July 1st
Yesterday, I received a package. A months worth of Hostage mouth tape. This has been a trending product that has sparked from the negative effects of mouth breathing such as snoring, bad breath, less oxygen to the lungs. The book that sparked this mouth tape phenomenon I think can be credited to Breath by James Nestor. I bought this book through iBooks about two years ago cause James Nestor was on a podcast talking about how mouth breathing can negatively alter the shapes of our jaws which leads to the overcrowding of teeth. There were some case studies with some of the victims of 9/11 that had long-term lung damage and through very specific nasal-breathing techniques helped alleviate the pain they were suffering that modern medicine could fix (I’m recalling this from memory when I read this book two years ago, but those cases still stayed with me)
Even when I feel stressed or have a terrible day at work. On my way home while driving or on the metro, I’ll take slow and deep breaths and if you’ve never tried it, you’ll be amazed how quickly the stress disappears like rain swiped away by windshield wipers.
Anyway, last night was the first time using the mouth tape and was curious if I would wake up out of fear because I couldn’t breath from my mouth. But that wasn’t the case, it was really comfortable to wear. The only reason I woke up at 4am in panic was because of this humid weather and the AC wasn’t powerful enough, I woke up so thirsty and ran to the fridge and downed two ice cold cans of coconut water…
Highly recommend reading James Nestor’s book or you can quickly Google or ChatGPT What are the negative effects of mouth breathing? What are the benefits of nasal breathing? Is mouth taping a gimic or does it actually promote health benefits?
If you think you want to give it a try, use my affiliate link to buy yourself a box of mouth tape: https://www.hostagetape.com/fridgeopen
Read a little bit more of Hanya Yanigihara’s A Little Life (I’m on page 36 out of 816) and two passages I really liked describing the quality of light:
At five thirty, the light was perfect: buttery and dense and fat somehow, swelling the room as it had the train into something expansive and hopeful.
&
He’d watch that kind of light suffuse the car lilke syrup, watch it smudge furrows from foreheads, slick gray hairs into gold, gentle the aggressive shine from cheap fabrics into something lustrous and fine.
As a photographer reading those lines, you can’t help but feeling a little turned on.
It might be a little too early to say but I can tell already that isn’t that kind of book where you really have to force yourself every time you open it up.
Tonight’s Movie - Han Gong Ju (2013)
This movie is based on a true case that happened in South Korea. It wasn’t a fun watch and you will end up crying with some of these disturbing scenes. A situation outside of the school happens between several students and Han Gong Ju creating conflict with the parents of the students involed and the school. The school, unsure what to do, trying to control the parents and the news outlets, they send Han Gong Ju to Incheon to live with one of her teacher’s mother who runs a convenience store by herself. You don’t learn until halfway where the film reveals snippets of the disturbing events. Your blood starts to boil at how ridiculous the politics works among the adult world and all the blame is put on Han Gong Ju.
Now starts the second half of the year. Made a couple of mistakes this first half but tried my best to recognize them, write it down to admit my faults to prevent me from repeating them again. Let’s try to do better every day. One small step at a time.
Toodles.
1:21am
