 minutes to read and was so cute. I read it in bits and pieces throughout the work day. Mostly when I took a tea break in the late morning. It was too cute.

I didn't plan to run this day. It's a good idea to let my body rest after running after a long break. I left work around 5:45 pm.

There were a few topics on my phone that I wanted to find out about and possibly write in my commonplace book. I picked one—why kimonos have so many layers—after freshening up and spent 15 minutes writing about it. I wondered about this when I tried on a kimono in Japan and it took me this long to look for the answer smh.

I had only one important task to be done this day which I had been procrastinating on for days. I cleared off my evening to do it this day and I actually got it done. It took my entire evening. I'm prone to procrastination whenever I leave things to be ruled by my mood. I'm fairly good at doing things when I make it a task in my calendar. I'm still learning to balance winging it while getting things done this year.

After dinner, I journalled a couple of pages. There were only 2 pages left in my notebook so I wanted to finish it. This notebook is pretty huge and has lasted me many months. I started it in October. I was ready to move on to a new notebook haha.

I continued reading and finished And Now, Back to You. I expected to love the book but I didn't. It was cute in the beginning and quickly became annoying. I didn't like that the characters basically fell in love in a week. I wasn't a fan of the tropes used. The characters and their romance reminded me of Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating too much. I didn't find depth in the characters—it was as if their tropes were decided and a couple of things were sprinkled on top to flesh them out a bit. Overall, I was disappointed.

Before I turned in for the night, I checked my emails and found a reply from Catherine Cowkes's team. They said that the UK publisher of the book doesn't utilize the KU program so it won't be coming to KU for me 😔 Looks like I'll be using it this month to tackle other TBR books only. The ebook of Across the Vanishing Sky is as expensive as a paperback. Maybe I'll buy it after a while, we'll see.

friday, march 13

Since I stayed up late reading And Now, Back to You, I chose to not go to the office. I slept for an extra hour and woke up unhurried. I had my breakfast slowly and did my laundry before logging into work. I honestly didn't have a lot of "urgent" work today, my current task was a design-ish thing. Lots of thinking about what to do and less of actually doing. Such things don't really work when I'm sitting on a desk all the time so I had a flexible work day.

After work, I went for a run again. I did not have a great run this day. I wasn't feeling it. I ran for a kilometre straight and then my body was lagging. Instead of pushing through it, I decided to just walk the rest of the distance. From all my previous running, I learnt over and over that that progress is not linear. It's okay to take breaks and to have not-so-great days. Sometimes, showing up is the best part of the day, and that's fine.

I binge-watched Boyfriend on Demand for the rest of the day. I started it a while ago and paused because I wasn't feeling it. I decided to continue and get it done with to see where it goes. I managed to finish it by watching at 1.5x. I didn't like it. Yes, it had good parts. But I did not connect with the main character at all, which ruined a lot of potential for enjoyment. I wasn't a fan of how romance-centric the show was. There was barely anything else. We saw her grieve over her previous relationship, scoff at romance, go on many dates, and have a new romance. There was some character growth but that was related to the idea of romance as well. There was nothing else in the plot.

The plot is divided between 2 things—the "boyfriend on demand" virtual dating service which exposes how technology can disrupt lives and cause new addictions, and the main romance. The dating part takes up most of the first half of the drama and the romance picks up in the second half. There is some commentary about addiction and loss of reality due to the dating service but it's all surface-level stuff. They tried to show a futuristic view without making it sad so it was shallow commentary. The romance was... fine. The third act "breakup"-adjacent part was weird. Actually, now that I think about it, it definitely feels like the show was written by an American author. The plot, the way it never showed anything other than the main 2 themes, the 3-act structure—all classic American romance things.

Overall, Boyfriend on Demand is an okay one-time watch. I wouldn't recommend it. The only thing I admire is the drawing and casting of Lee Soo-hyuk. I could totally believe that he stepped out of the webtoon haha. That face card is impeccable.

I honestly wasn't in the mood to read anything but I didn't want to break my reading streak so I picked up yet another short story. Falling by Christina Lauren is in the same series as Hot for Slayer. I know that Christina Lauren can write good books but it's always a hit-or-miss. I either properly like or properly dislike them. I disliked this book. The plot was very basic, there was barely anything new or nice in it. I wasn't captivated by anything. The ending could have been written better. Meh.

Falling was only 56 pages so I finished it very quickly. Hence, I had time and I wasn't sleepy, so I read Spicy Little Curses by J. T. Geissinger which is also in the same series of short stories. It's the last one I was interested in and I hoped it would be good. It would at least be different because this author tends to write more creepy stories which make your shoulders hunch while reading.

Spicy Little Curses had a good plot and delivered the creepy vibe. There was a lot of plot to fit into 90 pages and, hence, it was fast-paced. I actually liked the plot. I had some idea of where it was going due to foreshadowing but the twist at the end was a surprise. I liked that. Unfortunately, the romance sucked. Zero chemistry, only forced lust. I didn't like how the story ended with a hint about how the characters' have another villain to deal with.

And then I went to sleep.

I just realised that I read creepy books on a Friday the 13th. That was unintentional. I thought it was 12th that day, lol.

saturday, march 14th

We're finally on the last day (of this post, not life)! I thought writing this post would be fun but um I'm actually tired of writing it. So, we're going to go through this day a bit faster.

I woke up late. Watched a couple of vlogs on Youtube while I had breakfast. Mom and I went to the post office because I had to post a couple of letters. The first post office we went to turned out to be super tiny. There was one person doing everything and the office was in a 1 bedroom house which was repurposed for it. There were a few people waiting and the only waiting space was outside in the sun. It was way too hot for that so mom and I left.

The second post office we went to was good. It was my first time sending international mail and I was very thankful that the staff answered my questions and was patient with me. I successfully posted the letters. My mom sent a couple of things too. It was 12:30 pm by the time we returned home.

It was too hot so I laid down on the bed in front of the AC. I read on my Kindle while chilling there. I started another short story Death to Valentine's Day by Catherine Cowles. I was hopeful because I've mostly enjoyed her books. This was also my consolation prize until I get my hands on Across the Vanishing Sky. Unfortunately, I don't think short stories are good for the author's plots. It's too short to have the right impact. This story had all the expected aspects of a Cowles's book but it was too rushed. The killer reveal was more jarring than surprising. The romance was nice enough because the couple had years of history. Overall, the book was just okay.

I continued reading after lunch. I probably shouldn't have because I had to head out soon but I wanted to chill in the AC for a bit longer. I started Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren which is in the same series as Death to Valentine's Day. I was hopeful for this story because the premise sounded cool. And the beginning was actually really cool.

The story begins with Veronica, a marketing consultant, accidentally crashing a stech startup's zoom meeting where they're reviewing a potential pitch. She was just laid off from a company of similar tech bros and was full of rage. So, she took the opportunity to completely shit on their presentation, as one does. The CEO found her feedback brutally honest and hunted her email to give a job offer! This would never happen in the real world but we can dream in fiction.

I will admit, I wasn't fond of how quickly the couple—Veronica and Jude, the CEO—began exchanging personal information and bantering in their emails. It's a short story. I really liked the banter! Veronica's energy was great. Jude's energy was great. I loved that it's an offline-and-online romance (one of my top tropes). The ending was cute. I liked that they didn't "fall in love" in the short span, instead it's just a beginning to a happily ever after. This was a hit.

I didn't read the short story at once because I had to get ready to go out. I finished it later at night. It was going so well that I was late to get ready. Yes, this means a lot because I really really hate being late. Thankfully, I was able to rush and get ready faster.

A friend and I went to a coffee fest at a mall nearby. We arrived while they were still setting up, lol, so we chatted a bunch while waiting. The fest was smaller than I expected—only a handful of stalls and many were known coffee shops/chains. I was hoping for more niche stores.

The first stall to be ready to serve was, funnily, a matcha stall. We got 2 iced matcha lattes and 1 iced hojicha latte. I was disappointed by the matcha ones because the flavour was not there. It was a totally beginner-level matcha drink. The hojicha one was surprisingly good! I'm not a big hojicha fan and I quite liked this one.

The crowd increased quite a bit in the time we had these drinks. The space was pretty nice, with 3 different seating areas (benches, cushions on mock stairs, and a faux lawn) and some music with the promise of live music later on. We did another couple of rounds to choose our next drink and chose the only stall which had interesting flavours. We had clocked it when we entered itself and were waiting for them to be ready to serve. They had quite the crowd since it was near the entrance. After a long time in queue, my drink was ready. It took another 30 minutes to get my friend's drink lol. I finished mine by then. The coffees were really good, though!

The vibe was lovely after sunset with different types of lighting, people hanging around and chatting, and live music. My friend and I chatted a ton too. We ate sushi around 8 pm (charcoal sushi—the textures together were really cool) and got our caricatures drawn by an artist there. It was a fun evening!

I arrived home around 10 pm. I was tired so I immediately headed to bed with my Kindle in hand. I finished Accidentally Yours, ending the day on a good note.

chat with me

A year ago, I had just moved to this city and I was stressed and nervous about the future. I read one book because I was so busy setting up our home and getting settled at work. This week was very different, haha. It was a super reading-heavy week and quite a social week too. I will be very honest, I didn't start being social until this year, but at least I'm trying within a year since moving 🤪

What does a regular week in your life look like? How much do you read? Do you usually have social plans every week?