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What Jurassic World, a Korean Textbook, and My Face Have in Common

Progress doesn’t always feel good but it still counts. A story about dermatology, movie disasters, and rewriting your week one quiet spiral at a time.

Author

Creative Mind Habits
July 10, 2025

🧠 The Writer’s Code — Issue #XX

Derms, Hotdogs & Spirals That Still Count

👋 Good morning,

This week, I spiral-studied Korean, showed up at a fancy cinema like a main character, and ate a hotdog in a public theater (and yes it felt illegal). I also finally went to the dermatologist after months of avoidance.

Growth? Absolutely.
Chaotic? Always.

Let’s unpack.

🔁 In This Spiral:

📚 Study win
Sogang textbooks are now my go-to.
Structured. Repetitive. Deeply unsexy but wildly effective.

I regret every minute I spent on fluffy grammar hacks.

🧖 Adulting moment
I asked the dermatologist actual questions. I said,

“This bothers me.”
Out loud.

Progress is sometimes quiet, sometimes covered in sunscreen samples.

🎬 Movie luxury
Cine de Chef gave me slippers, Perrier, and a dark chocolate square. I felt rich.
Then Jurassic World started, and all hope died.

🌭 The Hotdog Incident
I was late. They tossed my order. I reordered.
Then I ate a hotdog. In a silent cinema.

I know it’s allowed.
But the shame… echoed in Dolby Surround™.

✨ This Week’s Truth

A spiral doesn’t mean failure.
Sometimes it just means:
You showed up late.
Tried again.
And learned a little something in the process.

Progress doesn’t always feel good.
But it’s still progress.

🔧 What I’m Building

The Creator Tools Hub is coming.
🧠 Notion templates, writing workflows, and behind-the-scenes systems I use weekly.

Goal: soft paywall.
Focus: tools that support spiral-brained creatives like us.

Want to beta test a template? Just reply.

📚 Spiral Reading Log

Books I’ve skimmed, studied, or just stared at this week:

  • Sogang Korean 1B (actually helpful, unfortunately)

  • My journal — mostly pages that say “what is happening”

  • Drafts I kinda want to republish... or delete forever

🌀 Spiral #6: Full Blog Edition

The blog breakdown is live:
Derm clarity. Hotdog shame. Soft-growth vibes.

Read Spiral #6 on the blog

🛠 Tool of the Week

Canva Slide Templates for Weekly Spirals

If you're turning longform thoughts into carousels, having a pre-styled Canva file is a life-saver.

Need help building one? I’ll share mine soon.

👀 Coming Soon

  • ✍️ YouTube video essay: “This Is What a Spiral Looks Like”

  • 🧪 TOPIK 2 test reflections

  • 🛠 First look at the Creator Tools mini-product (!!)

See you next week—hopefully a little less spiraled, but just as honest.

Keep writing,
Em